| Essay, Research Paper
The Origin of the Presence of Satan
The United Press International stated that on October 11, 1978, a
father “kept his
daughter, Tina Ann, 10, imprisoned in a 3 foot by 4 foot closet in [his
small, white frame house]
while he slowly beat her to death. He buried her under a dilapidated
shed at the rear of the house
and the family left town several months later.” In another horrid
scenario, the UPI reported that
on January 1, 1980, “Thai pirates held 121 Vietnamese women and children
captive on a deserted
jungle island for seven days, raping them and hunting them down like
animals . . . One eight-year-
old little girl was raped by 100 different men . . . The pirates took as
much pleasure in the hunt as
in the capture (Russell, Tradition 15-16).” Acts of pure evil exist and
cannot be explained except
to say that an unearthly presence tempts and consumes the lives of
people to encourage them to
perform such wickedness. Satan’s presence has been known about since
the beginning of
mankind and lures one away from God.
First, a few assumptions must be clarified. One must assume that God
is omnipotent, all-
knowing, and all-good. God allows evil to occur in the world because
suffering tests the soul and
instructs one in time of hardship; this allows one to mature. Sin is
punishable by suffering and
evil is the direct result of sin; sin occurs because of the Lord’s gift
of free will (Russell, Tradition
17). Evil is produced because humans turn away from everlasting good in
favor of temporary and
“passing pleasures” of the flesh (Russell, Tradition 206). This
imperfection is vigorously tested by
Satan.
Job 2:1-3 says, “One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves
before the Lord,
and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The
Lord said to Satan,
‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and
fro on the earth,
and from walking up and down on it (Metzger 627).’” This establishes
Satan’s entrapment and
banishment to the earth as commanded by God (Russell, Prince 37).
The Devil is created by God and is without question inferior to him
(Russell, Tradition
67). Revelation 12:7-9 says, “And a war broke out in heaven; Michael
and his angels fought
against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they
were defeated, and there was
no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown
down, that ancient serpent,
who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world – he
was thrown down to the
earth, and his angels were thrown down with him (Metzger 376).” Satan
was the highest of all
the angels, but he was cast down because he envied the Lord. The Devil
was “the first cause of
evil, . . . the cause of every individual sin as well, encouraging
individuals to despair and nations
to warfare.” Satan, in turn, exacted revenged upon Adam and Eve by
causing them to sin. Satan
was given power over the earthly world by God; this allows for such
occurrences such as natural
disasters and mental depression. The Devil exists and thrives on those
who sin because they
become servants of Satan (Russell, World 40).
However, even though “The Devil’s power remains ‘as big as the world,
as wide as the
world, and he extends from heaven down to hell,’” his power cannot
ascend any further than the
Lord allows. An old hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” establishes
this idea:
“A mighty fortress is our God,
A good weapon and defense;
He helps us in every need
That befalls us.
The old, evil enemy
Is determined to get us;
He makes his cruel plans
With great might and cruel cunning;
Nothing on earth is like him. . . .
But if the wild world were full of devils
Eager to swallow us,
We would not fear.
For we should still be saved.
The prince of this world,
No matter how fierce he claims to be,
Can do us no harm;
His power is under judgment
One little word can fell him (Russell, World 43).”
Matthew 16: 23 says, “. . . Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling
block to me; for you are
setting your mind not on divine things but on human things (Metzger
25).” One’s timeless
defense against Satan is the power of Jesus Christ.
Another revival of the presence of Satan came during the “witch craze”
of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. The Protestant Reformation produced a
knowledge and fear of the
Devil. Ideas of magic and science were on the rise while many Christian
morals were put on the
back burner (Russell, World 30). This is because many people were
looking so hard for the
presence of evil that they were soon consumed by the same evil they were
trying to decimate.
Due to times such as these, Satan became ever-present, and his
opportunities to possess lives
increased dramatically.
Satan’s power and knowledge are given by God and also limited by
him. The theory of
evil is personified through the Devil. He is a conglomeration of evil,
not just an inferior demon.
He is the manipulator of evil itself (Russell, Tradition 23). The
Devil introduces himself
personally: as there is a “God experience” there is also a “Devil
experience (Russell, Tradition
24).” In the Christian religion, the Devil plays the counterpart of
Jesus Christ. “The prince of
evil tries to lure us out of the army of light into that of darkness and
so lose us to the kingdom of
God (Russell, Tradition 39).” He has incredible power, but this power
is always regulated by the
Lord (Russell, Tradition 32). “. . . The Devil, or Satan, is an
‘obstructor’ of the will of the good
Lord.” Satan’s primary function is to produce the feeling of “My will,
not yours, be done
(Russell, Tradition 25).”
Satan’s most powerful weapon is temptation, as first documented by the
Bible. He will
continually agitate people to try to get them to sin. Luke 8:12 says,
“The ones on the path are
those who have heard; then the Devil comes and takes away the word from
their hearts, so that
they may not believe and be saved (Metzger 92).” 1 Corinthians 7:5
states, “Do not deprive one
another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves
to prayer, and then
come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your
lack of self-control
(Metzger 235).” Satan went so far as to tempt his prime adversary,
Jesus Christ (Russell,
Tradition 27). Luke 4:2 says, ” . . . for forty days he [Jesus] was
tempted by the Devil (Metzger
83).” Although Satan was unsuccessful in his attempt of tempting Jesus
Christ, this shows the
Devil’s extreme reliance and confidence in the power of temptation.
Through the choice of free will, sin and evil occurs. Satan is
ever-present to exploit the
imperfect human. As long as sin exists, then Satan exists. To
eliminate sin is to eliminate the
Devil. Let it be known: “The devil is not a principle; the Devil does
not limit God’s power; the
Devil is a creature; the Devil is permitted by God to function; the
Devil has some purpose in the
cosmos that we cannot grasp; the Devil is God’s enemy and our enemy and
must be resisted with
all our strength (Russell, Tradition 230).”
Criticism on the authors and books
Professor Elaine Pagels
The Origin of Satan
“The Origin of Satan is indeed groundbreaking.
Professor Pagels has the remarkable talent of taking
primary scholarship . . . and making it accessible to
intelligent nonspecialists. Many times in the course of
reading her explications I found myself saying, ‘Of
course, why hasn’t someone said this before?’. . . But
the book is much more than an articulation of ancient
controversies. By showing how the sectarian
demonization of the ‘intimate enemies’ – Jews and
heretics – shaped early Christianity, the book helps us to
understand the power of irrational forces that still need
to be confronted in contemporary society.”
-S. David Sperling
Professor of Bible, Hebrew Union College
Professor Jeffrey Russell
Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World
Satan: The Early Christian Tradition
The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History
Frank Hensley wrote,
“It gives me great pleasure to announce the recipient of this year’s Erick Nilson Award: Dr. Jeffrey Russell, History Professor from the University of California, Santa Barbara.”
Jim Cook wrote,
“I praise God for His leading and I’m excited to see how God uses this in Dr. Russell’s life. The $1,000 grant, we pray, will add to the possibilities for the faculty ministry at Santa Barbara.”
Bruce M. Metzger and Roland E. Murphy
The New Oxford Annotated Bible
Bruce Metzger and Roland Murphy were the hardest to find anything on until I looked under my nose and the it was the New Oxford Annotated Bible. In the bible I found criticism and
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