WHAT IS DEVIL IN CHRISTIAN FAITH

Devil is well anchored in Christianity. Every Christian who knows God knows devil too. No one claim to have seen either God or devil, but many say that they could feel the presence of each one of them sometimes during their life.

Devil is considered as a fallen angel who rebelled against the Most Holy One. Subsequently this angel is believed to have expelled from heaven and sent to this world. The devil or Satan represents all evil on earth. According to the holy scriptures the devil makes its first appearance in the Eden Gardens. In the New Testament, under different contexts, the name 'devil' appears 32 times.

Christianity teaches that everything in the universe is created by God, while the Almighty Himself was there at the beginning of time. John 1:3 says, "It was through him that all things came into being, and without him came nothing that has come to be." When God have created everything, devil too is the creation of God Himself. God have created everything with a purpose, so is the devil too.

Mathew 4:1 says, "And now Jesus was led by the Spirit away into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil." It is said that Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of God the Father. Hence it was God who have asked the devil to tempt Jesus. Since Jesus was a total man here He was to undergo all usual temptations faced by man. Therefore, to keep away from the temptations man has to pray the Almighty. That must be the reason when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He taught them, "Father, ... and lead us not into temptations." (Luke 11:4) It is evident from this prayer that the evil Spirit tempt man as allowed by the Supreme One.

Here is another verse that tells us about the devil or evil spirit. "And there, in the synagogue,  was a man possessed by an unclean spirit, who cried aloud: Why dost thou meddle with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Hast thou come to make an end of us? I recognise thee for what thou art, the Holy One of God." (Mark 1:23&24) It is quite amazing that a man with an abnormal state of mind recognise Jesus of Nazareth and say that He is the  Holy One of God. When Jesus asked, "Come out of him", "Then the unclean spirit threw him into a convulsion, and cried with a loud voice, and so came out of him." (Mark 1:26)  We can understand from this action, that the abnormality or ill-health or sickness of the man was nothing but the devil or evil spirit.

In another instance Jesus says that sickness or deformity is the outcome of sin. "Which command is more lightly given, to say the palsied man, Thy sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise up, take thy bed with thee and walk?" We find here that a palsied man who was unable to walk was carried to Jesus by some people on a bed. Soon after Jesus had forgiven his sins he could instantly get up and walk away from there carrying his bed too. The palsy was, therefore, nothing but the power of sin. We may call this power devil, evil spirit, unclean spirit or negative energy. Further to this, if the deformity of the man was by birth, the sin too was by birth. In other words, he had brought the sin from his parents and grandparents.

This negative power is well explained in Mark 5: 1 to 20. A man possessed by unclean spirits came out of rock tombs to meet Jesus. As in another instances this man too could identify Jesus. He addressed Him, "Jesus, Son of the most high God." This man had spent all his time among the tombs, but at the very first sight he could recognise Jesus Christ. When Jesus asked his name the man said, "My name is Legion;  there are many of us."  How could many spirits come into one man? Those were the accumulated spirits of his ancestors. The Holy Scriptures ratify this. "Before him, none can claim innocence in his own right, and then he punishes, the son must make amends for the father's guilt, to the third and the fourth generations." (Exodus 34:7). According to this verse, the spirits of our forefathers are  brought into us and after our time the same is transmitted to our offspring.

According to Christian faith man cannot get away from these forces. They will remain with us in various negative strength. They can only be cleaned by the blood of Jesus Christ. Once cleaned, the unclean spirit become cleaned spirit, the evil spirit to an esteemed spirit, the negative energy to positive energy or the devil to angel.

KV George
kvgeorgein@gmail.com