Article August 7, 1978 Issue

Christ, Truth, destroys the works of the devil

RICHARD CLAUDE HAW

Is the old theological concept of a personalized devil losing credence? Rampant belief in evil abroad in the world today is tending to resuscitate this false concept. A number of Christian churches still accept Satan's existence, and one of the largest adheres to this belief as a central tenet of faith. Today we even find a few cults that worship Satan.

The master Christian, Christ Jesus, described the devil, Satan, as a liar and a deceiver, without any element of truth (see John 8:44). He pointed to carnal-mindedness, or wrong thinking, as the author of evil when he said: "There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him. ... For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man." Mark 7:15, 21-23;

Some people still believe God is responsible for sending or allowing evil, but this is not so. God sent His Son, Christ Jesus, "that he might destroy the works of the devil," I John 3:8; and Jesus came to do God's will. In biblical times, as today, this truth was not generally understood, and people tended to vest Deity with human characteristics. Evil, they reasoned, appeared as a phenomenon, and limited logic might imply that God is responsible for it because He created everything.

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