“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” —John 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44).
MANY otherwise seemingly orthodox Christians are inclined to reject the doctrine of the personality of the Evil One. To them he appears to be but a personification of evil. The only devil there is, according to some, is the devil of one’s own evil thoughts and desires. Such evidently overlook the fact that our Lord was tempted of the Devil. He who was absolutely holy, who never knew a desire contrary to His Father’s will, was, nevertheless, tempted by Satan—a definite, wicked, personal spirit. Moreover, it is Christ Himself who tells us positively that the Devil is. He describes him as a murderer, and as the father of lies. He shows that he is an apostate being—one who once was different from what he is now— “he abode not in the truth.” The testimony of Scripture throughout coincides with this. Satan is the accuser, as in Job’s case; the tempter, as in the case of Eve; the adversary of God and man, as Peter and other apostles tell us.
“Men don’t believe in a Devil now,
As their fathers used to do;
They’ve forced the door of the broadest creed
To let his majesty through.
There isn’t a print of his stealthy foot,
Or a fiery dart from his bow,
To be found in earth, or air today,
For the world has voted it so.
Won’t somebody step to the front forthwith
And make their bow and show
How the frauds and crimes of a single day
Spring up? We want to know.
The Devil was fairly voted out;
And they claim the Devil’s gone;
But simple folk would like to know,
Who carries his business on?”