The Devil has many names, including Satan, Lucifer, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub, the Evil One, and the Prince of Darkness. According to the Bible, he was originally one of God's foremost angels. But pride and envy caused him to rebel, and he was thrown out of Heaven. Despite this humiliation, he continued to be defiant, and soon began to retaliate by engaging in evil activities on the earth.
One of his favorite methods of retaliation is to try to tempt people away from God by giving them fantasies of future wealth. He knows that many individuals will eventually be overcome by greed and take evil actions to achieve their goals. As a master of deceit, he can even ensnare people who think they have rejected him.
Because of his evil nature, artists usually depict the Devil as a loathsome repulsive individual. Paintings may show him with horns, fangs, cloven hooves, scaly skin, red eyes, and a tail. Since he was originally an angel, he is sometimes given wings. Medieval artists often gave him the legs and hindquarters of a goat. But no one knows what he really looks like, because he can disguise himself by magically taking on any appearance he chooses, or by fading into invisibility. In fact many people think of him as a supernatural spirit rather than a physical being.
People often ask why God allows him to pursue his evil activities. One possible answer is that God doesn't have full control over his former angel. Another answer is that God permits him to tempt people in order to test their faith and devotion. But the first answer implies that God isn't truly all-powerful. And the second answer makes God the ultimate tempter, and the ultimate cause of much of the pain and suffering that people experience.
The Devil is sometimes identified with the serpent that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. But he makes his first open appearance in the Book of Job, where he is an angel called Satan living at the Court of Heaven. Acting as an advisor, he tells God that humans only obey his commandments because they are rewarded for it. To test this assertion, God gives him permission to inflict severe and undeserved suffering on a devout man named Job. Although Job doesn't understand why he is punished, he never relinquishes his faith in God.
In the Book of Job, Satan is still part of the heavenly court, and he never makes an open break with God. But in later Jewish writings, especially in apocryphal literature outside the Old Testament, he develops into a full-fledged fallen angel. And by the period of the New Testament, he has become the true Evil One. This is depicted very clearly in the gospels, especially in the famous temptation of Jesus. As described in Matthew 4:1-11, this temptation took place in a wilderness area where Jesus had gone to meditate and fast. As he was meditating, Satan approached him and challenged him to prove his powers by turning stones into bread and by leaping from the roof of the Temple. Of course Jesus didn't need to prove anything, and he refused both challenges. Then, for the ultimate temptation:
"the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 'All this I will give you,' he said, 'if you will fall down and worship me.'
Jesus said to him, 'Away from me Satan! For it is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only' "
Shortly afterward, when Jesus began his ministry, he attracted a lot of attention through his ability to expel demons. At that time the behavior of mentally-ill people was often attributed to evil spirits who had taken over their bodies under the direction of Satan. Such people were said to be possessed by demons. The only way to cure the condition was to expel (exorcise) the demons from the person's body.
In one such cure, described in Luke 8:26-40, Jesus needed to expel a large number of demons from a single man. This man, who called himself Legion, wore no clothes and lived in tombs. Local citizens had bound him in chains and fetters, but he had broken free and escaped. When Jesus ordered the demons to leave his body, they tried to save themselves by entering the bodies of some nearby pigs. But the pigs immediately ran into a lake and drowned.
According to an early church tradition, Jesus made a visit to Hell during the time between his crucifixion and resurrection. His main purpose was to rescue the souls of some dead saints from their imprisonment there. But some accounts say that he also confronted Satan during the visit and inflicted a severe wound on the Evil One.
The early Christians carried their belief in the Devil throughout Europe. During the Middle Ages he was often depicted in paintings as a half-man half-beast, but in popular stories he could disguise himself as a black cat or a toad. He was blamed for illness, accidents, immoral behavior, crop failures, and natural disasters. He was also said to be the leader of the main enemies of the Church, such as heretics, Moslems, and Jews.
Some popular stories of that period described personal encounters with him. Saint Dunstan, a tenth-century Archbishop of Canterbury, reported that he was making a metal chalice when Satan suddenly appeared in front of him. To defend himself, he seized the intruder's nose with a pair of red-hot tongs.
The great Protestant reformer Martin Luther told of dozens of encounters with the Evil One. On one occasion he threw an ink pot at his adversary. In other stories people defended themselves by holding up a cross and speaking the name of Christ.
Belief in the devil was especially strong during the witch crazes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. During this period thousands of people were accused of being his helpers, and many of them were tortured and killed.
A witch hunt would often start when something bad happened in a community, and people looked for someone to blame. It was thought that witches and warlocks, using powers given to them by Satan, could cast magic spells which would bring misfortune to others. In most cases suspicion would fall on an unpopular or reclusive individual, or someone who exhibited odd behavior. Accusations against such a person were often checked by examining the suspect's body for an unusual blemish, mole, or scar called a Devil's Mark or Devil's Seal. If a confession was wanted, it could usually be obtained by torture.
During this period numerous stories about witches and warlocks circulated throughout the population. The stories could involve secret midnight meetings, worship at the feet of the Devil, sexual orgies and perversions, sacrificed babies, and blood drinking. Sometimes there were rumors that a particular woman had become Satan's lover. (The short story "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne gives a fascinating description of a devil-worshiping ceremony.)
Some people are attracted to the dark side of life that the Devil represents. Secret Devil worship has long existed in some communities, and there has been a resurgence in modern times.
The Devil is sometimes associated with occurrences of stigmata. These are mysterious markings or wounds which resemble the wounds suffered by Jesus. In most cases they appear on very pious individuals and are regarded as a divine sign of mystical contact with God. But occasionally stigmata appear on people who aren't considered to be pious, and these false occurrences are often attributed to Satan.
In Islamic societies the Devil goes by the names Iblis and Shaitan. According to the Qur'an (Koran), he is a jinni (genie) who refused to obey Allah and was thrown out of Paradise. To hinder his evil activities, angels repeatedly throw shooting stars down at him.
Many modern Christians doubt that the Devil really exists. They say that biblical stories such as the punishment of Job and the temptation of Jesus are allegories, and that Jesus didn't actually expel real demons.
But some people believe that everything in the Bible is literally true, including the reality of the Devil. Many of these people think that they can see his influence in modern society, and take this as further proof of his existence.
