One of the principal advantages to the progress of evil accomplished by removing the devil, his minions, and their works, from human view, is the consequent inability of the deceived to recognize the historical recurrence of diabolical hatred of Christ. Cultured moderns, including professing Christians who regard themselves as such, do not believe in the devil; authorities like Schleiermacher have given them permission…
A lot of people do not understand the historic evolution of Satan. How his power has changed over the course of time. He had a lot more power prior to the time of Christ, and that same power during the life of Jesus, at the Resurrection, he lost much of his power and now only has left, the “Power to Deceive.” He is doing a GREAT job at that task. He has deceived a majority of the Episcopal Bishops that perverted behavior is not sinful. He has deceived Islam that killing people and blowing themselves up is a GOOD thing to do. He has deceived many Epsicopal Bishops, including the Presiding Bishop that there are many ways to get to God, not just through Jesus. Indeed, he has probably even deceived some that you can get to God through Satan himself. Stay on the Narrow Way.
A very good case can be made for the idea that Hitler and Co. hated the Jews because they hated Jesus, and Jesus was a Jew. They were Nietzscheans, and for good measure steeped in the occult , to the last man of them.
That Satan is objectively ‘there’, as opposed to representing the dark underside of human personality, is shown by the Temptation in the Wilderness. There was no dark underside to the Lord’s personality! At the same time “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” [I Jn. 4:4]. We should respect the fact of Satan’s existence, but not be terrified of him.
Priscilla, exactly. We have the same POWER that Jesus had, which He gave to us through the Holy Spirit. We can cast the Devil to where he need to be, I always send him to Jesus so He can deal with him. The only reason that Satan has to show up in a person is to deceive them, or convince them of a lie in their life. If you remove the lie, he goes away. He really no longer has POWER, but we do, and we need to use it MORE !