satan

IS SATAN REAL?

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(Q): Does Satan exists?
(A): How many people do you know who think Satan is a figment of one's imagination? If you stop and think about it, not many people take Satan seriously. In fact, not only do people not take him seriously, they do not believe he exists! After all, people think all that Satan stuff, expelling demons and such, only happened in Jesus' day, right? Not so.

Satan is thriving in this world of materialism. His master plan is to fool everyone. He has even succeeded in fooling some religious and clergy into believing he does not exist anymore. If no one believes he exists he is free to use us as he pleases. It is time to look around and see the master of lies and deceit for who he is; and with Jesus Christ, fight back.

Evil spirits fool people into thinking that the havoc and emotional torment they cause is typical of normal human life. Did you ever have a day when for some unknown reason you are moody or on edge and you do not really have a reason for these feelings? You try to analyze your behavior but you cannot seem to pinpoint the cause. It is on such a day, you tend to over react or say something you regret later.

Satan knows our weaknesses. He knows how to hurt us and how to get to us by customizing each attack. He loves to use other people (as many as he can) to hurt us. He is the master of lies and deceit (John 8:44) and uses and influences weaker people to lie and twist things to suit his needs.

Father Michael Scanlon is the former president of the University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Oh)

Demonic temptation can take place at various levels. The most elementary level is the sharp, one-time enticement, which eventually passes, either because it is successfully resisted or eventually given in to. At its most profound level, satanic temptation can result in a bondage to sin, which exercises a thorough domination over a person, which seems impossible to overcome. Demonic temptation ranges from simple and everyday occurrences to bizarre thoughts and expressions. It encompasses everything from "little white lies" to murder and adultery.

The main purpose in demonic temptation is to trap people in sin and keep them off guard. Like military commandos, evil spirits make quick raids into vulnerable areas of life. They look for opportunities to use men's weaknesses to their own advantage. They know how to present the "right" temptation, tailor-made for each person. They gain footholds in people's lives under the cover of the weakness of the flesh. They look for spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental weak points. Keeping close watch on these areas, they look for occasions to strike and inflict whatever damage they can. They will maintain their hold on an area as long as they remain unchallenged.

Evil spirits like to get involved in the little things of the day because they can lead to bigger things. Small irritations can escalate into anger and frustration. Disappointment can become envy and self-pity. These sins can often have their roots in the demonic. Through them, evil spirits can keep Christian's lives off balance stifle their relationships, and move them toward more opportunities to sin (See Sins).

391 Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called "Satan" or the "devil." The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing."

392 Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels. This "fall" consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter's words to our first parents: "You will be like God." (see New Age/Occult) The devil "has sinned from the beginning"; he is "a liar and the father of lies."

393 It is the irrevocable character of their choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy, that makes the angels' sin unforgivable. "There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death."

394 Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls "a murderer from the beginning," who would even try to divert Jesus from the mission received from his Father. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the evil." In its consequences the gravest of these works was the mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God. The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God's reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but "we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him."