DEVIL AND EVIL
If you were raised in the Christian Faith, chances are some of your earliest fears were brought on by the fearsome personage of all evil ... evil incarnate ... the Devil, and/or Satan. Other names you may have heard used: Beelzebub, Lucifer, the serpent/snake, Mephistopheles, etc.
Chances are you were also taught at the same time about the all-powerful God who could turn off the sun if he chose to do so. So then, how is it that "another" mighty, eternal, God of Evil can co-exist with this Almighty, Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent total power of the One good God/Source of Absolute Truth?
The church system would teach that this Devil/Satan was literally once a mighty Angel, the most beautiful of all, they say. But his rebellion led to an uprising and he took a third of the Angels with him ... cast out of the heavenly realm. So, having no where else to go apparently, he came to Earth as a serpent, tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and therefore brought with him, chaos and disorder into Paradise that once was - before he moved into the neighborhood. Talk about home values plummeting.
So, now he and his fallen cohorts (so-called demons) travel about the world, tempting humans into wars, poverty, hunger, lies, rapes, murders, theft, vandalism, and every other evil that we can come up with. "The Devil made me do it" is what people claim, yet it is the person who has done the evil that will go to jail ... not the Devil or his demons. This is all fine and dandy if it was the basis for the plot of a low-budget horror film, but other than that ... it is all just a convenient way to blame someone else the for effects that WE cause.
The original Christians (Krestianoi) knew the Truth. But then again, they were murdered and tortured to death by the Roman Church, and most all of their scriptures and physical evidence were either destroyed or confiscated. Quite a bit of bounty was collected for a newly formed Empirical Religion that had behind it the armies and legions of the Roman Empire. But, to maintain power over mankind, the power must be held in secret within the highest ranking leaders of the Church. If the people knew the Truth, if they had been empowered with the Truth of The Ages, the Hidden Wisdom, the Apocalyptic Revelation that was Life changing, then they would no longer be able to be controlled. And the money, donations, and food offerings would cease to come rolling into the temples and churches.
So then, who is this guy/power?
"For as much as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself took part in the same, that through DEATH, he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is THE DEVIL."
~Hebrews 2:14
Much like a dictionary, biblical scripture will give you definitions if you look hard enough. Many times, we have to go back to the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. So right here, we are told in plain English, that whoever or whatever has the "power of death" is the "Devil."
"For since BY MAN came DEATH, by man came also the resurrection of the dead."
~1 Corinthians 15:21
So, according to this verse ... direct from the Bible ... MAN has the power of DEATH. And every man is subjected to duality (Though it is an illusion). There are two polarities of men within every man. The Inward Man and the Outward Man. The "outward" is the man of flesh ... Adam, so to speak. We inherited this outward man from the Genesis story of Adam. Adam is a man (according to scripture) and therefore we inherited the sin nature of Adam, right up the line, as an inclusive part of our human nature.
"For the wages of SIN is DEATH."
~Romans 6:23
Now follow me ... I'm going somewhere with this. So it is SIN that has the power of DEATH. Sin is the Adam-man ... the human nature man ... the first of two. Adam, and Jesus. Adam (and sin) represent your human animal nature ... the flesh that your Soul is wrapped in.
"If you live after the flesh, you shall die. but if you "by the Spirit" (the Mind of Christ) do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live."
~Romans 8:13
The human body has the power of death, through it's sin (error in thinking) and the battle is in the Mind ... where Spirit lives. This is ego-centric consciousness vs. Christ consciousness. While in the mythical Garden of Eden (Mind), Adam and Eve were tempted by the lust of sin ... wrong thinking, missing the mark of Divine Truth, which is in all men. The conversation with the serpent, was actually Eve having an internal conversation amongst her-selves. Just as we do today. We talk to ourselves, ask ourselves questions, and actually answer them. She had wandered into Ego-land.
This story is about inner temptation. Eve was tempted. Adam was tempted. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. The lust of sin in the flesh (the ramblings and desires of our ego) bring about these temptations. And therefore, this Devil/Satan who is "the opposer," or "adversary," leads us astray from the natural default of goodness and righteousness. When we "sin" (make an error in judgement through ignorance leading to consequences) we bring forth the Devil. Satan ("ha-satan"). The opposite end of polarity between good, and not good. We are given this duality (range of polarity) so that we can discern what is right, or unright. Human nature ego, or Divine nature Mind. Once we see the Truth, that which was illusion dissipates.
Your mirror reflection is not actually you, but it looks just like you ... in the opposite reverse polarity. Once you see that the image is not real, that it is merely an illusion, it is no longer needed. You have learned the lesson that was intended. The Devil/Satan are not anthropomorphized evil as personages, they are our ego Mind, forever wanting to follow the desires of our senses, rather than what is best for our Self and everyone else. We are one race, one blood, one point of origin. God/Source/Spirit lives with us, through us, and AS US. When all is "whole" ... "holy," then we can attain the ultimate goal ... Heaven on Earth. There is ONLY ONE power in this world. God alone is all there is. We are each an emanation from this Source of all there is.
"so that all may know, from where the sun rises to where it sets, that there is none but Me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things."
~Isaiah 45:6-7
There is no room for a creature called the Devil to exist in a realm in which GOD is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, or ... ALL there IS.
"for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
~Romans 14:17
"Neither shall they say, Look here! or, look there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you."
~Luke 17:21
The Kingdom is described in the scriptures as being "Love, Peace, and Joy." So, let's make it happen ... and KNOW that it is found WITHIN us. Collectively, we are commissioned to bring order from chaos (day from night, light from darkness). We have the ability to reason.
"For IN HIM we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring."
~Acts 17:28
The universe/God/Source is one giant organism, and we live within it, move within it, have our being in it, as it, and there is nowhere else to go but right where we are right now. All is NOW. All is here. The present is a gift ... enjoy the moment.
Just a thought ...
~Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.
