A Real Enemy, a Defeated Foe
The 2023 Associated Press-NORC poll that found nearly seven in ten American adults believe in angels found that only 56 percent believe in the devil. Many churchgoers agree with the doubters. In a 2009 Barna Group report, about six in ten self-described Christians agreed that Satan is not a living being but a symbol of evil.
Scripture paints a different picture. We believe that Satan is a real, personal being, a created angel who fell through pride and now opposes God and His people. He leads the fallen angels, the demons. He accuses, deceives, and tempts. But he is not God's equal opposite. He is a creature on a leash, defeated at the cross and destined for the lake of fire.
C. S. Lewis warned in The Screwtape Letters (1942) of “two equal and opposite errors” about devils: to disbelieve in them, or to take an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Scripture keeps us from both. We do not minimize satanic and demonic opposition, and we do not fear it, because God has given us the weapons to stand and the victory of His Son.
Hebrew for adversary, one who opposes or accuses. The name of the chief of the fallen angels, also called the Devil, from the Greek for slanderer (Revelation 12:9). He is a real, personal, created spirit who rebelled against God, not a symbol of evil and not an evil god.
Is the devil a symbol, a rival god, or a defeated enemy? Scripture's answer tells you how seriously to take him, and how little to fear him.
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For Deeper Study
- Your Adversary, the DevilAmazon J. Dwight PentecostA clear, dispensational study (1969) of Satan's character, strategies, and destiny by a longtime Dallas Seminary teacher.
- The Strategy of Satan: How to Detect and Defeat HimAmazon Warren W. WiersbeA short, practical book (1979) on Satan as deceiver, destroyer, ruler, and accuser, and on overcoming him by obeying God's truth.
- Power Encounters: Reclaiming Spiritual WarfareAmazon David PowlisonA biblical counselor's careful critique (1995) of deliverance ministry, calling believers back to fighting with truth, prayer, repentance, and obedience.
- Precious Remedies Against Satan's DevicesAmazon Thomas BrooksA Puritan classic (1652) that exposes the devil's tactics one by one and answers each from Scripture. Older English, but rich.
- Basic TheologyAmazon Charles C. RyrieIts brief sections on Satan and on demons are clear, well organized, and dispensational.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Angels
Angels are created spirits who worship God and minister to the heirs of salvation. They are fellowservants of the saints, never to be worshiped.
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