The Devil

Written By: Samuel Jenkins

Level: 4.2

Teacher: Fr. Nikolai Meyers

Class: Catechism 4.2

Issue: Set to Appear in the March Issue of the Newsletter

The Devil is quite an intriguing figure because of how he went from living so close to God, to being completely and utterly corrupted by sin. The Devil was of course, at the beginning, an angel. God gave him and all other angels a single choice, to follow God or to reject God and deal with the punishment. The Devil chose to stray from God and to control all power. Of course, this is not feasible for God created everything, yet the Devil does have the influence of sin. The Devil’s main hope is to lead everyone away from God even if it does not give him any power whatsoever. 

Another name for the Devil is Lucifer which comes from the Hebrew word לוציפר which means Shining-one, or Light-bearer. All angels have the same choice God gave Lucifer. He gives free will and thus everyone is free to do as they wish, although that does not mean they will not have punishment. God only provides one chance of straying or staying to angels because they have always grasped much more knowledge about God than we ever will. Although God provides angels only one choice, He gives us unlimited choices and forgives us for our sins I think the Devil understands that he can’t win against God, so he just attempts to steer us astray from God whenever we are weak. Our job is to ignore the Devil as best we can and concentrate on God at all times. We are not perfect and thus we will mess up sometimes, but we need to increase our time praying to God and obeying His word so that the Devil doesn’t have time to steal into our souls and attack us.

At the end of our journey, we will be judged and there is no doubt about it. We need to obey God and not the deceitful voice inside of us that we hear, no matter what is said by it. If the Devil is within you trying to gain control, you must recognize that the Church Fathers know what they are talking about so follow their teachings. God will reward us for our faith. The Devil will influence us as best he can. It is sad that the Devil and other angels he has tormented fell from God and never will have a chance to come back. I have to wonder if the Devil is absolutely consumed by sin or if he has any good left in him.