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T
HE DEVIL
does not exist .. . at
least not the devil most of us
have come to recognize as the
butt of magazin e cartoons and
standup comic routines. That devil
is the rather silly looking characte r
in a crimson body sui t, having a
long pointed tail and a pair of
wicked little horns. He holds a ta–
pered pitchfork and is surrounded
by nasty little demons, each, like as
not, carrying his own bucket of
glowing coals to remind him of
home.
That devil seems at worst to be no
more than a harmless bit of quaint
re ligious tradition. Many people,
however, are beginning to take him
more seriously. This trend is the re–
sult of a growing awareness in all
parts of the world of occurrences
which cannot be explained scien–
tifically or logically - occurrences
which faU into the category of the
occult.
Taking the Devil
Seriously
Included in the popular new real–
ization of things darkly spiri tua l is a
36
+++
lf the devil is
mere/y o
manufactured religious myth
designed to frighten the ignorant into submission,
then there is real/y
no
cause for
concern.
But,
on
the other hand, if he is not
o
myth.
. ..
fringe element of Satan-worship
and demonism. T hese two subjects
have la tely formed the basis of sev–
era! best selling novels and much
prime-time televis ion and have
drawn a considerable audience.
Many people, of course, still con–
sider the existence of the devil as
little more than preposterous, but
for others, the uncomfortable seeds
of doubt are beginning to grow.
With those doubts comes the inevi–
table question : Could there
real/y
be
a devil?
It
is a widely touted truism tha t
nea rly every myth has its origins in
sorne fact or truth - even myths
about Santa Claus or the heroes and
gods of ancient Greece. What many
haven't realized is that the devil
"myth" is little dilferent. Unfortu–
nately, traditional theology has only
served to create a huge credibility
gap between the contrived, laugh–
able cartoon character in the red
body suit and the li teral being who
is actually one of the most impor–
tan!, fascinating and frightening fig–
ures in the entire history of the
world.
by
Charles F. Vinson
Where to Find the Story
Organized Christianity claims to
derive its basic tenets from the
Bible. Due to a long history of dis–
putes and disagreements in tha t
fragmented religion, however, most
rational people have tended to auto–
matically discard the Bible as a
source of information, rather than
analyzing it objectively. Had this re–
action not been so widespread, more
people would be aware of the true
s tory of the powerful spirit being
riding the crest of popularity in
today's neo-medieval occu lt resur–
gence.
The story into which the devil is
later introduced begins in the very
first chapter of Genesis, the first
book of the Old Testament. You've
undoubtedly read it before: " In the
beginning God created the heaven
and the earth ." That part is si mple
enough. But the very next sentence
states. " And the earth was without
form, and void ...."
On the surface, that statemen t ap–
pears quite innocent - but when the
original HebreY:: words are exam-
PLAIN TRUTH July-Augusl 1973