Demon Worship in America

Growing up I heard about many 'Satanic' things that I should avoid, Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, Procter and Gamble,  and of course the Freemasons. I heard tales of witches and devil worshipers, and the power granted to them. As an adult, I find that these things are just not what I was told. In fact, Procter and Gamble successfully sued Amway for spreading lies to its customers to steal sales. 

But don't get me wrong, there is still plenty of devil worship going on in America. The problem, however, is that it isn't outside the church, but in it. 

Satan is revered as the ultimate foe, the tempter of every Christian, the source of all our sorrows and temptations, and the cause of all evil in the world. He is ascribed power and ability, cunning and skill, strength and omniscience. He is feared and avoided, touted as the ultimate thing we should be wary of.

This is textbook worship; the reverence of a supernatural being and ascribing works and power to him. Another term for such practice is deification. 

Our sin and our temptation is not the devil's fault; its ours. God punished Adam for his sin, and Eve for hers. Our sin is our fault; we make those choices. The evil in the world is the fault of the choices of people; individuals who have chosen self over God. This is ultimate evil; the self, or flesh. That is what we deny. We are called to deny ourselves, to crucify our flesh. We are the villains of our own stories. Jesus is the hero. 

Now, it is much simpler to simply blame the devil. What could we do against some immortal spirit that once was an angel? It's easy to blame everything on the devil and give him the credit for all evil.

But that is false. The problem in our world is not that the devil is causing all our problems, its that we are. Our choices are what cause the evil in the world. Our denial of God is the problem, as individuals and groups. 

We want a villain outside of ourselves to blame, a scapegoat. It is comforting to think that our sin isn't our fault, that it was the result of some other factor or being. Yet it is our fault. We are responsible for our choices. 

The devil is not the opposite of God. We aren't trapped between an ultimate Good versus an ultimate Evil. There is no 'evil' opposite of God. Instead, there is only the option of following God or not following God. Choosing ourselves over God is ultimate defiance. 

Sadly, we find many Christians today obsess over the devil. They attribute all their problems to him and spend most of their time trying to avoid or fighting him off. 

Instead, we should focus on Christ. He is our life, love and very existence. With Him, we have everything we need. We have no need to fear anyone. No one and nothing is a match for our God. We have nothing to fear. God is Good.