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Sid Oakley |
See more Sid Oakley blogs here. Satan, devils and angels Posted July 9, 2007 I’d
yield me to the Devil instantly, Did it
not happen that myself am he! –J. W. von Goethe: Faust: A Tragedy “Do you believe in the Devil?” she asked. “I am a monotheist,” I said. “And – ” “If you mean by the devil, a rival deity to God, then no
I do not. If you mean, do I think the devil, I prefer Satan, is real then my
answer is yes.” “Explain.” I grew up in South Atlanta and in Augusta, Georgia, in
near constant fear of the Devil. Like a preternatural Boogie Man he stalked
my every move. He was always ready to tempt with the right sin, at the right
time, and in just the right way. He pitched evil thoughts and desires into my
mind with his trident and encouraged my self indulgent spirit with uncanny
aplomb. The Devil was a tangible
presence in my life and the lives of most of the strict-as-Scrooge
Metho-Bapterians I knew as a preteen aged child in the religious South. God
was more nebulous, less vivid. His works seemed restricted to the times and
pages of the Bible. I could feel the Devil working his way in my heart with
every improper desire. He twisted his trident in my brain each time an impure
thought sprung to life inside my mind. God lived in church and in the Bible,
but the Devil was behind every bush, under my bed, and somewhere inside me. Ranting preachers warned that
Satan lurked in the shadows always ready to pounce on the ungodly. Perhaps
that is why I abandoned my faith and all organized religion for much of my
life. I saw no value in a religion that made Satan more real than God. I hold
that same view today. Soon after I embraced the Episcopal Church I began to
see the Devil as Satan, a more abstract evil force than as the trident
wielding beast that haunted my youth. Jesus claimed to be able to quinch the everlasting
thirst, fulfill the deepest emptiness of our soul. I believe this is
accomplished by his indwelling in our soul. To the extent we allow this, we
become completed beings. We are here for completion – for Christian
Formation. Today I am frequently terrified by the realization that
I was closer to the truth in my youth than in my early Christian rebirth.
Satan is everywhere I go. He is below my bed. When I am sailing alone a
hundred miles from shore, he has no trouble finding me. In Genesis, Eve is persuaded by the snake to follow her
own desires and eat of the forbidden fruit, the fruit of tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. When she hands Adam the fruit, there is little
debate in his mind. He eats. In the Genesis story the serpent is generally
regarded as a third individual, Satan. Suppose for a moment there was no
third person present. The only persons in the garden were Eve and Adam. Who
then does the serpent represent? I
think of the words of the serpent as the interior monologue of Eve and Adam
expressing their desire to be self sufficient, independent, in charge. They
would be Lord. They would become as He is. The serpent is in the perfect position to offer Eve and
Adam the one thing they cannot resist: to become like God. That is our
problem to this day. It is our narcissistic self centered nature that speaks
our inner desires. The voice of Satan is our own interior monologue. That is
the true nature of Satan. That is our sin. There are powerful forces in the world that align
themselves against God. Forces that would usurp God as sovereign of the only
thing God wants. Our hearts. The embodiment of these forces in the New
Testament becomes Satan. Clearly Jesus believed in Satan. When Jesus spoke of his
coming passion, Peter was quick to say, “No Lord.” Jesus immediately rebuked him saying, “Get behind me,
Satan!” Was Jesus speaking to a vague rival or was he speaking to Peter? It
makes sense to me that he was speaking to Peter as Satan. Peter did not
understand Jesus’ purpose on earth and judged the prophecy with that flawed
understanding. Peter, by way of a misguided mistake, placed himself against
the will of God that the Messiah would suffer injustice and die. At that
moment, Peter was not influenced by Satan. Peter was Satan. If Eve and Adam can act the part of Satan, if Peter can
be Satan, then so can I. So can we all. Then it is that every good thing I do
is by the Spirit of God. Every bad thing I do is by the spirit of Satan, the
spirit of my desperately thirsty, incomplete soul. How could Jesus doubt the
reality of Satan then when it was he (we) whom Jesus came to save? To the extent that I place my will above the will of
God, Satan lives. To the extent that I push God off the throne of my life I
am Satan. In those moments my mind and soul live in darkness where Satan is
surely prince. I then am desperate for a savior. “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Pogo Body Politic Posted February 23, 2007 When Jesus was crucified, the legal reason was nailed to the cross above his head, a sign stating King of the Jews. Pilate, the only one with the authority to crucify Jesus, asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?” That was the only thing that
interested Pilate. He was required to uphold both the temporal and religious
authority of the deified Caesars. The legal and religious authorities of Rome
come together under the hand of the governor. It is noteworthy that Jesus
does not deny that he is King of the Jews and answers, “So you say.” Jesus of course is speaking of
a kingdom not of this order (not of this world), and it is Pilate’s inability
or refusal to understand this that in the end is used to condemn Jesus. Later Pilate returns to the
praetorium and asks, “You are King of the Jews?” And Jesus replies, “Do you ask
this on your own or did others ask it of me?” “Do you take me for a Jew?”
Pilate asked. “Your own people and their high priests have given you over to
me. What have you been up to?” “My reign is not of this present
order,” Jesus said. “If my reign were of this present order, my supporters
would have fought against my being turned over to the Jews. But my reign is
not here.” Pilate answers, “So you are a
king?” “King is what you call it. The
reason for my birth, for my entry to this present order, is to bear witness
to the truth, and anyone open to the truth hears my call.” Then Pilate asks his question
for the ages, “What is truth?” I believe that Jesus has
already answered that question. He is the Truth. Soon the Roman soldiers
flogged the Truth and dressed him in mock royal garments. They pretended to
abase themselves before him in a caricature coronation complete with a crown
of thorns. The final indignity heaped upon him by the rulers of that present
order was to crucify the Truth. Crucify the Truth. Dating back
at least to the time of Constantine, Roman Emperors, corrupt bishops, and
popes have dressed Jesus in stately robes of their own design in an attempt
to pervert the truth of the gospels into political power. Jesus is Christ
over the Kingdom of God and not the Holy Roman Empire. He was never present
at a crusade. He was not a party to Hitler’s final solution. More recently we have seen the
rise of fundamentalist and evangelical crusaders who pretend to speak for
Jesus on temporal matters. He is no more with them on this than he was with
Richard as he crusaded. We have primates in the Anglican Communion who ignore
all that we have in common and focus on our points of difference. They forget
that Jesus said, “King is what you call it. The reason for my birth, for my
entry to this present order, is to bear witness to the truth, and anyone open to the truth hears my
call.” It is a stretch to believe
that the same Jesus who refused to condemn prostitutes and sinners of all
description would now condemn any and all who are pointed out by a religious
or political leader. When political or religious leaders wrap themselves in
the garments of Christ and pretend to speak for him on temporal issues they
ignore the gospels and crucify the Truth. Posted Sept. 21, 2006 I Need a Hero A beautiful world
polluted by hate, When the Goths raided the
greatness that was the Roman Empire, it was handled as a law enforcement issue
at first. Soon disciplinary action was necessary, but a civilization already
moving from classical to decadent lacked the will to deal swiftly and finally
with its new enemy. Time moved on and the tribes that once paid
tribute to Rome now received that tribute to remain peacefully at odds
with Rome. It was not many years until these tribes, which had seemed so
inept only a few decades before, sacked the capitals of Rome. When Genghis Khan led his horsemen across the plains of Asia, Asia Minor and up to the doorsteps of the capitals of Eastern Europe, people would send out emissaries to offer tribute and negotiate a peace. The great khan would negotiate while his forces were brought into perfect position. Regardless of the outcome of the negotiations the Mongols built pyramids of skulls as a monument to the futility of negotiating with an implacable enemy. When Adolf Hitler rose to
power in Germany, Prime Minister Chamberlain preached negotiation to the
English. He was certainly aware of the Khan, and similar historical cases;
but after all these were different times and the situation was different.
Churchill counseled confronting of Hitler before he became an uncontrollable
menace. His wisdom was spurned for what seemed a more civilized course. His
advice to act was tossed in favor of Chamberlain’s placating. History teaches
us that Churchill was right and Chamberlain wrong. Before the end of WW II
Chamberlain apologized for his error and the resulting delays it caused. His
wisdom was as flawed then as it was centuries earlier when the west attempted
to placate Genghis Khan. The question for latter consideration is was either
of these men correct? Today we are seeing the world
take sides once more. Radical Islam is flexing its muscles and beginning to
work toward its stated goal of enslavement or death for all infidels. Once
again because these are different times and the situation is different, we
are baptized with the wisdoms that failed miserably every time they were
tried in human history. In these different times, we
are not in conflict with everyone Muslim. On the contrary, most Muslims
deplore the violence and hatred spread by the Islam-fascists. Apparently
these good people feel compelled by a sense of self-preservation to avoid
open confrontation of the evil growing in their midst. This is not difficult
to understand. Is it not true that the Islamic terrorists, in their pursuit
to superimpose their brand of Islam on the world, have killed more Muslims
than all other religious groups combined? This is just as it was during
the rise of the Nazi party. The good people of Germany watched as Nazi
terrorists intimidated their fellow Germans until it became virtually
impossible to oppose the Nazi-fascists. Good people in Europe and here in the
US were determined to allow the Germans to settle their own problems. It was
not long until the prevalent sentiment in the US was that Europe should
settle Europe’s problems. The open conflict of war must be avoided at all
costs. In our current different times
we are a nation divided. About half of us think we can overcome our adversary
by direct and violent confrontation while the other half advises
understanding and discussion. So we have two positions whose extremes might
be: ‘nuke ‘em till they glow’ and ‘roll over and talk’. I do not believe either
position will lead to a long-term solution. At the end of WW II Germany
was totally defeated and the Nazi movement supposedly eradicated. Now it is
obvious that the cancer was only dormant and it has reemerged in the form of
Islam-fascism. What seemed a long-term solution forced the disease to move
from the brain to the heart. Humanity is just as infected with hate as ever.
Today it flourishes in the Middle East, but it is making progress everywhere.
It has taken root in Europe, and it is leafing out in southeastern Asia. The
seeds have sprouted in the Americas and the US is far from immune. Are we in the United States
that different from the people in the Middle East? I suspect not. A minority of us shower hatred
on the Muslim world in general and the various radical Islamic groups in
particular. The larger group of us has reserved our best hatred for
ourselves. The liberals hate the conservatives who hate them back with equal
ardor. Democrats will do anything to get the hated Republicans out of power
while the Republicans will do anything to hold on to their power. In the
meantime the integrity of our government is circling the bowl. We have the religious right
who would make it unlawful to question any edict issued from an evangelist.
The population eventually would be required to kneel and pray three times a
day while facing Lynchburg, VA. On the other hand the ACLU would ride in on a
white charger and save us all from the small cross resting on someone’s desk. All of our history and current
events both lead me to one conclusion. Human beings are incapable of solving
our problems. We simply do not have it in us. We can talk about peace and
loving our neighbor as ourselves. We can really mean it when we say it. We just
cannot pull it off. We should think about this the next time a coworker eats
our piece of cake from the office refrigerator or when another driver cuts us
off in traffic. If we cannot act in love and forgiveness in the little
things, how can we possibly solve the larger problems of the world? History teaches us that
rolling over to expose our under bellies does not work against an enemy
fueled by hate and determined to kill or enslave us. This same history also
teaches that violence only pushes the cancer into remission. Examination of
ourselves teaches us that our very nature of self-centeredness, our One Sin,
will eventually determine our actions. This inevitably leads to the
conclusion mentioned above: Human beings are incapable of solving our problems.
So – In a beautiful world
polluted by hate, We are in need of salvation.
We are in desperate need of a hero. God has already sent one. Perhaps some
day more will realize this. |