# 284: Dancing With the Devil

The basis for this post is to logically investigate the origin and reason for evil/sin and its leader, the devil.

How much do we know about the devil? Most likely not very much except that he is the force behind all sin. He is the evil force behind our self-centered, me-first animal nature, which the apostle Paul refers to over a dozen times as our sinful nature. We are all born with that “me-first” attitude.

While the Holy Spirit indwells God’s people, the spirit of Satan the devil indwells all people without God’s Spirit, of course without the knowledge of most people. Satan’s main purpose is to make certain that his people are concerned with survival of the fittest. In whatever they do, his continued inspiration is to make certain it will be for their physical benefit, even though they may not make it appear that way.

Satan knows that naturally, all humans are sophisticated, intelligent animals, and he does everything in his power to hide that fact from us. He wants us to believe we are good people, regardless of how selfish and egotistical we may be. Also, he continually attempts to make evil look acceptable and good. These are only a few of the devil’s tightly held secrets.

The question comes up as to why he is evil. Why can’t he be good? Because he was--and still is--the heart and soul of all wild animals. It would be impossible for him to change. That is where our animal nature comes from, but usually in a greatly modified way.

For wild animals, the devil is the good guy, because he inspires them to fight for their survival. Also, as he lives in humans, it is the same story: dog eat dog, but hopefully in a non-conspicuous way. When animals are tamed, Satan is in limbo, but is waiting for a chance to exert his will. Most likely, while in wild animals, the devil thinks like a rational human although he is an intelligent animal himself, always wanting the best for the animals he is possessing.

Now for the transition from animal to human: as I have written several times in this blog, we must use logic when reading the first few chapters of Genesis. As any sane person knows (and it has been proven over and over again with scientific empirical evidence), the universe was not built/created in six 24-hour days. Also, the earth is not 6 thousand years old, but took billions of earth years for God to build according to the laws of physics that he established. God created it according to what I call “God-Guided Evolution” and not according to Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Since time does not exist in the realm where God resided, it took no time at all for Him to create the universe and intelligent humans. When I say that time does not exist with God, that means there are no weeks, months, years, decades or centuries. We do not age when we are with God, as He does not age.

I am certain that if God tried to explain to Moses what we now know as fact about the creation process and the number of earth years for God to finish His work, it would have blown Moses’ mind. So now it is the place of all logical and rational Bible students/Christians to improvise the first chapter or two of Genesis so that atheists, etc. wouldn’t think all Christians belong in a funny farm.

This theological writing may sound strange coming from a man who is a dedicated and active follower of Jesus Christ. But remember, it is Spirit inspired human logic.

Now getting back to the devil and how he works…when the devil possesses humans, his action becomes evil because initially, most evil springs from self-concern, and many times at the cost of others.

The only way to be freed from the natural power the devil has over all he possesses is to become possessed by the Holy Spirit of God. The first thing God’s Spirit does in an individual is to inform that person to consider others as important and better than themselves. That is divine love. Well, this may be our first reaction: that is not very inviting news. What makes it more inviting is that the person will be empowered with God’s love. When Jesus Christ comes into the picture and is accepted as Lord and Savior and the gift of eternal Salvation is revealed, then and only then will it be more natural to love others as we love ourselves. Of course, things are in reverse in this paragraph. The acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior comes first, and if that commitment is for real, all the above-mentioned, etc. will follow.

One thing is evident: wherever sin resides, the inspiration of the devil is present. The devil, sin and self-centeredness are synonymous. That seems to indicate that every person who is not a Holy Spirit-inspired person (Christian) is being inspired by the devil, regardless of how good, kind and loving they may seem. The vast majority of the human population are not genuine born-again, Spirit-totting Christians. That is a frightful thing to think we live in such an ungodly world.

The question remains: are we dancing with the devil, or are we waltzing with the Spirit of God? There is no in between. It is easy to dance with the devil since he makes most of his ways according to what makes us feel good about ourselves.

While waltzing with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, many situations will be difficult for us to handle because it is not easy to go against our sinful human nature. And what does the apostle Paul teach in Romans 8:8? “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” Also 8:13-14: “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

This teaching implies that it will not be an easy thing, even occasionally, to live without obeying our sinful human nature. This is because it is natural to live according to what feels good, and quite often it may be good for our personal survival. I wish this teaching would be more prevalent in most Christian churches, but anyone can see why it isn’t; it is not a “make-you-feel-good” teaching.

There are times I wish we could live according to our sinful nature and still be good Christians, but that is not the case. Repeating, the reason is because that is where the devil gets his power. Once we go there, we will be dancing with the devil and to his tune.

And don’t forget this: since Satan is a spirit creature, he doesn’t occupy space, so his sinful desires are everywhere. As we can’t escape the eyes of the Lord, the same is true with Satan.

Just because some of us have been blessed and thus led by the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the devil is still waiting on the sidelines/peripherally as it were, waiting for a selfish or sinful thought or deed in our lives so that he can trip us up without our knowledge.

In conclusion, I truly believe that for whatever reason, people’s misconceptions (of thinking they are Christians and yet are dancing with the devil) explain why much of the Christian religion is in shambles. Anyone can easily tell if they are genuine Christians or not by how many worldly activities they enjoy engaging in. And the sure way one can tell if an activity is worldly is when it doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus Christ and/or holiness. The word “holy” means to be separate from the normal/secular. The devil doesn’t want you to believe this paragraph; it is another of his tightly held secrets.

It is no wonder that atheists ridicule Christians, the fakes along with the genuine, because most of them supposedly worship God but still love dancing with the devil.