In His work of creation, God called into existence pure spirits endowed with free will, intelligence, and power. As their Creator He desired that they enjoy a special relationship with Him and do His will—though not under compulsion but rather out of love. A number of these spirits refused obedience and opposed His will. Their rejection of God became their damnation; of their own free will they became not good spirits but spirits of evil and rebellion, despising God.
Satan never sleeps
The Hebrew word “satan” means ‘adversary’; it refers to all those spirits that rose up against God. Blinded by his hatred of God, Satan wishes also to destroy the things He created. He directs his hatred especially against the human race, which God made in His own image and likeness. In carrying out his plan of destruction, Satan makes use of his exceptional intelligence, pretending to bring good and happiness to man when in reality he is plotting his ruin.
The Creator gave human beings reason and free will. Thus endowed, they are capable of recognizing and choosing what is good or what is evil. God loves man and wants him to chose only that which is good: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you” (Deut. 30:19-20). Making the right choice, however, has been made the more difficult in that man has been enslaved by sin: “every one who commits sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).
Christ conquered Satan by His Cross and Resurrection. He freed man from the bondage of sin. But He did not deprive him of the real possibility of choice. All men and women still enjoy the right to choose good or evil; and Satan still enjoys freedom of action. The struggle between good and evil continues then in the human heart. It will continue until Christ’s second coming—the Parousia. To assist men in their struggle, the loving God sends them his angels who guard them against Satan’s treacherous plans and help them in their striving for the good.
What is Satan’s strategy? Above all, he wants to destroy the bond of love and trust existing between God and man. Satan distorts God’s image, portraying Him as a tyrant jealous of his privileges, limiting man’s freedom by his commandments; in a word, he portrays God as man’s enemy placing obstacles in his path toward happiness. In his hatred of man, which he conceals and camouflages under the guise of good, Satan leads man into ever more serious sin, thereby blocking his path to God until finally man suffers spiritual death, and consequently (should he die in this state) eternal death. Satan’s actions have about them the “mystery of iniquity—unfathomable to man, vast, powerful, and full of guile. Eternally unhappy, he seeks, under the guise of bringing good and happiness, to drag man into that abyss of evil and wretchedness in which he finds himself eternally mired.
Satan’s presence and activity in the world today is becoming increasingly more menacing in proportion as our striving for holiness and need for a relationship with our Creator and Redeemer diminish. The war for humanity’s soul grows ever more fierce. A contemporary mystic cites Archangel Michael as saying: “Today almost all of hell has come out upon the earth. There is a struggle going on for every human soul.”
Dismissing sin
One of Satan’s greatest deceptions consists in trivializing sin and pretending nothing is the matter. First he tries to dull our conscience or at least to weaken our vigilance. Then he begins to insinuate doubts about the justice of God’s commandments. Then when we succumb, he tries to keep us in a state of mortal sin, frightening us with images of a stern, despotic god who is always on the lookout to punish sinners further.
But the truth is that “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Every sin separates us further from our loving God: “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isa. 59:2). And yet God wants nothing more than to forgive our sins. He wants to purify and sanctify us if we will only respond to His love with an act of love on our part: “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isa. 1:18). We have everything to gain by preparing ourselves for confession and making a good and thorough examination of conscience; everything to gain by making a firm decision to make amends and persevere in a state of sanctifying grace. This should be an authentic encounter of the sinner with his infinitely merciful Savior. Our sorrow should be like that of the Gospel tax collector humbly beating his breast (Luke 18:13).
Even seemingly small and insignificant sins can be grist for Satan’s mill. Satan seeks to enslave and draw us away from our love of God. He wants us to stop noticing our venial sins—even to stop calling them sins. Ah, let them multiply! No big deal. Until one day you realize they’ve got the better of you.
If we let him, Satan will fan a spark into a conflagration. It begins with a trifle: a careless word, a tactless remark, a friend’s silly jest. Before you know it, the thing escalates from mere suspicion about that person’s attitude toward you, to dislike of that person, to outright hostility toward that person. You now have a mountain of “evidence” against that person; nothing will convince you otherwise. Thus walls arise between people. There are other mechanisms at work as well. The self-centered braggart sees himself insufficiently valued. The covetous person envies everyone everything. The materialist has an eye out only for profit, etc. etc.
Enslavement
Satan, who is also known as the devil, is a master of intrigue. This other name derives from the Greek verb diaballein, which means “to sow destruction, cause a rift, spread slander, deceive, accuse.” Making light of Satan, temptation, venial sins, and disordered feelings gradually brings man to a state in which he is unable to resist and put up a fight. It is good to be adequately warned so as to be able to take precautions and seek necessary help.
In demonology the state of the soul is known as “possession by evil.” This is not yet outright possession by an evil spirit when the demon takes control of the person and manifests itself in specific torments. But the danger is real for all that. Satan makes use of a person’s every weakness and thus enslaves him by degrees.
Deliverance from possession by evil is achieved through a sacramental confession: a full and honest disclosure of the penitent’s moral situation. The confessor is always willing to help, but he must be informed of the circumstances of the sin. It is good to have a regular confessor that he may serve as the penitent’s spiritual director.
There are two other situations in which, through recklessness or ill will, a person opens himself up to overt diabolic activity: “summoning up” Satan and even direct cooperation with him.
Few people stop to think about the meaning of expletives and curses such as “goddam” or “go to the devil!” usually uttered in frustration or anger. It is even worse when people maliciously wish people evil at the hands of the devil, for he will never pass up a chance to realize his destructive plans.
There are those who actually lay curses on others, who cast evil spells, utter invocations to Satan to secure his help in getting back at people; who worship objects, make pacts with Satan, take part in séances and blasphemous Satanic rituals. You’d think “spells” and “charms” of any kind were things of the remote past. In fact people still resort to them today, only they call them by different names. That is what the exorcists tell us. It is amazing how many educated and supposedly enlightened people believe that wearing an amulet or Atlantis ring brings them happiness nd success.
“The number of practitioners and devotees of magic, occultism, and fortune-telling is growing at such an alarming rate that these phenomena are becoming part of our everyday experience,” observes the noted French exorcist, Father René Chenasseau.
Religious indifference, the “I-don’t-need-God” mentality, militant atheism, hostility toward the Church and religious believers—all these are occurring in precisely that order. People rarely remain at the “benign atheism” stage for long. All too soon, benign atheism turns into aggressive atheism, then into hostility toward the Church and anything connected with religion. The religious freedom of Christians is attacked under the guise of “tolerance.” In fact, there is no such thing as “religious neutrality.” What there is are scorn, put-downs, and the loss of rights of those who believe in the Triune God and have the courage to state so in public. This aggressive atheism has its source in Satan who despises God and seeks to stir up the same hatred in man’s heart.
In his book on exorcism, the above-cited Fr. Chenesseau cities startling revelations coming from the French mystic Marthe Robin. Hitler was personally involved with occult and esoteric groups. He created among the SS a secret cell whose task was to explore the problems of magic and the occult. Apparently he made a pact with Satan who laid down his condition as follows: “Destroy the Jewish people and I shall give you my power.”
The noted demonologist Father Aloes Mager states: “Wherever the lie becomes the basis of life, the motor of thought, the will, and action—there Satanic powers are directly engaged. So it was in the case of Nazism. It was diabolic under a new guise.”
We see the lie dominating politics, economics, and the mass media in today’s world as well. Those who participate in evil works, even indirectly, become co-perpetrators of that evil. If their works provoke moral degradation, the spread and facilitation of evil, the use of power to create harmful laws and structures, the harming of people and the environment, the spread of Satanic and blasphemous events, etc.—then these people are collaborators with Satan.
Resist the devil
All men have a conscience that tells them when they are embarking on such a path of collaboration. To back out is very difficult, as Satan considers his collaborators as his possession already.
Satan seeks above all to destroy families. A noted exorcist and archbishop said while visiting Medjugorje in 1995: “I know of Satanic sects whose express purpose is to hasten the destruction of the family. (…) The way to combat this is through prayer and fasting. We have prayers of exorcism, which the priests pray, but anyone can help to free others from Satan’s power. We need but call on the name of Jesus and the intercession of the saints, especially the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is important to say the rosary.” The bishop adds: “Priests need to embolden the faithful to take up the struggle against Satan. We must teach people to live by the sacraments, for then they will have no cause to be fearful. Above all we must pray and love.”
Since man cannot outsmart or defeat Satan on his own, he must rely on his only help—God, who in the person of Jesus Christ defeated death, sin, and the devil himself. Hence Saint James, Christ’s devoted servant and a man of prayer, teaches us: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind” (James 4:7-8). Only by breaking with sin, by praying and constantly picking ourselves up from sin can we entertain any hope of coming close to God, of sanctification and attaining eternal life. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).