Venom
"I don't suppose many people believe in the devil anymore, or at least, if we do, we don't take him very seriously."
There ya go...my "old life" story in a single sentence.
Somewhere between the vampires and the ghost stories and the wicked witches of the west, Satan became just one more fictional character for me. He became as real as any villian I would read about in the latest Stephen King novel. And, now that I look back, I realize this is exactly how Satan was working it.
I was the kind of kid where scary stuff was just that - scary. Even the Wizard of Oz was something I couldn't sit through because everything scary back then truly haunted me. I would take it all in and then days, weeks, even months later, it would be twisted around in my mind and come back in my dreams to bite me on the butt. HARD.
But then, in my late teens, (right around the time I stopped wanting to go to church, now that I think about it...) I started processing all these fears differently, somehow. It took me weeks to get over the first Stephen King book I ever read but, once I did, I couldn't wait to get to number two. And number three. And number four. And no, I don't think his books are inherently 'evil' but, for me, where a movie kept coming at you full speed ahead, I could set the book down and read it in doses. Eventually, I got all the thrill and "rush" of the horror story that everyone else was enjoying in movie form and I found I couldn't get enough of it.
Evil began to fascinate me (at least the way Stephen King wrote about it.) I always left his books wanting more. As someone who knew they wanted to weave tails with the crack of a whip the way he did it, I became enthralled in his magical worlds and the skilled way he threw a story together and, in doing so, evil became a "thing" instead of a reality. (Starting to hear the snake hiss?)
I don't know when it became a total disbelief in Satan - somewhere between those books and my sitting down with Ken two years ago but I still remember him asking me, "You do believe in Satan, don't you?" and the word, "no" popped out of my mouth. That omission was the very turning point of my life. After years of Halloween characters and scary movies and Stephen King books, I had managed to drop Satan in with the make believe world of vampires and witches and zombies.
[For all you parents out there, I'd say this: There will never be a conversation more important in your child's life than the one where you explain the difference between what is "spooky" and what is actual "evil." Spooky is fun and thrilling and makes you scream out loud. Evil is dark and private and makes you scream INSIDE.]
Now that I have learned the truth, I can once again separate the two. "Why is it so easy to listen to the whisperings of a snake and so hard to hear the voice of the Lamb" the author asks? Partly because we dress the snake up in a funny red costume and hand him a pitchfork every Halloween but the rest of the answer lies, I believe, inside the first paragraph of this chapter. Satan doesn't use huge lies that can only sway the stupid and gullible. He moves in on you and me every day like the pick pocket or the swindler or grifter, telling us something so close to the truth that we can't help but think he's right.
When it sounds like the truth but the warning bells go off - I've learned it's time to walk away.
There ya go...my "old life" story in a single sentence.
Somewhere between the vampires and the ghost stories and the wicked witches of the west, Satan became just one more fictional character for me. He became as real as any villian I would read about in the latest Stephen King novel. And, now that I look back, I realize this is exactly how Satan was working it.
I was the kind of kid where scary stuff was just that - scary. Even the Wizard of Oz was something I couldn't sit through because everything scary back then truly haunted me. I would take it all in and then days, weeks, even months later, it would be twisted around in my mind and come back in my dreams to bite me on the butt. HARD.
But then, in my late teens, (right around the time I stopped wanting to go to church, now that I think about it...) I started processing all these fears differently, somehow. It took me weeks to get over the first Stephen King book I ever read but, once I did, I couldn't wait to get to number two. And number three. And number four. And no, I don't think his books are inherently 'evil' but, for me, where a movie kept coming at you full speed ahead, I could set the book down and read it in doses. Eventually, I got all the thrill and "rush" of the horror story that everyone else was enjoying in movie form and I found I couldn't get enough of it.
Evil began to fascinate me (at least the way Stephen King wrote about it.) I always left his books wanting more. As someone who knew they wanted to weave tails with the crack of a whip the way he did it, I became enthralled in his magical worlds and the skilled way he threw a story together and, in doing so, evil became a "thing" instead of a reality. (Starting to hear the snake hiss?)
I don't know when it became a total disbelief in Satan - somewhere between those books and my sitting down with Ken two years ago but I still remember him asking me, "You do believe in Satan, don't you?" and the word, "no" popped out of my mouth. That omission was the very turning point of my life. After years of Halloween characters and scary movies and Stephen King books, I had managed to drop Satan in with the make believe world of vampires and witches and zombies.
[For all you parents out there, I'd say this: There will never be a conversation more important in your child's life than the one where you explain the difference between what is "spooky" and what is actual "evil." Spooky is fun and thrilling and makes you scream out loud. Evil is dark and private and makes you scream INSIDE.]
Now that I have learned the truth, I can once again separate the two. "Why is it so easy to listen to the whisperings of a snake and so hard to hear the voice of the Lamb" the author asks? Partly because we dress the snake up in a funny red costume and hand him a pitchfork every Halloween but the rest of the answer lies, I believe, inside the first paragraph of this chapter. Satan doesn't use huge lies that can only sway the stupid and gullible. He moves in on you and me every day like the pick pocket or the swindler or grifter, telling us something so close to the truth that we can't help but think he's right.
When it sounds like the truth but the warning bells go off - I've learned it's time to walk away.
posted by HeyJules at
8:14 AM
4 Comments:
Even among Christians I think this resonates. There are so many people who try to 'pretty up' the enemy and there is nothing pretty about it. He is evil. He wants to kill us. He has a name, it is Satan.
Good stuff here Jules!
By
kpjara, at 12:19 PM
"Satan doesn't use huge lies that can only sway the stupid and gullible. He moves in on you and me every day like the pick pocket or the swindler or grifter, telling us something so close to the truth that we can't help but think he's right."
You nailed this, Jules.
I heard this said once, and it seems appropriate here - regarding satan AND the false teachers who are amongst us.
Their tactics = the skin of the truth, stuffed with a lie.
By
Anonymous, at 12:24 PM
You nailed it, Jules! And I like what Gayla has shared..."the skin of the truth, stuffed with a lie." Doesn't that describe it so well?
By
Pilot Mom, at 4:30 PM
That draw and curiousity about 'dark' subject matter is there for all of us. There is so much of it on TV now - almost every show has dark subject matter and a steady diet can only cause harm. I love the verse where we are exhorted to think about good things, vituous things, things that are wholesome and clean. And when we do, the reality of Satan and the darkness that surrounds him becomes clearer and clearer.
By
Andrea, at 9:04 PM
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