What happened to the devil?

Long, long ago, Lucifer encountered his supernatural teenage years and decided that God was totally uncool.  He rebelled, and God expelled him from heaven.  Since that time, he has been making every effort to thwart God’s purposes.

These efforts were famously examined in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, a book of letters from an older, wiser demon to a younger demon; in the book, the older, wiser demon counsels the younger demon in the most effective methods to prevent humans from devoting themselves to God.

Unfortunately, in many Christian circles, it seems the devil receives minimal credit for his work.  The common dynamic now tends to be human actions and their effects on human interaction with God, with little attention paid to the devil’s tireless efforts to prevent such interaction.  The devil, it seems, is popularly viewed as a supernatural Ralph Nader to the two-party system of God and man: a bit of a pest, but no major threat.

This is a problem for us but a boon for the devil; we are told, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you,” but it’s hard to resist the devil without first fully acknowledging his power in this world.

Now might be a good time to start.