Is the devil really in control of this earth?
IN view of our much vaunted trust and faith in God, it is satirical to assert that the devil is in control of this earth. We claim to know and worship the Almighty God. In no distant time, the number of churches will outnumber that of the population of the earth. The number of mosques is also increasing. We visit these places of worship everyday and the name of God is always on our lips. None of us wants to see evil or hear evil or even experience evil. None of us wants to have bad names or give our children and other loved ones bad names. In spite of all this, the devil firmly grips the earth. It is really satirical. I know that there is only one God the creator of everything including the devil. A creature, therefore, can’t be more powerful than his or its creator. If the devil controls the earth, then it stands to reason that we are not worshipping God as we claim. Rather, we enthrone the devil and venerate him through our ignoble deeds.
‘Submit yourselves unto God, resist the devil and he will flee,’ is an injunction from the bible. Similar injunctions can also be seen in other spiritual books. To what extent do we apply this in our daily lives? Submitting ourselves to God does not imply identifying with one religious body or the other. Otherwise the devil will not exercise control over this earth because all of us belong to different religious bodies. Submitting to God implies knowing and doing the will of God which expresses itself in avoiding all forms of evil emanating from our thoughts, words and deeds. This places us in a position to resist the devil and he will flee. But, as it is, the devil is fully in charge because we have sold our souls to him.
Naturally, the devil should not be in control of this earth. He does not have power to compel us to do evil. His is to suggest evil but we can say no or yes to it. Unfortunately, we are too apt to succumb to his suggestions because of our weaknesses and propensity for materialism. All over the world, there are callousness, murder, kidnapping, arson, insecurity, deceit, abortion and other forms of criminality engineered by the devil.
There was a thanksgiving service in one of the churches in honour of a rich man who survived a ghastly road accident. The church was filled to capacity with people from all walks of life. I was there too. As the man, together with his entourage, was ready to leave after the service, a group of fierce-looking people comprising four boys and two girls emerged from the church, dragged him into their car and whisked him away. A huge amount of money was paid to ransom him after some weeks in their captivity. He ran to one of the European countries for security reasons. But the devil is also at work abroad. People die every day owing to acts of terrorism and wars involving the use of nuclear weapons. Other areas the devil exerts his influence abroad include same sex relationship and marriage, prostitution, drug addiction, fraud, racism among others.
In many parts of the world, many men sleep with their daughters while others sleep with their sisters without compunction. Many married and unmarried women sell their bodies for money and many men engage in extra marital affair. Cases of raping little girls and women, setting habitation ablaze, destroying economic crops and wanton destruction of lives abound. Furthermore, married and unmarried women now live above the realm of shame as they expose their private parts in the name of dressing. These are also the devil’s henchmen and women.
How can someone, if not manipulated by the devil, find his way into a gathering with the aim of killing everybody? How can someone, if not one of the devil’s henchmen, specialize in assassinating his fellow human beings for money? This is not all. Many people kill their fellow human beings because of envy. Brothers kill one another and communities also kill one another because of land dispute and minor issues that can be resolved without shedding blood.
There is inter- religious war consuming millions of people worldwide. Deceit, fraud, love for materialism, illicit sex, immoral dressing, superstition, greed and other forms of devilish acts have crept into each of the religious houses. Religious bodies that are supposed to uphold godliness, provide succour, inspiration and clarity to the people in times of need have regrettably become entangled in the current mesh. In conclusion, the devil is in firm control of the earth because we have repudiated light and chosen to embrace darkness which symbolizes the devil.
Ijeoma, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Sapele, Deltastate.