Luke 10:1-3, 17-19
At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others [...] The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said,"Lord, even the demons are subject to us
because of your name."
Jesus said, "I have observed Satan
fall like lightning from the sky.
Behold, I have given you the power
to 'tread upon serpents' and scorpions
and upon the full force of the enemy
and nothing will harm you."
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit. 
~Eowyn
He said to them,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Given the cultural decay we see around us, it should come as no surprise that Americans' belief in God and the supernatural has systematically declined year after year.
A 2013 Harris Poll found that:
- While a strong majority (74%) of U.S. adults still believed in God, that belief was stronger (82%) in 2009, 2007 and 2005.
- Similarly, 68% believed that Jesus is God or the Son of God, down from 72% in 2005. (And yet only 57% believed in the Virgin birth, down from 60%. See "The Christmas Miracle: Scientific evidence of the Virgin Birth ")
- 65% believed in the Resurrection, down from 70%.
- 68% believed in Heaven, down from 75%.
- 72% believed in miracles, down from 79%.
The above may be called the "feel good" beliefs. Interestingly, with fewer adherents to begin with, there's also been a decline in belief in "feel bad" ideas. Only 58% believed in the devil and in Hell, down from 62%, although we have the authority of Jesus Christ Himself, who had "observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky."
Indeed, the greatest achievement of the Devil is to convince men that he doesn't exist.
On May 4, 2013, L'Osservatore Romano published an article, "How the Scriptures Speak of the Devil," by the theologian Inos Biffi that reviews the presence and role of the devil in the Old and New Testament. The article was reproduced by . Here are the references to the devil in the Bible:
- "Through the envy of the devil death entered the world" (Wisdom 2:24).
- The devil is "a murderer from the beginning"; in him "there is no truth"; "when he speaks falsehood, he speaks from what is his own, because he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).
- Jesus calls the devil "the prince of this world" (John 12:31; 16:11).
- St. Paul wrote extensively about the devil:
- "with his cunning the serpent seduced Eve" (2 Corinthians 11:3).
- Those who become lost "following Satan" (1 Timothy 5:14).
- "the prince of the powers of the air, that spirit who works in rebellious men" (Ephesians 2:2).
- "snares of the devil" and our battle "against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of evil" (Ephesians 6:12).
- The first letter of Peter names the "enemy," "the devil," or "the accuser," who "like a roaring lion goes prowling around seeking whom he may devour" (5:8).
- The letters of John recalled "the antichrist" who must come (1 John 2:18); the "liar" who denies that Jesus is the Christ; the "antichrist" who "denies the Father and the Son" (2:22); "The prince of this world is coming, [but] against me he can do nothing" (14:30).
- "A great war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon fought together with his angels, but he did not prevail and there was no place for them in heaven. And the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the one who is called devil and Satan and who seduces all of the inhabited earth, was thrown to earth and together with him his angels" (Revelation 12:7-9).
Inos Biffi writes:
This creates an antithesis between two royalties: that of Jesus and that of the prince of this world. The devil cannot tolerate Jesus Christ and seeks in every way to disrupt the divine plan conceived concerning him. As in the desert. [...]
Although definitively defeated by the Lord, the devil still tries to ensnare and bring down redeemed man. Peter spoke of his roaring and of his unspent will to harm; Paul urges the taking up of the shield of faith, in order to quench the "fiery arrows of the evil one" ( Ephesians 6:16).
[...] the stunning power of Satan: this is so strong and tenacious that only the power of the Son of God can defeat and overcome it [...] The devil is able to draw in everything and everyone, but before Jesus he becomes completely yielding. The crucified and risen one re-creates a victorious humanity, removed from the perverse influence of the evil one. The attraction of the devil is replaced by the attraction of Christ, who declares: "When I am raised up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself" (John 12:32). Only by sharing in the vigor of the slain and glorified Christ are we able to resist the flattery of the serpent from the beginning.
Biffi concludes with a chastisement against " the absence in preaching and catechesis of the truth concerning the devil ." He decries "those theologians who . . . overlook as marginal a fact that is so clear and widely attested to in Scripture itself as is that concerning the devil, maintaining him to be the personification of an obscure and primordial idea of evil, now demystified and unacceptable." Biff correctly adjudges that "Such a conception is a masterpiece of ideology, and above all is equivalent to trivializing the very work of Christ and his redemption. "
Jesus had taught us to pray by asking the Father to deliver us from the evil one ( Matthew 5:13). Shall we say that prayer together this glorious Sunday?
May the Peace and Joy and Love of Jesus Christ our Lord be with you!
