No real devil in existence.

 

49. No real devil. One thing that seems to be present in most of the commonly known religions of God is the talk of an evil anti-god or a devil. One thing that is not so well known, in these religions, is that a non-physical, non-literal, kind of anti-deity is hinted at, or outright stated that he does not exist in these religions; or in other words, the religions tell us that the devil, or whatever other name he goes by, is not real, but a metaphor for our lower more animalistic nature. The devil, or Satan as he is sometimes called, is symbolic for our more materialistic side. This way the devil is truly part of us and not some evil deity whispering in our ears. This way we are truly held accountable for our own actions before God not someone else: So, in following along with this statement, the term devil is not mentioned in the Old Testament. The term devils (plural) is used, and this is only used four times in the whole book. Also, when the term devils is used it is used to indicate the practice of idol worship and not the warning for mankind to be careful of the influence of some super anti god.  Judaism: Leviticus 17:6 “And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of The LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto The LORD.” Leviticus 17:7 “And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.” Deuteronomy 32:16 “They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him to anger.” Deuteronomy 32:17 “They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.” Chronicles 11:15 “And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils.” Psalms 106:34 “They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom The LORD commanded them: But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.” Psalms 106:36 “And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.” Psalms 106:37 “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,” Psalms 106:38 “And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan:” Clearly the term devils used here in the Old Testament is used to indicate the practice of idol worship; and not the existence of an alter ego of God; and I found, when I really looked at the writings of the New Testament, that the term devil was not so clearly defined there either:  Christianity: Matthew 11:12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” Matthew 11:17 “And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.” Matthew 11:18 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.” The people of that time called John the Baptist a man possessed by a devil just because he chose not to dance or do the things they thought he should be doing; so the actions of a man that went against custom was considered to be the actions of a man possibly possessed by a devil. Luke 8:35 “Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.” Illnesses of the mind, in those days, would most likely have been considered possession by devils to the people living around the afflicted individuals. So, by Jesus healing the mind of the afflicted man, the people, of that time, would have seen it as the devils had went out of him by the man being found in his right state of mind. Acts 10:38 “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Christ healed those that were oppressed of the devil, not by the devil. Of, is something that can be a part of you like your ego or man’s lower nature controlling his actions. Of the devil indicates that the devil was part of them not some exterior force to man that is trying to influence us in an unseen way: Matthew 8:33 “possessed of the devils.” Luke 8:29 “driven of the devil into the wilderness etc…..”

 CHRISTIANITY: Matthew 9:32 “As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.” Matthew 9:33 “And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marveled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.” Clearly the infirmity of not being able to speak was thought to be caused by the presence of a devil, and the act of Christ healing this man was thought to be the process of driving the devil out of the man. Matthew 9:34 “But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.” Here Jesus himself is accused of working with the devil, while performing good actions that the Pharisees didn’t like, which is a pretty good indication for us that if the people of that age didn’t like your actions, for whatever reason, they thought a possible devil was responsible for the unwanted behavior.

 CHRISTIANITY: Matthew 11:18 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.” Luke 7:33 “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.” Again, the term devil is used here, by the people, to denote the characteristics and actions of John the Baptist which the people around him didn’t like, so they accused him of having a devil in him. Since, John the Baptist was clearly not possessed by a devil, this again is a good indication that the people of that time living around John the Baptist looked at the actions and conditions of the people around them and believed that anything that was out of the norm or unusual in a person’s actions or in their physical condition was due to the presents of a devil in them. John 8:48 “Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” John 8:49 “Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.” Even Jesus was accused of having a devil because he performed miracles that the Jews didn’t want to see. Matthew 9:33 “And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marveled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.” Matthew 12:22 “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.” Jesus Christ healed him which in the terminology of the bible would mean Christ had cast out the devil, which in reality meant Christ cast out the sickness. Luke 11:14 “And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.” All of these statements clearly indicate that these were physical and possibly symbolic conditions wrong with these people, and not the true possession of these individuals by real devils or demons possessing the body of a man. 1 Corinthians 10:19 “What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?” 1 Corinthians 10:20 “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.” 1 Corinthians 10:21 “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of The Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.” So, in the New Testament we find that Paul also uses the term devils to indicate the practice of idol worship, like in the Old Testament. Paul goes a step further then this indicating that the people worshiping the idols are themselves to be considered devils. So here again, we find devils (plural) being associated with the actions of humans. 1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;” 1 Timothy 4:2 “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;” Doctrines of devils, this statement is evidence that some of the actions of men will be corrupted by the doctrines of those that worship idols, but, the idols of today do not necessarily mean the golden calves of Moses’ time. Idols can be anything that man places on a pedestal in his mind. Cars houses, televisions, business, money etc…. anything that we place more value on then we do God can be considered an idol that we worship in our minds; placing the worship of devils above God. 1 Corinthians 10:19 “What say I then? that the idol is any thing,”

BAHA’I FAITH: “If no fruits of the Kingdom appear in the garden of his soul, man is not in the image and likeness of God, but if those fruits are forthcoming, he becomes the recipient of ideal bestowals and is enkindled with the fire of the love of God. If his morals become spiritual in character, his aspirations heavenly and his actions conformable to the will of God, man has attained the image and likeness of his Creator; otherwise, he is the image and likeness of Satan. Therefore, Christ hath said, ‘Ye shall know them by their fruits.’”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 335)

We also find that Christ was supposed to have been tempted by the Devil in the earliest part of his ministry:  Christianity: Matthew 4:1 “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” Luke 4:2 “Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.” Mark 1:13 “And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.” Christ here was not tempted by the devil or Satan as we are told in church, but he was tempted, again, of the devil and of Satan, signifying the godly spiritual aspect we know as Christ was tempted of his lower physical side, being also mortal man, which again, indicates that the devil or Satan was there with Christ all along, because that aspect of our physical nature is part of us, while on this earth, to tempt us and guide us down the wrong path towards attachment to the physical world, and our own hardships; which allows God to justly judge us since we are being tempted, not by some external force alien to us, but by our own physical self wanting physical things of this world, which sends us down the material path of the world and not the spiritual path God wants us to follow. I mean, what do we really think sin is really all about? Sin is us doing something that is harmful to us or others that causes us to be creatures of nature and not spiritual creatures of our Father which is in heaven, which is where God is really trying to lead us. I mean, how else do we think that sin, mostly physical events, can harm our soul a spiritual entity? (See Sin and Sinning for more information) John 6:67 “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” John 6:68 “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” John 6:69 “And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” John 6:70 “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” John 6:71 “He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.” Christ clearly states that Judas Iscariot, a man, is a devil, though we clearly know that he was a man. Also, if this is not enough clarification that the devil or Satan is our lower animalistic side, Christ goes, a step further calling Peter Satan: Matthew 16:23 “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Mark 8:33 “But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.” Here Christ clearly states it. Savoring the things of men, the physical world and its pleasures, is being of Satan, in which case man is considered to be Satan or the devil in the eyes of God.

BAHA’I FAITH: “The reality underlying this question is that the evil spirit, Satan or whatever is interpreted as evil, refers to the lower nature in man.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 77

 CHRISTIANITY: Acts 13:8 “But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.” Acts 13:9 “Then Saul, (who also is called Paul) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,” Acts 13:10 “And said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of The Lord?” Again, we find the devil being associated with the actions of men, or the actions of a man. Paul calls this man who is standing in the way of God’s work “child of the devil,” which in this case stands for a man who is the enemy of all that is righteous, but is still a man not a literal child of a literal devil. 1 John 3:8 “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:10 “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” The children of the devil are clearly those people that doeth not the righteousness of God but commit sin, which is of the devil. Men that do wickedly are the children of the devil by their actions.  Judaism: Job 1:6 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before The LORD, and Satan came also among them.” Satan is found amongst the children of God and since we are the children of God Satan is found amongst us, because Satan is part of us, being our lower nature. Sirach 21:27 “When the ungodly curseth Satan, he curseth his own soul.” (Apocrypha)

BAHA’I FAITH: “The reality underlying this question is that the evil spirit, Satan or whatever is interpreted as evil, refers to the lower nature in man.” “This lower nature in man is symbolized as Satan — the evil ego within us, not an evil personality outside.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 77 and Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 286)

 BABI RELIGION: “I despatched a messenger unto thee with a truly resplendent Tablet, but the followers of the devil (the unseeing mullahs) turned him away disdainfully and interposed themselves between him and thee. They expelled him from the land whereof thou art the undisputed sovereign. Thus hath the good of this world and of the next escaped thee, unless thou submit to the commandment ordained by God and be of them that are rightly guided.” =   “Dost thou imagine him whom thou hast appointed Chancellor in thy kingdom to be the best leader and the best supporter? Nay, I swear by thy Lord. He will bring thee into grievous trouble by reason of that which Satan instilleth in his heart, and verily, he himself is Satan.” “Indeed in the estimation of the people he is naught but manifest darkness…”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, pp. 23 and 24)

 Babi Religion: “Fear thou God and suffer not thy soul to be chastised beyond that with which it hath already been tormented; for ere long thou shalt pass away and shalt declare thyself clear of the devil whom thou hast appointed as thy Chancellor, saying: ‘O would that I had not taken the devil as my Chancellor, nor appointed an impostor as my guide and adviser.”’

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 24)

Also, rounding things out, we should look at the name Lucifer which is used only one time in the whole bible, in a proverb about the king of Babylon. Lucifer:   Judaism: Isaiah 14:4 “That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!” Isaiah 14:11 “Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.” Isaiah 14:12 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” Isaiah 14:13 “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:” Isaiah 14:14 “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Isaiah 14:15 “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” Isaiah 14:16 “They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;” Lucifer is a man in this proverb; the king of Babylon. Lucifer is a man, not some great evil anti-God. His armies were so massive they shook the earth when they moved and caused the other kingdoms to shake in fear. Daniel 5:18 “5:18 “O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:” Daniel 5:19 “And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him; whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down:” Jeremiah 8:16 “The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.” Ezekiel 26:7 “For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.” Ezekiel 26:8 “He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.” Ezekiel 26:9 “And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.” Ezekiel 26:10 “By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.”

BAHA’I FAITH: “It is evident that human personality appears in two aspects, — the image or likeness of God and the aspect of Satan.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 108)

Baha’i Faith: “Regarding your question relative to the condition of those people who are described in the Gospel as being possessed of devils; this should be interpreted figuratively; devil or Satan is symbolic of evil and dark forces yielding to temptation.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 513)

Lastly, I find in my studies of the bible and the Bahá’í Faith and the other religions of God, that God is supposed to be all knowing, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. If this is true then how could God have made such a huge mistake by the creation of an evil anti-god, the devil, Lucifer, Satan or whatever other name you may call him by? The God I have became aware of is all powerful, all knowing and ever present with us. The God I have come to believe in is not sloppy, He doesn’t make mistakes, and He is always present.  Judaism: Jeremiah 23:23 “Am I a God at hand, saith The LORD, and not a God afar off?” 23:24 “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith The LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith The LORD.” Ezekiel 28:3 “There is no secret that they can hide from Thee.” I REPEAT, THERE IS NO SECRET WE CAN HIDE FROM GOD!!! So how could God make a mistake by creating an evil anti-god or devil?  Christianity: Matthew 5:48 “Your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” God is perfect, He does not make mistakes!!! He is omniscient; He knows everything, past, present and all into the future.

But, let’s say for arguments sake that we believe God did create this evil anti-god? God is omnipresent; He is always with everybody and everything. How could anybody, let alone an angel, conspire against God, God is ever present, there is nothing that can be done in secret that God will not be aware of. Let me repeat:  Judaism: Ezekiel 28:3 “There is no secret that they can hide from Thee.” Jeremiah 23:23 “Am I a God at hand, saith The LORD, and not a God afar off?” 23:24 “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith The LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith The LORD.”  Christianity: Matthew 18:10 “For I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” Angels always behold the face of God in heaven, therefore God always beholds the angels, there is no secret we or the angels can hide from God, so the story of the falling of the angels, which is not even found in the bible, makes very little sense. The only story I find in the bible about a war in heaven takes place in Revelations which is not supposed to have happened yet, but will take place after Revelations is being fulfilled: Revelation 12:7 “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 12:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.” 12:9 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan…. he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” So you see, the war of Satan is yet to take place and God is most certainly aware of all that he does, so this only strengthens my point, that the existence of the devil and Satan is symbolic and not to be taken literally. Satan is not a real entity: Baha’i Faith: “The evil spirit, Satan or whatever is interpreted as evil, refers to the lower nature in man. This baser nature is symbolized in various ways. In man there are two expressions, one is the expression of nature, the other the expression of the spiritual realm. The world of nature is defective. Look at it clearly, casting aside all superstition and imagination. If you should leave a man uneducated and barbarous in the wilds of Africa, would there be any doubt about his remaining ignorant? God has never created an evil spirit; all such ideas and nomenclature are symbols expressing the mere human or earthly nature of man. It is an essential condition of the soil of earth that thorns, weeds and fruitless trees may grow from it. Relatively speaking, this is evil; it is simply the lower state and baser product of nature.”

“It is evident therefore that man is in need of divine education and inspiration; that the spirit and bounties of God are essential to his development. That is to say, the teachings of Christ and the prophets are necessary for his education and guidance.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 77)

And what do the other religions tell us about the devil? The other religions of God also indicate that the devil is not real. Most of the religions come right out and tell us that the devil or Satan is not real. The rest of the religions indicate that this notion of an evil all powerful anti-god is a concept not a reality.

 ISLAM: Letter 69. “Be afraid of your own anger because out of the armies of Satan, man’s anger is its strongest force.” Satan is being referred to as an it, not a him or his, but an it, not a being of substance or thought, but an object with no real power of its own. It says man’s anger is its strongest force, a non-being with no real force or power of its own.

(Islam, Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

Islam: “Allah (God) has further ordered you to keep your desires under control, to keep yourself under restraint when extravagant and inordinate yearnings and cravings try to drive you towards vice and wickedness because usually your ‘self’ tries to incite and drag you towards infamy and damnation unless the Merciful Lord comes to your help.” Yourself, not some evil anti-god not the devil or Satan, but your own self, the ego, the Satan like whisper of desire and vanity within you trying to incite you and lead you astray, no one else. This is the reason why God holds us accountable for our own actions, not anyone else.

(Islam, Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

Islam: Letter 73. “Beware that Satan has made you incorrigible, it has made you blind to good things as shown by the Holy Prophet(s) and deaf to His teachings.” Again we find Satan being referred to as an it not a who that is living and thinking. Satan requires man to have any power because it does not have any power of its own, but this force called Satan is part of man therefore it requires man’s own egotistical actions to even be considered as a thing, and not just a pure figment of our own  imagination. Consider, in the end times, Satan is to be cast into a bottomless pit. What pit is more bottomless then man’s own alter ego. There is no bottom to it because it’s a process of thought with no real substance of its own, just a thought without any action of its own unless we make it happen by our own actions. How else could we be justly held responsible for our actions before God. I mean, are we really going to say that Satan whispered into my ear and the devil made me do it?

(Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

Islam: 79. “Whatever good, (O man!) happens to thee, is from Allah (God); but whatever evil happens to thee, is from thy (own) soul. And We have sent thee as a Messenger to (instruct) mankind: and enough is Allah for a witness.” Whatever evil happens to thee is from our own soul, not the devil or Satan or some anti-god!

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah   4)

Islam: “And when they meet those who believe, they say, ‘We do believe;’ but when they go aside with their devils, they say, ‘We are with you; we were but mocking” “So have we made for every prophet an enemy,- devils of men” Here Muhammad comes right out and tells you the devils are of men, a part of man, not some spooky anti-God that God (Allah) somehow in His great omniscience made a mistake in creating; which would argue the point that He is not all knowing.

(The Qur’an (E.H. Palmer tr), Sura   2 and 6 The Heifer

Islam: “Thus have we given an enemy to every prophet – Satans among men.” Satans among men is pretty much the same as devils of men. Muhammad tells us that God has put devils among men for every prophet to face or in other words every prophet and his followers are going to face the persecutions of men who are too spiritually blind to see the truth of God’s spiritual message.

(The Qur’an (Rodwell tr), Sura   6 – Cattle)

Islam: 112. “Likewise did We make for every Messenger an enemy, evil ones among men.” Yusuf Ali does not even use the term devils or satans, but states it’s the evil ones among men who are the enemies of God’s holy prophets. Men not some archaic anti-god that has long since worn out its purpose as a method of scaring men into being good or the devil is going to get you.

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah   6)

Islam: “So have we made for every prophet an enemy,- devils of men” Here again the devils are the men!

(The Qur’an (E.H. Palmer tr), Sura   6 – Cattle)

Islam: 76 “Those who believe do battle for the cause of Allah (God); and those who disbelieve do battle for the cause of idols. So fight the minions of the devil.” Here, like in the bible, idols worshipers are considered to be worshipers of the devil, or in this case idol worshipers are the minions of their idols or devils. 79. “Whatever good, (O man!) happens to thee, is from Allah; but whatever evil happens to thee, is from thy (own) soul.” Now here is a statement from Muhammad that is pretty much straight forward. Whatever evil happens to us we are to blame for, from our very own souls, not the devil or Satan. We are the evil ones. Goodness comes from God but evil comes from ourselves. (See, It is a man’s ego that whispers secret suggestions of vanity and wrong doing to him, not Satan)

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah   4) and (The Qur’an (Pickthall tr), Sura   4 – Women)

Islam: 97. “And say: ‘O my Lord! I seek refuge with Thee from the suggestions of the Evil Ones;”’ People telling them what to do or their own lusts taking control of them.

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  23)

Islam: 29. “Nay, the wrongdoers (merely) fellow their own lusts,” (Satan) 36. “When We give men a taste of Mercy, they exult thereat: and when some evil afflicts them because of what their (own) hands have sent forth, behold, they are in despair!” (And they blame the devil not what they themselves did)

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 30)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: “One who proceeds to deceive an honest man, will have another habitat, via long gloomy life, evil food (thoughts) and remorseful words. The devils, by their own deeds indeed, lead their soul away from religion.” “Until the higher self has established itself in him (has become his normal self) a man is his own enemy. Until the pebble has turned into a ruby, there is self conflict for yet there are two selves within it.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan pp. 173 and 685) Zoroaster comes right out and tells men that they are their own devils, or their own worst enemies. There are two selves within man, his higher nature and his devil or lower nature.  Zoroastrianism: “Those who, out of evil spirit, aggravate by their tongue, anger and assault, not seeing even thought appearing to see, and whose evil deeds are not at all covered by their good deeds; know them to be diabolical for such is the character of the Devil.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 662) Zoroaster tells us we, because of our evil actions, are the devil or devils or the character of the devil.  Zoroastrianism: “Subconscious mind (ego, Satan) is the seat of evil impulses. It can be purified only by constant thought of God.” “Man is in the grip Angra Manyu (the force of evil, the devil) that could not be helped, that is the precedent condition of the creation of the universe. But man can get out of the clutches of Angra Manyu (Satan) this is how the Holy Prophet asks man to cheer up to the spite of the lower self (The subconscious).” “Love can change pain into joy has not the saint gone out of the clutches of Angra Manyu.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan pp. 259 and 599)

 Zoroastrianism: 3. “(Zarathushtra) — But ye, ye Daevas all, and he that highly honors you, are the seed of Bad Thought — yes, and of the Lie and of Arrogance, likewise your deeds, whereby ye have long been known in the seventh region of the earth.” 4. “For ye have brought it to pass that men who do the worst things shall be called beloved of the Daevas, separating themselves from Good Thought, departing from the will of Mazda Ahura (God) and from Right.” 5. “Thereby ye defrauded mankind of happy life and immortality, by the deed which he and the Bad Spirit together with Bad Thought and Bad Word taught you, ye Daevas and the Liars, so as to ruin (mankind).” 9. “The teacher of evil destroys the lore, he by his teaching destroys the design of life, he prevents the possession of Good Thought from being prized. These words of my spirit I wail unto you, O Mazda, and to the Right.” “((Daevas or Daeva is the word thought to be where the term devil originally came from in the Jewish religion and the Daeva or devil was thought to be the evil actions of man (man that is a Daeva or devil),” Avesta – Vendidad))

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasna 32 and Avesta – Vendidad)

 Zoroastrianism: “Broken be Satan,’ who is also known as ‘Ahriman,’ who is also known as, ‘The Evil-Doer Angra Mainyu.’ the equivalent to the devil in Christianity. ‘Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) known as the deadly, the Daeva of the Daevas;’ also called ‘the evil-doer’ and ‘the evil spirit.’” “Angra Mainyu, who is all death, the worst-lying of all Daevas, is the Daeva the supreme ruler of the Daevas which makes the Daevas all to be Devils the enemies to mankind and the curse to humanity.” “When in the early centuries during the captivity of the children of Israel by the Babylonian kings the followers of the laws of Moses encountered the religion of the followers of Zarathushtra (Zoroaster); and the similar laws and similar belief structure of the two religions became self evident to the Babylonians and the Jews. This is one of the reasons why King Cyrus (Darius and Artaxerxes) of the Persian monarchy released the Hebrew children from their captivity to Babylon and gave Ezra and Nehemiah, two of the prophets of the Torah and the Bible, the means to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.” “It was also because of this interaction between these two religions, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, that certain names and ideologies were passed between the two religions. One of which was this belief in a more singular devil which up to this point had been plural devils and related to idol worship. Another thing that occurred was the Daevas, the bitter enemies’ of mankind became devils and then later on singularly The Devil.”

(The Zend-Avesta, Khorda Avesta and The Vendidad Avesta)

 Zoroastrianism: “Let no thought of Angra Mainyu ever infect thee, so that thou shouldst indulge in evil lusts, make derision and idolatry, and shut (to the poor) the door of thy house.” Here again idolatry is inter related with the Zoroastrian concept of the devil (Angra Mainyu)

(The Zend-Avesta, Avesta Fragments)

 Zoroastrianism: Denkard. Zoroaster, “Every man when he invokes the Sun three times every day, shall then give himself up entirely to God, and shall avow the existence of the Religion and the Deity, and the non-existence of Ahriman and the demons.” Here the Zoroastrian religion comes right out and tells you Ahriman (the devil, along with demons) does not exist.

 Zoroastrianism: “Manyu (Angra Mainyu or Ahriman) means force. It is called the mental force, for force is not a material object that can be perceived by the eye and the ear. It is perceived by the mind alone. The effects produced by the force may be seen, but not the force itself, whose existence is inferred by the mind.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 82)

 HINDUISM: “We from the darkness,’ he says; ‘the darkness is the evil one; verily from him he smites away the evil one.” Here darkness is associated as being the devil, which as we read earlier in (topics, Darkness and light are in many cases symbolic) which tells us among other things that darkness is associated with evil symbolically. Also Krishna tells us that we form the darkness or we form the evil one. So, again there is no real devil in existence, only our lower nature.

(Hindu, Vedas, Yajur Veda – Kanda V)

 Hinduism: “Me myself, present within the flesh! Know them to devils devoted, not to Heaven!” The presence of God is found in each and every one of us. (See God is inside of us for more information) So if God is found in every one of us where is there room for an anti-god called Satan? One defeats the other.

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 17)

 Hinduism: “Men of Darkness pray To Pretas and to Bhutas.” “Nay, Me myself, present within the flesh! Know them to devils devoted, not to Heaven!” Me myself or we ourselves are devils if we are not devoted to God and heaven.

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 17)

 BUDDHISM: 3. “Seeing your body as no better than an earthen pot, make war on Mara with the sword of wisdom, and setting up your mind as a fortress, defend what you have won, remaining free from attachment. Before long this body will be lying on the ground, discarded and unconscious, like a useless bit of wood. One’s own misdirected thought can do one more harm than an enemy or an ill-wisher. Even your mother, father or any other relative cannot do you as much good as your own properly directed thought.” Mara or the devil is related here as thoughts in our own heads which we can destroy with thoughts of wisdom.

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 (tr. J. Richards))

 Buddhism: 24. “Don’t let Mara destroy you! When a man is stimulated by his own thoughts, full of desire and dwelling on what is attractive, his craving increases even more. He is making the fetter even stronger. But he who takes pleasure in stilling his thoughts, practicing the contemplation of what is repulsive, and remaining recollected, now he will make an end of craving, he will snap the bonds of Mara.” Buddha tells us that Mara IS IN FACT OUR OWN THOUGHTS! Desires and cravings come from us not from some anti-Brahma god called Mara.

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 (tr. J. Richards))

 Buddhism: “The assertion of a cause that is non-existent assumes the causeless birth of the first element of the mind-system which later on comes to have only a Mara-like (devil-like) non-existence.” “With the cessation of mortal-mind the entire world of Mara and desire disappears.” (again Buddha tells us that Mara is thoughts in our minds on this plane of existence and at the time of the cessation of our mortal mind Mara completely stops having an existence, poof he’s gone. Buddha also tells us Mara in reality is non-existent) (Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra)

 Buddhism: “These are the various features of false-imagination to which all the ignorant and simple-minded cling. Those attached to the notion of relativity are attached to the notion of the multitudinousness of things which arises from false-imagination. It is like seeing varieties of objects depending upon Maya (the devil), but these varieties thus revealing themselves are discriminated by the ignorant as something other than Maya itself,” “all things are imagined and clung to because of the multitudinous of individual signs, that they are like Maya; it is because they are alike unreal and as quickly appearing and disappearing.” (Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra) Thus, by reason of discrimination of that which by nature is Maya-like and unreal false-imagination and erroneous reasoning.” “With the cessation of mortal-mind the entire world of Maya and desire disappears.” (Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra)

 SABEANISM: “Bound is the sea, bound are the two banks of the sea! Bound are the devils and demons, the demon-visitants, haunting spirits, and satanic amulet-spirits. Bound are the three hundred and sixty mysteries that are in the House!” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 15) Bound are the devils and demons and satanic spirits. (Adam doesn’t exactly tell us that devils are not real but he does say that they are bound in which case they can do us no harm. In fact, God has broken apart or sundered the good out of, or from the evil. “He sundered Light from darkness and sundered Good from Evil, He sundered Life from Death, And He brought out those who love His name of Truth From Darkness to Light and from Evil to Good And from Death to Life and set them On roads of Truth and Faith.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 75) God brought out good from evil, or asundered, broken apart, good from evil in which case these two concepts are one and the same because He brought one out of the other, or divided the two from what was in reality one concept. So, in other words Adam is telling us that, in reality, there is only good which would in fact deny the presence of an evil anti-god because in reality there is only good and the construct of evil, or less good or the absence of good.

BAHA’I FAITH: “God has never created an evil spirit; all such ideas and nomenclature are symbols expressing the mere human or earthly nature of man.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 294)

(See God brings out good from evil and the nonexistence of evil for more information)

Baha’i Faith: “If an active, actual peace is brought about, the human world will attain to the utmost serenity and composure; wolves will be transformed into lambs, devils into angels, and terrors into divine splendors in less than the twinkling of an eye.” In other words in God’s creation devils or idol worshipers can be turned away from evil and become angels, wolves will become like lambs. (See God will bring peace on earth for more information)

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 85)

Baha’i Faith: “Watch over yourselves, for the Evil One is lying in wait, ready to entrap you. Gird yourselves against his wicked devices, and, led by the light of the name of the All-Seeing God, make your escape from the darkness that surroundeth you. Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self. The Evil One is he that hindereth the rise and obstructeth the spiritual progress of the children of men.” (In other words the evil one can be anything or anyone that distracts us from following the spiritual path God has laid out for us.) “Hearken unto the truth and follow not the steps of the devils.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 94 and Compilations, of Baha’i Scriptures, p. 68)