The devil has been made into a cartoon.
Or an excuse for bad behavior.
Or a weapon to modify behavior.

But how does it change our view of the prince of darkness if we step away from the picture of a red man with horns and a pitchfork and we look at what Jesus says about Satan?

Listen in as we bring Christians and non-Christians together and have them react to what Jesus says about the devil.

Do you have a similar reaction, or something else to say? Leave a comment and let me know!

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? New videos drop every Thursday at 12PM CST!

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? Read the entire account mentioned in the video for yourself:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A42-44&version=NIV

– – –

☞ Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chris_paavola

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ABOUT WHAT JESUS SAYS ABOUT
This channel is a quick and easy place for you to find What Jesus Says About topics important to you.

No 30-minute sermons. No five-dollar words. No hard sell. We just let Jesus speak for Himself so you can respond for yourself.

WHY I DO THIS
What Jesus Says About is sponsored by THRED.org, an organization committed to open and honest conversations about life, faith, and Jesus. You should check them out on the interwebs at: https://www.thred.org

I’m a husband. I’m a father through adoption and foster care. I’m also a pastor of a church. My life mission is to “do whatever it takes so as many as possible can see Jesus”. This channel is one of the ways I live that out. <br> <h3>Auto Generated Captions</h3>

hey everybody my name is crisp Avila and
welcome to what Jesus says about where
Jesus speaks for himself so you can
respond for yourself and don’t forget to
hit subscribe so you can stay up to date
on what Jesus says about topics
important to you topics like the devil
and since what Jesus says about the
devil is so polarizing I thought it’d be
great to get together with a group of
Christians and non-christians so they
could react to the words of Jesus and we
had the cameras rolling so you can see
how that conversation went
take a look speaking of the devil one
account jesus said if god were your
father you would love me for I have come
here from God I have not come on my own
God sent me but you you belong to your
father the devil and you want to carry
out your father’s desires when he lies
he speaks his native tongue for his a
liar and the father of lies I just asked
real quick do you believe there is a
devil yes yes but what was they know you
would say no there is no devil nope no
devil yeah yes there is yes kinda
thought yeah there’s a light in a dark
to everybody and I would like to think
that it you know the dark is definitely
influenced by the devil I don’t think
he’s a presence of evil but I think he
is ruler of all that which is evil in
the world he was a fallen angel that he
was created as an angel that’s your
understanding is that he’s a fallen
angel yeah
God created being a created being
created being who rebelled against God
no offense to your beliefs but I’ve
always viewed the devil as an excuse
I kind of agree yeah it’s the devil made
me do it no you made you do that I think
oftentimes Christians can use the devil
as a scapegoat right and say oh well
there’s there’s there’s the evil one
again doing this thing making this
happen to me it’s just a reality but
it’s not meant to be an excuse whatever
you want to call it God devil good evil
what have you
I believe that there’s a middle it’s not
good it’s not evil it’s it’s kind of
what you were describing it’s just it’s
a neutral a neutral
I mean it’s ruined for lack of a better
term examples yeah I think this is all
great we’re all kind of putting our own
Western world view trying to understand
these words but Jesus says if you love
me you God as your father if you don’t
love me your father is the devil and I
don’t think Jesus is really giving much
room for Switzerland it’s either one or
the other you know am I really not I
feel like they always say Devils the god
of this world like earthly things you
know what worldly things and worldly
people people that aren’t followers of
Jesus are basically working for the
devil oh okay what do you guys think of
that people where I’m following
Jesus are working for the devil and
they’re the ones proves it I don’t know
are you offended when you hear that
no no he’s entitled to some pity
Christmas my whole life as long as the
same respect is given to me I want to go
back to Jesus’s words because I think
that’s a little bit easier instead of
like getting up set up mic and pick on
him because thank you yeah and Mike’s
defense he didn’t say this right and
Mike’s defense he didn’t say this when
Jesus says even more directly then than
Mike here when Jesus says if you love me
you’re child of my father in heaven if
you don’t love me your father as the
devil are you offended at him so there
you go let me ask a really simple
question I’d love to see your comment
below how do you react to those words
I’d love for you to leave your comment
below also while you’re doing that I’ve
got some videos over here of what Jesus
says about topics important to you make
sure you take a look and don’t forget to
subscribe thanks and we’ll see you soon

Maybe the devil as an invention of religion to scare people into giving more money. Or maybe the devil is an invention of parents to scare children into going to bed. Or, perhaps the devil is real. Either way, how would you know?

After all, our modern picture of Satan as a half-goat man in a red suit with a pitchfork comes from a messy collection of sources, ranging from Greek mythology to Dante’s Inferno. So it’s difficult to decide what you believe about the devil when you aren’t sure what you’re supposed to be considering about him in the first place.

And then that brings up questions like:
Is the devil responsible for all the bad things I do?
Is he omnipresent?
And is the devil really why my car broke down?

Fortunately, it’s a whole lot easier to consider what you do and don’t believe about the devil by stripping away the centuries of hearsay and simply looking at what Jesus says about the devil.

– – –

✅ Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so you can stay up to date on What Jesus Says About topics important to you:
https://youtube.com/c/whatjesussaysabout?sub_confirmation=

? New videos drop every Thursday at 12PM CST!

– – –

☞ Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chris_paavola

– – –

ABOUT WHAT JESUS SAYS ABOUT
This channel is a quick and easy place for you to find What Jesus Says About topics important to you.

No 30-minute sermons. No five-dollar words. No hard sell. We just let Jesus speak for Himself so you can respond for yourself.

WHY I DO THIS
What Jesus Says About is sponsored by THRED.org, an organization committed to open and honest conversations about life, faith, and Jesus. You should check them out on the interwebs at: https://www.thred.org

I’m a husband. I’m a father through adoption and foster care. I’m also a pastor of a church. My life mission is to “do whatever it takes so as many as possible can see Jesus”. This channel is one of the ways I live that out. <br> <h3>Auto Generated Captions</h3>

– When Jesus talked about the Devil,
that’s not what he was talking about.
(upbeat music)
Hey everybody, it’s Chris Paavola
welcome to What Jesus Says About
where Jesus speaks for himself.
So you can respond for yourself.
Every September and October
Halloween stores like this pop-up
and then, come Halloween,
you’re gonna see people
running around in all sorts of costumes.
Including costumes that look
something like this guy here.
This picture of the Devil that we have
is interesting, is kind of
a comic book, satirized,
kind of a caricature of the Devil
with a red suit and all this stuff.
– Flanders!
You’re the Devil?
– It’s always the one you least suspect.
– So what I’d like to do today
is kinda break from
the normal a little bit
and take a look at what
Jesus says about the Devil
and what kind of titles
he ascribes to him.
And actually, when you look at it,
Jesus says six things about the Devil
and we’re gonna look at them.
So here are: Six Names
Jesus Uses for the Devil.
Why’s it gotta be six?
(eerie music)
Number six and it’s the word that,
you know, most people would
use, is the word Devil.
And actually what’s so interesting
is the word devil is actually a Greek word
that means something like
“slanderer” or “accuser”
but Jesus used–
(creepy laughing)
Yeah that’s terrifying.
But Jesus only used the
word devil four times.
The word more often that Jesus
would associate with the Devil himself
was our fifth term.
Number five, Satan.
Here we go, this is like
a Devil kit right here.
So like when Jesus would use this term,
it would often be with a
certain amount of, like,
anger in his voice.
He would say things like,
“Get behind me Satan!”
Or, “Away from me Satan, you do not
have a mind the things of God!”
So anyway, that’s number five Satan.
(eerie music)
Hey look, it’s a message: Smoking kills.
The next term that Jesus
uses to describe the Devil
is this-it’s kind of an interesting term
and he uses it three times-it’s
the prince of this world.
So he’s sitting with
his disciples one time
and he’s talking with them and he says
“The Prince of this World
has no power over me.”
And he’s not only describing Satan,
he’s also describing himself.
Jesus says he’s the prince of this world
but Jesus has a kingdom
that’s not of this world
and Satan’s power is
limited but Jesus claims
his power is eternal.
Vote now, is the “Nightmare
Before Christmas”
a Halloween or Christmas movie?
It’s totally Christmas.
The next term that Jesus
uses to describe the Devil
is this phrase called the evil one.
And he uses this term
like two or three times,
Let’s say three-ish.
Here we go, here’s a little
costume and you, too,
can be the Devil.
Anyway, one time Jesus is
sitting with his students
and he prays and he says
“Father my prayer is not that
“you would take them out of this world
“but that you would protect
them from the Evil One.”
And this is an interesting phrase because
evil here is not so much scary
but evil is not safe.
Evil is this idea of rebellion
and chaos and anarchy.
It’s death instead of life,
it’s hate instead of kindness.
And according to Jesus, leading the charge
for all of this evil is the Evil One.
We’ve got ninja stars,
we’ve got bows, we’ve got swords.
Where’s a pitchfork?
I can’t find a pitchfork…
We have automatic weapons.
The next phrase that Jesus
uses to describe the Devil
is kind of an interesting one.
It’s actually where Jesus
gives us our most detailed
description of the Devil according to him
and it’s actually when he’s talking
to a group of, ironically,
religious leaders and he tells them
“You belong to your father,
“the Devil, and you want
“to carry out your father’s desires.
“He was a murderer from the beginning,
“not holding on to the truth,
“for there is no truth in him.
“When he lies,
“he speaks his native tongue,
“because he is a liar
and the Father of Lies.”
It’s pretty harsh, right?
Not quite the genteel picture of Jesus
that we always get where he’s just kind of
blue eyed staring off in the distance
passively going through life.
– Behold a beam is in thine own eye.
Thou hypocrite first, cast out the beam
out of thine own eye.
– But in this description,
Jesus is hearkening back to
this idea of the Garden of Eden
and we’ll get to that later on
but also what he would
describe as his own temptation
in the desert by the Devil.
But every time the Devil spoke,
he was always just perverting
and twisting the truth
just a little bit and
lies are never obvious,
they’re never overt, they’re enticing
and they’re subtle, they’re deceiving.
It wouldn’t be deception
if it wasn’t deceiving.
(maniacal laughing)
I mean who buys that for their yard?
If you bought that for your yard,
leave a comment below.
And finally, the term that Jesus uses
to describe the Devil
is the term the Enemy.
And so there’s this one time that Jesus
sends out his disciples on a mission
and they go out and they come back
and they’re all excited
because demons submit to them.
And we’ll get to the idea of demons
in some other video.
But in response to all those celebrations,
Jesus tells them
“I have given you authority to overcome
“all the power of the enemy.”
And here Jesus is very clear
that there are two sides.
If Jesus is your King,
you’re on his side and in his kingdom.
And there is a rebellion led by the Enemy.
And either you’re with
him or you’re against him.
So there you go,
there’s the six terms and titles
Jesus used to describe the Devil.
No red suits, no pitchforks.
And yet for Jesus the Devil is real,
he’s not a cartoon character.
But he’s also limited in his power.
He’s an individual.
He’s bent on destruction,
he’s a liar and his lies
are very deceiving and very enticing.
Be careful.
But according to Jesus,
greater is the one who is with you
than the one who is against you.
So I gotta ask,
does what Jesus say about the Devil
make you more or less afraid of him
or make you think he’s more or less real?
Leave your comments below,
look forward to seeing what you gotta say.
I’m gonna go shopping
for some costumes now
and we’ll see you soon, buh-bye.
(beep)
(laughs)
Now that’s funny.

Join us for our next large group gathering: Sunday, July 27th at 10AM