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“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing
the world he didn’t exist…”
The Usual Suspects
The Devil. You know the name. You know the number, but
the faces are many. From Al Pacino’s cheerfully evil
John Milton to Kevin Spacey’s ambiguous Keyser Söze, the
Lord of This World really gets about. In fact, in media
terms, the horned one has never been more popular.
But where did the Devil originate and what is the reason
for his continuing appeal over the last two thousand
years? Well, he owes much of his current appeal to John
Milton’s epic Paradise Lost, where Lucifer is portrayed
as the
ultimate rebel. As to his origin, that’s another story.
While there are elements of Lucifer in a variety of
cultures, such as the Egyptian Seth, it is in the New
Testament of the bible that he really comes into his
own. In the Old Testament,
God does much of the dirty work that would later be
blamed on Satan. In fact, God thought nothing of laying
an entire city to waste, if he thought the citizens were
too into drinking and begetting. This could not go on as
there was the
difficult question as to how a good god could allow evil
to exist in the world. So, the Devil, previously only
worthy of a few mentions, became the world’s whipping
boy and has had something of a chequered existence since
then. The
word “Satan” comes from the Hebrew word “STN” meaning
obstacle. In fact, the biblical quotation: “Get thee
behind me, Satan”, probably isn’t a reference to the
Devil.
So is the Devil real? Or is he (or she) a scapegoat for
the myriad horrors humanity has inflicted on itself in
the name of war, faith, or progress. I’ll leave that one
up to you. If there truly is a Devil, I think he would
be sickened at humanity’s cop-out, the capacity for good
and evil lies in everyone, the sooner we realise this
the better.
Getting back to the Bible, the idea of Lucifer and his
band of rebel angels falling from heaven and tempting
the human race begins with Eve. Eve, of course is a fine
example of the church’s hatred towards sex in general
and
women in particular, which reached it’s peak with the
persecution of the witches. In fact, the evil of the
church is far more frightening than any devil. |
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Witness the work of 3rd century writer, Tertullian, who
thought astrology, Necromancy, magic, horse races, baths
(!), taverns, brothels, make-up, and fancy clothes, were
the work of the Devil (busy, wasn’t he?).
No artist’s impression of the Devil exist prior to the
6th Century, eventually various elements, both pagan and
secular came together until we have the Devil we have
today.
The Church’s evil really comes into it’s own with the
Crusades. The Crusades attracted a rag-tag band of
religious fanatics, psychopaths, and literally the scum
of the Earth.
The first victims of the Crusades weren’t actually
Muslims but another of humanity’s unfortunate
scapegoats, the Jews. The Jews already owed their
demonization to the Church, as the “Christian” church
has always stigmatised
anyone that doesn’t share it’s beliefs. During the Dark
Ages, one and a half million |
Jews lived in Europe. They were often the only literate
and numerate members of the communities they lived in
and were often persecuted for this.
Despite the Christian rhetoric used to justify the
persecution, the motivation was simply greed, nothing to
do with the unjust church-approved blaming of the Jews
for Christ’s death. The Crusaders turned on the Jews
with plenty of local
Support. In the town of Mainz alone, over a thousand
Jews were killed.
Priests poured out anti-semetic sermons. For example,
Saint Jerome (you have to wonder how a sick bastard like
him was made a saint) said of the Jewish synagogue: “If
you call a brothel, a den of vice, the Devil’s refuge,
Satan’s fortress, a place to deprave the soul, an abyss
of every conceivable disaster or whatever you will, you
are saying less than it deserves.”
King Philip of France (1223-1268) required the Jews to
attach a horn-shaped figure to the customary Jewish
badge. Jews were accused of child sacrifice to the
Devil, hence the birth of the Golem myth in reaction to
this slander. The persecution stretched as far as
Shakespeare, with his stereotypical description of
Shylock in The Merchant Of Venice.
The Church also persecuted the Bogomils, a sect
convinced that Satan was God’s oldest son.
The persecutions reached their peak with the Cathars (a
“heretical” sect That grew out of the Gnostic fate).
Jews were not persecuted by the Cathars, in contrast
with the Roman Catholic Church. The Cathars rejected the
materialism of Rome and led a life of great simplicity.
In fact, the word “Cathar” comes from the Greek word
Katharos, meaning pure. The Cathars believed God’s work
was finished and that he had no further interest in the
Earth or it’s inhabitants. They thought of God as a
vindictive immature child, who, having created man for
his amusement, simply abandoned him when the novelty
wore off. An abusive creature always breaks and discards
it’s toys when they no longer amuse him. The Cathars
believed the Earth was now under the influence of the
Devil. The Cathar’s ideas became popular, much to the
horror of Rome, as the Cathars were particularly
outspoken against the
greed and materialism of Rome. The Church tried sending
missions to the Cathars, but to no avail. |
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In 1208 a crusade was assembled under the command of
Simon de Montfort. The crusaders cared only for the fact
that Rome allowed them sanction to rape, murder, and
steal. The Inquisition would always find a motive
through torture, it’s hatred of women, sexuality,
intelligence, and individuality, was the personification
of its sick sexual frustration. The insanity would have
been comical if it hadn’t been so brutal. For instance,
Angele, Lady of Labrathe,
was accused, at the age of 65, of having sex with Satan
(as you do at 65), and bearing a monster with a
serpent’s tail, that ate babies. It shows a sickness in
the “Christian” psyche that anyone could believe such
evil nonsense.
The crusaders captured the Cathar city of Beziers,
leaving 15,000 of it’s citizens dead. When the crusaders
asked how they would identify the heretics, Amaury-the
papal legate, replied famously-“Kill them all, the Lord
will know
his own.” |
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Then there were the witch hunts, which raged for a
hundred years. An amusing aside to this bleak period of
insanity comes courtesy of Protestant founder, Martin
Luther, who believed his bowels to be possessed by
Satan. He
would threaten the Devil in the following manner-“But if
that is not enough for you, you Devil. I have also
pissed and shit. Wipe your mouth on that and take a
hearty bite.” Delightful.
The Inquisition’s trump card was the Malleus
Maleficarium, the “Hammer Of The Witches.”. A sick book
that would find virtually anyone guilty of being A
witch. You were damned if you did and damned if you
didn’t. From the
Malleus Maleficarium- “That on asking the accused if he
or she is a witch or warlock….for witchcraft is high
treason against God’s majesty. And so they are to be put
to the torture to make them confess. Any person whatever
his rank
or position upon such an accusation, may be put to the
torture. And if he is found guilty, even if he confess
his crime, let him be racked, let him suffer all other
tortures prescribed by law in order so he may be
punished in proportion to
his offence.”
…..and all because the Church believed a witch was
intermediary to the Devil.
People were falsely accused for jealousy or political
reasons. In Ireland, the Bishop of Ossory, Richard de
Ledrede, accused Lady Alic Kyteler of several insane
things including the almost inevitable having sex with
the Devil, in the
shape of a shaggy dog (it sounds like a mutation of
Scooby and Shaggy-the mind boggles). In reality, it was
a way of setting personal debts. Ironically, the Church
gave such credence to the Devil that they ensured his
immortality.
The Reformation eased things up a little, leading to the
works of Dante and most importantly, Milton, arguably
the man most influential in the perception and
popularity of the Devil. The poet Shelley summed up the
glory of Milton’s
Paradise Lost thus- “Nothing can exceed the energy and
magnificence of the character of Satan as expressed in
Paradise Lost. It is a mistake to suppose that he could
ever have been intended for the popular personification
of evil…
Milton’s Devil as a moral being is far superior to his
God as one who perseveres in some purpose which he has
conceived to be excellent in spite of adversity and
torture, is to one who in the cold security of his
undoubted
triumph inflicts the most horrible revenge on his
enemy…Milton alleged no superiority of moral virtue to
his God over his Devil.”
That neatly sums up the Devil’s enduring appeal. The
Ultimate Rebel, he appeals to the rebel in all of us,
the little bit of the Devil in us all. |
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