Tell us the real devils?
A critique by Renato Kizito Sesana
Satan was making headlines in Kenya's newspapers. He must not be pleased. Thinkers belonging to the Christian tradition have said that "the highest deception of the devil is to make us believe that he does not exist" (C. Baudelaire); "The ultimate trick of the devil is of spreading the news of his death" (G. Papini); "I do not believe in the Devil; but this is precisely what the Devil hopes, that nobody would believe in him" (A. Gide). Poor old Devil must have been very upset with all the publicity he got in Kenya and quickly arranged to make the headlines about him disappear.
Satan - the "public accuser" in Hebrew - or Devil - form the Greek "diabolos" "the one who divides" - is in the Christian tradition the personification of evil.
The affirmation of Satan's existence is found in the early Christian writers down to the recent Catechism of the Catholic Church. John was not tender with him, describing him (8:44) as "murderer from the start; he was never grounded in the truth; there is no truth in him at all: he is a liar and the father of lies".
Peter, in his first letter (5:8) describes him in more graphic terms: "Be calm but vigilant, because your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat."
Some thinkers and theologians, in recent times, have said that the Devil is not a real person, but an image, a representation of the evil present in the world, suitable only for "primitive" forms of religion. This interpretation is rejected by the Catholic Church, which continues teaching that the Devil is a real person. This does not mean to say that we have to take literally every episode in the Bible or in the Gospel where Satan is mentioned.
In the prophet Isaiah (14,4:23) for instance, we can find some images not to be taken literally, that describe the fall and punishment of the king of Babylon. The king is ironically called Daystar, Son of Dawn - in Latin "Lucifer". Popular tradition has seen in Lucifer an image of the Devil. The same traditions have built up a picturesque image of Lucifer, with horns, goat legs and a sulphurous stench around him.
In the Gospel there are many examples of Jesus healing people who are possessed by evil or unclean spirits or by the demons (both terms recur twelve times each in the gospel of Mark), but not all can be seen as examples of liberation from being possessed by the devil.
Clearly one of the aims of Jesus' presence in this world is to contrast the work of "the prince of this world". Satan is against the plan of God, the establishment of God's Kingdom. He acts as he acted at the very beginning, as recounted in the book of Genesis, tempting people into competing with God, going against His will.
Yet the centre of the Christian message is not the devil, but God and Jesus. Christianity has never depicted the devil as the opposite of God, with the same power and greatness but in negative, as some other ancient religion did. For Christians the devil is a creature, inferior to God and by God controlled, dominated and, at the end of history, totally defeated. Christ has not come only to redeem the evil work of the devil. As Paul wrote (Rom. 5,12:21) he has come to offer salvation that goes beyond our imagination, that is much more than liberation from the influence of Satan.
While Christian tradition and devil worshippers concur on the existence of the Devil, their attitude in front of the devil is completely different. Christians know that the devil has no real power over them. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred of God and his kingdom, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature to persons and society - he cannot ever have any person under his dominion.
I distinctly remember how, in line with this doctrine, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of Lusaka, when he started his healing ministry about 25 years ago, would move around the room where his "patients" were, and after praying would constantly murmur "Do not be afraid, Jesus is stronger that any evil spirit, Jesus can overcome all evil" and so on.
On the other side, for anyone who has a minimal understanding of the Christian doctrine, devil worship does not make any sense. Why worship a creature and not the all-powerful God? Why worship evil when absolute goodness is there? How can one even be expected to be rewarded for his/her worship when Devil is by definition the deceiver, the liar, the one who creates division? Wouldn't his worshipper receive in payment more evil, since evil is the only gift that the Devil can offer?
If what we read in the Kenyan press in these first two weeks of August is true, according to the Report of the Presidential Commission on Devil Worship there are people who worship the devil in the middle of the night and in the nude. Do such people really exist in Kenya? It is hard to believe, and the moral stand of the members of the commission it is not enough for me, and for the many Kenyans with whom I have shared my thoughts these days to take the report at face value. This is unless they do bring forward proof and names.
Moreover, if such kind of worshippers really exist, surely they do not make me afraid. Reading the "case studies" presented by the report I saw them as a group of rather pathetic fellows who most probably need the attention of a good psychiatrist. We should appoint a commission to treat them.
Especially disturbing, as it was highlighted by many commentators, is that the Report does not give any concrete proof, but puts under the dark clouds of suspicion entire categories of people, with undue generalisation. To say that the Freemasons, the practice of Transcendental Meditation, the Mormons or the New Age movement are possible doorways to devil worship is a generalisation that cannot be accepted by any reasoning person. If some former members of these groups have fallen into some kind of foolish rituals it is not honest to accuse the whole group. I would protest if somebody would say that the Catholic Church is a doorway to practices of sexual abuse against minors because some Catholic priest has been proved to be guilty of such crime.
The generalisation in the report against such groups make me sympathise with them. We do not need a witch-hunt in Kenya, casting suspicion on innocent people. The members of the Commission must apologise to them. The commission should also realise that, being the devil is the "one who divides", in fostering such ungrounded suspicions they have most probably pleased the Devil because they have introduced more division and hatred in Kenya society.
All in all, I am sorry to say to the eminent members of the Presidential Commission that I cannot take seriously their report, at least as it has been presented in the Press.
Personally I do not know of any devil worshipper, but I know many friends of the devil. I see their names in the daily headlines about injustices, dictatorship, war and famine in nearby countries. Closer to us, I see thousands of abandoned children roaming Nairobi streets, I see the destruction of the environment for personal profit, I see the poor being trampled upon and their rights not respected, I see a corrupt civil service and an unjust administration of the law. This is really devilish. The presidential Commission should have exposed the devils behind these acts.
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