Make No Mistake, The Devil Is Real

The final petition in our LORD's prayer asks not merely for deliverance from some vague general evil in this world, but specifically for deliverance from the evil one. So we read in the NKJV, NLT, NIV, ASV and HNV.

And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.

Of course there are those who reject the very thought of the evil one or the Devil. For instance, Dherbs.com confidently announces,

The Devil really only exists in the mind, the mind of man. The Devil is the concept and construct of man. That's who made the Devil. The mind of man made the Devil (idea and image) just as the mind of man made God (idea and image of).

And again Kevin Williams  webmaster of Near-Death.com, writes,

Evil and the devil do not exist. What people consider evil is really ignorance. Hitler was not an evil man. He was just so incredibly ignorant that he was practically retarded at a spiritual level. Such people are to be pitied and our unconditional love should extended even to him, because it is hard to hate a retarded person. 

Of course, to maintain that position you will have to argue with most of the authors of the Bible as well as the LORD Jesus Himself. Repeatedly Jesus referred to the devil as a real being. Matthew records what Jesus surely shared about what happened at the beginning of his ministry when he "was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil "(Matt. 4:1-11).

At the end of Jesus' ministry, the devil tempted Judas to betray Jesus. Jesus knew it was Judas and said as much to John, who had been urged by Peter to ask Jesus to whom he had referred.

Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." - Jhn 13:26-27 ESV

Judas then went off to tell the plotting priests and Jewish Sanhedrin where Jesus would be found.

This powerful being is the leader of the rebel spirits that seek to control this world. You may find more about Satan and his demonic host in earlier posts and links under The God Of This World. In my post about Lucifer I wrote,

One thing is certain. The devil is real. He is truly the "ruler of this world" and the source of evil, death and rebellion against God. Jesus met him head on when the henchmen of the Sanhedrin captured Jesus and dragged him to their mock trial. He said, "But this is your hour, and the power of darkness"(Luke 22:53). The ruler of this world had no claim on Jesus, of course (John 14:30). In that hour that same ruler was defeated on the cross. And now we who have been called to faith in Jesus are delivered "from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Father's beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). 

As we await our final deliverance, freedom and resurrection, we continue to pray, "Our Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."