Hearing about Elon Musk launching his own political party made me think at once that a division in the U.S, electorate oriented toward the right can only bring victory to progressive candidates everywhere in the country. The Gospel adage “If Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come” (Mark 3:26) came immediately to mind.
Satan brings chaos whereas God, the Creator, brings order out of chaos. Whatever we think about the “existence” of Satan and God, such a duality has structured the human experience in many cultures for a long time — with Zoroastrianism and its influence upon Judaism being a historically well-known fact. This is not a duality that one can simply bypass, despite the importance of overcoming all dualisms. We must live through it.
The intensity and the magnitude of the forces that are being employed on the world scene and their very precise targeting of the most vulnerable make one think of one single wicked mind. This is probably, in fact, how the idea of the devil as a “prince” dominating the entire world came to exist.
The Gospels talk a lot about the devil. But they do so in a very practical manner, taking for granted that wicked forces are at play in
the world, that Jesus is all about defeating them, and noticing that the opponents of Jesus were accusing him of being in cahoots with those forces themselves.
One Gospel story depicts Jesus sensing that the power of Satan is being destroyed when his followers are going around healing people and telling them that the kingdom of God is near, i.e. that the power of the evil one is soon coming to an end. “I saw Satan falling from the sky.” (Luke 10:18).
We can legitimately ask if the experience of Jesus and his band was limited to their time and place. Historically, people do experience peace, health, and mutual understanding in certain time/space pockets. The ecstatic experience of early Christians might have truly changed the lives of a generation, or more, but clearly has not changed the ways of the world.
Contrariwise, some have speculated that two thousand years are a short time in the history of humankind — we are approximately 300,000 years old as a species — and we are therefore just at the beginning of the experiment of liberation that Jesus was preaching and enacting.
Many of us are convinced that only by an alliance among different religious traditions, each bringing a unique perspective on the
human condition, might we hope to get out of the horrible mess in which we have fallen.
In any case, using the Gospels to “demonstrate” the existence of the devil — as some evangelicals do — means missing entirely the point. It might be useful instead to meditate upon what the Gospels actually say: that evil is powerful and keeps many in chains; that once one begins working to free people from such chains one is immediately accused of working for evil itself; and that evil — being chaos and dissension in and of itself — tends to crack internally, and once it does, its dominion comes quickly to an end.
See Matthew Fox, Trump and the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
See also Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Banner Image: “Szatan – 2” Painting by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
How helpful do you find the Gospel stories about evil? Can you read them freed of the dogmatic layers which have been superimposed on them?
Recommended Reading
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics
