BIBLICAL IMAGERY AND MYTH
Satan, the devil, demons, and their mythical cousins (e.g., the serpent, evil spirits, leviathan, etc.) have a history in mythology and culture that precedes Judaism. They are all mythical copies of the many kinds of spirits with which Israel was well acquainted during its bondage in Egypt where Israel was surrounded by multiple Egyptian deities who regularly interacted with Egyptian people. These mythical, religious figures are the models that God employed to represent his relationship with his people and their relationships with each other — especially religious leaders.
One of these gods was Apep, the god of chaos, who was constantly at war with Ra, the sun god. We know that Apep is the model for satan and the devil in the Bible because he is represented as a serpent in Egyptian mythology. In other words, God used the symbolism of Egyptian religious deities to represent his spiritual truth about the chaos and conflict that religion brings to our lives. This is one application of the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle in the Bible.
God used the myth of ongoing conflict between Apep and Ra to represent the ongoing conflict between good and evil that is first introduced in the Garden of Eden where the serpent (i.e., the devil) deceived Eve, and later represented in the temptations of Jesus.
Belief in the myths about spiritual creatures is expanded and reinforced in dozens of scriptures about demons, demon possession, the devil, satan, evil spirits, antichrist, adversary and man of lawlessness. Because these scriptures are always translated from the long-standing religious belief that these are real — not mythical creatures, literal translations affirm that satan, the devil, the adversary, the antichrist and the man of lawlessness are unique characters. Demons, on the other hand, are interpreted to be multiple characters. When we look carefully at scripture, however, we find that all of these characters refer to religious leaders with many different titles. See the links below for details about these various religious leaders:
The best way to interpret scriptural references to these characters is to read the scriptures about demons, demon possession, the devil, satan, evil spirits, antichrist, and adversaries, and substitute the term “religious leader” for each character. Doing this diverts attention from unique characters to symbolic references to all persons who conspire to deceive religious people with lies.
Lacking understanding of the symbolism of these characters, Christians, and perhaps some Jews, have always believed that they are real and that they caused trouble of all kinds for all kinds of people — including those who don’t believe in God. It could be said that belief in these characters is “baked in” to all brands of Christianity.
Belief in the unrestrained supernatural power of these characters provides convenient explanations for why bad things happen to good people. They are also convenient scapegoats for people who are not willing or able to take personal responsibility for their actions (e.g., the devil made me do it; he/she is possessed by an evil spirit, etc.)
Christian Nationalists often relish associating their liberal/progressive opponents and other people whom they don’t like with these characters by demonizing them as evil or satanic. When these adverse characterizations are compared to their self-characterizations as bible-believing Christians who are doing God’s work, they try to make themselves look holy, trustworthy and deserving of the votes of gullible voters.
Broad cultural acceptance of these entities is documented in a 2008 Pew research report that says that two-thirds of Americans believe that angels and demons are active in the world today. That cultural acceptance does not, however, alter the truth that all of these characters represent religious leaders with all kinds of titles.