THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE

If you ever watched the movie, The Devil’s Advocate,” you will get a real sense of what this post is about – the influence of evil. The first time I watched it, I got through it. I concluded that it was a bit too satanic for my taste, and I decided not to watch it again even though I owned it. Well, I watched it on television last night, and it was great timing for this subject. My eyes were opened to the subtle tactics of the devil. Truth can be found just about anywhere. There is a lot of truth in this movie.

Satan (John Milton) – feeds on the vanity of a hot shot lawyer from Florida. If there ever was a man whose heart was filled with pride over his “win-win” career, it was Kevin Lomax – he never lost a case. In fact, he stated near the end of the movie, “I always win, that’s what I do.” The reality is Kevin won cases for guilty clients – he knew their guilt – fought for their freedom in spite of – for money and fame. Kevin was also a lawyer who cheated to win his cases. He confessed to Satan that he had spent the “last five years” listening to jury deliberations through the men’s room wall. So what does Satan see in Kevin? The devil, Satan, Lucifer, saw a chance to set Kevin up for destruction. In fact, he planned to completely destroy his life, and drive his wife to insanity and suicide. It wasn’t until his life had fallen apart that Kevin realized that he was dealing with something much bigger than himself.

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The Bible says in Ephesians 6:12, “…our wrestling is not against flesh and blood…” In the movie, Satan was disguised as a successful lawyer, intelligent, and capable of giving Kevin anything he desired. Outwardly, he appeared to be someone that admired Kevin’s ambition, and wanted to promote him. Inwardly, he was an angel of light (Matthew 4:9), befriending Kevin – setting him up for destruction.

While grooming Kevin for success, Satan stated to him, “Pressure changes everything.” At first, everything was going well with the move to New York. Kevin and his wife were raised in country life, and the lure of the Big Apple was very exciting – at first. As the demonic influences started to take over their lives, Kevin’s wife, Mary Anne, was going downhill fast. But Kevin was on the fast track, and he sacrificed the welfare of his wife for power and wealth. He even told Satan that he didn’t want to end up “hating his wife if she got well.” Kevin felt that if he backed off from the big case that he was working on, and his wife suddenly became normal again, he would hate her because she would have caused him to miss his chance at a huge stroke to his ego.

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As the story progressed, Mary Anne was committed to an asylum, and eventually killed herself. When Kevin’s mother confessed that John Milton (Satan) was his father, Kevin confronted him. For years, Satan was watching Kevin’s life for an opportunity to have his son become a part of his hellish family. The vanity in Kevin’s heart would be the entrance key for Milton to trap him in a life of luxury and success.  

During the confrontation, Satan (Milton), confessed, “I set the stage; you pulled the strings – free will.” He also told Kevin, “Maybe it was your time to lose.” Kevin was full of self-love and Satan used that attribute to wreck his life. In fact, Satan stated, “Vanity is my favorite sin.”

With the death of his wife, guilt began to set in as Satan reminded him that he tried to tell Kevin to “take care of his wife.” Of course, it was a set up from the beginning, for Satan knew that the desire to win such a huge case couldn’t be passed over. Kevin placed his wife’s welfare on the back burner, and in the end, the guilt caused him to take his own life. Satan smugly stated, “Love is overrated.”

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And of course, Satan tried to discredit God in the end. He said that God was a “prankster” that liked to watch our trials for “amusement.” He also called God a “sadist,” but of himself, a “humanist.” These next statements are very timely for our day, “I’m peaking now!” And, “It’s my time now!” In addition to these declarations, Satan offered Kevin even more of the world that he controlled – run the law firm, more acquittals (of the guilty), and be a part of his family by having intercourse with his step-sister, a demon. Satan’s ultimate use for Kevin was to impregnate his step-sister, and she would give birth to the “Anti-Christ.” Kevin chose to shoot himself in the head.

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In the end, all the aforementioned was played out in Kevin’s mind while in the men’s restroom. He was about to acquit a guilty man of child molestation charges, but after all that he experienced from the glimpse of his future, he chose to “do the right thing.” He fired himself as the child molesters’ attorney even in the face of being disbarred. He walked away from the trial with his wife, and turned down the deal the devil offered him – or so he thought. The newspaper reported hounded him for a story, and was given a final “OK,” when once again, the devil appealed to Kevin’s vanity – the lure of fame. The face of the reporter changed into Milton’s face – another body, another opportunity to pursue Kevin. The devil never quits. We are in a spiritual battle that most everyone ignores. There was no bedroom in Milton’s penthouse apartment – Satan never sleeps.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118971/plotsummary

THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE MOVIE SUMMARY

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If your spiritual minds and hearts are open to truth, you will not dismiss the story line as “just a movie.” There is a lot of truth in this movie as to how Satan operates in the lives of mankind. He is not running around in a red suit with a pitch fork. Oh sure, he would love for us to believe this lie, that way he can subtlety continue to bring destruction to our lives while we blame God.  

Satan instigates murders for he was a murderer from the beginning, John 8:44. He wasn’t always the evil being that he is, for God made him a perfect spirit being whose pride lifted him up to the point of desiring the position of God. Satan was a free moral agent, and therefore used his free will to rebel against God, started a war, lost the war in heaven, and was cast down to the earth:

“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
         You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
         I cast you to the ground;
         I put you before kings,
         That they may see you.”

http://bible.cc/ezekiel/28-17.htm

(See also: Luke 10:18; Isaiah 14:12)

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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SATANIC INFLUENCE

Satan hates humanity, and seeks every day relentlessly to destroy us – by “any means necessary.” If he can cause a fight between husbands and wives, he will do it. He studies humanity as previously stated, and uses what lies within our hearts and characters against us. If you are prone to anger, you better believe Satan will orchestrate situations that will keep you in anger mode. You will hate your employer for making your work days difficult, but look behind the scenes. Just because your employer goes to a house of worship on Sunday, it does not mean that his or heart is with God.

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If a violent and abusive person is being influenced by Satan, you will not be able to change that person. Only faith in God, accepting Jesus Christ, and repentance will make a difference. Not many Christians acknowledge the presence of evil, for they feel like that is “giving the devil too much play.” Personally, we don’t give Satan and his schemes enough thought. For if we did, we could look at a situation much deeper, and use the correct spiritual weapons to combat the warfare:

Ephesians chapter 6