top of page
Writer's pictureBible Brian

Cartoon Satan vs. real Satan


Although most of us, apparently, find it rather inconvenient, there is not now, nor will there ever be, any valid substitute for personal Bible study. Take, for example, Satan. Who is he? What is his role in our faith? What is his ultimate fate?


Pop culture depicts Satan as some kind of scary red thing who rules over Hell, and causes quite a bit of trouble for God, who apparently just can't control the little blighter. But pop culture (surprise surprise) is wrong.


Aside from the extremely strange depiction of this angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) who was so beautiful that he ultimately became puffed up because of it (Ezekiel 28:13-17), the idea that Satan is the king of Hell, whom God cannot defeat, is absurd. Satan knows that his time is short (Revelation 12:12), and that makes him very angry. What happens when that time ends? Well, he won't be sitting on a throne. Rather, in Hell, Satan will be the most pathetic of residents. He will suffer the just punishment for everything he has ever done, with neither relief or hope for parole. In his prophecy against Satan, Isaiah says "Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. “Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’" (Isaiah 14:15-17).


So we see how the pop culture depiction of Satan is more like what Satan wants us to think of him than what he actually is. Satan is not the king of Hell, nor is he God's equal. Rather, God has sealed his fate. When Satan eventually goes to Hell, which is a lot sooner than he would like, he will be the most pathetic prisoner there. Anyone who looks upon him will marvel at how pathetic he is, given the damage he's done. He's doomed.


Thus, we see the importance of Bible study. The world's depiction of Christianity is a caricature. If you don't study the Bible, you absorb a number of falsehoods that ought to be discarded at the earliest opportunity. Unless you want your faith to look like you got it straight out of a cartoon, make sure you get it straight out of the word of God.

7 views
bottom of page