Satan's "Pastor's Heart"

The phrase “pastor’s heart” immediately conjures certain images in our minds. For most of us, it is indicative of a gentle man who walks alongside those who are downtrodden and struggling. The man with a pastor’s heart cares for wandering sheep, never yells, is quick to forgive, and looks past our sins. He is a man who is easy to be around, and he demonstrates love no matter what the situation is or who he is talking to. Some may disagree with the above description of a man with a pastor’s heart, but in my experience, that is typically the popular conception.

In light of this general conception, I’d like to pose the question, “What does Satan’s heart look like?” Of course, the ultimate answer to that question is that Satan’s heart looks vile as “he was a murderer from the beginning.” His heart is hell-bent on death and destruction.

However, the Bible offers another description as well. Unfortunately, in thinking of Satan as only vile and murderous, we fall prey to a monochrome and outmoded demonology that is no better than the little red devil with a pitchfork and pointy tail. If we think Satan only manifests himself as pure evil, we fail to recognize his presence in all of our lives.

Satan is described more in the book of Revelation than in the other inspired 65 books put together. The book of Revelation is a systematic Satanology. This presentation is masterful as it portrays Satan as a horrendous red dragon with seven heads, whose bidding is done by an equally ugly multi-headed sea-beast, who in turn utilizes the villainy of a third beast, who is a false prophet.

However, this is the X-ray view. Satan does not present himself in this way to the world. Revelation tells us what he truly looks like (theologically, not visually, speaking), but it also tells us how he presents himself. Almost on every page, Satan is described as one who mimics Christ.

Christ is the horned Lamb (Rev 5:6), and Satan has “two horns like a lamb” (13:11). Christ is “slain” (5:6, 9, using σφάζω, sphadzo, a technical term), and Satan is also “slain” (using the same word in 13:3). God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which numerically could be symbolized as 777. Satan is Dragon, Beast, and False Prophet, which is described as 666 (13:18). God was to be found in the synagogue of the patriarchs’ day yet the devil maintains his own “synagogue of Satan” (3:9). The image of God is Christ, and Satan deploys his own image with his own “spirit” (πνεῦμα, pneuma) which can “even speak” (13:15).

In every description of Satan in Revelation, we see one parallel or another with God. This is borne out when examining world religions. Think of the most successful heresies, and you will inevitably be thinking of something close to Christianity. Not many follow Scientology, the made-from-scratch religion of L. Ron Hubbard. Yet 1.6 Billion follow Islam, which has Adam, Eve, Abraham, and Jesus, not to mention the Bible. Sociologists even anticipate that Islam will match Christianity in worldwide adherents by 2050. The source of power in Satan’s world is all derivative. The closer he can appear to Christ, the more damage he will do. This is why, as Paul says, “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14).

In light of all this, when we think about what Satan is doing in the world, it seems obvious that Satan’s decisive destruction will occur not in circles huddled around a pentagram chanting “Hail Satan” but in Christian counseling groups where participants look one another in the eye and tell each other that God is fine with their sin. Indeed, this was Jezebel’s activity, who professed to be a prophetess yet taught people to commit sexual immorality (Rev 2:20). In the end, Satan can do much more damage manifesting himself through a “pastor’s heart” than he can wielding weapons of power.

If the common conception of a pastor’s heart is one in which sin is never condemned in order that the pastor can lead with love and emphasize forgiveness, would this not play into the devil’s hand? Satan’s desire is to see sin abound since sin is ultimately death, and he was a murderer from the beginning. Murder is much easier to accomplish when the victim accepts his demise. Jim Jones found it much easier to murder dozens of people by getting them to willfully drink poisoned Kool-Aid than the most villainous serial killer. If our conception of a pastor’s heart has no category for calling a spade a spade or calling sin, sin, then we may be thinking of Satan’s activity rather than Christ’s.

This was originally published on The Fight of Faith.