After reading Greg Stier’s article “If I were the devil“, I felt the need to write something similar for my youth group. I dedicated one meeting to this idea and generated some questions for discussions. Thanks Greg… and Paul Harvey.

If I were the devil, the first thing I would tell teenagers is that being a Christian, a follower of Jesus is weird and not cool at all. I would do all I can to plant in their minds that nobody would want to hang out to them. To the boys I would tell that girls like bad boys not the church kind – good guys. I would tell the girls that boys will stay away from them if they find out they are religious and have high moral standards.

If I were the devil, I would do my best to make sure that teens see hypocrisy in the mature Christians – students and adults as well. I would make them see that Christians are not different from non-Christians when it comes to gossip and clicks. Then I would make sure they hear someone say that religion is for the weak, the stupid and uneducated. In addition, I would make them come to the conclusion that they do not need or want to be associated with the losers and the weak.

If I were the devil, I would tell students that being a Christian means you won’t be able to have fun at all. I would make sure they participate in some good bible studies from the Old Testament, about what God doesn’t allow His people to be involved with, only to hear the words, “thou shall not…”. Then I would make sure they have a glimpse of the fun displayed on TV, Internet and My Space. I would show them pornography. Also, I would encourage them to talk dirty to people on the internet.

If I were the devil, I would make adolescents believe that religious people have no future in business world. I will make sure they hear about famous people who aren’t followers of Jesus and who are happy because they have fame and money. Then I would remind them about the fact that Christians are persecuted and killed (aka missionaries).

If I were the devil, I would be happy with teens that go to church as long as they do not live based on the principles of the bible. I would not mind them going to youth group to meet cute girls or guys and flirt with them. Text messaging during the bible study, talking, sleeping and thinking about something else other than what is being said, makes my heart happy. However, my goal is to have them feel like they are bored out of their mind with the Jesus stuff so that they won’t tell their friends about the awesome salvation found in Jesus Christ.

If I were the devil, my ultimate goal is to help teenagers get to the point where they are done going to church and being “religious”. I would tell them that cool, mature teens don’t do church. I would tell them that being free means to do whatever comes to your mind. To those that had to go to church because of their parents, I would tell to wait until they are out of their parents home and then rebel. Don’t care if I had to work overtime to convince them to enjoy life without limits, drink, do drugs, have sex, just enjoy life.

If I were the devil, I would make sure all students forget or do not think about the consequences of living an unruly life full of darkness. I would portray a happy life, ecstatic life, like the lives of the Hollywood stars that they see in movies or TV, all that, only to lure them away from God and church and into a life of depravity and addiction.
To the pregnant girls I would remind that it is legal to have an abortion and they don’t even need to tell their parents. In guys I would create a huge hunger for pornography only to keep them under my control and use them later on to commit other hideous crimes.

If I were the devil, I would use the examples of disobedient Christians to keep teenagers from getting to know Jesus as their personal Savior. One time, in order to keep Gabriela from going to church, I used Mary’s disobedience and hypocrisy. So, I whispered in her ear “Remember Mary, who said she loved God with all her heart and later on at a party got drunk and had sex with multiple guys she never met before and ended pregnant? Remember how she lied to her parents that she was raped?”

If I were the devil, “I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional”.[1]

But, like Greg Stier said in his article I’m not the devil. Satan is. And he doesn’t need any help. He is already doing a very good job at being very bad. Don’t you think?[2]

[1] http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/p/paulharveycommentary.htm
[2] http://www.gregstier.org/rants/if-i-were-the-devil