{"id":39273,"date":"2018-05-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/reality-of-satan-explains-lot-of-things\/"},"modified":"2018-05-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T00:00:00","slug":"reality-of-satan-explains-lot-of-things","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/reality-of-satan-explains-lot-of-things\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reality of Satan Explains a Lot of Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book No Country for Old Men<\/em>, award-winning author Cormac McCarthy has one of his characters, Sheriff Val, explain why he returned to his childhood belief in a real devil. The Sheriff said:<\/p>\n\n

\n

I think if you were Satan and you were sitting around trying to think up something that would just bring the human race to its knees what you would probably come up with is narcotics. Maybe he did. I told that to somebody at breakfast the other morning and they asked me if I believe in Satan. I said well that ain't the point. And they said I know but do you? I had to think about that. I guess as a boy I did. Come the middle years my belief I reckon had waned somewhat. Now I'm starting to lean back the other way. Satan explains a lot of things that otherwise don't have no explanation. We're not to me they don't.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Editor's Note:<\/em> No Country for Old Men is also a movie, but this quote was taken from the book, not the film<\/em>.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3756,3757,3775,3830,3903,3923,4245,4555,4883,4884,4908,5038,5064,5108],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-39273","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-demonization","tax_ctp_tags-demons","tax_ctp_tags-devil","tax_ctp_tags-drugs","tax_ctp_tags-evil","tax_ctp_tags-explanations-for-evil","tax_ctp_tags-influence","tax_ctp_tags-occult","tax_ctp_tags-satan","tax_ctp_tags-satanism","tax_ctp_tags-seen-unseen","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-bondage","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-warfare","tax_ctp_tags-supernatural"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nThe Reality of Satan Explains a Lot of Things - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/reality-of-satan-explains-lot-of-things\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Reality of Satan Explains a Lot of Things - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his book No Country for Old Men, award-winning author Cormac McCarthy has one of his characters, Sheriff Val, explain why he returned to his childhood belief in a real devil. 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