A friend showed me this video the other day, setting the lyrics of a song by Durban two-piece The Arrows to some great kinetic typography. In John’s gospel Jesus calls the devil ‘the father of lies’, and I think these guys have captured well this work of deception.

Kevin Spacey’s “Verbal” Kint character in The Usual Suspects puts it well in his infamous line, originally attributed to French poet Charles Pierre Baudelaire, that ‘the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist‘. That said, it becomes hard to distinguish between the work of the devil and our own sinful nature, and we shouldn’t go so far as to count ourselves as neutral and blame everything on the devil. 

Someone once said that a healthy Christian theology takes account of the work of the devil without giving him undue attention and focus. On the one hand Scripture makes clear that he has some power, being the ‘god of this world’ (2 Cor 4:4) and ‘the spirit that is now at work in the children of disobedience’ (Ephesians 2:2). Yet he’s ultimately a defeated enemy for Christ has victoriously ‘disarmed the [spiritual] rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him’ at the cross (Colossians 2:15) and he is under the sovereign control of our good God.

Likewise the Christian need not fear him, for the devil cannot separate them from the ‘love of God in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:38-39) and he will be punished once for all time (Revelation 20:10). Yet until then he still prowls around like a lion (1 Peter 5:8-9), and his work is to be resisted by the Christian (James 4:7; Ephesians 4:26-27).

What do you think of the song?

Kinetic Typography video by Seun Jubril