Signed Pacts

In addition, the popularization of signed pacts between the sinner and the Satan reveals another reason why he was able to keep having such great influence over people for so many years. The alleged written pacts were also used in trials of heretics and witches to prove their guilt. The pacts helped to demonize all the heretics and other people who did not adhere to the norms. Once again the fear of the unknown worked hand in hand with the Devil; much like today, the mass have a natural opposition against strangers; even more so nowadays as we are more isolated and do not have the same community life as before. The Devil was and is still associated with all the people not viewed as good Christian or on the contrary viewed as threats to the
community. Issues of racism are still one of the main problems of humanity, with the terrorist attacks and on-going wars in the Middle East, the demonization of the perpetrators is one of the most common ways used to deal with the events and explain why such horrible circumstances took place. Since outsiders are the perfect scapegoat to whom we can blame most of the undesired happenings of the world, they are often closely linked to the Satan as pawns that sold their souls in order to achieve a selfish goal.
As our view of the world broke down, our image of the Satan continued to change with it.
Even nowadays, the principle of evil that is the Devil still remains; some would argue that his existence is mostly rendered obsolete and false by the standard of modern science but “in fact, the Devil’s existence is no less likely now than it ever was. Society’s assumptions, styles, and prejudices have changed – and will change again – but the underlying problem of evil remains the same.” As argued earlier, the close association of the figure of Satan to the inherent fears of humanity coupled with its incredible ability to adapt to any situation make the Devil quite resistant in the face of change. Some people would have thought that he would have disappeared as we entered the Modern Period, however the fact that the presence of evil will never go away makes the figure of Satan crucial to the population. It is the nature of humans to search and find the cause of an incomprehensible event like a war or a
murder.
Briefly, the figure of Satan was able to keep its influence throughout the years because of the unchanging nature of evil and the need to separate that evil from God.
The Devil provides a point of focus for all our fears as well as an outlet to deal with those issues. Upon looking into the roots of the creation of the Satan into the Old Testament as well as the description and characteristics associated to it, we can find the reasons for the great adaptability of the figure of Satan. As it is the Devil has been tailor-made from the needs of the mass, expressing our oldest fears at the same time as repressing them. His strong association to the unknown and the darkness kept the Devil in our
subconscious.