Satan is not like other Gods, who will not brook a rival.

Satan revolts both against these other deities, and against the common worshipper. Instead of saying “there is none like me” he says “I will be like the most high,” and, turning to his followers with a rakish smile, exhorts us to keep up.

He doesn’t want us bowing down or gazing up. He looks us in the eye, and demands we meet his gaze of fire with fire of our own.

If he seems pitiless, it is only because he knows self-pity is noxious and has no wish to encourage it. But he has great compassion, because he has great understanding. He never looks on us in judgment. Recriminations are worthless to him. He prefers a lesson learned to guilt nursed.

He challenges us– which is to say, he invites us to compete with him. In this most congenial and sportsmanlike sense, he truly is our adversary.

Game on, my brother. May the best fiend win.