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[Orthodox] Quote about the devil?

AMM

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I stumbled across this quote on a fb page earlier today and thought it was a good quote. But then I went back later because I wanted to see what saint said it, and, in fact, it's not attributed to a saint.

the devil doesn't come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. He comes as everything you've ever wished for

It's attributed to Tucker Max, who is a secular author, and based on his wikipedia page, seems to be somewhat opposed to Christianity by his way of life and some of the things he's written. Still, is this a good quote? Where I saw it, this was added to the end of the quote: "Pray for wisdom and discernment".

Thoughts?
 

Principal Moo

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I struggle with this type of thing too: I always want to consider the source, especially matters of faith. If I can learn something, I want it to be from Orthodox clergy.

However, I also realize that people are on different stages of their journey to God and they may have learned things that are beneficial to others. The quote that you provided does not seem to contradict any Orthodox teaching that I am aware of and there is a lot of truth in it.
 
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~Anastasia~

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Celebrate truth wherever you find it. Just don't be inclined to listen to everything a person says because they got one bit right.

I actually wouldn't include the attribution if I thought it might send anyone to read anti-Christian stuff.
 
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URA

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It's an excellent quote, and very accurate. The idea that the devil always looks evil and is obviously something ungodly is likely a thought brought forth by the devil himself.

Whether or not it comes from a saint or an anti-Christian is really just a side issue; God can work through everyone. Even in the "worst of people", the most horrific criminals (in light of recent issues, MS-13 comes to mind), God is still our creator, and we can still see traces of His work in everyone, even those who run as far from Him as they think they can.

Source isn't as important as people tend to think; some of the best ideas have come from the least likely places ("Can anything good come out of Nazareth?").
 
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AMM

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Interesting. This is all very helpful. That's what I expected the answer would be, but I wanted to check with y'all on the matter.

Something happened to me which is rather complicated, but in short this quote more-or-less applies. So rather than explaining the situation here, I'm just going to ask my priest about it when I get the chance. And, as the quote says, pray for wisdom and discernment.
 
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~Anastasia~

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I am reminded too, on the actual subject of the quote ...

The enemy can't always tempt us with gross sin. Christians should very quickly move out of range of most such temptations.

But very often he tempts us to do something good ... except that the good thing keeps us from doing something else we should be doing instead.

I have seen this happen all too often to those in ministry. Their ministry is a good work. But they are tempted into performing it in a driven sense that ultimately gets in the way of their own relationship with God, Who should be their source in all of this. In the end, the ministry suffers through lacking the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the person suffers, sometimes to the point of burnout or giving up, because what they were really doing was just "good deeds" fueled only by human ambition.
 
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