Proverb 30:12, “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.”
This speech was broadcast by
legendary ABC Radio commentator Paul Harvey on April 3, 1965:
If I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would
of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third
of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be
happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about
however necessary to take over the United States. I would begin with a
campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you
as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.”
To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a
myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way
around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is
“square.” In the ears of the young married, I would whisper that work is
debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not
to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct. And the old, I
would teach to pray. I would teach them to say after me: “Our Father, which
art in Washington” . . .
If I were the devil, I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature
exciting so that anything else would appear dull an uninteresting. I’d
threaten T.V. with dirtier movies and vice versa. And then, if I were the
devil, I’d get organized. I’d infiltrate unions and urge more loafing and
less work, because idle hands usually work for me. I’d peddle narcotics to
whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. And
I’d tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the devil, I would encourage
schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions . . .
let those run wild.
I would designate an atheist to front for me
before the highest courts in the land and I would get preachers to say
“she’s right.” With flattery and promises of power, I could get the courts
to rule what I construe as against God and in favor of pornography, and
thus, I would evict God from the courthouse, and then from the school house,
and then from the houses of Congress and then, in His own churches I would
substitute psychology for religion, and I would deify science because that
way men would become smart enough to create super weapons but not wise
enough to control them.
If I were Satan, I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of
Christmas, a bottle. If I were the devil, I would take from those who have
and I would give to those who wanted, until I had killed the incentive of
the ambitious. And then, my police state would force everybody back to work.
Then, I could separate families, putting children in uniform, women in coal
mines, and objectors in slave camps. In other words, if I were Satan, I’d
just keep on doing what he’s doing.
Paul Harvey, Good Day.
END
