Whenever a criminal is caught red-handed, he almost always blames the Devil for his actions and expects to be left off the hook because of that. At the other extreme, some people claim that Satan is not to be blamed at all for people's misdeeds. They say Satan stays on his own lane before being toyed with by people.
What does the Bible say?
In the Garden of Eden, God blamed both man and the Devil (Genesis 3: 1-24). Man was to blame for disobeying the orders of God, "the Most High" (Psalm 83:18) because of Satan, a fallen angel (Job 1:6 ; 2:1 & 38: 4-7). You don't disobey your parents because of your older sibling, do you?
However, God didn't absolve the Devil (who was created before Adam and Eve and is therefore older) from all blame (Genesis 3: 14-15). Revelation 12:9 calls Satan "the original serpent . . . who is misleading the entire inhabited earth", including Adam and Eve. 1 Peter 5:8 says " the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone" and James 4:7 urges us to oppose him to make him flee from us. These verses show that Satan DOESN'T stay on his own lane. He was wandering about the earth in Job 1:7 & 2:2. Those who stumble others will end up worse than someone thrown into the sea with a milestone hung round his neck (Luke 17:2). Accordingly, Satan will be destroyed along with those he manages to deceive (Revelation 20: 7- 15).
