The New Testament presents us with not two but three agencies: God, the human being, and an Enemy who is variously called Satan, the devil, Beelzebul, “the ruler of this world,” and “the prince of the power of the air,” among other biblical designations. It has been given to this Enemy to enslave humanity, and indeed all of creation, until such time as God sees fit. When Jesus appears, the time is at hand; we are those “upon whom the end of the ages has come” (I Cor. 10:11).
