The Devil...To Me?

I've never had an experience with the devil; I don't know whom the devil is, as vague as that might sound, because there are so many incarnations of the devil. I was taught about so many characteristics of the devil that are commonly known to anyone following any religion and non-religion growing up. No matter how many versions of the devil I have learned about during my childhood, he was always depicted as evil in nature. As a kid I feared the devil because he was simply the bad guy; I always saw him as a monster in physical form and someone that wanted you to join him in hell; for example, an image that can vividly pop up in my head is of a burning, mountainous brimstone surface at which hundreds of burning naked corpses are out-stretching their hands just a little above the cliff trying to trip me up. The most familiar interpretation of the devil taught to me as a child is the Christian interpretation; based on some accounts from the Christian bible is that the devil seems to be a trickster, too; I can not recall vividly, but there is a scenario of the devil making a bet with god, and the bet was to turn one of god’s followers against god through a series of horrendous trials. From the follower’s perspective, as he is trying to endure these trials, it seems as if this could be happening as an act of nature, but it’s really a test orchestrated by the devil.