Is the Devil really God in disguise?

I have been recently thinking about the  devil. Actually, I was laughing about him. My husband and I were talking about how, according to the devil myth, all the interesting people would probably go to hell and some of the more adventurous might even enjoy the torture. Then it hit me. Why is the devil torturing "bad" people? He is evil himself. Wouldn't he be recruiting them?  He is the fallen angel rebel. Why is he punishing people who are sinning?  Hell is his kingdom. He can do as he pleases down there, so why is he doing God's job? I mean, isn't that good?

 According to many  religions, people who sin should be punished by God. So, why is the evil devil doing that? Isn't he against God? He also seems to test people's moral strength like in the Book of Job and other stories. Shouldn't he be embracing you when you do evil? Shouldn't he be putting an arm around you and welcoming you to the land of your most evil dreams? Shouldn't he be recruiting bad people to fill the ranks of his evil army with which he will eventually rise up and fight God?  But instead,  he is meting out biblical punishment to people who did exactly as he did?  Hmm. That does not make any sense to me unless the devil is just another face of God.

Jesus is supposedly the compassionate face of God. We also have God, the father. He is all judgement and law. Is the devil just a mask for the punishing face of God, the enforcer and executioner? I know people have a big problem understanding a God that is not perfectly good according to our tiny brains. So, maybe this is an attempt to explain the multifaceted and inexplicable nature of the complex universe. Religions make up the devil to do what God says he wants done with sinners but is too good himself to do. That way people don't have to deal with that part of  God and can just tuck it away in the Big Scary Dark Side and ignore it. In this way, they also don't have to deal with the dualistic nature of the universe. They can keep it nice and simple.

Religions demand that bad people be punished for disobeying their laws. So, unless the Devil (or his many  counterparts in religion) is either working for God or is God, he is being a very good boy and that is weird.