I also like the voice and it's parallel to religion. I read the voice as Tarwater's own conscience. He calls it the stranger's voice because when Mason was alive he would not allow Tarwater to listen to himself and his conscience. He used religion to control the boy. Mason must know on some level that he's not a prophet. He claims to live by religion but he is immoral. He kidnaps his family members and makes his living on moonshine. So why does he keep Tarwater secluded in the woods? I believe he likes the control it gives him. He is looking for control in his life, forcing it into religion. His control of Tarwater provides him with someone he can control and someone that can continue his lifestyle into his old age. In order to keep his control over Tarwater, he had to convince the boy that the only thing to trust was religion, personified by him.
So when Mason dies and Tarwater is free of his control he hears his conscience again. Since he's lived with Mason his whole life, it is a stranger's voice to him. However, since he only knows life through the scope of religion, he asks himself what this voice is. Is it God or the Devil? He's been taught that God's voice comes from Mason. So this new voice must be the devil.
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