on demons and devils

Philip Yancey said, "As a Christian I believe that we live in parallel worlds. One world consists of hills and lakes and barns and politicians and shepherds watching their flocks by night... The other consists of angels and sinister forces," the whole spiritual realm. In Revelation 12, we are shown an 'alternate' view of the Christmas story--not the realm of barns and politicians, but the realm of spiritual forces. Of a great battle and a great defeat, and a great leader being born. Quite a contrast. But both, in the end, true. The shepherds and their flocks saw only one aspect of the 'first Christmas', but it didn't mean the other one was any less true. In the same way, demons and angels and Satan are still working all around us, in this parallel but oh-so-real world, and we've just turned our eyes.

We are told that temptation is in our minds. True. We are told that temptation is evil trying to get a foothold. True. And we are told that it is only ourselves. Wrong. Sometimes it may not just be us involved in the tempting, but something--or someone--else. Let's say you're hungry and you want a candy-bar. You see it on the shelf in a grocery store. You think, "Man, that would taste good. Wish I had the money." And just as you finish that thought, a little voice inside you says, No one is watching. Who will catch you? Go ahead and steal it. Who would know? Go ahead. Why not? Afraid God will see you? He'll forgive you. Just do it. He won't care. Besides, everyone else does it. You're better--you'll do it only once. It's just a candy bar. No big deal! We've all had such 'conversations' with ourselves--but I challenge you to think, "Was I the only one talking there?"

Has it ever crossed your mind that not every thought that crosses your mind comes from you? Have you ever said to yourself, "Wait a minute, who else is speaking here? Where are these ideas coming from? Where are those feelings coming from?" Have you ever had 'bad', disturbing dreams, nightmarish and sensual, that cause you to wake up and feel disgusted and dirty and spiritually nasty? Ever have strange, foreign feelings become yours: walk into a dark house, feel fearful; walk past tabloids in a grocery store and the feeling of corruption invades?

There is a great enemy who tries to pull us away from God, trap us into sin, hurt our relationship with Jesus. He is a deceiver, and he fills us with deceitful thoughts and ideas to try to get us to do what is wrong, to snap our faith in God, to get us to feel smug with dirty brands of Christianity. Most people don't believe in this great Enemy--the devil. And if they do, most either ignore him, or don't care; some even worship him. They are the ones most deceived. To quote The usual Suspects, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." He's doing a great job at it nowadays. His power is ruthless--ruthless and strong to the point of being half-invisible, only seen through the eyes of those hungry to see it. He's that good.

Do we think of the devil when terrorism strikes,
when we are distracted during prayer, too tired to read the Scriptures,
a fall-out or division in ministries
when pastors' kids go off the deep end
when we feel fear, nervousness when witnessing,
when churches are dying,
or life is fallin apart
and faith feels paper thin?
Do we think of him when there is corruption in the church,
corruption in youth groups,
and corruption in the daily life of Christians?

This Enemy, this Deceiver and his minions--demons--love to make us feel hurt, misunderstood, suspicious, resentful of one another; they like to stir up hate and prejudice in our hearts. The Enemy likes to lure us in with many different temptations--be it greed or gluttony or lust or pride--and when we grab, he sinks the hook deeper and drags us under.

Often when you are not an enemy to the devil, you feel like things are just fine and you're a good person; but when you cross his paths, you often feel dirty, cheap, feel like you have a bad heart.

We must resist the devil. We must fight against him, refuse to give in. See his hand in ordinary life, question him. No surprise, when we fight back, things get worse. He steps up the assaults. Thoughts, feelings everywhere, life falling apart, faith paper thing--all signs that HE IS LOSING. He realizes he's been spotted, his cover has been blown; he is panicking and trying his hardest to ruin you. He's losing. He's worried. And he's scared. Now. This battle will last a lifetime, and only be fully won and over when we step into the Kingdom of Heaven. Never give up. Never stop fighting.

He's out there. Even now.

If you're reading this, and you're thinking, "What a nutcase. What a wacko. He doesn't know what he's talking about," I have news for you. The Enemy is here. He's real. And he's trying to convince us he doesn't exist. We all need to wake up and see.