[sunday meditations]

There's a biblical concept called a stronghold. 2 Corinthians 10.4-5 reads, The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. These strongholds, which Paul says are to be demolished by the gospel and by taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ, are faulty thinking patterns based on lies and deception.

The Bible takes it for granted that there are "powers and principalities" at work against God and His people. Such talk may sound like poppycock in the Western world, but these things are still taken for granted in most of the rest of the world, where science and medicine cannot explain shadowy going-ons. Jesus says of the devil that he was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native tongue, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8.44) Whatever the devil may be, one of his main strategies against God and His beloved creatures is to attack our minds through lies and deception. He's clever, spinning these lies in such a way that they make sense; he makes his lies seem reasonable, for he masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor 11.14), and he has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel (2 Cor 4.4). In 2 Timothy 2.26, Paul expresses hope that Timothy's opponents will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul explicitly states, In later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. The devil is chiefly a liar and an accuser; and when it comes to his schemes of deception, he employs lies and accusations to further his agenda of "blocking our way" (indeed, the very Hebrew term satan depicts an entity blocking one's path forward).

Once a person becomes a Christian and a member of God's own household, the fight continues. The enemy is always at work, trying to block our way, always fighting to keep us from experiencing the abundant life Christ has for us. The devil wants to keep us in chains; he hates the thought of us experiencing the freedom and redemption found in a life surrendered to Christ. He actively works against us; it's because of this that Paul commands Christians to put on the full armor of God, so that [we] can stand against the devil's schemes (Eph 6.11); he continues in verse 12, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Shadowy names for shadowy things. The Apostle Peter commands the Christians in Asia Minor to be alert and of sober mind, warning them that their enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith (1 Pet 5.8-9). James tells us to resist the devil, assuring us that if we do so, he will flee (Jas 4.7). We can thus deduce that (a) the devil attacks through lies and deception (et. al.) and (b) he doesn't stop attacking Christians once they are converted. It seems, rather, that he steps up his game. His attacks don't simply come in the form of temptation: that's amateur-hour stuff, and the Bible is clear that there are two other enemies who assault us (the world and our own flesh); the devil's schemes often involve a web of lies, erroneous assumptions, misperceptions, and thought patterns. 

All of this may sound like poppycock. I get it: I'm conditioned to think in rational terms, and I think believing in such things is rational. Let me put it this way: if I am willing to concede that a spiritual realm exists that is unseen (in which we have entities like God and human souls), then I shouldn't be hesitant to concede that there may very well be "going ons" in the spiritual realm that, for someone who understands reality solely through the lens of that which can be experienced by the five senses, can be hard to swallow. Really, there are two options regarding the belief that demons are real, and even active: (1) it's bullshit, and (2) it's real. Philosophical naturalism (the philosophical undercurrent that flows beneath our western worldviews and which upholds the current sway in scientific methodology) erases anything beyond the human senses. If naturalistic philosophy isn't correct (and saying "I know it's right because I haven't seen things I can't see" isn't an appropriate argument), then the door is left open for all sorts of things, not simply Judeo-Christian spirituality. A conscience, a soul, a spirit... A Higher Power, angels and demons, and ghosts, too... All of these become possible players on the field. If philosophical naturalism is correct, then we are the sum total of our parts; if it isn't correct, then we may be far more than the machinations and organic tissue that bind us together and keep us functioning.

I believe there is more to reality than that which we can touch, taste, see, and measure by "scientific methodology." I believe that God exists, and that He is spirit; and I believe in angels, because the Bible says they exist; and I believe in demons because the Bible says they exist, too. Jesus spent a whole lot of time casting out demons and healing those who were oppressed by demons; to argue that he was simply casting out mental illnesses is just an attempt to dodge an uncomfortable subject (and let's not forget that if such an argument were correct, you don't find yourself anywhere: Jesus was still doing a hell of a better job with mental illnesses than modern psychiatry could even hope to do). We western folk with our modern medicine and enlightened worldview don't give much thought to these things; but travel to the third world, and rumor has it your eyes are opened. All sorts of weird, creepy, scary, and downright unexplainable things happen over there. Many a missionary and physician has been explicit: "You see demonic activity in third world countries that you simply don't see in the western world." These missionaries, mind you, aren't idiots; to identify someone as an idiot because they've drawn different conclusions that you is foolishness of the highest sort. These missionaries and physicians are western men and women who were raised in rather moderate homes and learning about the world the same way we do. They go to another part of the world, and they experience things that shatter their cherished paradigms.

I've heard it argued that demons are no less active in the western world; it's just that they're subtle. Kevin Spacey put it best: The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. I believe one of the biggest demonic lies being paraded and believed throughout the western world is that of philosophical materialism. If you can't measure something by scientific methods, then the only appropriate conclusion is that it doesn't exist. Never mind the extreme arrogance of such a belief; it's swallowed whole and part of a daily western diet. By promulgating such a lie, the "powers and principalities" may break down their own glory, but they also steal glory from God and make God's people look like backwards hillbillies. Demonic powers attack God's people subtly, as well, through lies and deceptions: lies about the world, lies about ourselves, lies about our Creator. When we believe these lies, we are held back from being the sort of people God wants us to be. He has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel.