Demons? Seriously?

A few years ago, my wife and I were visiting a church while on vacation.  I don’t recall much about the service, except for the fact that the text for the day was a gospel account of Jesus casting out an evil spirit.  At some point in the sermon, the pastor asserted, “Now, we know today that there are no demons.” 

That was it!  No argument.  No explanation.  Just a declaration by undefended fiat.  I wanted to ask him right then and there, “What can you possibly know about the unseen spiritual world that Jesus didn’t?”  Or “If Jesus was so off base on this little detail, what concerns must we have about weightier matters, such as his divinity or our salvation?”  But convention got the best of me; I resigned myself to a slow burn in the pew ... and a Walter Mitty lifetime of imagined rebuttals.  (All of them delivered in brilliant oratory, of course!)

Jesus spoke of demons as though they exist.  Clearly this was no dumbing down to an uneducated audience, for he went on to teach much more about these powers of darkness and how they work.

So why even have this discussion?  Simply this: If we are comprised of body, soul and spirit, we ought to be wise to the things that challenge each of these facets of our being … and equipped to combat them.  Or stated differently, how can we even begin to fight a spiritual foe we cannot identify, name or admit that it exists?  Our advanced knowledge has yielded medicine for the body and psychology for the mind, but what about spirit and soul?  Ignorance in these matters is no bliss.

Here is an example.  Jesus said that when a demon is cast out, he eventually returns.  If he finds the soul “swept clean and put in order,” he moves back in, stronger than before.  The urgent take-away is this: when God fights for us and delivers us by grace, we do well to respond with faith in his Son who promises to live in us and seal us for eternity.  And the Spirit of Christ in us is, as John wrote, “greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).  We are kept safe in Christ.

Here’s another.  Jesus said that some spirits are only cast out through much prayer.  Again, important to know.

As with anything, we can err in two extremes.  Some, for instance, superstitiously find a demon in seemingly every circumstance.  But the Word shows us that we are just as wrong to dismiss the existence of spiritual warfare.  Indeed the Apostle Paul's instruction to the early church serves also to alert us today: “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” (Ephesians 6:12).

His “so what” applies to us as well: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground ...” (Ephesians 6:13).

The “full armor” we put on is a person - Jesus Christ, who is our salvation, our righteousness, our truth and our peace.  In him and with faith in his Word, we will stand against any foe.

[Click here to see the daily reading in Luke 11:14-26.]