The Window - Evil Slipping Through

Children’s Sermon

Something about cracks? Less cracks the better? hardness, stiffness, etc? cracking of skin? lotion? Demons are less about full scale attack and more about slipping into a crack

Scripture

1 Timothy 4:1-2 - The Spirit teaches clearly that as time goes on, some will give up on the faith. They will pay attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. These liars will be controlled by lying and their consciences will be burned and ineffective.

Engage

I have already spoken some in previous sermons about a few interactions I’ve had with demons. I’ll recap just two cases of obvious evil I’ve encountered in the same prison. In one case, the possessed man was full of rage…the demonic in him was palpable. Before I was even near him, as I approached, I felt it. In another case, the demonic in the other man was much less obvious…and likely much more destructive to society and insidious. Effortless lying, cold, calculated behavior…I know through our conversations that this man had tried all sorts of legal and sociological gymnastics to try and justify the horrible things he’d done. In many ways, he epitomized some characteristics common of the very most evil people and their leader…lying, self-righteousness, narcissism, control and coercion, abuse of power. Whereas I’d guess that the first demon possessed man would take on an army if given an opportunity, the second would much more carefully choose his outlets…preferring only the weakest and most vulnerable to victimize. The second man was, perhaps, close, or very close, to what some exorcists call perfect possession.

Anyhow, suffice it to say that, just as with angels, there is no lack of information on the reality of the devil and the demonic. They exist, they are real, and they work against God’s purposes and God’s people. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence…and any serious Christian simply knows the Satan and demons, and their presence at times in some people, is simply fact. Our evidence comes from Scripture, yes, and from every culture worldwide and for as long as humans have been documenting history. Does it make sense that a sinless, holy, God in the flesh Jesus would’ve somehow or for some reason deceived his followers, and therefore us, on the presence of the demonic? Of course not.

Encounter

I can only touch on this topic…but want to hit some high points in the time we have…I’ve read and learned a great deal more than I’ll share now. Overall, the late great Dr. M Scott Peck, a psychiatrist, made a great point in something I was reviewing the other day. He said that as awful as Satan, and demons, and evil are…we must not find ourselves more anti-Satan than we are Pro-God. His point is in line with an eternal truth that I believe with all my being…no power of evil can ever extinguish God. Period. The battle has been decided, the victory won. We cannot act as if the result may change. However, for now, the battle does rage on in one category with many locations - the human heart.

I will guide my sermon today off of a couple of key questions…First, who, or perhaps what, are the devil and its demons? A combination of Scripture, Isaiah 14 for instance, and Christian tradition teach that Satan, who is also at times known as Lucifer or Beelzebub, originated as an archangel…similar to Michael, or Raphael. At some point, he rebelled against the rule of God and fought with God. God won the fight decisively and cast Satan and the angels who fought with him out of heaven, to Earth. Satan and his demons oppose God on every front. Whatever God is for, they are against. Probably for all eternity. Satan and his follower demons are genderless, neither male nor female. They can appear, much like angels, in various forms. Human, animal, object, what have you. They also have access to powers that we humans don’t routinely have access to. If you read or study any of the thousands of documented cases of possessions, you’ll often learn that people see things that are physically impossible and truly unbelievable…yet, through the powers possessed by those on the other side of the window, they are possible and believable....and true.

Now, friends, many of you know that Jesus, correctly, pronounces himself the way, the truth, and the life. Satan, his demons, and his followers, are the opposite of these things. The demonic is NOT the way to anything of any value…it’s a dead end, a closed road, an long walk on a short plank. The demonic is the path not to life, but to death. Likely eternal death, perhaps uncreation, likely eternal separation from God, likely eternal torment. Satan, his demons, and his followers all around our culture like to pretend that while, perhaps, Satan is not the path to eternal life, he’s a path to the most abundant and fun life on the Earth. Wrong! Jesus is the path to life eternal, AND life abundant during this life. I think, too often, we sell this critical truth short in our churches. Really, the result, in this life and the next, of following Satan is nothingness. Boring, lifeless, nothingness. An observer at an exorcism with Dr. Peck once said, “You know, Scotty, you had told me about the dreariness of evil, but I did not believe you. Yet one of my most profound impressions of the exorcism was of how boring it was - that endless silly string of lies.” Friends, I don’t think you’ll have to look hard to see people following the path of Satan…you’ll see the fruits as well. Emptiness, extreme vanity, devaluing of life, chasing of fad after fad after fad…trying to fill a hole through a being who cannot possibly fill it.

Also, Satan is NOT a path to Truth. Again, friends, contrary to post-modern philosophical nonsense, Capital T truth DOES exist and it’s found in Jesus. Jesus says in John that Satan is the evil one, the FATHER of lies, a murderer from the beginning has nothing to do with truth, because there is no Truth in him. Spot on!

The father of lies…Satan, his demons, his followers deal in lies as a type of currency. They deal in darkness, secrecy, cover, camouflage often times. They’ll use disguise to stay under the radar and avoid detection. That’s why churches are not only not immune to the presence of the demonic, they are even attractive to the demonic if they can disguise themselves there. I have a friend, not all that far from here, who has battled demons right in her sanctuary on a Sunday…demons possessing, in some form, a few members of her church.

I have routinely heard stories of those contemplating violence against themselves or others being told lie after lie by Satan or one of his demons. I saw an interview once, thank you John, with a man who was just about to execute a horrific act of violence. Satanic voices were telling him, “If you just do this, everything will be alright. This will solve all of your problems. This is the solution.” Friends, there is not a single speck of truth in any of those statements. That, dishonesty, lies, false promises, is the very core of the character of Satan.

My next question, do Satan and his followers know about Jesus? Yes, they do. Unequivocally. They know of Jesus, Mary, the archangels, and all the powers of God. They just oppose them. Completely. As I’ve said before, and I’ll say countless times again, true evil doesn’t have a knowledge problem. True evil has an OBEDIENCE problem. Even though obedience to God actually leads to the greatest life, freedom, and joy possible in all the universe.

Do Satan and his demons have any chance to win eternally? NO. I said it a bit ago, I think, but it bears repeating. They lost, they are losers, for all of eternity…unless, perhaps, they repent. So why do they continue to fight? It doesn’t make sense, really does it? No, it doesn’t. But evil doesn’t make sense. Period. It’s not rational, it’s irrational. It’s not analytical, it’s emotional. Revelation 12 says, Woe, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. Wrath. Wrath is another key characteristic of evil…whether it’s subtle or overt. Satan’s goals are opposition or destruction of all things God, even though his goal is impossible. He tries, often successfully, to be a fly in the ointment, water in the gas tank, a wrench in the gears. But he can’t stop God’s purposes from being completed. I’m sure if you all think for a few moments or minutes, you can think of someone, or perhaps many someone’s, acting in wrath during your lifetime. And if you can, you’ll agree that wrath is often absurdly illogical. It doesn’t make sense to a calm, less emotional, analytical person. I may have spoken a bit previously about my disappointment in a great Christian thinker I truly admired…I still admire many of his writings, but as a person, he was obviously battling evil. Zacharias. I actually had a long talk about Ravi recently at an ASU baseball game, of all places. Ravi had ample opportunities to confess, come clean, get help, etc. Yet, when questioned by employees of his ministry, his response was wrath. When I read that in the report of the board of RZIM, I knew without a doubt that evil had a grip on him.

So, if Satan and evil cannot win, why does God allow them to continue? This answer, friends, ultimately lies with God. Whatever his reasons are, I trust they are correct. We have some educated guesses, though. Perhaps God knows that he will, or hopes to, win them back at some point. As in the case of the prodigal son. They are children of God and he undoubtedly loves them and longs to reunite with them. Perhaps, maybe even probably, God is waiting for all of humanity to be exposed to the gospel before initiating the new Earth. Again, for reasons only he fully understands. Or, perhaps, the presence of evil assists in the soul-making of us, God’s children…such that we can serve God in some purpose, or purposes, on a later point in the line of eternity.

Now, a question I’m sure many of you have wondered about…and also been afraid of, quite frankly. How do demons come to possess human beings? There are many ways, but I’ll hit some highlights. The spiritual authorities on these matters who I trust all point to possession being much more of a process than an instant. In other words, as Dr. Peck says, “I very much doubt that somebody can go walking down the street one day and have a demon jump out from behind a bush and enter them.” Malachi Martin, a Roman Catholic theologian, said, “No person can be possessed without some degree of cooperation on his or her part.” So by what process does it happen. Jesus speaks to this in Luke 11 and elsewhere. Basically, a set of behaviors or attitudes can lead to it. Even after deliverance, if the behaviors or attitudes aren’t changed, repossession can and likely will occur, likely even worse than before. What behaviors and attitudes?

Well, believe it or not, some humans REQUEST it. Satan, in that case, is more than happy to comply. Also participation in the occult is a reliable pathway to possession. Ouija boards, seance’s, tarot cards, crystal balls, sorcerers, dark magicians, dark mediums, witchcraft, etc. They aren’t quite the same as overtly asking Satan to possess you, but they aren’t far off. Friends, you can buy some of this junk right here in town at 5 below, for instance! Ridiculous! What attitudes? In general, attitudes of radical openness to suggestion. Seeking wholeness, as I said above, from things or people incapable of providing it. Looking to “spiritual” gurus, mentalists, new age frauds, in a spirit of radical openness. Sometimes evil is obvious and overt to any rational person. Other times, it comes via what looks to be an angel of light…but not one rooted in Christ and Scripture. An “angel” of light promising healing, wholeness, purpose…all the things Christ promises but without Christ. Those who seek and fall victim to these demons disguised as angels OFTEN, not always, but very OFTEN suffer from loneliness, isolation, disillusionment…perhaps broken relationships, failed work endeavors or businesses…they are reaching for those limb lines, as I talked about some weeks ago, that Satan and his followers are more than happy to offer.

In one true case of possession, an insidious demon gained control of a Roman Catholic Priest, over time and through the Priests own conscious decisions. Before he was exercised, the demon had complete and total control of Father Yves. Any attempts at non-compliance with the will of the demon on the part of Father Yves part were met with violence, extreme illness, madness, pain. Yves was ultimately excommunicated from the Catholic church due to his inability to properly perform duties (he was changing words, etc) and due to several physical manifestations of his possession during ceremonies (seizures, etc). He began to call himself Father Jonathan. He formed his own church in Greenwich Village, New York. He named it The Shrine of the New Being. He said Mass (albeit with different words), performed marriages, baptized infants and adults, visited the dying, etc. He created a rite in his church called the Bearing of the Light. His initiated members were called Light Bearers. It all sounds very religious, and spiritual, perhaps even holy, doesn’t it? To the unthinking person stumbling along in life, I’m sure it did. Yet the priest of that church was none other than Satan himself, guiding every move of Father Yves / Jonathan. Only Jesus, folks. It matters. Knowing his life, his teachings, his resurrection, his Lordship, MATTERS. BIG TIME.

Also, in addition to loneliness, isolation, and the like, extreme pride and narcissism, or almost complete self-referenced morality, can certainly lead to a very insidious form of possession. Satan LOVES a person who only cares for, and only acts on behalf of, him or herself. Some other signs to look for that may indicate possession or the danger of it include scapegoating…constantly attacking others rather than facing failures of self. Or, spiritual fat-cattery, self-righteousness. The refusal to see any fault in oneself…instead only pointing to “them” or “those people.” Boy, I could tell some stories here, but for time.

Empower

Friends, it bears repeating that part of our confession as Christians, and Methodist, is that EVERYTHING needed for salvation can be found in this book and in the God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it reveals. EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING YOU NEED, YOUR FAMILY NEEDS, YOUR WORK NEEDS, to enjoy not only eternal blissful life but ABUNDANT LIFE here and now is here. The demonic prey mostly on those who seek these things through something other than God. Don’t. Put in the effort, the time, the energy, and the faith to see the face of God for yourself. I believe he will show it to you, in his time, when you do. Also, about the demonic. Any Christian disciple has all they need to battle demons but it is not to be taken lightly…and spiritual warfare on the level of exorcisms is best done by those with battle tested experience. SOLDIER ANALOGY. And, there’s nothing wrong with seeking help. If you feel as though YOU or someone you know needs help in this area, I’ll do all in my power to help you and/or find those who can.

No power of evil can ever extinguish God. Period.

Pray...