can we just talk about demons?
hell, yes. literally.
It’s funny, that I’m writing this as I continue my series on Eden (God willing), because words like Eden, paradise, garden, longing, etc. do not really give you quite the same feeling as Hell, fire, decreation, lust, etc. — in fact, not the same anything, at all.
People who say things like “spiritual warfare has never been more present!!” or “Satan is more active in our culture than any time in history!”, I’m afraid aren’t very aware of the long years that have come before America and westernization. No. The Enemy has been working long before any of us, and he will be working long after you have been buried. God has begun to tune my ‘spiritual weathervane’, and I am beginning to see just how much evil likes to show its face. Now, more than ever, demonic presence is mainstream and openly acknowledged not only to be real, but to be the basis of our lives. We have made a ‘U’, as I like to use analogies. At the height of the great world powers (nothing silly that we know today, but real, great, awesome kingdoms, such as Rome, Greece, Egypt, Babylonia, etc.) — the left side of the U — these people believed in a great many things that were highly ‘spiritual’ as our culture would call them today. Nevertheless, many of those ‘spiritual things’ were also highly realistic and highly active, in spite of non-belief or belief. The demons (or angels) don’t stop doing their work just because some feeble humans refuse to comprehend. And then we hit the Renaissance, the anti-religious movement, the backhanded slap to organized religion and all that it kept from the common folk. The world began to shift, and modernization has become the anti-anything-you-can’t-actually-see movement. It’s more of self-realization than spiritual realization. That is the bottom of the U. And now we (meaning mostly Westerners, as third world countries seem to have quite a grasp on spiritual matters, specifically the darker side — we will talk about this later) have arrived to the right side of the U. Thank God it is the right side. And all the while, The Deceiver hasn’t rested. He hasn’t caught a wink of sleep.
Not only is the Devil a symbol for bands, celebrities, children’s Halloween costumes, and your neighbor’s t-shirt, but he is openly worshipped in all of the ways that I mentioned above plus some. The loss of order, mass destructing of Creation, the breaking up of anything whole, and overall the chaos we feel inside all streams from the Lake of Fire. But on the flip side, I believe and pray to God, that the modernized, under-awed, westernized Christianity that is so prevalent, is gaining consciousness amongst the dark and dragonish methods of that age-old snake who seeks nothing but destruction. It’s not just my own weathervane that is being polished and retuned (oh wait, weathervanes can’t be tuned. I don’t think that’s the word there…) but the Church is beginning to see. Glory to God. In this series, I want to explore willy nilly, perhaps with a rabbit hole here and there, the power of the roaring lion and what he intends for the downfall of the modern age.
This particular article is just an introduction to let you all know that what is coming won’t be quite like the Eden narrative that I have come to love writing on, and it won’t be quite so airy fairy (if Eternity can even be called that). The powers of the Darkness are beginning to collide with the Light, and in the struggle, there will be casualties, there will be pain, and there will be certain victory. At the end of each article in this series, I will be linking resources that I have stumbled across in which I began to be healed from spiritual blindness and cured of my materialistic Christian ideology. Note though, that although these resources were largely helpful, that does not mean I wholeheartedly agree with all that is said. The main thing is to be wholeheartedly aware and to muse upon this topic in your spare time, through being provoked by these speakers. I pray that as heavy as these things are to read and listen to, that your heart may be blessed. There is hope. Let us not lose sight of that one fact.
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Rev. 12:3-4a
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. John 8:44b
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” Luke 11:24-26
Today’s resource: