Please pray for the suffering people of Ukraine and the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank. Pray for an end to these wars.
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That title above is an embarrassing paraphrase of the old spiritual “I’ve got shoes”.
“What do you mean: I’ve got demons?”
“Of course you do. I trust that you’re not possessed by the devil, so that you lose control of your faculties. (Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this Post. Or would you?) But really, all the trouble you’ve got yourself into: Do you think you invented that all by yourself? You’re not that smart! The demons have been working on you, and sometimes you gave in to them. We all do. I mean, didn’t it feel like someone/something was pushing you, pulling you into it, till finally you gave way? That’s what the Adam and Eve story is all about. Psychologists and psychiatrists (God bless them!) describe what and how it happens and how to try to cope with it.”
Only true religion describes why temptation exists, what is behind it – demonic powers – and how best to handle them. When temption becomes too great, I used to say the right thing was to get your back up and tell the devil: “Go to hell.” I was wrong. The right way is to let your pride down and quickly cry out to your Lord Jesus: “Help, Lord”.
Let’s back up and come at this subject another way. I think any Christian who looks at the state of the world today and the condition of American politics, for example, and doesn’t see the devil at work just isn’t paying attention. I can’t speak well of what’s going on overseas, but I have followed American politics closely since 1948. I’ve seen all these for the most part well-intentioned people go into politics, and look what happens to them personally. Look at what so many of them wind up doing.
The worst news, of course, is that sometimes they do what they said what they were going to do.
Look at the chaos our American politicians are producing, despite their early intentions. Why? Because a super-human force of evil is working on them, through them, and many of these people have never been taught how to resist, to fight back. Demons here are doing what they love to do: ruining good people’s lives, tearing down institutions that have long worked for human good. I even suspect a form of “demonic infestation” is involved here. Look it up.
How can we believers find the strength to resist the demons? You know the answer. Through regular worship and reception of the Holy Eucharist, ordered daily Scripture reading and prayer, including intercessory prayer for others. Through regular contact with the people of God, through whom Christ reaches out and strengthens us – Sunday coffee hour/social hour after Divine Liturgy, for example – so that we feel surrounded by others who are struggling on the upward path with us, and saint who have already done it. Then when the devil comes at us, we won’t feel alone, and we’ll have strength to resist. And if after all that, we fail (and sometimes we will) we will know to go to Confession and get our souls washed clean, and we’ll have a fresh beginning in our journey upwards into the Kingdom of God.
Stop!
I did not mean to begin this week’s Post by going off on a tangent about demons. I meant to start with Hallowe’en. We’ll go back to demons later.
So let’s sum up this section and transition to Hallowe’en with this:
Boo!
Hallowe’en
Some people tell us that Hallowe’en is pagan. It is not.
We can tell from the title that it’s a Christian festival. Hallowe’en is an abbreviation for All Hallow’s Eve, the Eve of All Saints’ Day. In the Western Church, the celebration of All Saints’ Day was placed on November 1 (*1) specifically to counter the Celtic (*2) pagan holiday of Samhain, which was observed at this time. At Samhain it was believed the veil between this world and the other was lifted, and spirits were allowed to roam on earth, and perhaps they were. It fits the season, at least here in the north, when the nights suddenly become long and cold, and the summer crops and flowers are dying, and dead leaves crackle underfoot.
- 1 Orthodox All Saint’s Day is the Sunday after Pentecost. Can you see why?
- 2 Much of Western Europe was under Celtic influence in those days.
How did Hallowe’en become a day when children go from door to door in costume crying “Trick or treat” and gathering candy? Apparently it derives from a medieval custom of “souling”, when poor children went from door to door in costume begging money in exchange for which they would pray for the souls of the departed. Immigrants brought it to America where somehow it got transmogrified into Trick or Treating. (My theory: It was sponsored by renegade dentists.) I know from my father’s stories that the “trick” part of Hallowe’en existed in the early Twentieth century. Trick or treating for candy as we know it goes back no further than the 1920s or so. (How ghastly! If I had been born only twenty years earlier I would have missed it.)
In the village where I grew up, we could Trick or Treat on both October 30 and October 31. It’s a wonder our teeth survived.
Even with its ghosts and devil’s costumes, there is nothing remotely pagan about modern children’s Hallowe’en. However, when our youth are old enough to handle it, Hallowe’en offers a good time to teach them that there is a real Devil – Diabolos the evil, diabolical one, Satan the destroyer. He is fearful, terrifying, dangerous. “Fear him.” He wants to ruin your young life. He can come at you hidden on the Internet, for example, and trap you under his spell. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
Furthermore, some adults have been trying to “re-paganize” Hallowe’en, resurrecting Samhain. Others are getting into spiritualism, summoning up the dead, and black magic (the kind involving Satan). I know that in the 1960s Parker Bros. board games offered not only Monopoly, but also the Ouija Board.
I could tell you some stories…
… OK, OK… If you insist. I think I’ve told you these before, but all good stories need to be repeated. Here’s one which involved my own personal stupidity. When Dianna and I were first married, we were invited to a party where people were playing with a ouija board. She, being wiser than I, didn’t want to, but I said, “Come on, it’s just a harmless game.”
I guarantee you that neither of us moved that piece on the board. But it moved. To other people it gave sensible answers, either spelling them out or going to yes or no, but to me it gave gibberish. Finally I asked Are you anti-clerical? It immediately went to Yes. My first straight answer. We were totally spooked and have never again touched a ouija board.
Alright, two more: Some of Khouria Dianna’s friends, long ago, late one night were playing with a ouija board. It gave accurate answers which nobody working the board could possibly know: “What was my grandmother’s maiden name?”, that sort of thing. They likewise were getting very nervous. Finally they asked “Who are you?” and it spelled out “S A T A N.” They immediately put it away!
Some years ago my phone rang and a man’s voice on the other end said. “Please help me! I’ve got to talk to somebody religious, and I picked your name out of the phone book. I got into black magic, Satanism, and I’m trying to get away – but they won’t let me.” And as he went on his voice f a d e d … … … … into silence and was gone, with me still on the line. I waited for a few minutes, then hung up. I couldn’t trace his phone number. What was going on? Maybe he was just on drugs, or maybe… The shadow of that hung over me for days.
Brothers and sisters, Do not dabble with black magic, spiritualism, Satanism, the occult. There are great dangers.
Now back to the original subject.
Jesus Christ and demons
The Gospels say our Lord Jesus spent much time casting out demons from men and also women such as Mary Magdalene, from whom he cast out seven evil spirits. Why did so many emerge then? I think because in the presence of their Creator, all things are shown for what/who they are.
- A question for you: Why are there so few accounts of demons today in our culture? Please comment.
The typical pattern is like this: Christ comes up to an ill or demented man. Immediately the demon cries, “Leave me alone. I know who you are, the Son of God”. They know Jesus is the Lord of all who has power over them – and they hate Him for it. * Then He casts them out.
- “The demons also believe and shudder.” James 2:19 The demons believe the Creed, but some “Christians” do not! Go figure.
Most people today, at least in our culture, seem to think this is primitive superstition. The problem is simply mental illness. Poor ignorant Jesus. He didn’t know about antidepressants.
How did Christianity come to place such emphasis on the devil and the demons? Because Jesus Christ taught it. Here’s the background story:
The devil is mentioned only a few times in the Old Testament. He tempts Adam and Eve – although I read that Jewish scholars do not understand it that way. The Old Testament understanding of the Evil One was primitive. In the book of Job, Satan is God’s trusty servant who goes “to and fro upon the earth” reporting peoples’ misbehavior back to Him. Job 1:7, 2:2.
Isaiah tells the story of the fall of Lucifer, “the Morning Star” due to his pride:
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who rose up in the morning! He who sends for all the nations is crushed to the earth. For you said in your mind, ‘I will ascend into heaven; I will place my throne above the stars of heaven. I will sit on a lofty mountain, on the lofty mountains toward the north. I will ascend above the clouds; I will be like the Most High.’ But now you shall descend to Hades, to the foundations of the earth…” Isaiah 14:12-15
That is how Lucifer came to be called Satan (Hebrew “Sa-an”, the adversary, the accuser) and the devil (Greek “diabolos”, the accuser or slanderer, liar). Satan brought many of his fallen angels with him, who became lesser devils, his demons (Greek daimōn, which meant only “lesser spirit”).
Why should we believe this very strange story? Because open the New Testament, and demons and Satan their master are all over the place. The devil tempts Christ in the wilderness and comes at Him again hard in Gethsemane. Jesus warned against Satan again and again. The Lord’s Prayer properly translated ends “But deliver us from the Evil One”. At the Last Judgment He will say to those who have not cared for the least of His brethren, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41 Satan is the ultimate source of evil, of division, who is out to tear all good things down and destroy us. Jesus called him “the prince of this world.” John 14:30 Satan the “liar and father of lies”. * John 8:44
- I am so tempted here to stop and talk about important people who lie so incessantly that I fear unless they repent they’ll be cast into the Abyss with their father the Liar – but before that they’ll destroy not only themselves but the whole fabric of society, and we are well on the way. But “let him who is without sin cast the first stone”. So I won’t.
Circumstantial Evidence for Satan
Looking at history, any thinking person should be able to figure out the situation. Let’s look at it without taking God into consideration.
Despite all the extraordinary amount of goodness and beauty that surrounds us, how can anyone be aware of the world and of themselves, and not believe there is a power of destruction at loose here? It’s everywhere. As long as anyone can remember, all good things have come to an end – all cultures, all philosophies, all empires, all nations, even the best of them. Wood rots away, Metal rusts. Let down our guard and it all goes wrong. Let down my guard and I go wrong, and in the end you and I will rot away, too. Is this a secret?
Why don’t we just give in to it? But we don’t. People and animals try so hard to keep living. Even insects fly away when we try to swat them, so they can keep on living. Why else do we have doctors and hospitals? Why don’t I at age 87 just give it up and die? after all I do believe good things lie on the other side. But no. Just yesterday I went to see my doctor. Life is natural to us. Death is contrary to nature. But in the end since death gets us all, this means we human beings, who are the crown of creation, cannot be the ultimate source of the problem. Something else, some inexplicable, irresistible force must be the cause of destruction. That’s as far as reason can take us.
The revelation in Our Lord Jesus Christ gives the answer. The source is not an inexplicable, irresistible evil force, but rather evil presences who can be resisted: The devil and his demons, whom we can fight against in this world and finally after we die, it is possible for us to “shake off those demons and fly all over God’s Heaven.”
How can we do this? You Christians know the answer before I tell you.
By calling on Jesus Christ, trusting in Jesus Christ Who we know can handle it. For “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things exist.” Colossians 1:15-17
By calling on Jesus Christ, trusting in Jesus Christ Who we know can handle it, for He has already overcome death. “He rose on the third day, having opened a path for all flesh to the resurrection from the dead, since it was not possible that the Author of life would be dominated by corruption. So He became the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first born of the dead, that He might be Himself the first in all things. the firstborn over all creation.” Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great
Next Week: Saint Olga of Alaska
Week after Next: From the sublime to I don’t know what to call it. I promised I was going to do it, so I guess I’ll have to do it: Charlie Kirk and Christian Nationalism
Dear Father, We, as a society, have written and eleventh commandment and a twelfth. Number 11: Get behind me Satan, and push a little. Number 12: Thou shalt not get caught! Fr. John
This is such a good post. I remember, when I first became Orthodox, that I was struck by “deliver us from the Evil One” instead of “deliver us from evil.” It made so much sense to me, to personify Evil instead of keeping it abstract. I think it this language helps us to defend ourselves from Satan and his demons.