Demons and Us
Live Audio Recording
6th Sun. of Luke Oct. 31, 2021 Luke 8:26-39 & 12:32-40
Here we are again following with Christ as He encounters the demons. We have today’s encounter with the Gadarene demoniac given to us 2 or 3 times a year as a Sunday Gospel reading. We have the demon possessing the little boy whom Christ’s apostles could not send out, we have the gentile woman’s demon possessed daughter, who wins Christ’s help by telling Him that even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table, Christ casts 7 demons out of the Blessed Mary Magdalene…
Why all the stories about demons? This is a fundamental reality check. The Church has always taught that there is huge cosmic battle being waged all around us for our very souls; and we are to compare this true unchanging reality, against our present world view. Our cultural understanding changes with each generation, and a most important task is to awaken and to understand how we are blinded by our own cultural and historical world view, and then to challenge our understanding in the light of the never changing wisdom of Christ and the Church. Christ is always the answer to every generation’s chaos!
We have a very real enemy of mankind who hates us with a hatred that is fierce and ugly beyond what we can even imagine. He is furious that God would create such helpless and pathetic creatures as us, and place the very gift of His divinity within us. He is insanely jealous. What was God thinking! Satan wants to show God what a mistake He made so he attacks us, tempting us with thoughts and actions that are soul destroying. His only power is to whisper lies to us and hope we then choose to engage the lies, to make them our own. Satan – the accuser of the brethren, the cosmic tattle tale – then runs to God saying “see, look at what your pathetic creature did now.” As this has no effect on God’s love for us, he returns to continue to try to fill our minds with more of his lies, telling us that we are: (a) complete losers, and so shouldn’t expect to be loved, or (b) a most gifted individual, with no need of anyone – especially God.
CS Lewis made a very insightful observation regarding the demons. “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” It cost CS Lewis to spend so much time and energy delving into the twisted thinking of the evil one, and he suffered a serious bout of depression after publishing these weekly articles which ended up as the “Screwtape Letters.”
One of Satan’s favorite strategies for attacking non-Christians, is to get them to believe that he doesn’t even exist, and that all their nasty thoughts are their own. From there it is a short journey to getting them to believe that even God Himself isn’t real and that these awful thoughts make them wicked people. For Christian’s who know the scriptures, this isn’t likely to be a very successful strategy. The devil’s reality and powerlessness in the presence of Christ is clearly exposed in the scriptures. Of course the demons are much more powerful than us, and we would be powerless on our own if God didn’t constrain them and cover us with His grace. They can do nothing to us without our assent and cooperation. We can use our free will to work in synergy with either God or the devil. It is our choice that is the deciding factor. As we hear from St. Paul in today’s epistle reading, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” When we show interest in growing in our relationship with God the devil will become alarmed and whisper “later” would be a better time for such work, he will then suggest some diversion right now that would be more pleasurable and fun, and really shouldn’t be considered too serious a sin. Another favorite strategy is to try to get us Christian’s more focused on the demons. We should really get to know our enemy well after all. The demons love any attention we give them. If they can get us to give them credit for harming us, for causing great worldwide havoc, get us to focus on them for any reason, keeping us from focusing on Christ, they are quite delighted. Thus in Christian circles we see these days great attention to how to deal with the demons, or with conspiracy theories. The illuminati are launching their one-world govt. The “Anti-Christ” will soon arrive on the scene. If you take a covid vaccine you have joined forces with the evil empire. Anything to distort and distract us from keeping our eyes solidly on the love of Christ and the victory of the kingdom of God. We need to develop discernment. When we are presented with an upcoming future scenario does it bring anxiety and fear to our hearts, or the peace of Christ. This should reveal the source of the idea.
The demons have a very good grasp on what is real. While they do everything in their power to cloud this understanding for us, the race of Adam, they themselves are under no illusions, and know that they are completely subject to Christ and his Church, and that their time is short and coming to an end. In today’s gospel the demons cry, “What have we to do with You Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come to torment us before the time?” No, the Demons do not struggle with reality; they only try to distort it for us, hoping to keep us from knowing our true calling. Desperately trying to keep us from waking up to what is really going on and who we are created to become – Sons and Daughters of God! Any rabbit trail that doesn’t lead to Christ is fine.
Overall, the battle is already won. Christ is completely in charge. Christ tells of the Church of Christ, (Matt. 6:18) “…the gates of Hell/Hades will not prevail against it.” Note that “gates” would be constructed to keep people out or lock them in. They are defensive rather than offensive structures. Therefore it is not that we need to fear and defend against these gates of Hell/Hades attacking us, but rather that these gates of the enemy will not withstand the Churches assault against them, to free those held captive within them. “Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death be death and upon those in the tombs (Hades) bestowing life!” The war is won! However, each of us individually are engaged in a battle while here on earth – for our very souls. This present age, before the final judgement, is given to us to determine our eternal future. The final judgement will most certainly end time, but we will enter into eternity – where time as we know it does not exist, and into the final judgement – not so much at some cataclysmic battle of Armageddon at the end of the ages, as upon our death. This almost always occurs much sooner than we had planned on!
The demons do not have the freedom to directly harm us, but they have some freedom to whisper lies, and attempt to fill our minds with phantasy, now, before the time of the final judgement, while we and they are living here in this present age on the earth. Battling with these thoughts and rejecting their influence, allows us to grow in maturity as children of God. As we exercise our free will, and choose God’s path, we grow closer to and more mature in Christ. As we become more aware of the fierce battle for our very souls this should drive us into the arms of our loving God. We can call upon God and the help of our guardian angels for protection!
No matter what our present situation, God is with us, waiting to bring us into His love and protection. The devil sent a legion of demons to try to destroy the Gadarene demoniac and he managed to resist through God’s grace until He encountered Christ and was restored to his right mind. After this encounter he became a most powerful missionary, whom Christ left behind to evangelize His people. May we too be willing to allow Christ to show us true reality, and open our spiritual eyes and ears to His ever-present love and protection. Like the freed Gadarene demoniac, let us proclaim to all the world what wonderful things Christ has done for us! Glory to Jesus Christ!