Jesus said,
But rescue us
from the evil one
Matthew 6:13
Each week we pray in church, "deliver us from evil." Deliver us from what? From "generic evil"? ... or from a real, personal, living "evil one" which are the actual words that Jesus used.
Even non-believers believe in generic evil. (Read the headlines. People do horrific things. There’s lots of heinous stuff that goes on daily. It’s evil … generically so.)
But the Jesus and the New Testament don't talk about just generic evil. They talk about specific evil – and scripture talks constantly about a literal “evil one” who is at the root of it.
The problem is that this is the most rejected of Christian Doctrines … even by many "good Christians." (I know, because this described me for a lot of years.) I could believe in a good God. But it seemed like superstition to believe in a bad devil. (And some overly dramatically Christians didn't help me along, talking breathlessly about how demons were behind every flat tire and, apparently, behind every bush.)
But then I read one of the Gospels straight through. (It happened to be Mark.)
And guess what? I found a battle on every page.
· Jesus did battle with Satan himself in the wilderness.
· Jesus did battle with literal demons, casting them out … just about every time people came to him for healing.
· Jesus regularly talked (and always acted like) there was a specific battle, not a generic darkness.
So suddenly, I had a choice. I could believe Jesus ... or I could believe me (and the pop-psychology of our era that writes evil off as superstition).
Now, I must tell you … I definitely don't see devils behind bushes if at all! Rarely if ever does "the devil make me do it" -- whatever “it” is. 99.987% of the time, my own sinful heart chooses my own multitudes of sin.
As a pastor, I can say I've encountered only one person who was definitively possessed.
But that's Satan's way of dealing with the Western world. A million shades of gray, leading us to a million little compromises, is just as effective in pulling us from God. But if you want to hear of an American encounter with real evil, ask most missionaries! Missionaries who serve in other cultures will tell you stories that will make your hair stand up! There Satan is not bothering with shade of darkness. There it's black and white, good vs. evil with no shades of gray. It's Christ-and-light or voodoo-and-darkness. And each side has power (or forms of “power”) … yet only one side sets people free.
Is denial – perhaps because of Satan’s shades of gray and compromise – your area of deception? Indeed, what has kept you from acknowledging real darkness. Ask God to 1) open your eyes, and 2) clothe you with armor.
In Christ's Love,
a guy who wants to wear
the real armor of God
instead of generic armor
of personal opinion
when the battle is real
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