Today I want to deal with a subject that scared us to death as children, that we tend to laugh off as mere superstition when we reach adulthood, but that still haunts us when we experience something truly evil in our lives, or see it on the news. That subject is hinted at as early as Genesis chapter 3, when our first parents were tempted by a sneaky snake in the Garden of Eden, and afterward God gave that snake the ominous warning: "I will put hatred between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; The human will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." [Gen 3.15]
That old snake hovers in the background of the Hebrew Scriptures. A mention here. A temptation there. But mostly he stays in the shadows. Lurking. Biding his time. Waiting for that Son of Adam whom he will finally strike in the heel. Then in the fullness of time, in the middle of a people oppressed by the demonic Roman Empire, Jesus of Nazareth is born. The Son of Adam. The Son of God. The Messiah. The Lord. Our Savior.
And it is with this Jesus that the wily old snake rears its scaly head once again. Jesus endured Satan's temptations in the desert as he prepared to appear publicly, and announce the Kingdom of God is at hand. The same temptations that Adam succumbed to, the Son of Adam overcame, so that all who unite themselves with the Son of Adam, Jesus the Messiah, can experience liberation from their temptations and addictions and sins. [cf. Mat 4]
And after Jesus overcame Satan in the desert, he went to the cities and the towns and the villages and shared that power. Not only did he heal people physically, but he healed them spiritually and psychologically too. Those who were possessed and enslaved by unclean spirits-- whether that was a demon in a child, or a legion of spirits in an adult man-- Jesus cast them out WITH the power of his Word. BY the power of his Spirit. IN the power of his Love.
Jesus warned us about this demonic power. He calls it SATAN, a Hebrew word which means "The Accuser". Jesus calls it DEVIL, a Greek word which means "The Adversary". He calls it BAALZEEBUL, which means "Lord of the Flies", the power that swarms on everything that is dead and decaying and rotting. And Jesus warns that Satan cannot cast out Satan. Something greater has to cast out Satan. Something DIFFERENT from Satan. But we will get to that power in a moment. [cf. Mark 3]
If we fast forward to the later letters of the New Testament, written by Peter and Paul and their early followers, we learn a broader perspective on Satan's power. In the letter to the Ephesians we are told that Satan is a set of powers and principalities that govern the empires of the world. Satan is called "the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among the disobedient". There is an evil power, which surrounds us like the air, that deceives us into dehumanizing and destroying ourselves. But God made us for the opposite: For undying Love and unending Life. How could a power be so persuasive as to trick us into precisely the opposite of what we were made for?
And yet, here we are.
One of Peter's letters warns us of this. He says "Discipline yourselves, keep alert! Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour!" [1Pe 5.8] And so we are to watch for the demonic power of deception all around us, at all times, with unceasing vigilance. This has led many of Jesus' followers throughout time to be on the lookout for evil PEOPLE: To identify radical evil in other humans who follow the wrong path, or have the wrong politics, or worship God through the wrong religion. We literally DEMONIZE them, and wage Holy War-- both ideologically and physically-- against them in the name of Jesus. The same Jesus who we claim to be the Prince of Peace.
Perhaps this is why the letter to the Ephesians wisely tells us this: "Our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil" [Eph 6.12]. Radical evil is never to be identified with other humans, who are children of the living God. However evil they may ACT, it is because they are under control of an evil power, deceived by a demonic force, enslaved by a destructive ideology. If possible, we must work for their redemption and salvation and liberation from evil. We cannot demonize them, and rejoice in their destruction, because they too are children of God. And Satan cannot cast out Satan.
So, if we are not to demonize other persons and identify them as Satan, how are we to identify and resist the radical evil of the Devil? This is where I think one of the 20th centuries most effective Christian writers comes in: CS Lewis. In his masterpiece of unveiling demonic strategies, "The Screwtape Letters" we find a senior demon writing to advise a junior demon. The senior demon says this: The Devil always sends error into the world in pairs, so that by avoiding one, humans run right smack into the other. [cf. Mere Christianity, Book IV, ch. 6]
There have been two pervasive errors regarding Satan in the history of Christian Spirituality. The first error is what I alluded to above. It is to treat the devil as an almost physical presence, easily identified in people I don't like, situations that cause me problems, and in temptations I often invite (without any help from the devil!). In this view of the demonic, evil is everywhere, behind every tree, in every opinion that is different from mine. The Devil is so prevalent it might just be even stronger than God!
In this error, nothing is ever really our fault. The devil made us do it. It is someone else's fault. We are passive participants, who are victims of circumstances beyond our control. Above all else, if we could just get rid of THAT group of people, who are Satan's minions (YOU know WHO I'm talking about!), then everything would be perfect. So goes the first myth about Satan and his minions, horns and tail and all.
Many people, rightfully rejecting this idea of Satan, wrongfully run to the opposite error: Satan is a premodern myth that educated people don't need anymore. I personally think that Satan's greatest trick was to convince so many people he does not exist. That leaves them open to radical evil, with no way to detect it, or to disrupt it. For instance, a little over 100 years ago, the epicenter of human learning, technology, and affluence was found in northern Europe, in places like England, Germany, and France. For the first time in human history, due to human science and industry and medicine, humans were able to overcome so much of the poverty and sickness and superstition that had held humans in bondage for so long.
It is no accident that in this affluence and pride arose a form of demythologized Christianity that declared the devil non-existent, miracles non-necessary, and the Bible un-reliable. No one needed old superstitions about devils and angels when we had petroleum and electricity and chemistry. Human progress and human goodness could not be stopped! And then the first World War erupted-- the War to end all wars-- and stopped progress dead. So called "Christian" countries committed atrocities against each other, killing millions of people on an industrial scale never seen before.
Then arose totalitarianisms such as Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Nazis, which declared not only was Satan a myth, but so was Christianity, and even our Christian concepts of good and evil. All myths. All superstitions. All stop us from achieving human progress, in which humans are tools to be used to gain power for the State and the Ideology. And I do not think it is an accident that the greatest Holocausts and Genocides and slaughters of human history happened in totalitarianisms that rejected God and the devil. When WE reject the possibility WE can be involved in radical evil, WE are almost sure to perpetuate it.
So, if Satan isn't some sort of quasi-physical being with a pitchfork and red spandex, and if it isn't some sort of superstition we have grown beyond, what is Satan? What are demons? How do we identify them and disrupt them? I'm glad you asked.
Perhaps it might be best to think of the demonic not as physical beings with horns and hooves, and not as mythical beings like the tooth fairy or Easter bunny, but as informational beings: Patterns of information that change the way we think, how we perceive the world, and how we react to the things that happen to us.
At first, this sounds like a cop out. How can a pattern of information have the power described by Jesus and the New Testament? But not so fast. Think about the information patterns that govern your life. Think about your Facebook page or Google page or Amazon page. These patterns of information there are in turn governed by really complicated patterns called algorithms. Those algorithms determine which posts and products and ads and news stories you see, and which you don't.
Or take the patterns of information we call "memes": Those bite sized, often sarcastic, facts and quotes, combined with pictures, that are patterned to create agreement or outrage, based on your beliefs. One little meme can control the way you think about an issue or a group of people. It can make you feel vindicated or victimized. And it tells you who to blame.
To get a glimpse of how powerful memes are, think of that meme that we call an earworm: The snippet of a song that possesses your mind for hours or days. For instance: "It's a small world after all". That is the power of patterns of information! In fact, the patterns of information in memes and algorithms are so powerful, we often treat them like persons. Think about your smart phone. Siri and Alexa and Google are just patterns of information, and yet we talk to them as people.
I think something like this is the case with the demonic. The powers and principalities spoken of by Saint Paul are pervasive patterns that distort the way we view the world, and warp our thinking, in such a powerful way that we personalize them. Satan is the personification of radical evil: The embodiment of all the destructive potential evil has for ourselves and our society. The Devil is evil with a face on. And the D in devil stands for any idea or action that destroys, dehumanizes, demonizes, degrades, and debases any of God's children.
Satan is encountered any time we are dealing with a pattern of information-- a way of relating to other people or the world-- that is anti-life, anti-love, and that treats people as disposable tools to use or abuse. The demonic are those memes that capture our way of thinking, and entice us to decisions that are anti-life, anti-love, and that use and abuse ourselves and others.
For instance, let us compare two memes. Meme number one is this: "You are worthless, and everyone hates you or uses you". Meme number two is this: "You are God's child, worthy of infinite love and respect". If you are possessed by meme one, you will be locked in a life of self-destruction and abusive relationships. Even if people try to show you genuine love, you will interpret it as hate or sarcasm or manipulation. If you are possessed by meme two, and you believe you are God's child deep in your soul, you will find abundant life and deep love even in difficult situations.
Meme one is a demonic presence. Meme two is an angel: A messenger of God that says you are God's own. Meme one is Satan. And Satan accuses us, leading us to cycles of self-destruction and addiction and misery. And meme one cannot be cast out by hatred or shame or destruction or threats. Because that would only strengthen meme one. And we know Satan cannot cast out Satan.
But Jesus offers us a different way. Jesus casts out the devils of self-destruction by the power of undying Love. He declares with authority and power that life is stronger than death, that love is stronger than hate, and that forgiveness is stronger than our failings. Sisters and brothers, there's a lot of demonic powers in the world. We can feel it every time we turn on the TV, or scroll through our newsfeed. They tell us to hate. To blame. To demonize. To conquer. To destroy those who disagree.
I'm here to tell you: This is the temptation of the demonic, regardless of whether we find it on CNN or Fox News, coming from Republicans or Democrats, or spoken by Atheists or Believers. It is the demonic that tells us to hate and blame and demonize in order to win. But Christ shows us a different way. A way of life. A way of Love. A way of healing and reconciliation. We have two ways open before us. Satan's way or Christ's way. The demonic or the angelic. Death or Life. Hate or Love.
Which one you choose, is up to you.
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