Certain categories have become so much a part of my everyday life that I seldom stop to think about, much less blog about them. The reality of angels and demons, and how they affect us, is one such category. Even many devout Christians aren’t aware of this cosmic battle affects everyday life. But we are combatants in a “war of the worlds” whether we like it or not.
All human beings live in two worlds at once, the material and the spiritual. Spiritual warfare has to do with how those worlds impinge on each other. St. Paul tells us, “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12) Not only visible, material forces affect our well-being and our choices. There are unseen, spiritual forces at work around us, and sometimes in us, at all times.
In The Lord of the Rings, the Elves live in both the seen and unseen worlds at once. Frodo, the central character, experiences this reality whenever he puts on the Ring. On the one hand, he beholds the Ringwraiths, the Ring’s demonic guardians, in all of their horror. But he can also see the glory radiating from the Elves. In Tolkien’s Middle Earth, those spiritual realities are normally veiled to mortal eyes.
As Christians enter more deeply into life in the Lord, the veil over our spiritual senses is similarly removed. What we profess in the Creed – that God created both visible and invisible worlds – we begin to experience. First among invisible realities is, of course, God Himself. Opposing Him is a fallen angel, the Devil – powerful in comparison to us, but less than a gnat in comparison to God’s power. Under them are their respective cohorts – God’s good angels, and the Devil’s bad angels, also known as demons. Ever since Eden, these cohorts have been in “immortal combat” for our souls.
Angels and demons can affect both material and immaterial entities. For example, the Evil One afflicted not only Job, but his family, with one material disaster after another (Job 1:13-2:7). Jesus freed an afflicted boy of what appeared to be epilepsy but was actually demonic (Mk 9:14-29). Angels can and do intervene for our safety – there are accounts of people moved out of the way of an oncoming vehicle by unseen hands. Peter was freed from prison by an angel (Acts 12:6-11).
Much more frequently – every day, in fact – angels and demons work by influencing our thoughts and emotions. Angels prompt us toward the good, and demons tempt us toward evil.
Every good or bad thought does not have a spiritual cause. Many good impulses may flow from virtues that we’ve been endowed with or have acquired through others’ good influence and our own efforts. Some promptings to do good may come directly from the Lord Himself. Still others may come from angelic influence. Similarly, temptations to do wrong may come from our innate disposition or from bad habits we’ve cultivated. But other impulses to do bad may come from demonic influence.
Experientially, the prompting of the Holy Spirit or of an angel will “sound” like my next thought. For example, a friend comes to mind for whom I decide to pray. I find out the next day that he was really struggling but then experienced some relief. Or a current example: I decide to blog on spiritual warfare and the topic comes up prominently in three of my sessions the same day. These could be coincidences. But as one preacher said, “Since I accepted Jesus, the number of coincidences in my life has increased astronomically.” As I continue in the Christian life, I get more sensitive to this pattern of external events confirming what I later realize are divine or angelic inspirations.
But all is not sunshine. Just as good promptings sound like my next thought, so do promptings from the Devil or an evil spirit. Occasionally, if strong enough, they may have an alien feel. For example, in Waking the Dead, John Eldredge recalls an incident where his wife suggested he exit the expressway to get out of a traffic jam. To his shock, his “next thought” was, “You should divorce her!” Fortunately, he immediately recognized the source of that thought and ordered it out in Jesus’ name.
Normally, though, where the temptation comes from isn’t that clear. Whatever the source, of course, our job is to resist it. The first, crucial step is awareness that we are in a battle. In Waking the Dead, John Eldredge points out that the Allied forces on D-Day knew all too well that they were entering a ferocious conflict. No one on Omaha Beach was saying, “Oh my gosh – they’re shooting at us!” In contrast, most Christians believe that Satan exists. Yet many are surprised to learn how utterly his malice focuses on human beings – how bitter his hatred of us and how insidious his tactics. He “comes to steal and kill and destroy” (Jn 10:10a). His attacks are quite real. Thank God, so is the assistance given us by the forces of good. To be continued…
