Demons

What if the things we're trying to heal in our lives cannot be healed? What if they must be cast out?

This is the question we're asking based on the story in the Gospels of this father who brought his child to the disciples for healing, then brought the child to Jesus, and immediately, Jesus cast out the demon that the disciples couldn't heal the child from. 

Listen, I know we don't like to talk about spiritual warfare. I know talking about demons is a little troubling, at best. A little weird. A little unsettling. I mean, we don't really have to believe in all of that, do we? 

It's hard for us to fathom a real kind of darkness like a demon. A real force. A real power in the world that would be working against us. Something we come up against that we can't defeat on our own. We believe in God, sure. But the devil? 

A little harder. And that's being kind. 

But the Bible tells us from the very first pages that he is real. 

Right at the very beginning, a physical-spiritual force that was working against God was present in the world, following along in the quiet places to whisper to us that God was lying. That God was holding out on us. That life may be good, but the really good stuff is in God's secret stash and God - the God who loves you and created you in His own image - doesn't want you to have it. From those very first pages, this real physical-spiritual force has been trying to keep us from the best that God has for us. 

I don't know, Aidan. I mean, a talking serpent? Really?

And yet...

And yet, you can believe that a single man built a giant boat that held two (or seven!) of every animal on the planet. You can believe that a ram just happened to be caught in a thicket on the top of a mountain. You can believe that a man threw a stick on the ground and it turned into a snake, then he held that same stick over the waters and dry ground appeared. You can believe that an army marched around a city seven days in a row with clay pots, then yelled at the tops of their lungs and that wall came crashing down. You can believe that a man stepped out of a boat and walked on water...and that two fish and five loaves can feed thousands of hungry mouths. 

You can believe that a man was crucified and placed in a tomb, across which a giant stone was rolled, and that three days later, He rolled that stone away and walked out of that tomb. 

But the very real physical-spiritual presence of an enemy who doesn't want you to have the life you were created for is too much? 

I don't think the reality of the devil boggles our minds; I think it terrifies our hearts. Easier to keep your eyes closed than to open them and see the dark. 

But that doesn't make it any less dark in here. 

And if we have an enemy that is doing all he can to keep us from the life that God has for us, then we have to recognize that there are things in this world that we simply can't heal. 

They can only be cast out. 

So let's start doing some casting.