Tomorrow is Halloween. Its traditions come down to us out of ancient England and Ireland. These included the belief that on the Celtic new year the souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes. That night was thought to be the most favorable night for witchcraft, fortune-telling, and the activities of evil spirits.
This influenced the Medieval Catholic Church to replace these pagan superstitions with the observance of All Hallows Day (All Saints Day), a day for commemorating the spiritual heroes of the church. Halloween, then, is the eve of All Saints Day.
Of course, the contemporary popular observance of Halloween, for most people, is thoroughly secular. Costumes, trick or treating, parties, and neighborhood decorations with pumpkins and black cats, have little or nothing to do with the supernatural. Kids are thinking of candy, not demons.
But that does not mean the supernatural does not exist.
Biblical Christians believe that an invisible world of the supernatural is very real. We believe in angels (Hebrews 1:14) and demons (Ephesians 6:12). The invisible, supernatural realm is no less real than the visible, natural realm which we inhabit. The church is concerned about both realms.
The church offers transcendence, community, and fellowship with our Creator Himself. Through Jesus Christ, it offers access to the supernatural realm of Heaven. It is a tragedy that so many are looking for transcendence in science fiction, radical environmentalism (pantheism), sex, drugs, and occult mysticism, instead of in the worship of a loving God.
Christians engage in prayer, which is a form of spiritual warfare against the powers of evil. At the end of his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul reminds us of the invisible war going on all around us in the spiritual realm. He writes, without embarrassment, of a personal devil, of ranks of demonic powers, and of their relentless opposition to all that is holy.
I respect those who have engaged in direct power encounters with demonic spirits. I know that the devil has a variety of strategies in his arsenal to use against the Lord’s people. He is a supernatural enemy with supernatural power. But we do not need to fear him. We are not alone in the battle. We are told to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (Ephesians 6:10).
I have been in the company of godly pastors in Haiti who have had confrontations with practitioners of voodoo and witchcraft. They have been called upon to help victims of demonism find deliverance. I have seen evidence of demonic opposition to the church in Ethiopia. I believe spiritual powers are at work in America. We see this in teenage suicide, mob violence, drug-induced crime, mass murder, the breakdown of the family, false religions (doctrines of demons, 1 Timothy 4:1), practical atheism, and nihilistic despair.
Behind all this are the powers of darkness. That is why Paul warned the Christians at Corinth against “the serpent’s cunning” (2 Corinthians 11:3), and Jesus saw the spiritual reality behind Peter’s denial. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31-32).
We are told in Ephesians 6 that God has provided protective armor for us to use to defeat the devil and his minions (Ephesians 6:13-17). It has been pointed out that each of these implements of spiritual warfare represents Jesus himself who is our truth, righteousness, peace, and salvation (Romans 13:12-14).
If we feel oppressed by spiritual darkness, if we are overwhelmed by difficult circumstances, if we feel discouraged by our limited strength, it is then that we may rely on the word of God (“the sword of the Spirit,” Ephesians 6:17), and prayer (“in the Spirit,” Ephesians 6:18). This is spiritual warfare. William Cowper was correct when he wrote: “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.”
“The weapons we fight with,” wrote Paul, “are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4).
Let’s give thanks for these truths as we give out candy to kids tomorrow night.
Pastor Randy Faulkner