We know that there are dark forces who are aligned against the Kingdom of God. The Scriptures teach us about the existence of these purveyors of evil and show us what we can do about them. We can develop a sense of spiritual discernment to recognize what the enemy of our souls is up to and release the resources of God in order to overcome him in our lives, in our churches, and in our communities, because he is a defeated foe based on what Jesus has done through His death and resurrection. In 1st Peter 5 (ESV), we can read about the preeminence of Jesus over the enemy. We can read these words:
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
In the wide wide world of podcasting, there are all sorts of material that you can encounter. I came across a story at Movieguide recently referencing a podcast called, “Blurry Creatures.” Its website notes:
On Blurry Creatures, we explore the mysteries surrounding creatures on the fringe. We look into the depths of the unknown through a biblical lens. This takes us down the trail of Bigfoot, Ancient Giants, The Nephilim, alternative history, and sightings of “beings” that haven’t yet been proven to exist. We are out to find better answers for the questions surrounding these.
Sounds good to me - Nate Henry and Lukas Rodgers are the hosts. Lukas and his brother, Jordan used to do a sports podcast together. That means they have another brother, by the name of Aaron. In fact, just this week, People magazine reported that after being estranged from his family, Aaron attended an event with Luke and their parents. Apparently, despite a fascination with perhaps the world of the unexplained, Aaron has not been a guest on Blurry Creatures.
But Kathie Lee Gifford has. And, she had quite a memorable experience, according to Movieguide. She related this story about a trip into a church her friends took:
“We go in there, and everybody’s lighting candles,” Gifford recalled. “This monk, all covered in a cloak, then there’s all these candles, and so we just light a candle. He starts to growl at us. We don’t know what it means, and then we realized, ‘Oh, people are putting money down. We left our purses in the bus! We don’t have any money!’ And all of a sudden, the cloak comes back and he goes [unintelligible noise]. The teeth got orange, the eyes blood red — you know it when you see it. It’s not subtle.”
She said: “It confirmed everything Jesus ever said.”
An Instagram post embedded in the article said that Gifford…“recounting chilling first-hand encounters with demonic manifestations in Delaware and Bethlehem, she challenges conventional views on the supernatural.”
Movieguide also relayed some comments from another actress, Candace Cameron Bure, regarding the supernatural.
“I’m like, you’re opening up a portal,” she said about watching movies that promote demonic content. “Like, if you’re watching this or you’re playing this video game or whatever, like that’s a portal that could let stuff inside our home. Like, I don’t even want someone watching a scary movie in our house on the TV, because to me, that’s just a portal.”
Jenny Weaver, a former “witch,” now a believer in Christ who warns the Church, opened herself up to demonic activity through a movie. She said on CBN:
“It’s so ABC, preschool witchcraft, that it gets into the hearts and the minds of people, including the people in church,” she said. “And people who are not really connected with the Lord and don’t understand, they’re easily deceived. And the Bible talks about even the very elect will be deceived. And so, people are going to a whole other source. That’s what they’re wanting. They want a healing crystal because they don’t understand that Jesus is the healer and there’s no other source that you can go to except through Jesus.”
We mustn’t develop an aloof attitude toward spiritual activity and recognize that there is spiritual warfare occurring. We, in essence, signed up for it, like it or not, when we accepted Jesus as our Savior. We chose a side. And, fortunately, we can know that He goes with us and gives us the ability to overcome the power of the enemy.
We’ve been delivered from the kingdom of darkness. And, that means we have to resist the temptation to become ensnared by it. We should reject evil, wherever it appears. At times, evil will come to us, and we must be spiritually prepared for it.
That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t explore unanswered questions, either. There is much that is unexplained in this world, and God may lead us to study and understand some of those things, recognizing that perhaps He can teach us about Himself and how we are to respond Biblically to what we encounter.