Monsters Are Real (Like Actually)

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It’s a new year, a new start. Let’s start by taking off a blindfold that many of us have been wearing.

In the darkness, they’re there. Regardless of your beliefs, what you’ve been told, regardless of the foggy cloud of unawareness that may have been blinding you, they’re there.

Your child cries out in the night, afraid. “There’s something in my closet, over there!” Frightened breathing from the kid, and you go over. Check the closet. Look under the bed. You rest your hands on your child and say, “There’s nothing there, go back to sleep. It’s okay.” I mean, I’ve done similar things.

We say things like, “There’s no such thing as monsters. You need to grow up.”

I think we need to grow up and stop defeating ourselves before we even start fighting. Monsters are very real.

An incredibly smart and dangerous enemy is one that can successfully convince the opposing side that there really is no enemy after all. If our soldiers believed no one would ever want to harm the United States, then what would be the point of training or being deployed?

And likewise, we grow lax in our training and don’t understand the real battle.

There are probably demons that come into your child’s room. There are probably demons that mess with your child’s head, not to mention your head.

You see, I’m gonna suggest some things here today that most people probably won’t wanna hear. I want to address an issue, and I want to do it properly. I don’t want to circumvent stuff that’s important that we all too often gloss over.

I’ve seen so many Christian blog posts about anxiety and depression, and I don’t think I’ve seen a single one that addresses those issues very efficiently. Why? Because we go see our therapists instead of our pastors. Because we go more to self-help books than we go to the Word of God. Because, instead of looking to Jesus, we look more to modern science.

Anything we can’t really explain very well, we brush off and (try to) treat the symptoms. Or, we look at the brain and see what appears to us as a chemical imbalance. What to do? Give ‘em some drugs. Feed ‘em some meds. They won’t fix anything, but it’ll look like we’re trying. We don’t actually know what we’re doing, but we’re smart. We’ve got stuff. We’ll give them it, and we’ll lock them up if we have to.

Most can just suffer while we numb their pain though. That should work well enough. It might be enough to keep them from killing themselves at least. 

And that kid over there? He can’t focus at all, and he gets headaches. He’s kinda outta control a lot of times, too. We don’t really know what’s happening, but he had a rough past. That probably explains it. Send him to a therapist once a week. 

Placebos

 are good.
We need to stop being so blind. We need to stop being so afraid. We need to face the facts and look at Scripture. There are demons running around in this world and they are literally here, on this earth.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

Paul is not speaking figuratively here. There are actually cosmic powers and evil spiritual forces that physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually mess with people. Individuals still get possessed to this day. There are many with sicknesses that are caused by demons in this present day, in the year 2020.

After Jesus sent out 72 of His followers:

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!’And he said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

Luke 10:17-19

The seventy-two weren’t being poetic when they said, “the demons are subject to us in your name!” They were speaking literally. In the same way, Mark 5 and Luke 13 aren’t figurative in their description of demon possession or oppression.

There are clear links between some diseases, whether diagnosed as mental or physical. At least in most cases, anxiety isn’t simply a health issue, nor is depression. I’d make the claim that the majority, if not all, of anxiety and depression cases are not caused by some chemical imbalance treatable with modern medicine.

Irrational, unexplainable attacks of fear are demonic. Irrational, unexplainable bouts of depression are probably demonic.

We let so much evil into our personal lives, so much demonic influence. And then we think that things like what the Bible talks about only happened during those times. But why would that be? That’s nonsense.

Nowadays, we just diagnose demon possession or oppression as a mental illness. Or, we see someone that gets randomly nauseous or has unexplainable headache problems and just write it off. We give them some meds to deal with the symptoms but not the actual root of the problem.

That’s not to say all physical ailments are caused by demons, that’s just not true. But why else would there be such a big push, especially among the left-wing ranks, for mental illness awareness and support? Satan wants people to keep getting virtually useless aid for their issues.

Don’t turn to a pastor, don’t go to the Scriptures or to God. Don’t even think of casting out a demon, or praying for spiritual protection. It’s all just a physical issue because there’s physical stuff wrong with your brain— a chemical imbalance.

That right there’s a destructive product of materialism. It’s a material world, so any issue you’re facing is tied to something material and directly caused by something material. And that’s straight-up lies.

If you have a spirit, which you do, then why don’t we ever look to see if we’ve got spiritual factors affecting our health, our mental state, etc.?

I don’t mean to sound insensitive or harsh, I just mean to tell you the truth. I want people to understand the incredible realness of the war that we’re in. I understand how hard it can be for those dealing with anxiety or depression, I get that. This isn’t meant as an attack on them; it’s meant as an attack on their attacker. It’s meant as a blow to the demon armies as I try to unveil some of their weapons they’ve hidden so well from so many. 

It’s not just stuff we never see, it’s not just the temptation that we face. They work and fight in other ways, too. There’s the reality of an evil angel named Satan who rebelled against God and who was followed by thousands of other angels in rebellion. They’re now demons, and they wander around the earth. They may not have physical bodies, but they can greatly affect the physical world.

Jesus gives some pretty clear information about what are called “unclean spirits”:

‘When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.’

Matthew 12:43-45

affairs is illustrated.

That’s why involvement with anything demonic, occultic, etc, can be very dangerous. Don’t play games with the enemy. In doing so, you invite the enemy to come and play games with you.

Fight the enemy with Scripture and truth. If you’re saved, then you have the Holy Spirit. By the Name of Jesus Christ demons can be cast out. By the Name of Jesus you can command evil spirits to leave.
When a child is scared to death of something in their closet, you can tell them they probably did see something there, but that’s okay. They can tell it to leave because of Jesus. They can tell it to go away by Christ’s power and by His Name.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11

The Name of Jesus is an incredibly powerful name.

Paul tells us that our war isn’t against people. He’s clear about that. We aren’t hopeless in our fight against the devil and his demons. For one, we have the armor of God described in Ephesians 6. In fact, we’re told to put on the armor of God because of Satan and his working.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

Ephesians 6:10-18

All direct verse quotations are taken from the ESV

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