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DON'T CALL ON DEMONS YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN

John Stonestreet and Shane Morris | BreakPoint, Breakpoint.org | Friday,
February 24, 2023



DON'T CALL ON DEMONS YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN

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Human beings, John Calvin said, are incurably religious creatures. Left to our
own devices, we will start worshiping something or someone, whether or not that
means dabbling in the supernatural and calling on spirits, holy or otherwise.
This is true even for those who don’t take the supernatural seriously. Such
people may assume their dabbling is harmless, or artistically edgy. But they
couldn’t be more dangerously mistaken.



Writing in The New York Times earlier this month, Ross Douthat commented on the
growing interest in astrology, “manifesting” videos on TikTok, and spiritual
exploration with psychedelic drugs. These things, he argues, are signs that our
supposedly secular society is in the midst of a spiritual awakening, but one
that involves the wrong types of spirits.

Unrestrained by theology or organized faith, people eager for transcendence are
opening doors without considering what might walk through. For example, Douthat
notes the golden statue of a woman-like creature that was recently placed atop a
New York City courthouse. The bizarre figure features hair braided into horns,
arms reminiscent of tentacles, and a lace collar in apparent homage to the late
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. It’s an unsettling mashup of Earth
goddess, abortion politics, and classic demon imagery that embodies our
society’s experimental spirituality.



More overtly hellish antics took the stage at this month’s Grammy Awards, where
“nonbinary” pop singer Sam Smith literally dressed up as the devil and performed
a song called “Unholy” with transgender artist Kim Petras. Progressive
commentators were quick to lecture religious conservatives who were supposedly
“freaking out” over Smith’s horns and hooves. “These performers probably don’t
actually believe the devil exists,” said one left-wing host. It’s just “artistic
expression.”

Is it possible the devil doesn’t care? Maybe Smith and the artist behind the New
York courthouse statue are just trying to be edgy or being pulled along by the
allure of the taboo. Maybe people who experiment with occult spirituality and
“expanded consciousness” are just fooling around. Maybe flirtations with
spiritual darkness are only a big bluff.



But what if Satan calls that bluff?

As Thaddeus Williams pointed out in WORLD, the founder of the Church of
Satanism, Anton LaVey, also treated the prince of darkness as a metaphor for
self-expression. Doubtless, the very real devil overlooked such details. I
imagine he’s too clever to object to people worshiping him on the trivial
grounds that they’re being tongue-in-cheek about it.

Douthat concludes with a stern warning to his non-Christian readers: Not all
that glitters is gold, and the idea that certain forces are out to trick you or
use you recurs across religious cultures. … There’s reason to worry about a
society in which structures have broken down and masses of people are going
searching without maps or playing around in half-belief or deploying, against
what remains of Christianity, symbols that invoke multiple spiritualities at
once.

A post-Christian society may be about to learn what Christians have always
taught: Not all spiritual entities are friendly or helpful. A chilling 2018
article in The Atlantic  chronicled the growing demand for official Catholic
exorcists, even while practicing Catholics dwindle as a share of the population.
Something is going on that psychologists can’t handle. Modern Westerners’ naïve
approach to the spiritual realm — treating it as a game or a joke or a political
sting — leaves them especially vulnerable to attack.

In C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle, the main characters have just witnessed Tash,
the terrifying god of the Calormenes, entering Narnia in answer to a summons
from the villain, who called on Tash as a bluff, not actually believing in him.
After the monstrous vulture-god calls this bluff, and (spoiler alert) eats the
irreverent villain, the good dwarf Poggin observes, “People shouldn’t call for
demons unless they really mean what they say.”



I doubt Satan cared much about the Grammys. As Douthat admits, plenty of
experimental spirituality is more interested in possessing your wallet than your
soul.  Still, as the façade of secularism slips and people increasingly call (as
humans always have) on invisible realities, no one should be surprised when
those realities answer.

Christians know who and what we wrestle against. What we can offer to those
looking for whatever it is they are looking for in all the wrong places is more
than another form of spirituality. We can introduce them to the One who made
them, Who defeated the forces of darkness, and Who always answers those who call
on Him.



This Breakpoint was co-authored by Shane Morris. For more resources to live like
a Christian in this cultural moment, go to colsoncenter.org.

Publication date: February 24, 2023

Photo courtesy: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/CasPhotography



The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of
Christian Headlines.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint
commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content
that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and
compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio
broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and
trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the
web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.

John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and
radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing
thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical
worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and
Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A
Biblical Worldview.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 * #Satan
 * #worldview
 * #opinion
 * #secularism

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DON'T CALL ON DEMONS YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN

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