Early in Jesus ministry, we read of ‘the Spirit’ of God driving Jesus into the wilderness, and of an encounter with Satan.
Shortly after we read of ‘a man with an unclean spirit’ (Mark 1:23) who was heard to cried out in fear of being destroyed. Jesus spoke in rebuke of this ‘spirit’, and the ‘unclean spirit’ convulsed the man, and came out. And the ‘spirit’ was silent. Jesus lived as a human being amidst such daily dynamics.
Many people limit their understanding of life to the world of human politics, and human self-seeking, and human lies, human deception and human dishonesty at play in many places. To them, that is all there is.
At the same time they often dismiss any idea of a real conflict between God and Satan.
To many, all notions of Satan or of the Devil are mere imagination and fanciful thinking. That they would exist, or have any real role in life, deploying hidden powers of evil, is seen as some sort of ancient, primitive nonsense.
A trip to some of the poorer countries of the world, can serve to raise significant questions for rational thinkers. So too, should a trip to a local church be somewhat confronting. For the truly biblical church of 2015 continues to teach the reality of the Clash of the Kingdoms of Light and that of Darkness – not as a mere idea, but as a reality, where the Living God, is at work putting down the enemies of the truth, on the basis of the Victory of God, over all powers of evil, in and through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
The Spirit of God is able to reveal these things to us, in a way that brings peace and confidence and genuine understanding of the true nature of the world in which we live.
It has been said: ‘There is no such thing as good and evil, there is only God and Satan’. In other words these are more than ideas, or random forces, or neutral notions. There is a battle for the truth in our midst, energised by real non-human powers. Guilt, feat and manipulation can act as ‘levers’ for evil powers to utilise. likewise a personal revelation of the God of grace, in sovereign power, can bring much peace to a troubled, anxious or tormented person.
A good book on this topic can be downloaded for reading on an i-pad, tablet, ibook or PDF file. It is free, and the title is: “The Clash of the Kingdoms”, by Geoffrey C. Bingham, (well worth the read):
New Creation—Treasures Old and New 