As you know if you know me well or read this blog, this year has been an incredibly huge time of growing for me. As time goes on, I seem to be opening my mind up to more and more things, ideas, and views on life. When you grow up as a Christian, it's easy to become very closed minded about things that are wrong or evil. I know, that sounds weird and you're probably thinking "Well duh! If something's wrong or evil, I want nothing to do with even the idea of it!" But let me give you the context of what I'm thinking about.
Growing up, I had a fear of the dark. I had a fear of evil things. I had a fear that things could come out of my closet and take me away. As children, I think it's safe to say that most people, if not all, have fears like this. As we grow up, we lose those fears, not because we grow stronger against them, but because we stop believing in them at all. Yet, when we attend church, we talk about the Devil and his demons who are constantly after us to give us doubts about God and to make us stumble and sin. So why doesn't the idea of that scare us? We can say that it's because God is in control and that we can take heart that He is protecting us. And that's true, but what I think is more true is that we just don't think that that stuff is really a threat to us. Why? It's not like we don't experience demons on a daily basis! We all have felt those little voices that push us into sinning. So again, why? It's because it doesn't feel any different than normal. We're used to it, just like how we can become lukewarm Christians (Rev. 3:16) when we don't have an active and healthy knowledge of the presence of God in our lives. I believe that it's just as unhealthy to not acknowledge the presence of spiritual evil in this world as to not acknowledge the presence of spiritual good.
So, you ask, where is all of these ideas coming from? The answer is a TV show (go figure). I know, I know... I'm a nerd, but bare with me. Growing up, I came to believe that it was a really bad idea to engage in watching certain movies and TV shows, because they invite evil ideas into your mind and home. And, to a large extent, I still believe that. For example, I will never watch "The Exorcism" because of all of the real life spiritual things that surrounded the movie. Last year while at Bible school, I was told by my good friend Jordan Preston that the show 'Supernatural' was really really good. So I took a look at it. Sadly, I had to watch pirated versions, which sucked. But by the end of the first season, I didn't feel comfortable watching the show, as it's all about two brothers who fight urban legends and demons, which didn't make me feel comfortable. So I stopped.
Fast forward to this year. I have grown a lot, both mentally and spiritually. After going to LA and meeting with Director Scott Derrickson, I decided to watch 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'. That movie, while not fantastic, had some really good plot points. 'Emily Rose' wasn't a horror movie about exorcisms, it was a movie about the fact that exorcisms are a reality, because it is about a case of real demon possession. There's a great quote in the movie about how it's not that demon possession doesn't happen anymore, its that the western world has chosen not to see it and tries to dismiss the cases as scientific and not spiritual, which is so true. This movie opened me up to the idea of watching 'Supernatural' again, so I gave it a shot.
Concerning the show itself, HOLY COW. The show is so amazingly shot and does such an amazing job with the story of the two brothers who fight evil. On the Behind the Scenes, the creators say that while they fight things every week, but the show is really about the relationship of the Winchester family. This show really is a gem in the TV show realm.
Anyway, going back to the spiritual side of the show. I truely believe that I wasn't ready to take on the spiritual thought that has come with this show last year. I've been out in the world, outside the bubble of home and Bible school. But I was ready for this show this year, to take it as new perspective instead of just some show about demons. In fact, I'm sure that my parents wouldn't be comfortable with me watching the show in their home, just because of the content being about demons and elements of horror. My parents would ask me "Do you really want this stuff in your brain?" And before this year, I honestly know that the answer would be no, but this year, I know I'm ready to realize what evil is in this world. Plus on top of that, I love a well done story as a film maker.
This show has really opened my mind up to being able to recognize the presence of evil in this world. All of the evil things they fight have either a rooting in Biblical text or legends that all have nuggets of truth in them. And I think it's a good thing, as I said before, to be able to recognize that there are things in this world that happen that you can't explain. All the legends we have, all of the stories about evil has root somewhere. I don't want to give anything away about the plot for those of you who haven't seen it, but there are so many episodes that deal with evil in a way which, while probably not 100% accurate because it's a TV drama, it really opens up your mind to realizing that many of these stories have nuggets of fact in them. Stories of hauntings, stories of possession, stories of selling your soul to the Devil. There are stories that deal with these things in almost every culture across the world and that's hard to ignore.
So what do you do with this information? Take it, use it, make sure you are growing close to God, because God is your protector. He has the ability to vanquish all evil that wants to stand in your way. Don't test the supernatural or evil that is out there; it's real. And while you probably aren't out hunting a demon who killed your mother, we as Christians are the main target of the Devil. He wants nothing more than to immobilize us so that we are not effective for God's Kingdom.
So, my brothers and sisters, "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love." Ooh-rah.
1 Corinthians 16: 13-14
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