“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
I Peter 5:8-11
This passage was written originally by the Apostle Peter to those “who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood...” (rf. I Peter 1:2) Suffice it to say that Peter was writing to the Christians scattered throughout the Roman Empire. He wanted them to be aware of the dangers that surrounded the believers in Christ, dangers, specifically, that were not as obvious as others. The Apostle Peter had learned as he had matured in the faith that the devil, the ancient “adversary” of Christ, was not as open in his opposition to His followers as they would have liked to have believed. Therefore, Peter provides the Christian body a dire warning for them to be on the constant alert that this “adversary” was waiting for just the right opportunity to catch the believer unawares with a subtle attack for which they will not be prepared with an adequate defense.
Things have not changed any since the first century. The same “lion” that awaited the early Christian body for weak believers to attack is still very present today seeking “someone to devour”. This “lion”, “the devil”, is a very clever being. He knows that His best offense is, indeed, invisibility or better yet, non-existence. Thus, he has convinced first the culture and then the Church that supernatural beings such as Devil, Satan, Beelzebub, demons, angels, etc. are all mythical creatures, nice to adorn plots for horror flicks, television shows, computer games or books, but not worthy of true intellectual affirmation. Indeed, such beings are the things to be used as an outlet for the base impulses of our human natures, the outward expressions we show forth through costumes on All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween. They are the culturally approved vehicles by which we are allowed to celebrate that which is evil about ourselves without the pangs of guilt since all of us “have a little evil in us” after all. It is true after all, as Flip Wilson, the comedian of old, in his character, Geraldine, used to say, “The Devil made me do it.”
Our “adversary” is a sly character without question. He knows he has the unbelieving world at his beckon call. His goal is to get the Christian community as well to dance to his tune. This is the warning to which the Apostle Paul is referring. When we are blind to the devil’s ways, we easily fall prey to his traps. When we do not see as evil that which is inherently evil, he has us exactly where he wants us. Like a lion that creeps silently and stealthily in the bushes upon the unwitting antelope, so we can be completely caught off guard by the actions of the devil, not realizing that he has laid a trap for us until it is too late.
How do we then prevent being caught? Peter says, be “firm in your faith”. One cannot distinguish good from evil if one is not well-versed in the truth of God’s Word. One cannot turn away from the temptations of the “adversary” if the only time one is exposed to God’s truth is on Sundays. It will not happen. “Firm(ness) in the faith” comes with a commitment to be with God and in His Word on a daily basis. This was Jesus’ example. It must be ours’ also.
Secondly, on the basis of that truth that is our foundation, we are to “resist him”. This is not just a matter of telling the devil, “No”. It is also a matter of telling why it is “No”. Again, Jesus provides us the example. When tempted by the devil in the wilderness, over and over again, Jesus answered each temptation with a reason from God’s Word. The same holds true with us. We can only do this if we are bathed in our understanding with the study of the Scriptures.
Why do I bring this passage and discussion now? October is the celebration of one of the holy days of Satanism. All Hallow’s Eve is and always has been a celebration of the dead, based on the belief that the spirits of those departed must be appeased in order for them to remain in the grave. Many say that this is not what is being celebrated today. I concur and so does the one who gains the most glory from the celebration. Just food for thought: if we as believers in Christ are to do all for the glory of God (rf. Colossians 3:17), how does this particular holiday and its origins qualify for us to participate? Could it be that the “adversary” has used its trappings for “fun” as a snare to make so many of us totally unaware of what we were actually helping to promote?
My words are not meant to condemn or to judge, but to encourage. Like so many of us, I was an example of Jesus’ words of being led blindly eventually toward a pit. It wasn’t until I had my eyes opened by the reality of what was real, true and Biblical. Then, both my actions and my perceptions changed. I was able to do what the Apostle Peter exhorted us all to do. Indeed, the Lord is able to “perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.” May He do the same for us all as we seek to follow Him and His Word more closely.
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