By Darrell L. Bock and Kymberli M. Cook
[Darrell L. Bock is Senior Research Professor in New Testament Studies and Executive Director for Cultural Engagement at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. Kymberli M. Cook is Assistant Director of the Hendricks Center and a PhD student in Theological Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.]
Introduction
Marten: One day I was working with a client of mine . . . and she had come in with a pain in her side. So I said, “Why don’t you just close your eyes and let your mind’s eye go down to that area of your body?” And so she sat there with her eyes closed, and I said, “Go down there and look and tell me what you see.” So she said, “Oh, it’s really dark. It’s really dark.” See, I’m expecting some association with the memory or something like that. So I said, “Well, keep looking.” She said, “Oh, it’s really, really black.” I said, “Okay.” So she sits there quietly for a while, and I’m sitting there quietly for a while. All of a sudden with her eyes closed, she says, “She’s mine.”
Film and literature have always been fascinated with the possibility of more in this world than meets the eye—the lure of something or someone just beyond our five senses. More recently, podcasts like Lore and Unexplained have revived chronicling real-life accounts of sinister and mysterious occurrences that leave more questions than answers. All of this might evoke curiosity and even entertain us until we find ourselves in the middle of it in real life, such as this story shared by one of our Table guests, Linda Marten (retired Professor of Counseling Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary). We have hosted several podcasts where the spiritual dimension of our world was either at the forefront or came about because of its very real cultural implications. There are many believers all over the globe regularly thinking through how Christians should conduct themselves amid this wider dimension in God’s creation. A distillation of these fascinating conversations has surfaced four key things followers of Christ should keep in mind when relating to the supernatural.
Recognize It As Real
In a discussion on spiritual warfare, Michael Pocock (retired Professor of World Missions and Intercultural Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary) pointed out that one’s experiences with supernatural realities often depends on one’s culture:
Pocock: In some cultures where there’s an open belief in the spirit world, Satan appears in one way, but in the intellectually advanced—if you want to call it that—he shows himself in a different way, much more of a wizard of intelligence, so to speak. . . . People have problems. They have difficulties. They have challenges, but they don’t even think about, “Could this be from Satan?” or “Could this be demonic?”
The very existence of such a dimension in the world may still meet skepticism in the recesses of a modern (or even postmodern) mind, yet evidence abounds. Christians must recognize this reality. The evil one works best in the shadows. Most clearly throughout our discussions, proof can be seen in Scripture, in the majority world, and in the life of each believer. To suggest there are no such things as spiritual beings when they are there and working incognito leaves a problematic spiritual opening that needs to be closed. Evil forces work best when they are not seen or recognized.
The presence of a supernatural world is demonstrated in Scripture, and those seeking to take its revelation seriously must recognize the very real stakes at play among spiritual beings. It introduces us to God himself, his servants, and Satan’s forces that oppose him. There is much in Scripture to be mined concerning this part of God’s creation. For instance, John Walton (Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Wheaton College) unpacked some of the Old Testament’s attestation to the supernatural “good guys”:
Cook: What about angels? What do we see? What are some key passages, key areas, where it seems like angels are in play?
Walton: In the Old Testament, my opinion is that we should take the word fairly strictly, that is that it refers to messengers. That’s what the Hebrew term refers to. That’s the role that they play. That’s the role that they consistently play in the Old Testament, and even when we pick up the Greek word of angelos, it has that same kind of sense at its core, but things develop, and eventually it becomes the case, as often so in Christian thinking, that any. . . . supramundane, nonhuman entity would be described as an angel, and that mixes things up a little bit.
In the Old Testament, I don’t think they would’ve thought of the cherubim or the seraphim as angels. They wouldn’t think of the divine council members as angels. They’re the sons of God. They’re not angels, yet even by the Septuagint they’re translating sons of God as angels. And so angels takes on a growing definition, at least that’s how I’ve seen it as time goes on. So in Christian theology, we’re used to using that category, angels, to talk about all the supramundane entities who are good guys.
But that only happens over time. In the Old Testament, it’s certainly not that broad. We should not, in my mind, talk about the seraphim or cherubim as angels. They have other roles. They’re not messengers. Don’t ask that cherub to go deliver a message.
While the Western church may quietly doubt or forget about this active dimension of God’s creation, many of God’s image bearers all across the world are daily seeking to attempt control or influence over spiritual forces. Those less prone to modern sensibilities have no doubt of the existence of such forces that shape the cultures around them. Kenneth Nehrbass (Assistant Professor at California Baptist University) gave some vivid illustrations of these practices:
Nehrbass: The island we lived on is called Tanna. John Paton, famous missionary mid-nineteeth century, came there and was run off the island. He had told people, “Don’t do magic,” basically. “Don’t worship your stones.” And these were magical stones. They thought, “Here’s a person who’s trying to ruin our life.” He was saying, “Don’t let your gardens grow. Don’t have healthy kids. Don’t let it rain.” He was telling them to get rid of the thing that made life possible. . . . But where we were, we had told them we’re here to learn your culture. We want to live with you, and so we actually had people knocking on our door in the morning to wake us up and say, “Hey, you got to come see this dance we’re doing. We’re going to make it rain.” As a matter of fact, one time they said, “We’re going to make the sun shine. We want to borrow your truck, and so don’t look at the wood and don’t touch the wood because it’s holy, but just back your truck up to the tree, and we’ll chop it down and cut it up in small pieces and put it in your truck, and you bring it back.” That’s a good example of syncretism. You’ve got a modern-day truck driving them, and you’ve got the missionary driving the wood up into the village that you’re gonna use to do some ritual to make the sun shine. A special someone who calls himself a descendant of the sun takes a certain sun stone, puts it in a basket, cooks it over this wood that they’ve cut down in a secret hut, and makes the sun shine.
An additional catch in the mind of any believer minimizing the presence and significance of the spiritual world should be our own espoused belief in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Michael Burer (Professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary) pointed out that it is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers that Paul pointed to as one of the validations for the truth of the gospel (Gal 1–2). His indwelling is not an afterthought of a change in divine legal standing but rather ground zero and “exhibit A” of a real transformation that has occurred when one repents and follows the way of Christ.
Do Not Stir The Murky Waters
Apart from its very real presence, there is little clarity given to Christians concerning the supernatural aspects of the world. Scripture paints a vague picture, which is understandably plagued by a variety of interpretations. Yet this lack of clarity may undergird another biblical reality. Apart from the Holy Spirit, Scripture seems to encourage God’s people to avoid engaging spiritual beings. Deuteronomy 18 warns believers to stay away from occult practices. Samuel, who is present in spirit after Saul calls him through a medium in 1 Samuel 28, chides Saul for disturbing him. The sons of Sceva in Acts 19:11–20 demonstrate that though the spirit world is real, it is not to be engaged lightly. In discussing this caution, Scott Horrell (Senior Professor Emeritus of Theological Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary) introduced Acts 16:16–34 as a passage to guide thinking through how to conduct ourselves:
Cook: Is it only with caution that we should approach the supernatural, as believers?
Horrell: As believers, we have a Holy Spirit within us. And not many of us have the gift of discernment probably, but all of us should be discerning. We have the Holy Spirit within us. We have the word of God to guide us. And so by the word of God and listening, [we are] trusting step by step that our Lord protects us from all kinds of stuff. And a lot of things we just don’t know. Where’s this coming from? Is this of God? It is paranormal. Lord, keep me on track.
You don’t see the apostle Paul or any of the apostles going around as Ghostbusters. I mean, they’re not going into spirit centers and casting out everyone. Those problems usually came to them, and then they dealt with it. I think of Philippi, where Paul is preaching and Silas is with him. And Acts says that day after day, this girl who was a medium kept walking after them and saying, “These men are the men of God and they’re telling you how to be saved.” How does it get any better than that? That’s advertisement you can’t pay for.
But after, it says, many days, Paul became frustrated with that, turned around, and cast out the demon, and literally all hell broke loose on him and Silas. Of course, they were beaten, put in prison, and all the rest. But he didn’t go after it. In fact, he ignored it for a while. And maybe that’s good for us to do typically too.
Unless the spirit world comes to you, it is a good general practice to avoid interaction with it apart from regular communion with the Lord. There are many believers, however, who do have such encounters. What should be our interaction in those settings?
Honor The Voices Of The Majority World Christians
We have already highlighted that many throughout the world regularly engage in and attempt to impact the supernatural dimension of reality. Christian brothers and sisters in those contexts—as the temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit—have gained immense discernment and wisdom as they have gone about living out their faith where the division between natural and supernatural is whisper thin. Kenneth Nehrbass noted the risk of syncretism for these Christian communities, but it would be the height of arrogance to categorically dismiss their observations and experience with spiritual beings because of this pitfall. As a former missionary in Brazil, Scott Horrell had to learn how to live alongside and minister to those openly and actively pursuing the spirit world:
Horrell: Going down to Brazil, as we were in church planting . . . there were in front of our house, once in a while, what would be called obitus, that is, a dish with candles and a sacrificed chicken or other offerings, right in front of our house, which is a sign that they’re throwing a curse on you. And of course, at that point I had little girls who were afraid of the dark. And so you become more acutely aware of direct attacks on you as a Christian worker.
Well, we moved to Sao Paulo. I began teaching at a couple of schools, and one of the first things that struck me was a student who had grown up in a spiritist’s home. They were grooming him to be a spiritist leader when he asked his leader—“father of saints,” as they call him. The Father Saint said in all his teaching, “Stay away from evangelicals. You don’t have any power over them.” And it’s like, what? Well, why is that? So, he was one of my students, and I delighted to evangelize spiritists.
We also spoke with believers in Haiti who daily address the world of voodoo, as shared by Duckens St. Phart (Professor of Spiritual Formation at STEP Seminary):
Cook: Those you might end up speaking to about voodoo, encouraging them to live out the truth of the gospel and live in the power of Christ rather than in these other spirits, what do you say to them? What is the way that the church in Haiti and you as leaders there, especially Dukens, you who are training leaders, address this? How do you combat that practically, theologically? What do you say?
St. Phart: A point is to emphasize what does it mean to be in a relationship with God? Sometimes, I use the picture of adoption to explain that. I am adopted into the family of God. Let’s say that I am, or I was part of your family, and now Christ adopts me. I emphasize the fact that you have some rules for your family. And Christ has some rules for his family.
Given that, I am changing my master right now. The new master requires me to live according to the rules of his household. This is what we need to do as believers. We cannot live just like the other people. We cannot continue on practicing voodoo things. Because now we don’t belong to the same master. We belong to another master. That’s the way I try to explain it in order that people may let me know that okay, now, I don’t belong to the voodoo. It’s not my identity.
My identity is in Christ. I am adopted by God, and I need to live the life of God right now. This is one way that I explain it.
Cook: From what you have described with regard to voodoo, it’s this idea that you have to give to and try to convince the spirits. So the gospel here represents, to a degree, a measure of rest. Like you said, Dukens, because we are in his household, we act this way, but we don’t have to act this way so that we can be in his household. That’s beautiful.
Without negating the active global presence of the spirit world, perhaps Western believers would do well to quiet many of their own thoughts and teachings on this wider dimension of reality and place themselves under the instruction of those who daily represent Christ in these contexts. There is much to learn.
Find Rest In Your Rightful Place
Just as God’s people are not to excessively pursue interactions with the supernatural world and the spiritual beings there, we are also not to excessively fear them. Christians have been made children of God, heirs with Christ, and home to the Holy Spirit. Our belief in God as Creator gives us confidence that he is over all his creation and in control amidst his free creation. There is nothing to fear. We are in the (natural and supernatural) world, but God has overcome the world. With this in mind, Scott Horrell described the power available to Christ’s followers as they confront spiritual darkness:
Horrell: In the name of Christ, often we are singing hymns or quoting scriptures that are speaking of Christ’s absolute authority and victory over Satan through the cross, but then [we are] commanding the spirit to leave. And sometimes there’s more than one spirit. And sometimes they will, as Mike was saying, sink back into the person. I remember in a case I was involved in, the person would reemerge asking, “Why are you doing this? Why am I here? I want to go home.” And then you command the spirit again to speak—sometimes multiple spirits—and it’s right back there. But then commanding that spirit, in the authority of Christ, to leave and never come back. It is amazing what happens. Some spirits stay hidden. They don’t want to come out. That people really are delivered is just astonishing. . . . As one put it, “Nothing will increase your faith like casting out a demon.”
As we allow the Trinitarian God to guide any active engagement with other spiritual entities, we may proceed with confidence and faith in his protection and care.
The interwoven nature of this topic in so many of our podcasts demonstrates a relevance for each believer and a need to recognize the presence of such dynamics in the world. Those, like Linda Marten in the opening story, who find themselves in darker places—at that veil between the natural and supernatural world (despite their own attempts to steer clear of it)—should be sure to learn from other Christians who regularly find themselves in similar places. Proceeding from that posture of caution and wisdom, they should feel empowered by the Holy Spirit to confront what they encounter with a confident, “No. In the name of Christ, she is his.”
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