It always makes me wonder, why bizarre traditions are able
to last so long. Sometimes for decades,
sometimes for centuries. Take the idea
of the Easter Bunny. It survives even
today, though it dates considerably far back into the age of paganism, when
fertility rights were considered quite important. The mere symbolism of bunnies and eggs do a
pretty good job representing fertility, albeit a poor one in establishing who
is responsible for that fertility. I
blame power outages, stay at home orders, and/or Marvin Gate music myself 😊. But
this year, we may have finally encountered a terror so great, it could kill the
bunny entirely – enter corona virus covid-19.
The news is full of it, rightly so.
And while the power remains on, and stay at home orders are still in
effect, (somewhere I begin to hear Marvin Gaye’s “let’s get it on” in my head) –
physical distancing may finally put the damper on traditional Easter bunny
celebrations, for that matter on fertility in general if this holds out. It occurs to me then, while the pundits argue
about whether churches should meet together on Easter Sunday or not – no one
seems concerned at all about the post-church Bunny/Egg celebrations at
all. Could that mean Covid-19 finally
killed the bunny? Or will Hallmark Cards
and the myriad of Chocolate companies simply bide their time, and resurrect the
nonsensical tradition next Easter when ideally things will be back to normal. My vote; I’m with the dog on this one, let’s
kill this bunny once and for all. I
would love to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus just once without Marvin Gaye
rattling around in my head at all.
Of course, humor aside, paganism is actually not something
to be trifled with. Today in our modern
world we equate old religions of pagan likeness as mere superstitions. We enlightened beings have come to know a
more real God in the form of Jesus Christ (much to His credit). But superstition is not quite the right word
to associate with pagan religions. If
you examine any one of them closely you will find common themes. They begin with sex. Pick any pagan religion you like, and somewhere
in it, one of its major tenets will be sex, usually wild free sex, where
monogamy is considered obsolete. Violence
too is never too far away. War, or
killing, or sacrifice, are usually found somewhere in the pagan
vernacular. The pagan stories will often
mimic the Bible in terms of origin (virgin births, triads of power, and
obedience as the method of gaining favor of the respective deities). The lure may be the sex, but the eventual
obedience to the rules is considered an absolute – when you disobey, you get
punished. Casual Christians look at this
kind of thing and begin to see many parallels to Biblical themes, if not
stories found in the Old Testament. But
our God is the only God who has volunteered to take on our punishment for disobedience,
to forgive us before we ask, and to re-create us back into His image, if we but
let Him do so. There is a huge
difference to the Christian who actually knows Jesus.
And when you think about paganism, and its lure of free sex
(what do you think the bunnies and eggs are supposed to trigger in your
imagination anyway), you begin to see the power that lies behind those ancient
religions that had nothing to do with our Bible. The entity all too happy to see humanity degenerate
into a lust for power, control, and gratification is none other than Satan
himself. He has an entire demon army
(former angels who fell when they chose his side over God’s) – who are ready to
display superhuman power to us mortals if they can trick us into believing “they”
are god and our real God is not important at all. This is where the word superstition tends to
fall apart. Unfortunately for us all,
demons are real, as real as you are. So
when a superior being interacts with you, it is not just a belief grounded in
tradition that never bears fruit; it is a real world interaction with a world
beyond your sight – and bent on your destruction. Since the demons, and Satan, share common
purpose, it is not too hard to imagine them as being part of a kingdom as
well. A totally evil kingdom, that is
perhaps exactly the opposite of Jesus.
In fact the kingdom of evil that would not only kill you just to hurt
God, they would kill Jesus hoping to break the heart of God. And so they did. And you thought covid-19 was something to
worry about. If Satan could, he would
manufacture one of those corona virus’ every day, until all of humanity was wiped
out. It is only the restraining hand of
our God that keeps us alive even one more breath longer. We have real enemies. Bigger than the virus we cannot see. Equally invisible, and decidedly more
dangerous. And they share common
purpose. That is, to hurt God, by
hurting you.
Whereas the bunny I dislike in the Easter context, is
nothing more than masked symbolism. The
demons that stalk you and I are unseen, but are not content to be stagnant in
some corner to just watch the seconds pass by.
They are ever around us, looking to throw temptation our way. And more often than not, watching us succumb to
temptation so often, we don’t even need the external prompts anymore. Our slavery to sin, is real slavery. It is why we need for the God of Israel to
break our chains, set us free, and lead us away from this world of sin, into the
Paradise He is making for us. Even if we
try to delay that final destination to have the time to bring others with us
along the way. Today the news reminds us
we battle the virus. But this week and
its holidays should also remind us we battle unseen forces bent on our
ill. Yet another reason why our resurrected
Savior is so needed in our lives. To
live in this world, and disregard Jesus, is to open pandora’s box into the evil
that wants in your life. Perhaps as much
as to want to possess you entirely. That
phenomenon is not new, nor has it ever gone away. Luke reminds us of all this in his gospel
letter to his friend, regarding what we believe and why.
He picks up the story of an encounter with evil in the 11th
chapter, picking up in verse 14 saying … “And he was casting out a devil, and
it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake;
and the people wondered. [verse 15] But some of them said, He casteth out
devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. [verse 16] And others,
tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven.” The state of this poor victim of demonic
possession was dire. He was unable to
speak. He was unable to cry out, or
praise, or just converse. Not because he
could not, or was physically unable, or not smart enough. He was all of those things. But he was unable to overpower the demonic
force that lived literally within him, crowding his mind, and keeping still his
tongue. This was a man or woman in great
need. Have you ever asked yourself why
he was in that need? What led that victim
to become that victim? The Bible does
not give us the history, only the final state this victim was in. But is it possible, it began with a flirtation
with some form of paganism? Perhaps it
began with that lure of wild, free, sex.
And engagement became habit, and habit became addiction, and addiction
was willing to do “anything” to get its fix.
All of this can happen quietly, with very few people knowing, perhaps
even caring. But the damage is real. And the damage is not designed to happen only
once, it is meant to become a vehicle of your total destruction. He needed Jesus. To save him from this fate, but also to
protect him from its recurrence. Is it
any different with us? Do we leave ourselves
open to the same close encounters with forces unseen because our engagements become
habits, that turn into addictions before we even know it. Can we possibly look at this victim, and
instead of seeing others, perhaps see ourselves (if not for grace).
Have you ever asked yourself – who is Beelzebub? That is quite a name. It does not sound like “the devil” or “Satan”
at all. In fact, the implication is that
the demon Beelzebub is a general in the army of Satan who has the power to
command all the other demons where it comes to possession or not. How did those people in the days of Jesus
know any of that? This demon and his
name only appears in the Bible in the context of this story. It’s not like the Bible takes the time to lay
out the kingdom of Satan, particularly by name, and explain who has the power
to do what. No road map like that exists
– at least none in the Word of God we refer to as the Bible. So how did all those believing Jews know any
of it? Is it possible that previous
demon possession had led them to this information, as they encountered the
world of demons way more often than we do.
Keep in mind paganism was not a declining religion in the days of Jesus,
it was rather the MUCH bigger religion of those days. Judaism was WAY smaller, and Christianity WAY
smaller than that. Paganism was the zenith
of religions. From the Egyptian variety,
to the Assyrian, to the Bablyonian, to the Persian, to the Greek, and now to
the Roman versions. Each with common
themes, each with common lures, each with the same power behind them. The entire world of those days was not lost
in mere superstitions, they were engaged more closely with Satan than perhaps
any of them knew. Are we any different?
Luke continues in verse 17 saying … “But he, knowing their
thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to
desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. [verse 18] If Satan
also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say
that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. [verse 19] And if I by Beelzebub cast
out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your
judges.” Jesus clearly points out that
Satan’s kingdom is united in common purpose, therefore, not at war with
itself. Satan had ZERO interest in
seeing this victim freed from his prison.
Just like Pharaoh had zero interest in setting the captive nation
free. It took Jesus to set Israel free,
just like it takes Jesus to free this poor victim, just like it takes Jesus to
free you from your sins, let alone from the demons that surround you daily. It is not just a virus we cannot see that we
are at war with. There are forces much
darker than that, and it is Jesus alone that can keep us safe from any of them.
But in our day, we casually embrace things like tarot cards,
palm readings, Ouija boards, etc. Tools
that lie close to a kingdom we should want nothing to do with. We act like Saul seeking the lost, when we
embrace the ideas of a séance – but what we conjure is no different that what
Saul got – a demon masquerading as the loved one, but having only destruction
in mind for the seeker. What we consume
through our eyes and our entertainment can be just as destructive. Whether gore in horror films that exalt the
power of darkness; or unabashed pornography we think no one knows we watch –
there is always someone watching. No,
not Jesus, He watches us in pain, longing to take these painful things out of
our lives, so we could really live. No,
I mean the dark forces that surround us, also take note of we crowd into our
minds, looking to desensitize us in order to feed us more and more and
more. What passes for a horror movie
just 2 decades ago is always tame by today’s standards. Pornography continues to degenerate into
fetish’s where violence, rape, and incest become central themes. Ever ask yourself why? Because the kingdom of Satan is never content
to sit still and watch the seconds tick by.
They are engaged each second in trying to enter any door you leave open
to them. Just like that victim of old,
we need Jesus. The bunny we can live
without.
Luke continues in verse 20 saying … “But if I with the
finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. [verse
21] When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: [verse 22]
But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh
from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. [verse 23]
He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me
scattereth.” It is not the power of
Satan that is interested in freeing us from any pain we bring upon
ourselves. That power is interested only
in making us even more miserable than we are today. Leading us along a path that ends in death
and plenty of misery before it. It is
rather the power of God, and His Kingdom, that is ever bent on seeing us truly
live, and live forever, without the dangers of our unseen world, and without
the pain we cause ourselves and those we love.
You will note Jesus specifically makes the analogy that we should not
trust to our own strength, or for that matter to our own weapons as well. It is only the power of God that can free us
and keep us protected.
But there is a sad epilogue to our condition. Luke concludes this segment picking back up
in verse 24 saying … “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh
through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return
unto my house whence I came out. [verse 25] And when he cometh, he findeth it
swept and garnished. [verse 26] Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other
spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the
last state of that man is worse than the first.” This is sometimes the fate we too
embrace. We turn to Jesus and are made
free. But over time, we begin to look
backwards like Lot’s wife, seeking what we once knew before our freedom. At first it is casual, innocent, nothing
dangerous. Like say an Easter bunny and
some chocolate eggs. But over time the
fertility symbols we begin to seek out look more like playboy bunnies than the
furry one at Easter. No matter how
innocent it seems to start, the path of evil always leads in only one direction;
downwards. It may seem slight at
first. But the incline drops off like a
cliff once the bait you like has been hooked.
It may not present like sex, but it will present like something from the
realms of paganism. Perhaps it is wealth
you seek, or power, or control. Package
any of it up, you still find pagan roots, and the same entity behind all of it.
I say we kill the traditional bunny; and keep our minds and
hearts on Jesus and Jesus alone. Let
everything else take care of itself. I want
no part in the dark kingdom, even if only on the edges of it.
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