Twenty First Century Blindness

It is commonly accepted that the devil works primarily through tempting and deceiving, and that our susceptibility to his attacks depends on our individual vulnerability (some of us are more vulnerable to temptations to be greedy, some to lust, some to lie, and so on). Since this is the devil’s method, we can expect his agents to operate in a similar way.

So suppose I were evil and took such intense dislike to someone that nothing could give me greater glee than seeing the man I hate continually erupt in uncontrollable fury. Suppose I could make myself invisible and follow him wherever he goes. Suppose I could whisper in his ear so that it seemed like his own thoughts. I could act like the most persistent fly, constantly annoying him and refusing to be shooed off. I could mess up everything he does. I could whisper such things as, “Everyone hates you. That person is out to get you. If you don’t slug him first, he’ll slug you. You just have to throw a tantrum to release this pent-up fury.”

I could do things that would vex anyone, but just how successful I would be in causing my victim to keep exploding in anger would depend on his personality and degree of self-control. Obviously, his best hope of peace would be for him to be rid of me, but medication or counseling could lower his susceptibility to my attempts to infuriate him. He could be pumped so full of tranquilizers, for example, that he is in la-la land and virtually nothing bothers him. Or he could be taught psychological techniques that increase his self-control.

The same would apply if I had made it my goal to incite this man to lust or to lie or to feel unforgiven. Bible training could help increase his motivation to resist and could expose lies about being unforgiven. So here’s the critical question: would I and my diabolical attempts to harass cease to exist and become a mere myth just because medical treatment or psychological or Bible training could increase a person’s resistance to my malicious attempts to incite him? Then neither does people responding to such training or treatment suggest that demons could not be involved in their problems. Note that King Saul’s affliction by evil spirits was expected to be eased by music therapy (1 Samuel 16:16) and it worked (1 Samuel 16:23). The effectiveness of this treatment in no way lowered the significance of the fact that the cause of his torment was demonic.

Like any intelligent enemy, demons are likely to exploit a person’s natural weaknesses, and yet we tend to mistakenly think we have explained away the demonic element by pointing to the existence of natural weaknesses. By so doing, we are likely to overlook many instances of the demonic.

There is another perplexing way in which demons and medical evidence can become so enmeshed, and the medical component be so obvious, that it is hard to see beyond the physical to the demonic element. Luke, a physician, (Colossians 4:14) gives a fascinating account of a woman who had “a spirit of infirmity” (Luke 13:11 – KJV). This is not an archaic way of simply saying she was sick. Most scholars agree that the text clearly refers to a spirit that causes infirmity. As the Good News Bible puts it, she “had an evil spirit that had kept her sick.” In the words of the NIV: “and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.” This is not to imply that sickness is usually demonic. Scripture repeatedly distinguishes between the two. Nevertheless, this is one of those cases where there is a connection.

It is noteworthy that this was not a naked madman living in a graveyard cutting himself with sharp stones. Apparently she was a respected woman of faith (Jesus honored her with the title of “daughter of Abraham”) publicly worshipping God in a synagogue congregation. A number of Bible scholars cite A. Rendal Short that this woman apparently had “spondylitis deformans; the bones of her spine were fused into a rigid mass.”

Leon Morris makes an interesting suggestion. He says that since Jesus did not usually lay hands when driving out demons, perhaps Luke meant that Jesus laid hands on her after the exorcism in order to complete the healing.

Certainly, if one’s body were kept in a set position for so many years, both muscles and bones would end up severely damaged. If, for instance, it had been ropes that had kept her in this position, after cutting the ropes, the original cause of her problem would be gone, but healing would still be required. Freeing her from the ropes would be essential for her healing but the passage of time over which she had been bound would have complicated her condition.

If the woman had been suffering in our day, we would point to her x-ray showing a fused spine and say, “Here’s her problem! No demon here!” Our technological brilliance and intellectual pride would leave us spiritually blind. We would lead yet another daughter of Abraham to secular medics rather than to the Lord who let himself be crucified to free her from demons. So not only can evil spirits exploit natural weaknesses, they can create physical and perhaps emotional damage that will remain even after they leave. Add to this the fact that most of us have been nurtured, educated and immersed in a society so infatuated with the natural that it can rarely see beyond it. No wonder today’s devout Christians tend to focus so much on the natural component of problems that we often miss the demonic aspect.