It's Real

The disciples of Jesus were excited about the newfound power they were experiencing, and as they reported to Him what God was doing through them, the Lord responded with clarity in Luke 10, where we can read this:
17 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."
18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

The power and authority that Jesus has given to us is predicated on our acceptance of Him as our Lord and Savior - that means that we now belong to Him and our "names are written in heaven." Because of that relationship, we can experience the presence of God moving through our lives.  Jesus reminded His followers that He was there when Satan fell, and that his forces, powerful as they may seem, are not as powerful as those aligned with God.  We have power to walk in victory because Jesus has defeated Satan's power.

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The Bible teaches us that we are to be spiritually-minded, and when we walk in the Spirit, we can activate the power of the Spirit, enabling us to overcome the power of evil and the works of the flesh. In Ephesians 6, we can read these verses, one of which was cited by a filmmaker in an interview a number of years ago:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Joey King is now a young adult, but when she was a little girl, she was one of the stars of a horror movie called, The Conjuring.  And, as she revealed to actress-turned-talk-show-host Drew Barrymore recently, there were some spiritual elements at play off the screen. 

Faithwire reported on the interview, in which King said that “It was pretty intense. Some weird stuff happened on the set, along with the movie being scary,” adding, “It’s true, I developed this bizarre, rare, out-of-nowhere blood disorder, and basically, my body, like all the red platelets from my body were like drained. They were just gone.”

After the movie completed its filming, according to Faithwire:

“Then, all of a sudden, I got home, and I’ve never had a problem with my blood since,” she said, sparking a shocked reaction from Barrymore. “Every time I think about it, I just shudder a little bit.”

King has discussed this story before, telling shock radio host Howard Stern in 2020 that her blood issue was discovered after bruises started mysteriously appearing on her body during filming.

“In the [movie], when the mom gets possessed, she gets all these bruises on her,” King said. “And so during the filming of those particular scenes, I started having a lot of bruises show up on my body.”

No doubt, this film dealt with some spiritual elements, and when a person exposes himself or herself to the presence of evil, there could be some unusual things occur. 

The film, interestingly enough, was made by twin brothers Chad and Carey Hayes, and was based on a true story. A CBN.com article from around the time of the release of the first film in what has become a series related that the Hayes brothers "grew up Baptist, but now consider themselves Messianic Jews. Recently, they shared in an interview CBN.com that their interest in The Conjuring is partly due to their faith."  The film, according to the article, "chronicles the true story of family terrorized by an oppressive darkness and the married couple, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who help to rid their house of evil."

At the end of the movie, according to the article, there's this quote from Ed Warren: 

“Diabolical forces are formidable. These forces are eternal, and they exist today. The fairy tale is true. The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges upon which one we elect to follow.”

Chad said, "We want people after experiencing our movie to question where are they. Where am I in my own faith? Where am I in my belief? The Lord has the authority overall, and so here we are. If you find yourself in that kind of a situation like the parents did [in this movie] and you don’t have the Warrens there, where are you at?"

The story told by Joey King echoes another series of supernatural occurrences on a movie set, in a film that was set in a time of intense spiritual warfare: the time period leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. The actor playing the role, Jim Caviezel, has related what he experienced.

The Looper website said that:

Lead actor Jim Caviezel has claimed he was "lit up like a Christmas tree" while filming the Sermon on the Mount sequence of the film. "I knew it was going to hit me about four seconds before it happened," the actor told The 700 Club. "I thought, 'I'm going to get hit.' And when it happened, I saw the extras grab the ground."

Caviezel said that after the strike, fire was coming out of his head and his body was illuminated — though the cameras hadn't yet finished panning over to his position.

An assistant director was struck on set, as well.

The site also reported:

Not only did Caviezel get struck by lightning and endure a couple misplaced lashes, he also dislocated his shoulder while carrying the film's massive crucifix. According to the cross-bearer himself, the wooden construction weighed 150 pounds. "It feels like 600 pounds as the day goes on," Caviezel told Fox News.

Caviezel's shoulder popping out of place was just the start of his misery. "Later they stick you up on a cross in 25-degree temperatures with 30-knot winds," Caviezel explained. Filming almost naked in such frigid conditions nearly gave the actor hypothermia, and succeeded in giving him a lung infection and pneumonia.

All this to make the highest-grossing faith-based film of all time.  And, people's lives were changed.  Looper states: "Not only did the film have a profound effect on the atheist actor who played Judas, it affected a cast member of the Islamic faith. "One of the guys working on the film was a Muslim," Caviezel told The 700 Club. "He was one of the guards who beat me, and he converted. He had a real big experience there, you know?"  And, for most of those involved in the film, Caviezel says: "All the actors that worked on this film ... it will stay with them the rest of their lives," adding, "People will always come up to them, people will always ask them about the movie they were in, it will always be with them."

Unusual occurrences on a movie set with supernatural elements?  Doesn't surprise me. We have to be aware of and armed against the presence of evil in this world.  There are spiritual forces that are described in Ephesians chapter 6 that are dispatched by the devil to counteract the work of God. But, we remember that we have angels on our side, and we have a Savior, who has defeated the power of the enemy, who is victorious over sin and death.  Evil triumphs because that victory is not appropriated.

But, God is greater, as we see in the Word. When we believe that the power of evil is winning, when we are feeling defeated in our own lives because of the power of indwelling sin and the pervasiveness of temptation, we can go to the resources of God.  We have the power of the risen Christ, the full armor of God, the authority of the Word of God, and the ability to resist the devil.  The Bible speaks of discerning between good and evil - and when we can identify the work of the enemy, we can rely on the supremacy of God.