Good and Evil

All around us, we are surrounded by supernatural entities - those that are in sync with the Kingdom of God and those who are not. And, as Christian believers, we are inhabited by the Holy Spirit. 1st John 4 describes the supernatural state of things:
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

This is the day known as Halloween, a day on which we see prevalent themes related to death and the supernatural, full of skeletons, ghosts, and other dark images. It's also a day - and a season - through which Christians have a chance to shine the light of Christ and show how distinctive we are from the world. 

We certainly have the chance to display the good that comes from God, contrasted with the evil that is perpetrated by the devil, who desired to dethrone Almighty God and was cast out of heaven. He is attempting to exact his revenge by rendering Bible-believing Christians ineffective.  But, we know that he has already been defeated through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It would be very easy to pretend that the devil does not exist, but there's a poll conducted late last year that shows a significant number of Americans believe in him.  An article at The Hill website states:

Majorities of Americans believe in aliens, ghosts and the devil, according to a recent RealClear Opinion Research poll.

Among those surveyed, 56.9 percent said they believe in aliens, 61.4 percent believe in ghosts, and 70.3 percent say they believe in the devil, which is lower than the 85.4 percent who say they believe in God.

The article goes on to say:

Other findings in the poll include 80.3 percent of respondents saying that they believe “Jesus is God or the Son of God” and 84.7 percent saying they believe in Heaven.

It also notes that over 7-in-10 Americans believe in hell.  But, less than half believe in reincarnation or witches. 

And it is interesting to see that 83% of Americans said they believed in "miracles."  Only half said that God was male. 

OK, so this is all over the board, granted. But, I think that the bottom line is that people do generally believe in the supernatural.  That's good - 85% say they believe in God and just slightly under that believe in miracles.  7-in-10 believe in the devil and hell. And, around 6-in-10 believe in aliens and ghosts, too.  

Out of this spirituality, we have to make sure that we are making the right choices.  And, dabbling in supernatural activities that are contrary to the nature of God is dangerous to our spiritual well-being.  If we profess to know Christ, while it is very helpful to believe in the existence of the devil, we have to make sure that our thoughts and actions are not inspired by Him - we must reject him at every turn. 

But, without the armor of God, the truth of His Word, and the power of the name of Jesus, we don't have the acceptable level of strength to withstand his temptation.  So, we need Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of our lives in order to adequately turn back the power of evil in our lives.  And, even with all these resources, we become weakened because we don't possess the proper level of reliance on our Savior.

So, during this season, in which certain elements of evil are glorified, we have to make sure that we are glorifying the Lord and devoted to being a strong Christian witness.