Holy Spirit or Evil Spirit?

The First Sunday in Lent, 2/26/23

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made.” (Genesis 3:1)

In C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, an older devil, Screwtape, trains his young nephew, Wormwood, through a series of letters, how to tempt and confuse humans on their journey of faith. He is given a man, “The Patient”, to try to tempt into sin and eventually, Hell. He is allowed to whisper in the man’s ear, sowing negativity, fear, doubt, worry and divisiveness. This man is a new Christian, and a perfect victim for the fledgling devil-in-training; a much easier target than a strong, faith-filled, battle-tested Christian.

This reminds me, also, of a comedy show in the 70’s, with Flip Wilson and his character, Geraldine, who made famous the line, “The devil made me do it”, as the reason for her misbehaving.

The image I chose for today’s musings reminds me of the little white angel with a halo, sitting on one shoulder and a black devil with horns and pitchfork on the other. This illustration of the battle of good versus evil does not depict a one-time event, it is a constant battle . . . the struggle is real . . . all day long, every single day! It can seem relentless, and it can also seem to sneak up out of nowhere when a decision needs to be made. There are some decisions that are also, seemingly, black and white - indicating that there is a good choice and a bad choice. What helps us make the right choice? . . . especially when there’s a bit more gray area to consider.

St. Ignatius of Loyola started, what would become his Spiritual Exercises, distinguishing between how the decision would make him feel. If he were to do this thing, would he be at peace, or would he feel uneasy in some way? For more serious life decisions, he would develop a more in-depth treatment of the process called discernment. His methods have lasted over 500 years and are used and taught still, around the world as very effective. They are most helpful when there are two good choices to decide between.  But what we are most concerned with are decisions, or temptations that will lead us astray. . . lead us to sin.

St. Paul dealt with this internal conflict as well, and shared his frustration in his letter to the Romans, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.   . . . For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.”  He learned to recognize that “when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.”  (Romans 15, 19, 21)

No one likes to talk about sin anymore.  That is not only a big problem, it has largely caused the decline in civil society around the world, today.  There is such moral decay.  God has left the building, so to speak.  I don’t think willingly, but is abiding by His most beautiful gift given to us . . . our free will.  He will not force Himself upon us, He wants us to choose Him. We have taken Him out of conversation, out of the town square, out of the schools . . . but I do believe that the pendulum has begun to swing back.  I think many are waking up and seeing that it has not worked to remove God from life.  I also think that the shift is being made from a harsh, judgmental, male with a white beard persona to an unconditional loving being or essence. 

God is Love. He is just waiting for us to love Him back.  He is waiting on one shoulder when we need to make a choice . . . will we choose good or evil?  . . . will we choose God or the Devil? It has been very disturbing to see so much evil ‘in-your-face’ evil attempting to be normalized.  The most recent Grammy awards show was beyond disgusting, but there were a lot of people involved in the planning, production, and even, appreciation of the evil on display.  The politics, the violence, the poverty, wars and injustice around the world are on display daily to remind us that evil is alive and well!  We have become desensitized to the effects of evil.

Our only hope is in our Redeemer. Yes, we have been given a redeemer to save us from ourselves!  He has already won the battle for us, but we have to continually make the decision to be on His side of the war.  In fact, St. Ignatius insists that every true seeker need to make the decision to stand under one banner or the other – of good, or of evil. And, that we make the conscious decision throughout each moment of each day to deliberately decide to remain under the banner we choose . . . hopefully, to choose and do good and to avoid evil.  

Finally, we must take the time in silence to learn to hear the voice of God, so that we are not tempted by the voice of evil.. . . that most cunning and deceptive of all creatures! It does not end with simply making a good and right decision, but in following up with its aftermath. Spiritual warfare is an ongoing struggle, and it is easy to get battle-fatigue.  The closer we strive to get to God, the more Satan will try to draw you away.  His only job is to take souls away from God.  And, God has offered us the free will to make our own choice. 

In the image and quote at the top of this page, “After you have made a decision that is pleasing to God, the Devil may try to make you have second thoughts.”  This is so true!  Only prayer and vigilance will help you stay on the right path.  Using the adage from a few decades ago, WWJD? has proven very helpful.  What would Jesus do?  What would He do in the situation with which you are currently wrestling?  If He were in the room with you, would He be pleased with your thoughts, words, and actions?  These are thoughts worthy of consideration during this Lenten season..

May you continue to be blessed upon your journey.