I Don't See Demons

by

June 03, 2020

I am now 38 years old, on my way to obtaining a doctorate, father of two, co-pastor of a wonderful church, and one who is categorized as progressive to post-liberal and I confess that I believe in real demons. I have for years now.

The bad news is that the demons don’t reveal themselves to me.

The worse news is that they don’t have to.

Years ago one Christian, Abraham, asked his teacher, Poemen, about how the demons fight. It is assumed that Abraham desired to know how the demons fought in order to defeat the demons himself. Sort of a “know thy enemy” approach.

When Poemen heard the question, he was shocked. Poemen was shocked to hear that the demons actually fight Abraham. One might be tempted to think that Poemen was a liberal “enlightened” Christian who did not believe in demons and was trying to teach the student that in fact there are no such things as demons. Rather, Poemen was shocked to hear that Abraham thought he was worthy enough for the demons’ time.

Poemen knew there are only a limited number of demons and so they have to be judicious in how they spend their energy. They have to pick fights with people who are real threats to the kingdom of division and injustice. Poemen knew Abraham well enough to know that Abraham was not a real threat to the demons so they would not spend resources to fight him. According to one translation Poemen’s response was:

Is it the demons who attack you? It is not the demons who attack me. When we follow our self-will then our will seem like demons and it is they who urge us to obey them. If you want to know the kind of people with whom the demons fight, it is Moses and those like him.’

I am like Abraham, I think that I am struggling against demons of fear, anger, lust, hatred and division. If only this were true! The reasons I don’t see demons is that I am not worth their time. I am distracted enough fighting with my own will that I don’t need any help from demons to pull me from the love, mercy and forgiveness of God. I am doing a fine job on my own.

I believe in demons and they are alive and well in this world. They torment my fellow sisters and brothers who are very real threats to the kingdom of division and injustice. I pray for those who threaten the work of the kingdom of division and injustice because they are very much under attack. Those who are helping to usher in the Kingdom of Mercy and Justice - those are who the demons spend their time tormenting. These are the ones who are helping to usher in the Kingdom of God:

Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, William Barber, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Liz Theoharis, Ibram X. Kendi… or as Poemen described them those like Moses.

As for me, I am so bound to following my own will that my first action is to repent so to learn the will of God. That means I need to listen less to my own mind and more to those like Moses.

One day I hope to see a demon because then I will know that I am a real threat to the kingdom of division and injustice.

Lord have mercy.

The Rev. Jason Valendy, along with his wife the Rev. Estee Valendy, serves as co-pastor of Saginaw United Methodist Church in Saginaw, Texas. This post is republished with permission from the author's blog JasonValendy.net.