Demons Are In The News

The end of last week and the first of this, I posted three guest blogs by my friend Bob Schwarz about a Zulu Lutheran pastor who reported the successful exorcism of demons in Africa. The questions that remain here in the United States—and elsewhere—have to do with the reality of this experience. Did it really happen? Are there indeed such beings as demons that can and do occupy the souls of others?

No matter what I say there will be those who simply deny the existence of evil spirits or demons. It does not fit into their worldview. Others go further and claim that such things are entertaining fantasy, like pretending there are dragons, vampires and Harry Potter. It is a big piece of today's entertainment industry. Samples:

• Vampires—background
• The pilot for the Dan Curtis 1972 television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker revolved around reporter Carl Kolchak hunting a vampire on the Las Vegas strip. Later films showed more diversity in plotline, with some focusing on the vampire-hunter, such as Blade in the Marvel Comics' Blade films and the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy, released in 1992, foreshadowed a vampiric presence on television, with adaptation to a long-running hit TV series of the same name and its spin-off Angel. Still others showed the vampire as protagonist, such as 1983's The Hunger, 1994's Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles and its indirect sequel of sorts Queen of the Damned, and the 2007 series Moonlight. Bram Stoker's Dracula was a noteworthy 1992 film which became the then-highest grossing vampire film ever.^[162] This increase of interest in vampiric plotlines led to the vampire being depicted in movies such as Underworld and Van Helsing, and the Russian Night Watch and a TV miniseries remake of 'Salem's Lot, both from 2004. The series Blood Ties premiered on Lifetime Television in 2007, featuring a character portrayed as Henry Fitzroy, illegitimate son of Henry VIII of England turned vampire, in modern-day Toronto, with a female former Toronto detective in the starring role. A 2008 series from HBO, entitled True Blood, gives a Southern take to the vampire theme.^[158] Another popular vampire-related show is CW's The Vampire Diaries. The continuing popularity of the vampire theme has been ascribed to a combination of two factors: the representation of sexuality and the perennial dread of mortality.^[163] Another "vampiric" series that has recently come out is the Twilight Saga, a series of films based on the book series of the same name.
• The Discovery Channel - Real Life Exorcisms 

News of the Roman Catholic church training priests to be exorcists has been widely publicized recently. Last November you may have read that "Overwhelmed with requests for exorcists, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are holding a special training workshop in Baltimore this weekend to teach clerics the esoteric rite, the Catholic News Service reported."

For Lutherans the sole source of teaching about such things is the inspired Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. In the next days I'll access that Word to discuss and apply what the Holy Spirit says about these rebel spirits and what that means for us believers in Christ.