It’s a chilling thought, and one to which secular historians would be unlikely to give much credence. But it is probable that Marxism, and certain that Fascism, were deeply involved in occult practices.
Take Marx. In his early teens he was a keen Christian. Although it cannot be proven that he became involved in a Satanist cult, there was certainly one operating near his home, and his early writings give some indication that he was involved with them. …
My present interest in the fascinating and yet sombre subject of demonology is due to the fact that I’m preparing to preach on Luke 8:26-39 – the Gerasene demoniac. That passage (together with the parallel accounts in Matthew and Mark) present the most dramatic case of demonisation in the whole of Scripture, and therefore requires that particular attention to the subject of demons and their activities.
One of the seminal works on demonology is that by John L.…
Calvin took the activities of Satan and his demons very seriously, without falling into the superstitions which sometimes appear in Luther’s writings. Calvin’s teaching was, above all else, scriptural, as the following extract shows.
In his preface to The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis famously wrote that there are two equal and opposite errors in relation to thinking about demons: disbelieving in their existence altogether, and taking an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Either way, Satan is delighted – scepticism and fanaticism both serve his purposes very nicely.
The sceptical approach is well represented by the New Testament scholar Rudolph Bultmann: ‘It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and scientific discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of daemons and spirits.’…
The present world is the arena for an uncompromising, bitter struggle – the struggle between good and evil, of God and his armies against the Devil and his. We believe that the victory belongs to God in Christ. But we know too that the Devil, although defeated, is not yet banished, and continues to war against all that is good and true and right with such malice and resourcefulness as we can scarcely conceive of. Now, when ‘God comes’ in revival, and God’s people are stirred up to to repentance, prayer, evangelism and good works, it is certain that Satan will do all within his power to destroy the work, and if not destroy it, to damage and discredit it in whatever ways he can. …
