“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” (
Luke 11:24-26 NIV)
A long time ago, when I was teaching my children and their respective Sunday school classes, I was inspired with the model I'm going to show you. It is, of course, only an approximation and an illustration, but it helps me understand about things that are unseen. I hope it helps you, too.
The Bible talks about the spiritual realm to show us that it exists, and to help us understand that it is a fundamental part of the Creation we live in, but it does not go into a lot of detail. I think that is because we don't
need to know the details, and, frankly, we
can't handle knowing the details. God knows precisely what is best for us, and I thank Him for that.
One day, when I was driving my car, I realized that we often see all of the other cars on the road as the things we are interacting with, instead of the persons who are behind the steering wheels. We often might say, "Hey! That car just went through a red light!" "That car is speeding!" "That car cut me off!" But, it is not the car that is in control or responsible for what happens -- it is the driver of the car that dictates behavior. Without the driver, the car will be parked and do nothing.
So it is with us: our bodies, soul and spirit. Our bodies are what we see on the outside, but our soul and spirit are unseen, and they are actually in control and more important. Many people have expounded on these topics, and I don't want to get into all that. I want to talk to those who are like little children, in ways that a child can understand, because God makes it easy for us to understand the important concepts, and I think simple things like this are sufficient. Then we can
keep our eyes on the ball.
Let me introduce the players. First, there is "the car," which you can see in the first picture, above. That car symbolizes our natural bodies. They are made to transport us around Creation during our natural lives. They are ours, and we live in them. When they are new, they are without blemish, but as they age, they get bumps and dents and wear out. Actually, our real bodies were originally made to last forever, and they miraculously maintain and repair themselves, but in this corrupt world they age and decay. Eventually they die, and like a car that ends up in the dump (or these days is recycled), our bodies decay and disappear.
The next player is "the man." He symbolizes our unseen parts, the important parts, who we are and what we do. He is our eternal self; he lasts forever. He is the one who loves, thinks, hates, sins, repents, makes mistakes, sings, understands, makes judgments and controls the body/"car." He is what matters.
When my dad died a number of years ago, I used this model to try to explain to people how my dad had "gotten out of the car." I put this configuration on a table in the funeral home, in hopes that some would be comforted by it.
The most important player is the Holy Spirit. This is God, and he is symbolized by a wooden cross. He is who we want to be with us, of course. He made us to live with him.
There are other players, as well. Angels. Lots of angels. All kinds. I recently ran across what
David Pawson had to say years ago about angels -- both good ones and bad ones -- and I highly recommend you
listen to all three messages he has available online here.
In this discussion, I am only going to talk about the "bad angels." This little guy on the right symbolizes them. He's kinda ugly, isn't he? Did I buy that for my kids??? Yikes!
So, to begin the illustration, this is us, both our "seen" and "unseen" parts. We are driving our car. We take it where we want to go, don't we? We can do good and we can do evil, and we don't need any help to do either. Notice there is room in the car for others.
As we live our lives, we will be influenced by other things unseen. Bad angels, otherwise known as "evil spirits" will give us ideas, tell us lies and do other things to steal and kill and destroy us. They are all around us, and they watch what we do. If we think we are hearing from God, it is probably them. Jesus referred to the leader of the evil angels as the "ruler" or "prince" of this world, and the Apostle Paul called him "the god of this world." We human beings are certainly capable of doing evil, but the evil angels do their part, too.
Sometimes the evil angels will join us as passengers. They are along for the ride and go with us wherever we go. When we are angry, or bitter, or evil towards others, or we are depressed, or discouraged, or unbelieving, it can be due to an evil spirit riding along with us. They can make us sick, cripple us, and fill us with fear and unbelief. Satan wants us to think that all of those things are due to natural causes and that doctors, and medicines and special foods and exotic healers can fix those problems. He doesn't want us to know that all of those "solutions" can actually be counterfeit and ineffective, and more importantly, that JESUS
can ultimately fix
all of our problems. Satan wants to be god of this world, and he directs his spiritual resources to attack us from both inside and outside our "car." But Satan is defeated, and he is truly a fool, because he has the most knowledge of anyone but God, yet he aspires to be god himself, thereby rejecting the true God. Now that's foolishness! The battle is not complete, however, so we have to deal with unseen, disruptive passengers.
In some cases, our "unseen help" can actually take over driving the car. "Oh, nooooo!"
They may even relegate us to the back seat!
God fixed our sin problem by sending Jesus to die for our sins, and if we follow the true Gospel of repentance, baptism in water and baptism in the Holy Spirit, we become equipped to deal with Satan and his demons and live our lives with God. This picture is how it should be. God should be with us in the car, and we should listen to him only and do what he tells us to do.
Some people, however, only have God on the outside. They may dress the part, but they do not have the Gospel. We need to work with the Holy Spirit to reach them and guide them to get the cross inside the car with them.
Some really sad cases exist where a person outwardly appears to have attributes of following God, but is actually controlled by evil spirits, with the person themself relegated to the back seat. We must help them by praying for them and ultimately sharing the true Gospel with them, so they might become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
Can a person who has the Holy Spirit be influenced and hampered by evil spirits? Absolutely! This is the normal spiritual life when we are in Jesus! If we are not experiencing the Devil, then we are probably right where the Devil wants us! Evil spirits will try to deceive us, trip us up, and, if possible, destroy us. But, the Holy Spirit is on our side, and He will help us. When I get bewildered, I turn things over to Jesus and have Him pray for me. After all, He is sitting at the right hand of the Father and he knows what I need! Hallelujah!
Can a person have both the Holy Spirit and evil spirits in them at the same time? I believe that was my personal situation, so yes I believe the answer is a resounding YES! This is what Satan tries to achieve because it binds up and makes that disciple ineffective. And Satan will lie about this, so beware. In these situations, the Body of Christ is critical, because the Holy Spirit will help them spot what is going on and help them restore the person to their rightful place. Many people in ministry, and particularly pastors in institutional churches, are going to be vulnerable to this because Satan can control the whole group by controlling one person. We must be discerning and listen to the Holy Spirit about these things, and take action as He directs.
Sometimes we do things that grieve the Holy Spirit, and he withdraws from our lives. I'm sure I did that. I knew things weren't right, and I pleaded for understanding. I was prostrate on the floor, and I was like the
persistent widow and prayed over and over and over again. And God saved me.
He showed me where I was wrong and He guided me to deliverance. Oh, thank you, Jesus!!!
Jesus told many parables to explain spiritual truths, and he did that as an example for us. God created this world we live in, and it is full of parables. I see parables all the time, every day. This is just one of them. The Holy Spirit will reveal all truth, if we listen to him. He is the spirit of Jesus, living in us, to help us fight the battle, the one that really counts.
Dear God,
Please open our eyes, so that we may see... that it is all about the driver of the car, and where they will spend eternity. Help us discern the voice of your Holy Spirit from the voices of others, and help us follow His leading only. In Jesus' mighty Name!
All glory to God!
