Last Sunday, shorty after church had started, a guy near the front began to what I thought was sneeze. Pretty quickly though it became obvious he was in fact repeating “sh*t” over and over again, and after repeated “quiet words” by the stewards a few of the Carrubbers holy heavies figured he best be moved. In the end there wasn’t much resistance, he just cackled and laughed as they walked him out…

Whilst all this was happening the whole A/V system went into meltdown (which hasn’t happened once in the 5 years i’ve been there…). The service kept going regardless, un-acknowledged from the platform, but caused obvious disruption.

Ephesians 6:12 came to mind:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Walking back I was more shocked and surprised than I should have been given how clearly the Word teaches us to expect such things. I remember reading somewhere (probably CS Lewis) that one of the most effective tactics of the devil is to lead us into believing that he doesn’t exist. After a bit of thought I have to admit that when the rubber hits the road my default reaction when confronted by the supernatural in my day-to-day is often one of cynicism, preferring to write circumstances off as mere “coincidence”. I mean what is coincidence anyway?!

The devil will try everything within his power to strip God of credit, to distract from His sovereignty, and to deceive us into concluding that reality be exclusively that which we can see around us. Its not often that he sticks his neck out so blatantly, preferring to prowl in the shadows “undetected”.

Its a shame that it took such a tangible demonstration to remind me of the battle we’re involved in and of the devils prowling nature, and even as I write this i’m still tempted to explain away his influence as a string of mere coincidences… which no doubt he’d be very keen for me to do.

Not quite sure what i’m trying to say, t’is all a bit of a ramble…