Audio recording Sermon manuscript: There are two common errors when it comes to fighting against the devil and other evil powers. A person can either think too highly of these enemies and have an exagerrated response against them, or a person can think too little of them as though no response were needed at all. Those who think too highly of the devil, demons, and other evil things can get carried away. They often want to know more about these things than what the Bible tells us. The Bible doesn’t speak that much about such things, and certainly the Bible never explains how these things work. Often people can develop an intense desire to understand what has not been revealed. Doing that seems pious enough. The thought is that if we understand how these things work, we can take reasonable action against them. It is also rather exciting to see the world as a drama where the devil and his demons take center stage. How might they be involved at the top echelons of power? What do the world leaders do behind closed doors? Knowing or learning about such secrets is very interesting and exciting. But that is the very reason why we need to have our guard up concerning such things. Our flesh is easily bored. Grand narratives involving secret powers can attract us like a moth to the flame. But the flesh profits nothing. Being fascinated by such things doesn’t enable anybody to do anything against them. The only way to overcome evil is by the new creation in Jesus. Oddly enough, becoming fascinated with secret knowledge about spiritual evils might be part of their very own strategy. What harm does it do them if people get whipped up about them, but are completely powerless to defeat or hamper them. So one of the errors when it comes to fighting against the devil and other evil powers is that a person gets carried away with movie-like conspiracies and explanations. This is not so common an error among Lutherans. Pentecostal-like groups are much more likely to fall into this. Among Lutherans the other, the practically opposite error, is much more common. We are prone to believe that such things do not exist. Or, perhaps we believe that they exist on paper, but we are prone to act as though such things do not matter. They have no impact on our life. Of the two errors, this second one is worse. It betrays a rank, unbelieving, secular outlook. According to this outlook life is nothing more and nothing less than making do and trying to have a good time. God doesn’t matter. The devil doesn’t matter. What matters is me—my paycheck, my fun, my memories. To such a person Paul’s statement that we wrestle with evil spiritual powers is backward, pre-enlightenment superstition. It is as though somewhere along the line some really smart people discovered that neither God nor the devil exist. But this has never been discovered or proven. It has only been assumed. As an assumption it’s really not that impressive or original. This assumption goes all the way back to the first human beings who became convinced in their heart that there is no God, so we might as well do whatever it is that we feel like doing. So it is no good to believe that the devil and demons do not exist or have no impact on our life. It is also bad to go overboard about these enemies of God. So if both of these alternatives are bad how should we think about them and counter them? We are given some practical and sober things to think about with our Epistle reading today, Paul’s letter to the Christians at Ephesus. He says: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, an