CHASED BY THE DEVIL [R, 6-25-20]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Days of Winter

CHASED BY THE DEVIL      [R, 6-25-20]

One of my earliest memories is of being chased by the devil—pitchfork, red tail, and all. Down the upstairs hallway of our duplex in Indianapolis. I was four years old. For some reason, I had wanted to go down the stairs at the back of the hall, perhaps just because I was alone upstairs. The devil was waiting for me in the stairwell. I turned and ran as fast as I could for the front bedroom--the location of my pink blanket, the refuge I hid under whenever necessary-- with the devil hot on my tail.

I made the mistake Satchel Paige warned us about, but I did not know then that Satch had said, “Don’t look back; they might be gaining on you.” I looked back. The devil was, indeed, gaining. So, I used the only weapons at hand, or at foot. I threw my little blue house slippers at him. It worked. He seemed surprised by the flying house slippers. He disappeared. I woke up.

I’m not sure I really understood about dreams then, but I knew that the devil who chased me wasn’t real.

Which is better than Helen did with her first remembered dream. She was quite insistent at breakfast that she wanted to ride the pink pig again, like she had been doing. Her mother was mystified, until she finally figured out that Helen had been dreaming.

Well, Helen may not have understood the nature of dreams as early as I did, but riding a pink pig is a hell of a lot better than being chased by the devil. [I use “hell” here in a theological way, of course.] And the difference in those early dreams tells you a lot about our respective approaches to life.

Despite that early experience, I never really believed in a personal devil. I knew there was evil, and I knew that it was people who did bad things, and I knew that Jesus wanted me to stand up against those people and do good things. Somehow, though, I never really thought about those people as evil. They just did bad things.

Jesus certainly believed in a personal devil. Had a lot of tussles with “old scratch,” as my Grandma Pond called the devil. And I was a follower of Jesus. So why didn’t I believe in a personal devil, especially since I had encountered that devil so early in my life?

I think it was a fashion problem. I’m not sure where my unconscious got the red tail and the pitchfork idea, but it has been around for a long time. However, it wasn’t really convincing. It didn’t take long for me to drop that image of the devil. I mean, red tail and pitchfork? Really! Who would believe in a being like that? Once out of uniform, the devil just didn’t seem real anymore.

Evil, yes. That existed. But not actually in real people, like in a real devil. A highly logical, theologically astute, thoroughly educated person like myself just doesn’t believe in such flannel graph religion. I am afraid I got educated out of the truth about evil.

Also, if I admitted that devils were real, people, I would have to confront them, personally. It was more comfortable to believe in the non-personal, evil.

I heard someone say recently that the corona virus has no legs. The only way it can go someplace is if a real person takes it there. I have readjusted my thinking about the devil in the same way. Evil has no legs. The only way it gets some place is in a real person.

Theologically, thus, I have concluded that it is important to maintain the traditional concept of a personal devil. It reminds us that evil resides in real people, including you and me. Yes, we have to confront the devil, in whatever gender or fashion he appears, personally. In doing so, I recommend wearing heavy-wright house slippers.

John Robert McFarland