I listened with horror to the reports coming in about the U.S. Army Major who for some reason turned two pistols on fellow soldiers and civilians at Ft. Hood. It would not have been so startling if a crazed radical from off the base had stormed in guns blazing to do whatever damage he could do before being taken out by trained soldiers, but this was of our own – one of the good guys. This shouldn’t have happened.
Now the deciphering begins. Why did Major Hasan do this? Was he a radical Muslim terrorist? Was he a Muslim who was mercilessly harassed by his comrades? Was he just a guy having trouble in his off-base life who decided to express his frustrations through violence?
There is another possibility that has not been mentioned on any news cast and will very likely not be mentioned at all. To do so would be to acknowledge that real evil exists, an evil that reaches from an unseen realm into the one in which we live. To bring up this possibility would be to infer that psychology, sociology, and criminology cannot always get to the core of why people commit heinous acts. The option that will never be suggested is … perhaps this man was influenced or even possessed by demons.
Intellectuals in the 21st century have surely abandoned any such notions. Demons are something relegated to backward pentecostal tent meetings, re-runs of The Exorcist, or tribal religions who see spirits everywhere in everything. Intellectuals must reject the appearances of demons in the Gospels as mere confusion and ignorance by those who believed in evil spirits who caused all kinds of problems. Whatever went wrong must have happened because of pesky demons. These were, in the opinions of the knowledgeable, just cases of epilepsy, mental illness or some other simple natural causes.
Call me a backward hick. Call me an ignorant Baptist preacher. Call me whatever you wish, but I truly believe that there is a realm unseen where angels and demons do battle. I believe that demons exist and seek to influence and even possess people and that under the direction of a real evil entity we call the devil, Lucifer or Satan. And I believe that demons do not quit their harassment just because people don’t believe in them anymore. Why not? My parents said that when I quit believing in Santa, he would quit showing up. Isn’t it the same for Satan or demons … or even Jesus.
I cannot say with certainty what led Major Hasan to wound and kill so many. Perhaps it was mental illness or some pre-post traumatic stress syndrome – perhaps it was an act of allegiance to Allah – perhaps it was a anger of his impending deployment – or perhaps … he was possessed by a demon or demons and carried out these horrid acts because that is what demons and their sinister lord of darkness do – steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).
We’ll hear all kinds of explanations and even some excuses for what happened. Commentators will blame Hasan, the military, the internet, conservative radio hosts, President Obama, etc. But could it be that behind the the man coldly pulling the trigger gunning down comrades and civilians alike, there were demons urging him, lying to him, goading him and filling him with rage and hopelessness? You won’t hear that possibility on CNN or FOX News, but you heard it here. Think about it.
Be Transformed 