Did Satan Cause the Pandemic?
By Executive Editor John Yoder
One of the greatest differences between Western and global Christians concerns the influence of demonic forces in our daily lives. What caused the pandemic? What is causing the surge of depression among today’s young people? Are these things brought about by demons? By sovereign acts of God? Or by purely natural causes?
This dilemma brings us to the clash of three very different belief systems. The first is animism. Animism holds that spirit beings underlie inanimate objects, influencing the events of our daily lives. Christians from such cultures believe that angels and demons, as well as God himself, lie behind every positive and negative event in life.
The second belief system is secularism. Post-modern Western culture denies the existence of supernatural beings. It holds that all events are brought about by naturally occurring phenomena.
The third belief system is Western Christianity. Western Christians acknowledge the existence of God, Satan, angels, and demons. They affirm that each of them has some level of engagement with our personal lives. But most Western Christians behave as if they do not expect to see divine or demonic activity in their worship services or daily lives. They are more likely to believe that the pandemic and the upsurge of depression resulted through natural causes, not overt demonic activity.
Our unconscious embrace of one of these three worldviews impacts the way we pray, worship, and relate to God. Christians from animistic backgrounds place heavy emphasis on spiritual warfare, taking divine authority over demonic forces at work in their daily lives. Their children, who attend Western public schools, likely believe that their parents are a bit crazy. Western Christians acknowledge that demons can and do influence our daily lives, but usually feel that the perspective of their immigrant partners is extreme.
Can we say that one group is certainly correct and others not? Doubtless the pandemic had biological causes. But can we say with confidence that those biological causes were not brought about through demonic activity, or the judgment of God?
The Bible shows an overlap between divine, demonic, and natural activity. What was the source of Job’s sufferings? From a naturalistic perspective, they were caused by an east wind, groups of marauders, and painful boils. From a demonic perspective, they happened because Satan received authorization to tempt Job. From a divine perspective, “The Lord gave, and the Lord took away” (Job 1:21)
Who nailed Jesus to the cross? From a naturalistic perspective, it was Herod, Pilate, the Sanhedrin, and a group of Roman soldiers. From a demonic perspective, Satan entered Judas to betray Jesus. From a divine perspective, “It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10).
Job had no way to know about the wager between Satan and God. We also lack means to know with certainty which events are caused by God, Satan, naturalistic forces, or some combination of the three. The Bible never tasks us with the responsibility of knowing these things.
It’s possible that both God and Satan choose to act differently in different contexts. In animistic cultures, a great Satanic lie is that the powers of the voodoo priest are greater than the Holy Spirit. In Western cultures, a more prevalent Satanic lie is that neither Satan nor God exist. Satan would defeat his own purposes if he went around causing overt demon possession in Western countries. Who then would believe the lie of secularism?
Christians who emigrate from animistic cultures expect God and Satan to keep doing the same things they did back home. It can be deeply unsettling when they don’t. Those who feel this tension most keenly are the children of first-generation Christian immigrants. They hear their pastors loudly taking authority over demonic forces that don’t seem to exist.
There are also believers who emigrated from high-persecution contexts such as Islam, Hinduism and Communism. Ongoing dangers necessitated fervency in prayer. Those devout spiritual disciplines will last throughout the lifetime of first-generation believers. They will be difficult to pass on to generations who face less obvious dangers.
Western Christianity’s passion for prayer has waned. It would be ideal to import the deep spiritual passion of global Christians into a secular context in ways that last beyond one generation. This is not something I’ve observed. If any of you have evidence of such passion enduring across generations, I’d love to hear it.