I think you are underestimating the deceptiveness of the devil he can and does reveal himself in many different ways. A good angel of God can be a stranger in disguise but the devil has less power and shows up for some in ways to deceive. The devil is very smart and brings bad opportunities to so many's delights. If it is light's in the sky and it convinces one of visiters then the devil is delighted as this will show the bible to be wrong. The devil is a master of deceit and trickery.
I've no doubt that the devil is a deceiver, the Scriptures say he masquerades as an angel of light--he lies, he deceives, he pretends.
I believe in applying a naturalistic methodology to observable phenomenon. If I see something with my own two eyes, the assumption I make is that there is a rational, natural explanation. Even if I don't know what the explanation is. Because not understanding something about the universe is okay, there is far more about the natural, observable, material universe that we don't know than that we know.
To regard something as a phenomenon beyond natural explanation--and therefore "super-natural"--demands
more than observation. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was something extraordinary. Human beings do not, as a rule, just stop being dead; and yet Jesus stopped being dead. His bodily flesh was glorified, He became the first-fruits of the resurrection--the signpost, the vindication, of the victory of God over death which shall be the goal of God's work and purpose for all creation. The dead will rise, and God will make all things new: New Heavens and New Earth. Such cannot be known by observation, reason, or speculation--but only by vivid, explicit revelation of God which is received entirely by
faith.
God continues to give us signs and seals of these promises, that is why the Gospel is preached, that is why Christ instituted the Sacraments--that through Baptism and the Lord's Supper and the hearing of the word we are continually having faith given and worked in us by God; not only bring the objective reality of the past (of Christ's perfect and finished work on the Cross and His Glorious Resurrection from the dead) but how that is our reality now, by faith, and the reality that is to come. And so we trust and receive the word that is preached, we recognize that Baptism isn't merely water getting us wet, but water connected to God's word, with His promises attached: so that the one who is baptized is not merely getting wet, but is in fact dead, buried, and raised up together with Christ; having "put on Christ" (see Galatians 3:27); and by the same token in the Lord's Supper we do not receive some ordinary meal of food to satisfy our bodily appetites, but is--in some way and somehow--the very body and blood of Jesus Christ, broken and shed for us.
I go on this tangent only to make clear that my issue is not with the "supernatural"; but rather that we should recognize that God made this world, and ordered it; what we observe in nature has natural explanation because this is consistent with the natural order of God's creation. This does not negate that there are extraordinary things, things that are in fact outside of the ordinary, observable, material universe--but such things cannot be known by observation, but only by revelation.
I accept the existence of the devils/demons because Scripture clearly asserts their existence, and Christ Himself speaks of them, casting them out of their victims; and we see the Apostles of our Lord doing the same. And the Church has always recognized that presence and existence of demons--and that part of the Church's ministry in the world is the rebuking and renunciation of these false and hostile powers.
To bridge the gap between "I saw something in the sky, and I don't know what it was" to "Oh, it's probably a demon" is
immense. And, I'd argue is closer to superstition than anything else--it is closer to those who attribute missing household items to fairies or other household spirits, or to thinking that there are witches with demonic powers who made a contract with the devil out hiding in the woods waiting to eat children. In other words, this is a Pagan way of thinking, not a Christian way thinking.
It was Pagans, not Christians, who believed in and hunted witches; in fact part of the missionizing efforts of the Church in the middle ages was to dispel such superstition among converts from Paganism. After Charlemagne conquered Saxony and implemented a program of converting the Saxons, one of the things Charlemagne did was outlaw witch-hunting among the Pagan Saxons, making it punishable by death (because, you know,
murder).
In the middle ages the Church actively fought against superstition involving witches and magic, teaching that magic is false, and that so-called "witches" have merely been deceived by the devil into thinking they are seeing and experiencing things. One ancient Church document of not entirely known origin is the Canon Episcopi, which pretty explicitly says that every effort must be made to instill in the Faithful a rejection of superstition, and to regard those who believe in witches and their supposed "power" as holding to "heathen" beliefs and ascribing to heretical and blasphemous teachings (ascribing divine-like power to anything other than God). The Canon Episcopi also mentions a prevailing notion of supposed "witches" who experienced night-time visions and were taken on night-time rides with the goddess Diana as nothing more than devilish lies and deception--no such thing actually happens, and those who think that it has happened have been deceived by the devil.
Ergo, it seems appropriate for me to take my present course of action and thought; to ward off false spirituality: i.e. superstition or what the ancient Church called
deisidaimonia, the false reverence or fear of the [at least supposedly] supernatural.
God, and God alone, is worthy of awe and reverent fear.
I do not intend to make offense with any of this--but it may be helpful to understand where I'm coming from here, and why.
-CryptoLutheran
