References:
• 1 Peter 5:1-11 NAS
• Matthew 12:22-29 NAS
• ST Nickolas
• Krampus
This may come as a real shock to some people, but I do enjoy a good horror movie once in a while. I am not talking about the ‘slasher’ films like ‘Friday the 13’ or Freddy Kruger movies. I am talking about the suspenseful, supernatural ones. Just some of the ones that I have enjoyed are “The Village,” “Dark Valley” (more of a suspenseful movie), “The Walking Dead” series, “An Amish Murder,” (again, more suspenseful), “The Others,” amongst others. Such a movie has to have a really good plot, otherwise I will probably not finish watching it. There are quite a few movies on Netflix that I have started, but soon lost interest in.
One horror movie that I saw in the theaters this week was Krampus. ‘Who is Krampus?’ you may ask? Basically, Krampus is the demonic twin brother of ST Nickolas, according to German folklore. What’s interesting to me is that, up until this past week, I had never heard of Krampus. In college, I was a German Studies major and read quite a bit about German history. I do know that there is a strong druid-like spiritual history (as far as ancient pagan religious customs go), but I had not heard of ‘Krampus,’ before. Learn something new every day….
Every year at this time here in America, all we hear about is Santa Claus, that ‘jolly ole’ elf.’ And we are told that he knows if we’ve been ‘naughty or nice.’ Yes, I am quoting a very popular Christmas song, “Santa Clause is Coming to Town.” According to tradition, ‘good’ little boys and girls get gifts and ‘bad’ little boys and girls get lumps of coal. I don’t know about you, but while I was growing up, I usually followed the rules, but not all of the time. I always got gifts each Christmas. And, there were quite a few kids that I knew who were bullies. And I never heard of them getting coal for Christmas. Not much incentive to be good, huh?
According to German folklore, Krampus would go around Austria and southern Germany and take away all of the bad boys and girls. According to the “Who is Krampus” page, a Krampus-like character has been around for more than 2,000 years. Potentially longer. During ancient times, I am sure that some children disappeared and, because they weren’t found and no other explanation was available, it was believed that Krampus had done it. In more modern times, that is probably not believed.
It doesn’t surprise me that, here in the US, that such characters like Krampus do not become part of the mainstream culture. As people have immigrated here from other countries, many have striven to get rid of what is perceived by them (or by others) as negative aspects of their culture. Or, even though the first generation or two intended on maintaining all of their culture, it eventually got lost within the mixed culture of the United States as a whole. When ethnic groups live together within the same geographical area, there is a stronger tendency for them to maintain more of the unique aspects of their culture. The farther away they are, the less likely they are to maintain them.
But, I have noticed a more disappointing, even disturbing trend that this parallels. I grew up within the Presbyterian Church (USA) and still consider myself to be Reformed in my theology. At age three, I was adopted by a PC(USA) minister and his wife. Because of this, I grew up being very involved with church life. During this time, I learned about how we are all fallen and sinful creatures. However, I knew almost nothing about Satan, demons, Spiritual Warfare, etc. It wasn’t until I gave my life to Christ (a Road to Emmaus experience) that I really started learning about this.
Up until I gave my life to Christ in 1994, about all I knew about Satan, demons, and the like, was what I read in books and saw in movies. Most of what I was exposed to was either that they are all a farce, not real, or just a figment of one’s imagination; something that was folklore and superstition, and now have been ‘proven by science’ to not be real; or something similar. At times, they were portrayed as real, but either not very powerful or exceptionally powerful and that there was no god (or that God was not powerful enough to stop them, almost like Greek or Roman mythology).
While I was in college, I started learning how to apply all that I had learned growing up with my walk with Christ. I started learning how to discern between what was Scripturally sound and what was not. I also realized that God was calling me to ministry. So, I attended Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS) in order to fulfill that calling. Although I knew that the seminary was predominantly moderate to liberal in theology, I was expecting a good theological education. At LPTS, the predominate theology that was taught was ‘process theology.’ (Definitions can be found here and here for your understanding.) I liken ‘process theology’ to ‘processed cheese.’ Though it has some of the right, natural (correct) beliefs, it is full of artificial ingredients, making it, as a whole, ‘impure.’ (You can find definitions/explanations here and here, and here is a side-by-side comparison for you to digest.) Not only was it taught that there was no such thing as Satan or demons, I was often looked down upon for believing that they were real. And, it was during this time that I gained a lot of ‘practical experience’ in Spiritual Warfare.
Although I believe it is important to protect children from things that are harmful, but there needs to be a balance. If one only exposes children to ‘good things’ and hides all of the bad and evil in the world from them, then you are setting them up for failure. There needs to be a wise balance with helping children understand the evil that is in the world. Life is like a rose. You have the beautiful flower, but you also have the sharp thorns. If people do not know about, and therefore do not understand, the evil, hatred, and sadness that is a part of life, then they will not be equipped with the skills necessary to deal with them. Eventually, all of us will be confronted by the evil in the world and the sinful nature within each of us. If we are not prepared to deal with it, it will rule over us. In fact, if we are not prepared to deal with such things, it will destroy us. Do we really want to set our children up for failure, for emotional and spiritual destruction?
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