As C. S. Lewis writes in the preface to The Screwtape Letters, “There are two and equal opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

The question for us, as leaders in the Evangelical Free Church of America, lies in timing: When and how do we address the teaching of Satan and evil?

Earlier this year, the Church of England affirmed an alternative baptismal liturgy, removing references to the devil and to evil.

Following a consultation process, a committee of liturgical experts ruled that the inclusion of Satan as “personified evil” was “unhelpful,” as it was likely to be “misunderstood” by young people. The word fight has also been removed from the liturgy to give the services a more pacifist tone.

An earlier draft abandoned references to sin, but it was reinstated after complaints from churchgoers who said the new wording was “bland,” “dumbed down” and “nothing short of dire.”

Those who wish to retain references to violent combat against the Prince of Darkness will still be able to opt for the baptism liturgy in the Church of England’s main service book, Common Worship, in which those being baptized, or in most cases their parents and godparents, are urged to “fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ against sin, the world and the Devil.”

Here is a comparison of the two options now used for baptismal services:

• In the current baptism service, the priest asks the parents and godparents: “Do you reject the Devil and all rebellion against God?” to which they reply: “I reject them.” The priest then asks whether they “renounce the deceit and corruption of evil” and “repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour.”
• In the new wording they are asked to “turn away from sin” and “reject evil.” They are also asked merely to “stand bravely” against the forces of evil.

The simple, alternative version of the text was written as a “pastoral” response to the lack of religious knowledge among members of the Church of England. “We all know that, for many people, the devil has been turned into a cartoon-like character of no particular malevolence,” the Rt. Rev. Robert Paterson was quoted as saying. “We have no quarrel with standing up to the devil: The problem is helping people with little doctrinal appreciation to understand what we mean by affirming that the devil is a defeated power.”

So what does this mean for us? At what point do we teach about the devil and evil as part of our commitment to evangelism and discipleship?¹ After all, Jesus’ model prayer for His disciples included, “deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13b).

Consider, also, the early church practice of baptism. The catechizing process was lengthy and took place over a number of years, culminating in public baptism. The ordinance signifies death to self and to the things of this world—the world, the flesh and the devil—before rising in newness of life with Christ.

The early church practice of baptism consisted of the baptismal candidate turning to the West and speaking against the devil and any and all his works and, in fact, spitting in that direction. Then the candidate would turn to the East (the direction from which people believed the Lord would return), kneel and pledge his or her lifelong allegiance to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

We have included references to Satan and the spiritual forces of evil in the EFCA Statement of Faith, acknowledging that understanding and responding to those forces is a real and active part of our sanctification, of living the Christian life, of discipleship:

• Article 3, “The Human Condition”: “We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan.”
• Article 8, “Christian Living”: “With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil.”

Here is what I regularly say as part of my introduction during a baptism service:

Through your baptism you are declaring to the principalities and powers, those minions of Satan, that God through Christ triumphs. As they look on what is happening in the church today, viz. people professing faith in Christ in baptism, they know they are defeated and Jesus Christ overcomes. Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15). It is “through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10).

And then as part of the baptismal questions and answers with the candidate, I include the following:

Question: Do you renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the fleshly desires of the flesh, so that you will not follow, nor be led by them?Answer: I renounce them all.

A focus on the spiritual forces of evil seems to ebb and flow. In the 1980s, it flowed with the work of Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness and other works in a similar genre. We are now in what appears to be an ebb time. But ebb or flow, it is still important for us as believers.

In light of the Church of England’s approval of an alternative baptismal liturgy, Christianity Today asked of its readers, “Should Satan be part of evangelism and early discipleship?” They received various responses, ranging from those who said yes to those who thought it best to wait until a later point in one’s spiritual life.

How would you answer? What are your biblical convictions? What is your pastoral practice?