EXORCISING THE EXORCIST

It will not be argued, I suppose, that one has to personally witness The Exorcist in order to offer some evaluation. A physician does not have to suffer from cancer in order to deal with it, nor does one have to visit the houses of ill repute so as to qualify as a judge about such behavior. I have not seen nor do I plan to see the movie in question, nor will I be reading the book of the same title. My 14-year old Ben insisted that I take him to see it, especially after all the ballyhoo about it, but I categorically refused. To his insistent why, I explained that I loved him too much.

Of all the descriptions of the movie and the crowds that it attracts, the most tragic of all are the accounts of children being taken to see it by grownups. How can a parent or any adult be so irresponsible as to subject a child to scenes that cause men to faint and women to vomit? The National Observer says, “The Exorcist may be the first film ever to give audiences pre-performance jitters, mid-performance fear and trembling, and post-performance nightmares.” Some way to bring kids up in the fear and admonition of the Lord!

In 24 theatres across the land the movie is reducing people to “fainting spells, nausea, and something approaching catatonia.” They use smelling salts in San Francisco, where as many as ten people pass out in the lobby after seeing the show. Some leave the theatre screaming, others in disgust. The scenes are described as repulsive, the language trashy, and the plot frightening. The 12-year old girl, whose demon is being exorcised, under-goes a spinal tap and arteriography that causes her to spew pea-green vomit on the two priests attending her, while her head is turned completely around. She masturbates with a bloody crucifix and utters filthy language. Referring to Bruce Cook’s book, the basis of the movie, one observer says, “What was obscure in black and white on the printed page is now obscene in glorious color on the silver screen.”

It is too bad that TV has in recent years funneled so much obscenity into our living rooms that we seem incapable of exposing such movies as these for what they are: sheer trash and filth. Once upon a time we were a people rather critical of the movie industry, and our preachers had a lot to say about “the menace of the movies.” TV has changed all that. I heard Art Linkletter talk about how filthy the Godfather was, and yet it grossed 105 million. The Exorcist may do even better. In Washington, D.C. they fill the theatre and still turn away 500 a night, and in most other cities the enthusiasts are lined up for blocks in hopes of getting a seat. It is hardly an effort to think on “all that is true, all that is noble, and that is just and pure, all that is lovable and gracious, whatever is excellent and admirable” (Phil. 4:8). Suppose Jesus has any disciples in those lines, awaiting their baptism in vomit, gore, filth and horror? Let them go rather to a hospital or a rest home and hold the hand of a sick or lonesome one.

The greatest damage that such a film may do, however, is not its format of super trash, but its depiction of what is associated with Satan. While the movie is sufficiently evil, it is misleading to conclude that Satan takes that form in people’s lives. Satan’s most effective agency may well be in the office, the home, and even in the pulpit, and not as much in innocent children as in healthy, affluent (or poor), busy adults. And Satan may do his thing in a mind behind a handsome face as well as one torn and clawed in the mental anguish of “demonic possession.” The deceiver wants more than blood and guts in his trove. He chooses rather to reap hate, jealousy, pride, arrogance, faction, and the like. And of course lying, stealing, and adultery are still old-fashioned favorites of his. A liar, a fornicator, or one who beats his debts may well watch The Exorcist with horror, supposing that that is Satan all right, and he plans to have no part of him. They walk out, taking Satan along with them in their hearts, hoping that no evil spirit ever gets hold of them as it did that poor little girl!

The scriptures warn us of Satan’s craftiness, for he has as many wiles as a dog has fleas. A favorite wile is to liken himself to an angel of light or a minister of righteousness. He is too subtle and charming to scare the wits out of people. He had rather lure them into unfair competition or social injustice, and then supply the rationalizations that go along with it. He doesn’t want people to faint and puke. He had rather that they stand at the altar, well and happy, and thank God that they are not like sinful people. Ah, the deceiver knows his way around. Some business man who double-crosses a partner and cheats on his wife (as well as on his tax return) goes to see The Exorcist, and yanks the cover over his head that night in hopes that no demonic spirit invades his serenity.

Another misconception of the movie is its implication that Satan can take control of one’s life with or without one’s willingness. The movie has him dwelling in a child, contorting and distorting both mind and body, and maintaining such power until exorcised by the attending priests. The viewer is led to suppose that such might happen to him, that Satan at any moment may overpower him, capturing all his faculties, and refusing to turn loose except by some special magic.

This is almost certainly completely false. Satan has no control over one’s life except as that person willingly yields himself to his clutches. Paul puts it this way; “You know well enough that if you put yourselves at the disposal of a master, to obey him, you are slaves of the master whom you obey; and this is true whether you serve sin, with death as its result; or obedience, with righteousness as its result” (Ro. 6:16). And Jas. 4:7 assures us: “Stand up to the devil and he will turn and run.”

It is true that in the time of Jesus the demonic spirits seemed to have invaded people (and even swine) apart from their will, and this included children. Jesus on occasion drove such demons from people. These demons recognized Jesus, not only calling him by name but complaining that he had come to trouble them before they were ready. And he did just that. “On that cross he discarded the cosmic powers and authorities like a garment; he made a public spectacle of them and led them as captives in his triumphal procession” (Col. 2:15). This does not mean that Satanic power has all been destroyed, though Jesus will one day do that, but that Jesus had taken command in the universe. His death and resurrection make a big difference as to the influence Satan can have in the human heart. If he gains a soul, it must be by winning the person’s will, and he cannot arbitrarily take over one’s life. All Satan’s servants are willing servants. They can escape his mastery if they really want to.

I had barely heard of The Exorcist when one of my former students, a bright young married woman with a young son, called me to ask me my opinion of it. It had disturbed her to the point that she feared Satan might impose himself in her life, bruising and battering both mind and body as he did the child in the movie. She described the picture as corrupt and disgusting, and she said she would discourage anyone from seeing it. It had left her frightened, anxious about whether she might at any moment meet such a fate as “the possessed one” in the story.

Knowing that she had faith in Jesus, I proceeded to see if I could not “exorcise” The Exorcist by an appeal to him whom God made both Lord and Christ. “He is himself our peace,” I assured her, and there is nothing that can separate us from his love, whether “in death or life, in the realm of spirits or superhuman powers, in the world as it is or the world as it shall be, in the forces of the universe, in heights or depths—nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus is “an anchor for our lives, an anchor safe and sure.” And that anchor will hold against any attack Satan may make.

I assured her that she need have but one concern: enthrone Jesus always as the Lord of her life. If he is there, dwelling within us through his Spirit, we need have no fear of Satan and all his angels. I told her that I believed in a spirit world that is evil as well as good, and that the scriptures teach the reality of Satan, and that he is our enemy of whom we are to be aware. But if we have Jesus he has no power over us. The anchor will hold fast and sure in every storm, for faith is always our victory. And no person is compelled to entertain Satan in his life. He may come barging in, yes, but only when we wilfully open the door, succumbing to his enticement.

Well, I think I “exorcised” The Exorcist. She felt she had been delivered from its outrage, and that she could now sleep in the peace of Christ rather than in fear that a demon would come through the keyhole and do her in.

Now, are you going to see The Exorcist? May I urge you to stay home and read the scriptures with your family instead, or walk across the street and visit a widowed neighbor. One of Satan’s wiles is to work upon people’s curiosity. They line up for blocks to see this movie because they’re curious, the producers say. If they have heard or read about it and still want to see it, then it has to be a morbid curiosity. Jesus calls us to a life that far transcends such carnality.—the Editor
 

 

In the long, fierce struggle for freedom of opinion, the press, like the Church, counted its martyrs by thousands.—James A. Garfield