I recently went camping in the mountains for a week with a young friend. He needed a reset, and men need each other more than ever in the present paradigm. When I was facing down demons in my “dark night of the soul” a few decades back, there was a group of men who stood with me and helped me across the abyss. I am still grateful to that trusted group of warriors who walked through the fire with me.
My young friend has a strong spirit, but he’s been at war with some particularly savage and brutal demons, and they were winning. I wasn’t sure of the best way to help him, but I’ve learned over the years that God shows you how to deal with most issues that plague you by observing and experiencing nature. Nature is God’s Academy of Ideas. Almost all the answers are there if you have the eyes to see.
The mountains also offer a higher perspective that provides a more insightful view of what’s going on down below, at the bottom of the abyss, where dangerous demons dwell. So I loaded up the Jeep, and we headed for Purgatorie. The headwaters of the Purgatoire River flow from high in the Culebra Range of the mighty Sangre de Christo Mountains – The mountains of my youth.
Purgatory – a place or state of temporary suffering or misery.
Spiritual Warfare
What better place to go to prepare the body, mind, and spirit for a battle with the demons that cause misery and suffering? Trauma is generally the open door that allows demons to enter. Once they’re in, they’ll patiently wait years, even decades, for the perfect opportunity to twist and distort how you think and feel about yourself. Whether your initial trauma was physical, emotional, or sexual, that’s where they’ll focus, distorting your thought processes, which will then affect your emotions and your will.
They’re tenacious bastards too. They’re not going to throw in their hand just because you spend a few days, two miles high on a mountain-top, doing a vision quest. They don’t know what a watch or a calendar are, they only understand their purpose – to kill, steal, and destroy. They are Satan’s legion and that’s the objective he has given them and they don’t take it lightly.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. —Ephesians 6:12-13
Demons will attempt to make you feel insignificant, or not good enough. If you aren’t aware that demons have taken up lodging in your head, you’ll believe their thoughts are your thoughts. You’ll identify with what they are suggesting and believe that you are depressed, suicidal, angry, lonely, worried, and full of anxiety. But it’s not you, it’s just a thought put there by a demon, let it go – that’s a key to spiritual warfare.
Demon Hunter
As we turned off the pavement and drove up the Forest Service road that terminated at our destination, our dialogue trailed off as we both took refuge in our own thoughts. I’m not sure what J was thinking, and I never asked. I was thinking about how much fun it would be to descend the winding switchbacks on “El Mariachi,” my mountain bike ; >) Then my thoughts migrated to bringing hope and freedom to others. What could I say or do to instill the love for life into my young friend? What could I teach him about Demon Hunting?
The two mile high campground we were aimed at had experienced a demonic storm back in 2020 that laid trees down all over the area. The devastation was so bad that the campground only just opened this year, four years later and it’s still pretty messy. We got there in the middle of the week, so we had our pick of sites for the most part but it’s Archery Elk season, so we were expecting more hunters to show up.
They did too, but we had already scored the primo site. There were plenty of hunters on the mountainside that weekend, but I’m pretty sure we were the only ones hunting Demons. Everyone else was hunting Elk, a much more pleasant quarry to pursue. There was plenty of downed timber, so I gave J the saw and the axe and asked him to cut wood. A wax-on, wax-off project that I thought might be interesting. Idle hands and all that…
Be Prepared
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
He relished the exercise and cut enough wood for days, but the weather had other ideas. The wind whistled off the ridge at ferocious speeds, making a fire impossible. It did make the local devastation understandable. It would be blowing twenty or thirty miles per hour; then we would hear a sound like a freight train coming, and a gust would rip down the ridge at 60 miles per hour, grabbing anything loose and sending it down the mountain.
We watched an elk hunter attempt to set up a tent on a nearby site, but before he even had a chance, the demonic, howling wind shredded his tent and snapped his poles. Presenting us with what was a classic example of the destructive power demons have when you are not prepared for their onslaught. It would be best to prepare like a Warrior for battle – the Demons do. Fighting demons is not as much about desire and willpower as awareness and community.
Alcoholics Anonymous® is a fellowship of people who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.
The biggest piece is recognizing there’s a problem. Demons will try to isolate you by filling your thoughts with lies about not being good enough, not deserving love, or a myriad of other thoughts to keep you separated from people. You are not going to win the war against the demons alone. It takes a loving army of warriors to destroy Satan’s followers. You need to know your enemy to fight against them. That’s one of the reasons “AA” is so effective.
We both learned a few lessons and gained some perspective from our adventure. Perhaps the most important is that fighting demons is not just about winning a battle. Destroy one Demon, and there’s another just around the corner awaiting an opportunity. It’s a war; there will be many battles, and you should prepare like a warrior – Mind, Body, and Soul.
“There has been a constant war, a war with fear. Those who have the courage to conquer it are made free and those who are conquered by it are made to suffer until they have the courage to defeat it.” ~ Alexander The Great
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Job well appreciated by those who take the time to read this article. God has sent this young man a strong and faithful message through 3mph author and his guidance.