Demons Believe in their Worst Nightmare
Both Christians and demons believe that God is real. We know this fact by faith; the Holy Spirit opened our eyes. 
But demons believe in God’s existence too, because they can’t ignore Him. A demon may lie to us, but he can never lie to himself and say,
“God doesn’t exist.”
When Jesus lived here as a man, he fooled the people who met him.
But not the demons. Every earthbound demon recognized the Eternal One whenever Christ walked into the room. Perhaps the demons and angels marvel at our blindness. How can any human fail to see that God is real?
Even the Demons Believe
You believe that there is one God. That’s fine! Even the demons believe that and tremble with fear. (James 2:19 ISV)
This verse is a powerful warning to all believers. The demons’ knowledge of God’s existence doesn’t help them. A demon can’t switch sides, or repent and be forgiven. They’re stuck on the losing team. Having joined Satan’s rebellion against the Most High, their final fiery punishment has already been decided.
But if a person’s faith is tissue-paper thin, it can collapse in ruins. It’s not saving faith at all. Instead it’s just a weak imitation.
True Belief: The Tightrope Walker’s Challenge
After I came to Christ in college, a Christian teacher highlighted the difference between true and false faith. He told the story of a tightrope walker who stretched a rope across Niagara Falls.
Before attempting this great feat, the tightrope walker called out to the large crowds saying,
Who among you believes that I can walk across this tightrope to the other side of Niagara Falls?
Silence.
So the tightrope walker stepped onto the thin rope, walked to the other side and after a short rest, returned. The Canadian and American crowds on both sides went nuts, cheering with all their might.
Next, the performer said,
How many of you believe I can wheel this wheelbarrow over to the other side and back?
Many people excitedly shouted, “Yes, we believe! You can do it!”
So the tightrope walker placed the wheelbarrow in front of him and wheeled it across Niagara Falls and back.
The crowds cheered wildly. This guy could do anything!
Then the tightrope walker gave his next challenge.
Do you believe I can place a man in this wheelbarrow, and take him across Niagara Falls and back?
With a great roar, everyone chanted, “We believe, we believe, we believe!”
Broadly grinning at the large crowd who’d come to watch him live or die, the tightrope walker asked,
Which of you is willing to ride in the wheelbarrow?
Silence.
The difference is clear.
It cost the crowd nothing to say they believed. But true faith would require climbing into the wheelbarrow.
James’ Warning
In the second chapter of his letter, James talks about the difference between “saving faith” and “dead faith.” The verse in my meme, “Even the demons believe…” comes from this passage.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.
24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
(James 2:14-26 NIV)
True faith can’t help but change what we do, how we think and how we live.
How deep is your Belief in God?
There are some people who may think they’re saved and yet they aren’t. They’re self-deceived, but in talking about it they reveal their heart’s condition.
“Oh yes, I prayed and accepted Jesus as my Savior as a child in Sunday school. Now I can live any way I want to, because when I die, I’ll go to Heaven.”
It’s the “live any way I want to” that worries me. There’s no repentance; no sign that they’ve been changed inwardly. These people have just taken out some spiritual “fire insurance,” but they’ve never come to Christ in tears and said, “Lord, if you want my life, you can have it.”
Are they truly saved? I don’t know.
But personally I wouldn’t trust my weight on that tightrope, because I think it’s going to snap.
Now is the time to get right with God.
We can come to Him in all our dirt, but Christ needs to be our Lord—not just our Savior.
So don’t waste another moment. Climb into the Lord’s wheelbarrow.
All the images came from Pixabay.com
Resources:
The tightrope walker’s name was Charles Blondin. His first “stroll” over Niagara Falls took place on June 30, 1859. Over the next year, he walked across the Falls 16 more times, doing something different each time; walking blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow, walking the tightrope wearing stilts, etc. I wasn’t able to verify if he ever asked for volunteers to sit in the wheelbarrow. But Blondin did take a few trusting friends across Niagara on his back. Once it was his manager, Harry Colcord and another time it was his assistant, Romain Mouton.
Setting down Mouton on the Canadian side, Blondin then offered to carry the Prince of Wales back across Niagara Falls. For some strange reason, the Prince refused the tightrope walker’s generous offer. In fact, he begged Blondin to stop doing such dangerous stunts.
But he didn’t.
Blondin kept pleasing crowds by walking tightropes into his seventies. He died in his sleep in 1897.
Click here to read more about the life of Charles Blondin.
