Someone has rightly said: “The universe is not only queerer than we imagined, it’s queerer than we could ever possibly imagine.” Few distinguished scientists would disagree with that observation. The boffins at NASA certainly wouldn’t, given what we read on its website: “It turns out that roughly 68 per cent of the known universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27 per cent. The rest, everything on earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than five per cent of the universe. Come to think of it maybe it shouldn’t be called ‘normal’ matter at all since it is such a small fraction of the universe.”

Professor Edgar Andrews should have no difficulty agreeing with it either given the fact that he has said “string theory is only one of many aspects of modern physics that are counter-intuitive- that seem impossible or unbelievable when approached using common sense.” It’s theories like this that prompt Andrews to talk of the ‘strange beasts of this invisible world.’

I found myself thinking about ‘dark matter’ the other day when I stumbled across something the theologian A M Hunter pointed out. “There is no … reason why the cosmos should not contain spirits higher than man who have made evil their good and who are ill disposed to the human race and whose activities are coordinated by a master strategist.” Hunter of course, was talking about the influence of those dark forces that the church identifies as the devil and his angels.

It is not possible to prove they exist of course, but the evidence is as strong today as it was when Jesus told His disciples to pray: “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” People may laugh at my apparent ‘simplicity,’ but I think it’s worth asking why it is reasonable for NASA to talk of ‘dark matter,’ but apparently ‘infantile’ to suggest that there are dark spiritual forces at work too. I am convinced we can see their malign influence in our warped priorities for example, not to mention our inhuman behaviour. Brutalising Ideologies continue to have a terrifying grip on millions of people, and it would seem that every moral standard we have embraced for centuries is up for grabs or viewed as ‘hateful.’ How else do you explain all this?

E. Gordon Rupp was no intellectual pygmy. In fact until his death in 1986 he was one of the leading historians of his generation. Rupp certainly had no qualms about outing the ‘dark powers.’ “There are forces at work in human history,” he wrote that “are part of the pattern of evil. If the Christian gospel were only concerned with the moral problems of individual men and women it would be defective indeed. But the first Christians knew better when they affirmed Christ has conquered sin and death and the principalities and powers.”

So why do so many find it difficult to think like this? I would suggest there is a simple explanation: if these ‘dark powers’ do exist we just might need God’s help to defeat them. And that would be a pretty humbling thought.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]