Since Jesus is central to this story, I want you to watch for something different in this video. I want you to pay attention to the spiritual countenance of Dr. Zachary Ruff as he approaches and berates the two Christian students who are demonstrating against abortion on the sidewalk. What kinds of spirits do you see manifesting in Ruff as he does what he does over the course of this incident?

Most public school officials have little use for expressions of Christian faith, but when an assistant principal acts this egregiously, there is simply no defending or excusing it. And even if some of the school board members may have had sympathy for Ruff’s opinions, they couldn’t maintain any sort of standing within the community if they let him get away with what everyone saw on the video.

The ensuing kerfuffle terrified the school district which decided to suspend the assistant principal while they investigated the matter. Ruff defended himself by arguing that Haines posed a threat to the students safety and that the two protesters had been banging on passing cars. Through the investigation the school was able to ascertain that both of these assertions were patently untrue and Ruff had simply been lying to cover for his own bad behavior. Once the school district confronted Ruff with their findings he and his lawyer must have realized that there was simply no plausible defense for his behavior and the assistant principal chose to tender his resignation instead of allowing the school to fire him.

He’s angry. He’s defensive. He’s catty. He’s profane. And if you look a little below the surface, you’ll see that he’s terrified of what the demonstrating students are saying, to the point where he feels the need to not only shout over them and try to drown them out, but later to make false accusations against them to somehow wriggle out of the consequences of what he did.

Personally I think the students, although I agree with their position, were not necessary taking the most effective tact in convincing people of the horror of abortion. I’ve never really believed that standing on sidewalks holding disturbing signs and shouting disturbing things changes many minds, even if everything you’re saying is true.

But that’s beside the point. They had the right to be there and to do it, and even if their methods were not the most effective, it beyond inappropriate for an adult in the situation to confront them in a way that was even more strident, even more confrontational, and filled with hate and rage. In fact, I was quite impressed by the ability of the young student to keep his calm and simply state his position while Ruff was profanely berating him and acting like an utter fool.

So back to the question I asked at the beginning. A man filled with this much spiritual darkness will behave as he did precisely because those spirits recognize the presence of Jesus and the power of His authority. This young brother and sister are doing the Lord’s work, and they’re doing it without fear or hesitation. Nothing is more threatening to a man like this than such an act of faith and obedience to God, precisely because the man is filled with demons who cower in the face of that authority. So he goes bananas trying to intimidate the students and get them to shut up and go away. It isn’t even really about abortion or homosexuality for him. It’s about the man being in the grip of evil and shuddering in the presence of the holy God, as manifested in the form of these two young, faithful servants.

And when you see other, similar forms of rage all across the country these days, understand you’re witness the exact same manifestation of the exact same spirits. If you view these events only in terms of the partisan or ideological left/right divide, you’re missing it.

Don’t.