Haunted

I’ve been thinking about a couple of conversations I had this week about demons, oppression, and deliverance.  I think that demonic influence in peoples’ lives is way more common and ordinary than occurrences of some Gollumesque creature that hovers over one’s bed at night.  While head-spinning, vomit-spitting deliverance may be needed in extreme cases, I believe that the most effective deliverance that most of us can and do experience is in the form of replacing lies with truth.

Because of the prevalence of people who struggle with underlying issues of abandonment and rejection, I have always wondered how these issues are connected to the fall.  Obviously, plenty of people have experiences in their lives that lead to feelings of abandonment and rejection, but it is interesting that those feelings are almost universal regardless of personal history.

My conclusion (at the moment) is that the emptiness that we experience is a result of being born in a broken world and causes our initial feelings of alienation.  However, it is the enemy’s plan to take the circumstances of our lives to reinforce those feelings of loneliness and rejection.  He takes every opportunity to use the events of our lives to whisper the lie of our abandonment.

Sadly many people, even believers, live their entire life haunted by the lie.  It lies behind their fears.  It lies behind their anger.  It lies behind their excesses and addictions.  It even lies behind their motivation and drive.  It lies unchallenged by the truth that we are unconditionally loved, accepted, and embraced by the Father.  It lies…

If the truth of the Father’s love doesn’t impact our heart with enough force to displace the lie, then we live in the haunting darkness -  alone, rejected, and unaware or unwilling to believe the truth of our identity and the truth of the loving goodness of the Father who has adopted us.

Who needs ghosts and goblins when the power of the lie so effectively leaves men cowering?

Leaders and Followers

Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to drop off the face of the earth.

I ran across this statement recently…

“I think we can agree that there are at least two categories within the NT church according to Paul—leaders and followers.”

Hmmm. I would agree that there are leaders and followers, but I don’t believe there are two categories and each person falls in one category or the other. In the church, we sometimes lead and sometimes follow, and we often lead and follow.

Here’s a bit of dialogue from a recent TV show where a male gay couple were learning to tango…

“So which one of you wants to be the man?”

“I will.”

“Wait, why do you get to be the man?”

“I don’t know, let’s both be the man.”

“Clearly you are both suited to be the man, but in tango, it won’t work unless one person leads and the other person follows.”

“So?”

“It would be a very bad mistake to think that a woman is less than a man, in a dance or in life. Man and woman play their parts, but it’s equal.”

“Okay boys make up you mind.”

“Come on, Kevin, just be the girl.”

“Oh my god, you can’t do it!”

“If it’s so equal, why don’t you do it!”

“It’s not about being the girl, it’s about following, isn’t it?”

Interesting that in spite of understanding the importance and equality of each part, the dilemma is always about who will lead.

Obviously church isn’t the tango, or is it?