GUEST BLOGGER: Dave Clark (Prophet/Mystic Cajun)

Third in a continuing series of guest blog posts from my friend Dave Clark.  No editing.  No disclaimer. 

OF LUST AND RESONANCE AND TRIPPING SPIRITS

Some time ago, I worked for a Christian organization. One day an employee, a woman who was a counselor, came into the front office to fill out an accident report about an incident that happened that morning. In going down the stairs of the building, she had tripped and twisted her ankle. Thankfully, her injury was minor. But in relaying the incident to the clerk for the report she said this had happened due to a “spirit of tripping”. That's right, that's why I put it in quotes; direct from her mouth. Now as I often do when impacted by the absurd, I joked. So I asked her, had this tripping spirit, did she suppose, not done to well in demon school, top honorees garnering such powerful evils as lust and greed, while the lesser darknesses were left to reign over horrors such as tripping and nose-picking? She was not amused. 

I joked with her because what I wanted to ask her was, 'could it be possible you tripped on the stairs because of female vanity'. (She was always dressed very well and liked high heels though stairs were a mandatory part of our job). I thought the joke would be slightly less dangerous to my health than this comment. 

The woman comes from a prevalent religious background that sees spirits behind virtually all events and spiritual warfare a constant, like gravity. Please hear me clearly; I most surely believe the spirits exist and that warfare with them is possible and for a Christian, inevitable. But they are not the whole story, or even the major part of the story. 

The story is about us, and what we are made of. You see, the demons don't stand outside us trying to trip us (though surely tripping is what they wish us). No, the demons are on the inside, trying to get us to join in their fun and games. And far too often we listen. They sing a song that so many times strikes a responsive chord in us, and we resonate to it. Jesus said it this way: “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not” (John 8:23). 

Jesus was tempted like us and yet didn't sin (Hebrews 4:15). Why? The usual response, from the temptation stories, was that he quoted Scripture back to Satan. Now I am sure that bathing in the Word is of great use in combating evil. But that isn't the whole picture. I am certain that also there was no resonant chord in Jesus for Satan to strum. Not so much with us. 

This realization allows those, who are willing, to be humble before God, knowing they are fatally flawed and only he can mend them. 

But we would rather think there is a spirit tripping us down the stairs than to acknowledge we like our sexy high heels and the way they make us feel. It is much more comforting to man our watchtowers gazing diligently into the dark, than it is to admit the enemy is already inside the gate sitting down to dinner with us. “Pass the gravy, please”.