It’s Not All Split-pea Soup

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor – Luke 4:18-19

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went about doing good and curing all who were under the tyranny of the Devil, because God was with Him – Acts 10:38

In the comments on Friday’s post, Walt quoted Gagdad Bob:

"...You don't have to be a clinical psychologist to know that the average person is at cross-purposes with himself because he is inhabited by various alter-egos with differing agendas, which we call mind parasites. Mind parasites generally operate unconsciously, while the conscious mind makes excuses for them in order to confer a spurious sense of unity upon the self -- a coherent narrative.

"But this narrative is always a lie (more or less), as it is in the service of mind parasites, not Truth."

We -- meaning mainly me -- are not really interested in debate. I find most people generally unmoved by my persuasive logic and astute mental gymnastics. What we raccoons do like is something with a little bark we can climb. We like a thick limb we can amble out on to relax, sit a spell, and maybe see how things look from this angle. So we are going to interrupt the little trip we were taking through First John to think about mind parasites and demons.

Walt went on to relate GB’s statements to some of what we were talking about Friday: His quote does not contradict anything you wrote, nor am I trying to. But let's say, when I, for example, epitomize Bob's quote one way or another, to one degree or another, I probably lack the capacity to retain or contain any of the points you bring up. At those times, I project my internals onto the world, much as your lady friend did re her late husband. This may not qualify as "sin," but it's at least B-I-G E-R-R-O-R.

While that sort of thing proceeds, I don't have the capacity to relate to anyone properly -- how much less God? What part of me can receive Grace then?

I know the answers to those questions; my question is "Can we do it?" I'm simply amplifying on the details of what stops us.

According to all the Gospel accounts Jesus seems to have frequently cast out demons. Sometimes these were clear cases of what the orthodox Christian would call demon possession. The demoniac of Gadara inhabited by a legion of evil spirits is one of the best known. The Catholic Church recognizes demon possession and will authorize exorcisms where appropriate. I’ve seen and heard some priests who specialize in exorcism speak about their work. It is clear that they are using their authority in Christ to set people free from some kind of conscious, intelligent entity which is inhabiting the same psychic space if not also the same physical space as the possessed victim. Among Protestants, especially evangelicals, charismatics, and pentecostals, there is generally a belief in the fact of demonic possession. I personally know reasonable, intelligent people who have dealt with cases of demon possession and believe them to be genuine. And I think they’re right.

It is an old question as to whether or not a Christian can be possessed by a demon. I suppose, as Bill Clinton might say, it depends on the meaning of the word “Christian” and the word “possession”. What I can be pretty sure about is that demons can control Christians by anyone’s definition without necessarily “possessing” them.

We all know the mind forms patterns of thoughts. This is very helpful when driving a car in traffic. A lot of what we do operates by habit, muscle memory, whatever you want to call it. ‘A’ happens and we respond with ‘B’. We’ve done it a multitude of times. We do it because it works. Sometimes we have what appears to be ‘A’ and we do ‘B’, but the conditions are not the same. It’s not really ‘A’, so our autopilot response causes trouble. You can see this in action every winter when the first snow comes. In Dallas I think it happened every time it rained.

Because there is so much dysfunction in the world, most of us picked up bad patterns in some areas of our lives. For example, I know a woman who grew up in the care of her single father who loved her very much. Every night he would come home from work and down three or four beers before he started supper. Then he would clean up the kitchen a little before hitting the sofa with the TV on and a beer in his hand. Nearly every night of her childhood her dad would pass out on the couch. When she grew up, she did the same thing – using wine instead of beer, or, later on, vodka. Her daughter would come home from school and try to find and empty all the vodka bottles before the woman got off work.

Sometimes our patterns are not so obvious – though to the one enslaved it is never obvious. We become trapped by fears, chained by subconscious beliefs, and controlled by self-perpetuating parasites that grow on us, feeding on the psychic energy we spill when they “score”. Watch the scene where Sméagol confronts and temporarily expels his mind parasite, Gollum, in The Two Towers. Gollum claims that he is the one that has held things together, kept Sméagol alive all those years. He is very much the epitome of a mind parasite. He has a life of his own and he is determined to not only continue his existence but control his host.

Gollum returns when Frodo is forced to betray Sméagol in order to save the creature’s life. This “vindication” provides an opening for Gollum to be restored to power. He is refreshed by proving he was right all along – though that’s not actually the truth. He is able to regain control over his host’s thoughts and perceptions.

We can be awakened to our need for redemption yet still have our minds largely controlled through these patterns. Nevertheless, that is not God’s plan. As prophesied a Deliverer was sent to us. Jesus came to open our eyes to the presence of the parasites and set us free from their domination. I cite again from my favorite chapter of the Bible: Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This ongoing renewal of our thinking, perceiving and understanding is the means of transformation. Christ’s redemptive work has made it possible by allowing the Spirit of God direct access to us. Apart from the Cross, the devil, whom Jesus acknowledged as “the prince of this world”, ruled man by right. Through the Cross, Jesus rules by right, and the devil is the usurper, operating by deception. If we are willing to open the door, the Spirit will be able to come in, give us sight, heal us and set us free.

That’s the thing – as Walt said -- Can we do it? And the answer is, to some extent, no. That’s why it is called grace. It is not of our doing. God is always working through the things that impinge upon us. That’s a knock on the door. We are simply opening the door -- it may be out of curiosity or politeness or loneliness. We may be looking for answers to nagging questions. Maybe we are in pain and will do anything for relief. Parasites are not painless, though they contend that their pain is “better” than the pain of getting rid of them.

We open the door, and light comes in. A little light leads to more light as our eyes become clearer. The thing is, of course, we never know all that is going to be exposed, though we might be aware, in some vague way, that there is something is wrong. Our freewill action of surrender to God, our acknowledging of the power of the Cross then makes possible the progressive deliverance from these strongholds. He is mercifully relentless.

Keep in mind God uses human instruments in our deliverance. Some may remain bound because they want God Himself to fix them on the spot. It happens that way, but not all of the time. Very often we are released as we walk the path with the help of prayer partners, counselors, friends, family, coons, even clergy. All of those are means the Lord is using to help us know the Truth, because knowing the Truth will set us free.