This was good! As a species we’ve lost so much as we’ve developed our sophistication. Just look at us running around stressed, miserable, always seeking the quick fix, and the next “high.” Then take a look at a “primitive” culture (I’m partial to the Navajo because I’ve done a couple of mission trips out there) and look at the smiles. These are people who are happy without…stuff. Tell them the story of Jesus and they are amazed, astounded, awed, humbled, and they believe easily.

On the flip side of this, I’ve also noticed a big difference in how the enemy attacks. When I was with the Navajo, one of the things that was a huge shock was just how close to the surface Satan’s attacks were. When we were sharing the gospel one night at camp we could hear a medicine man singing to try and stop God’s influence. Those of our group not involved in the program immediately began prayer-walking the site…and all but two of the children ended up dedicating their lives to Christ. My husband and the local pastor also spend one long night trying to drive what they believe was a demon out of a teenage boy.

That kind of thing just doesn’t happen around here. We’re too sophisticated. Too worldly. Too smart. We poo-poo the whole idea of spiritual warfare. But you know what? Satan just brings it to our level. There is always one more thing to do in our already crammed schedules to keep us away from God. There are television shows, music, movies, and more that keep our minds racing along too fast to have a quiet moment with God. Children’s soccer games are scheduled on Sundays so we miss church. We’re so tired…God will understand if we sleep in…just this once. Everywhere we turn someone is screaming “It’s all about me!” and we buy into it. There was a TV movie a few years back that depicted Satan as a handsome man in an Armani suit. I think that’s pretty accurate in our culture. We’ve gotten more sophistcated so he’s gotten smoother, sneakier.

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Dear Craig,

I began at Deep Into Love and came over here. When I read you were going to become more primitive, I wondered what that meant. Now I know.

Being a nurse, I was intrigued by what you said about disease:

Who can claim beyond shadow of doubt that a virus, the insipid little thing that it is, is not… a demon?
Who can prove that the chemical brain imbalance that creates depression isn’t caused by the demonic?

I had just written a column for our local newspaper for Nurses’ Week (Florence, Faith and Fever), finished reading a book by Bruce Lipton entitled “The Biology of Belief” and I had an appointment with my physician for a physical exam. My doctor, Doogie Houser, (he really looks like he is in high school, Craig) is a committed Christian, superfine doctor and humble intellectual who will toss around ideas with me. At my appointment I said, “Did you ever think that maybe germ theory is really not true? Perhaps what causes disease is not a germ or a virus. You know, like there are always firemen at fires so firemen must cause fires… Silly, but maybe that’s what is going on with germ theory. Maybe the germs are just bystanders in the process.”

He looked at me as if I had just lost my mind, but I can’t put this out of my mind because there is a whole other dimension than what we see with our physical eyes right now and we should not close our minds because our eyes, wide open, can’t see it. I like that you are going to make this a year where you are challenging yourself to see beyond what you can see. I am with you.

Great post!
Dawn

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Wow, Criag, wow! We had a term for this kind of writing, this kind of message, in the charismatic world: “Anointed ;-)” This comes from having spent time in His presence and learning His ways. This is not spoken by flesh and blood only, but by the Spirit of Life and Wisdom that dwells within you. You are doing some digging deep; and thanks for sharing these treasures you’ve found in this earthen vessel.

One thing He showed me is that children don’t raise objections to the improbable. They haven’t yet been taught realism and the scientific method as the pathway to knowledge. In their innocence, they still hear the bell and believe that all things are possible. Mark Twain once said, “We have not the reverent feeling for the rainbow that the savage has, because we know how it is made. We have lost as much as we have gained by prying into that matter.” Likewise, children in their raw innocence haven’t yet lost their sense of wonder. And they intuit that sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see. That’s why Jesus said that unless we change and become like little children, we can never enter the kingdom of heaven.

We have to return to our childlike believing in order to become who God intended us to be, and unlearn much of what we’ve been taught by the experts, that we may enter into His kingdom. Leo Tolstoy stated. “The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.”

Thank you!

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