The Spiritual side of Life

As I became more active as a believer and as I read more in the Scriptures, one of the challenges I faced was the existence of the spiritual side of life. This would include the idea of what is unseen and not empirically testable such as the idea of active blessings and cursings as well as the idea of angels and demons effecting our lives. I do not recall the church in which I grew up dealing with these issues and the secular world treats such ideas as fairy tales. Yet the Scriptures do talk of such topics and other more experienced believers around me gave testimony of events that have happened in their lives to support these ideas as being true. Once again, the search for understanding had begun.

Blessing and Cursing

My initial attempts at understanding were at looking into the relationship we have with the One Most High. It is a covenant relationship that comes with blessings and cursings. They work much like how a parent trains a child with punishments for disobedience or rewards and greater responsiblity when acting mature and responsible. As a beginner, I did not know just how far to take this. However, one of the projects undertaken was a spiritual cleansing of my possessions. I wanted to remove those things that could have the effect of allowing curses in my life.

The owning of idols is a definite prohibition in Scripture. We are to have nothing to do with them. Yet how many pagan symbols might be found in one's home? My wife and I decided to do some house cleaning ... spiritual house cleaning. We were definitely surprised by what we found. We thought we kept a clean house but here are some of the items we found. A set of relaxation balls (that one moves in the hand) that made noises which were supposed to have some type of mystical healing properties. The box they came in had many oriental symbols such as pagodas and dragons. It was a gift we had never used, but simply held onto because of who gave it. We had a piece of mayan like jewelry which had a respresentation of the sun (and we think most likely represented a sun god). Again a gift as most items were. Examining further, things which I had created myself were found. From back in my photography days, I photographed a ballet group doing a performance of dracula. The images included vampires, ghosts, the living dead, and other assorted things. Years ago when I took them, it was something of a novelty and I paid no attention to it. Even if no evil is directly attached to them, why would a believer want to put his mind on such things. They certainly are not from above. At this time we also rid ourselves of a few masonic related items that had been handed down through the family and renounced any oaths that ancestors had made for that organization. None of these items were not bowed down to nor were they used for any mystical means. It is difficult to put into tangible words, but since having gotten rid of these things, we have enjoyed great peace in our home and I believe increased favor from the Almighty for He wants to see His people trying to live righteously.

After we had gone through the apartment, we invited a couple over who had some experience in spiritual cleansing. It was amazing to watch. They came in and as they prayed they would say that something is wrong over in this corner and we would look around to see what is there and an object would come up that needed to also be gotten rid of. One of the items our friends found that took us by surprise was a set of books that try to portray the great truths of Christianity in a story that is mostly fantasy and which contains much magic. We were surprised because this was supposedly a good christian story to learn from. This was, like so many others, also a gift we had received. It is amazing how much peace and joy come with purity. We were only on our first steps of learning that anything false (fiction, fantasy, or fake) deprives us of what is genuine and real and that what is false only makes life worse.

The Spoken Word

Another factor that we started paying close attention to is the fact that it is not just what we own, but what we say that has consequences in our lives. The truths we say, the lies we speak, the testimonies we give all have their impact on the spiritual. And that which is impacted in the spiritual, impacts the physical. Do the words themselves have power? No, of course not. The words themselves do not have power. Yet look at the Scriptures. What is purposed in what is spoken does have power and this is a major theme in many passages. There is talk of controlling the tongue, life and death being in the tongue, the wise control what is said, judgments come on what we speak even to our idle words. As far as I am aware, ALL of the miracles, signs and wonders (and even creation) happened after a word is spoken by the Almighty or through a prophet. I cannot recall any that happened without its first being spoken. There is a Jewish saying that says 'a covenant is made with the lips'. This is meant to show that every thing we say is taken seriously ... and this is true quite literally. When we speak, it is taken as our form of communicating what we want whether speaking to the Almighty or to another person. When we speak a promise or vow, to the Almighty or to a person, there is going to be a reaction if we do not keep that promise.

I have read some articles that seem to take the verbal sayings down to a question like the chicken and the egg. If a person consistently says "I am always losing my keys and having to search for them" - do they say it because they have lost their keys, or do they lose their keys because they have spoken it. That may seem like a silly example, but there are many such potentially self-imposed curses (phrases) that are very common in our English vocabulary. These are phrases and idioms that we repeat over and over without giving a second thought. If I say 'I need to do something' am I not lying [I may truly want to do something, but there is no real necessity for it]. What is the punishment for lying? The Almighty hates lying and even goes so far as to call it an abomination.

To help put things in perspective, I again turn to personal experience. A few years ago the Almighty brought a wonderful lady into my life to be my wife. It has been a joyous experience and I have tried to be a good husband. Yet, I realized that there was a part of me (emotionally) that I seemed unable to give to her. It felt like it was held back or anchored down somehow. After three and a half years of marriage and learning to be more perceptive to what is happening in the spiritual, I realized that this part of me was trapped elsewhere. Almost ten years earlier I had dated a woman in college and one particular convesation remained a strong memory in my mind. Although not consciously trying to make a promise to each other, we had none-the-less made a committment to each other for exactly what I was unable to bring out for my wife. I formally ended this committment and I felt the release ... suddenly that moment in time faded away as a memory ought to and I was able to give my wife (and receive from my wife) that comforting that was lacking. Nothing had happened in the physical, it was only a verbal committment, yet it had the power to effect me for almost a decade even though I have not seen her for years. It also had the power to hinder my relationship with my wife.

Spirit of Philosophy

One of the more difficult issues to confront was the idea that we could be effeced by demons. Yet Messiah clearly showed this happens when he cast them out of people and they would be healed or made better in some way. Admittedly I was wary because what little I had seen over most of my life left questions as to what was real and what had been faked. Again there was much to learn. However, at this time in our lives, we had a few people around us who were genuinely working in this area and could see genuine examples and learn about authority as it relates to the spiritual.

After settling down and realizing this is indeed real I had to look at my own life and found I have had to deal with such problems. One time that is especially memorable for myself came a couple years ago. I was working on an article called 'Creation and the Meaning of Life' for a website. Part of that article was writing about why I had done so many things in my life for so many years (the years before being an active believer) and recognizing that they had been wrong and done under poor reasoning. I was growing tense and agitated. In fact, I finally found myself want to growl and stomp around. I did indeed leave the computer and was walking hard with some growling, almost unable to stop. I also found myself wanting to scream 'No, Raskolnikov' which refers to Dostoevsky's book of 'Crime and Punishment'. This book, for me, is a commentary on the end not justifying the means. I had a little experience with rebuking evil at this time, but such as was happening was unprecedented for me. However, I started to break curses and rebuke evil which might be involved and finally something lifted. I was suddenly weak-kneed and low on energy, but was feeling peaceful.

I prayed and asked what had just happened. What I received in prayer was that it was a spirit of philosophy. Then I started putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Before I was an active believer, I considered myself a philosopher ... in particular as an epicurean to some degree. It was heavily based on this philosophy that I had done many of the things I had done of which I was writing and now recognizing as wrong. And in the logic of that philosophy, one can try to make the ends justify the means. It all came together. I had reached the decisive point in my mind and soul that Epicureanism and philosophy in general were wrong and not something for a believer to follow. For what was inside of me ... what I never recognized was inside of me ... it was time to go.

After that moment, I have not felt much need for philosophy (actually I am against it). Before that moment, even as a believer, I wanted to try and argue, even philosophically, some of the great truths of Scripture. It had been an unexplainable desire that seemed contrary to a believer's life. It was no longer a desire.

Summary

At the beginning, my view of the spiritual side of life was a vague concept and of something that might occasionally enter into our lives through events or inspiration. After a few years, I find that the interaction between physical and spiritual as well as spiritual and physical is actually a commonplace thing operating on many levels. Often enough, if we can discern what is happening spiritually we can gain insight into what is happening physically. There is a genuine battle of evil against good and we are active participants. To ignore this side of life risks suffering in ways that need not be. By observing this side of life and being responsible in both physical and spiritual areas, our relationship with the Almighty can be much closer and our lives better off.

Todd Elder is a believer in Messiah who wants to help people understand Scripture and know the message of Salvation. For more information from the Testimony series, please visit my website http://www.exploringsalvation.info and look under 'Life'.

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