Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Feast of Saint Mark, Evangelist
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Getting tough in the spirit world
Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Even in Texas or Illinois, there might be a snake handler here and there. But most of the few that are left live up in the Appalachian mountains somewhere, according to NPR and National Geographic. The churches they pastor and attend might fill up with bluegrass worship on Sunday mornings. I don’t know. I just imagine.
These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
There are stories, and they are fascinating. But I guess I won’t be taking a road trip anytime soon just to see the sight. Nor will I be shocked at the miracle of drinking poison without effect. But I don’t guess I see much reason for any of it.
On Sunday I talked with Tommy in Arkansas, who told me that in twenty years he had moved from making meth in his Arizona trailer to spending significant time in deliverance ministry. He loves it.
Saturday night I watched as much of The Exorcist on TCM as I could stand. That movie starts out quietly, kind of like Death on the Nile, but the demon which inhabits the uncovered pendant from Iraq soon attacks the archeologist-priest, then another priest, then a teenage girl. The demon holds nothing back. Neither does the movie. Lots of green tongues and blood. Tommy said he’s seen some of that stuff himself.
And I’ve had a few experiences too, but with things more tame. A few months ago my friend’s Catholic mom asked me to pray over her new car. Her priest was busy, I guess. So I got a little jar of oil, and we prayed for the doors and windows and bumpers, and the steering wheel. A few years ago Marc’s friend asked me to pray for her and her daughter (I think), for their protection and deliverance, and I did. A few years before that I spent several afternoons with my friend Jack praying over houses and apartments and their ingresses and egresses. Stop those demons in their tracks.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Tommy seemed like a peaceful enough guy. While we were talking, I kept thinking of how all Jesus’ “go into all the world” stuff is really about healing, salvation, joy, and peace. The violence sometimes necessary to get to the resting place is NEVER the point. How much of that violence is in me, how much am I projecting it into the situation? I don’t know. But I do know that testosterone must be reckoned with, and sometimes it carries us away.
Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world undergo the same sufferings.
(1 Peter 5, Psalm 89, 1 Corinthians 1, Mark 16)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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