As a young cop, I found myself distant from the faith of my
youth. In my late 20’s, I had an encounter with Jesus that resulted in me reconnecting
with God and being baptized in the Spirit. Everything in my life changed. I
began to encounter the supernatural on many levels.
On night while on patrol, I received a call of a burglary.
The home sat on a hillside in a neighborhood undergoing the process of
gentrification. BMW’s and other fine automobiles filled the driveways of the
homes of young professionals who were buying up houses in the neighborhood.
I was greeted at the door by a young couple. They had the
look of success revealed by the clothing they wore and the way they spoke. The
home was well appointed with high-end furniture and beautiful artwork. I asked
what happened. After glancing at each other for a moment the husband said,
“Please follow me. It happened in our bedroom.” I followed the couple through
the house not noticing anything amiss. When we arrived in the bedroom, I still
did not see any evidence of forced entry. The young man opened the bedroom
closet and pointed to a hole in the ceiling that went all the way through the roof exposing the
house to the outside elements.
I said, “Someone please explain this to me.” I could see
that no one could possibly squeeze through the small opening. The man said, “We
play a game called Dungeons and Dragons. We play the game with some friends of
ours. We have one figurine that is especially important to us. It was hidden on
the top shelf of our closet. No one knew it was there.”
As chills began to climb up my back, I asked, “What do you
mean by “important”? The couple fidgeted a bit then the woman said, “Our
figurine contains special powers that can determine the course and outcome of
the games we play.” At that moment all my spiritual alarms began to go off. The
man said, “We don’t know how this could have taken place. We really want our
game piece back.” I filled out the burglary report and called back into
service. I could not include in my report the fact that I had just witnessed
the evidence of a dark spirit robbery that was outside the realm of normal
police work and unfortunately, outside the realm of recognition by many in the
Church.
That story, along with many others over the years highlight
for me the naivety of many good people, even some in the Church, who dabble in
things they consider harmless, but contain a dark purpose. The root spirit of
these things is what continues to feed the enticement of the undiscerning
luring them into participation. Just because we scrub something with the
detergent of naivety doesn’t mean its influence is gone.
We live in a moment of history where masquerading spirits of
darkness move freely under the fear many believers have of being seen as a
spiritual hick dancing on a sawdust floor in a brush-arbor church if they actually believe these things. Be careful
and be aware. This is much larger than a game hijacked by darkness. It is afoot
in our current election cycle and will greet you at your place of work. Everything
has a spiritual connection to either light or darkness. There is no neutral
ground.
The visible physical world is not the only reality. There
are other dimensions of reality that want to influence our lives in dark ways.
The gift we need to wisely lead us forward is the discernment of God’s Spirit.
When rightly exercised it is void of superstition and filled with the insight
needed to see what is not seen with natural sight. This discernment is not
afraid to look deeper at the evidence being ignored by so many. I bless you with the eyes of the Spirit.
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