We have all heard innumerable
times, and perhaps have said it ourselves that we are unable to do the good we
desire to do. This has been quoted to me in the context of evangelisation, one
to one interaction, spousal relationships and such like. Remarkably I have
never heard people say they are unable to give to charity or help the poor when
they feel inclined to do so.
We have also seen many of our
near and dear ones, and sometimes even ourselves, though ardent Christians and
God fearing people, suffer immeasurably from anxiety, depression and profound
loneliness.
We have also seen religious, spiritually
powerful men and women of God fall away from grace, become absorbed with fame,
recognition and wealth or simply leading double lives. Sometimes we follow such
spiritually powerful people, believing all that they preach, because we see the
extraordinary miraculous works of healing and conversion that happens at mighty
crusades and events. Sometimes WE maybe
one of these. Often we do not even SEE the error of our ways, always imagining
that the Lord is pleased with us because the spirit still works through us.
Oh how deluded and misguided we
are!
If you are seeking a true relationship
with God, today is the day that the truth will be revealed to you. But for those
of you afflicted with the greatest and severest affliction of a believer, that
of spiritual pride, what you are going to read will bring unease, anger,
haughtiness, and spite. You will find numerous reasons to vilify and castigate
me, question my faith and rubbish all that I write as pure nonsense which you
were already aware of and believe that it does not need retelling.
But believe me, even if you have
heard it before (which I doubt), it definitely needs retelling. Not for my
sake. But for the sake of my Father and for your very own sake.
Most Christians are in either one
of two broad stages in their spiritual life. Those in the first believe in Jesus
Christ as the son of God, and in His redemptory mission on earth. They try to
live as good a life as possible but are constantly challenged by the contrariness
of this world. They struggle, they fall, they rise up. But most persevere and
Our Lord loves them for that.
Some Christians have come to see
and experience the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity. They are
ecstatic in this experience and are knowledgeable of the gifts of the Holy
Spirit. Some amongst those in this group even possess many gifts of the Holy
Spirit and earnestly desire more. They generally wish to use the gifts of the
Holy Spirit to preach, heal, and pray. Many love to see miracles and many love
to work miracles. Many are ‘high’ in the Spirit. They too try to live as good a
life as possible and are sometimes challenged by the contrariness of this
world. The Lord loves them too for their ardour and passion.
What happens then? Why and how
does Satan manage to get a foot hold in believing Christians? To understand
this we have to understand who Satan is. Satan is the Lord of the earth. And we
of human kind are children of the earth (there is a qualification to this
statement which I will come to later). Church tradition has taught us that the
cardinal sin of Lucifer was pride. Pride was the reason Lucifer and a third of
the angels were kicked out of the heavens. They freely roam the earth in
authority.
As long as we remain children of the earth we
remain susceptible to his nature within us. The pride which we have been bestowed
with rears its ugly head. It manifests in the nature of spiritual pride and
haughtiness.
We may be great men or women of God. We may have learnt to
sacrifice much for the Kingdom of God, we may know how to fast and pray for
spiritual graces, and we may know how to work mighty miracles in the name of
the Lord. But we may also be infected
with pride. Pride of knowledge, pride of spirit, pride of works. Pride can take
any and every form. Pride grows stealthily and steadily. And all this while we
may be working mighty miracles and giving mighty sermons. We might also have
constructed an entire set of theological beliefs to go with our scheme of
things. And there may be hundreds or hundreds of thousands who are besotted
with our word.
The refiners’ fire awaits each of
us. Every word, every work and every wisdom that we have said done or professed
will pass through the refiners’ fire. All that will remain is that which is
done out of pure unadulterated love for the Father.
As long as our earthly roots are
intact and we remain children of the earth nothing much will pass through the
refiners fire – none of our works, none of our words and none of our wisdom.
We have come to the end times. We
have accepted the salvation from the Son of God, we have been baptized in the
Holy Spirit, but have we made the last and important journey to the bosom of
the Father? Are we still standing at the foot of the cross being bathed by his
precious blood? Have we not seen and heard that the ardent desire of the Christ
was to reconcile us to the Father? Have we not read the Gospel of John which
tears open the heart of Christ to reveal the Father? Have we used the POWER
bestowed upon us according to John 1:12-13 to break free from the shackles of earthly
personhood to accept the Divine childhood?
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