WAR

'To think the spectre you see is an illusion does not rob him of his terrors: it simply adds the further terror of madness itself--and then on top of that the horrible surmise that those whom the rest call mad have, all along, been the only people who see the world as it really is.' ~C.S. Lewis, Perelandra

We are in a war. It is a battle fought 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the hearts and minds of mankind.

I tend to forget this--often. I tend to forget to put on the armour God has freely and willingly given us for the fight. I tend to forget to spend time with the Master Commander to get the battle-plan and provisions for the journey. Then, unexpectedly, there will be a brief shining moment of remembrance that will illuminate my life and my eyesight so that I can see clearly again, so that I can see the world as it really is: resplendent with spiritual realities, peopled by principalities and powers in heavenly places that influence us as we go about our daily tasks--to see this life from the polar opposite perspective of how fatalistic scientists and materialistic humanists would have us see it.

It's funny how these moments most often come whilst I am discussing experiences of dark presences/occult experiences/ supernatural happenings in my own life and the lives of people God has brought into my life. The discussions are usually accompanied by shivers that begin in the deepest core of my being and from there spread to all my physical extremities. They are times when I am the most aware of my spiritual makeup and the spiritual network that undergirds this readily visible universe. It happened to me again this weekend with Jill (as it also happened to her) in her house outside Ottawa. The day before this occurrence, the Lord had blessed us with a beautiful (and powerful) encounter with His Holy Spirit in church, and we were reminded of things (e.g. God's promises to us and plans for us) we had for some time forgotten. The supernatural talk took place the following night, and through it God convicted us of our need to spend time everyday with Him in His Word; only then can we be fully equipped to fight the battle that ceaselessly rages around us; only then can He work in and through us the good plans He has had for us from before His breath ever lingered on the waters of time's first hour.

Things we call "supernatural" are actually quite "natural". We need our eyesight readjusted. It is shocking--even frightening--when it happens, but how worth it! How often do we call light darkness and darkness light.

'I felt sure that the creature was what we call "good," but I wasn't sure whether I liked "goodness" so much as i had supposed. This is a very terrible experience. As long as what you are afraid of is something evil, you mad still hope that the good may come to your rescue. But suppose you struggle through to the good and find that it also is dreadful? How if food itself turns out to be the very thing you can't eat, and home the very place you can't live, and your very comforter the person who makes you uncomfortable? Then, indeed, there is no rescue possible: the last card has been played....Here at last was a bit of that world from beyond the world, which I had always supposed that I loved and desired, breaking through and appearing to my senses: and I didn't like it, I wanted it to go away. I wanted every possible distance, gulf, curtain, blanket, and barrier to be placed between it and me. But I did not fall quite into the gulf. Oddly enough my very sense of helplessness saved me and steadied me....'

'He described us as being in a state of siege, as being, in fact, an enemy-occupied territory, held down by eldils who were at war both with us and with the eldils of "Deep Heaven," or "space." Like the bacteria on the microscopic level, so these co-inhabiting pests on the macroscopic permeate our whole life invisibly and are the real explanation of that fatal bent which is the main leesson of history.' ~C.S. Lewis, Perelandra