The Twilight Labyrinth

I actually wrote this when i was in kentucky, but then other stuff was more intersting, so i didn't post it (that and i was going to add some more quotes...but now i've decided i can do that later...if i ever get that motivated). i wonder how often i do that...think of something to blog, but then never get around to it...

This book was definitely “outside the box” for me. I come from an academic/scientific/analytical family. I don’t have a ton of “experience” or “understanding” of the spiritual realm. It was a good book. I’m glad I ready it. I felt like I learned a lot. But, I don’t feel like my “handle” on demons/spiritual warfare etc is too much better than before I read the book. Perhaps it cause the academic/scientific/analytical me wants “6 easy steps to always victorious spiritual warfare.” I want a “box” to put all these truths in, and I think in some ways that’s the point of the book, there just aren’t easy steps. There are principles, but no “sure fire way” to always defeat the powers of evil.

Otis Jr. talks extensively about how deceptive Satan and his demons are, and how they masquerade as angels of light (scripture also clearly states these things). It was interesting as I read though, to think about some of the circumstances some of my friends are in, and the lies that they’ve believed, the “angel of light” they followed. It’s a bit unnerving to consider deception that powerful – and the possibility that I too could be deceived. How thankful I am for a community of believers who speak truth and love and life into me (and how much more thankful and dependant on that will I become as I make my home in Kolkata?!?!).

The section where Otis Jr. talks about spiritual pact making, and how the strongholds are formed in the first place was also particularly interesting to me. In that section Otis says, “The more traumatic the circumstance, the greater the number of “saviors” solicited. Nowhere is this rule more evidence than in India, a land where gods and their shrines are the only commodity in greater supply than suffering.” While I don’t have a “handle” on the spiritual realm, it is very clear to me there is a strong presence of evil/darkness in Kolkata. Whether I like it or not, by choosing to live incarnationally in Kolkata as a follower of Jesus I’m entering into that reality.

Now for some thoughts that I found especially inspiring J
“God is not ultimately a punisher but a rescuer” – AMEN!

“The incubator of the meme does not have to be brilliant, only yielded. In fact, from God’s perspective, weakness is often a virtue. Many of scriptures greatest triumphs were brought about by individuals whose initial selection was as unlikely as their ultimate success.” This is good news indeed. (Especially after reading this book, which leaves me feeling like a child in terms of my understanding about the realities I’m moving into).

“The land of a god corresponds with the land of his worshippers” (William Robertson Smith). If the Calcutta based devotees of Kali move to Houston and bring their idols and devotion with them, then the boarders of Kali’s influence have clearly been extended.” – here he gives a “negative” example, but I read this and think of the joy and hope of knowing that the kingdom of God in Kolkata strengthens as I move there. And that as I walk down the dark lanes of "the Gach" the kingdom of God is increasing. AMEN.