A Reader’s Response to Blame It On the Devil

Hello there! Just wanted to post this very good response I received to a recent post, Blame It On the Devil, via email from a faithful reader and friend, Poetess Courtney Merriweather.

I agree! Actually, I had been “musing” on the emphasis certain populations of Christians put on the devil just this week. A couple of nights ago I was listening to a not so well known minister out of Nashville who I had become familiar with several years back. This pastor has a decent sized congregation, but not what one would call a mega church. The pastor was ministering to his congregation and speaking on the topic of stress. His topic, of course common but relevant, was delivered with poise, humor, and an apparent/appearance of sincerity. I cannot tell you the number of times he made reference to the Holy Spirit but I can say that I can probably count with one hand and still have fingers left the number of times he mentioned the devil.

 
Yesterday I tried to sit down to listen to a well known minister that I used to
refer to as my spiritual father, he is a mega church millionaire, but I couldn’t stand to listen to it all. I have changed some for the better, maybe some for the worse; still, I know now when I am being entertained and when I am being fed. Don’t misunderstand me, there was plenty of “meat” in the entertaining messages I listened to through the years, but now I realize that just because a meal may offer you certain nutrients it doesn’t mean that it is nutritious. Seems to me certain Christian populations (based on denomination, sub-culture, or SES) place more emphasis on things that are spiritual, and in some cases mystical, than on things that are practical. There should be balance.

 As Christians we are to live in the spirit; however, we are to make a practical
application of God’s word in our everyday life. Some of us want to bypass
practical and jump into spiritual. For example scripture says “love thy neighbor as thyself.” When you don’t love your neighbor and in return your neighbor doesn’t love you and gives you a hard time you think the devil has gotten into your neighbor when in fact you have NOT followed the commandment, and because you haven’t made every effort to live peaceably dissension and contention become the consequence.

When you have a group of people who are disenfranchised, living in lack, and feeling as if they have little or no efficacy they are more inclined to want to hear a sermon about the devil being the reason behind their car breaking down, them getting laid off, and not having money to pay the rent,
because they feel abased they are going to want to hear sermons about them being special, chosen, envied, and next in line for a blessing/miracle. They are also more inclined to want to hear about how God is going to come and save the day! I can recall time when my first car was broke down and I was despondent, I remember being in church and the pastor praying that G.d would “heal” my car. It dawned on me one-day (years later) that when wealthy people have cars to break down they don’t have to pray about it they just get it fixed! If they are really wealthy their assistant or liaison handles it for them (lol) the may never know it was broken, lol. Thus, the devil never gets blamed.

Bottom line, I believe in an omnipotent God and I also believe in a pestering adversary. I believe all to often people mistake religion for superstition and focus too much on what they devil very well may or may not be doing and in addition to that they spend their entire lives waiting on God to do something failing to realize that they (as Christians) are co-laborers with Chri.st and that they have power and authority (efficacy) in the earth.

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