When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my Lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Joshua 5:13-15 ESV

I was listening to a fictional story where a historical time was recounted in the 1600s between women who practiced witchcraft and the priests who had them burned at the state or drowned. The retelling which was part of the fiction but based on stories out of history of that time saddened me. But on a deeper layer I noticed something: I wanted to choose a side, thankfully I realized quickly, I could not.

The practice of witchcraft is based out of the spirit of control. We imagine witches as the Halloween versions that look much like the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz movie, but the spirit behind witchcraft is more prevalent and subtle than most of us realize. Control comes in many forms- it is at a peak in those who practice occult and witchcraft directly as the intent is to harness power in other forms that do not belong to us, and use them how and for what purposes we decide. A spell, or a potion is intended to take control of nature, the wind, the rain, the elements, animals, or other people. Imagine something simple as a “love potion,” how could this be bad? The intent would be to make someone fall in love by force or taking over of their will. 

As quickly as we can point the finger that practicing witchcraft is evil, how often do we try to wrangle control in our own worlds by any means we have access to? Of course we are benevolent dictators and only want the best for people- how about wanting others to come to know Jesus? Are we willing to manipulate and control situations and messages in an attempt to bypass someone’s own personal messy but authentic process in the hope we might get another life for Jesus out of it? If so, it is the spirit of control and not the spirit of freedom. 

Whenever we artificially manipulate or outright force even good things on others against their will, we are operating in the spirit of witchcraft ourselves- without the pointy hat and green face paint. I think this spirit of control is alive and well — especially in our churches today —  and it masquerades itself expertly in the guise of being what’s best for others. 

We know from Galations 5:1 that is it For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery! That freedom is for us to walk in freedom from what used to control us, but also I think it reminds us that we get to walk in and we should not submit to the temptation to yoke others into slavery by whatever means we might be able to be it manipulation or authority. Never use our power to take away the true freedom of those around us, especially when we see they are making choices we believe will be harmful- we can invite, we can love and share truth, but we can not impose force or control (this does not include young children of course they need real boundaries to grow and learn and that’s different) on adults around us. (Also I am not speaking of looking the other way to abuse of breaking the law, but we must handle each of those situations as appropriate)

That was the reason, though it might have been obvious, that I could not mentally choose to side with the witches in the historical story. What they represent and do is not right even though they are often romanticized today especially in new age circles as being noble and wise.  

However, I quickly saw the religious men who decided to solve the problem by torturing them to death as missing the mark Jesus set out for us entirely. These “modern day” pharisees were afraid of the women and the power they seemed to wield and in their own mad rush to blot out the evil they feared, they also tortured and killed many innocent women along the way (also I don’t hear a lot of stories of drowning or burning men involved in the occult… why is it only women could be guilty of this?) These holy men who were supposed to represent Jesus were also guilty in some sense of the same crime. Out of a place of fear they would control people through fear and punishment. This approach doesn’t change hearts and minds, it makes the people hide deeper and pretend to go along on the surface. It doesn’t bring transformation and new life and freedom, it perpetuates fear and control. In the name of Jesus. Which is deeply troubling and I think grieves the heart of our Father.

All this took me only a minute or so in real time to sort out and something stood out to me: why do many of us tend toward choosing a side anyway?

Something in our human nature has the tendency to hear of a conflict and pick a side. This brings the spirit of division which is opposite of what we are called to which is the spirit of unity in love. It is blatantly clear in our political system. We have two parties, we have two candidates, we have a left and a right, we have a conservative and a liberal, which we dilute into a right and a wrong and a good and a bad. 

Of course we always choose the good side. 

If someone doesn’t agree with us, then by logic that puts them on the bad side. If they are on the bad side then we have the right to disconnect with them. We think we have permission to not love the people who are evil and wrong. We don’t need that kind of pollution in our pure and righteous pond. We can say we love them because we know we are supposed to and it sounds good- but they are wrong wrong wrong. 

But what is in our hearts, really?

We are supposed to be recognized by our unity, by our love for one another. Not by our ability to agree on everything. We are all works in progress. Once we join the kingdom and accept Jesus as the one who makes us right to the Father we are changed, yes, this is true. We are in Christ and His righteousness. That should make us all the more able to let go of the self-righteousness that gives us permission to disconnect and separate ourselves from those who are so clearly not like us. 

Jesus went into the places where people were lost and hurting and was unafraid. Jesus never used control and threats to force people to accept him. Jesus is not afraid of evil, and he’s not afraid of sin. He stands at the door and knocks. He pours out love and then invites us to follow him. Yes we make a choice, but there are many who haven’t chosen yet. That doesn’t mean they won’t, but Jesus was always looking for connection, trying to connect with those who didn’t look like him yet and he was always reaching out ready to heal, to pray for, to be patient with, to engage with them. 

I have heard we only truly have as much influence in someone’s life as the connection we have with them. If we cannot sort out how to come alongside and connect we cannot even effectively INVITE someone to see things the way we see in the hope they might agree it is a better way (consider the invitation for someone to come closer to Jesus through our life, we cannot force that invitation, and the less connection we have to someone the less they care about what we think is good for them!) This is a hard lesson for many of us. It’s been a hard lesson for me.

It was the religious leaders Jesus was the most angry with in fact, not the ones who carried obvious sins or were clearly unclean. Jesus was gentle with the prostitues and gentiles; He was hardest on those who self-righteously disconnect from the scary sinful unclean population or tried to create boundaries to keep them away from God. I think when he comes back he is going to be hardest on the church culture. We have to do better here.

There is an obscene amount of division in our churches. Division within the church structures and between denominations. The divisions are race based, sex based, class based, what-version-of-the-Bible-do-you-use based and then even worse based on minutia of how passages of the Bible are interpreted. We have disregarded the call to honor other people because they are created in God’s image and God loves them even if we find it difficult to. Instead we choose sides and disconnect. We wait for the person to make a change before we love them. We punish each other by withholding love until they look more right to us. More like us. That is what makes us feel safe if we aren’t walking in our true identity- loved in a way that casts out ALL fear!

God is so much bigger than any of us can fathom. The diversity of life on this planet is a testament to his imagination and his nature! We don’t have the be the same or agree on everything in order to love one another and allow God to sort out the justice and the details in each journey in his own wisdom and timing. 

As in the account of Joshua I began with, instead of looking at a conflict and choosing a side here on the surface of the physical earth, we might instead reconsider and choose to side with God and figure out how to play on his team instead of insisting that he’s playing for ours. Instead we might consider Joshua’s reaction when he realized what was really going on and ask: what does God have to say to his servant (me)?

In this might we find His ways which are higher than ours, and might we submit to the way through the conflict that looks less like us winning somehow, and instead find what God is doing and play for his team. This could look different in each situation, but regardless it usually looks like humility and love toward others, and service over getting our way.

I have been set up in some situations to help me learn these lessons in recent months (though I am a slow learner, my Father is ever patient and kind with me). Two things that have helped me when I am presented with my own conflicts in relationships (in work, in family, in life). When I revert to these two questions in finding my approach they have brought a better outcome toward life and freedom than I could have constructed on my own:

1. What can I honor in the person I am struggling with?
2. How can I help them?

We can always honor something in another person. If you struggle to find anything to honor in then, ask God, he has always helped me see it when I am really asking. Then we are called to use our power and authority in the kingdom to lift up and help others- not serve our own needs. When I come to a conflict trying to understand what the other person needs and then ask how can I help, everything begins to untangle and get more clear. Every time I have walked out this process miracles have come out of it. I have been able to side with the “other” in order to see how they see and do what I can to make them feel supported- and in every case, in some time (not always immediately) I have seen my own needs covered and have watched in the dissolving of the conflict that a better thing rises up. I hope it is the thing God wanted to see rise up, not my thing or their thing. His thing.

I always love to hear how these lessons I am learning, and the thoughts I am working through intersect with others’ experiences. Email me anytime to share a story or experience that connects! I can be reached at: enterthewhisper@icloud.com