Confronting Demons

All are sickened by the shootings in Orlando this weekend.  But what are we going to do about them?

And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him."  Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. - Matthew 17:16-18

There is a sickness in the world and we seem to be unable to cure it.

Like the disciples of Jesus, everything we do is not enough to make a difference.  We are the faithless and perverse generation in that regard.

If only we had enough faith to be able to stand up to these demons and cast them out.  But we don't.  We look for other reasons for the sickness, but the sick person will find a way to do what the sickness tells him to do, regardless of the obstacles we create to stop him.

We encounter demons all the time, and most of the time we ignore them, find a way to get ourselves away form them, writing the people off as crazy or sick.

It is a sick person who plans to kill dozens of people, and an even sicker one who carries it out.  To put all the blame on social media influences or on availability of guns is to avoid the sickness and the demons that cause it.

But that leads us to another answer, one we don't know how to deal with.  We have to encounter and confront the demons that live inside.

That's where the disciples failed.  And it is where we fail.  Until we learn how to turn our faith into weapons against the demons, we will fail to overcome the powers of evil in this world.

How do we do that?

I don't know.  But I do know it is not by marching in the streets.  It takes direct one-on-one action, and we all have to get involved.

More to come...