Supernatural

Supernatural

          A woman approached me while I was signing copies of my book Hatchlings. She scanned the cover and saw it contained fourteen tales of the supernatural.

          “I don’t believe in witches.” She said and walked away.

          What stuck with me is the popular assumption that the supernatural is evil; the exclusive realm of witches, warlocks, ghosts and demons. I admit those characters do creep into my stories on a regular basis. People are all too eager to accept that evil spirits and various monsters possess the ability to break through to our world from the supernatural. We’re not as ready to accept the idea of supernatural good or its ability to cross the same boundary. It’s like the notion that a person who talks to God is a saint while a person who claims God talks back is a whack job. Have you ever wondered why a person who believes in and feels the presence of ghosts and spirits is a sensitive and open minded while a person who believes in and feels the Holy Ghost is a religious nut? If so, you’re not alone.

          The supernatural, by definition, includes all that is above and beyond the natural world. For good or evil, this includes the entire spirit world. To which Jesus said: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

           Christian worship is a meant to be a supernatural experience the object of which is to touch and be touched by God. To accomplish worship someone must reach across the boundary between the natural and the supernatural; the terrestrial and the celestial. In old time Pentecostal terms, for worship to happen there has to be a “move of the spirit.” Those who are born of God have the Spirit of God. Moreover, they have the living, spirit discerned, Word of God to guide them into a celestial kingdom. Christ’s soldiers need not be limited to being all they can be. Through Christ they can be more than the sum of natural abilities; they can be supernatural. All it takes is vision.

          Jesus is called Immanuel. He is God with us; not for thirty-some years, but forever “…lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Christ’s statement was no theoretical catch phase; it is spiritual reality. He is as alive and present with His disciples as He was when He spoke those words. It is a case of believing is seeing.

          “People who believe in ghosts see evidence of their existence everywhere,” said a researcher from a leading university.

He went on to say that no matter how much looking he did at the same evidence---he couldn’t see it. He didn’t believe any evidence existed because there was no such thing. It’s likely that if evidence of the supernatural slapped him in the face, he wouldn’t see it. He would insist there was a natural explanation.

The same attitude applies to belief in God. Believers see Him everywhere and doing all manner of things. Others don’t understand all the fuss; the Red Sea was ankle deep; Lazarus was catatonic or in a coma; when Jesus shared the loaves and fishes, so did all His hearers. Belief rules sight for Christian and non-Christian alike. The difference is that Christians suppress their beliefs and vision to get along with detractors while worldly wise men insist on their vision and criticize detractors as blind, bigoted and hateful. Christians need not convince the world of the reality of the supernatural. They only need to convince themselves of the literal truth in what they say.   

Every Christian must keep his eyes open to the source of his salvation. Salvation is the product of the grace of God. A Christian may serve God for a hundred years, but that he is saved by grace will never change. Christian works are necessary to a healthy life and will glorify God. Good works testify to the reality of faith, but they will never save a soul. Christians work because they are saved; they are not saved because they do works. This milepost is the single most important sight on the Christian’s journey.

Moses was a mighty man of God. Nevertheless, the Bible says he was a meek man. This meekness came from forty years on the backside of the desert learning that he didn’t deserve all God had given him. In one moment of extreme frustration Moses let slip a claim to ownership in his deeds. That moment cost him dearly; losing sight of God’s grace always does. Spiritual vision is necessary to spiritual life. Where there is no vision the people perish. A godly vision encompasses the point of origin. God sees the end from the beginning and so should His people.