The Powwow Guy

I believe in the devil. I don't say that lightly. There was a time when I thought it was nonsense... Propaganda created to instill fear and obedience in the hearts and minds of the early Christians. But I've seen the devil. I've experienced him. If there is good in the Universe, it stands to reason that there must be bad. If there is light, there must be dark. If there is day, there must be night. If there is holy, there must be unholy. This is balance. The devil is God's great adversary. Some say he was made by God to fill that role. I don't know. If you read the Book of Job, you see that the devil and God aren't so unfriendly toward one another as we might think. God is pretty badass all on his own, he doesn't really need the devil. Yet there he is. 

The devil is sly and tricky. Where God will outright punish us because he's like that, the devil will tempt us... whisper things to us... make promises and insinuations... He's a clever guy. And we fall for his tricks all the time.

I've seen people who have the devil in them and don't realize it. Or they realize it but don't want him in there. I've also known some people who embrace the devil, and want him to influence their lives. I don't understand it, but there you go..

The devil is the force that brings chaos and destruction into our lives. He tempts us into giving in to our darkest desires. He can infest us with illness, addiction, temptation, and even great power that will corrupt us. His ultimate goal is to prove to God that he can turn us from Him. And he does succeed. 

To combat the workings of the devil is the job of the powwow. We fight him and resist him and work against him. We won't always win, but we will always try. There are afflictions that might be beyond our skill. There are others that we can take care of easily. A powwow can only try with the tools he has on hand. 

As I get older, I feel like the devil is something or someone to be respected. Not honored, like God, but respected as the counterpart to God. The necessary darkness to God's light. The devil is a part of us that we work hard to deny, but it's always there. He revels in our struggles to hold him back. His minions are the forces we fight against when we call upon the Creator to help us combat an illness or a bewitchment.

I have learned that the best way to understand the devil is to first know that he is real. He is the adversary to God. He is the ultimate mischief maker because he lacks the one power that God has... creation. The devil cannot create life so he therefore seeks to twist it and pervert it and prove to God that he can because we are flawed beings. It's an insane and meddlesome struggle, but there you go.

Humor me while I share a story with you...

The devil came to me one night while I was going through a severe bout of depression. He came to me in my dreams and tried to get me to come through a door. He enticed me and gestured for me to pass through the door. But I didn't do it. I think I started to but I woke up, my crucifix necklace tight around my neck causing me to feel as if I was being choked.

What did the dream mean? What did the old devil want with me? Was he trying to pull my spirit to hell? I don't know. But I do know that the experience was real enough for me to take him more seriously and respect him as not only THE adversary, but MY adversary. I've been working against him all these years and now he's shown himself to me. 

I will work against the devil until the day I die. When he gains power, we suffer. We cannot and should not allow that to happen. The best way to defeat the devil is to understand him, respect him, and let him know you are going to fight him every step of the way.