Business As Usual Is Not Always

Glenn Beck is on television Saturday afternoons. I did not know that. I had to ice my back because I had been to the chiropractor and the adjustment caused some spasming. The best place to do that is in my recliner which just happens to be placed directly in front of the television. I took that as a sign I should turn on the television while I sat for twenty minutes.

All that is to say, Glenn Beck was on. He was talking about civil rights and the struggles in this country in the 1950's and '60's. I do not really remember much about that since there were probably fewer than 100 black people in Santa Maria at the time. We lived outside of town in the '60's and I recall about 5 black students in our high school of 1,700. Racial tensions simply were not a big deal. Well, maybe they were the day a group of Hispanic students barricaded themselves in the band room for fear of the ranchers' kids. Or maybe I was just clueless, but in any event, I hardly noticed any racial tensions.


There are a lot of people in the Santa Maria valley who have no idea there is a religious spirit keeping a lid on God's people. Unfortunately that includes most of the people in most of the churches. The problem with that is that traditional models of ministry will only go so far until that spirit is removed or at least muted. We mentioned that in passing in the previous post.

When we returned to southern California in 1987, we ultimately landed in Santa Maria where I had grown up. For those of you who do not know the story, moving here was the beginning of God doing the things He had shown me over a couple years. Those things culminated in a very specific word from the Holy Spirit's mouth to my ears, so to speak, that I needed to be in Santa Maria. You might want to revisit some of the very early posts if that is not quite enough of an explanation.

When we moved here, people were naturally curious and asked where we had come from. We told them we had been in Davis, California for seven years, but had just recently moved from the San Fernando valley. Several people commented the spiritual warfare in Davis must have been intense. We used to chuckle at that--not because they were wrong, but because they were right--about Davis. What they failed to realize was that everyone in Davis who knew about spiritual warfare knew what the battle involved. The newspaper regularly carried stories about gay rights, the pro-choice movement in town, and similar things.


During the time we were in Davis, we saw some significant victories. At some point in the future we may even find out what part we had to play in those victories. We saw the Scientologists move away because they could not afford to stay. We helped with the formation of a crisis pregnancy center which ultimately led to the end of Planned Parenthood in Davis. We saw more than a few people come to faith in Jesus. We had a part in the first annual, community, Easter, sunrise service organized with the cooperative efforts of the evangelical churches in the city. Some of those accomplishments are more significant than others, but all are verifiable. They really happened. No one can debate them.

When we recognize spiritual victories, or seek to find the causes of those things happening, the reasons are not usually obvious. In other words, why did the Scientologists run out of money when it seems Scientologists never run out of money? Why was the Crisis Pregnancy Center able to replace Planned Parenthood? We know the spirits behind those organizations had to go first. The spirits always have to be dealt with first.

I clearly remember my prayer when I realized the Lord was calling us to leave Davis and head south. I kind of half questioned, half complained that it seemed we really had not accomplished much. The Holy Spirit responded, "I did not send you here for the sake of Davis. I sent you here for the sake of David." I realized those seven years were just continuing education. In addition to the victories mentioned above, there are people from the church we started there who are in various forms of ministry in several different places. Sometimes the things that appear to be wasted motion to us are all part of God's well thought out plan.

At least a part of God's well thought out plan in Santa Maria right now is preparing people, and calling people he has already prepared to be part of bringing down the religious spirit. The first step in that is awareness of the problem, i.e., the existence of a religious spirit. There does not seem to be much else to say except to encourage us all to ask if we are part of the solution or if we even understand this is not business as usual.