The Religious Spirit
“Worship” sculpture by Ralph Stackpole
I was a Christian in the evangelical sense for a long time and I was fooled a lot by what I call the religious spirit. The religious spirit is a sort of energy – or maybe it's really a spirit, I don't know.
What I know is that certain people harbor this “religious spirit”. When I come into contact with them or watch their sermons I get touched – and I often have to cry quickly. Before I always thought that this is the holy spirit's work and hence I believed it to be a sign for the truth.
The sadness the religious spirit brings does not leave you hopeless. It's a sadness that makes you think that God himself is touching you personally. It's a sadness that is mixed with joy. The desert fathers called it a “holy sadness”.
The more I was touched in this way, the more I valued a certain preacher or congregation. Recently I started watching a sermon online quite by accident. It didn't take long until I started feeling that “holy sadness” again.
What this spirit does is, it leads you into the extreme. It puffs you up so you think you are filled with the holy ghost, that you have a special “anointing”. You think you know the truth more than others do. You feel special, called, chosen.
Do you see the pattern? It is that spirit that makes you go out into all the world to proselytize, trying to convert people to your “religion”. This is how many cults are made. This is why people get sucked into these cults – because it makes them feel special. As soon as you think to be on a special mission, the chances are high that you have been taken over by this spirit.
Today I don't want to have anything to do with this spirit. It's destructive and misleading, but difficult to resist because it's so seductive. So watch out that you are not fooled like I was!
A person that is cooperating with the religious spirit will try hard to convert you. As soon as you notice any pressure to believe something, it is possible that the religious spirit is involved.
When the religious spirit is not involved there will be no compulsion to believe anything. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion: that is the attitude free of the religious spirit.
Please note that what Christians usually call the “religious spirit” is something else: among Christians it usually denotes people who overemphasize the “law” (strict rules) as opposed to “grace”. So please do not confuse what I call the “religious spirit” with that view.