530 The Spiritual Man
Since his mental process is now under bondage, the believer
naturally will develop an inordinately off-balanced viewpoint. A
mound looms up before him as a mountain. Everything appears to be
as arduous as ascending a stairway to heaven. He is especially fearful
of anything which requires thought. He does not like to converse
with people because this is too demanding of him. To proceed
steadily and diligently at his daily job seems to require his life. He is
gripped by an intangible chain which others fail to recognize. He
feels as uncomfortable as a slave who wants to revolt but never
succeeds.
Thus the Christian lives as in a dream. His time is dissipated,
spent without thought, imagination, reasoning, or consciousness. As
the mind is assailed the will becomes affected automatically, for the
former is the light of the latter. He passively allows himself to be
tossed to and fro by his environment and makes no choice for
himself. When he is filled with unsettling notions and has no peace,
he cannot break through his bondage to emancipation. He seems to
be restrained by an unseen impediment. Numerous things he wants to
do; yet in the midst of trying to do them he is overwhelmed by an
impulsive feeling to stop because all tasks have become impossible
in his eyes: to him his life has become nothing but a succession of
insurmountable obstacles. How can he ever be satisfied?
Inactivity like this is sharply at variance with the ordinary type.
Should one’s mind be quiescent he can activate it whenever he
wants. But should the inactivity of the brain be due to the oppression
of evil spirits, then no matter how much he desires to be active he
cannot stir it one iota. He simply cannot think! His head seems to be
loaded down by some heavy weight. Such is the phenomenon of a
mentality deeply affected by evil spirits.
Many a saint who is continuously worrying contracts this illness
of mental inactivity. Yet were we to delve into his environment and
position we would inescapably conclude that here is one who