“Did you know that nobody in Heidelberg ever dies?”
“Is that so?” I asked Andre conversationally.
“It’s true. Nobody ever dies here because we are already in heaven!! Look around here, laddy.” Andre said as he gestured to the sleepy town that we were walking through when we came across he and his wife and stopped to chat.
“Do you believe this place is truly paradise?” The question came across with, perhaps, more cynicism than I had intended. As it turns out, Andre does believe it, so does a majority of the town it seems. There were four of us doing a prayer walk through the town, interceding and seeking God’s heart for the community we now call home for a season. Alina was certain that we would come across someone to minister to. We did. As we sat on the front porch drinking juice that Andre’s wife Simon had generously offered us, the suspicions that God had placed upon my heart over the past week seemed to be confirmed: there is a thick veil over the eyes of this town, making people blind to the reality of a war that surrounds them.
It was the second night that we were here in Heidelberg. We had spent that day at church and had a chance to see a small portion of the town and marvel at the beauty that God had dropped us into the middle of. Beautiful, and still, something here was slightly off. That was the night that God began to impress on my heart that reality of a spiritual war raging here in the pristine little town. Unable to fall asleep for the majority of the night despite being exhausted, nightmares when I did fall asleep, and a crushing inability to get out of bed in the morning that felt more like my skin had turned to lead than any fatigue that I’m familiar with. All things that I have come to know as physical signs of spiritual attack. If it were only an attack on me I would not be as surprised and would stand ready to combat it as I have had to in the past, more and more since dedicating myself more and more fully to serving God (funny how that happens right?) In the days to come I would learn that it was not just me feeling these things. Other members of my team felt it. Our host felt it. Everywhere in town we would go there seemed to be a feeling following us that simply didn’t fit into what the natives were saying about the so called “gateway to heaven.”
Why can’t they see it? Why can’t the FEEL it? For the past week I’ve talked openly to my team about the spiritual warfare that I can feel here in the town and they confirm it. So why can’t the people that live here discern it for themselves?
In the book of John Jesus tells us that none can come to the Father except through believing in Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus in turn believe in the one who sent him, the Father. Beyond that, those that believe in Jesus will do the works that he had been doing, such as fighting against the spiritual forces that seek to come between us and God. We sat and talked to Andre for just over an hour about the Gospel and about religion, but in all that time I cannot remember Andre ever once saying the name “Jesus.” He attested that he was a christian, but never uttered the name of Jesus. I’m reminded of 1 John in situations like this. John tells us that “No one who denies the Son has the Father.” Later John says, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” There is a veil over the eyes of this town, blinding them to a very dangerous reality. One of the best ways to attack someone without them fighting back is to convince them that they are not under attack in the first place.
Perhaps you are reading this and don’t believe in spiritual warfare. That is ok. Hopefully you are reading this and plan to pray and intercede for the town of Heidelberg and that is fantastic! For now, I will continue to pray for the town. I will continue to cover our house in prayer against spiritual attacks. Heidelberg is great, don’t get me wrong. Beauty everywhere and the people are some of the friendliest I’ve met, but from what I see, what I feel, paradise needs saving. Good news is that our God saves.
