“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79)

Darkness and death are associated. Spiritual blindness is always linked to darkness and death. But the Lord’s purpose is to “guide our feet into the way of peace,” into the light of the Lord. Therefore, we are called to leave all spiritual blindness behind and enter into the full light of the Lord. And it’s possible that, through our attitudes and behaviors, we delay the Holy Spirit’s action to lead us out of our blindness. There are even children of God who delight in remaining in darkness and the shadow of death. This is not normal.

Spiritual blindness is a serious problem in the Church of the Lord, a problem that causes much concern and sadness to the Lord. He came to enlighten his own, and what happened? He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. They preferred to remain in darkness, in the shadow of death. And in the Church of Jesus Christ, there is also this tendency to reject the full light of the Lord to remain, not in complete darkness, because we have known the Lord, but in partial darkness, in a situation where we are not in the full light of God.

And we also cause many problems to the whole Church. If our hearts are filled with the desire to progress in the light, we will increasingly move into the light, and we will be a source of blessing as we enter into the light. We will receive more light ourselves, and we will be a source of light for others. We will truly answer the call of Jesus who said: “You are the light of the world.”

And this light must not be hidden under a bushel. If it remains hidden, we will remain in darkness and no one will be enlightened. It must be a powerful beacon shining to illuminate all around in these times of darkness, so that we can be a light, the light of the Lord within us, working to bring souls to the harbor, to enlighten those in darkness. “And the child grew and became strong in spirit.” Do you see how we enter more and more into the light of God?

To grow and strengthen in spirit, until, like John the Baptist, we become a prophet of the Lord, to prepare the way for Jesus. Jesus is coming back very soon. He needs a multitude of prophets to prepare his way, men and women filled with the light of God, who live and walk in the light, who will prepare the way for the one who is the great light, Jesus. We need to be prophets of the Lord to prepare his coming, to exercise the ministry of John the Baptist today. Spiritual blindness is the deprivation of sight. We do not see, and the worst part is that we do not know that we do not see. We often believe we are in the light, but to God who sees us, we are in darkness. Jesus said:

“Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.“

To be spiritually blind means to lack discernment to see the things of God. We do not see our own spiritual condition, we do not discern the spiritual condition of others, we do not discern the Lord and what he wants to do. Often we do not even realize how spiritually blind we are, and all the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us ever closer to his light, because it is by “his tender mercy” that he draws us into his light. But we must not drag our feet when God wants to draw us into his light. We must not act like so many examples given to us in the Word, of men and women who dragged their feet and outright rejected the Lord, when he wanted to lead them into his light to see clearly.

“The eye is the lamp of the body” (he speaks of the physical eye, but also of the spiritual eye). If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.”

It’s terrible, this tendency we have to always have our eyes open to what is wrong with others and to have a lot of trouble keeping our eyes open to what is wrong with us. It’s a human tendency. The body of a blind person is in darkness. He sees nothing, he distinguishes nothing. Spiritually, it’s exactly the same; If our spiritual eye is healthy, we will see well, we will be in the light of God, and we will clearly see ourselves and others. but if our spiritual eye is unhealthy, we need to understand why our eye is unhealthy.

So, I must thoroughly examine the motivations of my heart before God. Have I still served Mammon too much? and Mammon is also my self and my personal life, it’s the world to which I was attached before. Have I really cut all ties without the thought of returning, to focus my eyes completely on Jesus and see clearly in the direction he shows me?

We know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. So, Jesus does not tell his disciples that they are Pharisees. He tells them to be very careful not to let the leaven of religious hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod enter into their hearts. Herod’s leaven is the leaven of wickedness. The Pharisees had a good outward appearance, but they had hearts full of greed and wickedness, while Herod was entirely wicked, both outwardly and inwardly. The disciples reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.” They were blocked, they did not understand what Jesus wanted to tell them. He speaks of leaven because they had not taken bread. Do you realize the spiritual blindness of his disciples?

Yet they were the apostles whom Jesus had chosen to be the great apostles of the beginning. They were men of the same dough as us. It’s also an encouragement. He can make you, my brother, an apostle. Jesus, knowing it, said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not understand, are you still without understanding? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? In the book of Daniel, in chapter 12, the last chapter of the book of Daniel, he speaks of the end times, when knowledge will increase:

“As for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time. Many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase” (Daniel 12:4) and a little further, in verse 10:

“Many will be purged, purified and refined;” When you are purified, cleansed, refined, your spiritual blindness disappears. And he adds immediately:

“But the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.” It’s clear.

“The wicked will do evil and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have intelligence will understand.” It’s clear.

None of the wicked will understand. The wicked will remain spiritually blind and those who have been intelligent will shine like the splendor of the sky. So, is it God who, on a whim, will give spiritual intelligence to some and keep others in darkness? I absolutely do not believe that. I believe that God wants to save all men, that God wants to bring us all into his wonderful light, but that there are conditions to fulfill in order to have open spiritual eyes. And wickedness is a cause of lack of spiritual understanding. When we talk about wickedness, what does it mean for the Lord?

It does not mean being a dreadful murderer who has committed the worst abominations in the world. A wicked person, to the Lord, is one who disobeys his Word. A wicked and rebellious heart is a heart that does not obey the Lord, that drags its feet and does not really want to commit. For God, this is wickedness. We were all wicked, disobedient, and rebellious. He made us his beloved children. He wants to remove all wickedness, all disobedience from our hearts. Would we keep some roots?

And when he says that hearts have become insensitive and hardened, it is indeed in a context of resistance to the Lord. When we resist the Lord, automatically we harden our hearts, we decide to close our eyes and we become blind. So, let us be very careful; we who are children of the Lord, let us not say too quickly: it is none of my business. But let us honestly question ourselves before the Lord to say, “Lord, show me the condition of my own heart and my own spiritual eyes.”

Unbelief is associated with hardness of heart, resistance to the Lord, lack of knowledge of God, reproaching God, criticizing God, not considering him as a perfect and good God. I prayed that what I say would pass through the Holy Spirit and be received by open hearts and that you would discern no spirit of judgment on anyone. I am praying in my heart even now, that this will be received in peace and that the Lord will do a work to free us from all spiritual blindness, because it weighs too heavily on the Church of the Lord.

When a heart is unbelieving, Satan takes advantage to put a veil and prevent “the splendor of the gospel of the glory of Christ” from shining. So, in the lives of Christians, to some extent, it is the same. We are all in a state of relative unbelief compared to the great things of the Lord. Here too, it is a growth in faith. But we must make sure that we grow in faith.

Today, normally, I should be less unbelieving than yesterday or a year ago. I should have progressed in faith, in an environment that is declining in faith. So, you see how important our personal relationship with Jesus is in dispelling our spiritual blindness.

I often hear Christians say to me, “Ah! If I were in a better Church, with more vibrant brothers and sisters, I would grow more, I would be more comfortable and it would be better for me.” I say, “you are mistaken, you are spiritually blinded if you say that,” because Jesus asks you to be filled, in your relationship with him, with his light and to bring it into the Church where you are, into the group where you are, to help them and bring them the light of Christ. If they refuse, if they act like those who refused the light of Jesus, it’s their business, but your spiritual growth should not depend on the presence of spiritual Christians by your side.

Sure, it helps, but if that’s all there is, you will never grow spiritually, because you will always need a spiritual Christian to help you grow and it won’t work. You need to grow in your relationship with Jesus, so that you can help others afterwards. But don’t count on others to grow; Count on the Lord Jesus. and Jesus will send you brothers and sisters to help you grow, because your eyes are fixed on him.

This text is an excerpt from the book “CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CHALLENGES” written by Jérémie TCHINDEBE.

We invite you to read the following article “MENTAL MANIPULATION“.