Become a spiritual bug zapper

If you’ve lived any time in the South, you’ve probably seen a bug zapper. Miraculous inventions. They emit a calm blue light that is irresistible to bugs. Mosquitos, flies, all kinds of creeping, biting things fly entranced towards its siren glare.

Then… ZZZZAP!! Dead bugs. In mosquito season, the sound fills the listener with an almost primal joy. I can’t imagine what good purpose God planned for mosquitos before the Fall, but at this point in the story of creation, the only good mosquito is a dead mosquito.

Bug zappers are different from normal lights. In the evening, a normal light fixture is no help at all. Normal lights call forth hundreds, thousands of bugs that send the humans running for cover. That’s why bug zappers are especially glorious.

Bugs in the spiritual life.

A few weeks ago, I noticed something that I’ve experienced ten thousand times but never given a name. The bug swarm.

I added a new discipline of prayer into my daily routine because I felt that God wanted me to do so. Something simple, easy, but good.

And instead of feeling the spiritual consolation and peace that I expected, I had a really rough day. I got into an argument with a coworker, which I hardly ever do. I felt irritated by some of the work on my plate. Situations at home arose that made me downright grumpy by the time I loaded into my truck to drive home.

What on earth? I prayed on the way home and reclaimed my peace, but I wanted a better understanding of what caused this terrible day. Or rather, what caused my terrible attitude on a really pretty normal day.

I prayed about it the next morning and I had a vision of my soul as a lightbulb. Not as just a lightbulb, but a lightbulb in the South during the summer. At night. What does that look like? Lots of bugs. A cloud of insects divebombing the light.

What an appropriate analogy! Whenever I try to let my light shine a little bit, the demons start to swarm. They want to overwhelm the spiritual light in my soul.

Jesus talked about this reality in the parable of the sower and the seed. When the seed falls on the path, the birds of the air swoop down to eat it. The demons want to make sure that the Word of God is not fruitful in my life.

From light bulb to bug zapper.

My vision of the light changed as the brightness of my soul intensified. Instead of a cloud of bugs surrounding a light, I saw an unobscured light with piles of dead bugs on the ground beneath it. My soul burned so brightly with the light of God that demons shriveled and died when they approached.

St. John of the Cross wrote that the devil fears the soul united to God as he fears God Himself. This should make me really excited. Unfortunately, what St. John means by being united to God doesn’t happen immediately at baptism.

I received the light of Christ when I was born from above, but I still have a lot of the world in me, too. When I believe things that aren’t true, the darkness of ignorance obscures the light of truth. When I cling to desires that aren’t good, those darker impulses hide the light of heavenly hope. If I choose to do evil, the darkness of sin clouds the light of divine love.

St. John says that growing in union with God is like cleaning a glass window so that His light can shine through. The light doesn’t come from me. It comes through me. If only I can get rid of the muck and the mire that prevents that light from being visible and radiating outward.

A soul transfigured.

To become a spiritual bug zapper, to make the transition from a light bulb that just attracts demons to an inferno that destroys demons, I must allow God to purify me of every bit of darkness. It’s very simple, but it isn’t easy.

And it isn’t just an idle fantasy, either. The Book of Acts reports that sick people who were brought into St. Peter’s presence were healed (Acts 5:15-16). While this seems so extraordinary, it’s simply the result of the fact that St. Peter had attained such a high degree of union with God that demons and sickness just couldn’t stand to be in his presence.

This kind of holiness isn’t just for the saints. It’s for all Christians. The same Holy Spirit that caused those healings around St. Peter dwells in me. 

Shocking, isn’t it?

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To read more about my conversion, check out Demoniac, now available on Amazon.