the curse…

Hinduism and Christianity have brought about mindset of fear and more importantly, shame. Shame is a spirit that locks people in a prison of torment and binds them so they cannot grasp their full potential. Due to Christianity’s inclination into a culture that was founded on Hindu beliefs, it cares with it harsh legalism and very similar spiritual oppression. Now Christians have made headway in this country so do not take me for a critic of the faith-based movement; I am only analyzing why is it that people feel so oppressed by shame.

 

 

 

In India, confusion is a spirit that keeps people out of the “know.” No one seems to have a clue what is going on; planning and priorities seem to escape the mind. The same words have different, if not, counter productive meanings. Gestures have different meanings, which may lead to confusion and the prior, shame. Take for example a hard slap on the back: in one respect it means congratulations for a job well done; in another light, it means you screwed up and you should be ashamed. That’s just the tip of the iceberg…

How about in a country of close to 2 Billion people, 1/3 of the world’s population, no one seems to have a secure identity or better, a sense of whom they are. I mean that in a country this size, people are not supposed to showcase their talents; it is all about the greater good. It is about how you can help your community, your city, your state, your country. Now this is not a necessarily a negative thing, except that people (especially young men) are constantly worried that they will not measure up. They see white people as such a dominating force. In music, especially at church, the music is ridiculously loud and the vocals are borderline screaming…why? Because people are trying to show that they have value and that they have something to offer. They are all looking for their moment to shine, and sadly few get that opportunity to do so.

Shame holds people hostage with no ransom. Romans 10:11 says that “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” We can even go further to say that when you accept Christ, that God rewrites your history. Take a look at how Hebrews says that Abraham never wavered; I think we would say Ishmael was a pretty big waver and, yet its states he didn’t. Or maybe how David was a man after God’s own heart; a man who committed some big atrocities and yet God says that David gets Me. You see God is about SHAME OFF OF YOU, NOT SHAME ON YOU. God wants to bless you and bestow honor upon you.

Just being here for almost four weeks have given me a new sense or maybe a revitalized sense of spiritual oppression. Of course these spirits dwell in the U.S. as well, but I think due to our living there, we are usually very oblivious to their schemes. When you get dumped into a culture crying out for help from something so engrained in their history, you feel driven to….better yet…called to help at any cost. Daily, I look into the faces of people who at the core of their being, cry out for a God to love them unconditionally. A God who will care for them, who will not hold their sins against them, who will give them grace. I don’t claim to understand everything about how God works but I do know that these are a chosen people…a people with a specific destiny and purpose who have a very large inheritance…a people who are loved unconditionally and who have a Father who wants to hold them in His arms.

Shame will need to be eradicated in order for people to move onward and progressively forward. If it is allowed to latch onto and keep its firm grip, people will always be keep from their true potential. Shame is a curse that is being broken off people and its loosing its stronghold. It will lose…