Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness
We’ve all seen it. I have named it; it’s called the Nancy/Sarah effect. It’s a real phenomenon, as old as humanity itself. I named it after the 1996 movie “The Craft.”This movie, like most movies, is centered on two characters, the villain and the hero.
Nancy is the movie’s villain. She is a practicing witch who gets greedy for power and decides to “invoke the spirit.” As soon as she does this, her character turns into an ass-wipe. She lacks empathy, she is obsessed with mind control and total domination of everyone around her. She will harass or even kill anyone who poses a threat to her system of control.
Sarah is the pure witch who’s conscious stands in the way of Nancy’s power, which results in Nancy trying to kill her. Sarah, however, has the support from a spirit guide, Lirio. Lirio is the beautiful mother goddess figure who tells Sarah she, too, has to invoke the spirit. Sarah, after seeing what the spirit had done to Nancy, didn’t want to do that (naturally). But, Lirio explains that Nancy takes the spirit to “a dark place,” and that the only good or bad there is, already exists in the heart of the witch. Sarah has a good heart and, therefore, the spirit will act kindly through her.
Christians often get a bad rap. Sadly, the world is full of Nancy’s. We all know our share, right?
You know that uncle who gives creepy, southern Baptist literature as a Christmas gift. Those pamphlets in your stocking that tell you you’re going to get sodomized my Satan lest you repent and accept Jesus as your lord and savior. Yeah dude, he’s a Nancy.
Let’s not leave out the family friend who moved to Texas (God’s country) and posts KILL ALL MUSLIMS every now and again as their Facebook status. Nancy.
Or, there’s the God fearing country folk who give you a look of pity and disgust when you tell them you write for an online paper about Buddhism. Surely, they are the only ones who know anything about salvation. Nancy’s.
I know lots of people, many of whom I’m related to (sadly), who don’t mean a word of the positive Christian messages. They practically hate poverty; they become hostile and angry at the thought of lending support to those less fortunate. They buy books titled ”Live the Dream: No More Excuses,” because Christians are hard working, self reliant people and nothing less.
Actually, all the Nancy’s seem concerned with are fear and authority. That’s what they get out of Christ’s message, because that’s what is already in their heart. All the beauty that can be found in Christianity, and as Lirio explained, as being found in every religion since the beginning of time, becomes blackened, twisted, and tortured and taken to a dark place.
Fortunately for me, I have met a few Sarah’s in my day, and they’re my hero’s. I have a friend, who can be found wearing a long denim skirt every day of the week. It’s her way of staying “sanctified,” as she jokingly calls it. In fact, she’s always joking about her faith:
I’ve seen her “catch the spirit” in a McDonalds Oreo Mcflurry. “Girl, it’s so good I know Jesus has something to do with it.” Once, she was “delivered,” because she had the will power to pass on a Red Lobster cheddar biscuit. She seriously listens to gospel music in her car . . . Yeah . . . like, for fun. And her words of encouragement consist of “hallelujah,” and “praise the Lord.” Easily this behavior could be construed as self-righteous or plain old obnoxious. But not in her case.
She does it in a fun and genuine way. Jesus is truly her friend. I swear, when she’s joking about catching the spirit, I see a transparent Jesus float down and giver a soulful hand shake and add in his own “hallelujah.”
There is a moment in “The Notebook” (a.k.a the greatest American love story of all time), when Allie tells her parents, “You don’t touch, or laugh. You don’t play. You don’t know anything about love.” It seems to me my Sarah knows what Allie and Noah knew—what it really means to love. Or, at least what it should look like.
It's more than just playfulness, however. She respects other people's views and doesn't try to convert them. She isn't manipulted, nor does she try to manipulate other's with the literal "fear of God." She completely furnished her friend's house because her firend didn't have the money to do it herself. She's not a, "I want everyone to experience God's love (unless I have to pay for it) type person. She means it. She lives it. She's a Sarah.
So if you're like me and you have a lot of people who have envoked the spirit and take it to a dark place, get rid of them. You don't need that Nancy shit in your life. Go find yourself a Sarah to save you from bitterness. There are Sarah's out there, and you can find one to be your hero too.
