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Leviticus 14:50-52 "[A]nd [he] shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water, and shall take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the scarlet stuff, along with the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird; and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedarwood and hyssop scarlet stuff."

 

The Old Testament goes into some pretty specific rituals, including this one a priest is to perform when he inspects a house where leprosy has been but has not spread. Reading these rituals in modern times, we often get the impression of strangeness. The killing and the blood in service of cleansing just seems so weird. But God doesn't do weird, He does truth, so even when we feel that way, we know that it is not God being "goth", not prescribing dark-seeming rituals because darkness appaeals to Him, rather there is some mystical reason for His instructions that has been lost or clouded over in our modern world.

 

As "science" loses its grip on our framework for reality, in large part due to its practitioners straying from its main goal, the pursuit of truth, I see mystical ways of thinking becoming more and more prevalent. This is not necessarily good, as so many lack the background knowledge of God to be able to discern good spirits from bad (paging Saint Ignatius!). People are searching for a new framework, and the real one is out there, calling to them, but that real one includes very real demons, who are all too happy to step into the void of meaning and craft very believable lies.

 

This all goes back, I think, to the fact that God is doing something big right now. Things are changing, we are in flux. He will see us through it, but we have to listen for His voice and instructions, which sometimes sound is strange and off-putting to our modern ears.