orlandolightning

Last month I was driving from the airport in Orlando toward St. Augustine in Florida and there was a tremendous darkness, the descent of thunder clouds as I had rarely seen thunder clouds, so close to the ground, and so dark, that it was daunting, with constant flashes of thickest lightning.

When I got home, I learned from the news that at one point technicians had recorded 4,200 strikes of lightning in that vicinity in an hour.

It seemed strongest to my north, where, just east, is an outlying area I have written about previously: the area of Cassadaga, where spiritualists (who raise the dead through mediums and seances) have a large community. I found this ironic because one of the other strongest cases of lightning I had seen was more than 25 years ago when I was staying in Chattaqua, New York, across a small lake from a place called Lily Dale -- which is an even larger community of spiritualists who in fact is connected to the Florida group (Florida being the winter haven for them).

In that case, the lightning was so frightening I laidy down on the floor of the room I was staying in.

Call me superstitious, but it made me think about Orlando and Florida in general -- where, as I also have written, there is a huge front in the spiritual war.

Often I wonder about the extent to which we are supposed to indulge in amusements, and also whether the concept of magic (see Disney) can harbor quiet influence -- however innocent the magic seems. Orlando has become a hotspot for homosexuals -- at the same time that huge evangelical ministries have sprouted up. Now, there are plans for Universal to build a Harry Potter theme park -- in essence, a park to dark magic.

Announcing the project, the company may have been more accurate than it knew when in its online press release the headline was, "Harry Potter to Cast Spell on Universal Orlando Resort."

I wonder this because if you drive near Exit 116 on I-4, you see trees bent from where hurricanes passed three years ago. The eyes of three of them swept over the Greater Orlando Area, and particularly damaged the vicinity near Cassadaga, where there is also a bench known as the Seat of Satan.

I believe that spirits become attached to certain vicinities (especially if there have been massacres or pagan rituals) and then "principalities" control or greatly influence entire nations. Look at China and its dragon! Spirits gravitate to where they find comfort.

Perhaps I am not the only one who is superstitious. A secular station had a report recently on how strange apparitions are reported on I-4 near Orlando -- apparently, over an old graveyard, and not so far from Cassadaga, which has such a preoccupation with the dead.

In another part of Orlando was the report (again secular) of dark "smoke" rising from a stretch of road in a way that could not be readily explained. It was Orlando, we may remember, where a Pieta at a monument shop allegedly shed a black tear.

"If you travel often, you find that hotel rooms are typically infested, and need to be blessed before they feel comfortable. This is normal, unfortunately, but is usually fixable. But the real problems are areas in which the adversary has staked a claim.

"There are many other such places, and the sections of town where strip clubs and drugs are prominent come to mind. Prayer and conscious awareness of the enemy help us through, and avoidance, when possible, keep us from being affected. However, we can't always avoid driving through them, but we need to be in full armor when we do.

"Understanding the spiritual warfare tactics of the adversary, we should always have blessed salt and other sacramentals with us. Crossing yourself and reciting, even silently, prayers will help to minimize the effects. Stay alert, as the adversary will use confusion, even momentarily, to distract you. Remain, as much as possible, in a state of grace."

Let me add that it should never cause us trepidation.

Where there is faith, there is no fear. Where there is fear, there is not enough faith.

When we have fear, we should name it and bring it to the surface for God -- who deals with evils large or small, in our homes, in our lives, or in a region.

Oh, Orlando! Do I exaggerate in my mind? Do I imagine?