In a recent comment thread on social media someone asked,

"I am curious to hear where shadow work is in scriptures, the gospel, Bible teachings and in churches as to where it is viewed.

What is your perspective?

Any particular scriptures for context?

Thanks"

Here is my reply:

I think the first thing I need to share with you, is how I came to Jesus Christ. So that you can understand what differentiates me from the average churchgoer. Or pastor.

In 1999 I nearly died from a drug overdose. I finally realized I could not keep living the life of crime and drug dealing and drug using that I was living. I wouldn't survive.

I made a decision to change my life in that moment. I knew that I couldn't keep going the way I was going. I didn't believe in God. I had learned about a higher power in AA groups only because I was court ordered to attend them.

I began searching for answers in the library. I studied many different religions and began practicing Zen Buddhist meditation.

This was a beautiful foundational practice that I now know God directly guided me to. It's not a religion, it's a practice of observing the mind and what's going on around us.

This was the foundation for me having an encounter with Jesus Christ that many Christians never have had. They've never had the discipline to sit still long enough to enter the kingdom of God within to the degree that I was able to enter.

I was opposed to Jesus Christ and to the Bible, but in the year 2000, I had a deep sense that God was going to reveal God self to me.

I was suddenly filled with light and my awareness was inverted towards the center of my own being. I fell to my knees, and I automatically exclaimed the words, Jesus Christ.

In this moment, I fully recognize the reality of Jesus Christ as the central axis of all of the universe. The very center of my own being. The very reality and truth of what I am and what all humanity really is at their core.

Please understand that I'm only 21 years old, I'm not a Christian, I don't go to church, and I have not read the New testament.

Suddenly, I'm standing in full-blown immortality, and the recognition of the true significance of the name Jesus Christ. Not as someone outside of myself, but as a cosmic source of all creation.

After this experience, I did start attending a church that I was invited to. As I shared my experience with Christians, some of them were rather rude and arguing with me, and one day one of the group leaders threw a Bible at my feet telling me if it's not in the book then it's not the truth. I told him I don't know what's in the book, but I know what God revealed to me.

I prayed to ask God to help me understand the book, the Bible, but more importantly to fully know God and Jesus Christ and how to communicate this with others.

So before we get into Bible verses which I can certainly do, I want to set myself apart from the average church going Christian because I'm not one of them. I love Christians. I see them as my brothers and sisters. I just don't see them as typically having the same degree of Revelation or understanding of the significance of the Bible. Very few will actually study as well or intensely as I have. Even fewer will put into practice what they've learned. For me, my entire life revolves around leading people into the reality that God showed me was the truth of who people really are in Christ.

So please understand, I don't subscribe to many fundamental church beliefs, practices, and perspectives. I simply follow the Lord. I don't follow men. Unless God asks me to. I also have no need to belong to a group. I'm free from those human affections that lead people astray and have them fall into things like groupthink instead of thinking for themselves or seeking truth for themselves. Before I encountered God I was seeking the truth. I didn't care what the truth was I just wanted the truth. I never stopped pursuing that. I never let the church or any other religious group or spiritual group stop me from pursuing truth. Few people will ever be able to say that that's their motive or their main value. That's why they get snared into groupthink.

Okay, let's talk about shadow work in the Bible.

First let's talk about Shadow Work and what it is and what it isn't.

It isn't demonic. The word demonic, from the Greek word daimón, refers to personifications of various concepts, such as love, darkness, or justice. The root word is daió (to distribute destinies).

The idea of a demon indicates an invisible cause that can determine someone's destiny for better or for worse. It's like an invisible influence, though not necessarily an entity.

The ancients had ways of describing unseen forces just like we do today. They are actually a lot smarter than most people realize, it's just that we mis-translate their words and we misunderstand their understanding.

The shadow could be said to contain things that might be "demonic". In psychology terminology, the shadow represents the unwanted, repressed, disowned, and perhaps unlovable parts of our psyche.

What can live in the shadow or be suppressed or unconscious, can be both positive or negative attributes. Someone who is incapable of loving people, could be said to have love in their shadow. Love is suppressed in this person. Love is locked up in darkness.

Some people have anger locked up in their shadow. They don't believe anger can be expressed. The anger is evil. They're supposed to be a nice person etc. This can be dangerous in that somebody who needs to protect someone or themselves maybe incapable of expressing or using the emotion of anger, even in healthy ways, which can cause them harm. I once worked with a girl who is raped, because she always had to be nice and she couldn't say no. Even though she would have normally felt angry and turned away from the situation, because the anger was repressed, or in the shadow, she was drugged and raped.

So, shadow work is the practice of bringing awareness, or light to these repressed or unconscious areas. When we bring light to them, we bring the capacity to love them and integrate them so they are no longer repressed.

Some scriptures for shadow work

Isaiah 9:2 - The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

The great light is the awareness that we help people bring to the shadow or the land of deep darkness.

Luke 4:18 (Jesus quoting Isaiah 61) - The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free

To proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind. The recovery of site means we get to see what we've been suppressing, what's in the shadow, what's outside of the light of our awareness.

John 1:5 - The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This light, is the light of awareness that is brought to the unconscious conditions within human beings. The shadow is a term describing this invisible area of the human psyche. As long as what's in it remains in darkness, it has very damaging effects. If a person hates love, and the feelings of love are repressed in the shadow, when they see loving people they will project hatred upon it. They hate what they cannot be. They hate what they believe to be dangerous.

A person who has lust in their shadow, may have all kinds of negative projections against sexuality. Maybe they're repressing some sexual assault that happened to them when they were younger. Maybe they were embarrassed or ashamed of their own sexuality as a child because they were made fun of or their parents harshly criticized them or told them something evil about their sexuality. This will cause a person to unconsciously hate certain forms of sexuality, and the reason they hate it is because they hate it within themselves. But they only see what's outward. This is called projection in psychology. This is why the Pharisees hated Jesus. He hung out with so-called "sinners". They believe themselves to be innocent. They were ashamed of their own sins unconsciously, and they projected their hatred of their own sins onto the people that Jesus loved and hung out with. Unfortunately, many modern Christians today are doing the exact same thing.

John 3:19-20 - This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

This verse is a very powerful explanation of the value of shadow work. This fear that their deeds will be exposed, is speaking to the fact that anyone who has suppressed something about themselves, is doing it because they believe they need to do it to survive, and they fear being exposed. This could be secret sins, but it can also be someone who is convinced that showing love is dangerous. People hate this exposure, because they are so deeply and unconsciously committed that they must hide these things about themselves or else they won't survive. These were things they concluded during very painful moments in their life, so they fear experiencing the pain again. This is why I do trauma-informed coaching today. So we can handle this stuff.

Eph 5:11-13 - Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.

The unfruitful works of darkness refers to the consequences of those who have stuff in their shadow. Their works are the byproduct of the unconsciousness. We are too exposed that to set them free. By bringing light to it, it becomes visible. If a person is very judgmental, it may be that they have a fear of being judged somewhere in the shadow. They judge harshly because that's something they've been through and are repeating, or the judgment helps them hide something else. If they stay focused judging others, they get to avoid feeling condemnation for some kind of guilt they hold about something they may have done wrong. There are many more nuances than this I'm just giving some examples. Paul says we're not too take part in these works of darkness. Meaning, we are to call it out when we see it. Only those of us who've done shadow work correctly, have the authority and healthy capability to do such a thing.

Matt 7:5 - You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Another perfect example. Do you think Jesus is really talking about taking a piece of wood out of your eyeball? I don't think so. This is a metaphor referring to the unconscious blind spot, or the shadow that has you seen evil things in your brother. Unless you look into the shadow you'll never notice that there's something hidden within you causing you to see evil in another person.

Matt 6:22-23 - The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Another metaphor. A healthy eye means your vision is not filtered by the contents of the shadow or areas where your awareness doesn't have access. Blind spots. Having unhealthy eyes, means that there are contents in your unconscious (shadow) that are causing you to see evil instead of good. This will cause problems and how great is the darkness Jesus says.

I could go on and on from Genesis to Revelation with scriptures that validate shadow work.

Shadow work is simply the practice of bringing a person into awareness of the unconscious content of their mind, emotions, and even bodily sensations (at least in my version of doing it.)

What I do literally produces miracles in people's lives. Relationships that were doomed to failure are restored. People who are suicidal finally find hope in life. All of these things become possible and require no indoctrination, no belief systems, no religious jargon. I get to see people set free through the power of God everyday.

Just like Jesus healed on the Sabbath and they complained about it. Christians today complain that people are doing healing that doesn't fit into their shallow boxes. They fall into the same trap of the Pharisees. They accuse the good works that people are doing that are sanctioned by God, simply because they don't fit into their religious boxes.

Before you judge anything that you call New age, or any other healing modality, it would be very wise of you to ask yourself a hard question. "Am I falling into the trap of the Pharisee, or am I following Jesus's commands and life?"

Hope this helps 🙏🏻