That moment when you realize that nearly all of the people you encounter daily are spiritually insane.

Not just a few, or some, not a vast majority, but nearly all.

Nearly everyone you encounter on this Earth is spiritually insane.

Anyone who denies the existence of God or the Lordship of Jesus, anyone who denies the supremacy of the Ten Commandments or the instruction to love our enemies – that person is spiritually insane.

Knowing that, look around you. How many spiritually sane people do you think you see?

I’m betting none. I’m betting you’ll walk or run or drive or fly a very, very, very long distance before you encounter even one. Even then, for all your travels, you may not encounter even one. Not a one. The spiritually insane have overrun the Earth and their numbers are growing exponentially, even while the numbers of the spiritually sane are dwindling to near extinction.

That is not to say that the spiritually insane cannot have moments of spiritual sanity, any more than the spiritual sane cannot have occasional moments of insanity. We are, none of us, fully perfect, nor are any of us fully imperfect, but while we yet have life and breath, we are degrees of either.

But that doesn’t change the fact that nearly all of the people around us are categorically spiritually insane, though ‘high functioning’, as it were. They can still function on this Earth, earning their daily bread and interacting relatively peacefully with others, despite being varying degrees of spiritually insane, just as those who were once classified by the medical establishment as mentally deranged (for, for instance, feeling desire towards their own sex) have now been de-classified not as “sane” but “high functioning” deranged, having shown the ability to function in society at least sufficiently to feed, clothe, and care for themselves.

And yet, we have seen how those who are high-functioning deranged cause profound disorder within society when their sickness is left to run unchecked.

We know that those deemed mentally unwell are actually spiritually unwell. We know that all (not nearly all, but all) spiritual (a.k.a. mental) illness can be healed – not just “managed” with drugs and therapy, but actually and thoroughly healed, instantaneously. We know that God is the only one who can heal spiritual (a.k.a. mental) illness, but we also know that God will not intervene to heal without permission from the afflicted. He will let the spiritually insane run amok, if that is what they choose to do.

But the instant they signal they want help and are willing to do whatever it takes to be healed, God is there.

Spiritual wellness is within the grasp of everyone. There is not one human alive on this Earth who does not have the ability to choose to be spiritually sane. There are no incurables; there are only those who choose to remain uncured.

I was one such person. Having been high-functioning spiritually insane, I know what fuels the rebellion against God and against being spiritually well: It is a proud soul suffering the pain of sin. The more I rebelled against God (that is, the more I denied God’s existence, denied the Lordship of Jesus, and chose not to treat people as I wanted to be treated), the worse the pain grew; the worse the pain grew, the more I hated the idea of God and everything that went with him, and the more I piled sin upon sin, hoping that by vengeance I could find peace, hoping that by giving into insanity and depravity and forcing it upon others I would find the acceptance I craved, hoping that if I just drank enough every day the pain would at least be dulled: this, sadly, was the best I hoped for, and I see the same now in the spiritually insane that surround me.

Healing from pain wasn’t an expectation, as I wasn’t even aware that I was sick.

It never occurred to me, in the throes of my ever-worsening spiritual illness, that I was sick, as nearly everyone around me was likewise sick.

Sickness, not wellness, is the accepted norm.

Now you know why so many people are able to walk around the Earth spiritually insane: they have no knowledge of their insanity. They think that living in a state of pain and suffering is the inescapable norm, or that they can heal their pain and suffering by booze or drugs or therapy or denial, or by forcing others to accept their sins as an alternative norm. They think by normalizing sin and the pain it brings they can abolish the concept of sin, but this cannot happen, as God has written his laws on our hearts.

Where there is no knowledge of sin, there is no guilt; but we all have knowledge now. We cannot default to the plea of ignorance: We all have knowledge now, having God’s laws engraved on our hearts, even if we deny God’s very existence.

We are surrounded by the spiritually insane. The whole world is an institution for the spiritually insane. They fly the airplanes we sit in, they drive the buses, they commandeer the controls of state and make insane laws that they expect us to bow down to. Even so, it is the job of the spiritually sane to act as caregivers and bring the insane to knowledge of their insanity. We cannot heal them (only God can do that), but we can bring them to knowledge of their sin – not by telling them outright, but by loving them, as God does, and as Jesus showed us how.

Love your enemies. Pray for them. Be kind even in the face of ruthless unkindness. Your kindness will give them pause.

For those who say they love God but are straying – be stern with them and do what you can to bring them back on track.

And for those few who’ve finally had enough of the pain and want more than anything else to be healed, point them to God.