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Dealing with Python: Spirit of Constriction: Strategies for the Threshold #1
On the threshold into your unique calling in life a dark spiritual sentinel waits. Scripture names it ‘Python’—it has a God-given right to be there and test your significant choices. Trying to cast it out of a situation is useless.
Paul encountered it just as the Gospel was transitioning across a major the watershed moment when Christianity moved from Asia to Europe.
This long-awaited book explores the tactics of Python, as well as its agenda. It offers insight into what this spirit hopes to get from you and how you can rectify past mistakes involving this constricting, cunning enemy.
Paul encountered it just as the Gospel was transitioning across a major the watershed moment when Christianity moved from Asia to Europe.
This long-awaited book explores the tactics of Python, as well as its agenda. It offers insight into what this spirit hopes to get from you and how you can rectify past mistakes involving this constricting, cunning enemy.
- GenresChristian
Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2017
16 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Anne Hamilton
57 books181 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
For twenty years, I was the coordinator of an annual camp for children based around The Chronicles of Narnia. That experience shaped a lot of my thinking about how readers enjoy fantasy.
Like CS Lewis, my fantasy story Many-Coloured Realm began with a picture in my mind's eye: a boy without arms floating in a field of stars and faced with an impossible choice.
My non-fiction series beginning with God's Poetry can be traced back to the observation that Lewis comes from the Welsh word for lion. The discovery of name covenants led to the discovery of threshold covenants, as well as many other long-forgotten aspects of our Judeo-Christian heritage.
I love exploring words, mathematics and names. All of these combine in my books, whether they are fiction or non-fiction, or whether they're for adults or children, whether they're academic in tone or primarily devotional. I hope my readers always come away from my books with a renewed delight for the world around us and a child-like wonder for its awesome aspects.
For twenty years, I was the coordinator of an annual camp for children based around The Chronicles of Narnia. That experience shaped a lot of my thinking about how readers enjoy fantasy.
Like CS Lewis, my fantasy story Many-Coloured Realm began with a picture in my mind's eye: a boy without arms floating in a field of stars and faced with an impossible choice.
My non-fiction series beginning with God's Poetry can be traced back to the observation that Lewis comes from the Welsh word for lion. The discovery of name covenants led to the discovery of threshold covenants, as well as many other long-forgotten aspects of our Judeo-Christian heritage.
I love exploring words, mathematics and names. All of these combine in my books, whether they are fiction or non-fiction, or whether they're for adults or children, whether they're academic in tone or primarily devotional. I hope my readers always come away from my books with a renewed delight for the world around us and a child-like wonder for its awesome aspects.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 11, 2024
Have you ever felt that something's blocking you from moving into the calling or destiny that God has for you? If so, there could be a spiritual answer to your problem. Through scripture, analysis of the original Hebrew and Greek, word studies, history and more, Anne Hamilton builds a case that Python is a fallen angel in the class of cherubim and that God has 'conferred on it the legal right to test humanity's choices as we approach thresholds, particularly any threshold into our calling' (p. 141). It tries to squeeze our faith out through tactics such as constriction, silence and ambiguity, divination, intimidation, illness and torment, demand for sacrifice and jealousy. But the good news is that it can be overcome.
Although this isn't a long book (138 pages plus Appendices), there's a lot to unpack. I've heard the author speak on this topic before, but this book helped me understand it at a deeper level. She doesn't claim to have the last word on the topic, but prompts you to think about the spiritual roots of certain issues. The writing style is engaging, with good use of anecdotes to illustrate points. Much of it resonated with me and it was an eye-opener. Some points I'll need to ponder over, but that's okay.
Although this is clearly a book about spiritual warfare, she includes some caveats, such as warnings about taking scriptures out of context and just pronouncing certain statements as if they are somehow magical. We should be seeking God for strategies in overcoming the forces of darkness, rather than just plucking something out of a 'spiritual' bag of tricks. She gives some principles for overcoming the spirit of constriction and invites us to listen for God's tactics.
There are also some interesting examples of movies and literature that portray elements of Python, and a chapter by Arpana Dev Sangamithra on the relationship between Yoga and Python.
The book also has some helpful appendices, including a brief summary, some hypotheses about the spiritual dimension involved in some health issues, and an analysis of C. S. Lewis's novel 'The Silver Chair' and how it might relate to all of this.
This book may challenge your thinking. If you're like me, there will a number of things you haven't heard of before, let alone considered. However, I found it to be enlightening and helpful. I've already started to read the next in the series.
Recommended especially for Christian readers who would like some food for thought regarding blockages to their calling.
Although this isn't a long book (138 pages plus Appendices), there's a lot to unpack. I've heard the author speak on this topic before, but this book helped me understand it at a deeper level. She doesn't claim to have the last word on the topic, but prompts you to think about the spiritual roots of certain issues. The writing style is engaging, with good use of anecdotes to illustrate points. Much of it resonated with me and it was an eye-opener. Some points I'll need to ponder over, but that's okay.
Although this is clearly a book about spiritual warfare, she includes some caveats, such as warnings about taking scriptures out of context and just pronouncing certain statements as if they are somehow magical. We should be seeking God for strategies in overcoming the forces of darkness, rather than just plucking something out of a 'spiritual' bag of tricks. She gives some principles for overcoming the spirit of constriction and invites us to listen for God's tactics.
There are also some interesting examples of movies and literature that portray elements of Python, and a chapter by Arpana Dev Sangamithra on the relationship between Yoga and Python.
The book also has some helpful appendices, including a brief summary, some hypotheses about the spiritual dimension involved in some health issues, and an analysis of C. S. Lewis's novel 'The Silver Chair' and how it might relate to all of this.
This book may challenge your thinking. If you're like me, there will a number of things you haven't heard of before, let alone considered. However, I found it to be enlightening and helpful. I've already started to read the next in the series.
Recommended especially for Christian readers who would like some food for thought regarding blockages to their calling.
October 1, 2020
Reading this book almost directly after reading the Leviathan book could have been a little disappointing if there was too much repetition, but I found that was kept to a minimum and there was plenty of unique content. However, Leviathan: Spirit of Retaliation contains some updates to the schema presented in Dealing with Python, specifically notes on the Janissary spirit and the army spirit, if I recall correctly.
It was not very long after I read the book that I had some flash realizations about patterns in my own life as well as my country at large, and the symbolism that presented itself in my own dreams and those of my family. It was a relief to realize that my family and I had instinctively done some things right, but what I had done right or wrong in ignorance I can now choose to embrace a righteous response with fuller understanding, new knowledge, and more precise language. Although the book contains some beautifully crafted prayers, at this point in time I chose to use my own words to repent—though I may choose to take advantage of them at a later date. This book has its focus on the right place. So many times a problem is magnified to the point of overshadowing the remedy, but in this book, the remedy process was laid out as clearly and directly as possible. It's pretty amazing!
It was not very long after I read the book that I had some flash realizations about patterns in my own life as well as my country at large, and the symbolism that presented itself in my own dreams and those of my family. It was a relief to realize that my family and I had instinctively done some things right, but what I had done right or wrong in ignorance I can now choose to embrace a righteous response with fuller understanding, new knowledge, and more precise language. Although the book contains some beautifully crafted prayers, at this point in time I chose to use my own words to repent—though I may choose to take advantage of them at a later date. This book has its focus on the right place. So many times a problem is magnified to the point of overshadowing the remedy, but in this book, the remedy process was laid out as clearly and directly as possible. It's pretty amazing!
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July 30, 2019This review comes from Mike, one of my work colleagues:
We’ve all been told ‘Jesus is the answer’ right? But have you been told HOW He is the answer?
‘Dealing With Python’ will give you the HOW. Maybe you’ve tried to get ahead and come close to that breakthrough - a job, a relationship, whatever, but it hasn’t materialised. If that’s you then this book is for you. Read, absorb, and apply the knowledge and prayers it provides and learn HOW you can be in position to make that breakthrough at long last.
We’ve all been told ‘Jesus is the answer’ right? But have you been told HOW He is the answer?
‘Dealing With Python’ will give you the HOW. Maybe you’ve tried to get ahead and come close to that breakthrough - a job, a relationship, whatever, but it hasn’t materialised. If that’s you then this book is for you. Read, absorb, and apply the knowledge and prayers it provides and learn HOW you can be in position to make that breakthrough at long last.
November 23, 2020
There's a lot of trivia in this book. A lot! It's interesting stuff. And there's no denying that it contains revelation. It takes us - depending on your perspective - either further in our understanding of the spirit known as Python and how it operates or at least in a new direction.
There are enough anecdotal examples of Pythonic constriction here that you can recognise the spirit in operation. Okay! So what next? What the book lacks in my opinion is clarity and strategy for overcoming and walking in freedom.
Telling me that love is the way you overcome Python is the same as telling someone with a Leviathan problem that they need to be humble. It doesn't really help me move forward. What is love? What is humility? What does it look like in everyday life? How does it apply to my situation?
The essential breakdown of steps and principles that you'd expect before you commit to a method is either not there or very outline-ish. So why have I sat and read 200 pages for information that would barely need a hundred at best? If you are Indian, Asian or African, it may be difficult to relate to a lot of the references to Western paganism and occultism. The demonology is just very different. Ditto for thresholds and name covenants. African and Asian cultures do it differently. You'd have to know what you're looking for based on the principles and markers you identify.
If you have a Python problem, you don't have much choice. It's either Anne Hamilton or broke, because most other authors and books on the subject just talk a lot and show you a lot of images of snakes. They don't really address the question of how Python gains access to come and torment us. Anne does.
Also, I find Anne's theology to be sound. Her understanding of the nature of God and The Lord Jesus resonates with me. But I would like to know what practical steps people took to become free of Python. What scriptural principles and strategies did they employ? What was their journey like? How are they doing now? What did God's intervention look like in their lives? What would such a someone like to tell me? That is the whole point of being the body of Christ.
There are enough anecdotal examples of Pythonic constriction here that you can recognise the spirit in operation. Okay! So what next? What the book lacks in my opinion is clarity and strategy for overcoming and walking in freedom.
Telling me that love is the way you overcome Python is the same as telling someone with a Leviathan problem that they need to be humble. It doesn't really help me move forward. What is love? What is humility? What does it look like in everyday life? How does it apply to my situation?
The essential breakdown of steps and principles that you'd expect before you commit to a method is either not there or very outline-ish. So why have I sat and read 200 pages for information that would barely need a hundred at best? If you are Indian, Asian or African, it may be difficult to relate to a lot of the references to Western paganism and occultism. The demonology is just very different. Ditto for thresholds and name covenants. African and Asian cultures do it differently. You'd have to know what you're looking for based on the principles and markers you identify.
If you have a Python problem, you don't have much choice. It's either Anne Hamilton or broke, because most other authors and books on the subject just talk a lot and show you a lot of images of snakes. They don't really address the question of how Python gains access to come and torment us. Anne does.
Also, I find Anne's theology to be sound. Her understanding of the nature of God and The Lord Jesus resonates with me. But I would like to know what practical steps people took to become free of Python. What scriptural principles and strategies did they employ? What was their journey like? How are they doing now? What did God's intervention look like in their lives? What would such a someone like to tell me? That is the whole point of being the body of Christ.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews