Parasites are control freaks.
Not only do they live off other creatures, they make them do astonishing things that are usually out of character. An example is a Costa Rican parasitic wasp that terrorizes spiders. A female wasp paralyzes a victim and lays her eggs on the spider’s abdomen. When they hatch, the baby wasps feed on the blood of their host while the spider continues on like nothing’s wrong.
After a while, the tiny wasps inject a chemical that causes the spider to build a web unlike anything it’s ever done before, an ugly but durable one. Then the wasps poison the spider, suck it dry and rest in their new safety net.
Just as controlling is a single-celled parasite that infects rats. It has to be inside a cat’s digestive system to reproduce, but rats instinctively fear cats and run from the smell of their urine. So when the parasite invades a rat, it releases chemicals that make the rodent lose its fear of cat pee. Some rats even become attracted to the odour. All of this ups the chances the rat will be eaten by a cat so the parasite can breed.
Not to be outdone is a tapeworm whose preferred host is the stickleback, a fish related to the seahorse. Though most stickelbacks prefer tepid temperatures, the parasite compels them to seek out very hot water because that’s what the tapeworm needs to grow quickly. Once the fish is out of its natural element, the tapeworm gets so big it actually outweighs the fish itself. And because the parasite can only reproduce in the intestines of fish-eating birds, the tapeworm secretes chemicals that make the fish bolder and more solitary, making it easier prey for the birds needed by the parasite.
In Thailand there’s a fungus that takes over the brains of ants. Those ants normally build nests high in the canopy of trees where they’re safe and close to the light. But the fungus entices them to leave the treetops and live on the more dangerous forest floor. In time, the fungus takes over the body of these “zombie ants”, eating them from the inside out, until they move on to the next hapless victim.
Other parasites are equally dangerous, like a tapeworm that overrides a snail’s natural inclination to stay in the dark then makes it twitch in the light, drawing the attention of enemies. Or a Brazilian wasp that lays eggs in a caterpillar and exercises mind-control on the host so that, when the eggs hatch and larvae move outside the caterpillar’s body, the caterpillar protects them with a silk cover and fends off foes.
Spiritual parasites are like that, be it sin itself or the people who practice it at the expense of others. It’s all about control. “Those dominated by our sinful nature think about sinful things, but those controlled by the Holy Spirit think about what pleases the Spirit,” the Bible says. “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-8)
That says we can control what we choose to think about, to keep the parasites at bay. And that’s vital because sinful thoughts will eat away at us, even as we go about our business as if nothing’s wrong. Eventually they suck us dry spiritually and make us do things completely out of character.
That happens fastest when we lose our fear of sin and its consequences and become attracted to what will ruin us. So we must be careful who we’re closest to. As Paul says, “bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Parasitic people entice us into hot water and sin can get so big it overwhelms us, changes who we are, and makes us so bold and solitary among people of faith that we’re easy pickings.
We get into trouble whenever we’re enticed to lower ourselves into leaving the safety and the Light of faith to live in the world where the spiritual fungus among us eats us from the inside; where sin makes us more vulnerable by overriding our inclination to seek out the Light; and where we can get so hardened that we actually become enablers, stubbornly protecting our sin or those who victimize us.
“But you are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you,” Paul says. “And just as God raised Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit .” (Rom. 8:11) In Greek, the Spirit is called the Paraclete, or Helper. So parasite or Paraclete, the choice is ours. But whatever happens to our spirituality, it’s always an inside job.