|
| The dead will rise!
Hallelujah!
The dead will rise!
The dawning of a new day.
The splitting of the clouds.
The Son, He shines.
The dead are quickened
'Neath the Glorious ray.
Our flesh once dead,
Resurrected with new life and vigor.
We spread this joyous disease,
New life to those long dead.
Arise ye living dead!
Feast upon victory!
Death no longer holds us!
The Son has brought us life!
| | |
| Horror at one time was described to me as the closest thing we can experience here on Earth to what we will experience when we see the Glory of the Almighty God. I know that the idea is kind of different but I only ask that you hear me out on this.
Our reaction of shear terror at the sight of a chainsaw wielding maniac cutting into the flesh of an unsuspecting victim is the closest we can come to feeling the awe and terror that we will experience when we behold Jesus Christ in all of His Glory. The fear of the Lord really is the beginning of wisdom. Many try to skirt the idea of fear by watering it down to mere respect of God. While respect and reverence are a part of fear, they are but the tail end of the experience we call fear. It is naught but our reaction to the terror we face when awed by His Glorious Might and Justice.
The Glory of God's Holiness should invoke terror in our hearts. His Glory is so much other than us that we should pee our pants at the realization that we are not like him and do not deserve to be in His presence. Part of His Holiness is Justice which is a scary thought. Because we do not live up to His standard of Holiness it is perfectly just for God to obliterate us. In Justice He pours out wrath and that is what we deserve. Fire and brimstone in Sodom and Gamorrah. Nations slaughtered whole. Plagues of blood and locusts. Worldwide flooding. People dropping dead for telling a lie. All of these point to the climax of His wrath poured out on Jesus at the Cross. His Justice demands blood. Not just any blood. Man's blood. That is why we should adore and tremble.
While we should shudder at the thought of His wrath, this is not the end of the story. His wrath was poured out on His Son. Jesus took upon Himself the wrath that we justly deserved. Jesus was the perfect propitiation for our sins. Praise Jesus that we don't have to experience that which we should fear the most.
At this point it becomes clear that the terror we feel during horror films help us to understand, at least in part, the terror of meeting our maker. However, sometimes upon closer look we can see serious spiritual truths in such films. We see man's depravity very clearly but what else can we see? What do zombies have to tell us about the gospel? Can they tell us anything at all, other than "Brains!"?
George Romero popularized the zombie genre. His films "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead" were ground breaking in their special effects and portrayal of the undead. Now how do these flesh eating zombies in any way relate to the gospel?
Much like zombies resurrecting through Christ we are brought from our state of spiritual death to abundance of life. In "Dawn of the Dead" Romero emphasizes the fact that the zombies are "the embodiment of human instinct". Their instinct is to follow the routines they knew before they're reanimation and hunt for food even if that means clawing over a mob of their own kind. At all costs they hunt and consume human flesh. We, as the spiritual living dead, also are creatures of instinct. Our natural instinct is towards sin. Our flesh fights and claws it's way to embrace the sin that it so desperately craves. It loves it's sin. As long as we walk this earth we are forced to live as zombies on a diet. Until we we are freed from this curse we are doomed to eat ourselves and crave the flesh. That is our instinct. No matter how ripped up and dismembered we become, our first inclination will be to sin. Do not fret though because victory is at hand. The battle has been won and we will one day overcome the curse of living death. On that day we will be singing praises to our King instead of crying with one voice "Brains"!
| | |
| Evil heart, Evil mind
doing Evil things.
Evil hands, Evil eyes, Evil we...
by Light exposed.
i simply can not hide.
you simply can not hide.
we simply can not hide.
Wretched, twisted me
deceived, vile we...
He will always see.
i simply can not lie.
you simply ask not why.
this simply will not die.
| | |
| The mall is an interesting place. It has stores, eateries, restrooms, lounges, books, clothes, rides, toys, electronics, gadgets, gizmos and other sundry items that are essential to survive. As I walked around the mall today i realized how this is the epicenter of the vane western consumerist mentality.
Buy. Take. Break. Throw it away.
Things we need. Things we don't.
We have stuff simply for the sake of having stuff.
We collect the latest and greatest fashions to look just like everyone else.
Style has become taboo. I admit I still fall prey to the fashion mentality. Keeping up with the Jones's has becom an American obsession. Everyone tries to be different by being on the cutting edge of fashion before the rest of their friends who will eventually all look the same. They do this instead of simply wearing what they like, being creative and inventing their own styles. People let the celebrities do it for them. I'm no different.
Moving on.
Everywhere I go in this mall I see advertisements that scream to me to buy more stuff becasue it is oh so important to be fashionable, because my wife wants it, because I'm not up with the latest and greatest, because I dress like an old person (sometimes I do because it is very comfortable).
This is not who we are.
We have become defined by our stuff.
Why do we let it define us?
Do we really want to fit into this societial box? Is this really who I was created to be?
As a Christian, I know better. That is at the very core of my faith. As a Christian we are Christ here on earth. Now I know that is often hard to grasp but that's the reality of it. Just read Colossians. It will change your life. The idea is that I am one with Christ and He is in me. Living life through me. That is the beautiy of what I beleive.
Being one with Christ means that I am also a joint heir of all things with Him. That is really cool because it frees me to not worry about possessing things that will someday be mine. Granted this is not the real reason you shouldn't worry. After all, all that we need is Him. Especially since everything we spend our whole lives collecting will one day be destroyed forever.
This is the truth of scripture:
" The grass withers and the flower fades,
but the Word of our God will stand forever."
~ Isaiah 40:8
Everything we buy will one day be broken.
Everything we have won't go with our souls into eternity.
Everything we see will be gone.
Fashion, stuff, the things we let define us, all will be gone.
What are we doing to fulfill our souls.?
| | |
| So I wrote somthing the other day and I felt like sharing it:
So I sit here at the parlor glass table and I am all alone. Outside there is a storm, but no rain. How I long for the rain. You can feel the ground cry up to the clouds begging them to pour out just a drop to satisfy. Wet drops sent to nourish the earth.
As I write these words the rain begins. It's as if God were waiting for me to acknowledge my need for Him.
Inside it's the same as outside.
There is a storm brewing.
A fight going on for my soul. My blackened, partched and depraved heart versus God's Spirit that He put in me.
As the storm comes, I long for it to rain. Subtle droplets of Grace, Mercy, Love nourising the Spirit within me. Strengthening me to defeat this sin that still lingers and festers in this body of death.
The water is there.
The problem is that I don't take it in. I don't use it.
It makes it's way to my parched desert heart but it never reaches the dry soil for the umbrella of callous that protects my sacred valley of death.
The callous is being stripped away and I begin to feel the drip drop of rain hitting this desperate heart. Oh that I may be saturated to overflowing!
Pouring out the Love that He has given me in over abundance all over those around me. May streams of rejoicing come from within, flowing from the well that never runs dry.
Open the floodgates of the heavens. Let the waters of Your Glory fall upon me.
| | |
|
