What Is It About God?

 The new season of the Netflix series "Lucifer" has aired. In one of the episodes, Sharon Osbourne plays herself and passes along her husband's gratitude to Lucifer for all of his help over the years.

Now I am already just kind of bemused that there is such a show and that it romanticizes Lucifer. The whole point of the show seems to be to portray the fallen angel as any other sexy and appealing bad boy. What really gets me is how many people like this show and don't seem to be bothered that it is about Lucifer. Here are some of the highlights:

• Just like the "hero" of any trendy plot, he has attracted a seemingly accomplished and smart woman who is in love with him to the point that she would cheerfully follow him into Hell.
• Some of the "good" angels (although only Michael and Gabriel are the only holy angels mentioned by name in the Holy Bible) are featured. One of them, 'Amenadiel' plays a major role. He's good but he's not; he's possibly fallen; he has a child with a human; he helps run a bar in Lucifer's absence. At one point, he babysits Hell for Lucifer.  His character is a muddling of truth and clear lines about anything.
• We are prodded into sympathy (not just for the Devil as Mick sings) for a demon named Maze as she deals with her very human-like issues of abandonment and a need for love.
• There is a trained psychologist who is the mother of Amenadiel's child, by the way. So, again, they are portraying smart, educated and, I guess, emotionally stable people as being fine with this whole Lucifer-is-a-good-guy scenario. 
• The psychologist has a conversation with the female demon and reassures her that they will be together eternally in Hell someday. The demon was fretting about losing people in her life.
• The idea of Lucifer being the Devil is often discussed in public - including the police station - with no one being surprised, upset, or even slightly curious about it

It goes on and on. And, of course, God is blasphemed with a giddy kind of confidence. I am not surprised by the people who are involved with the writing and production of the show. I shouldn't wonder about the actors but I can't help myself. I wonder if they are thinking that they are just earning a harmless paycheck or getting some television facetime. I wonder how much a career means to some people - like just how far will they go?

There is no reverence. This show doesn't even pretend not to be openly blasphemous and dismissive of God. I was so surprised when I heard a while back that there was even a "Save Lucifer" (get it?) campaign among fans to keep the show in production.

I was most surprised by some of the actors working on this series. I am guilty of sometimes assuming things about people I don't know. People in the public eye usually have the job of portraying themselves in a certain way and I will often buy into that facade. The first role I ever saw the actor D.B. Woodhouse in was as Melvin Franklin in that miniseries, The Temptations. As Franklin, Woodhouse was a gentle giant with a kind heart; someone you would think of as a church-raised mama's boy. 

What I did not know about this show before deciding to write this post is that it is based on a D.C. Comic character. 

So I come back around to this: What is it about God? Here are some things to think about as we live in a world that claims to be so "evolved" and among people who believe in their own immense intelligence and high morals.

• What is it about God that so many people claim not to believe in Him but constantly attack and blaspheme Him?
• Why is God under so much attack and ridicule but not Buddha or Allah or... name your other gods?
• If man doesn't believe in God, where do they think they get the idea of right and wrong? Was that something that 'evolved' with the ability to walk upright and think logically?
• If there is no God, as so many people believe, why not at least cut Christianity the same slack that is given to Scientology, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.? 

The one thing that always hangs me up with understanding vehement atheists, agnostics, or former Christians is this: why is it so hard to believe in a God who created the universe while it's so easy to believe in ghosts, demons, and other supernatural phenomena?

I once worked with a woman who laughed when I talked about there being a literal unseen spirit world all around us. The same woman loved ghost stories and always dreamed of going on a ghost-hunting trek. She believed in the Ouija board and she talked often about her kitten who was very "sensitive" to things happening in her apartment. 

Did you understand what I just wrote? The woman who laughed at me for my beliefs in a spirit world was literally fascinated with the spirit world.

Can we just stop and consider for a moment how stubbornly illogical people can be? I am now convinced that disbelief in God is not really a matter of logic with most people. Some people would just rather not believe. 

One Bible teacher made the remark that, if you don't believe in the danger, you don't believe in the need for salvation. I wonder if some people aren't just afraid. Afraid that, if they dare believe, they will have to change on their own power; afraid that believing in God means obeying lots of complicated rules and rituals; afraid that they don't have what it takes to be a Christian.

All "it takes" to be a Christian is to admit that you are a sinner in need of salvation. That is it. You don't need your own strength or ability. If you come before Him and ask for salvation, God will take care of the rest.

I think that some people think that they will have time to come to salvation "later" - when they are old or sick or at their rock bottom. The problem is, we don't know if we will live to take our next breath. We don't have to watch for signs of "The End" or for some kind of doomsday signal; Our own personal "end" is coming at some point.

Please pray for those who are still not come under the blood of Jesus. Pray that they won't die in an accident or some fast illness before they have heard you tell them about the Lord.

Peace

--Free

A Must Read: The Entire Works of Flavius Josephus

 Well, I have been reading the most interesting stuff every evening before bed this week. I have heard about this for years but never thought to check it out until recently:

That is Flavius Josephus. Thank you, Wikipedia. I am only just now getting into the first book I found on my library's app. It's a work that is split into several sections. 

That, my friends, is just the contents for one book of twenty. If you are interested in reading it and don't have a library app for your phone, here is a link to the entire set courtesy of Project Gutenberg, bless them. What's nice is that the contents are composed of links so you can jump through the work easier.

Because I only had the barest awareness of Flavius Josephus and his writings, I went over to Got Questions to get a quick rundown before I started reading. Got Questions is fairly reliable for highlighting any warnings about books and other sources of information. I highly recommend using that site or discussing with a trusted fellow Christian before venturing into unknown territory (churches, study sources, etc) of learning. Be discerning, always.

Of course, I am only on the first book (BOOK I. Containing The Interval Of Three Thousand Eight Hundred And Thirty-Three Years. — From The Creation To The Death Of Isaac) and when I started reading, I immediately recognized that he is re-telling the books of the Torah. He starts with "in the beginning" and gives Moses credit for authorship of the original telling. And let me identify Flavius correctly with this from an Amazon book search I did:

Titus Flavius Josephus (37 – c. 100), born Joseph ben Matityahu, was a first-century Romano-Jewish scholar, historian and hagiographer.

And, yeah, I did have to go look up the definition of "hagiographer" (a writer of the lives of the saints). Learn a little something every day...

Now, what is so beautiful about this is that so many people try to downplay the historical reality of most people mentioned in the Bible - like Moses, or Noah, etc - but Flavius is a verified person and he is recounting his Jewish history. This is the way most cultures pass along their history, like griots, sharing stories of their "roots" and genealogy.  

I wish that this is a work that had been included in my high school education. There is so much history given in such detail and it's a much more interesting read than the textbooks my schools used. At the very least, these works should be used by parents in teaching their children. This is, after all, our history - Judeo-Christian history and I was never even aware of its existence until I was in my late 20s.

There is too much content for me to even start discussing this huge work but I did want to share the links. Amazon has copies in all kinds of formats - electronic, audio, paper, etc - and I plan to get at least a paperback copy so that I can make notes in the margins. 

Now I have to get back to reading. Between this and the Bible, I am "booked up" for years.

Peace

--Free

**BOOKS** The Origin of Evil (by Chuck Missler)

 Most people -especially non-Christians - might imagine Bible study to be boring and just a read-and-discuss kind of exercise. I guess that might be true of a lot of Bible studies but not the ones led by Chuck Missler - or any Koinonia Institute teachers.

I recently signed up at Koinonia Institute for Bible classes but have not enrolled in any of the courses yet. Taking a course is a bit of a commitment because, although most are self-paced, there is class participation and quizzes, etc.   I want to wait until my brain is feeling steady before I start. In the meantime, I listen to and watch some of the many books and video courses offered by those from Koinonia. (At the end of this post, I will link to some of the videos and suggest ways to access the books for free through library resources.)

I am currently listening to the audiobook of "The Origin of Evil" by Missler.  It's a 2-hour listen but I like to slow down the playback and backtrack over certain parts. Reading the book would be easier but my online library only has the audiobook format. If you don't have library access, you can get it at Amazon in various formats.

This is the synopsis shown:

The best way for me to tell you why I recommend this book is to share some of the notes I jotted down for further study:

• Gabriel is the messenger angel. He is the announcer of news about the Messiah. (Find & list examples of this.)
• Michael is the warrior angel. At war on behalf of God's people. In Daniel 10, when Gabriel was trying to get a message to the fasting Daniel, something was blocking his way. Michael came to his aid. 
• How important was the 21-day fast Daniel completed? Where else does "21" show up in this scenario?
• Michael and Gabriel are the only 2 (of God's) angels with names and specific jobs. 
• Fallen angels & demons are not the same things. (follow up on this.)
• The war is not between God and Satan; the war is between Satan and us.
• The Gap Theory:
• When were the angels created? and
• When did Satan fall?
• Read about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by Satan after his fast. Pay attention to details:
• Does Satan (for now) have power over the earthly kingdoms? He is (for now) the Prince of this world. Principalities & "rulers of darkness" - think about this. Study what it means: powers, principalities...
• Notice how Jesus responds to every temptation with the Word of God (we should learn to do the same.)
• Satan departed from Jesus "for a season". Study that.

Those were my easy notes. I had some hard ones to do with physics. For example, in making a point, Missler points out that "there is a limit to smallness". He went into the physics of it and I had to consult with the science nerds of the Christian community on Reddit. One user helped tremendously and I think I sort of get the concept now.

What I love about these kinds of studies is that I am reminded that the Bible is an endless well of information - in every area. I think I have learned more about science, biology, astronomy, and philosophy in a year of Bible study than in all other my years alive.

Should you feel inclined to check out more, here are some of the links I promised:

• Koinonia House's YouTube channel 
• The NarrowPathMatt714 YouTube channel's list of KH videos is easier for me to sort through when doing a study on a particular book of the Bible. For example, if I am in Genesis and stop at a particular point, I can find my way back easier here.
• My favorite study from Missler is Learn the Bible in 24 Hours. This one never gets old. I also have the book from Amazon. 

This should get you started. And a word of advice when listening to Missler: his mind moves fast so he talks fast. I always slow down the speed on audiobooks and videos just so I can keep up. On YouTube, you can do this by opening the Settings wheel and selecting Playback Speed. Also, I suggest using captions whenever they are available.

I hope this is useful and God bless.

Peace

--Free