Sherlock and The "East Wind"

When I watch TV (which is rare), I like documentaries most. There are some fictional shows that I enjoy and I noticed that most of those are British mystery types. Agatha Christie (of "Ten Little Niggers" fame) created two of my favorite sleuths: Marple and Poirot and they are portrayed well by BBC productions. My all-time favorite detective though has to be Sherlock Holmes.

I grew up reading Sherlock stories, then I started finding the old movies on late-night television. Now with the internet and streaming services, I can find Sherlock anywhere. One of the best shows, in my opinion, was one that played as a short serial on one of the streaming services. I cannot at this moment remember the title but I will update later. It was featured a fictional relationship between Dr. Joseph Bell (who, along with another person I can't think of just now, helped inspire the Holmes character) and an apprentice. I hate botched brain for mangling this memory

My least favorite portrayal of Holmes was done by Robert Downey Jr. He's a good actor but he always seems to be playing some version of himself. It didn't work for me. As a kid, I really liked Jeremy Brett as Holmes, but I have to admit that the best and most entertaining Holmes is played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the 2010-2017 series "Sherlock" (currently on Netflix).  And it's not just because of his portrayal but because of the supporting cast. Watson is awesome and I swear I knew someone who reminds me of the Mycroft character. I liked that Mary Watson was prominently featured but I didn't like the part that centered around her character's run-in with an old partner. 

So, I say all this to reinforce how much I love the character of Sherlock Holmes and that I can watch and re-watch the 2017 version with Cumberbatch and crew. As a matter of fact, that's what I did just this past week when I was down sick for a couple of days.

Mycroft says something that I remember reading or hearing in past Sherlock books and movies. The quote is "There is an East wind coming, Sherlock." Now... if you have NOT seen the show (currently on Netflix)...

SPOILER ALERT

Here are a couple of clips featuring the quote mentioned:

Now, Mycroft says more than once in different places in this particular series that there is "an East wind coming". And each time I heard it, I thought, "How poetic!" But I didn't catch the original source - until I was doing my reading this morning in Job.

“The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.” (Job 27:21)

Now I know. 

So I started thinking how much of the Bible is stolen by pop culture - much of which is so anti-God that it's horrifying. I have read the Bible and I missed this "East wind" part. I bet there are a lot of people who don't realize how pop culture producers use the Bible. And I got to thinking. How can we see the Bible and Bible concepts portrayed in Pop Culture (P.C.)?

• Wikipedia, of course, has a long list of the many ways we see the Bible in various ways in P.C.
• This shows some of the ways that biblical concepts are misconstrued.
• LED Studios on YouTube does thought-provoking pieces on how many movies and shows (especially those featuring "superheroes" and comic-book characters) steal and twist biblical concepts. This is one playlist that covers a lot of material. (Side note here: I highly disapprove of the fact that LED Studios hide their SDA denomination. This is a prevalent deception among the SDA. I have communicated with LED about this. Still, I wanted to include the playlist. Just be aware of where the information is coming from and use discernment.)
• I don't need to point out how many shows like "The Simpsons", "Family Guy", and others use characters to make fun of Bible believers. I don't mind that they mock us, but they should be afraid of mocking God.

Those are just some examples.

What is so crazy to me is that when I was looking for information about the Bible in P.C., a lot of sources regarded as positive the use of Scripture verses in otherwise morally questionable music and art. It's as if there is a mention of or quotes from Scripture, then that's a good thing - even if the rest of the song is about something that's not condoned by the Word of God.

I find the show "Lucifer" astonishingly blasphemous. 

After watching the YouTube videos about superheroes, this graphic might strike you a different kind of way:

I just wanted to rant a little, I guess. That I only just realized about the "East wind" quote is a lesson to me. I don't read my Bible enough! LOL

Peace

--Free

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

Everyday Demonics

I occasionally listen to a podcast called Cults. The first time I heard of it was via listening to a podcast about the members of the Heaven's Gate cult. Almost every time I listen to one of the podcasts, I end up praying for anyone who might fall victim to such dangerous foolishness. Sometimes though, I just despair.

Yesterday, via the Cults podcast, I heard for the first time about The Church of Euthanasia. I'm serious. By the time I got halfway through the podcast, I was convinced that there truly is what I call everyday demonic activity.

If Satan's intent is to destroy men by inverting everything about God's love for us, then he totally has won with the people involved in this so-called "church". If what was said in this podcast about the members of this cult, this is how Satan manifests in them:

• They are not just opposed to God's plan of procreation but are also gleefully in favor of such things as cannibalism, sodomy, abortion, and suicide. The cannibalism is rationalized by saying that the eating of already-dead people (such as accident victims) is better than the eating of animals and that the human flesh of the dead is just going to waste. They advocate sodomy as a way to have sex without fear of procreation. Suicide and abortion is their idea of ways to stop overpopulation.
• The founder of the "church" claims to have first become aware of the "problem" of humanity as a ten-year-old child when he began to think of humans as just meat. He (or she) also had a dream-contact with what I believe is a demon. Whatever it was, it gave Korda the ideas for the basis of what later became this "church".
• One of the quotes from Korda leaped out at me when I heard the Crowley phrase of "do what thy wilt". How unoriginally demonic is that?
• Korda has a lot of identity confusion. Korda was born a male but identifies as a female, so I'm not even sure how to refer to the person.
• That Korda who is so opposed to religion and organized society, I find it odd that he/she has a "church" that is organized with titles such as reverend, bishop, sister, brother, etc., and also designed a symbol that he/she wants to be recognized the way the Christian cross is.

I seriously want to tell anyone who doesn't believe in the existence of Satan and other demons to explain Korda. Explain such vehement resistance to a God that atheists claim doesn't exist. 

By the way, I haven't finished listening to the podcast. It's so disturbing that I'm not sure that I will complete it. One part of me wants to pray for Korda while the other part of me is just disgusted. More than anything, I pray that the Lord returns and end all this nonsense. In the meantime, I am praying for Korda and the people who are involved in that cult.

Peace

--Free