It Has To Be Dark Before We Can See
Just like the sun needed to set and the light needed to fade before Adam could see the glories of the heavens opened up before him, those who want to know spiritual light must first know spiritual darkness. To know the hand of comfort we need to know the pain of sorrow. To know the bright light of God’s blessing we must first know the dark shadow of our own depravity. For it is only when we admit who we truly are that God reveals what he truly loves to do, only when we admit ourselves to be lost that reveals himself as the one who saves.
A skillful poet once imagined Adam’s first evening in the Garden of Eden. He described the scene as Adam began to notice that the sun was sinking toward the horizon, that the shadows were growing long, that the light was getting dim. The first day was becoming the first night and Adam didn’t know what to expect—he had only ever known daylight. The poet imagined that as evening turned to dusk and as dusk faded into twilight, Adam might have assumed that darkness would pull a black veil across all the wonders of creation.
But Adam should not have been concerned. Here is what the poet says:
Yet ’neath a curtain of translucent dew,
Bathed in the rays of the great setting Flame,
Hesperus [Venus] with the Host of Heaven came,
And lo! Creation widened on Man’s view.
When the light faded and the skies went dark, Adam learned that darkness did not actually conceal his view of creation but revealed it all the more because it unveiled the beauty of the night sky.
-
Testament: The Story of Moses
The series purports to offer a history of Moses, but it’s a history lacking in scholarly rigor because it grants any source that mentions Moses equal authority regardless of authorship or date of composition.People unfamiliar with the Bible will finish this series confused about who the Moses of Scripture was, but Christians firm in the faith might be interested in watching the show to learn about Jewish and Islamic teachings.
The Unexpected popularity of The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins’ series about the life of Jesus, sparked the entertainment industry’s interest, causing it to pay more attention to faith-based projects over the last few years. Movies and series with religious overtones have improved in quality, and many are finding bigger audiences. But Netflix’s new docudrama Testament: The Story of Moses shows what can happen when religious entertainment is designed for the widest possible audience.
The miniseries comprises three 80-minute episodes. The first episode, “The Prophet,” begins with Moses’ life as a prince in Egypt and takes him into the land of Midian where he fled after killing an Egyptian taskmaster. “The Plagues” recounts Moses’ attempts to convince Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go and the various calamities God unleashed on the stiff-necked ruler. The third episode, “The Promised Land,” feels misnamed, considering Moses never makes it to Canaan. The episode begins with the Israelites’ crossing of the Red Sea and culminates with Moses’ giving of the Ten Commandments.
Read More
Related Posts: -
Dangerous Families
I know we like to think that political engagement, social movements, big seeker-sensitive churches, and things like that will win the day. But they won’t! Satan is not attacking families as hard as he is for no reason. Godly, Christ-honoring, fruitful, and multiplying families are dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. If we want to win this battle, then we need to start waging our war accordingly.
INTRODUCTION
I normally avoid disclaimers, but if you understand what I am saying in this article, then you will not only understand almost everything you need to know about spiritual warfare, why this country is the way it is, and how Christians can wage war against it, but you will also come to see how the antidote is dangerous families.
Here is the argument.
THE ARGUMENT FOR DANGEROUS FAMILIES
POINT 1: Satan is the enemy of God. He hates the things God loves. He tries to pervert what God calls good. And he attacks the things God makes.
POINT 2: As a matter of warfare, Satan has focused his attack on the most precious thing God ever designed, that which God has called VERY GOOD (See Genesis 1:26-31)
POINT 3: The thing God called VERY GOOD, is a male and female, human, sexually healthy, covenantally faithful, child producing, monogomas marriage. Or to say that in a different way, a family.
POINT 4: God installed this VERY GOOD family as the basis for, and the most central unit, of all society (see Genesis 1:28)
POINT 5: Knowing this, one can reasonably assume that Satan’s most ferocious attacks, and the heart of all spiritual warfare, will be leveled against the family.
THEREFORE: The way we fight back is by raising up the kind of families that are oriented back toward’s God VERY GOOD vision, that threatens Satan, thwart his plans, resist his temptations, and will eventually topple his kingdom.
But, before we get into that, let us look at how Satan is waging an all-out war on the family. Below, I list a litany (although not an exhaustive list) of examples.
MODERN EXAMPLES OF SATAN’S ATTACK ON FAMILY:
This list could be pages upon pages long. But, here are some obvious examples of how Satan is attempting to destroy the family, which means destroying godliness, men, women, marriage, and children.
Gender confusion, perverted (woke) cartoons, divorce, sodomy, adultery, pornography, lesbianism, fornication, godless schools, cross-dressing, effeminate men, passive husbands, domineering women, pronoun confusion, feminism, transgenderism, hook up culture, woke college campuses, birth control, abortions, sex-ed curriculums, intersectionality, government propagated sexual perversion, subsidizing the murder of babies, etc.
HOW DO FAMILIES FIGHT THESE PERVERSIONS??
The reason we learn about spiritual warfare is not to sit down in victimhood, but to rise up as victors. This is impossible apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ, but for the Christian, spiritual warfare does not end there. Like soldiers, we do not put on the uniform of Christ and think the battle is magically over. There is training, education, fighting, deploying, war-waging, raising up new soldiers, and the eventual triumph after a long and hard-fought campaign.
Below is another non-exhaustive list of activities we can be doing, as soldiers of Christ, to successfully wage war against the serpent. (P.S. it has everything to do with the recovery of the family)
Read the Bible and submit to its truth, pray continually, commit to a local church, get baptized, take communion weekly, love Jesus, and be discipled. Then, while you wait on Jesus to return, guard your virginity, date with purity, protect your eyes and your heart from Satanic perversions, get married to a godly believer, and be faithful to your spouse physically, mentally, and emotionally. Have frequent godly sex so that you are not tempted, make lots of babies, raise them up in the Lord, and refuse to send them to our perverted public schools. Instead, disciple them to grow up and have godly, fruitful, and multiplying families, teach them to worship Jesus fiercely, and to storm the gates of hell advancing Jesus’ Kingdom. If you cannot have children, adopt children, help others raise their children, and be the kind of member of your church that cheers for and supports godly families. If you have kids, do not forget to teach them how to date, how to marry, and how to raise children the same convictions, so that they can make for you an army of grandbabies, that you will assist in preparing for the war.
If you are fortunate enough to live to see your grandchildren marry, then you will get to encourage another generation to take up the blessing of godly, fruitful, and multiplying family life, and you will get to die with an astounding heritage and legacy.
WHY WILL THIS KIND OF FAMILY WARFARE WORK?
Because every Satanic attack listed above is meant to pervert the family. Satan has exhausted all of his energy and effort to pervert boys, soil girls, poison marriages, and stop women from having children. In fact, I believe this is the very reason Satan attacks women as ferociously as he does, since it is the woman who will carry the next generation of serpent crushing Christian children in her womb. If he can cause a society to be confused about what a woman is, then the battle seems nigh to its conclusion.
But, this is exactly the point we have to stand up and fight with dangerous, Satan threatening, families! Because, we will certainly win if we just get in the battle and stop standing on the sidelines in confusion! We will win if we engage as God intended!
Read More -
Praise, The Doxology’s Descant
If God never blessed us again, we could continue to praise Him for Who He is – God the Creator of heaven and earth, the Everlasting One, God Almighty, or Father of lights. His character remains constant and always worthy of praise – holy, righteous, just, loving, patient, and merciful.
The Scriptures abound with plaudits of praise to God. Praise is the essence of worship. There can be no worship service without praise. Whenever any people of God stray from Him, their patterns of worship change. No longer is He the object of worship or adoration; rather they begin to worship, whether formally or informally, false gods. The false gods could be idols carved in wood or stone or they could be ideologies or philosophies of life carved with words. The result is God is no longer recognized for Who He is or what He does.
Throughout Church history, there have been doxologies (hymns of praise to God) written to help Christians verbalize their praises to God in song. Best known to us is a translation of one written in the sixteenth century by Louis Bourgeois, “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” or “Old 100th.” Louis Bourgeois was the master of choristers in Geneva and was primarily responsible for the musical portions in the Geneva Psalter. My French hymnal is replete with hymns attributed to him.
Another well-known or favorite doxology is, “All Creatures of Our God and King.” This doxology was written in the twelfth century by Francis of Assisi, founder of the Order of Little brothers or Friars Minor. It is a beautiful example of a call to all creation, animate and inanimate, to render praise and glory to God. If the “Hallelujah Chorus” causes us to rise to our feet, “All Creatures of Our God and King” ought to cause us to lift both head and hands in glory to God the Creator, the Eternal One. It is truly worthy of memorization, freeing us from looking down at our hymnbooks in order to look up to our God!
Thanksgiving is the time of year when thoughts turn to considering our many blessings and expressing thankfulness to God for His bounteous acts of mercy and loving-kindness. Surely a thankless heart is a cold, insensitive heart. It is a heart that barely beats and where the pulse of spiritual life is undetected. Each day affords each and every one of us many opportunities to be thankful to God, for His blessings are innumerable. Praise encompasses thanksgiving, but thanksgiving is just a portion of praise. Thanksgiving praises God for what He does or gives. Praise goes beyond focusing on the acts of God to spotlighting His person and His character.
If God never blessed us again, we could continue to praise Him for Who He is – God the Creator of heaven and earth, the Everlasting One, God Almighty, or Father of lights. His character remains constant and always worthy of praise – holy, righteous, just, loving, patient, and merciful.
This Thanksgiving Day many will know how to offer thanks, even if it is only for the table spread before them or for the family that is gathered together that day. However, as Christians, let’s not just tally our thanks nor tarry at thanksgiving. Let’s go beyond what the world can do because we know Him and Who He is. Let’s pursue praise and devote our doxologies of praise to Him who is worthy of worship.
From time to time, we enjoy either singing or hearing a hymn with a descant. The descant is a melody or counterpoint sung above the simple melody, usually by sopranos. As the descant rises distinctively above the simple melody, so praise rises above simple thanksgiving.
“Now Thank We All Our God” may be a favorite American Thanksgiving hymn, but “Great is the Lord and Greatly to be Praised” is an age-old admonition. Let’s not waste the centuries-proven talents of a Louis Bourgeois or a Francis of Assisi, as well as others like them. Let’s join them and centuries of Christians in praising God for Who He is with our doxologies of praise! May God be pleased as we all – soprano, alto, tenor, and bass – join together singing the indelible descant of praise.
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
Related Posts:
