Rev. 12:1 LOOKING INTO HEAVEN
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven" (Rev. 12:1)
When people say positive things about something I've written in Japanese, there's always a part of me that holds back, says they're just being nice. Especially because I haven't been to Japanese school to know what good writing is, haven't had any instruction or seen examples of poor writing. I suppose in one sense you might say that's a good thing: the only "standard" I've actually known of writing in Japanese is from reading books; and if you think about it, people that write well, since these are the professional authors I would be reading, wouldn't be the students in the classroom who'd be getting D's and C's...even the B students. The regular Japanese writing practice for me has been in the company of, if you think about it in this way, the A- to A+ students!
Scripture tells us to set our minds in the heavenlies, on things that are good, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report," to study and practice what we want to be instead of thinking about what we need to avoid, (altho' that may be handy to know)!
All men look UP for great wonder in heaven; something in us lets us know we will not find it here on earth. We look HIGHer, do not say let us find the BEST among the AVERAGE.
Rev. 12:3 MARVELS TODAY
"And there appeared another wonder in heaven;" (Rev. 12:3)
...Ron Sisco sounded a note of caution about the Hero Comics. People don't realize how slowly and gradually those values seep into the unconscious mind. Be careful, he said. Those characters champion Satanic, unbiblical qualities, and Christians, unaware of this, are adopting them.
So true. To want to be strong, fast, first, on top. God never told us to aspire those "I WILL" things Isaiah 14 shows were the downfall of the archangel Lucifer, another "Superhero" who flew to his own demise and took a third of the angels with him. And don't most of those characters don body suits -- at least the female ones do -- unconsciously emphasizing the physical over the spiritual, methinks.
And do tell me, which superhero encourages us to seek after humility? meekness? self-sacrifice? purity? joy in suffering? gratitude? powerful prayer? giving? Without realizing it, we have a whole slough of "Superheroes", and none of them point towards those things we need to be working towards! At best, they hint at it as a license to parade the rest.
I am so glad Ron Sisco said what he did...and it applies to not just Superheroes, but "idols" all across the board.
I personally think it would gladden God's heart to see a man that would quietly tend his garden but be quick to give a lift to the airport over an hour away or to help at a moment's notice in a friend's move or an emergency visit to the hospital or nursing home (or the mission field, for that matter); to sound a rallying cry for the love of God. We need more heroes like THAT, I think, today!
* * *
Okay, so no one reads those comics anymore. But keep reading. The principle is similar in that even those who claim to be born again are battered down by watching worldly values over and over that they begin to think they are normal.
* * *
I remember a movie about a young writer, struggling in his work, who befriends an elderly widow. They succeed in having all her friends believe he is her grandson. I realized, after the movie was over, it had been framed to have the viewer hoping they would not be found out; siding against the true grandson who is lied to his face and kicked out of the room. The writer's good looks, sharp mind, and loving ways are valued; dismissing immorality (his sleeping with his girlfriend is portrayed as virtue of a balanced person, of course) or lying (truth, after all, is relative, is it not?)
When, at the end of the movie, he leaves the scene of his now-deceased "grandmother's" bedside; the intended aim was to have the viewer feeling it had been a "beautiful movie of watching someone make another person's last few years of life full of joy and full of warmth".
The great red dragon does not tell you it had been a deceptive illusion of a handsome young smooth talker getting a grandson turned away from his grandmother and letting her sit in a lie, no matter how good it felt, until she died, then walked away without telling her friends what he'd done. It helped him (side story) do his writing, after all -- she'd given him ideas so he could write a work, which he left on her headstand, which would no doubt, be discovered later, and his real name was on those papers, not the grandson's name.)
I've had to think long and hard about this one, but isn't it saying, in the long run, if you're going to be happy, you gotta take matters into your own hands (sin if you must) -- that is, again, it's an "I WILL" approach to life instead of taking what God hands me, isn't it?
