Some facts and trivia are interesting to look into. About forty years ago, I read something very interesting about Shakespeare. A question was posed asking if he had written the Bible. It stated that he died at age 46 and that his name was found in Psalm 46-sort of. If you look at that Psalm in the King James Version (KJV), do the following: Count the first 46 words and see what you get. Now go to the end of the same Psalm and count backwards 46 words and see what you get. Interesting? Yes, but no, he didn’t write the Word of God. I recently re-watched the extended versions of the Hobbit trilogy and the Lord of the Rings series by Peter Jackson from the book series written by J. R.R Tolkien. Amazingly displayed on the screen are journeys and dangerous encounters faced almost daily by Christians with all types of God-sent messages for us all. This movie deals with the expeditions we all take when we set out to seek God. We encounter all types of hardships and our endurance is maxed-out. Hounding us every minute of every day is the enemy of our souls, Satan. The powers of darkness increase all around us with every step we take as we strive to get closer to God, to His ways, and to His glory. Sometimes, in our lives, as in the movie, we are taken aback, or even surprised by unexpected turn of events that attack us, catch us off guard, or just knock us off our feet! My wife and I caught ourselves biting our lips as we saw the grotesque figures that suddenly appeared on the screen. It’s a great thing we don’t see these critters in real life! Our lives are literally plagued by unforeseen demonic activity. Ephesians 2:2 tells us that the prince of the powers of the air, whom we used to follow, works in the children of disobedience. In the movie version, twenty rings were cast with one ring being more powerful than the rest, or having authority over the others. Let’s look at twenty ‘rings’ given to us by God with one Ring ruling over the rest. Did you know that The Fellowship of the Ring is in God’s Word? It is!! Sort of! Philippians 3:10 states: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His Sufferings” (capitalized and underlined by me). That’s the first (1st) Ring and the reason for everything in our lives as well as the foundation for the other rings. God calls us to intimacy with Him through an understanding of His death and resurrection. By accepting Him into our lives, we choose to die to ourselves and to live for Him. Because He rose from the dead, we too will rise with Him after death here on earth! To look at the rings we need to first understand what is going on and what we are talking about. When we take a stand, or decide to follow Christ, we’re to walk with Him all the way, not from a distance. Walking with Him is different from being religious or following a religion. Religion is man-made and entails man’s efforts to please God on our terms. Walking with God entails accepting the way (to God) He already made for us on His terms. He calls us to join Him in the fellowship of His sufferings for the sake of the gospel. He suffered for our sakes-to save us from the powers of darkness. He suffered to redeem us from the curse and darkness of sin. Sin separates us from God and His Holiness. God dwells in absolute holiness. There is no sin in Heaven; no form of evil whatsoever. 2 Timothy 3:12 reads: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution for the sake of the gospel.” God invites us to join Him in this fellowship along with our brothers and sisters throughout the world enduring sufferings for the same cause. If, for some reason, you thought there must be something wrong with your life because surely you should not be suffering as a Christian, you’ve been misled. Perhaps you’ve thought that being stuck at home and being required to wear a mask, etc. is more than enough suffering for Christ, you’re missing the point. To reign with God, we have to suffer with Him. Yes, demonic attacks will come and all hell with break loose upon you, but know that you’re not alone! God is always right by your side, and you have a family in the billions upholding you before the throne room of God! Worldwide, there are Christians persecuted, tortured, being starved and abused because they identify themselves with Christ. “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings” 1Corinthians 4:9)
To Be Continued!
God Bless,
Sam