Ha Satan Lost His Job

Ha Satan Lost His Job

So I recently finished reading N.T. Wright's Surprised by Hope and now I've embarked on two other simultaneous reading ventures: Ben Witherington's socio-rhetorical commentary on Revelation and St. Augustine's heavy second work The City Of God. Reading through all of these works has given me a lot to think about, not the least of which is the role the devil plays in the world of the resurrection.

Satan is known by three popular monikers: the accuser, the tempter, and the deceiver. This vilest of all created has been plying his trade since the very fall of man; indeed without his influence, humanity might never have been plunged into the despair and depravity in which it has found itself for the last 6000 or so years. After the beginning, the deceiver convinced ishshah to eat of the forbidden fruit, pursuading her that by that act of rebellion, she could gain knowledge of all things, even as God has all knowledge. This act of deceit had as its accomplice the act of temptation. "If you would only eat of the fruit [temptation], truly you will gain the knowledge of God [deception]." And thus Satan's resume was started. One thing can be said about the evil one: he has more job security than nearly anyone else.

Satan's third role--that of accuser--is based in the imagery of God's heavenly courtroom, in which he petitions before God all our sins, accusing the helpless souls of humanity of all the sins they have ever committed. Alas, how can anyone plead naught but guilty before his accusations, for in our hearts each of us knows that every word he speaks is true (ironically...). The Holy One seated on the judge's bench, if indeed he is wholly righteous, has no choice to bring down his gavel against the accused in holy condemnation. But alas, how can we escape this (albeit just) system of death at the hands of Satan?

"Praise be to the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb who was slain." For the righteous judge has provided a way out of condemnation for us--the perfect lamb, without a single sin or error, who was brutally murdered and punished for the sins we committed. In this way, the sins we are accused of committing (and indeed did commit) by Satan are imputed to Christ, our defense attorney as it were, thereby rendering the insults of the evil one useless before the judge and freeing us to plead with all sincerity "Not Guilty!"

Since, therefore, we have this assurance, let us boldly proclaim that sin (by means of the devil's accusations) no longer has a single shred of power over we who believe, for we are ruled by justice and truth. Although Satan may (and indeed does) still try to tempt and deceive us, we serve another master and are no longer bound to our evil passions and greeds, setting us free to renounce these snares of the devil and giving us leave to expose them by the light of God's grace.

As a result, Satan's days in the courtroom are over, at least for we who can no longer be justly accused of our wrongs. As for the others, well, it is our job (indeed our holy calling) to bring God's light to them. One day, Satan's evil deeds, both those in the courtroom elsewhere, will be exposed and God's verdict will be rendered upon him and all who follow after him: eternal incarceration in the federal pen (the Lake of Fire).

Ha Satan lost His Job

So I recently finished reading N.T. Wright's Surpeised by Hope and now I've embarked on two other simultaneous reading ventures: Ben Witherington's socio-rhetorical commentary on Revelation and St. Augustine's heavy second work The City Of God. Reading through all of these works has given me a lot to think about, not the least of which is the role the devil plays in the world in the world of the resurrection.
Satan is known by three popular monikers: the accuser, the tempter, and the deceiver. This vilest of all created has been plying his trade since the very fall of man; indeed without his influence, humanity might never have been plunged into the despair and depravity in which it has found itself for the last 6000 or so years. After the beginning, the deceiver convinced ishshah to eat of the forbidden fruit, pursuading her that by that act of rebellion, she could gain knowledge of all things, even as God has all knowledge. This act of deceit had as its accomplice the act of temptation. "If you would only eat of the fruit [temptation], truly you will gain the knowledge of God [deception]." And thus Satan's resume was started. One thing can be said about the evil one: he has more job security than nearly anyone else.
Satan's third role--that of accuser--is based in the imagery of God's heavenly courtroom, in which he petitions before God all our sins, accusing the helpless souls of humanity of all the sins they have ever committed. Alas, how can anyone plead naught but guilty before his accusations, for in our hearts each of us knows that every word he speaks is true (ironically...). The Holy One seated on the judge's bench, if indeed he is wholly righteous, has no choice to bring down his gavel against the accused in holy condemnation. But alas, how can we escape this (albeit just) system of death at the hands of Satan?
"Praise be to the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb who was slain." For the righteous judge has provided a way out of condemnation for us--the perfect lamb, without a single sin or error, who was brutally murdered and punished for the sins we committed. In this way, the sins we are accused of committing (and indeed did commit) by Satan are imputed to Christ, our defense attorney as it were, thereby rendering the insults of the evil one useless before the judge and freeing us to plead with all sincerity "Not Guilty!"
Since, therefore, we have this assurance, let us boldly proclaim that sin (by means of the devil's accusations) no longer has a single shred of power over we who believe, for we are ruled by justice and truth. Although Satan may (and indeed does) still try to tempt and deceive us, we serve another master and are no longer bound to our evil passions and greeds, setting us free to renounce these snares of the devil and giving us leave to expose them by the light of God's grace.
As a result, Satan's days in the courtroom are over, at least for we who can no longer be justly accused of our wrongs. As for the others, well, it is our job (indeed our holy calling) to bring God's light to them. One day, Satan's evil deeds, both those in the courtroom elsewhere, will be exposed and God's verdict will be rendered upon him and all who follow after him: eternal incarceration in the federal pen (the Lake of Fire).

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Professional Christian

"Professional Christian". The term seems to quite accurately describe most, if not all, of my existence as a believer in Christ. John Fischer says, "I know what it means to get professional about my sin: it means to hide it. Professional Christianity means I have a reputation to maintain at all cost, even if that leads to dishonesty." I have realized that I, too, hide my sin from everyone, whether my Christian colleague, or my athiest friend, or even God. "I have to press on to find my professional sin. I have hidden it so well for so long that I have to search to discover where I put it." My whole life I have hidden my sins from everyone I've ever known in this way in order to live up to "someone else's standard" without taking the time to realize that that person never had any such expectations of me. I had set them for myself and projected them onto other people. I've become so wrapped up in maintaining a certain image for myself that I have been unable to be honest with others, and unltimately I have been dishonest with myself. All of this dishonesty has led me to be enslaved to expectations no other person, not even God himself, has ever held for me. I have never experienced the freedon to be completely honest about my sin to myself or anyone, and in turn to realize the freedom that Christ truly offers. Oh, to experience that freedom! But at such great cost: It would mean exposing myself to ridicule, shame, rejection, and a loss of reputation. But is it really worth it to hold on to those sins, those faults and failures? Is the value of freedom worth so much more than the value of reputation or image? I don't know if I truly have the faith to give it all up. I dont even know how much faith I have left...

Idolatry in America

So, I just finished perusing approximately 75 or so so-called Christian blogs, and I am amazed (or appalled, I'm not sure which) at just how political our faith has become. I mean, I know that recent events such as the November elections and Ted Haggard's fall from ministry are blogworthy, but nearly 3/4 of the blogs I looked at felt the need to chime in to the political arena, particularly from a Conservative Republican viewpoint. When will Christians wake up and quit polarizing religion to correspond to a particular party? Hell, when will Americans wake up and start caring about the social issues that Christ called us to care about, instead of throwing their voice up at every point of political division? Only when this happens can Christ's Bride truly function as the Kingdom on earth that it was meant to be.

How Do I Tell You?

I found this. I like it...

How do I tell you how I feel about you? How do I tell you that I want to be with you? I'm so afraid...nervous...fearful. Afraid to let you know my true feelings. Nervous that you will look at me differently once you are enlightened about my feelings. Fearful that you will reject me altogether because you don't feel the same way. But I'm dying to tell you anyway. Will you at least listen?
I don't know what it is about you, but I think I like you. I hope you feel the same way. I value the friendship that we share and I will work to continue to build friendship no matter what. It is so refreshing to take time out of my busy life to do nothing with you. I find myself thinking of you at the most random of times, and I wonder if you're thinking about me too. I wonder if you feel the same things for me as I have found myself feeling for you. If you don't feel the same way, that's fine. I can't force you to have feelings for me if you're not interested. But I need your friendship.
I wish I could just tell you these things to your face. I'm just so scared to. I've been rejected--shut down--so many times before. I'm afraid you'll reject me altogether, also. So I ask you, Do you feel the same way about me?

Touching, sad, and quite reflective of life. I can relate.

Where Do I Begin?

This is a really confusing time for me, guys.

First of all, there are all the changes that I've experienced in my life in the past month. It's been harder than I thought it would be for me to change schools. I thought I would adjust well. I mean, I didn't have any problem adjusting to SBU from high school. None at all. But this has been such a hard adjustment for me. I'm still getting used to it. I think part of it is because I didn't really have that many close friends from high school that I was leaving, but I left so many very dear friends when I moved to Springfield. I miss our times together. I miss the stupid things we did. I miss accountability group, chapel ball, airsoft guns, blowdarts, ironing boards, dry ice bombs...you name it. I miss Dr. Reeves' classes so much...you don't even know. And things seemed so much easier in the 'monastery'. My beliefs weren't challenged. Everyone believed the same as me. The biggest 'dispute' I had to contend with was the Calvinism-Arminianism issue. Now I'm being confronted with other worldviews. The majority of my friends are not Christians. That's ok with me, because I do have good Christian friends. And when I left SBU, I wanted to have non-Christian friends. Not living in a dorm has also had a big effect on me. I miss the intimacy, the community, the brotherhood. Now I don't have that.

My personal life has also been affected. I'm still holding onto my beliefs as tightly as I can, and learning to be more flex and not so uncompromising all the time. I'm learning to listen to other peoples' beliefs, even when they differ markedly from my own. I feel like I'm at a crossroads though. I'm afraid that issues in my life are going to pull me to completely separate myself from my faith. And I CAN'T do that. It just feels like there's no compromise. I know there's GOT to be a compromise. But I haven't found it yet. Someday...someday...

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Now that I've depressed you...

I'll try and be positive.

1) Today was a good day. My cell phone was found and returned to me. Now I feel stupid for worrying so much about it yesterday--for making such a big deal of it and being rude and grouchy to some of my friends. Sorry guys...
2) I'm going to Kansas City on Thursday to take mom and grandma to the airport. I'm looking forward to getting away from Springtucky for the day and being able to spend some time with them. I am also going to stop in Bolivar and see Grimm and Scott and Sarah and maybe Nathan on the way back.
3) I'm hoping to hear back from Starbucks tomorrow or Thursday about my job. I REALLY hope I get it. There's only 1 or 2 positions, and I think there were like 10 interviewees. So I have at most a 20% chance. I could use some prayer on this one, guys. I just want to quit Wal-Mart.
4) I don't know about number 4. It's always so shady. Dirty number 4. Maybe next time, if you clean up your act.

Until next time,
M@