In the land of the “free” there are no kings. Therefore no kingdoms either. There are rumors of a king. A “King of kings” they say. But as of now, that’s all they are. Rumors. When you’re young they teach you kingdoms were a thing of the past never to return, and to say good riddance to those who ruled.So what do we have instead? Who will give us meaning?
Love the personal salvation story Daniel. Your mention of the “gods” reminded
Me of two books I recently read. One is “THE UNSEEN REALM” by Dr. Michael S. Heiser and the other is “RETURN OF THE GODS” by Jonathan Cahn. Both deals with false gods both in an historical sense as well as currently. Fascinating. You and @Derek Petty would really like them. Look forward to more, Brother.
Excellent post. It’s a blessing that we live in a time when the demonic has been made manifest in our world. Think how easy it would have been to fall into these snares fifty years ago and how hard it would be to recognize them.
Thank you for reading! I've been leaning a lot over the past few years, mostly form Orthodox Christians, about the lingering presence of false gods. This was sort of me working out what what I've learned in a story form. I hope we as a society get much better at recognizing demonic forces for what they are.
Daniel, this was excellent. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but your opening reminded me of something that was told me by a dearly loved Greco-Roman History professor in undergrad: that many (if not most) of the ruling class in Rome didn’t have “faith” in the pagan gods, didn’t necessarily even believe that they were real “gods” but still went through the motions of the state religion because they did believe that doing so would sercure the prosperity of the state. They were incredibly scrupulous in their observances, starting a ritual over from the beginning if even one word was pronounced incorrectly.
I also loved the way the narrator switched from using his own words to using the words of scripture - isn’t this such a goal and benefit of familiarity with the scriptures, that our own internal monologue becomes shaped by it and modeled on it? “It is no longer I who [speak] but Christ who [speaks] in me.”
I’ll go ahead and admit, it was not intentional to draw attention to even the Romans not really believing in their devout rituals. But now that you mention it, that is ringing some bells. I think I remember learning about that maybe on the Lord of Spirits podcast. Not sure if you’ve heard of that but I highly recommend it.
And yes!! Switching to scripture flowed so naturally because like you said, that‘s the goal.Again, thank you for reading and for your encouraging words. I greatly appreciate it.
Love the personal salvation story Daniel. Your mention of the “gods” reminded
Me of two books I recently read. One is “THE UNSEEN REALM” by Dr. Michael S. Heiser and the other is “RETURN OF THE GODS” by Jonathan Cahn. Both deals with false gods both in an historical sense as well as currently. Fascinating. You and @Derek Petty would really like them. Look forward to more, Brother.
Thank you for reading, for the encouragement and for the book recommendations. I'll add those to my long list of books to read!
Excellent post. It’s a blessing that we live in a time when the demonic has been made manifest in our world. Think how easy it would have been to fall into these snares fifty years ago and how hard it would be to recognize them.
Thank you for reading! I've been leaning a lot over the past few years, mostly form Orthodox Christians, about the lingering presence of false gods. This was sort of me working out what what I've learned in a story form. I hope we as a society get much better at recognizing demonic forces for what they are.
Daniel, this was excellent. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but your opening reminded me of something that was told me by a dearly loved Greco-Roman History professor in undergrad: that many (if not most) of the ruling class in Rome didn’t have “faith” in the pagan gods, didn’t necessarily even believe that they were real “gods” but still went through the motions of the state religion because they did believe that doing so would sercure the prosperity of the state. They were incredibly scrupulous in their observances, starting a ritual over from the beginning if even one word was pronounced incorrectly.
I also loved the way the narrator switched from using his own words to using the words of scripture - isn’t this such a goal and benefit of familiarity with the scriptures, that our own internal monologue becomes shaped by it and modeled on it? “It is no longer I who [speak] but Christ who [speaks] in me.”
Thank you so much for reading, Sara!
I’ll go ahead and admit, it was not intentional to draw attention to even the Romans not really believing in their devout rituals. But now that you mention it, that is ringing some bells. I think I remember learning about that maybe on the Lord of Spirits podcast. Not sure if you’ve heard of that but I highly recommend it.
And yes!! Switching to scripture flowed so naturally because like you said, that‘s the goal.Again, thank you for reading and for your encouraging words. I greatly appreciate it.