My thoughts on Twilight

Months and months ago before the Twilight craze became full blown, I had a friend who tried and tried to persuade me into reading it. I always refused, always. And I told her not to bring the books into my home to read herself. This is why:

The definition of a vampire is a blood-sucking ghost; a soul of a dead person superstitiously believed to come from the grave and wander about by night sucking the blood of persons asleep, thus causing their death. The persons who turn vampires are generally wizards, witches, suicides, and persons who have come to a violent end.

But, somehow the majority of christians, still see this as an okay read? I just don’t get it.
Have we forgotten the spiritual consequences to opening such doors? Many argue that is it just a good love story. That Edward is a good vampire…. I don’t think that any vampire can by definition be considered good.

2 Corinthians 11:14 says that even Satan disguises himself as an angels of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

This is part of an article I found on the internet that I believe speaks much truth concerning how Satan deceives us into thinking things that are not of God are okay.

If you could see and meet the devil face to face, what would he look like? He is commonly depicted as a cartoon character in a red suit with a pitchfork or as a hideous-looking ghoul.

But neither of these characterizations is anywhere close to the truth.

In reality, if you were to meet the devil, you would find him attractive, engaging and persuasive. Though he is really the prince of darkness, Satan successfully presents himself as "an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Satan is a master of misrepresentation. He is the world's greatest advertiser, packaging his product so it seems attractive and appealing while in reality it is deathly poisonous. He wants his clients to see him as good, beneficent and trustworthy. He wants his product -sin and rejection of God-to appear enticing and inviting, and he is usually quite successful.
Satan never presents sin as it really is. He never presents both sides of the story, pro and con. He presents only what he wants us to see, something that appears fun and exciting. He wants us to focus on pleasure, on what feels or looks good at the moment. He wants long-term consequences to be the last thing on our minds while he entices us to sin.

Although I haven’t read the books or watched the movies…. This is what I understand. That Bella desires to become a vampire so she can be with Edward. Evil never entices us and then desires to transform to good. It always entices us and desires to turn us into evil.
I hope this has opened the eyes of at least one person who is caught up in whole Twilight craze and that you will at least pray about the doors that you are possibly opening up to satan and his servants.

Last week a girl who we know lost her mother in a tragic car accident. Her mother was only 56 years old. Fifty-six! My heart breaks for the pain she must be suffering and it only makes me wonder how I might react to such a loss.

Several weeks ago in our Beth Moore study she taught on fear. Tears trickled down my cheeks almost the entire lesson. Why are we so easily ensnared by fear? If we're not careful it consumes us and can hold us back from everything that God has for us. Human nature is to self protect, to do whatever it takes to keep from feeling pain or hurt. But, what often happens is that we protect ourselves right out of the calling that God has placed on our life.

In Esther, chapter 4, Mordecai learns of the King's edict that all Jews be destroyed, annihilated on a certain date. Can you imagine someone posting a sign that said, "on this date you shall DIE!" Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and wailed loudly and bitterly at the gate which he had previously worked. Esther sent her eunuch to find out what was bothering her uncle and he instructed Hathach to explain to her the edict and urge her to go into the King's presence and plead for mercy. This is where is gets interesting...Esther's response.

Esther 4: 11

"All the king's officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king."

And Mordecai replies in Vs. 13

"Do not think that because YOU are in the king's house YOU alone of all the Jews will escape. For if YOU remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but YOU and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that YOU have come to a royal position for such a time as this?

I don't know about you but if I was Esther I would have been quaking in my persian sandals! :-) Can you imagine?? Your husband hasn't wanted to be in your presence in THIRTY DAYS! Thirty days!!! I think that would give me reason to believe that I had offended him in some way or that he was tired of me with all those concubines he so freely had access to. And Mordecai wanted her to go into the King's presence unsummoned. She would be risking her life.

Esther made a choice though...Esther 4:16

"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me...... When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.

The power of her choice impacted her destiny. Esther overcame herself in order to do what God had created her and positioned her to do. So, GET OVER YOURSELF! Don't be an obstacle to yourself! No one is born brave. But, you might very well be one brave decision away from the path of your destiny.

So Esther faced the fear. How easy it would have been to be in denial about the situation. She could have argued that there was nothing she could do and that she would take her chances on whether anyone would figure out she was a Jew. But she was courageous! There is no denial in courage. Most definitely deny the reality's victory over you, but not the situation. Can you imagine living without fear? Is that a concept we can even grasp? Do you know that the most frequent command in the Bible is: Don't be afraid? Fill in this blank.

If ( this happens ), then ( I'll )... for example.

If one of my children dies at an early age, then I couldn't go on living.

What is your greatest fear? and how do you see yourself reacting if it became a reality? The truth, whether we want to believe it or not, is that should that which you fear most happens... Your God is still faithful! I'll be honest and say that the thought of losing one of my kids or me being taken from my kids terrified me before I heard Beth Moore teach on this. I could lay in bed at night and imagine all the scenerios of what could happen and how I could go on living if the thing I feared worst might come to past. I am a firm believer in praying against those things that we fear: "Lord please spare me from such tragedy." But, if that cup doesn't pass me by then my God is still God. This has completely FREED me in a way I can't even begin to describe. Now my fill in looks like this:

If one of my children dies at an early age, then God will see me through.

If one of my children dies at an early age, then God will restore my joy.

If one of my children dies at an early age, then God will help me overcome.

Hebrews 2:14-15 from The Message says,

"By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil's hold on death and FREED all who cower through life, scared to death of death."

Are you scared to death of death? We can be in a stronghold of death so much that we never really live. The shadow of death can be just as worse as dying. Take the courage that God has so freely offered to you and LIVE! Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgement that something more important is at stake. I can remember being prompted by the spirit to speak a word to someone in our congregation one Sunday... My heart was racing and my hands got all sweaty... I was so overcome by fear that I just couldn't do it. And not long after, I watched someone else go to that person and I'm sure they were told all that God wanted them to hear. Mordecai was right when he said that deliverance for the Jews would arise from a different place but Esther would have missed out on her destiny.

So I urge you .... Choose courage, God is with you.

Meanness

If you've ever listened to Beth Moore teach you know what a blessing she is to hear and what revelation she brings. Three weeks ago we started one of her studies at church on Esther... "it's tough being a woman." And it is! It's tough having double x chromosomes!! lol. It's tough having a period every month and hormonal chaos! It's tough living in the shadows of other women and it's tough living in a world where beauty is a treatment. Her lesson last night was on "Its tough being a woman in a mean world!" AMEN!! This world is mean! Or should I say that there are people in this world who are mean!

Meanness always has a history. ALWAYS! Keeping in mind we're studying Esther consider this: The hatred and anger that Haman (an Amalekite) had towards Mordecai (the jew) stems from a disobeyed instruction given to King Saul to annailate the Amalekite people. (1Sam 15:10-23,30) The spirit of Amalekite targets the defenseless, the weak. They were cowards and there's nothing meaner than a coward. The Lord wanted to rid the earth of ALL the Amalekite people but Saul failed to obey his command. And because of it.. Mordecai became victim to Haman's anger. The Amalekite people were wilderness enemies unprovoked. Meaning.. they attacked those were were weak, defenseless, they targeted those type of people because they were insecure. Insecurity is always at the heart of every rivalry.

Meanness perceives a threat. Have you ever just had a sudden wave of anger overcome you? To the point where you just stop and ask "where did that come from?" We as christians need to learn to identify why we feel threatened when we have the desire to be mean. Let me just stop here and say that I was and can still be at times a mean person. Don't lie to yourself.. because we ALL are at times! :-O But, why?? Consider this quote, "Surely as Christians we must recognize the spirit of Haman not only in our world but within ourselves." I'm not saying that that spirit controls us or that it is constantly manifest in our life but we need to stop and think about when anger rises up within us why we are feeling threatened at that moment. Do we get angry because we see beautiful, successful, ambitious, women who seem to have a perfect marriage, perfect house, perfect car and we think we don't measure up? Anger is power to those who have no other source of it. 2 Corinthians 10:12 basically says, that it's not wise to measure yourself up against others. Don't let others determine your self worth. Find your value in God and in who He has created YOU to be.

The wonderful thing is that Meanness is curable. Leave your"Haman" to God. Don't repay evil for evil. If you've ever encountered a mean woman overcome her evil with good. Don't bow down to her, don't serve her, but DO LOVE HER. Romans 12:17-21 says to leave room for God's vengeance. If you're fighting what feels like a war with a mean spirited woman you can rest assured that you will overcome if you'll leave it to God to avenge.

So what is a mean woman? In my opinion a mean woman is someone who degrades others to make herself feel better. I think a mean woman is someone who puts on a friendly front but then talks bad about you behind your back. Beth Moore said she thinks a mean woman is someone who dresses provactively in front of other women's husbands! You know what you're wearing when you leave the house girl!! lol.

SO.... all that to say this. When anger arises in our life, it's time we took note of why we are feeling threatened at that moment. Is it because of our own insecurities? Maybe that person was just mean? And if so.. heap burning coals on her head by being kind. Something a mean person most definitely is not.