Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Word for Wednesday, 27 May Edition

Too much time spent working on rustbucket cars and reading the news, and too little time reading the Bible. Which is to say, we're just in chapter 8 of Isaiah, from verse 16 through the balance of the chapter, where the prophet is speaking directly:
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

And when they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. And they will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward. Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.
I reject dispensationalism; Hebrews 13:8 tells us that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever." This leaves me in some doubt about this business of dead people still being available for consultation in some form or other. One would think that Isaiah would not have been inspired to warn against the practice if it were not possible; and there's also the cautionary example of Saul, who, assisted by a witch, called up the ghost of Samuel and didn't exactly benefit from the exercise. My own limited experience, though, does not convince me that there's any ghosts around to talk to (always outside of fiction, and the occasional bad cable TV series.) Maybe God doesn't work by "dispensations," but the other shop does; maybe there are ghosts, but they don't show up around me because the Other Shop's diabolical proprietor knows I'm more easily tempted to a cold, dry materialism than to occultic creepiness.

Hey, if that's the case, so be it. I can't even watch horror movies -- they're too scary! I definitely don't need to be running into the thin remnants of actual dead folks.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not into ghosts, either, but I think we would do well to be aware of and beware of the spirit world in general, excepting of course the Holy Spirit. Too many other spirits are having free reign in our churches, looking deceptively like angels of light - which, to your point, can be a lot like a horror movie.

Jim Wetzel said...

You're right; it's a difficult thing for me, though. I spent a lot of years as an unbeliever and a child of unbelievers, and the mindset is persistent (the one that says, "if I can't bite it, it ain't there").

Anonymous said...

Finally! A point to differentiate between us. I grew up the same way, and wasn't saved until I was 39. Yet, the spook factor aside, I seem to focus on the spiritual realm more than most people. Maybe it's my tendency to want to dig into the root of things ... plus my annoying habit of always asking, "Why?"