Reading Joel

Joel is an extremely important prophetic book because of its subject matter; the day of the Lord. The book is really the first to develop and describe the events regarding this day.

Again, this is an amazing example of God's power. Judah had recently been hit with tragedy in the form of a locust plague. They were still reeling at the time Joel wrote this book, and he used that purposefully. Clearly, God had a use for the horrible situation that Judah was mired in. He used it as a message for the bigger picture; the day of judgement. 

And while the description of this horrible day was vivid, especially with the locust plague still fresh in the reader's mind at that time, the message wasn't all downcast. There was also a message of hope, of a call to repentance. 

So how do we bridge the gap and apply this to our lives today? In this case, fairly simply. The message of the day of judgement still applies, as does the message of hope and repentance. The only difference is the connection that we make with tragedy in today's times. Locust plagues aren't as relevant today, but our world is still crippled by other horrible abominations. Open up a newspaper, take a look at your Facebook page, turn on the TV. Constantly, we are hit by horrible sinful acts, destructive nature events, and internal warfare. This book applies directly to us today, whether we like it or not.

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Reading Hosea

God loves to make things difficult (in a sense). He tries to not make things super clear, or easy to understand, in order to see who will make an effort to try to learn from His words. Jesus' ministry was trademarked by parables and stories. Much of Israel's history is told through prophecies. Through all of these recordings, much research, interpretation and exegesis has to be poured into the Bible in order to fully grasp what is being said. I believe there are two reasons for this. First, it helps us remember the lessons more so. Second, it helps show where our passion levels are at, or what our dedication to God truly is like.

Hosea is the first minor prophetic book that requires some interpretation right off the bat. Interestingly, the book is much like an autobiography. It tells the story of the author Hosea. While the ending does include some prophecies regarding the future of the nation of Israel, it really focuses on a narrative involving Hosea and his wife.

Hosea's wife was actually a prostitute. He married her on the command of God, and when she left him to continue being a prostitute, he remarried her. This is incredibly symbolical, of the nation Israel and God. Every time God's people return to their sinful ways, He seeks them out to bring them back into a right relationship.

Hosea also had two kids with his wife, Gomer. The first son Jezreel symbolizes the valley where much blood would be shed, especially by the Northern Kingdom. The daughter Lo-ruhamah symbolizes that God will have pity on the Southern Kingdom, but not on the Northern Kingdom.

Now, another kid is mentioned, but the father is not mentioned. It is believed that this is Gomer's kid, which she had with another lover. This child is named Lo-ammi, symbolizing the shame of the Northern Kingdom.

Now this is only scratching the surface of the symbolism in this book, let alone the whole series of prophetic books. You can't just read these books without pouring some research in. Even with a small commentary, everything can become so much clearer. Learning more about the author, the context, the symbolism, can really change how you interpret the writings, and therefore how you apply them to your life. To take it even a step farther, investing in a course in biblical interpretation can reap dividends. It's definitely worth the cost.

God's Not Dead Movie Review

Rating: 6.9/10
Website: http://godsnotdeadthemovie.com/
Purchase: http://godsnotdeadthemovie.com/buydvd

Another Christian production, another step in the right direction, but yet another movie that misses the mark. God's Not Dead is an excellent idea, with the potential to develop into a great plot. With this being another movie from Christian producers, the progression for this growing industry is clearly evident. However, God's Not Dead still has not hit the mark in the Christian venture into movie making.

The idea behind this movie is extremely solid, a needed discussion on an issue that is extremely prevalent today. The movie focuses on a college student who takes a stand against a professor who swears that God is dead. They embark on a series of debates with this student trying to prove that God is indeed still alive.

Multiple side stories are also going on throughout the movie, making it semi confusing at times, until everything ties in at the end. First, the student who takes the stand for God also falls into trouble outside of school as well. His girlfriend breaks up with him because he won't drop the whole issue of fighting the professor. Meanwhile, the professor is also dealing with issues at home, as his girlfriend begins to believe in God, and he can't deal with that. There is also a story about a pastor and his friend trying to get to a certain destination because his friend is a missionary and this will be their only chance to go. They too run into issues, and have to rely upon God to help them.

Ultimately, the argument presented in favour of God is really strong. However, my issue with the movie is that it is very one sided. In fact, I find this issue encompasses many Christian companies, magazines, e.t.c. They all tend to say that you have to be stupid not to believe in God. I don't think that's true. I don't think we can say in every argument, that all the facts point to God. If that was the case, then everyone would be Christians. See, I don't think we can say that all the facts point to God for a few reasons. First, we don't have all the facts yet. We keep discovering new evidence every day regarding different theories. Second, faith plays a big role in our relationship. We can't have all the answers, and that's why we need to rely upon faith. I do strongly believe that when all is said and done, God will reveal that all the facts do indeed point to Him, but at times, with our worldly perspective, we just need to leave that up to Him. I also believe that there will never be any evidence disproving God's existence. It may be spun in that light, and we may not be able to directly refute the evidence, but eventually, as time plays on, God will reveal that evidence in its true light, revealing His glory.

There are some really smart people out there who do argue against God. Sure, they may be questioning it themselves, or just purely being stubborn, but at that point, they're not stupid. They have a side of the argument as well, and their case isn't as weak as this movie portrays it to be. If you are going to make a movie about this debate, great, but make sure that both sides are portrayed as accurately as possible.

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Reading Daniel

The Book of Daniel is one of the most interesting in the Bible, mainly for it's combinations of genres. At points, it reads as a narrative, and others as a prophetical book. It flits continually from past to present to future, without much notice at times. But with this, the book provides a rich, vast expanse of lessons for all ages at all times.

The main focus that I took away from the book was the prophecies regarding the end times. This is mainly because I just finished an university course in Revelation, with the Old Testament connection continually being drawn to Daniel. The two tend to touch on many similar prophecies regarding events, or persons/creatures, of the end times.

For example, both books describe a Beast. This similar beast is the first of two in Revelation 13, and the last of four in Daniel 7.

"Then in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast - terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns. As I was looking at the horns, suddenly another small horn appeared among them. Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly." Daniel 7:7-8

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Revelation 13:1

Both beasts speak great words against God, making war against the saints, gaining more and more power, and then ruling over the nations for 42 months.

The symbolism is massive in these two verses. In Daniel 7, the ten horns on the beast refer to ten Gentile world powers who follow in Satan's footsteps to conquer the world. Three will eventually fall, before the Antichrist, or the little horn, arrives on the scene.

The beast in Revelation is specifically referring to the Antichrist who arrives from the sea of Gentile rulers. He sides with the seven powers who are conquering the world, and continues Satan's mission to overthrow Israel and God.

The good news is that this beast, or the Antichrist, will be destroyed eternally in the lake of fire, or hell. God will remain triumphant through Jesus Christ, and the saints.

HookedontheBook

Reading Ezekiel

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Ezekiel and Isaiah and Jeremiah are all part of a package deal in prophecy. Together they form the major part of prophecy in the Old Testament. Ezekiel is the lesser known book, because it is a harsher form of prophecy, and slightly less organized. Still, it is a highly intellectual, bold, vision like prophetic book.

Just like Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel first receives a call. In my opinion, if you are listening, everyone receives a call in their life. This call can be for a multitude of things (career, relationships, missions, church involvement), and can come in a multitude of different ways, but my belief is that God has a specific call for every one of His children. Ezekiel's call was to be a prophet.

His focus was on the future of Israel. Again, he seems to bounce back and forth with his prophecies from present day to near future to far future. Still, he remains focused on the future of Israel, and specifically the holy city Jerusalem. He first predicts the destruction of the city, and cites the sins of the people as the major reason. He then moves on to prophecies regarding foreign nations and cities. Again, even though he's not talking directly about Israel here, the two are inexplicably linked. Israel isn't secluded at all. In fact, after a study in the book of Revelation, the relationship between the Israelites and Gentiles could not be more intertwined. Finally, Ezekiel ends the book on a high note, regarding the restoration of the nation. Again, the differing timeframes can be seen here. On one hand, he was talking about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. But, a lot of what he said could be taken for the end times.

The interesting thing with prophecy is that every vision, every idea, every prediction comes from the Lord. How the author describes that vision, idea, or prediction is up to the author, but still his words are divinely inspired. The dual process is one of the most amazing things about the Bible.

Noah Movie Review

Rating: 6.8/10
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Noah
Purchase: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/movie/noah/id834786516

Last year, this was the huge movie in Christian circles. The anticipation was great, but the resulting reaction was one of huge disappointment. The movie was built up in secular and Christian circles alike, with big name actors, a big budget, and a cinematically exciting trailer. Surprisingly, the movie was backed by many popular Christian associations, including Focus on the Family.

In reality, secularly, this movie was a huge success. As a cinematic experience, this was a great movie. Strip away the Biblical background, the origin or source of this story, and the movie and plot was actually surprisingly good. However, the issue is that the movie is based on a Biblical story, and therefore it has to be a strong interpretation of the original material, which is wasn't. Especially for someone who knows the Biblical story of Noah, the differences in this movie were shockingly huge.

There are multiple twists in this version of the Noah story. First, the fallen angels. In this film they are depicted as being punished by God for helping humankind too much, being sentenced to rock bodies for eternity. These fallen angels are called Watchers. Now this is the movie's first un-Christian spin. There are no mention of Watchers in the Bible, and although there are mention of fallen angels, there is no mention of punishment for any specific reason in the actual story. Later on in the Bible, the fallen angels are mentioned as followers of Satan, which would offer a reasonable explanation as to why they were cast out of heaven. God would never punish someone for helping humankind.

The second interesting spin that dominates throughout the entire film is an interesting ritual where a snakeskin is wrapped around the forearm. This is by no means a Christian act. Instead, it is an ancient ritual, something called tefillin. It actually bears strong Satanism symbolism.

The character of Noah is also horribly twisted. The movie pictures him as violent, destructive, and no different then the men of the earth. This is possibly the farthest from the truth. The Bible states that Noah was a righteous man, one after God's own heart. He's the only one from the whole Earth who is worthy of being saved. He is peaceful, a caretaker, a nurturer.

Finally, perhaps the biggest mistake of the movie is the depiction of God. God is pictured as distant, cruel, violent, and definitely not like our Christian God. Throughout the movie He is never called by name, instead referred to as the Creator. He never talks to His people, staying silent and letting them suffer. He curses His angels and then never helps them. He loves violence, and enforces Noah killing everyone without mercy, including newborn babies. That is not the true God. Reading the Biblical story gives a completely different picture of God. God loves His people and does everything He can to save them, through Noah. He guides Noah's every step, protects him and his family, and even promises after the flood never to destroy the world through a global flood.

This movie does help to open the mind to a new perspective regarding the story of Noah. It helps the viewer to think about what Noah would have actually gone through, and the world at that time. Take our world and triple its wickedness. It's hard to imagine. The ark would have been magnificent as well, throughout the building and flood phase.

So while it is a "Christian" movie, it is not one Christians should support, even if it does introduce non-believers to the concept of God. It actually introduces them to the wrong concept of God, and warps everyone's preconceptions about our relationship with Him.

ChristianToday

Reading Jeremiah

For many, Jeremiah can be seen as a very depressing book. In fact, for the prophet himself, he didn't want to write down God's words they were so downcast. The book is filled with prophecies of upcoming doom, of horrors in the future. And much like Israel in the past, the present people completely ignored the words of the Lord, and continued down the wrong path of sin. When what the Lord had promised actually happened, only a handle of people were actually prepared, possibly only Jeremiah and Baruch.

King James Bible Online

However, Jeremiah is an extremely helpful prophetic book as well. Obviously, it joins the long list of books in the Bible of wildly straightforward warning or caution signs. Over and over again, there are stories and stories of God warning the Israelites not to turn away from Him or trouble will come on them. But over and over, the Israelites ignored God completely, and ended up in despair. Jeremiah is no different.

We need to learn from the Israelite's mistakes, and take God's Words to heart. We can't be like the Israelites, and ignore God, especially when we have all of history, the whole picture to look at and learn from. We need to follow God with all of our hearts, and without turning to evil, or evil will overtake us.

Jeremiah also serves another purpose in my opinion. The book shows that at every single moment, God is in control. Through the good and through the bad, God remains all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere. Sometimes, we may not notice that God is in control, and we lose sight of exactly what our God can do, and what He does. That's what happened with these Israelites, and we have to use this story as a warning sign for us. We cannot lose sight of the almighty power of our God, and we must always trust and believe that everything happens for a reason.