Song of Solomon 1
Author of the book verse 1
The song of songs which is Solomon’s
Bride and maids speaks verse 2 – 4
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth
for your love is better than wine
Because of the savor of your good ointments your name is
as ointment poured forth
THEREFORE, do the virgins love you
Draw me – we will run after you
the king hath brought me into his chamber
we will be glad and rejoice in you
we will remember your love more than wine
the upright love you
Bride speaks verse 5 – 7
I am black – but comely – O you daughters of Jerusalem
as the tents of Kedar – as the curtains of Solomon
Look not upon me – because I am black
because the sun hath looked upon me
my mother’s children were angry with me
they made me the keeper of the vineyards
BUT mine own vineyard
have I not kept
Tell me – O you whom my soul loves – where you feed
where you make thy flock to rest at noon
for why should I be as one that turns aside by
the flocks of thy companions?
Groom = Solomon verse 8- 11
If you know not – O you fairest among women
go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock
AND feed your kids beside the shepherds’ tents
I have compared you – O my love
to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots
your cheeks are comely with rows of jewels
your neck with chains of gold
We will make you borders of gold with studs of silver
Bride speaks verse 12- 14
While the king sits at his table
my spikenard sends forth the smell thereof
a bundle of myrrh is my well beloved unto me
He shall lie all night between my breasts
my beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the
vineyards of En-gedi
Groom verse 15
Behold – you are fair – my love
Behold – you are fair
you have doves’ eyes
Bride speaks verse 16- 17
Behold – you are fair – my beloved – YEA – pleasant
ALSO our bed is green
the beams of our house are cedar
AND our rafters of fir
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COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. (1730 “love” [dod] means friend, lover, beloved, lovemaking, or one who is beloved and a romantic kindred spirit.)
DEVOTION: The New Testament has three types of love mentioned. The first and most important is “agape,” which is the type of love God has toward us. It is not based on emotional treatment but on the fact of HIS sending HIS Son to die on the cross for our sins. The second type of love is “philo” which is bases on treatment between individuals. That is, if someone treats us nice we treat them nice. The third love is “eros” which is emotional love.
There is a conversation between the bride and groom with the friends making comments along the way. This book is expressing the love between a husband and wife. It seems to imply that our spouse is our friend as well as our lover. This takes work.
They are exchanging compliments. They mention body parts in this conversation. They appreciate every part of each other.
Today it seems that Christian couples are having a real problem with taking time to get to know one another and be intimate with one another. We allow ourselves to be “too busy” to establish this relationship. We find ourselves “too tired” to care.
We have husbands who don’t take the time to tell their wife they love them. Too often couples don’t have a weekly date. This is not a Biblical way to handle a relationship. This is Satan’s tool to cause Christian couples to divorce or live lives together but each one in their own separate world. Our nation is seeing, Christians divorce as often as those who don’t know Christ.
Christians are to have Christ at the center of their marriage. HE wants a marriage to last a lifetime. Biblically a couple becomes one flesh when they marry. That means that they share everything with each other: finances, feelings, worship, and friends.
Two married people living together, and yet, living separate lives does not honor God. Are we allowing our spouse to be intimate with us?
CHALLENGE: Learn to find ways to compliment your spouse. Read this book a few times and see where you can improve your complimenting one another. This might be the starting point for a revival in your marriage. Honor the LORD with your marriage.)
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. (5000 “comely” [na’vah] means lovely, seemly, beautiful, becoming, or suitable.)
DEVOTION: Here is a woman who understands her personal beauty. She is communicating with her future husband, Solomon. She is explaining why she is black, as far as, what the sun does to someone who works daily in it. She has hidden beauty behind the suntan she is carrying. The culture thought that light colored skin was better. The dark colored skin signified someone of the working class. Those who were in the upper class didn’t want to have dark skin. This was a form of prejudice.
She compares herself to other things that are beautiful. The black goat skin that the tents were made of were considers protection against the elements. Apparently the curtains of Solomon were beautiful as well.
The LORD wants us to accept the way we appear to people. The LORD made each one of us unique. There is no reason to put ourselves down. God wants us to realize that HE knew what he was doing when HE created us.
She was not afraid to inform Solomon that she loved him. She was not afraid to express her belief that she was a beautiful woman. The dark appearance shouldn’t make any difference to Solomon.
He expressed the fact that he agreed with her and still courted her. He loved her. He wanted to be with her.
This should be the way we feel about our spouse until the day we die. This doesn’t always happen. There sometimes needs to be a rekindling of the old flame of when we first met our spouse. God wants us to remain married for all of our life. HE would want us to complement each other. HE would want us to accept the way HE has created us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We should never forget this fact.
CHALLENGE: Never question the beauty of your spouse. There will be many changes in appearance through the years of marriage but there is still the beauty of the inner person. Complement each other.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 9 “I have compared you, my love, To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.” The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). Compared – 1819 דָּמָה [damah /daw·maw/] v. A primitive root; TWOT 437; GK 1948; 29 occurrences; AV translates as “like” 14 times, “liken” five times, “thought” six times, “compared” once, “devised” once, “meaneth” once, and “similitudes” once. 1 to be like, resemble. 1A (Qal) to be like, resemble. 1B (Piel). 1B1 to liken, compare. 1B2 to imagine, think. 1C (Hithpael) to make oneself like. 1D (Niphal). James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1995).
DEVOTION: This love story is far different than most people would speak today! If we were talk of our love in the terms and descriptions that is used here we would probably be without a love life!
To compare a woman to a filly is not an acceptable comparison and not very flattering, yet Solomon is using it to describe the love of his life. Chariots in Pharaoh’s army was pulled by stallions and to suggest that a filly was pulling his was to suggest that she was the only female in the entire stable. Solomon was suggesting that her presence would cause so much chaos that the army would be in peril as a result. While the intent of praise is certainly there if the woman is not a horse person and connected with animals the special praise may be missed.
The same is very true of relationships today! We need to be speaking the language that our mate or special friend identifies and cherishes. I was speaking to an individual who was telling of his father who dated a lot of different women in order to find out how to properly date a girl. He practiced with all these women until he was confident and then asked the one who he desired to date. He found out what a woman desired on a date before he dated the special one. We also need to understand and be familiar with what a special person desires and appreciates.
CHALLENGE: Take a moment to reflect on what makes your special someone smile and respond to you. Maybe it is time to speak, do, make or buy that something special so they know you still care! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
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: 15 Behold, you are fair, my love: behold, you are fair; you have doves eyes. (3303 “fair” [yahpeh] means delighting in senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration, beautiful, excellent, proper, or pleasant.)
DEVOTION: This book of the Bible is a love story between a man and a woman. Here we find that the man considers her to be beautiful. He also admires here for her intellectual knowledge.
The eyes of someone we love inform us as to their feelings of peacefulness when they are with someone they love. They are relaxed and want to be around those who love them. Eyes can convey many things about the relationship between two individuals. We like to look into the eyes of someone we care about greatly and see what the look like but also what they are expressing regarding their thoughts about the one they are looking at.
Solomon is looking into the eyes of a woman he loves and he sees love in their eyes to match the love he has for her.
Today we find that too often couples are not interested in spending time just looking into each other eyes. There seems to be something that wants us to have more action rather than just spending time with each other and enjoying the presence of one we love.
We have to be busy doing something with our time but that is not what Solomon seemed to thinks as he spent the time with the woman he loved just looking into her eyes.
What does it take for us to realize that someone is meant to be with us the rest of our lives? Can we just look into their eyes and really see the love that they have for us or do we need something else?
God wants us to have a love for the person that we are going to marry that is more than just a physical relationship but a mutual admiration for each other that could be found, in just looking into each others eyes.
CHALLENGE: When we read this verse in the Bible want does it say to us about the love, we have for the person we are married to or about the one we are dating? Do we complement one another even after many years of marriage? Do we remember what it was like when we first saw the woman of our dream men? ________________________________________________________
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Solomon verse 1, 5
Virgins verse 3
King verse 4, 12
Daughters of Jerusalem verse 5
Mother’s children verse 6
Fairest among women verse 8
Shepherd verse 8
Pharaoh verse 9
Well beloved verse 13, 14, 16
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Angry verse 6
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Love verse 2- 4, 7, 9
Upright verse 4
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Jerusalem verse 5
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
Ver. 6. Look not upon me, &c.] Meaning not with scorn and disdain because of her meanness; nor as prying into her infirmities to expose her; nor with joy at her trials and afflictions; neither of these can he supposed in the daughters of Jerusalem addressed by her: but rather, not look on her as amazed at her sufferings, as though some strange thing had befallen her; not at her blackness only, on one account or another, lest they should be stumbled; but at her beauty also. Because I am black; or blackish somewhat black, but not so black as might be thought, or as she was represented: the radicals of the word being doubled, some understand it as diminishing; but rather it increases the signification; see Psal. 45:2; Prov. 8:31 and so it may be rendered very black, exceeding black; and this she repeats for the sake of an opportunity of giving the reason of it, as follows. Because the sun hath looked upon me: and had burnt her, and made her black; which effect the sun has on persons in some countries, and especially on such who are much abroad in the fields, and employed in rural services; as she was, being a keeper of vineyards, as in this verse, and of flocks of sheep, as in the following. This may be understood of the sun of persecution that had beat upon her, and had left such impressions on her, and had made her in this hue, and which she bore patiently; nor was she ashamed of it; nor should she be upbraided with it, nor slighted on account of it, see Matt. 13:6, 21. My mother’s children were angry with me; by whom may be meant carnal professors, members of the same society, externally children of the same mother, pretend to godliness, but are enemies to it: these were angry with the church for holding and defending the pure doctrines of the Gospel; for keeping the ordinances as they were delivered; and for faithful reproofs and admonitions to them and others, for their disagreeable walk: and these grieved the church, and made her go mourning, and in black; and more blackened her character and reputation than any thing else whatever: though it may be understood of any carnal men, who descend from mother Eve, or spring from mother earth, angry with the church and her members for preciseness in religion; and particularly violent persecutors of her, who yet would be thought to be religious, may be intended. They made me the keeper of the vineyards; this is another thing that added to her blackness, lying abroad in the fields to keep the vineyards of others, by which may be meant false churches, as true ones are sometimes signified by them; and her compliance with their corrupt worship and ordinances, which was not voluntary, but forced; they made me, obliged her, and this increased her blackness; as also what follows. But mine own vineyard have I not kept; which made her blacker still; her church-state, or the spiritual affairs of her own, her duty and business incumbent on her, were sadly neglected by her: and this sin of her’s she does not pretend to extenuate by the usage of her mother’s children; but ingenuously confesses the fault was her own, to neglect her own vineyard and keep others, which was greatly prejudicial to her, and was resented by Christ; upon which it seems he departed from her, since she was at a loss to know where he was, as appears from the following words. With the Romans, neglect of fields, trees, and vineyards, came under the notice of the censors, and was not to go unpunishede. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 4, p. 635). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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1:6 She now describes the experiences that gave her dark skin. The reason for the brothers’ anger is not given; the only significant point is that she was completely under their domination (thus the motif of the authority figure). She uses a wordplay with “vineyard”: because she had to tend the family vineyard, she could not take care of her own “vineyard,” meaning her body. Working outside, she was darkened by the sun.15 She therefore does not have the pampered beauty of urban women of the upper class. (Garrett, D. A. (1993). Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of songs (Vol. 14, p. 387). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
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1:5–6. The beloved’s suntanned appearance (dark am I) revealed that she worked in the fields. This made her feel insecure (do not stare at me) among the city dwellers and in particular the women of Jerusalem. She compared her dark skin to the tents of Kedar, which were made of black goats’ hair. The people of Kedar were nomads in northern Arabia who descended from Ishmael (Gen. 25:13). They were known for their archery (Isa. 21:16–17) and flocks (Isa. 60:7; Jer. 49:28–29; Ezek. 27:21; also see Ps. 120:5; Isa. 42:11; Jer. 2:10). Apparently the tent curtains of Solomon were also black.
Her explanation for her dark appearance was almost an apology. Because of hard outdoor work in the vineyards, required of her by her brothers, she was forced to neglect the cultivation of her own vineyard, that is, herself and her appearance (cf. Song 8:12). (Deere, J. S. (1985). Song of Songs. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 1012–1013). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
Look not upon me, with wonder and disdain, because of my blackness, as it follows. Because the sun hath looked upon me: my blackness is not essential, and inseparable, but chiefly caused by the scorching beams of the sun, i.e. of sore persecutions and tribulations, which by God’s permission have befallen me, which are represented by the sun, Matt. 13:6, 21. My mother’s children; false brethren, who pretend that the church is their mother, when their actions demonstrate that God, the Husband of the church, is not their Father; hypocritical professors, who are, and ever were, the keenest enemies to the true church and people of God, Isa. 66:5; Gal. 4:29; false teachers, and their followers, who, by their corrupt doctrines, and divisions, and contentions which they raise, bring great mischief to the church. See 2 Cor. 11:26; Gal. 2:4. Were angry with me; or, fought against me, as the ancients render it, and so marred my beauty. They made me keeper of the vineyards, i.e. of their vineyards, for to these she opposeth her own, in the next clause. Having prevailed against me, they used me like a slave, putting me upon the most dishonourable and troublesome services, such as the keeping of the vineyards was esteemed, 2 Kings 25:12; Isa. 61:5; Matt. 20:1–7. Mine own vineyard have I not kept; they gave me such a full and constant employment in their drudging work about their vineyards, that they left me no time to mind my own; they hindered me from doing my own duty, and from minding my own concerns; and therefore it is no wonder if in this posture and condition I be uncomely, and scorched by the sun. But because churches or societies of professors of religion, whether good or bad, are oft called vineyards, as Deut. 32:32; Psal. 80:8; Isa. 5:1, 2, 7, this and the foregoing clause may be thus understood, that they endeavoured to seduce and corrupt the church with false doctrines, and superstitious or idolatrous worship, and to oblige her to countenance and maintain them, and thereby disturbed and hindered her from her proper work, which was the propagation and advancement of the true doctrine and worship in particular assemblies and persons belonging, or to be brought in, to her. (Poole, M. (1853). Annotations upon the Holy Bible (Vol. 2, p. 309). New York: Robert Carter and Brothers.)
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Saintly George Müller of Bristol, the modern apostle of faith, considered it the first and most important duty of the day to get his own soul happy in the Lord. So should we. The world, after all, is all about us. It is like the sea that surrounds a ship, ever lapping against it, ever seeking for a weakness, ever probing for a crack through which it can pour and so submerge and sink the vessel. The answer to the constant pressure of the world upon our souls is Christ! We must keep our hearts singing in His love, our minds filled with thoughts of Himself, and our wills enslaved to His. Then the world will not get very far with us. Love for our absent Shepherd will be our impenetrable armor.
So then, the Shulamite is in trouble, but she hardly notices it. She occupies her mind with thoughts of her beloved. Her tranquility, however, is about to be tested severely. (Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring the Love Song of Solomon: An Expository Commentary (So 1:1–8). Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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Israel demands a king from the Lord.
INSIGHT
The Lord intends to rule Israel by theocracy, which means that God will rule through a man who will be His spokesman. In rejecting this method, the Israelites are not rejecting Samuel but God. To be sure there is a problem with Samuel’s sons not walking after the Lord, but rather than ask God for another theocratic administrator, they demand a monarchy. In seeking to correct a legitimate problem, they make matters worse because their motives are wrong. They have a selfish desire for a king like the nations around them.
When we see legitimate problems, we must be careful that we do not demand wrong solutions. There is no substitute for pure motives when it comes to problem solving. (Quiet Walk)
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A RIGHT CONCEPTION OF GOD
Hallowed be thy name. Luke 11:2
When the disciples came to our Lord and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples,” He replied, “When ye pray say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” (Luke 11:1-2). You must start, said our Lord, with a right conception of God. Now is this not where we all tend to go astray? So often our initial error and trouble is that our ideas of God are so loose. Let us be quite frank and honest about this. Most of us, before we listen to Jesus Christ, rather feel that we are in a position even to criticize God: “Why should God….? Why this? Why that?” We are, we think, the judges even where God is concerned.
Now what our Lord tells us at the beginning is, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). Can you imagine God, can you picture Him? God is utterly and absolutely holy, so much so that we cannot imagine Him, eternal in His holiness and His absolute perfection.
That is what our Lord taught about God, and we must start there. We have to realize that if to know God is the first essential thing in rest and peace, we must begin by knowing something of His nature and character, and that is what our Lord always taught about Him. Take His own attitude toward the Father. Look at the time He spent in prayer; observe the way in which He was always careful to say that He did nothing of Himself, that the works He did were those the Father had given Him to do, and that all the words He spoke were those that the Father gave Him.
A Thought to Ponder
You must start, said our Lord, with a right conception of God.
(From The Heart of the Gospel, pp. 173-174 by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Christ’s Strength
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)
This little verse gets quoted out of context a lot. It is used to justify bizarre plans and dreams, as well as to suggest that every Christian should be rich and healthy all the time. Not only are such applications without any support in Scripture, they are completely out of the context of this passage.
In the previous verses, Paul lists a variety of circumstances that he had faced, from poverty to wealth, learning to be “content” in each of these developments. Then he notes that he “can do all things” through the strength that the Lord provides during conflicting circumstances.
The “do” of this text is the prevailing of the power of God in which and by which we minister. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).
The early church experienced a stunning growth in converts as it preached and testified of the resurrected Christ. This result, however, is due to the fact that the Word of God grew “mightily…and prevailed” (Acts 19:20).
Our fight is not a physical one. We wrestle against the great spiritual powers of wickedness that have their source in the heavenlies. The history of God’s people is replete with the battle that was begun in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve lost because they sought to deal with the issue on their own. We win or prevail only when we arm ourselves with God’s armor and become “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). (HMM III, The Institute for Creation Research)
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Something Deep and Binding
God created mankind in his own image. Genesis 1:27
Amina, an Iraqi immigrant, and Joseph, an American from birth, attended a political protest on opposite sides. We’ve been taught to believe that those who are separated by ethnicity and politics carry unbridled animosity toward each other. However, when a small mob accosted Joseph, trying to set his shirt on fire, Amina rushed to his defense. “I don’t think we could be any further apart as people,” Joseph told a reporter, “and yet, it was just kinda like this common ‘that’s not OK’ moment.” Something deeper than politics knit Amina and Joseph together.
Though we often have genuine disagreements with one another—substantial differences we often can’t ignore—there are far deeper realities that bind us together. We’re all created by God and bound together in one beloved human family. God has created each of us—regardless of gender, social class, ethnic identity or political persuasion—“in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). Whatever else might be true, God is reflected in both you and me. Further, He’s given us a shared purpose to “fill” and “rule” God’s world with wisdom and care (v. 28).
Whenever we forget how we’re bound together in God, we do damage to ourselves and others. But whenever we come together in His grace and truth, we participate in His desire to make a good and flourishing world.
By Winn Collier, Our Daily Bread)
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With clock-like regularly he spent his mornings in the study, his afternoons with his people in their homes, and his evenings either at church meetings or at home studying and writing. Like Whyte, he took long holidays, using the summer months for additional study, meditation, and rest. …. Although today’s overworked pastors might not be able to take two months off each summer, an occasional interruption for incubation would no doubt improve the minister and the ministry. …. He faced and solved these important questions in his study, but he always stepped into the pulpit with exclamation points, not question marks. (p. 297, 50 Every Christian Should Know by Warren W. Wiersbe)
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Occult spirituality is on the rise, even among Christians. Is it just pop culture or is it the Prince of Darkness? My guess: it’s both.
Netflix’s most talked-about new show this fall is “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” The “Sabrina” of the title is Sabrina Spellman, a half-witch/half-mortal who is about to celebrate her sixteenth birthday. On that day, which is, not coincidentally, October 31, she is expected to undergo what the show calls a “dark baptism,” in which she would pledge loyalty to Satan.
Now before you are tempted to say “Okay, it’s just another stupid TV show,” consider this: According to recent reports, occult ideas and practices are booming in the United States, and not just outside the church.
A recent Pew Research study found that a large and growing percentage of Americans believe in reincarnation, astrology, psychics, and the presence of spirits in nature.
In fact, six in ten Americans accept at least one or more of these beliefs. Shockingly, that number is just as high among self-identified Christians. Even agnostics—over half, in fact—have adopted occult ideas, along with the overwhelming majority of those who call themselves “spiritual, but not religious.”
The occult is becoming mainstream in this country. At least part of the reason why is how easy, user-friendly, and infinitely customizable the chaotic buffet of beliefs borrowed from Eastern pantheistic faiths and pre-Christian religions is these days. There’s no church or creed or set of rules. You can pick and choose whatever you like. It’s spirituality meets consumerism. And you are the god.
Still, there’s also an increase of more rigorous disciples of the mystical—those who really identify and practice religions like Wicca.
According to new research by Trinity College in Connecticut, Wicca is one of the fastest-growing religions in the country. Between 1990 and 2008, it saw a forty-fold increase in the number of adherents. One-and-a-half million Americans now identify as either Wiccan or Pagan.
The Web publication Quartzy appropriately described modern witchcraft as “the perfect religion for liberal millennials…” Wiccans emphasize “free thought and will of the individual,” encouraging “learning and understanding of the earth and nature,” as well as tolerance and the ideals of feminism. It even comes with a cool hashtag: #WitchesofInstagram.
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In other words, for most of its adherents, Wicca functions as a spiritual patina on progressive politics, not really a source of supernatural powers. You won’t find these witches stirring cauldrons or riding broomsticks, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing darker going on.
As C. S. Lewis wrote in the preface to “The Screwtape Letters,” there are two equal and opposite errors we can fall into concerning devils and demons. One is to disbelieve in or disregard their existence, a posture far too common in the western world. The other is to have an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.
This upsurge of occult beliefs and religions in this country, though often political and consumeristic, is still a sign that forces of darkness are at work. For one thing, all false faiths lead people—including people within the church—away from Christ, and that has eternal consequences.
For Christians, there are more immediate consequences. The Scriptures are clear: Satan is a defeated foe, put to open shame by the resurrection of Christ. But make no mistake, he’s still an active foe, roaming about “like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
From Acts 19, we learn that the defeated forces of the enemy pose a very real and even sometimes physical threat. Those who don’t take that threat seriously may end up like Sceva’s seven sons: bleeding, naked, and running for their lives.
Not every plastic lawn vampire or self-proclaimed “witch” is a manifestation of spiritual evil; but the rise of occult beliefs, especially within the church, is—making the old call to “renounce the devil and all his works” even more relevant today than ever.
BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life
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2 Peter 3
Some people will scoff at the Day of the Lord, but we ought to purify ourselves for it.
INSIGHT
Most people agree that the world cannot last forever. Eventually the hydrogen in the sun will burn out, and the sun will grow cold, destroying the earth in the process. So how will the earth end? The Bible tells us that the day will come when the heavens and the earth will be destroyed by fire. It may not happen soon, but it will happen. Since all of us must face “the end” sometime, Peter writes that as we look forward to these things, we should accept salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. (Quiet Walk)
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DELIVERANCE
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. 1 John 5:6
The great business of the Messiah who was to come was to deliver the people from the thralldom and bondage of sin and its consequences. Men and women, as a result of their sin, were under the wrath of God. They needed to be delivered from the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil—the power of sin both inside and outside. So the Messiah, the Savior, had to make expiation for our sin and set us free from its power. This was His great task. And John tells us that Jesus Christ came as the Messiah and has done that, and we see Him doing it as we look at His baptism and as we see His death on the cross. His baptism, in a sense, is the beginning of His power as the Messiah—He came as the Messiah by “water.” Through that He identifies Himself with our sin, and it is upon the cross that He deals with it, expiates it, and delivers us from the wrath of God and therefore from the power of sin and the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Now I think we see why John does not refer to Christ’s birth in his Gospel. He has been pointing to Christ as the Messiah, fixing his attention upon that, that Jesus is the Son of God. So he does not refer to the birth; but he does refer to the baptism. And so I think we see very clearly why it is that we have this phrase “not by water only, but by water and blood.” The Lord Jesus Christ did not merely identify Himself with us and our sins—He went further. He dealt with it not in water only, but also in blood. His death is an absolute
essential in addition to the baptism.
A Thought to Ponder: Through His baptism Christ identifies Himself with our sin, and it is upon the cross that He deals with it. (From Life in God, pp. 78-79, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has filed a friend-of-the-court brief pushing the Supreme Court to review an abortion case out of Indiana.
The case, Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK), deals with two provisions of Indiana law that were overturned by the lower federal courts. Humane disposal of the remains of aborted babies is called for in one provision, while the second provision bans abortions that are based on the sex, race, or disability of the unborn baby. The ACLJ filed the amicus brief on behalf of itself and parents from 44 families who gave birth to “children born with various disorders including Down Syndrome, Noonan Syndrome, Patau Syndrome, Turner Syndrome, Edwards Syndrome, Meckel-Gruber Syndrome, Potter Syndrome, spina bifida, and congenital heart disease, among others.”
The brief emphasizes the love each family felt for their unborn child, regardless of the diagnosis: “learning of these prenatal diagnoses did not change the love these parents felt for their children. Though many of these families ultimately lost their children, these parents do not consider that to have diminished the importance of the children’s lives. Indiana’s law protects children like theirs and recognizes that unborn children deserve protection from invidious discrimination.”
The state of Indiana is requesting that the Supreme Court hear the case. The federal district court in Indiana and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit insisted the disputed provisions were unconstitutional and contradictory to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling which declared a right to abortion. The ACLJ brief, however, disagrees: “The Constitution does not compel states to treat the bodies of dead unborn children as just so much “medical trash.” . . . Nor does the Constitution force states to allow abortion for any reason at all, no matter how pernicious.”
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