Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage Three: Connecting

Introduction

Four articles about faith-based ministry to refugees precede this one. The article titles are The Warp and Weft of Life[1], Conception: Empowering to Serve Refugees[2], Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage One: Getting to Know Refugees[3], and Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage Two: Founding a Faith-based Ministry to Refugees[4]. Besides these, others of my refugee articles relay stories directly from refugees about their lives. These articles begin with the title In Their Words.[5][6][7] One other article on working with refugees teaches about the importance of letting the person tell his or her story. The title of this article is Just Listen[8].

In earlier articles of this series, we learned who refugees are, how many refugees are in the world and that they come from many countries. For faith-based refugee work, we must receive the vision from God, pray continually, and depend on God for strength. Further, we must get to know the refugees by talking with them, and then determine their needs based on those conversations with them and from your own inspection of their lives. Another part of working with refugees is setting up a refugee ministry organization with a clear mission statement, and clear goals and objectives. These will keep the ministry focused. They will allow people working with you to help refugees and people outside the organization to understand God’s vision for you and your goals for the refugee ministry.

This article will focus on the third stage of beginning work with refugees under the banner of Inception. Its focus is on connecting with people. Connections include the gatekeeper, the activist, and the caretaker of the refugees. Further, connections must occur besides these for effective and possible expansion of ministries and for acceptance of refugees by the community in which they live.

Prayer

As in each of the earlier articles of this series, prayer must enwrap any ministry with and to refugees. God is the One who must give the vision and empower the work, so the workers will not grow weary, heavy-hearted, and give up on the work to which He calls His people. Additionally, prayer must weave throughout each part of the refugee ministry to know directly from God to whom or to which organization to meet with to get volunteers and funding. Prayer will help you determine when to change the work, and when to enlarge it. It will also help you know to whom to reach out for added expertise. Prayer, too, opens people’s hearts as you and the refugee organization advocate for refugees. Without prayer throughout the entire process, the ministry weakens because it rests upon the limited wisdom and knowledge of people instead of on all-knowing God.

Researching

Why should you want to connect with other people and organizations instead of being a lone ranger working with refugees? First, God intended the community to help the sojourners and aliens. Deuteronomy and Leviticus were both written to the Israelites as a people, a nation. To them God commanded to love the aliens because they, too, were aliens in Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:19 and Leviticus 19:34) Additionally, in Deuteronomy 14:28-29, Moses taught the Israelites to take care of the aliens by keeping their third-year’s tithe in their town to feed the widow, orphans, and aliens who lived among them. In each of these passages, no one person helped all the poor people. It took a community concerned for the poor to take care of them. Because of this, you should strive to work alongside other people and organizations who already work with refugees and the poor in the community.

If you live and want to work with refugees in a city or town, most likely other people and organizations already work with refugees or poor people in the community. Based on your mission statement, goals, and objectives, decide from which experts and skilled people you potentially might need help in the ministry to refugees. These may include churches, social workers, counselors, doctors, lawyers, immigration officials, educators and the education department, nurses, and job skills teachers. Note, these areas of skills could include individuals or organizations, and businesses or government employees. Do not scratch off an expert because you do not need them now. Keep them in a file for the future in case the refugee ministry expands in that direction. Develop a relationship with these experts.

Once you decide which skilled people or organizations you should look for, start your search with the following methods. A good place to begin your searching is by talking to the refugee leaders. They will know some organizations already because the grapevine is effective among poor people. Another way you can find out who and what organizations help poor people and refugees is by talking to local church pastors. They are active in the community and, if they are not new in their positions, will know of organizations and people who work with refugees and poor people. Next, look through an internet browser for organizations who help the poor and refugees in your community. Finally, do not overlook your own connections: your doctors, people you know through your child’s school, connection through your church or your spouse’s job, etc. Even if these people will not be helping currently or soon, they may help in the future. Keep a file of their details and skill. They could become a useful connector, skilled volunteer, or board member.

Meeting

Once you have a list of people and organizations who help refugees and the poor of the community, email or call them to ask for an appointment to speak with them about the vision God has put on your heart. Be specific about that vision, such as saying you want to help refugees in your community by teaching them the local language, or providing blankets, food, school uniforms, etc. If they do not respond to your email, then call and ask for an appointment to meet with the director of the organization.

Before you arrive at your appointment with a person or organization, prepare what you will tell him/her/them. Do not go in without an agenda. Your presentation and questions should include:

1. The vision God gave you.

2. Your mission statement, goals, and objectives.

3. Your needs to make this ministry operational.

4. Ask how they began their ministry.

5. Ask what their main ministry focus is and to whom.

6. Ask them questions about areas in which you are weakest, so you can gain from their knowledge.

7. Ask if you can spend a couple hours in their ministry learning what they do.

8. Ask if you can call them should a need for their expertise arise.

9. If the organization is a business, ask if they would be interested in setting up volunteer days for their employees to work with your organization monthly or quarterly

10. Additionally, if the organization is a business or a funding agent, ask if it would interest them to contribute funds to help with ministry to refugees of the community.

Once the first meeting with the people or organization is complete, you will have a better idea of other assistance ministries in the community. These assistance ministries will know about you and your organization. An initial bridge with them will be in place by which to get help in the future. These connections will enable you to re-enter their sphere to be an advocate for the refugees in their community.

Advocating

Besides connecting with the community to learn, to find other ministry individuals and organizations, and to seek volunteers and funding, another big reason exists for getting into the community. Advocacy for refugees is very important to the organization’s/ministry’s success. It must happen on many levels: in neighboring streets, churches, and schools around the ministry site, with local NGOs/NPOs, with government offices, and in churches and schools in the city/town. Advocacy occurs not just to get funds and volunteers. It must occur to help an established society accept a ministry and a people group, especially a ministry to “the least of these.”

In general, people dislike associating with or seeing people who are “lower” than themselves in society within their living and working spheres. Several reasons exist for this. They are: possible decreased property value, fear for personal safety, fear of jobs being given to people willing to accept a lower wage, and personal prejudice. Advocacy can help ease these issues and help a community accept the refugees and then take initiative in tangibly helping them. Without advocacy, a ministry to refugees will struggle. Roadblocks will arise because of the above reasons. This will cause the organizers of the ministry to spend a large amount of time fighting fires instead of ministering to the refugees of the community.

Conclusion

For a ministry to refugees to make a difference and grow, connecting with local community leaders, professionals, and organizations is paramount. These connections can help you learn quicker about how to make the refugee ministry stable and grow. They can provide a base of volunteers and funding, too. Additionally, connections can provide a skill base of expertise for utilization in the refugee ministry. These professionals and skilled people can prove helpful to expand the ministry and be the experts on the organization’s board when the organization grows, too. Besides these reasons for connecting with the community, another exists. Connecting with the community is advocacy for the ministry and for refugees. It helps the people of the community, the community leaders, professionals, and organizations to understand the lives of the refugees, their needs, and to get past their own personal fears and prejudices. Without this advocacy, a ministry to refugees will not grow and may even die.

As a final note, recall what Moses taught the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land about their tithe to God in Deuteronomy 26:5, 10-11.

⁵You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, ¹⁰‘Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O LORD have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God; ¹¹and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given you and your household. [NASB]

God mandates throughout the whole Bible we are to care for the alien, sojourner, and our neighbour. Refugees are these people about whom God spoke. Will you choose to obey this command by God?

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[1] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/04/warp-and-weft-of-life.html

[2] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/conception-empowering-to-serve-refugees.html

[3] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/07/inception-working-with-refugees-stage.html

[4] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/07/inception-working-with-refugees-stage_27.html

[5] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/in-their-words.html

[6] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/in-their-words-mataas-story.html

[7] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/06/in-their-words-petras-and-fabrices.html

[8] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/just-listen.html

A Holy People: Food Laws Deuteronomy 14:1-21

Deuteronomy 14:1-21

            In the last two chapters of Deuteronomy and the resultant Bible studies, we read about one sanctuary and one God. We learned, too, about what that means for us today. Today’s lesson begins a series on one holy people. In Deuteronomy 14:1-21, Moses began and ended this passage with the statement to the Israelites that they are holy to the LORD God. In this sermon, Moses told the Israelites what it means to be a holy people of the LORD. The specificity for the next thirteen chapters begins in today’s study with the food laws God commands for the Israelites so they stay holy and set apart for Him. Before He gave specifics about the food laws, He gave two commands about mourning the dead. Each of these concerns the body - the external and the internal. Let us look now at these twenty-one verses.

Sons of the LORD

            Verse 1 says, “You are the sons of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead.” First, note that this verse is the only time the Israelites are called the “sons of the LORD your God” in the Old Testament. God wanted them to know He cherishes them and gives them commands out of love just as a father to his child. Note that the word “son” comes from the Hebrew word ben, which denotes a male child. In this circumstance, it can mean the people of a nation, too. God spoke to the whole of Israel as His children. The laws He gave were for His children who are His followers/worshippers. God gave these laws for His children and the nation He called His own.

The second half of verse one is interesting. What did God mean when He told them not to cut themselves or shave their foreheads for the dead? The custom of the nations around the Israelites was to cut their bodies or shave part of their head in the grieving of their dead family member or neighbor. Jeremiah 16:6 and 41:5 mentions this. The nations around the Israelites did this as a part of the worship of their gods, too (1 Kings 18:28). The Israelites saw the Egyptians shave their heads and eyebrows in the worship of their god, Isis. God forbade the Israelites to cut themselves or shave their heads to keep them separate from the worship of other gods. The Israelites cut themselves via circumcision as a sign of their covenant with Yahweh. To cut or mark themselves for funerary reasons, would put a mark of a false god on themselves. God’s laws told them not to harm themselves, physically and spiritually. To keep the Israelites from absorbing the worship practices and rituals of the surrounding nations, God gave them laws about certain practices, such as not cutting oneself or shaving the hair on one’s forehead. This law may appear arbitrary, but God was providing safeguards for anything that might become absorbed into the Israelites’ way of life, which was against God’s commandments.

A Holy People

In verse two, Moses explained why God gave the laws. He said, “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” God said He chose them. Remember in Deuteronomy 7:6-7, 10:15, and 12:5, God said He chose them to set His affection of love on them. He chose them as His own possession from every people group on the earth. In Leviticus 20:26, God said He set them apart from every people to be His. The English word “chosen” in this verse comes from the Hebrew word bachar, which means to be chosen, decided for, or elected. The word “possession” is from the Hebrew word vegullah and means a treasured possession or special treasure. As any father would protect his family, God’s love for the Israelites was protective. Because He loves His people, He provided every measure of protection over them to prevent their being deceived or led astray from Him. This verse, then, tells the Israelites the reason for the laws set out in the next nineteen verses. Because they are a holy (set apart and consecrated to God) people, they must do nothing that God’s laws prohibit.

The next nineteen verses told the Israelites what they could and must not eat. They must not eat any detestable or abhorrent thing, anything God considered detestable or an abomination (vs. 3). Over the centuries, people have tried to understand why God allowed the eating of some animal meat and not others. Four trains of thought about this have arisen. First, people think God disallowed the eating of certain animals because people used them in pagan rituals. This idea would stand to reason considering that pagans used animals in the worship rituals of idols, but people of other nations offered bulls to their gods, too. Another view is that God disallowed the eating of certain animals for hygienic reasons. The people of the time did not have the ability to clean and prepare certain meats so that eating the meats would not make people sick. Yet any of the meats could have made people sick if kept for more than a day since they had no means of refrigeration. Other people reckon God disallowed certain foods because of the symbolism. Because God only allowed animals that did not prey on other animals or did not die of their own as offerings or sacrifices, these were the animals God commanded the Israelites not eat. This reasoning makes sense, but does not account for all the animals. What makes sense of God’s reasoning of allowed and disallowed animals for eating? It comes down to what God says is “clean” or “unclean.” Before the Mosaic covenant, Noah knew without asking which animals were clean and unclean when God told him to take two pairs of unclean animals and seven pairs of clean animals on the ark (Genesis 7). God has sovereign choice. He did not choose Israel because they were the most moral people on the earth or the largest or the most devout. Along with this reasoning, God did not appear to choose which animals were clean or unclean based on human reasoning. He used sovereign choice. This reasoning fits when the others do not. God chose Abraham, Jacob, Mary, the Israelites, and which animals to be eaten and sacrificed. This point shows God’s choice and election just as discussed at the beginning of verse two.

Food Laws

What did God say the Israelites could and must not eat? Deuteronomy 14 and Leviticus 11 contain the list of clean and unclean animals. Deuteronomy 14 says the Israelites could eat any animals that had a divided hoof and chewed the cud. These animals included the ox, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. They, too, could eat anything from the water with scales and fins, any clean bird, and any winged insect that had jointed legs above their feet with which to jump. Leviticus 11 does not give the list of divided hoof cud chewing animals like Deuteronomy, but lists the winged insects that are clean – locusts, devastating locusts, grasshoppers of all kinds, and crickets of all kinds. Leviticus 11 does not speak of the clean birds the Israelites must not eat. As to the unclean things, both Deuteronomy and Leviticus give much more detail, with Leviticus giving more than Deuteronomy. The unclean animals God forbade the Israelites to eat included the following - 1. Animals that chew the cud but do not divide the hoof (camel, hyrax/shipman, and rabbit); 2. Animals that do not chew the cud, but have divided hooves (pig); 3. Animals in the water that have no fins or scales; 4. Swarming/teeming life (insects) with wings; 5. Winged insects that walk on all four feet; 6. Whatever crawls on its belly; 7. Whatever has many feet; 8. Swarming things (mole, mouse, great lizard and all its kind, gecko, crocodile, lizard, sand reptile, and chameleon); and 9. Unclean birds (eagle, vulture, buzzard, all kinds of kites, falcon, ostrich, owls, sea gulls, all kinds of hawks, pelican, cormorant, stork, all kinds of herons, hoopoe, bats, ravens, and carrion vultures). Of the unclean animals, Leviticus is more specific about the swarming things. To this list, Deuteronomy adds that any animal that “dies of itself” must not be eaten (Deut. 14:21). Deuteronomy adds one other thing that Leviticus does not include. Verse 21b says, “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” God gave this same law in Exodus 23:19 and 34:26. The rationale is not obvious, though Philo, the philosopher, conjectured God commanded this because milk symbolizes life and cooking symbolizes death; thus, you cannot have both life and death in the same pot. Notice verse twenty-one says they can give or sell any of these things to aliens/foreigners in their towns and cities, but they are not to eat it. For people who are not God’s chosen people like the Israelites, the laws of the LORD did not apply.

A Holy People – Reprise and Expansion

Moses repeated for them why they were to follow this law of God. He encapsulated the food law with this reason. They were a “holy people to the LORD God,” Moses said. God’s children, those who believe and trust in Jesus Christ, are the LORD’s “holy people.” What, then, does the food law mean for us today? First, remember that the Israelites lived under the Mosaic covenant, which was a covenant of relationship with God and other people, a covenant of community. The Mosaic covenant led the people to know of their sins and ask forgiveness, but it never provided absolute salvation from their sins. God’s laws were outward actions that did not always reach inside the people. The Israelites’ thought processes focused on keeping unclean things from contaminating their inward selves. When Jesus came to earth, He taught what goes into a man is not what makes him clean or unclean, good or evil, but what comes from the inside of man that makes him these things (Matthew 15:11; Mark 7:15-22). Jesus Christ taught that He came to fulfill the Law not abolish it (Matthew 5:17). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preached on the attitudes of people. He taught that what is on the inside - in the heart, soul, and mind of a person - is what and who the person is. That is why He taught that the person who wants to be His follower must love the LORD God with all his or her heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). Since Jesus taught what comes from inside a person determines if he or she is clean, good, and right with God, a follow of Jesus can only be one who accepts Him with his or her whole heart - the inner man, not the outer man. Actions do not make a person acceptable to God, but the circumcising and giving of one’s heart. Actions do not lead to salvation; faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior from our sins does.

Food Law Today?

What does that mean about God’s food laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy? First, we must remember what Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 15:11, what enters a man is not what defiles him, but what proceeds out of his mouth does. Along with this, we must recall Peter’s vision from God in Acts 10-11. God lowered a sheet of many kinds of animals and told Peter to kill and eat them. Peter told God he never ate any unclean thing. God told him, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” From this lesson with God, at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15, Peter said the Gentile Christians do not have to become Jews before becoming Christians. He instructed them “abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood” (Acts 15:28). Paul stated in Romans 14:14, “I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” Paul spoke about not creating obstacles for Christian brothers and sisters. Later, in 1 Corinthians 10:25-26, Paul said, “Eat anything sold in the meat market without questioning for conscience’s sake; for the earth is the LORD’s and all it contains.” This alludes back to what God told Peter in His vision and what He said at creation, everything He created is good. Paul told Timothy this same thing in1 Timothy 4:4, “For everything created by God is good, and nothings is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude.” I think that is a major point. The attitude of the person receiving and eating the food determines if the God received glory or not when the person at the food. Remember what Paul wrote to in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” Glorifying, praising, and thanking God for everything while doing all things comes from the inside of a person, from the person’s heart and soul. From the inside of a person comes either good or evil. When a person glorifies God, God declares the person and his actions good. So what a person puts into his or her mouth is not what defiles him or her. What defiles is what comes out of the person’s heart via his or her mouth or actions. Hence, with these New Testament verses as explanation and with the new covenant that Jesus Christ brought, the food laws God gave to the Israelites are not valid for Christ’s followers. Jesus fulfilled the laws of the Mosaic Covenant and brought salvation through His once-for-all death and resurrection for sinful humanity.

This leaves us each to decide. Are you still living under the Mosaic covenant, not receiving the salvation Jesus paid for with His life? Have you come to believe Jesus is the Son of God sent to die the death penalty for your sins? Have you asked Jesus to forgive you and be the LORD and Master of your life? For those who are followers of Christ, have you allowed the laws of life to hold you down so you do not live a victorious life for the glory of God? Now is the time to let Jesus live and shine through your life – your submission, words, and actions. Will you let Him break the yoke of slavery to laws and sin in your life? It is up to you. 

God’s plans were still unfolding; His promised Messiah’s time had not yet occurred. For the Israelites to stay in communion with God, they had to follow God’s laws, statutes, and commandments. These laws, statutes, and commandments led them to see God and keep Him in their lives, but the laws could never offer them perfect absolution from their sins.

Medieval Ages, Movie Plots, and Mind Games

     

  I had the opportunity to see a movie last night. No one went with me because I needed personal space after having people at my house for the last two weeks. Being just one of two introverts in my house right now, space was a necessity for me. Three of the other people in the house are extreme extroverts and all that brings with it. Anyway, I looked at the movie listings and read the reviews and the bios on the movies. None really tempted me; however, one had reviews from people I know so I thought, “Why not, let’s go.” Off I went to what was supposed to be a remake of a popular fairy tale. I had seen the other director’s version of this same fairy tale last month, which left me enchanted (both meanings apply). The movie started, blood dripped from a finger, a child was born, a parent died, a father became enamored then killed, and a child was orphaned. So began this fairy tale. Next, enter the darkness. 

        What ensued next was a plethora of all the dark images moviegoers have faced over the last 12 years at theatres and on DVD. Witches made an entrance. Battles began. Blood spilled. Nature turned dark. Manhunts took the viewers on an escape or capture of the “good” person, and life after escape and capture began. Moviegoers then were taken on a journey in the view of the “hero” to see how life for them was now that they were embroiled in this battle of good versus evil. Would the heroine/hero escape and win the day (the battle) or would the witch/wizard rule the kingdom (the watcher’s universe) for eternity? This particular fairy tale, the director’s version, was about 1 ½ hours of evil and battles by an unbeatable army - fear and death. The story was not about a happy-ever-after event but about the time between beginning and end.

            This plot has been played out repeatedly and increasingly since the beginning of the Harry Potter series. The fascination people have with “darkness” and witches/wizards has led readers and moviegoers to be drawn toward this genre. Back when the above series first began, some people said, “Allowing our children to read these books promotes witchcraft and wizardry.” Many people bellowed back, “It did not.” Many people laughed at them that nothing of that kind could happen. Yet I have seen the fascination of these dark stories with evil, wizards, and witches become very important in the lives of people throughout the world. Yes, evil has existed on earth since the fall of humankind in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). My point is that our fascination by these genres and stories has made people seek them out. It has made dark stories more acceptable (what Satan wants) and, thus, allowed it to make inroads into our lives. Preteens, teens and adults read vampire and witch stories and are fascinated by stories set in medieval times, times when sorcery was prevalent and where Christianity was not taught to the masses. Christianity was kept to the priests and performed by the priests for the congregants’ sakes. Witchcraft and sorcery were strictly prohibited by the LORD God. These and worshipping false gods God called an abomination. You can read it in Deuteronomy (12:2, 16:21, 18:9-14), Leviticus (19:31 & 20:27), and Galatians 5:19-21. God abolished them because they were detestable and would distract and lead the children of God from worshipping Him exclusively to worshipping other gods (those manufactured by Satan).
 

The medieval times were called the Dark Ages for a reason. Satan was working hard amidst humanity to lead it astray before the Gospel became prevalent and spread worldwide. Fascination with wizards, brought about because of books with characters who were witches and wizards, has intrigued humanity so much they began delving into the Middle Ages. Should we not learn that foremost what occurred during the medieval ages should be a lesson to us? We should not to go backward but forward into the future with hope and with the salvation plan God has given us? We should be stronger in our faith than the people of the Middle Ages by now. We have had the opportunity of over 500 years distance to learn how to be strong against evil and how to have a relationship with Jesus, not to allow the priest to be the “go-between” for us. We should not allow Satan to distract us from the LORD with fascination about witches and wizards. Yet we are drawn to this age, to the darkness, maybe under the ruse we are studying it, but we are drawn to it. Shouldn’t we think that Satan would love to use our curiosity against us to plant ideas in our minds. These ideas then would make us start accepting the culture of the people of the Middle Ages again under the pretext that all people have a right to live according to their will. Curiosity about the gods of Canaan by the Israelites was why the LORD God told them to destroy the places of worship they found in the Promised Land when they entered it to possessed it. The curiosity of humankind and then rationalization are what leads us to probe and consider the ways of others that do not follow the Lord.

        If we find ourselves saying, “We must be tolerant of all,” does that include people who choose a lifestyle from that dark time even though we see by hindsight what it did to the people of that age? That lifestyle is counter to the one the Father has taught us since that then. How much can we challenge people about that lifestyle they are trying to live for themselves? Wicca and pagan cults have seen a large increase in their numbers over the last 15 years. From 1990 until 2001, the membership of Wicca and pagan cults more than doubled in the US and around the world. Wicca was the seventh largest organized religion in the US as of 2001. Another survey in 2008 found this number had doubled again[i]. Wiccans do not stay in hiding much anymore but are becoming more visible. We must challenge these beliefs and then stand up for ours and teach ours to our children and the next generations.

In the Crusades of the Dark Age, this religious battle occurred as Christian against Muslim and Christians against witches and wizards. Alternative religions continuously juxtapose to Christianity and people today consider them acceptable religions. “All religions are thought to be right for everyone because all people will eventually get to heaven,” some people say. Others say the contrary, “Only one religion is right so each religious group must fight for the right to be the “true” religion.” When do we step out and say, “Stop, this is going backwards in our religious growth and maturity?” When will we understand that this fascination with medieval times, wizards and witches, and religious warfare actually opens the door to bring the thoughts and actions of the Dark Ages back into existence? At what point do we realize we have opened a door that should have remained closed? This is no longer a fascination we are feeding, but a battle we are waging for the minds, hearts, and souls of those who live today and of our descendents.  We must be accountable to our future generations.

This story could be about a “happily-ever-after” if we would open our eyes, which Satan wants to be closed and darkened, and see that history is repeating itself. It is not futile and hopeless. We have a Champion of the historical story, of the plot of humanity. We must let Jesus Christ become our Savior and Champion. He will not come to our aid unless we allow Him; He does not storm in. Yet if we can see beyond the darkness in which Satan has enveloped us by the ruse of fascination, we can open the door we have allowed Satan to shut. We can open the door to Jesus, our Champion. We do not have to walk backwards in time and re-live the darkness of the Dark Age. We can walk forward knowing the battle is won. There is a Champion. The days and times do not have to be dark. We can live in victory today. Because Jesus is the conqueror of death and Satan, we can also be more than conquerors through Him (Romans 8:31-39). Jesus is our “happily-ever-after.”

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[i]  http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_nbr3.htm