In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. -Judges 21:25 (NASB)

In the 2005 movie Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the third chapter of the Star Wars science fiction saga, moviegoers witnessed a large-scale betrayal that led up to the events in the 1977 movie Star Wars. Misplaced trust and security in a corrupt leader and embedded clone troops set the stage for a galactic massacre and iron-fisted rule.

When the time was right, the soon-to-be self-proclaimed emperor issued the command, “Execute Order 66,” the trigger phrase to activate dormant programming in clone troops across the galaxy. Those troops instantly turned on their allies, the Jedi (the peacekeepers), and the galaxy was plunged into a dark era.

That may be science fiction, but the parallels to our world become clearer by the day.

Before man was created, Lucifer was cast down from heaven for attempting to usurp God, and then as the serpent, tricked Eve with the same lie: Just do what you want. If you do this forbidden thing, you will be like God. We know how then ended.

Many generations later, especially noted throughout the Book of Judges, God’s chosen people repeatedly turned from Him and His laws, doing what was right in their eyes. When the perversion got too great, Israel finally cried out to God, and He would rescue them with a judge…and then they would repeat the cycle all over again.

We continue the cycle today, as the world continues to get darker and more perverse, where man knows that doing whatever he wants is right. Humans are elevated and worshiped like gods, and the Bible is relegated to fairy tale status. Those who follow God’s laws are ridiculed and considered ignorant dinosaurs. The stage is being reset again for a new cycle.

As foretold in the Book of Revelation, the spiritual equivalent of Order 66 will be executed, when Satan and his fallen angels will attempt and fail the ultimate cosmic coup (Revelation 12:7-12). But then all hell will break loose on earth when the sleepwalking world will sadly realize that their trust in only themselves was woefully misplaced (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). But there is a new hope.

Though there will be a Great Tribulation on the earth in the last days, believers are the only ones who can take comfort in knowing that they alone were the faithful who will ultimately end up in the presence of the Lord, unlike all those who heard of Him and turned from Him. Where will your heart be when Order 66 takes place? If you haven’t chosen the only deliverance and path to Heaven, walk this way.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. -1 Peter 2:11 (ESV)

I was watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special with my son, and he asked what pilgrims are. (He also asked if they could be found at Pilgrim’s Cleaners, a dry-cleaning place, and I said not likely.) I told him that pilgrims are travelers, and that sometimes the term refers to those who travel for religious reasons.

I explained to him that the Pilgrims that Thanksgiving here in the United States refers to are people who wanted to get away from a king who didn’t let them worship God in the way they believed was correct. (I look forward to relearning about the persecution of the English Separatist movement when he gets older.) I also explained to him that we, too, are pilgrims, traveling through this world until we go to heaven.

I tied it all together to tell him that we give thanks to God all day, every day, in all things. Thanksgiving Day is a day of thanks that memorializes the autumn feast of the pilgrims with the Native Americans in 1621, but is also a great reminder for us to recount everything and everyone we’re thankful for as we continue on our travels.

Today’s soundtrack

Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Long Way Home” encourages us that the bumps and trials, detours and ways we take in life are not the wrong way, just the long way home.

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When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. -James 1:13-14 (NIV)

As a child, I remember picking up a Hans Christian Andersen storybook in the school library, and in it was a short story called The Garden of Eden.

The story revolves around a prince who had all the books anyone could ever want at his disposal, but none of them told him how he could find the Garden of Eden, the place he wanted to go to the most. One night he got caught up in a terrible rainstorm while wandering in the forest, and happened upon a cave, where a deer was roasting on a spit.

An old woman in the cave turned out to be the mother of the four winds. Each came in from their flights around the world, talking about where they’d been and what they’d done. The naughty winds had to go into their mother’s bag. The last wind who came in, however, was the east wind…and he mentioned that he would be making his once-in-a-century visit to the Garden of Eden.

The next day, the prince rode on the back of the east wind, who took him to a subterranean area in the Himalayas, where the Garden of Eden was hidden. (As this story says, the Garden sunk into the earth once Adam and Eve fell to temptation.) Once there, he saw the most beautiful fairy maiden, who gave the prince a tour of the Garden…including the Tree of Knowledge.

She warned him that the east wind would not return for another 100 years, but that time would only seem like 100 days in the Garden. She let him know that he could stay forever…unless he let himself be “tempted to do the forbidden thing,” as did Adam. The prince said he would not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

She said that, each night, she would beckon him to follow her as she made her way to the Tree to sleep under its boughs. She warned that he should not follow, because with each step the tempation would grow stronger. She said that if he followed, he would bend over her, and she must smile…but if he planted a kiss on her lips, the Garden would sink into the earth once more, lost to him…and suffering would be his lot.

She also told him that the longer he resisted, the stronger he would become, until he would not heed her call any more.

On the first night, he danced with the maiden fairy, and life in the Garden was like a beautiful dream. Then, at sundown, the fairy beckoned him to follow her. You’ll have to find out for yourself to see how it ends.

In our lives, too, the longer we resist temptation, the stronger we become…but never underestimate the power we can give to temptation, and the pride we can develop in thinking we are above falling or stumbling.

Keep your eyes on the prize: eternal life in the presence of the Father. Don’t take one more step away from His designated path for you. Focus on Him and His promises, and you’ll find the siren songs get fainter as you see and hear more and more of Him.

The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. -Psalm 37:23-24 (NIV)

Have you ever slipped on the rung of a ladder? It’s no fun, to say the least. There’s pain you feel while you continue what you started.

True believers climb ever upward, eyes on God…but what about when we slip?

The previous post talked about how Jesus tied the Old and New Testament together, explaining to Nathanael in John 1:51 that He was Jacob’s Ladder, the connection between heaven and earth.

When we slip or fall, perhaps by distraction or temptation, the gravity of sin pulls us downward just as gravity pulls us to the earth. But for those of us who have Jesus in our hearts, it’s when we’re low and hurting that we look with focus and surrender skyward, and Jesus lifts us up once more.

We keep climbing…and the higher we lift up the Lord, the more He can do in us…and we climb higher and closer to Him. Don’t be discouraged when you slip or fall. Learn why your step wasn’t firm, and if you need to repent of it, do that.

Watch God make your footing ever firmer on each step upward, and power your climb higher than you ever did before.

Today’s soundtrack

Unspoken’s “Higher” testifies that the lower we get, the higher we lift His name!

They did not destroy the peoples, Concerning whom the Lord had commanded them, But they mingled with the Gentiles And learned their works; They served their idols, Which became a snare to them. -Psalms 106:34-36 (NKJV)

Ever seen a movie that had some obvious setups for sequels? Well, truth is stranger than fiction.

Those Israelites and their Asherah poles! A constant source of temptation to them was idolatry, and though Joshua mightily commanded the Israelites to astounding and miraculous victories throughout the Promised Land–all to God’s glory–the Israelites didn’t completely follow through. There were pockets of folks who were not driven out, as the Lord had told them to do.

These seemingly innocuous peace treaties or coexistences with the non-Israelites of the Promised Land proved to sow the seeds of much, much suffering ahead. Since all the Asherah poles and false idols weren’t destroyed, they slowly started infecting the Israelites with the attraction of idol worship. As more and more gave in, the nation was infected, and disobedience and outright rejection of the Lord became the norm.

We might think, “Those Israelites! Why are they so thick-skulled?” But in reality, they’re a reflection of us. We have our own modern idols and temptations to take God out of first place in our lives, and it’s always our choice to veer off course.

Let the Israelites’ repeated disobedience be an illustrated life lesson for us to learn: dig deep and partake in His Word. Fellowship with like-minded Christ followers to stay in God-fearing company. Pray without ceasing. As soon as we slip on any of these, those Asherah poles and false idols of today will become more and more appealing…yet again.

Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. -Exodus‬ ‭34:13‬ ‭(NIV)

We all have that shiny, forbidden thing that keeps calling us…tempting us…to return to it. But we know that to do it is folly. To do it is to sin…to separate us from God. But it looms over us sometimes like a giant, especially when we try to ignore it.

For the Israelites, their constant temptation was idol worship. Even in Exodus 34, God forgave them for the whole golden calf debacle and promised to help them take the Promised Land (Canaan)…but they had to cut down any Asherah poles they found.

In the books to follow, that word, Asherah, kept appearing. It was clearly a big deal. I finally looked it up: an Asherah pole was a pole or trunk carved to roughly symbolize the pagan goddess Asherah (also known as Astarte and Ishtar). She was the consort of Baal, another pagan god.

But over and over again, the Israelites returned to those poles like a bad habit. And each time they did, the consequences piled on. Suffering was always the outcome.

Today, our idolatry is the same. It’s anything that takes our eyes off God. Anything or anyone we dare to put above Him. It might be celebrities, food, drink, drugs, sex, or work. Or material things and money. Or our own children or spouses. Or other gods.

No one comes before God in the heart of a believer fixed on Him. But we all lose sight from time to time, and He is always there through our disobedience, with the Holy Spirit to urge us back to getting right with Him.

And like with the Israelites, He is patient and longsuffering. He lovingly awaits us, His children, with open arms. And no Goliath is even a speck of dust compared to the Lord!

Today’s soundtrack

Sidewalk Prophets’ “Prodigal” reminds us that we have a Father who will always take us back. All we have to do is turn from our disobedient ways and head to Him.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. -1 Peter 1:14 (HCSB)

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. -Psalm 103:12 (KJV)

I was driving home one evening, minding my own business, when I saw a BMW exiting a drugstore parking lot–at street speeds–right into my lane! I saw him coming, so I swerved and gave a warning honk of my horn. What happened next was predictable here in my town: the driver followed me for a while, uncomfortably close.

As I was nearing my home, I knew I shouldn’t go directly home, so I pulled onto a side street to see what the driver would do. I had a toolbox in my car, and with my pulse racing, I already knew I would grab a tool from it if I needed to defend myself.

Thankfully, the driver tore around me and sped away. What God mercifully did there was spare us from far worse circumstances that could have transpired.

I used to be like a lot like that driver, thinking that everyone was just in my way to where I needed to go. And if someone inconvenienced me, I’d make sure they knew it. I dangerously raced others like me on crowded streets, and the escalation of adrenaline and testosterone was addictive. It was also very, very poisonous to the should.

I thank God for extinguishing that in me when I came to Jesus, and I can see now that Satan was trying to tempt me back to a darker, more selfish time in my life. God mercifully gave me the grace to not escalate or contribute to the beginnings of a decades-old street confrontation.

When you give way to the old embers and vestiges of you and let them rise up, you’ll know it. You may even have serious consequences resulting from your stumble. And if you do, there will be ones who are just waiting for that will tell you, “Aha! You haven’t changed at all!” But don’t believe it. Sanctification is a lifelong process, where we’re purified every moment of every day.

Thank you, Jesus!

Today’s soundtrack

Casting Crown’s “East to West” reminds us of the bottomless love and grace of God, far beyond any missteps we take.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. -1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)

In Greek mythology, there was a half-giant known as Antaeus, who had the reputation of being unbeatable in wrestling, killing every opponent. He even built a temple to his father, Poseidon, out of the skulls of his fallen opponents!

En route to one of his Twelve Labors (penance), Hercules had to somehow defeat Antaeus. No matter how many times Hercules pinned or threw Antaeus, Antaeus would get back up, because Antaeus’ strength was his contact with the earth (Gaia was his mother).

How do you beat an unbeatable opponent? You don’t play their game! Hercules lifted Antaeus off the ground, then crushed him to death with a bearhug.

Sexual temptation is a lot like Antaeus, because you can’t defeat it by toying with it or wrestling with it. Just like window shopping, you think that you can just browse, but the longer you do it, the higher the chance that something or someone will catch your eye. You’ll eventually believe you “need” or “have to have” a person or thing. You’ll give the enemy a foothold.

Billy Graham once said that when it came to looking at other people (in a desirous way), we can’t help the first look if someone appears in our view…but we can choose whether we look again.

This particular Goliath is one you feed and empower simply by choosing to continue to look and think about it. And it will only grow stronger and stronger.

So, you don’t play its game. You stop feeding and fueling it with your attention. You set your sights back on Jesus. When you do that, you crush it. You suffocate it. You’ve separated it from its source of power. You break its back.

And you’ll feel your own power return, because your focus on Jesus has given you that supernatural strength to defeat what you never could on your own. As with any Goliath, God is the key to its defeat!

And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. -1 Kings 19:12 (KJV)

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” -Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV)

Remember the cartoons of the 1940s and 1950s, where characters often had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, trying to convince them which path to take?

Before I was a believer, I just thought it was a funny way to portray our conscience. After I became a believer, I could see that the idea of good and bad voices are not so funny or cute, but illustrate the spiritual warfare that rages in our minds and hearts every day.

The Holy Spirit speaks to us in a still, small voice in our hearts, as He did to Elijah after all the opposing prophets of Baal were vanquished in 1 Kings. But, we only hear the Spirit whisper in our hearts when we stop talking over it to get our own way!

Meanwhile, Satan attacks us from the outside, through the influences of the world around us, as well as whispering in our ears. He’ll plant seeds of doubt, betrayal, indulgence, and hate. But, Satan only has the power to suggest; he cannot make us do anything. Just as with Eve in the Garden of Eden, he only had to tell her that doing what God forbade would be the right thing to do…and would put her in a better place. (We know what happened next.)

Two voices meet our free will

And both of those voices, the holy one within and the unholy one at the gates, meet our free will. It’s really easy to give in and let the gates come down. It’s often the easier route that will let us indulge the will of the flesh…the fun stuff.

But we’re ultimately more enriched and nourished by always choosing what will please and glorify the Lord…even if it’s not popular. If it’s right by God, it’s right.

So, the next time you hear the voice of temptation in your ears, you know who it is. But still yourself so you can hear the Spirit’s whisper deep in your heart, and when you obediently follow Him, you will never face the regret of listening to the other voice.

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. -Ephesians 4:2 (NLT)

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. -Colossians 3:13 (NIV)

You know the feeling…that slippery slope when someone or something has broken the camel’s back…when the line has been crossed. You can feel yourself giving in to the temptation of being nasty, short, or downright ugly…and you give in.

In the Star Wars science fiction movies, there is an evil leader called the Emperor, and he delights when Luke, the hero, gives in to the Dark Side: hatred and rage. The Emperor would say, “Good…let the hate flow through you.” Luke’s been worn and beaten from relentless attacks, and isn’t composed or thinking straight any more, so he gives in…at least for a few moments.

Satan, like the Emperor, is delighted when we’re worn down and give in to the dark side. But God is the one whose grace we need to channel and flow through us…if only we’d stop plugging up the grace He freely offers us!

More than likely, it’s not just the immediate situation that’s beaten us down, but it’s the sum of everything that’s been wearing us down for some time. When we recognize this is happening, we can step back and take a deep breath…then breathe out the stress.

When you feel yourself on the edge of the slippery slope–or even if you’ve already started down it–close your eyes and take a deep breath. Let God’s grace and love flow through you, and you’ll find the spiritual and emotional struggle is only on your shoulders until you surrender it to Him!