Join The Angel Choirs To Praise The NAME

Currently I am reading Dr Michael Ward's The Narnia Code, his fascinating book about the secret third level meaning of C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia. He explains his discovery in even more detail in his original work, Planet Narnia. I highly recommend that you read at least his FAQ on his website even if you do not read either of his two books. 

One of the things—among many others—that fascinated me was this quote, 

In pre-coperican times, Christians believed (as we still believe) that God ruled the universe. But as Lewis explains in The Discarded Image, medieval Christians believed that, in addition to man, God has made spirits of various kinds, sometimes called gods, deities, intelligences, or angels, to have authority under Him. Today, Christians often talk about angels but tend to avoid using the word gods,  assuming that it can refer only to "pagan gods." However, the Bible itself sometimes uses the word gods without referring to something occultic or evil. The most obvious place is in John 10:34-36, where Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6 ("Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'?)

 Medieval Christians believed that not only had God created these various spirits, but that He had put seven of them in charge of the seven planets. Each planet was governed by its own god or angel, who in turn ruled over a different day of the week.

He then goes on to point out that the seven days of our week are each named after one of the so-called seven planets, with each planet governed by its own god or angel. 

• Saturn rules Satur-day
• Sun rules Sun-day
• Moon rules Mon-day
• Mars rules Tues-day (the Norse equivalent is Tyr or Tiw)
• Mercury rules Wednes-day (the Norse equivalent is Woden)
• Jupiter rules Thurs-day (the Norse equivalent is Thor)
• Venus rules Fri-day (the Norse equivalent is Freya or Frigg)

Our planet Earth also has a god or angel who was put in charge, but this ruling spirit rebelled and led a whole cohort of other angels to join him. For this he was cast out of heaven and confined to the earth (Luke 10:18; 1 John 3:8; Rev. 9:1; 12:7-8) Of him the Apostle Paul writes, 

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world (aion) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. - 2Cr 4:3-4 ESV

Jesus confronted the ruler of this world on a high mountain and resisted this ruler's temptation.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." - Mat 4:8-9 ESV

Interestingly, Jesus did not deny that the devil has such power. What he resisted was the temptation to kneel before this fallen angel and worship him, for the clear command is to worship the LORD alone (Deut. 6:13-14).

The Apostle John records other comments by the LORD Jesus about this world's ruler.

Now is the judgment of this world (kosmos); now will the ruler of this world (kosmos) be cast out. ... "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them." - John 12:31, 40 ESV

 What does all this suggest? That we need to take another look at how we view what we now call space or the universe, usually portrayed as a cold, dark, lifeless expanse of mere energy and light that expands ever outward since the Big Bang. But it is not at all as lifeless and empty of created beings as we are currently taught by our wise men—otherwise known as scientists and astro-physicists. It is teeming with spirits and life. The LORD challenges Job with this question,

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? - Job 38:4-7 ESV

Who are these morning stars that sang together on the days of creation? Who are these sons of God who shouted for joy? They are His angels, His messengers. These great spirits inhabit the universe and many other spirits fill the earth, controlling its winds and waves and storms—and many other events, as the Psalm says,

He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers (Mal'akim) winds, his ministers (Sharathim) a flaming fire. - Psa 104:3-4 ESV

We miss them and their singing. We are not even aware of it, because their songs surround us. It is so much a part of our life that we do not hear their songs ever praising and giving glory to The Name! I invite you to join C.S. Lewis and those who love his writings to  acknowledge the presence of a countless multitude of great spirits, angels, cherubim and seraphim praising The Name in the stars and planets of the heavens above. And on the earth learn again of the magic and hear again the singing of sprites, nymphs, elves, fauns, faeries, gnomes, ogres, trolls and dryads in the winds and clouds, the streams, waterfalls and lakes, the mountains and forests.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. - Psa 19:1-4 NLT

As reborn children of God join the singing of this countless multitude to hallow and praise The Name that is above every name in the vast heavens beyond and on the earth, our home. Our Father in the heavens, hallowed be Your Name! 

We Are Not Celebrating The Birthday Of A Philosopher

Here in the U.S.A. we have the annual controversy about Christmas trees in public places. Some would have them called Holiday trees. Others strongly object, saying that this has been an official holiday since 1870. In this holiday we celebrate the birth of a man whose philosophy is most meaningful to our country. So we must retain the term Christmas tree. However, as all believers know, Jesus persisted in calling himself God's Son. John's Gospel records Jesus openly proclaiming himself to be one with his Father. He is no mere man nor is he merely a philosopher.

"I and the Father are one." The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God." - Jhn 10:30-33 ESV

The Gospels are packed with parallel statements.

• In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. - Jhn 1:1-2 ESV
• But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." ... that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. - Jhn 5:17, 23 ESV
• Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." - Jhn 8:58 ESV
• All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. ... The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, - Jhn 17:10, 22 ESV
• All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. - Mat 11:27 ESV
• Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. - 1Ti 3:16 ESV

We Christians at least are not celebrating the birthday of a mere man whose philosophy has been influential. Jesus himself will not permit it. Of course U.S. President Thomas Jefferson did indeed consider Jesus to be nothing more than a man. He purposely cut out all references in the Bible to Jesus' divinity, creating the well known Jefferson Bible, also known as The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. In this book Jefferson focuses on the words of Jesus, chiefly the Sermon on the Mount and his parables. He eliminates the miracles and ends the story with Jesus' burial. One edition also contains a very short section with some of Jefferson's other writings.

In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, 

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."

Let us who believe in and trust in Jesus as living Savior and risen Lord make it abundantly clear in our proclamations. Jesus is not a mere philosopher. He is Emmanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:18-25). Hallelujah! Jesus, true God and true Man, is the reason we celebrate this season.

C.S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell

It seems I'm always doing something else and going somewhere that keeps me from writing to this Blog. Right now Sylvia and I have returned to our vacation home in Pagosa Springs, CO. where we are spending a few weeks enjoying the beauty of fall leaves and cool mountain air.

After we arrived and settled in I started looking around at a few of the books I've had stored here for years. I came across a little volume I hadn't read for a long, long time: The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.

The Wikipedia article about the book summarizes the plot in this way: "In The Great Divorce, the narrator suddenly, and inexplicably, finds himself in a grim and joyless City (the "grey town", a depiction of Hell). He eventually finds a bus for those who desire an excursion to some other place (and which eventually turns out to be the foothills of Heaven). He enters the bus and converses with his fellow passengers as they travel. When the bus reaches its destination, the "people" on the bus — including the narrator — gradually realize that they are ghosts. Although the country is the most beautiful they have ever seen, every feature of the landscape (including streams of water and blades of grass) is unbearably solid compared to themselves: it causes them immense pain to walk on the grass, and even a single leaf is far too heavy for any of them to lift."

As the narrator (apparently Lewis) wanders about in those heavenly foothills he meets a man by the name of George Macdonald (pp.64 ff). Macdonald, he acknowledges, taught him a great deal through his writings. He shares how his reading of Macdonald's book Phantasies started him on the path to becoming a Christian. Now in these heavenly foothills Macdonald continues to act as his Teacher. A lengthy discussion between the two follows. What interested me in this reading is the way Macdonald describes heaven and hell.

Permit a quote about these two places. He calls their present location "the Valley of the Shadow of Life" for those saved. The sad streets of the town from whence the narrator and the other ghosts came would be "the Valley of the Shadow of Death." This leads to a comment about eternity by the Scotsman Macdonald:

"...ye can get some likeness of it if ye say that both good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all this earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only the twilight in that town, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by the damned to have been Hell. That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, 'No future bliss can make up for it,' not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say, 'Let me but have this and I'll take the consequences: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin.

"Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say, 'We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven,' and the Lost, 'We were always in Hell.' And both will speak truly."

As noted above, everything about the foothills of heaven is so real, so solid that it causes the ghosts pain. That's how the words I quote above struck me. This is so real that it causes pain, but as painful as it is, it is wondrous to hear. Ever since reading this I've been walking around, sometimes with my little dog Wee-Z, admiring and enjoying the mountains, the horses in the neighbor's fence, the sounds of the birds flitting from bush to tree, as well as my dear wife's cooking. And all the while I've been saying to myself, "This is heaven or at least it is the valley that leads to it. And one day, one day very soon I'll have a wondrous, never-ending opportunity to journey onward into the eternity of Deep Heaven itself."