What if . . .

-
What if the reason for demonic activity is because no one has been there as a witness of the true king? What if no one has been there as a representative of the kingdom of YHWH? Or, perhaps, if they have been there, they must continue to bring these 'principalities and powers' to reconciliation? What if this must be done constantly and continuously?

I ask because of the story of St Bartholomew. It is said that he stayed in India at a Temple housed by the demon, Astaruth. Before Bartholomew was there, the demon would 'cure' people of infirmity (but only, it seems, temporarily). However, after Bartholomew showed up and stationed himself in that same Temple, the demon was no where to be seen. You can read more about this here and here.

This has gotten me thinking. What if that is the case? That is, what if the problem is that these 'principalities and powers' have been rebellious so long that we must continually bring them under 'control', as it were?

St Paul wrote:
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see -- kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.

Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. -- Colossians 1.15-20

Did you notice that? St Paul wrote that YHWH 'reconciled everything to himself' -- including the 'principalities and powers'! So, like I asked, maybe we have to continually bring these demons to subjection to Christ? Reminding them that YHWH has reconciled them to himself.

This leads me to my next thought. YHWH has reconciled everything to 'himself'. But, everything has not been reconciled to YHWH. For reconciliation to work, there has to be a willingness with all parties involved. YHWH has done his part. The whole world has been reconciled to 'him'. But, to quote Paul again:
God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, "Be reconciled to God!" -- 2Corinthians 5.18-20

Just some thoughts on this fine Wednesday.

May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.

+OD

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Linux Mint 5

-
Image
It's been a while since I did a technological (read: geek) blog, so I thought I would update you on what's going on. As you are aware, I am a full-fledged geek by trade and passion and I have gone from Windows to Mac to Linux.  My Linux evolution went from Linspire to Mepis to PCLinuxOS to Ubuntu .  I stayed with PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu for the longest.  However, I have always read good things about another distribution called Linux Mint .  It's based on the latest Ubuntu release but with a lot of add-ons.  The latest version is called Linux Mint 5, Elyssa.  So, at the office, I downloaded the latest iso and tried it out to see how it all worked. First of all, there are always some things I keep in mind when trying any new Linux distro, the primary thing being, 'How would the average user feel about using this OS?'  'Is it (very) simple to install?  Is it easy to use?  Is it easy to get help?  Is it easy to add or remove applications?  Is the terminal (command
Read more

Series: New Testament Eschatology

-
Image
From time to time, I hear a lot about the early church’s understanding of the “end of the world” or their belief that the “Second Coming of Jesus” would take place within their generation. And it’s usually not in a very good light. “They were obviously mistaken,” is often the remark I hear most. I know it’s hard to imagine but what if we’re mistaken? What if we’ve misunderstood what they meant? I’m hoping that this series on some of the major statements from the New Testament about the “end of the world” will show that they weren’t mistaken in their understanding of the “signs of the times.” Before we begin, however, let’s look at some terms that will have to be used. As most of you know, I try to refrain from using big “church” words. My reason for this is because those words are like suitcases where ideas and thoughts and understandings are packed into them. To explain the words would mean a long time spent unpacking the suitcases and explaining their contents. While such a pil
Read more

'Sick to my guts...'

-
I usually don't make posts like this because I'm way outta my element. But I am sick of all of the hype I see in the media. The whole one sided take on journalism. Each program has an agenda. As my wife says, 'You find what you're looking for'. It would absolutely kill a mainstream media person like Olbermann to say President Bush has done something good and right. Likewise it would kill a 'talk radio' media person like Limbaugh to say that Senator Clinton or Senator Obama did something good and right. We are a country shown the extremes. Most of the mainstream media are such Bush haters, that's right I stated 'haters', that they would actually explode if they had to report on the good that he has done. Likewise 'Fox' news and talk radio hosts are such Democrat haters that they, too, would explode if they had to report on any good that they have done. 'Fair and balanced' my butt! Everyone, everyone has their agenda. I
Read more