Greetings everyone,
I hope this as past messages, finds you, your family, and friends doing well.
This message is a doosie! Last night my family and I spent time together and went to see a movie. Upon departing the movie, we held and intriguing conversation. I won’t provide you with the name of the film.
The discussion surrounded several of the statements in the movie, which appeared to have Biblical reference. Specifically, the statement that struck my wife and I, was when one of the characters was asked to identify himself, the character began with who he was not. He then stated the following, “I am”… “I am, I am.”
Obviously, that struck my wife and I as odd. Recognizing it was a movie, we considered as part of Hollywood’s (Satan), continued plan to lessen or minimize the power of God. No, I know what some of you maybe thinking; we are reading too much into this. Here is where the story got interesting. Our youngest son, who is very intelligent and has some basic to intermediate knowledge of Biblical doctrine, totally disagreed with us.
Our son also thought we were totally reaching and felt that at no way did the statement or the movie make any attempt to demoralize Christianity (Which we never thought or stated). He stated that if it had an affect on anyone, it was because his or her faith was weak. He did not believe that anyone cared about what was said. Mainly because in the comic book (many years ago), it was already said and people going to the movie new what to expect.
Before I continue, please see the scriptures and commentary below. I will make additional comments there after and you can comment as you please.
Book: Exodus
Author: According to Insight.org, “As with Genesis, early Jewish traditions name Moses as the most likely and best qualified person to have authored Exodus. This theory is supported by a number of factors. Moses’s unique education in the royal courts of Egypt certainly provided him the opportunity and ability to pen these works (Acts 7:22).”
Time: According to Insight.org, “The book covers a period of approximately eighty years, from shortly before Moses’s birth (c. 1526 BC) to the events that occurred at Mount Sinai in 1446 BC.”
Purpose: According to Insight.org, “The title “Exodus” comes from the Septuagint, which derived it from the primary event found in the book, the deliverance from slavery and “exodus” or departure of the Israelite nation out of Egypt by the hand of Yahweh, the God of their forefathers.”
“In Exodus we witness God beginning to fulfill His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Though the children of Israel were enslaved in a foreign land, God miraculously and dramatically delivered them to freedom. He then established Israel as a theocratic nation under His covenant with Moses on Mount Sinai. The ten plagues, the Passover, the parting of the Red Sea, the fearsome majesty of God’s presence at Mount Sinai, the giving of the Ten Commandments, the building of the tabernacle . . . these events from Exodus are foundational to the Jewish faith. And they provide crucial background context to help future readers of Scripture understand the entire Bible’s message of redemption. The frequency of references to Exodus by various biblical writers, and even Jesus’s own words, testify to its importance.”
Exodus 3: 11-15;
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 1
15 Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’
Matthew Henry Commentary – Exodus 3:11-15 - 2. He desires instructions what answer to give them: “What shall I say to them? What name shall I vouch to them for the proof of my authority? I must have something great and extraordinary to say to them; what must it be? If I must go, let me have full instructions, that I may not run in vain.” Note, (1.) It highly concerns those who speak to people in the name of God to be well prepared beforehand. (2.) Those who would know what to say must go to God, to the word of his grace and to the throne of his grace, for instructions, Ezek. 2:7; 3:4, 10, 17. (3.) Whenever we have any thing to do with God, it is desirable to know, and our duty to consider, what is his name.
IV. God readily gives him full instructions in this matter. Two names God would now be known by:—
1. A name that denotes what he is in himself (Exod. 3:14): I am that I am. This explains his name Jehovah, and signifies, (1.) That he is self-existent; he has his being of himself, and has no dependence upon any other: the greatest and best man in the world must say, By the grace of God I am what I am; but God says absolutely—and it is more than any creature, man or angel, can say—I am that I am. Being self-existent, he cannot but be self-sufficient, and therefore all-sufficient, and the inexhaustible fountain of being and bliss. (2.) That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever; he will be what he will be and what he is; see Rev 1:8.
Three other verses came up when I began researching this issue:
- John 14:6 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- John 15:5 (NKJV) “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
- John 8:59 (NKJV) Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
As I stated this issue became intriguing. As our son hammered home his side of the argument, my wife and I tried to explain to him how Satan works. We went on to explain that direct evil does not work on everyone. Satan figured out long ago that subtlety was the best way to separate or distract man’s relationship with God. We went on to explain how since the beginning of time, Satan has been able to place a small sliver in society to use tolerance and acceptance to destroy a society. On a daily basis, Hollywood, television, media, social media, etc., pushes through every medium possible, that we should be more accepting. Everything that was once considered immoral or illegal is okay. It’s those crazy religious people who are wrong. Everyone should just coexist. Fortunately for us we have Jesus Christ on our side.
Well the discussion went into overtime when I went to Exodus. As we tried to explain that with a stronger relationship comes wisdom and discernment. In the past we too would have not caught on to the statement and went about our ways. He still was not buying our argument. My wife then used the recent movie Noah (Paramount Picture 2014) and Exodus as an example of how Hollywood and Satan uses Biblical stories to move you further away from God. If you recall the director of Noah, Darren Aronofsky an acknowledged atheist stated in an April 2014 interview in the Telegraph, a UK newspaper or magazine, “The problems arose because the studio were trying to serve religious literalists,” says Aronofsky. “Because there is a big part of the population in America who don’t want anything to contradict their view of the Bible, and are never going to be open to this type of interpretation.”
For him, the Noah story is something metaphorical and mythic, a beautiful fiction that points towards truth, rather than simply reporting it.
“To argue about it as if it was a historical event is ridiculous. Which, by the way, goes for atheists, too – the people who do the math and say, ‘Well, all of the animal kingdom couldn’t fit into one boat.’ The whole conversation is ridiculous.”
Additionally, Aronofsky made every effort to ensure the name of God was never mentioned in the film. Our son then acknowledged that this movie was not scripturally correct as they spoke about at his (former) Christian school. He went on to repeat that anyone with a strong relationship with Christ would have easily figured this out. But we explained that this was the point. The uninformed Christian, especially non-Christian would even catch such blatant, but hidden agenda. Again, this is how Satan strikes.
My son went on to state that he did not see Satan in this issue. Additionally, he felt that free will and sin was a product of man. He was under the impression that sin would have been around whether Satan was or not. He used the behavior of man during prohibition (1920s), the Awakening (end of 19th Century), and even the Puritans (17th Century). He expressed how man has always continued his unethical and sinful ways. Even more, he believed that man created sin from his wrong choice to disobey God in the Garden of Eden. We went on to explain that sin is being disobedient to God’s will; this activity began with Satan and his cohort’s fall from grace (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-18). Then Satan took his sinful nature and shared it with Eve in a manner that was so cunning, that to her it had to be ok (Genesis 3:1-5). She too saw no harm in being equal to God.
In the end I left this with our son. In your time, things may seem fine. However, as you grow closer to God (if you choose to do so), the scales on your eyes will be removed (Isaiah 44:18; Acts 9:18). This may be the same for you. You don’t have to take my word for it. The world today is changing. In our time on earth more and more things are becoming acceptable and there is less emphasis on Christian, political, parental, social, and personal responsibility. Everything has morphed to the concerns of ones feelings and less logic. Christ will return and I can only pray that you are ready, willing, and able to take up your cross in His Holy Name.
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