The Devil's Future

"When the devil reminds you of your past ... remind him of his future." Teresa of Avila


As you grow closer to God, the Devil and his angels step up their attacks, usually in ways no one else but you would notice; self-doubts, opportunities to indulge in whatever is your strongest temptation, tests of your patience and acceptance of others,  obsessive thoughts, and many more.  It is not necessary for the Devil's purposes that he pull you away from Jesus.  He will be happy if he can make you ineffective.


The Devil and his angels are in all-out war against God.  They have to be if they are to have any chance (they don't) to escape the fire.


"Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Revelation 12:12



"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:" Matthew 25:41

Charles Spurgeon on the Bible

"The Word of God is like a lion.  You don't have to defend a lion.  All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself."  Charles Haddon Spurgeon, English Baptist preacher (1834-1892)

My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad

A joke from A Comedian's Guide to Theology by Thor Ramsey (2008, Gospel Light, Ventura, California).

"...God is not a man but could easily kick your butt if needed. I wonder how Jesus responded to the kid who bragged, "I bet my dad could beat up your dad.""
"My dad created your dad."

He Laughed

     "The Holy One, blessed be He, united His name with Abraham; with Isaac too He united His name."  Rabbi Nehemiah in Bereshit Rabba, 68, 11f.

     In Genesis, God changed Abram's name to Abraham and the name of his wife from Sarai to Sarah.  In the posts for October 6th and 7th I had some thoughts about this.  Rabbi Nehemiah's writings are certainly not scripture, especially for a Protestant Christian, but the quote above raises an interesting question.  What could it mean that God united his name with Isaac?

     God told Abraham and Sarah that the heir would not be Ishmael, Abraham's beloved son by his wife's Egyptian slave woman, but a new son by the very old Sarah.  They both laughed out loud.  Some commentators try to make this a laugh of joy or an exclamation of surprise, but the Bible says Abraham fell down laughing. (Genesis 17: 17-19)

      God told them the son would be named Isaac (Yitzhak = Hebrew = "he laughs.")  This could have been a reference to Abraham's laughter.  Maybe God laughed at them for their silliness in not believing that He could fulfill His promise even with old folk like them. 

Woody Allen on Trees

"As the poet said, 'Only God can make a tree,' - probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on."   Woody Allen 

Book Comment: A Contract With God

Book Comment: Will Eisner is best known for his comic book, The Spirit, about a non-super

powered middle class crimefighter who seemingly returns from the dead and wears a little "Lone Ranger" style mask to obscure his true identity.  The weekly Spirit comic books ran for twelve years, but Eisner never considered them to be his best work.  For years, he had something else in mind; elevating the comic book format to the status of high art.

      He succeeded with this goal when he became the inventor of the graphic novel format with his A Contract With God, a series of four connected short stories about the lives of the Jewish immigrant inhabitants of a 1930's tenement in the Bronx.  The stories are interesting because they are so universal, as all great stories are.

       Some comment that the artwork is somewhat cartoonish, but it can be seen as exhibiting an exaggerated realism such as that evidenced in the great caricatures, such as the work of Bill Mauldin, who used the form to show the spirit-dulling effects of World war II on the soldiers involved.  The characters are real people but the way in which they are drawn shows that they are archetypic symbols representing many people who have found themselves in similar situations.  A Contract With God is rightly considered to be a classic because of the depth of its content, and not just because it was the first graphic novel.