He’s very smart, you know. But not in a good way. In a cunning, sly, and underhanded way. In a dirty dealing way.
He steals the innocence of children and fills their little heads with witchcraft. He twists the purity of love and morphs it into something unrecognizable by God, where the hearts of wounded ones are deceived into homosexual acts that degrade their own humanity.
Oh, Satan’s very smart indeed. His black heart loves to wound the Father, and what better way to do it than destroy the children God created for Himself.
And he does his job supremely well. Artwork: Lucifer by Von Stuck
Even angels stand amazed. Overpowering and daunting is the beauty of His glory—terrifying most would say. This God of love, of mercies deep, makes men’s hearts tremble. You could not stand before Him if you tried. Your knees would buckle beneath and down you would fall in a humbled heap.
With wide-eyed wonder angels are constantly amazed; for even they do not know all there is to know of God. Each time He turns they see a different facet of His wondrous self and they are filled with awe.
Look! The heavens are stirring. The prophets are speaking through the earth and showing us the things that only angels see. Look! . . . it is a thrilling time, a hard time, a glorious time to be alive.Artwork: Sense of Sight by Annie Louisa Swynnerton
God watches all. He sees the wars and rumblings through the earth. He’s not surprised at how low men can crawl or at how high they try to set themselves above the rest. He’s ever had to look down upon the strife of men, for so our natures are given to it.
But what love He shows through all of this. Because of love His plans for this upheaved world will not be hindered. Regardless of the plans of men, be them good or evil, His plans shall prevail over all. No one can snatch the world from His hands, not terrorists, not Allah, or any other. In His hands this world rests—and His hands are strong!
We’re small compared to Him: a grain of sand that washes off a rock and disappears. But He remembers us. Each of us He knows by name and for each of us Christ died. I’m glad that He’s the one who holds the world. He's the only one wise enough.Artwork: All Pervading by Watts
The wind has changed. It was upon my face and I struggled hard against it. But now against my back it blows and I am helped along. It is Him. His Spirit blows upon me and makes the walking easier.
This has been a difficult month, an exceedingly difficult month. My mind has not wanted to be bright and cheery. I have wrestled with dark thoughts and hopeless attitudes. Yet, in honesty, I think I have given in, given up, more than wrestled. “Fight” has not been in me much. “Fight” has eluded me, and I’ve had no motivation to wrestle through. I fear this month is wasted, slipped by like a fish through my fingers—an oily fish.
But now the wind has changed. A sweet fragrance blows upon me and I can smell the scent of Christ. I know His scent. To some it smells like death or bondage, but to me it is hope and life and the freshest freedom that any man can know . . . I love the changing wind!Artwork: Windflowers by John William Waterhouse
Part 2The Grand Inquisitor knows religion very well. Yet even toward him I cannot help but feel compassion, sad soul that he is. Religion has been his bed-fellow for so long he cannot help but love her. So practiced is he in her defense that he no longer sees her as the enemy of Christ and the enemy of love. She is his friend and he will die defending her, or strike others down in the name of God to keep her institution well alive.
Alas, he shall be held accountable for all the denouncing he has done, the slander he has brewed and caused the church to drink. Poor blind man. Religion has her coils round him and he drinks deeply of her stupor.
The chat rooms are roiling with the slanders he has birthed. Arguments are growing as to which side each shall stand. The church always kills its reformers, but reform shall come. And the Grand Inquisitor shall not be able to stop it!
So love on, dear reformers. Follow Christ to the end, though the Inquisition take your head, your life, your reputation. Jesus suffered so, it is our honor to share in it.Artwork: Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Delaroche
Part 1
The Grand Inquisitor is alive and well today. And he has birthed a worm that is poisoning the church, as it did 600 years ago. He has spent the past two decades denouncing Christians right and left behind his rigid pulpit. “Heretic!” he cried about John Wimber. “False teaching!” he screamed about the Vineyard. And now his long finger is pointed at the dear brethren of today, Brennan Manning, Erwin McManus, and many others. Brethren who love our Lord and passionately pursue him.
Reformation is always painful. The established church is never happy with it. Limbs moldy with gangrene must sometimes be removed—and there is always screaming protestations from the body that must suffer this. But woe to him who denounces the reformers God has sent.
Beware the Grand Inquisitor. Do not let the worm that he has birthed burrow in your heart, else you find yourself denouncing our brave fellow Christians along with him. Do not listen faithful ones, follow in the footsteps of those who went before even though they cast you out for your great love.Artwork: Joan of Arc in Prison by Delaroche
He’s very smart, you know. But not in a good way. In a cunning, sly, and underhanded way. In a dirty dealing way.
