Pastor Don Wolan

Pastor Donald Wolan
Downriver Christian Community Church
Melvindale, Michigan

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Walking Dead!



This week, the long anticipated return of one of my favorite shows began its fall schedule. The Walking Dead aired amidst wild speculations and arguments as to what this season will ultimately bring to the fans of the show. I don't know what it is with the current fascination with zombies and vampires, but the craze has swept through our culture and shows no sign of slowing down.

Back in the day, movies such as Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and The Last Man on Earth became cult movie classics and brought a new genre of horror to the big screen. These movies pioneered a fascination with "the living dead" and, in my humble opinion, have also been responsible for helping to spawn the counterculture of "Goth"!


For those of you who do not know what a zombie is, a little course in zombieology 101 is in order. A zombie is a person, or sometimes an animal, who has died and - by some weird means - has come back to "life." Depending on the type, zombies can be reanimated by radiation, meteorite dust, voodoo, or - if you belong to the Democratic party - a Joe Biden speech!  When this person comes back to life, he is not alive in the same sense that you or I are alive. You can't reason with zombies or get them to change their minds. You can't take one home as a pet or play with one out in the yard. They are brain dead and have one goal - destroy and eat the "real" living! The whole reason for their existence is summed up in that existential commitment.  
 

Since there is no legitimate way to reason with or convince zombies that what they are trying to do is wrong, excessive means must be taken to destroy these creatures and render society safe from their continual savaging and preying upon the healthy and innocent living. In order for society to get back to "normal living," these demonic creatures must be exterminated and eliminated forever! Those who are zombie experts - like Mark Hogan - know that this can only be accomplished by a bullet or sharp blow to or decapitation of their head. The head is the key to dealing with and destroying these "dead alive." No body shot will render them ineffective or put an end to their miserable and horrifying existence! 


Now, this may come as a shocking surprise to some, but many of our churches are filled with "zombies"! Yes, the walking dead are among us in our churches as well as in our society. These "zombies" appear to be alive, but are really dead with no life of God flowing through their bodies. Their brains are dead and are incapable of thinking God's thoughts or contributing to the "normal living" of church life. They destroy or infect the healthy church through seductive and false teachings or through personal and contaminated contact. Look at what the Apostle John delivers to the church of Sardis in the book of Revelation:

To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Or what the Apostle Jude says in his epistle:

These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead.

Jesus himself confronted "zombies" in his earthly ministry and told them:

Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

In the trailer for the latest The Walking Dead episode, one of the still-alive characters uttered these inspiring words - "We're going out there and taking back what's ours!" They had a city and lives that were torn apart and taken by the appearance of zombies in their town and they finally had enough of it. With determination and commitment to exterminate these creatures, they were willing to place their lives on the line for each other and their families. They also realized that by doing this they were placing themselves in harm's way and possibly laying down their own lives so that others could live free from zombie threats.

In like manner, there are Zombies in the church and world who are making life a living hell for everyone! These zombies are people who are totally unaware of true spiritual matters and try to set the "spiritual" direction for all others. Whether it is Islam, Humanism, or some other "dead" religious or political belief or ideology, these teachings and ideas infect the healthy and quickly destroy their spiritual and natural health. Though these people are alive naturally, they are dead spiritually. And just like the zombies on television or in the movies, they are brain dead concerning the things of God and exist only to feed themselves and destroy those around them. Reasoning with them is fruitless unless they have been "made alive" by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Contact with them can infect the "healthy" with their dreaded condition. Notice the stipulations for someone in the Old Testament who had contact with a "dead" person and the effect it had on them and the process they had to go through to get "clean"!
   
Those who touch the dead body of any human being shall be unclean seven daysThey shall purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean; but if they do not purify themselves on the third day and on the seventh day, they will not become clean. All who touch a corpse, the body of a human being who has died, and do not purify themselves, defile the tabernacle of the Lord; such persons shall be cut off from Israel. 

Failure to "cleanse" oneself from contact with a "dead" person resulted in the "clean" person becoming "dead," and they had to be cut off - permanently removed - from the congregation in order to keep "death" from progressing. May we ever be cognoscente of the "walking dead" around us and the deadly disease that they carry and transmit. It is only through having a strong Biblical worldview and trust in God that we can combat these zombies and take back what has been stolen and destroyed by them. By equipping ourselves with the "sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God," we can destroy and overcome all thoughts and speculations that exalt themselves above the name of God and His Holy Word.


Stay Holy, My Friends,




Pastor Don


1 comment:

  1. So Sorry I didn't get a chance to read this earlier.. LOVE IT! Dead things have to be put to death. We sometimes keep them locked up somewhere close to us thinking there is a cure and there is only one cure, death.. death to the old dead man and alive in Christ.. Woohoo

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Readers - I'd love to hear your comments! - Pastor Don