Post-apocalyptic and dystopian movies are my favorite genre of film whether they serve as a subdued background for the movie or the main plot--Book of Eli, The Crazies, The Happening, The Road, Resident Evil series, Shaun of the Dead, Battle Royale, Children of Men, District 9, The Matrix, V for Vendetta, Avatar, the Terminator series, Alien(s), 28 Days Later, Blindness, I Am Legend, Mad Max/Road Warrior, etc. etc.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite books ever--I spent an entire day hopped up on steroids fighting off the swine flu reading this book. Not to mention the classics: Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, 1984, and Lord of the Flies. And the not so classic but just as classic, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Zombie Survival Guide. One of the first books I ever read by myself as a believer was "Revelations," which I didn't understand at the time (and still don't), but understood enough to be awestruck by God's glory and fearful of His wrath.
I spend my life rewatching and gushing over the finer points of Battlestar Galactica (which, in fact, IS the greatest show of all time...I have a growing list of converts to prove it) and the Sarah Connor Chronicles and have apocalyptic concept albums on constant replay on my iPod: House of Heroes' The End Is Not The End and Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown.
Simply put, I'd make a damn good candidate for The Colony.
So, needless to say, reading the book of Daniel was pretty interesting for me (half of it is prophecy God gives him concerning the end times). While I know a lot of people and churches don't even like to touch the subject or teachings of Revelations and a post apocalyptic world (Revelations is actually outlawed in China and might as well be in America since we don't really take advantage of the fact that it's not)--many find it dismal, scary, and the story of an angry, vengeful God. In which case I understand not wanting to hear it. However, I actually see it as hopeful tale of God's victorious, epic 'happy' ending (though no epic tale or happy ending can be appreciated or executed without sacrifice and pain). A place and time where God is able to rebuild a decayed and disbanded kingdom.
Daniel reminded me that the loving and selfless Son we saw beaten, tortured, humiliated and sacrificed for our sins, the Son who is continually mocked by today's society and whose teachings are laregely seen as hippy feel-good folly, HE gets to come back as THE most quintessential badass in history with a triumphant tattoo on his thigh declaring "King of Kings Lord of Lords". We're talking Johnny Cash stuff here. Yes there are bowls of wrath, death, famine, and despair poured out over the earth--some really frightful things that should make us pee our pants if we take it seriously, however, if we look at the larger picture it's actually just another extension of God's grace before he fulfills His promises for His faithful followers.
Now I don't like to get into really crazy theological discussions that try to hash-out and decode exactly how the end-times are going to pan out and when they'll occur--I find it pointless considering only God is completely clear on those details. Regardless though of your theories as to timelines and the occurances or non-occurances of Rapture, the one thing God seems to be especially clear on is that all that wrath is to make way for love. God rids all immorality, all blemishes, all sin, all wickedness, perverseness and rebellion--all the things that make us fall, cry and beg for healing so that we can live in a kingdom on a renewed earth free from all it's chains and remnants of death. God destroys in the end so that He can create something new for us that lies outside the clutches of The Fall.
I'm not saying I understand it all, I don't even think that God meant for us to understand it all. But I get it a little bit. God doesn't want to patch up man's mistake, He wants to give us a new slate. But sin is messy--it's contaminated. Soft-soap does nothing for us. We suffer from something that's more than just surface level...so God has to go that deep and remove it from us. In order to rebuild society he has to seperate the living from the dead--the ones who have a chance at life from the ones who were dead even when they were alive (the ones that contaminated, manipulated, and exploited the sick--who kept the sick from getting better so that they could stay on top). Jesus will wipe them clean from the earth because He is just and righteous and loving. But he has to go deeper than even that; he has to seperate the ones too afraid to trust Him to help...from the ones who knows He's the only one with the cure. And in order to protect the ones that'll survive, He has to destroy those who are still infected. It hurts Him to do it, but it's the only way.
As I read Daniel I was reminded of how God constantly persues us and draws us in, trying to make us better so that we can survive the end and live with Him...alive, well, and free. It made me curious as to all the things he had to say to his people through the prophets of the Old Testament. So that's exactly what I'm setting out to study.
Prophetic books- 17 books
Major Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel,
Minor Prophets - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
Currently reading: Ezekiel
So from time to time I'll probably post my progress, and some key versus I find inspirational, piercing and/or just want to ruminate on. This stuff is heavy and complex, and for people who want to figure it out with me...feel free to post your thoughts and reactions.
I'll leave you with....
Song Of The Moment: Field of Daggers - House of Heroes (The End Is Not The End) AND Last of the American Girls - Green Day (21st Century Breakdown).
HOH gets to me every time; it captures the pain of a spiritual battle but reminds you what your fighting for and just builds till you feel like you're rising to meet Glory. It's truly beautiful.
GD gets the longing of waiting and standing for something resolutely. It makes you feel like a BAMF. A very rich anthem.
