The Random Ramblings of, yours truly, Elijah Thompson

Well I sorta felt like writing a blog post.

Not that I have anything interesting to write most of the time. Well, okay, I do, but things work much better in thought than they do on paper. I have way too many unfinished drafts of posts I wanted to write but after reading them over realized they couldn't express my true thoughts. 

Some books that I read just give me a feeling, evoke some emotion in me that I don't recognize. If I considered it long enough maybe I could put a name to it, but as soon as I try to define the beauty of what I feel and think, it loses it's clarity, because let's be honest; unless you're Adam Young, Ed Sheeran, or John Green, it's impossible to fully express your thoughts in words on a sheet.

Which is why blogging is difficult at times. So many books I've read that I wish I could express in this virtual piece of paper just how they make me feel. 

I begin to wish that there was a machine that could translate my thoughts into words, but machines cannot understand emotion, so they would not be able to accomplish it any better than a ceiling fan could. Which leaves only one option for us, and that is telepathy, which is impossible at this time.

The result is a really boring blog. There is a desire in me to blog but a fear that by trying to express myself I will bring the magic in my mind to human standards, turning it into nothing more than empty words and time turned meaningless. 

BUT, but, I can still try. Because fear is something that can be overcome. I will try to express myself in a way that is both coherant and enjoyable to read. 

So let's start over.

My name is Elijah Thompson.

Welcome to the High Desert. 

The Rebellion is About to Begin

I recently finished The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.

Normally, I'd write a review on a book series I read, and I still might, but as I sat down to write it, I couldn't find the right words to describe it. I decided to write a blog post and share a little bit about what the series meant to me and what I gained from reading it.

When Collin's wrote the Hunger Games series, much more was on her mind than appealing to the crowds and fame, glory and success for her series. She wrote these books out of concern about where our world was heading and how often in our own little worlds we are blind to what is really happening. With this in mind, the Hunger Games is not an entertaining series. It's troubling. Scary, even. 

Katniss Everdeen is living in a world where the government and rich people are living it up and leaving the rest of the nation to starve, most without even realizing it. The Hunger Games is a spectacle, a reality TV show. I can almost hear a news reporter describing it: "To punish the nation for their rebellion, every year, 24 children of the districts will be thrown into an arena with little to no supplies and be forced to kill each other and, because of the Capitol's grace and mercy (you read right), the last man standing will be crowned victor. Who is the strongest? We'll find out!" 

We think of the Hunger Games as a fantasy, when in reality the world has created it's own Hunger Games many times in history. The Gladiators in Rome, the arenas where Christians would be martyred for their faith. Societies throughout history have created a Panem like world; leave the weak to die while the rest of us live in luxury. 

And in all this, two players of these games decide that enough is enough. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, two "Tributes" from District 12 decide to not let the Capitol make them "part of their games". Katniss is about to become the spark that will encourage the districts to stand up for what they know is right. As Suzanne Collins writes in Catching Fire, "At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead. The hard thing is finding the courage to do it."

In many ways, I think that's why people love this series, myself included; because young people are starting to get sick of the complacency society wants to trap them in, causing them to forget the turmoil that makes up the world we live in. The reports are coming in from all over the world; young people taking up the call and making a change. Society is the capitol. We are the Mockingjays. We, like Katniss, need only to choose to be them. 

The Hunger Games isn't fantasy; it's very real. 

The rebellion is beginning. We need to make the choice to lead it, to stand up for our faith in Christ and for what's right, even when it may mean our very lives. 

The Game is about to begin, but this year, we're going to change the world. Are you with me?

Finnick: "Ladies and Gentelmen..." Katniss: "...let the seventy sixth Hunger Games begin!" ~Mockingjay

Starving the Flesh (and Other Rocks and Bumps on the Narrow Road)

So it's official. Oreos are addictive.

Of course, the majority of us already knew that. Most of us grew up on the two chocolate chip cookies with icing in the middle, and no doubt recognized the need to have just one more, and another, and another, and another. Now, however, it's been scientifically proven that Oreos are more addictive than drugs.

So the question you're asking now is why did I start my blog post with Oreos? Besides that Oreos are very appealing to the flesh, I really don't know. Fun fact for the day, I guess.

Now onto the point of this blog post. Starving the flesh.

Christians face three things on a regular basis; The world, the flesh, and the Enemy. All three of these things are constantly fighting to draw us away from God. These are the same three things Eve faced when being tempted; The lust of the eyes (The world), the lust of the flesh (The flesh) and the pride of life (the Enemy). The thing I want to focus on right now is the flesh.

So what are the characteristics of the flesh? The flesh wants to check Facebook instead of read the Bible. The flesh wants to watch Netflix instead of doing Bible Study. The flesh wants to watch the Football game instead of going to Church. Sound familiar? Of course it does, because the flesh is what we are. Our flesh wants nothing to do with God and wants everything that will keep us away from Him. 

If we feed the flesh by giving it what it wants, it will grow stronger in us. Paul tells us in Galatians that if we sow the flesh, we will reap the fruits of the flesh, which are sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, etc. You may not see these being fulfilled in your life right away, but if you keep giving the flesh what it wants, it will become the driving influence in your life. We can't avoid or fight the flesh because it's part of us, so the only thing we can do is starve it and feed the Spirit. Paul in Galatians 5:16-18 says, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish."

Feeding the Spirit and starving the flesh means not fulfilling the desires of the flesh and nurturing your Spirit; reading the Bible, studying the Bible, going to church, etc. It won't be easy at first, but eventually your Spirit will grow stronger than the flesh and you will reap the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. God will help us every step of the way, but we have to do our part. Turning off the TV, putting down the box of Oreos, etc. It doesn't mean we won't stumble, but when we do, God pick us up and help us continue to feed the Spirit.

Are you with me? Let's starve the flesh.

Left Behind Series Review

Introduction

"An airborne Boeing 747 is headed to London when, without any warning, passengers mysteriously disappear from their seats. Terror and chaos slowly spread not only through the plane but also worldwide as unusual events continue to unfold. For those who have been left behind, the apocalypse has just begun." --Leftbehind.com

The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins is possibly one of the most popular Christian fiction series ever written. It begins with the cataclysmic event Christians refer to as The Rapture, follows it into The Tribulation, a period of God's wrath on mankind, and goes all the way to the Glorious Appearing of Christ, all coming together to make twelve books, three prologues, one epilogue, and an entire kids series.

Review

The storyline is good. Character development is good to start out, and the story, following Biblical Eschatology is great. Summed up, the storyline is really a battle between the "Tribulation Saints", the men and women saved through the Tribulation, and the Antichrist, a figure known as Nicolae Jetty Carpathia. So is the storyline perfect? No. In a lot of ways, the story seems to drag on through the twelve books as we wait for different events to happen.

The books are very slow and dry, as is the dialogue. Later in the books, character development weakens as well, and the storyline gets distracted very easily. For example, one woman becomes pregnant with the Antichrist's baby (which, by the way, is against scripture), and she spends three books considering an abortion while her Christian friends try to convince her otherwise. Things like that become huge distractions to the overall plot of the book.

However, these things don't apply to all the books. Nicolae, the third book in the series, has a very good storyline and moves rather quickly, and will turn out to be one of my favorite books I've read all year.

From a family-friendly point of view, take caution. The books are extremely violent. I don't say that to criticize because it's The Tribulation. Beheadings, war and death, death, and more death are part of what the Bible says will unfold during this time. From the very first book, Buck Williams is almost killed in a car bombing, in the third book, World War III breaks out, leading to quite a bit of violence. Public beheadings become a spectacle and may make some readers uncomfortable. There is also some mature content as well, such as abortion. So basically, young readers should take caution.

Now comes the part where, because it's a Christian series based on Biblical events, we have to see if the books match up to scripture, and much to my surprise, they did well. Nothing, besides maybe what I mentioned earlier, goes directly against scripture or against the foundational Christian beliefs. However, there are additions to the Biblical end times plot. For example, one character becomes a kind of "modern day Moses", an addition made simply because some of the plagues in Revelation are similar to the plagues in Egypt, while I find no real Biblical evidence too support that assumption. Unfortunately, I cannot simply let the fact that there are additions pass by me, because in Revelation 22:18 we are given a strong warning not to "add to these words". And unfortunately, Left Behind does.

Conclusion

The Left Behind writers did a lot of things right. They held true to the foundational Christian beliefs, developed a good storyline, and successfully wrote a fiction series that follows thirty years before the Rapture to Kingdom Come. However, there is much that could've been better, as well. Dialogue is dry, many of the books are slow, character development weakens later in the books, and frankly, in some ways, the books are slightly unrealistic at points.

My opinion? Let's just say from now on I'll look elsewhere for good Christian fiction.

Rating

2 out of 5 stars.

Welcome to the Show

Some energetic pop music to help you get started today.

Welcome to the Show -- Britt Nicole

http://youtu.be/aVSzueRMufE

I Can Go The Distance

I don't think I'll ever get tired of this one. :) 

http://youtu.be/6Nt3GD301BQ

Christian Electronic/Synthpop Music -- iTunes Radio

Now you know what I've been listening to this morning. Loving it!

Christian Electronic/Synthpop Music -- iTunes Radio