Pelathais's Thread

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Nina

And I'm overlooked.
Pleased to meet You, confused!

I'm sorry Nina. I've been dragging my feet over this... by nature I'm just too shy and inhibited to jump into a thread with my "name" on it. It frightens me...LOL. I've preferred to let the more hyperkinetic personalites set the pace and open the threads. It's all I can do just to post on topic!

About the avatar: Zechariah 13:7 reads,

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.

The immediate sense of this is kind of the reversal of Amos' ministry in the older kingdom days (Zechariah is post-exile). Amos was a husbandman or shepherd who became a prophet. Zechariah is describing a prophet who becomes a herdsman. The herdsman or shepherd is struck down by his "friends" and ultimately, in verse seven, he is smitten by the sword. Though this is done by his "friends" (giving us a sense of betrayal and injustice) we can see from a broader perspective that the prophet-turned-herdsman's wounding and sacrifice are all a part of God's larger plan for his people.

The flock is scattered and two thirds are destroyed in judgment, but the Lord preserves one third and "refines" them. These go on to be the "people of God." There are several eschatological interpretations at this point and everyone is of course free to pick and choose their own. There is of course the immediate application of this scene in the life of Jesus Christ Himself (John 10:11ff).

The use of this passage in the Captain America avatar was suggested by recent developments in the graphic novel genre. I used to read Captain America comic books when I was a kid so when I saw a news item stating that the publishers had "killed" him off I was curious and tried to get caught up with the story line. Needless to say, I can't get caught up. However I did see enough to disappoint myself about how the publishers had played the whole thing out - and since they are still telling the story maybe I'm too quick to jump to conclusions.

But the whole thing boils down to this post-modern deconstruction of America into some sort of wicked and cruel empire that is trying to enslave and rule over the rest of the world. The "good guys" like Captain America rebel against the "evil" and are taken out by their own government. This same plot line has been the daily fare of the news media since even before 9/11.

Going back to the Vietnam era, John Kerry and a group of ex-soldiers (most of whom it turned out had never even been in the service) started a program called "Winter Soldier" in which fabricated stories of atrocities supposedly committed by Americans were passed along through the media. It was from this program that the term "frag" was coined; as in "to frag (or kill) your officers" to avoid combat. Kerry and company published figures that stated over 1,000 American officers had been killed by their own men in Vietnam. It was an incredible lie of course, but it has become a part of the American lexicon. Sadly, it became so accepted that when US troops were sent into harm's way recently, one Muslim paratrooper took it upon himself to kill some officers.

Many other such lies have become part of the fabric of our culture. In a nation that was founded upon enlightenment and reason, this is particularly troubling. The movement of the last 60 - 80 years to poison the American mind against America itself has had a disturbing effect upon our culture and way of life. It has even made it more dangerous to be an American.

The terrorists that struck on 9/11 did so because they perceived the US as weak and divided. They hit us because they had been listening to the American news media and the Leftist spin cycle. Sadaam Hussein refused several offers to peacefully go into exile and step aside without bloodshed because he had been listening to reports of how divided and weak America was. All we needed was some resolve and the whole Iraq war could have been avoided. Instead we got a bunch of backbiting liberal hypocrisy that ultimately cost American lives.

I see a similar trend in the church, the OP movement. Our elected leaders are continually assailed for imagined crimes of compromise and the fellowship as a whole is castigated by radicals bent upon implementing their own unpopular policies at the expense of unity. History is revised and changed so that the motives and the very words of our founders are either changed or lost entirely. To pursue their agenda these forces have actually proclaimed that "Jesus had no beard" in order to substantiate their set of "standards." They have plucked (Isaiah 50:6) His beard in order to exalt themselves.

I'm sorry if I disappointed you by not responding sooner. I hope you know the kind affection that I feel toward you and will pardon me for my timidity.