Jojo Agot

Book Review: The Final Summit

I started reading Andy Andrews’ The Final Summit many times but I couldn’t just get past the feeling that something was off even as early as the first chapter. David Ponder, the character who was first introduced in Andrews’ previous book The Traveler’s Gift, had a meeting with archangel Gabriel and other prominent historical figures to find out the “two words” that will save mankind and reset it to its original course.

Now this is really tricky. When an author uses Biblical characters in their story, readers who happened to read their Bibles have some sort of expectations about those characters. And when those characters turned out differently from Biblical sources, the story is already ruined for them. Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist) somehow managed to pull it off when he put Mechizedek in the path of the boy Santiago; Robin Parrish (Relentless) wasn’t so lucky with his modern day Lucifer.

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What You See in the Mirror

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6: 5)

[This] verse is not describing a super-sinner class. No, it’s a mirror into which every human being is meant to look and see himself. It is capturing in a few powerful words what theologians call “total depravity.”

Now, total depravity doesn’t mean that as sinners we are as bad as we could possibly be. No, what it actually means is that sin reaches to every aspect of our personhood. Its damage of us is total. Physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, motivationally, socially, we have been damaged by sin. Its ravages are inescapable and comprehensive. No one has dodged its scourge, and no one has been partially affected. We are all sinners. It reaches to every aspect of what makes us us.

Sadly, when each of us looks into the mirror of Genesis 6:5, we see an accurate description of ourselves.

Source: Paul Tripp, The Danger of Self- Defense (Desiring God Blog, April 8, 2011)

No Questions Asked

You don’t have to be good and proper before you can worship God. You don’t need to clean up first, you don’t need to be at your best; you can just come as you are and Jesus will never turn you away.

Many people are under the impression that they will only come to Christ when they’ve finally pulled themselves together; when they’re good enough, holy enough, clean enough, and proper enough. My friend, that day may never come.

The human heart is at a constant deterioration. It is in our fallen nature to go from bad to worse; our New Year resolutions prove that. Only by the intervention of Christ will our depreciation be reversed. Only Christ can stop our internal decay.

A sinful woman once approached Jesus while He was having dinner at a Pharisee’s house (Luke 7: 36- 50). She didn’t come to explain her sins away. She simply dropped to her knees, poured a jar of expensive perfume on His feet, cried silently and wiped His feet with her hair. Everyone in the room knew what kind of woman she was.

In a world where everyone treats her condescendingly because of her sins, she found hope at the feet of Jesus. Yes, she was a sinner. Yes, everyone knew of her shame. Yes, she was despised and her life was a total mess. But these didn’t stop her from coming to Jesus.

Amazingly, Jesus accepted her worship, forgave her sins, and pronounced she was saved. No questions asked. No explanations necessary.

Did you notice the order of events that happened? She was a filthy sinner, she approached Christ despite her sin, Jesus had mercy on her, forgave her, and she walked free. No mention of her having to clean up her act first before coming to Jesus.

Give Your Soul the Means to Grow

“What has exceedingly hurt you… is lack of reading. I scarce ever knew a preacher who read so little. And perhaps, by neglecting it, you have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought.

Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a thorough Christian…

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In Search of a Relevant God

When Moses was in Mt. Sinai to receive the Law from God, Aaron was at the foot of the mountain leading the people in idolatrous worship (Exodus 32: 1- 35). How did it happen?

The problem was that the people became restless. They’ve been weary of all their desert wanderings. They needed to feel at home. They needed a spiritual fix. Something to fire them up and to make them feel good minus the responsibility and the cost of obedience.

But Moses’ God was so terrifying. The whole time they were in the desert, the Israelites felt like they were always tiptoeing around the name of Yahweh. What’s there to fear? Why can’t they be just like the people around them, with all their comfortable religion and easy spiritualism? Why can’t Yahweh be just like any other god?

And so they made the golden calf. Just like the calf god of Egypt which they decidedly left behind. Isn’t it sad that they were going back to the idolatry that they already renounced? That the god they fled from now ensnared them again? All because they were looking for a relevant god.

A god that would keep up with the times and adapt to social changes. A god that will not hold them accountable. A god they can worship with no strings attached. A god they can put aside when they don’t feel like worshiping. A god who will let them live any way they want. In other words, a very convenient god.

And Their Eyes Were Opened

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, their eyes were opened and they knew what was good and evil. This does not mean that they acquired new knowledge in addition to what they knew before.

The “knowing” what is good and evil signifies a complete reversal of man’s knowledge. Up until that moment, all Adam and Eve knew was God and everything good. Yes the devil had already fallen at that time and he may have been creeping around finding a way to destroy God’s creation. But until Adam and Eve gave in to the temptation, their focus was solely on God and His presence.

After the fall, their first realization was their nakedness. They knew right away that something was missing.

When Adam and Eve fell to temptation, they lost sight of what is, and started being conscious of what isn’t there. No, they didn’t acquire new knowledge. They shifted their focus. From God. To something else.

Inspired by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics (Touchstone, 1955).