The world we
live in is full
of the walking
dead. Oh,
you know them,
because you work
with them. They
sit next to you
in your
classrooms, walk
the halls where
you work or
frequent, and
live in the
houses
surrounding
yours. You might
even hang out
with them at
lunch breaks,
get-togethers,
or even be
dating one.
Although
these zombies
aren’t
staggering
around,
half-rotted,
searching for
the next warm
brain sandwich
to munch on,
these undead are
after the same
goal as the ones
on the movie
screen...satisfying
the flesh.
Every few years,
a new zombie
movie will come
out and more or
less succeed in
scaring the wits
out of their
audiences.
And every one of
them since the
1960’s, have
become more
realistic and
more graphic.
There is even a
popular TV show
based on a world
over-run with
the undead, and
how the
survivors have
to band together
to find some
elusive place of
tranquility,
free from the
ever-present
cannibalistic
hordes.
For some strange
reason, it’s
always some kind
of radiation
spill, pandemic
disease, or
passing comet
that cause the
dead to walk
again.
They rise from
their graves and
limp slowly
toward the
nearest town.
The towns-people
are always quite
oblivious to the
danger until
they get
cornered and
come face to
face with one
(or more), and
see the horror
staring back at
them.
Ironically, if
Hollywood could
only see the
spiritual
reality behind
their fiendish
movie plots,
they probably
wouldn’t make
any more zombie
movies.
For all the
seemingly
logical reasons
why it ‘could’
happen, they
neglect the
biblical reality
that it has
already been
happening now
for the better
part of 6,000
years.
Instead of
radiation or
some
astronomical
event, the cause
of death and
decay is sin,
and it has
infected every
living person on
this planet,
save one.
"And you, being
dead in your
trespasses and
the
uncircumcision
of your flesh,
He has made
alive together
with Him, having
forgiven you all
trespasses."
(Colossians
2:13)
Before one is a
born-again
Christian,
he/she is
already dead
spiritually.
You were cut off
spiritually from
your Creator
when you reached
that age of
understanding
and did nothing
about it.
To rephrase that
another way, you
were dead in
your sins before
you turned to
Jesus Christ.
The Bible says
that a person is
made in three
parts; body,
soul, and spirit
(Hebrews
4:12,
1 Thessalonians
5:23).
When God made
you in your
mother’s womb,
He made you in
His image.
By that I mean,
He made you to
be eternal.
And inside of
every man,
woman, and
child, is a
God-shaped hole
that only He can
fill.
Mankind has
tried all sorts
of work-arounds
to revive that
inner-person.
Man turns to
sex, power,
money, sports,
drugs, pleasure,
moral
righteousness,
and every other
conceivable act
within
imagination, to
go back to that
place where he
has that inner
peace. Not
only is it
unattainable by
our own efforts,
it’s
unsustainable.
The happiness in
said event,
thing, or belief
only brings a
temporary
reprise from
insatiable
hunger that
drives man to
search for that
elusive peace.
It is like a
mirage in the
desert that you
see off in the
distance and
crawl too;
hoping to get a
cool drink of
water, only to
find out that
there is only
more sand.
There is only
one way to
re-connect with
God and get back
to that place
where you can
have peace and
tranquility, and
that is through
Jesus Christ:
"Jesus said to
him, I am the
way, the truth,
and the life. No
one comes to the
Father except
through Me."
(John 14:6)
See, there is no
act, thought, or
belief that any
person can
perform or trust
in, aside from
placing their
faith and trust
in the finished
work of Jesus’s
death, burial,
and resurrection
that can bring
everlasting
life. You
can’t party
enough, be rich
enough, tithe
enough, go to
church enough,
or own the most
things to
qualify on your
own good merits
to appease a
holy and
righteous God.
The Apostle
Paul, who had
been a ‘Pharisee
of the
Pharisees’
(i.e...an
extremely
religious dude),
would have been
in his day, a
man above
reproach.
He spoke about
being alive as a
child, but dying
(spiritually)
when he came to
understand the
ramifications of
violating the
law.
"But sin, taking
opportunity by
the commandment,
produced in me
all manner of
evil desire. For
apart from the
law sin was
dead. I was
alive once
without the law,
but when the
commandment
came, sin
revived and I
died. And the
commandment,
which was to
bring life, I
found to bring
death. For sin,
taking occasion
by the
commandment,
deceived me, and
by it killed
me."
(Romans 7:8-11)
So sin causes
death. But
what is sin you
might ask?
Imagine you’re
an archer, and
you can hit the
bull’s-eye on
the target every
time. You
can even split
your own arrow
which is smack
dab in the
middle of the
bull’s-eye of
your target;
you’re that
good...the only
problem is you
keep shooting at
the wrong
target.
Sin is missing
the mark.
And you only
have to miss it
once, to be
unacceptable by
God’s standard.
Truth be told,
we miss the mark
a lot more than
just once.
This is why
Jesus came down
from heaven to
be a man among
mankind, living
a perfect and
sinless life to
be that perfect
sacrifice that
God’s law
demanded.
Once He did
that, He rose
from the dead on
the third day,
and currently
sits at the
right hand of
God the Father,
interceding for
those who place
their faith and
trust in Him.
So when a holy
and righteous
God looks down
at me, He
doesn’t see
Pete, with all
my faults and
flaws, He sees’
the Pete covered
in the
righteous,
atoning,
sanctifying,
blood of His
only begotten
Son (Jesus).
I’m covered, not
because I’m a
good man, but
because Jesus
was a perfect
man. When
you become born
again, you don’t
automatically
become Mr.
Perfect in the
flesh either.
You still carry
around that ‘old
man’ which is
your flesh.
So, becoming a
born again
believer,
you in effect
have two
natures.
You have your
newly revived
(once dead)
spiritual
person, and you
have that second
part of your
tri-partite
nature, the
soul. Your
soul is your
“psyche’ which
is fed by the
flesh:
imagination,
conscience,
memory, reason,
and affections
is fed by what
you see, hear,
taste, touch,
and smell.
So when Paul
said he died
when he came to
understand the
law, this isn’t
what died.
His spiritual
man died.
When you’re born
again, that
spiritual man
(or woman) is
revived through
the power in the
death, burial,
and resurrection
of Christ.
When a
person, comes to
the knowledge of
this
understanding,
yet reject the
free offer of
salvation, they
in effect
default to
zombie mode.
They’re walking,
talking, living
and breathing,
but their dead
on the inside
spiritually.
Jesus didn’t
mince words when
He called the
‘religious
leaders’ of His
day “white
washed
tombs”…pretty on
the outside, but
full of death
and decay on the
inside.
Worse yet, the
unsaved can
sense their dead
spiritually, and
they try and
fill that gaping
hole with
anything and
everything that
can to take
their
mind off
of it. I’m
not sure of the
connection, but
for those of you
who have never
watched a zombie
movie, they have
quite
the insatiable
appetite for
human
brains.
(kind of ironic
if you ask me)
But, the good
news is, that
terminal case of
‘zombification’
is only terminal
until you are
born again.
"For God so
loved the world
that He gave His
only begotten
Son, that
whoever believes
in Him should
not perish but
have everlasting
life. For God
did not send His
Son into the
world to condemn
the world, but
that the world
through Him
might be saved."
(John 3:16-17)
If one rejects
the free gift of
salvation
through Jesus
Christ, and they
die that way,
they in affect
commit spiritual
suicide.
By rejecting
Jesus, they’ve
condemned their
eternal self
(the spirit) to
eternal death in
hell, separated
from God
forever.
The more they
reject that Holy
Spirit’s drawing
them to Christ,
the more
calloused they
become toward
the Gospel
message and the
Spirit’s
drawing.
Thats not to
say, you get one
chance and if
you’ve rejected
it, that’s it.
God has brought
many a lost case
back from
heading the
wrong direction
and done a
miracle in their
life.
You see, Jesus
didn’t come down
to earth and
live a perfect
life to make bad
people good.
He came down and
sacrificed
Himself to give
dead people
life. You
and I were dead
in our sins
before we
accepted Christ
into our lives.
Zombie movies
shouldn’t scare
you…spending an
eternity in hell
separated from
your Creator
should.
"Jesus said to
her, I am the
resurrection and
the life. He who
believes in Me,
though he may
die, he shall
live. And
whoever lives
and believes in
Me shall never
die. Do you
believe this?”
(John 11:25-26)
What do you
believe?
Pete Garcia is
an
editor-at-large
for The Omega
Letter (www.omegaletter.com)
and can be
reached there.