What our souls desire

My husband was recently involved in a conversation which he shared with me. Somehow my husband found himself talking to someone that took a nothing type conversation, about what was on television, and turned it into something that left me scratching my head in wonder and totally understanding this persons point of view, when I heard it second hand, at the same time.
The man my husband spoke with was originally speaking of the things played on television and how the simple things, like a golf game, make him think of peaceful things like trees and the sky, while the more violent things played on television make him think of more violent things. This man went on to explain that he likes to watch the things that make him think of peaceful things.
I could understand that. Don't we all appreciate the things that bring peace into our lives? A few years back I got hold of a book about simplifying your life the Amish way. I never did more than flip through that book, reading a page here or there, but that book (at the time) held great appeal to many people. Even today, I know of people that often quote the Amish and their ways as an example of the kind of simplicity we should strive for. The man my husband spoke to found simplicity and peace in simple things on television and had terrible thoughts after watching terrible things on television.
It makes sense to me.
It's been many years since I've watched television and movies in any great amount. And it's been more years than that since I simply watched whatever was available, and even then I avoided the worst movies and programs. I've simply always found certain types of movies to be disturbing.
There is great truth in what the man my husband spoke with said. Some things that we see or hear bring peace while other things bring destruction. Not that that man worded it quite that way. But that is the basis of what this man said to my husband. And he was right.
And that is as far as I was able to agree with what this man spoke of. From that point in the conversation the man went into things that left me scratching my head in wonder and unable to understand his reasoning. You see this man truly believed he was a fallen angel from another planet and that aliens live within the center of Earth.
I can't begin to understand that kind of reasoning. And yet...I can. You see, I can understand how someone that is lost would look for something to give life greater purpose. And in the looking for a greater purpose...what measuring stick does a lost person have with which to measure any idea?
I grew up in 'church' buildings, sitting through more services than I can count, and I remember hearing many a time that there is an emptiness inside all of us, an emptiness that only Christ can fill. There is great truth in that. But what of the person that doesn't belong to Christ? When a person is lost...unregenerate...what do they fill their life with? What do they live for? What do they seek?
Their lives are consumed with the things of the flesh, the things of this world. And this world offers so very many things to consume them. I know people whose whole lives revolve around video games, people whose lives revolve around movies, people whose lives revolve around their children...their work...their car...their lawn...their...well, I guess it would be safe to just keep that list going. If it exists, or someone thinks it exists, there is probably someone whose entire life revolves around that very thing.
And yet, that isn't quite what this man that spoke with my husband was referring to. And it's that deeper consuming thing that left me stumped and understanding at the same time. You see, this man truly believed he was a fallen angel and that aliens live within the earth. I have never heard of anyone holding such beliefs before but I can easily understand how someone would. When you don't belong to Christ...who do you belong to?
Scripture tells us the answer to that is the god of this world. And Scripture tells us that the god of this world is Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4). Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). All people will believe in something, it's simple human...fleshly...nature. We MUST believe in something. And if we don't believe in the Truth...Christ...than we will believe in a lie...Satan.
And so I found myself both stymied and understanding as my husband relayed his conversation to me. I could understand how the man believed himself to be a fallen angel...after all doesn't much of our world encourage a belief in angels, and aren't demons glorified? I could also understand how this man would have a belief in aliens despite the fact that Scripture clearly teaches against aliens? I have even seen many things where so called 'Christians' believe in aliens, there are even those that believe the Lord is an alien. But that is a topic for another day. The point here is that our world actually encourages a belief in things like demons, aliens, and angels, while showing disdain for the Lord.
Just yesterday I saw a news article about a public school that is teaching satanic things to its students. A so-called 'christian' mother got very upset and complained about what the school was teaching her children but that same mother did nothing about what her children were being taught. She didn't move her children to another school. She didn't pull them out and homeschool them. She didn't even have plans to teach her children, at home, why what the school was teaching them was wrong. She simply voiced her complaint then sat back and left things as they were.
And the very morning after reading that, my husband told me of his conversation with a man that believes himself to be a fallen angel. And why not? In a world where everything is measured in how you see the situation, or the world, how is a person supposed to understand anything? When a person can be anything they think they are...I saw something the other day about someone that thought they were a dragon and had surgery to become one...how can people even understand that they are a person? Much less understand that sin is sin and that humans are fallen creatures in a fallen, sin filled, world.
In that world, a person must believe in something. Scripture tells us we will either follow Christ or follow the world. For those that don't belong to Christ...they follow the world. And in this world...without Christ...why can't a person be a fallen angel if they think that's what they are?
It's twisted and convoluted but...it makes sense in a worldly way. And it makes sense when compared to Scripture. They will either serve the Lord or they will serve the god of this world. They will either be filled with Christ or they will be filled with sin.
And what is a fallen angel? A demon. And a demon...belongs to Satan. Anyone that doesn't belong to Christ...belongs to Satan. And so...it all makes sense. This man that sat before my husband, telling my husband things that made so much sense while speaking of things that would make a person wonder about mental stability...spoke truth. Admittedly, in a round about, confusing, kind of way.
But we live in a world where everything is confusing and we must often find a way around everything to make it all make sense. Unless, we weigh that everything against Scripture and then all we need is one Way to make it all make sense.
The trouble is the majority of people in the world don't have the Truth, they don't have Christ, to weigh all they confusion of this world against. They flounder to survive what truly is a hostile world, turning to every thing that catches their attention and heart, changing interests as one might change dirty socks, trying something on for a while until something new, something better comes along. And when one flounders through this world, even as they believe they are steadily making their way along, what is there to grab onto to give meaning to the life they live? Somewhere deep inside each person is the need for roots. We can see that in children that live in orphanages, children in foster care, adults with no family to call their own. People need somewhere to belong, they need someone to belong to. And in reality the Someone they need to belong to isn't really another person, although we need that too, but it's Christ and the peace that He gives. But what happens when a person doesn't have Christ? When they don't have that peace? They search for something that fills that need to belong, to connect. And it would seem that for some they belong to spiritual beings (or imagined characters) that somehow fills that void in them and gives them an illusion, which isn't as much of an illusion as one might think, that they belong to some greater being in this world.
Oh, the lengths human souls will go to to believe in something while they turn away, time and again, from the only One that offers the peace their souls desire.