Ephesians
Dearest J,
Today I was reading through Ephesians. I got an awesome copy of “The Voice Bible” New Testament online, and it’s fantastic. I’ve already read it and own the physical copy, which is also very marked up, but I wanted to give it a try on my iPad and I really enjoyed the process of highlighting it up with Goodnotes :)
A few things really stood out to me in Ephesians. First of all, I wasn’t aware that the city of Ephesus was really well known as a city steeped in the magical arts (known as a Seven Wonder of the World) for housing the ancient temple of Diana, which was a goddess they worshiped. This reminds me a lot sometimes that while we no longer praise goddesses, I watched the new Barbie movie last night, and the idea of looking up to women as though they were goddesses was a very present idea. Even today, the idea of looking up to a lot of singers (I think Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, the Kardashians, Madonna, WHATEVER) … these women are idolized. But men are now idolized too, look at Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Zuckerberg, all these people who are idolized and basically worshiped. These are not statues or goddesses, but their buildings are shrines of what they stand for.
Anyway moving on, the other thing I really loved is this emphasis on Spiritual Warfare (which is very much connected to the founding of fayth.org, from which the Spiritual Warfare Bible was built upon!).
Ephesians 6:10 - 17
10 Finally, brothers and sisters, draw your strength and might from God. 11 Put on the full armor of God to protect yourselves from the devil and his evil schemes. 12 We’re not waging war against enemies of flesh and blood alone. No, this fight is against tyrants, against authorities, against supernatural powers and demon princes that slither in the darkness of this world, and against wicked spiritual armies that lurk about in heavenly places.
13 And this is why you need to be head-to-toe in the full armor of God: so you can resist during these evil days and be fully prepared to hold your ground. 14 Yes, stand—truth banded around your waist, righteousness as your chest plate, 15 and feet protected in preparation to proclaim the good news of peace. 16 Don’t forget to raise the shield of faith above all else, so you will be able to extinguish flaming spears hurled at you from the wicked one. 17 Take also the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
I just love the above passage. It really describes Spiritual Warfare very clearly. We must really understand that we are not fighting against people, but ideologies and things that are beyond our understanding. Things that are historical, things that are demonic, things that are from other realms all together. Things beyond our control sometimes.
Paul’s suggestion is really for us to PRAY. Pray very intensely until all the evil is stopped.
You know, in New Age, there’s this idea that evil really doesn’t even exist. In ACIM, this idea of “sin” is not even prevalent, the idea is that we are perfect just as we are. Even all over social media, people say to “just be yourself” and “you were born this way” and this idea that … we are each perfect, and life is perfect, and we just need to let everything be.
See this is ironic, because also in a lot of Ephesians, there’s this emphasis on LOVE and COMPASSION. There’s also a list he makes about how we are to act.
There’s a big sense of ONENESS and UNITY here, which includes being:
Humble
Gentle
Patient
Tolerant
Unified
Peaceful
And I can’t help but wonder, how would that effect people today who are LGBTQIA+? What about demonic rats vs republicans? What about flat earthers vs scientists? I do wonder how to tolerate PEOPLE, but challenge ideas in helpful and caring ways.
I also can’t help but wonder, if we are to treat each other as Jesus, Jesus did tell people to stop sinning but did not condemn people. He righteously judged them, but didn’t condemn them. And I do think that’s the proper way to love, if we are to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. 💕
