The Cure for the Common Zombie

Thursday morning as I was shaving and looking at the droopy eyes of the man staring back at me in the mirror (thanks to my nocturnal one-year old), I thought of zombies. People that are the among the "living dead." I also had thoughts of my upcoming study for our young adults group.

Suddenly, the two thoughts coalesced into one. I began to think of all the people I encounter on a daily basis. It's quite scary and morbid to think, but most of these people are walking dead men and women. People with chains around their necks slowly sinking back to the earth from which they came.

I was reminded of the time my niece Cindy told me about a message she had heard from her youth pastor, Pastor Ralph of Harbor Christian Center. What she told me really hit home. During one of his services, he had showed a clip from the movie "The Sixth Sense," where the characters played by Haley Joel Osmont ("Cole") and Bruce Willis' (Malcolm) say the following:

COLE

I see people.

Malcolm just gazes quietly.

COLE

I see dead people... Some of them scare me.

MALCOLM

In your dreams?

Cole shakes his head, "No."

MALCOLM

When you're awake?

Cole nods, "Yes."

MALCOLM

Dead people, like in graves and coffins?

COLE

No, walking around, like regular people... They can't see each other. Some of them don't know they're dead.

MALCOLM

They don't know they're dead?

COLE

I see ghosts.

So here I am looking at myself, dead in the mirror, but only in the sense of dead tired. I ask myself, "will other people look into my eyes today and see what I know?" Will they know how tired I am? Probably not, I have a good way of covering up my fatigue. Splash some water on the face, put a smile on and all of a sudden I even forget.

Have you looked in the mirror today? Who's looking back at you? You may say "I am Christian," "I am alive in Christ." But are you really living for Christ? Or are you just splashing water on your face?

One day, thousands of years ago, God breathed life into the first human, Adam. Like a plastic CPR dummy, the Lord took clay and breathed life into an inanimate corpse. His Spirit filled the vacuum and human life was born. However, this person who once walked with The Life Giver, would one day walk away from his maker and suffer the fate of his own mortality. He would breathe his last and give up his ghost.

Thousands of years later, The Life Giver overshadowed a young woman called "Mary" and breathed life into her vacant and virgin womb:

"The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)

Thus, The Life Giver conceived The Life Saver, whose name is Jesus which in Hebrew means "The Lord Saves." The Life Saver would one day die to bring life back to mortal man. Not life in the sense of physical life, which ends all too suddenly (thanks to Adam). No, spiritual life in the sense of eternal relationship with The Life Giver. This we call "eternal life," because it's more of a life than physical living and because it lasts forever (thanks to Jesus).

Before the Son of God left the earth, he left a promise to his followers. In days to come, the Holy Spirit, the very Breath of Life, The Breath of God, would visit them. Just like with Adam, He would fill their spiritual vacuums, not to the brim, but to overflowing. Just like with Mary, He would overshadow them and breathe life into the yet unconceived body of people known as "the church." He would baptize them with His Holy Spirit.

As I look forward to teaching about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the coming weeks, I think of all the people who have never heard about The Life Giver (Father God), The Life Saver (The Son of God), and the very Breath of God (The Holy Spirit). Some people only know about the Father. Some people only know about the Son and Father. But many, including some Christians, don't know nearly enough about the Breath of God.

Jesus warned us that we could know scriptures back and forth and yet lose sight of their fulfillment right in front of us, within our grasp:

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." (John 5:39-40)

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean." (Matthew 23:27)

The Teachers of the Law were dead and did not even know it. They were vacuous and didn't know the Savior in their midst. They could not recognize him, even though they knew the written word of God better than most Christian teachers today. The one prophesied about by John the Baptist was right in front of them. The one who would baptize not in water, but in the Holy Spirit and with Fire was staring back at them.

He still baptizes in His Spirit today. It's his baptism after all, and no mortal man and no mortal teaching can take it away from him. Why not? Because neither the Son, nor the Spirit, nor the promises of the Father change. They are the same yesterday, today, and forever. His promises are yes and amen.

I see dead people all the time. I brush shoulders with zombies every day. Most of them don't know they're dead. Thankfully, there's a cure for the common zombie:

Follow Christ and Live with Power.

Bro Danny DJ Morales