INVICTUS???
There's a new movie out, called "Invictus". I really would like to see it, since a favorite actor of mine--Morgan Freeman, is starring in it. I don't know what the movie is about, but I'm not crazy about the name, since I'm pretty sure it is taken from the poem, of the same name.
Invictus--(the poem, that is) is very well-known. We hear it often at graduations. It goes like this:
"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."
Oh, really??? You think so??? I have news for you--NOT!
It's by poet, William Ernest Henley. You might be asking, "What problem is there with the poem?" Glad to tell you! The poem is very humanistic--doesn't leave room for the only God, that is. It gives credit to us--that doesn't belong to us--it tries to make us, God. Are you the "master of your fate"? Are you the "captain of your soul"? I am not--and frankly, neither are you--or anyone else. I will grant you that some of us, think that we are--or at least live, as though we are. That's a mistake, because God--the Lord Jesus Christ, the One true and living God, is running this show, this thing called life. He holds the reigns. He is in control--no matter how things appear. He is the Captain and the Master (of all things, people circumstances, anything you can think of, etc).
Wikipedia defines "humanism" this way: "Humanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority. Since the nineteenth century, humanism has been associated with an anti-clericalism inherited from the eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosophes." In other words, man is responsible only to man (himself), and mankind is not governed by God or anything/anyone outside of himself--my definition. In view of life, as I know it--and many of you--this cannot be accurate, and humanism is void of reality. Reality isn't only what we can see, feel or touch. Reality is wrapped up in God--His essence, the only "real" that there is, knows the existence of an Omnipotent God. God created everything--how then, can there be any reality, without Him??? The mistake is thinking that only that which we see, feel and touch is real. God is REAL. God is a Spirit--cannot see Him, because He is too Real, for my eyes, cannot touch Him--He is too Real, and His reality would consume me. I can feel His presence, but even when I do not, it does not change His reality. He is REAL.
Clearly, God exists, lives and is charge. Can we see Him--no, but I can see His handiwork, throughout the earth (the Heavens declare it!); I can (and do) know Him. I am not confused about His existence--you see, "He lives within my heart". That is how I know He lives! Faith assures me of Him, His love and providential care for me.
I can't blame Henley for his faulty thinking. England, from the 16th century, had been awash in humanistic thinking, and authors, scholars, etc. who purported Humanism to be right. However, any thinking/philosophy that excludes God as the Author and Finisher, is not only errant, but deadly. Much of our current thinking, is awash in humanism. Many people think that we are responsible for taking care of ourselves--seems reasonable doesn't it? However, reasonable it may sound--it forgets that God promised to care for me. He is the Shepherd of my soul, and provides for ALL of my needs. We must work and do things that are necessary to natural living, but it is ALWAYS God who is Provider. We are not our own providers--God supplies the strength that we need to work, the breath that we need, the life that we have--so, how can I be master and captain???
Invictus is a Latin word which means: unconquer, unconquerable, undefeated. Who alone, can claim to be unconquerable and undefeated? God. Only when we are aligned with Him, can we become, "more than conquerors"! Only when in His Divine care can we be free from the defeat of the adversary.
If only the world could understand the only way to be powerful, is to have the power of God, within. In and of ourselves, there is only a pseudo-power--a fake, that will doom mankind to an eternal Hell. Only when we choose the sole Unconqerable One, can we know the true "Utopia"--Heaven, that God has prepared for us--those who choose Him, and will live for Him (surrendering ourselves fully and completely to His will). True power is only found in Christ (the Anointed flesh of God). Salvation in any other name, is non-existent.
Only Jesus can truly be deemed "Invictus". He alone conquered death, Hell and the grave! No one else can make that claim. So who will you choose, rely and depend on???
I choose Christ.
Love & Abundant Blessings,
Lisa
Invictus--(the poem, that is) is very well-known. We hear it often at graduations. It goes like this:
"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."
Oh, really??? You think so??? I have news for you--NOT!
It's by poet, William Ernest Henley. You might be asking, "What problem is there with the poem?" Glad to tell you! The poem is very humanistic--doesn't leave room for the only God, that is. It gives credit to us--that doesn't belong to us--it tries to make us, God. Are you the "master of your fate"? Are you the "captain of your soul"? I am not--and frankly, neither are you--or anyone else. I will grant you that some of us, think that we are--or at least live, as though we are. That's a mistake, because God--the Lord Jesus Christ, the One true and living God, is running this show, this thing called life. He holds the reigns. He is in control--no matter how things appear. He is the Captain and the Master (of all things, people circumstances, anything you can think of, etc).
Wikipedia defines "humanism" this way: "Humanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority. Since the nineteenth century, humanism has been associated with an anti-clericalism inherited from the eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosophes." In other words, man is responsible only to man (himself), and mankind is not governed by God or anything/anyone outside of himself--my definition. In view of life, as I know it--and many of you--this cannot be accurate, and humanism is void of reality. Reality isn't only what we can see, feel or touch. Reality is wrapped up in God--His essence, the only "real" that there is, knows the existence of an Omnipotent God. God created everything--how then, can there be any reality, without Him??? The mistake is thinking that only that which we see, feel and touch is real. God is REAL. God is a Spirit--cannot see Him, because He is too Real, for my eyes, cannot touch Him--He is too Real, and His reality would consume me. I can feel His presence, but even when I do not, it does not change His reality. He is REAL.
Clearly, God exists, lives and is charge. Can we see Him--no, but I can see His handiwork, throughout the earth (the Heavens declare it!); I can (and do) know Him. I am not confused about His existence--you see, "He lives within my heart". That is how I know He lives! Faith assures me of Him, His love and providential care for me.
I can't blame Henley for his faulty thinking. England, from the 16th century, had been awash in humanistic thinking, and authors, scholars, etc. who purported Humanism to be right. However, any thinking/philosophy that excludes God as the Author and Finisher, is not only errant, but deadly. Much of our current thinking, is awash in humanism. Many people think that we are responsible for taking care of ourselves--seems reasonable doesn't it? However, reasonable it may sound--it forgets that God promised to care for me. He is the Shepherd of my soul, and provides for ALL of my needs. We must work and do things that are necessary to natural living, but it is ALWAYS God who is Provider. We are not our own providers--God supplies the strength that we need to work, the breath that we need, the life that we have--so, how can I be master and captain???
Invictus is a Latin word which means: unconquer, unconquerable, undefeated. Who alone, can claim to be unconquerable and undefeated? God. Only when we are aligned with Him, can we become, "more than conquerors"! Only when in His Divine care can we be free from the defeat of the adversary.
If only the world could understand the only way to be powerful, is to have the power of God, within. In and of ourselves, there is only a pseudo-power--a fake, that will doom mankind to an eternal Hell. Only when we choose the sole Unconqerable One, can we know the true "Utopia"--Heaven, that God has prepared for us--those who choose Him, and will live for Him (surrendering ourselves fully and completely to His will). True power is only found in Christ (the Anointed flesh of God). Salvation in any other name, is non-existent.
Only Jesus can truly be deemed "Invictus". He alone conquered death, Hell and the grave! No one else can make that claim. So who will you choose, rely and depend on???
I choose Christ.
Love & Abundant Blessings,
Lisa
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