Greetings Dear Reader,
One of the best twists of a quote I have ever heard was
spoken by my friend and colleague, Donald
Williams. His book, AN
ENCOURAGING THOUGHT: The Christian Worldview in the Writings of J. R. R.
Tolkien is the finest analysis of the works under consideration I have
encountered. The quote to which I refer,
however, has nothing to do with this.
The quote is from his seventeenth-century literature class
when discussing the time between Charles the First and Charles the Second of
England; the time of Oliver Cromwell. What
he said was that “Cromwell snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.” Cromwell found a way to ruin the opportunity
to have a benevolent faith-based rule over England. Instead, he became as bad as his predecessor and
replicated the errors that caused the initial rebellion.
The same is true of Isildur.
He possessed the One Ring briefly and during that time it possessed him
far deeply. During the War of the
Last Alliance, Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, but
he refused to destroy it. We only get a
brief glimpse of him in the books under consideration and one must consult the Silmarillion
for deeper understanding.
The point, however, is made.
When Isildur held the One Ring, Elrond urged him to take it to Mount
Doom and destroy it. When he refused, he
believed he could use its power rule Middle Earth. Too often, well-intended people will grasp
unholy power with the intent to do good.
Pride and vanity tells us that we will stand against the evil and
instead, it corrupts us, making the end worse than it could have been.
We cannot take up that which is unholy to use for good. Power, greed, and possessions are not the tools
to following Christ well. The moment of
transition, when we have the choice to destroy that which corrupts us, is too
often aborted in the belief that we can do better. The power corrupts and we fail to stay the
course. We love the power more than the
one we follow.
I must not hold on to anything that is not mine. I must not seek control of things that belong
to the Father. Anyone will agree with these
to statements until they are framed in this truth: Jesus is my only true possession
and all other things are on loan from God.
I control nothing but my responses to the Father.
His command is to love him with all that we are and to love each
other fully. We control only our choice
to do or not do that. Everything we
undertake must be done on the platform of those commands. If I am to use power in any way, the fuel
must be love for everyone involved. The moment
we grasp for or continue to hold power in an unloving way, we have left the path, Dear Reader. We like Isildur will be
chased and destroyed by the results. We
will fail those we lead and harm those who come after us. Power will become our bane unless we always
wield it for the purpose of loving more deeply.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Every human story is part of the great story that leads
to the Father getting everything back to Good.
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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