I am not into horror movies, but the flood of advertising for the TV series “Fear the Walking Dead” is astounding. It is a prequel to the thriller TV series, “The Waking Dead,” and is about living people who become zombies and then attack others who, in turn, become zombies, who again attack people and eventually eliminate most of the population of Los Angeles (I think). I have a buddy who thinks this is one of the best shows he has ever watched, mostly because of the “reality” of the scenes, the quality of the actors, and it scares him so intensely it gives a huge adrenaline rush. He wanted me to watch it and I had to shut it off after the first 2 minutes because I am not into that kind of gore, graphic attacks, and all that goes along with those kinds of shows. However, the whole genre makes me think about our global community. While some of you are already thinking if I have lost my mind and what on earth I am thinking here, I will take a shot at explaining the “why” below:
From a more spiritual metaphysical perspective, here are some analogical comparisons:
1) We live in a world of walking dead people. We were not attacked or bitten by zombies but infected with a disease called sin; passed on from our original parents. The Bible indicates we are ALL walking dead people (spiritually), helpless and with no cure that we can create or manufacture (Romans 5; Ephesians 2:1-2).
2) Conversely, we should not fear walking dead people. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces (rulers, powers and forces of darkness – Ephesians 5:12). People are not the enemy and we should not fear them; that is our natural reaction to them. But like God’s love and grace towards us we should have a great love and compassion to help others find life from death, not the other way around. Unfortunately many people have an unusual “dread” or “fear” of walking dead people. They cannot turn us into dead zombies or take our life away. Rather than avoiding them or destroying them to protect ourselves we are given the mission to help others find the cure (Christ).
3) We are no better than anyone else. This may be obvious but we can come across this way at times. We have all been victims of being walking dead – God is on a rescue mission to provide a cure that has infected the whole of humanity; Christ is the only cure to the “spiritual zombie” condition we were born into. We cannot fix ourselves and when people are infected the only solution to “being made alive” is Christ (Ephesians 2:5).
4) God is committed to turning us from death to give us life. God demonstrated His great love for us that while we were sinners (walking dead) Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). If we hear His words and believe in Him who sent Christ we will have eternal life, and we will not come into judgment, and has passed from death to life (John 5:24).
Rather than living in fear we should live by faith. That means having more confidence in Christ than ourselves. It means loving people rather than fearing them. Only when we understand the life God has given to us will we find the freedom to help the walking dead find the cure.
Pastor Brad Little
