ex(PR)essed

I want to share two gems of wisdom from the book I’m reading, “The Emperor of Ocean Park” by Stephen Carter. It’s a work of fiction, a murder-mystery of sorts, written very much like a Grisham novel. However, within the suspenseful storyline is a healthy dose of social commentary. I’m enjoying the book very much.

I was stopped in my tracks when I stumbled upon these two passages:

“Although every believing Christian understands that God guides our steps, fewer and fewer emphasize the point. A God working actively in the world makes us uneasy. We tend to like our God distant and a bit malleable, ready to bend to every new human idea. A God with a will of his own is too scary, and, besides, he might get in the way of our satisfaction of immediate desire.” (pg. 300, spoken by the main character, Talcott)

Then, 46 pages later:

“Satan never changes. That is his great weakness. That is where the believer has the advantage over him, praise God. Satan is a creature of habit. He is clever, but not intelligent. Satan is always the same, and his subjects, those souls who are lost to him, always behave the same…Satan is stupid. Clever, you see, but not intelligent, praise God. This is God’s gift to us, requiring Satan to remain stupid. Why is Satan stupid? So that, if we are alert, we can recognize him. By his signs we shall know him! For Satan, stupid Satan, always attacks us in the same ways. If the old methods fail, he can think of nothing new, praise God. So he just goes on to attack somebody else. He attacks us with sexual desire and other temptations that distract the body. He attacks us with drink and drugs and other temptations that addle the brain. He attacks us with racial hatred and love of money and other temptations to distort the soul.

“You see, then, what Satan does. He attacks the body. He attacks the brain. He attacks the soul. Body, mind, and soul–those are the only parts of the human being that Satan understands how to attack, praise God. If you guard them from Satan, you are safe. If you guard your body, you are guarding the temple of the Lord, for you are made in God’s image. If you guard your mind, you are guarding the toolhouse of the Lord, for God works his will here on earth through mortal human beings. And if you guard your spirit, you are guarding the storehouse of the Lord, for God fills our souls with his power to help us to do his work on earth.” (spoken the character Reverand Doctor Morris Young)