The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic horror drama television series based on the comic book series, Set in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead follows a group of survivors struggling to stay alive as society collapses around them.
Everywhere you look in today’s culture you see an intense fascination with Apocalyptic themes and stories:
TV Series like: The Last of Us, Station Eleven, Designated Survivor, Greenland (Gerard Butler)
Movies like: A Quiet Place Part II, 28 Years Later, Furiosa
Even video games: Atomfall
(My son loves) Kids Book Series: The Last Kids on Earth
Why? Because art reflects reality. The world today increasingly feels like we’re in the end times
Plagues, Pandemics, and Pestilence
Riots and Rising Political Tensions
The Possibility of Tech-Age Warfare
Famine, Food Quality, and Scarcity
The Breakdown of Civilization
Societal Decay and Distrust in Leadership
Isolation, Insanity, and Mass Shootings
The Rise of New Moral Codes
The Conflict Between Nature and Humanity
Sci-fi Level Technology and Corporate Surveillance
Governmental Overreach and Political Brainwashing
Paul the apostle told us why these problems would exist before they ever happened 2,000 years ago. This passage is foundational to our theology and our understanding of the darkness of humanity.
Ephesians 2:1–2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind,
FOUR THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE REAL ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
SIN MAKES PEOPLE INTO ZOMBIES.
Trespasses – παράπτωμα
Blue Letter Bible to fall beside or near something, a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness
ways that people violate the trust of others
Bible Project “In Old Testament Hebrew, the noun is pesha and the verb is pasha. In the New Testament, the Greek word is paraptoma. They're usually translated as "transgression," sometimes as "rebellion," and in older translations as” In the Greek New Testament, the apostle Paul develops this portrait of humans as trust-breakers using the word paraptoma. He recalls the story in Genesis about adam. And in that story, humanity breaks trust with God and seizes authority to discern good and evil on their own terms. Paul calls this the paraptoma of adam, humanity's violation of trust with God and with each other. And it leads to a complicated web of betrayed and broken relationships, leading toward violence and death
Sins – ἁμαρτία
Blue Letter Bible to miss the mark to err, be mistaken to miss or wander from the path, to wander from the law of God, violate God's law, sin
Your life has a goal
Matthew Henry When we look upon a corpse, it gives an awful feeling. A never-dying spirit is now fled, and has left nothing but the ruins of a man. But if we viewed things aright, we should be far more affected by the thought of a dead soul, a lost, fallen spirit.
When you follow the world paul says you’re Following prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience
The spirit of the Evil One is animating you!
Sin is like the Zombie parasite. We are depicted as lifeless vessels inhabited and animated by sin. Furthermore we are lifeless corpses that the Devil steers toward His own sick goals.
Screwtape Letters “We want cattle who can finally become food; he wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, he wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; he is full and flows over.”
“Air” ἀήρ
Blue Letter Bible the air, particularly the lower and denser air as distinguished from the higher and rarer air. The atmospheric region
Denotes the spiritual mid‑realm populated by evil spirits acting under Satan’s authority and influencing disobedient people. Satan inhabits and rules the “air,” unseen yet looming over culture and human disobedience.
Satan is happy to steer your life if you don’t follow Jesus. All you have to is become passive and live on autopilot. Write this down:
IT’S EASY TO BE A ZOMBIE.
V.3 carrying out the desires of the flesh
This can be translated: “indulging in the lusts of your sinful nature”
C.S. Lewis once imagined a senior demon coaching his apprentice. He said the safest road to hell isn’t paved in violence or rebellion—but in comfort. ‘A gentle slope… without milestones, without signposts.’ That’s what Ephesians 2 is warning us about. You can be walking dead—animated not by God’s Spirit, but by the prince of the power of the air. And you won’t even notice.
Screwtape Letters
"Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
As a kid I watched Star Trek. There was an parasitic cyborg species called the Borg seeking to takeover the universe. They’d tractor-beam you in and assimilate you into their hive or collective in a kind of brain control. As they were pulling you in they’d say: "Resistance is futile”.
But that’s the same thing Satan wants to achieve in your life. He wants you to simply go along with the culture and your own desires and he’ll pull you in. But our job is to RESIST his pull and to get violent! To fight back.
“It’s natural” people make the case in culture that we’re animals following instincts. But that’s exactly the problem. We are called to live supernatural lives that run contrary to what would be merely natural. We are (v.3) “by nature children of wrath”
Who is in this state?
Ephesians 2:3–10 and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
ALL HUMANITY IS A HOARD OF ZOMBIES.
λοιπός literally “the rest”
Everyone who isn’t in Christ is under the spell. Under the curse. Inhabited by the demonic zombie virus of sin without the cure.
Fitting in is overrated. Standing out is the key.
One of the greatest pictures of all time:
How do you stand against the torrent of culture? You fall on your knees before Jesus.
V.4 But God…
We need God’s own intervention!
This should be your prayer: “God INTERVENE!”
V.4-9 being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—[6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
What: (v.5)“by grace you have been saved” The gift of grace or what we don’t deserve (welcome/forgiveness before God). This is the CURE!
Who: (v.4-5) God…made us alive together with Christ God is the active agent not you and me. We surrender, he saves. He is, according to Paul the active Savior who walks by us in our zombified state and does ALL of the waking of our undead souls!
Bible Project: Jesus Takes on Our Pesha/Paraptoma
And this is the surprising story of the Bible, that God's response to humanity's pasha and paraptoma was to be trustworthy on our behalf. The apostles claim that, in Jesus, God took responsibility for our betrayal, so that he could open up a new future and a new way to be human, the way of faithfulness, trustworthiness, and integrity. That's the kind of human Jesus was and is. And it's the kind of humans he wants to create as he faithfully guides our world into the new creation.
How: (v.9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast. This is was accomplished not by our work but Jesus’ work of atonement on the cross.
Why: (v.4, 7)ecause of the great love with which he loved us…so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace Two reasons:
01. Because He loved us. (YOU!)
02. So His glory might shine. He saves us not because we are worthy but because He is worthy to be praised. God is about God…
Before you go home:
THE SUPERNATURAL IS NORMAL.
That’s a huge point of this series. Everyone is wondering is there more.
From my hair-cutters who practice new age, to the neighbor down the street!
People believe we’re in a real apocalypse, that there is another realm, and that we have a meaning for our existence. And they, and you (if you’ve been wondering) are right!
The things you think are fiction but sense in your spirit are taking you captive, are real according to the Bible!
Non Christian Police Officer: I noticed Evil was being called good. It seemed like there was a spiritual war going on.