BLACK AS PITCH

From My Perspective - - - 

The English Language seems oriented to the use of idioms, nuances, colloquialisms and slang. It is sometimes difficult to determine when and why certain phrases were used. The McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs lists some of the phrases that have used “black” in a descriptive manner. Some of them are: “black as a skillet; black as a stack of black cats; black as a (chimney) sweep; black as coal; black as night; black as pitch; and black as the ace of spades.” Is is also common to have the word association between Black and Darkness. It also bridges over into the Biblical understanding and description for Sin, Satan and Evil. For instance, in John Milton’s writing about Paradise Lost, he made reference to the Prince of Darkness being Satan the embodiment of evil. A Hymn of the Reformation written by Martin Luther, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, contains these words in the third stanza: “And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us. We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, one little word shall fell him.”

Appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s hearing on the U.S. strategy against ISIS on Thursday: September 18, 2014, the Secretary of State John Kerry made a terse and revealing statement. CNS (Conservative News Service) reports: “Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday defended President Barack Obama’s statement that the Islamic State is not Islamic, saying that they can call themselves whatever they want, but they’re not a state, and they do not represent Islam. In fact, he said, they are the order of Satan. The Islamic State, they can call themselves what they want to call themselves. We shouldn’t compound the sin by allowing them to get away with it and calling them what they’re not. They’re not a state, and they do not represent Islam…” There were some classifications used that are not often heard in the halls of Congress, such as: ISIS being: “The order of Satan” and “We shouldn’t compound the sin…” This is interesting as ISIS associates itself with the color Black. Their attire when beheading people is Black; some of the key buildings seized by them are immediately painted Black; the Flag they display is Black; and their behavior and activity corresponds with that which is Satanic and devious.

Our focus is on the phrases used by the Secretary of State: (a) The order of Satan, and (b) We shouldn’t compound the sin…” We need to note and remember that which Jesus stated to the religious protagonists of His day. In John 8:44 (ESV), “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus indicated in Matthew 6:22-23, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” In our world that has obsessively moved toward the slope of cultural captivity, the threshold of darkness has been approached and crossed. Evil and wickedness are once again being witnessed in an extreme form as ISIS spreads into wide swaths of Iraq and Syria, with a goal of extending even further until they reach Israel with the goal of eliminating it as a nation and Jewish people. While it is reminiscent of what evolved in Nazi Germany 75 years ago, there seems to be little resistance to these aspirations by other nations. One thing that is a certainty, rhetoric is meaningless. Speeches and idle threats by the insincere will never make a difference or persuade others.

Can the world and the church survive? Until we repent and refocus on God and His Standards, there is little reason for hope. But if we read the Book of Daniel and then unite to pray his Prayer in Daniel 9, and turn from the blackness and darkness of sin, we will then realize deliverance from and triumph over the cultural captivity.  Consider these things with me!