Christian Clarity Review

What say ye lads? Are ye game for Moby Dick?!

Indeed.

Watched the older version of Moby Dick recently ..the one with Gregory Peck playing Ahab.

I have never heard of Ahab as hero before; he was always portrayed as the crazed lunatic who “hated” Moby Dick because of what the whale had done to him in former times and thus scared but not a hero in any sense.

The scene in which Ahab shows Starbuck the map of the whales journeys he nails it: “the thing behind the mask ..the malignant thing that has plagued and frightened man since time began. The thing that mauls and mutilates our race…”

Non-creating speech/anti-Christ. Come out, come out wherever you are. I seee you. I heear you…

Isaiah 47:10 For thou hast confided in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath seduced thee; and thou hast said in thy heart, It is I, and there is none but me.

But God Says:

Amos 9:1-4 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar; and he said, Smite the chapiter that the thresholds may shake; and break all of them in pieces, in the head; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not get away by flight, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to the heavens, thence will I bring them down; and though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them; and though they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

Compare that with Ahab’s “from hell’s heart I stab at thee.., etc..”

God uses anti-Christ until anti-Christ’s usefulness is at an end..

Zep 3:9 For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve him with one consent.

The last scene before the showdown between Ahab and Moby Dick is very insightful. It comes out in the scene where Starbuck is going to shoot Ahab and take over the ship; Ahab tells him why he has to kill Moby Dick –I never saw it before: Ahab was hunting the anti-Christ. He doesn’t say it, but that’s it. Moby Dick was just the story. If you’re writing a Christian story its all there: Jonah, whaling, the time period of history in which Melville lived, etc. ( That’s also why Starbuck joined ranks with Ahab at the end instead of rowing away… a chance at the anti-Christ, harpoon already in hand .. are you kidding me..?! who is going to row away from that?)

“This is what you’ve shipped for mates ..death to Moby Dick.” Classic because its true. Even the pagans know it though they know it wrong.

I only saw it because in my own novel one of the characters doesn’t know what he is doing for a long time, but is driven in that same way. Late in the novel when confronted by an exasperated friend “well at least give me a physical description of what your looking for!” Izzy replies “It’s a got a man’s heart — a man’s heart –don’t forget that. It’s got feet like a bear and looks like a leopard, seven heads and all lies.” He’s has been sent after the anti-Christ and had to go through a period of oblivion that such a thing as anti-Christ even exists, then a fear of it, then a loathing of it, then a command to kill it and understand what has been going on his whole life…( I need to re-write a lot of the novel..)

Rev 13:1-3 And I stood upon the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like to a leopardess, and its feet as of a bear, and its mouth as a lion’s mouth; and the dragon gave to it his power, and his throne, and great authority; and one of his heads was as slain to death, and his wound of death had been healed: and the whole earth wondered after the beast.

and later on reminds his friend of :

Daniel 7:2-8 Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heavens broke forth upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till its wings were plucked; and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon two feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second, like unto a bear, and it raised up itself on one side; and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and they said thus unto it: Arise, devour much flesh. After this I saw, and behold, another, like a leopard, and it had four wings of a bird upon its back; and the beast had four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and exceeding strong; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another, a little horn, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

Melville was also warning in the character of Ahab against a self-willed attack against the anti-Christ –on the basis of human emotion “for hates sake I stab at thee! , etc…” Ahab was the classic flawed hero who won when Moby Dick died in the book. But it cost him his life of the flesh to do it.

————-

He’s after what?

Anti-Christ.

You’re joking, right?

The movie Moby Dick plays in the background. The young man points to Ahab stabbing Moby Dick with the harpoon over and over. “That guy look like he’s kidding?”

—————–

God reserves some things for Him to accomplish through new creatures in Jesus Christ. All that stuff about ‘can’t be killed by a man’ means nothing. The beast will come back to life. But he’s got to be killed first.

God says of the anti-Christ:

Revelation 13:3 and one of his heads was as slain to death, and his wound of death had been healed: and the whole earth wondered after the beast.

But He says of us in Jesus Christ as new creatures in Jesus Christ; we are Jacob:

Jer 51:19-24 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for it is he that hath formed all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name. Thou art my maul, my weapons of war: and with thee I will break in pieces the nations, and I will with thee destroy kingdoms; and with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot and its driver; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces governors and rulers. And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea, in your sight, all their evil which they have done in Zion, saith Jehovah.

God also says of us:

Isaiah 27:6,7 In the future Jacob shall take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with fruit. Hath he smitten him according to the smiting of those that smote him? Is he slain according to the slaughter of those slain by him?

and

Proverbs 24:15,16 Lay not wait, O wicked man , against the dwelling of the righteous; lay not waste his resting-place. For the righteous falleth seven times, and riseth up again; but the wicked stumble into disaster.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen