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Superheroes of our Faith
January 22, 2011

Superheroes abound in the fiction of our life and include characters created decades ago who are able to scale buildings, fly through the air, and use incredible strength to fight evil while publicly living as the superhero and privately living as an unknown person. Using the example of the Apostle Paul, who when he came to Athens preached about the unkown god to segue to preaching about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, adults should consider how we can use the collection of superheroes from the fiction in our life to introduce children to the Superheroes of our Faith.

Acts 17:22-32
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars� hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men�s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man�s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

Even though Paul used prior knowledge of the Athenians to preach the Kingdom of God, not all responded to his message, and it is likely that there are those children and others familiar with the superheroes of our fiction who will reject the superheroes of our faith. The superheroes of our faith begin with God the Father and Jesus Christ. The superpowers that God the Father and Jesus Christ have are innumerable; here is but a sampling.

Power to Create

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Power to Move Oceans and Land Masse

Genesis 1:9
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

Power to Create Plant Life

Genesis 1:11-12
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Power to Create Animal Life

Genesis 1:24-25
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Power to Create Human Life

Genesis 1:26-27
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Power to Resurrect from the Dead

Reveleation 20:5-6
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Power to Heal

Mark 3:1-5
And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

Power to Forgive

Matthew 6:14-15
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Superheroes are a major part of the fiction in our life. Superheroes do exist in our spiritual life and they begin with God the Father and Jesus Christ. There are nameless angels in service to us who have superhero powers. A question that may arise is why do our spiritual superheroes not save the day in the same manner that our superheroes of fiction do? With all of the superheroes of fiction, there is a way to contact the superhero to let the superhero know there is a time of distress and there immediate assistance is needed. The way to contact the superheroes of our faith is to have the Holy Spirit within us and to ask for God's assistance. This has to be based on faith in order for contact to be made. Jesus offered advice on the topic of faith.

Luke 18:8
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Luke 17:6
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

The reason we sometimes ask for the intervention of God and Jesus and receive no help is related to faith. Our understanding may prevent us from understanding that our current situation is indeed the will of God and that we must accept it, and there are also times when the current situation is not the will of God but the result of our own actions. It is during these times that when we ask for divine intervention and do not receive the help we were seeking that our faith is challenged.

James 1:2-8
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

These situations create patience, which it is own way is another superpower directly tied to the power to forgive. Even when it may appear to others that God is forsaking us, we must in bad times have confidence that God is completing a good work in us, and we must hold this belief in the strongest of confidence without doubt. It is this mindset that the superheroes of fiction give way to the superheroes of our faith.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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