Canadian artist and author Michael O’Brien discusses the “soft totalitarianism” of secularism’s “friendly dragon.”

Walker Percy once wrote about the Western writer’s tendency to what he called “Solzhenitsyn-envy.” Percy’s witticim is tongue in cheek, and insightful, but it begs a deeper look: Why is the envy there in the first place? Why would one envy a suffering, persecuted man?

…In the case of the writer who is rooted in the moral cosmos, this kind of envy is a symptom not so much of his personal moral failure as it is his moral dilemma. The creative person sincerely seeking truth can no longer find his bearings with the aid of his social environment. His native culture is no longer his own. He is, in a sense, a kind of exile, but without the fugitive consolations of the exile’s heroism. He is not a sign of contradiction against an oppressive regime; rather he is too often a disoriented wanderer, a stranger in a strange land, and, worse, it is his native land. Thus, he senses that the heroic figure far away in the mysterious East, in facing the dragon of overt totalitarianism, had a cleaner task, a defined task. More threatening to life and general well-being, to be sure, but not nearly so confusing or demoralizing. It might kill his body but it could not so easily kill his soul.

Read the complete article here.

I remember an atheist quoting one of David’s Psalms to prove that God doesn’t answer prayer. It was a song of despair. Despite such selective quoting, how do we deal with Bible passages that end without hope?

Laura Southam comments:

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“…the crisis of fatherhood, in its many forms, is at the root of most disorders in this late stage of Western civilization. And the root is intimately connected to the loss of our consciousness of the hierarchical nature of the created order. Large numbers of people not only seem unable to believe in God, but also cannot conceptualize Him in their thoughts and their hearts. The icon in the heart—the icon of fatherhood—is either damaged or absent entirely. Sin and error have contributed to this, and also two major world wars and the loss of millions of good men on all sides, as well as the social and sexual revolutions of the 1960’s onwards, and the rise of powerful modern media as the principle shaper of both consciousness and conscience—as Pope Benedict has called it, the “dictatorship of moral relativism.” Man has placed himself in the role of master and creator of his world, in his personal life and his societies, without reference to the actual moral order of the real universe. There is a radical disconnect not only in his thinking but in his perceptions of reality itself.

This creates an interior void which becomes evident in his psychology, his emotional life, his intellect, his spirituality, his cultural expressions. The consequences are more than “mere” abstractions, because all of these dimensions of the human person express themselves in acts. 

The development of an authentic civilization of love will begin when man turns again toward the truth that the cosmos, in descending order from the angelic dimension through humanity and down into the subatomic level, is a hierarchy, over which reigns the Holy Trinity. If we would learn again how to be true fathers, then we must turn to God the Father and ask him for this desperately needed grace, for he is the source of all subsidiary fatherhood manifested in human life, including fatherhood in family, in priestly ministry, and also in other forms of spiritual fatherhood.”

From an interview with artist and novelist Michael O’Brien by Fabrizio Rossi in Italian newspaper Avvenire. (Image: Toy Bird by Michael O’Brien studiobrien.com)

They sent therefore fifty men. And for three days they sought [Elijah] but did not find him. And they came back to [Elisha] while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?” (2 Kings 2:17-18)

It seems the Ark was “taken” like Enoch. If it was carried to Babylon, perhaps it was melted down with other conquered “gods” to contribute to Nebuchadnezzar’s “golden calf.” It fits the pattern if the Ark “died” on the altar of false worship “outside the city.”

As God’s chariot, it ascended to heaven as Elijah (the head), and a double portion of the Spirit was given to Daniel and his friends as Elisha. They did greater works—ruled a greater kingdom—than the “Ark” kings of Israel. They moved the kingdom of God from Land to World, and set the empire bears upon the children of Jezebel.

Then, a generation later, it was the Lampstand, the Spirit-filled body, that conquered Babylon (Daniel 5:5) and returned to the Land. The Ark/throne, the Lion, died as a Lamb and ascended as (Firstfruits) to make Judah’s wolves into shepherds (Pentecost). In this way, by the Word of God, a New Israel was formed and filled. As a flying scroll, the Ark would appear a little while later to Zechariah and a New Jerusalem be established.

And the Word repeated the entire pattern in the first century. After the blood goes up, the Spirit comes down and resurrects the army of God (Trumpets). The ascended Ark then exiles ‘Babylonian’ worship, its evil twin (Zechariah 5, Revelation 18) (Atonement).The saints rule with Christ in a New Jerusalem (Booths).

“…it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you… A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”   (John 16:7, 16)

Artwork: Elijah and Elisha, Michael D. O’Brien, studiobrien.com