So we have covered a lot of ground in these two books so far. In the first big bok of 6 mini sections; we have learned that Christians are not as perfect as they seem. They need help and a lot of it. The main thing they need help on is their interpretation of the Bible. Yes, there are different denominations and such but the fact that there are so many makes every Christian think they can interpret however they see fit. That's not how it works so throughout the book everyone is challenged by what they believe and what the characteristics of God really mean. In the second book we learn that although God has a lot of characteristics and attributes...He has one overpowering attribute that without it He wouldn't be able to pour out His other ones. This attribute is called 'LOVE' but when you talk about Love then you can't talk about it without also involving punishment. Are these two interchangeable or can they be separate? God calls us to do one thing and one thing only: Love thy neighbor and don't wrongfully hur/punish each other. So how is it so hard to follow one simple command? Well, that's because it is not as simple as it appears. There are so many steps and commands to be followed as well as attributes and characteristics to speak of in order to fully love. Before we continue; let's take a look at all these characters and find out which one resembles you or someone you know the most:
Shadow/Dragon/Swift: He wanted to know what his purpose in life was. How can this Aaron be so close to God and so.."powerful" but also make it look so easy? I want to be powerful but I don't know if I should look down or up for answers. Wait, Satan gifts out power and it looks easy. All I have to do is tell others that my boy Satan is cool. How hard can that be? So he gets his wish and gets the power to turn into any animal. That's not enough and he craves to know more so he keeps asking who is this God of Isreal? Then one day he mistakenly thinks he finds "God" but it's not. In his limited mind he pieces together that Dragon is a super powerful entity and the main attribute of him is that his 'disciples' look like wolves. I look like a wolf so maybe he is the true "God" that made me who I am. So he goes to him but once he finds out that Dragon is not God; Dragon says wait!! I know what you really seek so if you let me go into you then I'll give you everything you ever desire and more. Shadow sees power and says heck yea. I want power so lavish me with it. Shadow in turn gets everything he ever wanted. He is a king; he owns his own world; he has every girl he could ever want and he is more powerful than anyone in the world. Sadly in his pursuit for the truth; Dragons philosophies slowly turn him away from the Truth and He is now seen as a Saul. He wanted to know more about Christianit but the closer he got to the truth the farther away he became until he got so mad that he made it his mission to kick every Chrstian out. One day he meets Sixth Star and is having a hard time grasping how she is so confident in her ways and has the strength to take on anything. She is so powerful. I wish I had that power. That is what true power looks like. She is so powerful in her words that he is not able to combat what she throws at him because once the real Truth hits you..your soul gets put in its place and has no words to come back. There Shadow starts to pull away and discovers what true love is. Now though; whenever someone hurts someone he loves; he turns around and not only hurts them but everyone they love as well because he wants to teach them a lesson. Don't hurt others because in reality you don't realize all the people around you that are hurting as well. Love others and don't hurt. Don't become me. (Yeah, his mind is a bit twisted and he doesn't get the full picture)
Hopper: As a son of a pastor; he is closely watched wherever he goes. He goes to church 24/7 and is basically a robot in the midst of Christianity, but the more he is pressured from all sides into Christianity, the more mad at how Christians act he becomes. He gets so mad that he decides it's time for change so that's what he does. Sadly, like Shadow, he mistakenly misinterprets. He looks and sees Shadow then says, "Hey, this man wants change and is angry at Christians like me. We should work together!! It does not go as planned and Hopper relaizes that all he is doing is being Shadow/Dragons puppet. Before you seek change and someone to help you do it; know the other person's true intentions first. They may look like they want change as badly as you do but their interpretation of it may not always be the same interpretation for change as you have.
Hoppers Dad: Hoppers Dad grew up with his brother Aaron in a loving home. He was well cared for and everything. His brother Aaron even played with him and laughed with him. He even helped him out whenever he struggled or was down. But then one day he saw that Aaron was getting more attention with parents than he was. He was slowly turning into their favortie and he wanted to be their favorite; not his brother. Then the tongue of greed and lust crept into his heart and Hopper's dad now wanted nothing to do with his brother. In fact he wanted to become more powerful than his brother. His brother always seemed perfect; and did everything right. He even had special powers that surely God gave him. If only I could be as cool as him then maybe God will give me the same power he has. "God gives gifts to different people according to His purpose. To one He gives healing, to another discernment of the spirit, and yet to another the gift of tongues." Hopper's dad learns more about the book and at that time; Shadow was still Swift but Swift already was lookin for power himself and knew a thing or two about the book. He vowed to help Hoppers dad overthrow Aaron but secretly he wanted Hoppers Dad to help get close to Aaron, discover his secrets, find the book….and then he take it for himself instead of Hoppers dad. Basically he wanted Hoppers dad to do all the dirty work and he lavish the rewards of it. Aaron found out and met Swift in the alleyway as he was making his mistake so he tried to shoot him, but Swift got away. Did Aaron really want the power all to himself or was he truly defending the book and knew that it was God who decided who gets power and not of ourselves?" That's for you all to decide. Through all this Aaron still loves his brother and again he lays a Bible down at his brothers feet just like he always did when his brother got himself into a pinch and felt alone. Hoppers dad finds the book; he finds Jesus; he finds revelation and turns into a pastor vowing never to let greed in his heart again. Instead he will teach his kids to always love God and warn them that God is always watching. (ps. You know how parents are to there kids especially if they are religions/ or a Christian. It's like can you talk about something else for a change? Why must you always turn my shortcomings into a lesson about how great God is and that we need to come back to Him or else). /Example so you know what I'm talking about: opening scene. Hopper brings an innocent cake to his dad because he wants to use his talens to bless his father but instead his father sees things wrong with the cake and instead of simply saying, son..can you please stop baking for a bit. You're taking from our stash and we need that for the winter. No. He turns Hopper's innocent cake and his talents for baking into a full out lesson of God saying you need to go back to Him because if you do then it'll be awesome.) That cake wasn't even about Jesus but somehow his dad was able to turn it into a dadatadat...'Jesus moment'
Croak: This is….the WANDERER. I already told you what Wanderer means but he goes past that. Whenever he fights someone; Sixth Star is always telling him to stop. You're not strong enough. You're not ready. You can't defeat the enemy on your own. You need help. Croak keeps saying what does she know? I got this. I am a boy after all so I need to show off and prove to myself and to her that I am indeed ready. He doesn't get really far though in his own strength and when he is forced into a position he does not like..leading a town...he breaks down. You can't fight the enemy with your own strength. That is why God made the church so that everybody would have to rely on each other in order to gain strength.
Mr. Doubter: As his name implies; he doubts everything. He doesn't have a lot of faith nor trust in plans. He's always scared and even when people try to comfort him; he just can't handle it. It only gets worse when he watches all his friends die and questions why. Is everything we did nothing? Why did we even go on this path of straight and narrow if we only die in the end? What is the point? We haven't gained anything. God, "Your reward is not of this earth but eternal life. Dying a marderer is the best thing ever." Is it really that great when you die here and it looks like you haven't even touched the enemy? Maybe we need to change our approach on how we fight the enemy. In order to kill someone, you have to study them and know more about them. So he starts studying and educating students on how best to deal with evil forces. Guess how….by using dark magic to kill dark magic. That is the only way. We tried using light to kill the dark but it didn't work. Dark killls dark. No light is bright enough to pierce the dark so we have to go within the dark in order to change it on the outside. Hmm...again I don't think that's how it works. He needs to be more in tune with Jesus. His light kills all darkness and when He shines..all things that are unseen/sin is revealed and is destroyed. People are convicted and they turn their ways. They repent and turn to Christ but that only happens when light penetrates them. Nothing happens when you try to fight evil with evil. That only causes more evil.
THE Four GIRLS(Genie, Abby, Sofia, and Autumn): Doctrinated in their own beliefs of Dragon; they have read and studied other religions but only to know what the world believes and how false/wrong they are. This is what they believe to be true their whole entire lives until Sixth Star comes and shows them that there is another way. The more she talks; the more they start to believe and slowly change, but Hopper sees this and doesn't like it. So his plan is to separate his sister from her three new followers and if that happens then the three girls will again be left in the dark and not want to come to Christ. His plan backfires; like every scheme of the devil does; and they only get more empowered through Hopper's evil plan.
Sixth Star: Brave, strong, loyal, smart, loving, caring, kind, unrealistic, unrelateable, un..wait wait wait. She's not un. She is one of the most relatable or I hope she is one of the most relatable characters. Growing up as a pastor's daughter; her dad was always busy with church so her mother instead raised her and doctrined her into what is Truth. This is what she holds onto and as her mother said, "Hopper and my husband don't know this, but do you remember when you and I went on some adventures of our own? We were a powerhouse." While Hopper is all about change; Sixth Star is all about hope and strength. She seeks to restore people's faith and strength in Jesus although everywhere she goes people are tired and weary. "Come to me all ye who are tired and weary and I will give you strength. You will mount on wings like eagles. You will walk and not grow faint. You will run and not stumble." This is her motto persay and she is good at sharing it to people but even she, like everybody else, grows tired and weary and there are times that she doubts God as well. Unlike her uncle Aaron who always praises God even in the times of struggle; she is not that strong. There are times where she prays to God, wrestles with God, repents to God for her sins, questions God and asks where are You, plus other things. She has her highs and her lows but through it all she tries to remain strong for others so that when they look upon her they see God's strength and not her weariness. Then she gives her all famous revival speech to the dying people that have lost their hope in God. While her brother/the devil tries to use his schemes to separate her so she's alone….God always turns them around and opens a new door for you to go through. In her case; if it weren't for Hoppe trying to separate her then she would have never found those people or been able to restore their hope and help them. God always opens doors whenever it feels like there are none. You just have to look for your moment to shine.
Aaron: He is the oldest and the wisest of them all. Think of Job and that's who Aaron is. While his brother teaches lessons and tries to inspire others; he still has his downfall from time to time and is nowhere near as strong/deeprooted as his brothe AAron. Whenever something happens to Aaron whether good, bad, worse, or in the middle...Aarons first response should be all of ours but it is also the hardest. Always go to God in praise and then prayer. Praise Him for everything that He has done for you and has gifted you. Then pray to Him for others and always hate the sin not the sinner. That is why even when he knows his brother's intentions are never good whenever he seeks to overpower him..Aaron still loves and shows that although parents and everybody else seems to be mad at you right now and you feel alone...I'll always be here for you. The oldest and purest of heart; Shadow knows he needs to turn Aarons heart evil because he is just too wise and close to God that if he does nothing then Aaron will be able to turn everyone to Christ.