Apocalypse... Already

He sits in the corner of his basement, the enemies pounding on the door. The frightened man cocks his shotgun, ready to defend himself against the horde that threatens invasion. With a groan, the steel gives way, and a mass of gray, teeth, and nails rush towards the survivor. Round after round are unleashed into the tormentors as he makes his way outside, but it is not enough. One bite on the poor man's wrist sets the inevitable into play as he gazes upon the ruined, dark daylight. His mind clouds, now knowing only insatiable hunger, and his soul becomes most unfortunate. The prey transforms into predator, joins the ranks and journeys towards wherever his mindless appetite will take him, spreading infection throughout the earth. There is no hope; the world is already mostly undead.

Zombies. That's the new excitement in today's world. Books, movies, television, web pages, and even songs have contributed to the increasingly popular theory that a virus will cause most of humanity to become raging, cannibalistic, and undead. There are even survival guides in case a zombie breakout actually occurs. But I tell you, my friends, that we are already all infected. Indeed, mankind and nature has already reached post-apocalyptic status. We just can't see it. What's that, you ask? What is the virus? Why are we infected? Read on, if you dare....

As cliche as it may sound, it's true. There are numerous Bible verses that tell of sin's destruction upon the earth, how it makes nature groan and curdles the souls. If we could see sin's true effects on creation with the naked eye, it wouldn't be viewed as mist or smoke, or little black dots everywhere you look. No, the sad truth is, sin—if completely visible—would be ranked as nuclear fallout from an act of global decimation. Everything would be gray and black, even the sky. The water would be contaminated, trees and plants would rot and crumble. Would we then see how truly the world is affected by evil? Suddenly, one day, seeing the world look like this picture, and knowing that it was something that was inside all of our hearts?

That, my friends, is what the world truly looks like. Utter destruction thanks to the existence of sin. Just like poisonous radiation, sin destroys and corrupts in every way imaginable. So if that's what the world looks like on the inside, thanks to sin, what do we look like if our souls reflect the same fallout?

We are all born into sin. We commit sin without even thinking; it's our nature. By sin, we are controlled in ways we will not even admit to ourselves. I'm not talking about what we do, I'm talking about to what extent we are slave to our flesh. Flesh, from a Christian perspective, is not physical, but the sinful desires, the nature we are born with. Our brain and selfish logic rules us and controls our bodies. We hunger after the flesh. We are a slave to serving and indulging it. The way indulging the flesh makes us feel, the way we wish to serve our sinful nature, is reminiscent of the desire of the undead. As humans, we can't get enough of satisfying the flesh; we always want more. We love how it tastes. The disturbing part is: Zombies love how flesh tastes too. They can't get enough of it either. They will die in pursuit of it.

Zombies primary infection is in the brain; the virus uses the brain to only operate the basic functions of the body, not its true potential. It only knows hunger, and will kill to satisfy the desire that will never be satisfied. It is a reckless, unintelligent, dangerous, selfish pursuit. And when all the flesh is eaten or zombified, the infected will wander in torment, in eternal hunger without anything to even taste. They will forever be in a state of being alive on the outside, yet dead on the inside, just like humanity today. And while all can be cured, most will refuse, knowing only the hunger of the flesh.

Zombies, the infected, only have basic motor functions and selfish pursuits; they are undead. But as Christ-followers, we have the cure already. We are so alive, able to resist the infection, and bring the cure to others. Yet, we still allow ourselves to be prone to the virus. How can others receive the cure, or even want it, when we act as much a zombie as those who do not believe?

Only two ways exist to deal with zombies: curing them, or killing them by destruction of the brain. In the media and “preparation” for a real-life zombie apocalypse, the popular method is to destroy the brain. A lot of atheists and agnostics would use that analogy to say that Christianity tries to do exactly that: destroy the brain by believing in nonsense. But Christianity does not destroy the brain. Many people of great intelligence recognize that science acknowledges the existence of God. The Bible even says that God speaks through creation. That doesn't just mean stars, trees, and water; He proves His existence through the anatomy of the body, through cells, through imagination, and even the very desire for knowledge itself. The Christians' goal is not the destruction of the mind, but bringing the cure to an infected humanity. Zombies don't have to be killed, they can be cured. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) Though the effects of the infection is seen everywhere, it starts from the inside out. It is the heart that must be dealt with. Sin, from the depths of the soul, creates ugliness in the spirit, eventually coming to light on the outside, affecting the appearance and actions. The root of the problem is the soul, where the infection began from birth. So attacking the physical is useless. To effect change, the soul is what must be purged. Then the outward changes will occur just as naturally as the ugliness occurred.

Sometimes, regrettably, physical defense is necessary. However, the strategy on dealing with the root, the infection inside the soul, is with the three things 1 Corinthians 13 says will remain at the end: faith, hope, and love. Exemplifying these things will distribute the cure. In a world so lost, so destroyed, so hopeless, we are called to be a light, to stand as pure among those infected. It makes those without the cure turn their heads and wonder how we can be so joyous, so caring, so full of compassion, mercy, and love, yet also contain knowledge, righteousness, and discipline. If we are consistent and sincere—not perfect, but consistent and sincere—then they just might inquire what it is we have that they do not. That is the time to tell them what we know: that acknowledging Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, takes our sin away (cures the infection) and decontaminates us so that relationship with God is pure and possible. If everyone who calls themselves a Christian lived as Jesus said to, how noticeable the cure would be, how changed the world? It certainly is a better future than the alternative.....