“A Christmas Carol”
I believe I can honestly say Charles Dickens Christmas Carol is one of my all time favorite’s, all year round. It only took Dicken’s about six weeks to write, A Christmas Carol.
Dickens was involved in charities and social issues throughout his entire life… After reading a government report, on the labor conditions of factories and mines, he swore to strike a blow on behalf of the poor man’s child and conditions of every day life…
This story takes place more than 1800 years after the birth of Christ, assuming on Christmas Eve 1843.
Four ghosts make their way into Scrooges life, each one carrying a message of dire urgency. Some wonder which one was the greatest impact?
The ghost of Christmas Past was a reminder to the mind, to understand clearly, to remember and see things more clearly. So often many choose to ignore, twist, prefabricate and in time learn to believe a complete lie about things and oneself. Yes, the ghost of Christmas Past carried a very important message, one that Scrooge took lightly…
The ghost of Christmas Present came with a spirit of joy, generosity and empathy. All Christmas is to be about, this ghost carried with him. Kindness, merriment and good will toward our fellow man in need, a time of giving not getting. This message often gets lost in the business of time and as before Scrooge took the great efforts of the ghost lightly, if at all….
The ghost of Christmas yet to come was the last spirit to visit Scrooge and only a shadow of a presence a void he tried to see. Extremely different than the other spirits, no words of memory, no spirited joy. This time there was only silence. The lack of communication was dreadful in itself, but in the solemn spirit a message did shout aloud, fear of death and eternal doom, a reckoning of oneself. This visit Scrooge thought to take lightly would be totally foolishness….
Scrooge pondered back to another spirit, the visit of his business partner on earth, Jacob Marley. It was he that found a way from eternal doom to carry a message of great warning.
A visual picture he portrayed, the burdens he bore after death because of deed from life undone. Lack of repentance and redemption he replied and now I have no hope.
Outer darkness, a stench and fire everlasting. At that time Scrooge thought it notions from an upset stomach or a dreadful fantasizing of his mind, but now, pondering all the visits, he started wondered to believe.
Charles Dickens story was reaching out to a lost and corrupt world. The love of mankind he had. The remedy was in his messages carried by four spirits. His story is a moral theme, full of family, memories, choices, forgiveness, guilt, change, transformation,redemption. It is the old, old story, that all must come to a day of reckoning, with ones soul.. Scrooge being of an upper class, a wealthy businessman, saw no need of, or from anyone. He was totally content of where he was and who he was, numb to the fact his soul was destined to Hell.
A message was delivered and uncovered, hoping to be understood, accepted and believed in. A heart had to take attention to wrong doing and want more then ever to surrender to the Spirit of truth….
Doom and no hope quieted Scrooge. Watching all his earthly possessions sive through the fingers of thieves. Then led to a cemetery, an unkept grave and his own name etched in stone. He would become a man of no means, no memory except of mockery. Now he understood what Marley was trying to tell him. Scrooge for the forst time feared his death, his life after death.
“My eyes can now see, I am wrong and spirit, you are right.” How our enemy of darkness can blind and confuse our minds into believing what is, oh, so, wrong. We need the Spirit to show us the way.
Mr. Dickens Born a Story, “The Christmas Carol*”
Charles Dickens
Doom, Hell, what a Horrible Thought!
If there is a place of eternal torment where damned souls cry in vain for water amid, the flames they cannot escape forever, it is the most alarming fact in the universe.
Consider how worthwhile it is to know what God says about Hell.
Dr. John R. Rice
If men on earth are to ever to know what is beyond this life, they must learn it from God. Heaven, Hell, rewards and punishments, happiness and sorrow beyond the grave are matters about which the word of God is the only authority….
Jesus warns of Hell, his message is the plainest and sharpest in all the Bible. He is the authority. The rich ruler lifted up his eyes in torment, shocked where he was, Hell. He believed he would go to Heaven. Luke 16:19-31 Mt. 13:40-42 & 49-50 kjv
From the garden of Eden until now the Devil has deceived man, “thou shall surely die” (God) “ye shall not surley die.” (Devil) Gen. 2:17
Why is there a place of torment, seperation from God forever. Rev. 14:10 & 11. Any man that cannot believe in Hell is not intelligent. He does not face facts. He will not examine the evidence that God puts on every side of him.
I believe Dickens had a burden and a passion for the salvation of sinners. In the 1800’s hell, repentance, eternal salvation and eternal doom were common every day words, especially in church. Apostle Paul was so aware, Ro.9:1-3 Acts 20:31
The burden of his heart was so great, his kinsmen, and the Jews were in danger of Hell. He knew wide and broad was the gate that leadeth to destruction and straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it.
Mt.7:13-14, Acts 20:31, Ro. 9:1-3 Apostle Paul & “What the Bible says about Hell” by Dr. John R. Rice*
Warning of Spirits/ A Magnificent Adventure
Chapter 21
www.hewhoisatthehelm.com/author