#and like the creation of life the robbery of fire etc | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hellzyeahwebwielingessays · 5 years ago

Text

‘The Absent Father and Spider-Man’s Unfulfilled Potential’: Rebuttal Part 2: Introduction Continued

Master Post

Fettinger continues that in his civilian life Peter’s life was a directionless disaster.

This is again profoundly unfair and untrue.

Peter’s life lacking direction was directly attributable to the life he led as Spider-Man.

And yet Peter managed to leave home, later get a place of his own, graduate collage, got married and was attended grad school on three separate occasions.

He only failed to finish grad school the first time around because he made the smart decision to put things on. He was struggling to juggle the increased workload, his social life and Spider-man activates. He passed the first year through the skin of his teeth and was aware the second year would be worse. At the time he’d gotten into a new relationship with the Black Cat who had been severely injured following a battle, recovering very gradually. Peter was also trying to help pay for her medical expenses. Felicia was also a reforming criminal who’s prior attempt at going straight had failed. In order to keep Felicia on the straight and narrow, in order to help her recover and build a future with her it made a lot of sense for Peter to put his education on hiatus whilst he got his affairs in order.

A quick successions of attacks upon his personal life occurred during his second attempt to complete grad school meaning he naturally dropped out again. These attacks were not his fault. Your best friend trying to kill you, your parents coming back to life, your aunt entering a coma and you having a mental breakdown all BEFORE your clone shows up and your wife gets pregnant are incredibly legitimate reasons to drop out of collage.

Only his third attempt was arguably illegitimate as he dropped out off-panel during the Mackie/Byrne run.

Even this can be defended in-universe on the grounds that his aunt May had recently been revealed to be alive, thus justifying time off. Soon after he landed his dream job. Why bother finishing school when you have the occupation you wanted. Why try to juggle that job, your family and your studies all at the same time if it is unnecessary?

Moreover Peter’s dropping out was simply one of the many, many, many, many, many out of character moments that pervaded that run and the stories intended to lead into it. Fettinger himself would tell you that so they really shouldn’t count.

Not to mention, the series never actually confirmed for us if Peter did or did not drop out. He was attending grad school and then a time skip later he wasn’t. Realistically given how a Graduate School programme can last years he likely hadn’t finished earning his degree, but again that wasn’t confirmed for us.

At the time Fettinger’s essay was published, Peter had also taken on a job as a school teacher, joined the Avengers, had made (successful) efforts to reconcile with his wife, acclimatise his Aunt May to his superhero identity, was making more time for both ladies in his life and was working to try and help rehabilitation of some of the criminals he had captured.

Hardly ‘directionless’.

This is to say nothing of how quite frankly in the mid-2000s MOST people around Peter’s age (25-30) didn’t exactly have a clear cut ‘direction’ in their lives and this was even more true in the consequent decade.

I think this is a criticism equitable to incredibly old-fashioned thinking from older people wagging their fingers at ‘the younger generations’.

Fettinger continues by saying ‘His scientific prowess should have made him a peer of Reed Richards and Tony Stark, men who became prosperous and/or well-respected for their civilian achievements, but he seems to have squandered his potential. These men are not immune from the ravages of human frailty, with alcohol being Tony’s personal demon, and Reed’s neglect of his wife Sue nearly driving her into the Sub-Mariner’s arms more than once, but both have succeeded in balancing superhero careers, satisfying intellectual pursuits, and maintaining some semblance of an organized personal life.”

This was another ‘what the fuck moment’ for me when re-reading this essay.

Honestly, as someone who loves this character this statement made me angry and even made me question if Fettinger ever actually LIKED the character himself.

First of all, have Reed and Tony even succeeded at what Fettinger claims they have?

Tony’s life has often been pretty fucked up. Circa Civil War he and Reed were the pariah’s of the super hero community. Tony’s alcoholism had brought him and his company close to ruin more than once. Reed and Sue had separated in the past more than once and at one point Reed but their son Franklin into a coma. And both men have had their lives made exponentially more difficult by being heroes.

That’s not a ‘semblance’ of an organized personal life. Just because they’ve managed to invent things and be superheroes at the same time isn’t proof to the contrary.

More importantly, even if we accept Fettinger’s claims about Reed and Tony, this is a gigantic false equivalency.

The central reason that Peter has failed to balance his super hero career, intellectual pursuits and an organized personal life is because it is impossible!

Fettinger, despite being this so-called authority on the character is demonstrating a huge misreading of the intent behind Spider-Man’s creation.

He was created specifically to be a more realistic super hero. In that context his superhero life wasn’t allegorical for a real life job or responsibility. Rather the point was to explore how a (relatively) realistic person would believable handle being a hero. This is why Peter initially seeks to use his powers selfishly and needs to learn to use them altruistically.

In other words, Peter has to deal with all the stuff we deal with in normal life in ADDITION to being a superhero.

In real life, your job or family might be the most important thing you do. But for Spider-Man they are inherently secondary.

They are just as important to Peter as they are to anyone in the real world but he also has a huge burden even greater than they are to manage.

This is literally the central conflict behind the character. The constant struggle to juggle real life responsibilities against this grander calling.

You might argue he’s the equivalent of a cop, fire fighter or soldier, but that’s not true. There are similarities rendering those roles appropriate allegories. But that allegory breaks down when you consider he is unpaid for his services, has to maintain secrecy whilst performing them and still needs to earn an income. Imagine doing your job but then also being a cop/fire fighter/soldier who has to be potentially available 24/7 as well.

Reed and Iron Man were never treated with this degree of realism in mind. None of the classic Silver Age Marvel heroes were. Daredevil developed a similar (or arguably greater) degree of realism later under Frank Miller’s pen. And noticeably he too has struggled to find a balance in his life just as Peter has.

Even if we ignore this metatextual argument, the in-universe do not corroborate Fettinger’s point.

I’m no F4 or Iron Man expert so feel free to correct me on anything I get wrong.

But last I checked, circa 2006, Reed and Tony categorically didn’t operate as heroes the way Peter did.

Reed and the other F4 were not crime fighters, and never were. They might deal with crises that arose if they were made aware of them somehow. But they weren’t keeping an eye on organized crime or the drug dealers moving onto the local street corner. They weren’t actively going on regular patrols seeking out petty theft, car jackings, alley way muggings, bank robberies, etc.

IIRC nor was Tony. I think at most he was more concerned with industrial sabotage, the activities of international criminals like the Mandarin, foreign powers like the Soviets or larger scale crises. It wasn’t like he (with or without the Avengers) was responding to every bank robbery in NYC or sticking it to the Maggia or Kingpin.

Spidey though was going out almost every day and night specifically to seek out crime and directly intervene in it. He wanted to avoid anyone else losing their ‘Uncle Ben’ to a burglar because he was passive or complacent.

That didn’t just entail living his life and intervening if he happened to bump into any crime. He was proactive in actually going on the prowl for threats he could help resolve.

Fettinger is also disgustingly unfair because he’s neglected the context surrounding when Reed, Tony and Peter became heroes.

Reed and Tony were ALREADY financially secure and scientifically accomplished men in their late-20s-late-30s when they became heroes.

They’d already figured out effectively methods of playing the game of life, they already mastered scientific skills and had a foundation of accomplishments and money that could make their superhero lives easier if anything.

It’s simply easier to maintain those things as a super hero when you start off that way.

In contrast let’ consider Peter Parker.

He was 15 when he got his powers. He was at most lower-middle class and his family didn’t have much money. Unlike Reed or Tony he had an elderly, health challenged relative to provide care and support for. He was still in school and whilst scientifically gifted didn’t yet have a full education in any scientific field. To get one he’d need to attend college but his household wasn’t able to afford that even before the breadwinner (Ben Parker) died. Therefore Peter didn’t just need to pass high school but earn a scholarship simultaneously. And as for his social life he’d never really had any friends and was thus more poorly practiced at maintaining friendships or romantic relationships than even his fellow school peers. Even if he hadn’t been he didn’t have the same level of experience with such things Reed or Tony would have had due to his age. He wasn’t done growing up yet. Granted Tony wasn’t exactly wise in the ways of serious relationships, but he nevertheless knew how to play the dating game. Reed on the other hand was engaged (or on the cusp of it) when he got his powers.

These were men who had figured out a lot of life, accomplished a lot and grown up long before they began superhero careers.

Peter was starting out with MASSIVE handicaps compared to them.

He needed to simultaneously:

Figure out how to be a grown up

Do that faster than his peers

Care for his sickly aunt

Grieve his uncle

Figure out how to navigate the social scene of people his age, including the ways of romance

Maintain his school grades

Earn a scholarship

Educate himself in various scientific fields

Become the bread winner for his household or else risking them losing their home and May’s access to the medicine that was preserving her life

THEN he needed to be a superhero on top of that!

And what did that even entail anyway?

Figuring out how his powers worked and their limits

Figuring out how to fight

Risking his life against people who regularly wanted to kill him

Dealing with people who went out of their way to target his life, sometimes having that bleed over into his civilian life

Maintaining secrecy as best as he could out of fear of being imprisoned or even killing his aunt due to the shock

Dealing with some people who were actively trying to uncover his identity

For most of his career, never having anyone to mentally relieve his burden by sharing his secret

Figuring out how to seek out crime, track crooks, gather information, the structure of criminal organizations

Fending off deadly and often more powerful opponents

Being hated and feared by most of the general public, authorities and fellow heroes.

Fighting alone most of the time

Created and maintained his own equipment which he did out of his own pocket, despite the hit it took to his finances

Being accused of various false crimes by the press, public or authorities

Helping his boss smear his name because he was the only reliable means of income Peter had

NOBODY could deal with all that. It’s a miracle Peter merely maintained his sanity, never mind successfully kept a roof over his and May’s heads, lowered the crime rate and successfully built a long-term relationship with Mary Jane.

Sure, some of that stuff would get easier over time, but even if other things hadn’t arose to make life harder for him, it’s still an impossible juggling act.

And unlike Tony or Reed Peter rarely had access to much cash, resources or a supportive team to help him. Those things would make all the difference if Reed and Tony were engaged in that time of superhero work.

Reed could rely upon his family to handle a crisis to help out with his latest experiment if necessary, giving him more time to focus upon other things. Tony could delegate duties in his company to staff members whilst he zipped off to save the world or alternatively could turn to his Avengers colleagues to handle a crisis if he needed to attend to important business. And obviously this support network could greatly help if Reed or Tony had any sickly relatives to look after.

With Peter everything was riding on him. Aunt Anna could help out at times, but she wasn’t a full time caregiver. He had no teammates to help bear the burden of fighting crime. Even his partnership with Felicia entailed going on patrol together, not her going out instead of him.

He had no financial security. He lived from one pay cheque to another because he had no choice. Even when he got older and didn’t need to worry about May as much being Spider-Man critically undermined his ability to maintain a 9-5 job. Hence why Tri-Corp (and later HORIZON labs) gave him flexi-hours and why he needed to take so much time off as a teacher and was basically kept around because Midtown High was just that desperate.

It’s one thing to maintain financial security as a super hero when you begin like that. It’s another story entirely when you are clawing your way up the economic ladder from a lower class position whilst being a hero at the same time.

The same thing applies to his scientific pursuits. Where was he supposed to find the time, money and resources to invent anything that’d win him accolades?

Gee if only there was a story which illustrated how being Spider-Man fundamentally held Peter back from fully living his own life…if only that story had then formed the basis for a major motion picture in 2004…

But yeah, if only Peter had a father figure all this would be a none issue.

From a certain POV that’s true, but only in the sense that Peter would’ve had some of the burden lifted from him. He wouldn’t have had to be as concerned about supporting Aunt May. He wouldn’t have had to have spent as much time figuring out how to play the social game if his Dad had maybe been around to show him (although Aunt May was there for that too so would Ben have made much of a difference?).

But it wouldn’t have meant his life would’ve been fixed and his potential unfulfilled. Because being Spider-Man innately held him back no matter what. He was never going to be able to hold a 9-5. He was never going to be able to give his loved ones all the attention he owed them because duty would inevitably call. And unless his father figure was loaded he’d have never had have access to the resources necessary to invent shit. But that wouldn’t have happened regardless of Richard or Ben Parker dying or not. Peter needed a scholarship even before Ben died, so the Parker household was clearly not well off financially.

Let’s also consider that Reed’s home and hero life are functionally one and the same. His scientific pursuits go hand in hand with the work the F4 usually do. This arguably became the case with Tony as well once he discarded his secret identity in the 2000s. Even before then, he had a much easier solution to maintaining his identity considering it would be believable for a rich man like him to have a super powered body guard and his tech would have enabled him to remotely control the armour at times to maintain appearances.

Peter had neither luxury, with his two lives only overlapping in moments of crisis 9/10.

Not to mention Fettinger’s logic here is hurt when we consider neither Tony nor Reed’s Dad’s were all that great in the first place. It seems both of them succeeded in spite of their father’s not because of them.

Basically, father or no father, if Peter had the same circumstances he’d have been in roughly the same position he is now. He wouldn’t have become Reed or Tony.

So confession time.

I began writing this rebuttal at a time when I had no access to Fettinger’ essay sans the physical book it came in. I began writing down bullet points for his consequent points.

And just as a reminder Fettinger’s ‘thesis’ for this essay is that Peter is a screw up with loads of ‘unfulfilled potential’ because he never had a stable father figure in his life following Ben’s death.

· Peter flunked out of college and even failed to graduate with his class because he forgot to take a required gym credit.

Peter didn’t flunk Grad school and he made up his collage degree by earning the SINGLE credit he needed over the consequent summer, which is entirely different to truly flunking.

It’s also got jack to do with not having a father or failing to fulfil his potential. Like around that time Aunt May was in the hospital, had nearly died and he was kinda busy saving people’s lives.

· Two attempts at post graduate education failed.

Actually he tried three times and ‘failed’ is very subjective. See what I said in earlier instalments about the stuff around the early-mid 1990s and the Mackie/Byrne era. Those were the second and third times he tried for a post-grad. The first time he never failed, he simply decided to quit for perfectly practical reasons and return later.

· He made only a marginal living mostly as a freelance photographer because until recently (remember this was written in 2006) when he became a high school teacher, he couldn’t hold a steady job.

Notice how he acknowledges being a high school teacher and yet claims Peter is ‘directionless’.

And more poignantly NO ONE can be Spider-Man and hold a 9-5.

That’s literally the entire reason Lee/Ditko had Peter become a photographer. Because they were trying to tell the story of a realistic super hero and a realistic superhero couldn’t hold down a 9-5 when he might be on duty at any time; even matt Murdock has a partner in Foggy Nelson to cover for him if needed. So they engineered a method for him to earn a living whilst still being Spider-Man, by making being Spidey the means to that end.

· His friendships often failed because he neglected them.

This is not true, his friendships rarely ever failed. When they did it was often not due to his being neglectful. Even on the instances where this could be said to be true again he had a good reason for that. He was SPIDER-MAN!

· Any success with women, including his marriage to Mary Jane Watson (who left at least once) owes more to his partner’s Job-like patience than any effort on his part (and part of MJ’s devotion to Peter may be tied up in her own relationship abandonment and hero worship issues).

It is true MJ has the patience of a saint. But so do the wives of many police officers, fire fighters, soldiers, politicians, political activists etc. And I do not necessarily disagree that MJ’s patience was a huge factor (maybe the biggest) in keeping that relationship going. But Fettinger’s wording here combined with the wider context of his prior points make it abundantly obvious that he isn’t saying Peter put in effort but MJ’s patience happened to be a bigger factor. He is saying that Peter did not put in enough effort, that he slacked off.

Which is bullshit because again, he was being Spider-Man and more importantly with MJ and many of his OTHER relationships he plainly DID put in effort and consideration. Also it’s disingenuous for Fettinger to refer to MJ leaving Peter because he KNOWS that was OOC nonsense and wrote about it. See his 2001 Year in Review from his Spidey Kicks Butt website or this site.

As for MJ’s ‘abandonment issues’ and ‘hero worshipping’ issues, let’s unpack that.

MJ’s issues weren’t about abandonment. Not unless Fettinger is referring to MJ herself abandoning her sister.

MJ was never abandoned as a child. Yes, in ASM #292 MJ claims her Dad walked out on her mother but re-read her origin from ASM 259 or Parallel Lives. It was the other way around.

So MJ literally hasn’t got any abandonment issues in the first place.

Even if you did contort it to being about abandoning her sister that’s not a matter of her ‘issues’. That term refers to the idea MJ has unresolved baggage that, if she only addressed, she’d have not been with Peter or stayed with him.

That interpretation though is BS for two key reasons. Firstly, MJ resisted committing to Peter for the longest time which was also at the root of her leaving her sister high and dry. Her staying with Peter when Gwen died and helping him was an example of her GROWING as a person and becoming BETTER, not her doing it as some kind of weird repentance for her abandoning her sister in her time of need.

Secondly, MJ was only able to fully commit to Peter when she’d laid her demons with her sister to rest in ASM #292. There was still unresolved business between them and her own father but when she settled that she was more comittied to her marriage to Peter not less.

Maybe Fettinger’s intent was that her father’s abuse of her represented a form of abandonment. Or maybe he just phrased himself badly and meant the latter point regardless. Well that too doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

Parallel Lives shows us MJ’s issues with her father was a motivator for her to steer clear of Peter not grow closer to him.

And more importantly if MJ’s romance with Peter has anything to do with her father it’s only because Peter is so unlike her father. In her mind her father’s traits =bad. Peter, in having the opposite traits = good, and therefore attractive.

By any metric MJ’s desire to be with Peter clearly has nothing to do with any ‘issues’ she had. On the contrary her not being with him was because of her issues. This was incredibly basic and laid out. Fettinger himself touched upon it in this essay.

Now for her hero worship…what hero worship?

Yes MJ respected and was attracted to Peter partially because he was a hero. But that’s not an ‘issue’ because most women would likely have been attracted to such traits. Doctors or firemen are a common turn on for many women and Spidey’s job is analogous to that.

In truth MJ was turned on more by his sense of responsibility embodied by his heroism as discussed in Web #6 (which Fettinger cited in the previously linked to essay). MJ doesn’t want Peter to be a hero out of concern for his health but also recognizes that if he wasn’t a hero he wouldn’t be the man she fell in love with. Stories like Spider-Man the Final Adventure and the MC2 universe though prove how MJ wouldn’t fall out of love with Peter if he quit being Spider-Man.

She doesn’t have hero worship issues!

· If we didn’t know Peter was Spider-Man we would probably consider him either “brilliant but lazy?” (see ‘Spider-Man 2’) or simply a loser.

Right except we DO know he is Spider-Man hence so many of the above criticisms are totally out of line, even ignoring many of the blatant inaccuracies to them.

· He appears to be a chronic underachiever in both identities.

Yeah no. That statement ignores then recent developments in Spidey titles. More importantly it ignores the fact that to ‘fulfil his potential’in either identity he’d have to have access to things (like money and team support) that he simply lacked or else dedicate himself to one life over the other which he cannot do. It isn’t that there is something wrong with HIM it’s that the nature of his SITUATION is rarely conjunctive to success.

· Why is this? What kept him from putting the disparate parts of his life together and becoming an even greater hero?

What further greatness does he really need?

Circa 2006 he’d become an Avenger, the premier heroes of the Marvel universe. He had won a Hell of a lot of battles against seriously powerful foes. He’d saved countless people in his time an lowered the crime rate.

I’m just going to give you the gist of Fettinger’s next several points.

He basically argues that Peter has always subconsciously sought out a father figure to replace Uncle Ben.

Which is TRUE.

But he goes on to argue that the reason for Peter’s unfulfilled potential is BECAUSE he’s lacked this father figure in his life. To be fair to him and give him the benefit of the doubt he does say a positive male role model ‘could’ have made the difference and qualifies that there are plenty of people who do fine without positive male role models.

The problem is that he’s set up this whole essay by being cynically over critical, inaccurate and disingenuous about Peter’s ‘failings’.

Meaning he isn’t clearly asserting that Peter’s lack of a father merely might be the cause for his ‘underachieving’. He is clearly saying Peter is an underachiever and lacking a proper father is the reason why. It’s also disingenuous because Fettinger earlier on in the essay called out Peter as an underachiever by comparing him to womanizing, alcoholic hedonist and weapons manufacturer Tony Stark who you know...had an awful Dad!

· Fettinger lists off the difficulties of growing up in general and how supporting Aunt May and being a superhero made that more difficult. And how it’d be especially hard when doing it on your own. Which is true and a father by his side to help him would’ve made Peter’s life much easier.

But to say that the complications he faced wouldn’t exist if he had a father is asinine.

Aunt May still could have died as she did repeatedly.

There is no assurance that Peter would’ve confided the truth into Uncle Ben or any male role model in his life.

And balancing normal life whilst being a hero is innately impossible even if Peter did have an easier time growing up because there wasn’t as much of a burden on him to support May or figure out how to socialize or be a man on his own.

His life would’ve been easier but her wouldn’t have achieved all Fettinger claimed he’s leaving unfulfilled.

Shit, Mayday Parker never balanced things even though she had it objectively easier than Peter ever did. And her Dad was literally Spider-Man!

· Fettinger writes that without May or MJ Peter would likely have fallen apart.

On this he is on the money.

· He writes that neither May nor MJ can relate to Peter as a genius, a superhuman being, a pursuer of justice nor simply as a man. Neither could substitute for a father figure.

Which is...kinda true....but also kind of not.

Yes MJ and May cannot directly relate to Peter in any of those ways. But, exempting being a male, neither could any given father figure. Other specific father figures (like the ones Fettinger goes on to discuss in the essay) potentially could though so I suppose he was just setting up the rest of his essay.

That being said Peter’s sense of justice didn’t come from nowhere so May could perhaps relate to this on some level. And MJ has shown that she has a certain sense of justice herself.

· Fettinger continues by listing off different potential father figures for Peter and examining the hypothetical end results of if they’d fulfilled their roles as father figures.

I’m going to dedicate an instalment to each one of them starting next time.

So with that I’ll leave it there.

Master Post

#spider-man #mjwatsonedit #mary jane watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #Peter Parker #MJ Watson #Aunt May #May Parker #Ben Parker #Uncle Ben

3 notes · View notes

dalyunministry · 5 years ago

Text

Pas. Johnraj Lamech

💗

Greetings in the matchless Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Topic: The Greatest need of the hour.

Rhema Word: Mark 16:15-16 “Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Let’s pray. Our Gracious Loving Father, thank you for giving us an opportunity to meditate your Word today. Thank you Holy Spirit for helping us to understand your Words which are living and active. Please help us to live a life as per your Word Lord. Father, we give all the Glory and Honour to you. We pray in the mighty Name of your beloved Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

I believe that this is the most critical hour in the spiritual time-table of this nation, this continent, and this world.

Let us try to understand with the help of our Holy Spirit, the following today:

[1] The Supreme Command:

[2] The Supreme Burden:

[3] The Supreme Need: Labourers:

[4] The Supreme Cost: Supreme Sacrifice:

[5] The Supreme Responsibility: The Blood of men:

[6] The Supreme urgency:

[7] The Supreme Goal: The Local & the International field:

[1] The Supreme Command:

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20 ”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

He again said in Mark 16:15-16 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

He again said in Matthew 24:14 ” And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

The Lord meant that this command should be obeyed; In a sense, it is His greatest command; for all His plans for all men are bound up in it. The early disciples obeyed it. Paul, for example, separated the disciples from the Jewish religionists, and within a period of two years all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:8-10). The disciples in Jerusalem filled the whole town with the teaching of the Lord. The religious leaders said, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching” (Acts 5:28) Further the Bible says in Acts 8:4-6 ”Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.”

These early disciples treated the command with the importance that the Lord gave to it. They gave it their all. Yes, they gave it their all – time, energy, intelligence, and all. If they were tent-makers, their true profession was proclaiming the gospel. They made tents to pay the expenses involved in proclaiming Christ. They never gave their hearts to tent-making. They dreamt about proclaiming the gospel, about filling the world with the Good News that Jesus saves and saves completely.

They knew that the gospel had to be preached throughout the whole world as a witness before the Lord Jesus would return. They did not spend time day-dreaming about the second coming and hair-splitting about details when most of the world had not yet heard of the first coming.

They obeyed the Lord in all things at all times. This was the Lord’s foremost command, and they made it the one command that had to be obeyed before all the other ones.

Yes, they assessed their lives by one invariable standard, ”Am I obeying the command to go into the world and make disciples of all nations?

They did not deceive themselves. They faced facts – the facts related to the making of disciples of all nations. If you are not actively obeying that command, you are disobedient and, consequently, outside God’s will!

[2] The Supreme Burden:

There is a burden on God’s heart. His burden is that the people whom His Son purchased by His death on the cross are yet lost in sin, not because they do not want to hear about Him, but because they have not been told about Him. He does not want anyone to perish. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 ”The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Yes, people at different times have caught the burden that God has.

Apostle Paul saw the vision of what God had in mind and also saw the lost condition of his tribesmen. He, then said that he had unceasing sorrow, great anguish, and a heart’s desire for the lost Jews whom he wanted to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. The burden weighed so much on him that he considered that he was under a curse if he did not preach the gospel. The early disciples so felt the burden of lost souls that they went everywhere preaching the gospel of the Lord.

God needs people whose burden for the lost is so great that they will not know one minute’s joy while multitudes pass away without Christ into the lake of fire.

[3] The Supreme Need: Labourers:

The Lord Jesus saw the obvious need for labourers. He encouraged the disciples to pray for labourers. He said in Matthew 9:37-38 ”The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.” The harvest is His. Only He can send out labourers. There are three types of labourers needed by the Lord. He needs labourers who will:

1] Preach the gospel.

2] Intercede.

3] Give sacrificially.

1] Preach the gospel:

Those who will live and preach the gospel are the ones who have died to the world, the flesh, and the devil and who, of consequence, cannot be trapped by the wicked one. These are people whose character has so undergone the purifying and perfecting work of God that God can depend on them to rightly represent Him.

2] Intercede:

God needs those who will intercede for the lost. The Bible says in Ezekiel 22:29-31 ”The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore, I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. Here it was principally a divine need. Although the people deserved destruction, God, out of love, did not want to destroy them. He, however, could not just twist the demands of divine justice. Two things were possible. Someone either stood in the gap and interceded so that the people were spared, or they had what they deserved. Because God wanted to spare them, He Himself went out looking for one person who could stand in the gap so that they would be spared.

Remember, God did not require two people – just one – but He did not find that one. So He reluctantly poured out His anger. What If He had found an intercessor? The people, though sinful, would have been spared so that they could have another chance to respond to the love of God. Because no intercessor was found, multitudes perished. Could it be that the sin of some particular nation, province, town, village, etc., has gone up continually to God, but, yet He wants to spare it if He could find an intercessor? Can you be counted upon to stand in the gap? Do you know the secret of standing in the gap? Do you know the authority of an intercessor? Are you able to satisfy this current need of God?

Where are those who can say to the Lord, “For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns.”

Can God today say the following because you are available?

The Bible says in Isaiah 62:6-7 ”I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord,do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

Others may be unavailable but can He at least say of you, ”I have set a watchman?” Do you know something of taking no rest and giving Him no rest night and day as you labour in intercession? Have you ever interceded until all of your body was bathed in sweat?

The Enemy is attacking God’s special property – the Church. Where are those able soldiers who can wage prayer warfare and carry out the following as explained in Psalm 118:10-12 ”All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me like bees; they were quenched like a fire of thorns; for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.”

Are there faithful intercessors to whom God can say the following as Psalmist sings in Psalm 149:5-9? ”Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment— this honour have all His saints. Praise the Lord!”

Will God find faithful men and women of prayer who will surround each aspect of the work with prayer and build prayer walls round each worker so that all attempts of the Enemy to destroy them are frustrated? This is God’s greatest need at the moment.

The sad thing about it is that although this ministry of intercession is open to all the saints: the rich, the poor, the healthy, the sick, the educated, the uneducated, males, females, etc., yet it is the one where labourers are in the shortest supply. This surprises God. The Bible puts it bluntly in Isaiah 59:15-16 “So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him.”

God wondered! He was surprised! He was “shocked”! Must it repeat itself today?

3] Give sacrificially:

God needs those who will give sacrificially. The truth is that the gospel enterprise needs funds. Remember, people have not heard the gospel because believers are giving too little. It costs to send pioneer workers. Just the cost of transportation to mission fields and basic allowances for clothes and food excluding all luxury, amounts to considerable sums. Must people die without Christ while believers live in the comforts of an earth-bound people?

Could the closing of our eyes to the financial needs of God’s work be the reason for our spiritual bankruptcy?

Could it be that the Lord is speaking to us in the following message in Haggai 1:2-11 (NLT) ”This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’ Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai: “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.”

Remember, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 ”Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

Apostle Paul while writing to Romans says in Romans 10:13-15 ”Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Just see how God uses everyone in saving a lost soul:

The process starts from Verse 15 upwards – “One (may be you or me) sends one missionary by his sacrificial giving -> that missionary goes and tells about Jesus to some one in the mission field where he/she has not heard about Jesus so far in his/her life -> then the person hears about Jesus from this missionary (sent by you and me) and believes Jesus, accepts Jesus as his/her personal saviour and becomes a child of God. Yes, our Lord Jesus does everything beautifully and uses every one in this great process of salvation of one lost soul. Yes, everyone is participating in this harvest and getting blessed by our Lord which is the greatest need of the hour. Shall we either GO AS MISSIONARY OR SEND SOMEONE BY OUR SACRIFICIAL GIVING FOR GOD’S GREATEST NEED OF THE HOUR?

[4] The Supreme Cost: Supreme Sacrifice:

The greatest need of the hour is for people who will pay the price that is needed to do God’s work, God’s way.

(a) There is an urgent need for crucified men to proclaim a crucified Saviour. Yes, God would raise prophets!

(b) God needs people whose lives are written off. Paul was one such man. He said in Acts 20:24 ”But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Such men will proclaim the whole counsel of God and bear the consequences. They will not be found fighting with kings, governors, and presidents. They will be hated men – trouble makers – whose presence, like that of Elijah, will not negotiate peace on sin. They will reply as he did in 1 Kings 21:20 “So, my enemy, you have found me!” Ahab exclaimed to Elijah. “Yes,” Elijah answered, “I have come because you have sold yourself to what is evil in the Lord’s sight.”

Such people will not hesitate to pronounce judgement on a monarch who has deliberately parted with God. They will say to him, ”So now the Lord says, ‘I will bring disaster on you and consume you. I will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel! I am going to destroy your family as I did the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and the family of Baasha son of Ahijah, for you have made me very angry and have led Israel into sin.” (1 Kings 21:21-22)

(c) There is an urgent need for people who will give their lives and their all as Jesus gave His. He gave His all willingly. He held nothing back. He emptied Himself of all but love.

(d) The widow gave her mite and satisfied the heart of God. She had nothing left that she could give. God is not as interested in what is given as He is in what is left behind.

(e) One woman broke her alabaster box of ointment and poured the contents on the Lord Jesus. Jesus said that she had done all that she could. In other words, the Lord was saying that she had done all that she could do.

(f) Remember, those who will win “the day” for Christ, like Paul, will know suffering.

[5] The Supreme Responsibility: The blood of men:

The Lord had promised to require from believers the blood of all those who have not heard the gospel. They will perish in their sins, but the Lord will turn to the believer and say: “Their blood is upon you.” The extent to which you did not do all that you could do in full co-operation with the Holy Spirit to warn sinners of the consequences of their sin, is the extent to which you are guilty of their blood. Can we sit at ease when the blood of men is on us? Let us examine ourselves.

[6] The Supreme Urgency:

There are many reasons why now is the only right time to act. It is the only time anyone rally has to respond to the greatest need of the moment:

First of all, God says, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). If the Lord says “now”, and someone says “tomorrow”, that one is an adversary of the Lord. All who change God’s “now” into some other time are enemies of the Kingdom of God.

Secondly, it is urgent to get all the gospel out to all the world now because the doors may be closed. There is no time to wait. Every minute lost is lost forever.

Thirdly, the harvest that is now ripe may be spoiled. There are a number of ways by which this could take place:

(a) Softened hearts that are now ready may be hardened if not reached for the Lord. There is a limit to the time when softened hearts can remain open to the gospel. A day’s delay can make all the difference.

(b) Other doctrines may reach a hungry heart before the gospel of Christ reaches the ready soul. A person who is seeking God will open up to the first message about God that reaches him. What if the first message is the devil’s lie? It could be a matter of hours and a soul is lost for all time and eternity.

(c) Sinners may die without Christ. In as much as today is the day of salvation, today is also dying day. A sinner who is not reached today may be dead by tomorrow. Every minute is dying time. To say that you will only reach out to that person tomorrow may also imply that he will never be reached at all. Death may reach him before the gospel.

(d) The Lord may come suddenly. This is the time of grace. The Lord may come sooner than expected and all who do not know Him will be lost eternally. The Lord is coming. It would be tonight. Since the proclamation of the gospel is the most serious thing in all the world, is it fair to take the risk of pushing into the future what may be interrupted by the sound of the trumpet of God?

(e) Finally, you and me, the one entrusted with the gospel, may be called home. Our life could end at any moment. No one has an absolute guarantee for tomorrow. This night the Lord of the harvest may suddenly call us to give an account of the harvest that He has entrusted to us. If He wants something done today and we push it into the future for our convenience and then suddenly He says: “Procrastinator, come tonight and give account of your stewardship of souls,” what would you say? Can you afford the tragic luxury of meeting the Lord with an unaccomplished commission?

These reasons and many others make proclaiming the gospel the most urgent thing on earth. There are things that can wait without serious consequences, but the gospel cannot wait. All waiting is fatal and beyond repair.

[7] The Supreme Goal: The Local & the International field:

The Lord Jesus said that the gospel was to go to all the nations. The whole world is included in the great commission. Those who are rooted in the ground may only see one individual or one place. Those who rise higher with the Lord in the Spirit see whole villages.

Those who rise higher still see whole provinces and then entire nations and continents; and those who fly into the heights where the Lord moves see the whole world. God’s vision is world vision. His harvest is world harvest. God belongs to all people and is interested in all men. He has not partisan spirit. Chickens can be partisan. They are on earth. Eagles cannot be partisan. They fly high.

Those who are faithful in witnessing to one person will be allowed to witness to other people. Those who are faithful in praying for one person and persisting in prayer until the person is saved will receive the capacity to pray for more. He who is faithful in a little will be given much to steward.

The best thing is to be faithful where you are. You will be given more in proportion to your faithfulness. The world may promote failures through corruption. God cannot be corrupted. He will not promote failures. Men can use the power of the television, money, etc., to give themselves a “World ministry”. God has no part in it. He promotes those who pay the price and who pay it in its totality.

The supreme goal must be winning souls to Christ and establishing them in Him. That is the only goal that will do. God will accept no other goals. That goal eliminates all other goals.

The supreme goal demands just one thing. Apostle Paul said in Romans 15:20-21 ”It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

Paul set his heart on those who had never heard the gospel. He had not only the one ambition of preaching Christ but he wanted to be the first person to preach Christ to a certain people. He wanted to be a pioneer. He knew he would lay the right foundation. He was not so sure about the quality of foundations laid by too many people. He did not want mixtures.

There are still many places where Christ has not yet been named. There are still whole tribes without a single individual’s name from there in the Lamb’s book of life. This is a most urgent need, for the Lord cannot return unless this happens. There must be people in the Kingdom from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. The Bible says in Revelation 5:9-10 ” And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

May we repeat that this is the most urgent, the greatest need of the hour. God desperately needs those who will go where Christ has not yet been preached and has not yet been named. These kinds of places are the most difficult. They are the most challenging, but they provide the opportunity for dependence on God and the manifestation of the power of God as other situations do not.

God wants lives wasted on Him. He wants people who will pour out their lives as a libation on the altar of God’s programme for the total evangelisation of the world. Such men will give their all to Christ, suffer the loss of all for Him, die possibly unknown to the mad world of religious play actors, leave hardly anything behind as personal wealth, but win a coveted position in God’s Hall of Fame. The question remains, ”Will God find such men?”

Such people will stand in the way of their accomplishing God’s eternal purpose and will use the most powerful weapons of the power of prayer and the Holy Spirit to bring down whatever the obstacles and destroy them completely. They will never resort to physical violence or force. They will war in the Spirit and in the Spirit alone.

Such people will accept NO NEGOTIATIONS. They will state God’s position and stand by it even at the COST of their LIVES.

Such people are the greatest need of the hour. May God raise them quickly! May all who know and love Him co-operate with Him so that He can find the right labourers for His harvest. Amen.

Let us examine ourselves..

Shall we obey to our Lord’s Greatest command today?

Shall we have the burden of God’s heart for the people whom His Son purchased by His death on the cross are to be saved before Jesus’ second coming?

Shall we have the burden to pray so that the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest?

Shall we have the burden to pay the price that is needed to do God’s greatest command?

Shall we take the responsibility for the unreached souls as their blood is upon us?

Shall we have the supreme urgency to reach the dying souls before it’s too late?

Shall we have the supreme goal of reaching nations across globe ?

Let us Pray: Heavenly Gracious Father, we thank you for helping us to understand about “The Greatest need of the hour – to reach the unreached people across globe, Father. Thank you for reminding us with your Word, “ Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Yes Father, we commit ourselves today to obey your greatest command, to have Your thirst for souls who have not so far been reached, to pray for sending labourers into Your harvest, to pay the price that is needed to carry out Your Supreme Command, to take the responsibility, have the urgency and supreme goal of reaching nations across globe. Please help us to stand firm in accomplishing Your eternal purpose and anoint us with Your Spirit of Prayer so that we can use the most powerful weapons of the power of prayer and to bring down whatever the obstacles and destroy them completely with the help of the Holy Spirit Father. Please help us to preach the gospel where Christ is not known, so that those who are not told about Jesus will see, and those who have not heard will understand and be saved Lord. Father, the harvest is plentiful and it’s Yours Lord. Father, only You can send out labourers into Your harvest. We submit ourselves today to you unconditionally for Your harvest Father. Please use us mightily for accomplishing your greatest command before Your Son’s Second coming Father. We give all praise, glory and honour to Your Holy Name. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

God bless you all..

0 notes