Seeing Devils or Angels – The Importance of Knowing Christ – Purity 1587
Purity 1587 02/20/2025 Purity 1587 Audio Podcast
Purity 1587 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a reproduction of M.C. Escher’s Circle 4, which depicts seemingly infinite angels and devils, comes to us from yours truly as I captured this work of art yesterday, after spending several hours at Wonder Works Myrtle Beach, an amusement park that invites its guests to explore its 100 hands-on exhibits that “challenge the mind and spark the imagination.
While most of the hands-on exhibits are simply games and indoor thrill rides that point to scientific discoveries, I find it rather interesting that I was moved to stop and take a photo of this poster while I was leaving. To be completely honest, I didn’t even know what this picture depicted when I took the photo, and I didn’t even read the question the poster asks: “Are there black devils or white angels?”. The loud and somewhat chaotic environment of the amusement park wasn’t conducive to deep introspection and frankly I took a few photos on the way out of Wonder Works of things that looked interesting so I could examine them later in case they contained those informational tidbits that would challenge the mind or spark my imagination.
It was only this morning that I realized that my random shots on the way out caught one of the few exhibits (a poster in a stairwell between floors) that contained anything remotely spiritual and its’ discovery did inspire me to do research the original artist, M.C. Escher and to ask the question, “Was this artist a satanist?”
When I looked at the photo this morning, all I saw was the “black devils”. I didn’t even see the question that should have caused me to look for white angels before I googled “M.C. Escher” and tried to discern if his artwork was pushing a demonic agenda. Wikipedia didn’t really shed any light on Escher’s faith. So I googled “M.C. Escher faith” and discovered Kerry Pierce’s 8-part article called “Christian Minds: M. C. Escher” which indicates that some of Escher’s mandalas can be interpreted to proclaim that Jesus was “the agent of creation”, “ the savior of mankind”, and “the final judge of mankind”, which is the message behind Circle Limit 4. The devils or the angels in Circle 4 depict the duality of good and evil and the final destination for mankind that will be judged by Jesus.
Whether or not we see “black devils or white angels” is more than a trick of or perception or attention, it will ultimately be determined by whether or not we know Jesus as Lord and Savior and as, Matthew 7:2123 tells us, whether or not Jesus knows us as His disciples.
I can’t tell from my limited research whether or not M.C. Escher, who died a few months before I was born in 1972, made it to heaven. But it is my hope that he did, and that his work will be used by the Lord to point to the beauty and order of God’s creation and that it will draw people to the One who makes all things new.
Whether we first see angels or devils in today’s photo doesn’t really matter. It’s what we see on the other side of this life in eternity that does, and that all depends on if we see that Jesus is who He said He is and if we choose to pick up our crosses and follow Him.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
(While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Imitating Jesus.
Romans 6:10–14
Romans 6:10–12 (NIV) The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Today’s verses fall under the eleventh point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Imitating Jesus.
11. The risen Savior lives to God. We who have died and risen with Christ must do the same.
Today’s Bible verses call disciples of Jesus to repent, to consider themselves to be dead to sin, and to live the rest of our lives as Christ did – to be alive to and for God and His purpose for us.
The concept of the exchanged life – dying to self and living to God – can be difficult to understand and even harder to practice but doing so holds the keys to experiencing the fullness of our identity and destiny in Christ.
I know when I first believed in Jesus the idea that I could ever be “Christlike” was inconceivable. After understanding that the gospel of Jesus Christ was all about grace, and not my performance, I was overjoyed and just happy to know that I didn’t have to go to hell. But as I decided to be an “authentic Christian” and to learn and do whatever the word of God taught me about living a Christian life, the conviction that I needed to change the way I lived my life came and drove me to repent and surrender to the Lord’s will for my life. And even though I thought life change would be impossible, the Lord helped me to leave the darkness of my past behind for His ways of truth, love, and light.
Change may seem impossible but with God all things are possible and when we decided to trust God and to follow Jesus, He empowers us to overcome and to be transformed into the new creations that our faith in Jesus made us to be.
So, reckon yourself to be dead to sin and alive to God. It’s already true. You just have to believe, trust in God, and follow Him into the new life you already have.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “Day by Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Adams’ books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 86
Whoever finds me finds life, and he will obtain favor from Yahweh. – Proverbs 8:35
The fool who departs from wisdom turns his back on life and loses favor with God. You cannot be in His favor if you reject wisdom. Those who prefer foolishness over wisdom prefer the life that is not really life (1 Timothy 6:19). This fact comes to the fore as Paul discusses the life of one who lives to accumulate wealth. His is not life abundant, though for a while he may think so. Only Jesus provides life that satisfies. Favor from Yahweh outweighs all else. Favor from man is the goal of many; it should not be yours. Acquiring wealth or acclaim from others misses out in the long term in preference to the short term. Remember Moses, who, by faith, chose “to be mistreated along with God’s people rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasures of sin … because he was looking ahead to the reward” (Hebrews 11:24–26). “The love of money is a root of all sorts of evils” (1 Timothy 6:10). People kill, lie, steal, and fornicate for love of money. The love of wisdom is a root of every kind of good! Have you regularly been obtaining favor from Yahweh? If not, don’t you wonder why? Because you are pursuing wealth—or anything other than God, the only Source of true wisdom.[1]
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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 94.
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