11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.
Did you ever go on a vacation to a place called “Disaster”? Would you ever? Fly on a plane called “Crash”? Date someone called “Rapist”? Move into a neighborhood titled “Arson Hill”? Buy a used car from “Jim’s Junk Used Cars”? Of course not! The titles give you indication about what you can expect. We go to “Paradise”, fly on “United”, date “Mister/Miss Right”, live in “Pleasant Pasture”, and buy a used car from somebody’s “Reliable Used Cars”. So why would anyone want to end up under the rule of a king whose name is “Destruction”? What kind of social services can we expect from that kind of king? His one aim as king is to destroy everything in his path. And by the way, you are in his path. Once he strikes you, it is not pleasant. And yet, billions of people today are headed for that king’s rule. They are without the hope of deliverance from Destruction’s rule. They don’t even know they are living a lie and swallowing a bitter pill. Blissful ignorance. It is as if they drank a fairy tale magic potent that numbs them to eternal realities, shortens their memories and blinds them consequences. Like lemmings they are headed off a cliff unaware of their fate. We have the job of telling them about the cliff, but more importantly telling them about the alternate path that leads them to life and wholeness. We must first live the life and walk the talk ourselves. We can’t lead someone to a place we have never been. We need to be at least one step ahead of the person we are leading, or we are not leading. We must continue maturing in our faith so that we don’t stumble ourselves. The stakes are enormous. They will end up under the power of Destruction. Let’s do our part to lead them off Destruction’s path.
The Arnold Journey 