"A Spiritual Lesson In Toon Language" (Subset A)
And God Said... (This Subset Is Marked GS)
Fun Fact: God gave me Part A of the lesson set below early in my writing for Him. Part B came much later. I forget when exactly though. The interesting thing is that God gave me discernment so I dubbed the cartoons on my disc together for easier organizing. Isn’t God wonderful?
IA Don't You Believe It!-False Doctrine And Teaching
I: Definition Of False Doctrines And Teachers
I use the Tom and Jerry episodes The Missing Mouse, Mouse Trouble, and a Looney Tunes short called Sandy Claws. This shows deception that happens in a variety of ways that the Devil likes to use.
Scriptures Used Include: Mathew 7: 15-23 Luke 17: 1-3a; II Corinthians 11: 13-15; I John 4: 1-6; II Timothy 3: 10-17
IB Don't
You Believe It!-False Doctrine And Teaching II: Cults
I use the Chip N’ Dale episode The Case Of The Cola Cult. We compare Baal worship to this surprisingly more adult Chip N’ Dale episode. In my opinion however (and God’s) everyone needs to see this who is open to it. This means maybe the kids who are willing to give it a shot.
Scriptures Used Include: I Kings 18: 16-40; John 3: 1-21
II Miracles Happen-Lazarus
Was Living Proof
I use the Smurfs episode The Purple Smurfs to show that the Lazarus account in the Bible is more than what Jesus did for him. I show in this lesson the fact that not only does our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ have power over physical death, He has power over spiritual death as well. It is just as easy for Our Lord to rescue people from physical death as it is for Him to rescue people from spiritual death as well. We just have to trust Him on His sacrifice and atonement for our sins and if we have that, Jesus will give us his miracles (of course as His will dictates; not ours). Even though physical death may not be averted all the time, Jesus has better plans if we don’t get what we want or perceive that we need. This lesson shows that miracles still happen if we trust Jesus; namely the miracle of salvation and then in the bad circumstances that we all face. Trust and praise God in the good things too, but this lesson deals with averting destruction.
Scriptures Used Include: John 11: 1-44; Hebrews Chapter I; Revelation 22: 12-16; Hebrews 13: 1-8
III God Gives Us Instructions,
Comfort, And Strength
I use the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Episode Foul Play In The Sky. We discuss that we all may get the opportunity to be there when God needs us to help Him (and I think we all will get this shot regardless of who we are). This lesson shows that God won't leave us alone and that the Holy Spirit instructs us when we seek it in Jesus Christ.
Scriptures Used Include: 1 Peter 5: 5-11, I Corinthians 10: 12-13, Mathew 6: 25-34, Philippians 4:13; John 14: 15-31
IV
Jesus: The True Joe and The Bread of Life (The Real Joe)
I use the MGM Short Jerky Turkey to show what the Devil tries to portray himself as and the Cartoon Network Skit called Hello, I’m Joe to show who Jesus truly is.
Scriptures Used Include: Read Genesis 3; John 6: 1-15, 25-59
V God's Defense of the Covenant With Man (Jesus Clears The Temple)
I use the Garfield & Friends Short The First Annual Garfield Watchers Test. This shows an interesting Case In Point of bad merchandising practices hurting the flow of things. As Jesus had to clear the temple so people could worship, Garfield had to clear the auditorium that he was in as well because of the interruptions and annoyances.
Scriptures Used Include: Lev. 19: 35-36, Deut. 25: 13-16, Mark 11: 15-19; Romans 14: 1-12
VI Bad Days
This interesting lesson is about Job. We use a series called Superbook. The Superbook episode for this lesson is The Patience Of Job. This is a beautiful series that actually explores the Bible. I use these when I am covering a lot of material and need to give a condensed account of the scripture material. This covers multiple chapters in about 23 or so min. Whenever I use one of these, I always use secular cartoon work(s) as well. This time I use a clip from the Batman: The Animated Series called Joker’s Favor and the Animaniacs short called Can't Buy A Thrill. These secular works show contrasting styles on how to handle bad times. One of them is good and the other one is pretty bad.
Scriptures Used Include: Job chapters 1-3; 6: 1-4; 10: 1-2; 37 (paraphrased); 40: 1-2; 42: 1-3, 12-13, 16
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Fun Fact: In my opinion, this two-part lesson is very solemn. Not only does this lesson show that promises are serious to God, but that they are hard to keep a lot of times too.
VIIA Keeping Promises, Breaking Promises
I: Keeping Promises Can Be Hard
This lesson shows the above thought extremely graphically. We use the Tom and Jerry short The Truce Hurts. Even though this cartoon is funny, it is extremely serious as well. It starts to show that promises are not easy. However, this lesson is not very funny for long, as we see in the Superbook episode That’s A Promise. This Bible cartoon has some funny points but it ends very sad. This cartoon is on the account of Jephthah and his daughter. Jephthah makes a foolish promise that must be kept. One of my friends who is going to a music Conservatory, didn’t like the ending of this cartoon at all. She actually said “That’s crap!! What happened to her is total crap!!!”. Anyone who likes happy endings won’t like this Bible account’s ending either. I think that even though a tragic account in the Scripture, Jephthah is very honorable here. His promise still was a bad one though.
Scriptures Used Include: Judges 10: 6- 11:40
VIIB
Keeping
Promises, Breaking Promises II: Sin--A Promise
That Needs To Be Broken
We are talking about sin. Under the new covenant that Jesus gave us humans, we are told that if we commit a sin, we are in effect, promising the Devil our spirit. God doesn’t like this promise and wants us to break our word to the Devil because God wants us to be redeemed. Since God owns everything (including such promises and the Devil) the Devil won’t be happy because Jesus paid for these promises and broke the Devil’s said contracts. Jesus did this according to His blood atonement laws so we don’t have to go down to Hell forever (the Devil’s payment that he seeks). I use the Smurfs episode Smurfette’s Rose to illustrate this and illustrate it well.
Scriptures Used Include: Luke 7: 36-50
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Fun Fact: The lesson set below works with some of the most graphic scriptures about the impending Judgment Day that we all face.
VIIIA Final Judgment
I: It's A Party
We are using the Tom and Jerry short The Two Mousketeers. This lesson is best described in my opinion as one of the tightest fitted Bible to cartoon parallels in this collection of lessons. This lesson portrays the Devil as the self-proclaimed guardian of God’s wedding banquet for the believers in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Scriptures Used Include: Luke 14: 15-24; Jude 17-24; Rev. 19- 1-9
VIIIB Final
Judgment II: Final Judgment
We are using a clip from the Digimon episode Wizardmon's Gift (2x), The whole episode of the Digimon episode Prophecy, a clip from the GI Joe episode Money To Burn, and a clip from the Digimon episode The Battle For Earth for the finale of this graphic two-piece lesson. This lesson shows a graphic end to the Devil and his minions and the graphic freedom of the saints in the end. We in Christ will win the day guaranteed!!!
Scriptures Used Include: Revelation 13; II Corinthians 11: 13-15; I Peter 5:8-9; Revelation 20: 1-6; Rev. 20: 7-10
IX The Healer
This is in the “GS” series but it could have easily been in FTK. This one is “GS” because it deals with Jesus using compassion to heal along with His command for the child in this lesson to be alive and well physically. I use the Tom and Jerry Short The Duck Doctor. This lesson is more about Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His compassion than the actual healing in the city of Nain.
Scriptures Used Include: Luke 7: 11-17
X Atlas,
Put The World Down! (Rest For The Weary)
This lesson begins with a little background information on Greek mythology; namely Atlas. We discuss basically how Atlas must feel if he were alive and forced to hold heaven and earth separate for all eternity. I used clips from the Power Rangers Zeo episode Rock-A-Bye Power Rangers. This lesson is very simple to understand and hard to put into practice. However, this is a command that Jesus gives.
The Bible States:
Mt 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Mt 11:26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
Mt 11:27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Mt 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Mt 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Mt 11:30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
This doesn’t sound like what Atlas is experiencing (if he were real) here does it?
Scriptures Used Include: Luke 22: 39-46; Matthew 11: 25-30
XI
Fasting
This lesson shows what fasting is by the dictionary and then compares notes with the Bible. We discuss what kind of fast is honored by Jesus and what isn't. We compare the cartoon short from the Smurfs series Happy Unhappiness Day To You with the Bible and the dictionary to find some truth. The results may be surprising.
Scriptures Include: Isaiah 58; Matthew 6: 16-18; Mark 2: 18-22 (parallel scriptures here include Matthew 9: 14-17; Luke 5: 33-39)