Even a man who is pure in heart, and says his prayers by night-

Can become a WOLF when the wolf bane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright!

Thus begins one of the classic monster movies. I heard a kid say something about there not being movies like today's scary movies when their parents were young, and I laugh. When I grew up we had monsters, too. Creatures in our cereal (Quisp! as well as Boo Berry and his friends) creatures on TV (Star Trek, V, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast, etc.) and of course on the big screen. This past week my son Dave has gone to see the newest invasion movie at least a couple times and likened it to "Blair Witch meets Mega Godzilla". That's quite a time span comparison!

Monster movies are nothing new, my dad's generation saw a slew of Dracula movies, mummy, blobs, ants, and so on. Before that, my grandfather could have watched Nosferatu (but likely didn't). Damien and Carrie grossed us out, and Christine made us think twice about buying a Buick. Kujo seemed so friendly; zombies ate my neighbors.

Monsters themselves are also nothing new. In the garden, the original monster, the devil, has the form of a snake and speaks. At the end of the book he's a beast with terrifying detail, still referred to as "that old serpent". What exactly swallow's up Jonah? There are no fish today, supposedly, that a man could live inside of so perhaps this was a special creature - a monster - created by God for this purpose?

Then there is behemoth. Often considered proof of land dinosaurs being mentioned in the bible, this is more than an elephant. David and some of the prophets as well as Job write about leviathan, and often seem to indicate it's some sort of sea monster. Job goes into great detail, about it breathing fire and glowing beneath the deep, having waterproof scales and a huge size that causes men to tremble. The monster even has pointed reptilian toes. Snakes don't have toes, my friends!

There are dragons throughout the bible, too, and of course demons and giants. Funny how some folks believe in two of these but not the third. There are witches in the bible and I am not talking about friendly ones like Wendy or Sabrina or Tabitha! Lots of skeletons talked about too, putting on flesh and walking about. People rising from the dead, and dead people coming back to speak to the living. People being possessed.

But it's the other kind of monsters that I actually fear. Oh, I would run from a dinosaur or skeleton. But there are those who burned their children. Those who lied and caused the righteous to suffer, even die. Those who seemed to have no conscience, no regard for the pain and suffering of others. Those who knowingly lead simple folks astray after pet beliefs, or personal glory - knowing the will of God yet knowingly opposing it. These, too, are monsters of a different sort.

I don't reckon I will ever meet a dinosaur, or a green ooze-dripping alien. Dragons don't fly across my night sky, and zombies don't stalk the woods around my house. But those who pervert the word for their own gain, those who bully their wives, those who unjustly push people around - these monsters are real. That is why I fear them. But there is one other monster I watch out for too. It's the one that causes sin, and shame, and reproach. The one who says "its all about me" - yes, the one that lives inside of me. Because even a man who is pure of heart and says his prayers by night can become a monster when the lust in him blooms, and the good within won't fight.

Randy