Missive from the Dragon Lady

4:12LIVE

Sometimes I get asked about the thread of dragons through my books. Isn't the dragon a symbol for Satan in the Bible? Can a Christian use a symbol for evil differently, or is the Christian author (hey! they mean me) luring people into accepting evil as good?

WOW! Not me, no sirree!
Let me ramble here a bit about why I don't feel convicted of a heinous crime.
Being an author, I consider myself a "word-person." Being a word person, I like definitions. Instead of looking up dragon, I looked up symbol.

sym·bol n.
Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.
That's from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

I see symbol as the key word here. Symbols can change meaning. A fish was nothing but a fish until early Christians began using it as a symbol to communicate secretly where their next meetings would be held. A swastika (that misshapened cross thingie Nazis used in the Hitler era) was a symbol of hope for a better economic Germany until those being fed the propaganda finally saw the light. Now it is the symbol of a blight on the history of mankind.

My dragons, particularly the smaller, pocketsize dragons, represent the talents God gives his children.

And I also think of dragons as very bold creatures. And I consider myself a very meek person. In just Acts alone, Scripture refers to the apostles speaking the Gospel boldly six times. I know that whenever I speak publicly about the saving grace of Jesus Christ, I must be enabled by the Holy Spirit. Truthfully, on my own, I am such a wuss. It takes a "spell," such as the influence of Jesus, to get me to be bold like a dragon.

I would like to be like these apostles. Just look at them go!
Acts 4:29
Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

Acts 4:31
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Acts 9:28
So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

Acts 14:3
So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.

Acts 19:8
Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.

Acts 28:31
Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Instead of going out and slaying dragons, go out and be a dragon, bold enough to declare the love of Jesus Christ.