I am not sure when it started. However, it seems as if people everywhere have been crazy about zombies for the past 10 years or so. Perhaps it began back in 2004 with the release of the remake of Dawn of the Dead. It seems it was around then that everyone went nuts over zombies. Since then there have been zombie movies of every shape, size, and color.

I know I remember seeing the remake of Night of the Living Dead  (by chance more than by choice) back in 1995 and it fascinated me. I then had to see the original Dawn of the Dead (still the best), Day of the Dead, and anything else I could get my hands on. The original Night of the Living Dead, is my favorite, which must have been really terrifying for people in 1968. I remember telling my roommate, “there is something deeply allegorical and disturbing about these zombie movies.” But I was not sure what that was.

Here is what I think that some writers have attempted to say with zombies and probably why they are so popular. I think many people feel isolated and under attack from the greater society as if they were trying to survive a zombie onslaught. Maybe some people feel they are part of a zombie horde dragging them through life: go to school, get a job, get married, and obey all that Barack Obama says. I guess that is possible, but this is not 1964 when those expectations were so prevalent. I mean come on, the options that we have today to shape our lives are so much more than they were back then! This is not to belittle anyone’s struggles dealing with expectations and pressures from their religion, their families, their careers, etc.. Maybe the popularity of zombies comes from the fact that, though we have social media, satellites, email, tiny phones containing more apps than the supercomputers of the 60s, Google eyewear, and more, we all still lack and long for real human connections. Maybe we envy the people in the zombie movies and tv shows who have to band together to survive.

I see a lot of this in the Walking Dead series, the most popular cable show EVER. The main characters in that series are part of a family that many of us would give anything to be part of. They love each other and care for each other. They keep each other’s secrets and respect each other. They vote and make plans together for the most part. My own family is not that close! That must have been a lot like what it was like to be in a war together like WW2 or the Vietnam war.

However, their family lacks hope. In the Walking Dead, zombies are called “walkers” and I thought the title was referring to them. However, actually in Season 5, episode 10, the main character, Rick Grimes, tells his group that his grandfather called himself, ‘the walking dead’ during WW2. He did this because he wanted to keep reminding himself that he had no hope for getting out of the war alive. He had no hope for living past all the horror of war. Similarly, Rick and his “family” consider themselves without hope of getting out their struggles alive.

God longs for relationship with you and to make you part of His family. He wants to fill your life with hope for real living, regardless of any horror you are facing. He does not want you to be a zombie, mindlessly following the teachings of a particular church or denomination or religion. He wants you to make a decision for yourself. He wants you to know His Word. He wants you to see the lawd of faith, hope, and love contained therein. According to God, the, ‘walking dead’ are those who have rejected Him. Maybe as some exclude God from their lives, they identify with the zombies who have no hope except perhaps oblivion. Not me. Me? I choose the faith and hope and love that comes from the Lord. !

John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that they world might be saved though him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

——————————————-W.