Patrick Hawthorne's "Has the Separation Begun ?"

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Sometimes it takes me a loooooong time to see simple things.  Sometimes I even need some help.

Patrick Hawthorne, a blogger in Shreveport whom I sometimes read, helped me with this one in his post "Has the Separation Begun ?" (https://servinggrace.com/2017/10/13/has-the-separation-begun/)

Even so, I had to read it twice to get it: once last year when he posted it, and then this week, when God again (after He'd given me  a year's more instruction) highlighted it again.

Patrick's scripture was Ephesians 5:27: “…that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

Actually, I should say Patrick's mom helped me, as she helped him, to an understanding.  When he was discussing that scripture with her, she (paraphrased) asked him, “Did you know that the spots and blemishes of the Church are people?" and directed him to II Peter 2:12-13:

“But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you..."

When the Church is presented to Jesus as His Bride, she will have no spots or wrinkles: the corrupt and deceived people who had attached themselves to the Church will have been removed.

I can't think of any scriptures that more clearly point to the "dividing" of the Church that God's had me meditating on.  The spots and blemishes are people currently in the Church, who will be removed from the Church.  The people of the Church will be divided: some will stay, and some will go.

In his graciousness, I doubt God will drive out those who leave, anymore than He condemns people to hell.  As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Great Divorce, "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell, choose it."

I have to think the "spots and blemishes" God removes from the Church will similarly choose it for themselves.  I have to think the evil-speaking, corrupt, carousers and deceivers, the unrighteous who presently infest the Church will...by God's will, and with His affirmation...willfully separate themselves from the Church.

So it was in Jesus' earthly ministry: He had to deal with people who were "spots and blemishes" among those "who had believed Him" (John 8:31-59).  There was no angry command that they "Get out!!," and no need for the whip He had used earlier on the money-changers in the Temple.  He simply revealed what was in their own hearts, for that was what made them "spots and blemishes."

Jesus said their hearts showed satan was their father: that their love of lies and murder was proof they were satan's own  (v. 44).  By the end of the conversation, they had angrily rejected Him, rained insults on Him, and were ready to kill Him...which was exactly what He'd said was in their hearts.

Ideally, those who who are the "spots and blemishes" on the Church today would similarly find themselves uncomfortable (at the very the least) among people who follow Jesus because they love Him and want to hear His words.  When He says that satan is "the father of lies" and "the murderer," and that those who are satan's children show it by their love satan's ways, how could they not realize He sees, and is revealing, their hearts ?  Doesn't Jesus' word, like His sight, still pierce to men's hearts ?

But the "spots and blemishes" among us feel entirely comfortable in today's political "Church."  Why should they leave ? Their love for lies and murder (which Jesus defines in Matthew 5:21-2 as angry contempt for others) are acceptable among many: are indeed laudable marks of loyalty to the liars and murderers whom the political "Church" follows.

The people whom Jesus recognized as "spots and blemishes" will be cleansed from the Church of which He is the Head.  I can only expect...and hope...that a "Church" like today's in America, so completely turned from Christ that it embraces the ways of the enemy, is due a very great cleansing.

I hope any readers who have been carried by their politics into satan's anti-Church will examine their hearts, and turn back to the Church God is preparing His Son, holy, and without blemish.

"He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming quickly.'  Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."
(Revelation 22:20.) 

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Letter to a Christian Friend

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

We've been friends for a long time, and we know each other very well.  I know you're not a perfect person, and you know I'm not.  But I know you're a good person.

You're a truthful person.  You look at things honestly, and you don't pretend to be anything but who you are.  You're authentic.

There's no meanness in you.  You try to treat people right, even people you don't know, just because you believe that's the right way to treat people.

I know those are your standards because you believe Jesus' teachings, and you want to live by them.  None of us totally live up to Jesus' standard; but you and your family are some of the most upright people I know.  Your live what you believe.

So I can't understand why you believe the politics and politicians you do.  Why do you excuse their lies, and repeat their lies, and want your friends to believe their lies ?  Do liars measure up to the standard of honesty you believe in ?

You believe in treating people right.  You don't believe it's right to treat people with hateful contempt.  Why do you follow politicians who do ?

When did Jesus teach that we should follow liars and evil-doers ?  Why do you believe people who say their politics are "Christian," when their deeds show it's a lie ?

If you still believe that Jesus taught us to be truthful and merciful, please measure your politicians and their beliefs and their deeds by Jesus' teachings.

Take this as a word from a friend.  Following unrighteous teachings and people will corrupt your righteousness.  If your politics teaches you to believe liars and trust deceivers, your politics are evil.

Please rethink your politics, and turn back from it.

"Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith: examine yourselves !  Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test."  --  II Corinthians 13:5

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Re-Post: "5 Things Jesus Would Say to Conservatives"

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

I don't agree with all the points this brother's post makes: but "conservatives," who claim to politically represent Jesus' teachings, should expect to be thoroughly measured on how they manifest Jesus' teachings.  Even moreso, those who self-identify as "Conservative Christians."

"Conservatives" (like all of us) fall short.  This post seems an honest critique of some of those short-comings: which, if "conservatives" take correction in a Christian spirit, will give them fruitful thoughts for self-examination and repentance.
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There’s no question that conservatives are not solely to blame for this problem [of disunity]. So where do I get off calling them out? That’s a great question.

In the last thirty years, evangelicalism has come under the spell of the Republican party. Through an intentional effort to secure this enormous voting bloc—one that responded positively to Jimmy Carter’s “born again” talk—Republicans focused on painting themselves as God’s party. They were the only ones who cared about Christianity and moralism.

Today, Republicans need the evangelical vote. They’ve come to a place where they rely on this bloc to carry them through elections. By coloring themselves as the choice for God-fearing Christians, they guarantee that poor, white middle America will consistently vote Republican—often against their best interests.

Meanwhile, evangelical Christians are increasingly poisoned by this political association.  As Christians have conflated Christianity and conservative politics, they’ve ended up championing things that oppose Christ: nationalism, war, division, racism, hatred.

If conservatives and liberals simply represented two sides of a political divide, I wouldn’t particularly care. Politics are important insofar as they affect real people and for that reason, I try and vote as responsibly as possible. But the fact that people outside of the church are left thinking that American conservative politics and Christianity are synonymous is wrong—plain and simple.

This post isn’t intended to slam anyone with conservative viewpoints. There’s nothing wrong with having a political perspective that skews right. The problem occurs when you believe that your religious and political identity are synonymous. If you think that you’re a conservative because you’re a Christian, this post is for you.

And while this isn’t intended to be mean-spirited, it is pointed. The relationship between conservatism and the church is driving people away from the cross—and here’s what I think Jesus would say about it.

Read the full post at

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jaysondbradley/2017/11/jesus-would-say-conservatives/#WjlKpOj4YMQQbXOA.99

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Lesser of Two Evils Again

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

An Aussie Christian blogger I hadn't run across before said (in another context) that a quote by Spurgeon appeared often on social media during last year's presidential campaign: "Of two evils choose neither."

I'd not seen the Spurgeon quote before: perhaps because I go on facebook no more often than I stroll through a sewer, and deliberately avoided it during the election season.  But Spurgeon's quote stated fairly well the conclusion I came to at that time, after hearing many Christian friends rationalize their vote for Trump by the "lesser of two evils" thinking.  So I set out to verify Spurgeon's quote.

In his "The Salt-Cellars," p. 297, Spurgeon did indeed write, "Of two evils choose neither. Don't choose the least, but let all evils alone."  (He credits that wisdom to "John Ploughman:" but in the introduction to his book of that name, says "John Ploughman" is his pseudonym.)

(One blogger claimed that the quote was being misused to discourage people from voting, because Spurgeon taught that people should vote.  He also claimed that what was being posted on social media was a different quote by a contemporary writer, John Marcavage: "Of two evils choose neither.  Christians must turn from the endless cycle of voting for the lesser of evils and expecting an unrighteous act to produce a righteous result. From a communist to a cultist, choosing the lesser of two evils is still evil, and never should we do evil that good may come.”

I find Marcavage's thought preferable to Spurgeon's, since it also warns against the related "do evil that good may come" teaching...another false rationale many Christian friends gave for voting for Trump...condemned in Romans 3:8.  But whether or not being misused, my purpose was only to verify Spurgeon's quote was genuine before I used it, and it was.)

I had come to the same conclusion as Spurgeon: though the way I put it was that operating by "lesser of two evils" thinking always results in our choosing evil, knowing it IS evil.

The enemy is infinitely subtle in his deceptions.  The “father of lies” has practiced his “skill” on human beings since the Garden of Eden, and he's incredibly more successful at it than any of us are at keeping ourselves from deception.  Any of us can be deceived by him to make a wrong choice.

By definition, we are deceived any time we trust ourselves to make a decision without exercising, and heeding, the Spirit’s discernment: a foolishness which opens us to greater deception, which deception always produces sin.

We don't ordinarily sin because we deliberately choose to do evil; rather, that we choose to do what we are mistaken in believing is good.  The template for producing sin is that we are persuaded, and convince ourselves, that some evil is, or could be, or would be, actually “good.”  That's where the enemy ordinarily operates.

And very successfully.  With Eve in the Garden, for example, when he persuaded her that disobeying God would confer God-like knowledge.  With many "Christian Conservatives," for example, when he persuaded them that electing Trump would result in "conservative" Supreme Court justices, who would outlaw abortion.  Again, see scripture's condemnation of this "do evil to do good" rationalization in Romans 3:8.

But choosing an evil because it is a "lesser" evil is a different order of sin, greater than being led to do evil by our (hopefully momentary) spiritual blindness that it is good.  When we choose "the lesser of two evils," we willfully choose evil...knowing it IS evil.

If we believe circumstances exist in which we "have to" do evil, we acknowledge that satan is the effectual ruler of all things, and God is powerless against him.  God lied to us, saying He gave us a choice between good and evil, if satan can create situations in which no choice for good exists, and yet we "have to" choose.

Our beloved brother Tim ("Onesimus") in Australia made a comment that seemed to cap all my thinking about the deep consequences of believing the "lesser of two evils" deception.  He pointed out yesterday that what he sees happening in America (and having an even-closer view than he does, I'd whole-heartedly agree with him) is more than mistaken moral vision, greater even that foolish resignation at “having to” do evil.

What Tim saw, and saw truly, is that the "active support and promotion" of evil manifested in many American Christians' "political activism" is a quantum step beyond being deceived by the enemy, to joining the enemy.

I've been concerned at seeing that very thing among Christians I know.  Christians who last year reluctantly voted for Trump as "the lesser of two evils" evidenced they could still recognize evil.   But many of them...perhaps because their pride will not let them admit they did wrong...have now become staunch defenders of his daily lies, and his evil-intentioned actions.

That so-called "Evangelical base," professing to follow Christ while (sometimes even by) "active support and promotion" of evils committed by members of "their" politicians and "their" political faction, are becoming increasingly hardened in their rationalizing, acceptance, and love of evil.  The enemy is increasingly successful, through political deception, in creating a "church" bearing Christ's name which serves evil.

There is no reason to believe the enemy will abandon the tactic which has worked so well for him.  We should expect he will continue to practice it, in hopes of leading more Christians astray.  Christians who have their hearts set on following Christ must be even more alert and discerning about the deceptions the enemy will continue to try to insinuate into our thinking through politics in the coming days.

"Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves."     --  Romans 14:22

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Politics Is Not Really ABOUT Politics

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

This post is titled with an observation by our brother Tim (Onesimus) in Australia.  His blog-posts are consistently insightful and informative: but his above observation is the wisest word I've heard about the relation of politics and Christianity, in my 45 years of observing and pondering their interaction in America.

Yesterday Tim posted the negative comments of a reader who had unsubscribed because his posts were "...very political and you are not even American."  (Tim does often comment on the incredible spiritual blindness of American Christians toward their politics: but also about Middle Eastern Christianity and its refugees, Australian news and politics, art, Muslim conversions to Christianity, and much else).

He responded with three points he considers paramount in how Christians look at politics.  Those points seem to me spot-on: and the embodiment of exactly what he means, that "politics is not really ABOUT politics."

Tim's full post is at https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/  His viewpoints are always worth hearing (even if he is not American).
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"...politics cannot be used to address spiritual realities. For example, righteousness cannot be legislated or enforced, because the lawmakers and enforcers are no less fallible than those they seek to control – even IF those lawmakers and enforcers were religiously devout...

"True justice and righteousness will only ever come through Government on this earth after the return of Jesus, when he reigns over the nations during thousand years commonly known as 'the millennium.'

"Secondly political realities can and MUST be addressed according to the Spirit and not according to national self-interest. The follower of Jesus should be set apart from political rhetoric and partisan allegiances. As believers we need to stand as a CONTRAST to the world’s political expediencies, by representing what serves God and His Kingdom, not being swayed by patriotic fervour, or what we are told are the nation’s interests.

"Our nation’s interests rarely (if ever) reflect God’s interests – and yet, contrarily, God’s interests ALWAYS reflect the best (eternal) interests of the people in ALL nations, not only those where we live.

"Thirdly, our own attitudes and actions should always be informed by truth, an understanding of God’s character and with an eye on God’s overall purposes."
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Tim's closing paragraph also seemed to me exactly relevant to the way American Christianity was seduced by "conservatives," on the basis of their alleged "pro-life" agenda:

"It is easy to be distracted by single issue agendas – even worthy issues can draw us away from the 'bigger picture.' By focusing on the rightness of that one issue, we can find ourselves being blinded to the wrongness of the larger political agenda being presented. Beautiful gift wrapping can easily disguise a sealed box filled with stinking garbage."

AMEN !  and AMEN !!

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Repent

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

The one word God has put in my heart, that I'd like to proclaim to everyone who claims to be a Christian:

 If your politics teaches you to follow lies and love unrighteousness, your politics are evil.

You need to repent of your politics.


                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

O.K., I Get It Now

Our beloved brother Tim in Australia does a blog, "Onesimus Files" (https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/). His is the only blog I read almost-daily. In the comments there of Tim and others, I frequently hear something God's saying.

But it sometimes takes me a while to get what God's saying. I tend to expect that truth is complex, and I over-think things.

When God is saying something simple, I often miss it. And truth is usually simple.

That was the case with a simple comment Tim made recently, in a discussion of America's current politics: "It's not really about politics."

It took a while for that simple truth to sink in, and open to my understanding.

I finally get it. Nothing that human beings do is really only about what humans do. Humans are spiritual beings, and the things we do are . . . not "ultimately," at the end: but FIRST and ALWAYS . . . spiritual acts.

That seems to me what Jesus is saying in Luke 12:54-6, when He tells us to "analyze" appearances. "This present time" cannot be understood by those who only look at appearances.

We have a wide choice of "commentators"...political and religious...eager to explain to us what's "really" going on. We constantly hear them analyze every event in terms of all the demographic "appearances" they (and we) believe determine people's political thoughts and actions: age, sex, race, political orientation and religion (often the same thing), by region, by educational and income levels, sexual orientation, occupation.

What Jesus is saying in this time . . . has always been saying . . . is that politics is not really about politics. Politics must be, and can ONLY be, understood in spiritual terms.

Jubilee

Without going into all of the Torah's details and nuances, we're all familiar with the idea of the "Year of Jubilee."

In the Year of Jubilee, debts are forgiven, the land restored to its owners, slaves freed. It is the great year of God's favor manifest in His creation, to His people.

The idea, and the term, should particularly resonate for Americans who are the least bit aware of our country's history. David Barton and others have fabricated a politically-deceptive "Christian heritage" for America: but for all of us who love the real righteousness God has worked in this country's history, the destruction of the rebellious Confederacy and its "peculiar institution" was what the South's (former-) slaves proclaimed it, a true Year of God's Jubilee.

The more I meditate on this year's incredible events, and the more I hear God speaking "freedom" when I'm in the company of other devoted Christians, my hope grows that this may also be a Year of Jubilee in America. That perhaps God will this year set Christians free from the lies and deceptions that have enslaved us the last 40 years to a faction of politicians and their evil agenda.

More than in any of those past years, this year we see morally-bankrupt politicians shamelessly spouting lies and hatred. But as they increasingly deepen America's moral darkness, Truth shines brighter than ever before.

God is our Hope. As more and more Christians question the lies, Jesus has promised that the Spirit "...will guide you into all the truth" (John 16:13). He has promised that when we know the truth, "...the truth will make you free" (John 8:32).

This may be the "favorable year of the Lord:" the year His Son the Messiah proclaims release for His captive people, and recovery of sight for those blind to The Truth (Luke 4:18-20). And those whom the Son sets free will be free indeed (John 8:36).

HALLELUJAH !! Praise His name !

Political Thoughts in a Political Year (aren't they all ?)

None of my core beliefs are stronger than this: Jesus IS Who He said.

He said "I AM the way, and the truth, and the life..." (John 14:6).

Who Jesus IS carries with it an absolute logic for His followers: everyone who honestly loves Jesus, loves truth.

Loving Jesus is what it all comes down to, and what everything in our lives comes from. So I was thinking today on one of "His many benefits" (Psalms 103:2) that I've particularly become aware of in this political year.

If we honestly love Jesus, we love truth. In a political year (but also every other year), those who rigorously love truth are immune to all the political "spin-doctoring" that surrounds us. We're immune to all the politicians shading the truth, and mouthing half-truths, and telling outright lies to manipulate our thinking...for their political advantage.

It absolutely infuriates me to be manipulated: that is the worst form of slavery. John Dewey wrote that "Plato defined a slave as one who accepts from another the purposes which control his conduct." When people choose to think the way a politician wants them to, so they will do what the politician wants them to...don't they choose to make themselves his slaves ?

If we honestly love Jesus, we love truth: and that keeps us from being manipulated by politicians, their lackeys, or their pathetic deceived followers who believe and spread their lies.

This may be part of what Jesus meant when He said that all of us who love Him are His true disciples: and His true disciples "...will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).

No Light in America

My wife and I got a chance to actually talk this morning. It doesn't happen often. We're both on the verge of formal "retirement," with all that entails: and raising a 3-year old and 2 teenagers. We seldom get a chance to really talk to each other.

We have some different ways of viewing things, but mostly the same way as regards the faith. And we have many of the same disappointments regards our nation, and state, and church. The welcome opportunity to talk clarified again the simple outlines of that disappointment.

In broadest terms, disappointment that so many in our country are looking to politics for their truth: for the personal attitudes, deeply-held beliefs, and talking-points they choose to embrace ! Politics can be many things, and not all of them are evil: but looking to politics for truth is so profoundly foolish it must qualify as true insanity.

More grievous is that Christians look to politics for truth !! And infinitely more grievous, that Christians trust in politics...the world's method...to put the world's evils right.

If seeking truth from politics is insanity, trusting politics for spiritual and moral wellbeing is the most profound deception and unbelief. And both are the operative ways of most "evangelical" American Christians !

May God send His Spirit of DEEP REPENTANCE on His deluded people !! Amen !!