Divider

It becomes increasingly clear to me that how a Christian reacts to my "non-standard" views tells me what's in their heart.

Those whose operative thinking is political convince themselves I cry out against the Church following Republican lies, rebellion, blasphemy and apostacy because I'm a Democrat.

Those whose operative thinking is governed by the Spirit understand it's a cry against the Church being led in the enemy's spirit.

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Jesus said it, and so it is. People show what their hearts are set on, by what they hear.

Do We Preach the Gospel ?

If the Church in America looks at itself honestly...as we're commanded to do...I think we have to have to ask ourselves if we are preaching the gospel, as we are commanded to do ?

That question hinges on another: does the Church in America know what the gospel IS ? How can we preach what we ourselves don't know ?

To my subjective experience, what we preach is some variation of salvationism: that we can be forgiven our sins if we accept Jesus as Lord, and we'll go to heaven when we die. In the meantime, we can know we're saved if we do right things.

That's a vast simplification of what we preach, of course. And none of the message is false in itself.

But what increasingly seems lacking in the Church' gospel is the good news that we can walk with our Father experientially. "Heaven" and "right things" miss the point: neither has any reality separate from God's Own Presence. The good news is His Presence: even in this dark world, and even in us.

And where His Presence is, God reigns. The good news is that (in the words of Luther's hymn) "His Kingdom is forever:" and "now" is a part of "forever." When God is Present with us, we are not struggling through, doing right things in this life until we "get there" by dying. Living in God's Presence, our hearts are not set on doing "right things" at all: we desire to do what pleases our Father. Our purpose isn't to "get there:" we are there.

If we struggle, it's against our human weakness to set our hearts on some other purpose than doing His will. But it's not that great a struggle. No one in His Presence wants any lesser thing. And our hearts deeply desire to please Him because His Presence only rests with those who do.

God's living Presence seems vastly different from the gospel the Church preaches.

God's Presence seems vastly different from the good news the Church itself knows.

Imagine that

It may be a stretch, but try to imagine:

a nation whose Christians think God calls them to be a "culture-warriors." Christians who seek to please God by loudly taking "righteous" stands on cultural "issues," and forget that culture is a human construct. Christians who believe their war actually IS against flesh-and-blood enemies.

a nation whose Christians set their hearts not on Jesus, "the Truth" (John 14:6), but on the lies of a slef-serving political faction. Christians who forget that factionalism is a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:20).

a nation whose Christians believe their "godly" stance toward human authorities is rebelliousness, because their faction teaches that government is "the problem," and evil. Christians who argue against the Biblical teaching that God establishes human authorities as "minister[s] of God to you for good." (Romans 13:4)

a nation whose Christians believe that patriotism is a Christian value: even when their faction's leader blasphemously announces to the world that their country...not Jesus...is "...the hope of all mankind," and "the light that shines in darkness."

A nation whose Christians profess Jesus' mercy toward the poor, the sick, and the immigrant: and hypocritically follow their political faction in despising the poor, the sick and the immigrant.

a nation whose Christians' hearts overwhelmingly desire to follow their faction's leader, even when he is the priest of a demonic spirit who claims to be a different Jesus.

Imagine that God remains merciful to such Christians, and sends servants to call them back to Himself. Imagine that those Christians angrily reject God's rebuke of their unbelief, rebellion, and apostasy as a political attack on their "righteous" faction.

Imagine God's anger against those who continue to walk contrary to the mind of Christ, yet pridefully call themselves "Christians." Imagine His consuming fury toward those who profane His name, and scoff at His rebuke.

Imagine that.

Selling Out

If we are attentive, we watch how much we are being charged for our purchases, to make sure we're not over-charged. Even with bar-code scanners, mistakes sometimes happen, and no one wants to be overcharged. But everybody's probably also had the experience of being undercharged by a distracted or harried clerk. Those are the times we show more than our money: we show who we are.

Do we point out a mistake in our favor if the clerk gives us back a dime too much ? Surely most of us are that honest. What if it's a dollar ? A convenience-store clerk recently undercharged me $10.

We often read news stories about someone: a homeless man, a cab-driver, a welfare-mother: who finds a large sum of cash somewhere...and returns it to its owner, or turns it over to the police. It's a "feel good" story, especially if the owner amply rewards the finder. It feels good because it proves there are people whose honesty is not for sale, regardless of their circumstances, at any price.

Because that's what happens if you take that money that doesn't belong to you. Before, you had your honesty: afterwards, it's gone. You sold it. How much did you get for it, a dime ? a dollar ? Or maybe it's for sale, but you're holding out for a higher price ?

Scripture says we have the mind of Christ. For every Christian, that's the core of who we are. But we can sell that too, as surely as we can sell our honesty.

You could make a lot of money in business, for example, if you'll operate by the prevailing spirit of the world: that business is governed by amoral "market forces" such as the law of supply and demand, or "what the market will bear." But you'll have to swap out Jesus' teachings that business too is under His moral authority, through your moral decisions about fair prices and fair pay.

But the real sale you make there is not for money. The "mind of Christ" which we have is a complex of spiritual attitudes and operative ideas. So is the currency with which Christ's mind is bought and sold. To buy the idea that Christ is King, you must pay with your idea that you are master of your own life. To sell out Christ's idea that your purpose here is doing what pleases the Father, you must exchange for it the idea that your purpose is to please yourself, or someone else, or some organization of men.

Why do so few American Christians not have the mind of Christ ? They've sold it. Most of them have sold it for the political ideas of the earthly faction they choose to follow: love of the Truth has been sold for love of lies, rebelliousness accepted in exchange for submissiveness, Jesus' mercy to the poor and sick traded for their faction's disdain for the poor and sick.

Most of them have never considered the price they've been paid. Or even considered that they are selling: so little are most Christians aware of what life in Christ is.

Father, awaken those who are sleeping. Father, deal with as You will those who sell out Jesus with their eyes fully opened.

No Need for Repentance

Another men's Bible study. One of those side-tracks of doubtful relevance to the Bible, which I'm not sure how we get off onto. One of the men was telling of his brother's friend, a Vietnam vet, who told him, "I've been extremely fortunate. Forty-one times, I saw an enemy soldier before he saw me, and I was able to shoot first."

Someone said, "It makes you think God must have some great work for that guy to do." A couple offered opinions about what great work God might have so signally saved that man for.

I spoke the thought that came into my mind. "I've heard combat veterans say the experience of shooting someone only really hits you later, when you get older. Someone who killed 41 men, maybe God will send him a spirit of repentance, " Not said to be controversial: it just seemed that God would want anyone who killed so many people to repent.

The silence must have lasted two full minutes. It caught me by surprise. It was extremely uncomfortable, all the more so since I couldn't quite figure out whar it was about. I wanted to say something, just to break the silence, but felt like God said, "Don't speak." Eventually someone else spoke again, about something else, and conversation resumed.

It seemed then, and still seems to me now, a common-Sprirtual-sense view. It's inconceivable to me that someone who killed 41 people would not need to repent. It's inconceivable to me that anyone would think otherwise: least of all Christians.

I've written about it here before: when you really set out to think as God thinks, it sets you apart from the world...and also from other Christians.

Platte River Christianity

In these Great Plains water is often in short supply. On a map, it appears there are many rivers to sustain life. But Plains rivers are often poor sources of water. Too many are like the Platte River, "a mile wide and an inch deep."

More than water, our lives are dependent on the flow of Christ's Spirit. But heart-deep Christianity also seems in short supply among us. We resort to prayer...when we need something. We fast when we want to impress God that we really, really need something. A few of us actually read His word, but only in specific limited contexts: Sunday School, or Bible study. We try to listen to what God's saying to us....when ? Not often. Our Christianity is nothing that permeates and soaks our lives in the Spirit.

Like the political faction it chooses to follow, America's Church is "issue"-oriented and opinion-driven. Any who want to drink deeply of the Spirit will find its Platte River Christianity a false hope, a "faith" a mile wide and an inch deep.

The Kingdom of God

Doing Romans 13 in Sunday School.

Hearing all the usual arguments against subjection to human rulers.

I'm more sure than ever that the Christian's way in this world is an absolute and stark choice between two ways. We respond to whatever God's given us with rejoicing acceptance, as Jesus did: or with rebellion, as Satan did.

Submission to what God's chosen to give us: whether it's pleasing to us or not: is faith in His wisdom, goodness and (most of all) His absolute sovereignty. Rebellion manifests disbelief in God's wisdom, goodness and (most of all) His absolute sovereignty.

In God We Trust

We've all heard the lie that goes around "conservative" circles periodically: that "they" are going to remove "In God We Trust" from American currency. That lie, of course, is supposed to make us fearful and angry against "them," and make us follow the "Godly" liars...who (we're supposed to believe) will KEEP that motto on American currency.

And keeping that motto on American currency will...what ? What is it supposed to mean ? That America is a Godly nation, that trusts God MORE than its wealth ?

Perhaps America SHOULD take "In God We Trust" off our currency. How can it not be an affront to God that we shout such a hypocritical lie on our every penny and every dollar ?

The Current Church in America

I'm glad to live in a time and a country where, after 2000 years, we've finally got it right. Thanks to the political "Christianity" we've chosen to follow, the American Church at last practices the kind of fiscally-conservative, self-determined, individual-rights Christianity that Jesus taught.

Conspiracy-thinking

"For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

'You are not to say, "It is a conspiracy!"
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.' " (Isaiah 8)

It's a very timely word to anyone who seeks to follow God in America these days. My e-mail is continually awash in warnings
of conspiracy: shamefully, most of it from Christians whose thinking has been corrupted by "conservative" politics.

What is "conspiracy" ? It's those people who are plotting (usually secretly) to harm us. Richard Nixon (a master plotter himself) put
the conspiracy-mindset well on one of his secret Watergate tapes: "Make no mistake about it: they are out to get us."

Conspiracy-thinking grows from a partisan worldview: that it all comes down to "us vs. them." Nixon could have been the poster-boy for that worldview. It's clearly widespread among current "conservatives" too, and the Christians who follow them. But like conspiracy-mindedness, partisanship (or "factionalism") is a sure sign we're not walking in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:20)

God put His finger on the matter. People who see the world filled with enemies plotting against them are fear-stricken. People driven by fear tend to be irrational and violent. Inducing fear has always been a powerful tool of unscrupulous politicians (Nixon again comes to mind, as do current "conservatives") for those reasons.

Most of the conspiracy e-mails I see add lying to their sinfulness. (If there's any doubt who's behind the partisanship, fear and irrationality of conspiracy-mindedness, just call to mind who Jesus said is the "father of lies.") You know the e-mails I mean: "they" are going to remove Christian crosses from military cemeteries, take our guns, make our courts recognize Sharia law, take "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" off our money, and outlaw Christmas.

The media won't tell us about this grand conspiracy, of course: they're part of it. So (the anonymous e-mails say) is our secretly-Muslim President, the United Nations, the World Council of Churches, the World Monetary Fund, and the Boy Scouts. Make no mistake about it: they are ALL out to get us.

Those who choose to believe lies can always be easily manipulated by Satan. But God's warning doesn't make a distinction between imaginary and real conspiracy. He spoke to Isaiah about a real pact of foreign kings joining to destroy Israel. Similarly, the Communist leaders of the recent past were very candid about their purpose, publicly proclaiming, "we will bury you." But God told Isaiah even a real conspiracy was not to be feared: it was HIS determination that man's plot "will not stand." So he determined about Communism in our time.

Those who feared the real conspiracy of Isaiah's foreign kings, and those who feared Communism, were no different in God's eyes than those who today fear that our human government will make it a crime to say "Merry Christmas." They fear man more than they fear God. They fear conspiracy (a sin which God forbids): and manifest their disbelief that God rules, and that His power is greater than anything evil men and the enemy can do.

The conspiracy-minded show that their real faith is in Satan.