Reaganism's the Problem

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Ronald Reagan, as he became head of government for the mightiest nation on earth, famously proclaimed that "...government is the problem !"

(Yes, it hits me the same way...feel free to take a minute to switch off your logic-faculty...)

Reagan effected two evils simultaneously.

The first was to reverse the traditional American idea of “government:” that government is NOT “of the people, by the people, and for the people”...but rather an autonomous entity entirely separate from its citizens.

The second was to characterize “government” as ill-intentioned.

Reagan's followers consequently view government as inherently illegitimate (since it's not an expression of the will of “the people"); and all of government’s actions toward “the people” as evil.
 
That mindset puts Reaganites in oppostion to everything government does to “promote the general Welfare”...which the preamble to the constitution cites as one of government’s purposes.

In the traditional American view, our government's actions were “the people” acting collectively for their own wellbeing, and that of their fellow-citizens. Healthcare, protection from economic predators, meals-on-wheels, environmental regulation, minimum-wage laws, educational opportunity, public broadcasting, sane gun-laws, etc., etc., are GOOD for us all.  The Reagan doctrine is instead that such actions are “government over-reach,” attacks on individual "rights," and (horror-of-horrors !!) socialism.
 
What Reaganites miss, despite their pretenses to “Christian values,” is that their operative principle fundamentally contradicts God’s mandate to human rulers.  Reaganism rejects God’s command that government be “a minister of God for GOOD” (Romans 13).  (And doing so, Reaganism very much embodies the anti-government spirit that scripture calls "rebelliousness," or "lawlessness:" the innermost character of satan, and the essence of sin: I John 3:4).

Reaganites, only able to conceive of government as evil, are only able to practice governance of the kind they believe in.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Got A Revolution, Got to Revolution

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                               

My church, in the lead-up to Easter, has cancelled our Sunday School class studying Mark, so we can all watch a Max Lucado film-series about Easter.

My personal preference is to study scripture, rather than someone's pious interpretations of Easter.  But Donna and I went to the film, and the after-discussion of it, last Sunday.

We won't go again.

Donna charitably described Lucado's remarks as "poetic."  And I'm sure God can speak to us through any of our human perceptions or emotions, even (what I perceive as) sentimental piety.  But the thought He most spoke to me during the film and our discussion of it, was how little the gospel is about piety.

The gospel is revolution.  Our thoughts and our ways are completely at variance with God's thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8,9).  We've re-fashioned the life and the world God created, according to our own thoughts and ways: "the kingdoms of men," as selfish, violent, cruel, futile and false as we are.  The good news is that God radically changes our hearts, to radically remake this world His Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:7).

He transfers us from the realm of darkness into the sovereign Presence of His Son, the Light (Colossians 1:13, John 8:12), even while we remain on earth.  He turns upside-down everything about how "the world" works.  In His Kingdom, the last are first, servants rule, captives are freed, the poor are the richest, the humble the most exalted.

Most revolutionary of all: He institutes a new heaven and a new earth without the aid of man's self-indulgent religious piety, or political violence.

Praise Him !!

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Jesus is Lord

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

The insight of my beloved brother Tim in Australia continues in mind: rather, it's a touchstone of all my thinking about the evils of this time.

"Politics is not really about politics."

Lately God's been guiding my thoughts towards economic, as well as political, issues.  And it seems Tim's insight also applies there; that "economics is not really about economics."  

I've been pondering that.

I certainly can't claim any expertise in these matters:  I can only think about them in their simplest terms.  But there's often some clarity in looking at the basics of things.  And at their most basic, politics and economics are simply human behaviors.

To my understanding, that puts everything in context.  Human behavior was exactly what Jesus talked about.  Human behavior is exactly what we should mean when we say "Jesus is Lord."

 Politics, economics, whatever human behavior (or their theories) we name...aren't really autonomous entities.  Jesus is Lord.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Communion thoughts by Robin Meyers

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

“…if the call of Jesus is to worship a God of distributive justice, then there is no getting around the fact that everyone in the world must have enough.  Calling this ‘socialism’ is a scare tactic…making sure that everyone in the world has enough should be called ‘church.’

Justice means that everyone is welcome at the table…

Starvation in the world is not the result of lack of food, but of a failure to share.  There is enough for everyone, with some left over, but not if the gifts of the earth are reduced to a commodity that is sold to the highest bidder. ‘Whatever the market will bear’ becomes unbearable if you are poor.

In the Underground Church, nothing is for sale, and no one can be purchased.  We step out of the madness of the world of buying and selling…What has been freely given is freely offered…That…begins with food and remains only when everyone has enough.”

                                                   --  from The Underground Church (2012), pp. 177, 185, 190

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

A Simple Truth

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Jesus told us to follow the Spirit of Truth (John 16:12), and He commanded us to love one another (John15:17)

Jesus said that anyone who loves Him will do what He says (John 14:15, 23).

But there seems nothing of Jesus' teaching in the politics most American Christians embrace.  It's hard to see...as their politics more and more embody lies, and hatred for the "others" Jesus most commended to our mercy...how American Christians continue their self-deception that they love Jesus.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Humility and Knowing Truth

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                               

"The most important component of . . . critical thinking that is lacking in our society today is humility.  It is a simple yet profound notion: if we realize we don't know everything, we can learn.  If we think we know everything, learning is impossible.  Somehow, our educational system and our reliance on the Internet has led to a generation of kids who don't know what they don't know.  If we can accept that truth, we can educate the American mind, restore civility, and disarm the plethora of weaponized lies threatening our world.  It is the only way democracy can prosper."  (my emphasis)

                                       --  Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era,
                                                                        by Daniel J. Levitin (2016), pp. xviii-xix

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Yemen

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

The continuing war in Yemen (mostly, but not entirely, between the Saudi-backed president-in-exile and Houthi rebels linked to al-Qaida) has resulted in "...a humanitarian crisis with an estimated 18 million of the country's 27 million people in need of some sort of assistance. The country faces chronic water shortages, and people in the worst affected areas can spend hours a day waiting in line for water. The economy, the health care system, the education system have all broken down."  --  http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/03/03/518146483/u-s-ramps-up-its-fight-against-al-qaida-in-yemen

The U.N. recently named Yemen the world's worst humanitarian disaster: which is saying a lot, from what we all know is happening to the people of Syria and South Sudan.

The U.S. has responded to Yemen's crisis with increased bombing. 

Donald Trump also met with a Saudi prince this week to announce he will resume weapons-shipments to Saudi Arabia.  The Obama administration had suspended shipments, concerned at increased Yemeni civilian casualties from Saudis' use of American technology.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Congressman Hypocrisy

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Roger Marshall is the U.S. Representative for Kansas' "Big First" District: basically, the 3/4 of the state west of Topeka.  Last year he upset the incumbent Tea Party Congressman in that district, who was a hard-core obstructionist in Congress, hated even by his party's leadership. Marshall is a doctor: and recently proclaimed he is against any healthcare bill:

 

“Just like Jesus said, ‘The poor will always be with us.' There is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves.”
 

Here's Jesus' sentence that Marshall partially quoted: 

"For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me."  (Mark 14:7, my emphasis)

 Here's what Jesus was quoting:

"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land."  (Deut. 15:11)

Even for the political faction that deceives voters (and possibly itself) with its claims to be "Christian," Representative Roger Marshall stands out for blatant hypocrisy.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

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.


                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Woebetudes

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

We love the Beatitudes of Matthew 5.  They teach a reality that is upside-down, but positive.  We can all put ourselves in the place of the poor in spirit and those who mourn, and be encouraged by Jesus' promise of blessing.

We seldom consider the parallel version of Jesus' words in Luke 6, which include what someone has called the "Woebetudes:"

"But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way."  (Luke 6:24-6)

Maybe, if we examine ourselves honestly, we can also put ourselves in the place of the comfortable and the reputable, and be fearful of Jesus' words.

There's no escaping the fact that Jesus' gospel was bad news for some; for those who grow rich by impoverishing others, or profit from others' bondage.  Bad news, perhaps, for people such as we may be.

Jesus wasn't killed for the good news He brought to men . . .