Heart Problem

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

I grew up in a neighborhood where there were a lot of Mormon kids.  (In fact, my high school graduation was held in the nearby RLDS temple, where that branch of Mormons supposedly believe Jesus will return to earth).  I was a pretty superficial Baptist Sunday-School believer (and had a string of Baptist Sunday-School attendance pins to prove my superficial faith was of long standing . LOL).

I had as little theological understanding as it took to get by.  Even so, when I learned what Mormons believed about God, I can remember thinking, "HOW CAN THEY BELIEVE THAT CRAP !?!?"

That bothered me a lot.  It's always seemed to me that (in the words of a much-later TV show) "the truth is out there:" manifest, and impossible to miss.  So that incredulous question stayed in mind.

I refined the question a bit during Watergate, when my parents were obdurately convinced that Richard Nixon hadn't done anything wrong, and everything was the result of his enemies' maneuverings to "get" him.  (That mindset has been dusted off and pressed into service by Trump's followers.)  But the question became a bit more focused, and a bit more personally tormenting in those circumstances: "why do my folks believe those lies ?"

Chewing on that question was like chewing on beef-jerky; it got larger.  It wasn't just my folks, and not just Nixon's lies.  There was a distinct period when the one question about life that I couldn't escape, and always seemed to come back to, was "why do people believe lies ?"

I really can't say that finally getting the question right was the reason I finally got an answer: but the two seem roughly contemporaneous in my memory.  "Why do WE believe lies ?" seemed the only honest question.

Taking a philosophical perspective on life and its questions has its value.  It also feeds our tendency toward a flattering self-image ("Look at me, I'm a philosopher").  Worse, it gives us a bit of safe personal detachment from life and its questions.

By the time I got to "the right question," I was, and knew I was, a Christian...not a philosopher.  I'm sure that fact had something to do with getting the question right, since Jesus identifies Himself as "the Truth," and the Spirit of God as "the Spirit of Truth."  Any question about truth, especially about the absence of Truth, is Personal with Jesus.

As a Christian it seemed dishonest to frame questions safely, to not involve me personally; and to look for safe answers.  Jesus didn't.

 The answer I ultimately came to was not at all what I'd call "satisfying:"  But I'm certain it's the hundred-percent true one, and the only one there is : "because we WANT to."

Believing lies isn't really a problem of our cognitive processes, our intelligence and knowledge.  It's a heart problem, that we DESIRE to believe lies.  Jeremiah 17:9 says our heart is desperately wicked: that would explain why we want to believe lies.  It also says our heart is "deceitful above all things:" our heart makes us desire lies...and itself lies to us.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Blasphemy

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

“This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind. That hope drew millions to this harbor. That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it.”

--  George W. Bush, 9/11 anniversary speech at the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, 11 September 2002

 

 I was riding with my then-pastor the morning of 12 September 2002.  We were listening to N.P.R.'s "Morning Edition," which played a clip of Bush's speech on the previous day.  When I heard his above words, I could only gasp, "That's blasphemy !!"

I haven't changed my mind.



“Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump.  It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him.  It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

--  Omarosa Manigault, former "Apprentice" contestant whom Donald Trump appointed Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison (a position someone characterized as "head cheerleader").

Blasphemy.



In its simplest terms, blasphemy is when anyone equates something else with God.

Both the above speakers blaspheme Christ, by ascribing His attributes to something or someone else.  George W., by proclaiming that the "ideal of America" is the light of the world, which is not overcome by darkness.  Omarosa, by saying Donald Trump is "the most powerful man in the universe," to whom even his enemies will have to "bow down."

Both the above speakers claim to be followers of Jesus.  They surely know the scriptures that say Jesus is the Light of the World, and that every knee will bow to Jesus.

"Christian" blasphemers surely know what they do.  They presumably also know God's judgement on blasphemers.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Alabama Election Results

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

We've heard a lot of interpretations this morning of Alabama's election results.  It's one I've been paying rather more attention to than most, because one candidate was Roy Moore.

Moore has been on my radar for some time, for his belligerently rebellious "Christian" stances, which served him well  in the politics of overwhelmingly-Republican Alabama.  He was twice removed as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for disobeying federal law: once for refusing to remove a marble tablet of the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Judicial Building where he presided, and once for directing Alabama's judges to continue enforcing state laws against same-sex marriage which a Supreme Court decision had ruled were unconstitutional.

Alabamans seem to have revered Moore for thumbing his nose at the federal government and "liberals" in those high-profile cases.  In the recent election, however, allegations came out that Moore had a history of sexual liaisons with teen-age girls when he was a 30-something prosecuting attorney, over 30 years ago.

Moore's defenses were the usual ones of all politicians in his situation: that the allegations were lies, or that his political enemies cooked it all up to get him, or that (not saying it DID happen, mind you, but) it all happened a long time ago, etc., etc.  But, as with his lawless acts while Chief Justice, Moore especially made it his defense that he was being persecuted for being a "Christian."

If true, it seems the Christian thing to do would be to either confess your sin, or affirm it did not happen.  The latter (which Moore never explicitly said) would go a long way as a defense for anyone who was known for their strong Christian faith and life.  The way Moore played it, he instead made himself the poster-boy for all the deception that typifies political "conservative Christians" these days.

Moore lost yesterday's election.  That's good for Alabamans, who get a more honest man than Moore to represent them in the U.S. Senate.  It also speaks well of Alabamans, that (for a small majority of voters, anyway) they can see through some politicians' blatant deceit, in some situations.  That's cautiously-qualified praise: but in the political world of relativistic standards, "cautiously-qualified" praise or censure is usually the most anyone deserves, or gets.

What seems more important than the results of this one election, however, is what people take it to mean.  The usual explanatory suspects were all trotted out this morning:in interpreting why Moore lost (or why his opponent Doug Jones won): the behavior of the Trump "base," or of black voters, or moderate Republicans, or suburban voters, etc.

I don't really believe any of those are the real explanation.  I think the real explanation is moral, not a racial, political or demographic one.  I'm sure there are many real Christians in Alabama: by which I mean people who "get" Jesus' teachings, and take them seriously as the guiding principles of their personal lives.  I think a lot of those folks voted their suspicions that Moore might have "Christianized" his possible sexual sin.  (In their place, I'd have certainly voted against him for "Christianizing" his Chief Justice lawlessness, which is in no doubt whatsoever: but maybe many Alabama Christians did that too.)

That's what I consider the election-results showed most clearly.  That's what makes me glad for Alabama, glad for America, and proud of Alabamans: that many of those Christians showed themselves doers of God's word, and made their voting decision in the light of Jesus' teachings.

What played out in Alabama's election...as it does in all aspects of every human life...is Jesus' Lordship.  I praise Him for all His faithful people !


                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

A Request

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

I recently sent a short e-mail...which I consider a timely prophetic word...to all the Christians I know.  Posted it as well on facebook, despite the sleaziness of that venue.

It's a call to repentance ("re-thinking"): and nobody ever likes to hear that, since it implies we've been doing wrong.  As we have.

So I prayed, and tried to make it as gentle and non-judgemental a call to repentance as possible, entitling it simply "A Request."  I re-worked for weeks before sending it, and hesitated and prayed for a week or more before sending it: but I think I kinda got the tone I hoped for.  If so, that's God's answer to prayer: I am not usually gentle in prophesying against evils that beset the Church.

That e-mail is below: and below it, a short comment on why I felt I needed to be extremely careful in its wording, and in sending it.
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Friends in Christ:

 

    We can all see that the spirit of lies and

unrighteousness is more ascendant in our

country today, than ever before.

 

    Christians have played a part in bringing

that about.  But greater than the damage to

our country, we've done violence to Christ's

Name and His Body, by joining them to evil-

doers.

 

    If we can still see today's growing evil, it's

only because God's Spirit gives us light.  But

if He gives us light today to see, we dare not

ignore Him, and offend Him, by continuing to

follow and justify evil-doers.

 

    If we do, God has every reason to withdraw

His Light and His Presence from us, and leave

us in hopeless darkness.

 

    While we still have light to discern between

good and evil, truth and lies, God has enabled

us, for this time, to see the way back to Him.

 

    I strongly sense we are at a fearful dividing-

point today.  Please seek God's guidance on

this.

 

    Blessing to all who set their heart to listen

for God's voice, and heed Him.  Amen.

 

                                           In Jesus, Steve

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The reason I tried to be so prayerfully circumspect in my wording, and in sending the e-mail, is that I'm relatively sure some of my Christian friends and relatives took my message as an attack on their political beliefs (and it certainly has strong political implications).  I was fearful that a call to hear God and return to Him, in the worldview of many "political Christians," would be perceived as an unAmerican, "Democrat" or "liberal," screed.

I've been pleasantly surprised that the few responses I've received did not "attack" back: even one from a cousin who's been quite "politically Christian" for years.  I'm thankful to God for that.  Maybe those who chose to take my e-mail as an attack were simply too livid to reply.  If so, I'm also thankful to God for that.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Was it "God's Will" Trump Be President ?

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

I recently read the following comment on a Christian blog I follow.  It's a common belief.  A common deceptive belief, I think; so I wrote a reply to it.
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“I know God put Donald Trump in the White House, there is no possible doubt about that since every country leader in the world is God ordained.  What is unclear now is the purpose.”

You reference Romans 13:1-4, that all human (worldly, or "secular") authorities are "ordained" by God.  I'd urge you to look into the Greek word there: understanding it to mean that God "chose" or "caused" all human authorities is not entirely an accurate take-away.

That passage absolutely teaches that we should obey human authorities, in recognition that God’s Authority is the ultimate and ONLY one which exists. It also teaches that rebelliousness against human authorities likewise equates to rebellion against God’s authority; satan’s own sin.  (A sin very prevalent among some "political Christians" during the previous President's tenure.)

(The debate about when and how we must distinguish between God’s commands and those of human authorities…as in Acts 4:18-20…comes in here: but is not my point.)

That scripture does not teach, however, that because a man holds a position which carries God’s Authority, we should deduce that individual occupies that position by God’s will. God’s Authority is vested in the function (or office, or position) of ruling: not in the ruler. Jesus attested (at least some) men seize the kingdom of heaven (denoting God’s rightful Authority, Realm, and Rule) contrary God’s will, “by force” (Matthew 11:12).

God’s will and purpose throughout all history is that He Himself rule, and that He Alone be glorified. He characterizes mankind’s contrary desire for human rulers as “rejecting” Himself (I Samuel 8:7).   No human system of government could be more contrary the rule ("the Kingdom") of God than men's belief in “demokratia:” that the people (“demos”) should rule (“kratia”).

The existence of the American presidency (or any other human position of authority) can’t itself be said to be God’s will. The human system which puts anyone in that office cannot be said to be the working of God’s will: rather the opposite. There’s even less reason to believe the man who currently possesses that office does so by God’s approbation.

There’s good reason to believe the current president gained that office by deceit and corruption (possibly even corrupt dealings with nations who wish America’s destruction); or as Jesus said, “violence” contrary God’s will.

He has further distinguished himself as a man of lies: which makes it hard to believe he’s “God’s Man” or God’s “choice” in any way whatever, when he so overwhelmingly manifests the character of “the father of lies” (John 8:44).  Manifests too an extreme tendency to glorify himSELF, and not God: which is also a prominent fact of satan's character.

God’s purpose and will, His rule and His glory, will be enacted despite, and even in, whatever evil men may do. But you say rightly that we can’t yet see in what way God will manifest His rule in America’s current situation. Keep in mind there are times He manifests His rule by watching over people, even His Own people, for disaster and destruction (Jeremiah 31:28, 44:27ff).

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

666 Today

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Kind of a longish post, but I wanted to set in context a couple occurrences of "666" I'm keeping my eye on.

One is the zip-code.

Working at the Post Office, you quickly pick up that the zip-codes of every major U.S. city can be identified by their initial three digits.  Kansas City, Missouri's, for example, are "641."  The different areas of the city are designated by the last two digits.  So I grew up in zip-code 64127, and later got an apartment in the Westport neighborhood, zip-code 64110.  I went to college at U.M.K.C. in 64111.  My parents moved to 64134.  My cousin lived north of the river in 64151.

It was a handy trick to know when you worked at the Post Office.  The zip-code for Kansas City, Kansas, is 661.  Wichita is 672, St. Louis 631, Chicago 606. New York City 100, Washington, D.C., 200; and Los Angeles 900.

I was always bemused that the hick capital of the hick state where I now live had the zip-code 666.  It seemed an odd cosmic joke that Topeka, Kansas, ended up with the scriptural "number of the Beast."

In recent years, I've found that fact less and less of a joke.  I'll just say that the political faction which has ruled in Topeka for some years has done a great deal of evil to our state, while loudly claiming to be the faction of "Christian values."

In that faction's (lack of) thinking, "Christian values" have played out as victimizing the poor, the sick, and the alien: fanatical "Second Amendment" lawlessness (including criminalizing federal enforcement of federal gun-laws in our state !), and short-changing our schools to enable corporations to pay no taxes.

I'd also mention that the primary national funders of "conservative" propaganda, the Koch brothers, are natives of our state, and hugely influential with (i.e., in full control of) the faction ruling in Topeka.

But the individual I've been most keeping an eye on is the amoral and hugely-ambitious Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach.  A native of Topeka and graduate of Harvard, Oxford, and Yale, Kobach has established himself as his faction's top man for voter-suppression and anti-immigrant fear.  The first Kansas politician to join the Trump campaign, he is currently co-chair of the Trump committee "cleansing" America's voter-rolls of all those illegal alien voters.  He professes to be a Christian.

It's been clear ever since Kobach has been on my radar that his intention is the Presidency.  He's currently on track to be the next Governor of Kansas.

The zip-code that identifies Topeka is 666.

A couple months ago, N.P.R. did a lengthy piece on the Kushner family, and how they achieved the prominence that made their son Jared a fit mate for Donald Trump's daughter, and now the president's closest personal advisor.

It's a fascinating story.  All of Jared's grandparents were Holocaust survivors.  N.P.R.'s story included some of their recorded testimony of their experiences.  And after coming to America in the late 1940s, they prospered in New Jersey rental-properties, eventually owning several thousand.

Jared's father Charlie built the business even larger.  He also became a major player in state politics.  And there the story becomes very tangled, and Charlie's maneuverings (personal, business, and political) very questionable.  Eventually Charlie was convicted on federal charges by the rising young U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Chris Christie, and served 14 months in a federal prison in Alabama.

Jared was out of law-school by then, and remained loyal to his father, running the business in his father's absence.  He visited Charlie in Alabama every week. And when Charlie was released, he stayed behind the scene at the Kushner Companies, and let Jared lead.

The Kushner Companies' first big move after Charlie's return was something that had always been Charlie's greatest desire.  As wealthy as New Jersey real estate had made him, Charlie always knew that the neighboring Manhattan real estate scene was the real Big League.

So, soon after Charlie's release, the Kushner Companies made the splashiest possible entry to the Bigs, buying the premier midtown-Manhattan property then available, for what was at the time the largest price ever paid for a piece of real estate in American history.  The N.P.R. story traces how that venture also turned to ashes for the Kushners.

But what most caught my attention in the story was the property the Kushner Companies chose as their flagship entry in Manhattan real estate.

That building is 666 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan.

The full N.P.R. story is fascinating, and is online at

https://www.npr.org/2017/10/26/560276794/how-politics-have-complicated-business-for-kushner-companies

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Jerusalem

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

The president declared today that the United States will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, against almost universal warnings by people who have a burden for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalms 122:6).

With all the Baptist end-times preoccupation I soaked up as a kid, I've long regarded Israel as key in God's end-time plans (sorry, American nationalists); and Jerusalem as the apple as His eye.
 
In 1967 (certain of God's destiny for Jerusalem, though at best a superficial believer) I eagerly wrote the Israeli embassy in Washington, volunteering for the Israeli Army when the Six Day War began.  (The war was over by the time I got a reply.)

When I became a Christian, it was under the ministry of Derek Prince, a man whose "dangerous privilege" (he said) it was to have lived in Jerusalem during the War of Independence, and who maintained a home in Jerusalem all his life.

Brother Derek was the most profoundly scriptural preacher I have ever heard.  All his life he taught that we owe a debt of gratitude to the people whom God chose as His own, through whom He gave us the Torah and Jesus; and that we must recognize Israel's special place in God's affection.

(I'd hasten to add Brother Derek also preached that God repeatedly said His laws in the Torah, and the just society He enjoined on Israel, were for both the Jews and "the alien [alternatively "stranger"] who sojourns among you:" and that "...the aliens who stay in your midst...shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel..." [Ezekiel 47:22].  His love for Israel was entirely based in scripture, and not in nationalism.  His family comprised Jewish, Palestinian, and Kenyan orphans.)

When I went back to college in the mid-70s, U.M.K.C. had a new program in Judaic Studies.  I was a new Christian, and wanted to know as much as I could about everything in the faith: so I took as many of its courses as I could, and graduated with a minor in Judaic Studies.  My wonderful Hebrew teacher, Tzivia Gaba, was the wife of a man who'd helped smuggle arms to Palestine before the War of Independence, whom I was honored to meet one time.

I consider myself a staunch long-time friend and admirer of the Jewish people and nation.

I am nonetheless conflicted by Trump's rash action today.

And I have to say I'm greatly put on guard when a world-leader who's established himself as a "man of lawlessness" (II Thessalonians 2:3) postures, for his own self-glorification, about the status of Jerusalem, the city of the Great King.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

I've been hearing a lot about the Republican tax-cuts.  We all have.  It's doubtful anyone who has listened to a radio or a TV in the past month is unaware of the matter.

In one way, it's not at all a "spiritual issue."  Other than general scriptural admonitions (such as Romans 13:8's "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another..."), there are probably no specifically "Christian" issues involved; at least, not in the way that the political manipulators make issues "Christian" issues today.

But of course no human thoughts or deeds are ever truly "non-spiritual."

I know very little about financial matters; especially governmental financial matters.  But it looks to me like all the evidence is that the Republicans' "middle-class tax-cut" will primarily benefit the already-wealthy, and corporations.  That's the finding of the non-partisan Congessional Budget Office, whose job it is to tell Congress (and us) how their legislation will play out in financial reality.

The Republicans' plan seems very similar to Republican Governor Sam Brownback's 2012 tax-plan for Kansas, and predicated on the same "conservative" theory.  That theory is that if businesses pay less in taxes (Brownback eliminated corporate taxes altogether), they will use their increased wealth to create more jobs, and we will all benefit from a stronger economy.

That theory hugely failed in Kansas.  It essentially bankrupted our state.  And every citizen of Kansas suffered because of it, in cuts to our state's education-system, roads, and health-care.

They say that true insanity is doing the same thing again, and expecting different results.  By that rule, Republicans are insane.  I'm not.  If the Republicans impose their failed "tax-cut" theory on America ...if it passes the Republican Congress, and is signed into law by the Republican president who's been demanding it...I expect it will do unimaginable damage on our country, the way it did to Kansas.

I could be wrong.  I'm little knowledgeable about financial matters, especially governmental financial matters.  I can only go by the realistic financial analysis of those whose job it is to do realistic financial analysis, and our experience of Kansas' disastrous tax-cut "experiment" (as Sam Brownback called it.

If the Republicans' "tax-cut" becomes law, as it now looks like it will, and proves as disastrous as it seems it will, we'll probably see a great many people turning against Trump and the Republicans.  No doubt that will include many of their "Evangelical base" who have overwhelmingly supported that faction and its candidates for 40 years.

I'd have to understand such economic "repentance" a profoundly spiritual event.

It seems very few of the "Evangelical base" have turned against their political deceivers because they teach evil.  Because of Reagan's doctrine of rebellion ("Government IS the problem"), for example; or the anti-Christ Mormon spirit Mitt Romney worships; or George W. Bush's blasphemy that "the ideal of America" is the light of the world; or their continual lying (who'd Jesus say is "the father of lies" ?), like the current president.

The "Christians" who comprise those politicians' "Evangelical base" have shown no discernment, and no fear of offending God, in their willlful disobedience to Him when His commands contradict their political "principles."  And acting by their political "principles," they have inflicted great harm on our country.

So if the "Evangelical base" finally turns against their political (and their "Christian") (mis-) leaders because of economic collapse, it would be a good thing...though probably too late.

But what does it say about a people who willfully ignore The King's commands, continually offending the God they say they love...if they finally "repent" when their financial well-being suffers ?

My spiritual take-away would be that it shows the god they truly love, and trust in, and serve, and worship in their heart, is Mammon.