Category: charlatans

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Summertime, and the Living is…

I wrote this as part of our church’s monthly newsletter, and thought I’d share it here.

Officially, summer is not here yet, but the temperatures are getting summery, and the tropics are already heating up for a busy storm season. It seems that the weather is not the only thing heating up. All we have to do is read or watch the news, and it becomes obvious that the culture around us is growing hotter as well. The violence in the country is rising at what seems to be a faster pace than ever before. I fear that it may not be long before that spirit of violence spills over into people and groups we would never think would be affected. The rhetoric coming from those who desire to be called our leaders is becoming incendiary, and even some who claim to belong to Christ are joining in.

We however, are called to be different. We are called, as followers of the Prince of Peace, to be peacemakers. We are commanded to be humble, seeking only to glorify our King. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, even if those neighbors are our enemies. We are even commanded to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Talk about counter cultural! 

I believe that Christ is beginning to winnow his Church. The time may come quickly when those of us who claim Jesus as our King will have to put up or shut up. The dividing line will become sharper and clearer. If and when that time comes, we will need each other. We will have to show that love for others that we say we have, and trust our Father to take care of us.

Let’s not wait until we are forced to depend on one another. Let’s begin now.

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Look Into Jesus

Back in 1972, one of the pioneers of “Christian Rock,” Larry Norman, sang a song titled, “Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus.” The lyrics speak of people who are trapped in an unending cycle of drunkenness, drug abuse, sexual hookups, and such. Then the lyrics say, “Why don’t you look into Jesus. He’s got the answer.” A simple message, and at the time this song was written, a message that seemed to resonate with many who were looking for answers and realized that they were not to be found in drugs, drunkenness, or promiscuity.

I wonder if we here, fifty years later, might do well to heed the message of this song from the heyday of the Jesus Movement, and look into Jesus in a fresh way. Have we moved from what is really the simple message of the gospel, and if so how do we get back?

In Revelation Chapter 2, Jesus tells John to write to the church in Ephesus. The message is that, for the most part, they are doing well. Their deeds, hard work, and perseverance are known. They do not tolerate wicked people, and have tested and rejected false teachers. They have endured hardship and have not grown weary. I think most of us would appreciate those words said about us. But, there is more. There’s something else that Jesus has to say to this church.

“I have something that I hold against you.” Things are not all well and good. In spite of their good works, their perseverance, and their doctrinal purity, Jesus has a problem with them. The problem is that they have forsaken their first love. They are told to look and see how far they have fallen. They have “moved on,” and have “matured” in their doctrine and everything else, but their love for their King has grown cold.

In Matthew 22, Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment in the Law is. His reply is in two parts. He states that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Then he says that the second commandment is like the first: Love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Jesus then goes on to say that the entire Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments. In other words, all of God’s commands boil down to two things. We are to love God and love others. To the extent we obey those two things, we obey every command God has for us.

I believe that the Church here in the West, especially in the United States, has left her first love. We used to proclaim the Gospel, and the result was awakenings which shaped the culture. Even though America has never been a “Christian nation,” it was a kingdom of this world that was, in part, influenced by the Church. Much has changed over the years.

Historians may disagree on the beginning of the decline of the Church in the United States. I believe that the present issues that we see are the result of the Church forgetting that we are part of the Kingdom of God. In the history of the American Church, there have been times when the spiritual climate has not been healthy. Hence the need for revival. In the last half of the 20th Century, many in the Church began to see themselves as agents of change in the political system and in the culture, rather than citizens of a greater kingdom. On both the right and the left, people began to equate electing certain people to public office and enacting certain legislation with following Jesus. This has continued into the current century.

When there are proclaimers of the gospel spending their time pushing a partisan agenda or stating that a certain candidate is going to “save America,” we have lost our first love. When we separate with fellow Christians because of the political or social views, we have lost our first love. When we proclaim that the Constitution is equal to Scripture by our words and action, we have left our first love. When we care more about our “freedom” than about loving and serving others, we have lost our first love. When we see Jesus’ commands in the Sermon on the Mount as something for a future time and not really for us today, we have lost our first love. When we tell people that all they have to do is say a prayer to be sure of a “home in heaven when they die” and neglect to teach them what it means to follow the King of Kings, we have lost our first love.

We need to regain our first love, the love for the King that causes us to take seriously his words about loving others as we love ourselves, about putting the interests of the Kingdom ahead of our own, and about dying to our own self interest. The stakes are high for those of us in the Church. In Revelation 2, Jesus tells the church that if they don’t repent and do the works which they did at first (the works done out of love for their Lord) he will remove them from their place. I believe the Church in America is in danger of being removed. Whether that will take the form of persecution and oppression or just a growing irrelevance, I don’t know. I do believe that the next chapter in the history of the Church in the West will be similar to the first century, as the culture becomes more and more like that of the Roman Empire. Our question may well be whether we will give our allegiance to the True King or to the empire.

May God bring us back to our first love.

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What Kind of Kingdom?

It’s a few days before what we call Palm Sunday, the day Jesus came in to Jerusalem to the loud aclaim of the crowds of people. Jesus has told his disciples that the time for him to go to Jerusalem and die was drawing near. Judging by some of the things they said and did, they seem to have forgotten the part about dying. As the week goes on, Jesus continues to teach about the kingdom of God. He has raised Lazarus from the dead, further solidifying in the minds of many that he was the promised Messiah. Because of all this, the Jewish leaders are plotting to kill him.

I can imagine the excitement building in the disciples as they draw nearer to the city. It’s almost time for Passover, the annual celebration of Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt. Some had been saying that when the Messiah came, he would lead a new Exodus and deliver Israel from theit bondage from the pagan Roman oppressors. This may have been at the forefront of the minds of some of the disciples. We know that some of them were zealots who would have gladly taken part in an armed revolt if Jesus gave the word.

Perhaps the feeling was similar to that of some of those who gathered at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Many of those folks seemd to equate the United States, and the rule of a particular person, with the kingdom of God. Some of the loudest voices in the rally that day were preachers, and many of the symbols carried by those in the crowd were Christian symbols. “Prophets” abounded, each one assuring their listeners that God had ordained what they said was going to happen and that these things were necessary for God to bless America.

I wonder if there were those in the crowd following Jesus who proclaimed to those around them that this Jesus was going to lead them in a great battle in which the hated Romans would be destroyed and that they would “make Israel great again.” There were those who were quite willing to kill Romans, Jewish ‘traitors,” or anyone else who stood in their way. Perhaps this Jesus was going to begin the revolution.

As we study the New Testament, and at least the first 300 years of church history, we quickly notice that those who thought the kingdom of God would come in by force were way off. The kingdom was established, but it was established by the King submitting himself to the powers that be, letting them kill him in the most shameful, horrific way known at the time, and then overcoming them by rising from the dead.

Over the centuries, many who call themselves followers of Jesus seem to have forgotten that he taught that his kingdom is not a kingdom of this world, that it does not come by human strength or force. This is true in the United States today. Many of those with the loudest voices on January 6 were part of a group that believes that Christians should be in charge, and that the government should enact laws and policies that favor Christians above all others. Some would even go so far as to enforce Old Covenant law. The problem with this kind of thinking is simple. It has nothing to do with the Gospel or any of the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus taught that we are to first love God with every fiber of our being. We can easily say that we love God, but do we really? The second greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is to love others as we love ourselves. The Apostle John tells us that if we don’t love another, who is made in God’s image, how can we say we love God? If you were to read through or listen to the speeches that have been made regarding the political state of this country, I seriously doubt you would find much, if anything, that shows love to God or love to others. Instead you would find much vitriol and anger toward others.

If we going to call ourselves Christians (“Christ ones”), wouldn’t it make sense to look at what he taught, and what his disciples continued to teach, and follow that? The thrust of much of what the apostles wrote was to tell their readers to live like who they were. They weren’t citizens of this world anymore, they were citizens of a heavenly kingdom. The old had gone. The new had come. We too, need to live like who we are. We are no longer citizens of this world and its kingdoms. We are citizens and heirs of the unshakeable kingdom of God.

May our lives reflect who we are and whose we are.

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Blast From the Past: Falsetto Spirituality

This post was first published in 2008.

In Soul Graffiti, Mark Scandrette writes, “A fascination with the supernatural can be a sign of spiritual fragmentation, a falsetto spirituality that strains to reach beyond the normal”. As I pondered that statement, I realized that it is so true in much of what is called Christianity.

The obvious examples of this “fascination with the supernatural” are those who run from place to place seeking signs and wonders and “fresh anointing” from God. The supposed moving of God can keep arenas, and ministry accounts, full for months as people swarm to experience a touch from God to lift their lives above the ordinary sameness of their daily lives. While some would consider these events on the fringe, there are other examples that hit a bit closer to home.

Mainstream evangelicalism is concerned with showing people how to have their best life now, with programs that will enable folks to experience a life that rises above the ordinary. Church leaders are given opportunities to learn the secrets of success from The CEO: Jesus. Congregations strive to be extraordinary and have bigger and better facilities and programs. Supernatural power that gets prayers answered and our needs (wants) supplied is constantly sought.

Even those of a more conservative, fundamental bent are not immune to a hunger for the supernatural. They seek a home far away in heaven, a home where the physical no longer matters, a place to escape this broken world. Many of the rules and regulations in fundamental groups seem designed to limit contact with this physical world and its “corruption”.

I’m not saying that the supernatural does not matter. I am awed when God performs genuine miracles of healing, and when he provides for his people in supernatural ways. I rejoice when prayers are answered and when godly leaders influence others to follow Jesus Christ. I too believe that this world is broken and corruption runs deep.

What I am saying, and what I think is the point of the quotation from Scandrette, is that the normal, ordinary parts of our lives matter. We are called to follow Jesus here and now, not in a future existence outside of this world. Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom was here, that the King had arrived. Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world, but it does have an impact on this world. We have been given the commission and privilege to participate in the work that God is currently doing in this world.

If we look around us with eyes that can see, we can notice how God is working in the day-to-day of our lives. In fact, I think the really supernatural and miraculous thing is that the Creator of all things uses broken, ordinary people like us to do the work of restoring his creation, a work that will finally be complete when Jesus returns. The work of the Kingdom is not just those things that we see as “spiritual”. It sometimes involves getting dirty and dealing with ordinary things. But, then again, Jesus used ordinary things. He used spit and dirt to heal a blind man, for goodness sake! Why do we think we have to “rise above the ordinary”.

Look for God at work in the ordinary, and ask him where he wants you to fit into what he is doing. Don’t run after the supernatural. Remember, many times a falsetto voice doesn’t sound very good.

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Thoughts on Epiphany, 2021

The word epiphany, at its core, means a revealing. This past Wednesday was Epiphany Day, and the events that unfolded in Washington, DC and other cities revealed a few things.

First, they revealed the true nature of some, not all of the supporters of Donald Trump. I recognize that many of the folks who have supported him the past four years are good people with motives they consider right. Having said that, I also believe that many of the folks that have ridden the Trump train have done so because they do not want to see “their side:, whatever that is, lose power. Many of the Republicans who are now loudly speaking out against him had nothing to say the last four years because they wanted to keep their party in power. There are folks who are afraid that white Americans will lose power and “those people” will take all our liberties away. I believe that this fear has led many to embrace some of the conspiracy theories swirling around the recent election. If a theory about the election, or anything else for that matter, is put forth by someone who believes that lizard people are among us and out to take all our children away to be eaten or turned into zombies, it’s probably not true.

The other thing the events of last Wednesday revealed is the utter bankruptcy of trying to do the work of the Kingdom of God using the tools of the world. There is actually a huge conspiracy out there. It is the conspiracy of the ruler of the powers of the air, i.e. satan. He has been conspiring and attempting to destroy God’s creation ever since the beginning. He is the father of lies, and is constantly trying to hinder what God is doing by attacking and dividing. He has succeeded in dividing the Church in America, because we have bought the lies that our political allegiance is paramount, that the ballot box will determine if the Church will succed or fail. I was appalled to see banners with Jesus on them carried next to Trump banners, as if they were equal. I was disheartened to see the Christian flag carried into the chambers of Congress by members of the mob. I am saddened by the preachers who stand in front of rallies and proclaim that they must fight to preserve their rights. Peter tried that in the garden and Jesus told him to put his sword away. And don’t quote the verse to me where the disciples tell Jesus they had two swords and he said that was enough. Do you really believe he was saying two swords would be enough to fight against the Roman Empire?

I don’t care on which side of the aisle we place ourselves. If we claim to follow the One who said his Kingdom was not from this world, who told his followers to love their enemies, who willingly gave himself over to the authorities to be killed, we have no business condemning folks who disagree with us. We have no business hitching our wagon to the star of any political party. Neither Trump nor Biden is equal to Jesus. The United States is not equal to the Kingdom of God. We have no business downgrading our faith by taking it down to the level of our political ideas.

Followers of Jesus, we have work to do. There are too many who have taken the mission of the Kingdom and turned it into gaining earthly power and influence. There are too many who are making Republicans, or Democrats, or Libertarians instead of making disciples of King Jesus. I can understand why many have rejected the message. It’s because we have either proclaimed the wrong message or we have hidden the real message under layers of garbage. We must return to telling others that there really is a King, that he died to free us from sin and death, that he rose again because he had broken the power of death, and that he calls everyone to follow him. We must tell them that this King will return and that he will set everything right. Along with this proclamation, we must show the world that it is true by the way we live our lives, loving each other, loving our enemies, and living out our sole allegiance to the King of Kings over and above any other party or man.

God help us to recapture the gospel.

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The Desire for Power

Back in 2016, at the beginning of his campaign for President, Donald Trump spoke to a group of evangelical Christians in Iowa. During his speech, he lamented what he called a lack of power of Christianity and told the crowd that if he was to be elected, Christianity would have plenty of power. After promising that America would be saying “Merry Christmas”, he said, …”Because if I’m there, you’re going to have plenty of power. You don’t need anybody else. You’re going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that.” The rest is history. White evangelicals overwhelmingly voted for Trump and evangelical leaders have been roaming the halls of power ever since.

I see a number of problems in the statement and in the response of so many who call themselves Christians. Nowhere in Scripture are we commanded, or encouraged to seek political power. In fact, the opposite is true. Jesus tells his followers to not be like the Gentile rulers, who wield power over their subjects. We are told to take the low position, to serve others. In Philippians 2, we are commanded to have the mind of Christ, the mind that laid aside the power of deity and made himself a servant and lowered himself to die the most horrible, shameful death known to man. After his resurrection, Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem, where they would receive power. Not the power of a force that would destroy their enemies, but the power of the Holy Spirit that would cause them to love their enemies.

One of the characteristics of political power is the temptation to believe that the ends justify the means. I believe that is what happened in 2016, and has continued ever since. The same evangelical leaders who loudly proclaimed that character matters when Bill Clinton was in the White House, conveniently forgot that when faced with the reality of who Donald Trump was as a person. Some even began to speak of him in terms that elevated him up to a position that no man should ever be in. Trump was compared to Cyrus of ancient Persia, even King David. Excuses were made, and continue to be made, for his behavior and hateful rhetoric, all in the name of restoring Christianity to a position of power. I believe that this runs contrary to who Scripture teaches us to be.

Giving oneself wholeheartedly to a particular political candidate or position is very shortsighted. Even is Trump is successful and does everything his supporters want, what is going to happen when the political pendulum swings back the other way? Depending on political power and laws to carry out the work of the kingdom of God does not work because when those who oppose those laws come into power, those laws will be changed. For example, if abortion is outlawed during this administration, there is nothing to stop a future administration from coming to power and bringing about the legalization and even the encouragement of abortion on demand. Personally, I don’t believe Donald Trump is really interested in doing anything but keeping power. I believe his “pro-life” stance is a show, like everything else.

I believe that those of us who call ourselves followers of the King of Kings are to live our lives as his subjects, giving allegiance to him first, fulfilling the Great Commandment and Great Commission. If we did that we would do more for the pro-life cause, and other just causes, than we can do by electing certain politicians to office. Man’s power is ultimately weak and fleeting, but the power of the Holy Spirit through the gospel is world changing.

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Blast From the Past: Thoughts on Les Miserables

This was first posted in March of 2013.

A little while back, Jan and I went with some of our church family to see the movie, Les Miserables. We thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s one of those movies you want to see on the big screen and then want to see again on DVD because the story is so good. A lot has been said and written about the theme of grace vs. law and the triumph of grace. The movie was saturated with grace, and the embodiment of grace in Jean Valjean and law in Javert was thought provoking and emotion producing.There were a lot of tissues used, and hopefully a lot of thinking about God’s grace. My thoughts after the film, while still including grace, were a bit different than others that I heard.

There were many scenes in the film that made folks cry, and I choked up many of those times myself. However, what brought me to tears was the scene near the end when Javert dove off the bridge, finally holding on to law all the way to death and rejecting the grace that was offered. Now, keep in mind that I had not read the novel or seen any of the stage or film productions. In my wild-eyed optimism, I hoped that Javert would see the light and be transformed by grace as Jean Valjean was. It broke my heart.

My heart still breaks when I think about the many people who reject a grace that gives life and cling to law which brings death. Some don’t know any better, having been raised in religions that are all about human effort. I would include the American religion of pull yourself up by your own bootstraps self-sufficiency. Many however, should know better. There are multitudes of churches and organizations that will say they are all about grace but then proclaim rules to follow to be “right with God,” or any number of steps to be a better whatever. This includes those “ministries” who proclaim grace but then tell you what to do to have any number of “blessings” in your life.

If those things worked, churches would be full of perfect, completely fulfilled and whole people. Do you know any of those? I don’t. Law doesn’t work to bring life, whether it’s religious commands or simple human effort to get better. Our effort, whether it’s obeying regulations, following steps, or trying to have more faith, will not change us. It is only God’s grace that transforms us, making us into people who show love to others, who trust God, and who sometimes do the right thing. This comes about because the Spirit of the living God dwells in us and changes us from the inside out. We no longer live by law, but we live by grace, out of a heart consumed with love for our Father because he loves us with an unchangeable, everlasting love.

Let us reject law, with its striving and death. Let us embrace God’s grace, which does what we could never do and transforms us into the new creation God means for us to be. 

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Repost: Dead, Yet Alive

This was first posted on June 15, 2012.

Those of you who have read this blog over the past three or four months know that one of the topics I wrote a fair amount on was death. Death to self, dying for others. Those posts came out of some recent experiences, and as I was thinking about them the other day, I was concerned that I may have come across as a bit morose. Over the last couple of months, I have learned a few things. Believe it or not, I am still very much a work in progress and am continually learning.

The biggest thing that I am learning is the difference between what so many of us see as living, and what Scripture tells us about life. Many people (Christians included) see life as all about getting as much stuff as you can. That stuff can be money and possessions, or career satisfaction and success. It can be friends and followers, or family. It can be any number of things. The prosperity gospel preachers tell us that if we just have faith, God will give us a life filled with health and wealth, and devoid of problems. Some preachers preach that if we just love everyone, our lives will be filled with friends. Many evangelicals preach that if we follow a number of steps (based on the Bible of course) we will have great marriages, successful children, and a joyous life. Even those who look on horrified at all those things teach that if we keep all the rules our life will be wonderful.

In John 10:10, Jesus states that he came so we could have an abundant life. There are many places in Scripture where a life of following Jesus is presented as the ultimate way to live. Jesus says in Luke 17:33 that those who lose their lives for his sake will find life. In Luke 18, Jesus states that those who give up family, etc. to follow him will receive those things back, and then some. Jesus does call us to come and die. He also says that dying is the way to real, abundant life. The problem comes when we expect that abundant life to include lots of friends, success in our endeavors, good health, enough money to do anything we want, or anything else we think will make us happy. We are like those described by C.S. Lewis in Weight of Glory, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  

We tend to see life in terms of what we can see and touch, when the life Jesus offers us rises far above the mundane things of this life. We are far too easily pleased. We set our sights on things that will pass away and miss the eternal pleasures the Father has for us right now. I wonder how many of those who believe God is in the business of giving them whatever they want believe that they will have those things in the new heavens and new earth. I hope none of us really believe that the things of this earth are the things that count. We do act like it many times.

As Christ calls us to die, let us remember that he also calls us to live. Live in him.