What is it good for?

I'm not really sure when it happened, but I have no doubt that it is one of the best examples of a ploy by our existential enemy. Somehow, a group of people who claim to follow the man Jesus Christ as their Saviour and eternal King, the guy who hung out with and loved the dregs of society, who healed the sick and blind, who told us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us, have become the same group synonymous with support for America's imperialist campaigns overseas. In the minds of many all over the world, Jesus and bombs go together quite well. Think about the tragedy of this fact. Missionaries are having to overcome this stigma in nations which have been affected by the many military campaigns this nation has fought, as if their job wasn't hard enough. I speak this word to fellow Christians. Our unflinching support for our war mongering government has been a huge blow to our Christian witness. The fact that we did not speak out en masse when the scandal at Abu Ghraib surfaced, or when it came to light that our elected officials had okayed the torture of prisoners, or when the many other egregious American violations of Habeas Corpus and human rights in general became public knowledge, made us look very very bad.  People think we are hypocrites and jokes, they're correct. Instead of standing up for justice and defending the right of innocent people everywhere, we get up in arms over illegal immigration and boobs on television.

My brethren, as the body of Christ, we need to remove our support from the murderous imperialism of our corrupt government. We need to refocus our gaze on compassion for the needy and oppressed. We need to treat the people of this dark and fallen world as Christ would treat them. It is by this that we can take steps toward restoring the good name of Jesus Christ in the minds of so many. Instead of dropping bombs for Jesus, we can love people for Jesus, and then we can (take a deep breath) share the gospel with them! It has been my experience that people will be much more receptive to our message of hope and salvation when their house is not exploding. Governments will war and murder for profit with or without the support of Christians, for that is what the governments of our fallen world do. But, when Christians buy into their pandering and support their campaigns of violence, it gives them much more legitimacy and makes it far easier for them to justify their evil. Our greatest weapon against them is the removal of our allegiance. We need to be allied only with Christ anyhow, it should be natural for us.

I pray that the Lord would light a fire in our hearts. I pray that the light from this fire would illuminate the deception which has been sowed in our minds. That the Lord would teach us, no matter how another man thinks or what he aims to do, he is not beyond forgiveness and needs to hear your truth. For the desperate teenager living in Gaza, who needs just one more of his friends to be gunned down to make that hopeless decision to strap a bomb to his chest, I pray we would have our heart broken for him. For our Muslim neighbors, their numbers growing more each day in this nation, who share our belief in the one creator God, who honor Jesus in a way that no other religion outside of Christianity does, I pray we would love them and share the truth with them, that they might celebrate with us one day at the wedding feast. I pray against that spirit of fear and hate, that spirit of crusade, which blinds so many of those who claim to follow Christ, and leads them down a path of blindness and deception. God, let us live without fear. No matter what our politicians say about terrorist threats, no matter what our news men and pundits say about people in other countries who we've never met, I pray we would love them boldly and without thought for our own well-being, but only for their salvation and forgiveness. 


We call this nation a Christian one. I pray this would become a true moniker. Not by the legislator's pen or the soldier's gun, but by the words and actions of its people. Let us repent of our warring ways and truly show the world what Jesus Christ looks like. Amen.

The Turncoat

"...the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Away with you, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only shall you serve."' ~ Matthew 4: 8-10


To Christ's human nature, this must have been a very tempting moment. What man, save for Jesus Christ, could have resisted such a proposition? Satan was offering the literal control over the entirety of human society: world domination. How many power hungry conquerors have dreamed of such an end? How many scheming politicians are, at this moment, sacrificing their lives and souls for such a goal? What's more, this was the very reason Jesus was on the Earth. He came to take the throne of this world and be our rightful King (Acts 2:30, Revelation 19:16), and here it was offered to Jesus for nothing more than a quick act of worship. In short, Satan was trying to tempt Jesus into skipping the pain and torture of the cross and to simply take his throne prematurely. His flesh must have been yearning deeply to avoid that painful fate. Thankfully, our wise and good King resisted this temptation and thus made a way for all of us to have eternal life under His lordship.


The subject of this post however, is not the amazing character Jesus exemplified in this account. It is the intriguing fact that Satan seemed to be under the impression that the kingdoms of this world were his to give. Jesus did not correct him on this claim, he simply rejected his offer. This leads me to believe that the kingdoms of this world do belong to Satan. What does that say about power on our fallen planet? If you want it, you've got to go to the source. Additionally, what does that say about the powerful? Can we rightly assume that those in positions of real power have compromised their character and allegiance in a way our Saviour did not? I think so.


Doesn't this make so much sense, though? Look at the way in which our societies interact with one another. The standard is violence and death, diplomacy is only tried when it can serve the selfish interests of the nation state. There is no self-sacrifice or Christlike humility when it comes to international politics. Some of you are probably thinking, "Of course not! Do you know what kind of world we live in? Nuclear weapons, terrorism, communists!" You're right, we live in a cut-throat and dangerous world run by evil men. This is exactly the kind of world you would expect to find after realizing that the figure behind it all is, in fact, the father of lies.


The point is, many of us are under the impression that there are good countries fighting bad countries. That the United States, for instance, is a Christian nation and therefore our wars are fought to make the world a better place. I submit that, if this were true, we would have responded to 9/11 much differently. A truly Christian nation, first of all, would probably never have been attacked in such a way. Second, if it were attacked, it would have sought to forgive and understand the attacker, to know their motivation for the attack and to take steps to create a relationship in which the attacker would not have that motivation any longer. Did not Jesus command us to "Love your enemies" and to "Pray for those who persecute you." Instead, the U.S. bombed and invaded two nations, creating more enemies for herself and making the situation much worse for everybody. That was not the mark of a Christian nation, that was the mark of a satanic kingdom. The response was understandable from a secular government with a tradition of militarism, but the tragedy was and is just how supportive Christians are of these wars of aggression which claim the lives of so many of God's children.


Christians need to understand that they live in an occupied world, that this place is a beachhead of rebellion against the almighty creator God, and that this will not change until Christ returns and destroys the kingdom of the Devil and sets up His righteous throne by His own hand. With this understanding, we are free from having to justify wars of aggression from a biblical perspective. We no longer feel the pressure to make our secular governments fit into the mold of a holy God's righteousness, because they never could. Instead, we can renounce our spiritual citizenship in Satan's kingdom and live as Godly expatriates among those who have yet to see the truth. We can become ideological saboteurs and try to convince others to withdraw their support from the works of the devil which have been so cleverly disguised. We can become Babylonian Turncoats and betray the kingdom of our birth, swearing allegiance to the coming Kingdom where we have been reborn.

The Shell Game

Satan runs a shell game. He lures us over to his back alley table and tells us that if we can manage to follow the nimble movements of his hands and guess under which shell the prize is hidden, he will bestow upon us great power and knowledge. That we will be able to do whatever we want and not have to worry about consequences. That we will, after playing this game and laying more and more of our soul on the line, finally attain that elusive prize he is offering, peace of mind and freedom from death. 

Some will play this game for their entire life and will literally die in the middle of making their ten thousandth guess. Some become so exasperated with the game, realizing it is a ruse, they turn to the game master himself and plead, "I will do anything! I will give you whatever you want! Give me this prize!" At this point, Satan recruits these desperate souls to become junior game masters themselves, and they will spend the rest of their lives running a shell game for other weary players, convinced that their employer will, after a length of faithful service, finally bestow on them the great and elusive prize. Some will come to the realization that Satan is a liar and that he holds no prize at all, he's conning them. However, after many hundreds of attempts and losing so much of themselves in the process, they are cynical and broken and spend the rest of their lives sitting nearby the game table and scoffing at those still naive enough to play. Some will lose their minds and become convinced that the game itself is the prize and they must simply be content by not allowing themselves to become emotionally attached to the outcome of the game but to simply love the game as they play it to their death, a placid smile upon their face. Satan is content with all of these outcomes.

Meanwhile, standing not far from the table at all there is a man. He routinely walks over to the gamers and those who have lost faith in the game and tells them a very heartening piece of news. "The game is a ruse," he will often say. Most do not hear him as they are absorbed by the movements of Satan's hands.


Those who sit and scoff usually respond, "Tell me about it. I figured that one out ages ago. You know what else? Not only is the game a ruse, but so is this whole blasted existence. There is no peace of mind and it ends with a painful death, followed by nothingness."



The man then says, "The game is certainly a sham and the game master holds no prize, but this world is a gift and your life can be so much more than playing this game unto death or sitting here and awaiting that same wretched end. I tell you, eternal life and everlasting peace awaits you and it is a free gift! You don't have to uncover any prizes under shells, you don't have to contend with a cruel and heartless game master, you were created for this life and to live it well at peace with your creator."

It's at this point that many of the scoffers begin to become angered at the new idea. It simply sounds like another scam to their broken hearts. Some, however, are intrigued by this concept and their interest is piqued. Noticing this development from behind his game table, Satan rigs his next round. "We have a winner!" All the commotion ceases and all eyes are turned back to the game. An ecstatic player is jumping and down and shouting for joy, their face flush with simultaneous exhaustion and excitement. Satan tenderly grips the player's arm. "How does it feel?"


"I feel amazing, I can't believe how incredible this is! I can't think straight right now."


"Wonderful!" Satan responds, "Now, step right back here and begin your new life of immortality and never-ending pleasure." The player then sprints inside a door behind the game master. With a gentle smile on his face, Satan turns to address the remaining players. "You see folks, with enough hard work and dedication, you too can win this amazing prize. Now, step right up!" Amid the renewed enthusiasm for the game, many of the scoffers even get up and get in line to play.

Disheartened, the man turns and walks back to his spot not far from the table. He will wait for another opportunity to share the good news about the free gift, until then he will watch and pray for the desperate players of the game. 

As he is walking back, one of the scoffers rises from his seat and cautiously follows.