Energion Direct

Blog

Jesus as Crucified Messiah, Son of God

by Drew Smith

[ene_ptp]The penultimate event in each of the four canonical Gospels is the death of Jesus by crucifixion. As modern readers of these stories, particularly living in a world that celebrates violence, and especially after we swarmed theaters in 2004 to watch Mel Gibson’s depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus, we might wonder why none of the four Gospels describe the grotesque details of crucifixion. They simply say that Jesus was crucified.
The reason for the lack of a blow by blow description of Jesus’ crucifixion may be because the people of the first century Roman World were very well aware of the practice and effects of this horrible tool of execution. The Romans used crucifixion often, and they used it well, as a deterrent against upstart rebels. Jesus was certainly not the only one to die on a Roman cross, so to include the bloody specifics of how crucifixion was carried out would probably be unnecessary.
Yet, we also may propose that the lack of these details about the act of crucifixion itself is also due to the fact that each Gospel writer wants his audience’s attention focused on other particulars that are much more important to the story of Jesus’ death.
As we approach Mark’s telling of Jesus’ execution during this Season of Lent, we ought to be reminded that Mark is not writing history as we would write history. Rather, Mark is interpreting history through a narrative story he tells to communicate what it means that Jesus died on a Roman cross.
Indeed, much of the details that Mark includes other than that Jesus was crucified may not be entirely historical, at least to our modern minds. But that is not the point. Like the rest of the story he tells, the Passion of Jesus is narrated so that we might pay close attention to the events and words in this story to inform us of the importance of Jesus’ death for faith and discipleship.
There are certainly many things happening in this scene, but of utmost importance are the things that are said to or about Jesus by those who stand around the cross. On one level, these statements are meant as scornful indictments that mock Jesus and characterize him as nothing more than a common peasant who was badly mistaken about who he thought he was. Yet, with ironic flair, Mark places these indictments on the lips of those who watch Jesus die with the intent of using them as proclamations that declare the truth about Jesus.
Jesus is mockingly treated as a king. He is given a purple robe and a crown of thorns, and those who beat him and mock him bow down to him in sarcastic worship. The sign that is hung above him reads, “King of the Jews,” and the religious leaders contemptuously say, “Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we might see and believe.”
The irony of this is very clear. While the religious leaders mean to mock Jesus as one who cannot possibly be a king because he hangs on a criminal’s cross, Mark means to use this to show that Jesus is king precisely because he hangs on a cross.
The kingly throne of Jesus according to Mark is not a seat of gold and jewels, but one of wood and nails. His kingly authority is not secured through power and violence. Jesus is king because he gives his life away in protest of the injustices of his world.
Jesus is also mocked by those who stand around the cross by their taunts of, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.” In their thinking, if Jesus healed others, which Mark’s story is clear that he did, then he should be able to save himself. Those who watch Jesus die challenge him to do just that.
Again, the irony is obvious. These people were mocking Jesus because he hung on a cross in weakness and he was helpless to change his circumstances. Indeed, from the cry of Jesus accusing God of abandonment, we learn that even God could not change the course of this tragic event.
But Mark uses their mocking to express the true mission of Jesus. It is exactly because Jesus remains on the cross, giving his life, that he saves others. Remaining true to two of his earlier statements, “Those who want to save their life must lose it” and “The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many,”
Jesus demonstrated to those around the cross his own willingness to die to save others. According to Mark’s story, in giving his life on a scornful cross, Jesus was indeed achieving salvation for humanity.
There is one final statement that deserves our attention and our response. This statement serves the crucifixion scene as a defining moment that expresses the truth of Jesus’ excruciating death. It is the testimonial spoken by the Roman Centurion who stood at the foot of the cross.
As this soldier was about his daily routine of crucifying criminals, something he probably did on a regular basis, he witnesses something he had never before witnessed. He sees the death of this innocent man, and he confesses, “Truly, this man was God’s Son.”
The title Son of God as it is used in reference to Jesus in Mark is important. No human, not even Jesus, ever uses this to refer to Jesus. Only God and the unclean spirits refer to Jesus as the Son of God. Why is this?
Perhaps it is because the human characters of Mark’s story never recognize Jesus as the Son of God. In Mark’s narrative, it is Jesus’ death, not his miracles and not his resurrection that is the defining moment that declares him as God’s Son. It is Jesus’ death that is the ultimate expression of his true nature as God’s Son, the one sent by God to challenge the powers, both spiritual and political. In seeing Jesus die, the Roman Centurion confesses Jesus as the Son of God.
During the remaining days of this Holy Week, each one of us stands at the foot of the cross. We look directly in the face of Jesus and we see him breathe his last breath and die. As we reflect on his death, do we dare to remember that we are not simply called to stand and watch? Do we dare to confess our own faith in Jesus as God’s Crucified Messiah? Do we dare to take the road that he took by challenging those who bring oppression and injustice? Do we dare to embrace his call to take up the scandalous cross and follow him?
[slideshow_deploy id=’2613′]
Click on a book cover to get more information on that book.

March 23, 2016
Talking about God
by Rev. Dr. Robert R. LaRochelle

[ene_ptp]At my church, as at most, I would suppose, we offer a regular program of adult education. Over the course of time, I have led sessions on a variety of topics ranging from social issues to hot topics in the modern church ( e.g. same sex marriage, the death penalty, etc.) and, probably most frequently, adult forums dealing with reading the various books in the Bible. Parenthetically, I would note that in whatever church I have been, there has always been quite the interest in the Book of Revelation!
Recently I decided to lead a session in which we would simply explore the question of God. I told people as they came in that we were about to go on a roller coaster ride as my plan was not so much to give them answers about God but, instead, to try to pose questions that would encourage serious reflection and lead into meaningful conversation.
I have done this before with high school youth and adults and I have found it to be a really meaningful experience. I would encourage pastors and those who teach in local churches to do this. In encouraging you, I would stress that what I said previously is most important, i.e., trying to lead people into serious dialogue and inner reflection on this deeply personal topic.
While I am not posting the entire outline of my session here, in this brief space, I can offer you a quick overview:
1. I asked people to talk about how they understand God…..encouraging them to consider specific questions: Is God a person? Does God have feelings? What do you think God does with prayer?
2. I explained some of the traditional understandings of some of God’s attributes- omniscience (all knowing), omnipresence (present everywhere), and omnipotent (all powerful). I asked them what they thought of those and whether they saw any contradictions.
3. I moved into some alternative views of God:
4. Kushner—from When Bad Things Happen to Good People- a view that God does not really have control over human choices. This always leads into great discussions on free will and prayer.
5. The notion of the suffering God and liberation theology’s sense of Christ in the suffering poor
6. The understanding of God as ‘ground of being’ and some panentheistic thinking about God
7. The notion that God created human beings in His (hmm) image and we have been returning the favor since
8. I posed an amazing scenario (not to be described here) from one of the most amazing books I have ever read, Thomas Lynch’s The Undertaking, a scenario which gets people thinking about where God was /is when tragedy occurs. This brief scenario is one of the finest discussion starters on the topic of God I have ever seen.
While this discussion could go on forever, we concluded with an exploration of the notion of God as mystery and what that might mean to us as individuals. I cited the quote from the priest in the film Rudy who tells a rather lost young man: ‘ There are two things I have learned in my life as a priest:
1.There is a God
2. I am not Him ( the priest’s use of gender, not mine!)
My bottom line in this is that the act of talking about God is really an important function of local church communities. I would even suggest that it could be incorporated dialogically into sermons. I try to show some of this in a book I wrote for Energion, So Much Older Then, a book of conversational sermons. If you get a chance, you may want to give it a look!
[slideshow_deploy id=’2576′]
Click on a book cover to get more information on that book.
March 22, 2016
A Secretary of the Future?

by Bruce Epperly

[ene_ptp]This morning, March 8, 2016, I heard an archived interview with author Kurt Vonnegut, in which he suggested that we establish a new cabinet post “Secretary of the Future.” Such a secretary would look at the long term consequences of our actions. From the mountaintop, he or she would aspire toward a global and longitudinal perspective, looking ahead in terms of decades rather than focusing solely on the crisis of the moment.
I think this idea is insightful, both politically and theologically. A good life involves affirming “this is the day that God has made” and living in the holy here and now, it also involves living in light of eternity, and considering the long-term impact of small actions. This is surely the wisdom of the “butterfly effect,” a butterfly flapping its wings on the shores of Lake Tahoe in this now can shape weather patterns months from now faraway on a Cape Cod beach where I walked this morning.
In my upcoming Energion book, I ponder the issue of survival after death, “From Here to Eternity,” and suggest that we don’t need to polarize this world and the next. In many ways, we are already in heaven right “here” if we believe God is omnipresent, that is, present everywhere. We are already in God’s presence, which, according to many persons, is the definition of heaven.
“Here” our actions are performed moment by moment. We live in a constantly changing now. Yet the constantly changing now flows into an “eternity” of “now” moments, each following the other, emerging from the other, and evolving over time. Could it be that our “now” moments are creating our eternity? Could it be that God, whose mercies are “new every morning” enfolds each moment into a faithfulness that “endures forever?” Surely, if our personal identity persists beyond the grave, and to me that is the only meaningful form of everlasting life, one where we have self-awareness, a history, and continue to evolve in light of our history, then we are creating our everlasting life and the everlasting lives of others by each and every decision we make. “From Here to Eternity” is the movement toward future horizons, actualized in every well-spent now.
So, perhaps each of us—not to mention the government—needs a Secretary of the Future. We need to live in the moment, savoring the shimmering seascape, the bird in flight, the laughter of a child, and our beloved’s touch. We also need to see these passing moments, lived well and loved fully, as contributory to the future we dream of for us and our descendants.
Jewish mystics assert that the world is saved whenever a soul is saved. I would go further: in the stream of passing now moments, the world is tipped toward beauty or ugliness, life or death, one moment at a time. Such awareness moves us from self-centeredness to world loyalty, and enables us to rejoice in the moment and act for a future we may never live to see.
Let’s hear it for the Secretary of the Future! At the very least, let us live into this new position by doing something beautiful for God in every passing now.
[slideshow_deploy id=’2461′]

March 21, 2016
Dining at Jesus’ Table

by Bob Cornwall

[ene_ptp] Holy Week is upon us. One event in Holy Week is the gathering on Thursday to remember the meal Jesus shared on the night before he went to the cross. According to biblical tradition Jesus was participating in a Passover Meal (Luke 22:7-23). This meal forms the foundation for the Christian practice of the Eucharist. In most Christian communities, Jesus’ “words of institution” will be pronounced over the elements of bread and wine (or grape juice) whenever the community gathers at the Table for communion. The question that vexes the church is who should be invited to the Table.
Since at least the second century a majority in the Christian community have assumed that only the baptized (or the confirmed) should come to the Table and partake. This makes this sort of a family meal, and the boundaries of this family are starkly drawn. It may be that on Holy Thursday, an invitation will be given and some in attendance will be purposely excluded. There are theological reasons for doing this, but I wonder whether they are true to the spirit of Jesus.
Recently I participated in a Google Hangout session with our publisher Henry Neufeld. We talked at some length about the concept of the “Open Table.” I think that many churches practice an open table whether they advertise it or not. They do this by simply not checking the credentials of those who come. They might even issue an open invitation without thinking very deeply or very theologically about what it is they’re doing. In essence it is a matter of being nice. We’re going to have a meal and we don’t leave anyone out. But what is the rationale?
I believe that we should practice an open table. I don’t think anyone should be excluded from the Table, and I don’t say this simply because it’s bad manners to exclude. I believe that this is true to the original spirit of Christian table fellowship. I will add, that I even believe that those who practice faiths other than Christianity should be invited to the Table. That maybe a fairly radical idea, but I think it represents good Christian theology.
I believe we should practice an open table for several reasons. First of all, I believe that it is true to the Passover spirit. If you’re a Christian and you’ve been invited to a Seder, you have been included in their faith experience even if you’re not Jewish. Secondly, I believe this is true to Jesus’ own Table fellowship. Jesus never excluded people from the Table, unless they self-excluded. He was criticized for dining with undesirables, and often that dining experience resulted in a conversion experience. If we believe that Jesus is present at the Table, and I do, then he is the host, and if he was inclusive in his invitation list shouldn’t we be as inclusive? Much more needs to be said, but I think we need to do some hard thinking about this question. This is especially true for Table centered communities, like my own. Disciples of Christ practice frequent communion, by which I mean at least weekly if not more often. In the Disciples tradition, which is my own tradition, whenever we gather for worship we will likely share in Table fellowship
The next question of sacramental interest has to do with Baptism. Traditionally baptism has been understood as the initiatory sacramental rite. First you get baptized, then you get to take communion. That became Christian practice as early as the second century, but I don’t believe that it is a New Testament practice. The two are never linked in scripture. So if we practice an open table, which means that the Table is the initiatory rite, what do we make of baptism? That question needs a lot of unpacking, and I don’t have space here to do that unpacking. However, if baptism is no longer the initiatory rite, then perhaps it serves as a point of confirmation of a deeper commitment to God. In other words, we get baptized when we’re ready to fully embrace the call to discipleship, a call that is first expressed at the Table.
As we gather at the Table on Thursday evening, let us remember that our presence at the Table is a sign of God’s steadfast love. Therefore, as we gather at the Table, let us give thanks to God. That is, after all, the meaning of the word Eucharist!
[slideshow_deploy id=’2343′]
Click on a book cover to get more information on that book.

March 19, 2016
Pray for Rain

By Chris Surber

[ene_ptp]To say it’s hot in Haiti is a bit like saying its muddy in the swamp. It’s just plain part a’ the deal. Living a year in Haiti was among the hardest things I’ve ever done, but not only because of the commonplace suffering and hardship my eyes endured. I’m built like an arctic polar bear not a Caribbean lizard!
For me, the heat was almost unbearable. Some days, constant, often heart-wrenching requests to help truly poor people with real needs that I couldn’t always meet, coupled with the highest temperatures were almost too much to take. On the hottest, hardest days I prayed for rain. Strangely, almost miraculously, on so many of those hard hot days the rain would come to our dry mountainside cinder block home and quench my parched spirit.
Haiti is in a drought. It’s common for the evening showers to last only a few minutes and hit the mountainsides spottily – only hitting a small tin-roofed neighborhood here and there. It almost always seemed to hit ours. When I needed the rain, when I thought I couldn’t go any further on the dry hot journey of faith my family was on, my sons and I would enjoy a few shirtless refreshing minutes standing arms raised enjoying the cool rain.
Pray for rain. Pray for God to quench your soul in the trial. Pray for rain. Pray in faith for God to quench your soul with His healing love so that you can keep going on your journey of faith! Pray in faith believing that God can and will answer the petition that is offered consistent with His will and Word. That’s what Elijah did:
“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” (James 5:17-18 ESV)
Elijah was a man with a nature exactly like ours. He was a fellow sufferer and God honored his prayer! He prayed for rain and got it. What are we waiting for to pray for the rain of God to fall in our lives?
Living a year in a Third World country has shaken my life and my faith to its foundations. It has sharpened or changed me in every way. I have seen incredibly poor people trust God and receive miraculous answers to prayer. I have felt the rain on my skin at just the right time as I prayed for God to refresh my spirit and keep my family strong for just a little while longer.
Stop praying half-hearted, indistinct prayers. Pray in faith believing God is not a liar but faithful to His Word. Pray like you mean it. When a man prays he must know that whatever comes is ultimately God’s will “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6-8 ESV)
Friend, the God who separated the waters on the earth from the waters in the heavens is but a prayer away from sending the rain in your life. Cease with the halfhearted desultory prayers of the double minded. Get into God’s Word and unleash the prayer of faith which is that prayer consistent with the promises of God!
[slideshow_deploy id=’2771′]
Click on a book cover to get more information on that book.

March 18, 2016
From SAD to GLAD

by David Moffett-Moore

[ene_ptp]We live in a time of unparalleled, immeasurable, and uncontrollable change. The cell phone in our pocket is more powerful than all the computers used for our lunar landing, and that cell phone is obsolete before we can buy it. Everything is changing, and the change is happening at an ever increasing speed.
This change affects every congregation. Phyllis Tickle sees the church in the midst of a change it has not seen for five hundred years. Phillip Jenkins describes it as a change we’ve not seen for a thousand years. This is a scale that is beyond our imagination. We live for a span of seventy-five years; how can we relate to a change measured by centuries? It is not just a storm of change, it is a tsunami of change, a change that is an earthquake and a tidal wave combined. It is over powering.
Change, even when it is good, desired, and controlled, produces stress, and stress produces conflict. This change certainly contains elements that are good, but it is often not desired and certainly never controlled. This increases the level of stress and the likelihood for conflict. Long term stress, stress that is not faced and dealt with, weakens our immune system.
We come to church as patients infected with the disease of conflictual stress. Our “fight or flight” hormones are active and we are looking for opportunities to express our frustrations, to vent. Most churches are safe places for this venting, thought it puts a strain on all our relationships. Our churches become SAD: Stressed, Anxious and Dysfunctional, they become at risk. Fortunately, there is something we can do about it. We can move from SAD to GLAD: Good, Loving And Dynamic.
There are Specific, Practical, Actionable Methods (SPAM) that we can use to positively manage stress, reduce conflict and strengthen our congregation’s immune system. Maintaining healthy communication is key to maintaining healthy congregations. Always talk about everything. When we have issues we feel we can’t talk about, we create barriers; when we talk about it, we create bridges.
Communication needs to be direct, face to face. Confidentiality is good, secrets are bad. Confidentiality means those who need to know, know what they need to know, when they need to know; it is based on sharing. Secrets are about maintaining power, never a good thing in a congregation. Mutual respect and personal accountability and the willingness to give our attention to the other rather than focusing on ourselves are all key factors to maintaining a congregation’s immune system. By doing this, our congregations can become resilient rather than at-risk. We can find ways not just to survive the storm of change but to thrive in the midst of it.
We cannot control the flow or force of the cultural change that is all around us. Yet it need not overwhelm us. We can move from SAD to GLAD with the help of SPAM! We can be resilient rather than at-risk. If you’d like to learn more, I invite you to read my book Wind and Whirlwind: Being a Pastor in a Storm of Change. Susan Nienaber, then Senior Consultant for the Alban Institute, said, “This should be required reading for all clergy early in their careers.”
[slideshow_deploy id=’2755′]

March 17, 2016
What’s Happened to Easter?

by William Powell Tuck
www.friarsfragment.com

[ene_ptp]Why does Easter not seem to have the major impact in our society as Christmas does? It has always been interesting to me that, whereas Christmas seems to turn the modern world on its head with everyone making preparations months in advance in a flurry of activity, Easter does not stir much excitement in the lives of people today. Easter seems to whimper in, and most people scarcely notice its coming. If it is remembered, what images come to mind—Easter bunnies, egg hunts, new clothes, new hats, vacation time, and spring flowers? Easter comes and goes without much regard. In many places, only a handful attends special Lenten services during “Holy Week,” or on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. Oh, yes, on Easter Sunday morning we usually have a big crowd. We do not seem to realize that there would be no Christmas celebration without Easter. Easter was the first church holiday— not Christmas. Easter brought the Church into existence. Do we really realize its importance?
There are three great witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The first witness is the Christian Church itself. The resurrection was what founded the Church. If Jesus Christ had not been raised from the grave, there would never have been a Church. The Church came into existence because of the disciples’ belief in the risen Lord. The New Testament is the second greatest witness. The New Testament did not create the Church. Disciples in the early church wrote the Gospels, Acts, and the rest of the New Testament to tell others about Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. The third notable witness to the reality of the resurrection is that the Jewish disciples changed their day of worship from Saturday – the Sabbath – to Sunday. As sacred a day as the Sabbath was to the Jews, only a miracle could make them change their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. This miracle they declared was the resurrection of Jesus. If the crucifixion and death of Jesus were the end of his career and life, then neither the Church nor the New Testament would have come into existence. The resurrection made the difference!
Ernest Campbell, a former minister at Riverside Church in New York City, was confronted by a woman in his congregation at the church door following the Easter service. “Where were the trumpets?” she asked. “Beg your pardon,” he responded. “Where were the trumpets?” she continued. “We always have trumpets on Easter morning in our service.”
Where are the trumpets? Where are the resounding hallelujahs within the hearts and on the voices of Christian men and women? Where are the shouts of praise and affirmation? “He is risen!” Why are our tongues silent, our voices muted, and no song employed? The resurrection is the one and only thing that turned the defeated disciples into believers and crusading evangelists and brought the church into existence. On Easter Sunday two thousand years later our voices should resound with “Hallelujah! He is risen indeed!”
[slideshow_deploy id=’2745′]

March 16, 2016
Liberty, Religion and Commerce

by Elgin Hushbeck, Jr.

[ene_ptp]In a recent presidential debate, John Kasich dismissed concerns about religious liberty by saying, “I mean, if you’re in the business of commerce, conduct commerce.” This is a common attitude, and one that sounds nice, but it totally misses the point of current debate. While a few people can always be found that will hold to virtually any position, Kasich’s response is hardly representative of the concern that many have when it comes to religious liberty, which is not a concern about selling to people you disagree with, but rather about having to participate in something your religious beliefs say is wrong.
For example, the Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman had no problem selling flowers to homosexuals, and had even hired homosexuals. But she did not believe that her religious beliefs permitted her to participate in same sex marriages. If they had just wanted her to deliver some flowers to their wedding that would be one thing. But to her, using her creative ability to select flowers and arranging them for a wedding is far more than just simple commerce; it is participating in the event. As a result she was forced to make a choice to either violate her religious beliefs, or lose her business.
As she put it, “A government that can force you to say something and express a message that is so deeply contrary to your core beliefs is terrifying. We are entering a whole new realm when we force people to express themselves and use their heart, their head and their hands to create something that violates who they are.”
Yet that is where we are, as many florists, photographers, and wedding planners have discovered. Nor is this the only front on which religious liberty is threatened. While Hobby Lobby won before the Supreme Court, many seek to overturn the ruling, and with the death of Antonin Scalia that, and many other decisions, hang in the balance. In the medical field there is increasing pressure to force people participate in things that violate their religious views. Where once it was sufficient to simply refer someone to a colleague, that is increasingly seen as an act of intolerance not only to be condemned but prohibited. In short, those holding the banner of tolerance the highest, are becoming increasingly intolerant.
The bigger government becomes and the more it controls, the less freedom people will have to make choices for themselves, and this is of particular importance when it comes to religious freedom. Many share Kasich’s view that if you’re in the business of commerce, conduct commerce. But I see two problems with this. First, it puts government, not you, in control of what does and does not violate your conscience.
Sure, it has always done this to some extent, but it has been primarily in the role of restricting certain actions. For example, I believe that the British were correct to ban the practice of Sati (the wife being burned on the funeral pyre of her husband). It is something else to compel someone to do something contrary to their religious beliefs. Thus, we have for example allowed for conscientious objection to military service.
The other problem is that it is impossible simply to not conduct commerce. In earlier times, this may have been possible, but given the modern economy, just how does one do that? Sure, as a photographer or florist, one could as a matter of policy say that you do not do weddings. However that option is not open to wedding planners. Sure, you could just say, don’t be a wedding planner, but what about those who already are and who have worked hard to establish and build a business? Are the concepts of liberty and tolerance really consistent with the government forcing people to abandon a life’s work? It is a very strange notion of freedom and tolerance that only “tolerates” what government agrees with.
Then there are the issues raised by the Little Sisters of the Poor and the Hobby Lobby cases. If the left had their way these organizations would be forced to choose between violating their conscience and ceasing to operate. Hobby Lobby, for example, is often mischaracterized as not wanting to pay for birth control. In reality they have no problem with paying for most types of birth control, they only objected to those few that abort a pregnancy after conception. But either way, shouldn’t this be their choice? That someone wants an abortion is one thing, but on what basis can they demand that a 3^rd party pay for it, particularly a third party that objects to it on religious grounds?
True, the current threat is mild when compared to the very real persecution that is common in some parts of the world. Some complain that the threat is overblown and that such things could never happen here. But then for decades, I have heard the “it could never happen” argument many times on many issues only to have it happen. After all, when the defense of marriage act was passed in 1996, it was attacked as an overreaction. We were repeatedly told that same-sex marriage could never happen and no one was even asking for it. Thus the act was simply pandering to unrealistic fears, or even a thinly veiled homophobia. Less than 20 years later it was obvious that it was imposed by the courts.
So count me as skeptical when it comes to claims that it could never happen here. If history teaches us anything, it teaches us that tyranny and oppression are much more the norm. Liberty is hard to win, and difficult to hold. Nor can we trust to the good intentions of those behind the current threat.
As C. S. Lewis wrote, and the 20^th century so clearly demonstrated, “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
[slideshow_deploy id=’2411′]

March 15, 2016
Can a Christian Politician Campaign as a Christian?

by Allan Bevere

[ene_ptp]By the title of this post I am not asking whether a Christian can campaign for office on some kind of Christian platform. The nature of my inquiry instead is given the rough and tumble and even nasty nature of the world of politics, can a politician who embraces Christian faith run a campaign that looks Christian in character?
Many years ago, a parishioner of a church I was serving at the time asked me if I ever considered running for political office. I responded in somewhat glib fashion, “I deal with enough politics in the church as it is. Why would I want to intentionally set foot directly into the fray?”
I have never and would never consider running for political office even locally, not only because I would be terrible at it, and even my supporters would want to throw me out long before serving one term, but as I have said in previous posts, the real political action isn’t taking place in Washington DC, or in local municipalities; the real political action is taking place in the church, God’s kingdom come on earth.
But since I am a political animal and follow politics closely (which suggests that I probably need to get a life), I have given some thought over the years as to what a campaign for election would really look like if the one running made a conscious effort not to do anything of which Jesus would not approve?
Let me first set a couple of things in context:
First, while I very much believe in civility and that as a Christian civility is important, I do not think that the summation of Christian ethics and character is simply to be kind. Jesus did not die on the cross and rise again from the dead, so that I might be nice. Jesus himself became angry at injustice and hypocrisy. St. Paul was none too pleased with the Galatians. So, in this post I am not suggesting that anger and tough words are never acceptable for Christians. Of course, the Bible warns us to measure our words carefully. The problem is not anger per se, or tough words per se; the problem is that often the anger and harsh verbiage come at the wrong time or is expressed in the wrong way.
Second, neither do I want to suggest that Christians cannot be part of the rough and tumble of political life precisely because it is rough and tumble by nature. Life by its very nature is rough and tumble. It’s not the rough and tumble that concerns me when it comes to political campaigns. What is of direct interest to me in this post is two-fold: the willful distortion and manipulation of facts that seem to go hand in hand with political campaigns, and the unjustified and often unproven attacks on an opponent’s character, both of which are questionable from a Christian perspective.
First, everyone who follows politics closely knows that political critique of an opponent is almost always selective when it comes to the facts. One politician can accuse another of voting for a tax increase, when the whole truth of the matter is that the legislation voted for was part of a broader package of programs supported by the accuser herself. Or, one can insist that the nemesis being opposed voted for tax cuts for the rich, when the tax cuts also included cuts for the middle class with the latter fact conveniently being left out. This kind of willful distortion happens all the time, and I find it quite difficult to believe that Jesus would approve of such manipulation and distortion of the truth for the sake of political expediency.
Second, is the inevitable attack on a person’s character during a campaign. It’s not enough to say that an opponent voted for health care reform and here are the reasons it was a bad idea, or that the challenger would have voted against it and here are the reasons that would have been a bad idea. Instead, both sides feel the need to assign nefarious motivations to their reasoning. My opponent supports death panels that will decide whether patients live or die, or my challenger doesn’t care about all the little children who have no health care. If they get sick, his remedy is for them to die quickly.
Now this is not to say that politicians always do things from impure motives; all of us, at times, can support or oppose something based on questionable and selfish concerns. But such an accusation should have clear and definitive proof before it is made. But that is not what happens in politics. Indeed, what I find is that both sides of the political aisle, and Christians included, are all too willing to trash the character of those whose politics differ from theirs. The political philosophy seems to be, “If you don’t embrace my politics, you are bad!” Brothers and sisters in Christ, these things ought not to be for the followers of Jesus.
And in connection to all of this is the negative campaigning that everyone says they will not do when the election season starts. But sooner or later almost everyone resorts to it because study after study shows two things: the American voters hate negative campaigning, and the American voters find such campaigning to be convincing. So whether such negative ads start because one politician is down in the polls or whether the politician in the lead has to respond with some negativity of her or his own, it is prevalent nonetheless. And I highly doubt that Jesus would approve of the character assassination of another.
And related to this—what possible justification could any Christian give for making public embarrassing information about a political opponent’s past? Why would any Christian seek to humiliate someone else in such a way? And to respond, “Well that’s politics,” is not a Christian response. Is there anyone who is not sure what Jesus would do in this situation?
So, even if I ever had a desire to run for political office, I would never do so because I do not think that I could successfully run a campaign in keeping with the character of Jesus Christ, and just maybe that is the real problem. It is entirely possible for a Christian to run a political campaign that would, in the final analysis, be very Christian in character, but it is quite doubtful that such a campaign would elect anyone.
The number one concern when it comes to the politics of the nations is not truth or virtue—it is power fueled by money—and the end justifies the means.
That is why my central political concern is the church and its mission in the world; for only the church is God’s true politic in the world… and when all is said and done the Democrats and Republicans will be left “waiting for the bus” as God’s kingdom passes them by on the way to new creation.
[slideshow_deploy id=’2564′]

March 14, 2016
Good News for Chicken Little

by Heath Taws

[ene_ptp]I remember shortly after 9/11 asking my father if the world was ending.
“Dad, is this the end? Is Jesus going to come back soon?”
I’ll never forget his answer.
“Son, every generation thinks theirs is the last. Believe me, when the world actually ends, you will know.”
In my lifetime alone (a very short 27 years), there have been numerous “end of days” prophecies.
I remember Y2K being a particularly popular one, and my own mother stocking up on food and water, preparing for the worst.
Harold Camping predicted the end in 2011, and shortly thereafter I predicted that he would apologize in 2012, which he actually did. (Maybe I am a prophet!)
Personally, I am still waiting for Obama to reveal himself as the Antichrist and declare marshal law! He better hurry up and do it as well, because with each passing day, his chances of subjecting the entire Earth under his oppressive world shattering new world order diminishes.
And now, here we are in 2016 starting the entire process all over again.
“The government wants to take away my guns!”
“Syrian Refugees are coming and we better prepare for the worst once they get here!”
“ISIS!”
“I’M UPSET ABOUT SOMETHING BUT I CAN’T PINPOINT EXACTLY WHAT IT IS YET!”
And these sort of reactions don’t really surprise me when they come from a world obsessed with being scared, being offended, and seeking the cure for death.
What does surprise me, however, is when I increasingly see these sort of reactions coming from Christians.
How can people who claim to have the Truth buy into the Chicken Little Theology of the world? You remember Chicken Little, right? Well Chicken Little Theology puts forth this idea that the sky is always falling, and the answer is to either buy more guns, or elect a certain person, or all become doomsday preppers.
This is not the way in which Children of the King should respond to such things. We of all people should have steady, surgeon-like hands, when it comes to uncertainty.
In the midst of fear, we aint skeered.
In the midst of sorrow, we have unshakable hope.
And in the face of death, we have the promise of resurrection.
And yet so many of us day by day are buying into these lies. We can see this in the way that many of the Republican candidates talk about America, Isis, and the government. We can see this in the way that the Democratic candidates talk about global warming, the Republicans, and guns.
On both sides there is fear and uncertainty, and both democrats and republicans are urging the voters to find the “Lion” and tell him about the Sky that is inevitably about to fall upon us all. The Lion, of course, is always their candidate. It is the person who will save us all with their heroic ability to…put forth law and have a bunch of people vote on it. Their dynamic agility and skill in overthrowing the powers of evil by…telling other people to press buttons that send robot drones to drop bombs and stuff. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention their herculean like strength with regards to…the way in which they use the veto pen.
Folks, these people aren’t our saviors. They aren’t the Lion that Chicken Little is looking for, and they certainly aren’t our Aslan.
And yet, we keep bathing in all of this doomsday hogwash.
“Every generation thinks theirs is the last.”
And so the question remains. Is our Republican Lion Trump, or Cruz, or Rubio? Is the Lion Hillary, or Sanders? Who will hear of the falling sky and be able to stop it in time before we are all consumed? Which one of these Lions will singlehandedly save us all from destruction!?!?
Enter the gospel.
Revelation 5 is one of my favorite passages in all of scripture. John is in the middle of his crazy vision adventure in heaven, when suddenly an angel comes forth talking about a scroll.
“Anyone worthy to open this scroll?” He asks, as all of Heaven kind of looks around.
“Nobody? Bueller? Bueller?”
Silence. Nobody is worthy.
“But wait! The Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy!” He proclaims.
Every head in heaven begins looking for the Lion, but what emerges instead, is a Lamb. And not some huge muscular genetically engineered Lamb with a sword in its hoof, but a Lamb that looks as if it had been slain.
This Lamb, this slain Lamb, is worthy. He alone is able to open the scroll.
You see, so many of us like Chicken Little are looking for the Lion to save us, when in reality, we should be looking toward the Lamb that already did.
The Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world. The Lamb that died in our place because He knew that if He didn’t, the sky would eventually fall and crush us all.
This is good news for all the Chicken Littles of this world. For all the doubters, doomsday preppers, Y2K hoarders, conspiracy theorists, and yes, even your crazy uncle down on 43rd street with, “the end is nigh” written on cardboard strapped to his chest.
Operation “skyfall,” was in play long before Daniel Craig came on the scene.
We see a whisper of this plan from the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis 3:15, in which the great snake crusher is prophesied. The serpent will strike, the heel will crush, and it will be finished.
We clearly see that plan carried out upon the cross, in which Jesus is simultaneously both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb that is slain. Jesus takes upon his shoulders the entire weight of the sky, and the mystery of operation “skyfall” is finally revealed.
“It is finished.”
Mission accomplished.
The sky did indeed fall, and the Lamb took the crushing weight in our place.
And now, because of Christ, we as believers stand under the umbrella of grace. A promise that on that final dreadful day, when the sky falls once more, none of us who stand under its shade will be crushed.
Neither Trump, Hillary, Sanders, or Cruz will save us on that final day. Don’t follow the Foxy Loxy’s of this world. They will lead you to their den, and you will never ever come out again.
Every generation thinks theirs is the final one. Believe me, when the end comes, you will know it.
[slideshow_deploy id=’2846′]

Click on a book cover to get more information on that book.

March 12, 2016

Your cart (items: 0)

Products in cart
Product	Details	Total
	Available on backorder Previous price: Discounted price:	Save