How Deep That Darkness Is
““Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!”
(Matthew 6:22-23 NLT-SE)
Greg Laurie has had a busy month.
There were numerous articles in the media over another Harvest Crusade which he was following with an appearance at a Charlie Kirk convention…a meeting of the most fervent of Trump supporters.
This raises the question in my mind…what faith are people being converted to at a Harvest Crusade?
Is it the historic Christian faith or the American civic religion promoted by people like…Charlie Kirk?
Conservative Christians will tell you that they voted for Trump, an adulterer, serial liar and felon…for moral reasons.
They wanted the sexually immoral man to enforce traditional gender roles and and traditional sexual norms.
He has delivered what they wanted…but is sexual behavior all that falls into the category of morality?
Is it moral to allow children in other countries to literally starve to death or for children in the homeland to have constant food insecurity?
Is it moral to take health care away from the poor and elderly?
Is it moral to label people seeking peace and stability as the most heinous of criminals and then forcibly tear their families apart and send them to countries they have never set foot in?
The deal that evangelicals made with the devil is that if he would make the queer and transgendered people disappear, then he could do any truly immoral or evil things his heart desired and enrich himself in the process with their full throated support.
They do so in the name of Jesus and believe they’re walking in the light.
The light they think they have is darkness that goes deep into the soul.
Back to my question about what people are being converted to…
““What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!”
(Matthew 23:15 NLT-SE)
Make your own application…
Michael,
I think these kinds of thoughts all the time. Granted, some on the left were being rather pushy regarding their own beliefs (including my school, where kids were being encouraged to “come out” and rainbow was he color of the day), but it never justified the result of putting Trump back in office. My school, by the way, has really backed down. We support our LGBTQ kids (I weep, personally), but they are not the main topic of conversation all the time-all .5 % of them, by the way.
Our Spanish pastor this morning preached a powerful sermon on Phil. 4:1-9. One of his main points centered on 4:8-what we choose to think about, as well as how we choose to address differences with others. He encouraged us to focus on the things that are true, honorable, just, etc in our conversations, even when we have differences with others. It’s too easy to become “sided” in our own opinions, and not listen to others. Then we end up yelling at each other and retreating to our silos.
So, for me personally, it probably means being more forthcoming in my beliefs in a kind and truthful way. Some of my Christian friends are amazed that I don’t believe in expedited deportations., or any of the other disruptive things that the current administration is doing. I’m trying to center those conversations more on how Scripture relates to the issues, not how my opinions relate to the issues. And, to remember that I am talking to a brother/sister in Christ. It has been helping (so has my check the news in am/pm diet instead of tracking it all day).
As for Greg Laurie, I’ve never been a fan. Most people who walk forward at those crusades don’t make decisions that stick, and it’s more about numbers and who you can get to promote you (like Charlie Kirk).
For the life of me, I still cannot see what evangelicals and their leaders (Laurie et. al.) see in that man (Trump). It’s almost like a bizarre black comedy.