Things I Think…
1. I was reminded yesterday of the power of symbols and ritual to both unite and divide a mass of people. The debate over whether NFL players should protest during the National Anthem has done both, depending on what the flag and the anthem represent to the individual.
We no longer have a consensus on that matter…Â perhaps it’s time to try to understand why that is…
2. Christianity is not about recovering an America that once was, but about seeking a kingdom that is here, but not yet…
3. If you think it impossible that your nation can be a beast empire, you will be devoured by that beast before you awaken to the truth…
4. National symbols and rituals represent that which the people find most noble…and they have great worth in reminding us of what we profess to believe…especially when our national actions seem to contradict our creeds…
5. I do find it odd that many of the same folk who are upset at Alex Jones being censored by the social media giants want the NFL to do the same to it’s players…
6. Forced devotion is never any devotion at all…
7. Attention spans no longer are long enough for either complexity or nuance…all work is now done with a blunt object…
8. People are always threatening to leave Facebook and Twitter because they only want to hear themselves in other peoples voices…both can be a great tool for unity if we choose to seek it someday…
9. I stay on mainly for the animal videos…I love The Dodo…
10. We are trying still to rebuild the site…I’m aware of the issues, but they’re outside my ability to fix myself. We’ll get there…
Re: thought #2…when I unfortunately waste my time perusing the comments on blog articles on Trump (pro or con), I can tell right away who is for a worldly kingdom and who is for the heavenly kingdom…usually those seeking a worldly kingdom/leader/power infuse their comments with words and phrases such as “leftists” or “repubs”, “MAGA”, “anyone but Hillary”, “voted for the lesser of two evils”, “liberal”, “bigot”, etc etc etc…i.e. it’s all focused on politics and who is or should be in power.
Dan,
I agree, with the rejoinder that I see much of the same from the left.
“If we could only get him out of there”…
Looking forward to the continuing Jesus People/Calvary chronicles
Michael,
the lack of awareness of ones’ self-contradictions is certainly reaching epidemic proportions. Without the time or example of thoughtful reflection, we are becoming a nation of knee-jerk reactors.
filbertz has put his finger on something major it seems to me….
If you’ve ever known someone (over the age of about 7) who is driven completely by how he or she feels at the moment – good or bad – you know how destructive their lives can be
Or so it seems to me ?
Number 2 is so right on.
Can I get your permission to use your quote on my Facebook ?
Dude,
Absolutely…
I very much want to recover America that once was…mostly so my children will have a decent future there like I had growing up there and my family and all Americans can live in peace and security. Why would anyone think that’s not a good goal? Do people not have a brain?
But I also am waiting for Christ’s kingdom to come and overthrow the earthly kingdoms…including America
Are we not all citizens of both kingdoms as we live on the earth? And do they not have distinct and separate places and stewardships in our lives…established by God?
Of course.
Ray,
Do you really think it matters that much who’s in the White House, in
terms of making America a better place?
I agree with Barack Obama, who once said, “What goes on in your house
is a lot more important than what goes on in the White House.”
Bob,
The statement was: “Christianity is not about recovering an America that once was, but about seeking [another] kingdom
My answer was simply that it is not an either/or choice….but we have a place and stewardship in both kingdoms.
And when I vote for president, I’m voting for who I think makes the best possible president of my nation (one kingdom), NOT the pastor of my church (another kingdom).
I consider those two jobs very different from each other in their qualifications and function.
Why do some demand that we mix the two?
Michael, re: #2 – Amen, yes, preach it preacher!
Ray,
Please note that I said “Christianity” is not about recovering some America that once was.
I don’t believe that there ever was such a place anyway…our history is rather checkered…a semi benevolent beast empire.
Ray, the first word in Michael’s statement is “Christianity.” Some people equate conservative America with Christianity. They want America to be great again but have no longing for even a clue about God’s Kingdom.
Thanks, CK…
Michael, you beat me to it. Good morning!!
It is foolish to expect good to come from evil.
Michael wrote: “I don’t believe that there ever was such a place anyway…our history is rather checkered…a semi benevolent beast empire.”
I shake my head at the above statement in all sincerity. I don’t understand how you can objectively say that about the United States. It’s the greatest nation that ever existed in history…giving freedom and opportunity to many who would never have enjoyed such things in any other country that ever existed, in my opinion.
My parents were poor immigrants that made a great life in coming to America about 65 years ago.
I grew up in southern California in the 60s and 70s and enjoyed great opportunities opened to me in living there. I also found Christ at that time in a free religious environment.
For the past 25 years, I’ve lived outside the United States due to my calling and I have seen first-hand the tremendous lack of freedom and opportunity outside of the United States.
As for our history….it’s not bad at all compared to the history of most countries. We saved the world three times in the past century from totalitarianism. We are the most benevolent nation on earth even to this day.
As for the ole’ boogie-man slavery….well, about 600,000 mostly white men gave their lives in a civil war to end that scourge.
Today, minority unemployment is at the lowest level in U.S. history….under this so-called racist president.
For the life of me, I don’t understand how anyone cannot say that America at any time in it’s history…or now in 2018, is not the greatest place on earth and something to be proud of.
Ray,
The American people are without a doubt generous people.
We have done great things at times.
We also have a history with the Native peoples, slavery, Jim Crow,oil wars, and today we are ripping families apart at the border and sending refugees back to poverty and violent death.
Those 600,000 casualties were not to end slavery and racism…they were to protect it on one side and to preserve the Union on the other.
Race relations were not a priority on either side by most.
This has been a great nation at times…but so have other nations also been.
I can celebrate the good without overlooking the negatives.
In any case, I do not think this country is or ever has been a “Christian” nation and that the kingdom I seek is yet to come.
Evil very often is disguised as good, however. ?
For instance, while i voted for Obama, as his administration and his double tongued proclamations unfolded i saw evil disguised as good. …. But that IS politics…. sad, but true
We had quite a nite up here in fire country, but thanking God and His pray-ers, it looks like a whole lot of smart, hard working firefighters from all over the west have got us thru the worst of it…. amazing to watch a dark hillside with a glowing orange top and a swarm of headlamps working at the base to build a firebreak… They were successful and we are grateful to all, God, pray-ers and human heroes (in that order)
I tend to lean toward Ray’s viewpoint… Long ago a Frenchman observed that America was good (human definition if ‘good’) because her people were good – not her politicians, nor her greedy bureaucrats
Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, purple mountains’ majesty (written from a vantage point high in the Rockies)… I think God did shed His grace on us, but we, like all mankind thru history, seem to chose the downward, corroded path… calling good evil and evil good
2 kingdoms with differing responsibilities indeed – for us Believers a hierarchy of responsibilities….
Em,
Praising God that you’re safe and praying that they get that beast completely out…
Maybe revival movements become elitist and operate out of the mindset of” we were or are the greatest” movement because we live in a country where people are enslaved to the ideology that we are the ” greatest nation”. The mind of the world is left unchecked and allowed to be wrapped up in spiritual language , short circuiting the transformation that was planned by God to take place in His people when He began the revival.
We are a privileged people and yes we have done great good and great evil. Recognizing both should lead us to great humility. Let’s plot out that path and cast aside our pride somewhere along the way.
An investment in repentance will pay great dividends today and tomorrow in the building in the missing infrastructure of character for us and our children and demonstrate that we know how to live and grow in grace, not just elaborate on it cognitively.
Vic…well said.
So this weekend is the Harvest Crusade. As only 1 in 10 who come forward are new believers and the remainder rededications is this considered 3 days of revival?
MLD,
Depends on who you ask…
Michael-
Thanks. Inspired by your posts and follow up comments that are also well stated.
When I was SBC we scheduled revival week every year. I think it was so we could book the Holy Spirit. 🙂