Things I Think…
1. I’ll note this again…the alleged “revival” among the young, especially young men…isn’t a revival at all. It’s simply a moment in time when some “churches” are offering political power and social significance while still being able to hold on to prejudices against women and people of color…which has nothing to do with either the ways of Christ or the example of the historic church.
2. Some conversions might be real…God is sovereign and can use whatever He chooses to bring His people in…but at some point true converts will notice the difference between the Jesus proclaimed and the biblical Jesus…
3. What is at stake in this in church debate is the very nature and character of Christ and the real mission of the church…growth based on the principles of Christian nationalism is simply the growth of a new heretical cult…
4. The loudest “Christian” voices on my social media are also the cruelest and least compassionate voices I hear…with a few glowing exceptions…who immediately get attacked for “sins” like empathy and compassion…the backlash will be severe…
5. Lying about people you don’t like is still lying…
6. Few things disturb me more than the mainstreaming of anti-Semitic hate and Nazi ideals by the far right…there was a time when decent people would never entertain nor hear such thoughts, but that time was when we had a lot more decent people…
7. High up on that long list of disturbing things is the de-humanizing of humanity…it is shocking how many people are now utilizing AI “companions”… and how the AI industry is now allowing people to use the tool for pornography in conjunction with the “companions”…this is a denial of the Incarnation and and all the things that touched by it…and will result in a gross cheapening of human life…
8. Jesus told us there would be days like these…and He told us how to act during them…
9. One of those ways is to stay heartbroken, yet hopeful instead of angry and cynical…I’m trying…
10. “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well”…believing this is how you endure to the end…I believe, help my unbelief…
Good stuff here Michael. Re: number 1, something from the Gospel of John comes to mind where many stopped following Jesus.
clearly the message being offered to young men by churches that are nationalistic center around temporal power and cultural influence. There is nothing remotely related to being a disciple of Christ, dying to self, and taking up one’s cross daily. It is shameful how quickly and easily so-called ministries have given up their birthright for a bowl of hogwash.
Thanks, Dan.
It seems that everywhere I look in the Gospels, there are people coming and going…because Jesus wasn’t the Messiah they wanted…
fil,
It is the greatest of shames that so many ministries and local churches have embrace these lies in order to grow the “flock”.
When this is finally over, they’ll jump back to end times madness, but this time they may be partially right…
9 and 10 for me. I expect “now” to be a mess, but I still see hope in God working in His people (the level-headed ones) and His mercies that are new every morning (the sun comes up and the sun goes down). Maybe it’s because I work with kids. The Spanish congregation hosted an evangelism conference for us and three other churches. The turnout was encouraging (a little over 100+, not counting the 20 kids) and our organization was quite impressive. I enjoyed teaching the kids how to evangelize with the Wordless Book. We also played games and had pizza delivered downstairs for lunch! It was a good day with God’s people.
On my way to my car I bumped into one of our youth pastors. He knows my heart for our Hispanic brethren and he told me that he does not buy into Christian nationalism and he is concerned about those in our church who buy into it. I would have jumped up and down in joy (if it wasn’t for my walker), but we had a good, healthy discussion. I’m careful, in general, to not talk about politics at church as some get very upset. They don’t dialog; they just yell. But I know some have left because we aren’t “patriotic” enough, and I must confess that I don’t miss them.
I’m praying for this young pastor as he navigates his own journey with the staff and CN (Christian nationalism).
When I read about the young pastor with whom Linn spoke, it gives me a bit of hope for the future leaders of congregations in the US. God bless that young man! May he remain in the way of Christ.
5. Lying about people you don’t like is still lying…
That applies to you, too.
Xenia,
Have you now lowered yourself to call me a liar?
If so you need to prove the claim …
Xenia,
Your last two comments to me have been beyond the pale of what I would expect from a long time friend and Christian sister.
I’m not going to entertain any MAGA based abuse on my site…before my emotions get the better of me we’ll part ways here.
MAGA abuse. Good grief. My comment had nothing to do with MAGA. I am not a red-hat-wearing MAGA person. You said you doubt if many of the young men who are converting to Christianity are not genuine converts, then warn us against lying. I am warning you to be careful what you say about converts to Christianity lest you find yourself misrepresenting their motives because the young men who are coming to our little parish are certainly not coming for the politics and this is true for many of the churches I know about.
Out of charity I will allow Xenia’s response, then no more.
#1-3 … agree. absolutely.
#8 … watch and wait. Sober-mindedness for the sake of prayer. Lord help us.
#10 … Lord help your saints set their hope fully on the grace that will be brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
2. Some conversions might be real…God is sovereign and can use whatever He chooses to bring His people in…
I know there is another part to what you wrote but this statement is where I want to hone in for a moment. For me, those words are the reality that accompanied my salvation. My response to things, I think.
It started early on when my mother, at the time a staunch atheist, send us to the Baptist church for free donuts and a babysitter. Then in my teenage years many of my friends and me started attending a oneness Pentecostal Church simply because there were cute “chicks” there. Two of us, which included myself, were “saved” and baptized in this church only to eventually go back to our old ways with renewed reckless abandon.
Then came along a backsliding drunk and druggy who could not stop talking about Jesus to me. There were religious articles, primarily about the end times, placed in places they did not belong. There was the provocative model I met through a friend who ended up inviting me to a Christian Church and picnic in Hollywood.
There was an increasing awareness that certain cuss words pointed to the reality of the final judgment. There was the contrasting, maybe even competing, voices and visions in my various subconscious drug induced states. There were the rare sobering nights alone with my wandering thoughts.
All I can say in retrospect is God in His sovereignty chose to use some unorthodox stuff to draw this soul into his fold. For that I am eternally grateful.
Tim,
Thanks for commenting and for reading…I amen your prayer.
Shawn,
Good to see you.
“All I can say in retrospect is God in His sovereignty chose to use some unorthodox stuff to draw this soul into his fold. For that I am eternally grateful.”
God uses what He will to bring His children home…which is why I wrote that along with #1…
Because we say I see
Because we say I care
Because we say I know
Because we say I love
Because we say I do not lie
Our sin remains
Because we’re not law keepers
We’re law breakers
We all judge with a beam in our eye
Because it takes two beams to make a cross. As long as we continue in the sin of self-righteousness we don’t need the righteousness of Christ. The evidence that we sin is that God tells us not to. That God tells us to love one another proves that we don’t. Do not kill proves that we’re hateful.
We make a god for ourselves, we dishonor our parents. Our “obedience” takes God’s name in vain. Because we can’t, we don’t and we won’t.
God says not to give false testimony. Because we lie about ourselves and say we don’t.
The Holiness of Christ given to us is what we need, and He purchased it for us by dying in our place on the cross.
Still we go about trying to establish our own righteousness as if that never happened.
Amazing, aren’t we?
Michael,
You are correct…
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/orthodoxy-or-death-embrace-orthodox-christianity-modern-far-right-0
Duane – That article hits hard. What we see around us is mostly Charismatic-Evangelical-Fundamentalist Christian Nationalism. This year I discovered the authors Bradley Jersak and David Bentley Hart, and have appreciated the Christ-centered theology that can come from Eastern Orthodoxy. One visit to an EO church was all it took to realize it was not for me.
There will be life after DJT, but I’m concerned about what MAGA evolves into.
Terry,
I am also concerned about what becomes of MAGA after this mess is resolved. I envision more independent militias, possibly on the Left and the Right (there are current studies out that more people on the Left are arming themselves because they are afraid of being attacked.). We’ll have to pray much!
Obviously a new religious war has already boiled over, we now just need to drag Buddhism and Hinduism into it or they might be the biggest winners; by brokering the great world peace and safety so the final sudden destruction can arrive.
Some of the western world is seeing a slight increase of people in church. Revival may be too strong a word for it, but after significant decline for all of my lifetime, it’s something we celebrate. It’s also true that young men are a significant part of this increase.
The political stuff infecting the US church is not present to the same degree in the rest of the western world, be we still have many of the same pitfalls living in the world of social media etc.
The recent video re French evangelical churches showed a church that was racially mixed and African migrants were a big part of the Church’s growth.
When the head of the Heritage Foundation supports Tucker Carlson hosting of a self-declared white supremacist rabidly anti-Semitic influencer, providing a platform for the Nazi to express his abominable views without any push back whatsoever; and myriad prominent conservatives, both Christian and political, frame it as just another opinion that needs to be heard in the marketplace of ideas, you know the problem on the right has metastasized into rapidly spreading cancer. The ostensible campaign against antisemitism undertaken by the Trump government is fake gaslighting: the worst and by far greatest number of haters of Jewish people in this country have always been from the right.
Regarding Tucker Carlson and those okay with him providing a friendly forum for Nazi propaganda, the old German saying applies: if there’s a Nazi sitting at a table and eleven other people sitting there talking with him, there are twelve Nazis at the table.
The AI companies aren’t just “allowing” people to use the technology for pornographic purposes; they were relying on people using it that way from the moment the technology became feasible.
“myriad prominent conservatives…” That’s an overstatement. You may have missed the myriad prominent conservatives that denounced not only Tucker (and several other “conservatives”), but have put Kevin Roberts on notice that not only was his statement weak and bad, it was plain evil and goes against conservatism.
Ben Shapiro did a great job on his show on Tuesday discussing this very thing.
I applaud Shapiro…but if he can’t see that this fish has rotted from the top, he’s missing a bigger point.
on the front lines of evangelism….
I gotta say, and this isn’t completely new, my two most liberal and antiTrump friends are getting very nasty with me, making their political beefs forcefully to me to the point where I may block them again.
And two weeks in a row, the newest people ministering in my “field” have said I need to call myself Charlie Kirk and are pushing their politics FRONT AND CENTER in their evangelism….
I’m not talking about Facebook statues and youtube videos, they are actually doing it in witnessing. First time in 32 years I’ve seen it like this…..yuck
Everstudy,
“Myriad” was a bad word choice. But I stand by the rest of what I wrote. Open white supremacy and antisemitism have lately spread further on the American right than at any time since the end of WWII. And they’ve been mainstreamed by social and political figures on the right who see treat as something that one should engage in polite conversation. A fight is currently surfacing between two powerful factions of MAGA: the Zionism loving evangelicals, and the anti-Semitic, white supremacist ethnonationalists. If this dispute breaks the MAGA movement in half, that would be a good thing, in my opinion.
Correction:….figures on the right who treat them as something….
Trump sleeping through an Oval Office announcement given by several of his cabinet, until one of the line of people behind him passes out; then, as others rush to the stricken man, getting up and staring blankly into one of the cameras and looking like nothing so much as a dazed and confused zombie.
Robert F @ 11/7/2025 4:33pm comment.
If we are lucky they will destroy each other completely in every way and MAGA will end up on the ash heap of history.
I would watch their mutual destruction on pay-per-view. Pass the popcorn.