Things I Think…
1. Among the things that sicken me in the current political climate is how so many have abandoned ministries operating in Ukraine. People like Joel Sterling Brown shouldn’t even have to ask for help…what they are doing is a mirror of what Jesus modeled in the Gospels…not that such matters much in this climate…
2. No, I’m not feeding stuff about Calvary Chapel to Candace Owens…I always had facts to back up what I wrote…her show is a picture of an old joke…”How do you keep a jackass in suspense?”” I’ll tell you tomorrow”…except she never really does…
3. Calvary Chapel Magazine isn’t happy with Candace...neither is Charisma…and David Rosales wants you to know that Calvary Chapel isn’t a denomination and he’s on the denominations board of directors…
4. Those of you who believe Trump is doing God’s work in fighting the drug problem will have to explain to me how that works…he blows up fishing boats with no proof of crime, but pardons someone who brought tons of dope into the country and was supposed to spend 45 years in jail…MAGA math only works if you know the secret code evidently…also…don’t ever come at me again with “we just want people to obey the law’…
5. I thank God for men like Russell Moore and David French and women like Beth Moore who were willing to lose it all to tell the truth…
6. I mostly post about cats and animal rescues on Facebook…one woman messaged me that I need to back off from that…I told her I’d fix it for her…and I blocked her into the third level of hell…
7. I have to spend a lot of time advocating for cats. They remind me that I can still care and try to help…even though I’ve never been so disappointed in humans…
8. One of the things that makes it hard for me to write anything these days is that I no longer trust the people that used to be my readers…we have completely different views of Jesus and the Gospel message…I don’t have much to offer them anymore…
9. There is no revival happening among young people...sorry if that notion warms your cockles, but it just ain’t so…
10. Something to think about, but not too hard…when the political fervor on the religious right dies down and people start leaving churches that built on that fervor…actual Christians will be a distinct minority in this country…praying for that day…
In a before times Candace Owens would be the crazy lady in front of Woolworths, regarded with a mixture of amusement and sympathy. Unfortunately she has a wide audience-and so many Christians looked to her for cultural perspective, they now have trouble recognizing her for what she is, a kook.
Related to your though 8. I don’t even know why I am on Facebook anymore. So many people cannot see Jesus through their partisan views. Now in my home state of Minnesota, Somalis are villified…ALL OF THEM. And it’s believers that are part of the villifiers. I wish I could be away from all that crap. You have your cat Michael to care for. We have (hopefully soon) a dog to care for. Somedays that is all I want.
#6 – With all the absolute garbage on social media, somebody wants you to back off from posting about cats and animal rescue??? Make it make sense.
#4 – Well, he is doing a god’s work. The god of this world, that is.
PM,
They may want to look to Jesus for cultural perspectives…though it’s not as fun…
Dan,
I fight myself everyday…leave ministry behind and spend full time doing cat rescues.
I hope you have a new puppy soon, my friend…pets soothe the soul.
CK,
It doesn’t make sense and I just don’t have the grace to care anymore…
@Michael, yes
A couple of years ago, I had the impression that Candace Owen’s YT content was genuinely thoughtful and inquisitive. She initially seemed to be on the ‘right side’ of cultural trends and exhibited courage to question official narratives.
I recall feeling righteously offended by comments that were harshly critical of her; crudely alleging that those whom knew her personally, described her as an opportunistic ‘attention w*ore’.
Unfortunately, upon reexamination of her content …it appears the criticisms were mostly justified, having seen her commentary spiral into provocative ‘click bait’ sensationalism, not far removed from ‘National Enquirer’ tabloid level conspiracy myths.
I suspect that building a social media platform that becomes the source of your financial livelihood/self-worth …one must face ever-increasing pressure to ‘publish or perish’, to keep the ‘click’s coming in to maintain the sponsorship/advertising income stream (regardless of a story’s validity)
Michael,
Reflecting on Owens, reminds me of some favorite ‘National Enquirer’ cover stories.
‘Lost WWII Bomber found on the moon’ gets me chuckling every time.
‘The adventures of demon baby/bat boy’ are likewise, stupidly amusing.
‘Biblical relic discoveries’ are often creatively appalling.
What’s not amusing however, is that some of us can remember meeting people whom lacked the judgment to detect the patently fraudulent content. (The same folks whom believe WWE is an unscripted athletic competition, and playing the lottery is a lucrative financial investment)
The most interesting part of the whole Candace Owens thing is that Calvary Chapels have also been interested in conspiracy theories as they look toward their understanding of the end times. Every political or world event, Super Bowl halftime shows, church or culture shifts, Hollywood blockbusters, are often played into some kind of larger conspiracy that lets us know the end is nigh. Finally the conspiracy card gets played against them. All 3 of the “questionable approaches” the article from the magazine accuses Owens of is exactly waht they have dabbled in for decades.
Michael:
#8
“…I don’t have much to offer them anymore…”
As we get older sometimes wisdom increases, but more often all of us get increasingly bitter about the world around us.
What you have to offer is how you lived through the various events in your life. When you applied what you learned, the consequences, good and bad, and what these told you about God?
That is what us old people have to offer. Life experiences and applications.
This is why my favorite book in the bible is Judges and the second is Acts. These are stories about people who are given God’s instructions and how they applied them. All the grit and dirt of the culture around them and application of what they were taught.
Judges is full of very flawed biblical heroes. There is a man obsessed with women and his own narcism, and another who saved the people and yet his illegitimate son killed his step brothers and brought calamity to a city. Not to mention the a bad vow which brought death to his door and so many others who had faith but were flawed.
These are the stories of all men and women who love God everyday, all flawed.
Your stories have a lot to offer!
Just finished a month or so in the book of Job. Even more amazing this time as so many new and relevant things that I never saw before came to light.
The problem with Owens and with most conspiracy theorists is that there is a grain of truth wrapped in the husks of a lie.
She said a couple of things where I was shocked she knew of them…but I don’t think she was deeply sourced enough to fill out the picture.
I was afraid in one instance that she would tell a story that I chose not to tell for the sake of the victims.
There have always been rumors about Calvary missions in South America doing double duty with the government…
She has all the earmarks of a grifter…but her audience loves being grifted….
Piggybacking off what Chris said earlier, I have had multiple Calvary Chapel people in the past refer me to her as a source to go to get the real story, the real truth of things happening. She was very much the type of person who was greatly appealing to many in Calvary Chapel circles as she was a champion of right-wing politics, conspiracy theories, and “doing your own research”. Now that she has turned on Israel and then starting calling out corruption in Calvary Chapel, she has suddenly become persona-non-grata. Ironic.
“her”, being Candace Owens, of course.
Ol’ Orange Hair is Trump’s new pirate moniker now that he’s plundering the coastlines of South America, only he wears two eye patches…
Couldn’t resist.
Not only is there no revival among young people, there is only people heading for the exits. Religious Nationalism will do that to us.
How is it that our society has become enthralled and dominated by influencers, who start out from a pose of radical skepticism regarding experts and expertise, and then go on to take a position of self-ordained expertise and authority based on nothing but the ability to build immense followings using nothing but sensationalized tabloid journalism techniques? How did this tower of Babel get built?
Robert F,
There’s an excellent book on this topic…”The End Of Expertise” by Tom Nichols.
I think the Covid controversies set us back to medieval times as far as critical thinking goes…
Grifter:
“grifted; grifting; grifts
transitive verb
: to obtain (money or property) illicitly (as in a confidence game)
intransitive verb
: to acquire money or property illicitly
As a noun it’s a person who gains illicitly.
This seems to be the new buzz word for people we don’t like and have a position of influence. If this is the case, I would submit it applies to a huge number of positions, including “leaders of the church.”
Wow I remember when everything was, “a new paradigm” and then it became “reimagine.”
I like what was written thousands of years ago, “there is nothing new under the sun.” And yet every generation still has to try to become the new shining star and forgets the heritage which got them to where they are.
I would wager good money most of these social influencers have no idea what powers their phones and devices.
“No, you are wrong TH it’s a battery…” Okay…
I’ve used that word for 25 years referring to some “leaders in the church”
In regards to Tom Nichols book, I am reminded by this quotes by Isaac Asimov:
““There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”