Retreat

Well, it happened again.  I allowed myself to get sucked into someone else's social media political rants, simply because I couldn't stand by and let outright lies rule the day.  One happened to be an article discussing the a-morality of American society in general.   Yes, there are exceptions, but when rap lyrics say the same things as Donald Trump, Both Hillary and President Obama have been caught on video doing the same things, and Miley Cyrus/Beonce/etc can grab crotches/perform faux sex acts on stage in front of millions and it is referred to as "expression," we have a problem, both in terms of bias and morality.   And lest we lose sight of the simple fact that there are over 300 million people in America, and our choices in this upcoming election all deserve to be at or near the bottom of the barrel.

Yes, I believe that God is in charge.  Yes, I believe that we are ultimately doomed as a society.  I find no reason to hope, simply because I believe that a major social correction is coming.  I believe that is what will ultimately shake up the fabric of this nation, because until individual hearts begin to recapture some semblance of morality and outrage over the "deviancy as the new normal" policies in society, we cannot and must not survive.  Why, you may ask?  Simply because we cannot trust our government, which protects the powerful and destroys those with whom their chosen party disagrees.  We cannot trust those to whom are charged with our protection and safety: politicians.  We cannot trust the news outlets, who spin, deceive, and outright lie to further their own agendae.  We cannot trust the FBI, who prosecuted other people for committing the same crimes as Hillary Clinton, and yet give her a pass  on her perjury, treason, and crimes.  In short:  the world is rapidly descending into chaos, anarchy, lawlessness, Godlessness, and a-morality.  And we are responsible.

Cardinal Frances George of the archdiocese of Chicago passed away last year, losing his fight against cancer.  What is fascinating is a statement he made a couple of years prior, that though he claimed was not prophetic, certainly seems - based on history  - to be playing itself out before our eyes.  Here is what he said:  “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.”  Indeed, we are living in a time of outright hostility toward the church of Jesus Christ, and also outright rejection of God.  This immediately makes me think back to another time in history in which the church found itself in retreat from the world's rejection and hostility toward it.  It helped give rise to the monastic communities that in some measures, still exist today.

Granted there was much more to their development than a mere retreat in the face of worldly hostility, and it is not my intent to go into history here.  Rather, as we look ahead at the inevitable chaos that is coming (and it is indeed coming should we continue on the course this country is on), the church will either be forced underground once again, or must choose to retreat to such a position simply because of the world's hostility toward it.

I realize how pessimistic this sounds.  Believe me:  the only hope I can take right now for our future comes through knowing that Christ Jesus will come again, and that God is ultimately in control.  Aside from that, we are not.  And we are so far off the rails I fear we can never get back on track.  I also know that the church can and will survive, and will, as Cardinal George somewhat prophetically uttered, one day help to pick up the shards of yet another ruined society and proclaim Christ to a people once again ready to listen.  That day is not today.  But I fear there is indeed a storm coming.  Whether now or later, we may retreat, but we will never surrender.  This I promise, by the grace and help of God.

Nebachudnezzar

Let's jump right in here and state the whole premise of this entry:  The Word of God must correct us as much as it encourages us.  Let me state that again:  God's Word contained in the pages of Scripture must correct us at least as much as we take encouragement from it.  And honestly, the fundamental problem with today's Christian church is that it fails to either see this or put it to practice. If God's Word (and the church's proclamation of it) fails to bring about that correction and amendment of our ways at all, then we've done nothing more than resort to the "I'm OK/You're OK" mentality of feel-good religion.  

Our 6 AM Wednesday Men's Bible Study is currently studying the book of Daniel.  Daniel is a fascinating book, and I will admit it is one that, until we began regular "Bible in 90 Days" campaigns each year, I often ignored it.  But over the last 3 years, being "forced" to read it while reading the entire Bible through, I came to have a profound respect and admiration for what it teaches.

Now I'm not going to get into any of the so-called "historical-critical" thinking on Daniel.  There is no point in discussing progressive views on it as far as date, authorship, reality-vs-symbolism and the like.  Suffice to say it is enough to take the book at face value, and especially to look at one of it's primary characters: King Nebachudnezzar of the Babylonian Empire.  Nebachudnezzar on multiple occasions acknowledges the sovereignty of the God of Israel, and yet it doesn't seem to cause any real amendment in his life or behaviors.  In other words, he pays lip service to God, but it ends there.  There is no change, no correction, and no amendment to his life based on the multiple encounters he has with God:  The telling AND interpretation of his dream (chapter 2), the fiery furnace (chapter 3), the restoration of Nebachudnezzar's sanity (chapter 4), all end with this lip service being paid, and yet life continues on unchecked and unbridled for him.  No correction to his life occurs.  In fact just the opposite:  that we have these 3 encounters in a row demonstrates that for Nebachudnezzar to acknowledge the sovereignty of God time and again shows that is all it is: lip service and nothing more.  There was no subservience on his part.  In fact with the fiery furnace, he has set himself up as a god, even after acknowledging the power of the God of Israel from the dream of chapter 2.

Israel's problem was the same:  throughout the Old Testament, they were great at paying lip service to God, but what got them into trouble was that it meant nothing more in the end.  They continued to set up other gods and idols - all of whom made salvation dependent on human action, much the way every other religion on the face of the earth today makes individual salvation dependent on our ratio of goodness to bad-ness.  Christianity is the only one that leaves the business of saving up to God in the end, simply because we can never be good enough to save ourselves.  That said, it doesn't let us off the hook in seeking to "be better."  The universal call, like to Nebachudnezzar, is to be corrected by the Word of God as much as we take encouragement from it.

This failure at amendment of life permeates our society as well.  The complete lack of common sense and morality today (either intentional or through complete ignorance) is at the core of the increasing lawlessness seen, either through the looting, destruction, and murder in the aftermath of police shootings, or through politicians who skirt above the law with their lies and deception.

If the church wishes to be relevant from here on, it is beyond time to start emphasizing the corrective aspect of the Scriptures once again.  Mega church models and the Joel Osteen mentality of feel good Christianity can only take us so far.  If we go no further, we run off the rails.   This is the proper balance of Law and Gospel.  It was, after all, not all that long ago that the church's confession and absolution contained within it that we were also given "time for the amendment of life."  I've got a long way to go in that process.  As do we all.  So let's get busy.