Category: Politics

One Year Later…

White Supremacy is sin, and anyone who does not work for its abolition, is guilty of sin – paraphrase of Samuel Simon Schmucker, American Preacher and Abolitionist

Today is the anniversary of George Floyd’s death. The officer directly responsible has been convicted, but justice has in no way yet been achieved. Despite all the promises and BLM signs on people’s lawns, there has been no significant progress toward police or justice reform. The forces of hate and supremacy are well entrenched and positioned to thrive for decades to come. Unarmed African Americans continue to die at the hands of law enforcement. White supremacy is on the move. Efforts to silence Black voices and suppress the Black vote continue apace throughout the country. There seems little hope for a breakthrough to better days.

As the father to an African American son, and as a follower of Jesus, I will, of course, continue to speak and work for a better world. How can I do otherwise? But the sad reality I face each day is that my primary job in terms of race is to teach my own son how to stay alive in a white supremacist nation where many do not believe black lives such as his matter, and many more only become mildly interested for short periods of time after each report of another black life snuffed out on the street.

At the 1965 funeral of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who had been murdered by an Alabama State Trooper in a cafe where he and other peaceful protestors had taken refuge from southern stormtroopers, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. noted that there had in fact been many fingers on the trigger that killed Jackson. Similarly, there were many knees on the neck of George Floyd. If, by your actions, political choices, or apathy, you are contributing to the problem of white supremacy in America, you might be surprised to learn that yours is one of them.

For the love of God, and for the sake of millions, speak out, vote, and advocate to change this culture of white supremacy, hate, and death.

End the silence.

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

Truth and Consequences

‘I’m not upset that you lied to me.  I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you’ – Friedrich Nietzsche

It’s a disturbing truth, but it seems, more and more, as if Christians are liars.  Now before anyone gets upset, let me remind you, first, that I am a Christian, and second, that I didn’t say all Christians are liars.  I don’t lie, and neither do many (I’d like to say most) followers of Jesus.  Nonetheless, the sad truth is that in popular discourse, we are often lumped together as if we all had one mind and acted of one accord, and, tragically, many of the Christians who act as if that were true, who claim to speak for all ‘true believers,’ have wholeheartedly embraced what is frequently dubbed, ‘The Big Lie.’ 

The Big Lie, of course, is that somehow, the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.  I won’t belabor the details.  They are well known, and if you really want to rehash them, you can visit just about any legitimate news source and read all about it.  That there is no evidence to support The Big Lie (everyone who has examined it, including Trump’s own Attorney General, the Supreme Court, and countless lower courts have all rejected it as patently false), means nothing to its proponents.  No matter what the evidence, no matter how ridiculous it is proven to be, those who hope to gain from The Big Lie keep shouting it from the rooftops as if it were the God’s honest truth. 

This was on display this week in the United States Capitol as the Republican Conference in the House of Representatives voted to remove Liz Cheney from her position of leadership.  Her offense?  Speaking the truth about The Big Lie.   She dared to say, repeatedly, that Trump lost, and that her party was wrong to say otherwise.  For this, she has been banished from leadership, and, most likely, will eventually lose her congressional seat. 

I really don’t have much to say about the ethics of the Republicans who did this to Representative Cheney.  My purpose in this post is neither to elevate nor denigrate either of the two major political parties.  As I have written often, political parties follow the path of empire, and lies in the service of empire are sadly par for the course.  I expect politicians to embrace lies.  Politicians and lies go together like peanut butter and jelly. 

But it is my purpose today to warn Christians about embracing either The Big Lie or any political party or movement that embraces it.  Brother or sister, if this is you, you are reaping the whirlwind.  You are embracing, not just a man who is a power-hungry white supremacist (which is bad enough); you are embracing a lie and a liar. 

The Bible says a lot about liars.  None of it is good.  Proverbs 12:22 says that lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.  The prophet Jeremiah spoke ill of those who shoot lies from their tongues like arrows from a bow (9:3).  I could go on.  On the basis of such verses alone, Christians should flee from both lies and liars, not perpetuate them or sing their praises. 

But on top of that, consider Nietzsche’s words.   There is a terrible consequence to telling lies.  Once you tell one, there is a rather good chance that no one will ever believe another word you say about anything. 

And anything includes Jesus. 

Brothers and sisters, we have a truth that needs to be told.  A story to tell to the nations, as the old song goes.  Telling it is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.  Our message is already suspect.  The world has its reasons to dismiss our claims.  If we become known, and we are becoming known, as a bunch of flat-out liars, we will lose the last shred of our credibility.  We will have little chance of convincing people of what matters most. 

Be careful Christian.  If you choose to wave around the banner of The Big Lie, don’t be surprised when no one believes you when you tell them that Jesus rose from the dead.  Or that he is the Son of God.  Or that he has changed your life (changed you into what, a big fat liar?).  Or that he alone is ‘the way, the truth, and the life.’ 

It’s decision time.  Do you want to follow a liar and make it impossible for others to believe the truth about Jesus?  Or do you value Jesus, the living embodiment of truth, enough to call out both The Big Lie and The Big Liar?  You don’t have to become a Democrat to do that.  You just have to tell the truth and reject the lies. 

It’s time for Christians everywhere to stop playing this foolish, yes, even evil, political game. 

It’s time to face the truth.

If we do not, we will surely face the consequences. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

Carry the Fire

‘Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold’ – Jesus, Matthew 24:12 (NLT)

Cormac McCarty’s The Road is as darkly dystopian a novel as you will find.  It tells the story of a man and his son struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world that is literally cold and growing colder.  It is a world with few survivors attempting to escape cannibalistic bands of men.  If this sounds awful, it is, but the story is nonetheless touching and beautiful.  Hope abounds, as father and son hold on to one another, loving each other deeply from the heart, learning together what it means to live with faith.  Throughout the novel, the father encourages his son with a simple phrase: carry the fire.  The world around them is dark and hopeless, but they carry within them a spark of life they dare not, will not, allow the world to quench.  This is how to survive in a cold world that is growing colder: you ‘carry the fire.’ 

I’ve been meditating the past several weeks on a familiar passage from Paul’s second letter to his son in the faith Timothy.  It goes like this:

‘For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.  But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you’ – 2 Timothy 4:3-5. 

I’ve known those words for as long as I can remember.  But they have never felt more apt than they do now.  We live in a time when facts do not matter.  People are following the darkest inclinations of their hearts and accepting as true any cockamamie theory that justifies their expression.  They are indeed rejecting truth and embracing strange myths (e.g., Q Anon, Pizza gate, The Steal).  Elected leaders – and religious leaders – who consciously know better go along with such insanity, believing that they can use said dark expressions to forge political coalitions to remain in, and expand upon, their positions of power.  Sin has been part of the world since the Fall, but ours is a time of descending shadow.  We face the sort of days Jesus warned about.  Sin is rampant everywhere, and the love of many is growing colder by the minute. 

How does one live in such a world? 

Carry the fire. 

That is Paul’s advice to Timothy, his son in the faith.  Not in so many words, but it’s what he means. 

He breaks his advice down into four main points.    

First, we must keep a clear head in every situation.  Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem, A Father’s Advice to his Son, begins, ‘if you can keep your head about you, when others are losing theirs and blaming it on you…’  That seems to sum things up well.   People around us have lost their heads.  But disciples of Jesus must not lose theirs.  We must, as the author of Hebrews puts it, keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus.  While others wander into myths, we must remain deeply rooted in the way, truth, and life of our Lord.  We must, as Rich Mullins sang years ago, continue as the children who love while the nations rage.

Second, we must not be afraid of suffering.  Too many believers have been silent in these times, fearful of the repercussions of speaking truth into the darkness.  Church leaders have feared losing their flocks, ministries, or positions.  Ordinary believers (as if there were such a thing!) fear losing friends and community standing.  Folks, if we’re fearful of such things now, what will we do when things get worse?  Paul wrote to Timothy from prison, awaiting his own death.  The very next verses in his letter tell of how he was being poured out as a drink offering for his faith.  Yet Paul was not afraid of suffering.  He knew it was part of what can happen when you live faithfully for Jesus.  Flannery O’Connor put her finger on the problem of people who don’t understand this basic truth when she wrote, ‘they think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is a cross.’  As believers living in a world that is cold and growing colder, we had better be prepared to pick up ours and follow Jesus.  We cannot be afraid. If the world is to find hope beyond the darkness of our times, we must do what we have been called to do. 

Third, we are to work at telling others the Good News.  Some translations put this, ‘do the work of an evangelist.’  An evangelist is one who proclaims Good News.  We who follow Jesus have the best news of all and have been empowered to share it far and wide.  The Kingdom has come.  There is another way to live.  We need not be captive to either strange myths or our darkest impulses.  People must know this. We must stand at the crossroads and live out the values of the Kingdom, pointing the world to Jesus and his way.  To paraphrase N.T. Wright, it is our call to preach hope wherever there is hopelessness, justice wherever there is injustice, peace wherever there is violence, and love wherever there is hatred.  We are to preach Jesus, incarnate, crucified, and resurrected to a world that is cold and growing colder, that it might find the warmth it needs to thrive again. 

And finally, we are to fully complete the ministry that God has given us.  This will be different for each of us.  But every Christian has a ministry.  Whatever it is, whether it is running a global ministry, pastoring a small church, caring for a handicapped child, preserving the beauty of God’s creation, loving the neighbor across the street, or any number of other wonderful things, we are to continue to bloom wherever God has planted us until we are directed to another mission field or else our race has run.  God will show us, each day, what he desires us to do.  Ours is to draw close to him, discern his will, and perform whatever task he gives.  In a world that is cold and growing colder, this may seem to not make much difference at times.  No matter.  We must be faithful to the end.  We must do what is right.  We must follow the lead of our Lord and Savior. And trust the rest to him. 

This is how we live in times such as ours.  We do not give up.  We fight the good fight.  We finish the course.  We keep the faith.  We pass on the torch of faith to those who come behind us.  Just as those who carried it faithfully in the past passed it along to us. 

The world is dark and cold my friends, and things may get darker and colder still in days to come.

Carry the fire.

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

It’s Time to Abandon the Empire

‘Whenever the Spirit of God blows like a hurricane through Christian history, it is through prophets and lovers who have surrendered unconditionally to the folly of the Cross’ – Brennan Manning

It was tough living in first century Palestine, at least if you were a faithful Jew.  Herod the Great, and his sons after him, collaborated with Rome to impose Greco-Roman politics and culture upon Israel with evangelistic fervor. The way of Herod, aka the way of empire, the way of wielding power from above to impose one’s will upon those below, was having its way throughout the land. This was the world of Jesus.

In his book, The Jesus Way, Eugene Peterson points out something rather remarkable about Jesus and his time: despite the virtual omnipresence of the Roman Empire and its puppet kings, Jesus pretty much went about his business as if they didn’t exist. Only once did he briefly mention the emperor (Mark 12:17), and it was the same with the house of Herod (Luke 13:32).  He called Herod Antipas a ‘fox,’ which was just enough of an insult to let everyone know what he thought of that family’s wily political ways. Not that he was unaffected by these miscreants. He certainly was. His birth in Bethlehem was brought about by imperial edict. As a toddler he fled with his refugee family to escape Herod’s mania.  As a craftsman in Nazareth he felt the financial pinch of the empire’s oppressive taxation. As an itinerant preacher he walked among centurions and soldiers who jealously eyed him with suspicion.   And at the end of his life he was deemed a political enemy of the state and crucified under orders of the Roman Governor Pilate.  Even his grave was guarded by Roman soldiers. From birth to death, Jesus life was ramed by the politics and policies of empire. 

But he never let the empire dictate the course of his life.  He simply swam in its waters (without ‘getting wet,’ i.e., being contaminated by them) as he heeded the voice of his Father.  Never once did he seek to use the empire’s power to further his message. He never petitioned it for a redress of grievances (though the Gospels show evidence of other religious leaders doing just that). He never asked Herod to implement just laws or further the Kingdom of God on earth. It is striking that during the greatest injustice ever perpetrated, his own arrest and trial, he never once asked either Herod or Pilate for mercy.  In fact, he was silent before Herod, and largely so before Pilate.  To the latter he would only say that his Kingdom didn’t operate along the lines of power politics and violence, as Pilate’s did, and that in any event his life was in his Father’s hands, not Rome’s. In other words, even when the regents of the world stood before him and asked for his input on the subject of his own death, he pretty much ignored them. 

This is not to say he never addressed the powers of his day.  On the contrary, he challenged them at every turn. His every move in life was, in a sense, a political act; a statement in word or action that decried the way of empire and violence. But he never employed the ways and means of the empire to make his case. He never sought political power or assistance. He never enmeshed himself, even to the slightest degree, in the empire’s methods. He simply went about his Father’s business, strolling about the dominion of the empire, showing everyone another way to change the world.

There are of course many reasons why he took this approach. But most crucial is that empire simply wasn’t his Father’s way. His Fathers way was (and is) the way of the Cross, which Paul described as the wisdom of God and the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). Jesus knew that using the ways and means of empire to make the world a better place would be useless. Might as well try to make the sun rise in the west. The empire was the empire was the empire, and always would be. There was nothing to gain by becoming entangled with it and everything to lose. Get involved in the empire, pursue its ways, and you’ll only end up talking, looking, and smelling like the empire. You might gain at least a part of the world, but in the process lose your own soul (Mark 8:36). Much better, and ultimately far more effective, to follow the way of the Cross.

Such thoughts race through my mind today in the wake of Donald Trump’s second acquittal in the Senate, supposedly the ‘greatest deliberative body on earth.’  We all knew how it would end. And we were right. If you were hoping for another outcome you were fooling yourself. You were counting on an empire to do the right thing. But an empire is an empire is an empire. It never does the right thing. Maybe once in a blue moon it makes a move in the right direction.  Even a blind pig will occasionally find a truffle.  But in the end, the forces of empire, the power players who long to impose their will on those below them, always manage to get their way. It was empire that created the system after all, and it works exactly the way empire intends. 

I’ve spent several years now lamenting and fighting the empire, or at least the version known as Trumpism.  But after everything that’s happened, Trumpism is still alive, still menacing the nation in the wake of insurrection. I will continue to stand against it, of course, but in coming days I’m going to do better at remembering the tactics of Jesus. I’m resolving to spend less time paying attention to what the empire is doing. Sure, I will vote. I will speak out about issues that matter. I will stand against racism, seek solidarity with the vulnerable, work to preserve the beauty of God’s creation, lots of things.  I may even show up at a protest or two. But I am not going to expend the best parts of myself watching and worrying about the minutiae of what the empire is doing, thinking that by doing so I can somehow will it to do the right thing. The vote today proves what I really knew all along.  It never will.   

So, instead, I’m going to follow the way of the cross. I’m going to stroll around the dominion of empire doing my best to show everyone another way to change the world. I’m going to try to be more like my Jesus (I am well aware of how far I fall short of that standard), the one who went about his business of challenging the empire and its ways without seeming to notice it. My life will still be lived in the shadow of the beast, as his was, and in some ways shaped by the beast’s designs and machinations. But I will not waste my time worrying about those designs and machinations. I will instead seek my Fathers will and place myself in his hands. I will live by the creed of another Kingdom, not the Pilatian, Herodian, or Trumpian kingdoms of the world.   

Will doing this make a difference? I have no idea.  It really isn’t any of my concern. In the inside cover of my Bible I have taped a quote from Brother Dominique, a friend and mentor of the late Brennan Manning. It reads:

‘All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me.  I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.  If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness.  If he wants it to, it will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices.  But the usefulness of my life is His concern, not mine.  It would be indecent of me to worry about that.’[1]

It’s time to get out of the shallow end of the pool and live that statement to the full.

Let the chips fall where they may. I will trust God and follow Jesus.  I will follow the way of the Cross.

As Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw say, ‘enough with the donkeys and elephants. It’s time for the Lamb.’

It’s time to abandon the empire. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

[1] From All is Grace, by Brennan Manning.

Signposts

‘It’s all a muddle’ – Stephen Blackpool, in Charles Dickens Hard Times

How naïve we were. 

Many of us thought, or at least hoped, that after January 20th, things would return to ‘normal.’  The Q Anon conspiracy would vanish.  The Proud and Boogaloo Boys?  They’d put down their guns and take up needlepoint.  The tens of millions who drank the Trumpian Kool-Aid?  They’d all join hands with the other side and sing Kumbaya.    The 197 members of Congress who voted to overturn an election would apologize.  The ringleaders, in both Congress and the former Administration, who actively worked to incite an insurrection would be held accountable.  Trump would be convicted of impeachment charges in the Senate.  White Evangelical ‘Christians’ who had made the devils bargain, exchanging their values for power, would fall on their faces and cry out to God for forgiveness.  White Supremacists would have an epiphany.  And the cult of Donald Trump would come to an abrupt and sudden end.  

Ok, maybe we didn’t think all that would happen.  But we at least hoped that major progress would be quickly made. 

Instead, almost the exact opposite is happening.  Q Anon is thriving, within the very halls that its adherents and allies attacked a mere matter of weeks ago.  Militia groups are arming (so much for needlepoint).  Trump fans are, well, still Trump fans.  Republicans in Congress are siding with those who lied about the election (not all mind you, just 90% of them).  The ringleaders have not only not been held accountable, but it looks like they will all get off scot free.  Trump will, barring a miracle, not be convicted by the Senate.  The aforementioned white Evangelicals are doubling down on the devil’s bargain.  White supremacy is going strong.  And the cult of Trump is nursing its wounds and planning a comeback for its master ‘in some form.’

The truth is that the country is mess.  Evil lingers still.  It will be back. One of America’s two major parties is choosing the path of insane conspiracy theories, lies, hate, and authoritarian tactics. [1]  It feels as if we stand on the edge of a dark abyss, and it is only a matter of time before we are pulled in.  It seems as if we are captives to our times, and there is little we can do about it as we watch dark events unfold. 

What are people of goodwill to do?  What, most particularly, are followers of Jesus to do? 

The answer is simple.  Live.  We are to live, knowing that we are not captives to our times.  We are the keepers of a better future.  We know that no matter what happens in the coming years, in the end, Julian of Norwich will be proven correct: ‘all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.’  I have been struck as of late by the words by the late Francis Schaffer, a theologian who wrote extensively about the ongoing suffering and evil of our world, and the responsibility of the Christian who lives within it.  We are not to just resign ourselves as captives to our times, or to lay down and die in the face of the evil around us, any more than we are to join such evil.  We are to live in the midst of said evil differently, in the direction of what we know the future will be, in the direction of a world made new by the love and grace of God at the return of Jesus.  Schaffer wrote:

‘Wars will continue until the Prince of Peace comes, but we must pursue harmony now.  Hunger and poverty will remain until the Bread of Life returns, but we must still care for those in need now.  Sin will permeate this earth until the Spotless Lamb arrives, but we must preach forgiveness now.  Our actions today should be driven by our knowledge of what is to come.’ 

He is so right.  Yes, the world is a mess.  But we have been called to live as ‘citizens of heaven’ (Philippians 2:27), ‘strangers and exiles on earth’ (Hebrews 11:13) waiting for the better world that Christ will one day bring.  We are not captives of our times; we are liberated to live the in the light of the future that will be.  Even when the world around us is a total mess. 

Stephen Blackpool is one of my favorite Dickensian characters.  He is a mere ‘hand,’ a cog in a vast industrial machine, with little power or influence in a society ruled by misguided men.  ‘It’s all a muddle,’ he says, over and again, as he tries to figure things out.  He laments that there is nothing he can think of to make things better.  But at one point he grasps that carrying on in the way of the world will never work. He says: 

‘I cannot, with my little learning and my common way, tell you what will make all this better…but I can tell you what won’t.  The strong hand will never do it.  Victory and triumph will never do it.  Believing your side is unnaturally and always forever right, and the other side unnaturally always and forever wrong…will never do it till the Sun turns to ice.’[2]

Stephen is on to something.  The world is a muddle.  In our day as well as his.  Behaving like the world will never make anything better.  Power politics will never do it.  Winning at all costs, selling your values for power, will never do it.  Demonizing those you disagree with, to the point of violence, as so many do today, will never do it.  All of this is the way of empire.  The way of hate.  The way of vengeance. 

But living as children of light in a world of darkness, now that’s something.  Living as signposts that point to a better day that is to come, that might make a difference.  Living as those who believe in justice.  Living as peacemakers.  Living as truth tellers.  Living as those who love while those around us rage.  Those things just might make all the difference in the world. 

The world may be a mess, and maybe we can’t arrange all the improvements we would like.  Probably not.  But we can live as signposts pointing to coming day.  A day that, as followers of Jesus, we know is coming soon. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

[1] I should add that even if the government stays ‘blue,’ that doesn’t rid us of evil.  Blue or Red (or yellow or purple for that matter), empires are empires.  They are inherently power seeking and corrupt (though under present circumstances, I’d prefer Blue over Red any day of the week). 

[2] Stephen speaks with a heavy accent.  With apologies to Mr. Dickens, I’ve cleaned it up to make it easier to understand.  I still love the original. 

Greetings from Exegol

‘We will be back in some form’ – Donald J. Trump, January 20, 2021

Well it’s been a disappointing month to be sure.  After so many millennia, we of the Sith Eternal really thought it was going to work this time.  Our man was in place and he was wreaking all sorts of galactic havoc.  He even created a Space Force!  We thought it would last forever.  Ugh.  The sight of all those smiling liberals on the Capitol steps (a mere two weeks after we almost had it for our own!) as an old man waxed about decency, unity, and kindness was revolting!  It was almost as infuriating as watching those dancing Ewoks so long ago in a galaxy far, far away…

But hey, that just reminds us that we’ve been here before.  This ain’t our first rodeo.  When the traitor Vader (weak and sentimental as he was, may his name be cursed forever!) threw Darth Sidious down that infernal shaft, it seemed to be over then too.  But we improvised.  We adapted.  We overcame (yes, we know we sound like Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge.  Didn’t you know he’s one of us?).  We took our Dark Lord’s body from the wreckage and brought it home to Exegol.  There, in the darkness of the Outer Rim, shielded from all eyes by the remains of Megafauna, we kept our Master alive, plotting and planning his return.  We spliced genes to find a suitable vessel for our Lord’s dark essence.  We raised the First Order from the ruins of the Empire and built a fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers worthy of his majesty.  Nothing was going to stop us!  Well, until Vader’s grandson (the weak and sentimental Ben Solo cursed be his name forever) decided to help Palpatine’s granddaughter (weak and sentimental as she was, cursed be her name forever too).  Oh it was terrible!  To come so close to victory only to be ruined by a girl and her bad boy crush!  

But as those of you who study history may have noticed, and in the words of Chubawumba, ‘we get knocked down, but we get up again, ‘cause you’re never gonna keep us down!’  In every age, in every era, we return anew.  We may be, for the moment, nursing our wounds at Mar-a-Lago (aka, New Exegol) but we will be back!  Even now, we are nursing our current Master, keeping him alive for his inevitable return, or at least until we find a suitable heir.  And when the time is right, we will unleash our fire!  We shall once again threaten all that is good and decent throughout the universe!  One day soon, my progressive do-gooder foes, we shall prevail!  You may have set us back, but not for long!  In the words of our immortal Emperor, ‘Do not fear that feeble attack, my faithful!  Nothing will stop the return of the Sith!’

Mwoohahahahaha! (i.e., evil Sidious-esque laugh). 

Yours truly,

The Sith Eternal

Editor’s Note: we’re not exactly sure how this deranged correspondence came to us, but we want our readers to be assured that no matter what happens in the time ahead, all shall be well.  Yes, the Sith Eternal, or whatever you want to call the dark principalities and powers of the unseen world that lay behind the evil deeds of men and women in our own, exist.  And yes, in every age they find men and women willing to do their bidding.  But know this brothers and sisters: the empires they spawn shall always fail.  The ‘Palpatines’ of the earth come and go, but the Kingdom of God endures forever.  Amen.

Stop Saying ‘Both Sides’

‘The truth shall set you free’ – Jesus

I don’t like binary choices.  I don’t see the world that way.  I’m neither a Republican nor a Democrat.  I try to remain dedicated to the principles of Jesus, and see problems with both political parties.   Neither represents the values of Jesus’ Kingdom.  Nor could they.  They are part of the American empire, not the Kingdom of God.  Their approach to changing the world  is ‘power over’ not ‘power under.’ They are followers of the way of the dragon, not the way of the Lamb.  

All that, as I’ve said before, is to say that although I find myself these days more in tune with those who lean blue I’m not altogether on the side of any political party.  I am however altogether on the side of truth.  And truth compels me to respond to those who are blaming the January 6th insurrection on both political parties.  I’ve heard it expressed in various ways and from various people, from shameless defenders of the President to modern day Neville Chamberlains who think they can somehow appease the deranged inciters and purveyors of violence (and those who sympathize with them) by assigning blame everywhere. ‘Really, both sides are guilty here.’  ‘There are bad actors on both sides.’ 

Let’s get some things straight.  

The Democrats did not spend months before the 2020 Presidential election lying to their voters by telling them that the other side was massively cheating and that they could only lose if the election was stolen. Donald Trump and his Republicans allies did that.  

The Democrats did not spend the two months following the election tweeting and rallying and promoting false conspiracy theories about how the election was stolen.  Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that.  

The Democrats did not dog whistle support for Q Anon conspiracy theories and predictions of a ‘storm’ that would take over the US government and lead to the execution of political enemies.  Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that.  

The Democrats did not empower and encourage white supremacists, call them good people, and encourage violence against people of color over the past four years.  Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that.  

The Democrats did not pressure state legislators and election officials to ‘find votes’ or refuse to certify state election results in an attempt to thwart the will of the people in those states.   Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that.  

The Democrats did not hold phony ‘hearings’ led by extremist members of their party to offer fake  ‘evidence’ of election fraud.  Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that.  

The Democrats did not invite thousands of Q anon conspiracy theorists and white supremacists to Washington DC on the day the Electoral College vote was to be certified.  Nor did they tell them to ‘be wild’ as they assembled.  Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that.  

The Democrats did not deliberately enflame said denizens of humanity by appearing before them and encouraging them to March on the Capitol building, nor did they call for ‘trial by combat’ or encourage them to ‘bring the storm’ on January 6, 2021.  Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that.  

The Democrats did not, once the Mob was cleared, press on in an attempt to steal the election by refusing to recognize state electors.  Nor did they make the preposterous claim that the riots had been led by ‘Antifa.’  Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that. 

The Democrats did not encourage the use of confederate symbols, such as the flag waved inside the Capitol building, at any point during the past four years.  Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that.  

The Democrats did not have 197 members of their party vote against impeaching an insurrectionist President.  Donald Trump’s Republican allies did that.  

In short, the Democrats did not do a single solitary thing to encourage or support a coup or insurrection.  Donald Trump and his Republican allies did that.  

To be sure, the Democrats are not perfect.  And as they take power in the days ahead they may very well act inconsistently with the teachings of Jesus, constitutional principle, and basic human decency.  Like I said, they are part of the empire and follow imperial ways, so it really won’t surprise me.  When they do such things, we can call them out for it.  

But make no mistake: what happened on January 6th was not the fault of ‘both sides.’   

That is the truth.  May it set you free. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

Calling Out Quislings

‘A vile race of quislings – to use a new word which will carry the scorn of mankind down the centuries – is hired to fawn upon the conqueror, to collaborate in his designs, and to enforce his rule upon their fellow countrymen, while groveling low themselves’ – Winston Churchill, June 12, 1941

Let me be clear at the outset of this post that I believe in forgiveness and enemy love.  God commands these things, and believe it or not, they are powerful forces that can and do change the world.  But I also believe in justice and accountability.  God talks about them a lot too. 

This past week’s attack on the Capitol Building in Washington cries out for accountability and justice.  Make no mistake: this was a coordinated insurrection orchestrated by the President of the United States, who even as it unfolded, called Senators to convince them to heed the will of the mob and overturn a free and fair election.  That the President and perpetrators of the assault need to be held accountable should go without saying (though sadly, it needs to be these days). 

But accountability needs to go much further than the President and his Brownshirts (or should I say Redhats?).  Just as there were many fingers on the trigger that killed Jimmie Lee Jackson, there were many collaborators in the assault on the Capitol that killed five people, including a law enforcement officer.  What happened at the Capitol was the inevitable result of four years of fomented outrage, wholesale engagement with the politics of fear, hate, and division, and a collective refusal on the part of those who know better to simply stand and say, ‘enough.’ (It is actually in a deeper sense the inevitable result of hundreds of years of American History, but that’s a longer story for another time).

The insurrection was led by Republican members of Congress who, for four years, stood by in silence as children were put in cages.  As families were torn asunder.  As racism roared from the mouth of a white supremacist president.   As daily assaults against the institutions of democracy flowed from his twitter account.  As the President invited foreign interference in what was then the upcoming election, and as he spun false conspiracy theories about election fraud once he lost while simultaneously attempting election fraud himself.  As these and a parade of a thousand other horribles swept across the land, these members of Congress, almost to a man and woman, stood by and did nothing.  In fact, they defended it all.  And when given the opportunity to remove a would-be dictator from office before he could do further damage, failed to do so.  My goodness, even in the wake of the assault, 147 of these Congressman continued to press false conspiracy theories in an attempt to steal the election!  As for the rest, well, we can be thankful they finally decided to step back from the brink to some degree.  But even they have failed to own up to their part in this insurrection.  Shame on them.  Shame on them all. 

It was also led by members of the President’s own administration, who stood by and defended the President at every tweet, every provocative word, every assault on the fabric of society.  They stroked his ego, fueled his narcissism, and carried out his cruel and destructive orders.  They peddled lies about the election themselves and kindled the fires of rage.  In the wake of the attack, some have resigned.  Some have been silent.  None have stood up.  None have owned up.  Shame to them as well. 

It was led by the heroes of right-wing media.  Outlets like FOX News, Newsmax, and One America have knowingly reported lies as facts, all in the name of ratings and the dollars they bring.  And when the coup failed, their spin machines went into action.  ‘It’s the fault of the liberals.’  ‘It was really Antifa.’   Have they no shame?  Whether they do or not, shame on them all. 

And it was led by leaders of the white American Church.  White Evangelical leaders such as Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr., and Eric Metaxas, Christian Nationalists all, may as well have broken the barriers at the capitol themselves.  Such supposed followers of the Prince of Peace put down their crosses and took up their swords in defense of a man whose every utterance threatened lives and defied the teachings and way of Jesus.  And not just white Christian leaders.  White Christians in general are, tragically, among the most likely to believe the President’s lies.  The most likely to repeat them.  Heck, there were even some among the insurrectionists waving Jesus flags and crosses alongside Confederate banners.  Even now, many still stand beside the man who inspired an attack on Congress.  Shame, the deepest shame, be on them all.  It’s long past time we stopped calling these folks Christians. 

The above quote from Winston Churchill is a reference to the government of Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian politician who betrayed his country in an attempt to gain power through a collaborative alliance with the Nazis in the 1930s.  He brought shame to his family name and nation and earned the legacy of a coward and a collaborator with evil.  Sadly, he was not the last of his kind by a long shot. 

Republican Senator Mitt Romney, a standout of virtue amidst the crisis of the Trump Presidency, spoke like Churchill the other day.  In the wake of the insurrection, he spoke in defense of democracy:

‘We gather today due to a selfish man’s injured pride and the outrage of his supporters whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning.  What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States.  Those who choose to continue to support this dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy.  They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history.  That will be their legacy.’

Like I said at the outset, I am a big believer in forgiveness and enemy love.  But I’m also for justice and accountability.  We cannot sweep the actions of these scoundrels under the carpet.  We must call them to account.  We must pray and call for their repentance.  For there can be no moving forward, no peace, no reconciliation, no justice, and no hope for a better tomorrow otherwise. 

And so, until there is repentance, until there is accountability, let us remember who and what the collaborators are: a vile band of quislings complicit in an unprecedented and violent attempt to inaugurate an era of authoritarianism in America. 

For their sake, for the sake of the Church, and for the sake of our society, I pray for their transformation, and if it happens, I will gladly stand in line to embrace them.  But let us not pretend that things are fine before then.

The quislings must be held accountable. 

Under Christ’s Mercy

Brent

A Call to Prayer in a Time of Crisis

Today, the Capitol Building of the United States, a symbol of democracy and freedom all over the world, has been stormed.  Congress has been evacuated.  Prevented from performing its constitutional duty of counting the votes of the electoral college and affirming the will of the people as expressed in a fair and open election.  God only knows what happens next.  Who among us, just a few short years ago, would ever have imagined that such a thing could happen? 

As I preached on the Sunday after Christmas, followers of Jesus should not place their hope in the politics of the world.  They should stand for Kingdom values and live with Jesus, and no one else, as their king.  What is happening now has been helped along by many who have rejected such a stance.  Too many professing followers of Jesus have placed their hope in an imperial savior who cannot save, who has fed their grievances and stoked the fires of hate and fear.  What we are seeing now is the fruit of such complicity. 

Whatever side of the political divide you have been on to this point, I call upon all who claim the label Christian to put the politics of the world behind them in this moment and embrace the politics of Jesus by condemning those who would, by force or otherwise, attempt a takeover of a legitimately elected government.  This is not the way of Jesus.  It is the way of imperial madness.  It is the way that always leads to destruction and darkness. 

While as Christians we are not to entangle ourselves in the politics of the empire, we are to seek the welfare of the society in which we live.  To that end, I call upon each of us to work to restore peace to this troubled republic.  And I ask you to pray.  Pray for the safety of Capitol police and members of Congress.  Pray for peace.  Pray for sanity.  Pray for an end to the madness, hate, and fear that has for too long gripped this nation and led to this dark day.  And yes, pray as well for those who would destroy the very fabric of our society – that they will come to their senses before harm comes to anyone, them included.  Pray also for the Church across this nation, much of which has, tragically, accepted a devil’s bargain and sought power, power that has led to violence, the weakening of the Church’s witness, and untold trouble in the days to come.  Pray that she, that is we, will come together in a spirit of repentance and follow the way of the Lamb. 

Pray that somehow, in all of this, people everywhere will wake up and discover that the hope of this world is not found in the politics of empire, but in the politics of the Prince of Peace. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

The Manger Player

‘And she brought forth her newborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger’ – Luke 2:7

How extraordinary is the chronicle of Christ’s Nativity!  Peasant parents-to-be on the move to register for the all-powerful Emperor Augustus’s census, mere mice in a world patrolled by imperial lions.  Arriving at their destination, they are forced to bring forth their miracle child in less-than-ideal conditions.  Depending on your interpretation of events, they were either shuffled off from the inn to a barn out back or relegated to the lower portion of a dwelling where the animals were kept.  Either way, their son – no less than the Son of the God – was born in a stable.  You might have thought that the Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth, who created the universe out of nothing, could have arranged a better location for His Son’s birth than a place that stank like wet animal fur and dung.  The only people who came to acknowledge the incredible introduction of God in human skin were shepherds (the magi came later), hardly the major players of Judean society.  It was hardly an auspicious beginning.  The regents of the world would never have done it this way.

Which is precisely the point.  This was the unfolding of God’s plan to save the world, and God, though the possessor of ultimate and comprehensive power, doesn’t behave like the world’s major players.  He reveals his strength in weakness, a weakness that proves itself to be stronger than human strength (See, 1 Corinthians 1:25; 2 Corinthians 12:9).  It is through weakness and foolishness that God saves the world.  Which explains perfectly why Jesus was conceived in the womb of a poor peasant girl, birthed in a stable, and laid in a manger, why he came into the world not as a major player but, if you will, a ‘manger player.’  That’s the way God rolls. 

We would do well to remember this.

Too often we do not.  History is replete with examples of professing Jesus followers pursuing the way of power, the path of the major players, rather than the path of the one in the manger.  It is a path God never asked his people to follow, one that He Himself expressly rejected in the life of His Son.  Yet many follow it anyway, believing that obtaining what the world perceives as power is not only important but a matter of life and death. 

I am reminded of this every day when I read the news.  The 2020 Presidential election is over, and most of us would like to move on, but as we all know the President is playing a dangerous game, spinning patently false conspiracy theories in a transparent attempt to steal an election in pursuit of his own interests.  That a political leader, a major player on the world stage, would behave in such a manner probably shouldn’t surprise us.  The regents of the world often behave this way.  It’s kind of par for the course.  The extent to which it seems odd to us in America reflects how privileged we have been in this society up to this point.  Not everyone in the world is quite so privileged. 

But to see professing Christians, those who claim to follow Jesus, backing such an effort, hoping to thereby have access to the halls of power, exercise influence, and advance an agenda, should shock the conscience of everyone who hopes to honestly follow the one born and laid in a manger. 

An influential leader in the evangelical world recently gave voice to the position of many when he echoed the President’s lies, refused to accept the ‘monstrous’ Joe Biden as his fellow American, and called the election ‘the most horrifying thing that has ever happened in the history of the nation.’  He then proclaimed to the President (who had called in to his show; yes, this man has a show): ‘I’d be willing to die in this fight.  This is a fight for everything.  God is with us.’[1] In brief, this leader conveyed his belief that Christians had to fight for Trump because everything depends on keeping him in office. 

I beg to differ.  Christians should know that everything does not depend on keeping one’s preferred political candidate in power.  Rather, everything depends on following the one who, rather than be born in a palace and laid on a bed of downy softness, was born in a stable and laid in a manger.  Everything depends on following the one who, after he grew into adulthood, expressly spurned the imperial power game.  Everything depends on following the one who, though he had created all things, rejected being a major player on the world’s terms, took up his cross as his preferred means to save the world, and called us to do the same.

The Apostle Paul said that Christians are to have the same mind as Christ Jesus, who, even though he was God, renounced his privilege, became one of us, took on the form of a servant, and humbled himself all the way to the Cross (Philippians 2:5-8). 

There is a battle worth dying for in our time.  It’s a battle for the soul of the Church.  In this battle, with all due respect to the evangelical leader quoted above (and those who agree with him), the question is not whether we will give our lives for Donald Trump.  Or Joe Biden.  Or any other major player on the scene of imperial politics.  The question is not whether we will give our lives in the mad quest to obtain imperial power that we might change the world from the top down.  The question is whether we will give our lives, not for the major players, but for the ‘manger player,’ pursue his humble path, and walk with him as he changes the world from the bottom up. 

As the Mandalorian would say, ‘This is the way,’ and everything depends upon our following it.    

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

[1] Eric Metaxas, Christian Radio Host, Tells Trump, ‘Jesus is With Us in this Fight.’ Religion New Service. November 30, 2020.