hmmm. Friend/mentor/pastor
John Hay Jr. sent me the image displayed above several months ago, and it's one of my faves.
I've been thinking about the current political climate much lately- it's gotten very churchy/statey let's be buddies. Judicial nominees, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Iraq, Jimmy Dobson, Spongebob Squarepants and "God Bless America" all kind of swirl around together in my head like some sort of grody, yet powerful, soup of politics. I'm more and more convinced that the church shouldn't have anything to do with our government. Remember! the Spanish Inquisition. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, but it always starts happening when the government and church start street dancing, jiving to the hip hop on a culture spiraling out of control.
Like it or not, buddies, the grand 'ole US of A was not founded as a Christian. The founding fathers saw the importance early on of keeping these two ladies (deedlie dee dee dee) from getting together. Our first president, besides chopping trees and wearing wooden teeth (imagine the splinters!) was an avid freemason. Others, such as Thomas Jefferson, who wrote much of our early documentation, were deists. Look at our money! It may have that God lingo on it, but how about those pyramids with the creepy eyes? No, no. No Christianity there.
What we have here, buddies, is a sort of hybrid pseudo-Christianity, imputing our American values and views into the soul of a pure religion, defiled by our decidedly anti-Christian cultural stances. These include, but are not limited to, a materialistic, capitalistic mindset, where you see just as many Bentleys and face lifts at the church as you do at the country club. Wait, which is which anyway? The fact that we are the most prominent, powerful nation in the world further compounds this problem- we advertise that we are a "God-fearing nation", via our mouthpiece who has chosen to be very public about his particular breed of Christianity, George W. Bush. We declare Democrats to be against "persons of faith" when they block said Bush's judicial nominees. What if they're just bad nominees? What makes this a faith issue? The fact that our President wants his way, so will resort to religious muckraking, if necessary, to get it? There becomes no line any more, no "wall of separation" as Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island and model for religious freedom, desired. We become a false church, buddies. We become the great beast on which the whore of Babylon will make her triumphal entry.
So, now that I've probably alienated a great many folks out there, let me say that it matters to me little if I've offended. We need to examine what we're doing. We need to be right in Biblical truth, and leave our "American values" in the gutter, if need be. There is nothing more important than the church toeing the line with the doctrines of the Bible, and nothing else- any time we bend our mouth to accept the bit of the government, we become false. We are warned- there is no way around it.
12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. -Philippians 2
When was the last time we trembled? This is serious. There is nothing more serious. We don't treat our Christianity like it matters- it's just one more thing we "do," that we've got all sorted away, like our files for next year's taxes. The only problem is, the Father judges the heart, not files, and he himself warns us. Don't you think it's time for a closer look? Let's keep the flags out of the Churches, and the doctrine off the Senate floor. It's our only prayer, so to speak, at this point.
