THE ILLUSION

THE ILLUSION

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Look closely.  The hag is looking at you.

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We see deposits of ocean spray glisten on the rocks, and think we know the sea…leaves teased in the wind, and think we know the forest…birth and death and think we know life.  We think we know sustainable governance in our nation, because we have only seen the rise and fall of other nations.  Seeing the visible image, we think we know the invisible Truth.  We may even have God’s light to see the invisible Truth, but pride in what we think we know, casts a shadow over the reality of invisible Truth, and instead we see the visible illusion.    

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Colossians 1:15a, New Living Translation
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

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John 14:6a, New International Version
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.”

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2 Corinthians 4:6, New International Version
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.

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2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, New International Version

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works.  He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders (decrees and legislation) that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.  They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

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Half-Truth 

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The very existence of today’s politicians depends in part on half-truths. The poet W. H. Auden, speaking a generation ago of the Devil, unknowingly described the craft of the self-interested politicians of our generation.
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"As such, he does not tell lies,
But half-truths we can synthesis
So, hidden in his hocus pocus,
There lies the gift of double focus."

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Tempted by the half-truth, the public must at least believe they are possibly truth. However, the poet exposes the folly of such misplaced trust. 
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"The truth is one and incapable of self-contradiction;
All knowledge that conflicts with itself is Poetic Fiction."

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John 3:21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
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James 1:16 + 17 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

THE CHURCH GREW POLITICAL

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THE CHURCH GREW POLITICAL

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Church Growth pastors and consultants, like myself, played a role in uniting America's Christian Right behind the Trump Presidency.  In our effort to facilitate the growth of churches, we inadvertently prepared “the body of Christ” to believe the church’s goals were compatible with those of government.  

We evaluated the churches’ growth potential, recommended, and implemented proven strategies that stimulated and maintained increased attendance.  Our growth tactics included replacing any programs, personnel, physical facilities, or promotional activities that resisted growth, with more expansionary alternatives. 

"Church Growth", at the time was a popular nation wide phenomenon.
Our directives were so precise that resultant growth rates followed in direct proportion to the church's ability to adopt our recommendations.  Those who implemented the proposals won significantly more parishioners and the financial rewards that accompany numerical growth.  Those that didn’t, stayed the same or declined.  The principles were all scripturally justifiable, though spiritually neutral, and purely practical.  With only slight modifications, the same tactics  would have work for a shoe-store,  a gas station, or almost any other business endeavor. 

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Therefore, when candidate Trump made similar claims of growth and prosperity the American Evangelical Church failed to see any moral or ethical red flags.  They believed the Trump view of "Make America Great Again" lined up perfectly with their own goal, "Make Your Church Great Again."  The absence of moral or spiritual value held only two exceptions...abortion and homosexuality.

At that time, there had been a statically verifiable shift away from these two moral issues in our country, which admittedly had not reach fulfillment.  But before those or any moral issue can be successfully legislated, they must first achieve dominant national approval.  That requires a cultural heart transformation.  Such a moral shift is the purview of Christians operating in the love and grace of God, not in the power and force of government.

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 Involuntary criminalization always produces revolt and incompliance among those whose hearts and minds are not sensitizes to the “rightness” of a law.  Just and fair laws reflect the values of the governed.  Unjust and unfair laws dictate the values to the government.  

Considering criminalization overlooks the spiritual work that must precede any such legal action.  God tasked the church with that unique redemptive role…a role government cannot fill.  No matter how hard government may try, its role is not redemptive.  The innocent blood of millions of children, lies at the feet of our churches, who insist that church and government combining their separate roles, into one, weakens them both.

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Convinced my vision of the American Church growing numerically was God's will, I rejoiced in my success.  Regrettably, my success blinded me to the fact that the church was becoming more pleased with itself, less empathetic toward the needy outsiders, less dependent of the power of God on our society, and more dependent of political power.  As it lost its love for “the lost,” the church also lost its redemptive role in society, and worst still relinquished its moral authority, to politicians.

So with its social role and moral authority depleted, the church strove to use its numerical advantage to regain social influence through political alliances.  In so doing, it no long balanced the penalizing role of government with its own redemption role, resulting in a cruel and impersonal politically aligned governmental structure. Subsequently, the nation finds itself on the verge of justice without mercy. 

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However, I believe we can look ahead for a future of ecclesiastical miracle, when we realize what we have done.  The church of Christ Jesus rising from the dead.  The American Church kneeling in humiliation, turning in tearful repentance, will once again shoulder her ordained place under God’s redemptive yoke.  God will have nothing to do with our attempts to make people good by political alliances or our church growth programs.  Returning to God and allowing Him to rule each of us personally, the church will awaken anew to her social role and regain her spiritual authority.

Amen

DEBATE OR UNDERSTAND

DEBATE OR UNDERSTAND

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A friend and I have been stuck in a tedious dialog for over a year now.  I began to wonder why he seemed so obsessed with relentlessly contradicting me.  He didn’t just criticize every post on a particular topic, but could not let the subject go…agreeing to disagree.  Concerned for his emotional health, I asked if he was aware of how odd his compulsion seemed.  Hoping to help him identify the source of his peculiar fixation, I ask, “Are you OK?”  He responded by sharing the above quotation.  When he did, I finally understood the problem, but it was not what I expected. 

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The same interpersonal problem we were having is the same one the world is having  and the United States is having internally.  It is the conflict between victory and understanding.

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Our Facebook dialog is a perfect example.  He was having a debate.  I, on the other hand, was simply trying to convey personal thoughts and feelings.  In my mind, winning or losing was not an issue.  I was not competing.  

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Most of the time, when I post something on the Web, it is “me” expressing myself.  Unlike the purpose of an argument or a debate, my goal is communication not winning.  When it comes to rating my posts, I base a scale that judges how well the ideas or the emotional content gets delivered.  The evaluation ranges from perfect, to OK, and at the bottom…not good.  Honestly, I seldom, if ever, reach the gold metal first place I’m shooting for.

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Nevertheless, my posts and my subsequent responses are attempts to clarify meaning or express emotion, never if ever, to achieve victory over my detractors.  One day, I may present a thoroughly developed case for thinking and feeling the way I do, but I am holding that in reserve.  The one-upmanship of a debate does not lend itself to the mutual growth and understanding.  Understanding requires a less competitive form of interchange.  That is why I found my friends unending arguments boring at best, and annoying at their worst.  

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The thing that makes social media attractive is more than access to information but the opportunity to broadcast and receive our own personal thoughts and feelings.  Even though, I often use corroborating evidence to reinforce my ideas, I am disappointed when I receive a shared impersonal video rebuttal, by some “expert,” instead of a direct contrasting view from the actual person.  Such sources can support what you think or feel, but they cannot tell me why you feel or think as you do.  It is the opposite of intimate self-expression.  The most effective means of understanding and being understood is unmediated personal exchanges of ideas and feelings.    

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Unfortunately, growth and understanding were not the aim of my persistent friendly critic.  He expected me to comeback with some powerful rebuttal, loaded with the video experts.  Instead, I unwittingly answered with more precisely worded expressions of my inner thoughts and feelings.  Seeing my responses as weak arguments, rather than self-disclosures, he habitually felt compelled to shoot down my responses as unreasoned foolishness.

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When I finally realized the actual nature of our conflict, I wrote him, saying something like, “I'm sorry, but I have been trying to tell you and other possible readers, either how I feel or what I think about a topic.  While I value confrontations that broaden my understanding, no amount of argumentation can change my personality; because what I write is an expression of how God has shaped me.  You're debating.  I'm divulging.”

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Sadly, we both missed the cause for our wearisome and monotonous dialog.  Our conversational goals were different.  He sought victory, while I sought examination.  My goal was not winning, but interpersonal understanding. I believe, as a rule of human interaction, be they personal, intra-national, or international it is true:

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You can win without understanding or understand without winning, but you cannot have both.  My preferred alternative is, make understanding what I seek to win.