If we want to see our culture change we have to do it
ourselves. We have mistakenly believed we can get our culture to change by
electing politicians. We can see how well that’s worked out. There really is no
other way than to use the muscle of the Church, in unity, in Love. To
illustrate this point and some of the mistakes we have made, as a whole, I will
use a lot of colorful expressions. For example, if I said “he is as stubborn as
a mule” you would understand that the person I was speaking of was being
obstinate. If I said “she is quiet as a mouse” you would understand that the
person I was speaking of moves around inaudibly. This is one of the ways the
Bible communicates to humans, especially in the pre-Christ era, because, as we
know, Yahweh was painting images of the world around them and putting them into
practical application. And as the Letter
of Aristeas explains, the ideas of clean and unclean animals were not about
dietary restrictions, but behaviors. Using some well-known expressions draws
people into listening. This is a form of communication that we still use today.
It helps people to “see” what we are trying to say. So I am about to open a can
of worms, because we have a god who rules over the earth whose bark is worse
than his bite. I’m going to let the cat out of the bag and expose our enemy who
can be sly as a fox.
There is only one way to change our culture, which is to
walk in love as Jesus said. Yet we have become lazy and have forgotten that we
have an enemy. That is the way the devil likes us, lazy and forgetful. While there
are many wolves in sheep’s clothing within the body of Christ we tend to forget
about them. Instead we go after people on the outside of the body of Christ
with a hammer, attempting to swat the fly off their head. Christians have
bought into the lie that we have to hurry and get people saved, so the most
efficient way to do that is to beat people into submission. Love takes longer
to cultivate and grow. Love takes more energy on our part. But if we can
unravel some important culture lies within the body of Christ we can make sense
of the schemes of the enemy who behaves like a whirling dervish, twisting and
spinning people in all different directions.
2 Cor 4:3-4 If our Message is obscure to anyone, it's not
because we're holding back in any way. No, it's because these other people are
looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. 4 All
they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give
them what they want, and that they won't have to bother believing a Truth they
can't see. They're stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that
shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we'll ever get. (from
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson.
All rights reserved.)
A quick review of the first century era, the Pharisees had
evolved during the Hasmonean era. They felt that even though things were
corrupt, they should still serve in the temple. They made temple service and
following the laws more important than following the Holy Spirit. The Essenes,
Nazarenes, Therapeutaes, prophets, and the community in Damascus did not agree
with the corruption in the temple and moved into other regions during the
Hasmonean era. We see the people of those communities, who were not necessarily
cloistered, but were part of that religious group, were well spoken of. They
cared for one another, they took care of the elderly and orphans, and they
stayed out of the political fray of the time. They did not antagonize Roman
soldiers, in fact they made converts of some. Clearly they were not contentious
but followed the Holy Spirit instead of men. When we look at these two groups,
we see one group who used the hammer of the law to force obedience on the
Jewish people. They also used the political system to have Jesus arrested and
crucified. The other group instead allowed people to decide if they wanted to become
part of their community. They allowed each individual to make a free will
decision. They did not shun the Samarians, or any other people group but
allowed others to enter their communities if they wanted. One group pushed
obedience to rules and laws, but that never makes the inner heart clean. The
other group pushed for inner cleansing of the heart, allowing people freedom to
decide to change. This was the landscape of Jesus’ time.
Matt 23:25-28 "You're hopeless, you religion scholars
and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they
sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony.
26 Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean
something. 27 "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees!
Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers
bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. 28
People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total
frauds. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene
H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
A well-known prophet made a comment a while back suggesting
that our society was headed for martial law. There was going to be a time of so
much unrest that the military would take over our cities with a heavy hand. I
don’t know if this is a broad based prophecy for the United States or a more
specific prophecy for certain cities. But in considering this idea I had to
think back to a time of social and cultural unrest that I could personally
remember. I started thinking back to the era of the Vietnam War, a very
unpopular war in the United States. As I thought about it, I recognized
something; the Vietnam War was unpopular, but this was a generation of people
who saw, first-hand, the unfortunate treatment of our WWII Vets. The generation
of Viet Nam protesters had parents who were WWII Vets. Many young men were
recruited to defend freedom and our nation, and they gave of themselves so honorably.
They were truly wonderful defenders of freedom. But when they returned, they
did not always receive decent medical treatment, or psychological care; and
many of our WWII Vets came home to find their jobs gone to non-soldiers. Today,
we seem to idolize that great generation, maybe because we have forgotten how
poorly they were treated upon their return. The Korean War had ended and now in
the late 60’s and early 70’s we were sending our men and women to another place
far away. I remember the war being televised on the evening news. Then on May 4th,
1970, a group of students at Kent State University in Ohio were peacefully
protesting the war; not violently like some of our protests today. The National
Guard opened fire on the protesters, killing 4 students (2 of which were simply
walking to class, and 2 who were protesting) and injuring 9 others. This
escalated protests throughout the country.
Interestingly, by the fall of 1970, a rock band had
released a song that was incredibly accurate from a spiritual perspective. I
would bet many Christians have never read the lyrics to this song, and I would
further bet that good Christians were told not to ever listen to this rock
music. But what if these lyrics had so much truth in them the devil had to twist
Christian thinking to keep them from knowing the truth? Make a point of reading
the lyrics to the song War Pigs, by
Black Sabbath, the last part is especially truthful, revealing the insanity of
the culture we live in. It is no wonder the devil had to convince the Church to
demonize this band as well as all rock music. What if we found out that some
things that we have been told by the Church were simply wrong?
The war in Vietnam is not the only tumultuous historical
time in history, but it illustrates a scheme of the enemy. First of all, the nation
promoted WWII as a patriotic duty; but once our vets came home they were not
cared for. Likewise, during Viet Nam, our vets came home and were not cared
for. Remember the song “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen? That song was
used by Ronald Regan as a campaign promotion because no one on his staff ever
read the lyrics, they only heard the chorus. It was a humiliating blunder for
Ronald Regan and his campaign staff to find out that the song was about how
badly Vietnam vets were treated upon returning home.
As the war became more unpopular, the devil spun a web in
different directions. One direction the devil spun people was in the direction
of patriotism. The other direction people were spun in was in actually hating
the soldiers who returned. Those men and women were told by their churches that
it was their patriotic duty to fight against communism. Many Churches extol the
virtues of people becoming soldiers, but from as far back as I can see, there
are no Churches leading the charge to get our military men and women proper
health care, and civilian job training, and psychological counseling. I have
never seen America’s top Evangelists decrying the actions of our government in
not helping our Vets. I’ve never seen the Word of Faith guys leading the charge
in Washington to get the VA into a better mode of operation. And isn’t it a
shame that our wounded warriors come home to executives of charities
established to help them, living high on the hog? Where are the Churches? There are a few people
in the Church doing 22 pushups for 22 days, but shouldn’t an entire Church make
an effort to help suicidal soldiers, rather than just a few? That is another
spin. Satan really is laughing at mankind. We have to understand that. There is
no other purpose for all of this craziness except for the devil to say to
Yahweh, “See I told you that mankind is stupid, I just proved it”. The only
thing that we can do that is not crazy is to love one another.
There is a conspiracy within the church to keep people
simple minded. It is not the true Pastors promoting this but the hirelings. If
a pastor is afraid to rock the boat by not actively engaging in the fight to
support our military men and women, then he is simply a hired shepherd who
really only cares for himself and not the sheep. Maybe it’s time to expose the
people satan hired to lead churches.
John 10:11-13 "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. 12 A
hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf
come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the
wolf. 13 He's only in it for the money. The sheep don't matter to him. (from
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson.
All rights reserved.)
There is an overriding philosophy among the political
elitists that the earth cannot sustain seven billion people; at least that is
what they want others to think. It isn’t true, but as we know from satans’ last
place of residence, he merchandized his people, and had sanctuaries. That is
where his expertise lies, in fooling mankind in those areas. He fools mankind
with riches, capitalism, at the expense of the buying and selling of men’s
souls, and in sanctuaries where he can control an entire crowd through his
hired pastor. With this in mind, we should think about one of the many
instances of greed that shaped history.
In 1937 DuPont invented polyester. Well that sounds
innocuous until we realize that in doing so DuPont decided to eliminate the
competition by starting a cultural campaign against hemp. That effort to
destroy the competition, caused cannabis to become outlawed. Covered wagons
were covered in canvas, which was made from cannabis. Hemp is not a new
invention. While hemp is an incredible renewable resource, cannabidiol or CBD
is a key compound in cannabis which has been proven to kill cancer cells, and has
virtually no THC. Today however it is the drug companies who try to shut down
cannabidiol research and use. The spin of greed is at work here, but where are
the churches on this? Shouldn’t the
church be fighting for people’s rights to natural treatments that Yahweh
created for our benefit? Didn’t He give us plants and seeds for food and
health? I don’t remember hearing the televangelists condemning pharmaceutical
greed at the expense of human lives. I’m pretty sure the healing ministers are
not arguing before congress on our rights to natural medicines.
Gen 1:11-12 God spoke: "Earth, green up! Grow all
varieties of seed-bearing plants, Every sort of fruit-bearing tree. "And
there it was. 12 Earth produced green seed-bearing plants, all varieties, And
fruit-bearing trees of all sorts. God saw that it was good. (from THE MESSAGE:
The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights
reserved.)
Yahweh did the planting, but man does the fertilizing, and
the genetic modifications. And it is a lucrative business. Where are the
Churches when it comes to petitioning our government for clean foods? God
doesn’t need our help to genetically alter his creation.
Gen 1:29 Then God said, "I've given you every sort of
seed-bearing plant on Earth And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to
you for food. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by
Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
The devil has the churches spinning in favor of corporate
greed on the misnomer that cannabidiol is evil. Notice both the churches’
stance on promoting men and women to enlist in the military, without proper
health care and civilian careers upon retirement, and the churches prohibition
of cannabidiol and other natural remedies which can help people fight cancer,
are stances of death and destruction. Wait what? The Church is agreeing with
death and destruction instead of life? Who would have spun that web? Shouldn’t
the churches be promoting life? How can Christian Churches help to promote
cultural change without a mission of love and life? Churches don’t advocate
change out of fear of losing their tax exempt status. This is the elephant in
the room. Wouldn’t it be better to pay taxes and have a right to campaign for
proper health care for humans? The devil has churches in fear, but Jesus told
us to pay our taxes, and even though Jesus is King of kings, he paid his taxes
too.
Matt 17:24-27 When they arrived at Capernaum, the tax men
came to Peter and asked, "Does your teacher pay taxes?" 25 Peter
said, "Of course."But as soon as they were in the house, Jesus
confronted him. "Simon, what do you think? When a king levies taxes, who
pays — his children or his subjects?" 26 He answered, "His
subjects."Jesus said, "Then the children get off free, right? 27 But
so we don't upset them needlessly, go down to the lake, cast a hook, and pull
in the first fish that bites. Open its mouth and you'll find a coin. Take it
and give it to the tax men. It will be enough for both of us." (from THE MESSAGE:
The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights
reserved.)
If Jesus paid taxes, and we pay our taxes, maybe our
Christian organizations should pay taxes so that we can lobby for life and make
cultural changes because we have bigger fish to fry. We are not crying wolf,
judgment day is coming for us all.
Matt 22:17-22 So tell us honestly: Is it right to pay taxes
to Caesar or not?" 18 Jesus knew they were up to no good. He said,
"Why are you playing these games with me? Why are you trying to trap me?
19 Do you have a coin? Let me see it." They handed him a silver piece. 20
"This engraving — who does it look like? And whose name is on it?" 21
They said, "Caesar.""Then give Caesar what is his, and give God
what is his." 22 The Pharisees were speechless. They went off shaking
their heads. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by
Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
During our political season we hear a lot about powerful
lobbyists twisting policies to favor certain groups, but if the Churches’
mission was to lobby in our society for love, we would be on good terms with
the government. As responsible loving citizens we would have a better
reputation among the non-Christians. Look again at Jesus’ words to the
Pharisees, if we act like them, we are not going to help anyone. Paul tells us
this:
Rom 13:3-7Do you want to be on good terms with the
government? Be a responsible citizen and you'll get on just fine, 4 the
government working to your advantage. But if you're breaking the rules right
and left, watch out. The police aren't there just to be admired in their
uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it.
5 That's why you must live responsibly — not just to avoid punishment but also
because it's the right way to live. 6 That's also why you pay taxes — so that
an orderly way of life can be maintained. 7 Fulfill your obligations as a
citizen. Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders.(from THE
MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All
rights reserved.)
I wonder sometimes how we ended up so backwards in our
attempt to promote salvation. I’m not sure it is effective to make movies that
portray atheists and non-Christians as shallow, hard hearted, unintelligent and
the like. It doesn’t seem that insulting people into becoming Christians is
what Jesus had in mind. We can see the spin of the devil here, the Christians
who feel persecuted cry foul, and make a movie to make themselves look like
heroes. When we are persecuted we should let it go like water off a duck’s
back. We will never know what goes on in the mind or heart of a Jesus rejecter.
It may be that that person who rejects Jesus as Messiah was sexually abused or
physically abused by a church leader, a hireling. There have been many horrible
abusers claiming to be Christians, many liars, many scammers, and many
manipulators. Remember Marilyn Manson’s story? He had a harsh disciplinarian
father. He went to a Christian school and was bullied/teased while playing
Jesus in a school play. Some boys pulled off his loin cloth exposing his
nakedness while hanging on the cross. Where is the love in that? If we can’t
love our children into behaving or love our classmates rather than humiliate
them, how will the culture change?
John 13:34-35 "Let me give you a new command: Love one
another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. 35 This is how
everyone will recognize that you are my disciples — when they see the love you
have for each other." (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary
Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
I am not sure we can do anything better for the changing of
our culture than to love people. If you listen closely to politicians you will
find that they all have the same agenda. A reporter asked a question regarding
“what if abortion was illegal” and the response from four career politicians
was exactly the same, regardless of party affiliation. What we heard from those
four people is that there would be no punishment for illegal abortions. Isn’t
one party supposed to stand for trying to make abortions illegal and the right
to the life of the unborn? Now this seems confusing until you recognize that
the devil spins and twists political systems to look like there are two parties
and several choices. There aren’t. So where are the Churches on this? Some
stick with established parties, some do not. Some think that a person calling
themselves a “Christian” makes them a Christian, and that is where Churches are
fooled. When actions and words don’t line up with Christian practice we tend to
overlook the sin in favor of the “Christian” politician. That is the spin the
devil promotes in the Church in an attempt to divide and conquer us.
The only thing we can do to gain followers of Jesus is to
love people honestly. It is nice when a great orator gets up on a soapbox and
uses clever logic to show non-Jesus followers where they are wrong but does
that make people feel loved? We film people staring as deer in the headlights
when asked questions regarding their beliefs, but is that the way to clean the
outside of the cup and saucer, or the inside of the cup and saucer? What
changes a man’s heart?
2 Cor 10:3-5 The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or
manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt
culture. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene
H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
The entire massively corrupt culture is in need of love,
not politicians, movies, corporate greed or patriotism. Sometimes we behave
like a bull in a china shop and sometimes we behave like an ostrich with its
head in the sand. Technically, we are not fish out of water, we are washed in
the water of the word of God. I know I am preaching to the choir. If we love
people so that their hearts are cleansed we will make disciples of them. If we
beat people into following our rules then we have put the cart before the
horse. While I have written this mostly tongue in cheek, I hope that the points
are clear. We have been unaware of the schemes of the devil, who had his own
sanctuaries long before human kind was created. We are dealing with an old
experienced foe. We all have been played. Now it is time to recognize that the
only way to reverse the nonsense is to get back to a walk in love. Jesus sums
it up best:
Matt 5:43-48 "You're familiar with the old written
law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' 44 I'm
challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the
best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with
the energies of prayer, 45 for then you are working out of your true selves,
your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best — the sun to
warm and the rain to nourish — to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the
nice and nasty. 46 If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus?
Anybody can do that. 47 If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you
expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. 48 "In a word, what
I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out
your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the
way God lives toward you. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
© 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
