What Should I Give Up for Lent?  I actually get that question quite frequently.

Let’s first say what giving something up for Lent doesn’t mean:

• It isn’t a weight loss strategy to get ready for swimsuit season.
• It isn’t something to tell all your friends about so they’ll think you’re spiritual.
• It isn’t about giving up something that you really don’t like anyway.
• It isn’t a competition to see who can give up something more substantial.
• It isn’t earning you a blessed thing.
• It isn’t making you more acceptable to God or more loved by Him.
• It isn’t making up for something bad you did.

When we examine those wrong conceptions of self-denial at Lent, we realize it comes down to our hearts.  Our hearts need to be right with God and that means accepting He is Lord and we are not. 

• We don’t pretend it’s all about God when it’s really all about that bod in a swimsuit.
• We don’t pretend it’s all about sacrifice and self-denial when it’s all about spiritual pride.
• We don’t pretend we’re making a huge sacrifice when it’s all a great big fraud because we never liked it anyway.
• We don’t pretend it’s all about our relationship with God when the truth is it’s about keeping up with the Joneses.
• We don’t pretend it’s about sacrificing for God when it’s about buying Him off to get more blessing for ourselves.
• We don’t pretend it’s about humility when it’s about trying to earn something that we can never buy.
• And it’s not about assuaging our own guilt.

Giving something up for Lent is about getting our hearts right with God because we know He’s God and we’re sinners and without Him, we’re toast.  The prophet Joel says it this way:

Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand– 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. 3 Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste– nothing escapes them. 4 They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry…. 10 Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. 11 The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? 12 ‘Even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’ 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing– grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God. 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. 16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. 17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, ‘Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?” 18 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people.

In giving something up for Lent, let it be something significant.  A rending of your heart or as The Message paraphrase says,

Change your life, not just your clothes.
    Come back to God, your God.
And here’s why: God is kind and merciful.
    He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,
This most patient God, extravagant in love,
    always ready to cancel catastrophe.
Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now,
    maybe he’ll turn around and show pity.
Maybe, when all’s said and done,
    there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!

It’s not to buy His blessing, but an appeal for His grace upon the change of life and change of heart that Lent can mean for you.  The Day of the Lord will be upon us someday.  The wise man and woman return to God anticipating that Day, for His glory…and not just for our own. 

What should you give up for Lent? 

Start with your heart and your mind and all that is selfish within them. 

You will be blessed and be a blessing to all for it. 

Open borders sound so nice, don’t they?  Just like Open Society Foundations, a grant-making network group founded by a man named George Soros.  Before you assume I’m going post-Christmas fruitcake on you, it’s my goal to be honest and even-handed.  His name is familiar–to varying degrees–to those on the political right and the political left.  Controversy follows him and the truth is particularly hard to find because his organizations fund a wide variety of media outlets and also media accountability groups whose interests rarely have a disclaimer like the one provided by the Organization of News Ombudsmen, “which is an independent group of 60 news ombudsmen in 17 countries” in their acknowledgment of Soros funding of both Ombudsman and NPR (National Public Radio).

Soros is a source of concern for me as a Christian.  Why?  Because the truth shouldn’t be so hard to locate.  Christians are called to be highly discerning and to know who we’re being yoked to.  Soros is not a good yokefellow for any Christian.

But I’m not yoked,” you say. 

Are you sure? Do you know who you’re dealing with?

If you, as an objective Christian, watch the 60 Minutes interview of him there should be a genuine unease in your spirit.  He’s godless and admits it.  But he calls himself a player and betrays the truth that there is a god he loves: money.  He wields it as a weapon against world economies; he uses it not only for personal enrichment but to purchase political power; he controls other organizations with it, and he worships it. 

Player sounds tame until you see how he plays.

Christians, do you really want to partner with this man?  Many already are and just don’t know it.  His “philanthropy” is overwhelmingly to his NGOs (non-governmental organizations) which sound good but link to chaos.

Reports are widespread saying his Open Society Foundations are behind the unrest in many countries and he tries to profit from it while his official spokespeople and those media watchdogs he funds say “Not.”  Who do we believe?

Should the truth be that hard to find? 

It wouldn’t be if he put his own true words out in the light of day.  But where is he?  Open Society Foundations may not be familiar to you.  But other names acting in his stead are.  Ever heard of David Brooks, Media Matters, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, or MoveOn.org?

From a variety of sources, there are reports that the chaos of masked rioters in Ferguson, Black Lives Matter in Baltimore, and Occupy Wall Street was funded by his NGOs to make nations “ungovernable.”  So, kind of like money laundering, he comes out squeaky clean because he’s never front and center with the rioters.  It’s just his money doing the dirty work behind the scenes, even paying to transport a migrant flood which tore down fences in Macedonia and additional influx that terrorizes Paris.

Yes, this same George Soros is often called a Nazi-collaborator because at the age of 14–adulthood for a Jewish male–he betrayed his Jewish brothers and sisters as the Nazis seized property and sent them to the gas chambers in Hitler’s Germany (story begins at the 7 minute mark in that 60 Minutes interview).  Other reports say this same George Soros now funds the Islamic refugees pouring into little German towns. Some of them are planning attacks, plowing trucks into Christmas markets and elsewhere in Europe, raping Swedish women and UK children as permitted in their interpretation of the “religion of peace.”  

What has blinded Christians and opened doors to their accepting such irreconcilable things if the Gospel is truly paramount to them?  It’s disturbing, but frankly, it’s nothing new.  Not even for pastors or priests.

Jeremiah 8:5 “Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. 6 I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle… 10b From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. 11 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. 12 Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD… 15 We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there was only terror. 16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of their stallions the whole land trembles. They have come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who live there.”

Christians should not be blindsided by pretenses of good when the underbelly is as evil as the night seems long. 

After all, the Bible tells us that the devil masquerades as an angel of light and prowls about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 

You?

Perhaps some bit of social good is sprinkled as Soros’ breadcrumbs on the Open Borders/Open Society path of destruction.  Irrespective, true Christians are fools to play with such a player and to align themselves with someone whose truth is cloaked and whose god is apparently money. 

Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them … 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

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NOTE:  On January 12, 2018, I went back to the original posting to review the 60 Minutes interview, uploaded as I recall BY 60 Minutes.  It was gone from You Tube.  The new link contains the same interview from a different source.  I have linked to this only because the original one from 60 Minutes is gone but the video is still worth watching.

This present series includes:

Innocent as Doves in a Politicized Church

Wick Trimmed and Oil Ready for the End Times

Doves, Refugees, and the Antichrist

Open Borders and the Man of Lawlessness

George Soros and Open Borders

So friends, should we keep all the foreigners out of America?  No refugees?  No immigrants? Or just no Muslims?  No, no, no, and no.  Wrong political solutions one and all.  To that they’re not-one-of-us mentality, it is written, Luke 9:50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”  But shrewd doves, there is one who is against us: the man of lawlessness.  And he likes lawlessness… and open borders. 

The man of lawlessness, often called the Antichrist, makes Christians nervous…as well he should.  He’s nothing for us to mess with.  But the good news is that Jesus will continue to do that for us ( Romans 16:20, 1 John 4:4).  Wise Christians will be alert Christians.

Who is the Antichrist, that man of lawlessness?

No one really knows, but we do know some things about him.  The word antichrist appears only four times in the New Testament–and all of them from the apostle John in his first and second letters. 

• 1 John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
• 1 John 2:22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist– he denies the Father and the Son.
• 1 John 4:2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
• 2 John 1:7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Was John just being a reactionary?  Nope.  Because in the Bible, this same spirit of the antichrist and the man of lawlessness go by many different names (Daniel 8:23, Daniel 9:26, Daniel 11:21, Zechariah 11:16-17, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-9, and Revelation 13:1).  Many writers speak of him, but the spirit of the antichrist always has one motive (to destroy the work of Christ in His Church) and his means (steal, kill, and destroy) manifest as a legion of assaults to separate Christian from Christian … and Christian from Christ.

To real Christians, Jesus reassures us:  John 10:29 My Father, who has given [disciples] to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

This promise applies for true Christians and Christ.  But separating Christians from Christians is another story entirely since not everyone calling “Lord, Lord” really thinks He is (Matthew 7:21).  Christian against Christian division–welcome to our world of social media.

Matthew 24:10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

The divisions start as an insidious bitter seed and when it germinates, it exploits the cracks in the Church and blows it wide open.  Dr. David Jeremiah writes in What in the World is Going On,

“Daniel 7 tells us that that Antichrist will not make a big splash when he arrives on the political scene.  He will not enter with a fanfare, announcing “I am here!  I will now take over!”  Instead he will squeeze his way in, little by little…he will attract little attention as he methodically begins to grasp more and more power.”

And here’s where open borders are a key. 

If he’s fighting big wars every time he wants to get in, that’s kind of a splash, isn’t it?  A deceiver will make something look good, loving, or noble until that bitter seed takes root.  Open borders masquerade as brotherly love and peace; they look like tolerance and compassion, and they get reported as something good when in fact, not really.  By removing the separation God gave us for protection of His Church, it pits Christian against Christian.  And it paves a wide open road for destruction from the Antichrist.

Borders and separate governments are not cruel at all, but may very well be the “one” and the genderless Greek expression translated he in  2 Thessalonians 2:7 “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.”  Once you have nothing–not even governmental law and order– holding lawlessness back, this passage says all hell breaks loose.  Look familiar?

You’d have to be an avid reader and a political junkie to know it, but dig deep and many Christians, whether they realize the danger or not, are aligning themselves with open borders policies, an open society, and a globalist agenda.  They’re unwittingly siding with the coming Antichrist and as much as I don’t want to do it, it’s why I’ve got a bit more writing to do.  Jude 20-23. 

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This present series includes:

Innocent as Doves in a Politicized Church

Wick Trimmed and Oil Ready for the End Times

Doves, Refugees, and the Antichrist

Open Borders and the Man of Lawlessness

George Soros and Open Borders

I am deeply concerned about the Politicized Church because I believe it’s destroying Christianity and it’s using well-meaning doves and helpless refugees to do it.  There’s a wolf in there and sometimes people can’t see the wolf for the sheep.  Let me just ask you all one question:

What does Jesus think of Islam?” 

Boil it down, peaceful or radical, moderate, progressive, or fundamentalist Islam…does it matter?  And would Jesus disapprove of Islam in the same way God did Baal worship (1 Kings 18:17-40)?  If so, why on earth would any Christian want to cozy up to it?   Verse 21

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.

Do we have two opinions or do Christians follow Christ?  Oh you say, the Islamic refugees are helpless.  Some surely are.  Maybe many, even most.  And that’s why lots of idealistic Christians jump on the Save our Refugees bandwagon as innocent as doves. Understandable. Even laudable…provided these doves are also as shrewd as snakes. 

Are all refugees equal to the Politicized Church?  

Some famous pastors like Tim Keller and Max Lucado (both becoming vocal during the Presidential election) say “Let the Syrian refugees in!” never uttering a word about the barred Cubans stranded off the coast on January 12th.  Other Christians like Franklin Graham are providing refugees food and safe havens nearer their homeland as Christian compassion all over the globe, including Syria.  Equally doves, are they not?  Ah, but are they equally as discerning and shrewd?

Shrewd means seeing that Jesus hates the practice of Islam every bit as much as He hates any other kind of idolatry and false teaching.  And it’s not just Old Testament, get-over-it-Barb stuff.

Revelation 2:12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where you live– where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city– where Satan lives. 14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. 15 Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Shrewd means seeing a similar pagan compromise today as Christianity’s decline gives rise to secularism and Islam.  Peaceful Islam or not, the culture of Germany cannot withstand the social pressure from this many religious people building mosques.  Are Germans more or less likely to learn about Christ in a country closing a last gasp of churches and opening mosques?  Is that what Jesus wants for America?

Christians, there’s a difference between being shrewd and “Islamophobic” which is just an epithet designed to separate weak Christians from their faith. 

There is no anti-Muslim irrationality in asking what Jesus thinks of Islam and as a Christian, thinking likewise.  It’s simply recognition that our two faith traditions only have Abraham in common. Our differences are day and night.

As we act in dove-hearted ways to love refugees, only some fleeing persecution, please be shrewd as snakes so you don’t find yourselves sucked in to the wrong side of the spiritual battle.  The Antichrist wants open borders since that’s how he extends his rule. It’s called conquest and this invasion can be peacefully subversive… or not. (Daniel 11:36-45)  

Daniel 11:40 “At the time of the end the king of the South will engage [the Antichrist] in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. 42 He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape.

Shrewd faithful Christians guard their separation from spiritual darkness (spirit of the antichrist, 1 John 4:3).  It’s called holiness and in the end, it’s not about your dove-like motives or your good intentions.  It’s about what you did.  But you don’t need to take my word for it.

Revelation 2:23b Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. ..29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Are you listening?  And do you hear?

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This present series includes:

Innocent as Doves in a Politicized Church

Wick Trimmed and Oil Ready for the End Times

Doves, Refugees, and the Antichrist

Open Borders and the Man of Lawlessness

George Soros and Open Borders

Are you wick trimmed and oil ready for the end times?  I am.  It’s very interesting how the end times are suddenly on so many people’s minds.  I’m getting emails and reading comments on news stories that are all talking about the end times and how we’re in them. 

Is it overblown?  Perhaps.  After all, technically, the end times have been around since Jesus rose from the dead.  Nevertheless, God calls us to be ready for the end time to beat all end times. That end of the world as we know it.

Scripture gives us clues to that final apocalypse so we’ll be wick trimmed and oil ready and not be taken by surprise when it happens.  None of those clues are Obama, Hillary, Trump, Sanders, or Putin.  Breathe deep and chill on politics for a bit.  The clues are from the lips of Christ Himself:

Matthew 24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ, ‘and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. “

He begins by talking about deceivers and then goes on to talk about other signs and what to do (Matthew 24:3-51), especially regarding false teachers and false prophets.  He points to wisdom and faith and asks,

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?  It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. (Matthew 24:45-46)

And then He tells this parable: 

Matthew 25:1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ 13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

Were the wise virgins mean or lacking compassion?  Or are they called wise for a reason?  What about you?  Are you devoting your oil to burn up on politics?  Or are you both wick trimmed and oil ready to be found watching and faithfully working so the end times don’t catch you off duty?

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This present series includes:

Innocent as Doves in a Politicized Church

Wick Trimmed and Oil Ready for the End Times

Doves, Refugees, and the Antichrist

Open Borders and the Man of Lawlessness

George Soros and Open Borders

It’s shaping up to be another bad year for the black community in Chicago: 51 murders, 234 shooting incidents, and 299 shooting victims in January alone. To resolve it, we’re going to need a few Resurgent men who see Resurgent solutions don’t follow the path of all the failed solutions that got us here. We got here by looking to failed solution peddlers, trusting that the loudest protestor is the wisest physician for healing a community, and by throwing our time and resources in the fire of protest instead of fueling productive solutions outside of a politicized church.

Resurgent men aren’t like Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson who is calling for a culture of accountability among gun offenders. He’s still looking at what got us here: 

“I’ve talked to my colleagues across the country,” Johnson told reporters this morning. “They’re seeing the same things that we’re seeing, too many guns on the street…The way we get the numbers down is to hold repeat gun offenders for the crimes that they commit”… Johnson repeated his request to President Trump: If the President wants to help, he can send federal money for jobs programs, for mental health, and also send more federal agents.”

Same old answer.  Resurgent solutions require the personal touch of God’s church and community stepping up to offer an alternative vision of black manhood than just guns, gangs, and incarceration.

“The Vice Lords are ready to be a mentor. Is Chicago ready to a mentor? The Gangster Disciples [are] ready to be a role model. Is Chicago ready to be a role model? The [Four]-Corner Hustlers are ready to be a family. Is the city of Chicago ready to be a family?…You give the kids of Chicago a positive alternative with a caring adult, they’ll go the positive route.” –Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Close, Mayor. What’s missing are dads. Manhood needs to be guided as AJ Watson suggests:

Part of the allure of gangs is brotherhood—even if it’s one filled with violence and dead-end prospects. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, most members join gangs between the ages of 12 and 15. It’s a delicate time, and in at-risk environments where positive adult male role models are scarce, due in part to high rates of incarceration and death, many boys are left searching for guidance on their journey into manhood. It helps to have strong male mentors meet those outstretched arms before the streets do.

AJ Watson’s answer is mentoring:

“A mentored youth emerges from the [mentoring] experience more vibrant and empowered, society gains more hard-working contributors and we get to attend more graduations than untimely funerals.”

“Mentorship is a critical part of a young person’s transition into adulthood. Every kid needs a guide. Putting a caring adult squarely in the lives of each of these young men at such an important stage is a strong message that these young kids matter and these communities matter.”

Yes, money doesn’t buy mentors. Love buys mentors. God’s Resurgent solutions are simple: a guide is better than a map, and a church home is better than the streets.

Resurgent man Pastor Marlon Lock understands this and is doing his part not too far north in Milwaukee, WI.

“Unity Gospel House of Prayer has launched a new “No Empty Seats” campaign… Pastor Lock and other faith leaders in Milwaukee have answered the call to serve as an outlet and source of spiritual guidance for residents. “The reality is our job is to reach the lost and unsaved. If we can have more people in the church, we have less crimes we have to deal with in our city,” Pastor Lock said.”

Healing of communities divided by race, violence, crime, and fatherlessness means seeing why young men are alone and without hope. Until the next generation reclaims black manhood and fatherhood, they will need spiritual guidance from Resurgent men of God who will be a father and a mentor to reclaim the family from the ground up, spiritually.

Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”– which is the first commandment with a promise– 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” 4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

These are God’s Resurgent solutions and they start with God’s love, close to home.

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• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-and-black-manhoods-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-resurgence-and-faith/
• http://seminarygal.com/supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/benjamin-carson-on-success-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/jim-brown-and-black-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/shelby-steele-resurgence-and-political-correctness/
• http://seminarygal.com/walter-williams-and-the-resurgent-solution/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-jason-riley-analyzes-the-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-benjamin-watson-values-life/
• http://seminarygal.com/politicized-church-a-two-word-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-solutions-of-guiding-and-mentoring/

The Politicized Church takes another form: the innocent as doves mentality that doesn’t accept also the shrewdness of snakes. It forms a Christian Bubble in which the captives fail to see that Jesus said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves ” (Matthew 10:16). 

Why command both? 

Jesus is not only the Son of God, but the Author of Reality. To be innocent as doves (and dancing with wolves!) without also having the commanded shrewdness of snakes is naïve at best and increasingly becomes the operating definition of a fool. It is this Christian Bubble—that religion of nice idealism where street smarts have no place—that causes Christians, even the Pope, to do very foolish things in the name of tolerance and magnanimity.

I totally get—from within the Christian Bubble—why Pope Francis would wash the feet of Muslims.  I’ve read John 13 and I know what it says and whose feet were being washed. And I know what it doesn’t say.

Less easy to understand is why Pope John Paul II would kiss a Koran, and Scottish cathedrals would allow Islamic prayers from within the church.

I concur completely with Reverend Gavin Ashenden who resigned as Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen on account of this “not-shrewd” action of the Scottish Cathedral. Ashenden wrote,

I resigned in order to be able to speak more freely about the struggle that Christianity is facing in our culture.

I had no idea that there were plans afoot by a Scottish Cathedral to “reach out to Muslims” by scrapping a Bible reading from their worship on the Feast of the Epiphany (when Christ’s Lordship is celebrated as the Light of the World) and replacing it with a part of the Koran that denied Jesus was the Son of God.

But when it did happen, it represented such a serious repudiation of allegiance to Christ and the Gospels, that it could not be left unchallenged.

Leaving aside what kind of Christian would be happy to bring into the Ministry of the Word a passage from the Koran used to repudiate the claims of the Gospels, it represented one more step along a road, which if the Church continues to follow, will speed up the destruction of Christianity in our country.

Wow and Amen. 

What the well-meaning doves want people to believe is that they’re just nice, considerate, open minded, tolerant, multicultural, and sympathetic to Islamic refugees. The shrewd-as-snakes missing component is that communication has both a source and recipient.  How it is received dwarfs how it was intended.

Make no mistake, to followers of Islam, washing feet and Koran kissing means Christianity submits to the authority of Islam. Make no mistake, to followers of Islam, their prayer denying Jesus is the Son of God in that Scottish Cathedral is nothing less than their hostile act of spiritual warfare in which they believe they’ve emerged victorious. As they see it, Jesus bows to Muhammad. And the jihad is on its way to Rome…just as they’ve announced they want to do and the black ISIS flag won’t just be photo-shopped onto the Vatican–they think they are nearing its imminent reality and they’re doing it with the blessing of fools.

I’m not saying stop caring about refugees because Jesus would remind Christians that we’re all aliens and strangers (1 Peter 2:11).  But He’s also the same God who knew the threats posed by lawless people and even today commands us to have nothing to do with lawlessness (Ephesians 5:11, 2 Timothy 3:1-5). 

Maybe I’ll talk more soon about why I think the man of lawlessness of the last days may be on the move and how millions of Muslim migrants may be part of it.  But for now, real Christians don’t let their brothers and sisters drive drunk on idealism when they can be innocent as doves, yes, but remembering they are likewise commanded….to be as shrewd as snakes.

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This present series includes:

Innocent as Doves in a Politicized Church

Wick Trimmed and Oil Ready for the End Times

Doves, Refugees, and the Antichrist

Open Borders and the Man of Lawlessness

George Soros and Open Borders

Perhaps now is a good time to admit that the Church is not a magic potion for Resurgence.  Sit in a pew taking Communion and problems of racial strife just disappear?  Sorry, I live in the real world in which church attendance doesn’t substitute for a changed heart.  In the real world, the Christian Church is losing its significance for many people.  Studies show those with no religious affiliation are the fastest growing group but Islam is surging in America and worldwide and by 2050 is expected to surpass Christianity as the world’s largest religious group.  It’s time we woke up to the problems of a Politicized Church and what it means for the Christian faith, and what it means to Resurgence.

It’s a strange calling, to stand on a virtual soapbox at the crossroad of culture and faith and do my best to speak into both.  This calling is what prompts me to conclude that “Politicized Church” is a two word problem that covers the entire racial and geographical spectrum.  And it’s precisely the Politicized Church that is killing Christianity.  Consider these words from Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, the Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University.  As a result of his studies, he concluded,

“The Black Church, as we’ve known it or imagined it, is dead. Of course, many African Americans still go to church… But the idea of this venerable institution as central to black life and as a repository for the social and moral conscience of the nation has all but disappeared.”

The profundity of this can’t be overstated.

The Black Church once elevated men and women from slavery to children of God status, but now has suffered along with the black family as our solutions have shifted from God to government. Make no mistake. It’s connected.

Glaude’s reasons for the demise of the Black Church are these:

1. “First, black churches have always been complicated spaces. …
2. Second, African American communities are much more differentiated. The idea of a black church standing at the center of all that takes place in a community has long since passed away…black religious institutions and beliefs stand alongside a number of other vibrant non-religious institutions and beliefs. Moreover, we are witnessing an increase in the numbers of African Americans attending [other] churches… non-denominational congregations [which] often “sound” a lot like black churches…
3. Thirdly, and this is the most important point, we have witnessed the routinization of black prophetic witness….and we need only point to past deeds for evidence of this fact…In each instance, a backward glance defines the content of the church’s stance in the present…But such a church loses it power. Memory becomes its currency. Its soul withers from neglect. The result is all too often church services and liturgies that entertain, but lack a spirit that transforms, and preachers who deign for followers instead of fellow travelers in God.”

Benjamin Watson notes this in his own way (the difference between Resurgence which is forward looking to tomorrow’s history-makers versus a backward looking memory and soul withering) when he writes,

“Black lives DON’T matter when the only time we learn about black heritage is black history month. And even then the same characters are paraded, as great and important as they are, as if they are all we have to be proud of. A people who don’t know their history, lack identity, and consequently, a positive self concept. Ancient and modern history, religious and secular, is riddled with contributions by Africans and blacks, but are many times only discovered through personal investigation outside of traditional academia.”

It’s why I began this series not even thinking about Black History Month.  I see God working Resurgence even as Glaude sees clearly that “Black America stands at the precipice. African American unemployment is at its highest in 25 years. Thirty-five percent of our children live in poor families. Inadequate healthcare, rampant incarceration, home foreclosures, and a general sense of helplessness overwhelm many of our fellows. Of course, countless local black churches around the country are working diligently to address these problems.”

Reading his paper carefully, however, what these churches are pursuing as his solution is rebirth to a re-engaged Politicized Church, not the Gospel.

Not everyone sees a Politicized Church as a good thing, or even an effective one politically.  Charles Blain, contributor at the Hill writes,

“But directives pushed from the pulpit on Sunday mornings don’t necessarily translate into votes at the polls any more. The ability to mobilize millions of black American voters — the source of their political might — began during the civil rights era…[and unless] more leaders in the black church recognize that blindly supporting one party, which has done nothing to earn that support, is not benefiting those that they serve, the church will continue to lose its political influence.”

And I’d argue that political influence is the very thing which has been corrosive to the Black Church, the black family, and the black community in the same way as it does for any church choosing to be a Politicized Church over one that keeps the Gospel central.

This of course is nothing new. (Galatians 1:6-12). So let us be like the Apostle Paul who was very careful about the Gospel that saves.  Our churches can do as Paul did:

 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ,

and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Let’s resolve to do the same.  We’ll all be a lot better off.

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• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-and-black-manhoods-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-resurgence-and-faith/
• http://seminarygal.com/supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/benjamin-carson-on-success-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/jim-brown-and-black-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/shelby-steele-resurgence-and-political-correctness/
• http://seminarygal.com/walter-williams-and-the-resurgent-solution/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-jason-riley-analyzes-the-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-benjamin-watson-values-life/
• http://seminarygal.com/politicized-church-a-two-word-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-solutions-of-guiding-and-mentoring/

Toggling between those who identify the problems to those who are trying—in their corner of the world—to solve them, today I’d like to highlight Benjamin Watson. He first came to my particular attention (culturally) after the riots in Ferguson, MO and his articulate, heartfelt, and sensible Facebook post went viral. Then, when he stood up and spoke at the recent March for Life in the Mall at Washington, DC, I decided to highlight this Resurgent man because any Resurgent man like Benjamin Watson values life.

He values life enough to stand up and say so, not just at the March for Life, but also in his book Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race. Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us. He writes,

“The solution to the problem of race in America will be found only by ordinary people, “good” people, looking inside themselves, being honest about the assumptions and biases that have formed, and beginning to change what’s in their hearts.”

His wise introspection goes beyond just race, though. In a recent interview,

“Baltimore Ravens tight end Ben Watson calls upon men to take responsibility for their actions and protect women and young girls from facing the devastation of abortion.

Watson, who addressed the tens of thousands of pro-life activists participating in the 2017 March for Life, has been speaking out about abortion and, particularly, the disproportionate number of abortions in the black community.

‘When it comes to the black community, we represent a larger proportion of abortions than I would like, than any of us would like,’ he explains. ‘And so, to me, it’s a big challenge to men, as well – not just black men, not white men, but just men in general – to step up and protect women, to protect young girls, to protect the pre-born.’

‘Men were made to be protectors and caretakers, and a lot of what we’re seeing when it comes to this topic would be a thing of the past if our men would stand up and be men,’ Watson urges.”

Benjamin Watson epitomizes Resurgent Men in action. If he’d get highlighted by mainstream media, his words of encouragement could go a long way toward healing American families, black or white. His affirmation of what manhood looks like is a throwback to a different time, a better time–and frankly, it’s time now that this nasty parenthesis in culture came to an end in which men are relegated to the sidelines while women try to play every position on the field. The Do-it-Yourself-and-Do-it-Alone feminism has been a real problem for too long.

I’m one woman who will be glad to see the day when manhood comes back into style. When manhood, genuine manhood, comes back, we’ll see healing of families and healing of the races. God meant for men to be men and not just benchwarmers in the game of life while their sons and daughters get raised on Facebook Live with the morality of gangs and rap musicians.

As Watson says,

“The problem of race is deep and wide and requires seismic change. But if we look to government to solve it, we might as well feel hopeless. If we look corporate America to solve it, we’ll be waiting a long, long time. And if we agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates, who tentatively suggests that “the only work that will matter, will be the work done by us,” then we will truly despair, for we know how well that has worked. If we follow that track, we’ll quickly add in disbelief, as he did, “Or perhaps not.”

As I’ve said, the problem of race is not “out there.” It’s “in here,” in the human heart. And though there is no task in heaven or on earth more difficult than changing the human heart, I believe in the one who can do it. It requires a supernatural solution.

Yes, I believe in God. You see, I know how God can change a person’s heart.”

And that’s why Benjamin Watson is one amazing Resurgent man who values life and knows that true life will keep us from despair.   It will keep us from discouragement as we press on to value the life present in men and women, teens, and babies.  Black and white.  Young and old. 

A Resurgent man like Benjamin Watson values life because he knows who gives it.

1 John 2:13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world– the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does– comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

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• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-and-black-manhoods-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-resurgence-and-faith/
• http://seminarygal.com/supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/benjamin-carson-on-success-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/jim-brown-and-black-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/shelby-steele-resurgence-and-political-correctness/
• http://seminarygal.com/walter-williams-and-the-resurgent-solution/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-jason-riley-analyzes-the-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-benjamin-watson-values-life/
• http://seminarygal.com/politicized-church-a-two-word-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-solutions-of-guiding-and-mentoring/