Saturday, January 25, 2020
Why Only The Deplorables Can Be Saved!
“I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day..." - John 6: 53
A Christian friend of mine posted this video on Facebook. No commentary or caption or anything. If you don't have the 15 minutes, let me try to sum it up for you, if I can. Powerful people in secret societies are actively making an effort to keep the world in their pockets, to get into and remain in power. Many of the features of how our world works and everyday events that we remember or that pass by unnoticed are actually the evidence of these powerful people at work. The ending of the video is a montage including Trump smiling, followed by contemporary "revolutionaries" raising an American flag in the image of the infamous Iwo Jima Memorial, followed by a still shot of Trump's name appearing across the American flag as it blows in the breeze. So, in light of the title of the video - "The Plan To Save The World" - the message becomes pretty clear. Trump is savior; he will lead us to the promised land of exodus from the purposeful world crafting to maintain power by other evil men.
This strikes me as obvious and blatant idolatry. Because other Christians obviously don't tend to view it the same way, I have to ask why. Why does this video of a "plan to save the world" hit us so differently? I submit that the reasons run deeper and wider than simply our political preferences. In other words, I submit that I'm not disturbed, angered, shocked, and saddened by that video that brings hope and joy to others because I would prefer Democratic or "liberal" leadership where they would prefer Trump. I'm actually thankful that Trump is our president. My hope is that that he blatantly reveals precisely the kind of idolatry I see in this video. It's been around long before Trump, isn't exclusive to one political party, and needs to be ground to dust.
I am speaking from a place that requires or depends on a totally different paradigm from the one by which most every American Christian perceives, interprets, and makes sense of both the scriptures and the world. And, I think that difference accounts for why we would watch this video so differently. So, in order to answer the question of why other Christians see salvation of the Republic where I see idolatry, I think we have to address our different paradigms.
OUR PREDOMINANT LENS
The common paradigm is much more extensive than what I'm about to say but could be summarized like this:
The gospel is that we are sinners saved by grace and set free from sin to eternal life. This salvation is generally taken to be a spiritual transaction that happens in the spiritual or metaphysical realm, where we go from damned to justified. Quite appropriate to the "spiritual" nature and location of this salvation, "justified" most centrally means knowing we're "going to heaven when we die." And, more to my point of the "spiritual" location or nature of it, this destiny of ours is imagined as a disembodied heaven, a spiritual place.
Also relevant here is that the common way we are taught all that, the common way we imagine it happening, is at the level of the individual. It's individual selves or spirits who are saved and going to heaven. Not the church, not a community. So, a central thing salvation means to us, besides going to heaven when we die, is that we get to "have a personal relationship with Jesus." And, we most primarily and centrally mean that individually, that we as individuals relate to and get guidance from Jesus, directly and without bodily (or communal) mediation, via the Spirit.
So, with all of that as our basic paradigm, the gospel is seen as apolitical, having nothing to do with politics or the political realm. Christians, then, are left to reconcile what they know about Jesus and the scriptures with some separate American political worldview on offer to us that is not itself fundamentally "spiritual" or Christian, doesn't originally or inherently have anything to do with their religion or spiritually. Those political worldviews we're left to choose from are generally the ones slapping us across the face on the major cable news networks 24-7 - left vs right. And, in practice, Christians can and do find scriptural justification for allegiance to both / each. The "religious right" and the "silent majority" on the one side (Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson, James Dobson), and "progressive Christians" and Sojourner Magazine on the other (Jim Wallis). Some, especially most who align with the "right", would think of or imagine liberation theology to be part of or aligned with "the left," as well.
So, in any case, an obviously political video evoking images of Trump saving America and whose title is about "saving the world" wouldn't generally or necessarily strike us as running counter or contrary to our gospel, because our gospel doesn't essentially have anything to do with politics in the first place (per what I said above). Stated in another way, our predominant gospel isn't inherently political, so this image wouldn't strike us as inherently theological. This image, by the way, is part of the above noted montage at the end and culmination of the video's "plan to save the world."
There's much more to our predominant paradigm than that. But, particularly in relation to this video my friend posted, that's my basic summary of said paradigm. In any case, I believe none of that.
MY LENS
The gospel itself is political. And not in a left vs. right, ideological way. I don't mean to say that the political nature of the gospel corresponds to an effort to get votes. I instead mean to say that the church is the embodiment of Christ in the world. And, this Christ who we embody is King. Further, a spiritual transaction of salvation from hell to heaven is not the central message of the gospel. Christ's reign is the central and primary message of the gospel. The most important and central message we as the church carry is that Christ is King and Caesar is not. American power and leadership is a vain parody of Christ's true authority. The power of secret societies, and that of Trump, is "like chaff in the wind."
So, as an extension or enactment of the reign of Christ, the church is the kingdom of God on earth, a foretaste of the fulfillment at the general resurrection and full indwelling of God, when God fully is "all in all." I mean to say that Jesus was purposefully founding an alternative politic in "the world" as an embodiment of his person and his reign.
Of course, this is also to say that "our" Republic belongs to, is of, and even is a huge and central part of what constitutes, in Paul's terms, "the world" (in contrast to "the kingdom"). So, unless the deep state infiltrates my local church, then I have a hard time worrying too much about the worries of this video. I doubt they would bother with that, though, because the church isn't supposed to have that kind of power.
For me, then "our" Republic is on the path of destruction rather than of eternal life, anyway. And it has been from the beginning. I have relatively little attachment to it, its functioning, or its policies, whether Democrat or Republican. My attachment is to my "inheritance" of "eternal life" in the kingdom, which I share with the community Christ instituted and who he holds together in, with, and by his Spirit. So, I feel no great urge to "save America" or the Republic, outside of what I am called to in my local, concrete, specific discipleship. And, I put "our" in quotes in reference to "our" Republic, because, in scriptural language, we are exiles from America. For Peter and Paul, we, as Christians, are not Americans.
All that said, I'm not one to dismiss the power of secret societies. I just don't think they're super relevant to my discipleship (unless, as once in the past, I became good friends with a member of secret societies and had any sort of discipling relationship with them). I don't think that the way secret societies function is essentially any different from the essential nature and purpose of America is in the first place, anyway. Groping and grasping to maintain power is the name of the American political game, whereas Jesus said, "It shall not be so among you." A lot of "our" founding fathers were members of secret societies, too, which, then, is quite appropriate. The power and members of secret societies don't hold any special claim to or allegiance with either particular side of the political aisle, either. The power of secret societies is found and at work on both sides of the aisle. As far as I'm concerned, in comparison to the church / kingdom, secret societies and America make good bed fellows.
THIS IS A HARD SAYING
I do realize this is a hard thing to hear. If we turn what I'm saying into an analogy of John 6, then this video fashions Trump into the image of a Moses who impossibly won an election by the miraculous act of God. That would also imply that we God validated our hopes in Trump to take us to the Promised Land of freedom!
But, I'm suggesting that, 32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven...43 But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. 44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up... “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.
In other words, what I'm saying is that, unless we share in the actual, physical fellowship of God's specific, set apart people, then we can have no part in the inheritance of God. To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to detach from both Trump and America. Moses wasn't the true Messiah. Trump does not bring us freedom. To attach to him - more, to attach to America in the first place - is to attach vainly to death. Trump is Moses, but America isn't the bread of life. To be saved, we have to become one of "the deplorables"! And, I don't mean to say we have to become Trump supporters!
Attachment to the ends, hopes, ways, and purposes of "The Republic" is a wandering death in the wilderness. If you're Christian, perhaps this will include a glimpse of the promised land. 54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day.
60 Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”
61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”
66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
A Christian friend of mine posted this video on Facebook. No commentary or caption or anything. If you don't have the 15 minutes, let me try to sum it up for you, if I can. Powerful people in secret societies are actively making an effort to keep the world in their pockets, to get into and remain in power. Many of the features of how our world works and everyday events that we remember or that pass by unnoticed are actually the evidence of these powerful people at work. The ending of the video is a montage including Trump smiling, followed by contemporary "revolutionaries" raising an American flag in the image of the infamous Iwo Jima Memorial, followed by a still shot of Trump's name appearing across the American flag as it blows in the breeze. So, in light of the title of the video - "The Plan To Save The World" - the message becomes pretty clear. Trump is savior; he will lead us to the promised land of exodus from the purposeful world crafting to maintain power by other evil men.
This strikes me as obvious and blatant idolatry. Because other Christians obviously don't tend to view it the same way, I have to ask why. Why does this video of a "plan to save the world" hit us so differently? I submit that the reasons run deeper and wider than simply our political preferences. In other words, I submit that I'm not disturbed, angered, shocked, and saddened by that video that brings hope and joy to others because I would prefer Democratic or "liberal" leadership where they would prefer Trump. I'm actually thankful that Trump is our president. My hope is that that he blatantly reveals precisely the kind of idolatry I see in this video. It's been around long before Trump, isn't exclusive to one political party, and needs to be ground to dust.
I am speaking from a place that requires or depends on a totally different paradigm from the one by which most every American Christian perceives, interprets, and makes sense of both the scriptures and the world. And, I think that difference accounts for why we would watch this video so differently. So, in order to answer the question of why other Christians see salvation of the Republic where I see idolatry, I think we have to address our different paradigms.
OUR PREDOMINANT LENS
The common paradigm is much more extensive than what I'm about to say but could be summarized like this:
The gospel is that we are sinners saved by grace and set free from sin to eternal life. This salvation is generally taken to be a spiritual transaction that happens in the spiritual or metaphysical realm, where we go from damned to justified. Quite appropriate to the "spiritual" nature and location of this salvation, "justified" most centrally means knowing we're "going to heaven when we die." And, more to my point of the "spiritual" location or nature of it, this destiny of ours is imagined as a disembodied heaven, a spiritual place.
Also relevant here is that the common way we are taught all that, the common way we imagine it happening, is at the level of the individual. It's individual selves or spirits who are saved and going to heaven. Not the church, not a community. So, a central thing salvation means to us, besides going to heaven when we die, is that we get to "have a personal relationship with Jesus." And, we most primarily and centrally mean that individually, that we as individuals relate to and get guidance from Jesus, directly and without bodily (or communal) mediation, via the Spirit.
So, with all of that as our basic paradigm, the gospel is seen as apolitical, having nothing to do with politics or the political realm. Christians, then, are left to reconcile what they know about Jesus and the scriptures with some separate American political worldview on offer to us that is not itself fundamentally "spiritual" or Christian, doesn't originally or inherently have anything to do with their religion or spiritually. Those political worldviews we're left to choose from are generally the ones slapping us across the face on the major cable news networks 24-7 - left vs right. And, in practice, Christians can and do find scriptural justification for allegiance to both / each. The "religious right" and the "silent majority" on the one side (Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson, James Dobson), and "progressive Christians" and Sojourner Magazine on the other (Jim Wallis). Some, especially most who align with the "right", would think of or imagine liberation theology to be part of or aligned with "the left," as well.
So, in any case, an obviously political video evoking images of Trump saving America and whose title is about "saving the world" wouldn't generally or necessarily strike us as running counter or contrary to our gospel, because our gospel doesn't essentially have anything to do with politics in the first place (per what I said above). Stated in another way, our predominant gospel isn't inherently political, so this image wouldn't strike us as inherently theological. This image, by the way, is part of the above noted montage at the end and culmination of the video's "plan to save the world."
MY LENS
The gospel itself is political. And not in a left vs. right, ideological way. I don't mean to say that the political nature of the gospel corresponds to an effort to get votes. I instead mean to say that the church is the embodiment of Christ in the world. And, this Christ who we embody is King. Further, a spiritual transaction of salvation from hell to heaven is not the central message of the gospel. Christ's reign is the central and primary message of the gospel. The most important and central message we as the church carry is that Christ is King and Caesar is not. American power and leadership is a vain parody of Christ's true authority. The power of secret societies, and that of Trump, is "like chaff in the wind."
So, as an extension or enactment of the reign of Christ, the church is the kingdom of God on earth, a foretaste of the fulfillment at the general resurrection and full indwelling of God, when God fully is "all in all." I mean to say that Jesus was purposefully founding an alternative politic in "the world" as an embodiment of his person and his reign.
Of course, this is also to say that "our" Republic belongs to, is of, and even is a huge and central part of what constitutes, in Paul's terms, "the world" (in contrast to "the kingdom"). So, unless the deep state infiltrates my local church, then I have a hard time worrying too much about the worries of this video. I doubt they would bother with that, though, because the church isn't supposed to have that kind of power.
For me, then "our" Republic is on the path of destruction rather than of eternal life, anyway. And it has been from the beginning. I have relatively little attachment to it, its functioning, or its policies, whether Democrat or Republican. My attachment is to my "inheritance" of "eternal life" in the kingdom, which I share with the community Christ instituted and who he holds together in, with, and by his Spirit. So, I feel no great urge to "save America" or the Republic, outside of what I am called to in my local, concrete, specific discipleship. And, I put "our" in quotes in reference to "our" Republic, because, in scriptural language, we are exiles from America. For Peter and Paul, we, as Christians, are not Americans.
All that said, I'm not one to dismiss the power of secret societies. I just don't think they're super relevant to my discipleship (unless, as once in the past, I became good friends with a member of secret societies and had any sort of discipling relationship with them). I don't think that the way secret societies function is essentially any different from the essential nature and purpose of America is in the first place, anyway. Groping and grasping to maintain power is the name of the American political game, whereas Jesus said, "It shall not be so among you." A lot of "our" founding fathers were members of secret societies, too, which, then, is quite appropriate. The power and members of secret societies don't hold any special claim to or allegiance with either particular side of the political aisle, either. The power of secret societies is found and at work on both sides of the aisle. As far as I'm concerned, in comparison to the church / kingdom, secret societies and America make good bed fellows.
THIS IS A HARD SAYING
I do realize this is a hard thing to hear. If we turn what I'm saying into an analogy of John 6, then this video fashions Trump into the image of a Moses who impossibly won an election by the miraculous act of God. That would also imply that we God validated our hopes in Trump to take us to the Promised Land of freedom!
But, I'm suggesting that, 32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven...43 But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. 44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up... “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.
In other words, what I'm saying is that, unless we share in the actual, physical fellowship of God's specific, set apart people, then we can have no part in the inheritance of God. To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to detach from both Trump and America. Moses wasn't the true Messiah. Trump does not bring us freedom. To attach to him - more, to attach to America in the first place - is to attach vainly to death. Trump is Moses, but America isn't the bread of life. To be saved, we have to become one of "the deplorables"! And, I don't mean to say we have to become Trump supporters!
Attachment to the ends, hopes, ways, and purposes of "The Republic" is a wandering death in the wilderness. If you're Christian, perhaps this will include a glimpse of the promised land. 54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day.
60 Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”
61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”
66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
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