7 Threats: (#4) The Consolidation of Massive Earthly Power

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One of the most fascinating aspects of God’s nature is that He delegates authority and power. We see this from the very beginning of creation when He grants to plants and animals and human beings the authority and responsibility to reproduce, to be fruitful, to multiply and fill the earth. He even delegates to man the privilege to ask God’s Hand to move, such that if he does not ask, he will not have, as Jesus said. Even the inanimate creation has been delegated the power to operate according to the capabilities God has granted them. Electrons orbit, heat transfers, Earth rotates, gravity pulls, clouds rain, tides ebb and flow. The whole of creation has been equipped, empowered and delegated authority and responsibility granted by God to fulfill its divine purposes.

I have increasingly come to believe that this is the modus operandi of God because it is a deep reflection of his true love and grace, seeking the fruitfulness of His creatures, fruit that, in turn, brings glory to God.

But, alas, in a fallen world, true love and delegation of authority is not always executed with righteousness. Electrons and tides obey God, but man does not. One of the most consistent acts of evil is when man defies God and consolidates power to himself well beyond what God had designed. Saul did so and lost his throne; Nebuchadnezzar boasted of his excessive power and found himself in a pasture eating grass like a cow; Uzziah tried to assume authority beyond his bounds and ended up with leprosy. 

Here we have the contrast of God’s nature and Satan’s purposes: God delegates authority down to the lowest level so that the smallest creature might flourish and bring Him glory; Satan consolidates power at the top and makes dependents, destroying their incentive and ability to bring forth fruit and therefore destroying the glory due God. 

The latter has been the history of nation-states and the dustbin is littered with their tragic failures. Nevertheless, sinful man persists in his folly.

If we look at America, the Founders were deeply concerned with this propensity and acted objectively to prevent it. They created a Constitution that gave limited power to the Federal Government declaring all other power was to be retained by the people and the states. They wrote a Bill of Rights to reinforce the Federal boundaries. Their intent was that the people and the states would be the balance of power that would keep it in check.

If the Founders were to drop in on us today, they would be dumb-struck. 

I have written before about the rise of the Federal Beast and the call for a Balance of Powers Act to reign in its insatiable lust for ever more power and control.

But we face a more terrible beast today, one that has multiple horns. It is a confederation of not only the power of the Federal State, but it is joined by the power of academia, media, entertainment and labor. All of these are now united by a new worldview that stands opposed to the biblical worldview. Never before have we seen the unified power of technology giants that hold such pervasive and invasive control over the individual’s life and financial well-being. Never before have we seen the ubiquitous presence of media and entertainment whose living screens permeate our hearts and minds for hours and hours each day with a high definition of sight and sound in which the mind can no longer discern what is real and what is fake. 

This is a fearsome beast. And, if we now add the rise of the false ethic of malevolent compassion, which feigns a kind heart, but inwardly and demonically seeks to destroy the fruitfulness of people and the glory due to God, we have the Harlot riding the Beast, to borrow imagery from Revelation. I am not implying anything eschatological by that, just to point out the seriousness of the threats before us. With the perversion of the female’s drive for grace and compassion, now unbridled by truth and wisdom and righteousness, she leads us with an unholy ethic that is backed by the power of a demonic worldview written upon the heart of each of these horns.

Ah, but remember, dear Remnant... we remain here for a purpose. This is not a time to cower nor have a melting heart. It is not the time to wring our hands nor faint with fear or hopelessness. This is a time for us to return to our first love and to engage with significant relationships those who providentially live near us—“in the hope that God will grant them repentance and they will come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:14-16)

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When Infants Invade Adult Bodies
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I suppose even worse was that after they would shout their obscenities, they would then howl in laughter pointing at him as if he were a joke. Of course, in the world of child-like behavior, this is considered the cruelest of all taunts… to make another seem like a worthless outcast… insignificant scum. Although I couldn’t hear what the young man was saying, he remained calm and would sometimes turn and wave at cars that would supportively “beep-beep” as they drove by. As I write this, I’m not sure if I was right or wrong to not jump into the middle of it. I was committed to offer help if it looked like it was going to escalate beyond words, but for now it was free-speech being played out, though admittedly disgusting. After the lunch crowd had returned to their classrooms, I approached the young man and our conversation went something like this: “Students were pretty rough on you.” “Yeah. A lot of nasty stuff.” “I’m impressed you remained calm through all of it.” “Well, I kept telling them that obscenities didn’t add to the conversation and just encouraged any of them to simply enter into a civil discussion with me.” “I’m sorry they didn’t do that.” “Me too. I really wish we could just talk about the issues like adults.” I think it was the “adult” word that helped frame some of this for me. I had, indeed, witnessed deep immaturity, with its pure emotional spewing and little to no rational thought. I don’t go to the park all the time, but I’m there enough to occasionally hear their conversations. I remember one of the first times, next to a group of high school girls, in which I was dumbfounded at the filth of their language. I spent over 20 years in the military, and I’d never heard anything that matched it. Where does this come from? My heart sank as I experienced what was happening Tuesday. It was quite scary, actually, because I was not only looking at such deep expressions of hate and loathing, but I was also looking at the generation that is going to replace us all. It didn’t look good. We woke this morning to the continued news that there are protests all around the country. Some have become violent and destructive. Interestingly, the chants of the protestors are much like those I heard in the park… quite childish, selfish and filled with hatred. Where is all of this coming from? In the park, my first thoughts were to put the blame on the high school that was right on the corner, thinking that this was coming from their classrooms. But then something dawned on me after reading the list of “tweets” that went out from Hollywood and TV and music “stars”. They were all saying the same things, in “star” lingo, of course, but just as childish. 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It erects in their heart, mind and soul a virtual world of all-about-me and my pleasure. And if things don’t go my way, I throw my tantrums. I call people names. I stomp my feet and chant emotional non-sense. And I demand. Like the 3-year-old girl I saw the other day stomping her feet, screaming at her mother, demanding her own way. For 9 hours a day, our youth live in a non-real world where lyrics and scripts and rap words rhythmically and cinematically draw them into believing that the virtual world of the entertainment empire is the world we all ought to live in… the world we WANT to live in. It seduces. It hypnotizes. It frames a worldview that is totally self-centered and hedonistic. And it is totally irrational. It spews out the most hateful and vile stuff. It beats up people, destroys property, flips off the world and then smugly chants “love trumps hate”. It is the la-la land of infants demanding to get their own way in their self-defined, virtual world. The problem is that the infants are increasingly in adult bodies with lots of power. Our addiction to entertainment will continue to stunt our culture's maturity. We must wean ourselves and our kids. Here is what troubles me most, however. Immaturity, when it doesn’t get its way, will often erupt into a “make you pay” rage. I sense that is what we are seeing. But I fear it is only the beginning. We are going to be treated to a host of "See what you made me do!" and "This is all your fault!" and "You'll be sorry!" acts and situations and new stories and personal stories, ad infinitim. Brace yourselves, for the revenge of self-centered infants who live in adult bodies and carry great wealth and power can, and will be, be scary.   
10
If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then... (#0)
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in history. It is the most important truth claim in a biblical worldview. It is the key apologetic for Christianity. Over the next seven weeks, I would like for us to think through forty compelling arguments and implications that are true if Jesus, indeed, “rose from the dead”. This will take us through Ascension Day and Pentecost. Both are important days of remembrance following the Resurrection and we will highlight them. But more importantly, I want for us to see the tremendous significance of the Resurrection by looking at not only the many proofs, but also the many implications. And this, I pray, will lead to deep contemplations in our hearts and minds. Paul states that without the resurrection, our faith would be in vain and we would still be lost.  “… if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”      1 Corinthians 15:17 This is not a minor statement, and it should cause us pause, for it puts this unique historical event into sharp perspective. Without the Resurrection, we are hopelessly lost. We are without a true faith and we are unforgiven, still condemned in our sins. We should probably read that verse over several times before plowing forward. It is easy for me, and possibly you, to treat Easter as another Christian holiday marked by multiple, and possibly extensive, preparations. Church choirs rehearse diligently and on overtime, special services are prepared (think Good Friday and sometimes Sunrise Services), thousands of lilies are tended and provoked to bloom at the right time and are purchased to line sanctuary rails, special meals are planned and prepared and joyously consumed, treasure hunts are created, painted eggs are hidden and Easter baskets are filled with chocolate bunnies, peeps, and who knows what else the market has, and will, come up with.  The point here is that just like Christmas and Thanksgiving and every other holiday, including birthdays, anniversaries, and the multitude of “take-your-boss-to-lunch” kind of days, they are preceded with much preparation, happy execution, and then forgotten except to toss the wrappings into the trash and press on with life as usual. When I was at the White House, the annual “Easter Egg Roll” on the south lawn was a big deal with weeks of preparation, followed immediately by a massive clean-up and the Secret Service hustling folks out of the “compound”. For the Resurrection, however, Paul implies that it is something so critical to our faith that it should be an ever-present reality. The astounding cry, “He lives!” should be ongoing, not a one-and-done holiday. I believe it is important for us to frequently ponder and meditate upon the deep implications that the tomb was really, truly empty and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is absolutely true… a historical fact that has everyday implications. So, we will look at not only these implications, but also the apologetic propositions and the incredible truths that logically follow this unmatched historical assertion. We will not go through these in any particular order. We are not going from the least to the greatest or vice versa, although we will generally lay down the apologetic arguments first and then deal with the implications. And hopefully, after seven weeks, we will have imprinted these truths deep in our hearts such that they will help us with our walk into the darkness we call future. Because it is the Resurrection of Christ that stands at the forefront in the apologetic reality of who Jesus is and what God has done for us. As a famous hymn states: "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow." [Next: The Seal Was Broken]