For too long the church in America has walked under the intoxication of militarism. We’ve been duped into believing that it is our responsibility to protect our lives on this earth, whether by providing churches with armed security guards or by preaching a gospel compatible with materialism and the building of wealth.
But this is not the way of Christ. Not as laid out in Scripture, at least.
With the uprise of gun violence in churches, should we consider securing ourselves with armed security guards? With the threat of North Korea and a nuclear strike, should America preemptively strike them first? America’s militarism is justified, right? I mean, God ordains violence when used by good government, not?
Well, allow me to turn your world upside down. I think we’ve had this wrong all along.
Are you aware of the racism in your church?
“Now wait a minute,” you may say. “There’s no racism in our church.” And there very well may not be.
But then again, there might be and you don’t realize it.
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend who is black and lives in the south. He told me racism is not a social issue. What drives racism, no matter what color of skin one has, isn’t the way the judicial system is set up. It isn’t even whether are not we have statues. In this post we’ll explore what he means by that.
If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ and you live in America, what happened in Charlottesville this past weekend ought to break your heart. Any kind of violence and favoritism should, especially racism.
Here’s what happened, and what we can learn from it.
And now we come to the current problem in the refugee crisis. Refugees can’t come to America. Not now, at least. If we can’t be Christian and not accept them, what are we to do?
I have heard a lot of discussion about the Parable of the Good Samaritan among Christians debating the crisis and Trump’s ban. What surprises me as I listen to these conversations is that many people are using the parable to justify not taking care of their refugee neighbors.
“The Good Samaritan didn’t take the injured Jew home with him.” “The Good Samaritan found him on his way.”
I’m afraid in justifying ourselves, we are missing the very point Jesus was trying to make.
I do not believe you can be a Christian and not accept refugees. If we haven’t before, now is the time to truly count the cost of following Christ.
As Christians, we are called to lay down our lives for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are the hands and feet of Love in this broken world, and we risk our lives being so. Our doors are to be open to the Christian refugee as well as the Muslim refugee. We of all people need to be the ones greeting refugees when they come.
Islam is a religion of consummation. They are not merely concerned with us accepting them and letting them have their own religious peace. They want the whole world to be converted. In taking them in as a nation, we risk being consumed by them. If we want the world to know peace, then we must be the first ones to care for them so that we can introduce them to the One who is peace.
I find it interesting how many people thought I was talking about Trump and his ban on refugees when I asked the question, “Can you be a Christian and not accept refugees?”
Perhaps our faith and our patriotism are so intertwined that we think in terms of our government enabling or crippling us from living out what Christ calls us to. When our government prohibits us from doing something, we don’t do it. Or we complain about not being able to do it rather than just living out our faith regardless of the cost.
Why is this? Why can’t we separate ourselves from this earthly kingdom and live for the sole purpose of the Kingdom of God?
There are more refugees in the world today than any other time since WW2, yet our President has administered an executive order banning refugees from seven prime terrorist countries.
The seven main countries refugees are fleeing from.
I am not concerned about the executive order. We will get into that in the next post. What concerns me is the unwillingness on the part of many followers of Christ to open their doors to those fleeing for their lives.
Without adding to the meaningless noise of opinions on the current refugee crisis, in this post I want to wrestle with some questions specific to those of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Can we say we are “little Christs” and not accept refugees?
Have we in the American church become so obsessed about the cares of this world and deceived by riches, and have we become so in love with other things that God’s word has been choked out of our midst and we are proving unfruitful?
If we do not accept refugees, can we claim Christ as our Lord? If we do not commit to suffering for the Gospel, can we expect to share in the resurrection?
If we didn’t have men like Adam, we might not have women like Eve. If Israel didn’t have a king like Ahab, they wouldn’t have had a queen like Jezebel. If America didn’t have a morally weak and selfish man like Clinton, it might not have a power hungry women like Clinton. In the same way, if we didn’t have Trump we might not have Hillary either.
Evil goes hand in hand, and if men want to be called the leaders than we should probably accept the fact that our sin comes first and sets the tone. We can be holy and set a tone of safety, security, and the pursuit of other people’s interests above our own. Or we can be lustful and set a tone of selfishness, pride, and putting ourselves before the rest.
Whatever we are as men we’ll get in return through the world around us.
Author Asher Witmer knows what it’s like to want freedom from sexual sin only to continually fail. We’re often told we need more personal discipline, that we need to think godly things instead of fleshly things.
What if I told you that discipline won’t solve your problem with lust?
Our male sexuality is given by God for advancing beauty and goodness. But somewhere along the line it becomes something that causes devastation and guilt. The good news is we don’t have to live with guilt. In Live Free, Asher Witmer shows us how we can find freedom from sexual sin, live with nothing to hide, and be able to fight for others.
