To Kill the Tree, Poison the Roots

I’ll tell you what. It’s time to renew my decision to avoid sinking into the septic tank that is political discourse.

Things are heating up now, and the left has gone even crazier than it was to begin with. Their methods and words have become so vicious, it is now easy to believe that we could see things like concentration camps and killing fields in the United States.

The right, on the other hand, is having an internal battle. Do we acknowledge God and risk alienating gays, atheists, Jews, and other people who are put off by Christianity, or do we turn from God and rely on earthly tools? Suddenly, Republicans like Donald Trump, who is about as worldly as they come. Do we like him in spite of his worldliness? I don’t think so. I think we like him because of it. We look at him, and we say, “Here is a man who is highly capable and understands capitalism, and who is so able, he has a high likelihood of succeeding, and he won’t bother voters who find Jesus offensive.”

Of course, the problem with that is that there is no such thing as a man who succeeds in spite of God or without God’s help. We could elect Superman, and it wouldn’t matter, unless God backed him up. God uses foolish things (and people) to confound the wise. He is not all that interested in our earthly talents. We would be better off with a moderately capable Spirit-filled President than a genius who thinks he creates his own success.

The left hates everything about God except for the phrase “Judge not.” The right basically likes God, but we don’t want him coming in the house and disturbing our guests. We want him to wander around in the yard, blessing us and watching over us, but not freaking people out or telling them to quit sinning.

I get caught up in the nonsense a lot. I know high taxes are stupid. I know government handouts are stupid. I know we need a real immigration policy. I know we borrow too much. And I get upset about it. But these are not fundamental matters. When you focus on the economy or our debt or our immigration problems, you’re looking at symptoms. The diseases are pride and rebellion. That’s where the problems come from.

If you don’t attack the root, you don’t cut off the things on which the sickness feeds. You run around putting out fires, when you should be bulldozing the headquarters of the chief arsonist.

We don’t pray enough. We have no interest in a holy lifestyle, because sin is–let’s be honest–a blast. We don’t try to get close to God on an individual level and talk to him, because we’re afraid he might tell us to do things for him and change our lives for him. So we lack God’s guidance and power, and we lack the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit. And therefore, life stinks. It stinks for individuals, and it stinks for the USA.

Leftism is unquestionably Satanic. It’s all about human beings taking over for God. Doing what he would do, if he were real and politically enlightened. But that doesn’t matter. Attacking leftism is like putting an antibiotic on a sore without cleaning it out first. Leftism’s support is supernatural, and if we attack it supernaturally, it will fail. Fifteen minutes of daily prayer will do more good than five Tea Party rallies a week.

Look at the Bible. Moses showed up at the shore of the Red Sea, and God opened it for him. Elijah prayed, and it didn’t rain in Israel for months. God held the sun still for Joshua. Prayer is not a joke. It’s the most powerful thing we do, far and away. When we get caught up in slogans and verbal abuse, we waste time, we accomplish little, and we risk grieving the Holy Spirit, who is our link to all power.

With all this in mind, I am trying to avoid getting sucked into the mud wrestling arena. I don’t want to be a puppet any more. I want to be one of the puppeteers. God gives us that authority and that power, but not if we fool around with earthly tools. If you want to use a rounded-off screwdriver and a hammer with a broken handle, God will pull back and let you. I prefer God’s power tools.

Today I was reading John Bevere’s book, Extraordinary: The Life You’re Meant to Live. He talks about the power of faith. Old-time Christians like to tell us faith means suffering like a whipped dog and sticking with God even though we will always lose. As John notes, that’s not what faith is about. Jesus told us we could literally command mountains to be thrown into the sea, and John also reminds us that Jesus is not a liar. Faith is power. It’s the power God used to create suns and planets. It’s the only real power we have, and we have to learn to use it and rely on it.

I don’t plan to stand around at political rallies until November of 2012. I know that Christians have the power to bless and curse; I’ve seen it work. I just curse the careers of the politicians who are destroying this nation, and I pray for revival and intercession, so God will see fit to give us good leaders. I pray God will humble Americans and put an end to our spoiled, self-indulgent decadence. When I start messing with harsh words and silly Internet movements, I accomplish nearly nothing, and God does not have my back. The supernatural approach is the way to go.

I also pray for God to help secular, anti-Christian politicians accept Christ and get filled with the Spirit. I think it’s wrong to pray for anyone to fail, unless you also ask God to change them and help them succeed on his terms.

There is nothing wrong with cursing someone’s actions. People I respect do it. Jude said some people need to be put in fear. I have cursed lawsuits filed against me. I have cursed the things my enemies have tried to do to me. I have asked God to bring them failure and despair, and to take the evil they intended for me and give it to them, as the Psalms say he will.

Here is what Jude said: “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” It seems obvious to me that the part about fear applies to people who are too proud or depraved to be reached with kindness. I pray for God to knock such people flat on their rear ends, terrify them, and fill them with worry. I ask him to do this for me, and for their own good.

I forgive; I don’t take up earthly tools to fight people, and I don’t hold onto anger. I never take revenge. I ask God not to keep my enemies out of paradise or the kingdom of heaven because of the evil they do to me. I pray for God to change them and help them make peace with me and get free of his enmity. But forgiveness doesn’t mean you don’t ask God to oppose your persecutors here on earth. At least I don’t believe it does, because the Psalms are full of references to God hammering our enemies for us, usually with their own weapons. I believe forgiveness means you only fight your enemies in a constructive, supernatural, godly way. God humbles and afflicts people all the time, and I see nothing wrong with asking him to do this in our defense. Otherwise, we might as well go on and die, because we are defenseless here on earth.

If we’re defenseless, why does the Bible keep telling us God is our refuge? Why does it call him a fortress, over and over?

We have to start admitting that the Bible is not full of idle talk. My grandmother used to say my grandfather liked to talk just to hear his head rattle. God is not like that. His words are chosen for well-thought-out reasons, and they are true. It’s not just Middle Eastern puffery. God’s words tell us what he will do, and we have to learn to rely on them and take them seriously.

To become absorbed in worldly spats and tiffs is to believe that Jesus’s kingdom is of this world. Jesus did not come to save the entire world. The book of John makes that clear. He kindly chose certain individuals to become his flesh and to partake in his power and deliverance, and the rest of the world is on its own, no matter how pitiable things get. We should not be expending excessive time and energy trying to perfect civilization. We can’t do it, and God does not plan to help us. That may sound harsh, but it’s what the Bible says.

Modern clergymen who rewrite the Bible like to tell us all human beings are God’s children, and God never judges. All I can say is, I wish those things were true. I live with the rules God made, and I do not question them, because I realize the one who wrote them is perfect in every way.

I hope I can avoid sinking back into this mess. To say I have better things to do would not even scratch the surface.