The Power of Imagination

“No make-believe things like, uh, oh, pink dragons and stuff.” -Madam Mim, Sword and the Stone, Walt Disney

It is an interesting thing, that humanity can imagine the impossible. It is fun to watch as my children play make-believe with their sticks and toys. Watching as the floor of my living room quickly turns into lava for a little two-year-old girl as she must through pillows in certain places to get around the room. Homes made of gingerbread, carpets that can fly, and a slew of other fun adventures all finding fertile ground in the minds of my children. It is fun, it is joyful laughter, it is heated debate, and it is sorrow but, in the end, it is all make-believe.  Some of their games are close to reality or may be reality in a few years, as the pretend to be moms and dads, others will never be as a house full of lava has low resale value.

Adults trade in make-believe as well. Often spending billions to go to the movies (in 2018 the global box office was 40.7 billion), not including cable offerings and other formats. We love to imagine that men can fly without wings, and any number of other impossible abilities. Enjoying the idea that strong well-articulated arguments can come “off the cuff”, not requiring hours of thought, and research to come to the right conclusion and then more time and effort to formulate it into something that will capture the hearts and minds of those listening. As with my children, our adult make-believe runs the gamut between possible and impossible. Yet the real damage comes when we start to give real power and authority to those who help us pretend, to those who brought us joy for a moment.

In the end they pretended, and made it look real, that doesn’t mean that it was so. Leonard Nimoy may have been smart but he wasn’t Spock. I mention this because of the vast number of celebrities that are choosing a political side. Actors are those who make money by pretending, singers are those who make money by singing, and athletes are those who make money by selling tickets to watch them do cool stuff. In the end, the microphone they have been given is not because they are better thinkers than anyone else, but because someone believes those listening will follow them rather than think through the issues for themselves. That they will conform themselves to what they see. In this the Christian has a higher call.

“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

The Christian must learn to think in accord with scripture and let it lead him in pursuit of God’s desire, both in voting and in policies to advocate. Imagination is a very good and powerful thing, but let us not delude ourselves, it is only make-believe. The reality of God’s incarnation as a man, death and resurrection for our sins, is to be the controlling influence on the Christian, let it be so in your life.

Coram Deo

‘The End’

2 Samuel 20:1 ESV

Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, “We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!”

There he was hanging from a tree. His body writhing and wiggling trying to get free. He hears the familiar voice of his neighbor. Knowing that dome is imminent, he attempts one last burst of emotion but to no avail, his neighbor soon executes him and all his hope is lost. A statue in the desert is left to mark his name. So ended the rebellion of Absalom against his father by the hand of Joab, his cousin and neighbor. It is easy to see and believe this is where David’s trouble ended. He quickly came back to Jerusalem and began the “Golden Age” of the Israelite Kingdom, but that is just not how it works. David must be rebuked by his wicked nephew for his disregard for the lives of those loyal to him. The people still dissatisfied with his reign as King must be convinced to bring him back, and then on the best of days for David, a day of joy and gladness, strife between Israel and Judah erupts.

Sheba uses the strife and frustration to his advantage and looks to start another rebellion. Done with his wicked commander David demotes Joab and establishes Amasa as the commander of the army, and sends him to gather troops and destroy Sheba. Joab then murders Amasa, his cousin, and takes his position as head of the Army, has Sheba killed and then returns to Jerusalem, but is that the end…

I enjoy well told stories. I enjoy watching good guys win, bad guys get justice, and the wonderful lines that used to come at the conclusion of the movie, in large bold script over the sunset sky “The End”. This love is probably one reason I detest sequels so much. They take a good ending and destroy it to make another buck. In novels and movies, I seek to be entertained and leave or finish them with the false delusion that all is right in the world, a certain amount of escapism I must admit. This is why the bible is not like other books. It is life. The end does not occur until the end of time, and then it is but a beginning for those of us who follow Christ.

When is the battle over, when do I rest from the work? Rest In Peace, I have seen attached to memes and tributes to the late Justice Ginsberg, yet I have also heard repots of her being distraught and anxious thinking that her replacement on the court would be chosen by President Trump. Contrasted with Justice Scalia’s death four years earlier, simply going to sleep one night and not waking up. We must realize that peace in how it turns out can not be linked to who is President or who controls the Senate but in a sovereign God who works all things for his glory. I here Liberals weep and moan, while conservatives are practically salivating, one thing both need to realize is that no matter how great the victory or the loss, ‘The End’ is not emblazoned on the sky, yet.  Conservatives may when this battle but many more await them. Our ‘rest’ is in the Lord, not court nominations, senate victories, or Presidential campaigns.

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name, of the Lord our God.” Psalm 20:7

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Fallen

Ezekiel 25:17 ESV

“…I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I lay my vengeance upon them.”

Typical. Like most, over the last several days, I have been inundated through news, Facebook, and conversation with tributes and information concerning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Typical because the normal suspects have gathered around to mourn and fear. Typical because the other normal suspects have chosen to step back their words from four years ago to take full advantage of the opportunity given to them. Elections have consequences and that goes for more than the person who occupies the oval office. Senators four years ago hindered a liberal justice from sitting on the supreme court, and Senators will speedily install a new Justice to that court. How you vote on all those boxes (city, county, state, and federal) has consequence on you and on this nation.

Like most, over the last several days, I have been inundated through news, Facebook, and conversation with tributes and information concerning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. It is easy to look and see a woman of great skill and ability. It is equally easy to find someone I disagree. Hearing many speak of her one fact persists. She was able to have a loving relationship with a friend of very diverse opinions with her. Her friendship with Justice Scalia was the stuff of legend. Families getting together across religious and ideological lines, to enjoy each other and a meal. Not simply an act of civility, a requirement of social order, but rather a true comradery and care for one’s neighbor. Their banter and hostility are not only the stuff of news print but the stuff of court record to be examined by law students for decades and perhaps centuries to follow.  Even as we look at such a thing let us not forget that someone is wrong. One of these to Justice was wrong and demonically so. Not in their conduct but in their belief and that belief carried into judicial precedent, and farther.

Reading of the Philistines’ rebuke, by God, through Ezekiel led me to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address.

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'

Looking at the life of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, we see a woman conquering much. We also see a woman deceived by this world and laying the seed for further deception of those that come after her. For two hundred- and fifty-years slavery was allowed in our great nation, the price God chose for us was four years of war, division of families, blood poured out in technological precision, the deadliest war our nation has ever fought as justice due to those who had born the lash. We now sit upon five decades of the slaughter of infants, promising economic prosperity to their mothers, even as slaves promised economic security to their masters, and their country. What price will God ask of us for our inability to stop such a slaughter? I do not know but rest assured, no nation, has ever escaped God’s justice, let us pray that we will end such a plague of sin upon us before we fall like Jerusalem, Egypt, Philistia, and Babylon under the weight of our sin.

Coram Deo

“We Believe in…”

No matter what I seem to do my kids keep growing. Every year I break out the stick and put new marks on it. They went and grew again. As an individual with Hangry problems I can’t withhold food and books on the head hasn’t stopped the slow progression of days and months and years of accomplishing their appointed task upon my children and upon Kelly and I. So we had to make an appointment for Devin to get new shoe inserts and new shoes. We went to his orthotics doctor in Topeka and took advantage of the Friday afternoon to stay with Kelly’s parents.

The trip brought a stark reminder of the season, it is campaign season. The normal “______ for _____” were present all over the landscape in varying colors and sizes. Some with donkeys some with elephants. Yet one sign struck home. It was a small yard sign. I had seen it multiple times from the Orthotics office but hadn’t read it until we stopped at my in-law’s house and a few neighbors had it posted dutifully out front. I read it and was shocked not in an affronted way but rather at the depth of what was flippantly stated.

“In this house we believe: Black lives Matter, Women’s rights are human rights, No human is illegal, Science is real, Love is Love, Kindness is everything.”

At the top of this article I wrote the words “We believe in…” hoping that would trigger your rote memorization and you would complete the statement “…God the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth…”. The creedal nature of the sign immediately set itself against the Christian Creeds of antiquity. Looking at the litany of issues on the sign left me a little dazed. Slogan. Belief only went as deep as the latest slogan. These home owners had been told the appropriate words to rattle off. They had the slogans and I assume the party line on all of the issues addressed. I said I was “struck” and “shocked” by the sign, to be fair I was rattled. Not because of the issues but rather by the hopelessness of their belief.

If asked what you believe in, what is your answer? Living on the edge of politic, these homes felt the most pressing need was to declare their belief in these causes to save humanity and society. I do not know the hearts of those who placed these signs, but I know their hope and gospel is a vain one. The Christian can never find his hope and security in the latest political slogan. The issues we face are much deeper.  We can never simply respond with the inverse and think that will fix the problem, “All lives matter, baby’s rights are human rights, back the badge, a gun in the hand…” is also a vain hope, if we raise it to the level of core belief.

The new faith is that, a new faith, a new religion. It has found its creed and plasters the new orthodoxy where it can. The Christian must meet such things head on. At the root of the problem. As the American church has fallen further from knowing the Creeds to which it is heir, many have fallen for a new creed, thinking they were still in the faith. Creeds help us know what we believe about the world, its problem, and its solution. I was in college before I first came to know the Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed. That is a shame on the Protestant American church, and for my parents. Knowing the Creeds will not keep you in the faith, but it will help those in the faith articulate differences between Christian orthodoxy and pagan slogans. “Ancient words ever true, changing me changing you.” Let the bible and the creeds change you and mold your mind into the mind of Christ.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

No Exit

Ezekiel 2:10-3:1 ESV

And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe. And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”

“You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave” are the final lyrics to Hotel California by The Eagles. They mark a place that seems good when you enter but you find out things aren’t what they appear and when you try to leave you find that there is no escape. In recent months we seem to be in a carousel that won’t stop. Shooting-Protest-Riot-Loot- Repeat. With no exit and no end in sight what will push the American People to shake loose of this cancer?

The pain of this moment is not new for the people of God. Habakkuk was overwhelmed by the sin and debauchery of his beloved nation. Watching as wicked men outnumber the righteous and pervert justice (Hab. 1:4) he cries out to God and God tells him he will judge using the Babylonians, this then appalls the prophet because of how much more wicked they are than the Israelites. Habakkuk deals with this issue of how God chooses to judge nations. Looking though to Ezekiel we must understand that he was a refugee in Babylon. God had already rebuked Israel, the worst was behind us… alas this was not the case. He was a prophet in exile. Begging his beloved nation to wake up, repent and turn from its wicked way. Along with Jeremiah he had to watch as the spiral of idolatry continued as political elites rejected the preaching of God’s word until finally the Temple was destroyed.

Over and over again I come back to a central truth about God given by C.S. Lewis, “He’s not a tame Lion”. Speaking of how God does as he pleases not as we desire necessarily. Seeing the pain and frustration of the moment we can understand why Jeremiah’s book is so hard to endure going from bad to worse. We can empathize as he has to write Lamentations simply so he can continue to mourn the loss of the Temple, Jerusalem, and Judah. Yet, God doesn’t stick with that game plan with Ezekiel. Ezekiel is broken and frustrated. He is given a message of lament, mourning, and woe but that is not all.

In his wisdom and grace God chose give hope in the midst of struggle. He brought Ezekiel to the Valley of Dry Bones and told him to preach. Under the Preaching of God’s word life was brought back to the dead. Not the “almost dead” but to that which was passed decay and was simply preparing for an archeologist to dig up. This is what God’s word can do.

Our time is not a new thing for God’s people. His people have had to endure ridicule, rejection, and persecution for daring to preach. Yet, his people have also been blessed to watch life come back into dry bones because they dared to preach Christ.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO