I'm choosing to be a little secretive here....with names....because specific personalities are not the issue....the gospel is the issue....so here I go....a famous person died....and left his own epitaph of sorts. This person was not...."a believer"....as admitted in the epitaph....but being a very pragmatic and common sense person....with a formula that was presented to him by Christian friends....in order to cover all bases....once again admitted in the epitaph....he recited on paper that formula.....that he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
At seventy-five years old....and a news hound my whole life....I've read countless last statements and last words.....and all of them are in one way or another sad....as was this one with the celebrity....but the sadness in this case expands because I just watched a podcast....that described what I just described to you of the celebrity's epitaph....and the host of the podcast solemnly rejoiced....that the aforementioned celebrity....had become a Christian! To reiterate....because it is confusing....the celebrity admitted that they were not a believer...but just to be safe....admittedly just to be safe....publicly assented to the statement of belief....and a Christian podcaster rejoiced that the celebrity was saved! This is how far evangelicalism has fallen....fallen!
I'll relate another story to you here. In a major city....a new church literally took off in popularity....with thousands in attendance weekly....so astonishing that I read about the church in the national news a few times. I went to the church website....and it was typical entertainment based....but I did find a "what we believe" link....and the statement within was perfect....but it was just a statement....another statement....with nothing to back it up. Now most of the regular readers here will say that this does not describe their church....and I'm sure they are correct.....but like it or not....this is America.
Evangelicalism has collapsed. America as it stands today....in essence does not stand....for it also has collapsed. Chaos and confusion and gross absurdities are everywhere....every day! NATO....in a symbolic move of course...just sent troops and fighter jets to Greenland....to defend the country against the United States! A military brigade....to use that term....has been formed to invade our cities....and rid them of all the Mexican restaurant workers....and their wives and children. Yes it's an absurd statement that I just made....but this whole thing is absurd....was never properly conceived of....for it is mostly political....and very dangerous....in the short term and in the long term....in that a permanent internal armed force is created....that can conceivably be used for any 'law enforcement' reason in the future....which is more than problematic with a wild and impetuous and uncontrollable man as president who has a habit of purging political opponents....and thinks that we may not even need a mid-term election!
Now you are young....(hey even forty or fifty would be young compared to me)....and you don't believe my somewhat dystopian comments....but in my eyes this much is sure....this is not the America that I grew up in....or that our son grew up in. It is something different....far worse in every capacity....and just as the above church says all the right things....and the above gospel message has some of the right words....they are mere holistic apparitions of something that once was....but has fallen away!
Addendum: I want to add here a bit on the psychology of a mass movement with a charismatic authoritarian leader....involving groupthink and emotional manipulation and a common enemy....all this as it pertains to the woman in Minnesota that was shot and killed in her vehicle. It's been reported that eight in ten Americans have viewed at least one video of the incident. What is clear is this....the woman's smiling last words were...."Hey dude....I'm not mad at you." She turned the steering wheel away from the ICE officer beginning to slowly roll the vehicle....and was shot....probably in the right chest....through the windshield....which would have elicited a spastic reflex where her foot pushed on the gas pedal....and then she was shot through the open door window....in the head. Now....the government's depiction of what happened goes against what we can see with our own eyes....but even that is not what I'm getting at here....which is how....what word should I use....'the right'....'Trump supporters'....I'll use 'we'....for we all once were the conservative right....how we abandoned all compassion and common sense and justice....in order to support the claims of our charismatic leader....of which....in itself....is a frightening trend! (I may move this paragraph later to one of the DISPATCHES posts.
