Yes, the church of Jesus is the extreme right-wing

[ClaytonB]

Yes, the church of Jesus is the extreme right-wing

In the last 40 years or so, the American public discussion has become almost schizophrenic in its understanding of the church. This is not entirely the fault of the secularists, or even mostly their fault. Unbelievers can only go off what the church claims about itself, and what the church in America claims about itself has undergone a tectonic shift in the last four decades.

The church in America today would be completely unrecognizable to our great-grandparents. I'm not just talking about the obligatory drumset in the plexiglass sound shield that is part of the modern church starter-pack, or the obligatory ripped jeans and dress-down shabby-chic fashion on stage -- it's not just the window-dressing that has changed, it's the basic content and conduct of the church that has changed. Unrecognizably.

Perhaps the shortest way to explain it to our Twitter-attention-span public is that Christianity has been retooled into The Religion of Niceness. Surely, you have heard of the 11th commandment that God gave to Moses: Thou Shalt Be Nice. And it's not nice to hurt people's feelings or make them feel bad about themselves. So, we can't teach things from the pulpit that aren't nice.

Now, kindness is a Christian virtue -- Galatians 5 lists it among the fruits of the Spirit. So, I am no advocate of shock-jock tactics in the preaching of the Gospel, in fact, they are just another way to smear the name of Jesus. The "God Hates Fags" sandwich-board people are not Christians, they are little antichrists posing as Christians. The problem with the modern church is not its delivery -- the delivery is generally on-point as long as they don't go overboard into Bethel Church style insanity. No, the problem is not the delivery, the problem is the payload, that is, the message.

The message of the Gospel is intrinsically offensive and Scripture explicitly identifies it as such. (Gal. 5:11, 1 Cor. 1:18, etc.) The reason that the Gospel is offensive is because it begins the diagnosis of man's condition with his own sin. Man wants to blame everything in the Cosmos, except himself --- It was my childhood. It's those dastardly women. It's just the way of things. It's because of my depression. It's because of the meds. It's because of all the bad things I have suffered. In fact, it's ultimately God's fault. And so on. This instinct to blame everyone and everything else is actually satanic in nature, because it is Satan who is the Accuser. (Rev. 12:10) The Gospel calls the individual to stop it. Stop blaming everyone and everything else, except yourself. Accept that you are a sinner, that you are under God's just judgment, and that you will perish in your sins if you do not find salvation. The first step of the Gospel is to give up, that is, to lay down your arms (spiritually) and surrender to God's justice. Until you surrender to God's justice, you cannot move on to the second step of the Gospel, which is to believe in Jesus, repent of your sins and beg for God's forgiveness.

Anyone who says this is not offensive is lying. I was raised a Christian and I believe the Gospel with all my heart but the fact is... I still find it offensive. I don't chafe against it, but I would be dishonest if I didn't admit that it's awfully hard at times. It certainly does feel like this is all somebody else's fault. But in my heart of hearts, I know the truth, that it really is all my own fault and that what I need more than anything is Jesus, and the indescribable gift of His salvation.

Where is the Gospel of Niceness in this Old-fashioned Gospel? There isn't one single thing about the Old-fashioned Gospel that is nice. "You're a sinner" is not nice. "You are under the just judgment of God" is not nice. "Hell is real" is not nice. "You must repent of your sin" is not nice. And "you must believe in Jesus" is often the biggest sticking-point of all. Most people are rational enough to admit that they're not a perfect person. Thus, if the standard of behavior to get into heaven were complete perfection, they could not get in. But even when these facts are conceded, it is human nature to want to "get technical", like a school-child brought into the principal's office who wants to debate the metaphysical definition of exactly what is a ball when he's in trouble for bringing a ball out of the gym into the playground for the 10th time. The metaphysical definition of what precisely is a ball, is not the actual issue here. And your technical, historical questions about why countless billions of people throughout history have believed in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, when confronted with the convicting message of the Gospel, is not the actual issue. The Gospel isn't about "what the meaning of is, is." It's about your heart. Your sins. A holy and just God. And how your only hope of escaping death and hell is the Cross of Jesus. That's the issue.

There's nothing "nice" about that. The Gospel your great-grandparents heard weekly was not the Gospel of Niceness. It was the plain, Old-fashioned Gospel, just as I've described it here. It's been preached innumerable times, from countless pulpits. The truth of the Gospel is radical, in fact, the Gospel is the most extreme message you can possibly conceive. In other words, the Gospel is not only not nice, it's downright terrifying if you reject it. And that's also not nice.

In the four gospels, Jesus speaks frequently of the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom of God? The Gospel is the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. One online commentator who is an Orthodox priest explains it this way (paraphrase). In ancient times, when a king had won a battle and would march forward to seize the conquered lands, he would send messengers ahead to the cities which he was about to take control of. These messengers were called evangelists. The evangelists would read a proclamation to the conquered cities from the arriving king called, in Greek, an evangelion or, in English: gospel. The gospel of the arriving king proclaimed to the city the terms of surrender and amnesty. Those who laid down their arms and swore loyalty to the king would be spared. Any rebels or holdouts, however, would be exterminated when the king arrived with his army. The Gospel of Jesus is exactly such a proclamation, in fact, this proclamation has been made to the whole world, for all time. Thus, when the Bible tells us that Jesus is arriving with hosts of angels to judge the living and the dead, it is proclaiming to us the amnesty that is being offered, along with the warning of annihilation for all who rebel and try to hold out.

This is as opposite of nice as it possible to get. In fact, you cannot think of any political or religious position more extreme than this.

While I don't think God has any use for human political categories like "left" and "right", the fact is that the Left in modern America is openly hostile to the Gospel of Jesus. I will refrain from estimating the percentage of right-wing American conservatives who are true believers in Jesus, but I suppose that that percentage is extremely small. So, while the right-wing isn't ipso facto a friend and brother of Gospel truth, it is at least a civilized neighbor, unlike the Left. In fact, I would argue that the Gospel of Niceness is the true religion of the American right-wing, at least, the vast bulk of it. Even though the title is slightly click-bait, it is in this sense that I mean that the church is right-wing even though there is nothing inherently left or right about the Gospel of Jesus.

Charlie Kirk was a pretty moderate Christian. I imagine if he and I had a sit-down and chatted about what the Bible teaches about the kingdom of God and the nature of the Gospel proclamation, he would have struggled to understand where I'm coming from, as the vast majority of American Christians today would. But it's not really a question of "interpretation", the extremism of the Gospel of Jesus is literally flowing off the pages, and baptized in the blood-soaked history of the early church. When Paul wrote, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Eph. 6:12), he was claiming that we (the church) are at war with really existing beings of boundless malice who have powers like those of the pagan gods, and beyond. Paul was not speaking in metaphor. He eventually gave his life for the Gospel of Jesus, and countless tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Christians would follow his lead in the decades following, dying the most gruesome deaths imaginable, whether being burnt alive to light the streets at night or being fed to lions for the entertainment of the Romans (yes, that is actual history).

When those spiritual powers that Paul talks about shot Charlie Kirk, they did not score a victory. They only shifted the niceness-level of the Gospel in the public square down -- way down. Charlie Kirk believed in the Old-fashioned Gospel, but he was also very diplomatic and he was able to communicate with large numbers of people on a common-ground of being mostly polite. But this is not how the Gospel started, way back in the first century. The shooting of Charlie Kirk is a large step backward in time, long before the Gospel of Niceness was around, and probably back to a time even before 1789. In the long-run, we're going back to the first century. The Gospel of Jesus came to us today through the blood of the martyrs who were literally crucified, burnt, fed to lions, and tortured to levels of brutality that go beyond words. There is no amount of snipers that can stop that. There is no amount of "aktion" that can stop that. There is no amount of speech laws, imprisonment, harassment or doxxing that can stop that. Nothing can stop the Gospel, because it is the power of God. (Romans 1:16)

The Antichrist World Order has been preparing for this:



... when they should have been preparing for this:



... because if they haven't tilled the ground of American opinion enough that Americans are now ready to watch Christians being fed to the lions on live national TV, they aren't ready for the final prophetic showdown, as they seem to think they are.

All those fantasies of riot police quashing global riots that the New World Order types fall asleep to are nothing more than mental masturbation. Yes, people are going to get angry and riot and, yes, the riot police are going to quash the riots. But this is all an exercise in futility and accomplishes nothing. The evil heavenly beings that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 6 know the truth: the church of Jesus Christ is the only hard target on the map. They've known it since the first century, when they discovered that Jesus had defeated their master at the Empty Tomb. (1 Corinthians 2:8, Colossians 2:15) Before this is all said and done, it's going to get ugly. Rivers of blood ugly. (Rev. 14:20). The "moderate centrists" will all disappear and there will be nothing but the extremes...

 

[ClaytonB]

Yes, it's all about Jesus Christ's Supremacy

I just learned a new left-wing trigger-word --- "Christian Supremacy"

This is not going to be a merely cultural debate. Anybody who is hoping to wipe the floor with the Left without having an awkward public discussion about God, is mistaken. This will not be clinical. It's going to get ugly. Family-drama-style ugly.

Am I a Christian Supremacist? Well, it depends on what that term is supposed to mean. If it means that I believe that sinful men who apply the label "Christian" to themselves, are in any sense supreme or pre-eminent over other men who apply different labels to themselves, then I am certainly not a Christian Supremacist in any sense, whatsoever. "The greatest among you will be your servant." (Matthew 23:11) Christian leadership and authority is the opposite of carnal authority.

However, if "Christian Supremacist" is to be taken to mean that I hold that the Scriptures are objectively true and, in particular, that their claim that Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and that every knee will bow to Him, in both heaven and earth, then yes, I am that kind of "Christian Supremacist." I think this is the broader sense in which that term is actually being used. In this sense, anyone who actually believes the Bible, is a "Christian Supremacist." And to be clear, many people apply the label "Christian" to themselves who either (a) don't actually believe the Bible or (b) believe parts of it, but reject those parts that proclaim that Jesus Christ is the supreme Lord of heaven and earth.

The "Jesus is Lord of earth" part has always been the sticking-point throughout all of human history. The kings of earth are just fine with Jesus ruling in heaven, just as long as he doesn't meddle in earthly affairs. No, the point of the Gospel is that Jesus rules both in heaven and on earth. That claim is inherently a claim of supremacy in the earthly sense. To be clear, Jesus does not want to rule the governments of this world -- they are all in the image of their master, Satan, and holy God has nothing to do with them except as they are used by Him for the Gospel. But because Jesus claims earthly authority over his church, this means that the church is not and never has been under the jurisdiction of any earthly power which is not itself in confessed submission to Jesus, as Lord of All. This is the very point of authority over which the final showdown will be fought in the Apocalypse -- this is why every knee will be made to bow to Jesus, even his avowed enemies. They must bow because they refuse to acknowledge the rightful, earthly authority of Jesus over his church. Since they insist on a showdown, they will receive it, but it won't be the showdown they prepared for (Ezekiel 7:14).

Jesus Christ is Supreme. He is Supreme over all mankind. He is Supreme over the whole earth. He is Supreme over all the heavenly creatures, including all the holy angels and all the fallen angels and demonic beings. All of Creation is under his authority as he is seated at the right hand of God the Father. As a point of authority, there is not even an atom's worth of room for deviation. All men who live on the earth, or have ever lived on the earth, will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. And "every eye will see him" (Rev. 1:7). That is, this will not be a private affair, any more than an earthly conquest of one nation by another is a private affair. It is a matter of world affairs and the whole world will witness this. There are zero exceptions on any construction whatsoever, whether political, religious, philosophical or any other wise. It is the most non-negotiable of all non-negotiables and that by the will of the heavenly Father:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
But made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:5-11)

This is going to get very, very ugly. Way uglier than any Charlie Kirk debate, ever...

 

[acptulsa]

It certainly does feel like this is all somebody else's fault. But in my heart of hearts, I know the truth, that it really is all my own fault and that what I need more than anything is Jesus, and the indescribable gift of His salvation.

Or maybe it isn't all your own fault. The reason Christianity emphasizes forgiveness is that God will reward those who become fit for heaven despite all the attempts to make them unfit.

Some of my biggest heroes are the people who broke the cycle of abuse. Child abuse tends to run in families generation after generation. The kids grow up, have children, and say (usually without realizing it), "My turn!" Parents who don't are usually struggling with it every day.

God says, either you're fit to make His planned heaven a high-trust society, or you're going to be a liability there. And if you're going to be a liability there, you aren't going. You spent your mortal coil trying to get yours, and whether you think you got it or not, you got it. Like in Matthew 6:5, they have their reward.

Sorry for the digression unrelated to your point, but that felt important. Like the whole book of Job is there for a reason important. You aren't the reason you're imperfect, but you are the reason you don't get over that and be an asset to your society anyway.

 

[ClaytonB]

Sorry for the digression unrelated to your point, but that felt important. Like the whole book of Job is there for a reason important. You aren't the reason you're imperfect, but you are the reason you don't get over that and be an asset to your society anyway.

Well, the quote there is just emphasizing how it all feels. I'm not going from logic, but from the heart (in that section).

Obviously, it's not all my fault. The Bible places the fault on Adam. It is all his fault. And, theologically, it must all be his fault, otherwise, Jesus could not save us by becoming our "second Adam" (1 Cor. 15:22). This feels weird to us moderns but it didn't feel weird to anybody prior to about 1900 or so because everyone understood collective guilt. While I criticize the knuckle-dragging racism on this forum, the issue of race has to do with collective guilt. Yes, "our tribe" can be guilty even when each and every individual person is not guilty... in fact, even if there are jeremiads among us crying out, "Stop! We're going to come under the judgment of God!" Even then, we're all guilty, because we're a tribe. That used to be understood, but it's not anymore.

As for the cycle of abuse, this is depicted in the crucifixion itself. For every sin committed against him, Jesus had a legitimate moral claim against every person who injured him, not only because that person was guilty, but because Jesus was truly innocent (unlike any of us). But instead of claiming his moral rights, he chose to accept the abuse, all of it, and forgive his abusers and murderers. And this is precisely what theologians mean when they say that "God poured out his wrath upon Jesus on the cross". God took his hand of protection away, and allowed the system of abuse to "do its thing". And it is by his obedience to the Father that Jesus took up the authority to actually be the Lord of both heaven and earth. No one else is qualified. Only He.

Prior to Clown World, that often felt to me like an abstract claim. "OK, yes, one day in the far future, there will be a world where Jesus alone rules. But ... until then ..." But that's not what Luke 17:20,21 says -- the Kingdom of God is within/among you. It's already here, among the brethren. And that's not a metaphor. It's a literal kingdom, that is literally here, presently. There is no "Until then ..." In Clown World, that reality is now palpable. Certainly to me, and I think a growing number of believers. That's the main point of the thread.

 

[ClaytonB]