Spirit of Paranoia

Doris Kearnes Goodwin in her book Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream makes the following observation about the Johnson White House:

What is clear is that this continual concentration on conspiracy squandered a large amount of energy. The worse the situation in Vietnam became, the more Johnson intruded his suspicions and fears unto every aspect of his daily work. Conversations with Cabinet members would begin with the question, “why aren’t you out there fighting against my enemies? Don’t you realize that if they destroy me, they’ll destroy you as well?” Discussions on legislation would be interrupted by diatribes against “the critics”. Private luncheons and dinners would be dominated by complaints about “traitors. (P 317)

Johnson’s was not the only presidency infused with a spirit of paranoia. Nixon had his famous Enemies List, and while Nixon and Johnson both had real enemies, so has every presidency going back as far as Washington. The presidencies of Johnson and Nixon gave our country almost twelve consecutive years of uninterrupted national paranoia emanating from the highest levels of government, and it was completely unnecessary.

The same spirit that helped bring down the presidencies of Johnson and Nixon also contributed to the downfall of the first king of Israel, whose obsessions with conspiracies drove him to the brink of insanity. Despite repeated assurances from both his own son Jonathan and from David himself who promised not to raise his hand against “God’s anointed”, Saul’s worries grew worse and worse, finally destroying him, his family, and greatly wounding the nation.

That spirit of paranoia is still troubling us today, afflicting even the people of God. Today’s world gives us abundant fodder for obsession, what with real threats to financial, national, and personal security. People have understandable concerns about the powers that be whose purpose is to control more and more of our lives by restricting more and more of our freedoms, while attempting to hijack our culture and values. The people of God must naturally be concerned with such things and have as much right as anyone -- indeed we have an obligation -- to speak out about them.

Having said that, Jesus reminds us that his kingdom is not of this world, and that in this world we will have a measure of tribulation. He tells us that, not to discourage us from lighting the world to the extent that God gives us the ability, but as a simple acknowledgment of reality as it is on this side of his return. He does not want us to be paralyzed by fear or provoked to foolishness by the same spirit that troubled King Saul.

The spirit of fascism may be dressing in new garb these days, but that doesn’t mean a fascist is hiding under every bridge. In fact, it looks a lot to me like God is busy calling a people to himself. There are untold millions – likely tens of millions – of Americans praying for the state of the country, and tens of millions more who are finally stirring from their slumber.

These are good things, and those of us who fancy ourselves as God’s people should take a clue from David who, when Saul pursued him as a common criminal, did what he needed to avoid Saul’s sword, while continuing to fight the real enemies of his nation. While David continued to do the job God had given him, more and more of the people awakened to the rightness of David’s cause. Together they prepared for the time when God would give him the kingdom.

Plenty of things are going on that should rightly concern us, but the Spirit of God is working too. He’s calling a people to himself, and that's good stuff for us.

Sermon of the Year

A friend sent me this sermon transcript. I have not been able to find much about the source if this, except that it has appeared in a number of places on the blogosphere. Whatever the case, I like the sentiment.

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RECENT VIRGINIA CHURCH SERVICE-STIMULUS SERMON

Genesis 47:13-27

Good morning, brothers and sisters; it's always a delight to see the pews crowded on Sunday morning, and so eager to get into God's Word. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will to the 47th chapter of Genesis, we'll begin our reading at verse 13, and go through verse 27. Brother Ray, would you stand and read that great passage for us?

....(reading)...

Thank you for that fine reading, Brother Ray...

So we see that economic hard times fell upon Egypt , and the people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with this for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses that he had built. So the people brought their money to Pharaoh, like a great tax increase, and gave it all to him willingly in return for grain. And this went on until their money ran out, and they were hungry again. So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought their livestock -their cattle, their horses, their sheep, and their donkey -to barter for grain, and verse 17 says that only took them through the end of that year..

But the famine wasn't over, was it? So the next year, the people came before Pharaoh and admitted they had nothing left, except their land and their own lives. "There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh.." So they surrendered their homes, their land, and their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then sold themselves into slavery to him, in return for grain.

What can we learn from this, brothers and sisters? That turning to the government instead of to God to be our provider in hard times only leads to slavery? Yes.. That the only reason government wants to be our provider is to also become our master?

Yes. But look how that passage ends, brothers and sisters! Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt , in the land of Goshen .. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly." God provided for His people, just as He always has! They didn't end up giving all their possessions to government, no, it says they gained possessions!

But I also tell you a great truth today, and an ominous one. We see the same thing happening today - the government today wants to "share the wealth "once again, to take it from us and redistribute it back to us. It wants to take control of healthcare, just as it has taken control of education, and ration it back to us, and when government rations it, then government decides who gets it, and how much, and what kind. And if we go along with it, and do it willingly, then we will wind up no differently than the people of Egypt did four thousand years ago - as slaves to the government, and as slaves to our leaders.

What Mr. Obama's government is doing now is no different from what Pharaoh's government did then, and it will end the same. And a lot of people like to call Mr. Obama a "Messiah," don't they? Is he a Messiah? A savior? Didn't the Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made them his slaves, "You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh"?

Well, I tell you this - I know the Messiah; the Messiah is a friend of mine; and Mr. Obama is no Messiah! No, brothers and sisters, if Mr. Obama is a character from the Bible, then he is Pharaoh. Bow with me in prayer, if you will.

Lord, You alone are worthy to be served, and we rely on You, and You alone. We confess that the government is not our deliverer, and never rightly will be. We read in the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, when Samuel warned the people of what a ruler would do, where it says "And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day." And Lord, we acknowledge that day has come. We cry out to you because of the ruler that we have chosen for ourselves as a nation. Lord, we pray for this nation. We pray for revival, and we pray for deliverance from those who would be our masters. Give us hearts to seek You and hands to serve You, and protect Your people from the atrocities of Pharaoh's government.

In God We Trust...

He Tabernacled Among Us

More than one hundred years ago the scholar E. W. Bullinger published his Companion Bible, popular for its scholarly appendices and insights. From internal Scriptural evidence, Bullinger makes the case that Jesus could not have been born in December. More than likely his birth was in the fall of the year, specifically during the High Holy Day season at the Feast of Tabernacles.

His complex but understandable explanation is a little too involved to explain here, but if Bullinger is right, the theological typology of the birth of Christ can lend a special hope and comfort to a world in need.

To the Israelites the Feast of Tabernacles depicted their forty years of wandering in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. During the feast they lived in "booths", or "tabernacles", which were temporary dwelling places. This was to show that they were strangers and pilgrims in the wilderness and that their permanent home awaited them elsewhere. (See Leviticus 23:34-43). In synagogues today the book of Ecclesiastes is read during the Feast of Tabernacles, for that book laments the temporary nature of life in the flesh and the futility of life without God. Both Peter and Paul referred to our physical bodies as tabernacles, or temporary dwellings (II Corinthians 5:1-4, II Peter 2:13-14).

Anyone with just a passing acquaintance with Christian theology knows that the death and resurrection of Christ are central to salvation. I agree with that. But in addition to that, Jesus' first coming has a rich connection with this ancient festival, and the typology overflows with encouragement in what might seem like hopeless times.

In John's gospel we read that "the Word became flesh and dwelt [or 'tabernacled'] among us" (John 1:14), the point being that this one who was the Word from the beginning actually emptied himself of his immortality and became a man. He took on a temporary nature and became a stranger and pilgrim. It's a noble thing to put one's life at risk for another, but it is love without limit to risk one's eternal life for those who are undeserving. That is precisely what the one called the Word has done. He emptied himself and became subject to the same aches, pains, and temptations that we have.

Put differently, Jesus understands whatever you are going through because he has been there. Have you been lonely, tempted, or afraid? Have you been wracked with pain or hungry beyond measure? Have your friends betrayed you? Have you suffered through imprisonment? Have you felt forsaken by God? Have there been times when your family didn't believe in you? Have you been hounded by your enemies or sycophants, have no where to sleep, or so beset upon that you have no time to eat? Well, because Jesus chose to tabernacle with us, he understands, for in the days of his flesh he experienced all those trials and more.

The writer of Hebrews says, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV)

Jesus was born, but too much richness is lost by misunderstanding the context of his birth. He tabernacled among us! He understands our struggles in a way that comes only through experience. He can sympathize with our weaknesses. That's a wonderful message of hope.

I-Ectomies

Peggy Noonan in a recent opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal Online reminisced about her days as a speechwriter in the George H. W. Bush Whitehouse. She described the President’s rule of “I-ectomies”. An I-ectomy purged all first person singular pronouns from his speeches so as not to draw attention to himself. The words coming from the President were not to be about “the Big I”. He was not to be the subject of his speeches. The focus was to be on the message, and credit should go to the people of the country and the small army of public servants who were attempting to do what was in the best interests of that country.

Mr. Bush was from a different generation and in many ways, sadly, from a different world. He was doing nothing more than living the values from an earlier era where it was considered bad form to talk about oneself, and where it was unheard of for a person of character to believe that the “Big I” is at the center of the universe. It serves our country well when leaders realize the wisdom of Jesus when he said, “The greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.”

Israel’s first king began as a young, humble man of promise. He even tried to hide from the job. But after some time, Saul gathered to himself all the accoutrements of power,and lost the humility that began his reign. He went from hiding among the baggage (I Samuel 10:22) to building monuments to himself (I Samuel 15:12).

In fact his very patterns of speech betrayed him. In one of his run-ins with the prophet Samuel, he defended his presumptuous usurpation of power in a short speech that used first person singular pronouns seven times in a scant two verses. Said Saul, "Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the LORD.' So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering." (I Sam 13:11-12 NASB)

Clearly no Peggy Noonan served in King Saul’s court.

This was a continual pattern with the man, caring more for his own personal vendetta (I Samuel 14:24) than the welfare of his men who were sworn to defend their nation.

I take the lesson of Saul as a warning to anyone who is in any position of leadership or authority. Position and power easily corrupt. President Harry Truman had this take. “If a man can accept a situation in a place of power with the thought that it’s only temporary, he comes out all right. But when he thinks that he is the cause of that power, that can be his ruination.” (Quoted in Merle Miller’s Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman).

A little humility is a good thing in a ruler. A lot of humility is even better.

In Bruce Feiler’s book America’s Prophet: Moses and the American Story he notes that Cecil B DeMille tok an unusual step when his movie The Ten Commandments was screened in 1956. “The curtains parted,” writes Feiler, “and DeMille himself appeared on screen.” Here are the words that DeMille spoke:

Now ladies and gentlemen, young and old, this may seem an unusual procedure speaking to you before the picture begins. But we have an unusual subject. The theme of this picture is whether men are to be ruled by God’s law or whether they are to be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Rameses. Are men the property of the State or are they free souls under God? (Source: Journal of Religion and Society, http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2001/2001-9.html)

A Modest Proposal

Limit all US politicians to two terms. One in office. One in prison. Illinois already does this.

Where Has All the Gloabl Warming Gone?

It was 2 degrees Fahranheit when I left for work this morning. I guess all the hot air went to Copenhagen.

Comfort Zones

A prophet can lead a lonely and disillusioned life. Often it is the prophet’s job to deliver unpleasant news to non-receptive people, and that tends to separate the prophet from the company of others. Who wants a Grinch in one’s social network?

A people person prophet would have been an especially miserable prophet, and therefore many very good prophets leaned toward being task-oriented as opposed to people-oriented guys. That may be why God gave Elisha a very special assignment.

There was a woman in Elisha’s life who had shown him some special kindnesses. Whenever he passed through her part of the world, she and her husband made sure that he had a decent meal and a place to stay.

Read the account in II Kings 4 and see that, in spite of their hospitality, Elisha seemed to keep a cool and formal distance from this family, often communicating by proxy even was he was just a few yards from them. He clearly appreciated all they had done, reciprocating with kindness of his own, but we don’t see him exuding warm fuzzies, instead asking his servant to be involved in the human interaction so that he could maintain his customary aloofness.

This woman of Shunem was God’s gift to Elisha, not just because of her hospitality, but also because of what she argues him into doing during her time of need. When Elisha tried to send his assistant Gehazi as a sort of stand-in for the man of God, she would have none of it. “I’m not leaving here without you,” she said. We can almost hear Elijah sighing in resignation as he grabs his travel gear and treks with her back to Shunem. It is in Shunem that he finds her dead son whom Elisha’s servant could not revive.

God had arranged the circumstances in such a way that they compelled Elijah out of his normally detached comfort zone. To do his job, Elijah had to allow himself some physical contact with another human being. Not being a “hugger” to begin with, this would have been an especially unpleasant event for him. But what he did was not only a good thing for the family (the resulting miracle restored their son), it was also good for Elisha. He needed the lesson of the importance of human touch.

Now here’s the point: Some management gurus teach that one’s skills are best optimized only if that person steps outside of his comfort zone. Personally, I hate leaving my comfort zone, but thank God (literally) that frequently I have been forced to do so. If you are facing some new challenges that you think are just not “you”, maybe God is trying to stretch your world of experiences a bit so that you can be more effective in his service.

Get out of your comfort zone.

Rope-a-Dope

I never went to Harvard, or even Occidental, but I know if tell your enemy that you'll only fight for 18 months, they'll just play rope-a-dope for 18 months.