If Christians were Christian - 002 (An Unreal Dream)

[This is a continuation of my series "If Christians were Christian (an Unreal Dream)". You can find the rest of the series here]. 

The Ugly Reality:

Recently, a pastor/priest/pope decided that a really good way to demonstrate Christ to the people around him was to take away the ability to afford seeing a doctor from 19 people whose families he didn't like. So, to please his god, he did some hatemongering, and some bearing false witness, and some rebelling against government authority he didn't like in order to get just enough others on his band wagon to make his dream other people's nightmare.

All in God's name, of course.

Unfortunately, in his eagerness to make God seem like a evil jerk, and his enthusiasm to spit on Jesus' teachings, he didn't get all his legal i's dotted and t's crossed -- and he also managed to take away the ability to afford seeing a doctor from some 200 people whose families he does like, as well.

Does he regret hurting people he does like in order to hurt people he doesn't? Of course not. That would require having the Holy Spirit -- and not an evil spirit -- in one's heart. Instead, he says he only did "what's right". He also reminds everyone that we now have to respect his will, which he re-made into the governmental "will of the people" -- even though he hasn't respected anything at all.

The Daydream Not to Hold Your Breath For:

If this pastor/priest/pope was part of a real Christian community, a number of the people of his church would have noticed and felt deeply against his ungodly feelings toward others and the lack of the real Holy Spirit in his heart. They would have individually, lovingly admonished him, reminding him of Christ's tale of the Good Samaritan, and of how we Christians are to remain separate from the world rather than becoming so entangled in it that we start taking on its hate-filled and oppressive attitudes and values. 

If this pastor/priest/pope wouldn't repent, the church would have called in the elders of the church to strip him of any authority in the church until he was healed, and then to pray for him, and to exorcise him, as needed. 

If he still would not repent and allow the real Holy Spirit within his heart, with great sorrow and prayers for him to return to the real God, they would have removed him from fellowship and sought to see what they could do to repair the damage he'd done to God's name and all the families who'd been stolen from.

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Friday Links 11/12/2010

The "..least of these" Jesus stuff: 

Don't forget! The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is this Sunday, November 14th. While you're at it, how about helping to get Bibles into places where the Gospel is forbidden (starts at US $30 a month for five Bibles)? Or writing a letter of encouragement this week to a brother or sister who's been imprisoned somewhere in the world for telling other people about Jesus? That will only cost you an international stamp (which you can get for 98 cents at the post office). 

What can you do this week in your local community to help out with the growing hunger problem? Maybe put in a few hours at the food bank or at a soup kitchen, or send them a few bucks? As one of the local homeless people here pointed out to me recently: winter's coming, and it's already cold. How about buying a heavy-duty blanket or a pack of warm socks and taking them down to one of your local distribution centers?

Lord, make me grossed out at things that insult and blaspheme You:

Ugh. Truly, is it really God that gave this person the "miracle" of increased physically attractiveness? What if instead the miracle given was being healed from continuing to obsess over where one fits within the World's ungodly hierarchy of physical looks?

And what about this idolatrous doo-dad anyone can get for the low-low price of being unbiblical? What if instead so many Christians used the discernment God demands of them that wolves like this had to get off their rear ends and get real jobs, instead? 

And how much "exaltation" of God gets done when our "worship" is really someone's "Look at ME! Look at what *I* can do that even the World thinks is wonderful!"  It's not the non-traditional music that makes this whole thing embarrassing (I'm not attached to any particular music, myself). The problem is where this performance pointed the audience's attention: right at these two young men and what they could do, instead of at Jesus and what He can do. Despite how we've been taught to see it, that's not the same thing!

Ok, that made me laugh:

"Hey! Will you get that?" 

"Sure." 

"Who was it?" 

"It was just that deer ringing the doorbell again.

(Maybe she could use little robot house guards to chase them off.)

God made cat tongues elegant to impress us with His foresight and skill. He made dog tongues big and sloppy to make sure we always know we're loved. 

Caught my eye:

I saw this "placebo" effect happen in a place I worked once. Some people in an office were complaining that the color of the lighting there was giving them headaches, and demanded another. The lighting guy didn't want to bother, so he did nothing but then stopped by a few days later and asked how they liked their "new" lights. They told him they weren't getting headaches any more. Bad. Really bad.

Isn't this recently revealed subway station beautiful? I wish we still put that much care and artistry into our public spaces, today.

I'm not sure it's really "zero" (since we're human, too, of course), but Child Abuse Rate at Zero Percent in Lesbian Households according to a new study. So much for those who say adopted (and other) children aren't safe around us.

It's part of the deception of this age that those who cause suffering and pain whine and complain so loudly how their victim "hurt" them! It's like having someone punch you in the face and then complain that your hard face hurt their hand! But, they want to have it both ways.

This last week I saw the documentary "Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids". This amazing photographer taught a bunch of these little guys how to use 35mm cameras, and then they went out and documented their world, not only demonstrating their own intelligence and creativity, but also the resilience of the poor. Definitely rent or check out the Documentary Channel for the movie. You can also help out the kids here.

Finally:

Do we praise Him in the storm? Every tear we cry, He does indeed hold in His hand!

See you next week!