Epiphany

In the aftermath of my breakup with Grace, I had a lot of questions for God.

“Were we really mean to be together?”

“Is this really what you want?”

“Why?”

So on and so forth.  God answered none of those questions.  However, as I pleaded with Him on my knees to comfort me, He sent me His Comforter.  What did God say to me?

“Michael, you have no girlfriend.  You have no dreams or aspirations of being a doctor or lawyer or astronaut.  Your only home or family is your mother in Shanghai, whom I am taking good care of.  You have nothing here in America that belongs to you or ties you down.  You now have absolutely nothing holding you back from giving your entire life to me.”

And God is right.  God is good and I give praise and glory to God for the world that He has placed me in.  I am blessed by God, not just by His grace, but by His sovereignty and his providence.  For God has taken away from me those things which made me hesitate about my future.

I give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, and He is faithful, and He will always provide.  I give thanks to the LORD for Grace, my temporary Moredecai, who was sent by Him to challenge me and rudely shake me awake in a way that nobody has ever done so before in my life.

I can go anywhere.  Do anything.  For God.

I kept telling myself that I wasn’t putting my relationship with Grace before my relationship with God.  What a lie that was.  I planned my next two or three years around Grace.  God was just an afterthought; a rationalization.

But God is not an afterthought.  He is the first, and sometimes only, thought.

God demands my all.  He demands radical sacrifice. Not of my relationship, not of my family, not of my money, but of my everything.

Which brings me to a book Grace got me from Urbana: Radical.  What a good book.  How many lies do we American Christians tell ourselves?

“That’s not really my calling.”

God has called all of us to a global missions.  He doesn’t necessarily call us all to displace ourselves and move, but to simply sit in our jobs and donate money to other missionaries is to sin against the LORD.  We need to actively participate in a global mission.  We can and are called by God to impact the world, no matter where we are.

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I’ve learned that it’s silly to commit to things far far in the future that we can never be sure God called us to it.  We may commit to a marriage and be sure of it, but God may have other plans.  We may commit to singlehood and be sure of it, but God may have other plans.  We may commit to a life of campus ministry, but God may have other plans.  I won’t say that I will commit to global missions overseas, or campus ministry, or whatever.  I do not know what God has planned for me.  I will simply knock on every single door that is available to me and go through the one that the LORD opens for me.  I will obey and go wherever God sends me, be it Brazil, Iran, Canada, Las Vegas, or Cleveland.  Tomorrow will worry for itself; today, I will praise and serve the Lord.

…is a really funny show.  One of the funniest I’ve seen lately.  There’s this one guy in the show, however, that can get annoying.  He’s a racist, really dumb, and arrogant.  His name is Pierce.  But Community has those moments when each character reveals his vulnerable side and says something profound.  This latest episode was when Pierce said:

“That thing some men call failure.  I call living.  Breakfast.  And I’m not leaving until I clean out the buffet.” - Pierce

“Good luck, Pierce!” - Jeff

“Don’t need it, never had it!” - Pierce

Now, I’m no Pierce.  At least, I’d like to think I’m not.  But I’ve had my fair share of failures; probably more than other people.  There is an innumerable amount of things I’m not good at.  But we all know that the good Lord is good at everything.  He is good.  I will not let my failures bog me down and paralyze me.  I have to soldier on, and trust in the Lord.

Trusting in the Lord.  What does that mean?  The question has been asked, answered, re-asked, re-answered, and so on and so forth for thousands of years.  Does it mean doing nothing and trusting that God will give us everything we want?  No.  Does it mean not worrying or caring about anything because we know that God is in control?  Well, maybe, but find me one Christian (Jesus included) that never worried or cared about certain situations.  I don’t know what it means.  I don’t know what it looks like.

Context:  I was looking up this article where a guy is criticizing Christians for participating in Chick-Fil-A appreciation day.  He gives 5 reasons why the church “failed”:

1.) Was not a loving action

2.) Gays felt hated

3.) Christians are putting issue above people

4.) No surprise

5.) Doesn’t disprove “I don’t hate gays!”

Full article here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2914358/posts

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Something I’ve realized is that the LGBT community (plus asexual, whatever, perhaps in the future bestiality and pedophilia even) is saying:

“You Christians should love us, right?  Well, if you don’t allow gay marriage, then you’re not loving us.

If you don’t vote for gay marriage, then you hate us.

If you don’t do what we say, then you are a hypocrite because you’re not loving us.”

Now, brothers and sisters, should we abandon Truth to “love” people?

Is doing whatever someone wants you to do really “loving” them?

Should we put gays’ feelings over God?

What did Jesus do when he saw people in sin?

I’m going to quote a few of the people who responded to the post that really encouraged me:

“Wednesday proved that the recent tactics to back Christians into a corner and cow us into silence have worn out. We are no longer chicken of offending those who are perpetually offended; we are more interested in following God’s Word and protecting our freedom from the bullies on the far left than we used to be. Wednesday proved that the [Politically Correct] movement’s claims of victimization have lost their power to force decent people to submit to frivolous and unjustified demands.”

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“Err, actually, the existence or not of hate is exactly the point. You can’t convict people of theft because alleged victims “felt” robbed. You have to prove they were actually relieved of goods or money. You can’t fine people for libel because alleged victims “felt” upset about things written about them. You have to prove the scurrilous statement is actually untrue.

I’m very sorry that the LGBT community felt “hate”, but as it wasn’t there, that’s their problem, not mine. You can’t expect people to modify their behavior, especially when it concerns the highest moral values of their lives, just because someone else might get upset. That’s a route to being a doormat at best, and an absolute slave at worst.”

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“The scriptures condemn homosexuality, in the most strongest of terms. Liberals say Christ never spoke about homosexuality. He didn’t have to! Christ said He came not to change one jot or tittle of the Law. In His own Law, Christ condemns homosexuality. Christ also spoke more about Hell than about Heaven. He warned humanity that sin’s wages are eternal punishment. He has His arms wide open even now for all sinners! Yet these people refuse to come to Him, and they mock Him and His sacrifice.”

Is being universally tolerant necessary to love all people?  Read Matthew 23:13-33.  We know Jesus loved all people.  But here He is clearly not universally tolerant.

This question is my response to the whole gay marriage debacle (with the Chick-fil-a business at it’s precipice).

It’s pretty clear in scripture what God thinks about marriage and what God thinks about homosexuality.  I’m not discussing or even contemplating whether homosexuality is a sin and whether homosexual marriage, according to truth, should or shouldn’t exist.

However, we have a problem here.

America was originally founded for religious freedom.  It was founded by people who wanted to be Christian.

Ivy league schools were founded initially as seminaries.  Seminary was “higher education”.

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written with Christian values in mind.  Massachusetts was founded to be a “city upon a hill”, which was inspired by scripture.

The founding fathers of the United States of America intended for this country to be a Christian country.  It was meant to be a country where Christians are free to be Christian.

This is no longer the case.

And this is Biblical.

Jesus promised us that as long as we are alive, we will be persecuted.  We will be the minority.  The world will hate us.  The idea that a country under God could last is contrary to what Scripture says.

I believe that today, right now, America is not a country under God.

In the near future it’s very likely that Christians will again be persecuted.  This might not happen next year, or in ten years, but I’m pretty sure in my lifetime, it will be “politically incorrect” and intolerable to be Christian in America.  This is the way of the world.  This is the Kingdom of the Air.  Christians will be called terrorists, anarchists, fanatics, and lunatics.  We might be locked up, beaten, spat upon, and ridiculed.

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Now to the big question: Should Christians strive to have the nation retain its Christian values?

Sub-question: Should we keep the institution of marriage Biblical (as it was originally intended to be)?

What does God want us to do in regard to politics?

The stronger and more belligerent the atheist, the stronger a Christian he/she will become if someone (perhaps myself?) ministers to them and prays for them properly.

Daddy look at me, look at all that I achieved in my life
I tried to do my best you ask ‘where is the rest of it son?’
am I never good enough?

Father and Creator
do you look with favor on me?
I hear you understand
that it’s hard to be a man
Jesus hold me in your hand

So some guy designed some weird looking sneakers.  What’s different was that each sneaker had a cuff that was chained to the shoe.  The idea behind this design was that “these shoes are so cool that you’ll have to chain them to yourself to prevent them from being stolen!”  Are these shoes ugly?  I think so.  But I’m not fashion expert.

Link here: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/354027/20120619/adidas-shackle-shoes-photo-racist-controversy.htm

So here’s the problem.  Everybody is complaining that these shoes are racist and are trying to capitalize on slavery.  Few things:

- I can not think of a dumber accusation than somebody trying to “capitalize on slavery.”  That just sounds stupid.  Say it to yourself.  Even if you are a racist, who is stupid enough to believe that racism sells or is profitable?

- The shackles are bound to the shoe.  Not to each other.

- Africans are not the only people to have been enslaved.  If you were genuinely concerned about slavery-related undertones, you wouldn’t only refer to the controversy that everybody knows about (referring to popular controversy in an attempt to draw attention to oneself is a common strategy of Americans).

- Some guy went so far as to talk about the fact that since orange is a predominant color, and that prison jump suits are orange, that the shoes are being racist towards African Americans, who occupy 2/3 of prisons.  The LSAT minded side of me cannot help but scream: SCOPE SHIFT!  BORDERLINE CIRCULAR REASONING!  So what, if I have black and white shoes, I’m making fun of black prisoners because some jumpsuits have black and white stripes?

So why the great controversy?  Simple.  Americans like to stir up controversy and argue/complain/protest loudly about something because they want attention and they want to be right.  People argue not for the sake of arguing, but for the sake of asserting dominance and inflating their own ego.  They want to think their opinion matters, even if their opinion is blatantly wrong.

Just to emphasize how Godless America is, here’s a quote from a movie about pop-culture:

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Frank: Oh, I get, and I am offended. Not because I’ve got a problem with bitter, predictable, whiny, millionaire disk jockeys complaining about celebrities or how tough their life is, while I live in an apartment with paper-thin walls next to a couple of Neanderthals who, instead of a baby, decided to give birth to some kind of nocturnal civil defense air-raid siren that goes off every fuckin’ night like it’s Pearl Harbor. I’m not offended that they act like it’s my responsibility to protect their rights to pick on the weak like pack animals, or that we’re supposed to support their freedom of speech when they don’t give a fuck about yours or mine.

Office Worker: So, you’re against free speech now? That’s in the Bill of Rights, man.

Frank: I would defend their freedom of speech if I thought it was in jeopardy. I would defend their freedom of speech to tell uninspired, bigoted, blowjob, gay-bashing, racist and rape jokes all under the guise of being edgy, but that’s not the edge. That’s what sells. They couldn’t possibly pander any harder or be more commercially mainstream, because this is the “Oh no, you didn’t say that!” generation, where a shocking comment has more weight than the truth. No one has any shame anymore, and we’re supposed to celebrate it. I saw a woman throw a used tampon at another woman last night on network television, a network that bills itself as “Today’s Woman’s Channel”. Kids beat each other blind and post it on Youtube. I mean, do you remember when eating rats and maggots on Survivor was shocking? It all seems so quaint now. I’m sure the girls from “2 Girls 1 Cup” are gonna have their own dating show on VH-1 any day now. I mean, why have a civilization anymore if we no longer are interested in being civilized?

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In my opinion, America needs missionaries just as much as any third world country.  Perhaps more so.  At its conception, America was all about Christ (religious freedom, IVY league schools were all seminaries, everybody was Christian, etc.).  Now, it’s probably not too different from Israel abandoning God, who has blessed this country so much, and turns away towards golden calves and Baal.

How angry, how furious the LORD was with Israel!  Israel’s sin was, according to God, far greater than Sodom or Edom or Gomorrorah, for Israel had known the LORD and rebelled against Him.

Do not fear.

Your enemies will be like nothing and perish.

I will uplift you, bless you, and give you everything you need.

I am the LORD God.  All powerful.  Relentless.

Your ways are not my ways.  Your will is not my will.

Subject yourself to my will.

And I will give you an inheritance of nations.