Is Christ Divided or Is It Just Us?
I started The Wine Patch about a year ago and up to that point, I only wrote an occasional entry to my journal. The impetus of my public writing came as I watched the political spirit seep into the church like smog, infecting Christian thinking.
The more I watched, the more I realized; this slithering spirit was not sneaking under the back door but wafting through the front, proudly presenting a signed invitation from the ones charged with guarding the gates.
Watch out! Beware the leaven of Herod!
~Jesus. Mark’s Gospel
Megan Basham, from the Daily Wire, recently wrote a well-researched, deeply upsetting article that confirms and bolsters many of my concerns for the church. While her piece is focused on the pandemic, I quickly began to see a pattern extend to other topics that are equally dividing the church today.
The central figure of her piece is the Obama-appointee and Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Francis Collins. While he has forged a career at the tip of the virology spear, the heinous tactics he employed relegates him from pioneer to pariah.
Many have come to know Collins over these past two years as Anthony Fauci’s boss and the self-avowed Coronavirus savior. The rest of us have come to know him as a maniacal maestro of medical malfeasance.
I realize these are strong words for a kindly old man who is widely touted as an Evangelical national treasure. But, if only half of what is emerging from his villainous captaining is true, words of adequate strength will never be found. It is quite telling that he resigned mid-pandemic, just ahead of released emails that proved his and Anthony’s complicity.
The criminal catastrophe of his diabolical reign leaves behind an engineered global virus he helped to create, innumerable cages of humanized mice, ineffective and dangerous vaccines, and countless baby carcasses crying out from abortion clinic dumpsters who never signed a donor card in exchange for their harvested tissue and organs.
Francis Collins is what you get if Josef Mengele and Mister Rogers had a kid.
Christian Leaders or Christian Followers?
What is Basham’s unabashed thesis? The federal government used Collins to influence prominent Evangelical leaders to encourage them to spread Covid propaganda to churches — and she names names. None of whom responded to her request for comment.
After reading Megan’s piece, I journeyed through endless rabbit holes gnawing on every article and podcast I could find to gather my evidence and look for common messaging. The message was loud and clear. The upside is, I am convinced Basham’s work is accurate. The downside is; I am left asking more questions that spread far beyond the pandemic.
As I listened to the leaders Basham named as well as others in their camps, I heard far more about politics and culture than I did the Kingdom. What subtly began to emerge was a consistent, almost lockstep adherence with many of the familiar social justice tenets we all are embroiled in today. As this broader tapestry came into view, it only prompted deeper questions.
Is the church transforming culture or is the culture transforming church?
Turns out, skinny jeans, tats, and Amish hats aren’t as effective as blood on the doorposts when the spirit of woke comes to town.
Try not to be triggered and stay with me on this. Many Christian leaders who nod in agreement with Collins also endorse the following on some level:
To love our neighbor as Jesus intends requires vaccination and boosting
A clarion call to look past abortion and vote Democratic
Ally-ship and advocacy for the LGBTQIA2+ agenda.
Soft legitimization of ANTIFA
A firm commitment to anti-racism and support for BLM Inc.
Pledged allegiance to globalization and climate justice
Open borders are a proper interpretation of the biblical charge: Welcome the foreigner
For anyone still reading, I am fairly certain you are either cheering or sneering. Rarely does a list like this yield a lukewarm response — but why? And why does a list like this never offer an alà carte option and force the buy-one-get-all package deal?
If this list was plotted on the political spectrum, I am fairly confident each will stick well left of center. Likewise, the antithetical list of these beliefs would plot well right of center.
Should Christian leaders emulate worldly patterns and sink their pegs deep into the linear cribbage board of politics?
Is Christ Divided or Us?
Hence, the conundrum: How can brothers and sisters in Christ see the world through drastically different lenses? How can Christ’s church on Earth be so deeply divided that finding common ground on issues like these feels more like a political pursuit than a spiritual one? Is Christ Himself divided or ambivalent on these topics? Are only half of us right? Are all of us wrong?
The Kingdom of God is the everlasting realm that reigns over and beyond every other system. The Kingdom of God is the yeast released from heaven to earth and is the power to transform, renew and reconcile all things.
If a kingdom is divided against itself, it will not be able to stand
~ Jesus
The Kingdom of God is not divided, yet the church and its leaders certainly are. Perhaps a good starting point is for Christian leaders to stop parroting what’s socially trending and instead, carefully formulate their thinking based solely on the Kingdom before speaking and acting on the cultural stage.
We speak about these things not with words taught to us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit
~The Apostle Paul
Should a Christian care if the vaccines are scientifically reliant upon dead babies? Can a Christian be Pro-choice? Should a church participate in social activism? Can a Christian be woke?
Tough questions indeed. What matters most is not who is asking the questions, but who is answering.
It’s Just Us
In Paul’s first letter to the Church in Corinth, he identifies the three states of a person with one primary, overriding assumption: Every single person is created in the image of God. (If you believe you rose from the steam of the primordial soup, politics may not be your greatest concern.)
The first state is the unbeliever. The unbeliever is not in a relationship with the Living God and therefore cannot understand spiritual things.
The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.
~ Chapter 2, Verse 14
Key point number one: It should not be surprising or frustrating when an unbeliever does not agree with, or adhere to, Kingdom principles.
The second state is the believer. The believer is in a relationship with God but subsists on the basic, most minimal aspects of the faith. Paul calls them infants who are still controlled primarily by their physical nature.
I gave you milk to drink because you are not ready to eat solid food…you are still influenced by the flesh.
~ Chapter 3, Verse 2,3
Key point number two: Believers are fully capable of embracing Kingdom principles. However, because they may still be controlled by the flesh, they are prone to adopt beliefs and convictions that are contrary to the Spirit of God. This is because they lack the innate gifting to distinguish God’s heart on a matter.
The third state is the spiritual person. The spiritual person subsists on the weightier revelations of the Kingdom and within whom the Spirit of God has been fully released in gifting and power.
For we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. The one who is spiritual discerns all things … as we have the mind of Christ.
~ Chapter 2, Taken from Verses 12, 15,16
The spiritual person has within them the God-given gifts crucially needed for navigating the truth and lies of today’s cultural maze. Later in this letter, Paul describes the Gifts of the Spirit which include; wisdom, knowledge, discerning of spirits, and prophecy.
For the Christian, these Kingdom competencies are imperative to perceive truth, reject lies, reveal deception, and distinguish light from darkness through the political smog.
This revelatory reflection has blown apart my constructs for debate, disagreement, and division in the church. True, we will all naturally hold differing opinions on a variety of topics based on numerous factors. And, we should remain relentless when calling out evil.
But, before the church flings wide the doors and subscribes to any movement or thought that originates from the world’s precepts: Beware the leaven of Herod.
My sense is that Megan Basham has lopped off the tip of the iceberg and the submerged mountain is spinning into view.
There is a Better Way
Take careful note of the attributes Paul describes. The unbeliever is incapable of discerning spiritual things, so don’t expect them to. The believer understands the basics of the Gospel but will be easily influenced by the patterns and formularies of the world. So much so, they may share broad acres of common ground with the unbeliever.
The spiritual person, operating in grace and love, should be the most reliable, the most trustworthy, the most listened to leader when it comes to deciphering truth and showing the way through our decaying culture.
I envision the scene when Moses parted the Red Sea. While the Israelites squabbled about the waters on the left being superior to the waters on the right, it was the spiritual leader who ignored both sides and led the people in the way the Lord had prepared for them.
May we demolish the divide of left and right and commit to distinguishing dark from light. May we fight less to convince them that they are wrong and contend more and more we hear heaven’s song. May we be satisfied less with political compilation and spend more time in prayer to gain true revelation.
And always know this: The Kingdom of God is a continually unfolding invitation. For the unbeliever, the invitation of Jesus is the way to a relationship with The Father. For the believer, the invitation of the Holy Spirit is to always come deeper. And for the spiritual person, the invitation is to grow in maturity to exercise the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in a manner that brings healing, revelation, truth, and light to this broken and confused world.
Behold how good and pleasant it is when brethren live together in unity
~ Psalms 133
