The Pastor (The Priest) The sleek black BMW convertible pulled up to the intersection and came to a stop. White knuckles gripped the steering wheel as the pastor looked nervously past the red glare of the stoplight, eyes fixed on the rising spire of his church. He checked his gold diamond-studded Rolex for the fourth time.  Damn it! Going to be late for the first service. He can’t believe it. Where are the sheriff deputies they hired to direct traffic? Just then, he noticed a man sitting on the curb just outside the church property, next to the sign that read “Second Baptist Church”.  The stranger sat with his back propped up against the sign. Blue eyes stared at the pastor from the man’s dirt-streaked face, partially hidden by long and disheveled hair matted with dry mud and what looked like grass. A rusty-framed bike with a bent front wheel lay in the grass next to him.   The pastor noticed that the man’s leg was bleeding, and his right foot seemed to be angled slightly sideways. The man’s possessions, consisting of a few items of old clothing, some plastic bottles, and a small leather satchel, lay strewn about next to him.  This is not a good look. I’ve got 2,000 people coming to the service today, and this is what they’re going to see?.   The church used to have a homeless ministry that ran an overnight shelter and a food kitchen, but the program was closed down because many in his flock thought the church was becoming a “social gospel” church or too “woke”.   They also complained of the smell and that many of them talked to themselves. Others were worried that they would assault them or their children in the restrooms.  Eventually, several deacons approached the pastor to tell him that they would withdraw their support for him and their tithes unless he ended the outreach program.  “Why don’t we just give the money we are spending to the Lutheran church down the street, and they can take care of them? Let them do the literal dirty work”,  said one of the deacons.  He turned his gaze from the red light back to the stranger.  He rolled down the window and said, “Hey, you. Listen. You need to move, ok? If you need some help, you can go to the shelter down the street. It’s right over there at the Lutheran church. It’s just a mile down the road. You can’t miss it. God bless you and happy Easter!”  The light turned green, and the BMW sped away with a slight screech as the engine roared. The Deacon (The Levite) The deacon stood by the door, huddled together with a group of ushers.  “Who’s on golf cart duty on the east side today?” he asked, his outstretched arm pointing generally in the direction of the parked golf cart in the driveway.  “Fred Johnston was supposed to help out today, but he wasn’t able to make it”, said a sandy-haired man in a blue polo shirt embroidered with a cross and the letters SBC printed in an arch over it.  The deacon was agitated. He was already short on volunteers, and now Fred Johnston decides not to show up. Typical and par for the course around this place.  “Ok. I’ll cover the east side myself”.  He hopped into the driver’s seat of the luxury cart, which had 10 seats. Punching the accelerator, he launched the cart into the parking lot, almost side-swiping a parked car and narrowly missing an elderly woman in a wheelchair in the crosswalk leading to the entrance.  Racing towards the main parking lot entrance, something caught his eye by the sign in front of the church. He turned the cart into the grass, heading toward a lump of what looked like a pile of dirty clothes and trash. He leaped out of the cart as it screeched to a stop behind the sign. Damn it. The maintenance crew is supposed to walk the property before every service to make sure this type of crap is picked up. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something moving on the side of the sign facing the street. Walking around the front, he saw the bleeding man sitting with his back against the sign.  “Hey, bud. You can’t be here. This is private property.”  The man stared at him blankly and said in a weak, strained voice, “No problem, sir. But you see, my leg is injured. One of the cars that pulled into the parking lot ran me and my bike off the road right into this sign, and my leg is hurt real bad.” The deacon looked past the stranger and noticed the long line of cars lining up to get into the parking lot.  “Look, if you go to the Lutheran church down the road, they may be able to help you. It’s just across the street. See the sign? They can fix you up, but you’ve got to move from in front of my sign now, OK? Happy Easter, and God bless you, my friend!  The cart suddenly leaped forward as the deacon punched the pedal to the floor, racing toward the entrance of the parking lot.  The Outcast (The Samaritan) On the other side of the parking lot, James sat in his car, the engine idling, the sound of his own breathing loud in the cramped space. I shouldn’t have come. Why did I think this would be different?  He remembered the last words spoken to him by his father as he slammed the door in his face, a suitcase and a few boxes of his things at his feet. “God does not love fags, son. I’m doing this for your own good”. The words were a physical weight in his chest. God, give me a sign, please, he whispered. Anything. Just tell me I’m not crazy for being here.  Then he saw the bumper sticker on the car that backed in ahead of him: Adam & Eve, Not Adam & Steve. The silence that followed was cold.  Okay, God. I hear you. He put the car in reverse, his vision blurring. If you don’t believe in me, then I don’t believe in you. As he started to turn onto the street, he noticed the stranger by the sign on the corner. He pulled off to the side of the road, got out of his car, and ran over to the man.  “Hey man, are you ok?” The man was crawling toward his bike, struggling to get up, his left foot dragging behind him.  “Yes, sir. I’m going to be ok, but I gotta get out of here before the golf card dude gets back. I don’t want any trouble.”   James looked at him, still wiping the tears from his eyes, “Hey, man. Let me give you a ride to the hospital so they can check you out. That leg looks pretty rough.”  “Sir, I don’t want to put you out, but if you could at least help me get up and get my things, that would be great”, said the stranger, eyes nervously glancing around, looking for the golf cart. James put the stranger’s bike and several bags of his things into the trunk, then helped the man to his feet, slowly lowered him into the back seat so he could stretch out his injured leg.   Looking at the stranger in the rear-view mirror, James asked, “So what is your name?” The stranger, wincing in pain as the car hit a small dent in the road, replied, “My name is Samuel, but my friends call me Sammy. However, I don’t have many friends anymore, so most people just seem to call me ‘hey you’”. James cracks a slight smile, amazed at the attitude of this man who obviously had been homeless for some time and who possibly was suffering from a broken leg.  “Well, you are no longer ‘hey you’ to me, Sammy, so I guess that makes us friends. I’m going to take you to the emergency room to get an X-ray for that leg.” James parked the car in the hospital parking lot and wheeled Sammy into the emergency room in a wheelchair. Handing a clipboard to Sammy, the nurse asked, “Do you have insurance?” Sammy’s head drops down a bit, eyes pointed towards his shoes. “No ma’am. It’s been a long time since I’ve had insurance.” The nurse looks at him disapprovingly. “Ok. Fill out what you can, and we’ll see what we can do.” The emergency room was packed with hardly any seats available. They sat down next to a woman who was bouncing an infant on each leg while she held the hand of a three-year-old in the stroller in front of her.  The father was busy getting snacks from the vending machine in the corner while three other kids were pleading with him in Spanish to pick their favorite.  The woman leaned down and kissed the little girl in the stroller with a worried look on her face. She turned to the woman sitting on the other side of her and said something in Spanish about a high fever and that she hoped they would take them back soon.    “So, Sammy, where are you from? How did you end up in front of Second Baptist Church?” Sammy took a deep breath, leaned forward in his chair, then back again with a sigh. He had moved from Cincinnati several years ago with his ex-wife, who was from New Orleans. They both worked for a shipping company, he on the docks and she in the office as a cargo coordinator. His wife came down with breast cancer and eventually lost her job and health insurance.  Due to the slowdown in exports, he also lost his job. Within months, they were both homeless.  The cancer ended up spreading, and his wife passed away shortly before Christmas a couple of years ago. Homeless and by himself with no family, he wandered the French Quarter, living in and out of homeless shelters. During this time, he started to drink heavily and was in and out of various free programs to help him stop.  He finally ended up across Lake Ponchartrain in Lacombe at a re-hab camp run by one of the New Orleans shelters. However, after only two weeks, the rehab facility closed due to a lack of funding, and he ended up back on the street.  He was trying to get to the church to attend the Easter service and maybe get something to eat.   Hour after hour passed. James noticed that those who answered “yes” to the insurance question were being called back to the exam room area more quickly than everyone else.  “Man, this is nuts. We’ve been here for over three hours, and they keep taking people back who got here way after we did”, said James.  Sammy shrugged, took a long breath, and let it out. “Yeah. That’s par for the course if you don’t have insurance. They have to treat you because it’s the law, but you will wait for hours, and then they don’t treat you the same. I’ve had so many of my friends die in this waiting room or die after they leave because they didn’t get the tests they needed.” “That’s ridiculous”, said Sammy. “Well, that’s not going to happen today. Come on, let’s get out of here.” James wheeled Sammy out to the parking lot and got him back into the car. After a few minutes, they pull into the parking lot of the 24 Hour Urgent Care clinic. “This is the clinic that I use when I get sick. I don’t have any insurance either, so they usually give me a big discount since I pay in cash, and they treat me pretty well”.  The nurse called Sammy’s name within about 10 minutes of their arrival. The X-rays determined that Sammy had indeed broken his left…

As a night owl, I’ve always enjoyed late-night talk radio. Years ago, one of my favorite late-night shows was Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell. It was the radio equivalent of The X-Files, exploring every conspiracy theory imaginable, including alien abductions, ghosts, and, of course, the Illuminati, a clandestine world organization dedicated to establishing a “one-world” government. It was Q before Q became cool, but it was just entertainment back then.   Art Bell often spoke of a trend he called the “quickening.” This was his term for the accelerating pace of change and chaos in the world. He frequently noted how these fringe ideas and the resulting ideologies were rapidly entering mainstream consciousness at an ever-increasing rate.  The “quickening” that Art Bell described can be seen today in the chaos gripping religion and politics. Words are weaponized, their meanings contorted to seize and maintain control, birthing a dangerous alternative reality where “alternative facts” take root, up is systematically redefined as down, and the very essence of good and evil is perverted. Alternative Facts: Good is Evil Consider the concerning trend among some evangelical Christians to label empathy and mercy as detrimental or even evil in God’s eyes. This may sound bizarre, but it’s a real challenge to fundamental Christian theology and a risk to the very foundation of our democracy.   Proponents of this movement attempt to paint empathy as “toxic.” Merriam-Webster defines empathy as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, which seems inherently positive. However, some, like Allie Stuckey, in her book Toxic Empathy, argue it’s a manipulative tool used by the “left” to sway Christians into accepting sin. Stuckey’s reasoning is not necessarily new. The idea that Christians should avoid associating with non-believers and the marginalized has been prevalent in many Christian communities for some time. Take, for example, the belief among some Christians that associating with someone like a member of the LGBTQ+ community and showing compassion and concern for them will somehow weaken or taint a Christian’s faith. This is similar to the belief in ancient Israel that touching a leper would transfer their sin and sickness to them. In addition, the theory goes that it will support their “lifestyle” and therefore enable them to continue in their alleged “sin,” which in itself is considered a sin. Those who believe this feel called to attempt corrective action by confronting them “with love” by quoting scripture and pointing out their “sin” directly. However, what they fail to see is that what they are really doing is condemning them without love, done in a “nice” way. Intriguingly, even avowed atheist Elon Musk, who has strangely become a “saint” of the religious right, echoed similar sentiments in a recent interview with Joe Rogan, calling it “civilizational suicidal empathy”, a term borrowed from Gad Saad, a fellow atheist and proponent of biological and social Darwinism.  He further suggested that empathy is a “bug” in Western civilization that is being exploited. This raises the question: Is empathy truly an existential threat?  To those with a scarcity mindset who view the world as a zero-sum game where resources are finite and competition is paramount, empathy for the less fortunate and marginalized is seen as a cost, a sacrifice of valuable resources, social standing, or power.  This fosters a transactional society in which relationships are based solely on what people can do for each other in the moment, rather than on compassion and concern for one another, regardless of worldly costs, as Jesus calls us to do.  The resulting “me first” perspective aligns with a worldview where such altruism is considered harmful or even evil. It is a self-centered and anti-Christian attitude that naturally progresses to the ultimate end, which is a place where we demand everything and leave nothing for others.  “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” Isaiah 5:20 The Way of Jesus However, the Christian perspective, as exemplified by Jesus, offers a powerful counterpoint.  The gospels repeatedly show Jesus modeling radical empathy at personal cost.  He empathized with us when He FELT the sadness we feel at the loss of a loved one by weeping with those mourning the death of His friend Lazarus. He FELT our fear as He cried out to the Father in the garden of Gethsemane the night before He was crucified. He FELT the same hunger and temptation by Satan that we feel as we travel through our own deserts of life. He FELT our sickness by showing compassion for the sick by healing them. He FELT our yearning concern for the marginalized by fellowshipping with them and commanding us to take care of “the least of these” as if they were Christ Himself. He FELT our anger when He called out the Pharisees and the Temple priests for turning His father’s temple into a house of greed and profit. Jesus also showed empathy by associating with those considered the dregs of ancient Jewish society. He scandalously dined with tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, and He touched and healed lepers. He never condemned them “with love” or shunned them so as not to “support their lifestyle.” Rather, He fellowshipped with them and embraced them with open arms and overwhelming love. As John tells us, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17) And yet, quite amazingly, Jesus’ faith was never shaken, and He did not become like those with whom He embraced. However, those whom He embraced had their lives changed forever, which would never have happened if Jesus had followed the precepts of His religion, calling Him to avoid them at the cost of worldly cleanliness. And finally, we see Jesus displaying the ultimate act of empathy by enduring the pain of the cross while asking for mercy for His executioners by declaring, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) As Paul said in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  In other words, His empathy for humanity was so great that He died for us even though we were His enemies and undeserving of God’s mercy. This was not a one-time transaction or “deal” where both parties traded something valuable. Humanity had nothing to offer but everything to gain from the mercy Jesus showed on the cross. We could do nothing for Him, but He still gave us everything.  “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8  An Unholy Alliance  So, why this seemingly unholy alliance between secularists and some Christians against empathy? If empathy is about understanding and serving others as Christ commanded and modeled, its opposite serves those who benefit from division and the control it provides.  For instance, one of the tools used by many authoritarian political movements to remove empathy is the process of scapegoating, which focuses anger on innocent and vulnerable minority groups – a tactic Rene Girard identifies as a primary weapon of Satan, defeated by Jesus on the cross.  The process starts by dehumanizing the scapegoat to remove any semblance of their God given image.  In the Christian context, this dehumanization morphs into demonization, whereby the scapegoat is seen as an existential evil that must be defeated at any cost. Empathy is a great threat to scapegoating because it makes demonizing and mistreating others difficult. The more we know someone, the more we recognise our shared humanity, moving us towards compassion and understanding rather than indifference and intolerance.  In contrast, keeping people distant and using scapegoating makes manipulating the group into demonizing others easier, for all they will see is the false and distorted picture presented by the manipulator.   As Girard notes, empathy is an enemy of the scapegoat mechanism, just as Jesus’ actions on the cross were. Scapegoating empathy itself, highlighting instances where it has material costs while ignoring its eternal rewards, is a tactic to discredit it entirely. It is also a primary tool of Satan.    Throughout the ages, many empires and political movements, driven by greed and power, have co-opted Christ’s message, warping it from a call of selfless service of our fellow man into a selfish and corrupting tool, resulting in harm to the poor and marginalized. On the world stage today, we still see these Empirical actors doing this to gain political control, co-opting some Christian traditions, particularly among evangelicals. They allow support for political agendas antithetical to Jesus’ call to care for the needy and marginalized, justifying cuts to essential programs and the persecution of enemies instead of loving them. They lead us down a path that diverges significantly from the Kingdom of God described in the Sermon on the Mount. A New Way Rather than scapegoating and condemning, we are called to follow Christ by carrying our own crosses and helping others to carry theirs. This stands in stark contrast to the “me first” movement, which antithetically demands that we drop our crosses and build crosses for others instead. This profound love of Christ, born of radical empathy, inevitably manifests as compassion and mercy, mirroring the essence of the cross itself. This is our defining purpose as the body of Christ in the world. To erode empathy is to strike at the heart of the gospel message, and it is something we must resist.  “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16: 24-26

I have a confession to make. I recently stubbed my toe on the corner of the wall while walking full stride across my living room. The immediate shock of the impact sent me to the floor, writhing in pain. Before I knew it, the evil angel on my left shoulder screamed out, “G-d Damn It!!!”. Immediately, the good angel on my right shoulder screamed, “Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain, you idiot!! I’m sure this has happened to most of you as well. Sometimes, things just come out, especially when we’re in pain or angry. This made me think about the real meaning of God’s admonition to not take His name in vain. Did God really give us a whole commandment simply telling us not to use His name as a demeaning expletive when we are upset about something or someone?  As always, I first went to scripture to find an answer.  The third commandment is found in Exodus 20:7, which in the King James version says,  “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”  We often use the word vain to describe someone who is self-centered or full of themselves.   These are people who walk by you with their noses raised as you lay on the floor in agony after you stub your little toe, muttering under their breath, “I look much more fabulous than you after I stub my toe!” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “vain” as “having or showing undue or excessive pride in one’s appearance or achievements (conceited); marked by futility or ineffectualness (useless); having no tangible value (worthlessness). So, how did this word become synonymous with “cursing”? Most translations of Exodus 20:7 use the word “vain.” However, the NIV translation interprets the verse as follows: “You shall not MISUSE the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who MISUSES his name.” The word “misuse” broadens the meaning of the commandment and opens up a whole new avenue of sin for us to consider. So, other than using the name of God as an expletive, what are some different ways that God’s name is misused in our society today? In my opinion, the most prevalent misuse of God’s name is not using the name of God in salty speech in moments of stress, pain, or anger. Rather, it is using God’s name, image, and word to justify the unbridled pursuit of wealth, social status, and political power at all costs.  Name It and Claim It The  “Prosperity Gospel” movement is a perfect example of how God’s word has been warped and misused to justify worldly greed and unchecked ambition by conflating the pursuit of wealth with the will of God.  We’ve all seen or read about celebrity prosperity pastors asking for money to support their luxurious lifestyles, including mansions, expensive cars, and even private airplanes! Come on now, you know Jesus would never lower his standards to fly coach after all! This false gospel proclaims that God’s primary and most important goal for your life is to be as wealthy and successful as possible. This implies that wealth is the primary indicator of God’s favor or lack of favor in your life.  The theory is that if you have a lot of money, you must be living according to God’s will and are therefore “blessed.” Conversely, if you are poor, you must be acting against God’s will and, thus, have lost his favor.  Its adherents also claim that all you need to do is remind God of a promise to “bless” you by repeating an out-of-context verse of scripture and using it to “claim” what you want.   I’m sorry, but I just can’t wrap my head around telling the creator of the universe that He owes me something, and He better pay up! The audacity of this has to be amusing to God, if not downright offensive.  We know intuitively as Christians that this is a false gospel. Jesus did not die for us on the cross and ascend to heaven to establish a giant ATM at the foot of the throne of God to dispense worldly manna in measure based on the number of prayers and petitions received.  Jesus clearly emphasizes that the treasure we should pray for is spiritual in nature. It can only be obtained by doing God’s will and pursuing His goals, not our own.  Jesus makes this plain to us in Matthew 6:19-21 where he talks about the nature of the treasure we are to pursue: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” John tells us in 1 John 5:14-15  that rather than praying for worldly riches, we are to pray for the true blessing of  God’s will:  “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” James further adds that in addition to praying for the right things, we must pray for them with the right motives. “You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Notice that he identifies the wrong motive as “to get your pleasures” instead of God’s will. Scripture clearly shows that whether or not we are blessed materially is inconsequential to determining one’s standing with God.  No matter our economic status, we always win by doing His will, even if the “win” is not realized as treasure until we reach heaven.  The Wealth of Health Many followers of prosperity theology also believe that the blessing of good health and healing is a measure of an individual’s belief and standing in God’s eyes.  God will bless you with healing and good health if you have faith and lead a moral life (and donate money to the private jet fund!).  Conversely, if you don’t have enough faith and lead an immoral “lifestyle” (or don’t donate enough money to the private jet fund and your pastor has to fly coach!), you will be “cursed” with bad health and not eligible for God’s healing.  This theology echoes the Pharasitical system in Jesus’ time, which considered the physically challenged or those with diseases such as leprosy as cursed by God, either by their sin or the sin of their ancestors.  However, Jesus stood in stark opposition to this treatment of those considered cursed by his society. We see an example of His scandalous compassion for the “unclean”  in Mark 1: 40-45:  “A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”  Immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.” The scandalous part was not that he healed the man. It was that he touched him. The Jews believed that just touching a leper would transfer God’s curse to them along with the disease.  Paul tells us in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose” All good things, including good health,  do indeed come from God. However, we live in a fallen and broken world that operates under the grace of free will given to us by a Creator whose love is uncontrolling and unconditional. Because of this, bad things will happen to us, but not because God wishes them so. God’s love is uncontrolling because He does not force us to love or even believe He exists. His love is unconditional because He still loves us despite our rejection of His love and disbelief.  As Paul puts it in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This scandalous sacrifice at the hands of enemies is called grace.  This free will also applies to nature and our bodies as well. Sometimes they cooperate with God’s goodwill, and sometimes they don’t. Emperor Christ In 312 AD, while preparing for the Battle of Malvern Bridge, the Roman emperor Constantine noticed a cross-shaped image in the sky over the battlefield.  Feeling this was a fortuitous omen, he ordered that the Roman eagle be replaced with the symbol of Christ on his army’s banners and shields. The victorious Constantine attributed his army’s victory over his rival for the throne, Maxentius, to Christ’s direct intervention.  For the first time in recorded history, the blood of an enemy was shed by a nation in the name of Jesus rather than it being shed FOR an enemy as commanded by Jesus.    Shortly thereafter, in 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which stated that Christians were free to practice their religion throughout the realm without persecution.  Finally, in 380 AD, Emperor Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica, which enshrined Christianity as the Roman Empire’s official religion.  This marked the official beginning of Christendom, transforming the church from a powerless, persecuted minority to an all-powerful ally of the state.  For the next few centuries, the church embedded itself with the governing powers of the Western world, declaring that the decrees of popes and the kings they chose had the authority to speak for and rule in God’s name.   History is littered with examples of how this conflation of God and government justified all kinds of evil committed by leaders and societies under the guise of a mandate from heaven to carry out God’s will as interpreted by those holding the political reins of power. The thousands of Jews and Muslims killed in the Crusades and the torture and slaughter that took place during the Inquisition are a couple of examples in the history of the church where the name of God was misused with devastating consequences.  Modern Political Idolatry Today, we see the ugly head of Christendom rising again in the form of a theocratic form of political ideology called “Christian Nationalism.”  Christian nationalism is a movement that stands for replacing secular forms of government with a Christian theocratic system that aims to impose a particular brand of Christianity on the nation. It is perhaps the worst misuse of God’s name and image because it attempts to confer God’s power on our political leaders and systems, transforming them into idols (also in violation of the second commandment).  Like an idol, it confers the power of God onto something that has no real power. Paul warns us about this in 2 Timothy 3: 1-5. He tells us that there will be those who “will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”   Of course, most agree that on an individual level, none of these attributes are good, and they are certainly not in accord with the fruits of the spirit, yet we tend to overlook them when selecting our leaders.  This amnesia of character occurs because we often confuse the fruit of the spirit (heavenly treasure) with the fruit of the world (worldly treasure).  The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5: 22-23). These are not…

Life often gives us horrible choices. In these situations, all options seem bad no matter what we decide. When faced with these decisions, we usually say we must choose between “the lesser of evils.” Something about this saying has always made me uneasy. I mean, isn’t choosing a lesser evil still choosing evil?   Like many things in life, how we view a choice depends on how it is framed.  In sales, there is a technique called the “assumed close.” This is where the salesman gives you a choice related to the next step in the sales process while glossing over or assuming that you already said yes.  For example, let’s say you are shopping for a car. The salesman prints out the offer with the price for you to review, but it’s slightly higher than your budget. Noticing your hesitation, instead of asking if you accept the offer, he hands you a pen and asks if you want the color to be red or black.  Notice what he did? Notice how he didn’t give you a chance to say no to the sale but reframed it as a choice about the color instead? Of course, you also have the option to reject the offer and walk away, but this was not presented to you for obvious reasons.  The Temptation It came to me that Jesus also faced a similar situation. In Matthew 4: 1-11, we read about how the Spirit led Jesus out into the desert to be tempted by Satan.  After unsuccessfully tempting Jesus to satisfy his hunger by turning a stone into bread and to prove who He was by throwing himself off a cliff, Satan offers Him something He knows Jesus can’t resist.  As we read in Matthew 4: 8-11, “The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” Let’s look at how Satan framed this decision.  First, we must realize that the context of Satan’s temptation was rooted in his self-centered view of the world.  He was and is in the business of getting us to make transactional choices that trick us into choosing things that are important in his kingdom instead of those things that are important in God’s kingdom. Let’s see how he attempted to do this with Jesus.  Satan witnessed the great love Jesus had for humanity during his ministry. I believe Satan was appealing to this love when he offered Jesus the opportunity to grab the reigns of worldly power to save the world from all future pain and hardship.   His fundamental proposition to Jesus was this: “Jesus, consider all the future evil you can prevent by doing something so simple as kneeling before me and taking direct control. Think about all the wars, rapes, murders, child molestations, and abortions that your beloved will have to experience if you don’t. And, as a bonus, you don’t have to suffer an agonizing death on the cross”.  Satan proposed that the lesser evil was to violate the first commandment to “have no other Gods before me.” Bowing down to Satan would allow Jesus to achieve the good He could undoubtedly do if the worldly levers of power were in His hands. Satan was trying to convince Jesus that the end (worldly good) justified the means (disobedience to God). However, Jesus refused to allow Satan to put Him in a box where He must choose between the “lesser of evils.” Instead, Jesus re-framed the offer as a choice between good and evil, not between evils.  He chose what the Father considers good: His obedience and steadfastness to his moral character were more important than any worldly reward or outcome. He showed us that grabbing the worldly levers of power at any cost or reward was not the answer. In this case, no one can argue that God wants less sin and suffering. However, bowing down to Satan was not the means to achieve this end that God had in mind.  In other words, God is all about the means to the end, not just the end itself. As it turns out, character counts more than worldly results or policy. Reframing The Choice In today’s world, we see the devil constantly conflate the good that God wants with the good that we want. He uses this to get us to justify our actions by convincing us that his end is what God wants.  If you think God wants wealth, power, and happiness at all costs, then the means will always be justified by your end, not His. We assume that if we have wealth, health, power, and happiness, God must be happy with the ends we used to achieve these things. We say that we are “blessed”.  The Jews also viewed those in their society this way. Those who were considered successful and influential were considered “blessed” by God regardless of the means they used to achieve their “blessings.”  Conversely, those who were poor or sick were considered cursed by God because of something they or their family did. As citizens of the worldly kingdom, the kingdom offered to Jesus in the desert, we are told that what makes us great is wealth, power, fame, intelligence, physical beauty, being a particular skin color, belonging to the proper religious denomination or political party, etc. As followers of Christ, we know intuitively that Jesus considered none of these essential contributions to a human being’s worth.  We see this influence today in many comments about people experiencing homelessness. We say things like, “Well, they put themselves in that situation, so they must get themselves right so that God will bless them the way he has blessed us.”  On the other hand, we often put the wealthy and successful members of our society on a pedestal of worldly sainthood because of the material things they have achieved, again, without regard in many cases to the means they used to get there.  Jesus teaches us a different way. In His suffering and death on the cross, He showed us how to practice sacrificial love, even and especially for our enemies.  In His resurrection, He shows us the fruit of His obedience by rising from the grave to defeat Satan and death in one fell stroke.  The world laughs at this choice because they don’t understand it. As Paul tells us, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).  It is foolish to the world because the lesser evil for them would have been for Jesus to disobey the Father to save His life. To Jesus, the lesser evil was to obey the Father even at the cost of his human life. His death was the means. God’s mercy was the end.  So, our choice is clear. Whose end do we seek, and at what price are we willing to pay to achieve it? Will we continue to build crosses for our enemies the way the world does, or will we carry the crosses of our enemies as Jesus calls us to do?

On September 4, 2024, Colt Gray, a 14-year-old freshman at Apalachee High School in the Georgia town of Winder, walked down the hallways of the school firing an AR-15-style assault rifle. By the time one of the three armed school resource officers confronted him, two teachers and two of his classmates lay dying in pools of blood.  Once again, the headlines scream of another school shooting in America. Sadly, these stories have become a routine part of the news cycle.  Nothing to see here. Just another mass shooting story tucked in between the breathtaking coverage of rumors of immigrants eating cats and riveting analysis of who Taylor Swift and her hunky football player boyfriend are supporting for President.  Now, move along to the commercials and support our sponsors, please!  While parents suffer the unimaginable agony of losing their precious children, pundits on the right continue to send their “thoughts and prayers” while those on the left decry the American gun industry and their lobbyists as the evil purveyors of mass murder.  Right on cue, the gun lobby sends out a platoon of elected officials and right-wing media outlets funded by them to say that what we need are MORE guns, not less. After all, a good guy or gal with a gun can defeat a bad guy with a gun, right?  In response, the anti-gun lobby groups send out their cadre of media and political soldiers to push forward the idea that none of these shootings will happen if we just pass a law restricting the sale of military-style weapons like those used in 90% of these shootings. After all, if no guy or gal has a gun, then they can’t kill each other, right?  Meanwhile, while they together build the skeleton of their fake strawman to sacrifice at the altar of public opinion, the bodies of the innocent keep piling up.  And then NOTHING HAPPENS! Please excuse my French, as they say, but this pisses me off, and I call BS on both sides! The simplified straw man argument that gun control (or lack of it)  is the solution to the problem is the problem because it distracts society and prevents a deeper analysis of the actual causes.  The bullets fired from a gun and the resulting tragic loss of life are symptoms of a deeper issue that begs different questions.  First, why do these individuals want to commit these murders? What is happening in their personal, family, and social lives that have led them to this?  Secondly, how can we prevent these individuals from committing these atrocities once we understand this?   Rather than scapegoating or promoting guns, I propose a holistic approach that combines responsible gun ownership laws, preventative mental health care services, and law enforcement that focuses on proactive rather than reactive policing.   As in most of these cases, there were early warning signs in Gray’s life indicating he might be a threat to others. Just last year, the FBI investigated him for his connection to threats made regarding the school on a Discord server from an account associated with his email address.  The FBI report states that he denied knowing anything about it and had deleted his Discord account months before the interview.  Gray’s father admitted that he was a gun owner with several guns in the house, but the guns were not readily accessible to his son. The FBI took the kid and his father’s word and closed the investigation. As it turns out, not only did he threaten violence against his classmates, but his dad stated after his arrest that he bought his son the AR-15 used in the murders for his birthday!!   As they say in football, everyone is a Monday morning quarterback once the game ends. It’s pretty easy to pick out the mistakes made from the comfort of the couch with the remote in hand versus in real-time when the action is taking place.  In defense of the FBI agents, they simply followed their investigation protocols and outdated laws to assess whether he was a real threat. Beyond that, their hands were tied. It’s the old “we have to wait until a crime is committed before we do anything” approach to law enforcement.  This reactive, after-the-fact approach to law enforcement policy is no longer good enough.  A Holistic Approach First, Congress needs to enact laws with stiffer penalties for those who threaten mass violence in schools.  If a kid makes a threat, the authorities need to immediately remove him from the school and apprehend him for evaluation. Full stop. No exceptions.  Once removed from the school, a team of social workers and mental health professionals should complete a comprehensive evaluation of his mental condition, which also includes his family and home life. If warranted by the detailed assessment, the school district administration should transfer the student to a special school with resources and trained staff to handle the student’s issues.  Second, to help manage the process, local law enforcement agencies should establish a task force to track students who are tagged as having certain risk factors. The monitoring process will work like the prison parole system, where a parole officer stays in touch with the kid and the family to get updates, including home visits and continuous dialogue with family members.  Finally, once a minor enters the monitoring program, neither they nor anyone living in the household with them can legally own a gun.  Many will challenge this as threatening a citizen’s 2nd amendment right to own and bear arms. However, there are many citizens in our society who are deemed ineligible to own guns because of their criminal history or ongoing mental problems.  As in those situations, the right of the individual to bear arms needs to be balanced with the rights of other citizens not to be killed in a mass shooting. The Hopeless Scapegoat For the most part, it seems like the kids involved in these mass shootings are lost and broken souls who never had a chance. Many of them have experienced physical, emotional, and social trauma inflicted on them by those close to them and others in society.  They have often been excluded and marginalized as “the other” by labeling them as  “weird” or “strange.” As a result, they are often treated as scapegoats by their families and peers, which results in bullying, neglect, and even violence against them.   Sadly, this is the result of what happens when society takes fellow image-bearers of God, dehumanizes them, and turns them into hopeless and empty shells begging to be filled with anything that will relieve their pain. As a result, their hopelessness and loneliness lead them to strike out the only way they know how.   Gray’s life, unfortunately, is a perfect example of this. His family life was a minefield of mental and physical abuse, divorce, financial hardship, and bullying by his classmates. His mother, Marcy Gray, has been in and out of prison for among other things, drug possession, robbery, assault, and theft. Most recently, she was charged with elderly abuse from an incident last year where she taped her disabled mother to a chair and left her there, where she was found 24 hours later by her sister when her mother didn’t answer her phone.  His dad was often away from home working in construction, so for the most part, he was left on his own to fend for himself with obvious unfettered access to an arsenal of guns.    A Christian Perspective My pastor has often said that there are two things he and most Christians rarely feel after accepting Christ into one’s life. First, one rarely feels hopelessness. The hope Christ gives us in this life and the next is enough to overwhelm any black hole of hopelessness imposed on us by the world. Second, one does not feel alone even in times of struggle. Jesus does not guarantee a life free of pain, rejection, and hardship. In fact, He guarantees it, especially if we take up our crosses and carry them in His name. However, He also ensures that He will never leave us in our time of need. Instead, like Simon helped Him carry His cross, Jesus will help us carry ours through our difficulties in life.  The apostle Paul put it beautifully in Romans 8: 38-39: “I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future,  and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!”   Isn’t it wonderful that we have that assurance of unconditional love from God? Isn’t it wonderful that no matter how unloved the world makes us feel, the one who made it loves us no matter what? Isn’t it our calling as Christians to share this Good News with others so they can have the same assurance?  Imagine the impact of one Christian neighbor reaching out to a family such as this one without judgment or preconditions. Imagine if one Christian student had stood up for Gray when other students were bullying him. Imagine having leaders with authentic character and conviction as examples for our youth rather than the brash bullies we elevate as examples for them.  So What Can You Do?  In closing, I encourage all of you to reach out to your elected officials and tell them that the status quo is no longer good enough. Tell them we are tired of the cable news talking head political pundit debates and demand that they come up with real proactive solutions that address the root causes instead of the symptoms. Finally, I encourage you to pray to God to show you where He needs your help in reaching the lost and broken. Pray that he gives you the same heart of mercy and grace that He has shown you. Then, once he shows them to you, ask God for the courage to love them unconditionally, no matter the cost to you in reputation, money, or time. It could make the difference between life and death, both in this world and the next.