The X-Files and Politics (Another Rare Soapbox Blog)

February 9, 2015 / Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

The longer I live, the more I think that The X-Files got it right. I do believe that there is a shadow government that’s really running the show while the used-car salesman/carnival barkers/limelight politicians are a diversionary tactic to keep the public from paying attention to the REAL deals going down.

Sometimes, it seems like a vastly elaborate magic trick, where the misdirection involves Republicans yelling at Democrats (or visa versa) while the other hand sneaks the hidden eight of clubs from inside the shirt sleeve. I wonder if those same politicians meet up at a bar and laugh into their beers about how most of their audiences really bought their schmaltz.

I guess that makes me a conspiratorist. Or a conspiracy-buff. Whatever.

I do think it’s interesting how the majority of people who profess their tolerance loudest of all are the quickest to vilify, libel, and slander anyone who offers a differing viewpoint or worldview, i.e. anyone who disagrees with me is automatically a racist, an elitist, a traitor, a homophobe, a misogynist, a hate-monger, and an inbred redneck (or a drugged-out hippie). It’s interesting to me that for most, if someone has a different political philosophy, then that person must be either an imbecile or evil incarnate, or some combination of the two.

I wonder sometimes if we actually stopped haranguing and started actually dialoguing (with actual listening involved), we might find that we’re not so far apart after all. Maybe we’d find the other side actually makes sense.

I personally have chosen not to pledge my ultimate allegiance to a President and a country, but to a King and a Kingdom (with thanks to Derek Webb for the imagery). I know that 1,000 years from now, after so many campaigns and elections, no one will remember who was the 49th President, but Jesus will still be king.

That’s where my hope lies.

More Pre-WordPress Nuggets (Containing No Actual Chicken)

October 4, 2013October 4, 2013 / Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

June 24, 2010

I was thinking today about Job’s situation and how it relates to mine (and possibly yours, too). In Job 42, God tells Job’s friends that they have slandered Job and misrepresented God. He tells them that Job will pray for them, and He will hear him and not deal with them as they deserve. Job prays for his friends, then God gives him back what he lost, doubled.

Job had to pray for those who wronged him before God restored him. Job had to forgive the ones who slandered him and his God. Is there some area of your life that needs healing and/or restoration? It could be that God is waiting for you to pray for the ones who hurt you in that area before he restores to you what you lost or heals you.

As much as I pray for God to forgive those who hurt me, that much will God forgive me (see the Lord’s prayer). As much as I pray for God to bless those who slander me, God will bless me. As much as I pray for the restoration and healing of those whose wounds I carry, God will restore and heal me.

This is me thinking out loud again. So take it for what it’s worth.

May 3, 2010

My greatest fear is that if people ever really find out who I am and what I am like, they will leave me and want nothing else to do with me. That I am not good enough. That I do not have what it takes.

So I live to please others. I become whoever I think they want me to be. I strive constantly to prove myself to others, so they can tell me who I am. That I do have what it takes. I feel that if I can make them like me, then I am worthy and not a cosmic *$#-up.

But I can’t make anyone like me or be interested in me. I can only let God love me and let that Love define me. If I let people tell me who I am and define me, they will get it wrong. If I make pleasing people my purpose, they will fail me every single time.

Lord, you are telling me that I am someone beautiful who has meaning and is worthy. I am good enough and I do have what it takes because I have you. I believe what You say about me. Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief.

April 26, 2010

I am Jacob, for I try to manipulate and deceive every person I meet.
I am Gomer, for I whore myself after other gods and do not seek the One True God.
I am Abraham, for I lie when it suits me.
I am Esau, for I am willing to trade things of eternal worth for worthless things.
I am Cain, for my anger gets the best of me at times.
I am Moses, for I do not believe God when He says He can speak through me.
I am Judas, for I am so often ready to betray my Savior for so little.
I am David, for I sin and try to cover it up, rather than confess and be made whole.
I am Forgiven, because Jesus died for me.
I am Beloved, for God has declared me so.

April 11, 2010

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9).

When was the last time I boasted in my weaknesses? I seldom even acknowledge that I have any weaknesses. Usually I try to sell myself on what I consider my best qualities. But weaknesses? I try to hide them or pretend they don’t exist.

I truly believe that there is a power that comes only through weakness and brokenness that will never come through self-reliance or self-sufficiency. Only when I am weak, when I admit to the world that I am weak, then I am strong. And Christ in me is so much stronger than I could ever be.

What if I boasted in the fact that my social skills are slightly better than nonexistant? That I back down when I should stand up? What if I shout to the rooftops that I am weak, helpless, afraid and utterly broken? Maybe then I am at my strongest and the power that raised Christ from the dead is unleashed in me.

This is so very against the culture that it is unthinkable. But aren’t I supposed to be counter-culture? What if we are too busy fitting in and so much like the world that we have completely lost the power that can save the world? Maybe that’s why Christians are so despised. Not because we are different, but because we are not different enough.

A broken world can’t relate to perfect, holier-than-thou Christians who have it all together. They respond when they see what our brokenness looks like and when God’s grace is able to transform our weakness into His strength. Grace is what the world needs, not our perfection.