Jesus Dreams of Egypt

 A strange thought occurred to me. 

About when You were in Egypt. When Joseph and Mary took You and fled to Egypt because of Herod and the massacre of the innocents. When You were there, on Earth, in the flesh, in the form of a small Child, in Egypt - what did You think about?

I mean, there You were, a helpless Child in the place You once...just, ravaged with plagues and death. More than once, actually. Egypt felt Your wrath many times. Maybe not always in the form of frogs and hailstones, but always in death. But that first time, the big one, the time everybody remembers, when You slew the firstborn of Egypt...and now, there You were, kept safe, harbored like a fugitive, by the people You terrorized.

It made me think about myself. We're like that here. You know that. I thought of You as a Child, stirring on a bed of straw or something, dreaming...did You ever dream of Egypt? Did You ever dream of when You turned the river to blood? 

Did You think about it when You were wide awake? Maybe when You were playing in a field or something. Maybe You saw some place, some barren little patch, and remembered some Egyptian child You struck down on that spot a thousand years before?

I thought about myself, like I said. And how You have the divine right, the sovereignty, to absolutely obliterate me if You saw fit. Just like You had the right to drown Pharaoh's army. Just like You had the right to slay the firstborn. You give power and You take it away, and You had the right to send the Persians and anybody else You saw fit to conquer Egypt. 

And there You were, snug and secure, safe from that madman Herod, safe in Egypt. Of all places. Knowing You'd broken them in pieces so many times. Knowing someday somebody might say You were the madman.

I think of Your right to destroy. I think of Your right to destroy me. Not just my body, but to send me to hell. I know they say I'm not supposed to say that, that You send people to hell. They tell me I'm supposed to say, "people send themselves to hell when  they choose to reject Jesus." And I get it, but it just makes it sound like I'm apologizing for You. Like I'm apologizing for the whole idea of hell. But I just can't bring myself to believe You're wrong. There are plenty of people long dead who it would make me very upset to know they're not in hell right now. 

So I don't apologize for You. And if You're not wrong, then You wouldn't be wrong to harden my heart and abandon me to evil. To just stop giving me strength, to cut off all Your help. 

The Calvinists like to talk about it a lot. About how You "predestine" some people for hell. Like they don't ever have a chance. I don't think I agree. But I know You'd have the sovereign right to do such a thing. 

I'd dread telling the Calvinists I think they're right. Knowing how they are, they'd probably tell me, "yeah we already know."

A guy told me once that when You drowned Pharaoh's army, the angels rejoiced, but You rebuked them. You told the angels that the Israelites could rejoice, because the Egyptians had tried to destroy them, but that You, You didn't want to rejoice over drowning the army - they were people You'd created, people You'd given life. And You mourned having to destroy them. 

Is that true? Or is it just some extra-Biblical thing, like a fable? I like to think it's true. After all it, it does fit You. You mourned a lot. You mourned on the mountains by Yourself, You mourned when they killed John the Baptist, You mourned when Lazarus was dead. 

And You mourned on the cross. Talk about sovereign choices. You chose to suffer and die for me. For everybody, even for Egypt. 

Did You weep while You slept on Your bed of straw? Did You dream of how many Egyptians You'd destroyed, and it knotted up Your guts, Your very human guts, to dream of those slain firstborn? Did You mourn when You woke up from the dreams, knowing what You'd do when You were grown up, knowing what they'd do to You on that cross, knowing it was the only way You'd never have to brutalize anybody again?

Unless, like I said, You send them to hell for rejecting You. In Egypt, did You dream about everybody, Egyptian, Jew, Gentile, that someday You'd destroy in hell? Did You dream of someone somewhere two thousand years later, screaming at the sky that You don't have any right? 

What did You dream? I wonder. But I know I don't really want to know. 

I'd go mad if I knew the things You had to bear in Your dreams.

Jesus Eats With Sinners...And Will Judge Us After the Meal

Jesus ate with sinners. He walked with them, stayed in their homes, touched them and healed their diseases. Jesus eating with sinners is actually the best description of Him, though it was not made in praise, but in derision: "This Man receives sinners and eats with them" (Luke 15:2).
Jesus eating with sinners is what saves us - "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).

Jesus did indeed eat with sinners, and still does.

Painting by David Iles (detail)

But, something we must remember about Jesus and us sinners is this - He will also judge us.

"Jesus ate with sinners!" has become almost as misused and misunderstood as "don't judge others" by those of us looking to sound vaguely Biblical when we're called out for doing wrong. When we lustily cry "Jesus ate with sinners!" to defend our unrepentant behavior, we willfully forget that He told the same sinners with whom He ate two thousand years ago that they would not escape the consequences of their rejection of Him:

"Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: 'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.'" (Matthew 11:20-24).

When Jesus ate with sinners, He was not doing it to be cool, nice, or friendly. Jesus was showing them He loved them so that they would repent. He was likely eating with His mouth full as He taught the people with whom He ate, about Scripture, His Father, about eternal life. Yet if we accept Jesus at our dinner table, yet don't repent and walk with Him after the meal is done, we say, "enjoy the rigatoni, but keep Your mouth shut about my sins, and get out as soon as You've gotten rid of my dirty dishes."

Talkin' Lowdown Amarillo, Texas Street Preacher Blues

There's a fella here in Amarillo, Texas whose days are filled with street preaching via megaphone, spewing the basic "everyone but me is going to hell" doctrine of those like Westboro Baptist Church and others cut from their blasphemous cloth. The man's basic message is that, even if you think you're a Christian, and think you're saved, you're actually not a Christian and are going to hell if you've sinned after accepting Christ.
People with this false doctrine build their argument, like any false doctrine, on Scripture misunderstood, twisted, or taken out of context; passages like 1 John 3:6-9, which says, "Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God." What the man with the megaphone doesn't realize is that this sin refers to the unrepentant, habitual sin of those with an empty proclamation of Jesus, who attempt to trample on grace, rather than live under it. This doesn't refer to true Christians - and what is a true Christian? A true Christian is not someone who suddenly becomes perfect, but someone who acknowledges that their sin is great, but abides in the truth that the love and grace of Jesus Christ is greater.
Also, Amarillo's megaphone preacher forgets the Holy Spirit's words through John just one chapter earlier: "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).

Paul writes to us in the epistle to the Romans that sinning because you're saved, shrugging it off and saying "God will forgive me" is not right: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:1-2)
So, what is the truth of the matter? Are we literally unable to stumble once saved, our DNA changed as well as our hearts? Does God put us in a moral straight-jacket that makes it impossible to err? Or, has the precious blood of our Savior Jesus also covered the sins and mistakes we make as Christians? To suggest that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is good for some of a believer's sins, but somehow becomes ineffective, powerless against those after his or her conversion, is to suggest something as powerful as the blood of our Lord is fickle and limited by a believer's time and circumstance.

In arguing against the belief that true Christians do not sin, I would point to two incidents in the life and ministry of Paul. In the second chapter of Galatians, we read of a dispute between Paul and fellow apostle Peter. Paul describes confronting Peter, and even Barnabas, on a matter of "hypocrisy." This event obviously took place after the resurrection of Jesus, and during the apostles' ministry. So, then, did Peter's stumbling render him unsaved? Not a true Christian? And if so, why would God, sovereign over His word to us, allow two of his epistles to be part of this book we came to call the Bible?

The other example from Paul comes from the second epistle to the Corinthians, where we read of Paul's instructions to the church at Corinth - a church that was often plagued with sin and erroneous ideas about Jesus - concerning a brother who had done wrong and strayed (2 Corinthians 2:5-11). Paul instructs the church there not to shun or ostracize the brother, but to comfort, love, and forgive him. This is just what the Holy Spirit does to each of us when we, like the straying brother at Corinth, wander from God's direction.

Like many people who shout things on the street, I suppose it might be ineffective to confront megaphone man with these truths; for his mind seems made up, and a wall built over his heart. And with such people, the Proverbs give us sound advice: "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge," and "Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him."
If you argue with a brick wall, who looks foolish? You, or the brick wall? The Proverbs also tell us, "He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you."

But - Jesus tells us "the things which are impossible with men are possible with God." And it is Jesus who took upon Himself the shame and hate of sin - and sinners - on the cross. Before we knew Him, we scoffed at Him, hated Him, scorned Him to shame. But His mercy and grace are unfathomable, as they should be, for they belong to a God who is often so impossible to comprehend, to grasp, to understand. This is why He came to us in the form of that lowly Servant, our ladder to heaven like the one dreamed by Jacob at Bethel.

I won't say this megaphone man gives preachers a bad name - that's impossible, for a true preacher of the word is under the name of Christ. We must pray he receives love from even those at whom he spews the venom of ignorance, and gentle rebuke, done only out love and a desire for him to see how mighty the works of Christ truly are.

My Disastrous Date With Anna Kendrick

Why I was asked on a date by Anna Kendrick was at first a baffling mystery to me, but one I dared not question. And though the truth was revealed that she had mistaken me for Bradley Cooper, a common occurrence, I swallowed my hurt and tried my best to enjoy our fancy, way-beyond-my-budget dinner at Olive Garden.
Despite our date being purely based on mistaken identity, I thought it was going well. Ms. Kendrick even seemed to enjoy hearing my opinions on the failure of Grover Cleveland's second term as President. But, here's where I f*dged up: as I do with any pretty lady I meet, I instantly fell in love, and began to spout overly-flowery praise of her beauty. My gaucherie was at its worst ("gaucherie" is today's word of the day at dictionary.com).
I declared how much I admired her blue bob hairstyle, chubby cheeks, and how lovely she looked in her red bell sleeve dress. The problem with my words, aside from the forwardness, was that Anna Kendrick of course does not sport a bob haircut, her face is proportionate to her thin frame, and she was actually wearing a Radiohead t-shirt and slacks.

The lovely Anna Kendrick.

As stupid as my gaffe was, we do this very same thing with God. We describe Him as something He is not - nay, we insist He is something He is not - we give Him characteristics we want Him to have, all to fit our preferred version of Him. Jesus' followers did this even when He walked the earth as flesh - they wanted Him to be some militaristic leader who would deliver Israel, by force of battle, from the grip of the Roman empire. But He was not. And when they realized this, many turned away from Him. Just like we do when we realize Jesus doesn't fit into the mold of a poster child for our personal agendas and biases.

We describe Him as a hippie, just a nice man with nice teachings, another Buddha, anything we want Him to be. Anything but what He truly is - the only true God, the Savior of mankind who died for our sins and rose again, the God who calls to us to follow Him and leave behind our fleshly treasures and prejudices.
We try to ham-fist our cultural expectations into the meanings of the words of Jesus and those through whom He worked wonders. For example, we see the strength of Elizabeth and Mary as a symbol of feminism; we misconstrue Jesus' words to the rich young ruler as an endorsement of socialism; we see His words "the worker is worthy of his wages" as an endorsement of capitalism; we see Jesus' message that marriage is sacred and children are precious as a banner for conservatism; we make "do not judge" a mantra for liberalism.
We try to force-feed our idolatrous, worldly isms into our perception of God, what we want Him to be.

We do no differently than I did by imposing chubby cheeks and a blue bob on Anna Kendrick.

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 10-18-15: "Cain, Abel, and Tom Landry"

After Cain had killed Abel, his flesh and blood brother, committed the world's first murder, God asked him, "Where is Abel?" And we all know Cain's notorious response. We often use it ourselves in a sarcastic manner when we don't feel obligated to care for one another; Cain retorted, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
The answer to Cain's bitter question is: yes. We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. We have a responsibility to one another that all too often we shun. We think it's beneath us, a waste of our time. But as Christians, we have a responsibility to look out for one another lest we fall into temptation or stray from God. If we also care for those outside of the Body of Christ, for those who don't believe, they too will "by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Peter 2:12). If we care for both our brothers and sisters in Christ, and those who have not yet come to Jesus, they will praise God for our compassion if we remain humble and give the glory to Him from whom love truly comes. "Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one" (Colossians 4:5-6).

In November 1979, during a game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Oilers, my uncle Mortimer Sturguess ran naked onto the field in an overzealous frenzy when Houston defeated Dallas, 30-24. As Mortimer was dragged from the field at Texas Stadium, coach Tom Landry handed my uncle his trademark fedora hat, saying, "Here son, cover up with this." The gesture stunned Uncle Mortimer sober. Coach Landry hadn't simply handed him a sweaty, used towel with which to cover his nudity, or worse, slugged him in his soggy gut while security held him in place. But with compassion and gentleness, he ruined a perfectly good hat - even if fedoras are really for women - for a man who had humiliated himself and his family on live television.
"For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; So that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty." -Job 6:14 

Mortimer Sturguess never forgot the kindness of Coach Landry. And to me, it encompasses everything about giving. Tom Landry gave of the best of his wardrobe for a total stranger, not merely a used handkerchief. Likewise, when we give to others, we give to God, and must give of the first-fruits of what we have – our very best. This is why God accepted Abel's offering of the firstborn of his flock, and rejected Cain's hasty offering of his fruit. This is why God have His first and only Son on the cross for you and me.

When we give, we must give our best, not our leftovers. And when we bless, just as when we are blessed, we must acknowledge Him who truly gave. Our good deeds should be responses to God's gorgeous command to love. God does not want good deeds done out of guilt and pressure – that's what tipping your server at Applebee's is for. Rather, a good deed should come from the heart, from the desire to walk in Christ's love.
OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess

PS I really do tip, I was just...you know...some people give you the stink-eye if you don't, and that's not the reason to leave a tip. But we should totally tip our servers at restaurants, with a genuine heart for that person and how hard they work.

from the book Sheep Named Spike

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 9-27-15: "Soft Answers & Fake Accents"

Long ago, when dealing over the phone with customer service (particularly when it pertained to my internet service with a company I won't name), I found that the inevitable result of my shouting and cursing could be curbed by a simple trick: faking an accent. At first, I chose the voice of Al Pacino in Scarface, but it wasn't long before my throat felt quite rough and was frankly killing me. Aside from that, the Tony Montana voice actually encouraged the rage and profanity, rather than diverting it. So, next I chose a British accent. Having long been a fan of British rock, and listened to many interviews by many English artists, I felt I could fake one at least well enough to quell my anger while on the phone with [internet company].

"But Bud," one might ask...
"Captain Bud."
"But Bud," one might ask, "how did faking an accent keep you from flying off the handle?"

It's simple: I was too focused on keeping the mild-mannered British accent (not the angry British accents, like from Snatch...or were they Irish?) to lose my cool. If I said what I needed with a focus on not only communication, but on keeping my fake Cambridge accent, I found I was too preoccupied to handle being angry. And anyone who's ever been angry knows, anger takes up a lot of space in one's mind. There was simply no room for it in my brain or on my tongue with a fake accent.

In the book of Proverbs, it's written, "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." If, mentally at first, then verbally, we can talk and think about our issues with a calm and cool voice - literally - it will do a surprising bit of good to avoid becoming more upset than we already are. Much like the fake accent, focusing on a reserved tone will leave us too preoccupied to lose our grip on being calm. Not only does it give us more opportunity to search for the right words carefully, so as not to add insult to an already ugly situation, but the softness of speaking in such a way can have a calming effect on one's body and mind. Maybe it's some kind of physiological thing I discovered.

And no, you don't have to try to sound like Rex Harrison while doing so. Be yourself.

As for the anger that must be released, there is always One to whom we can take those burdens. One to whom we can cry out, even shouting that we don't understand, that He's allowed us to go through something awful and unfair, that we've been unjustly treated, that we've treated others unjustly, One who, being our eternal High Priest, Advocate, and Savior who took on God's wrath on the cross, will listen to our most inarticulate rage with understanding: the Lord Jesus Christ.

But with people, we flawed and disappointed things, use a soft answer. An actual, verbally soft answer. Even if that soft answer doesn't turn away the wrath of the person offending you, it will certainly help ease your heart, and turn away wrath from yourself. Which is abundantly healthy, because anger will consume our thinking and eat us alive, rendering us broken vessels for Christ's love, dimming beacons for His light of life.
OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess

"Make no friendship with an angry man,
and with a furious man do not go,
lest you learn his ways
and set a snare for your soul."
-Proverbs 22:24-25

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 9-20-15: "Queen Elsa Rhapsody"

This past Tuesday saw my last performance of my "summer job," playing Queen Elsa at children's birthday parties. I probably could have kept up the performances through the winter (fitting, as the character is from a movie called Frozen), but at this last party, I exhaled a little too hard and the paunch of my Elsa costume tore. This job playing Queen Elsa was a tough one. Not just because I've still never seen Frozen and didn't know what to say to the kids (besides "you kids go play - ol' Captain Bud needs to sit down"), but also because a nagging thought stayed in my mind, namely, a statute in the Torah (the Mosaic Law) that forbids transvestism.
I tried to remind myself, "It's not like I'm Tim Curry in Rocky Horror. And I'm not wearing this stuff to fill some sensual thrill."

God reminded me of what He spoke through the great prophet Jeremiah to disobedient, wandering Judah: "For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you'" (Jeremiah 7:22-23).

Obey God's voice. And what does God's voice speak to us under the New Covenant sealed by His own blood on the cross, a Covenant foretold by the Torah itself? God speaks, saying we are not under the threat of a cosmic hammer; we are not under the world's misconception of God - we are under the law of the true God. Not the Law of the Moses, the Torah, that beautiful prelude of salvation to come, but the law of grace and righteousness in Christ Jesus.

As I learn more that Christianity is not about rules and fear, I realize that the "secular" world has barked more orders at me than any pastor ever did. The world tells me: "Don't do this, don't do that. Don't say this, don't say that, lest you feel the wrath of Twitter and a boycott. Don't eat this, don't eat that. This is now acceptable, that is not. Saints worthy of praise are: Darwin, Dylan, Reagan, Roosevelt, O'Reilly, O'Maher. And, beware of boogeymen and devils like the Illuminati and vaccines that cause autism."
The world makes for a fickle god with its own unstable religious doctrine. A doctrine of rules and regulations, of exclusion and prejudice, of ignorance, of humiliation, with no redemption unless Oprah can get a tearful interview from it.

I thank God that His voice commands no such things. I thank God that His voice calls me back to Him when I stray, reminds me of the unkillable truth of His joy when I'm alone. I thank God for such a beautiful voice to obey.

OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess
"Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!" -2 Corinthians 3:7-11

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 9-6-15: "Captive Hearts"

When the Supreme Court voted to legalize same-sex marriage in June, God told me (not audibly, but you know what I mean), "Muse on this in your heart, but don't speak about it; wait until I give you the proper things to say." Now, He has.

In Christian history, the name "Babylon" has often been applied to any place known for excess and decadence. In the early days of the Church, Christians and Jews alike referred to the authority in Rome as "Babylon." Rome...that place of rampant murder of emperors and politicians, and sexually immoral behavior not seen since Sodom and Gomorrah. So, if the followers of Christ who lived in such a place were focused on proclaiming the Gospel rather than trying to prevent various sexual sins (including homosexuality, quite the norm in Rome) via political power, why aren't we in America doing the same? Granted, those in Rome didn't have much political power with which to work, lest they lost their heads (literally), but you understand my point.

The fact is, so many in Christ's Church reacted to the same-sex marriage issue (long before its legalization) as if America were our god. We weren't dismayed by the fact that God's word forbids homosexual relations - we were dismayed because it's not what John Wayne would do. We were dismayed because it's not the good wholesome America of the 1950s - apple pie, crew cuts, and segregated schools. We chose to live in political strife, rather than accept, and practice, what Christ's word tells us - that the world will turn further and further from His instructions, that people will heap up for themselves teachers of false doctrines; that we're to persevere and spread the Gospel despite living in evil times in an evil world. What little faith we have in God's word to be so surprised when these things come to pass! What audacity we have, what distrust in our Savior, to seek an answer in a good, decent candidate who can lead our country in "the right direction again," instead of earnest prayer and sacrifice.
We were up in arms with posts and polls, instead of prayers and petitions for those in need. We looked forward to reading the voting ballots for various propositions to proclaim same-sex marriage unconstitutional, more than we looked forward to reading God's word - the word written by the Holy Spirit through those who lived in turbulent and decadent times, but whose desire was not in legislation, but in leading the lost to Christ.

When we base our faith on politics, worldly protocol, and other such idolatry, we try to manipulate Jesus into "our" Jesus - the conservative Jesus, the liberal Jesus, the middle-of-the-road Jesus, the hippie Jesus, the tough guy Jesus. We place our idea of the American dream and American values over the commission given to us by our Christ. If we think America didn't fit the Babylonian description before the same-sex marriage debacle, or that the exaltation of homosexual relationships is the only sin that makes us like the decadent Babylons of eras past, we are certainly deluded.

The prophet Jeremiah told those in sinful Judah that the nation would be overrun, its inhabitants taken captive to Babylon. The Lord instructed Jeremiah to tell the captive Hebrews in Babylon to live life for God, despite having been taken captive to a foreign land, rank with other forms of the ungodliness that had caused His judgment to fall on Israel and Judah. He also rebuked false prophets who said it wouldn't happen, that Judah was safe from destruction - much like we in America have the same notion that we're somehow immune to becoming a fallen empire like Assyria, Egypt, Rome, and even Babylon.

Jeremiah wrote to the captives there:
"Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters - that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD" (Jeremiah 29:5-9).

If those in Babylon were instructed to seek the peace of that ungodly empire, and to even seek the good of its leaders as the prophet Daniel later did when Babylon fell to another empire, what gives believers in modern America a license to live in strife and debate, rather than in love, in ministering, in being witnesses for the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Isn't that our best way to seek the peace of our nation?
A debate on same-sex marriage never led a soul to Jesus; nor did a vote, nor did a Facebook profile picture that changed the pink "equality" sign into a cross. These things never fed a starving belly nor tended to a helpless person's wounds. God's instruction to believers in America is no different than His directions to those carried away to Babylon, or to those in the early Christian Church, so abundantly slaughtered by Rome - to seek the nation's peace, to be holy. To be holy is to be set apart. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).

How will Christ's love be evident through us if we serve American values - whatever those are - rather than the Lord Himself?