It was a meeting to entice fellow church members to sign up to make money for themselves and, of course, for their host and hostess, by selling products for a company.
A FUNERAL
Remember the televised funeral for Sen. Ted Kennedy? It wasn't a funeral--it was a political rally disguised as a funeral, a rally to call for nationalized health care.
Then, in August, 2018, we read about and saw on television, another service, this time for a Republican: "John McCain’s daughter and two former presidents led a public rebuke of President Donald Trump’s divisive politics at the late senator’s memorial service Saturday in a call for a return to civility among the nation’s leaders.
"The nearly three-hour service at the Washington National Cathedral was a remarkable show of defiance against a president McCain openly defied in life as the antithesis of the American spirit of service to something greater than any individual.
"Standing near McCain’s flag-draped casket and with Trump’s daughter in the audience, Meghan McCain delivered a broadside against the uninvited president without mentioning his name.
“We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness — the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served,” she said, her voice first choking back tears. Then, it rose in anger.
“The America of John McCain,” she added, with a reference to Trump’s trademark phrase, “has no need to be made great again because America was always great.”
'The audience of Washington power players erupted in applause."
On August 31, 2018, at a memorial service for a well-known entertainer the following occured:
"The late great Aretha Franklin demanded R-E-S-P-E-C-T, but that didn't stop at least a couple of speakers at her funeral service in Detroit from trivializing her memory.
"Democrats Michael Eric Dyson
and Al Sharpton took the opportunity to blast President Trump during
their eulogies, continuing a sickening . . . tradition of politicizing public memorial services.
"Former presidents and
preachers and legendary singers took to the stage at Greater Grace
Temple to pay their respects to the Queen of Soul during the farewell
extravaganza.
"Marring the event was the
hateful and partisan tone taken by Dyson and Sharpton, who whipped the
mourning crowd into a frenzy at every mention of Trump.
"Dyson lauded Aretha Franklin
for being socially conscious and politically active throughout her life
-- before viciously laying into the president.
"Then this orange apparition had the nerve to say she worked for him! You lugubrious leech!" he bellowed, apparently meaning that President Trump is a sad and mournful bloodsucker. "You dopey doppelganger of deceit and deviancy!" he continued, sticking with the alliteration theme. "You lethal liar, you dimwitted dictator! You foolish fascist!!!"
A DINNER
You get an invitation to dinner by a fellow church member and you and your spouse look forward to it, but once the dinner begins, you realize that the host and hostess have an agenda on their minds and it isn't fellowship. The real purpose of of the dinner is to hold you captive while they launch into a diatribe against the pastor of the church and how we can rid the church of him. Then you realize that you've been tricked and invited under false pretenses. The host and hostess invited you to use you for their nefarious plan. Happens all the time.
Speaking of dinner and politicalization, Trevin Wax asks, "Remember when you could go to Chick-fil-a without feeling like you were making a political point? Or when you could buy a few things from Walmart, stop in at Whole Foods, and check out the sales at Target without wondering how either your support or boycott would affect public policy? Or when you could watch an award show on TV . . . without hearing political speeches or seeing protests?"
FOOTBALL
I've never been to an NFL game up close and personal, but there's always television if I want to do so. Besides, by watching a game on TV, I get my money's worth because I get to see the game at least twice because they replay everything except the coin toss in slow motion, twice, sometimes three times. What a deal. And it's free!
If I tune into a game, I want to see the game. I want to see my team annihilate, maim, humiliate, and destroy the other team. I don't want to see people using the game to force feed me their opinions about anything other than the game. I'm not watching to learn the political philosophy of any player, coach, announcer, or water boy. I didn't click the remote to learn what candidate or elected official they like or dislike. When they use the game as a platform to do that, I feel used and manipulated, I feel that I'm being forced to watch or listen to something I'm didn't come to hear or see.
If I want to know their opinion about anything other than the game, they can rent a room, state the purpose of the meeting, and invite me and others to come. None of us like to be forced to listen to or watch something sprung on us. We feel like we're being held captive. If we are invited to attend an event or a meeting, it's only fair that we know beforehand the purpose of the meeting.
A CHURCH
Now, let's transfer this to church. I don't go to church to learn of the liberal pastor's political beliefs. By the same token, I don't go to church to hear a conservative pastor tell me that he's voting for some conservative candidate. I go to hear a word from God. If I want to have a political discussion, I can go to lunch with them and be informed without feeling like I'm being held captive, manipulated, or used in any way. Such a meeting would be informative and a rollicking good time. They would learn something from me and I from them.
When the church becomes politicized by rallying the faithful for one candidate or another or one piece of legislation or another, she's lost the focus of the Great Commission. She's spending her energy to seek worldly power through political means. The offshoot of this is that she becomes involved in social action and becomes a social justice warrior.
Not only that, but if she wants Candidate X to win an election, she will find there's only one way to do it and that's by allying herself with a host of unbelievers and cult groups who also support Candidate X because the church doesn't have the numbers necessary to carry Candidate X to victory. The Bible commands us not to be yoked up with unbelievers.
BILL CLINTON AND DONALD TRUMP
Would it be fair to say that former President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump are somewhat lacking in the moral department? Most would agree. But the man who was "president" in Paul's day made those two look like choir boys on the way home from a Bible study.
Nero murdered his mother, and every member of the royal family who, in any way, threatened his power. He forced political opponents to commit suicide, and if they didn't, he'd murder them too. His gluttony would last from noon to midnight at lavish banquets. He persecuted Christians to the extent that he would hang them on poles, coat them with oil, and set them on fire in order to illuminate his garden parties. Some of his activities are too gross and vulgar to mention and I'll refrain from sullying your eyes by having to read them.
As if that weren't enough, it was common knowledge among the Romans that Nero would disguise himself and go roving the streets of Rome at night with a band of thugs, attacking and beating innocent people, just for the thrill of it. Why? Because he could.
Now, think about this: how much time did Paul spend writing and preaching about Nero? How often did he mention him in all the epistles he wrote? We can find the answer by looking up "Nero" and "Caesar" in a concordance.
Paul emphasized to the church, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." And then he wrote, "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel." (I Cor. 1:17; 2:2)
The Bible-believing Christian does not get his meaning from politics. Our loyalty is to something more ultimate than a piece of legislation or a political party. The Bible, of course, has political implications, but it demotes the political arena to a way, way lower place.
To politicize something is to use an event for a political purpose. From funerals to football, we're being politicized.
No comments:
Post a Comment