It’s Friday again. The weather prognosticators are all saying that warmer weather is soon to make an appearance here on the North Coast. It’s about frickin’ time! I’m well and truly tired of the cold. Here’s to the heat!
Rather than thoughts on a Friday, today I’m going to limit myself to one thought. This has been sitting and fermenting in my head for a while. It’s a topic that I’ve mentioned before. And will likely mention it again. So many in these here United States have mingled their religious convictions with their political positions that the line between them has blurred badly. I’m not going to beat that dead horse of separation of Church and State. That has been argued to death. What I have to say is more about the justification of evil in the guise of following Jesus the Messiah. I know that is a very wide-open topic. I could write about the “What Would Jesus Do” question as it applies to the abuses of ICE. It would be easy to point to the hypocrisy of much of the Christian Church as they hate their neighbors and cast aside the poor and needy. That’s all pretty low hanging fruit. Others have done a very good job of covering those areas. No, I want to discuss the other elephant in the room that no one wants to truly engage in.
Let me begin with a bit of background.
I recently led a Bible study on John’s Revelation. It wasn’t your typical trek through that rather dense and somewhat confusing letter. We didn’t talk at all about the so-called ‘End Times’ that has captured so much of the popular imagination. From the Omen through the farcical “Left Behind” series the end of the world has been portrayed as a period of spiritual warfare with the demonic leader of all opposition to the true God. The problem is that’s not at all what the letter was written for. It wasn’t written to be a play-by-play description of God’s wrath upon an unbelieving world. It was an apocalypse. That word means to pull back the curtain. To reveal what is truly going on. In the case of John this was to reveal the reality behind the Roman culture and particularly the Emperor cult that took hold in the Roman province of Asia. Long story short gods of the Greek and Roman pantheon were looked at those beings who could provide peace and prosperity. Gifts and sacrifices were made to them to thank them for their providence and to continue to watch over the people in order to maintain that providence. Beginning with the Emperor Augustus people began to see that Caesar was providing peace and prosperity just like the gods. So, the Emperor began to be viewed as a deity in themselves. Shrines were built in honor of the emperors. Coins were minted with the face of the emperor. Statues were erected, offerings sacrificed, and priests ordained. The emperor was, in essence, an object of worship. Nero was, in fact, expected to return to Rome after his death in order to establish Rome as the center of the world. Resurrection from the dead!
I’m writing this not to give a primer on ancient Rome. I am focused on the recent unveiling of the gold statue of our current president. Many have called this monstrosity a modern day ‘Golden Calf.’ The reference being to the story in Exodus 32 where Aaron, the brother of Moses, cast a golden idol while Moses was delayed. This story has become the most recognizable story of people turning from worshiping God to worshiping idols, false gods. Many in the U.S. today are making that accusation against the president and his followers. He has set up an image of himself that people may worship and venerate him. The religious fallout over this has been swift.
Recently I read a piece written by L. Daniel Hawk, Ph.D. In that Dr. Hawk pointed out that this statue and the desire to mint coins with the president’s likeness seems more like that emperor cult that I mentioned above. That rather than blatant idolatry like the golden calf, the president is setting himself up to be the great benefactor of the nation. That he alone can provide the peace and prosperity that belongs to God alone. As such a benefactor he expects the unfeigned loyalty of those beneath him. He wants his likeness to appear everywhere. And he desperately wants fealty of everyone.
John wrote about this over 2,000 years ago. He encouraged the Church in Asia to not accept Caesar as lord. That honor belonged to Jesus alone. John pulled back the curtain to reveal that the true power behind the Emperor cult was a character named Satan. This one, the adversary of God and Christ pulled the strings of power that enabled Caesar.
I share this because I do believe in powers unseen. I accept the reality of God. Because of this I write these things. Not to prove that I’m right. But to show that behind the curtain it’s not the president who directs the show. He’s just a puppet.
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