Tag: bible

Oppression Shall Cease: O Holy Night

Roger Mitchell4 Comments

December 25, 2024. Christmas Day.

“Truly He taught us to love one another, His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother and in His Name, all oppression shall cease…” — from the Christmas hymn, “O, Holy Night”

ALL oppression shall cease. It follows logically that, wherever oppression exists, His Name has not yet become the guide for life. Wherever people are oppressed, the Name of Christ has not become the Law which is followed and obeyed in everyday life. This applies to both the individual and the collective (corporate, according to Karl Ludwig von Haller), because it is certain that both the individual and the collective can be (and are) oppressive.

All OPPRESSION shall cease. Oppression implies control because it is impossible to oppress someone, anyone, unless control is established over them. It follows that the less control we have over others, the less possibility there is to oppress them. If the statement that all oppression shall cease is true, then it must mean that all control over others must also come to an end. Of course, there are qualifiers: parents exercise control over their children, but only to the point where their children are able to function as responsible individuals in their own right. Once that point is reached, control must be relinquished and the child must become liable for his own actions.

All oppression SHALL cease. This implies that the cessation of oppression in all aspects of life is future-oriented and will not occur completely nor immediately in the present. This should give us hope that the future will be better than the present or the past. There are issues we have to work through to gain the end of oppression–both individually and collectively. Christians, especially, ought to understand this since we are taught that holiness is gained progressively as we surrender and submit our lives to the Kingship and Authority of Jesus, the Christ. If the Law of Christ is not oppressive and brings peace, then, as His disciples, we gradually and progressively learn to become non-oppressive towards ourselves and others as well. We learn, over time and through experience, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, minimizing and eventually eliminating the effect of oppression on them and that expression is a personal choice made by us, as individuals, under and with the power and authority of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. We have no excuses for not going down down this road.

All oppression shall CEASE. Come to an end. Be eliminated. Can this really happen in time and on Earth? Do we, as sinful persons, need to have a Messiah descend from Heaven to impose this upon us OR do we have the capability to make this fulfilled now? Again, Christians ought to know the answer to this question. Yes, we do, and it is by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to achieve this goal. We can refuse to oppress others. We can love them as we love ourselves. We can serve them without expecting anything back from them. All cessation of oppression begins with the individual and expand outward into the collective (corporate), bringing to life the lesson taught by Jesus in the parable of the yeast mixed into the bread dough.

Ultimately, this is an expression of faith. The Kingdom of Jesus, the Christ, is triumphant over oppression now and will be triumphant over oppression in the future, up to the point where oppression is no longer existent. It is a long-term goal, something to be anticipated, something to work for. It is not to be given automatically. It is not a “participation trophy”. It will not be reached by imposition, only by surrender to the Word, which speaks the Gospel of Peace into our lives on a daily basis. It will not be attained by a submission to law or obedience to legislation, regardless of the source. It can only be gained by recognizing, in the present, that I am a sinner, prone to oppressing others for my own sake, and abandoning and overcoming that tendency within myself, so that all may benefit.

The obliteration of oppression does not begin with political action. It is not derived from the top down, rather, it begins at the very bottom of the pile–the soul of the individual, who recognizes that his life does not reconcile with the Law of Love and the Gospel of Peace, and begins to change his ways so as to become compliant with them. Society is a collection (collective, corporation) of individuals, and if the individual changes his ways, the society will change–for better or for worse.

Should Christians be Involved in Politics?

Roger Mitchell10 Comments

The question in the title arises from a meeting at a local church on the same subject. My wife asked me to go with her, so I did, and when the pastor asked for discussion on the topic, I gave them my opinion. After just a few minutes, I was told by some unknown person to, in essence, sit down and shut up. Which I did, then sat through an extended period in which the entire rest of the group explained all the reasons why Christians ought to be involved. None of them asked me for any further explanation. After an hour or so, I just got up and walked out. I will never go back.

Politics. Before answering the question, it should be important to understand what politics actually is. If you do not know what politics is, then you cannot answer the question. Most people associate politics with government, as in this definition, taken from Merriam-Webster:

a: the art or science of government

b: the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy

c: the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government

Now, I do not dispute the description, but the word “politics” is multi-faceted (as admitted by Merriam-Webster) and can have many different meanings and connotations. During my comments at the session, I mentioned the saying that, “Politics is a dirty business”, and asked them if Christians should be involved in dirty business. To my surprise, a lot of people nodded their heads affirmatively, which only shows that they simply do not know what the “dirty business of politics” is all about. But then, American Christians, at least the modern kind, have never been known for their acumen and understanding of the way the real world works.

I also brought up a line from Billy Joel’s song, Piano Man, which should be familiar–“And the waitress is practicing politics as the businessmen slowly get stoned…”, and explained that politics, outside the government angle, is nothing more than the manipulation of people for personal gain, which, if true, ought to provoke outrage on the part of Christians toward the practice. It was at this point that I was quite unceremoniously booted from the floor and the rest is history.

“Politics is the practice of getting what you want by manipulating other people and is always at their expense, to their detriment.” (My own description of politics. Click the link, scroll down until you find it.)

Unfortunately, politics, even in government is manipulation of some people by other people, all with one purpose (usually unspoken) in mind: control and power. Control and power. Virtually everyone is consumed with gaining power over others so that their behavior and actions can be controlled. Christians usually bring up the subject of “morality” and the dire need to make people behave the way they ought to, that is, in the manner that Christians think they ought to, because, you know, the country is diving headlong into the sewer of “immorality” and needs to be rescued. Or else, there will be hell to pay. Of course! There always is. Whether anyone else wants their version of morality or not is irrelevant. It must be done! We must get involved! We must vote! Vote! Vote! Vote for the lesser of two evils, even if that means the System as a whole becomes more evil, which mechanism is really a rear-guard action that does nothing to stop the onslaught of evil, but only slows it down a little. In the end, evil wins.

“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it.” — H.L. Mencken

“Voting is nothing more than choosing whose hand holds the club with which you are beaten. It does nothing to stop the beatings.” — another of my own quotes. You can quote me on that.

Should Christians be involved in politics? If politics is a “dirty business” and the manipulation of people for personal benefit, then the answer is an unqualified “No, they should not.” This comports with the message of the Gospel of Jesus to keep oneself unspoiled from the world and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. However, as Christians, we are also enjoined to act as leavening agents to affect the world condition in which we find ourselves so that the entire structure is bettered by our actions. This seeming contradiction can be resolved in only one way–by determining where and in whom we place our trust and faith. As Christians, we are enjoined to have trust and faith in God alone, yet we continue to disregard this advice in preference to putting our trust and faith in man-made institutions, especially the modern form of government, that is, the totalitarian State, which encompasses and controls everything. As Christians, we have sold our souls for a pot of message, and it is coming back to bite us as a very bad case of acid reflux and dysentery. If we continue to gorge ourselves on this feast, it will kill us.

Belief and participation in the world system lead to death. This is a fact we must face and recognize as truth. Yet, knowing this, we still labor under the illusion that we can sway and impact “politics” in a positive way, for the better, if we join in, work with, and merge into the prevailing protocol. We think that we can “clean up” politics and The System if we just engage it and add our voice to the cacophony, yet we fail to understand that, in doing so, we soil ourselves and reinforce the message that men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

At heart, we refuse to trust God. We would rather trust government. We would rather be practitioners of “the lesser of two evils” than turning away from evil entirely. We would rather beggar our neighbor through the application of law than to love our neighbor in service to him. We prefer to think we are holy because we go to church on Sunday morning and practice all the “accepted” perfunctory deeds that are expected, yet we do not know that our lives are as filthy rags in His sight. Yes, indeed, and I am the greatest of sinners, to paraphrase the apostle Paul.

What, then, shall be done? How, then, shall we live? Well, there is nothing to do except to change myself into and in conformance with His likeness, to become holy as He is holy, to accept that there is no other name except His by which I am saved. This alone brings freedom. It is the only path to life. Nothing else will work. Everything else will fail.

You can rationalize all you want. You can make all the excuses you want. You can delude yourselves until the chickens come home to roost. In the end, you are only deceiving yourself. There is only one way. Everything else will fail.

Everything else will fail.

A Potential Blessing from Hurricane Helene

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

Faith in government is a religion.

Since the birth of the nation-state, at the least, and the Enlightenment, many people have sought after and promoted the idea that government (State) is the highest form of authority and power. They have attempted to build systems to bring everyone into the system, which would become all-encompassing or to dispossess and destroy those who refused to bow before that authority. The Soviet Union (1917-1989) is the premier example of such a system.

Religion is inevitable. Everyone has a religion, even those deluded souls who claim that they don’t, because religion is nothing more than a belief system which informs and directs a lifestyle. Everyone believes in something and, at the very apex of that belief is something (someone) which is viewed as the most supreme. God, in other words. Those who believed (many still do) in the Soviet Union’s Marxist principles held it up as the highest pinnacle of achievement that man could reach. The total State was to become everything and everything was to become the State’s property.

In the United States, government has been constantly growing ever since the birth of the nation in 1787, when the Constitution was signed after a successful rebellion against the Crown of Britain. Americans, of all stripes, have continuously advocated for, worked for, voted for, and accepted a government which could become all things to all people. Today, of course, after nearly 250 years of incessant grasping for power, the US government has become a monstrosity which threatens to out-do the now-defunct Soviet Union. It has, for want of a better description, nearly achieved the status of God in the eyes of its followers, adherents, and groupies.

Circumstances, however, have a way of destroying people’s faith in government. For instance, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which devastated much of the southeast, especially in the rural areas of Appalachia, there have emerged reports that the federal government is actively blocking and prohibiting private endeavors from helping and assisting those hardest-hit. Many have lost everything they owned. Many more are literally without food or good water, yet FEMA, the federal agency tasked with working to restore society after a disaster occurs, has admitted that it is broke, out of money, and unable to perform its tasks and responsibilities.

Broke! With the modern ability to move a decimal point on a computer screen, push a button, and inject trillions of dollars into the economy on a whim, how can FEMA be broke? The obvious answer is that the money is available, but the powers-that-be have decided not to use it. In this situation, the real intent is not just to ignore the plight of those harmed, but to actively and deliberately destroy any and all opposing forces, however small, which would seek to take action on their own—WITHOUT the blessing of the State. This is a deliberate attempt to eliminate competition to the State and to force everyone to become totally dependent on the State.

The State gives and the State takes away. Blessed be the Name of the State!

The major problem with this is that the blatant contempt which is shown causes individual people to change the way they view government. People used to see government as “good” and necessary to the smooth functioning of society, but that attitude is rapidly changing and the response to Helene has probably given it a huge push forward. Those in Appalachia who clamored for decades for government “assistance” when they didn’t need it are now finding out that it is nowhere to be found when they are desperate.

Civil government is losing the trust of its citizens and with that loss, its authority to rule. Trust in anything must be built up over time and is based on the perception of reliability, but if it is once lost, it is almost never regained and the whole relationship changes. What was once given freely will now be withheld. Governments collapse and disappear because of the widespread loss of trust its citizens give it and it is quite possible that this one will not survive. Hurricane Helene may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. If so, it will be seen in history. If not, it has added measurably to the load.

Who do people turn to now? When it is evident that their god has failed them, they change their religion. Many people will transfer their trust and faith in government and the State to some other authority which will be someone they are at least somewhat familiar with—Jesus Christ. This is, after all, the Bible Belt. They will take this message to heart:

“IF My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, AND turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” — 2nd Chronicles 7:14, emphasis mine.

This is a conditional promise. If, then. Time will tell what happens in the hearts and minds of men and history will record the result.