On the importance of JOURNALING

I wrote the essence of this entry almost a dozen years ago -- when Nationalist-Christian sentiments were growing fast and strong. It's been around a long time, but it has finally raised its ugly head. Trump did not invent this, it was already here. He simply took advantage of something that had gathered a lot of power through preachers like Jerry Falwell, a gospel of prosperity, and the U.S. "politics of power" to produce regime changes in other countries. 

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Journal Entry: 

The Churches of America face real internal challenges which can be seen in the Evangelical capitulation to a populist form of civil religion, an amalgamation of Nationalism and a stripped-down form of Christian religion. This results in the conflation of patriotism and piety - an unsavory mix. 

It is rooted in an acceptance of, and preference for, a "modernist philosophy" - began in the Enlightenment - rather than a thoughtful and carefully weighed non-fundamentalistic biblical worldview. 

This movement equals the enshrining of several things: (1) purely Capitalist values as if they were Christian values, (2) the demand to the right to live an entirely "privatistic" lifestyle, untouched by human need, isolated from want by one's own personal affluence--at the expense of others--especially the poor. 

These attitudes are predicated on a false-theology of "prosperity" and "individualism," coupled with a veneration of purely "pragmatistic" concerns--i.e. it is not "practical to help the poor"--and worse, "it is Socialist ideology...and we cannot have that!

This attitude strips away both normal human compassion toward one's neighbor and the eternal truth they say they believe in the Bible. Fact is, generally speaking, they know little of the Bible (except for a fist full of verses that support their nationalistic-piety), and almost nothing of Christian history. 

Because of this, there is a deep need on behalf of Christ's Church to repent from its collusion with the "ways of the world" and return to a purer faith which is best described by the whole of scriptures--and the practices of the ancient church. I mean, that they would see authentic Christian behaviors as those that help this world through personal humility, devotion to Christ, and compassion toward all people, everywhere. But instead, many (not all), have become war-like, violent, and isolated from the real needs of this country. This is a true problem. 

In light of very real dangers in these contemporary Protestant churches in America, one should be calling out for all Evangelicals to repent, and to strengthen their witness of Christ through a "recovery" of the historical Faith which has been clearly articulated in the New Testament, by the example of the Apostles, and with the sound wisdom of the historical church. 

The way forward is also the path back to the foundations. Our best futures always lead us through the past.