“The first precondition of being called a spiritual
leader is to perceive and feel the falsehood that is prevailing in society, and
then to dedicate one’s life to a struggle against that falsehood. If one
tolerates the falsehood and resigns oneself to it, one can never become a
prophet. If one cannot rise above material life, one cannot even become a
citizen in the Kingdom of the Spirit, far less a leader of others.” – Vladimir
Solovyov in his eulogy of Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1881
Prophets today seem to be teaching/preaching a message of
how to be comfortable in Babylon, not a message of how to break out of
Babylon. Being spiritual in Babylon is
not the goal-living spiritually in Babylon is.
This kind of living requires calling this modern-day society exactly what
it is: A great false hope and series of lies attempting to promote happiness. Babylon’s Society has replaced the
community. We no longer care, see or
feel the sufferings of others-we just buy our happiness around them.
America is the New and Improved Babylon. We honor money, power, the economy, the
military-the overall feeling that we are superior to others. But we seem to refuse to believe that the
honors we bestow on these “powers” only serve to make us slaves to the process
that secures them for us. It has been written
repeatedly about the Grand Illusion. We
chase the false assumption that our pursuit and compliance to the powers of Babylon
somehow leads to a sustainable life worth living. How is that working out for you?
What is my proof? We are a consumer culture-addicted to
the “highs” of having the right things-buying the right products-and a consumer
religion- that sings the kind of songs we want to hear-preaches the kinds of messages
that will, for lack of a better phrase, lull us to sleep and lead us to death. Babylon has long mastered the ability to keep
up the appearances-we look like a church-sound like one-but we do not love like
one.
So where are the prophets? It takes the courage of the prophets to call
out the false and misleading practices of embracing materialism and embracing
militant attitudes towards others.
Prophets are to name our situations and call us out on them. Instead they are themselves making false
promises of a more “blessed and rain filled” life. There will be no rain. If we walk the Path of Babylon in her Great
Desert-we will heel the moment we have a lack of water. We are not looking above; we are looking
around.
We can easily be allured by success-real or perceived-that
our path must be the correct path. Our
success is a sign of approval from God.
But God cannot approve of rampant disregard for human life and treatment
of the poor and disenfranchised like American Babylon. The sad and most evident
truth? You know something is not right, I know that something is not right, we
all know it. But if Babylon provides us
with the sense of false hope and provision-we stay in our herds.
Christians today are pretty much spiritually functional
atheists. They believe there is a God extremely
interested in their eternity, but not going to be allowed to intervene when Babylon
is threatened from providing its regularly scheduled services. They believe until they do not.
And therein lies the deception of Babylon-that a high
functioning materialistic society-built on the premise that the attainment of
money and power over others-somehow translates into an enriched and satisfying life.
It is a deception at the highest level
and a betrayal of the Message of Jesus at every possible direction.
We are living out an American Christianity that follows Babylon.
The very meaning of life is not found in beating your brother, conquering your
brother, killing your brother or besting your brother. The first homicide in the Bible starts with
this idea. We are to love our brother(s)
and neighbors as ourselves. The climb to riches and power is the descent away
from the Jewish Messiah that claimed He could provide a “burden that is light
and a yoke that is easy”
You cannot carry on with your convenient protest of Nietzsche’s
statement “God is Dead” and openly agree with Nietzsche’s “Will to Power” (the
domination over others). Something is
very wrong-we sense it-we see it-and this horribly wrong situation is steamrolling
over humanity. Jesus us not pleased.
In the words of Jimmy Hendrix, “Let us not talk falsely now,
the hour is getting late”. We are
cowering to the old philosophies of an ancient Caesar and a contemporary
Commander in Chief. We are called to a
radical profession of faith that follows, leads and instructs people in the
vibrant and life-changing teachings of Jesus.
He is our King and our Messiah-he has nothing to do with violent power
or nuclear weapons. Why? Because it is hard to convince your neighbor that you
can love him with hydrogen bombs. Our
goal is not Armageddon-our goal is the New Jerusalem!
As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us-to instruct
us in righteousness-and our “holy instincts” are alive and present with
us. And we are looking away. And we will
be called into judgement for it. We
cannot be lured away from our holy instincts by compromised leaders pandering to
Christians. If making America a Christian
Nation includes waterboarding, nuclear weapons, denying environmental concerns
and ignoring the needs of the poor-it is a project that the followers of Jesus cannot
participate in.
Let us eliminate “pretense prophets” and start being the
prophets that call our spiritual communities out of the darkness and into the
light. We are not here to store up treasures-we
are here to be treasures to the people that need us the most. We must come to the place where we are on our
knees begging forgiveness from God for our short-sightedness and our comprising
positions. Today is the day of salvation
and now it the time to begin.
David Fournier
Restoring Grace
(Article inspired by Brian Zahnd)
