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A (Real) Prophetic View of what happened on Capitol Hill

What we witnessed in the storming of Capitol Hill in the USA yesterday – the Day of Epiphany of Christ’s ‘revelation’ to the world – was the epiphany or unmasking of the full fruit of Trumpism.

Captured in THESE IMAGES of the confederacy flag in Capitol Hill chambers and the fascist fist raised in the chairperson’s seat of government. That is the equivalent of displaying the old Apartheid flag and raising the Hitler salute of Eugene Terblanche in our current South African parliament. Absolutely unthinkable!

The image of the hang-man’s scaffolding and a Trump flag enfolding the “stop the steal” protestor, gazing up at the noose, says it all. Imagine the premeditated thought in taking the time to prepare and transport and assemble this on site? Pure racism. The original sin of the USA. To say Trump and his supporters are not racist is to deny the reality of these racist symbols that are present again and again in his rallies and protests.

Symbols are profoundly emotive. Just burn the American flag in America and see what happens to you! These symbols, especially of lynching, reinforce the profound pain deep within African Americans, first nation Indians and all people of colour. The pain of the historical and ongoing systemic racist injustice perpetrated against them. It is nothing but naked white supremacy on display for all to see. Yet, most Trump supporters will not see that reality.

This is not to even mention the banners of “Jesus Saves” at the “wild protest” (Trump’s phrase). With what happened, it’s blasphemous. Classic civil religion. Christian nationalism. Co-opting and using God for the agenda of the Evangelicals and GOP in bed with Trump.

A biblical prophetic view would say that this is the full fruit of Trumpism. It’s the ripe fruit of the root of bad character, with the ideology of white ‘Christian’ nationalism. Trump himself called for this “stop the steal” “wild protest” on Capitol Hill, publicly egging on his followers with fraudulent lies of massive election rigging to do what they did.

The result: four people were killed and others injured, windows smashed, and so on. If they were black protestors, the law enforcement put-down would have been far more violent. Their blood is on Trump’s hands, he is directly responsible… including the GOP and the evangelical leaders who have ideologically supported Trump. They must be held to account.    

Jesus taught that we know a good or bad person by their fruit, what routinely and predictably comes out of their mouth (and seen in their words, attitudes and behaviour, Matthew 5:15-20, 12:33-37, 15:17-20). Fruit does not lie. It reveals the truth of who we are, what we are rooted in, what has formed our character, whether good or bad.

Trump did not have the character for the office of president. Lying from the beginning, right after his inauguration in 2017, claiming the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration. We’ve seen the fruit of his bad character become ever clearer over the four years, in his tweeting, press conferences, treatment of people, etc, including his ideology of ‘greatness’, both personal and national. That is Trumpism, with its fruit now on full display for all to see. Ripe for judgement. “In your judgements, O Lord, remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2).

Prophetically speaking, Trump didn’t change America, least of all made/make America great again. The truth is that Trump REVEALED America… this IS America… at least the divided half that supported him, those who have been deceived and captured by the spiritual powers working through his bad character and ideology.

Biblically speaking, we get the leaders we deserve. God raises up and/or allows leaders in power, often to unmask and mirror the face of the nation, revealing the character of their supporters. In this case, the majority of white US evangelical Christians.

Trump has not so much damaged the witness and credibility of the Church – through the wholesale support of fundamentalist evangelicals, with their leaders and court prophets continually uncritically blessing Trump – rather God has used him to reveal their theological and moral bankruptcy in their idolatry of American Christian nationalism. Judgement begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

Their deafening silence right now, in light of these events yesterday, makes them all the more culpable. All the Christian prophets who prophesied Trump’s second term, and all the Christian/church leaders who continually blessed him without challenging and correcting him on his bad character (as in serial lying, manipulation, control, racism, sexism, ego-centric narcissism, dangerous nationalism, “deep state” conspiracy mongering, and demonization of the Democrats and main stream media as “the enemy of the people”)… they all must now publicly confess and repent to break the unreality of the parallel universe that Trumpism created.

In biblical prophetic terms it is a spiritual principality and power operating behind, in and through Trump and his administration. That is the demi-god idolatrous world of Trumpism, a parallel universe from which they have all drunk, in which they have all worshipped and lived, and continue to live, under whose protection and power they have operated. But it has blinded them to reality.

VP Mike Pence, as a leading evangelical politician and the lap-poodle of Trump, has particular accountability under God for his co-dependent enabling of Trump. Pray for Pence. If he has BIBLICAL Christian integrity left within him, after four years of erosion by abetting Tump at every turn, he ought to humble himself and repent with godly sorrow.

At least Pence remained faithful to the constitution, saying he cannot overturn the election result as Trump demanded. Today he announced confirmation of the results of the election in favour of President-Elect Biden. Trump, in effect, heard his own words, “You’re fired! It’s the end of your (un)reality show!” But just after Pence’s announcement, Trump brazenly continued to publicly say, “the elections were stolen. I won by a landslide”. After over 50 court cases and Supreme Court rulings saying that in all that was presented, there was no evidence of widespread fraud.

Will Trump be held accountable for his words? For his continued divisive lies that have systematically undermined public trust, democratic institutions and process?

I will let the reader judge whether this is true BIBLICAL prophesying versus the multiple, now self-evidently false, prophecies of Trump’s second term. May they all repent!

Christ have mercy!

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Extraordinary Jubilee Of Mercy declared by Pope Francis

As some Catholic Popes have done from time to time, Pope Francis has declared a special Jubilee, which begins Tuesday 8 December 2015.

What is a Jubilee?

God commanded the Jews to declare every 50th year a Jubilee, a Year of Freedom (Leviticus 25). All property was returned to original family ownership, slaves were set free, all debts cancelled and the land was free to rest. The decks were cleared to give everyone a fresh restart on a free and equal footing. The record does not show if and for how long Israel implemented (celebrated) the Jubilee. Some scholars say that when Jesus began his ministry, taking his mandate from Isaiah 61:1-2a, he actually declared the Jubilee, “The Year of the LORD’s favor and mercy” (see Luke 4:16-21). Jesus proved to be God’s promised Messiah and his ministry of the Kingdom was The Jubilee of all Jubilees – The Day of Salvation.

Pope Francis continues his courageous leadership as a follower of Jesus, by announcing a Jubilee of Mercy, thus radically stirring the Roman Catholic Church and challenging the world. And the rest of the Church of Jesus should take note.

Why choose the theme of mercy? Why an “Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy”?

In his Bull of Indiction, Misericordiae Vultus, he motivates why: “Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life. All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy” (n. 10).

I fully agree! I support this Year of Mercy. What follows is from my reading of the Vatican News on zenit.org, with a mix of quotes from Francis and my interpretations and comments. I’m doing this to motivate YOU to ‘do’ this Jubilee – for God’s sake! Continue reading Extraordinary Jubilee Of Mercy declared by Pope Francis

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Transformation 2 – How God Changes Us

Introduction to Transformation

This is talk 10 in Being the Beloved series of teachings. Last week I introduced how God changes us into becoming who we really are: his BE-LOVED. The process of how God changes us is called spiritual formation. Paul says it in three ways: “My dear children, I am in pains of child-birth till Christ is formed in you” (Gal 4:19); “Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” (Rom 8:29); “We are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).

The last verse clearly says that it is GOD who changes/transforms us by his Spirit. BUT, it doesn’t happen automatically. It happens via our faith responses; i.e. with our co-operation. Our part, our participation in transformation, is through priorities and practices, also called spiritual disciplines/ exercises. Salvation is God’s eternal life in us. It “relates & assimilates”: interacting with God to imbibe his Being, via our practices. This is how God’s life grows and develops in us, progressively (trans)forming us from inside out into Christ’s likeness. I first discuss the “The Golden Triangle of Transformation” (see the diagram adapted from Dallas Willard), and then comment on grace, disciplines and effort.

Triangle of Transformation colour

Take time to study this diagram by reading and meditating on the texts. The action of the Holy Spirit that progressively transforms us into Christ’s mind and character is pure grace, which is God’s gift that enables change. The Spirit works through two “means of grace” (sacraments): our planned spiritual disciplines and God’s disciplines in ordinary daily life – unplanned events that happen to us. God uses these to grow and transform us, IF or AS we respond to him with faith and obedience in each event, in each trial and temptation. We practice our planned disciplines and learn to respond to God in unplanned disciplines in the context of community belonging, support and accountability: our spiritual family in home groups and church. Spiritual (trans)formation is a community journey. An unaccountable individual life, in the name of privacy, busyness or unavailability, is lonely, isolating and self-defeating. Note: planned and unplanned disciplines are not a telephone booth instantly changing us into a super-christian! Rather, it’s a long obedience in the same direction! Continue reading Transformation 2 – How God Changes Us