Simple Way Out of Current Chaos: Follow Jesus.

September 21, 2020

Simple Way Out of Current Chaos: Follow Jesus.
Adapted from Michael Brown by Chris Lyford

Forget social media. Forget blogs. Forget the barrage of “information.” (Never has there been so much false information.) Forget the constant “spin” and diatribe. Forget the real fake news Follow Jesus. Not bloggers. Not candidates. Not self-appointed gurus. Just Him.
The most complete and simple way to do that: Communion.

Simple way also: read the Bible every time you are daunted by the swirl of venom and upheaval that has erupted around us, causing mass befuddlement plus misdirection. Translation: we are duped, unless our eyes are unswervingly on Jesus.

When you think, ask Jesus if there is truth in what you are thinking. When you read, ask Christ what it is you should read. When you speak, ask yourself if it is in a way and tone that imitates the Man from Galilee. Believe nothing without consulting the Holy Spirit (sincerely).
Hurricanes! Fires! Upheaval! Fear and Hatred in the streets.

Have you noticed how these days everything is a controversy, everything is an argument, everything is a “hot-button” issue, everything is make-or-break (“you are either totally in agreement with me or the enemy”) and yet, at the same time, how arguing never convinces anyone of anything?
Everything is a conspiracy.
One major evangelical, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler Jr., in a major conservative Christian news site, the Christian Post, a few weeks back compared some conspiracy theories “in general to the early church heresy of Gnosticism.”

To quote him directly: “Gnosticism is the belief that only a few, an elite, a privileged few are able to see, have inside information. The ancient Gnostics believed in one way or another that this particular secret knowledge was the key to salvation or illumination, or whatever would be the promise of this particular information.”

“Christianity has nothing to do with the secret truth. It has everything to do with a public Gospel,” the theologian added. “Christians don’t have secret beliefs we hide from the world. We’re not saved because we have come to some secret knowledge.”

You might recall that all the popes have taught against this. You might recall that the Church teaches it is wrong. You might recall that this is not Christian. You might also recall that however much you disagree with someone, you are called to unconditionally love and pray for that person. Never slander. Never gossip. Never follow dark speculations. There are many kinds of sin. Stand up for the truth, yes. “Fight” the fight where it really is and where it really will be won or lost: on the spiritual battleground. But don’t charge ahead incoherently. If there are anger and hatred in you, expel that before you do anything else. Only then will you find peace and truth and a trajectory toward Heaven. To be clear: Follow Jesus!