While Men Slept, Culture Came In Unawares

The whole Miley Cyrus thing has got me thinking about the insidious nature of culture. The whole country seems to be disturbed by the whole dancing and tongue thing. I think the problem is that people are not comfortable with the 20 year old singer trying to act more grown up than she is. The question I would ask is, would people complain if it was Lady Gaga? I doubt. I saw the outfit Lady Gaga wore to the event and it worse than anything Miley wore. So what then did Miley do wrong? I think her problem was that people thought she was too young to do what she was doing. Also, her Disney and Hannah Montana connections didn't help. If it was Madonna, would people find it acceptable.

Before you get uppity, I'm not saying what she did was right. I think it was outrageous. But my problem is that quite a lot of people having been complaining about Miley Cyrus before the VMA’s and nobody took notice. For me, that is the insidious nature of culture. Culture creeps up on us insidiously until something that was previously unacceptable becomes of no issue because we no longer think it matters. Not only does a previously unacceptable behavior become acceptable, it drags along its nasty cousins who are similar to it and we don’t notice anything wrong till it’s too late.

The recent rage is to take nude pictures in the name of art. In years past, posing naked was exclusively reserved for models. Now film stars, musicians, athletes and anyone wanting to get famous and make money while at it are all jumping on the bandwagon. The funny thing is that even those who claim that they are doing it for a “good cause” like PETA all get paid. Jesus said that anyone who looks at a woman with lust in his heart has already committed adultery. Therefore he didn't need to actually need to sleep with the object of his lust to commit adultery. If I were to extrapolate that, I would say that you don’t have to stand on the side of the road to be considered a woman (or man) who has sex or sleeps around for monetary gain.

Agnieszka Radwanska, a polish tennis player who says she’s a devout Catholic couldn't understand the outrage that greeted the nude photo shoot she did for ESPN magazine. She had been named a patron of a youth group in the Catholic Church in her native but was subsequently dropped after the pictures came out. According to her, there was nothing wrong with the picture as she wasn't really showing anything that should make her feel ashamed. The question I asked myself was, what if that happened in America or some other Western country? What if someone who professed faith in Jesus as an evangelical Christian decided to pose nude? Would there be some form of outrage on the part of Christians? Would she (or he) defend it as an expression of his or her faith in Jesus? Would liberal people take his or side and say it’s freedom of expression? Would they say it was just another way in which Christianity seeks to oppress women and keep them down? Would other Christians come out and tell those outraged that it was the poser’s body and that he or she could do whatever they liked? They might even argue that the naked picture glorified Christ. After all was said and done, would those who were initially outraged, feel cowed and back down? In today’s 21^st century Christianity, anything is possible.    


JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a political thriller about the persecution of Christians. DECEPTIO is published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. DECEPTIO is available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-194087/deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a story about rejection, love and redemption. The book is available here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/

Love Christ, Not the World

“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” – G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, 1925

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” – G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/30

“There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions.” - G. K. Chesterton,

As man deems to progress, cultures change. And as cultures change, men ditch moral values even as they make up new ones as they go along. A few centuries ago, it was frowned upon to break another person’s home and steal their wife or husband. However as society “progresses”, it has become quite acceptable especially in America to set your sights on another person’s wife or husband and break the home up. It doesn't even matter if there are children involved. After all, if you break the home up, the children are going to have a new mother or father in the person who contributed to the break up. I say contribute because I understand that it takes two people to engage in adultery. However it would help if the person who isn't a part of the couple had more discipline. But the current refrain is “We couldn't help ourselves, we were in love” and people are told not “to judge”. The person who was part of the initial couple also claimed to love their wife or husband. I was watching a programme on television the other day where a well known singer who contributed to the breakup of her present husband’s first marriage was being interviewed. She and the former wife have been engaged in an acrimonious battle on both social and publicity media. According to the singer, she found it amusing to be called a “home wrecker”. She seemed to take the whole thing with levity and seemed to find the fact that she contributed to the breakup of a home. All I have to say is there’s a saying that says: “The mistress who ends up marrying her married lover should recognise that the post of mistress has just become available.”

There are those who think Christianity is old fashioned and should be dragged, kicking and screaming into the 21^st century. Therefore, according to them Christianity should be more tolerant of new social developments, even if they are against the teachings of Christ and the Apostles as revealed to us in the Bible by the Holy Spirit and especially against the natural order of things. When Christians talk about how things should be, these people scoff and mock and talk about how we want everybody to be the same and it’s not possible. However they get angry and resort to name calling when we refuse to agree with them on other issues. They have found willing allies in governments and politicians who want votes. I am not so much concerned about the politicians as I am about the people who claim to be Christians but would rather support those who are against Christianity than Christ. They believe that Christ’s teachings should be subjected to culture and the feelings of our flesh. They talk about how Christ loved everybody. They fail to realise that Christ’s definition of love is different from that the world has put on it. Christ loved everyone yet never condoned what they did wrong. Love is a decision which is shown through acts of selflessness. Love is not sex. Cultures might change but truth will always remain the same. Cultures change everyday like quicksand but Christ is the only thing that will remain the same. He will never change. The saying goes, “Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are”. Especially when those friends hate Christ. The Apostle Paul talked about how all sins are either those of the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes or the pride of life." That is still true today.

The tide is turning and a time is coming where in the name of reasonableness and equality, laws are going to be passed by governments in the West that would make even China, Cuba and North Korea seem tame. However, those laws are going to make those who say they are Christians decide on whose side they are going to be, Christ (the Truth) or the world. Which side are you going to choose?

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/ a story of love and redemption.

God Is Not Ashamed Of Oprah (He's Also Not Ashamed of You, So Why Are You ashamed of Him?)

I vividly remember watching an episode of the now defunct Oprah talk show where Oprah Winfrey talked about why she couldn’t worship God as revealed in the Holy Bible. She had opened her Bible one day and had come across one of the various places in the Bible where God was referred to as a “jealous” God. According to her, she based her rejection of God on the fact that there must be something wrong with a God who is creator of the heavens and the earth and yet is plagued by such petty human emotions like jealousy. I have also heard of other people, mainly celebrities like Oprah, who have rejected the God as portrayed in the Old Testament. In these days of political correctness they say they are appalled by the violence portrayed there. They would have liked to write their own Bible but since they can’t, they have rejected God and the Bible and created their own god and have their own rules (which owe nothing to the Bible). Then there are those who are controlled by their desires who see the Bible as nothing but a rule book which consists of do’s and don’ts and are turned off by that. (Is that really what we’ve made them believe?). They have also gone on to make up their own rules as they go. At times, they choose and pick the parts of the Bible they like. The especially like the parts which talk about God loving people as a justification of some of the base desires they have and they reject the other parts. Especially the parts they don’t understand because they don’t want to understand it. The funny thing however is that even though they’ve rejected God and the Bible and are ashamed of both, some of these people like to refer to themselves as “Christian”.

I must confess, I really don’t think much of political correctness. I also haven’t really given much thought to the violence, blood and gore of the Old Testament. They have a problem with a God who takes sides to unleash war on others. For me, the events in the Bible are not things to justify or repudiate or second guess. They were things that happened. Mine is to learn a lesson from the stories about God’s dealings with the nation of Israel and to come to a knowledge and understanding of God from those stories. God’s part is to reveal himself, mine is to see the revelation and believe. I understand that there are those who like to question everything because it gives them a sense that they’re cerebral and rational human beings which in turn is linked to a sense of pride in their own abilities and competencies. They feel a sense of pride in the fact that they’re too smart to believe. That’s not my brief. The people who are turned off by the violence forget that it all happened in a day and time when war was the only way territory and a place to call your own were won. Till today, wars are still being fought. I really haven’t heard any one of those people complain that much about the wars America is fighting. No one can deny that America has always insisted that any war it gets into must be for its own strategic interest. We’ve had wars in Iraq (the first and second parts), Afghanistan, and Vietnam where America was the main aggressor. The usual claim is that these incursions are to help keep American’s safe. That means it’s okay if America fights wars to keep its citizens safe as long as they keep God out of it.

We understand from Genesis that God made man in his own image and after his likeness. It therefore means that the emotions we experience are from God himself. To give an analogy, if I were able to clone a woman and all I wanted was for her to love me and me alone, yet I gave her free will to choose whether or not to love me and she went chasing after other men or things instead of me, I would be angry too. But God’s main emotion when we go chasing after other things is sadness. The Oxford Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary defines the word jealous in relation to God as “(of God) demanding faithfulness and exclusive worship.” I believe that captures the essence of it. God is not jealous in a negative way with dark, nasty thoughts. But his jealousy is one motivated by love when a creator sees his creation going astray and not fulfilling the reason for which it was created.

John 3:16 tells the whole story of the Bible in a few words. God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to the earth to die for us. Hebrews 4:15 says that we do not have a high priest which “cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are; yet without sin.” I don’t know about you but I’m grateful that God came down to know what it’s like to be me. I also like the fact that God is relational with me. He feels the things I feel. He knows where I sit. I know God is not ashamed of me because the Bible tells me that he loves me. 1 John 4:19 says we are able to love him because he first loved us. Why should I should I be ashamed of someone who loved me enough to send his only son to die for me? God is not ashamed of me (neither is he ashamed of Oprah for that matter. He loves all of his creation). And I’m not ashamed of him either.

The Power Is Yours (Use It)

While meditating on the story of Moses, I realised there were certain similarities between his story and that of Gideon, Joshua and practically everyone that God has ever used whose story is recorded in the Bible. It starts with the called man who has just been intimated with God's will of how he intends him to use him to bring salvation to a certain people, usually the children of Israel. The man makes known his feeling of inadequacy and asks God how he is to accomplish the task God has set before him. God tells him "I will be with you." That usually settled the matter. The man would then go on to do amazing feats and exploits. But the fact is that he did them because God backed him up. That was in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, we understand that Jesus is the express image of God. In Matthew, as he was about to ascend back to God, Jesus promised the disciples he was going to send the Holy Spirit. He then gave a charge, a command to them. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matt 28:19-20). In the above verses, Jesus follows God's example and gives us a command, telling us to into all the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things he has taught in his word. He then promises, not be with us, but that he is always with us.

I read a post on Facebook from Reinhard Bonke. He talked about how Christians want to have a feeling of power before they move to do what God expects of them. He said that the Holy Spirit is like potential energy. You won't feel him till you actually get up to do something bigger than you that you require his power for. I recently read Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience. In it, she talked about an American woman, Katie Davies who has lived in Uganda for the past seven years. Katie was a student president and home coming queen in high school. But on leaving high school at 17, she travelled to Uganda to care for the less privileged and she has been there ever since. At 24, she is a mother to 13 Ugandan orphans and runs an organisation that raises money to help ensure that poor families do not have to give up their children. She documents her life and experiences in a blog called Kisses For Katie.

Most Christians seem to think that all God exists for is to meet their needs. There are things that God wants us to accomplish. While God and the Holy Spirit will always be with us as a sign that God is committed to us, I believe that God is even more committed to those who are actually doing what he has called them to do. I believe that God is less committed to making our dreams come true than he is to making his will and plan for our lives come to pass. He has given us a commandment through Jesus. We need to get off our butts and stop waiting to feel powerful. The Holy Spirit is waiting us to get moving and fulfil our own part of God's grand plan. If you're thinking that you're not good enough, then you're in good company. Just ask Moses. Or Gideon.

What is it that God has called you to do? What are you waiting for?



JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelso Publishers http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND published on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DPLLEUQ/ref=redir_mdp_mobile