The Great Conspiracy

NEW! Now you can listen to this essay, read by the author, by clicking here: "The Great Conspiracy", read by the Scrawling Shepherd


You've heard some of the various many theories about why people are getting sick and dying right now. "Coronavirus" or COVID-19 is the culprit. It's an aggressive and highly contagious virus, passed by the most casual human contact, airborne.

Or is it? Is it actually the 5G wireless signal that's being blasted, unseen, through our airwaves in millimeter-wavelength, empowering our wireless devices and killing us?

Or is it a state/military-sponsored biological weapon, tested first on native population before being employed against enemy peoples?

Is it the elite top few most powerful and wealthy people and corporations in the world, working in concert to "thin the herd" to save the world from it's greatest threat and enemy: humankind?

Or is it something else?

I don't know.

I DO know about one Great Conspiracy, though, and because I've fully "bought in" to this one, none of the rest of them really give me much anxiety.

The GREAT Conspiracy was launched long, long ago. Before Time began, in fact. There are Three Conspirators, acting in perfect Oneness, Unity and Harmony, and with absolutely no discord, and with no malice or evil or selfish intention. Their identity is not a secret. They've disclosed Themselves to the world in the personifications of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(Author's NOTE: This is NOT intended to be understood as quoting or even paraphrasing of Scripture--this is just my hypothetical imagining of a supposed conversation based upon what we DO KNOW from revealed Scripture. No well-meaning but cranky critic needs to denounce me for twisting or distorting Scripture or putting words in God's mouth that He never spoke.)

It began, more or less, when One said,

[Overheard in an undisclosed location code-named "Heaven":]

"Let us make humankind in our image..."

As the Conversation went on, perhaps it went a little like this...just bits and pieces of the whole exchange.

ONE:  "We'll give them independent will and freedom of action. We want them to choose to trust Us, to love Us, to obey Us, for the right reasons."
ALL:  "Agreed."
ONE:  "We know, of course, that they won't choose Us every time. Or even many times. We know that they will rebel. They'll be deceived. Disillusioned. And We're going to have to take action against that rebellion."
ALL:  "Agreed."
ONE:  "It will go on and on and on, and get worse and worse and worse."
ALL:  "Yes."
ONE:  "They won't be able to stop. They won't be able to fix what they break. Even if they want to, they won't find their way back to Us."
ONE:  "You are correct. They will need Help. They are going to be like sheep. And so, they will need a Shepherd. A Good Shepherd."
ALL:  "Yes, that's right."
Then the Son said,
SON:  "I'll do it. When the time is right, I'll go and join them. I'll live among them, and show them who We are. And, finally, I will lay down my life for those sheep."
ALL: "It's the only way. They can't be redeemed in any other way."
SON:  "I will do it. There is no other way. I will give up My life."
FATHER: "Let it be so. But I will not let the grave hold You. Three days only, and no more. Forevermore."
SON: "Agreed."
SPIRIT: "Agreed."
ALL: "Let it be so."

And it was so.

And it IS so.

And because of this, no earthly conspiracy by any bad actor or actors will prevail. God knows the hearts and thoughts of every one of us, whether we acknowledge Him or not. No scheme or plot conceived in secret and launched from the shadows will defeat God's Eternal Plan. God knows these things, has always known them, and has taken them all into account. Some, He thwarts. Others, He blunts. Some He shines the light of day upon, that it will become known what we have and are doing, what evil we have conceived in our hearts and wrought by our hands.

God declares to His people in Isaiah 54:17--"No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD.

Elsewhere God speaks over us these words that bring us hope and confidence in response to any action accusation that any force or power opposing  us may bring:

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose...

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:28, 35-39)

Conspirators of the world: beware. Your plans are KNOWN. As God declared to King Belshazzar of Babylonia, "MENE--God has numbered the days of your reign and is about to bring it to an end."

"TEKEL--you have been weighed on [God's] scales and found deficient."

"PERES--your kingdom has been divided and given over to your [enemies.]"

(Daniel 5:25-28)

I still believe. And I am thankful for that First, that Greatest, Conspiracy. It has a name by which it has come to be known for millennia. The name: The Gospel.

Amen.

Is Easter Cancelled?

NEW! Now you can listen to the author read this essay by clicking the link here: Is Easter Cancelled? read by the author, The Scrawling Shepherd


Is Easter cancelled?

I saw this question earlier today on a friend's Facebook post. It may have been just a rhetorical question, or it may have been a request for information about a specific event planned or scheduled by or for a specific church or group. It doesn't matter. I saw that question, and that was all it took to send my mind galloping through the array of dictionaries, thesauruses (thesaurii?) and textbooks to write this, my next article.

Is Easter cancelled this year because we're all confined to quarters? On quarantine? Maintaining safe social distancing? If churches are still closed, how can we celebrate Easter? Oh, the pretty new Easter dresses for Mother and daughters; the new bow ties and pastel colored clothing for all the family...alas, what can we do?

My dear wife is groaning at the thought of not being able to have the family together after Church on Sunday for Easter Feast. Secretly I'm thinking "that's more ham and deviled eggs for me." (Side note: why are they called "deviled eggs?" and why in the world do we think of them as part of the Easter feast? Is it because we consume deviled eggs in symbolic demonstration of Jesus consuming the Devil's hold on us? Hmmm...I think I'll go with that.)

So, is Easter really cancelled? HAH! Not hardly. We cannot cancel Easter. It's not an event. It's just something that we celebrate each year about an event that already happened. No, not an event. THE event. The most important, significant, incredible, amazing, miraculous occurrence in the whole of the history of everything that was, is, or ever will be. The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, who was and is known to be both Lord and Christ, is the pivotal moment in time. It did and does change everything.

And, when it comes down to it, even if not one single person on earth uttered one single word about Easter on this coming April 12; if no one says "He is Risen!" and if no one answers back "He is Risen indeed!", it won't matter. If not a single person turns to hymn #216 and sings "Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o'er His foes,", or #217 "Christ the Lord is ris'n today, a-a-a-a-a-le-lu-ia", or even #213 "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow..." or #220 "You ask me how I know He lives...He LIVES within my heart!". Even if none of those things happen this coming Sunday, well, He is risen, just the same.

If not one of those things would happen, well, it wouldn't change anything. Easter is not cancelled. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ happened, and nothing can or will ever overturn that truth.

We're going to observe Holy Week in the best ways we can figure out, in spite of our current "handicaps." Our home group plans to gather via video conference to mark Good Friday together. Our church family will worship together on Resurrection Sunday morning from our living rooms. I know I'll be singing at the top of my lungs. You won't hear me from your house (except Kelly. Kelly, if you're reading this, then yes. You WILL hear me there at your house.) but God is going to hear my voice on Easter. He IS risen! He IS risen--INDEED!

Here's a couple of people who agree:

Rise Again, by Dallas Holm

What a Beautiful Name by Hillsong

Happy Easter, friends!

When I Finally Get to be "Unpaused," or, I See a Chance...

NEW! Now you can listen to the author read this article here: The Scrawling Shepherd reads "I See a Chance"


Friday, March 27, 2020

Yesterday I posted an article which you may have seen. If not, you can find it here: Why I am On Pause, and Why I am Okay with It.

Today I want to write the article I thought I was going to write yesterday when I sat down to write. I've been thinking about the current circumstance we're sharing: a dramatic response to a critical threat to our health. We've been put "On Pause," as we're calling it in New York. You may have a different name for it: self-quarantine, shelter-in-place, lock-in, or any number of other words or phrases.

I'm a teacher, and this circumstance has dramatically affected my work, and my way of working. We're figuring out how to continue teaching and learning over distance, using technology in most cases. Early into this experience, I began thinking about how this dramatic change will outlast the current crisis. Even when we come crawling out of our metaphorical bunkers, blinking in the bright light of day and looking around to see who else is still standing, we may never again go back to whatever was "normal" just three weeks ago.

And that got me thinking wider still. Churches, like schools, are figuring out what HAS to be included in "church" experience, and what we can do without, even if only temporarily. Our home groups have been reading and discussing Francis Chan's Letters to the Church and his observations about how we've come to expect certain things in our experience of church that aren't really lining up well with what Jesus and His apostles described, designed, and established. It has been challenging, convicting, sometimes embarrassing. But how to fix it? It's almost like we need to start over.

Start over. Huh.

I see a chance here. I see an opportunity to restart. To get a "do over." A Mulligan.

I see a chance to finally, finally, put some distance between the church and that ugly label, that ugly sweater we keep wearing even though nobody likes it, called "hypocrisy." "The church is full of hyprocrites." I've heard it all my life, or at least it seems like I have. And as soon as I try to deny it, to say that "well, it might be true of them, but it's definitely not true of me," I get that all-too-familiar poke of the Holy Spirit's conviction and I have to withdraw my objection, my deflection, and put that ugly, smelly, scratchy sweater back on again.

But I see a chance. I see a chance to take that old mildewy, moldy, scratchy, smelly sweater out to the firepit in my back yard and burn it on a funeral pyre. And once I get it burning in a big, roaring, purifying, consuming fire, let's rummage around and see what other ugly things have been clinging to me that I can also use to feed the Refiner's fire.

I see a chance for a fresh start. A new beginning. A clean slate.

I want to be a different kind of Christian, a different kind of follower. I want to be the kind of follower of Jesus that doesn't attract labels like hypocrite, or judgmental, or exclusive, or prejudiced, or bigoted, or any of the other negative labels that have been attached to Christians in our culture. If I am going to be criticized, let it be because I have been trying to follow the example and the teaching of Christ as shown in God's Word, the Bible. Not legalistically, like the Pharisees of Jesus' day that were the first to carry the label of hypocrite. But lovingly. Let that be my legacy.

I'm Just a Nobody. (This is a live link to a music video by Casting Crowns, with Matthew West.)

It shouldn't have taken a global pandemic to get my attention. There's been a pandemic going already, from the early days of human history. It's transmitted by birth. It's the original STD. It infects EVERYONE. It has a 100% mortality rate. Nobody is immune. No one escapes or avoids it. It reaches everything, everywhere. It's responsible for every other illness. It's the root cause of every war, every act of cruelty. It gives birth to fear, hatred, mistrust, untruth, lust, rebellion, violence, addiction, abuse, poverty, hunger, thirst, and every other awful thing that is a part of the history of our world. It goes by many names, but I call it sin.

We've been dealing it with for so long, we have stopped talking about it, stopped fighting against it. We've found ways to become comfortable with it, to anesthetize ourselves against its worst symptoms, and otherwise ignore it, pretending it isn't lurking there, waiting to kill us. Because it does kill us. All of us.

That's the first truth of the Good News, the Gospel. We are all sinners.

Doesn't really sound like very good news. And by itself, it isn't. The good part starts with point #2: God loves us. Even while we were still sinners, God loved us, and gave His Only Begotten Son do die for us.

Jesus Christ is the Cure for this fatal disease! Look unto Him, all you to the ends of the earth, and be saved! Isaiah 45:22.

I see a Chance. Do you see what I see? Come stand next to me. Let's see if we can take this chance together. Maybe we can do it better, together, this time.