I liked this and think TK hit the nail pretty squarely.
Here's a short commentary that's pretty hard hitting ... may get stuck in your craw:
From Brian Zahnd on Rev. 18 (thanks DB):
Most of these people cannot be saved. You know what I mean. They've gone inch by inch into the tar pit of empire worship until they're in up to their necks. There's just no way out. A Damascus Road moment maybe; but few will have such an experience.
It's a great tragedy that has fallen upon the American evangelical/charismatic church. The handwriting is on the wall. It's the "mene, mene, tekel, upharsin" moment in American conservative Christianity.
There are really only two sins: idolatry (the rejection of the great command) and injustice (the rejection of the second command). Injustice springs from idolatry. When we worship an idol, we are formed in the ways of injustice. And injustice always carries the seeds of eventual self-destruction...even in an empire. Or especially in an empire! The Bible calls this the judgment of God. John the Beloved said, "Children, beware of idols," because idolatry always has dire consequences.
For all their talk about Jesus, God, the Bible, most American evangelicals are so infected with the idolatry of empire that they're incapable of discernment or repentance. Younger people, yes. People of color, yes. But many older white conservative Christians have tied their faith to their flag in a Gordian Knot. The sword of the spirit could cut the knot, but their teachers (Falwell, Graham, Dobson, Hagee, Copeland, White, et. al.) (mis)used the Scriptures to tie the knot! It's nearly a hopeless situation.
Still we preach. Those with ears will hear. And if they can hear, they can liberate their faith from the Babylonian captivity of nationalism, discovering, perhaps for the first time, the city that John saw. Once we really perceive the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, the peaceable kingdom of Christ, it's not that hard to sell our patriotic idols to obtain the pearl of great price.
CH
Here's a short commentary that's pretty hard hitting ... may get stuck in your craw:
From Brian Zahnd on Rev. 18 (thanks DB):
Most of these people cannot be saved. You know what I mean. They've gone inch by inch into the tar pit of empire worship until they're in up to their necks. There's just no way out. A Damascus Road moment maybe; but few will have such an experience.
It's a great tragedy that has fallen upon the American evangelical/charismatic church. The handwriting is on the wall. It's the "mene, mene, tekel, upharsin" moment in American conservative Christianity.
There are really only two sins: idolatry (the rejection of the great command) and injustice (the rejection of the second command). Injustice springs from idolatry. When we worship an idol, we are formed in the ways of injustice. And injustice always carries the seeds of eventual self-destruction...even in an empire. Or especially in an empire! The Bible calls this the judgment of God. John the Beloved said, "Children, beware of idols," because idolatry always has dire consequences.
For all their talk about Jesus, God, the Bible, most American evangelicals are so infected with the idolatry of empire that they're incapable of discernment or repentance. Younger people, yes. People of color, yes. But many older white conservative Christians have tied their faith to their flag in a Gordian Knot. The sword of the spirit could cut the knot, but their teachers (Falwell, Graham, Dobson, Hagee, Copeland, White, et. al.) (mis)used the Scriptures to tie the knot! It's nearly a hopeless situation.
Still we preach. Those with ears will hear. And if they can hear, they can liberate their faith from the Babylonian captivity of nationalism, discovering, perhaps for the first time, the city that John saw. Once we really perceive the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, the peaceable kingdom of Christ, it's not that hard to sell our patriotic idols to obtain the pearl of great price.