1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of cloth, whose height was onescore cubits, and the breadth thereof two score: he set it up on a stick, in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image of cloth which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image of cloth that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the cloth that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

4Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,

5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of star spangled musick, ye fall down and worship the cloth image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:

6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, and pledgeth allegiance shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the cloth image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Isn’t it interesting that when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were confronted with government agents demanding to be worshipped (or else), they didn’t have a committee about the matter. They didn’t look through the Torah to see if, when God gave the first commandment, there was enough of a loophole to bow down, but not worship.

And it is interesting that they did not bring up the concept of “this is ok at this point because we are not in the tribulation yet.” I enjoy a good sermon, but there is something that is lacking in almost every one I hear: valid application to the people listening. Unfortunately, not every church is as nice as the one my wife and I go to, so I can’t just raise my hand and say, “hey, wait! This doesn’t just apply to a future you erroneously think we will never see!!” So, instead of shouting witty one-liners from my seat in the back row (where all good Baptists should be sitting), I break out my mobile study room and start comparing what the pastor says to what the Bible says.

And while a pastor might use such a passage to tie into “persecution coming to America,” or the loss of religious freedoms that may happen “someday,” I realize his preaching has a large error. This is because there is no freedom in America, let alone freedom of religion. Like China, there is only one acceptable religion: the religion of the State. Sure, there are churches, and temple halls, and mosques every other block, but these institutions are only acceptable so long as their preaching does not disrupt the agenda of the State. Almost every one of these are run by leaders who may be republican, democrat, or apolitical, but almost none will speak out against the institution of the State as immoral. None will speak about taxation being glorified theft. Most probably have never considered the idea that the State itself may be immoral. And many are taught that God himself established the State (Its not in the Bible, but people say it is).

And so, with the mindset that the State was and is, the Bible must be twisted to support this idea. And this twisted State supporting version of the Scripture is taught and believed by so many that any persecution is not obvious to them. They have an idea that they live under religious freedom simply because they observe a religion allowed by the State, but religious beliefs that do not support the idea of the State is de-facto prohibited in America, and socially unacceptable in almost any church.

Try not standing for a piece of cloth when “all kinds of music” is played. When it was commanded that they bow before a statue of the king, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego did not. But in America, most Christians expect their brothers to stand before a cloth, the symbol of the State, and pledge their allegiance to it, and show reverence while the national anthem (or hymn, same difference), is played. You may not be thrown into a fiery furnace yet, but you will face difficulties because of it.

Try living as the Amish, who live by their convictions regardless of what the State commands them. They still sell raw milk, which the State has declared to be illegal. They build homes without electricity, which the State has declared to be illegal. They will not allow themselves to be used as soldiers for the State. They have been persecuted by the State for refusing to believe the State is God, or that the State is the mediator between God and man.

Christians that try to live according to the Bible will face persecution in America. Its not going to be the kind that you hear in your Sunday School class. Its not going to be a door slamming in your face or someone spitting on you, but a strong retaliation from the world system, the State. Christians, and others that choose to live a moral life, have been getting arrested, beaten or killed for some time now. Most choose to ignore it, labeling them extremists, or telling themselves that following God somehow would make them immune to a backlash from the State.

Perhaps we don’t want to think that persecution is active in America because that would mean that we might have to face it. If there is little to no persecution in America, then we are living a perfectly normal life if we never face difficulties. So we acknowledge it occurs elsewhere, and live in fear of “when it does come,” thinking we can still control the world system and make it not attack us. Fact is, persecution is pretty much universal, and you will always be faced with making difficult decisions. Well, unless you subscribe to the State religion.

Today, I was talking with a Christian coworker, and mentioned that some Christians refuse to stand for a judge because they view all humans as equals. My coworker seemed perplexed by the idea, thought it was silly, and barely avoided stating that people who try to bring such beliefs into a court setting should be arrested. His reasoning was that it was merely showing respect for the judge and has nothing to do with worship. I do not necessarily believe that my coworker is wrong in standing for a judge, should he be in a position to stand before one. However, he does not believe in giving others the ability to live by their convictions, including other Christians. While I believe it is a matter between the a person and God, I view such Quakers/Christians/etc. that live their convictions as heroes. These are people who are willing to risk imprisonment for abiding by their conscience. As a former pastor of mine pointed out, Caesar does not own your conscience, God does.

There is a reason why this bothered me. I was trying to probe my coworkers beliefs (primarily because he will discuss ‘religion’ or Christ with every other coworker but me, except to invite me to his church, but also because of my curiosity). I have been trying to see what kind of a Christian he was, and if he had good reasons for his beliefs. Perhaps my conclusion is unfair, but he seems to be a typical ‘conservative’ type: he confuses faith in Christ with an unquestioning acceptance of everything taught to him in a Christian setting. Unfortunately, it seems as if the majority of Christians I meet are this way.

What kind of Christians are we if we believe this way? Of what value is our faith? We can quote scripture verbatim, but our only understanding is what has been taught to us. People ask us how to get to Heaven, and we immediately spit out an answer, without knowing if it is true. It was just taught to us. Frankly, I am not certain if most Christians even know why they believe what they believe. At all. A cab driver pointed this out to me years ago when he asked me some questions about my faith. Since then, I have tried very hard to make sure my beliefs are consistent and true. (Does anyone remember reading Philippians 2:12?) Some do not really care to do this, and get their consistent and true beliefs on Sundays.

Modern Christianity seem to be no better than the other theories of life or religions it derides. It rests simply on a teaching that has been passed down from multiple generations of teachers in a game of generational telephone with the current teaching being incredibly far from the truth it once showed, and there is no desire to go to the beginning and rework our beliefs as necessary. We say to ourselves that “This is what we were taught, and any deviation from it is heresy.” Someone raises an objection to our beliefs and instead of having an answer or researching the question, we cite problems with the questioner. Did we not read from the Bible that we proclaim to be true without knowing why that we should study (2 Tim 2:15)? We are offended by Christians in jail, forgetting in the Bible, persecution is normal. Forgetting God’s commandments, we try to force others to live the way we want. We advocate theft in Christ’s name. We serve someone other than the Jesus in the Bible, and others know this. They mock us, not to persecute us, but because our brand of christianity deserves mocking. They are offended by us, because we offend them, and not because the core of our belief itself is offensive. We even have rules just like the religious leaders Jesus criticized, but we have very intricate reasons for why our rules are not like theirs. We complain of people picking and choosing what parts of the Bible they believe, but it may better to do that with a consistent belief than to mandate that everything be included for the sole reason of a vote long ago while taking what we mandate as included and twisting and perverting it in ways the original authors/Author did not intend. There is a lot wrong with our christianity! It’s not Christian!

To be fair, people’s beliefs change over time, and I too was once a zombie-christian: eating the brains of other christians to sustain me. Perhaps I am still that way to a degree (I’ve changed, honest!). Maybe this is a rant more about myself than a plea for others to consider themselves. I could fill the rest of this spot with Philippians 2:12, but I doubt it would help; I’ve read passages hundreds of times before understanding them, and hundreds of times more before realizing I was abiding solely by a teaching rather than what the passage plainly said. Perhaps it’s worth scrapping our ideas and rebuilding them from scratch?
And the question now is “what do I believe?” I believe that there is a Creator. I believe that He came down in the form of Christ to show us how to live. I believe that he took the punishment of the world when He died on the cross because he loved us, and to show us what love truly is: not killing or oppressing others because they don’t believe like you, but sacrificing yourself for others out of love for them. I believe that when Jesus stated that the greatest commandments were to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, that He meant it. I believe all scripture should be interpreted in light of these two verses.

The United States government is at another crossroads. In a few months, the federal government will have a completely socialized healthcare system, instead of the partially sociallized one that we have now. One would think that many Christians would be against such a system, considering that it is inherently immoral. Jay Sekulow, from the ACLJ, is completely focused on just abortion being the issue with the bill, and is raising money and working hard to have all abortion related language removed from it. While it appears he is doing something noble, he is wasting his time. Its not like anything new is happening here. While abortions would be funded by this bill, they are already partially subsidized by money stolen from you via taxes through grants and other channels. This bill only
makes the States support for abortion obvious. So, while the ACLJ spins their wheels trying to win this victory against abortion, the State continues to kill the unborn with your money. Because people are distracted by fighting abortion, the healthcare bill will probably pass, and regardless of any presence of abortion related language, it would result in the deaths of many Americans outside the womb under the socialized system! And even if the abortion related language is removed, state subsidized abortions will continue to take place, paid by you! The Christian community is achieving nothing by fighting abortion like this!

What must be done then? We need to strike at the root of this, and destroy the system that makes this possible. Instead of supporting the State that is diametrically opposed to God, we need to oppose it completely. Instead of wasting our time just fighting against abortion related language in an immoral bill that is likely to pass, we need to fight the bill itself. Christians should be in an uproar, but not just because this bill funds abortion. This bill will increase the money stolen from people who earned it, use it to line the pockets of the tyrannical politicians and those in bed with them, and allow for the State to control who is fit to live or die. The State is exacting the control of the population as if it were a deity, and if we wait to late to oppose this system, our opposition could be met with our deaths.

Pastor Geoff Surratt joins the ranks of an increasing amount of people dissatisfied with what I call “Modern Christianity.” It is refreshing to see a pastor have the same views as I on the modern christian culture. In his blog post, I’m through with Christianity, he declares that he will no longer describe himself as a Christian, because he “cannot in good faith associate any more with what the label Christian has come to represent in America.” This is a sad, but undoubtedly a well thought out decision.

When people ask me if I am a Christian, I sometimes cringe, much the same way that I cringe when asked if I am a hacker or a libertarian. That cringing is well founded; some people, being disgusted at the actions of “Christians,” refuse to talk to me after I say yes. Back in Florida, I had to append my yes with, “but I did not vote on amendment 2.” Only then could I talk with some people. And if I say no, what do I call myself? A “God follower?” That phrase is taken.

I’ve noticed that a large amount of words are misconstrued to be things that they were never intended to be, and now the word Christian has joined their them. I fear I live in a fascist society, where words are redefined so that you can’t read and understand intent outside of what the state would have. What is worse, is that all the words I use to describe myself are being redefined to either associate me with a crowd of “crazy” people that make things explode during protests or a crowd of totalitarian statists. My world is being polarized, and I am caught between two extremes I do not like, and am being forced to choose one.

Perhaps I will continue to refer to myself as a Christian, a follower of Christ. When asked if I am, I might have to ask the person what their definition is. Perhaps we could start calling the statist christians something else? I’m up for suggestions.