We’re supposed to advocate for the poor and oppressed and that means that we do things like show up to protest, feed the hungry, heal the sick, and protect the vulnerable not only with our words, but in the flesh.

 Yet why do so many Christians ignore his teachings? Why do they demonize anyone who dares practice the kind of corporeal politics that Jesus did?

Tyranny is dependent on citizens who are willing to comply with terror. 

How does that happen? How do people support their own government terrorizing their fellow citizens? 

Once we believe our neighbors are a threat to us, we want that threat neutralized. It takes very little effort to convince people to fear their neighbors; just sprinkle a few half-truths, sensationalize one extreme story, and continually use defamatory language. Day after day, year after year. 

I used to be a conservative, evangelical-adjacent, Republican. 

I went to a George W. Bush rally in 2000, a Sarah Palin rally in 2008, and a Mitt Romney rally in 2012. I understood that Hillary Clinton was one of the greatest enemies the United States has ever known.

I was worried that when Obama won, with Democrats in full control of Congress, they would implement all kinds of socialist policies that would destroy the fabric of America.

Then…all the things that I had been told to worry about didn’t happen.

What we are experiencing today, at every level, is an assault on truth. We must hold on to the truth and reject lies.

 Yet, we all believe in lies. We do it for self-protection. We do it when we’re grieving. We do it for our own ego. Many are harmless and temporary.

 Some lies though cause us to break with reality and then require us to accept more and more lies.

Call out the propaganda.

 People fall for propaganda because they are not well read. Reading expands our vocabulary, increases empathy, and opens our minds. That’s why books are banned. 

 Read books. Real books. 

Jesus always stood on the side of the oppressed. That is righteousness.

This is the story of Sodom of Gomorrah. When a few bullies showed up at the door and demanded to rape the visitors, not one townsperson intervened. None were found to be righteous and so they all perished.

After they rejected him, they followed the way of the sword and found another who would lead them into battle. Before that generation had died, their beloved city was destroyed and they were forced to scatter.

 But some did turn back and chose to follow his ways. They built small communities rooted in mercy, justice, and humility. The way of Jesus spread.

Many see the issue of immigration as the catalyst for the federal government to reestablish and expand the dual state by normalizing routine violations of the fourth and fifth amendments and dehumanizing entire groups of people in order to justify the inequality.

 If you read this far and you’re wondering why people are opposing I.C.E., it’s because they believe in the rights of the individual. They are not fighting to protect criminals; they are fighting to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution from a federal government they see as destroying it.

The ethos of the way of Jesus is love. 

The Christian ethos understands that to seek justice means doing the right thing, even when we might get punished. It means to practice mercy, even if it costs us everything. It means to walk humbly, not claiming that we have all the correct answers. 

 Jesus taught that the only way to truly live in obedience to God, is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This means that sometimes obedience to God requires disobedience to unjust systems.

Christians need to take responsibility for the face of Christianity. It’s not enough to just whisper under our breath that they don’t speak for all of us. No. This is fascism and it is not compatible with Christianity. It’s not a wing of Christianity. It’s not a doctrinal disagreement within Christianity. Fascism is not the way of Jesus.

 Let me tell you a story…

One-party rule doesn’t always come in with guns blazing, it comes when we are too afraid to dissent.

Beware of demonizing language used against the opposition party.

Beware of threats of punishment (banishment or violence) for perceived disloyalty.

Beware of threats of violence for perceived disloyalty.

Beware of actual banishment or violence for dissent or disloyalty.

Stephen Miller is absolutely correct; the world is ruled by power and force. This is what the Bible teaches. The world is defined by hierarchies which are held in place through force, so that everyone knows their place. This is how we have order which brings peace. Power is the way of the world.

 I have seen that with my own eyes for my entire life, yet I denied what I saw and believed in a different story. 

 I was taught to believe that that world could operate differently, that…

The demand for obedience is not the way of Jesus; obedience is driven by fear.

 “If she had just obeyed…” Those are the words of Empire.  

 Anticipatory obedience is when we adapt without reflection or consideration of the moral implications. Unfortunately, Christian authoritarianism has created followers who believe that obedience is the ultimate virtue.

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When I started to thinking about the final question and what I’m doing to fight for the way of Jesus, I realized that many of the things I’m doing align with the “Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” found in Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny.

If you have not read it, please do. 

I believe that some of the pain and grief that we feel now comes from the knowledge that liberal democracy has failed us - people voted for this. 

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The Wide Path is the path of Empire. It is the path that says, “might makes right.” It is the path of bullies and tyrants. It is easy because it requires no negotiation, no conversation, no listening. It is the path that demands obedience and submission.

What I witnessed on January 6, 2021, and in the years since, is that much of the American Church has chosen the path of Empire, the path that leads to destruction.

The Narrow Gate is hard because it takes time. It is costly and requires a…

I choose to believe them.  I choose to believe in the God revealed through the life of Jesus.

I choose to believe that if I want to know what justice looks like, I should look to Jesus.

I choose to believe that if I want to know what mercy looks like, I should look to Jesus.

I choose to believe that if I want to know what love looks like, I should look to Jesus.

I choose to believe that if I want to know what the Most High God looks like, I should look to Jesus. 

“Thou God Seest Me,” are words of protest. To stand with a sign and say, “God sees me,” shifts the balance of power. 

This is what Christmas is all about. The Christmas stories found in Matthew and Luke tell us that God was disrupting the power structures the world has always known. 

Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

On the fourth Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of love because we live in a world ruled by the desires of the flesh, where lies, idolatry, greed, fits of rage, and the pursuit of power have corrupted the Christian witness from one of love to one of fear.

This year, the fourth Sunday of Advent coincides with the Longest Night, a time when we traditionally make space for our grief. So, we also acknowledge our sorrow over the version of Christianity that does not love.

Friends, we didn’t intend to sign up for this fight. Even though may have said the words that we “accept the freedom and the power God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression, in whatever forms they present themselves."* We thought the battles we fight today had already been won. And yet, here we are. 

 But, rejoice and remember that when you do whatever act of love you have been called to in this moment, you are also standing with that pastor in Chicago…

It can happen here. 

The Nazis learned how to legally dehumanize their own citizens from us.