MAGA, Trump, ICE, and all the rest. Brothers and Sisters, we're going to regret this. I promise. (2 Cor 5:9-10)

It almost goes without saying that we are in unprecedented times. Daily, I see things on social media and on the news that, frankly, as a child of the 70's and 80's, I would have said were impossible in the United States. After all, we are the bastion of free speech, free expression, the constitution, the rule of law, and the separation of powers, to say nothing of the core values of common decency and compassion for our neighbors. Right? I mean, was that not the constant refrain we learned as children? Were they not the ideals we were taught to embrace when we stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance daily in home room?

Today, though, all of that seems up for grabs. In the most ironic of ironies, those who heartily consider themselves"patriots" seem the most supportive of the same political conditions that moved the founding fathers to put forth the Declaration of Independence in the first place. The list of grievances against King George contained in the Declaration sounds eerily similar to those being leveled today at national leadership. (I'd encourage you to read it for yourself and see what you think.) That so many enthusiastically embrace the violence, the chaos, and stalwart allegiance to the same kinds of people and policies that literally served as the catalyst for the American Revolution is, in a word, bewildering.

But what's more bewildering, and far more troubling to me, is seeing the allegiance these personalities, policies, and ideologies have garnered among those who, in all committed seriousness, claim to be followers of Jesus. Not just those who casually consider themselves Christians, mind you, but FOLLOWERS of Jesus. i.e., people who do what Jesus said, and seek to embody him.

At times, the irony and disconnect bend my mind to the breaking point.

For the better part of a decade, I've labored tirelessly to point out these discrepancies and to plead with my spiritual siblings to wake up.

In articles like "Loveless Christianity", "Trading Our Birthright for a Bowl of Soup.", and "The Problem with Charlie Kirk...and Us", I've endeavored to call us to consider our ways, to look seriously at what Jesus continually taught and demonstrated by his life, and to place allegience to him and his Kingdom ahead of all else, and most especially, ahead of allegience to an earthly nation and political personalities that embody the literal antithesis of everything that the New Testament calls disciples to. But, after the 100's of hours and tens of thousands of words, I'm confident that very few, if any, of my brothers and sisters who hold these deep allegiances to MAGA, Trump, and their idea of "Christian America" have ever finished reading one of these articles. Of those who finished them, it's unlikely that any have truly reflected on the scripture or teaching they contain, or have taken those considerations to the Father in prayer. Leastwise, no one in a decade has ever said. "Man, that made me rethink things." It's a hard reality that The Fallen Self's influence creates a formidable barrier to truth when that truth doesn't align with what we already want to believe, even when it comes directly from scripture or the lips of the WORD himself.

Jesus knew this all too well. He continually admonished his listeners, "...he who has an ear, let him hear", and he told the Parable of the Soils to drive home the point of how challenging it is for us to hear, absorb, assimilate, and embody truth. When any truth comes to us, it falls on the soil of our inner being. Even as forgiven, redeemed people, too often we have self-referencing, self-focused hearts that are as hard-packed as the path. Others are merely shallow and filled with debris, or choked with a focus on this world's values and priorities that keep the seed of truth from bearing fruit. Often, we'll go so far as to argue against the clear and obvious statements of the Bible itself, simply because it is truth we don't want to be true.

Case in point, in over ten instances in the Hebrew scriptures, and six times, either directly or by application, the New Testament clearly indicates that God's people are commanded - not encouraged, not suggested, not recommended - but commanded to consider, care for, and respect the foreigner living among them. Our response? "Yeah, but are the LEGAL??" Because, in our minds, if the answer is no, then it's grounds to ignore the truth that comes our way. It's a dodge and a convenient way to dismiss disobedience and a betrayal of one of the core characteristics of Jesus' life: compassion.

And so, the truth falls on the packed ground of our hard hearts, and the Adversary, like a crow, comes along to snatch the truth away. Which is why so many feel no conviction from the Holy Spirit, but will rather celebrate when they see immigrants being beaten, detained, abused, and deported.

And with that statement, many will click away. I've lost them.

And why? Because what I'm saying isn't supported by the scriptures or the direct words of Jesus? No. But precisely because it is. But it is truth we don't WANT to hear. And we believe that if we refuse to look at it, to see it, it will cease to exist and will no longer matter. So, we turn our back, and the word is snatched away.

So, what does any of this have to do with the title of this article and the subject of regret?

It has, in fact, everything to do with it, because words, actions, and values have consequences.

And for those who identify as a follower of Jesus, but who support the actions, policies, and people running roughshod over not only the most fundamental parts of the American ethos, but also over the welfare and human dignity of some of the most vulnerable among us, a reconning is inescapable.

Short-sightedness is one of the plagues of the human condition. And when it comes to the consequences that will inevitably result from the flow of current events, we are short-sighted, indeed. Those consequences will have both temporal and eternal edges; edges that many have no idea are coming to cut them, body and soul.

From a temporal point of view, what we're seeing is not sustainable and will not stand long term. The shoot-from-the-hip chaos, the lack of base-level competence among those tasked with critically important jobs, the threats and power-mongering on the world stage, the over-the-top authoritarianism, and the inhumane cruelty toward citizens and non-citizens alike will not last forever. History shows that, even for very capable, intelligent, and charismatic leaders, authoritarianism ultimately crumbles under its own weight. Change will come. The pendulum will swing back. It may be five years from now, or ten, or twenty, but change will come.

When the pendulum swings back, the consequences for the Christian populace will be a study in self-fulfilling prophecy. Since I entered the fundamentalist/evangelical church in 1987, I've heard the lament that we white Christians are the real persecuted minority. We are the ones who <name the issue> are the targets of discrimination. We are the ones who need governmental and political protection. We want everyone to say "Merry Christmas", but they insist on saying "Happy Holidays."

But the truth is, we have been the ones with access to the levers of power - real levers of power - since Ronald Reagan was elected President. Through the Moral Majority and the battles about abortion and homosexuality, and through the presidencies of both Bush's and Donald Trump, Christian organizations like Focus on the Family, the Heritage Foundation, and, more recently, Turning Point, have dominated political influence, and we've gotten what we've fought for. Which is precisely the domination and subjection of all others who do not share our convictions or faith. And all the while, we have been crowing about it and tethering the identity of the faith to many of these culture war issues.

We happily take away others' rights. Through our political and cultural influence, we've marginalized and belittled fellow citizens. We've derided and demonized them. We cheer when the president calls the people we don't like "vermin" and "demoncrats." We love "owning the libs", completely forgetting that the "libs", the "vermin", the "demoncrats", the "illegals", the "gays", and the "baby killers" aren't cardboard standup ideologies, but human beings. Human beings with value and dignity, who are imbued with the image of God and loved by him. They are also supposed to be loved by us. Seriously. Are we not supposed to be Jesus' representatives to those outside the faith? I mean...is that not at the center of what all of us have heard we're called to? Colossians is just one of many areas that make clear how we are supposed to be in the world.

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience....And over all these virtues put on love (Agape), which binds them all together in perfect unity... And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Agape, the Greek word for God's love, is the kind of love demonstrated by Jesus in the upper room when he humbled himself to wash his apprentices' feet, and in its ultimate expression when he abandoned himself to the cross, when at any moment, he could have chosen otherwise. That is the heart we're supposed to have toward others. No scripture better encapsulates it than Phil 2.

“5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!”

That transformation into the image of Christ, not just forgiveness, is the entire purpose of the cross and resurrection. It’s the whole point of the indwelling Spirit. It’s the answer and the hope for the church and our world.

We just refuse to do it.

We’re satisfied with being forgiven and to raise our hands in church in “worship”, while maintaining hearts that move through every day utterly and completely taken over by the Fallen Self; my wants, my rights, my comfort, my convenience, my success, my priority….my, my, my.

It’s the spirit that caused Lucifer to become the Adversary, and it’s the foundation of all human sin. In that subtle self-referencing, my automatic orientation toward life, including toward God and others, is me.

It’s why Jesus said the second greatest commandment is to love others as oneself. But we think he was telling us it’s RIGHT to “love ourselves” when he was actually pointing out that we automatically DO, and that following him means, without having to think about it, automatically loving (Agape) others ahead of ourselves.

That’s what dying to Self is.

According to Jesus, it’s the entry point to being his apprentice, but also the one thing we just can't humble ourselves to do. And in fact, it is something many self-identifying American Christians simply CAN’T do because our true, heart-level allegiance lies not in the Kingdom of God and Jesus our King, but in the earthbound empire and fallen human leaders we've allowed to co-opt the faith. And as a result, through that allegiance and those levers of power, we happily and intentionally work to marginalize, subject, and control the lives of others.

At this point, I feel it's paramount that I point something out that I think few of us have the presence of mind or awareness to understand. So many who claim to follow Jesus have completely lost any connection to the world of human individuals we are called to love and reach. Most of us live in the proverbial Christian Bubble. We have our own gatherings, our own music, our own books, our own magazines, our own movie and TV streaming services, our own...everything. We are so utterly detached from the lives and experiences of those outside the bubble that we view them and their life experiences as the enemy to avoid, rather than the fellow humans to love. It's a great betrayal of the gospel and the Kingdom of God. And we call it "following Jesus." The fact that there was even such a thing as an "alternative" Super Bowl halftime show clearly illustrates this reality.

The thing that we're often too blind and self-referenced to see is that when we use our earthly political levers, our vitriolic words, and our hateful actions to impose what we believe is somehow "spiritual," on others, we're foolishly attempting to use the wrong tool for the wrong job. Because no matter how much we believe otherwise, James makes it clear, "human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires."

We don't make anything better. In fact, we make everyone's life worse. That is why people mock Christians. Most people outside the faith have no issue with Jesus. They just can't stand us because we simply don't resemble Jesus in the most basic ways.

As an insider and fellow Christian, I have to be candid and say, it all makes MY life worse.

The drama, the contempt, the vitriol, the pearl-clutching, the self-righteousness, the judgmentalism, and the me-first, I-don't-care-how-it-affects-you self-referencing are offensive in the extreme, and it wears on my soul.

We don't see it. We don't care what they think.

But, temporally, we're going to care.

When the tide turns - and it will - I promise that those we marginalized, demonized, name-called, and took basic human dignity and constitutional rights from will remember our words and actions. They will remember that we used our power and resources, not to bless them, or assist them, or love them, or to encourage and support them, but to subjugate and subordinate them. And when the levers of power are in their hands, we'll get it all back in kind. And it won't be because they are "evil people who hate God."

It will be because we earned it.

But far more tragic than the turnabout that will be fair play is the damage that we've done to the witness of the Gospel and the name of Jesus. At a time in history where there is so much fear and uncertainty, when so many are looking for hope, we who are purportedly God's people, who are supposed to be carrying the light of Christ and the hope of the Kingdom to the world, have traded our birthright for temporal earthly power and an influence that will fade.

We heartily embrace earthbound and self-centered values, policies, and personalities as our first allegiance, which is sin enough. But worse, we loudly and enthusiastically align those values, policies, and personalities with the faith. In doing so, we've bastardized the message of Jesus and subjected the Gospel to open shame.

But it seems so long as we hang onto the levers of power and the ability to control, we're fine with it. We don't care.

But we'd really better learn to care. Because the Judge cares. And he's keeping an account.

One of the blinding theological oversights that has emerged from the last several hundred years of theological development is the idea that, if we give mental assent to the fact that Jesus died for our sins and ask for his forgiveness, we're forever free of having to face judgment, that we'll never have to give an account of our lives. That's an attractive thought.

The only problem is that it doesn't align with the full truth of the New Testament or Jesus' own words.

9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 2 Cor 5:9-10

At the end of his most famous sermon, Jesus gives us a glimpse into this moment. It's profoundly significant that we remember that he, the Savior, the one who died for our sins, is also the Judge. He knows our hearts better than we know our own. To him, our actions and attitudes reveal the truth about us, even if we're blind to it.

In Matthew 7:15-26 Jesus says...

"Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.

26But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

Jesus is pretty clear. Our actions reveal our true hearts.

And make no mistake, far more consequential than the turn of the political tides that will take away earthly power and control is the unavoidable day when we will be required to stand before the one who set aside his majesty, condescended to become a man, and subjected himself to the humility of the Cross, in order to pay the penalty for our sin and to make possible our transformation in him.

On that day, do we really want to attempt to justify self-righteous and self-focused allegiances, or words and actions that malign, condemn, criticize, and dehumanize others? Do we really want to try to explain why scoring political points and winning a culture war was worth obscuring the Gospel, defaming him, and building a barrier between people and God? Do we really intend to stand before Jesus and say, "We love you", while having ignored all of his most foundational commands?

In both the short term and the long term, we're going to regret these days. I promise.