“Carry the battle to them.  Don’t let them bring it to you.  Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologize for anything.”
-Harry S. Truman

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.”
-Sinclair Lewis

I absolutely love the scene in “Return of the King” when the 6,000 horseman of Rohan line up and survey the 200,000 orc colossus mounted in battle ahead of them.  It’s quite the adrenaline rush too seeing the horseman charge into battle despite overwhelming odds, hearing the impact of the horses trodding down the evil armies of Mordor.  Whatever the odds, there is something more exhilirating about charging.  It is far more encouraging when you’re the army doing the charging rather than the one defending your kingdom.

Christians are the citizens of a great kingdom led by a great king named Jesus Christ.  His victory is certain.  He will one day establish it on a new earth.  But Christians in America have grown into a lull in which this is forgotten.  Many of us are experiencing an identity crisis because our allegiance to our heavenly kingdom is being threatened by our allegiance to our earthly one.  We need to drop this idea of America being a Christian nation, of being united “under God.”  It is extremely dangerous to the Christian.  America has the same problem every other nation on earth has: it’s full of sinners.  Over 300 million sinners and counting.  One of my biggest pet peeves are the Christians who are so appalled that we’re actually considering legalizing gay marriage, that abortion is legal, and any other thing which causes them to be morbidly shocked.  I hate it.  Until we as Christians cease to be shocked by this stuff, we’re useless.  A soldier is absolutely useless if he’s just going to freeze on the battlefield in utter shock that a battle is going on.  We live in a world of sinners.  Every person is a sinner.  Get used to it.

What do we expect the lost to act like?  Here’s a hint: they’re not going to act like Christians, so don’t expect them to.  Don’t be surprised when the world doesn’t want Ten Commandments monuments in schools and courthouses.  Don’t be surprised that many say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”  Don’t be surprised when books are published attacking Christianity, or when people push hard to remove “God” from our Pledge of Allegiance.  Do not be surprised that when you charge your enemies they fight back.  Don’t be surprised that when you attack the gates of your opponents they bring out their best defenses.

What I’m about to say is going to be a shock to many American Christians, but the Kingdom of God is on the offensive, NOT the defensive.  This world is enemy-infested territory.  It is in Satan’s control, and it is his domain.  But John tells us that the reason the Son of God came was to destroy the works of the devil.  The Cross of Christ is not something that needs protecting.  It’s the sign of an invasion, the greatest invasion ever seen.  Jesus told Peter that he would build his church, and that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it.  Gates.  Hell’s gates.  The battle is taking place at the gates of Hell, gates which guard the entire kingdom of darkness.  Not at Heaven’s gates does this battle take place, but Hell’s.  This means that as Christians, we are on a call to charge, not to defend.

We are deluded when our attempts to save our nation consist of a marriage ammendment to ban homosexual marriage.  We are deluded into thinking that winning a case to put Ten Commandments up in a school or courtroom is a victory.  These don’t save souls.  Our problem isn’t that God’s Law isn’t in our public square but that it’s not written on the hearts of so many people.  And is banning gay marriage going to make the homosexual community decide to just start being straight?  No.  We’re fighting the wrong battles, because for so long this nation has labored under the delusion that we are a Christian nation and anything that threatens that must be fought.  But the reality is that we are, like every other nation in varying degrees, a nation held captive to Satan.  But the wonderful truth is that the invasion of Jesus Christ continues to gain ground, and many in America have been rescued, and now it’s time to rescue more.  If anything is defending itself in this world, it is the forces of Hell.  I’m not saying that Christianity has no defenses at all.  We do need to protect ourselves, just as all invading armies do not invade without shields to protect themselves from the threatened kingdom.  Keep in mind that the weapons of spiritual warfare listed in Ephesians 6 don’t list any articles for covering your back, for with Christ we will never be on the retreat (see Romans 8:31).  We shield ourselves as invaders.

Every thought and action of an individual is the effect of that person’s heart.  The Bible calls the heart the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23).  Everything flows from it.  The only way to change an individual (or a nation of 300 million individuals) is to change their hearts.  Change the hearts of the nation, and you’ve changed the nation.  We can keep God in our pledge, ban gay marriage, outlaw abortion, and pass a hundred other laws but that doesn’t make us any more godly.  It’s a feigned righteousness if our laws praise God but we do not.  When I hear of ultra-liberals slamming Christianity and attempting to pass some anti-Christian laws, my first instinct is to turn my eye to my government than my God.  But I pull back and survey the situation.  Only then is my mind clear enough to realize that this stuff is going to happen.  Even if they have to bend logic and create double standards, the world will always try to rid itself of Christianity.  When whispers of persecution reach my ears, I do not despair.  Instead, I say “Bring it on.”  Persecution has historically only served to strengthen the church and to filter out the nominal believers from the congregation from those who are truly following Jesus.  The worst they can do is kill me.  Jesus said “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).  Peter exhorted Christians to “not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12).

The growth of Christianity is not meant to be contingent upon any government’s support.  After all, it had very powerful opponents from its beginnings, from the Pharisees and the Romans after them.  But it grew.  God’s will is going to be done through whoever sits in the White House, not regardless of it.  If our culture supports us, God may we be good stewards of our earthly security.  If it hates us, God give us the strenght to endure and to love our enemies.  We must not depend on the government to be what God has called the church to be.  America doesn’t currently have universal health care for all its citizens.  That doesn’t mean Christians can’t pool together their money to pay for their poor neighbor to get insurance.  If the government jumps on board with this, great!  But the Church must be the Church.  We are part of a greater kingdom, and allegiance to our greater King takes precedence over any other allegiance.  With or without the support of our earthly government we must advance, for the walls of Hell have been breached and souls are our King’s plunder.

Christians, destroy the bomb shelters you’ve been hiding in.  You have nothing to fear.  Our God is a consuming fire, and none can stand up to him.  Be the kindness of Jesus to all.  Give them the love you never thought possible and the hope you never dared to have.  In so doing, you’ll destroy many opponents (Proverbs 25:21-22, Romans 12:20-21).

I found this interesting/freaky article online about instant message use amongst teenagers.  The full article can be read here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311785,00.html. 
Here are some highlights from it:

•  43% of teens who instant message do so to say things they don’t want to say in person.
• 22% use IMs to ask people on dates or to accept a date.  Break-ups constitute  13%. 
• Of those who use IMs for things they wouldn’t say in person, half are girls and a third are boys.
• 10% of teens spend three hours DAILY instant messaging, while adults are about half that.
• 17% of teens send over 100 IMs per day.

I’m not so surprised at this.  I was definitely THAT high schooler.  It’s kind of creepy to think of where our level of communication will be several years from now if our youth (and even some adults) continue to reduce confrontational and personal conversations to instant messaging.

A recent review of the new Pixar film Ratatouille said that to watch this film is to realize that we are in another golden-age of American animation.  I haven’t seen the film yet, but it’s been getting very good reviews, and I am pumped to go see it.  Over the past decade, Pixar films have taken the film industry by storm, pumping out hit after hit after hit.  Their resume speaks for itself: Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters INC, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars.  That Cars (generally agreed to be their weakest) is as good as it is is testimony to just how good these films are, and it’s no surprise to hear such strong positive feedback from their new film. 

I think just by Pixar’s presence alone, we are entering into a new golden-age of animation, at least from Disney.  The best news though is that Pixar-head John Lasseter is now over all the animation projects from Disney.  To have such strong creativity heading up the animation studios is very promising.  But he’s already made two very big switches in the way Disney animation works:

1.  Lasseter is commited to bringing back traditional, hand-drawn, 2-D cartoons.  I love the 3-D stuff, but I do think it’s sad that the movie studios’ embracing of it seems to have made the cartoon-styles I grew up with obsolete.  It’d be weird to live in a world that hasn’t had any new 2-D cartoons in years or decades.  I think there’s room for both, and so I’m glad Lasseter is making it happen.

2.  This is probably the best change: no more crappy direct-to-video sequels of classic Disney films.  I’ve always hated this about Disney.  Does anyone honestly believe that a sequel to Aladdin or The Lion King would not fare well in the theatres?  Because they’re DTV, the quality obviously stinks.  The animation is worse and the stories are so-so at best.  In addition to that, the fact that they’re also making sequels to Disney’s oldest and most beloved cartoons cheapens these old films as well as make Disney look like they’re running out of ideas.  I’m so happy that the children who first saw Cinderella back in 1950 can now FINALLY see the epic conclusion to the Cinderella Trilogy which was released this year.  Lasseter recognizes how stupid this is and more importantly, the money these bring in is not worth the reputation of these beloved films.  If you’re going to make a cartoon, do it right.  That’s the Lasseter way!

So here’s hoping to the new golden-age of American animation.