8-24-20<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not for us, you\u2019re against us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe friend of my enemy is my enemy,\u201d or variations.<\/p>\n
\u201cDecide this day who you will serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2026 and a hundred similar aphorisms. These are not fortune-cookie sayings or snippets of advice. They truly are life-rules, and are best understood when put into use\u2026 when circumstances oblige us to make choices.<\/p>\n
I have mentioned before how once when I visited Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist (Maus<\/em>) and his wife Francoise Mouly, now Art Director of The New Yorker<\/em>, they were eager to have me explain, if I could, an ad they saw in a magazine. It offered T-shirts, one of which bore the legend \u201cDon\u2019t let Jesus spit you out.\u201d<\/p>\n Surely a curious message for those who are not Christians (and, I\u2019m afraid, many who are); or those who are not familiar with the challenging book of the Apocalypse, Revelation<\/em>.<\/p>\n The full title of the Bible\u2019s last book, in many translations, is The Revelation of Jesus Christ To His Servant John<\/em>. The elderly Apostle was exiled to the island of Patmos off the Greek coast, a penal colony, for evangelizing in Ephesus. It was on Patmos that Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, inspired the words of End Times, messages to the major churches of the day, and, many believe, describing the stages of spiritual maturity of believers as represented by future history\u2019s unfolding dispensations.<\/p>\n The words to the churches are\u2026 revelatory, and often harsh. Lessons to all believers. They should be read without confusion by Christians who identify with the challenges, shortcomings, and warnings. Some passages:<\/p>\n I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead\u2026. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u2026 I am coming quickly; hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name<\/em>.<\/p>\n And to the Church at Laodicea, which many think is a picture of the Christian church of our times:<\/p>\n The faithful and true Witness… says this:<\/em><\/p>\n I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.<\/em><\/p>\n Because you say, \u201cI am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,\u201d and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to receive from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see<\/em>.<\/p>\n Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent<\/em>.<\/p>\n Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches<\/em>.<\/p>\n Can these words be true? Chilling, if so!<\/p>\n Jesus would prefer<\/em> that you are totally sold out for Him (hot)? Or prefer ice-cold nominal Christians, or lax church-goers (cold)? Prefer over \u201clukewarm\u201d Christians?<\/p>\n Of course it makes sense, and that fact, if lukewarm Christians would stop to think about it, should make them deathly afraid. Jesus does not<\/em> even say, \u201cDepart from Me; I never knew you,\u201d another famous verse\u2026 because lukewarm Christians do not really know the Savior in the first place.<\/p>\n What can be more graphic than virtually \u201cspitting someone out\u201d? \u2013 Distaste, disgust, rejection. Jesus warns that He will do it\u2026 and that we can bring this on ourselves.<\/p>\n This is surely good theology; it was spoken by the Son of God, in a \u201cletter\u201d written directly to \u201cthe Church at ———\u201d (you may supply your home address there).<\/p>\n Beyond theology, there is no better user\u2019s manual, so to speak, in life.<\/p>\n It might not have application in every moment of life, through history (yes, it does, but that\u2019s another message) but it surely resonates today! The threats in this world\u2026 the crisis in our nation\u2026 the turmoil on our streets, and parks, and neighborhoods, and churches, and government offices\u2026 demand<\/em> that we not be lukewarm.<\/p>\n We cannot be lukewarm in the face of efforts to destroy our heritage. How can you be lukewarm about the destruction of police headquarters, and the homes and shops of average citizens and neighbors? We should be spit out<\/em> if we are lukewarm about the assault on secular and sacred statues \u2013 the Founders of this nation, and of Jesus, Mary, and saints \u2013 as we merely watch on TV.<\/p>\n It should against the law to be lukewarm in the face of such things.<\/p>\n Actually, it is. Against God\u2019s law.<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n