WWJD?

Thoughts on the current state of things

What on earth is going on?! Things are crazy right now, and every time it settles down just long enough for us to see the horizon another person tries to kill Trump, Israel finds a new and creative way to mark terrorists or another pastor makes a mess of things… Ok, the Israel thing was funny and creative, but everything else is just nuts.

Seriously though. When I take time to sit down and try to write something out or reflect on things but the cycles of crazy are too fast to track. I had even planned out a post on Walsh’s “Am I racist”, but that seems like old news now… To sum it up, if you are white and conservative then leftists think you are worse than Hitler. However, if you are white and strategic you can make a lot of money off the whole thing. Walsh, literally, turned himself into a DEI “expert”, created a course and appeared on morning talk shows promoting his DEI program. It was wild, funny and you should watch it.

So, what is the latest whirlwind ripping through what seems like our trailer park? Steven Lawson’s downfall. There is a lot that is being said about Lawson right now, many are shocked/hurting and I am sure many more qualified, and unqualified people, will fill volumes on this thing soon enough. Lawson’s scandal is the setting of this post, but I want to step back and look at the bigger picture.

We live in a Post-Covid world. No matter how hard we try to go back to 2019 it won’t happen. I remember telling my wife in early 2021, while in a bout of depression that everything we knew and thought to be normal was gone. I may not have been thinking/ reasoning with clarity, but the world had changed. The further out we get from that period the darker it appears to be getting.

All the previous conferences, publications, Christian leaders, ways of conducting ministry (depending on your denomination and many other factors) all seems irrelevant. The enemy would have us believe that Christianity itself is irrelevant. Of course, if you are premill you might have already started a rapture count-down sequence like an old NASA space launch… Even if you have been postmill you might be secretly hoping for a rapture. Or maybe you are now old enough to no longer be “young, restless and reformed”, but are now “old, pissed-off and trying to be reformed”… I get it.

About a month ago my good friend was able to meet up with our old pastor— a good man. This pastor used to serve in Calgary but had to move back to Texas so he and his wife could look after their aging parents. After acclimatizing to life in Canada, and being absent from Texas for many years, I think the US was a bit of a shock for them. One thing this pastor lamented was how it seemed that every week there was a new pastor embroiled in a scandal of some form. Fast forward a few weeks and now the Lawson situation has come to light.

What is going on? I think Jesus is cleaning house, I don’t think He is done, I think it will get much worse before it gets better… but I do think it will be better.

We have all heard countless sermons and read many blogs on how our hope is not in: the things of this world, the leaders we cherish (political or Christian), our jobs/ the economy, our education, our status in society, the freedoms we enjoy, our pets, our friends, our children or what we believe our future ought to be. Our hope is in Christ. Many pastors, rightly so and with good pastoral intention, write on these matters in times like this. It is good and necessary to be reminded of these things.

However, many of my examples and scenarios revolve around the US. What of Canada? I am deeply concerned that Canada appears to be a place where nothing interesting happens.

You see, I know that Christ is King. A good king, as Jesus is, acts with wisdom, justice, intention and seeks to correct bad situations— even if the methods are hard to endure. I think of Psalm 23, switching analogies here but still true, and a good shepherd would not take a flock through a dark valley without a pasture in mind on the other side… Somewhere.

When I look at the US I am troubled but I know that God is doing something. When I look at Western civilization I know that God is disciplining, exposing a lot of rot and I believe He is working to destroy our idols. Ultimately, that is a good thing. I know that the world my children will inherit will not look like what I thought we had, and I have to trust God that it will be both good and for God’s glory.

What troubles me is when I see the perception of peace in Canada. We know Canada is just as corrupt, maybe moreso, and more pagan than the US. The Church in Canada has many of the same issues, but no news cycles. The absence of scandals in the Canadian church does not mean the issues are not present, but that they aren’t being exposed… Maybe they are and no one writes about them here because that is not what we do.

My prayer is that Christ will turn His attention to Canada soon, if He has not already. My challenge to myself is to work to be faithful, repentant and hopeful in light of Jesus cleaning house.

This does not mean that there are no good churches and pastors in Canada though. There are many who have not bowed the knee to Baal. I reflect on 1 Kings 19: 9-18 in times like this. It really is helpful and important to do so to gain perspective.

I know things are hard and it can look grim. The pain is real. There is work to be done, it will be hard but it is ours to do while relying on Christ.

I know few read my ramblings, and I could quote Lewis but one of them would get angry with me… Let the reader interpret. So, I will end with Tolkien instead:

“Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.”