This past week, the local news was filled about houses sliding down the canyon. The area that collapsed last weekend, and still is moving, is in an area that had been stable for 45 years. While no one knows for certain as to why it moved now, the possibility that it could be caused by climate change is not lost to the residents. We just had the wettest winter in 100 years.
The owners did not know the danger that was lurking below them; the homes looked good, but in reality, built on a slippery foundation, they were a disaster waiting to happen.
I am often asked by people who are worried about the series of NOT-supreme court decisions and state houses passing new laws limiting people’s rights as to what I think might happen in the future. My answer is always the same, a house built on sand will fall.
We have a bunch of blowhards making noise for their 15 minutes of fame, but that is all that is. While they gain temporary notoriety, their sandcastles will wash away in due time. We already see the 45th mistake being charged with several crimes he committed before, during, and after his one term in office, as well as those who hung on to his coattails being removed, one by one.
Just as Hitler was in power for about a decade in Nazi Germany, history has judged him and his name represents all that is evil. In the same way, the 45th mistake’s name will be forever associated with being racist, stupid, misogynistic, rapist, deluded, corrupt, evil, manipulation, and conspiracy-mongering.
The conservative evangelical NOT-christian community has the same problem. In the early 2000’s a survey asked who the people trusted and respected. Professional clergy lamented that our profession, which had been #1, was no longer in the top ten. It had dropped down to #12. However, the Christian community was not ready for the truth the poll revealed. Out of 50, the “conservatives” were ranked at #41, and the “evangelicals” made the list at #49 between rapists, #48, and child molesters, #50.
Evangelicals have drunk their own cool-aid and they believe their own lies. They do not know how to separate culture from Scripture, and it is evidenced by the recent revelations of the corruption of conservative religious leaders. Southern Baptists kicking out congregations that value women’s spiritual gifts have not read the Bible as the first Judge of Israel was a woman. Conservative Methodists leaving the denomination have not read any part of the words of Paul who teaches that there is one baptism, one salvation, and one savior. Those who reject LGBTIQA+ persons do not know God, since God declared that all creation is “good,” and the Psalmist said, “I am wonderfully made.”
Conservatives and Evangelicals, and those who claim both, need to recognize that their foundation is nothing more than cultural sand and the solid rock of Jesus awaits in the serious study of the scriptures. The world does not trust them because the world has seen through the veil of deception. The world has rejected condemning NOT-christians and has turned to the all-affirming Jesus of scriptures. The world has rejected the shaming pharisaic hypocrites and is looking for an unconditionally loving God.
Let our faith be built on a solid foundation of Jesus not the sliding foundation of outdated and irrelevant ritualism of yester years.
Pastor Sunny
