Magi versus MAGA - January 6th Insurrection and Epiphany/Three Kings Day

 

Matthew 2:1-12

January 6th is traditionally celebrated by Christians the world over as Epiphany Day or Three Kings Day celebrating the Magi visiting the Christ child with three gifts which could have been one person or three people with each gift. 

Sadly, January 6 is also in remembrance for the horrible insurrection on January 6, 2021 when Trump provoked a violent insurrection against the nations Capital to try to prevent the certification by Congress of Joe Biden as president of the United States. 

The magi go off to a distant land in search of the King, born, King of the Jews.  It is not known whether the magi fully understood the deity and the kingship of Jesus Christ, the messiah, but they were searching for a king, something, someone, who would be the king above all kings and address the wars and suffering around the world in their time and time immemorial. 

Ironic, that the MAGA insurrectionists, not the Magi, on January 6, 2021 followed a false king, someone who desired/desires to be a king, dictator, worshiped ruler with power, to overthrow and stop a valid election.  Seeking an earthly king while claiming to follow Christ the King.  Not seeing the false god, false worship, idolatry, and destruction of life, liberty, property and ultimately any faith in the living Christ the king.

While the Magi may not fully understand the kingship, messiah, and salvation that Christ would bring to the world to bring about that peace now through the Holy Spirit, God's church, and God's return, they knew it to be something that was good.  The MAGA instead know and have heard the good news and claim to follow the good news, but instead uphold a false god in Trump that they seek not the good but as Trump says I am your retribution.  This is someone not seeking the good of the country but the good of his power and manipulating others so that hey doesn't have to face his crimes but to stay in power.  

The first part of this ad didn’t seem like a big deal. The takeoff of the classic Paul Harvey “God made a farmer” part is fine. But that bit in the middle—“a shepherd to mankind who won’t ever leave nor forsake them.” That is blasphemy and idolatry.

pic.twitter.com/bqPLXx1W4q

— Megan Basham (@megbasham) January 6, 2024

Trump gets asked another question about his christian faith:

Q - “How do you do this? Where do you draw your strength from? We’re talking about Faith …

Trump - “I have the highest poll numbers people have ever seen.” pic.twitter.com/hTU9bWAp68

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 2, 2023

Prayer & a Car Crash

 

This last week on Tuesday, September 5th I was at work and I received the above text from a friend I had not heard from or messaged since April of this year.  It was a nice encouraging message to see.  I was going to message him back, but decided to head home for my usual early lunch (I take lunch near 11AM). On my way home from work and only 20 minutes after I had received the text message from my friend who was praying for me, I went through a green light while a truck heading in the opposite direction went through a red light.  I saw him approaching quickly, tried to speed up to avoid the truck but it clipped the back of my car anyway.  Luckily the guy had insurance, he took 100% responsibility for the crash, I wasn't hurt, and we both happened to have the same insurance company. 

When the Holy Spirit nudges you to pray, definitely be obedient in praying for that person or about that situation.  This goes for me as well.  Also, reach out to those the Holy Spirit nudges you to pray for and let them know you are thinking of them and praying for them.  A lot of people are going through various things and some simple words of encouragement and compassion goes a long way. 

This post is to be part of the goal to memorialize more God moments in my life that happen. Things large and small that happen that we are amazed at and we know it was God, but many times fade into the past when we are so anxious about the present.  

https://www.bible.com/bible/111/PHP.4.6-7.NIV

The Husky Pup on the Loose

A few weekends back (January 29th), my wife and I were driving to a coffee shop after church on Sunday morning and we happened to see a loose dog.  Knowing my wife would be worried about that dog for weeks if we didn't stop we quickly stopped and started to follow the dog on foot as I turned the car around.  The young husky was scared and wasn't trusting anyone.  One woman also stopped her car and tried to help us.  Then a guy came out of his house and tried to help us.  Then another guy.  So eventually 5 people started to randomly chase this poor dog.  Trying to keep it from a busy street and trying to corner it to at least get a leash on the dog.  We chased that dog for 3 hours.  During those 3 hours other people gave us sliced meats to try to entice the dog and one family loaned us their leash. 

Eventually, we cornered the dog and the dog happened to go into someone's back yard and we were able to shut the gate so the dog couldn't get out.  After talking with the people at the house, they let us go into the back yard to get the dog.  Finally able to corner the dog we got two leashes on the dog.  Then the other 3 people disappeared and we got the contact number for one of them. So Sung and I slowly gained the puppy's trust taking another hour to get it to our car and in the back seat.  Once inside the dog finally trusted us, laid down, and slept.

Of course the dog wasn't chipped.  We went to two places to check for a chip and to see if they could take the dog in.  We posted on Pawboost and actually someone else posted a picture of a dog that looked like the dog we caught.  His name is Koda. We contacted the owners eventually. 

They came to the house and sure enough the dog reacted to his owners with glee jumping on them. He had been on the streets for 3 days.  He got spooked and got out of his collar and was pretty far from his home. Also, Koda's first owners spoke Spanish so the dog mostly just understood Spanish so any of the words we tried to use was no use.  The pup didn't understand us.  

But Koda is happy and home safe with his family and we were supper tired, but happy as well. 😀

Christmas Devotionals: Joseph

Jose y Maria by Everett Patterson

Based on the teaching on at church, devotional and this article (Joseph Silent Submission to Mary's God Given Calling is Real Biblical Manhood), I am writing out this devotional to keep these things in mind.

Matthew 1:18-25

-Joseph showed his faith by obediently following the direction of the angel.  Joseph made a decision, while still difficult, to trust the Word of the Lord delivered by the Angel.

-Joseph suffered in silence. Joseph while he spoke we are sure his words are not recorded.  We assume that Joseph even though his decision was difficult stood by Mary and suffered the scorn of his community and hurt he puts it aside for Mary and the child. If he did cry out it was discreet with God in prayer.  

-Joseph trusted in the the Law of the Spirit rather than in the written law, traditional law, or the cultural law. If Joseph was a legalist, he may have sought for Mary to be stoned or not believed the Word of the Lord delivered by the angel, but instead he trusts God and the Law of the Spirit over the law of the flesh or the law of tradition.

• We see this also in the ministry of Jesus and the writings of Paul (Romans 7:22-25; Romans 8:1-2; 2 Corinthians 3:6). 

-Jesus would mirror his adopted father that he would suffer in near silence and show compassion even though facing the injustices of the sin of humans and the world.

that : 그것, 것, 전자, 그만큼, 바의

I'm Stock Footage of a New Mexican Voter

So apparently my sister saw me on the news on Election Day standing in line to vote.  But that didn't make sense because when I voted early there was no line and no camera crew.  There was nobody except the poll workers.  Apparently KOAT news has stock footage of me sometime ago standing in line to vote and I can't remember which election this was for.  I hope everyone I know went out there and voted and did their civic duty. God Bless.

Are You a New Mexican't Wear a Mask or a New Mexican Wear a Mask?

 Which one is it?

Mind Your Ps & Qs: QAnon Cult and S.E. Hinton likes Outsiders

 

There is a lot to say about the year of 2020 and the previous 4 years, but most of what I would say has already been written and said.  The small portion that I think is valuable will be written on another time and day.  So for today I thought I would write about something that I hope some will take and pray about and some will take and help those who are caught up in a political cult that is in these days very intertwined sadly with their faith even though they don't see it.  It's interesting that there are not many Christians talking about the cult of Q in any sense of warning against it or helping those who are caught up in it.  Which to me is accusation as to how much the church is both blind to it and/or caught in it by many Evangelicals being caught up in this Q conspiratorial thinking. 

For some background I suggest watching these two reports on it:

Now that we have got some background on Q and some of these racist, antisemitic, and disgusting conspiracy theories, let's look at the what is meant by cult.  

Cult is loosely defined as a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange, novel, socially deviant or sinister.

While it is more on religion, many examples show a political group can take on religious undertones and practices.

Additionally, some aspects of Q fit into what is normally identifying marks of a damaging cult:

• 1. The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader, and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.
• 2. Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
• 3. Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, or debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).
• 4. The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (e.g., members must get permission to date, change jobs, or marryor leaders prescribe what to wear, where to live, whether to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth).
• 5. The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and its members (e.g., the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avataror the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity).
• 6. The group has a polarized, us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.
• 7. The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders, or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).
• 8. The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (e.g., lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).
• 9. Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.

We can see that the QAnon Cult has these aspects in many ways. It also preys on the disunity and current starvation for community in society that existed even before the pandemic. 

Since I sadly couldn't find any Christian resources on this, I'm posting a non-Christian but helpful source on helping those caught up with Q: 

4 Keys to Help Someone Climb Out of the QAnon Rabbit Hole

And some hope for those who are coming out of the QAnon nightmare:

Some QAnon Supporters Checked By Reality Seek A Way Out

Finally, on Twitter, I commented on one of my favorite childhood writers, S.E. Hinton post on the article above and I got a retweet which was a nice surprise:

My prayers are with everyone who seeks to be freed from any cult but especially now in this damaging political cult.