Author: Innermost Being

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Blogging has been a rewarding addition to my spiritual journey. It has shown me how much I want to connect with other people. It has revealed my fears and self-doubts and helped me to face them. My Innermost Being blog is about pursuing spiritual growth through self-examination.

Living in Exile

by Innermost Being, posted in Living in Exile

Before the 2024 presidential election, my pastor launched a sermon series entitled Life in Exile. The first week, he asked, “How do you know you are in exile, and how can you be in exile in America?” The sermon was based on Daniel chapter three.

The Bible story

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, besieged Jerusalem. Jews were captured and exiled to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar ordered the chief of his court officials to select several Israelites from the royal family and nobility to serve in his palace. Those chosen were to be trained for three years and to learn the Babylonian language. Daniel was one of the men chosen to serve the king, along with three other men that the Babylonians renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

In chapter three, King Nebuchadnezzar made an image out of gold. He gathered officials together to dedicate the image. The king’s herald proclaimed to all the nations and peoples:  “As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.” He declared that anyone who defied this command would immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.

Word got back to King Nebuchadnezzar that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were disobeying the king’s commands. They were not serving the king’s gods and were not worshiping the golden image.

King Nebuchadnezzar was furious! He summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and told them that if you worship my gods and the image of gold, all will be well. If you don’t, you will be thrown into a blazing furnace.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s gods and were thrown into the furnace. A fourth man, thought to be Jesus, appeared in the fire with them, and they were unharmed.

Israelites were physically banished from their homeland and had to assimilate to the Babylonian culture. They had to learn the language. To avoid execution, they had to abandon their own God.

The Sermon

The sounds of musical instruments were the signal to bow down and worship Nebuchadnezzar’s gods. Pastor Bob pointed out that the list of sounds in Daniel 3:5 – the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music – was repeated verbatim in three more verses: seven, ten, and fifteen. He asked the congregation to read the list multiple times. The repetition was a driving, relentless rhythm that would have been hard to ignore.

So, how can you be in exile in America if you are not physically banished from the country as the Israelites were? American culture encourages people to bow down to things and to other versions of the truth.

Although we are not tempted today to worship images of gold, we face idolatry that is subtle and more dangerous. An idol is anything that becomes the most important thing in your life. If you are a Christian, Christ is supposed to be Lord of all. If he is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all.

Whenever you hear the relentless rhythm driving people to conform to their master, have the courage to not bow down.

My thoughts on living in exile

Christians should not conform to the ways of the world. We are to submit to being transformed by Jesus Christ. In not conforming, we choose to be exiled from the secular American culture.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2 NIV

My pastor said that King Nebuchadnezzar was an insecure narcissist full of rage. I immediately thought to myself, “he sounds like Trump.” Donald Trump is a narcissist, and he is motivated by rage and grievance. He gets very angry at anyone who opposes him and at anyone who does not praise his greatness.

When I thought about the sermon, it occurred to me that I am an exile among exiles. I live in exile from other Christians. By that, I mean that not only do I not conform to the ways of the world, but I also do not fit the pattern of American Evangelicals.

I have not adopted the language of evangelical Christians. You will not hear me bemoaning people who are “woke” or complaining about cancel culture. You won’t hear me whining about immigrants taking our jobs. You won’t hear me saying that families will be destroyed if LGBTQ people have civil rights. You won’t hear me condemning women for choosing to end their pregnancies. That’s between them and God.

And I will not bow down to Trump. I will not give him praise that he does not deserve. A bad tree will never produce good fruit.

Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Matthew 7:17-20 NIV

For years now, many Christians have been listening to a relentless driving rhythm that drowns out the voice of Jesus Christ. This includes “news” programs that are nothing more than propaganda targeted to conservative Christians, preachers with a political agenda, etc. In their quest for power or ratings, false teachers repeat messages that provoke anger and the fear of others. These messages drown out Christ’s messages of love, mercy, and grace.

For the second time in eight years, Christians overwhelmingly chose a profoundly ungodly man to lead them – a man who is the complete opposite of the One who is supposed to be their one true king. Christians claim that they are trying to take the country back for God, yet forsake his word in the process.

Christians have succeeded in acquiring political power through a Faustian bargain.

People are leaving the church because of the hypocrisy of people who call themselves  Christians.

Thankfully, my pastor avoids talking about politics. I have chosen to remain in my church and to worship alongside people who were willing to sacrifice Christian morality for political power. I pray for them.

Speaking out against MAGA

by Innermost Being, posted in Man of Lawlessness

I tried really hard the past four years to avoid posting anything political on Facebook. What good did my silence do? I avoided arguments, but did I make a difference? Did I stand up for what’s right?

A few days ago, several strangers – MAGA trolls – attacked me on Facebook (calling me retarded, questioning my sanity, and other things too vulgar to repeat) all because I posted, on a Biden page, that what I will miss about his presidency is human decency.

I am not a Biden fan, but I do not dislike him. I wish that he had not run for reelection. But he is a decent human being.

What motivates people to troll the page of a person with whom they disagree? Hatred is my guess.

Americans have been fed a steady diet of lies by MAGA. The trollers are doing exactly what their leader has trained them to do. Hate your enemies. Live in fear of others, especially immigrants and LGBTQ.

Christians, including loved ones and those who sit in the pew with me, are being led astray. Their faith has become transactional.

When did it become wrong to value basic human decency? When did dehumanizing immigrants, sexually assaulting women, hating your enemies, and lying pathologically become acceptable to Christians?

My mother didn’t go to church, but she taught me to be a decent human being, to treat other people with dignity and respect. She taught me to accept people for who they are.

Earlier this year, my Christian sister  demanded that I stop speaking when I criticized Trump in response to her criticism of Harris. Later, she said that she does not pass judgment on Trump. (She does pass judgment on others, however).

My mother taught me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. But today, silence feels like complicity.

In the last few days, I found a couple of channels on YouTube that encouraged me and gave me hope. One of them is Culture, Faith, and Politics, hosted by a retired pastor named Pat Kahnke. He encouraged his listeners to find your channel of resistance.

This page is my channel. I pay for it. I will use it to speak out!

God, give me the courage to speak out against the MAGA movement and Christian Nationalism. Thank you for showing me that it is not only right to resist. It’s my Christian duty.

Creative Play

by Innermost Being, posted in Word Prompts

What was the last thing you did for play or fun?

I am not a creative person by nature. A couple of my sisters are, though, and when we get together, they find creative projects to do.

A couple of years ago, we painted little sleds.

Recently, I saw a picture of a wreath made with wine bottle corks. There was a link to the crafter’s website that explained how to make one. It looked like something that even I, a non-crafty person, could do.

I had been saving wine bottle corks for years, with the intention of eventually making something with them.

I bought a straw wreath base and used a glue gun to glue corks around the outside and inside of the wreath. Next, I glued corks on the surface randomly, which was perfect for a non-perfectionist. I salvaged decorative items, including little pine cones and plastic grapes, from other Christmas decorations and attached them to the wreath. The result is not perfect, but I think it turned out pretty well.

More importantly, it was fun! I got to play with my glue gun! And my cat had fun batting corks around the room!

Mixed Feelings

by Innermost Being, posted in Word Prompts

What are your feelings about eating meat?

I have always been a meat eater. I also love animals. I hate the thought of animals being mistreated.

Meat is a great source of protein, an essential nutrient. My husband and I eat primarily beef, poultry, and pork. He loves meat a lot more than I do. If it was up to me, we would eat less red meat for health reasons. But I need the iron it provides.

Our last house backed up to a pasture where cows grazed. I like cows! Of course, I knew they would ultimately be butchered. It made me feel better knowing these cows had a good life, walking around eating grass. I don’t feel good knowing that cattle and hogs are raised in feed lots.

Now, we live in a condominium community frequented by wild turkeys. Thankfully, these turkeys will not end up on anyone’s dinner plate.

I feel some guilt knowing that the animals we consume may be confined and raised in horrible conditions. I try not to think too much about it.

Contentment

by Innermost Being, posted in Word Prompts

Earlier this year, a Day One prompt asked a really good question:

What positive emotion do you feel most often?

My normal emotional state is contentment. Contentment doesn’t mean that I have everything I want. Contentment doesn’t mean everything is going well in my life. Contentment is not dependent on the circumstances.

Daniel Cordaro asked, What if you pursued contentment rather than happiness? Cordaro quoted Dr. Dorji Wangchuk, who said that contentment is “the highest achievement of human well-being.”

Cordaro shared the origin of the word contentment.

The root of the word contentment comes from the Latin contentus, which means “held together” or “intact, whole.”

Contentus asks the question, “How whole do you feel inside? How complete are you as a human being?”

Daniel Cordaro

Cordaro and his team concluded that human beings use two strategies to achieve well-being – what they called a More Strategy and an Enough Strategy. The More Strategy is used by people who try to achieve happiness by getting more of something external – more money, more stuff, more recognition, etc.

King Solomon would surely have agreed that the “more strategy” is pointless. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, a man of great wisdom, concluded that striving for wealth and achievement is meaningless, like chasing after the wind.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
    I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
    and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
    and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
    nothing was gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 (NIV)

People who find the source of well-being within themselves practice the Enough Strategy. Their lives have value regardless of wealth, social status, or achievement.

To be content means you have enough, regardless of what is going on around you. Contentment means being satisfied with your lot in life.

To be content regardless of circumstances, I process all the emotions I experience – good or bad – and find the strength within myself to manage them. Circumstances may get me down, but I can’t stay down. I change the circumstances if I can. I adjust my expectations. I practice gratitude. I never give up hope.

My source of well-being isn’t just within myself; I believe in a higher power. God has promised to work things out for the good of those who love him. I put my trust in him.

The Apostle Paul understood the “enough strategy.” He was beaten and imprisoned for spreading the gospel, yet learned to be content.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Philippians 4:11-12

I have been through some trials this year. I expect the next few years to be difficult. Even so, it is well with my soul. I am holding myself together. I have much to be thankful for. I have hope.