War, Christianity, and Rage Against the Machine

The ways in which humans have fought has "evolved" (for lack of a better word) over the millenia. Even as recently as two hundred years ago the British considered the American colonists cowards for actually taking cover from incoming fire. Since September 11, 2001 our lexicon has changed to include words like "insurgency" and "guerrilla." Why don't these Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters just fight pitched battles? Guerrilla fighting as a form of warfare can be much more effective than "conventional" war.

Through the use of guerrilla tactics, fighters have been much more effective at harassing and defeating their enemies than if they massed all their troops and fought "The Battle of Baghdad" or the "The Battle of Kabul." Limited troops and limited resources meant they had to change the way the war was waged to have any hope of success.

For thousands of years Christians have struggled with the most effective and appropriate methods to follow Jesus' command: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). We have waged a war of sorts, sometimes figurative, sometimes literal. We have not always gotten it right. Atrocities are committed in wars, by people who lose their way. Is all of America represented by the slaughter of innocents at My Lai? Are all Christians represented by the horrors committed during the Crusades? Are all Muslims represented by those 19 hijackers on September 11?

And yet as flawed humans, we do judge large groups by the actions of a select few. We see evidence of that in our racial profiling, our prejudice, our language of hatred and bigotry. All Christians are not represented by the anti-abortion advocate who murdered an abortion-performing doctor at the doctor's church earlier this year. All non-Christians are not represented by the Minnesotan who shot to death the anti-abortion protester on a street corner in front of a high school less than two weeks ago.

How can we, as Christians, wage the battles that we should? Now more than ever - there is a world to save. There is a God of love, mercy, and forgiveness and we are His ambassadors to the world. We need to start getting His message right. Its been distorted, manipulated, lied about, and abused long enough.

Again, how do we wage the battles that need to be fought? The Word of God is not a club that we should use to beat the world into submission. That is not the will of God. In our minds, we must start to assume the mentality of the guerrilla fighter. Yes, we've got the power of God in us - filled with the Holy Ghost and His authority and I believe there is a time and place for that in the battle. But we need not always fight the pitched battle, rather we change our tactics to make our fighting that much more effective.

My mission objective is not to get people to come to my church. Not to get them to put on a suit or stop cutting their hair. My mission objective is to love the world as Jesus did - unconditional love for every person there ever was or will be. Loving the world is not an abstract idea - the world is the janitor who empties my trash twice a day who I treat as a human being and I speak to with just as much respect as I do my pastor. Telling my office-mate, "hey, we prayed for your mother-in-law last night at church. let me know if I can help you or your family."

I need to bring energy, confidence, and boldness with my love for the world. "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10). So, here's where I digress...

On the album "The Battle of Los Angeles" the band Rage Against the Machine has a song called "Guerrilla Radio." Do not go looking for it - it is rife with profanity. The content is extremely leftist, anti-establishment, and militant. But, they make some valid points - I am inspired, for whatever reason, by this song. What they do is Guerrilla Music - Guerrilla Radio. What I do is Guerrilla Ministry, Guerrilla Love.

I'm not going to holler at the drug addict about how he's going to burn if he doesn't stop. I'm going to speak to him with love and tell him how much I'm going to love him whether he stops or not. How we are in the same boat - I sin every single day and his sin is no greater than mine. Our only difference is that I am written in the Lamb's Book of Life - that I have been baptized in the most precious name ever spoken and I have been filled with His Spirit. And when I say that, it's not with a boasting or place of pride - it comes from a place of compassion and longing.

Guerrilla ministry is about changing our tactics, breaking the mold, and being both vintage - following the examples of Jesus and His apostles, the guys that got to hang out with Jesus daily - and yet still be relevant to this lost and misdirected world. My mission is not to tell people they're going to hell - I'm not that presumptuous or prideful. My mission is to love that hell - those earthly, worldly influences right out of them.

Rage says it about 3/4 of the way through the song, "It has to start somewhere, it has to start sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now?" They got it right. Stop making excuses - go out into the world with the love of God, His Spirit overflowing your heart, spread His message of love, joy, compassion, healing, and peace. That is my daily mission. My wife told me a few weeks ago as I was out the door to work, "Go and be a blessing to someone today." I want to come home to her and say, "Mission Accomplished."

Last note - Rage finishes "Guerrilla Radio" with six words repeated a dozen or so times, "All hell can't stop us now." Well, Zach de la Rocha really just kinda screams them into the mic. He's right though, you know. Not just the content of the words, but the energy as well. And I'm ready - at least I like to think I am. Ship me off, I want to be at the front lines. Give me some platoon-mates who fight with me, who watch my back and I theirs, and are willing to go walking right out into the world, screaming at the tops of their lungs...

ALL HELL CAN'T STOP US NOW!

The Gospel According to Bond....James Bond

When I was a kid growing-up, my idols were GI Joe and the A-Team. Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt and I spent tens of hours together just chillaxin and comparing cool notes. Luke Skywalker was destroying Death Stars for the second time and saving Ewoks by the thousands. But I am forced to admit, that James Bond holds a special place in my heart.

Unfortunately my first James Bond was Roger Moore, but I quickly converted to Sean Connery. Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig - I dig you all, but me and Sean...we're tight. I mean, this dude hung out with chicks with names like Honey Ryder, Plenty O'Toole, and Pussy Galore. He had the fly clothes, mad license-to-kill skills, cars, gadgets, the list goes on and on.

What better role model for the young American male? Bond is intelligent, confident, cultured, and let's face it - he is really good at ordering a martini. Resilient, self-reliant, tender with the ladies (I can't recall him getting into one argument about who forgot to put out the garbage or didn't get the sour cream that was ON THE LIST) - James Bond is the epitome of what a man should be.

This is going to be a shocking revelation - prepare yourself - SPOILER ALERT! - James Bond is fiction. Goldfinger is NOT a documentary. No one ever really named their baby girl Pussy Galore.

Since childhood I have measured myself against unreal, inhuman standards. And while James may be really cool and have loads of brains - I never recall seeing him pray or ask God for guidance. Even in certain death situations, where I have to think that 99% of all humanity would find religion, James relies on himself alone.

And yet this mindset is in almost direct opposition to my Christian spirituality. It is only through God's mercy and His great sacrifice that I am saved. I need God. I need Christ's sacrifice. I would be lost without the Holy Spirit as Helper and Comforter.

It is prideful arrogance to believe that we do not need God in our lives. And yet I feel that God endows us with gifts that should be used for a purpose. My question becomes: for whose purpose am I using my gifts? Mine or God's? And how can or will I know the difference? I don't know the answers.

I do know that I cannot make it on my own. I can say that it is not weakness to admit that I need God, but I cannot say that I know that it's not. My James Bond upbringing tells me that to admit that I need God equates to weakness. If James is the epitome of a man's man and he doesn't have a need for God, what does that make me, a man who does have a need for God?

Our popular culture teaches and preaches the Gospel According to James Bond. My faith and spirituality follows a more traditional Gospel. I feel that there are places where my two "Gospels" touch at a few select points, but they are far from synoptic - they are divergent.

I feel like James Bond has a leg up in the marketing department. He's got major studio backing and these days, some truly amazing CGI. Jesus had no need of CGI, for He was the real deal. Yep, there's no Halle Berry, Megan Fox, or even Ursula Andress in the Gospel According to Luke. There's no Optimus Prime, Neo, or Storm Shadow in the Gospel According to Mark.

It's a shame that there is even such a competition for our attentions, but we are carnal, of flesh and blood, and carnally minded. As such, we are drawn to that which satisfies the flesh. James Bond is flesh. What strikes me now is the method in which Bond is continually re-incarnated. While of flesh, he has none of the drawbacks. Ageless, no emergency gall bladder surgery, no love handles to fight - I still want to be James Bond.

I turned 33 this year. I'm pretty sure James didn't age much past that. For me it's a matter of perspective now. I may call James for a chat from time to time. Heck, he may even visit for a few days. But in reality, the place where I live, breathe, work, love my wife, and spoil my daughters....in that place - I don't want to be James Bond. They don't need James. They need Bryan - a flawed and fragile human. And Bryan, as self-reliant, resilient, and superfly TNT as I may want to be - I submit myself to a higher power, a God worthy of my highest praise. And I'm pretty sure that that is how He wants it to be.

To Dance or Not to Dance, That is the Question

As the cliche GUY that I am...I don't dance. It's probably better for the physical safety of those in my general vicinity as well as the spiritual and emotional well-being of those within line-of-sight.

Tracy came to learn very early on in our courtship that there actually are times when I will dance. Not at all at the Euro-trash club we went to that played techno-rave music for 4 hours while I just hung back and chilled. But rather with the rest of the mainstream children of the 90's at Retroactive at the Varisty several weeks later belting out every word to "Baby Got Back" with bold confidence (she was not impressed...but she does dig my ability to "Footloose"). :-)

So when it comes to a church or church event that encourages dance, I admit I was both skeptical and taken aback. Yet Biblicly there are examples of dancing and shouting that pleased God. So, it took me a bit to get into the groove, but as I told my pastor a few weeks ago, if I can hoot, hollar, and dance for Skid Row, I should certainly be able to rock out for Jesus.

My four year old, Isabella, has been in dance class for two years. She loves it. The ballet outfits, the whole Princess deal, the recital. I should have known something was afoot when, as a two year old, she was dancing to Abba's "Waterloo" in Dillard's.

She dances at home to anything on the radio, to closing credits of Pixar films; she does this wriggling, shoulder-shaking move while strapped into her car seat. I used to sing "Maniac" before bedtime stories and she did this whole running in place move.

It makes me laugh and smile to see her giving it her all. I get so much pleasure to see her at her dance recital (there's some cost justification there as well). Dance recitals are such a family affair - her last one was at the P-Mac on LSU's campus. Wow, so many people enjoying seeing their daughter, sister, niece, cousin, or grand-daughter dancing.

So now here comes my deep thought for the day...

If I, a mortal man, can get this much pleasure out of my own child dancing, how much more pleasure must God get from seeing His children dancing for Him? He gave us the music - just as I turn on the television or radio or sing for my own child. He blessed so many people with so many different forms of music - something for everyone. Maybe He laughs, a deep belly kind of laugh, and shakes his head with tears of joy in His eyes to see His children laughing and enjoying themselves, shouting and dancing, proclaiming joy and celebrating life. I like to think that He does.

I hear His words in my heart, stirring in my soul, the same words that I spoke to my own daughter only a few nights ago, "Come now, child, give us a dance."

Leap of Faith

So many times in my life I feel as though I am ready for a change, a new beginning, a fresh start: tabula rasa. And yet breaking the inertial grip of gravity is always the hardest step to take - the first one. Be it a new diet, working out, reading the Bible more, reducing the amount of hypocrisy in what I preach to my kids... that list is endless.

I can appreciate that as humans we are creatures of habit, that we are somehow addicted to the NORM in all its various shapes and sizes. To stray from that norm is a frightening prospect, regardless of how dysfunctional the norm may be in its own right. Just look at the many stories of victims returning to abusers - it's what they know, their norm.

To step out of the norm, to step out of that place of familiarity is a risk. If a person feels that it is God calling them they call it "stepping out in faith." But to move out of the norm - isn't it always a stepping out in faith? Maybe not always to a God-called place, but faith in something better, something different, someplace offering a new beginning.

I can honestly say that I've taken very few, if any, true steps of faith in my life. A step where I have risked something substantial if I fall. I wholeheartedly expect there to be call of God at some point in time in my life where I will face that decision. I hope I have the faith and confidence to submit myself to His will (and I hope He's very clear about my direction).

For some reason this early morning I find myself considering those people trapped in the twin towers on September 11, 2001. The total number of people who jumped from the towers is quite staggering. Some put the number as many as 200+. I have got to think that as they leapt from those perilous heights that they knew they would not survive. And still they jumped.

You see we all can control the first step, the jump, the leap of faith. Our own motor skills and our own volition cause our bodies to move in whatever direction we choose with as much force as we care to muster. After that, though, it's all on God.

It is when we truly recognize that, regardless of our intention and our direction for our lives, if we have the faith and moxie to make that first step, that leap, that it is into God's hands that we fall and only then can He place us on the right path, in the right place, at the right time according to His plan for our lives.

Some might say that those people on September 11 jumped to their certain deaths. And that may be all that we can see with our short-sighted human eyes. But I like to think that the vast majority took a leap a faith we can scarcely imagine and that faced with a terrible decision, on a terrible day, turned their hearts and minds to God, trusted Him, and leapt....straight into His hands.

We Are Losing Control

Here are the facts, please research them yourself, don't take my word for it.

Goldman Sachs is a Wall Street financial services firm and recently became a bank holding company. Today (7/14/09) they announced their second quarter profits. Their profits went up 65%. They are paying back government loans to the tune of $10,000,000,000 (that's $10B).

The Secretary of the Treasury up until Jan 20, 2009, Henry Paulson, was Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs until being appointed Treasury Secretary. (His net worth is estimated to be $700 million).

In 2008 the economy goes south and Bear Sterns (a Wall Street firm) takes a dive, the government steps in and arranges the rescue and sale of Bear Sterns.

The US government allows Lehman Brothers, another financial services firm, to fail. Who is Lehman Brothers biggest competitor? Goldman Sachs.

The next day, the US government rescues AIG with (to date) around $152,000,000,000 (that's $152B).

Who benefits from the AIG bailout? Which company is one of the first that AIG pays off? Goldman Sachs.

So, the former Goldman Sachs employee, now Treasury Secretary, appoints someone to oversee TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Fund). Who is appointed to be the head of the newly created Office of Financial Stability? His name is Neel Kashkari and who did he work for before running this office? Goldman Sachs.

At this point in time with two former Goldman Sachs employees in high power positions in Washington, Goldman Sachs applies to become a bank holding company. Companies such as Walmart had applied for this for more than two years. Why would Goldman Sachs even want this? They become eligible for even more government money in the form of FDIC funds.

One problem with this scheme - the SEC doesn't oversee bank holding companies (which oversaw Goldman Sachs in the past), the Federal Reserve does. And who is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York? His name is Stephen Friedman and who did he work for? Yep, Goldman Sachs. He was the former CEO and sat on the Goldman Sachs Board of Directors.

And while this might seem like a major conflict of interest, the former Goldman Sachs employee, now Treasury Secretary Paulson, writes a waiver for the Federal Reserve Bank Chairman and member of the Goldman Sachs Board of Directors. Friedman doesn't have to give up his seat, in fact it's okay for him to buy 52,000 more shares of Goldman Sachs stock.

Before today those shares were worth about $3 million. They just went up 65% in value.

Goldman Sachs is the largest supporter of Waxman-Markey (cap and trade) next to GE? Why? What company has been tapped by the government to oversee the system of trading the carbon credits regulated by Waxman-Markey and stands to make billions? Goldman Sachs.

When did the House of Representatives vote (passing by 7 votes) on Waxman-Markey? June 26th - 4 days before the end of the 2nd quarter - the same quarter that Goldman Sachs profits went up by 65%.


My friends, we are losing control of our own government. It is not lost, but as a people we have got to make our voices heard. You and I have just as much power, right, and responsibility to change the course that we are on. I implore you - do not be apathetic. Our fathers, mothers, grandfathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters fought, and still fight, for us - the greatest country on Earth.

Our country is not the physical land, as beautiful as it is, from sea to shining sea. Our country is not the mega-blockbuster Hollywood movie that I'll probably see before the end of the summer. And our country certainly isn't in the business section of the Wall Street Journal.

Our country beats within the chest of every American who realizes who we are and what we stand for - something great, something beautiful, a promise and a dream.

And I'll be damned if I let someone take that away from me and my family without a fight.


(I was inspired to write this after reading Glenn Beck's radio show transcript from 7/14/09 and finding corroborating information on various news sites and web pages. Just giving credit where credit is due).