A simple way to know a religious grifter is to look for fear mongering. The religious grifter uses fear to create a crisis and the crisis is an opportunity to sell product. If there is not trouble in River City, with a capital T, then there is no need for the grifter’s product.
We need to hear bad news, and some of the cultural trends in America are very bad, but beware when it comes tied to a product. You might not watch a cheesy Christian product normally, but if IT SOLVES THE PROBLEM OF OUR TIMES, then you will overlook shoddy production values, questionable theology, and shallow analysis.
Amp up the fear and second rate goods will sell.
The fearful person is apt to miss the good, the true, and the beautiful while being overwhelmed by evil, lies, and ugliness that bombards him. This is an odd things given what a wise man once said to Christians:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
I will confess to misunderstanding these verses for most of my life. I would read them and immediately think of the false, ignoble, incorrect, impure, ugly, unadmirable things I was watching and consider purging them.
This was not so much wrong, I should stop with the ugliness, but beside the point. What is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable? Can I think on those things? Notice that fear-mongering Christian product is rarely lovely . . . it is bad film making, shoddy writing, or cheesy product.
Or do I run through friends? Do I use people for programs? Am I anxious, striving, and hateful only to blame my problems on “those people” who provoked me to it? This is ugly and if this is my path, it is not the path of Paul or the church.
But here again, I am finding a bad thing and cautioning against it! I am fear mongering about fear mongering.
So I shall stop. Paul is urging me to find the good, not condemn the bad. He is urging me to be awash in love and not huddled in a cave eating my canned food and waiting for Antichrist to kill me. The apostle in prison says: think about the good things.
And I shall think: what is true?
I sat with a group of faculty today and heard them express a desire for justice for students.
What is noble?
My son ate dinner with me and shared his views on “manliness” and how it could be achieved. He gave me a very good lesson on Alexander the Great and while he spoke, the nobility of his soul was obvious.
What is right?
The staff at Wheatstone Ministries is listening to young people pour out their hearts and pains and showing them a better way to live. These staff members are giving the Constantine strategy: don’t save old Rome, build a new city. It made me cry.
What is pure?
I saw a zeal for learning in the eyes of my daughter as she headed with a lifelong friend to dinner. They were discussing great books, great ideas, and great times with no suspicion that this would not be fun. They were jolly scholars and the purity of their spirit as they approached dinner, the beach, and the text was refreshing.
What is lovely?
Turning a corner, on the way to speak, I saw a fountain bubbling up joyfully. The sun was shining, the California sky was the intense blue of summer in LA, and it was lovely.
What is admirable?
The students at this camp are reaching for deeper community. They are aware of the hurts of our society, the racism, the poverty, the warfare, but they are determined not to be overwhelmed or complacent.
The “kids” may not be all right, but these kids (or at least the ones I am meeting) are admirable. They are far beyond where I was at their age.
I am thinking on those things. Can you find those things today? They can be found everywhere because we surrounded by souls created in God’s image, nature, and beauty.
God, I am so glad to be alive in this time.
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