Phase 5 of responses to "The death of Satan"

By MATTHEW & CRYSTAL KEHN Let's start by saying this. The world is fallen, the Church is fallen, and all people are fallen. We must be careful to not judge others and find that we are condemning ourselves. Nathan told David a story, "There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor. The rich man had many cattle and sheep, while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him. One day a visitor arrived at the rich man's home. The rich man didn't want to kill one of his own animals to fix a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal for his guest." David became very angry at the rich man and said, "I swear by the living LORD that the man who did this ought to die! For having done such a cruel thing, he must pay back four times as much as he took." "You are that man," Nathan said to David." David immediately burned for justice and found himself guilty. Many days I burn for justice in the world, in politics, in the desparate situations where people are being exploited and oppressed - but in the end find myself guilty. I think if we are honest about Bush, he has used his Christendom as a platform for votes and support on the basis of morality rather than a true, real and vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus never came to make us moral - He came to give us His righteousness and calls us to pursue HIM not the Law/Morality. Christians who support him only on the basis of his 'faith' are falling prey to the neo-cons' desire for personal power through religious lingo (It happens in Kenya, Uganda and all over the world, people use Christianity for their own personal gain). Bush's Christianity is religion, law, morality - like the pharisees who thought they had it all together. It is not his faith that has affected his decisions, but his religion. One only needs to weed through history to see the fallen diplomatic policies that the US, not only Bush, has used to take advantage of others. For example: supporting and enabling dictatorial governments in South American countries. What strikes me most about the US's foreign policy is SELFISHNESS. Ethnocentrism spills over from every act and decision. "What does not benefit the US is useless!" Look again to the story of Nathan. The US is the rich man, most Third World countries are the poor man. We have seen this scenario many times throughout the history of the US. I have also seen it in my own life. My overwhelming selfishness is the root of all my sin. It creeps up from the very nature of who I am into all areas of my life. If I, being saved by Jesus as a sinner, judge and condemn selfish acts among others, I must first confess them myself. Therefore I now stand on the same side as Bush, the US, the rich man, and David. We are all fallen, the world needs Jesus Christ. Putting more "Christians" in politics and leadership of nations will not redeem the world. Redemption only comes when you put Jesus Christ as the Leader and President of your individual life. He asks you to count the cost, destroy your selfishness, carry the cross, be crucified with Him and follow Him for the rest of your life. I will journey with anyone who is on this road. *Editor's note: Matt and his wife are serving God in Uganda. I happen to have been roomies with Matt at college and also attended Urbana 2003 wih him at the University of Illinois (where again we shared a residence hall). He is a man who truely loves God and I treasure his reflections on matters of life and faith, our agreements and disagreements over the same notwithstanding. Backgrounder to this series of reflections Original article Phase 1 of responses to the article Phase 2 of responses to the article Phase 3 of responses to the article Phase 4 of responses to the article