THE ARMY OF GOD

A hard morning, after a bad night.  

Too soon after waking, I read an article from the Atlantic: THE ARMY OF GOD COMES OUT OF THE SHADOWS

These christians are apparently Old Testament christians. 

Where is my grandmother’s Jesus? He is not mentioned. It seems that his kind, gentle, socialist, social-justice message is not welcome. Forget turn-the-other-cheek. Forget love your neighbor as yourself. Forget welcome the stranger who may be an angel. 

THIS IS WAR.

And I am the enemy. I and those I love; those who, Christian, or not, absorbed and accepted the messages of my grandmother’s Jesus in our midwest youth. 

“. . . the movement’s central ideas . . . include the belief that God speaks through modern-day apostles and prophets. That demonic forces can control not only individuals, but entire territories and institutions. That the Church is not so much a place as an active “army of God,” one with a holy mission to claim the Earth for the Kingdom as humanity barrels ever deeper into the End Times.”

I too believe we are “barrelling ever deeper into the End Times.” I do not blame demons, or satan. I blame us. We did this. We do this. These fiery and devastated hells we see on our high-tech media are the consequences of our own actions, our own greed. 

And these Old Testament christians are not exempt from blame.