Dear friends:
Below is an insightful article from American Thinker by “Robin of Berkley,” a California psychotherapist and Jew.
Robin is an excellent writer. For a hilarious but touching description of her first experience in church, see http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/power_to_the_conservative_peop.html .
In the article below, she mentions the left-wing “Reverend” Jim Wallis. Wallis and his friend and kindred spirit, Central Florida mega-pastor Joel Hunter, both serve on Obama’s “spiritual” team.
Jim
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Was Jesus a Marxist?
By Robin of Berkeley
After my first Christmas mass, I felt strange for days. As hard as I tried, I couldn't put my finger on why.
A week later, it dawned on me -- I felt peaceful. Aha! No wonder I was stumped!
I'm intimately familiar with anger and sadness and frustration -- intermixed with those fleeting moments of joy. But peace? That's not a state hardwired into my Berkeley edge.
I liked the feeling though...a lot. I was breathing deeper and sleeping better. After it dissolved in another week or so, I wanted more of that peaceful, easy feeling.
Trying to ignore the doleful expression of my secular mate, I headed out to a few more lovely services -- at a synagogue, a Lutheran church, and, my personal favorite, Assemblies of God (as a perk, Sarah Palin's church of choice).
While perusing the Yellow Pages, I eyed another contender -- a church in a nearby town that touted superb music and a dynamic congregation.
When I called to find out more, I was pleased that the minister himself answered the phone. When I asked him to describe his church, he answered rather sternly, "We do God's work through social justice."
Taken aback, I said, "I'm looking for a church that focuses on God, not politics."
He countered vociferously, "We get to God through social justice!"
"That's a matter of dispute," I responded. "Thank you for your time." Click.
When I got off the phone, I was shaken up -- literally. My entire body was shaking.
It was partly the creepiness of a minister sounding so possessed. But more than this: I got a bird's-eye view of what Glenn Beck has been talking about for weeks.
Beck has revealed that churches are increasingly becoming socialist breeding grounds. It's not just the Rev. Wright who preached revolution. The president's new Palm Pilot minister, Jim Wallis, trumpets getting to heaven through redistribution.
It's bad enough that the radicals want our children, our newspapers, our money, and our health care. But hijacking God?
The Left tried first to separate people from God. They banished Him from schools and government; they ridiculed and mocked believers.
Their efforts having failed miserably (about 80% of all Americans still identity as Christian), so they turn to plan B: Contaminate the Word of God.
The Left has had many incarnations. The latest is masquerading as holy men, with the holiest, of course, being Obama.
At least the '60s radicals were transparent about their true colors. The Weathermen, the Symbionese Liberation Army, and the Black Panthers never held themselves out as Messiahs. They were right in your face with their terrorism, murders, and rapes.
Obama role model Saul Alinsky announced to the whole world which master the Left serves. Here's his dedication in Rules for Radicals:
"Lest we forget at least an over-the shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical ... the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer."
More insidious is the new crop of leftists. Wearing the cloak of respectability, they trick the masses through flowery words about hope and change.
But those of us who recognize Light also know the chill of darkness. The Left is nocturnal. Its followers live and breathe in the dark.
To me, God is about surrender, not power; humility, not humiliation.
A life of the spirit means relinquishing control to God. Humans can't second-guess divine wisdom.
The Left views hardship as unfair and launches crusades for social justice. But there's another way to regard suffering -- as holy. Through pain, we solidify our relationship to our Creator.
I think that the progressives know, deep inside, in places they keep well-hidden, that their souls are damaged.
Their movement is not really about redistribution, or social justice, or green power. It's about extinguishing the Light that exposes their brokenness.
And that's why the Left targets the bright-eyed people -- the children and the pious. In them, the Light is luminous.
I've seen that Light in spades at some of those religious services. On Easter, in a crime-ravaged area, I sat with over a thousand people of every race and creed.
I saw sights that astonished me, like a distraught white woman being cradled by a black woman adorned in brilliant African garb. Or several men of varying races and ages embracing each other, praying together.
I saw a laying-on of hands among people of every possible color, who were tending to each other, caring for each other. I'd never before seen the power of God in all its vibrancy.
A better world can exist -- I know because I've witnessed it. Unity is possible, but only with God as the middleman.
But the religious Left don't want to minister to people with love and kindness. Instead, they're trying to recreate Jesus in their own image.
But, try as they might, they can't bulldoze their way into heaven. By even making the effort, they serve another master entirely.
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
- Bob Dylan, "Gotta Serve Somebody"
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge him,
And he will make your paths straight.
(Proverbs 3:5-6)
A frequent AT contributor, Robin is a recovering liberal and a psychotherapist in Berkeley.
