Francesca Ansel Going to Bethel This Fall

Francesca Ansel is one of Redeemer's young adults. She plans on going to Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in the fall.

I asked her to write up a letter which shares what she is doing.

FROM FRANCESCA ANSEL

Bethel Fund Information

Hi!

My name is Francesca Ansel, and this summer I will be attending Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministry. I will be going for first year schooling which is a 9 month program. During these nine months, I will be learning about what it is like to be a revivalist and lead a community into revival. I believe revival is coming to Monroe and I want to be able to be a good steward of what God is doing here. By going to Bethel, I can spend time studying under passionate revivalist and bring back what I have learned to the community. This is going to be a very exciting and growing season of my life and I am so grateful that God is inviting me on this adventure with him!

Giving opportunities:

While I am attending Bethel, I will need to be financially supported. I fully believe God will provide for this mission I am going on and can’t wait to see this financial miracle take place in my life. I am asking the body to come together and support me on this journey.

The cost of tuition for Bethel is $5,200. This will cover all of my classes and books. I will also be in need of housing and food money while I am there. The expense of living in California is significantly higher than here in Michigan. As of now, I am looking at $500 a month for rent (this will be my share after splitting rent with 5 other girls) and an extra $100 a month for food. I am planning on working while going to school but Bethel has a strict policy on not working over 26 hours while you are attending school. This is so you can focus on what God is doing and not fall behind in classes. I am hoping that I can raise at least $10,000 before I leave. This will give me time to find a job and enough money to pay off tuition.

If you are interested in making a donation or want to share my information I have a BSSM donate account which will go directly to my tuition or you can donate through Venmo. On both of these platforms all you have to do is look up my name!

Link to BSSM donate:
https://my.bssm.net/donations/students?utf8=✓&search=Francesca+Ansel

Prayer need:

During the process of moving to Bethel and while I am attending Bethel I would appreciate people partnering with me in prayer.
These are some things I am asking prayer for:
- A greater understanding of God’s love for his people
- More knowledge of the Word
- That I could become closer to the heart of God
- Revival in my heart
- A close Spiritual Mentor
- Housing
- Financial breakthrough

Contact Information:

Thank you for reading this and if you have any questions or encouragement I would love to hear from you!


Email: francescaansel@gmail.com

In His Kneeprints

(Three Trees - Maumee Bay State Park)

In 1977 I began to set aside times and places to pray. I would go alone, to a place of least distraction, and pray. I began to learn how to pray by taking much time to pray.

I discovered what to do when my mind wandered. 

I learned much about hearing God.

I understood what intercessory praying is. 

I believe that praying, a lot, is a way of following Jesus. Luke 6:12-13 says:

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 

When morning came...

And Luke 22:39:

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives...

 To meet with the Father. To pray.

If Jesus spent so much time praying, who do we think we are if we do not do the same? 

Years ago I read through an old devotional book called In His Steps. I discovered that to follow Jesus - to do as Jesus did - was to get down In His Kneeprints. 

Praying was Jesus' first order of business. Everyone who follows him gets this right.

Praying at the Intersection of Heaven and Earth

(Sunset at Maumee Bay State Park, Ohio)

(From my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.)

Praying is Inter-asking

 N.T. Wright believes that “we are people who live at the interface between God’s world and the life of this present world. We are people who belong in that uncomfortable borderland. We are called to stay at this post even when we have no idea what’s actually going on.” 

To stay at this post is to be a praying person. Praying is the act of interfacing this world with the kingdom of God. Praying is a relationship occurring where heaven and earth intersect. 

In conversational praying, I confer with God about what we are doing together. This viewpoint radically changes a traditional view of prayer as only “petition,” or “asking.” Instead of sending prayer requests up to heaven, heaven meets earth in the place and act of praying. Praying includes asking, but is more than that. It is interacting. Praying is inter-asking. 

As you pray you interface with the Maker of heaven and earth. This is important. We are given the location of the God-conference, which is: the intersection of heaven and earth. Praying is the place where God and humans meet. Prayer is the point where God and I converge. The moment of praying is when the rule of God (the “kingdom of God”) invades this present darkness.

Letter to My Redeemer Family, and an Invitation

(I just emailed this note to my Redeemer family.)

Good Morning Redeemer Family - Jesus is risen!

What a beautiful experience we had together on Easter Sunday morning. Great, Spirit-led worship (thank you Holly, worship band, and worshiping church), beautiful special music (thank you Victor), and one of the most inspiring Easter sermons I have ever heard (I've never heard a sermon like this before - thank you Tim).

All this and more causes me to give thanks today. And, to pray.

For over forty years I have been taking Tuesday afternoons to pray. My praying times have been between two to six hours. So, as is my habit, I'll go out to a quiet place tomorrow and pray. 

If you have something you would like me to pray for (which Linda and I will keep private) please send me your request. I consider it an honor and a joy to pray for you.

johnpiippo@msn.com 

And, during my praying times, God speaks to me, about me.

Blessings to you all in these powerful post-resurrection days!

PJ

P.S. - Thank you Trevor and Youth Leaders, and to Matt Holladay, for leading this past weekend's youth retreat!

***

For what I have learned from praying, see my book Praying: Reflections on Forty Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

Metaethical Studies and Moral Nihilism

(Detroit)

Most atheists I know want to be moral. They make strong moral claims, saying "_______ is wrong," or "We ought to do ________." Indeed, atheists like Richard Dawkins claims religious beliefs are morally repulsive and ought to be discarded. 

But it is questionable if atheism can take us this far. Probably not. Atheism can support utilitarianism, and emotivist ethics, but atheists overreach when they claim theists are morally wrong. The atheist cannot, without warrant, call certain acts "good" or "evil."

This is a metaethical issue. I'm now reading three books that add to metaethical studies. They are...

Atheist Overreach: What Atheism Can't Deliver,  by University of Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith. Smith argues that "the naturalistic cosmos that is the standard operating worldview of atheism cannot with rational warrant justify the received humanistic belief in universal benevolence and human rights." (P. 124)

Science and the Good: The Tragic Quest for the Foundations of Morality, by University of Virginia professors James Davison Hunter and Paul Nedelisky. They write:

"When it began, the quest for a moral science sought to discover the good. The new moral science has abandoned that quest and now, at best, tells us how to get what we want. With this turn, the new moral science, for all its recent fanfare, has produced a world picture that simply cannot bear the weight of the wide-ranging moral burdens of our time." (Kindle Location 112)

This, say Hunter and Nedelisky, is "moral nihilism."

Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology, by theistic philosopher J. P. Moreland. Moreland writes: "Given scientism, moral knowledge is impossible. And the loss of moral knowledge has meant a shift from a view in which duty and virtue are central to the moral life, to a minimalist ethical perspective." (Kindle Location 422)

Pastors Don't Need to Be Awesome, Just Faithful

(One of my favorite postcards)

Paul writes, in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12:

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It's easy to think that if God wants to do something great, he needs great people. But great people are not needed to accomplish great things for God. Paul flips the status-hierarchy thing on its head (just as Jesus did). 

God uses weak vessels to display his surpassing glory. This is why Paul is not freaking out about his own personal weaknesses. He knew his shortcomings. He's not physically impressive. He's not a great speaker. He's got a unibrow. (See here.) People fall asleep while he preaches. Some even die. (See here.)

New Testament scholar David Garland writes:

"Paul has become the suffering apostle of the suffering Messiah. We can learn from his example that ministers [pastors] do not have to be wonderful, just faithful. Many labor under the enormous burden of trying to be wonderful in the eyes of others rather than simply trying to minister to them. Many a minister suffers burnout from trying to run a sparkling program, keeping up attendance while keeping down conflict, and preaching catchy sermons instead of preaching Christ." (David Garland, 2 Corinthians, 230)

What our people need is not another performance, but God's empowering, majestic presence. Pastors are but jars of clay who bear within themselves the light of the gospel.

Painfully ordinary. But with the power of God inside.

***
What did the apostle Paul look like?

He was a bald-headed, bowlegged short man with a big nose, and an unbroken eyebrow that lay across his forehead like a dead caterpillar.

That’s a paraphrase.

It’s from the only physical description of Paul, in an early Christian document, the Acts of Paul. (Its author, a second-century church leader, was fired over the book because he attributed to Paul some unorthodox teachings such as sexual abstinence in marriage.)

A more literal translation of the description of Paul in Greek reads, “A man of middling size, and his hair was scanty, and his legs were a little crooked, and his knees were far apart; he had large eyes, and his eyebrows met, and his nose was somewhat long.”

This may be little more than imaginative writing from a century after Paul died, but it does not clash with the way Paul’s critics described him: “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive” (2 Cor. 10:10).

(Christianity Today, "Bald, Blind & Single?")

***
My two books are:

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God. 

Leading the Presence-Driven Church.

I'm working on:

How God Changes the Human Heart

Technology and Spiritual Formation

Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead? A Few Resources

Linda and I made this simple cross and placed it in our front yard near the road.

This is especially or those who listened to my Facebook Live One-Hour Seminary, on "Why I Believe Jesus Was Raised From the Dead."

Here are a few resources to go further.

Gary Habermas, "The Resurrection Argument That Changed a Generation of Scholars"

Habermas and Michael Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus

Habermas's website

N. T. Wright, "Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?" 

Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God - Just $2.99 for your Kindle!

William Lane Craig, "The Evidence for Jesus's Resurrection"

Craig, The Son Rises: Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus

Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?

Easter Week - Jesus Takes the Second Cup

Linda, walking in Jerusalem

SCRIPTURE - LUKE 22:14-18

¹⁴When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. ¹⁵And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."

 ¹⁷After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THESE VERSES?

The cup Jesus takes is one of the four cups taken at the Passover meal. New Testament scholar Joel Green thinks Jesus took the second cup. This is important.

Cup #1 – the head of the family gave a blessing over that cup. Cups three and four came after the Passover meal. Then, Psalms 114-118 were sung – "The Great Hallel."

Cup #2 – This was the point in the Passover Meal where the youngest son in the family asks the father, "Why is this night different from other nights?” “Why is unleavened bread eaten on this night?” And other questions… 

Jesus, on that night 2000 years ago, took the second cup. It was a different night, and would change the world.

At the Passover meal the father, on taking Cup #2, would tell the story of the exodus, and give a message on Deuteronomy 26:5-11. The meal was interpreted as and seen as an act of remembering and thanking God for his past liberation of an oppressed people. It was a celebration of God’s faithfulness and hope for the future deliverance of God’s people.

They would eat lamb and bitter herbs. They would drink the series of four cups of wine.

At the original exodus Passover lambs were slaughtered. The blood of these lambs was applied to the doorways of the Jewish homes as a sign for the Angel of Death to pass over their homes and spare the life of their first born. When the father told this story, the Jews at the meal imagined themselves in the world of Moses in Egypt. Haven't you heard someone tell a story in such a way that you feel as if you are right there? You feel the emotions that were felt, you could smell the food being described, you sensed the oppression, and then... 

            … you experienced being set free!

Here, unknown to Jesus' disciples, it was a different night. The Jewish Meal of all Meals was happening, for the one-thousandth time. The original Passover was a night different from all other nights. It was the night when the avenging angel of death “passed over” the homes of the Israelites so God could liberate the people of Israel. But this night, recorded in Luke 22, is going to be very, very different from any other night. It will be remembered forever, not just by Jews, but by the peoples of the world, to include you and me.

This quite-and-very-different night begins by Jesus talking, not of the Moses-Exodus story, but about his impending death, and his Kingdom that is coming in its fullness. Jesus is changing the meaning of Passover. This is shocking and unexpected.

Can we just stop here for a moment?

Change is hard. This change is beyond hard. Because up to this point Passover was celebrated in the SAME WAY ALL THE TIME! "We always have done it this way!” (These, BTW, are the Seven Last Words of the Church.) The same questions are asked. The same answers are given. And it has been this way for hundreds of years.

But ON THIS NIGHT, as Joel Green says, “Instead of the expected focus on the historic deliverance enacted by God in Israel’s past, Jesus talks about his own death and vindication, and the coming of God’s dominion.” (JG, Luke, 761) "As you drink Cup #2, this cup, remember Me." What Jesus does on this night draws on the Exodus story. But, as N.T. Wright is fond of saying, this is the "New Exodus."

"After taking the [second] cup, Jesus gave thanks and said..." He did this on a night that is different from any before it, and from any that will follow. Jesus was showing that he was the "New Moses" who was leading not only Israel but all of humanity in the New Exodus and their resultant liberation.

Tonight, the night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus lifted the second cup. 

It was the night before the day when all humanity would be set free.

REFLECTION

1. Had you been one of Jesus' disciples at that Passover Meal, how would you have felt when Jesus reinterprets hundreds of years of tradition in terms of his own life and sacrificial death?

2. Think of how Jesus has liberated you from your enslavement to sin. Count the ways he has done this. Give thanks to God for this.


***

My two books are:

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

I'm now working on...

Transformation: How God Changes the Human Heart 

Technology and Spiritual Formation

I am editing a book of essays on the Holy Spirit, authored by my HSRM colleagues. Hopefully this book (Encounters With the Holy Spirit) will be out by June.

And, when all this settles, Linda and I intend on writing our book on Relationships.

Easter Week - Jesus Brings In a Love Revolution

(I took this photo of two women in Jerusalem.)

During Easter Week, 2,000 years ago, Jesus was doing and saying Messianic, Kingly things in the city of Jerusalem. The tensions about him were escalating, and would eventually lead to his crucifixion.


Certain Jewish religious leaders were confronting Jesus. In Matthew 22:34-40 some of the rules-righteousness Pharisees, who are incensed by Jesus and his failure to abide by all the religious rules they have accumulated, address Him with The Big Question. Here are two translations of that text. Only one of them is accurate.


SCRIPTURE READING - MATTHEW 22:34-40 - TWO VERSIONS

Version 1:

³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Turn off your cell phone." ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Turn off your neighbor's phone as your own.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Version 2:

³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two 
commandments.”



WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THESE VERSES?

The correct translation, from the original Greek text (which, BTW, and contra KJV-only worshipers, we are close to having), is Version 2. Version 1 is false for the following reasons:

1. There were no cell phones in the first century.
2. Even if there were cell phones in the first century Jesus would not have needed one, since the Father in him knows the hearts and minds of people.
3. Version 1 is too legalistic-Pharisaic sounding. Jesus would never have said such a thing. Jesus would never have singled out a human-made unwritten rule as the greatest rule of all.
4. Jesus wouldn't turn and give someone the evil eye if, while he was speaking, their cell phone went off.

Behind the Pharisees' question and Jesus' response lies the "Sabbath Controversies" they were engaged in. I'm going to illustrate this by using an example that happened to me recently.


I was driving in downtown Monroe, stopped at a light, when a car pulled up behind me. The driver appeared angry - at me! He honked his horn, drove next to me, and gave me "The Look." It was not the look of love. Nor was the finger he lefted to the sky a digit of endearment. Something about my driving had not been pleasing to him. I have no idea what it was. But I knew that, in his mind, I had violated one of his rules of driving. As a result I received The Look, not of love, but of condemnation.

"The Look" is what happens in a rule-governed world where following a set of rules is the means of acceptance and social righteousness. The prevailing mood is judgment and condemnation, because rules get transgressed. While it is polite to silence my cell phone in a Sunday morning worship service, it is not a Jesus-thing to give someone The Look when their phone goes off. Because love is patient, love is kind, love is not easily angered, and love keeps no record of wrongs, not even a digital record.


Jesus was constantly breaking religious rules. In Mark 2:22-28 some rule-watching Pharisees address Jesus about the behavior of His disciples on the Sabbath. Contrary to Exodus 16:25-26, which rules out gleaning and plucking grain on the Sabbath, Jesus allows his disciples to do so. For this he gets "The Look."


Jesus' response is to reinterpret the Exodus passage, placing it in the greater context of God's overall purposes for humanity. Ben Witherington writes: 

"Jesus' point of view seems to be that human beings do not exist for the sake of the law, but rather the converse. The function of the Sabbath is to restore and renew creation to its full capacity, just as leaving the land fallow for a sabbatical year might do. The disciples' eating was a means of renewal and restoration for them. Thus, they should be permitted to eat, even at the expense of specific, clear prohibitions in the law. In short, Jesus sees it as part of his mission to interpret matters according to their true or original intention, no longer making allowances for the hardness of human hearts." (Ben Witherington, The Christology of Jesus, 68)


If the love of God was abundantly poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5) we would not need rules such as "You shall not steal," or "You shall not commit adultery." That's why Jesus said all the Law and prophets hand on the two Love-Commandments.

Jesus' revolution is a Love Revolution. He was bringing in a mercy and grace environment, rather than a rules-environment. That's why Paul wrote, in Romans 5:2, that "we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand." "Gained access" is Temple language; meaning we who trust in Christ are ushered into the fields of God's grace.

Love, not law, wins. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13)

REFLECTION

1. Thinking of Romans 5:5, ask God for a fresh outpouring, a fresh deluge, a "rainstorm" of God's love to be poured into your heart today.

Liturgical Meditations | Lent

(Stop! Slow down. In your heart. Be still. Watch this.)



“Hunger and Healing” evokes the expectant lament of Lent through the arid landscapes of the Salton Sea and Imperial Sand Dunes, with scripture drawn from Isaiah 58. The meditation was filmed by FULLER studio at Marion County, Iowa; St. Andrew’s Church in Pasadena, California; the Salton Sea; and Imperial Sand Dunes in Imperial County, California.



The audio for this video is in Spanish with titles in Korean, Mandarin, and English. For FULLER studio: Lauralee Farrer, director; Ron Allchin, producer; Nate Harrison, director of photography; Lindsey Sheets, cinematographer; Timothy Kay, cinematographer; Tim Ronca, cinematographer; Patrick O’Neil Duff, editor; Jennifer Hernandez, narration; OX Creative, titles.

The liturgical calendar spans the life of Christ in a single year—from anticipation (Advent), to hope (Christmas), to transcendence (Epiphany), to lament (Lent), to redemption (Easter), to the birth of the church (Pentecost), and through long, numbered days (Ordinary Time) back to Advent. The liturgical meditation series to which this video belongs relies on nature to tell the story of God, accompanied by scriptures traditional to each season.

(c) 2018 FULLER studio

Easter Week - The Cursing of the Fig Tree Is Really About the End of the Temple

Jerusalem - Church of the Nativity

This is Easter Week - the days leading up to Good Friday and the cross .After Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the shouts of "Save us now!" ("Hosanna!"), he did some radical and revealing things in the city. One of them was his "cursing of the fig tree."

SCRIPTURE READING - MATTHEW 21:18-22

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.
²¹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THESE VERSES?

Jesus and his disciples are walking up Mount Zion. On top of the mountain is the Temple. The Temple was in full view as they ascended. It's probable that the fig tree was higher up on the road. between Jesus and the Temple. As they walk to the Temple, Jesus sees the fig tree ahead.

As he points to the tree, he is really pointing beyond, to the Temple. The barrenness of the fig tree is a visual analogy for the barrenness of the presence of God within the Temple. God is no longer showing up in the Temple. The religious leaders, instead of welcoming God's presence and introducing people to that presence, shut the door of heaven in peoples' faces and themselves do not enter in. (Matthew 23:13) Their "religion" was showy (self-aggrandizing), rule-based, filled with pride.  Nothing worse could be said of a religious leader; viz., that they turn the spotlights on themselves, do their religious thing, and bar God from the activities.

In the case of the Temple, God had exited. How sad and worthless this is, since what people need is God and his manifest "with-us" presence.

When Jesus curses the barren fig tree, he talks about "this mountain" being thrown into the sea. He's referring not to just any mountain, but to Mount Zion. Some people talk about a faith that can move mountains and use this passage as an example, but Jesus was really talking about a new kind of faith that would exist without the Temple. Yes, God can move mountains. But that's not what this story is about. The Temple, where God had showed up for hundreds of years, was going down, never to be inhabited by God again. The day was approaching when true worship will not happen on this mountain or any mountain. Thus, "this mountain" (Mt Zion) can be cast into the sea.

Later, as Jesus and his disciples are walking down Mount Zion from the Temple area, his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1-2)

With the Temple now God-less, where will God manifest himself? The answer, as the disciples will realize on the Day of Pentecost, is that the dwelling place of God will be in His people, both individually and corporately. The great, revolutionary truth of Jesus, in this story, is that if you are a Jesus-follower then you are a temple of the presence of God. You are a "portable sanctuary."

You host the presence of God.

REFLECTION

1. Consider ways in which you will welcome God's presence in your life today, and how you will host his presence.

JESUS-FOLLOWING & POLITICS

(I'm re-editing and re-posting this, because the political climate is hot and getting hotter.)

(Sermon-prepping, in Starbucks)

Politically, America is deeply divided. As a follower of Jesus, how do I evaluate this? What do I do about this? How shall I think about this?

I am doing two things, personally.

1) I have identified certain guiding principles; and 

2) I keep studying and learning. For me, this means disengaging from social media arguments, and finding the best scholarship available that can help me, in the first place, understand the issues. And, BTW, I in no way claim to have great understanding. But it is, I believe, growing. This means I am mostly uninterested in people who want to argue political issues without first putting a lot of work into understanding those issues. This may not be you, but it is me.

A FEW GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• Change hearts first. When hearts are changed, systems transform.
• Focus on issues, not political alignment.
• Understand before you evaluate. This takes time. This means I often hesitate to jump on someone's political bandwagon. Because, I don't yet understand the issues. (I'm not saying I never have done this. I am saying I don't want to do this. This will upset some people, some of whom understand less than I do.)
• Attack arguments, not people (no ad hominem abusiveness please). Evaluate arguments; formulate arguments. Love people.
• Lift up Jesus, the one who changes hearts and minds, and from whom we Christians acquire our ethics.
• Deepen your abiding life in Christ, as the first thing to do. All relevant, Spirit-led action comes from ongoing attachment to Christ.
• When the Holy Spirit identifies a socio-cultural need and burdens you with it, labor in the Spirit to achieve transformation. For example, my church family helped begin a soup kitchen that provides a meal every day of the year, serving 75-150 a night. For example, my church family has been involved in serving and raising support for ministries that rescue women out of sex trafficking. For example, Linda and I have, over the decades, provided free counseling for needy marriages and families (this is ongoing, to the very moment I am typing these words).
• Study and grow in learning about the relationship between following Jesus and political involvement. This will assist you in transcending shallow, uninformed, hate-filled debating. Here are some resources that have taken me deeper.

SOME RESOURCES THAT HAVE HELPED ME (These are resources I have read and studied, and have helped me better understand the relationship between religion and politics. Surely there are more. What books have helped you?)

• I'm now reading Amy Chua's (Yale U.) Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations. Wow. Excellent, illuminating. America needs to rediscover a national identity that transcends our political tribes.
• See Jonathan Haidt's book Can't We All Disagree More Constructively? (Which is an excerpt from Haidt's Righteous Mind.)
• I loved Lukionoff and Haidt's excellent The Coddling of the American Mind. Haidt and Lukionoff help us understand, e.g., microaggressions and hatred and the American culture of "safetyism."
• Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion. Probably, everyone should read this before opening their mouth about politics.
• Brian Benestad, Five Views on the Church and Politics (Begin, perhaps, with this book. Anyone from my church who wants to read this and discuss with me, over coffee of course, please let me know.)
• H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (Arguably, this is THE classic text which nicely forms intelligent discussion. How is Christ relevant to the world in which we live now?)
• John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus (This is essential reading for any who would engage in the discussion about how Jesus would have his followers respond to the political world we live in.)
• Greg Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church
• Jim Wallis, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and Why the Left Doesn’t Get It
• Jim Wallis, On God’s Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics hasn’t Learned About Serving the Common Good
• Ronald Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity (In evangelical Christianity, this is one of the classics. Read the four gospels as background, making note of all Jesus says about our relationship to Money. See also Ben Witherington, Jesus and Money.)
• Shane Claiborne, Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals (What should Christians do when allegiances to the state clash with personal faith?)
• Robert P. George, Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism (George, Prof of Law at Yale U., and a follower of Jesus, is a brilliant scholar who teaches us, among other things, how to civilly discourse about hard issues.)
• Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel (In a discussion with Greg Boyd he strongly recommended this book of readings to me.)
• Francis Beckwith, Taking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith (I read this book last summer and learned much from it. Beckwith’s chapter on human dignity is brilliant. [Christian Smith’s chapter on human dignity in What Is a Person? Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and the Moral Good from the Person Up is stunning.] Beckwith is Prof of Jurisprudence and Philosophy at Baylor U.)
• Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail" 
• Charles Colson, God and Government: An Insider's View on the Boundaries Between Faith and Politics
• Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited. 
• James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree 
• Gustavo Gutierrez, We Drink From Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People 
• Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? (If this book doesn’t break your heart and burden you for the poor, we’re going to have to give you an EKG.)
• Pellegrino, Schulman, and Merrill, Human Dignity and Bioethics. Arguably the book to read on: 1) What is human dignity?; 2) Is there such a thing as human dignity?; and 3) If there is, does it make a difference? Collected essays by a great variety of scholars.
• Wayne Grudem, Politics – According to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture
• John Corvino and Ryan T. Anderson, Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination
• John Corvino and Ryan T. Anderson, Debating Same-Sex Marriage
• Ryan T. Anderson, Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom
• Mark Yarhouse, Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues In a Changing Culture
• Dan O. Via and Robert Gagnon, Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views
• Ed Stetzer, Christians In the Age of Outrage: How to Bring Our Best When the World Is At Its Worst. I just purchased this - thanks Bob M. for the recommendation.

And, of course, keep saturating yourself in Scripture.

Do I agree with everything written in these books? 

Of course not. I don't even agree with everything you say. 

And, I have said things that, upon reflection, have caused me to disagree with myself.

***

My two books are:

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

I'm now working on...

Transformation: How God Changes the Human Heart 

Technology and Spiritual Formation

I am editing a book of essays on the Holy Spirit, authored by my HSRM colleagues. Hopefully this book will be out by the end of May.

And, when all this settles, Linda and I intend on writing our book on Relationships.