Enough with the selective outrage and victimization from the NAR...

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The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. - 1Corinthians 2:14-16 (ESV)

The Christian Twittersphere blew up today. It seems the world behaved like the world and the grievance machine from the NAR went into full freakout mode, as is their modus operandi. Beloved we must realize the true spiritual dynamics behind this. Those of us who know the Lord are tasked with only one thing until He returns. It is not waging culture wars. It is not playing the victim to the lost. It is representing the gospel of Jesus Christ because we are supposed to have the mind of Christ, as the key verses teach us. God also reminds us in these verses that the things of God are folly, or utter foolishness, to the lost. Do we understand what God is saying here and why he said it? The main idea is that we are not to act surprised when the world behaves like the things of God are foolishness to them. We should not be offended. We should not let other people who have political motives negatively influence us. The strategy of the enemy is to make the church hate the very people who need the gospel the most. Do we still get that today? I understand why the leaders of the NAR, apostate church and the fake Christian politicians all do not care about these things. That is because the things of God are utter foolishness to them as well. Realize that the NAR perpetually sells grievance and victimhood to the church. The enemy is no longer Satan but rather the people on the outside of salvation looking in. That is what they openly sell. It is a zero-sum game where the Lord gets nothing.

So, let us deal with what happened. Apparently during the opening ceremonies, there was some kind of a bizarre display including a naked person painted blue accompanied by dancers and drag queens. The way that it was presented apparently reminded many people of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, The Last Supper. The NAR demanded that Christians explode in outrage and they were all too eager to do so. When word got back to the organizers of the ceremonies though, they denied there was any ill intent. The official Olympics account had actually tweeted about the performance:

"The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings."

That sure does not sound like they were trying to mock da Vinci, or somehow indirectly, Christianity. The artistic director said there was no intent to be subversive, mock or shock. They all insisted they just wanted to include everyone. The NAR could not let that stand however so the immediate push back is to simply dismiss what the defense was. Yet, does that make any sense whatsoever? If the intent was to mock, why would they not only admit it but brag about it? They have nothing to fear by doing so and remember the things of God are foolishness. It seems to me that they are probably telling the truth. Let's for the sake of argument however, pretend that the NAR grievance merchants are correct. Remind me again why we would care? Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper; he was not actually AT the last supper. He painted it over 1400 years after Christ walked the earth. I am willing to bet it is not remotely close to what actually happened in the upper room. So, at best, assuming for some strange reason they are all lying, when we know they would be boasting, they were mocking a 15^th century deist painter, not God. Yet even if you dismiss all of this somehow, I again ask, what do you expect? How do you expect people who do not share your faith to behave? How badly did your life mock God before you were saved? This is also a masterclass in selective outrage. Do me a favor, go to Google Images and search for "da Vinci last supper parody." Go ahead, I will wait.

Did you find what I found?

* The participants were cartoon characters; Jesus is Colonel Sanders and they are eating KFC

* The participants were all dogs and the food was dog biscuits

* The participants were movie characters and Jesus was ET

* The participants were all classic male movie stars and Jesus was Marilyn Monroe

* The participants are all stormtroopers and Darth Vader with the Emperor as Jesus

* The participants were all breakfast cereal characters with Cap'n Crunch as Jesus

* A different set of cereal characters with Aunt Jemima as Jesus

* And there were endless other examples

Are we getting the point here? Where was the collective outrage for these? Why all of a sudden, four months out from an election, is the NAR screaming bloody murder? Why are they trying to make you hate the lost instead of weeping over them as Christ would have? These are the questions we need to be asking. I saw a lot of "God will not be mocked" quotes today and that is true but let us take a look at Matthew Henry's commentary on this for a second:

"Many excuse themselves from the work of religion, though they may make a show, and profess it. They may impose upon others, yet they deceive themselves if they think to impose upon God, who knows their hearts as well as actions; and as he cannot be deceived, so he will not be mocked." - Matthew Henry

Yes, God will not be mocked but I think those espousing that today are missing the point. What we saw today from the NAR was people making a show and trying to impose upon others what they believe. God knows our hearts and our actions beloved. We need to remember that there are operatives trying to sell you selective outrage, victimization and grievance. They want you angry at the very people who need God's grace just like we once did. They have an ulterior motive for this that is entirely carnal. They are not truly upset for God. When we see people who are lost to God and act like it, we ought to feel compassion, grief, and offer mercy. Instead, we get Donald Trump Jr saying:

"'Hopefully one day enough people will finally have had enough of the BS. Till then you can continue to watch everything good and decent and everything you hold dear get burned to the f"ing ground. The choice is yours.'" - Donald Trump Jr.

Then you have Elon Musk, Republican Party operative, who tweeted that Christianity today is toothless. As if our faith is supposed to have teeth. As if Jesus did not lay down His life willingly as the Lamb. Jesus did not teach us that we should be baring our teeth to the lost. That theology is straight from the NAR.

Look, if the decadent display from the opening ceremony discouraged you and you feel you cannot watch anymore, fine. We have that right. Just do not let people manipulate you, tell you that you are a victim somehow, that people are burning everything to the "f'ing ground", or that your faith needs teeth somehow. As usual when the NAR screams outrage the truth is hardly as outrageous as they are selling you. I am inclined to believe that the people who coordinated this were somehow trying to interpret the Greek god Dyonysus but even if they were not, they were only mocking a da Vinci painting, that has been mocked a million times before today without a whisper of grievance. Even if somehow, we dismiss all of this we are still left with the key verses. The bible does not command us to be outraged against the lost beloved. It just doesn't. Corinthians actually instructs us that we are not even to judge them. All I saw today was a whole lot of judging being carried out by apostate church leaders and politicians, who openly mock God every day through false NAR theology. No mention of the gospel. No mention of God's mercy and grace. Just a collective, "how dare they!" Then we wonder why the world wants nothing to do with God.

Reverend Anthony Wade - July 27, 2024

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.