Do you remember the story of God leading George Washington out of his tent and promising him that God would make of ole’ George a great nation and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore?

How about the story of Thomas Jefferson going up on the mountainside to receive the law from God which outlined America’s covenant relationship with God?

Surely, you’ve at least read Benjamin Franklin’s epic work, the book of Proverbs, right?

If not, it’s probably because you don’t have a politician for a preacher.

Now, I’m sure this phenomenon exists elsewhere in the world, but in the United States politician preachers are an epidemic. What are politician preachers? Well, to borrow from Stefon, it’s that thing where your pastor is really just a politician who happens to preach at a church every Sunday morning.

Case in point, this video from one of the founding fathers of political preaching, John Hagee:

If you moved this “sermon” from a church to a state fair it would make for a great political rally. And that’s the thing. When we read America into the Old Testament story of God’s covenant relationship with Israel, Christianity quickly gets replaced by politics.

It’s a subtle move. The great politician preachers are so good at it that most of us miss it. By combining our love for God and country they are able to move freely back and forth between Biblical theology and American ideology, creating a new religio-political tapestry in which faith and politics are so intertwined that you can’t tell one from the other.

When this sort of alchemy occurs, the inconvenient Jesus of the gospels gets left out of the equation. Sure, the politician preacher might evoke his name every once in a while, after all, it’s good for business. But things like “sell all you have and give it to the poor”, “love you enemies”, “turn the other cheek”, “pray for those who persecute you”, and “put away your sword” don’t mix well when your beating the war drum and extolling the virtues of capitalism.

So why bother with the pulpit?

Why not leave ministry behind and toss the proverbial hat in the political ring?

I think it’s the same reason that Adam and Eve took the fruit from the tree.

Power.

Few things in life hold more sway than power. Money’s great, but if you’ve got all the power, you don’t even need money. And as a senior politican pastor leading a congregation of faithful constituents you can have both.

You see, the political arena has limits. One can only hold office if you get elected. Once elected the power you wield extends only as far as the compromises you can make and the bills you can pass. Even if you manage to exert you political will, there’s that pesky problem of term limits. Once out of office, who knows what will happen to all the “good” you did?

But the pulpit is different.

If you get the right mixture of charismatic preacher creating a church from scratch, the possibilities are endless.

Politician preachers don’t have to worry about being elected. They’re “called by God” and there’s always a flock out there waiting to be shepherded. Simply feed them your political brand of fiery political preaching, making sure to touch on those most sensitive areas of nationalism and faith, and you’re sure to get them running for the trough.

When your ecclesiastical constituency is of your own making, you need not concern yourself with the other side of the aisle. There’s only one side: God’s side. Everyone else is the enemy. Therefore, even the hint of compromise or working together is nothing short of treason and heresy.

There’s no need to work to get bills passed. As the chosen mouthpiece of God, thy will be done. You simply need to say magic words “God said” or “God wants” and any agenda you have you will immediately be put into action.

And, of course, perhaps best of all, there are no term limits in the pulpit. (That is, as long as you’re not in an appointment system, but no good politician preacher would be so foolish as to submit himself to that sort of nonsense) Without term limits, you can keep on campaigning until it’s time to go off to the great White House in the sky.

Now, let me pause and caution you about reading this as simply an attack on one particular party. It is certainly true that Republicans get the most attention for mixing faith and politics, but there are plenty of Democratic politician preachers out there as well.

The issue here isn’t right or left wings politics. It’s politics period.

As I said before, Jesus doesn’t fit well into political preaching. The reason being that in Jesus we see a new politic, one which is completely foreign to this world and which doesn’t mix well with others because it’s claims to communal living, non-violence, humility, submission, grace, love, and forgiveness don’t work with systems driven by control, greed, power, and violence.

And therein lies the problem with politician preachers.

Politician preachers don’t preach in a vacuum. They espouse their political theology everyday to thousands, perhaps millions of people who view them as people called by God to speak the truth.

So, when they start talking about America as God’s chosen people and the American political and economic systems as God’s preferred way of doing things, their congregational constituents naturally accept this as the gospel truth. What results then are people who, just like their shepherd, believe that Uncle Sam’s way is, in reality, Jesus’ way.

The ultimate outcome of this political-religious alchemy, however, is not the golden truth, but a new faith that has no space for the Jesus found in the gospels because the Jesus we encounter in the gospels demands we place all of our trust and security in him. When we follow the path of politician preachers and supplant the gospel with nationalistic ideology it simply demonstrates the reality that we do not actually place our faith, trust, and security in Jesus, but in a man-made, fallible political system.

Those political systems give us, rather than God, the power to control our world. Politician preachers, then, are simply the incarnation of our own lust for power which, like Adam and Eve, seeks to place ourselves in the place of God, the very definition of idolatry.

In other words, despite the gift of the gospel, we haven’t learned our lesson from Adam and Eve.

Preachers are given a profound responsibility: to preach the gospel of Jesus. When that gospel gets corrupted or hijacked by the political aspirations of a politician preacher it is lost, replaced instead with something so self-centered and driven by power and greed that is the very opposite of “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

So, let us somehow find the courage to kick our politician preachers out of office and live as a church as if we really believe that the kingdom of God which Jesus proclaimed is something which can actually be lived out. Otherwise, this whole Christianity thing is just a massive waste of time.

Grace and peace,

Zack Hunt

Well, those crazy Brits are at it again.

First, it was a pastor leaving the ministry to become an Elvis impersonator/evangelist.

Now, a hair salon is using the Second Coming to promote their business.

When will the madness end?!

Hopefully not soon because this is rather entertaining.

‘Jesus is coming, better get your hair done’ advert deemed not offensive

The Telegraph

Or maybe they haven’t.

Who knows for sure, but this a really interesting story nonetheless.

Using records of earthquake activity in the area, a group of geologists have determined that Jesus was crucified on April 3, 33 A.D.

I just don’t know why they put so much time and effort into their research. They should have just done what the rest of us do when we need find an answer: Google it. It really would have saved them a lot of work.

Shockingly, the Google answer isn’t that far off: April 1, 33 AD and that person even provided a time: 3pm!

So there you have it.

Google knows everything.

Scientists of the world you can now retire.

DAY OF JESUS’ CRUCIFIXION BELIEVED DETERMINED

Discovery News
By Jennifer Viegas

Jesus, as described in the New Testament, was most likely crucified on Friday April 3, 33 A.D.

The latest investigation, reported in the journal International Geology Review, focused on earthquake activity at the Dead Sea, located 13 miles from Jerusalem. The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 27, mentions that an earthquake coincided with the crucifixion: “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open.”

To analyze earthquake activity in the region, geologist Jefferson Williams of Supersonic Geophysical and colleagues Markus Schwab and Achim Brauer of the German Research Center for Geosciences studied three cores from the beach of the Ein Gedi Spa adjacent to the Dead Sea.

Varves, which are annual layers of deposition in the sediments, reveal that at least two major earthquakes affected the core: a widespread earthquake in 31 B.C. and an early first century seismic event that happened sometime between 26 A.D. and 36 A.D.

The latter period occurred during “the years when Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea and when the earthquake of the Gospel of Matthew is historically constrained,” Williams said.

“The day and date of the crucifixion (Good Friday) are known with a fair degree of precision,” he said. But the year has been in question.

In terms of textual clues to the date of the crucifixion, Williams quoted a Nature paper authored by Colin Humphreys and Graeme Waddington. Williams summarized their work as follows:

• All four gospels and Tacitus in Annals (XV,44) agree that the crucifixion occurred when Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea from 26-36 AD.
• All four gospels say the crucifixion occurred on a Friday.
• All four gospels agree that Jesus died a few hours before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath (nightfall on a Friday).
• The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) indicate that Jesus died before nightfall on the 15th day of Nisan; right before the start of the Passover meal.
• John’s gospel differs from the synoptics; apparently indicating that Jesus died before nightfall on the 14th day of Nisan.

When data about the Jewish calendar and astronomical calculations are factored in, a handful of possible dates result, with Friday April 3, 33 A.D. being the best match, according to the researchers.

Continue Reading

I don’t feel much like a Christian.

At least not when I read the Gospels.

Jesus said “sell everything you have and give it to the poor.” On a good week I give 10% of my paycheck.

Jesus fed the hungry. I usually just feed myself.

Jesus said “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemies.” I still think violence can sometimes solve problems.

Jesus was mocked, arrested, and murdered for what he said and did. I worry about my non-Christian friends thinking less of me if I get too “serious” about this faith thing.

Jesus was radical.

I am not.

Most of us are not.

But the word radical has become very popular these days. You read all about it in books and blogs. You can go to conferences to learn how to be more radical. You can buy a t-shirt to let everyone know you’re radical. In the gospels, being radical was a particular way of life. Today, you can buy “radical” at the Christian bookstore.

But the sort of radical that’s being sold to the church these days doesn’t amount to much more than minor tweaks to our attitude and superficial adjustments to our lives, most of which simply involve giving more money.

A big part of the problem is that we pursue “radical” as an end in itself without either really understanding what that entails or even wanting to fully commit to such an extreme, yet particular way of life.

If the goal of faith is just being radical, then we can’t condemn the 9/11 hijackers. After all, they took being radical for your faith to the extreme. If being radical is something we are serious about, then it would behoove us to actually understand the sort of life we are claiming to want to pursue.

Jesus was certainly radical, but it was a particular way of being radical. Jesus didn’t seek out the radical life to stand out, to get attention, or as part of some sort of masochistic desire to suffer. Jesus was radical in everything he did because the sort of devotion that God called him to demanded it.

And while almost all of us hold up Jesus’ radical life as something to model our lives after, few among us really take his commands seriously.

Instead, we do mental gymnastics to wiggle our way out of and sanitize the radical nature of Jesus’ commands so that they become something we’re comfortable with, something we don’t have to put much effort into, something that doesn’t require any real sacrifice on our part. In doing so, the idea of being a radical follower of Jesus has become a bad joke.

I mean, surely Jesus wasn’t serious when he equated lust with adultery or when he said to give others more than they ask for. He was just kidding, right?

The truth is that despite our cool t-shirts and the books that sit on our coffee tables at home, most of us live lives indistinguishable from our non-Christian neighbors. We live in the same sorts of houses, do the same sorts of things with our money, dress the same way, watch the same things on TV, spend our free time the same way.

If we’re radical, then so are they.

Going to church in a culture that all but guilts you into doing so, putting a bumper sticker on your car, updating your Facebook status with a “if you love Jesus you’ll repost this” update, listening to Christian music, even going on the occasional mission trip, these things don’t make you radical.

Giving up your job and leaving your family to follow a teacher you barely know makes you radical. Telling others not to save your life with the violent means at their disposal, then allowing your enemies to murder you is radical. Giving up ownership of all your possessions so that others can give away what you’ve worked hard for is radical. Abandoning everyone and everything you’ve ever known to serve diseased strangers in a foreign country makes you radical. Refusing to resort to violence as your enemies sick their dogs on you, beat you, and imprison you is radical. Taking vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience  in order to literally devote every moment of your life to the One you call Lord is radical.

Going to church once a week, playing church softball, putting money in the offering plate, and going down to the soup kitchen once a year doesn’t make you radical.

If there is anything radical about us it’s the extremes we go to to sanitize the things Jesus said in order to make them more palatable for our preferred way of life.

The issue is not that we’re imperfect and we try to be radical like Jesus but fail. The issue is that we don’t even try. In our evangelical obsession with the bottom line of salvation we’ve convinced ourselves that “all that’s necessary for salvation” is a few magic words at an altar. But the problem is that salvation isn’t a momentary thing. It’s a way of being in the world and what’s necessary for that way of life is a radical transformation from who you were before you met Jesus to who you’ve become after a journey with him that requires you to take up your cross and follow him.

That’s not a metaphor.

You have to die.

Spiritually…emotionally…materially…maybe even physically.

To actually be like Christ means you have no choice but to live a life of radical sacrifice and service to others. Not occasionally, but every day and with everything you are until the point when you are completely broken and the person you were is no more. For it is only then that you can be resurrected and recreated into the person God wants you to be.

So don’t kid yourself.

You’re not radical and neither am I.

I don’t know that that completely  nullifies our identity as Christians. I don’t think it does. I hope it doesn’t. I hope it just means that we still have a lot of work to do.

But at the very least it should give us knot in the pit of our stomach knowing that no matter how we spin it, our lives don’t actually look much like Jesus’ life. This conviction should challenge us to do better, to live lives worthy of being called the same same as the saints, to never be satisfied with a faith relegated to a moment at the altar.

At the very least, it should make us think seriously about whether or not the word “Christian” accurately describes us.

Being radical is absolutely how we are called to live, but we can’t be radical and live lives no different than the rest of the world.

To do so, turns both Jesus and his gospel into nothing more than a bad joke.

Grace and peace,

Zack Hunt

A big thanks to everyone that submitted posts for our Open Mic Week!

We really appreciate all of the submissions, not to mention the help covering our tails while we’re out of town.

We’ve got some great posts to share with you that we think you’re really going to like.

S0, without further ado, here’s the lineup of our guest posters for the week of June 4th-8th.

Monday, June 4th

Ryan Pugh – “I’m A Christian, I Don’t Like Worship Songs”

Tuesday, June 5th

Dawn Wyatt – “Girl Power”

Wednesday, June 6th

Daniel Elliot – “Who Are We To Doubt?”

Thursday, June 7th

Nate Pruitt – “House of Prayer”

Friday, June 8th

Very Special Surprise Guest Post

Open Mic Week is next week, so check back with us then for some great guest posts!

Although, you could continue to visit between now and then as we would appreciate the company.

Happy Memorial Day from The American Jesus!!

Here’s a song we hope you’ll be singing all day….

 
For what seems like an eternity, Christians have debated the issue of creationism vs. evolution and it doesn’t seem like we’re any closer to a resolution.

Until now.

As I was sitting in the church which hosted my wife’s commencement ceremony for medical school, I discovered that one of the church’s parishioners has solved this aged old debate.

It was so simple. Why didn’t we see it?!

All we needed to do to end the debate was rip out the first 2 chapters of Genesis and we don’t have to deal with the controversy anymore!

Brilliant.

First off, apologies for no new posts the past couple of days.

As it turns out, time and electricity are important components of blogging, neither of which I had access to as I was driving from Tennessee to Connecticut, moving into our new place in Connecticut, then driving back yesterday to Tennessee.

Fun times.

But I’m back now, at least for a few days, and I’ve found a story I think you’ll find amusing.

While technically this story is about a British pastor, it’s also about Elvis and few things are more American than Elvis.

In the Bible, called God the prophets to do many strange things, but it look’s like God is stepping up the strange calling game for the 21st century.

According to this former Church of England pastor, God has called him to leave the pastorate in order to become some sort of Elvis-impersonating-travelling-evangelist.

Makes sense to me.

Church of Elvis: Vicar quits to become an Elvis Presley impersonator

We’re still looking for guest posters for our Open Mic Week, June 4th-8th.

But the deadline to send us your submission is today!!

If you’re a blogger, a writer, or you just have something interesting to say and want us to help you share it with the world, then check out the submission guidelines below and send us something by TONIGHT @ 11:59pm.

We’ll select the best posts and announce our guest posters next Monday.

This is your chance to take over our blog. So, don’t be shy. Send us something good to post….or send us something terrible along with a basket full of cash and we’ll definitely make sure you’ve got a spot reserved for Open Mic Night.

Yeah, that’s how we roll.

OPEN MIC WEEK GUIDELINES*

1. Submissions must be sent via email as an attachment to americanjesusblog@gmail.com

2. Please include with your submission any relevant blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. information you would like us to link to should your post be selected

3. Submissions should be no longer than 1,000 words

4. Formatting, punctuation, grammar and good writing matter. So make sure you proofread your post before you submit it.

5. Submissions should connect in some way to the theme of American Christianity

6. Hate speech and profanity will not be posted. Sorry we’re family friendly.

7. All submissions must be emailed to us not later than 11:59 CST on May 21st

8. We will select the 5 submissions we like the most and announce who the guest posters will be, along with when their posts will go up, on Monday, May 28th

9. No complaining if your post is not selected. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t good or that we didn’t like it. To quote a response I’ve received myself from editors, it probably just didn’t “meet our editorial needs.”

*If you’ve have any questions about Open Mic Week, please don’t hesitate to ask us in the comments section of this post.

In the past, theology was relegated almost exclusively to the realm of academia.

Men of means (and only men), who could afford an education, devoted themselves to rigorous academic study of the faith. Their insights shaped everything that everyone in the church believed, from the Pope all the way down to the common, illiterate farmer.

Like that farmer, your average person in those days could neither read nor write. Even if you put a Bible in front of them, they wouldn’t be able to read it. So, almost everyone relied on these learned men to tell them what they needed to believe and do in order to be a Christian.

Then came that pesky guy named Luther and his Reformation buddies, who thought that everyone should be able to read the Bible for themselves.\

Crazy liberal.

With that radical shift in the history of the church, theology came to the masses. After the advent of the Reformation, and so long as they could read, people everywhere could read the Bible for themselves and begin to do their own theological reflection

Which is a great thing.

But as Uncle Ben once told a young Peter Parker, “with great power, comes great responsibility”.

And I think that is where we as the church have dropped the ball.

When theology was confined to the realm of academia it was a highly structured thing, guided by tradition, reason, and, above all, scripture. Certainly, there was much in the theology department that needed rethinking, but in the 500 years since the Reformation, our theology, generally speaking, has become reckless.

We are guided today more by our gut feelings than any sort of structure, tradition, reason, or even scripture. And “why not?”, we cry. We are created in the image of God! How could our God given emotions lead us astray?

Perhaps because we suffer from a fallen, sinful nature that seeks to put ourselves in the place of God?

But I digress.

There is no arena in which is theology has become more reckless, unstructured, and not thought out than the world of social media. And in that world, Facebook reigns supreme as the wild, wild west of theology.

Facebook theology (as I like to call it since neither “Facebook/Twitter theology” nor “social media theology” have quite the same ring to them), in my experience, can be broken down into a few basic approaches, all of which attempt to do the impossible: sum up complex theological/social/ethical issues in a quick one-liner.

Simply put, Facebook theology is theology without thinking.

Now, I’m sure there are more ways to practice Facebook theology, but these are the ones I have observed.

1. The false dichotomy - This one can be best summed up in the viral video “Why I love Jesus, but hate religion.” There may be several different issues at play in a particular issue, but we’re too lazy (or naive) to deal with them. So, we break everything down into 2 opposing camps. Choose our camp, you get to go to heaven, choose the other and you’re going to hell. Like it or not, few things in life are as black and white as we want them to be.

2. The witty one liner – I must confess. I am often guilty of this one. After all, nothing makes an opposing position look more ridiculous than sarcasm. However, continually tossing out lines like “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” or ” Jesus had two dads and he turned out fine” don’t exactly help the conversation and in the end, can end up making us look more ridiculous than the opponents we’re trying to embarrass.

3. It sounds nice, so it must be true- This particular tenet predates Facebook by a long shot. But being people guided more by our gut than our brains, this particular theological approach can be particularly effective. Ironically, though, this tenet may be one of the most destructive. If someone posts that their loved one was just killed in a car accident, telling them that “it was all part of God’s will” is pretty much the worst comment imaginable. Just like hell, the road to being hurtful is often paved with good intentions.

4. Rip a verse out of the Bible – Is there any more powerful weapon in our theological arsenal than quoting out of context Bible verses? We can literally make them say anything we want. Which, of course, makes them perfect for Facebook. Just got a new car? Post a verse about God’s blessings. Mad at a co-worker? There’s some great verses about vengeance against enemies. Or maybe you just want to destroy your opponents with a single theological grenade. You can have your pick from any number of verses in the Bible that, by themselves, will instantaneously (at least in your own eyes) annihilate your opponent’s theological, political, or ethical position. That’s not to say you shouldn’t post Bible verses on Facebook, but can we agree to at least not do so in attempt to prove a point or right a perceived wrong?

5. The song lyric – This one is really a bookend to “it sounds nice, so it must be true.” That’s not to say that there’s not some great theology in the church’s hymnody. There is. But when you post “You are the famous one, famous one. Great it your name in all the earth,” I’m not sure if you’re talking about Jesus or Brad Pitt.

6. The “look how smart I am” book quote – Congratulations. You can read. Welcome to the educated elite. Now, once again, I have been guilty of practicing this tenet of Facebook theology as well. However, when we decide to quote people can we first 1)make sure they actually said it, 2)make sure they are actually saying what we think they’re saying, and 3)make sure we actually know what they’re talking about before we post the quote?

7. Something patriotic – Nothing gets a global church more fired up for unity than telling everyone you know that “America is God’s chosen nation!” [insert sarcasm font] Of course, things get even more fun when we find quotes from the founding fathers which happen to mention God and which, not so coincidentally, support the position of our particular political party. I’m sure that Jesus loves Americans, but he loves the rest of the world too. So can we please stop using patriotism as a litmus test for the faith?

8. Utter nonsense that’s so unintelligible that it must be a deep thought – This might be one of my favorite tenets. Apparently, most of us fashion ourselves as philosophers, which can be rather entertaining when you come across a status like “God’s essence marinates in our inner being, transcending us into beings of holy light who breath out love as we…” Wait, what? If you absolutely must use your Facebook status to wax poetically about your faith, please do yourself a favor and keep it simple.

Some of these tactics, of course, are less harmful than others. (Although, I often wish that being tacky was listed as the 11th commandment.)

However, social media, while a wonderful tool, has the ability to spread bad theology at an alarming rate. Bad ideas and speculative claims that otherwise might have been ignored, can quickly go viral with the click of a mouse doing untold damage, not just to the church and her theology, but to real, living, breathing people.

As the church which claims to be the Body of Christ, we are responsible for sharing the truth of the gospel with the world. This isn’t a responsibility we should take lightly, nor is it one we should allow to be hijacked by our own gut feelings and emotions.

Sharing our thoughts and ideas about the faith online isn’t a bad thing. However, we must take caution and remember that if we are serious about the issues we claim to be so passionate about, then we must honor them by not reducing their, often times, immense complexity down to a one liner solution.

The tough questions of our day deserve honest and thoughtful answers, answers which won’t be found in a simple Facebook status.

Grace and peace,

Zack Hunt