“Jesus is Lord over all or He isn’t Lord at all.”
Heard that one before?
Yeah, me too.
Funny thing is, I usually hear it from Americanized Evangelicals who rather emphatically do not believe that Jesus is Lord over all sorts of things – like politics, economics, business, art, law, games, sports, civil government, and children’s education right here and now in “the real world” – while still strangely insisting that Jesus really is “Lord” over…something…
…sort of…
…somewhere…
…in a “spiritual sense”, of course…
He’s definitely Lord over something somewhere “out there” in some “spiritual realm” or way off in the far flung future or in their church buildings, prayer closets, or precious little hearts.
Yeah, He’s definitely Lord over those things…
…but He’s absolutely not Lord over their children’s education right here and now.
Or civil government right here and now.
Or law and science and art right here and now.
Oh no, Jesus most definitely isn’t Lord over any of those things.
Which means what then, exactly, according to their own goofy little toothless slogan?
Yep, you guessed it: Jesus isn’t Lord at all.
This Jesus who isn’t Lord over law, politics, civil government, art, education, economics and business is not really Lord at all. He’s just another phony savior. Just another pretend god. Just another man-made fiction; an idol to enable men to act as their own little lords over each of these realms while claiming some sort of fidelity to a higher power.
That’s the cold, brutal truth made plain by their dismissal of Christ as Lord in (legal/political/artistic/educational/economic) practice while claiming Him as “Lord” with their lips. That’s the ugly reality made crystal clear to anyone paying any attention at all to their glaring and wildly unbiblical inconsistency when it comes to defining and applying the concept of Christ’s lordship.
But who cares about consistency, right?
Who needs coherence?
Who wants a Jesus that is really Lord?
As in: Lord over all.
Like the catchy little phrase says.
Who want’s that Jesus?
Definitely not America.
Definitely not “We the People”.
And certainly not most American “Christians”.
Nope, “We the People” want a nice little Jesus who is “Lord” over…whatever doesn’t get in the way of what we want right here and now in “the real world”.
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We want a Jesus who respects our “right” to openly worship any god we like; our “right” to define marriage, family, and even gender however we like; our “right” to produce and consume porn; our “right” to define the role of civil government any way we like; our “right” to murder our own children for convenience; and our “right” to satanic/Marxist constructs like Social Security and public schools.
That’s the kind of Jesus “We the People” are into.
That’s the kind of “Lord” we want.
We don’t want the Lord implied in the “Jesus is Lord over all or He isn’t Lord at all” line. Not at all.
We hate that Lord.
We don’t want the Jesus who is reconciling all corrupted things in heaven and on earth, invisible and visible, to Himself by the power of His work on the cross as recorded in Colossians 1:15-20:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
We don’t want the Jesus who commands and equips His people with His Spirit and His Word so that they can take every political, artistic, economic and legislative thought (and thereby every political, artistic, economic and legislative action) completely captive to Him as recorded in 2 Corinthians 10:5:
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ . . .
And we definitely don’t want the Jesus who commands and equips His people to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that He has commanded as recorded in Matthew 28: 18-20 (also known as “The Great Commission”):
. . . Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.. . “
This Jesus – this true Lord – is the last person or thing we want in America.
We just want the slogan, man.
We want the prop.
We want what we’ve deluded ourselves into believing is some sort of valid cover for our open rebellion in every area of our lives in practice here and now in “the real world”…a real world that is completely defined, owned and held together by the very Jesus we reject as Lord in legal/economic/artistic/educational practice while blasphemously claiming to love Him with our lips.
We want the catch phrase and the claim to Christianity without actually, you know, submitting to the actual Christ as actual King in actual practice in every actual area of our actual lives.
We want Him to rule over His kingdom – whatever it is – safely sequestered way over yonder and well out of our way, so that we can rule the “other kingdom” – our kingdom – here in the details of our everyday lives in what we like to call “the real world”.
And “We the people” are getting exactly what we want.
The Christ being claimed as Lord by the great majority of American “Christians” who will not have Him as Lord in practice is even now grinding their idols under His heel. He’s smashing them to bits under His perfect, purposeful judgment.
Every phony Jesus will be exposed and brought to ruin.
And every culture built upon a phony Jesus will be exposed and brought to ruin.
This is how things work in His creation.
This is how things go according to His Gospel-fueled Great Commission.
This is how history unfolds as His Kingdom conquers every culture, realm, and concept in His creation, all by His grace, all for His glory, and all to the eternal benefit of His people.
And we should’t want it any other way.
May “We the people” repent accordingly, while there is yet time…
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Stupid Elephant Tricks – The Other Progressive Party’s War on Christianity takes a painful but much needed look at how Christ-less “conservatism” has captivated Christians and co-opted them into helping march the culture ever deeper into darkness:
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The Beginning of Knowledge: Christ as Truth in Apologetics is an approachable, easy to read introduction to Christ-centered apologetics:
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Apathetic Christianity: The Zombie Religion of American Churchianity explores the tragic true horror story of all-American dead religion masquerading as Christianity:
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On Education is a compilation of some of the most provocative and compelling Fire Breathing Christian articles on the subject of children’s education:
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There Is No “God-Given Right” To Worship False Gods is a compilation of some of the most provocative Fire Breathing Christian articles on the subject of America’s embrace of a satanic approach to religious liberty:
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Fire Breathing Christians – The Common Believer’s Call to Reformation, Revival, and Revolution is the book that first presented the FBC mission to apply the Gospel-fueled Great Commission in every realm of God’s creation:
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An alternate white cover version of Fire Breathing Christians is available:
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There is also an alternate black cover version of Fire Breathing Christians:
Finally, here are a few good intro/reminder links for those of you who are new to Fire Breathing Christian and curious about exactly what’s goin’ on ’round here:
What are you, some kind of [insert label here] or something?!
What’s with that shark-fishie graphic thing?
Intro to Fire: The Power and Purpose of the Common Believer
When the Bible gets hairy. (Or: Is it right for men to have long hair?)
And especially this one: Never forget that apart from God’s grace you and I are complete morons.
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