As Many As I Love… I Rebuke & Discipline

3 min readFeb 6, 2018

This post is a twitter thread in response to:

Good to Great?

Many upper-middle-class churches do occasional missions/service trips to resource-poor communities (e.g. #Houston18 @houstonsfirst ).

Why don’t those good engagements lead to more dialogue which leads to changes in advocating public policies which affect systemic problems?

The past few years have created some difficult choices for many conservative Christians. Trumpism hurts “TheLeft” & offers some short-term gains for a conservative platform… but at what price?

The Way of Christ is Costly

When should Christians trust Christ & his ways more than the ways & promises Mammon? If any candidate or leader is disqualified by your own standards as best you can tell after responsible research, is there really any reason to support them even against your values?

FYI, I wrote an article that starts with the case by many Christians that HRC is disqualified according to their research & applied to the test of their values. The article then asks whether you would support Lance Armstrong representing the USA in the Olympics.

My primary goal in voicing concerns is that
pragmatism over principled decisions
is defining #ChurchianityAmericana

No one is more destructive to a community than those who betray the core values of the community while claiming they are doing so for the sake of the community. Jesus loved Peter & praised him highly.

Then Peter tried to help Jesus through pragmatism.

When Peter chose the way of self-preservation over the way of the cross…

Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” — Matthew 16:23

#ChurchianityAmericana needs to be rebuked,
not unto destruction,
but for the sake of repentance & restoration.

The prodigal pragmatists should return to the Father w/o excuses.
The Father is gracious and his ways are wonderful.

Jesus offers this loving promise in Revelation 3:14ff

“The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation says: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,
18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline.

As Many As I Love… I Rebuke & Discipline

So be committed and repent. 20 Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.

As Many As I Love… I Rebuke & Discipline

21 The victor: I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also won the victory and sat down with My Father on His throne.
22 “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”