Laodicea

I am not sure how to respond to your last post. I can feel the anger wafting off of the page... and it is justified. Yes, we live in the church of Laodicea. But I thought we were agreed on that, that the "church" in the West (America, Canada, Europe - and much of the entrenched Catholic church) was, in fact, the church of Laodicea, and not really part of the Church of Christ at all. Were we not? Had I implied otherwise?

Revelation 3: 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked,

Is that NOT a description of the Western "church"? Can you NOT find a hundred sites calling for a separation of churchianity and Christianity, people who no longer even call themselves Christians, prefering to call themselves worshipers of Jesus? Do you not know that there is a very great deal of conservative anger at exactly the same target, the visible and disgustingly lukewarm "church" in America, in Canada, in Britain... are we not agreed here?

You say, "The church should do more about the poor" but *who is the church*? The church is the body of believers. It is Layla, it is Hearth. It is the churches that *we* belong to, the people that we can influence. My church DOES feed the hungry, clothe the naked, pray for the sick. And yes, it also takes a stand on the political issues that you deem inappropriate for a church to mix itself with. Why can we not be brethren, knowing that we all have battles to fight, knowing that we are meant to both be light and salt - to show what is wrong and be uncompromising in that effort as we are also love and compassion?

On the one side you say we shouldn't mix ourselves in politics, then on the other you embrace socialism over capitalism, and tell me what a bad government I have. You're holding me accountable for things I have no control over - and you're angry. You ask me why I should want other countries to embrace Pax Americana when I don't trust our government. Well, I don't think they should. Our desire to be the world's policeman, to go and make people play nicely by force of arms is one of the good intentions that has paved Hell's Highway. We support our troops - and we know that we sent them there (the PEOPLE sent them there) because we thought we could right a wrong. The reason - the exact reason - I do not trust our leaders is because they have failed to lead us in righteousness. They lie about motivations, they steal, they cheat... and then our servicemembers, who left their homes because they wanted to do the right thing, they are the ones who die. The LEADERS are getting something out of the deal... I am disgusted with Hillary Clinton, "Human rights don't take precedence over the economy"... and you ask me to trust her? Fah! They LIE TO US every day - and no one knows all the lies save Jesus. Governments will pass away. Buildings will crumble. Souls are eternal. The powerful, of whatever stripe, do not care about individual souls, but our Master does.

Do you want me to tell you what government I trust? I trust Jesus sitting on the Throne of the world. Save that? I trust my husband. I trust my *local* police. I trust the individual people. I don't trust leaders, they are corrupt. Or they're misled. We are fast falling into fascism, where "I was ordered to do it" is going to come right back around at us. If I thought I had to spend 10 more years on this planet, the direction that things are very quickly going, I'd be on my knees begging my husband to relocate us somewhere sustainable and hard to find. The conservative Christians who do not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture are doing just that. So are some non-Christians.

This is the definition of anti-christ (lower case, the multiple antichrists, not the AC himself): 1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of antichrist, of which ye have heard that it should come, and even now is already in the world. That definition lets out both Obama and GWB, both of whom have confessed Christ as their savior. They'd have to repudiate that to make either of them an antichrist.

The definition I was speaking of as far as peacemaker? The AntiChrist will declare/negotiate a seven-year peace treaty with Israel and "many nations". It does appear, in Revelation 6, that he comes forth to conquor... but he doesn't seem to do much slaughter up front. It's also clear, from Revelation, that he will come from Europe, not the United States. (In other words, Arnold goes home and maybe he can be the AC, but neither Obama nor GWB are qualified).

So, again... since I am instructed to keep watch for the day of the Lord, since I am instructed to keep busy, serving him and not going to sleep at the stove just because He isn't here right now... why are you angry that I'm watching? Am I neglecting my duties because I watch? Do you believe that of me? Come to my local church, and tell my pastor that because he's preaching Daniel this month, that he's not taking care of any poor people, that his eyes are closed to new ways to serve God and the community. I'm sure he could use a good laugh. Would you like a copy of my tax receipts, to see where I send my donations, and how much? I realise you were not trying to be personal, that you were angry at the "American Evangelical Church" But that's the point... that church is a fiction - if Hearth and Layla are not the church, then who is? *I* am an American Evangelical Christian, yes... because I am American, because I am evangelical, because I am a Christian. But what I really am is a servant to the Most High.

As far as crying wolf ... if the Jews at the time of Christ had been paying attention (and many of them were - do you know how many of the Jews in Jerusalem converted? I don't), they would have known that Jesus was the Messiah. They chucked Him because His first kingdom was the kingdom of the heart and He did not bring them physical victory. They *did* know that it was time, and if they'd believed the Bible and not their assumptions, they'd have converted.

I guess people say this person or that person could be the AC because of the same reason that I watch the sky - I am not a citizen of Earth, and I'm homesick. If the AC was here, that would mean at most I'd have seven years to hold out (that's assuming the Rapture didn't happen - I'm with my church and don't believe if we could *really* spot the AC that the Trib wouldn't have started). I know from our private conversations that you're homesick too. So? Look to the skies, look to Jesus, and keep your hands (and mine) busy. Isn't that what we're supposed to do?

I can understand why you're sick of the Laodicean church of the West. But I don't get why you're annoyed with my desire to go Home, so long as it doesn't interfere with my service while I am here. (Nor do I understand why anyone who truly believed in the imminent return wouldn't be getting busy cleaning up their own lives and abiding in Christ so they could bear every bit of fruit possible before the end). I can understand why you don't care for American policies - I can even get why you might be disgusted at the fact that the "American Evangelical church" was behind GWB rather than Obama, because your priority is for social justice. I do get it. But why do you assume that I'm behind this or that I wish to argue a position that I don't hold? I neither wish to criticize nor support my brethren in Christ who have different priorities. I can only argue my *own* positions.

Ask me a specific question about my specific position and we can work through things... we have gotten too broad a brush, and there's not enough paint to go around.