Pass Over Us

A blessed Passover to my Jewish friends. Tonight, on Holy Thursday, our Lord dines with his friends and is betrayed.

Before I get to that, a word of thanks. Many of you support me through a subscription. I’ve tried to give you some value for that. You get my show notes, exclusive interviews, videos of the show, etc. But I get some value too. Specifically, as a conservative talk show host who talks about faith pretty openly and explicitly, you make it harder for others to cancel me.

I’ve had people pressure advertisers to drop me and stations to drop me. As my show grows in national syndication, the pressure to stop writing theologically minded pieces during Holy Week and to stop doing, for example, my Good Friday Show, grows. Already, as I expand, I encounter people who explicitly tell me some stations won’t take me because I discuss faith or do a Good Friday Show.

Your subscription means I can keep paying staff, satellite costs, office rent, etc., and not have to worry about abandoning who I am or what I believe for the sake of growth. I cannot thank you enough.

More bluntly, for every paid subscriber I have, there are ten people who are reading but not paying. I hope some of you in that camp might consider converting to a paid subscription with the button below.

Now, let me be explicit in all the writings of this week.

A lot of sinners are going to Heaven. They have put their trust in Christ, they have repented, but they’re still sinners. I am one of them. But I am more and more mindful of those who proclaim Christ and live in conflict with Him who might not see eternity with Christ.

Online, I see a growing body of people who claim Christ who think Christians must fight against the left with the same venom and bile the left deploys against us. But you cannot do that. Turning the other cheek is not easy, but Christ says we must.

I see people who hate their neighbors, or say they can’t love their neighbor, but at least won’t hate their neighbor. That’s not good enough. Christ commands you to love your neighbor. He never said it would be easy.

Judas served with Jesus, saw his miracles, and betrayed Jesus. Your neighbor might do the same to you. And if that happens, rejoice, for you will be made more Christ-like.

American Christians have had a good time and a good run. It’s going to be harder to be a Christian, and it will pit us against people who say they are believers, but you’d be hard-pressed to see their faith in their daily lives.

Early Christians upended the Roman Empire by, frankly, behaving exactly the opposite of the Romans. They did not do to the Romans as the Romans did to them. They did not fight the Romans as the Romans fought them. They smiled, they were of good cheer, they took care of their community, they loved their neighbors who were persecuting them, and they lived quiet lives relying on God more than government to take care of them. They still faced relentless persecution in parts of the Empire.

We are Americans. But we are also Christians. I think we have to ask ourselves, however, where does our American-ness end and our Christian-ness begin? There will come a time that we might have to choose between the America we love and the Christ we worship. I hope we all choose Christ. This world is temporary. He is forever.

Beware of your idols, including those in politics. If you are behaving like the people of the world, you just might be of the world and the things of the world hate the things of God. Judas was of the world and looked by all accounts to be of God right up until that betrayal.

You can be angry but do not sin. And even in your anger, you must love your neighbor. I did not say that. The God of all creation said it. May His wrath pass over us and may we enjoy Him forever

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