In 1963, three years before I was born and two years after the US sent its first combat troops into Vietnam, CS Lewis would write, “The greatest evils in the world will not be carried out by men with guns, but by men in suits sitting behind desks.” More than sixty years later, his words have proven not only prophetic but as timely as ever. The modern world no more wiser and America no more nearer to God or we the people.
My heart breaks when I see all the suffering our government funds with our tax dollars at home and across God’s good world. A brute power that would shock Washington and Lincoln. An abuse of power that should shock all Americans. Atrocities that God will account for while dispensing justice for all.
I once was blind, but now I see. I once lived in the darkness, but now I see the Light. I once put my faith in men alone including myself, but now my faith is in God alone. God the source of all life; the source of all love. God is love.
On a dark desert night in February 2022, I humbled my repentant heart and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Up until that moment, I had spent my entire adulthood believing only in myself and the lies I told myself. That my career in pharmaceutical marketing was making the world a better place. That our government and “trusted” institutions would never deliberately harm other people including fellow citizens. That my life was only about my success in accumulating stuff regardless of the consequences to myself or other people or our planet.
Boy (and girl), was I wrong, really, really wrong. Awoken from my spiritual slumber, I realized that I had built my life on the sand instead of the rock of ages. My accumulation of years in this life revealing a universal truth of the material realm, everything in this world is fleeting including myself. Even the mightiest wave will eventually crash and disappear, irrespective of its ferocious power; gone in a blink of an eye.
I had forsaken my soul, my spirit; even my heart. Stuff became my sole salvation. I wasted my vital adult years running from God, like a pissed off prophet vomited from a whale. My God I had forsaken for treasures that rust as opposed to the only treasure that remains, love.
Even still, my heart struggles with not getting sucked back into the passing politics of the day or the allures of this old world. Falsities that trapped me into believing the world is right versus left or D versus R when it’s really about evil’s timeless temptation to manipulate us, so we evade doing unto others as we would want done to us.
Like continuing to allow politicians to protect powerful people who sexually exploited countless children and probably still do. Like continuing to fund the genocide in Palestine or the destruction of other peoples across the world. Like continuing to believe and elect politicians that are beholden to something other than love, justice, mercy and humility.
For me it’s not America first, but God first; foremost and forever. No one can serve two masters. Love, longs for loyalty, because love is always about faithful fidelity.
This is why transparency and trust are the bedrock of love. This is why those in power always fear truth because truth is the trauma of all tyrants. This is why we need to break the “us vs them” death spiral because when we hate other humans we walk in darkness. Love only lives in the light and in that Light all lies die.
Peace. God loves you.
If you want to learn more about how my spiritual awakening came to be, you can read further about it in my memoir Finding God in Vegas: A Gen X Spiritual Awakening, available on Amazon and across all platforms in print or electronic or audio.