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My friends went home and left me in the darkness. After what seemed a too long time, my Father came to get me. In the same way, God comes to guide us when the fire we strike in error does not enlighten, and only throws destructive heat. As a Church, we need to be wary of joining political causes. Many of us stupidly try to capture the Spirit and use that divine person for our own purposes. Driven by dark spirits, segments of the Church try their versions of holding a bag and whistling. They whistle, sing loudly, dance, ride motorcycles and even use smoke and mirrors. None of these things shall endure unless driven by the Spirit. The flames felt first at Pentecost were a product of faith poured out as given by God, and are not kindled independently by human beings. The early Church knew the Holy Spirit was theirs… but they had trouble describing that Spirit to those who wanted to know God. You see, for all of us, chasing the Spirit is a problem. What do the works of the Spirit look like? How do you know when and where to look? That’s where that Creed comes in. Now… I’ve read several books, some by prominent Lutheran scholars, who have tried to explain the Spirit. Many have ended up blathering nonsense in the later chapters of their books. They mistakenly try to totally describe the snipe they hunt. Many of these supposed learned men and women have written nonsense about the Spirit’s presence. In doing so, they deceived many Christians. They wrote about the human talents of beauty, music and art as the fullest expressions of the Spirit. Following their course, however, we often find the Church ends up wrongly worshipping trees, musical groups, fads, harmful lifestyles, or holding tightly onto weird paintings of Jesus. Some make videos of violent political demonstrations on YouTube, falsely claiming the Spirit is working on behalf of the poor, but illegal immigrant. |
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Black Robe Regiment-Allegany– June 2025 Editorial |
