How Public Schools Dumb Down Our Children…and Worse

Perhaps one hidden blessing of the current pandemic is that our public schools were shut down which allowed many parents to consider alternate methods of education. I personally would not let my child anywhere near a public school—at least during their formative years.

Will we follow Holy Spirit or our confirmation bias?

One of the challenges for us as followers of Jesus during this pandemic is maintaining a vibrant faith while not being able to meet in the normal way. This is why I believe God is re-training us during this season to walk from rest. (There’s no social distancing with the indwelling Holy Spirit!)  And we see the barometer for our vibrancy when we take an  honest look at the condition of our heart.

The Social Dilemma

As an quick addendum of my last post, “Free Speech versus the Thought Police,” I wanted to make you aware of the 2020 Netflix original documentary, “The Social Dilemma.” Here’s the video trailer description: “We tweet, we like, and we share— but what are the consequences of our growing dependence on social media? As digital platforms increasingly become a lifeline to stay connected, Silicon Valley insiders reveal how social media is reprogramming civilization by exposing what’s hiding on the other side of your screen.” 

Free speech versus the new Thought Police

It seems more and more countries around the world are pushing back on Big Tech giants Facebook and Twitter, the new Thought Police, who think they have more power to control free speech than governments. I heartily applaud Australia, India, Hungary, and Poland for standing up to these modern-day monopolistic robber barons who make huge fortunes selling our data on their “free” platforms (you’re not their customer, you’re their product!). But why isn’t the United States following suit since these self-appointed arbiters of free speech come from our very shores? Why do we continue to protect them with legislation instead (U.S. Code 230)? The whole thing is just insane to me.

True Power

Everything today is about power. But we seem to want the powerless kind—through control, clever manipulation, deceit, bullying, political factions, etc. For example, as the Time Magazine article admitted (that I talked about here), “Every attempt to interfere with the proper outcome of the election was defeated.” Democracy was saved…for one-party rule. But all of this is the opposite of God’s kind of power.

Facilitating the discovery of Truth

Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in your life is the day you were born and the day you find out why.” Finding out why ultimately leads to discovering the truth about who we are. It’s this truth that frees us. It’s our master blueprint. And when Jesus came, He not only accurately showed us the truth about God, but also this truth about ourselves.

Let’s party like it’s 1984!

“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.” (Orwell, 1984). We had an interesting conversation about the destruction of words over at Insanitybytes22’s blog with her post, “The Word of the Day is Fortify.” You should check that out. I will continue my thoughts about it here. Of course, George Orwell was wrong about one thing in predicting his dystopian future. He was 37 years too early.

The Revelation of Resurrection Power…IN US!

I talked last time about the invitation into  God’s Eternal life-flow which not only allows intimate communion with Him 24/7—no distance or separation—but also releases His grace, love, and total well-being into our souls. This time I want to look at how the revelation of God’s resurrection power not only dismantles fear but also obliterates every aspect of death in our lives!

Enter into His Eternal Life-flow!

I encouraged us last time to arise, take up our bed and walk—to prophesy to our own “dead bones” and live as we enter into a new season. I thought it would be good to review what this means. It has very much to do with the promise of life to us found in Jesus Christ, available to us 24/7. We cannot afford to let circumstances dictate our quality of life, for our life is Christ’s very own life-flow to us and through us. This is the Gospel—the good news that brings great joy! But if we don’t understand this, it won’t bring us the joy intended.

Arise, take up your bed and walk!

We know full well the negative effects the Covid pandemic has had on our health, our relationships, and our economy, but do we know about the spiritual effects? What spiritual forces have also been at work to separate and isolate us and make us lose our confidence and sense of identity? More importantly, how is God using this to set us up for a phenomenal 2021?