I am once again in the midst of one of the divine conflations God pulls on me from time to time. I’ve written previously about how God will take elements from disparate sources and bring them together to reveal a new way of seeing something. This time the sources are the book I have mentioned several times, N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope, a novel by James Lee Burke, and an article in Imprimis, the Hillsdale College publication.
The object of this present conflation first entered my
thinking back in graduate school when a professor assigned the book by Ronald
Sider, Rich
Christians In An Age of Hunger. It struck me then that there is a
disconnect between our profession of love toward our neighbors and our
incredible wealthiness compared to the poverty of many of our global
neighbors. Sider suggested some radical responses to this disparity, and he “walked
the talk” by radically changing his own lifestyle. I will admit to feeling
slightly guilty at the time, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything
substantive. As a struggling grad student and Christian school teacher raising
three children, I didn’t have great excesses of anything, but I realized that
even in my straitened circumstances, I was wealthier that ninety-plus percent
of the world’s people.
My regular readers may be tired of hearing my references to
Wright’s book, but it has again struck a chord that rings true and makes me
think I should do something about it, although I’m not sure what to do. While
calling the church to bring justice as part of its mission, Wright accuses much
of the modern church of baptizing free-market capitalism as God’s own business.
I have always believed that the American economic system has proven to be the
most successful and egalitarian way to do business. I am not saying it is
without its flaws. The term “robber barons” was an apt description of many
powerful men in the early industrial era, and the virtual indenture of miners
to “the company” highlight the major flaw: fallen men will always find ways to abuse
any social structure.
The novel by Burke, Wayfaring Stranger, chronicles
the rise of a poor southern farm boy to the upper echelons of American
business. As in all his stories, Burke reveals the worst in human nature pitted
against his protagonist’s effort to remain true to good, if not godly principles.
One of the themes of the novel is ecological destruction in service to the
almighty dollar. This leaves our hero yearning for the simpler times when the
beauty of the world was untouched by human greed. The current debate over the
Keystone Pipeline and offshore drilling would fit perfectly into Burke’s tale.
Economic progress and ecological protection are often at odds. There is no easy
solution for a principled person.
The Imprimis article by Michael Rectenwald titled “What is the Great
Reset” presents a cast of characters that would play perfectly in a Burke
novel. When the COVID 19 pandemic (so-called) gave rise to all manner of
draconian measures by governments worldwide, I began asking what possible
motivation there could be for the unwarranted restrictions. (See related posts
below.) In “Conspiracy
Theory” I suggested it was about money and power. Rectenwald exposes the
sinister (my term) forces that were behind the pandemic madness. According to
the author, the corona virus outbreak was purposely used by power brokers
behind the scenes to speed the transformation of our economic and social
structures into their utopian progressive model: the great reset.
Rectenwald provides the documentation to prove my conspiracy
theory. He adds the dimension of an economic paradigm shift to the lust for
money and power I suggested. I highly recommend Rectenwald’s
article to anyone who doubts there is a conspiracy afoot. While Wright and Burke
help me realize that something needs to be done, I refuse to subscribe to the
progressive agenda of socialism or, as Rectenwald reveals, a plan to institute,
“capitalism with Chinese characteristics —a two-tiered economy, with profitable
monopolies and the state on top and socialism for the majority below.”
Without doubt, a reset is needed. American capitalism has
run amuck. We have reached the point in our fallenness where national elections
can be rigged, tens of thousands of small businesses can be destroyed, and
personal liberty can be curtailed at the whim of political and commercial power
brokers. The reset we need is not going to come from any of our secular
institutions, however. I believe Wright is right to insist that the mission of
all believers is to begin building the kingdom of God now in preparation for
the ultimate “great reset” we know is coming in the recreation of all things according
to God’s plan of redemption.
We are living in the great in-between. Immediately after the
Fall, God promised He would set things right again. He
told Abraham, “And all families of the earth will be blessed in you.”
Israel missed being the light to the nations they were called to be; we now carry
that mandate as the heirs of Abraham and fellow
heirs with Christ. Jesus announced the coming Kingdom of God during His
earthly ministry and proclaimed the initiation of it after His resurrection
from the dead. One day soon, I hope, the Kingdom will fully come. Until then, we
labor in the already/not yet state of the Kingdom of God. (See “What
Are You Waiting For?”)
The world is far from
perfect, but we are tasked with making God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in
Heaven. The great reset is coming; we are the agents God has called to bring it.
In “Bringing
the Kingdom” I closed with this: “As Micah
said, ‘He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what
does Yahweh ask from you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your God?’ That’s how we bring the Kingdom.” That is the Great
Reset.
Related posts: Finding
God in COVID 19; The
Emperor Has No Clothes; Herd
Immunity or Incredulity
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