children are again learning leader worship

Here’s something to consider. I don’t agree with the positions of all the folks who are posting these videos (and there are LOTS like them on Youtube and around the ‘net) but we have not seen things quite like this before in America. We don’t yet have the “civilian militia” (brown shirts) the President referred to as a goal in one of his campaign speeches, or a nation-wide youth league, but I think that’s partly because such a thing wouldn’t fly now the way it did in the 1930′s. Not among us. Here, the work of “change” has mostly been a slow erosion of our heritage over decades of education, and the inculcation of a new ideology. All of us have been part of a sort of invisible youth league experiment since the early days of compulsory state-provided education. But enough on that. You might want to take a quick look at these:

Htiler’s children:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuMajt-qooE&feature=related (speech begins at about 3 minutes in)

Obama’s children (of course, not quite as far along yet, but getting there):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdPSqL9_mfM (the first 3 minutes or so)

(and one more:)

how to order CDs at the present time

Hello all,

This is just a heads-up for those who would like to get a hold of our music. You can hear samples from each album at the following URL:

http://myspace.com/michaelroderick/

To order any of the CDs (links to liner notes for all three are above), send an email to mrsjroderick (at) yahoo *dot* com with “CD purchase” in the subject line, and then indicate which discs you would like to purchase, and how many, along with the mailing address to which you would like them sent. We will reply to your email address with a PayPal invoice so that you can complete the purchase, and when we receive payment we will mail the discs to you! Thanks so much for supporting our ministry.

should christians be concerned about abercrombie?

I’ve returned to make a brief note because I was puzzled by an email I received yesterday. I don’t know how I got on their mailing list in the first place, but some of the issues that the AFA brings to their subscribers’ attention seem worthy of that attention, so I didn’t opt out. Here’s the subject line and main thrust of the interesting message:

Abercrombie & Fitch pitches new trashy T-shirts to America’s youth

Send mail to Abercrombie & Fitch. Ask them to pull their sexualized shirts.

The mailing goes on to describe the offensive shirts, along with some current statistics on sexually-transmitted diseases. All the while I read it, I thought, “Why would Christian families be concerned with what A&F is marketing?” What amount of letters would it take, in the first place, to get a world clothing corporation run by persons who have no interest in Christianity or Judeo-Christian morality to stop selling what the rest of the world culture and corporations are already selling (sex and titillation, in various forms and guises)? What motive could one possibly present to the company that makes any sense from a worldly perspective?

Of course, the futility of the idea was not the main source of irritation. Ultimately I was confused because the AFA seems to imply by their mailing that children in Christian families would like to be outfitted with clothes made by Abercrombie, but will not be able to because of the current marketing scheme. I didn’t think I’d have to say this out loud, but persons who want to spend five to twenty times the money necessary for clothing in order to be outfitted with the most stylish and up-to-date duds produced by a company with no history of moral conservativism (to put it mildly) do not possess a Biblical world-view and are far from Christ, at least in regard to their understanding of personal appearance and godly stewardship. What’s more, writing letters won’t stop such “Christians” from going out of their way to purchase those kinds of clothes.

If helping Christians to retain the option to be outfitted in Abercrombie gear with a “clean” conscience is not part of the motivation behind the AFA message, then the only reason why they could have sent it is because they think that we, the Letter-Writers, will help stem the tide of moral corruption in the West by prohibiting the manufacture of t-shirts that plainly suggest a world-view and a view of sex which has already been embraced by those who choose to purchase and wear the said apparel. Do they imagine that Christians can have an impact on the culture in this way? The immoral and idolaters will continue in their immorality, whether or not they are able to overtly display it on their torsos. They don’t need censored t-shirts. They don’t even need Christian t-shirts. They need circumcised hearts. People who are searching for truth and fulfillment in recreational sex and lasciviousness need Christians to come to them and tell them the truth about the destructiveness of their sin, the bankruptcy of their souls, and the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. I believe it is possible for Christians to have an impact on this world and on the culture of the West, but if we are to do so, our approach cannot be a thinly veiled censorship campaign. What we need is something positive emerging from the Christian community – artifacts and institutions which reflect the glory and centrality of the transcendent God. We have had more than enough attempts at slapping the wrists of the world and its servants, trying to get them to sell us worldly products we can feel OK about buying; we have seen far too many “moral”, censored, and sanitized bad copies of worldly trends, entertainments, diversions, and products. If we are to show the world that Christianity is more than a worldly life lived amongst a set of contradictory propositions one has presumably assented to, we Christians must be about the business of rejecting the products of a godless world-view altogether, arranging our priorities according to the Scripture in our outward living (not just in our heads), and positively creating structures, institutions, art and (for lack of a better word) products that are conceptually founded on what Ken Myers would call a “Christian consciousness,” or a fully-integrated world-and-life-view. Growing up in the affluent West, we in the churches have deep commitments to presuppositions about life and living that have nothing to do with the Scriptures. When we share the gospel with persons who are not committed Christians, they often (and rightly) ask us, “How is your life any different from mine because you say you follow Jesus?” How does being a justified sinner change our lives? In what sense are we separated from the world? Have we separated at all?

The AFA mailing may indicate that many who call themselves followers of Christ are in a lamentable condition. Whether or not this is so, all I can write with confidence is that, paraphrasing Paul in Romans 5 and 11, pressing the Law upon the stony heart of the world, while it may prevent a vicious outbreak for a moment, only serves to increase the transgression. We bring people to the Law of God to convict them of sin, not for the purpose of censoring or improving their conduct (mainly), but that they may begin by God’s grace to see their need for reconciliation with God. This is good. But corporations are neither convicted nor redeemed. People are. Corporations, as such, cannot be shown the glory of a different culture or relationally led away from sin that ensnares and toward the freedom of another way of living and being. People can.

What, then, are we Christians showing to people? Do we have a place to which we can lead them? Do we worship an infinite-transcendent, glorious and almighty joy-inspiring God to whom we can direct them? If their hearts are regenerated and they do come to follow Christ, and they begin asking the “How Should We Then Live?” questions, will we continue to model for them (and initiate them into) a sort of knock-off life? Will we stop supporting the manufacturers, writers, artists, musicians and others who are in the business of the sub-standard, years-behind, superficially-sanctified, cliche and banal, and who are suggesting to us by implication that the Christian life is, just like the worldly life, one of isolation, quick fixes, mass consumption and virtually non-stop entertainment? More importantly, will we start something else in order to show the modern church that an alternative exists? What kind of lives did God have in mind for the crowning glory of His created order?