Click here for Part 2: The History of the Problem

Click here for Part 3: Understanding the Problem Biblically

The Effects of the Problem

So what?  What does it matter if we let government use Christian language to describe its efforts and goals?  So far, our discussion has been pretty theoretical.  What are the practical implications of this form of idolatry?  What difference does it make in real life?  In my understanding, there are at least 3 different ways this problem has effected the Church in real, practical ways.

First, the Church in America has largely given away its calling to the government.  From the very beginning, the People of God has been called to be a blessing to all people, especially those with special needs—the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.  It becomes a pretty logical conclusion that if, as President Bush said, America is the Light of the world, coming into the darkness, then it is America’s job to take care of those in need.  But this is the calling of the People of God, who after the gift of the Holy Spirit are never associated with one country or one ethnicity.

The People of God are called to take care of those in need in extreme ways.  We see this in the founding of the Church after Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  In Acts 2, God sends the gift of the Holy Spirit.  One of the immediate reactions or effects of receiving the Holy Spirit is provision for those in need.  In Acts 2:45, we read that when a believer was in need, others would sell what they had in order to be able to provide for their brother.  This provision extended beyond simply helping out other believers, though.  We see it in Exodus when God gives Moses the law.  When it came time to harvest, the people were to leave bits and pieces of their fields unharvested so that those who were traveling through could freely pick the “leftovers” and be able to survive their journey.  We see this again in Acts, when we read about ministries being provided for widows.

It is the job and calling of the People of God to provide for the fringes of society.  When we blur the lines between country and religion, though, we give away our calling to the government.  The government becomes the one who is expected to provide for the fringes of society, and there becomes a void where the Church used to have a calling.

A second way our problem affects the Church flows directly from the first.  When the Church gives away its calling to the government, a void is left where the Church used to have purpose.  Many times, what comes to fill the void is the goals of the government.  So not only does the Church give away its calling to the government, but the goals of the government, or at least a political party, become the goals of the Church.  The goal of the Church becomes banning gay marriage, or outlawing abortion, getting a conservative into office or at least throwing the liberals out.  How many times have we heard, “If [fill-in-the-blank] gets elected, I’m moving to Canada!”

Really?  Governmental and political goals should not run our lives to this extent.  The Church is called to so much more than this.  The Church is called to change lives.  The Church is called to care for those in need.  But again, when the Church gives away is calling, something has to be put in its place, and unfortunately, the goals of government become the goals of the Church.

The third effect flows out of the last two.  When the Church exchanges its calling for the goals of government, the People of God can no longer effectively critique the government.  Throughout the Bible, we see the People of God critiquing governmental leaders.  We see this with the prophets in the Old Testament, with Jesus in the Gospels and with the Apostles in Acts.  It is the job of the Church to critique the government and tell them when they are acting immorally or unjustly.  But when the Church becomes so intermixed with government, or with a particular party, we can no longer do that.  We become so preoccupied with getting “ our guy” elected, that when we do, we can’t critique him, because the “other guy” would be worse.  Indeed, many times elections aren’t even about getting somebody good elected; they become simply about getting the “other guy” out of office.

And when we finally do get “our guy” elected, the Church is so in-bed with him or her, we can’t critique them, mostly because we’ve just spent 2 years trying to get them elected.  If the People of God are going to retain their call to critique government, to help keep government moral and just, then we have to keep all political leaders at arm’s length, because none of them are great and they all will need to be critiqued at one point or another.

Our next post will be the last in the series, and we will discuss what can be done about all of this.   What does the solution look like?  Stay Tuned!

Click here for Part 2: The History of the Problem

Understanding the Problem Biblically

The place to start when trying to understand the Problem Biblically is with the question of idolatry.  Idolatry is most specifically and plainly laid out for us in the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:2-5a says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…”  So in its most basic form, idolatry is worshiping another god or something in the form of something created.  What is the basis for God’s ability to make these commands?  He has rescued the people out of Egyptian slavery.  God has moved on the part of the people, therefore they are to worship only him.  We see this understanding of idolatry reflected a few chapters later in Exodus 32, with the story of the golden calf.  In the story, Moses is on the mountain with God so long that the people start to wonder what happened.  They go to Aaron and have him make them an idol in the shape of a golden calf, even going so far as to say to each other, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”  (Exodus 32:4)  The people had decided to take God out of the equation and replace him with something else—in this case, a statue of a golden calf.

We see another aspect of idolatry when we look at the dictionary definition of the word.  The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has two definitions for idolatry.  The first is what we’ve been talking about; “the worship of a physical object as a god”.  The second definition, though, gives us a different side to the subject: “immoderate attachment or devotion to something”.  The World English dictionary says “great devotion or reverence” and dictionary.com says “excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, etc.”

We see these ideas about idolatry come together with politics in the story of Israel’s first king, found in 1st Samuel 8.  The story goes that the elders of the people come to Samuel and ask him to appoint a king.  This upsets Samuel, so he prays.  God tells Samuel that the people are not rejecting Samuel, but God as their king.  God tells Samuel all the evil things that a king would do—take the young men into wars, and take the best of the people, lands and produce for the royal court.  Samuel warns the people of all of these things, but they still demand a king.  So God gives them one.

Now, this is not idolatry in the sense that the people outright worshiped the king.  But remember the story of the golden calf.  The people took God out of His role, then gave that role to the golden calf, proclaiming that the calf was now their god.  The same thing is happening here.  The people are taking God out of the role of king and giving it to someone else.  In the words of the dictionary definition, the people are showing a “blind adoration and devotion” to a human king they don’t even know yet, even though God has told them of all the evil things a king will do.  (Incidentally, the story comes full circle in the Gospels with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where God takes back the role of King).

How does all of this apply to what we’ve talked about before?  Well, when we use the sort of religious language toward our government and country like we’ve seen in our examples, we are doing the same thing Israel did when they committed idolatry.  When we locate the hope and fate of the world in America, or in any country, for that matter, we are committing idolatry.  When we do this we are taking something that is God’s role, taking Him out of it, and replacing him with our own golden calf.

When we claim that America is the Light shining in the darkness, and that the darkness has not overcome it, we are taking a role that is very specifically Jesus’ and applying it to ourselves.  When we do this we are showing blind devotion and reverence to our country—the sort of devotion that only belongs to God.  This is, by definition, idolatry.

The History of the Problem

We concluded the last post with some pretty serious ideas; namely, that many members of the colonies and early settlers of North America saw themselves as a new Chosen People of God, a sort of New Israel inhabiting and settling the new Promised Land of North America.  (For the purposes of time, we will only look at a few examples, though whole books have been written on the subject.)  We can see these ideas expressed as early as the 1600s, in the writings and sermons of the Puritans.  John Winthrop, aboard a ship headed for America, said “…we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.”  He saw he and his people as “a peculiar people, marked and chosen by the finger of God.”  As we quickly mentioned earlier, the phrase “city on a hill” comes from Matthew 5:14, where Jesus is calling his followers, the Church, to be a city on a hill, to shine the light to the world.  Of course, Jesus was specifically not speaking about one nation or another.  He was speaking to all who would believe in him and go on to become his body, the Church.   According to Jesus, it is not a nation who is the City on a Hill, but the Church, across all nations.

Samuel Langdon was a preacher who would eventually become the president of Harvard.  In 1788, Langdon preached “We cannot but acknowledge that God hath graciously patronized our cause and taken us under his special care, as he did his ancient covenant people.”  Here again we have a Christian religious leader, who also had great political influence, such that he became the president of Harvard, identifying American colonists as God’s new Covenant People.  God had a special relationship with American colonists, Langdon thought, such that God was leading the colonists to take land that was already inhabited.  I would again argue, though, that Langdon needs help with his Biblical interpretation.  The Covenant People, after Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is no longer identified with one nation.  The Covenant People now is anyone who would believe—American, English, Iraqi, Irani, Native American, Spanish, German, etc.  To say that God leads the American colonists (or present-day Americans) as his Covenant People is to ignore the fact that there are Covenant People in every country.

Next, we find ourselves in the 1830s and 1840s, and we see more evidence of this line of thought.  John O’Sullivan was a journalist that lived from 1813-1895.  In 1839, O’Sullivan wrote an article called “The Great Nation of Futurity”.  In it he wrote “This is our high destiny…we must accomplish it.  All this will be our future history, to establish on earth the moral dignity and salvation of man…For this blessed mission…has America been chosen.”  So, America’s chosen mission is to establish the salvation of man on earth?  As a Christian, this makes me cringe.  I’m pretty sure salvation was established 2000 years ago by a man named Jesus Christ.  Once again we venture into the realm of idolatry when we take something that is God’s job and put ourselves in His place.

Later, O’Sullivan went on to write about American expansion, coining the term “manifest destiny”.  In the July/August 1845 issue of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, O’Sullivan wrote that American colonists had a “manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us…”  Of course, there’s a major problem with O’Sullivan’s idea—that land was already inhabited.  What do we do when we think God has given us land which is already occupied?  We take it from them.  And that’s exactly what American colonists did.

Native Americans died because of exposure to diseases that Europeans brought with them.  The Indian Removal Act slowly forced Native Americans to move west.  The route along which the Native Americans traveled in order to be relocated is now known as the Trail of Tears because thousands of them died from exposure, disease and starvation in the process of having their lands stolen and being forced to relocate.  All as a result of seeing America as a “chosen people” who had a God-given right to the land.  Never mind that there were already people living in the land.  Never mind that those people would be killed in order for the colonists to take the land.

This is where idolatry leads.  When we take God out of the equation and replace Him with something else, what’s done in the name of our new god becomes evil.  In the next post we will see what the Bible has to say about all this and where the roots of the problem lie.

“The future of the world is at stake because if America falls, there’s no longer a strong champion of freedom and a champion of the oppressed of the world.”  So said Pat Robertson as the Republican primaries for the 2012 election started heating up.  And here’s the real zinger—Pat claims that God told him these things.  The first time I heard this quote, in the context of a larger speech Robertson gave on his TV show “The 700 Club”, I knew I had to say something to somebody about it.  So I did.  On Facebook.  And I received an overwhelmingly positive response.  I still had a feeling that more should be said, though.  As bad as Robertson’s quote is, it really is just a symptom of a larger problem.  It is that larger problem that we will explore in more depth.

What, then, is the problem with Robertson’s quote?  First, we have to note that Robertson is a Christian leader, not just a political commentator.  What is wrong from a Christian perspective with finding hope for the oppressed and freedom in one country?  Well, on the face of it, it would seem like a good thing if a country provided freedom and hope for the oppressed of the world.  Without opening the can of worms of whether America actually does this, it might be acceptable to say something like “America is a champion of freedom and a champion of the oppressed of the world.”  But that’s not what Robertson said.  “The future of the world is at stake because if America falls…”  Robertson said, in effect, that without America, the world is hopeless.  Without America, the world is hopeless because nobody will champion freedom or the oppressed of the world.

There’s only one problem—that’s the role of the Church.  The People of God, first Israel in the Old Testament, then all believers from the New Testament forward, have always been called to take care of the foreigner, the orphan and the widow; in other words, the oppressed.  The 2nd Greatest Command God gave his people was to love each other (the first being to love God).  The Church works to set people free through the Son, for if the Son has set you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36).  It has always been the Church’s work to be “a strong champion of freedom and a champion of the oppressed of the world.”  Said more precisely, God has always worked through his people to be “a strong champion of freedom and a champion of the oppressed of the world.”  And so we come to the problem.  Robertson takes something that is the role of God and claims that without America, it can’t happen.  In fact, Robertson seems to claim that the hope of the world, “the future of the world”, hangs not on the work of God, but on the work of America.

Robertson takes Christ (and by extension, His body, the Church) out of the equation and replaces Him with America.  This is idolatry, plain and simple.  When we take anything and put it in the place of God, we are committing idolatry.  This is exactly what Robertson is doing with America.  He is taking something that is the role of God, and claiming that only America can do it; that without America, the world is hopeless.  To see America as a be-all, end-all with regards to hope for the world is to make America an idol.  In no way is Pat Robertson the only person to do this, though.

If Pat Robertson didn’t say it clearly enough, Rick Santorum spells it right out on his website.  “I truly do believe that we are the ‘last best hope of the earth.’”  Here we find the exact same problem with this phrase as we found with the Pat Robertson quote.  While Santorum claims that America is the earth’s last and/or best hope, neither is true.  Jesus Christ is the earth’s best hope, and the way Christ works in the world is through his Body, the Church.  To agree that “we are the last best hope of the earth” is to put ourselves in the place of God.  We might as well look God in the face and tell him that he can’t do it without us.  That is the very definition of idolatrous, and it doesn’t get any more arrogant than that.

A third example comes to mind, this one more extreme than the others.  In a speech on the 1st anniversary of the September 11th attacks, President Bush said this: “This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind…That hope still lights our way.  And the light shines in the darkness.  And the darkness has not overcome it.”  We’ve already briefly covered the problem with seeing America as the hope of all humanity.  President Bush goes further than that, though.  He goes on quote John 1 in reference to America.  The context of John 1 has the author describing Jesus as the light of the world, and then John the Baptist coming to teach about that light.  The irony of President Bush using this passage in reference to America is that the author tells us that John “himself was not the light; he only came as a witness to the light.”  Who is the light?  America, says President Bush.  America is the light of the world, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

So we end up in the same place as we did with our other examples.  America is taking the place of Jesus, which once again is the very definition of idolatry.  America is not the light of the world any more than Iraq, Canada, England or Switzerland are the light of the world.  The light of the world is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ.  To say anything else is to take Jesus out of the equation and put some thing else in His place; that is, idolatry.

By means of transition, we will look at a last example—the use of the phrase “City on a Hill”.  Ronald Reagan used this Biblical phrase with reference to America.  He was not the first to use it in such a way, though.  John F. Kennedy Jr. also used the phrase in such a way.  In the next post, as we look at the early history of America, we will see that this phrase was used much earlier than the 1960s to refer to America.  What we need to note at this point is its use in the Bible.  In Matthew 5:14 Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”  Who is the “you” Jesus is talking to?  He’s talking to the crowds that have come to hear him preach.  More specifically, he is talking to his followers.  In modern language, that translates to the Church.  Who is the city on a hill?  The Church.  And yet we have powerful politicians, indeed Presidents, claiming that the city on a hill is not the Church, but America.  Or on a more dangerous note, perhaps they believe the Church is America; that somehow, America is the Chosen People of God.  Now, maybe that sounds extreme, like I’m throwing around crazy accusations.  But as we turn to the history of our problem in the next post, I think we will find that there is a very real possibility that America has been understood as the Chosen People of God, and that, in the end, this amounts to idolatry.

According to Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, 162 million people saw the information about the two acts posted on Wikipedia.  Over 8 million of those people used Wikipedia’s zip code tool to contact their Representatives or Senators.  Millions of people signed various petitions against the proposed legislation.  And here’s the real kicker:  a number of Senators and Congresspeople have come out against these acts, a dozen of which previously supported it (the rest who came out against hadn’t publicly taken a stance).

There should be no question that the blackout was a success of massive proportions.

Here’s my question for you:  What if we got as pissed off about hunger and poverty as we do about freedom on the Internet?  What if we simply refused to sit back and take hunger as a given that has to exist?  What if we fasted a meal a day and gave that food away?  What if we sold some of what we have in order that others could have what they need (Acts 2:45)?

What if we got ticked off about the fact that 300,000 kids are sexually exploited every year in the US for money?  What if we all came together to stop that?

What if we realized that the world could be changed by seeing a community of people live Christlike lives in every-day situations?

The power of community is great.  How will we use it?

1.  The albums had to be released during the calendar year of 2011.

2.  The albums had to be full-length albums of new material.

3.  The albums couldn’t be live albums that consisted primarily of live versions of previously released material from the artist.

#10 Michael W. Smith, Glory 

In 2000, Michael W. Smith released Freedom, his first instrumental album.  Now, over a decade later, comes Glory.  While the former record had a Celtic flavor to it, Glory is straightforward piano/orchestra music.  While Michael W. Smith wrote all the music, David Hamilton arranged it.  ”Glory Battle” is a sort of mirror image of the song “Freedom Battle” from Freedom, yet it is a new song as well.  The album is closed out with “The Tribute/Agnus Dei”.  This is perhaps the best song on the album.  It is a medley of a new song and a new arrangement of “Agnus Dei”.  The “Agnus Dei” portion of the song starts quietly on the piano and builds until it is gloriously praising God.  As the song and album are coming to a close.  Michael W. Smith calls back a theme that he originally released in 1989 on the album Christmas.  Glory ends by using a theme from that album, from a song called “Gloria”–a fitting way to end an album called Glory.

#9 Owl City, All Things Bright and Beautiful

All Things Bright and Beautiful is just that–bright and beautiful.  Adam Young is back at it with his unique approach to lyrics and identifiable electronic music.  There are some great lyrics on the album.  For example, “Reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn’t wanna live there!”  Or take this example, from “Deer in the Headlights”–”Met a girl in the parking lot and all I did was say ‘Hello’.  Her pepper spray made it rather hard for me to walk her home, but I guess that’s the way it goes.”  But Young is able to be serious as well.  The song “Galaxies” praises God for being the “saving grace of the galaxies”.  Add to these wonderful lyrics the musical talents of Matthew Theissen (of Relient K fame), Lights and Shawn Christopher, and you are sure to be in for a ride of a lifetime.

#8 Alison Krauss & Union Station, Paper Airplane

It’s been 7 years since we’ve heard from Alison Krauss and Union Station.  On Paper Airplane, they revive their trademark blend of bluegrass and folk.  Alison’s voice and violin are tender as ever, and the guys’ playing and singing combine with hers marvelously.  In fact, on a number of songs, it almost seems as if the lead singer’s voice and the harmonies blend so well, they are almost one voice.  A couple of highlights from the album are the two covers, Richard Thompson’s “Dimming of the Day” and Jackson Browne’s “My Opening Farewell”.  These covers work so well, in fact, that on first listen I repeated “My Opening Farewell” four times.  After a long 7-year wait, it’s great to have Alison Krauss & Union Station back.

#7 Brad Paisley, This is Country Music

Brad Paisley has truly put together a work of art with This is Country Music.  The title track is the first on the record, and it serves as the theme for the rest of it.  It’s almost as if Paisley is saying “This is country music…” and then goes on to show us.  In fact to further that idea, various lines that were cut from the title track are spread throughout the album to tie it all together.  The album also features performances by Alabama, Carrie Underwood, Don Henley, Clint Eastwood, Blake Shelton, Marty Stuart, Sheryl Crow, Larry the Cable Guy, Wes Hightower and Sonya Isaacs.  There are serious songs on the album to be sure, but it is not all nostalgia and tribute to the greats of Country Music.  Paisley’s humor returns on songs like “Camouflage”, where he claims that camouflage is his favorite color.  Another humorous one is “Don’t Drink the Water”, in which Blake Shelton reminds Brad Paisley to not drink the water on his trip to Mexico.  ”‘Don’t drink the water.’  I told him, ‘That’s ok–I ain’t going down to Mexico to drink the water, anyway!’”  The music is great as usual, too.  In fact, Brad paves new ground on “New Favorite Memory”, when, after singing the song in waltz timing, he slows it down for the last chorus to quarter timing, as though he wants to savor his “new favorite memory” just a little longer.  If this is country music, I’m in it for the long haul.

#6 Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What

While Paul Simon has many talents, the first thing that hits you about So Beautiful or So What is the percussion.  It is impossible to listen to So Beautiful… without tapping your toes or slapping your leg.  In fact, Simon plays the guitar in a percussive way, on a number of songs.  On “Getting Ready For Christmas Day”, Simon samples a sermon from Reverend J. M. Gates.  Lyrically, Simon approaches spirituality with a smile and a metaphor.  Using narrative rather than simply saying, “This is how I think it is”, Simon allows the listener to use his or her imagination as they listen.  In the liner notes to the album, Elvis Costello says “I believe that this remarkable, thoughtful, often joyful record deserves to be recognized as among Paul Simon’s very finest achievements.”  I agree.

#5 Over the Rhine, The Long Surrender

Listening to The Long Surrender is like being in a bar or nightclub experiencing a little piece of Heaven.  One can almost picture the husband and wife team through the smoky haze, Linford at the piano, Karin at the mike, slowly swaying as her voice slowly builds.  Karin’s voice has an uncanny ability to make you feel something.  Some singers cause you to think and feel through their lyrics.  Karin causes you to do it because of her voice as much as her lyrics.  And boy is there something to feel when you’re listening to The Long Surrender!  ”Rave On” almost feels like you’re at a poetry reading, except the poetry is being sung instead of read.  On “All My Favorite People”, Karin acknowledges that we all are broken–and that’s alright.  All in all, this is an album for ordinary folk, expressing ordinary things through extraordinary talent.

#4 Ben Shive, The Cymbal Crashing Clouds

The Cymbal Crashing Clouds begins with the song “Listen!”, a sort of call to open your ears, done in an almost spoken-word style with prophetic overtones.  And indeed, if you do listen, there are layers upon layers of pleasure waiting to be revealed in this music.  For instance, the second song is called “E G B D F”, which is musical shorthand for “Every Good Boy Does Fine”, which itself is a memory device to help remember the notes on the staff.  The song tells of a teen trying to master piano and the practice needed. Once one listens even closer, though, the whole song is a metaphor for the Law and how we try (and fail) to follow it.  Another song uses the idea of “Shooting the Moon” as a metaphor for marriage.  This depth of lyric is found throughout, and I could go song by song and tell of the interesting themes, but I”ll leave that for you to discover.  Musically, the piano is at the forefront, but tight harmonies are present, at times reminding the listener of the Beach Boys, among other things.  You’ve got to hear this music.  Believe me–once you hear it, you won’t be able to stop from Listening.

#3 The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow

How can one describe The Civil Wars?  Perhaps a modern-day Johnny and June Carter Cash.  Except they aren’t married.  Which is a plus for Joy Williams and John Paul White, since it allows them to cover the harder aspects of relationships when they sing.  When listening to Barton Hollow, one gets the idea that it was recorded live.  After hearing them play live at their first show, Charlie Peacock starting recording them in the studio.  The idea was to keep it stripped down, with a sort of live feel, and most of all, to keep the sound real.  Barton Hollow is the epitome of authenticity–of keeping music underproduced rather than overproduced.  Perhaps the biggest surprise of the year, this debut album from the Civil Wars has garnered a lot of praise, and with good reason.  As well as getting critical praise, The Civil Wars is doing well among their peers, as well, making fans out of Adele and Taylor Swift, among others.  Barton Hollow is definitely a cd not to be missed.

#2 Switchfoot, Vice Verses

“And I wonder why would I wait til I die to come alive–I’m not waiting for the afterlife!”  So says Switchfoot’s opening song, “The Afterlife”.  Musically, Vice Verses is pretty straightforward rock with a more acoustic song spread throughout here and there.  ”Selling the News” would be the exception.  In this song, Jon Foreman plays with a spoken-word form, almost rapping through the verses.  Coming from Switchfoot, this makes the listener sit up and pay attention to what Foreman is saying.  Lyrically, this is the best offering from Switchfoot in their catalogue, and I was a huge fan of their previous release, Hello Hurricane.  Many topics are covered, including worship, the desire to go above and beyond rather than just settling and hope for the underdog.  The way the album begins and ends, though, is just beautiful.  As I said earlier, the album opens with a song called “The Afterlife”, which is about realizing that this life is not just about waiting for Heaven, but that we are in fact called to live in the here and now.  The album ends with “Where I Belong”, which is a song about living with God after we die.  So Vice Verses opens by affirming the value of this life, and ends by affirming that we have hope to one day live “in the world where I belong”, that is, in Heaven.  See, the Christian life is found in the tensions more than in the easy answers.  As if to drive the point home, the album ends on the same chord as it begins, so that if one listens to it on repeat, it would just continue back into the first song.  We need to be living this life now, while at the very same time holding hope for the life to come, while at the very same time living this life now, while at the very same time….  Switchfoot has done something beautiful and important here, something that deserves to be heard.

#1 Sara Groves, Invisible Empires

Sara Groves is perhaps the most consistent singer/songwriter in music today.  Her music is consistently thoughtful, intelligent and yet not heady or unemotional.  On Invisible Empires, Sara shows herself to be even more talented than we already knew she was.  Sara Groves consistently surrounds herself with the best instrumentalists the industry has to offer.  Besides herself playing piano, some of the players include Tyler Burkum (Audio Adrenaline), Aaron Fabbrini, Zach Miller, Steve Hindalong, Stephen Leiweke, Mark Byrd and Ben Shive, with Andy Gullahorn and Jill Phillips singing background vocals.  This is a very acoustic centered band, and that is exactly where the music goes on the album.  Lyrically, Sara Groves shines.  While most of the songs are written by Sara Groves by herself, she also co-writes with Alli Rogers, Andy Gullahorn and Jill Phillips.  A number of themes are present, including God remaking a love that has grown cold, the mysteries of love, and the importance of doing everything we do out of the motive of love.  Sara’s writing definitely grows on this album as well, though.  On “Eyes on the Prize”, Groves reworks a spiritual of the same name, which itself is adapted from a song called “Gospel Plow”.  The song that is co-written with Andy Gullahorn is called “Scientists in Japan”.  In this song, the two tackle technology and contemplate some of the ethical questions it raises.

In short, Invisible Empires shows Sara Groves at her best, while still making herself grow as a singer and songwriter.  If you only get one album from last year, this is the one to get!

2. Feedbooks, located at www.feedbooks.com Navigation is very simple on the Feedbooks website. On the front page, you have a number of options. You can search for an author, title or subject. On the left side, you will see options to browse by public domain books or by original books. When you have found a book you want to download, you simply click on the “Download” button. From here, you will need to select whichever format you need-Kindle, Epub, etc. From here you will be able to move the book to your Kindle Documents folder via the USB Cable.

3. Manybooks, located at www.manybooks.net Manybooks is very similar in navigation to Feedbooks. One advantage to Manybooks is that they have books available in a large number of languages. Another way Manybooks is unique is that they have a number of book collections, such as “State of the Union Addresses”, “Science Fiction After 1950″ and “How To…” EBooks. The process for downloading is the same as Feedbooks, with one advantage-Manybooks has over 20 different options available for download, including PDF, Kindle, etc.

4. Project Gutenberg, located at www.gutenberg.orgAgain, this site works similarly to Feedbooks and Manybooks. Project Gutenberg, though, has all public domain books. Because of this, they tend to be older. Project Gutenberg has a number of interesting ways to search, including “Top 100 Books” and “Top 100 Authors” downloaded.

5. The Baen Free Library, located at http://www.baen.com/library/defaultTitles.htm Baen specializes in Science Fiction. When you’ve found a book you want to download, simply click the Mobi/Palm/Kindle option and move it to your Kindle via USB Cable.

Do you know of more sites that provide free Kindle Books that I missed? Let us know in the comments!

Giving money to the government.  It’s not a fun subject.  Most people think we pay too much in taxes.

Imagine how it would be if the we were living in a country that wasn’t ours.  This was the situation for the Jews in the New Testament.  Though they lived in their own land, they paid taxes to Rome and to Caesar.  How frustrating that would be!

Jesus had been stirring the pot for a while and the religious leaders were starting to get fed up with him, so they sought a way to catch him in his words.  They came to Jesus and said, “Hey, we know you’re a good guy, great moral character, and that we can trust what you say.  Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

Jesus says, “Whose image is on this coin?”

“Caesar’s,” they answer.

“Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.”

A bit of a cryptic answer, no?  Keep in mind that Jesus is talking to religious leaders in this story.  Jesus asks them about whose image is on the coin.  Image.  What other religious stories would the religious leaders have known that include the idea of “image”?  It’s the very beginning of the Story, right?  Creation.  God creates all that is, and says that it is good.  But then God creates humans, in his own Image, and says that it is very good.  This is the link that is implicit in the text that Jesus doesn’t make explicitly clear.

“This coin has Caesar’s image on it,” Jesus says, “So give it to Caesar.  But you yourselves have God’s image on you.  Give your lives, your heart, your very selves to God.”

We are made in God’s image.  We belong to God, if only we would give ourselves to him.

One example can be seen in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, specifically in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  The story chronicles the kids’ adventures while aboard a ship, the Dawn Treader.  The ship lands on an island, and as the rest of the children are working, a character named Eustace sneaks away in order to avoid work.  He comes upon a dragon who is guarding its treasure, while in the midst of dying.  After the dragon dies, Eustace explores the dragon’s treasure, eventually stealing for himself a bracelet which he puts on. Afterwords, Eustace falls asleep.

When Eustace awakes, he is horrified to learn that he himself has turned into a dragon.  His friends don’t recognize him–in fact, at first they think he is an enemy.  After some communication, though, his friends realize that this dragon is actually Eustace.  In his dragon form, Eustace is very helpful in fixing the Dawn Treader.  In other words, in his dragon form Eustace does the work that he was trying to get out of in the first place.  Eustace also hears Aslan, the Christ figure, calling to Eustace.  Eustace decides to respond to Aslan’s calling.  Aslan changes Eustace from his dragon form.  The process is painful, but Eustace is a boy once again.

A second example can be found in Ted Dekker’s Circle Trilogy, and related writings.  In Dekker’s world, evil can be seen physically.  Evil is a disease that can be seen by flaking skin, among other symptoms.  The disease can be cleansed/avoided if one washes daily in one of the special pools.  (After the sacrifice of a specific character in the series, this washing only needs to happen once).  If someone is not washed, though, the disease takes over.  After some time, the person is fully turned into a member of the “Horde”, those who have let the disease overtake them.  The disease affects the way a person acts, thinks, the very core of who the person is.  Though the diseased person is alive, their skin flakes, and they stink of rotten flesh.  Though they are alive, they are dead.

Our third example comes from the Harry Potter series.  The ultimate evil in Harry’s world is to commit murder.  When one commits murder, one’s soul tears into pieces.  We find out that this is exactly how Voldemort, the villain, has been staying alive.  Voldemort commits a murder, purposely tearing his soul, and puts a piece of his soul in an object, using it as a sort of anchor to be bound to this world, to achieve a sort of immortality.  Of course, Voldemort looks anything but human.  He is ghost-white, with the face of a snake.  Evil has transformed Voldemort into a hideous creature.

How does all of this effect Christianity?  It makes us look at morality differently.  Morals are not just a random group of laws that we ought to obey.  Morals are important because they help us to turn ourselves into the type of people we were created to be.  C.S. Lewis even applies this idea to Heaven and Hell.  Throughout his non-fiction, and also in The Great Divorce, Lewis basically puts forward the idea that with every (moral) decision we make, we are turning ourselves into beings who are either fit for Heaven or fit for Hell.  So the final judgment isn’t so much about punishment–it’s about God giving us what we’ve asked for.  It’s about God sending us to the only place that our decisions have made us fit for, whether that be Heaven or Hell.

So, the next time you’re dealing with temptation, ask yourself–who do you want to turn into?  What kind of character do you want to be?  With every moral choice, our character changes.  Who will you be?