Psalm 94 is an example of a kind of prophetic intercessory prayer that is highly relevant to our current context in the USA (and elsewhere around the world), where certain rich and powerful people and institutions appear unstoppable. The Psalmist directly addresses the Lord (YHWH) as “God of vengeance,” with the imperative: “Shine forth!”

Throughout my life I’ve sought to disassociate vengeance from God and resisted my own desires for vengeance. However, if God’s vengeance involves stopping forces of impunity (defined as “exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action”) and destruction that seem all-powerful, or letting natural consequences of evil overwhelm and halt perpetrators (which it does), then we should join with the Psalmist’s cry!

Whoever is praying in this Psalm is feeling the urgency for God to expose lies and crimes, bringing injustices into the light. The desperate call, “rise up, O judge of the earth!” shows the Psalmist’s sense that God’s judgment is urgently need to right wrongs. The Psalmist asks God act to specifically “render recompense to the proud (94:2).

“How long Oh Lord? How long will the wicked exult?” (“be allowed to gloat” NLT), cries the Psalmist, echoing Habakkuk 1:2. Note that “the wicked” (rasha in Hebrew) is a synonym for the rich and powerful oppressors (Is 5:23; 58:6; Jer 12:1), unjust rulers (Is 11:4; 14:5; 26:10; Hos 10:13) and arrogant (Is 13:11).

How long Oh Lord will the US President elevate himself, and arrogantly berate anyone who resists him? How long will elected lawmakers vote into law policies that reward the rich and punish the poor? How long will billionaire tech and other business leaders shamelessly buy influence and curry favor through overt demonstrations of loyalty or silence? How long will the current American administration scapegoat the most vulnerable and their advocates here and abroad? How long, Oh Lord will White evangelicals (and others) support the current Administration, endorsing nationalism, discrimination, violence and oppression here, in Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and beyond?

These past few days Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are making arrests in Los Angeles, here in our own community, and across the USA– deporting hard-working people, separating them from their children, spouses and communities– increasingly with no due process.

Protesters are being arrested, intimidated by threats and tactics like deploying tear gas, less-lethal ammunition like rubber bullets and pepper balls, and flashbang grenades. Displays of brute force are underway through the deploying of National Guard troops and US Marines.

The most powerful leaders are inciting violence through incendiary rhetoric full of lies.

“They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly; All who do wickedness vaunt themselves. They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the resident foreigner, and they murder the fatherless.” (94:4-6).

The Psalmist presents the powerful as seeing themselves above God.  

“The Lord isn’t looking,” they say, “and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.”

With prophetic honesty the Psalmist holds the common citizen accountable to themselves look and care (and not God).

A call to pay attention and be open to correction

“Pay heed, you senseless among the people; and when will you understand, stupid ones? (Ps 94:8).

Paying attention requires actively opening our eyes and ears—keeping ourselves informed, and not by partisan sources loyal to the rich and powerful. The Psalmist gives no excuse for ignorance, placing blame squarely on those going along with the status quo (and not on God).

   Today is Ascension Day, the day we remember when Jesus ascended to heaven following his death and resurrection. It’s a good occasion to receive afresh our baptismal identity “in Christ” as children of God. Baptismal death and being “born from above” position us for God to “make us alive” and to “raise us up and seat us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:5-6). From this vantage point we are invited to see and act in alignment with Jesus and the Kingdom of God. 

These truths became visible in Lesotho, Africa back in March as Gracie and I taught on identity and authority during our Certificate in Holistic Liberation.  

Forty pastors and ministry workers met in a cinder block, tin-roofed church on the edge of a road. After some lively a cappella singing, we settled in, with a volunteer reading John 1:1-5 and 9-13 in the native language Sotho.

Together we looked at how John introduces the Word as existing with God in the beginning, and being God– through whom all things were created—without even mentioning Jesus by name. Such a humble introduction, which presents the Word as giving life!

“Do any of you feel you need to hear from God? Do you need wisdom for a difficult decision, direction for your life, or revelation regarding a pressing question?” I asked.  

People were nodding and some were saying “Amen.” We stopped and prayed, asking for these things.

We read together John’s powerful words: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men and women. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (Jn 1:4-5).

We notice together that when this true light comes into the world to enlighten every person, the world doesn’t recognize him and his own [people] don’t receive him” (Jn 1:9) (back then and still now). 

What humility! This God does not impose, but comes under the radar— incognito, a hidden light, and completely rejectable. 

What an indictment on humanity. That we can be so blind and ignorant, and reject God’s saving, enlightening Word– Jesus, who is life and light! Yet John writes on, inviting us to resist the status quo of blindness, ignorance and rejection. An alternative response is possible that leads to receiving our truest identity:

“But as many as receive him, who believe in his name, to them he gave the right [literally “the authority (exousia in Greek)] to become children of God” (Jn 1:12).

Receiving this humble Word, Jesus, brings us into a new identity, when we are “born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of people, but of God” (Jn 1:13).

As we were reading and discussing these verses we noticed a growing desire to know and more deeply receive this humble God. Then we transitioned into the next and final part of our teaching on identity and authority.In nearly every one of our teaching session we use Bibliodramas to illustrate and experience the teachings. After reading Ephesians 2:5-6 I invited a volunteer to play God, and a pastor stepped forward to take on the role. I placed a plastic chair on the raised stage and invited him to take a seat.

“Imagine this being God, seated in the heavenly realm,” I said.

Then I invited someone to play Jesus. Surprisingly, a woman pastor stepped forward (pictured below with Gracie). Gracie and I wondered whether anyone in this group would have trouble with this, but they didn’t seem to. I placed a second plastic chair next to ‘God the Father’, and motioned for ‘Jesus’ to take a seat beside him.

I then asked for a volunteer to play a disciple. The soft-spoken older pastor of that church stood up and came forward. I placed a third chair beside ‘Jesus,’ and then summarized the new-birth baptismal identity of a disciple. I asked the pastor if I could pretend to baptize him and he agreed. I put my right arm around his back and pretended to dunk him, speaking out “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I then explained that in baptism we symbolically die and are raised to new life. Also because of Jesus’ ascension, we are raised and seated at the right hand of the Father in Christ, (summarizing Ephesians 2:5-6).

Next I invited the pastor to take a seat beside ‘Jesus’, explaining that this is our spiritual position which Jesus brings us into as sons and daughters of the Father– since Jesus has ascended and is seated in the heavenly realm. I emphasize that we simultaneously remain alive and active here on earth amidst our families, communities and nations.

“We are connected to Jesus and the Father,” seated in Christ at the right hand of God,” I said, “though nobody can physically see this spiritual dimension. I gently placed the right hand of the man playing God on the shoulder of the woman playing Jesus; and the woman’s hand on the shoulder of the pastor playing a disciple.

I asked Gracie to loan me her scarf, which I placed over the heads of the man and woman playing the Father and Jesus. Only the pastor playing the disciple was now visible.

“Here we are now in our new, spiritual identity as children of God,” I stated, pointing to the pastor seated before us.

I then asked if anyone was suffering from back pain. Five or so people raised their hands. I invited the first woman who raised her hand to come forward, and held the hand of the pastor playing the disciple, asking him to pray for the woman, empowered by his attachment to Jesus and the Father.

The pastor tentatively extended his hand towards the woman’s back and looked at me nervously, not sure what to do next. He needed a little coaching, so I suggested he trying speaking out a simple phrase:

“Be healed from your back pain in Jesus name!” I said to him, and the translator repeated my words to him in Sotho– which he repeated in a soft voice that only the woman and I could hear.

Immediately a look of shock came over the woman’s face. She exclaimed before the group that the pain was gone now! A second woman approached the pastor with excitement, and he spoke as softly and tentatively for her as well. She too said that the pain had completely left!

At this point I removed the covering from the heads of the man and woman playing God and Jesus. I immediately noticed that the woman playing Jesus was crying. Tears streamed down her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I feel the touch of the Spirit,” she said as she sobbed, her face strangely radiant.

I was deeply impacted by the move of the Holy Spirit visible on this woman. So I asked if she’d be willing to pray for the whole group from the front. The woman agreed, standing and extending her hands towards, praying for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on us all. Immediately after praying she fell over her chair and landed on the stage, laughing and crying simultaneously.

At the same time our translator fell to the ground in front of the stage and began crying, telling us she’d been instantly healed of chronic back pain, which had started years before, after the birth of her teenage son. Others were crying and praying as the Spirit seemed to have fallen on the whole group.

We had never seen a manifestation of the Spirit quite like this, which resulted in five people being healed of back problems, and a man who had limped for seven years after a motorcycle accident being healed so he no longer limped.

There in Lesotho on this first day of training the Spirit walked into the room, confirming the Word of Jesus’ humble divinity and our ascension to the right hand of God in Christ, with the signs following (Mk 16:20).

Consider helping fund our next Certificate training in Benin, Africa August 24-29 through giving to The People’s Seminary here or by sending a check to Tierra Nueva, PO Box 410, Burlington, WA 98233.

Consider reading or listening to Daniel Bourguet’s two volume The Humble Divinity of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, available as paperback or ebook volume one or two, or in audiobook volume one or two.

Check out my recent podcast “Disciple: Word, Spirit, Justice, Witness” on Apple or Spotify.

 

Paul writes from prison words that challenge me deeply:  

“I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:11-13).

On a recent trip to Burundi and Malawi I experienced firsthand some secrets of finding a certain contentment in very humble places, where people are suffering need, even going hungry.

On this second trip to Burundi I was struck afresh by the masses of people walking (mostly barefoot) along the roads, or riding or pushing bikes heavily-laden with oversized loads.We stayed in a guest house off the main road in the high mountain town of Masango (at around 6,000 ft.). Our lodging was 3 1/2 miles from the center where we offered our Certificate in Holistic Liberation to 55 pastors. On three of the five mornings I walked to our venue, passing hundreds of pedestrians. I did this out of a desire to connect more with the land and the people, and to get exercise and pray. I was the only White person I saw on these walks, and for most of my time in that Country.

One morning, fifteen minutes into my walk I actually started counting the number of people I passed. Five hundred! And this was in a rural area. Many of the women and young girls were carrying hoes, or were working the fields along the roads.

On the final day, I walked I past a young girl carrying a curved machete. I continued walking, and then noticed feet slapping the pavement behind me. There was the girl, her mother and two other siblings walking right behind me. A young boy held an ancient-looking cell phone plastered to his ear. Burundian worship music was playing through his phone, to which the mother softly sang. I turned to her and said the name Jésus? as a question in French. She nodded and smiled. I joined in humming and trying to sing along as we walked the remaining fifteen minutes to the venue, feeling a deep sense of fullness and contentment.My second week was spent in the remote Southernmost town of Nsanje, Malawi, where we offered our final training module to 80 pastors. When I asked them what were their greatest challenges, they told me about the widespread hunger that affected their communities after two years of drought and a devastating cyclone. They shared how they lacked any means of transportation as they couldn’t afford bus fares, and didn’t have bicycles. Five pastors from across the border in Mozambique traveled seven hours on two bicycles (two on one and three on another) to attend the training. Only five of the 80 pastors owned a Bible. 

Our Malawian hosts cooked lunch for all the participants over fires on the ground– adding a small cereal breakfast a day into the training– as people were visibly hungry.People engaged with the teaching with unusual attentiveness, worshipped joyously, and expressed contentment and gratitude that our team of six had come so far to share with them. I have returned home with my heart pierced, inspired by these African sisters and brothers’ resilience and joy in the face of lack, suffering, and even hunger. 

Now back home I seek to discover the secrets of contentment here in the midst of abundance, and amidst our own versions of lack, suffering and hunger. 

If you would like to contribute towards purchasing a bicycle for one of the ten traveling pastors who visit even more remote communities, they cost $350 each (we’re trying to raise $3500). We were able to give out 80 Bibles in Chichewa, with another 100 or so needed at $10.00 each. We are also preparing to offer our Certificate in Benin in August, following up our Malawi course with a training to 70 pastors across the border in Mozambique. 

You can contribute towards bikes, Bibles or trainings expenses online here, or through sending a check to Tierra Nueva (Attn: The People’s Seminary), PO Box 410, Burlington, WA 98233.

Check out the final teaching on the Parable of the Sower given on May 2 by Tawanda, one of our teachers from Zimbabwe.

I’ve been feeling stuck in a perpetual Saturday of Holy Week– between Jesus’ execution by what looked like victorious powers, and his defeat of death through resurrection. 

Death seems to be winning on so many fronts. Confessing Jesus as victor feels necessary as an act of resistance. But it requires faith that must be fed by stronger doses of Gospel truth. True hope must keep us bold enough to stand in the face of harsh realities.

The earth’s temperature is rising unabated, accelerated by climate change denying politicians and business people. Meanwhile subsistence farmers in the Global South are being turned into landless, stateless refugees.

I’m on a flight now to Burundi to offer our Certificate in Holistic Liberation to pastors from remote villages who are are struggling to survive in hostile environments. The following week I’ll be doing the same thing in Malawi, a nation struck by cyclones, a record-breaking drought and resulting crop failures. What signs of resurrection hope await me?

Death seems to be winning in Gaza, with body counts increasing daily and starvation threatening. The rich and powerful are getting richer and meaner– visible in our increasing use of prisons to punish even the innocent.

My own brother Peter’s 2 1/2 years of incarceration in Charleston County, South Carolina’s Jail despite his innocence and no trial or even a plea offer, is a personal reminder of the state’s relentless, unjust warehousing of people.

The Trump administration’s contract with El Salvador’s brutal Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), where prisoners are kept like animals in cages, feels like a contemporary taunt against Jesus’ liberation movement:

“He saved others; he cannot save himself [and those oppressed prisoners]. He is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. “He trust in God; let God rescue him now [and all of our beloved community members trying to stay sober and our of jail], if he delights in him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Mt 27:42-43).

Yet last week my friend Jason and I were able to visit and personally encourage a prisoner friend incarcerated in a maximum security unit of Clallam Bay Corrections Centre. Talking, reading the Bible together and praying left us feeling tenderized and more hopeful. 

Even as my brother Peter continues to wait for legal relief, he regularly recounts his many opportunities to pray with prisoners facing even harsher challenges than his.

Hebrews 2:8-13 seems highly relevant now– speaking to me of the “not yet” and “alreadiness” of our resurrection hope.

The writer first quotes Psalm 8’s declaration of victory over the powers, “You have put all things in subjection under his feet” (Heb 2:8).

He then goes on to assure us as readers that “in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him, in a bold declaration of the thoroughgoing, total nature of Jesus’ victory. Then his realism kicks in, followed by a bold declaration of faith.  First the realism. 

The writer speaks honestly, expressing the bleakness of the now in a way that gets my attention, inviting me to refuse any kind of false optimism that might want to pose as faith. “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him! True enough!

The writer than announces Jesus, presenting and interpreting his victory and his suffering in a way that is both  hope-inspiring and daunting. First the hope-inspiring part.

“But we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Heb 2:9).

May God reveal to us the truth of Jesus’ victory over the powers, and over death itself, so we can “see” Jesus! He is crowned with glory and honor now, having tasted death for everyone, insists the writer– and I choose to believe it. The writer continues with the part that is daunting.

“For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings” (Heb 2:10).

God our Father is inviting each and every one of us to share in this same glory, of which Jesus is the author and forerunner. But it seems that we too are brought to glory through suffering.

For both he who sanctifies [Jesus] and those who are sanctified [us] are all from one Father; for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters” (Heb 2:11).   I hear “fellow sufferers” here regarding us as Jesus’ sisters and brothers– daunting indeed!

As God’s people positioned between the cross of Good Friday and our own eventual resurrection, may we join Jesus in being perfected through suffering. It is Jesus’ very suffering and death, overcome by his resurrection that gives us hope in the midst of the struggles.

I look forward to sharing with you stories of resistance and hope from fellow believers in Burundi and Malawi, who I expect have much to teach us.

May we put our trust in Jesus afresh this Resurrection Sunday and beyond.  

Check out the video below documenting part of our journey to where we are offering our training.

Gracie and I just returned from a week in the Kingdom of Lesotho, a small, land-locked mountain country surrounded by South Africa. We were invited to offer our Certificate in Holistic Liberation to a group of 35 pastors and leaders. As we introduced ourselves before launching into our first session I mentioned how sorry I was that our US President Donald Trump had dishonored their country March 4, saying:

“Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.”

This statement was met with laughter and applause from Republican lawmakers, who blindly accepted it as confirmation that Elon Musk is being effective at identifying and stopping international aid that goes against Republican values.

Trump’s slam shamed the people of Lesotho and worsened the situation for already marginalized LGBTQI+ individuals. Lesotho’s main LGBTQ rights organization, the People’s Matrix, denied receiving eight million dollars in US funding.

The pastors and leaders in our People’s Seminary training were visibly moved that I acknowledged Trump’s public disrespect for them and their country, and that I apologized. 

They clapped and cheered when I affirmed that the Creator of the Universe, our Father in heaven knows where Lesotho is, and sees, knows and loves every individual Mosotho of the country’s 2.4+ million population. 

I shared God’s words to his people in Isaiah 49:16: “See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.”

Lesotho is a poor country, with over 70% of the population living below the international poverty line. 

We saw together that in Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus, it is the the poor beggar who sits at the gate who the rich man ignores whose name is known by Jesus. In contrast, the rich man has no name. 

This does not mean that there is no hope for individuals who are rich. But Trump’s ignorance and US lawmakers’ applause shows how the world’s most powerful seem clueless about God’s priorities and the movement of Jesus’ kingdom, as Mary states them:

“He has done mighty deeds with his arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; and sends away the rich empty-handed” (Luke 1:51-53).

Gracie, our Zimbabwean partner Pastor Richard Malitino and I were moved by the people’s deep humility and intelligence, the vibrancy of African worship and their commitment to be carriers of Jesus’ liberating message to the poorest and most far-flung places. We return home inspired afresh.

In Revelation 18:1 John sees an “angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!”

This vision is highly relevant to our situation now as America is in upheaval. On the one hand the divine messenger illuminates the earth with his glory– a heavenly perspective I need in these dark times. On the other hand the angel’s strong declaration of the dominant earthly power’s doom and five orders to those willing to listen have plunged me into weeks of prayerful study.

In Revelation, Babylon symbolizes the most powerful empire of our world, which in the first century AD was Rome, but has since manifested in many empires. Last week when I asked Christians living inside Iran with whom I meet monthly via Zoom who they think Babylon would be today, some wrote in the chat: آمریکا (America)—though there could be other contemporary manifestations.

John of Patmos next describes Babylon with detailed imagery, inviting us to honestly consider our own contexts now.

“She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality” (Rev 18:2-3).

When I look at what America hosts and exports I see possible contemporary equivalents of Revelation’s list. America hosts the world’s most exploitive multinational corporations, billionaires, weapons manufacturers, and largest jail and prison system. America exports weapons, media violence, profanity, sexually explicit content (including porn), and other negatives– including greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute more to heat our planet per capita than any nation. And this is only the beginning of a noxious list of offenders.

The angel in Revelation 18 reveals God’s perspective on the powers– a zero-tolerance declaration that powers qualifying as Babylon are doomed to destruction. Though Babylon then and America now can look all-powerful in their arrogance and wealth— the divine messenger declares their true destiny: “fallen, fallen is America the great!”

Declaring these words now over America is certainly the opposite of today’s idolatrous mantra “make America great again.” Yet it seems especially called for in the face of the blatant and accelerated idolatry of America (evident in Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” declarations of taking over Greenland, making Canada the 51st State, and turning Gaza into luxury resorts).

The Trump Administration’s ongoing demonization of immigrants, refugees and so many others requires followers of Jesus to resist. Silence in the face of Trump’s self-adulation and dominance is highly irresponsible. A verse I memorized as a child keeps coming to mind:

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughtier spirit before a fall” (Prov 16:18).

America truly looks like it is falling, especially from a European vantage point (where we were last week), and even more now from our vantage point in Lesotho, Africa, which Trump recently dissed.

America is currently turning its back on its European friends, punishing its closest neighbors with hostile tariffs, cutting off international aid to programs in the global south that mean life or death to millions in Africa, deporting vulnerable refugees, and threatening to round up and deport America’s undocumented immigrant workforce, and gutting its own government through mass firings, so it can afford massive tax cuts to the super rich.

The angel’s declaration regarding Babylon and its equivalent’s fall aligns tightly with Biblical teaching on the powers—which are not presented as reformable but as being eventually destroyed.

Yet watching things move towards going up in smoke is painful, even horrific. Certainly we must still engage in efforts to challenge and reform the powers for the sake of human beings (and our family and friends!), with a priority on advocacy for the powers’ most immediate victims and for the most vulnerable. Yet we mustn’t advocate naively, as if we will succeed at making America great again in a way that pleases us.

Moses did advocate for the Israelite slaves before Pharaoh. However, Moses’ advocacy backed by the ten plagues did not result in their release nor in Egypt’s reform. Pharaoh and his chariots perished in the sea.

God judges the rulers in Psalm 82, which are also called “sons of God” (a reference to their being originally created for good).

“They do not know nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “you are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you will die like people and fall like any one of the princes.” Arise, O God, judge the earth!” (Ps 82:5-8).

The Psalmist’s exposure of the ignorance and pathetic failure of the powers in reminiscent of Isaiah’s prophetic exposure of the total incapacity of human-fabricated wooden idols to save– and the resulting blindness to of those who worship them (Is 44:16-19).

The Apostle Paul is even clearer about the destruction (and not reformation) of the powers, which certainly includes USA when he says

“Then comes the end, when he [Jesus] hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power” (1 Cor 15:24).

Coming out of America

Because Babylon, now manifesting as America, will fall (and appears to be falling now), what would it look like to seriously follow the angel’s first order, and four subsequent ones? John of Patmos hears another voice from heaven that calls disciples of Jesus to leave Babylon and her equivalents:

“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (Rev 18:4-5).

“Come out of her!” is the divine messenger’s first order— the polar opposite of patriotic homeland defense. As someone who owns a home and land in the gorgeous Skagit County in Washington State, fully engaged in a faith community that I love, I have been prayerfully and painfully considering what this means.

Actual physical departure may one day be called for and should even prepared for– depending on what comes. Millions of people throughout the world have had to flee their countries as refugees—including most of America’s original colonizers. Boycotting certain companies and divesting from questionable investments and other actions may also be appropriate. However, the leaving the angel orders is first and foremost a heart posture of breaking ties of allegiance in favor of a higher calling– as when Jesus tells his disciples:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon (Babylon, USA, democracy, the Stock Market, US dollar…)

But let’s look more closely at why the angel’s first command is: “Come out of her!”

The angel gives us a direct answer in the next line, warning that not coming out means continuing to participate in her sins, and receiving her plagues!

Another reason is visible in God’s designation “my people.” Coming out in response to God’s order means we are breaking with our old identity as Babylonians (Americans, British, Russians, Chinese, Israelis, Iranians, French…), behaving instead as God’s very own beloved people.

When we come out in response to God’s command, we die to our earthly identities, and fully receive our baptismal identity as God’s child. We then enter the Kingdom of God (by water and the Spirit), which then makes us “strangers and aliens” in this world—and we are not allowed dual citizenship!

Following the Angel’s next four orders

Once we have broken out of our captivity to the powers, renouncing our allegiance to the kingdoms of this world, we are then free to follow the angel’s next four orders. Serious prayer, research and reflection is needed to come up with Spirit-inspired action in response to these commands. A small sampling of possible actions are included under each order below.

The angel’s second order “Pay her back even as she has paid!” (Rev 18:6) is a command to engage in a sort of retributive justice. This is certainly not a call to exercise violence against flesh and blood humans (Babylonians, American, Russians or whomever), as Paul writes:

“Never pay back evil for evil to anyone” (Rom 12:17). But we are called to spiritual struggle against rulers, authorities, powers, world forces of darkness in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12).

Paying back here refers to retributive justice against a non-human entity, her, Babylon. Since America is now brazenly becoming a self-serving, oppressive idol, even fitting the OT category of a high place, it seems its spiritual and social status must be somehow torn down even as it has built itself up at others’ expense.

Paying back America “even as she has paid” requires research into how she has behaved in the past and how she behaves now. Prophetic exposure of America’s sins, in direct attack against her boasts is a way to practice this imperative now.

• Exposing and denouncing the failure of America’s prison system to rehabilitate the incarcerated and assist then in effective re-entry.
  Exposing each and time the US Government broke treaties with indigenous tribal communities, restoring land and other treaty rights with interest.
• Exposing and denouncing each and every self-serving US military intervention that pretended to defend or liberate.

The third order “Give back double according to her deeds” is similar to the second. Precision consequences are related to offenses times two—a kind of spiritual warfare retributive against the power called “America.” Examples might include:

• Exposing and publicly denouncing twice as many of America’s abuses of human rights than positive contributions claimed by America’s apologists.
• Exposing the corruption of America’s legal system twice as much as its proponents laud its superiority, demonstrating how it acquits the rich and powerful of their crimes and condemns the less privileged and poor.
• Calling back twice as many Christian nationalists to Jesus from the clutches of allegiance to America.

The fourth order follows in kind: “in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.”

• The “cup” here might reflect what the dominant power (here identified as America) has given people to drink a manifestation of its hospitality.
• Acknowledging, decrying and mourning the US Constitution’s second amendment right to bear arms as leading to extreme insecurity and fear inside America due to gun violence.
• Decrying the failure of America’s education system to effectively educate its citizens and residents, and the mainstream media’s failure to effectively report national and world news due to its ownership by corporate and billionaire interests.

The fifth and final order again requires research to accomplish: “To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning.”

• Immediate, informed responses to each and every official or public statement glorifying America with detailed denunciations of America’s failures to liberate and defend life.
• Public mourning for America’s crimes and failings, in direct response to each and every celebration of its claims to greatness.
  Acknowledging and mourning America’s failure to effectively address the roots of homelessness, the opioid pandemic, and mental health crisis.
• Decrying and grieving the failure of America’s democracy, showing how its two-party system has been co-opted by the rich and powerful.

Far more prayerful work is needed if we’re to properly respond to the angel’s orders and prepare ourselves for highly challenging future. In conclusion, departure from America is an invitation to a new freedom to join Jesus himself, those already cast out, and those Jesus seeks, “outside the camp,” as Hebrew 13:13-14 brilliantly invites us to do:

“So, let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”

As Donald Trump was inaugurated America’s 47th President and begins his term I find comfort in remembering and celebrating the world’s highest (and very different) Commander-in-Chief—Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus was enthroned on the cross, where he defeated the ruler of this World and every one of Satan’s principality and power minions. This I celebrate! Let us choose to worship Jesus.

Jesus understood his destiny as he approached Jerusalem—the Israeli equivalent of Washington DC. He revealed to his disciples then (and to us now) how the leaders of God’s people and secular rulers would respond to him. He highlighted their reaction so that they (and we) would know in advance what we can expect as we follow him.

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify him, and on the third day he will be raised up” (Matthew 20:18-19).

The leaders of God’s people and the majority they influenced did not “elect” Jesus as their King when he came in the flesh—so why would they now? They rejected him, engaging in the then equivalent of organizing, voting, lobbying, and demonstrating before the Roman Empire’s governor, Pilate to have him executed.

“We have no king but Caesar!” stated the chief priests of God’s people, a warning to us all as we watch the equivalent today.

Jesus prophesied his elevation (enthronement) at his execution on the cross, where he would be glorified, as he defeated the ruler of this world.

“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself” (John 12:31-32).

He declared that his enthronement would benefit the whole world that he came to save— with no resemblance to anything close to “make Israel (and certainly not America) great again.”

Jesus, Israel’s Messiah and the world’s King was enthroned at his crucifixion. He took no mountain (of the supposed “seven”)– but was taken to Golgotha, the Place of the Skull.

The soldiers of the world’s most powerful empire draped a scarlet robe on his bleeding shoulders. They placed a crown of thorns on his head, a reed in his right hand and mockingly knelt before him, spitting on him and striking him on the head, saying: “Hail King of the Jews” (Mt 27:27-31). They crucified him between two criminals, and placed a sign over his head, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Mt 27:37).

The king of America will no doubt receive much better treatment.

Jesus was brutally enthroned, without fanfare or endorsements from the equivalents of tech billionaires, media moguls, defense industry and financial sector CEOs, religious leaders, and other powerful opportunists. No former or present heads of state were there.

His only endorsers were his acquaintances and women who followed him who were looking on from a distance, a criminal who said: “Jesus, remember me, when you enter your Kingdom,” and a centurion who on seeing the way he died confessed him to be the Son of God (Mk 15:39).

Today as we commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. and as Donald Trump is being glorified, let us choose to remember and celebrate Jesus, who “sanctified the people through his own blood, suffering outside the gate.”

“So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come” (Hebrews 13:12-13).

May we choose to accompany those who are outside the camp now: undocumented immigrants, asylum claimants, the homeless, addicted and incarcerated, those who await execution on death row, the poor and excluded, and anyone who is not represented or attended to.

May we fix our eyes on Jesus, our Commander-in-Chief, victor over the powers and over death itself—and celebrate!

Hostility towards strangers and aliens is the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah which resulted in their destruction in Genesis 19. This is visible when the men of Sodom surround Lot’s house, and demand that the visiting men (who we know to be angels) come out so they can violate them. This contrasts radically with Abraham and Sarah’s lavish hospitality in Genesis 18. Lot’s subsequent offer of his home as a sanctuary serves as a partial model of righteous aiding and abetting of aliens at a time when many North Americans and Europeans are scapegoating immigrants and refugees, calling for their deportation. The alien angels’ visit becomes a rescue mission to their hosts, as they urge Lot and his family to flee for their lives—before it’s too late. This story speaks prophetically to our situation in the USA now as we anticipate the Trump Administration coming to power January 20.

In the past few weeks, I’ve had numerous encounters with Mexican farmworkers who are terrified by threats of mass deportations in 2025. One man who has done back-breaking menial labor for years called over to me from across the street as I was leaving after our Sunday service. When he could see that I didn’t recognizing him as it was dark, he ran over.

“Roberto, what do you think is going to happen once Trump comes to power? Will they deport me right away?” he asked, with fear in his eyes. “I’m worried. Who will take care of my mother if they send me back to Mexico? She’s getting old and needs me.”

I told him that I’d let him know whatever I learned, and we exchanged phone numbers.

I visit a young indigenous farmworker couple from Oaxaca who are undocumented and have been in the USA since they were children. They’ve been working hard in the fields since their teen years, harvesting food for our tables. They share with me their fear that Trump will deport them, leaving their three US citizen children without parents.

“What will we do if they send us back without our children?” they ask.

An immigration attorney friend recommends that undocumented immigrants give Power-of-Attorney to a friend or family member who is a US citizen, so they can legally be granted custody and care for their children should they be deported.

As a parent considering the anguishing dilemma of our farmworker friends, I am sad and outraged. As the grandson of an immigrant grandfather from Sweden, who lives in close proximity to five Native reservations, I’m further pained by my “unjust” legal status. The Triqui-speaking Oaxacan farmworkers mentioned above are native to our North American continent (as are most farmworkers), yet they are only “immigrants” since European settlers took their land. This adds insult to injury when people label them “illegal aliens.” The prophet Ezekiel’s words to God’s people, whom he calls Sodom’s sister, ring true now.

“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy” (Ez 16:49).

In radical contrast, Abraham and Sarah are elevated as offering exemplary hospitality to foreigners, right before the story of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction.

In Genesis 18 Abraham runs from the door of his tent to meet three approaching foreigners, bowing himself to the earth before them. He addresses them using God’s singular proper name (YHWH) and offers them his best hospitality:

“My Lord (YHWH), if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant” (Gn 18:3-5).

Abraham and Sarah spring to action as soon as their guests accept hospitality. They prepare a choice calf with curds and milk and set it before them. The visitors prophesy the miracle birth of Isaac. Then, before two of them continue down towards Sodom they share their concern with Abraham:

“The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to me; and if not, I will know” (Gn 18:20-21).

The migrant messengers do not give specifics about the reasons for the outcry. The Hebrew word zoaqah can mean shriek, cry out in need, and often implies an outcry against an oppressor.

“The one who shuts his ear to the cry (zoaqah) of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered,” states in proverb in Proverbs 21:13.

The men proactively head down to Sodom “to see.” They are met by Lot, Abraham’s nephew, who sits at the gate, seemingly vigilant. Lot exhibits watchfulness, but also exemplary hospitality like his uncle.

“He rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way” (Gn 19:1-2).

As night approaches the people of Sodom’s hostility to aliens becomes visible. They surround Lot’s house, “both young and old, all the people from every quarter” (19:4).

Lot begins to advocate for his guests, going to the horrific extreme of even offering his virgin daughters to the perpetrators (not exemplary!)– but to no avail. The voters express the will of the people and berate Lot as an alien himself. The angels then step up their game and defend their hosts, shutting the door and striking the citizens with blindness. They urge Lot to prepare his family to flee Sodom, which they must have considered too far gone for democratic reform. Lot and his daughters are the only ones who make it out alive.

As I ponder this story these days before Christmas, I consider the wise men (foreigners), who are far more in touch with the time and place of the Savior’s birth than the citizens of Israel. I think of Bethlehem’s lack of hospitality to Jesus at this birth, and of Egypt– which provided asylum to Mary, Joseph and young Jesus. I find myself hoping I’m hospitable, closer to Abraham than to Lot on a continuum.

The angels though, are my heroes. They represent the Kingdom of Heaven, and critique earthly realities from that perspective. They inspire me to a deeper, more holistic advocacy. I am challenged that they combine sensitive attunement to the outcries of the oppressed, with a willingness to serve as vulnerable messengers in a hostile environment, and direct, courageous and faith-filled action to protect and liberate. I am far less comfortable with their role as faithful heralds who announce God’s judgment of the oppressors.

Yet as I keep encountering undocumented individuals and families, I find my heart becoming more tenderized, and upset at the current state of our nation. Many insist that immigrants driven to migrate by poverty go through the normal application process to enter legally, without understanding that the poor are disqualified from the start from obtaining an entry visa due to their poverty!  I wonder what outcries God is hearing from our land now, and what response is required.

An indigenous woman in her late twenties from Guerrero, Mexico came to our Sunday service for the first time six weeks ago. She used Google Translate to find the words to show someone entering our building for worship. “Can you show me the pastor?”

I met with her in our sanctuary and read over a letter she showed me from the US Immigration Service telling her that she was being deported. Her two small children played with toys before us as we talked. The next evening after she finished work in the fields, we met up with an immigration attorney friend who attends Tierra Nueva to see if there was any way to help her. He determined that there was likely no hope that her asylum claim would be granted. She shared how a third child is due to be born in February. She was surprisingly calm, seemingly resigned to whatever might happen. I was struck by her humility, visible in her desire for prayer, full of faith in Jesus, despite her minimal exposure to any kind of church.

Last Sunday, I visited her and her husband to bring them a microwave someone had donated. Their living room was completely bare of furniture. Five young indigenous men sat against the wall in a cold home due to the furnace breaking down– which the landlord wasn’t repairing. The men shared how they’d worked in the potato harvest until it ended in November and would be out of work until the season began again in March. “That is if we’re not caught and deported,” one of them shared. I think of a final Scripture, which is highly relevant now as we resist the status quo in these immigrant-bashing times.

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2).

Last night we heated water and filled up a large thermos and a big insulated dispenser, preparing for our weekly Friday street outreach. I loaded up the back of my Black Toyota FJ Cruiser with a fresh supply of Cup Noodles, hot chocolate, cider, coffee, and plastic forks, and refilled a plastic stow with socks, scarves, and hats. I included a supply of Narcan and as many blankets as I could find from our warm closet at Tierra Nueva, before heading over to the commercial center of Mount Vernon to look for people outside the stores.

Since it was Black Friday, I assumed the police had driven the unhoused out of the sight of shoppers. But the cold also drives people into their tents in the woods, behind dumpsters, and in whatever hide-away they’ve managed to find for themselves.

I headed to our meet-up place, not sure how many of our volunteers would show up on a cold night the day after Thanksgiving. My son-in-law Esteban showed up right as I parked in front of a group of men and women congregated outside the Goodwill, beside the Dollar Tree.

“Would anyone like a hot drink?”  I asked, as we approached the group of twelve to fifteen people standing under the big cement eave of the store. A few of the guys were on bikes, and three of the men were in wheelchairs. Several had grocery carts filled with their belongings.

“We’ve got soup, hot chocolate or cider,” I added.

I looked around and recognized many of the faces as one person after another asked for this or that drink. Esteban and I began filling up Cup Noodles with hot water and mixing hot chocolate as fast as we could, and passed them out. More people showed up who recognized our truck, since we come around every week. Most everyone wanted both hot chocolate and Cup Noodles. People expressed appreciation. I spoke with an older Mexican man I’d known for years who straddled his bicycle, introducing him to Esteban, who spoke with him in Spanish.

I asked if anyone needed blankets, and the men in wheelchairs were the first to say yes. I asked one of them, a Latino guy, how long he’d been in a wheelchair and what had happened. He told me he’d been shot a few years ago, and that the bullet had hit his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the waist down.

I wanted to pray for him as I’d seen Jesus heal a man in jail from paralysis from a gunshot wound. As I pondered whether to go for it, he waived goodbye as his friend wheeled him away, and I let out a feeble “God bless you guys.” Maybe there would be another occasion to pray, once we’d gotten to know each other better.

Suddenly people began to disperse. Maybe they’d seen a police car. We passed out gloves, hand warmers, and hats. So we got in my car and headed over towards Safeway instead, to look for more people. I didn’t see anyone on the streets in some of the usual places, so I drove slowly around the back, adjacent to a large, abandoned field. I then spotted a grocery cart, and noticed a small group huddled in the dark near some dumpsters under a tree.

We pulled in near them and parked. A woman came up, not wanting a hot drink but needing a hat. She said her mother’s birthday was the next day, and I told here that she was welcome to take a scarf or hat for her mom. She was delighted, and found a scarf she thought her mom would like. We approached the huddled group, asking if anyone wanted a hot drink.

“Bob!” one of them yelled. It was a man I knew who’d relapsed back into Fentanyl after a long period of sobriety.

We greeted each other and began to catch up from the previous week. We served him a cup of hot chocolate, and he was glad to receive a fresh supply of Narcan. He told us how many people call 911 too soon, assuming someone who has passed out is in danger when they’re not.

“When they’re turning blue, that’s when you really have to move fast,” he told us.

Just then I spotted a tall, very thin man who was heading towards us on the sidewalk behind the store. He walked with long, determined strides—like a man on a mission.

“Jeff” (not his real name), my friend yelled, “dude, I’ve been looking for you. Come on over!”

Jeff stopped in front of us and my friend gave him a hug. Jeff couldn’t stand still, but lurched forward, twisting around with contorted gestures, a common manifestation of the street drug called “Trank,” which is Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that’s being mixed into the Fentanyl these days.

Jeff spoke haltingly but revealed sensitivity and intelligence. He told us how he was a few credits short of a business degree at the local college, but had messed up “yet again.” I told him we could see that he was a highly intelligent and articulate man, and that it’s not too late to achieve his dreams. It seemed right to ask him if we could pray for him about being able to finish his schooling. He said “yes” he wanted prayer, as he twisted around in a few circles, spiraling down on his haunches before us, bowing his head and cupping his hands over his mouth and chin.

I was deeply touched by his humble gesture, and felt a tenderness as my heart softened. wondered if I was going to cry. I prayed a prayer over him, and his friend and Esteban joined me as we blessed him with success, protection and God’s peace.

When I finished praying I found myself making a comment I hadn’t thought about in advance.

“Well, it’s Black Friday and everyone’s out shopping. But I’m pretty sure Jesus wouldn’t be shopping for deals. He’d be out shopping for people. Searching for what’s most precious to him– you guys!”

The men seemed to receive these words into their souls, and I felt like I was basking in a tenderness from the invisible heart of God that filled the darkness.

Esteban later commented that in fact Jesus is our Redeemer, the One who purchases us by his blood, freeing us from the clutches of the Ruler of this world. We are his deputized agents, invited to search for his beloved ones along the alleyways, highways, behind the hedges and dumpsters.