REFLECTIONS ON CIRCUIT RIDE III & GOING HOME: WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT AMERICA, THE CHURCH, AND MYSELF IN 4,840 MILES

SCRIPTURE. “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him [and worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and obedience], on those who hope [confidently] in His compassion and lovingkindness, to rescue their lives from death and keep them alive in famine.” – PSALM 33:18-19, AMP

HOME. “(Noun) [Gr., a house, a close place, or place of rest]. A dwelling house or place in which one resides. The sacred refuge of our life; one’s own country; the place of constant residence; the seat [of one’s primary affections and commitments].” – NOAH WEBSTER, ‘American Dictionary of the English Language,’ 1828; edited

QUOTATIONS

“Home wasn’t a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. ‘Not a place, but a moment,’ and then another, building on each other like bricks to create ‘a solid shelter’ that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.” ― SARAH DESSEN, ‘What Happened to Goodbye?,’ 2011; edited

“The ache for home lives in all of us. ‘The safe place’ where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” ―  MAYA ANGELOU, ‘All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes,’ 1986; edited

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

I love the way Maya Angelou’s quote begins: “The ache for home lives in all of us.” As I traveled this last Circuit Ride of 2022 toward the end of a momentous year, I thought a lot about “Home,” and what it means to be “going home.” All of which quickly brings to mind the old adage, “Home is where the heart is.”

With just a little bit of metaphorical stretch, the Scriptures declare that indeed, the entire Cosmos aches for it in this visceral passage that eloquently describes what I can only call, ‘The Great Return’ to Divine Order.’

“For the creation was subjected to frustration and futility, not willingly [because of some intentional fault on its part], but by the will of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will also be freed from its bondage to decay [and gain entrance] into ‘the glorious freedom of the children of God.’ For we know that the whole creation has been moaning together as in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only this, but we too, who have the first fruits of the Spirit [a joyful indication of the blessings to come], even we groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for [the sign of] our adoption as sons—the redemption and transformation of our body [at the resurrection].” – ROMANS 8:20-23, AMP

Whether individuals realize it or not, we are all of us longing, aching for this, what shall I term it – RESTORED REST – from all of the turmoil and agonized labor that is required for us to master life on a fallen Earth. Though open to all, sadly, there are few who find it, this soul-deep, organic Return to Eden.

ANGELOU’S QUEST. Take the richly talented and seemingly self-actualized Maya Angelou. American memorist, famous poet and civil rights activist, she published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She has received dozens and dozens of awards and more than fifty honorary degrees.

And yet, listen to her childlike heart when it comes to her search for a Spiritual Home.

“I have always tried to find myself a Church. I have studied everything. I spent some time with Zen Buddhism and Judaism, and I spent some time with Islam. I am a religious person. It is my spirit, but I found that I really ‘want’ to be a Christian. That is what my spirit seems to be built on. I just know that I find the teachings of Christ so accessible. I really believe that Christ made a sacrifice and for those reasons ‘I want to be a Christian.’ But what kind, I don’t know. I don’t know what time of day I am at.” – SUSAN KING, Interview about a PBS Special entitled, “Of Religion and Rainbows,” ‘L.A. Times,’ May 17, 1992; edited

MY THESIS. “Home is where God lives.” Whether that be in “Third Heaven” as described by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 (2-4), or in “The New Heaven” depicted by John the Apostle in Revelation 21 (the entire chapter!), the point is: Home is wherever God lives. Selah.

With that as our Foundation, then, let’s briefly look at THREE THINGS that help us to understand America, the Church, and ourselves in a now Desperate Search for Home.

1. AMERICA

THE GREAT QUIET. I am reminded here of a frequent saying of the beloved grandmother, “Mom Canete,” who raised my wife: “It is quietest just before the storm.” indeed my friends, everywhere I went on this long ride through no fewer than 17 States – from Colorado-Nebraska, through the Midwest, down the Southeastern seaboard to Florida, then back through the Deep South to home – It’s just Quiet, beloved.

No raging debates in the stores and restaurants, no bellicose political bumper stickers or in-your-face signs up in yards and windows, nor mentions of the country about to be visited by pitched mayhem or violent struggle of any kind. Not a whisper. And yet, there is a distinct, low rumble of ‘Unease’ beneath all the smiles and handshakes and lighthearted sayings.

A Storm is coming.

One Website commented on the Origin of this saying. “This phrase likely originates from a weather phenomenon. That is, sometimes there is a Calm, or serene period that comes shortly before a Storm hits an area. Perhaps you have experienced something like this before. There are dark clouds filling the sky, yet things appear tranquil—no wind is blowing, no rain is falling; the air is still and quiet. It looks as though even the birds packed their bags and left. However, this is the ‘Calm before the Storm,’ because shortly after, the wind picks up and rain starts to fall. Yes, the Storm arrives!” – ‘KY Phrase,’ ret. Dec. 1, 2022; edited

And it takes most people by surprise.

THE AMERICAN STORM. To go to the very heart of this ominous prediction for our seemingly, comparatively Quiescent Nation, this stunning report recently published by several sources. That former US President Donald Trump now fully and brashly embraces the entire QAnon Conspiracy Narrative, reposting an image of himself wearing a ‘Q’ lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming.” NOTE: According to experts, “The Storm” refers to the prediction that Trump regains power followed by savage prosecution of all his opponents. – VYOMICA BERRY, Editor, ‘WION News,’ Sep. 17, 2022; edited

Does any of this sound familiar to any of you about a time in Western history when a similar figure arose to do just that? That is, the elimination of all opposition in the brutal pursuit of absolute political, economic and even religious power. Selah.

I cannot pronounce the importance of this Impending Event strongly enough. Not only do I agree with its expectation, but there are many WARNING SIGNS right in front of us that America and even the Church are strenuously ignoring in order to artificially preserve the Mythos of this ‘Great Quiet’ that doesn’t even remotely exist.

Rather than rattle off the standard list of apocryphal signs of The End as the great majority of authors have typically done (including myself!), I turn to a brilliant, albeit atheist scientist and culture analyst named MARSHALL BRAIN. He is a noted futurist, inventor, NCSU professor, writer and creator of “How Stuff Works.” Published in his piece entitled, “Doomsday: How American Democracy Could Collapse into Dictatorship in 2025,” for ‘TechWire,’ July 8, 2022; edited

FAIR WARNING. This will clearly offend the deepest sensibilities of most Christians today, and most especially the Trump-QAnons who continue to rejoice over the Supreme Court’s effective Coup d’ Etat by the New Right.

1. JANUARY 6. The widely televised hearings of the January 6 Select Committee are showing millions of Americans just how dangerously close American Democracy came to collapse in January 2021. Democracy in America stood on the very Brink, and it could have easily gone either way. DK. Alas, the great majority of Americans do not or refuse to recognize this, and the Church? Silent as little lambs being led to slaughter.

2. ROE V. WADE. By his reasoning, the Supreme Court handed down several major decisions in June 2022 showing that it has its own agenda – an agenda that is often willing to disregard precedent and can also be at odds with the majority of Americans. One widely circulated Twitter post captured the feelings of many with the quip, “Truly weird to wake up in America and be like, ‘What hath the Council of Six decreed today?’” DK. Though we rejoice at the Court’s stunning overruling of Roe, it has come at a staggering price: Unbridled Judicial Fiat.

3. MOORE V. HARPER. And then this week the final piece moved into position – SCOTUS agreed to hear the case called Moore V. Harper in October that if approved, would permit partisan gerrymandering to take place with little to no state legislative review. This case is expected to be the lynchpin allowing for the Rise of Dictatorship in the United States. In the minds of many well-respected sources and journalists, these three things together have created a near certainty that American democracy will collapse in January 2025. DK. Notably, the liberal ACLU, the conservative Rutherford Institute and the libertarian Cato Institute all agree that this is dangerous to our democracy.

IN SUM. Although you may well consider that this analysis may indeed be coming out of the rear end of a donkey, THE QUESTION is, is it likely true? Does it have predictive merit? And I believe with all my heart that it is on the mark, since most wisdom these days is not coming from the Christian Right any longer, having sold its birthright to a Pagan, but out of the unbelieving Left for reasons we may specify in another Commentary soon.

It is why I get more Truth from CNN, Atlantic Monthly and PBS these days than either Fox or CBN News, or that God-awful network, TBN. Please, God, give us real journalists today, lest the Republic fully fail on the rocky soil of sensational nonsense!

THE JOURNALIST’S CREED (1908). When I taught public affairs journalism at Regent University’s Graduate School in the 1980s, I often referred my students to the last paragraph of this powerful document. Penned by University of Missouri’s first Dean of its School of Journalism, WALTER WILLIAMS, said it this way.

“I believe that the journalism which succeeds best – and best deserves success – ‘fears God and honors Man;’ is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.”

To Summarize: Through the non-divine auspices of 40 years of Christian political involvement, We have created a Frankenstein Monster in our own image by incrementally edging and forcing ourselves toward the ‘semblance of a Theocracy.’

Something that may well have driven the Founders back to a Second American Revolution! Which brings us to the next section: The American Church.

1. CHURCH

Now about here I have to draw a deep breath or two and becalm myself, and most of you already know why. Just how do I begin? Perhaps with a Restatement of Christ’s Great Charge to His true followers, straight from His own Words on the Mount of Ascension just as He was about to be Raised to Heaven before the remaining eleven disciples assembled there to witness this Mega-Event.

NOTE. Be sure to watch the clip from the movie, ‘Risen’ (2016), that depicts what I expect was the likely true nature of His Catastrophic Ascent. You will not be disappointed.  [https://youtu.be/Xhmqx2Y_iKU].

“Jesus came up and said to them, ‘All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.’” – MATTHEW 28:18-20, AMP

THE MEANING. It is painfully clear to me and most of you that the American Church has intentionally lost its understanding of this Great Commission. It has dared to replace it with what I will flatly call the “doctrines of demons,” issuing straight from the bowels of Trump Christian Nationalism that has commandeered over 80% of our churches today.

It’s Goal: Save America First! (And to Hell with individual souls).

By radical contrast, here is what Jesus Christ actually meant for us to do, by the learned and eloquent interpretation of theologian DR. PAUL PENLEY. I love his take on The Great Commission, a timely clarification for the American Church. Quoted at length from his exquisite essay, “Have We Misunderstood the Great Commission? ‘The End’ Jesus Predicted in Matthew 24:14 Started a Whole New Era,” ‘Reenacting the Way,’ May 14, 2017; edited

“Finishing the task of world evangelization so Jesus can return is not a Biblical paradigm. Paul and the other Apostles had taken the Gospel of Jesus’ Kingdom throughout the known world, defined as the inhabited Roman Empire by Jesus in Matthew 24:14 using the Greek word ‘oikumene.’ The Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem confirmed their announcement of the Great Transition of the ages from the Old Covenant, centered on the Temple, to the New Covenant, led by a heavenly King …

When Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, ‘Go and make disciples of all nations,’ the Command was not to go to every distinct ethno-linguistic group that we can map out with some subjective set of guidelines. The word ‘Go’ is actually a participle. The Command is to ‘make disciples.’ It would be better translated, ‘As you are going, make disciples.’ Our job is to make disciples everywhere we go, not to obsess about where we go next.”

MAKING DISCIPLES. So now to the real grit and grip of what it is we true Christians are called to in this Last Hour of the Church Age. Just what is it to “make disciples of all the nations”? Here I borrow an excellent and concise definition from academician and church discipleship authority, FRANK CARDOZA, in “What Is a Disciple?” for ‘Logos,’ August 24, 2021; edited.

“A disciple is a follower or a devotee of a teaching or a person. In Christianity, ‘a disciple is a Christ-follower.’ A Christ-follower is someone who converts from his or her previous manner of living through repentance of sin and faith in Christ and then begins a lifelong, loving relationship with the living Christ, evidenced by a pursuit of becoming like him through obedience to his teachings.”

Just to be clear, then, for purposes of distinguishing between the ocean of Nominal or even Apostate Christians in America today, derive from this at least THREE THINGS:

1. CONVERSION. There must have been a true or real ‘Spiritual Rebirth’ at some point, usually if not always memorable as part of one’s personal testimony. Some quiet, some dramatic, and all inbetween, but there must have been this Event in a believer’s life when Commitment and Change was in evidence.

• CONTINUANCE. As the Lord clearly specified, only “those who endure to the end” shall actually be saved (Matthew 24:13). No “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots,” to borrow a phrase from the Deist Thomas Paine’s classic, ‘Common Sense’ (Jan. 10, 1776). No, the true disciple of Christ is in it for the long haul, not for temporary gain.

• COMPLIANCE. Here is where the doctrinal wicket gets very sticky for the majority of Christian scholars, pastors and so-called “experts.” Metaphorically flailing and rending their rabbinical robes in false indignation, they cry out: “Once saved always saved!” And yet Christ shatters this delusion with the following, simple, razor sharp, unremitting Word: “If you truly love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments” (John 14:15, Amplified). The effective End of all Debate.

Therefore do I commend you all to these three inviolable, absolute Requirements for True Discipleship for Yeah the Jewish Messiah. No if’s. No and’s. No but’s. This is The Canon!

1. MYSELF

I have learned a few things on this journey across the Eastern two thirds of the Nation that were not completely clear before I rode. So here they are, best I can surmise them.

• I AM WRETCHED. Even the Apostle Paul realized as much when he declared the very same thing from his prison cell in Rome (Rom. 7:24): “Wretched

and miserable man that I am! Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]?” Like you, I have often agonized over The Question put to the Lord countless times: “Why O Lord would you choose the likes of this sinful man for such a mission?”

• THE ANSWER. Please do not misinterpret what I heard from the Lord as any hint of pretense on my part, but rather the raw truth of what God is looking for in any of us to carry out His Royal Commission. This is what I believe that I heard after months of waiting for His Reply: “Because I knew you would say ‘Yes.’” Or in the words of the faithful Jewish prophet one day so very long ago: “Here am I, Lord. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).

• THE MISSION. God didn’t waste one minute of time in specifying what He wanted Isaiah to do in the very next verse (9): “Go, and tell these people, ‘You hear and hear but do not understand. You look and look but do not see.’” The great tragedy here is that at this very late point, God was no longer sending a Warning to foment Repentance; it was too late for that. But rather to, as one theologian put it, “to aggravate their sin and condemnation” at The Final Judgment (Matthew Poole, 1685). So we must ask: Is it again too late, or do we continue to Warn? Selah.

• THE PROVISION. Without any question whatsoever, since launching this ministry in earnest in March 2020 (though there were some very rough years of testing from 2016-2019), we have not lacked a single important thing as a family since that important date. Bills are pretty much paid each month. Enough left over for “the necessaries” of life. And this Ride, as with the previous two, was paid for before I drove the first mile. My personal safety was intact despite three near misses on the highway. Philippians 4:19, therefore, is absolutely true: “And my God shall supply ALL your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Period. Full stop.

• THE PRAYER. Not that following Jesus is without risk or challenge or even hurt. Most of you know by now that I have faced a few health issues this past year or so, and there are some early signs of metastatic prostate cancer. Following an earlier MRI and bone scan, on December 8, I’ll have a biopsy taken. Final medical consult occurs regarding results on Monday December 19. So yes, I would appreciate prayers for all that, though I truly do entrust all to Him, best I can.

MY CALLING. “Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be so in contrast as to] expose and reprove and convict them.” – EPHESIANS 5:11, AMPC

• THREE NAMES. The Lord has conferred three ‘identities’ upon me from around 1984 through 2014 – “Didymus. Petros. Boanerges.” I will let you figure their meanings on your own.

• EXPOSE WORKS OF DARKNESS. From the Greek, ‘Elegchó’ [ ἐλέγχω], meaning: “To convict or reprove [barren works of secret or hidden error]; to discipline or prove wrong (and bring to light by refutation); also, to reprehend severely; to chide or admonish; call to account; show one his fault in order to punish; chasten strongly; requires acknowledgement (or repentance) on the part of the accused.”

• COMMENTARY. “The believer should have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, either by participation or by any attitude that might indicate tolerance or leniency… Then too the works of darkness belong to the world of dim lights, drawn drapes, locked doors, secret rooms. They reflect man’s natural preference for darkness and his abhorrence of light when his deeds are evil (John 3: 19). The believer is called not only to abstain from the unfruitful works of darkness, but positively he is called to expose them. He does this in TWO WAYS: First, by a life of holiness; and Second, by words of correction spoken under the direction of the Holy Spirit.” – WILLIAM MACDONALD, ‘Believer’s Bible Commentary,’ 1995, p. 1943; edited

• THE AUDIENCE. “For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders (non-believers)? Do you not judge those who are within the church [to protect the church as the situation requires]?” – 1 CORINTHIANS 5:12, AMP

FIRE FOR TRUTH. Best I can tell, then, it is Almighty God who has put this Great Fire in me. Whether I like it or not, or steward it well or not, it still burns hot in these old bones.

• LAST THOUGHTS

To stay just a little bit personal here at the end of our conversation, I am now just this side of 80 years of age. As such, Thoughts of Homegoing are not uncommon nor far from me recently. But if we are honest, we will probably admit along with Billy Graham who was once asked if he was afraid of dying, this: “Heavens, no! But I do confess to a bit of concern about how the Lord chooses to take down my tent.”

Y yo también mis queridos amigos, y yo también.

Jewish wit and gifted humorist ERMA BOMBECK once reflected on Psalm 122:1-2 with this: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’” I love that, I do.

But it was C.S. LEWIS who best summated what the Longing for Home with Him ought to be for the follower of Christ. Taken from the ending of ‘The Last Battle’ (1956) in which Mr. Lewis brought all his good literary offices to bear upon the subject of Heaven.

“It is as hard to explain how this Sunlit Land was different from the Old Narnia as it would be to tell you how the fruits of that country taste. Perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this. You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away among mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the window there may have been a looking-glass. And as you turned away from the window you suddenly caught sight of that sea or that valley, all over again, in the looking glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: Yet at the same time they were somehow different — deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: In a story you have never heard but very much want to know.

The difference between the Old Narnia and the New Narnia was like that. The New One was a deeper country: Every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more. I can’t describe it any better than that: if ever you get there you will know what I mean.

It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed, and then he cried:

‘I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the Old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!’”

CODA. So shall we labor for Him, beloved companions riding your own Circuits, as we long to invite others to spend Eternity with Him and the manifold wonders of what He has in store for us. And I’m not talking about the Rewards we shall receive there. No, no. I refer here to something vastly greater than that, reminding that we shall lay our hard-earned crowns before His Throne, where they truly belong.

Not that. Here I wax unapologetically elysian, toward the contemplative bliss of touring and exploring and co-governing the entire Universe with the King and Creator of all of it in endless spectacle of His splendidly Ordered Beauty. 

Now that, mis fieles compañeros, is a Vision worth keeping until the very End of our days here on this Old Earth: ‘In aching desire to fly toward Home’ – as an Eagle racing to its First Nest. Even the New Heavens and the New Earth, and a shimmering New Life as it was always and forever intended to be by our Mighty, Loving Maker.

Ever your servant, DK

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