June 7, 2023
Pioneering The Parallel Economy For The Glory of God
It was the best of times, it was the based of times. And then one day, for no reason at all, White Boy Summer called, and the tribes answered. Three words, one feeling.
Well, maybe that’s not entirely accurate. White Boy Summer (WBS) invokes many feelings. For many folks, WBS is nothing more than a siren song for vainglorious rabble-rousers, angry white boys airing grievances, and nothing more. For others, WBS is a rebel yell — with memes.
One of the things that everybody needs to be braced for is a spate of articles, books, think pieces, documentaries, and the like on the rising threat of Christian nationalism. That being the case, you are likely to hear a lot about it from me as well. I intend, over the coming months, to sharpen my Machete of Disobfuscation, and, together in fellowship with you, to clear out some of these thickets.
If you are an evangelical, you believe that Christ gave us the task of proclaiming the gospel of Christ to others, in the hope of persuading them to repent of their sins and believe the gospel. If you still have the name evangelical, but you don’t believe that anymore, then you need to figure out how to respond to those Christians who do still believe that the Great Commission—the way Jesus gave it—applies to us today. One of the things you can do is rename whatever the heck it is you’re doing, that outreach-lite stuff, and call it missional, and then you can turn around and accuse the old-timey Christians of being Christian nationalists.
Sounds pretty bad, right?
The cataracts from over a century of fractured theology and eschatological disappointments are beginning to fall from our eyes. The cloudy haze of escapism that would subconsciously govern our outlook on life now and in the future, the same haze which has played a role in blurring our sights on the Great Commission of discipling the nations, is finally dissipating.
A return to a robust, no-frill historic orthodoxy, along with an optimistic, hope-filled view of the future will characterize the theological framework of a reformation in this country and the world. Our lack of civil engagement, our almost unanimous withdrawal from higher education, our surrender to secularism, our lack of focus on the arts, entertainment, and even politics are all coming to an end. Our world has suffered too long. The ambassadors of our culture and the representatives who were meant to change it and bring it to Christ have been preoccupied with escaping the world instead of engaging it.
