We always need an enemy

As I work my way through Jesus and John Wayne I am struck by several things.

1. Evangelicals somehow wanted to make Jesus “more masculine,” declaring that so much of the American Church had “feminized Christianity.”
2. Odd heroes were picked. National figures like John Wayne. Political figures like Ronald Reagan. “Business leaders” like Donald Trump. In doing so, all those examples were not big heroes in the militaristic sense that was portrayed.
3. Interestingly enough, evangelicals shied away from Jimmy Carter (an actual evangelical Christian) and George H.W. Bush, an actual WWII pilot who flew actual combat missions.
4. In all of it, for evangelicals it seems doing good and bringing God’s Kingdom to reality just isn’t enough for us. We have to create enemies. We always need an enemy.

I am tired of creating enemies. I have tired of political solutions that we think we can get just by “voting for the right people.” That faded on me in the early part of the 21st Century.

DuMez’s book is exhausting. I walk through this and relive my childhood and young adulthood, seeing where I’ve been wrong and seeing where I’ve been duped and seeing where I knew I was turning my theological ship around… and I am exhausted. Again.

My enemies are few. My calling is great. My God is real and powerful and compassionate. This is where I will stand.

I highly recommend you read the book, even if it is exhausting. If you want to pair it up, utilize the series DuMez is doing with Skye Jethani on the Holy Post Podcast HERE.