“If America ever falls, it will fall by the hand of the clergy.”Marquis de Lafayette.I discovered during the past 7 years that much of the church in this nation has been conditioned to believe in a Care Bear Jesus with little to no awareness of Table Flipping Jesus.Many pastors are culpable. But how? My life started in the late 1960s in British Columbia. The golden age when many of the classic cars were born. The Chevy Camaro. The Ford Mustang. The Dodge Challenger. An explosion of materialism. Simultaneously, governments and society at large were unable and unwilling to come to grips with the angst of 80 million baby boomers coming into their teens.For the most part, church leadership wasn’t interested in understanding young people, their legitimate concerns, or the hippie culture. Massive, often violent protests against the war in Vietnam were taking place all over America, and the church kept itself busy modelling Care Bear Jesus. .Protests are a messy business, and keeping the status quo was far more valued than getting messy. The socialist and communist violence was not isolated to America. Canadian History explains: It was in this charged environment that the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), or Front for the Liberation of Quebec, emerged. The FLQ was a militant separatist group that believed Quebec's independence could only be achieved through violent revolution. Inspired by global figures like Che Guevara, Chairman Mao, and the writings of Frantz Fanon, the FLQ saw violence not as an evil, but as a necessary tool for political change. These FLQ communists carried out more than 200 bombings, robberies, and other attacks between 1963 and 1970.A dramatic escalation occurred on October 5, 1970, when a FLQ Liberation cell kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross from his Montreal home, making numerous demands for his safe release.When asked by the press what he would do to address this violence, Canada’s first communist prime minister Pierre Trudeau famously replied, “Just watch me.”Eleven days later, Pierre Trudeau implemented the War Measures Act, a law specifically written for use during a crisis of war — not social or civic unrest.This law declared a state of “apprehended insurrection,” outlawed the FLQ, suspended normal civil liberties, and allowed for arrests and searches without warrants, as well as detention without charge..As we have seen during the past 100 years, communists don’t really care about rights, freedoms, or making bad precedents. It is well known that Pierre Trudeau was a great admirer of Fidel Castro, perpetrator of some of the most horrific atrocities in history.While my mother wrote hundreds of letters to the local newspaper addressing the issues of the day, much of the church seemed largely unaware of its moral duties or responsibilities. A “vote for conservatives was a vote for Jesus” or voting for the “lesser of two evils” were, in practice, the guiding ideas of most of the church. The past decade under the tyrannical regime of Baby Trudeau helped somewhat in shaking me out of this stupor, but it has been the lackadaisical or cowardly response of many in the church that has truly astounded and shocked me. Oddly enough, Jesus throughout history has often been heralded as a revolutionary by the communists for his public rebukes of the tyrannical religious and political leaders of his day.Despite the public sins of the prostitutes, tax collectors, and other notorious sinners, Jesus saved his intense public tongue-lashing for the religious elite.Hypocrites! Blind Guides! Snakes! Vipers! Sons of Hell! So vitriolic was Christ that even His own disciples said to Jesus in Matthew, “Don’t you know you are offending them?” .Even the disciples prioritized Care Bear Jesus. But there is also Table Flipping Jesus.One without the other is an idol made in the church’s own image. An idol that is no Jesus at all.Maybe it’s not too late for pastors to step up to the plate.Though not a Pastor, lawyer Leighton Grey is standing — no matter the consequence. In his recent book Lies, Laws, and Liberties, Mr. Grey lists several Canadian government atrocities and catalogues his accompanying emotional responses to these satanic evils, such as the surgical sexual mutilation of children happening in Canada. Contrary to many church opinions, Jesus had the same feelings, and he publicly and consistently expressed them.In Amos 6:6, God sternly rebukes those who neglect their country. .“You drink wine by the bowlful, and perfume yourselves with the latest perfumes, caring nothing that your nation is going to ruin.” Amos 6:6.Pastors. Please read Mr. Grey’s book.In it you will find at least a year’s worth of the most urgent and much-needed sermon material.
