Crucible of Thought

For many years now, I have been saying that even the American democratic system will ultimately fail, that it will never become The Kingdom of God, that democracy itself must be shown to be inferior to whatever God's government ultimately will look like. Much to my dismay and discomfort, it's now happening, faster than I could have imagined. But what SHOULD the Kingdom look like? And in the meantime, what should my response be?

You can also read this as a blog post at

https://crucibleofthought.com/on-the-death-of-american-democracy/

Here's another great conversation with Billie Hoard about the book she and her brother Paul Hoard have just finished writing. The topic is extremely relevant to what's going on in America right now, and it's really worth understanding if you want to have a better sense of why things are the way they are.

You can also watch this at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3ulqi_4_V0

What's the best way to advance the Kingdom of God on earth? Perhaps you think it's by conquering our culture, by fighting against those trying to lead us away from God. Or maybe it's something different. Maybe if we inspect the Way of Jesus, we'll see something sharply different, something that requires us to sacrifice ourselves instead of conquering others.

You can also read this as a blog post athttps://crucibleofthought.com/winning-by-losing/

Let's talk about reading.

You can also find this in blog form at https://crucibleofthought.com/reading-changed-me/

I clearly remember the George H.W. Bush phrase, "A Thousand Points of Light." President Bush's victory was the first presidential election in which I was old enough to vote, and his vision from his inaugural speech in 1989 was deeply inspirational to me. That phrase, today, has captured my thoughts again, but perhaps in an unexpected way. And it shows how far we've fallen from those days that I remember. How can we be a point of light today?

You can also read this episode in blog form at https://crucibleofthought.com/a-thousand-points-of-light/

I'm really pleased to bring you another interview. My guest today is Mae Forest Barnes, someone I've gotten to know remotely via social media for the last year or so. But as I watched her comment and interact, one thing really stuck out: she made various comments about queer theology. That was an area I knew nothing about, but had a growing sense that I needed to understand.

I'm very pleased to bring you another interview with my good friend Bethany Alvey, who is a spiritual director. I spent the last year or so going through a program with her as she was developing her spiritual direction practice. I found it very helpful and also very informative. Until that process, I knew very little about spiritual direction, but it's something I hear about quite a bit now, especially as I spend most of my time outside evangelical and institutional church circles. So I thought that it maybe it would be useful to you, if you aren't already familiar with it, to understand what it's all about and what you might expect if you had a spiritual director.

Have you noticed the growing pressure for sameness in our civic and religious cultures lately, the idea that uniformity, or perhaps conformity, is necessary for a holy and Godly nation? I have, and I'm very concerned, because I think it's dangerously false. Not only is it not biblical, it also makes us weaker. I'm going to explore this topic for a few minutes, from both religious and political perspectives.

You can also read this in blog form at https://crucibleofthought.com/uniformity-is-not-unity/

Everything is a battle lately, both politics and religion, and this keeps us focused on everyone else being our enemy, not our neighbor or fellow believer. I'm choosing to lay down my arms, and stop this cycle of violence which prevents us from moving forward together.

You can also read this in blog form at https://crucibleofthought.com/laying-down-my-arms/

As a former evangelical, I experienced a number of occasions where we chased after some manifestation we thought was of God, but probably was not. It's too easy to get busy worshiping this kind of experience, instead of worshiping God.

You can watch this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz0ZKEQ1cpk

A compilation of video clips about Silvania Machado:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPxZsvtC6tE

Silvania Machado speaking at a church (starts when the "gold" manifests):

https://youtu.be/9SbFUP4SEx8?t=807

Some stories about the "gold dust" being proven untrue:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040204233930/http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/miraclegold.htm

https://banner.org.uk/tb/golddust.htm

http://web.archive.org/web/20111212202542/http://riverforum.blogspot.com:80/2008/11/sylvania-machado-gold-dust-exposed-as.html

A testimony from a true believer in the glory dust:

https://www.maxgreinerart.com/glory_dust.htm