First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
—Martin Niemöller
This quote is posted at The New England Holocaust Memorial in downtown Boston, Mass. This was the first time my children had seen this type of memorial. The memorial consists of six glass towers that the visitor can walk under. Engraved on the towers are six million numbers that symbolize the six million killed in the Holocaust. My children couldn’t wrap their minds around how many was six million. They couldn’t conceive of how this type of thing could happen. And neither could I.
But now I can.
Now I understand. It’s a slow fade, a steady decline. It’s normalizing things that shouldn’t be normal. It’s accepting things 1° at a time.
I believe many Christians in our country are being fleeced into signing off on what will lead to atrocities. I believe they’ve signed off on some pretty scary stuff already. Some things that can’t be justified, but I think they think they can justify them.
There are small things that are accepted because the means justify the end.
But that doesn’t mean we should be okay with it. When it comes to our eternal character, I believe the means is the end. Jesus is pretty clear about this. He says things like, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28), and “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:22).
It’s not what you do specifically, but what you would do if there were no accountability. As C.S. Lewis says, “If every time a man had the desire to have sex, that thought resulted in a child, he shall quickly populate a small village.” Tapping into this truth is necessary for us to understand our responsibility to the God consciousness. I believe this is the eternal kingdom of God Jesus speaks of. Not heaven, not an afterlife… it’s a throbbing rhythmic vibration of truth that is, and always has been. It’s God, gods, Allah, awareness, and every other path to truth there ever has been. My favorite way to describe it is, “God is the name of the blanket we put over the mystery to give it a shape”—that’s from AC/DC’s road manager, oddly enough. Truth is found in odd places.
So now, I’m a 43-year-old dad with teenage children, living in conservative Florida. A madman is president and is deporting and imprisoning people who resist and oppose him, and the current “Church” seems okay with this. They’ve overturned Roe v. Wade and apparently are okay with Trans people being erased from society. I should’ve… but I didn’t expect it to hurt so much. I didn’t expect to be so distraught at just how much these folks have missed the message; by how much they don’t understand Jesus – how much they don’t understand God. They are as blind to the truths of the Bible as they are to the lies they’re being told. They believe it wholesale.
Not all of them, obviously. There are still many good people. But how long before the opposing voices are in real danger?
Trump just “deported” 200,000 Venezuelans to an El Salvadorian work camp. He said they’re all gang members, but I don’t believe that for three reasons:
- 200k is a ton of people (the size of a city). If we had that many gang members anywhere, it would be felt more and be a bigger story.
- No organization is that effective to identify and specifically target that many people accurately.
- There is much credible reporting showing that most of these folks have no criminal history or ties to these gangs. They’ve just been wrapped up in this because of their nationality.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to ground the plane and not take them out of the country, but he ignored the orders and sent them away anyway.
If we don’t have laws, we have nothing.
But Trump is a liar. He’s always been a liar, and he will lie about anything, anytime. He wants to be a dictator because he wants to be immortalized. His ego is so sensitive that he goes after anyone who dares to speak up to him. This is the most powerful man in the world now. Thanks to the Christians. They did this. They supported him. They voted him in. So I’m angry about that.
And now I’m here… writing about it, because it’s the only thing I can do. I want to storm the Capitol. I want to punch the teeth out of the nearest MAGA hat-wearing son of a bitch I can find. Because I’m angry. I’m angry that they let this happen. I’m angry because they’re so stupid. I’m angry that they don’t understand how they’re being taken advantage of. Someone is stealing their future, and they’re protecting them. There’s a motherfucking fox in the henhouse and they’re telling everyone how necessary it is to let the fox fix the corruption in the henhouse. What the fuck is wrong with them?! What the fuck is wrong with the Christians?!
The beauty that is the work of Jesus is being trampled by the idiocy and bigotry of the religious right—by people who are either too lazy, or too stupid, or too afraid to open their heart to the fact that maybe THEY need to change, not the world around them. Maybe they need to change to allow the world around them to change. But they can’t accept that. That is the enemy. They call it “woke.” Yeah. Yeah. It’s woke. I’m woke. I’m waking up as much as I fucking can, because we’ve been asleep for too long. We’ve been asleep to the needs of the oppressed. We’ve been asleep to the needs of women as they are harassed by men for being too shapely or too attractive. They have to adopt a trauma-induced, calculated life so that they can live without being harassed, groped, advanced upon, or otherwise bothered by men who are so desperate for some validation that they haven’t squared up within themselves, that they need to get it from a woman who just wants to make it from point A to B. Good God. What the fuck is wrong with us men? Shouldn’t we read some books? Shouldn’t we wake up? Why should women have to deal with this?
So you take the high road… you become the change you want to be. Now you’re “woke,” or you’re “left.” No, I just took Jesus seriously when he said the things he said. When he said, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)
That’s pretty strong words, don’t you think? That’s pretty woke, don’t you think?
I’m woke because my encounters with Jesus required more from me than I was. It was necessary to grow, to wake up…to be better. That’s what wokeness is for me. It’s an indicator that I am not who I was yesterday, or last year, or 10 years ago. I can grow, and I can understand, and I can do better…and so can you. And so can they. It’s time to wake up.