Author: Shea Oakley

Copyright 2024 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

I completely abstained from any consumption of alcohol for the first 26 years of my Christian walk. I’ve been a believer for 34. There were a host of reasons for my deciding to abstain during that time including, frankly, pride about my “holiness,” but spelling them all out isn’t the theme of this piece. Rather I want to express a sense of vindication I felt during a former pastor’s (and still friend of mine’s) sermon several years ago when he wrapped up a message series by tackling, among other things, the controversial subject of Biblical Christians consuming alcohol.

During the entire period of my abstinence I made it clear, when the subject came up, that I was in no way advocating my stance for every believer. Why? Well, first and foremost there was the testimony of the first miracle Jesus ever performed: turning the water into wine at the wedding he attended in Cana. Through the years a few books and people (including a previous pastor of mine who I otherwise highly respected) tried to convince me that the wine in question was somehow much weaker than the wine of today. The idea was that Christ basically turned the water into barely fermented grape juice! This struck me as being a completely untenable position as the people went to the master of the feast in that account and complimented him on bringing out the best wine last, since everyone else gave their wedding guests watered-down wine “after the guests have had too much to drink” (John 2:10)

But there were other passages in the Old Testament that also reinforced the idea that God was not against human use of alcohol for other than medicinal purposes. The sermon brought up two that seem to have slipped under the radar of those who tell us no Christ-follower should ever have a drink (and certainly never enjoy it if they do!) One is the verse declaring that God gave wine to “gladden the heart of man” (Psalm 104:15). This is particularly interesting in that it implies God knew and was OK with the fact that alcoholic beverages would actually have a pleasant effect! Then my pastor friend mentioned Deuteronomy 14:26 in which the Israelites are told by God, on a special occasion, not only to enjoy wine but also “strong drink.” This verse is even more shocking for the “Christian teetotaler” as it not only sanctions wine, but apparently also beverages with even greater alcohol content!

Now here the same caveat must be inserted by me that my pastor did that Sunday. If you have become addicted to alcohol by its overuse than almost certainly you should abstain from any kind of imbibing on a permanent basis. I have a dearly loved relative who is an alcoholic who has not touched a drop in nearly 45 years. I applaud both that decision and the self-control that has been required for her to live it out. Also, we are clearly told by Scripture that, even if we are not addicted ourselves, we should never become drunk on wine, or anything else, and also that if drinking in front of someone who is an alcoholic will tempt that person to drink we should always abstain in their presence (I would even go so far as to say that drinking in front of someone who is uncomfortable with the practice should at least cause us to inquire with them about it before picking up our glass).

That said the Bible clearly teaches that, as a non-intrinsically sinful practice, the consumption of alcohol in true moderation, and with the aforementioned caveats, is in no way wrong. It also implies that such drinking may induce a pleasant feeling that does not impair our faculties to the point of drunkenness, and that is OK too. For someone who has once again had an occasional drink over the past several years, that message was one I was very pleased to hear. It was the first time I’ve heard a pastor have the guts to publicly explore the verses he did, and I’m glad for it.

It’s nice to feel vindicated…whether I drink a toast to that vindication or not!

Copyright 2024 by Shea Oakley

Recent statistics tell us that continental Europe has, by percentage, the lowest population of Evangelicals in the non-Islamic world. In fact, most of the European Union (EU) nations also have the lowest percentage of churchgoers of any theological stripe; with those saying they regularly go to a house of worship in the low single digits (with Ukraine being a massive exception). The profound secularization of what was once the cradle of Christianity has caused some missions organizations to target Europe as an area for “re-evangelization”. In an ironic twist Christians from nations that were brought the Gospel by Europeans during the 18th and 19th Centuries are now sending missionaries to the EU. As these efforts go forward it might be wise to ask the question: Who Lost Europe?

The most common reply to that question has been to blame the Continent for introducing theological liberalism. It is true that the trend started there, with the lion’s share of “Higher Criticism” and the “New Theology” coming out of German universities from teachers such as Adolph Harnack, Paul Tillich and Rudolf Bultmann. But to only blame the decline of Christianity in Europe on such men is to grossly oversimplify the deeper reason.

What if the mass falling away from faith in Europe actually has more to do with the corporate memories of its people? Throughout almost all the time that has passed since the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th Century there has been a cancer eating away at the health of the Faith in this part of the world. That cancer was spawned by the mutual co-option of the Church and the State. Today public opinion in the United States has made the separation of church and state a “hot button” issue to say the least. In America the fear mostly seems to be that the church will unduly influence the state, but the Founding Fathers acted at least as much from the opposite fear; that the state would contaminate the purity of the Church. There is a reason for this. They had seen the results of the religiously charged politics of their continent of origin.

Religious wars of various kinds were almost continuous in Europe from the bloody “Holy Crusades” of the Early Medieval period through to what is probably the longest recorded war in human history, the Thirty Years War of the 17th Century. This was just one of many wars involving the conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism, both of which were completely identified with the opposing nation-states of the time. Another blight on the Christian history of Europe came from the infamous Inquisition which unjustly slaughtered thousands of genuine believers between 1300 and 1600 in the name of a Roman Catholicism that was entwined with the civil authorities of the time. But whether by Protestant or Catholic the name of Christ was far too often invoked to justify the slaughter of innocents.

Could it be that modern Europe is haunted by these ghosts of religious extremism? Perhaps that history has more to do with the dismal state of the Faith in the EU today than any school of liberal theology ever could. If this is true mission efforts on the Continent must reckon with these corporate memories if they are ever to succeed. At the very least Evangelicals need to consciously separate the true Gospel from the corrupted “State Christianity” of centuries gone by. Only the original purity of the early Church reborn and recaptured in the present day will liberate Europe once more from darkness. Part of that will mean facing the hard truth that Europe was “lost” by the Church Herself.

Copyright 2024 by Shea Oakley

Here in United States the events of the mid 2020’s has caused some Evangelicals with an interest in the “End Times” to take eschatological matters more seriously than ever.

As the world simultaneously focuses on strife in both Israel and Ukraine unprecedented in recent times those of us who take a Pre-Millennial theological perspective here in America sometimes only hear the ticking of the Biblical countdown clock grow louder. Add to these “wars and rumors of wars” the ongoing and dangerous socio-cultural and political polarization we see happening here in our own nation and surely, it seems, the return of our Redeemer to take us to meet Him in the skies is just around the temporal corner.

Of course, events like these and much worse have plagued parts of the world during the past century. Unprecedented disasters, manmade and otherwise, claimed the lives of over 100 million human beings. In a sense the entire 20th Century was apocalyptic. What, some might be tempted to ask, are the lives lost in Ukraine and Israel today compared to the bloodbaths of Hiroshima and the Holocaust?

Also, it may be asked, what does this have to do specifically with eschatology? It’s more a question of what it has to do with American eschatology. Will the ratcheting up of prophetical speculation cause the Church here to adopt a “circle the wagons” mentality? This term refers to the pioneer days of our nation when a westward-bound wagon train under assault would cease moving forward and instead create a temporary circular “fort” of wagons to try to hold on until help came. The spiritual equivalent in the 21st Century sometimes appears to be the section of the American Church which has seemingly decided to “dig in and wait” for the heavenly cavalry to arrive, with Jesus on the lead horse.

But there is a danger here.

The primary mission of the Church in this present age is to engage the world around it and move ever forward in the evangelization of the lost everywhere on the planet. Today Christianity is on the move in Africa, Asia and South America. Cultures that never received the Word of God are embracing the Faith in ways unique to them. The Body of Christ is changing as the fulcrum of global Christianity continues to move from the West to the East and from the North to the South. Just look at the vibrancy of the Korean Church. Today the largest church in the world isn’t in New York or London, it is in Seoul. Meanwhile the rapidly rising conflict between the democratic West and a “New Axis” of Russia, China, and Iran, all three of which are opposed to biblical Christianity, is developing into a divide negatively affecting the evangelization of the several billion human beings who have yet to hear of the biblical Jesus.

For now, the center of funding for missionary recruiting and activity remains largely in the United States. As the wealthiest, most powerful nation on Earth we still export missionaries, and the financial and technical support they need, to the rest of the world. On a more secular level America also, despite the moral rot in our culture in recent decades, continues to lead (along with Europe and some other nations) in maintaining basic democratic values around the world. Such values, even when to some degree debased by a post-Judeo-Christian mindset, remain a far better option for both believers and non-believers than a new and expansionist Russian hyper-nationalism, an increasing Chinese authoritarianism, or the machinations of a radical Iranian theocracy.

It can be argued that both global evangelism and the survival of the democratic societies which support it will only continue to move forward if the American Church, still an immensely powerful political force in the United States, does not decide to “dig in” and wait for a Rapture that may come next week or may not come for another half-century. What God does in the world is, to some degree, paced by what His children are doing in the world. Also, God’s timing and ours are often radically different from each other. Yes, the signs of the times seem to indicate that He is coming soon, but we’d do well to define a bit more loosely what “soon” is in the light of a God to whom “a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.” Exciting things are happening all over the world as Christ continues to “call all men to Himself.” We, in this country, who identify ourselves with His Name dare not miss out on doing our part in promoting global evangelism (or preserving the international democracy which supports it) in the name of a self-serving “New Isolationism.”

We must not “circle the wagons” and wait but instead courageously keep moving forward, with the Holy Spirit of our soon-coming King as our only Guide.

Copyright 2005, 2024 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

“I keep hearing feed the poor, clothe the hungry, give shelter to those who don’t have it. The (people) that say this don’t recognize that capitalism and technology have done more to feed and clothe and shelter and heal people than all the charity and church programs in history. So they preach about it and we are the ones doing it. They want to rob Peter to pay Paul, but they always forget that Peter is the one creating the wealth in the first place.”                                    -T.J. Rogers, C.E.O. of Cypress Semiconductor

The above quote, taken out of John R. Schneider’s book, The Good of Affluence, is one capitalist’s frank response to the wing of the church that condemns both affluence and the engine that sustains it. While somewhat overstated, his viewpoint is well taken. The Evangelical Left has often made the mistake of condemning the very economic system that has more effectively lifted people out of physical want than any other in human history. Whatever capitalism’s faults it is incumbent on Christians to compare it to other constructs, from feudalism to state socialism, which have failed to be anywhere near as effective in ameliorating poverty.

Many might argue that First World capitalism in developed countries is built on the backs of the Third World nations. This is an accurate observation in some cases. It is true that millions are presently working for multi-national corporations in conditions no Western worker would endure. However a salient question is whether these millions would be doing better had they never been offered such employment opportunities. Subsistence farming, for example, has left millions to die in famines when weather or soil conditions have turned unfavorable. What if such starving farmers and their families had been employed in these much-maligned foreign-funded manufacturing jobs? This is an important question for “social justice”-oriented Christians to ask.

Another question the Ron Sider’s and Tony Campolo’s of this world might want to ask themselves is what the real reason is for extreme poverty in places like Africa. That continent, for example, has been blessed by abundant natural resources, probably valued in the tens of trillions of dollars. The conventional wisdom is that oppressive, usually capitalist, nations in the West have economically raped the people of Africa over the past three centuries. While it is certainly factual that economic colonialism has played a role in the misery that we unfortunately now almost take for granted on this continent there is another reason that rarely gets much play. Many African nations have no functional rule of law regarding property rights. In addition these same countries often have few enforced laws designed to further the market mechanisms that have been in place for hundreds of years in Europe and America. Without property rights, and the market mechanisms such rights support, the massive wealth potential of natural resources in Africa will remain untapped and useless to the welfare of Africans.

Perhaps Western financial aid to developing countries should be tied to progress in establishing the practical institutions necessary for the functioning of market economies. Many charitable Christians are already involved in “micro-enterprise” projects in these nations, but what about campaigning for “macro-enterprise” as well? We do the global poor no favors sending them fish without helping to make them fishermen.

Over a century ago “sweatshops” staffed by new immigrants were a common part of the economic landscape in the United States. Today the descendants of those immigrants are among the most affluent people in human history. Western capitalism ultimately developed, by necessity, into a more perfected system that did away with the sweatshops. Given time this same system can be imported into Third World countries if the West invests political and economic capital in building the undergirding structures required for modern market economies. The Church can and should be a major partner in this 21st Century effort.

It has been said that God “helps those who help themselves.” While this phrase is found nowhere in the Bible it does contain some truth. The global welfare state mentality implicated by the words of some prominent Evangelical social activists needs to be replaced with one that sets the poor free to climb the same economic ladder that the affluent citizens of the West have already climbed. This is the most effective way to help those caught in poverty around the world. We who identify ourselves with the name of Christ are indeed called to feed the poor and clothe the naked, but at some point we must enable them to feed and clothe themselves as well.

by Shea Oakley

Copyright 2023, 2025 All rights reserved

Good messages often contain something that remains with the listener well after that message ends. This was true for me with a recent sermon I heard. Near the end of the message the speaker said something that struck a deep chord of personal meaning in me. To paraphrase him he said that sometimes we must die to our dreams in the course of allowing God’s true will to be done in our lives, but that sometimes He fulfills those dreams later. I would add that when he does fulfill those dreams it is usually in a way we never would have expected.

Such was the case with me.

I have had a passion for aviation for as long as I can remember. There was never a time when I didn’t look to the sky when an airliner flew over (including as my soon to be bride was walking down the aisle at our outdoor wedding, but that is a different story!) During my childhood, teen, and young adult years my goal was to make aviation my career, ultimately in airport operations at a big facility like JFK. I went to college for aviation management while simultaneously pursuing my parallel passion for airline history and memorabilia collecting. By the time I was 22 I had the career I thought I wanted right out of school and probably the largest collection of commercial aviation historical material of anyone my age.

That year, however also saw the personal crisis that led me from Atheism to knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of my life. Around that time I also found myself feeling revulsion to anything aeronautical! I quit the job I had worked so long to get and put my entire collection in storage. There were a number of factors not relevant to this story that influenced these decisions but a major reason was that as a new believer I realized my, more than a little obsessive, interest in airplanes had been an idol in my life. It was something with which I tried to fill Pascal’s “God-shaped hole” in my heart.

For nearly a decade after my conversion I pretty much ignored aviation. I worked in mental health and educational publishing. I also went back to school for a Christian liberal arts degree at Nyack College and eventually went on to seminary. Unfortunately for a number of reasons, including some self-centered motives on my part, my new dream to go into full-time ministry in my early thirties was clearly thwarted. It seemed that God was putting up a large and, at the time, very painful wall in front of my personal aspirations in that area (again, a story for another time). I was confused and depressed by this to say the least and wondered what God’s will for my life really was. Those were dark days.

One day in 1999, I was walking on a beach in Florida talking to Him and He suddenly spoke to me (not audibly, but in my mind and heart) and said that He wanted aviation back in my life. It was the beginning of an understanding that it actually was God, through my dad, who had put my passion for airplanes in me as a small boy…long before I knew Him.

The first thing I felt Him telling me to do was sell almost all of my collection that had been sitting in storage for nine years, but somehow add a ministry aspect to the selling. I did this by sending a Fellowship of Christian Airline Personnel (FCAP) tract in every package of every item I sold on eBay during the next several years. Simultaneously He blessed me with a large profit in selling that collection. Then he led me to be a volunteer tour guide for an air museum in Northern, NJ. That soon became a paid position and within five years I was executive director of the facility! Meanwhile He graciously gave me back my passion for airline collecting and I began to build a smaller collection, often at aviation collectible shows where I gave out more of those FCAP tracts. With aviation now in its proper subordinate position under God I found myself enjoying it even more than I had as an Atheist many years before!

In 2018 I left the museum after 16 years and began an aviation history consulting business. Three years ago I was privileged to also become part of FCAP’s staff on a part time basis. So today I again look to a future in ministry, God willing. To do His work while still being involved in the airline history community is truly “the best of both worlds” (and I am still collecting as well).

Today I have a confidence that God Himself has actually fulfilled two dreams from earlier in my life, to pursue my love for aviation and, far more importantly, to pursue serving him in vocational ministry. God destroyed my earlier dreams, which I wanted in my own way and my own time, and replaced them with His dreams which incorporated both of the earlier ones,but were in His will and timing.

Not surprisingly all of this has often seemed very “counterintuitive” for me through the last 30+ years, but now it is beginning to make perfect sense as I understand more and more that His ways are not my own. In fact they are much better. You see, He knows what He is doing in even the most confusing and trying times of our lives, as He brings about His mysterious but perfect will for His children.

For me the last three decades have been all about the loss of, and then the restoration of, my dreams in ways that are far, far greater than anything I could ever have come up with for myself.

For that, may God be praised!

Copyright 2018,2023 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

In my view a “Humanism” that is not based on belief in absolute truth, and a reverence for human life which derives from that truth, will eventually become murderous towards those who oppose it. Such Humanism will finally become as inhuman as any totalitarian system in history because it has no supremely transcendent foundation on which to value a person’s worth. If contemporary apostles of militant secularism continue to gain the reins of power in the West their philosophy will finally become one that cannot tolerate the presence of those who hold to a transcendent morality. All of this new order’s supposedly progressive celebration of toleration and diversity will ultimately develop into a spirit of hatred towards those who criticize it, especially from the standpoint of monotheistic faith.

            True human rights are a function of the value that all persons derive from being made in the image of the God of the Bible. This is why the only true Humanism has developed most effectively and completely in Judeo-Christian societies. All of the great campaigns to better the rights of the individual, from the abolition of slavery to the institution of political guarantees of freedom of expression and conscience, have been marshaled by those who have been inspired by the worth assigned to human beings by God. This historical fact has been either forgotten or ignored by those who like to paint those who worship Him as purveyors of intolerance and hatred.

            The level of hostility that exists among secular elites towards Theistic religious belief, particularly theologically orthodox Christianity, is profoundly disturbing. It is not an exaggeration to say that many secularists would like to see this form of religious conviction disappear from the face of the earth. Of course the only way that will happen is for those who hold to this conviction to either give it up…or disappear as well.

Some social conservatives have been heard to say that the only absolute truth left in Western society is the belief that there is no absolute truth. We may smile at what a clever observation this is, and how effective it might be in getting “one-up” in debates, but we would do well to soberly consider what our championing of this proposition will finally provoke. Those who are loath to acknowledge truth will not acknowledge it no matter how adroit or persuasive we are in its presentation. We will only enrage those who have decidedly closed their minds and hearts to the possibility that they may be fatally wrong in their assumptions. When people who value self-sovereignty above all else are confronted with the fact that they are in rebellion against God, and are in danger of judgment by that God, they can respond in only two ways. One way is to repent, the other is to demonize those who witness to this reality and seek to silence them by whatever means necessary.

If this sounds extreme remember that prohibitions against the taking of human life are ultimately sustained by religious underpinnings and always have been. Take away these underpinnings and the entire structure of human rights will inevitably collapse. Once this happens all that will remain is the primacy of personal power and the fallen human tendency to abuse that power. Combine this with our other tendency towards bloodlust and the scenario for those who stand against an ascendant radical secularism becomes clear.

We who contend for the human race’s accountability to its Creator should not harbor any illusions. As Western society continues to travel down the path it has in recent years a time will come when it becomes corporately captive to the preservation of the “imperial self” at all costs. When this happens those who champion absolute truth, and the God who embodies that truth, will be treated as a threat that must be ruthlessly eliminated.

If and, more likely, when this occurs Secular Humanism will turn lethal.

Be Angry and Do Not Sin

Copyright 2021 by Shea Oakley

All Rights Reserved

In Scripture we are told to “be angry and yet do not sin” (Eph. 4:26 NASB). In another place in the New Testament we also read that “…the kindness of God leads you to repentance. (Romans 2:4 NASB).

Anger is sometimes allowable, but it often can lead us into a wrong spirit and, consequently, wrong actions. An angry spirit should never be allowed to rule us. This is especially true when the anger in question is something we are using to try to change a person who is not doing something we want them to do, or not being something we want them to be. In most instances, even if the person really does need change, angrily trying to force them to see the “error of their ways” is an exercise in futility that only makes things worse.

There is something strangely gratifying about allowing our angry feelings to be let loose. This is particularly the case when we “vent” after having spent a long time brooding over what we have decided is wrong in another individual. After “stuffing” our frustration about whatever it is we find difficult to deal with in someone, finally letting it out in an unrestrained way can feel good. Meanwhile we convince ourselves that we are finally being truthful and that the object of our wrath needs to hear that truth, both for our sakes and theirs.

But such an “anger high” is always short-lived.

In its wake what we usually find we have done is further and unnecessarily damage a relationship we truly care about and want to continue. We think our sudden outburst will make our spouse, or our child, or our friend finally have to consider how wrong they are about whatever our issue is with them. The problem is that we are dead wrong to think that way. What almost always happens in the heart of whoever we “attack” is a strengthening of resolve to do and be just the opposite of whatever we are loudly telling them to do and be. What may feel so right and justified for a few minutes ends up causing deepened relational strife.

This is only magnified when our ongoing frustration leads to increasingly frequent episodes of sinfully uncontrolled anger. We begin to set up a cycle that only reinforces both pain and resistance in the person who is the recipient of our repeated fury and, if this “habit” continues long enough, it can and will lead to the death of a precious human relationship.

So what is the alternative? There is one, but like most things related to our sanctification, to becoming more like Christ, there is a cost. In the case of “the anger cycle” the cost is putting to death our ego, especially the part of our ego that manifests itself in our sense of entitlement.

Perhaps the first thing we should be asking ourselves, once we begin to come to our senses about this sin, is whether the problem we have with our antagonist is even a real problem in their lives. In our own pride we may have decided that we know exactly what that problem is. We “know” they have some character flaw or bad habit that must be addressed and addressed right now. This judgement may or may not be right. In our pride, though, we often feel like we know it is. “Why, it’s as clear as the hand in front of my face” we think. But are we really seeing things in that other person the way they truly are, or just the way they “make” us feel?

One reason to question if we are right about this problem in someone else (that we are so sure demands our, oh so forceful, intercession) is what our real motivation is for thinking that way. It is funny how, so many times, this perceived flaw or flaws directly impacts what we consider to be our quality of life. We believe that spouse, child, or friend’s behavior is making our lives miserable. We may claim that our concern is for their wellbeing and perhaps, to some extent, it truly is, but in our heart of hearts the truth is we simply are not getting that to which we feel entitled from the object of our anger. A sense of entitlement is a function of pride, the original human sin, and this wrongful sense of entitlement is especially rife in our part of the world today.

Yet even if entitlement is not the driving factor in our cycle of aggression, even if we really care about helping someone see what may be wrong in their lives and changing it, we must take care. Repeatedly “hitting them over the head” with our uncontrolled outbursts of anger is an exercise in futility of the worst kind. Again, it only achieves the opposite of what is intended by a furious person. It only makes points of conflict in a relationship worse.

So back to that alternative. There is only one. It is the intentional, prayerful, and difficult act of putting to death our selfishness. It is the Christ-follower’s call to die to self in an act of love and contrition, first to the One who died for us, and then to the person we have offended in our unholy wrath. Then, instead of allowing our anger to be our garment, we must intentionally put on that kindness mentioned in Romans, for it is only authentic and sustained kindness that will lead our loved one to repentance, if for it there is even a need.

We are not changed by angry judgement; we are changed by love, and not the fickle kind of love the world thinks is enough. We are only truly and permanently changed by the unconditional kind that flows to and through us through Jesus Christ. For the believer with an unhealthy anger problem that kind of love needs to be appropriated, and passed on to all, especially those who we claim are nearest and dearest to us.

If this seems impossible to the reader who might struggle with being what our popular culture calls being a “Rage-a-Holic,” take heart. Like most aspects of growing in the Christian life being transformed from one who has started to embody anger to one who embodies kindness will take some time and the power to change is not something we must summon up in ourselves alone. The flesh cannot defeat the flesh. We must call for, and depend on, the transforming grace and love of God to do the work we need done within our deepest hearts.

What we need is to realize first, to begin this journey, is that what we have been allowing ourselves to do is wrong. Along with that realization hopefully also comes an earnest desire to no longer want to do it, followed by real prayer for His help in putting this part of who we are right. In short we must want to change, know where the strength to change truly comes from, and walk it out, hour by hour, day by day.

By the way, the fact that this aspect of sanctification is a process does not mean it is not urgent, and we need to be profoundly serious about working in and with God to make that process a short one. Out of control anger is incredibly destructive. Left undealt with it can destroy marriages, families, friendships, and finally the one who, in doing so, has made his or her anger an idol. It is of first importance that this kind of anger is forsaken and forsaken as rapidly and profoundly as possible. Thanks be to God that he is ready and willing to remove this part of the “old man,” the flesh.

Note: In this article I have used a lot of “we’s” and “ours,” but that does not mean it has not been, well, autobiographical. The truth is I speak from recent and painful experience with the poison fruits of my own anger. I thank God that He has, in His amazing kindness, both taught me this important lesson of repentance and started me on the path of healing for both myself and those who have been on the receiving end of my own sinful anger.

Copyright 2019, 2023 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

Even a casual observer of the socio-political landscape in America today cannot miss the fact of the growing rift between people on the two ends of the political spectrum. Those on the Left are drifting, or feel driven, to move ever father to the Left. The same is true of those on the Right. The once vast “American Center” seems to have all but disappeared. We appear to be a country more divided than at any other time since the turbulent 1960’s, a half century ago. Some would even go so far as to claim that the rift between those on either side of the political spectrum is as bad as it’s been since the decade that preceded the Civil War, a century and a half in the past.

One reason for this nearly 50%-50% split between our citizens on social and political issues is the fact that the culture is rapidly leaving behind the shared Judeo-Christian values that for so long made the American Center possible. 60 years ago many (including the author) could have voted for either a Democratic or Republican candidate. Today the parties are so far apart from each other in their interpretation of what the nation’s condition is today, and what it should become in the future, that many of us cannot bring ourselves to ever vote for “that other party.”

This is a troubling issue for all Americans, but it is one that should especially concern the followers of Christ in this country. We have a mandate from the One we call our Lord to reach out to all people with the Gospel He brought to earth 2000 years ago, whether they are on the increasingly extreme Left or on the increasingly extreme Right. This is very difficult, if not impossible, when we sometimes tend to wear our political affiliations “on our sleeves.” Those of us who regularly find ourselves in debate with either believers or, much more importantly, non-believers desperately need to remember that our first loyalty is to a Kingdom, not a nation, to a spiritual ideal, not to a political one. Most of all we have to remember that the Great Commission Jesus gave us to evangelize all nations cannot be sacrificed on the altar of winning political victories in our home country at any cost.

Like a majority of Biblical Christians in America I am politically conservative. I must confess I am sorely tempted to try to do anything in my power to see conservative ideals win out in determining my country’s future. Further, as a citizen of a Constitutional Republic, with the right to vote and to advocate according to my conscience (hopefully enlightened and/or controlled by the Holy Spirit) I cannot simply stick my head in the sand and become completely passive about the state of my country. With that said, however, my first priority must be helping to bring new people into the only “Christian nation” that has ever truly existed, the Church Universal. I am also called to love and bless those who already are a part of that “nation,” whatever their political bent.

I cannot effectively do this if I let the increasing cultural tribalism evident in the United States in 2023 take priority over the call of the Apostle Paul to be “all things to all men…in the hope of saving some”  to paraphrase 1st Corinthians 9:22. Any human being whether he or she is (in the extreme “worst-case” scenario) either a Marxist or a Fascist is potentially my brother or sister in Christ. That is the bottom line! My love for all people must override my deepest political convictions when it comes to reaching out, in love, with the Gospel.

Does this mean that I should pretend I agree with everything those on the opposite end of my political convictions believe in order to win them? No. It does mean, though, that I must try to be as apolitical as possible when I’m talking to liberal-leaning non-believers (or, for that matter, people who are far to the Right of me). Every one of these people does not first need to be debated into a new political stance. What they absolutely first need is to see in me the unconditional love of Christ, no more, no less, no different. They need salvation, the kind of salvation that no temporal “movement” will ever be able to give them, and I may be the only vessel God ever chooses to use to reach them. This is a sobering thought and it should be. God forbid I ever endanger the holy task I have been privileged to have bestowed upon me for any temporal reason whatsoever, political or otherwise.

I hate to see the earthly country in which my God planted me for my pilgrimage on earth potentially torn apart but, primarily, I have to do everything I can to be that God’s vessel to bring people to Jesus Christ. When it comes to this divine obligation my politics (and I hope yours too) must take a distant second place in the way I prioritize my life as a Christian.

Copyright 2018, 2024 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Eph. 6:12

This verse has the potential to set us free from so much unnecessary human conflict in this life, yet it seems to be one of the hardest realities to receive and act on for Christians. It certainly has been for me.

It is so easy to be attacked by who I see as a purely human “flesh and blood” agent and automatically react with my own hostility in return. In the biblical injunction to turn the other cheek and love our enemies is the truth that those enemies, particularly ones who have no knowledge of God, are not even acting on their own. Rather they are often, perhaps even always, being manipulated to at least some extent by dark spiritual forces of which they are completely unaware. Yet it seems like 99% of the time I do not seek to defend myself from those forces. I seek to defend myself from the people they are manipulating.

This is an area of spiritual growth that is a vital one for me, and I suspect I am not alone. If I can separate the person with whom I am in conflict from the demonic influences upon them, influences of which they are probably not even conscious, then I can love them despite whatever they may be doing or trying to do to me. Meanwhile I can learn to engage in the successful spiritual warfare to which I am called as a Christ-follower. This would be a tremendously freeing way for me to live in this world. I could then see past whatever human provocation to which I am reacting to see the bigger spiritual picture and then act on it in a truly biblical way. This would be a ‘win-win” for me personally and possibly a game-changer in my effectiveness as a witness to the unconditional love of Christ.

This, I suspect, can only happen if I consciously make an effort to remember verses like Ephesians 6:12 and then add to that remembrance all the Bible teaches about how to fight the enemy of every human soul. To do this I must become far more intentional about meditating on those verses and asking the Spirit to both make them personally real to me, and then to equip me with the supernatural weaponry He provides.

Beyond that I must learn to effectively wield this weaponry, particularly the “sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” As a pastor friend of mine recently said, all the armor of Ephesians 6:16-18 is defensive in nature with the exception of that sword. It is through the words of Scripture, empowered and made real to us by the Holy Spirit, that we can fight the real enemies in our lives while loving those who are tragically unaware of what (or more accurately, who) are driving them to be in conflict with us.

This message from God’s word is a timely one for me. I’m tired of being tempted to hate people instead of hating the evil that is both manipulating and destroying them. I want to love those people and fight to push back the darkness that is keeping them from coming to know the ultimate Lover of their souls.