Do you know any such people? My daughter calls them “early adapters;” o
thers, less charitably, “snake-oil buyers.” It has been said, “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all the people all of the time.” The snake-oil peddlers are looking for that “some-of-the-people” segment of the population, the “early-adapters,” the dry-swimming-hole diving people who will bite on their pitch.
I can recognize these gullible marks immediately because it takes one to know one, and this description fits me to a T. I have spent my life trying to extricate myself with minimal financial loss from wildcat oil ventures, marina construction schemes and California land development sales, all destined to fail. As one friend of mine, who has a similar history says, “Robert, I found a great investment! I only lost 20% last year on it!”
For eight years, the Barack Obama administration opened the door for an infestation of socialist snake-oil salesmen in America who have turned out to be persistent, devious and violent. We have been susceptible as a nation, because over the last 100 years our Christian foundations have been weakened by a theology that teaches cultural withdrawal rather than aggressive ruling for King Jesus here on the earth, right now. Combine that with an education system designed and implemented by the socialist snake-oil peddlers to turn out “good, compliant citizens” rather than independent thinkers, and you have a fatal cocktail: a dry swimming hole with half a nation of blind divers eagerly looking for a swim.
The national elites are the snake-oil salesmen, and they are attempting to use the rest of us to transform America, this “shining city on a hill,” into a third world hell-hole, just as Venezuela has become. Half our country has been captured by their pitch, even though the product is humanism, socialism, progressivism, communism, etc. (Whatever you may call it, it is the same—complete state power and control with no freedom, only promises of free healthcare, free education, free everything). What they are peddling has been proven again and again to be a failure, and, as a matter of fact, it has never been successful when implemented, not once! Talk about a dry swimming hole!
The snake-oil salesmen today see Brett Kavanaugh as a decided threat to business, and therefore he must be eliminated, by hook or by crook, at all costs. I believe the path forward for Kavanaugh and for all of us is, as always, simple but not easy. It involves, ironically, as Jesus tells us, becoming like little children, actually trusting all our Daddy tells us, and not just talking about doing so.
This involves learning to think simply and honestly; yes, like a little child. For example, I think naturally and spontaneously, without trying, about what God is like, what I am like, how I relate to God and what is my purpose on the earth, i.e., theology. I love figuring out how the biblical answers to those questions affect the world, and those in it, in all they do. I can’t seem to rest until I do so, at least to my own satisfaction. My wife Jill calls me a “jot and tittle person, and I plead “Guilty.” Then I somehow can’t shut up about what I have found. I accost everyone I meet with what I have learned, because I believe answering those questions biblically is the answer to life for us all!
On the other hand, figuring out wise investments holds less than no interest to me. It is certainly not my purpose in life, and I am not remotely interested in the subject. But here is the beautiful, profound key: it is the purpose in life for someone!
Discovering wise, prudent, profitable investments is, for some, “ruling for God over the earth,” and they can’t wait to attack that task every day so they can rule well; “as unto the Lord and not unto man.” I have found just such an insurance salesman, a barber, an auto mechanic, a doctor, and a tax man who all feel the same way, and I think my daughter-in-law Jen may be my investment person!
Since there is no financial remuneration that accompanies some dream jobs, mine and the Apostle Paul’s (being a missionary) included, we have to “make tents” (Paul’s job), or substitute teach (my job), but that becomes a part of the “dream job” in itself! Because I am on site, in that public school, the kingdom of God is there as well, and Jesus is touching lives with His love, joy and peace wherever I go.
How do I discover my dream job? It is simple; what do I want to do, what is my passion, given my abilities, gifts and talents? What desire has God put in my heart to do? That is my dream job!
Some are convinced that this is a dangerous idea, to tell people that God wants them to do what they want to do. They say that this is license and will lead to profligate living. But does God not say that our hearts are in “the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Proverbs 21:1), and that He is at work in us to change our wills, our “want-to’s,” to “do His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13)? Can we not trust Him to do just as He says He will do?
Brett Kavanaugh may be wondering about now if he can. However, he has joined the battle to establish Jesus’ rule on the earth, “from pole to pole,” and he wants to do so by sitting on the Supreme Court. He is going to war to do so. Brett Kavanaugh, you, I, and indeed all of us were born for such a time as this!
As the church “gets its theology straight,” we will all begin to learn that as we simply go about our daily, mundane, familiar tasks, we are on the attack. All of us are dangerous, “atomic hand-grenades,” without trying to do anything. Make no mistake, we will ultimately be victorious as the gates of hell will fall under our assault.
