Faith
A Challenge For Christians To Use A Biblical Framework To Address The Culture
By Michael Hernandez, 9-8-24
“And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, ‘Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.’ So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, ‘Man of God, there is death in the pot!’ And they could not eat it. So he said, ‘Then bring some flour.’ And he put it into the pot, and said, ‘Serve it to the people, that they may eat.’ And there was nothing harmful in the pot.” (NKJV: 2 Kings 4:38-41)
REDDING, CALIFORNIA—Stirring Church Youth Pastor Noah Baxter addressing congregants at the Sept. 8 Sunday service said, “We have flame-throwers, who give out flames of judgment; fluff-throwers, who follow the poison of the culture; and then flour-throwers, who help remove the poison from the culture.”
Youth Pastor Baxter reminded congregants that before Jesus died on the Cross as our “once and forever guilt offering for all our sins,” He gave us communion—a bread offering (made out of flour) that provides us with “healing, justification and forgiveness.”
Like Elisha who threw flour to purify the poisoned pot of stew, we are called to “throw Jesus on this generation” for “healing and transformation.” According to Pastor Baxter, “We all have got poison. We need to bring this poison before God so He can do what only He can do.
“This is a message for everyone: not just Gen Z, Gen Millennials, and Gen Alpha. Bring your poison, bring your shortcomings, bring your mistakes to God and He will make all things new again. He will bring life out of death. This is the God we serve.
“If we are not the people that will throw flour on this generation, who will? We can’t be flame-throwers. We can’t be fluff-throwers. But we can be flour-throwers!”
While the inspiration for becoming flour-throwers comes from a Biblical story recounted by a California youth pastor the question we can ask ourselves is how can we take this Biblical lesson and apply it to a culture that is poisoned?
One Answer: Become Social Media Army Recruits! We can take messages that resonate within our own heart and soul and share them with family members, neighbors, co-workers, community residents using our 1:1 relationships as well as social media platforms.
What is our identity or framework rooted in? Mine is: I am a Christian, a conservative, a constitutionalist—in that order.
I acknowledge that those three words distinguish me from others: such as a non-believer, someone adhering to the Woke culture, or someone wishing to revise or rewrite the U.S. constitution.
I would rather pray for those with different viewpoints and challenge such folks to consider my framework carefully; before dismissing me or rising up against me to attack and eliminate me as has been the case against Donald J. Trump (with lawfare against him in the courts and the July 13 assassination attempt at a rally near Butler, Pennslyvania) and Trump supporters in general and particularly those known as J6ers (in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021) which has resulted in a two-tier justice system (one for Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters and another for election integrity supporters).
Our voices have become silenced. We are pro-border, pro-business, pro-Israel, pro-life, pro-Republic (America), pro revival (Christian).
My own framework has led me to be active in a conservative political organization such as the California Republican Assembly—“The conscience of the Republican Party”—President Ronald Reagan and a supporter and friend of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Also, this framework led me to be a co-founder of the local chapter of this group in Shasta County. More important—conservative values have led me to support Donald J. Trump since his first campaign run to become President in 2016.
(Note: I am writing a six-part opinion series on “Revive America: Make America Great Again” that supports President Donald J. Trump as we enter the Nov. 5 Election Countdown. For those who missed my commentary about the Democrat National Convention go to my two Citizens Journal Florida articles of Aug 20: https://www.citizensjournal.net/democrat-national-1-day-1-a-night-of-democrat-hypocrisy-dump-joe-we-love-joe-kill-babies-reproductive-rights-attack-trump/ and Aug. 23: https://www.citizensjournal.net/democrat-national-convention-day-4-its-over-kamala-harris-accepts-nomination-she-never-earned/.)
What can you do?
Let others know your opinion by posting on such social media platforms as: Truth Social (Feb. 21, 2022 and run by Trump Media), X (founded as Twitter on March 21, 2006 and now run by Elon Musk), Parler (launched Aug, 2018), Rumble (a video platform launched Oct. 30, 2013) and (your) NEWS—this growing media platform is amazing! If you are bold and wish to outreach (which I believe you should) go and post on Facebook and Instagram (owned by Mark Zuckerberg).
Follow conservative leaning news platforms: Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, Fox News, The Epoch Times (founded in 2000 by John Tang and other Chinese-Americans affiliated with the Falun Gong religious movement). Listen or read mainstream legacy media with critical analysis such as CNN (founded by Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld in 1980 to provide 24-hour news coverage but now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery), MSNBC (owned by Comcast or NBC Universal), and the other television and newspaper media conglomerates (such as Gateway Media which merged with Gannett, the publisher of USA Today).
We, unlike the Woke left, can respect opinions while still supporting the First Amendment: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. Support citizens journalism. Post on Citizens Journal Florida and read CitizensJournal.net.
Yes, participate as a flour-thrower and join a social media army and let’s see who wins the war of ideas? Both sides agree that this Nov. 5 General Election is our nation’s most important election. Don’t squander your vote!
Michael Hernandez, from California is co-founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted at [email protected] and is editor of the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes,” “Nov. 5 Election Day Countdown” and “Revive America: Make America Great Again.”
