Empire vs. Kingdom: When We’re Asked Not to Believe Our Eyes

In the wake of the Minnesota ICE shooting, and in the shadow of the anniversary of what we all saw years ago on January 6, my friend JR said something I cannot get out of my head:

We are being asked to reject the evidence of our eyes and ears in order to accept managed narratives in place of truth.

Orwell warned that this is the final move of any system built on control.
But what we are experiencing right now is not merely political.

This is a discipleship crisis.
A worldview crisis.

Roughly 80 percent of white evangelicals voted for Trump. Many have absorbed a worldview of power, fear, dominance, and protectionism long before they were ever formed by the Sermon on the Mount.

And Revelation chapters 17 and 18 keep resurfacing for me.
Not because I am interested in end times hype, but because Revelation diagnoses a spiritual condition:

Empire does not coerce first. It seduces.
It shapes what people love, fear, normalize, and defend until Babylon feels like home.

This is exactly what this series (Rediscovering Christ Series: Seeing Beyond Progressive and Conservative Lenses) is trying to make visible:

Empire disciples us toward power, crowds, fear, and managed narratives.
Jesus disciples us toward sacrificial love, truth telling, welcome, and liberation.

And this is where I need to say something I do not think we name enough:

One reason I do not trust fast growing, crowd driven churches in a moment like this…is because crowds are always attracted to power.

Crowds follow charisma.
Crowds follow certainty.
Crowds follow the promise of strength, influence, and dominance.
Crowds are drawn to momentum, not always truth.

But the gospel moves in the opposite direction.

The cross does not attract crowds.
It never has.

The disciples fled from it.
Peter denied even knowing Jesus.
The crowds who cheered Jesus on Sunday disappeared by Friday.

Because the way of Jesus is not about spectacle. It is about sacrifice.
It is not about gathering the biggest following. It is about walking the narrow way.
It is not about growing fast. It is about growing deep.

In a time when Empire is discipling people through managed narratives, fear based politics, and spiritual seduction, I trust the voices who are not trying to gather crowds right now.
I trust the voices who are quietly telling the truth, even when it costs them marketability.
I trust the communities practicing hospitality instead of cultural warfare.
I trust the leaders that are losing followers, friends, and even jobs rather than the leaders trying to build platforms.

Because here is the heart of this series:
You cannot be formed by Empire and follow Jesus at the same time.

And if your worldview requires you to ignore what you see with your own eyes,
to excuse cruelty,
to shrug your shoulders at violence,
or to cling to power at all costs,

then the worldview discipling you is not the Kingdom of God.

Jesus keeps calling us back to reality.
Back to truth.
Back to compassion.
Back to a faith that looks like him, not like the empire that killed him.