Mandi with an I

| Christ follower l mom

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

I think so often about people who, trapped in various kinds of defeat like I was, feel too ashamed to go to church and, if that’s you, I want to say to you this morning, that’s why we have a savior.

Jesus came to this world—God made flesh—and gave his sinless life on a cross, was laid in the tomb and raised from the dead for people like you and me. You don’t have to clean yourself up for Jesus. He is clean enough for us both.

You are welcome in his arms and you are most certainly welcome in a church with the rest of us sinners saved by nothing but grace. Do not be deceived by how we may seem. We were just as desperate. Find a place and go!

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

I think Acts 2:24 is one of the most astounding verses in all the Bible.

“God raised [Jesus] up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.”

Not possible. Death did not hold him because it COULD NOT hold him. A whole sermon in 1 verse.

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

I share this post in earnest and (what may prove a naive) hope that a few people caught in the situation I’m about to describe will hear instead of rushing to the usual tropes, criticisms and caricatures. For what it’s worth, I offer this in good faith.

Between 2016 and 2022, I faced a test of the genuineness of my faith so large and consequential, I’m almost at a loss to think of the right adjectives to describe it. It might not have been so big to someone else but it involved so much of my Christian identity, it was all but existential. Well more than that. It was a dying.

It is this test that helps me understand why people who seem deeply devoted to the Lord Jesus and hold the scriptures in highest esteem also hold to a system, institution or leader no matter what they do and defend a side or individual to a degree that is baffling.

I can tell you why because I had to face every bit of it. Identity, community, camaraderie, what we’ve known and loved, what part of it we still love, the people we loved, the people we still love, reputation, what people will think, how you will be judged and condemned and thrown over to the other side who doesn’t want you either. And to whom you also do not align and would not belong. Friendships. How you will be misunderstood and misrepresented. How adrift and alone you will feel. How disliked.

And then there’s this and it would be a mistake to minimize it: your JOB. Your source of income. Your vocation.

This is the part of the crisis I most write these words to convey because I think they are most in play for many right now, whether in media, ministry or politics.

Let me try to put this in the words that were constantly resonant in my spirit in those years. And to this day.

Though you have no other place to go, Beth, and no place to fit and it not only MAY have financial repercussions but WILL have financial repercussions to the ministry and to your family and will also make them targets and none of it will ever look the same or be the same, will you choose what you believe to be right and put everything else in your vocational life at risk?

This is what is at risk for many people whose professional reputations and positions are tied up with leaders, institutions and political parties. Mine was, too. The cost is enormous and the options are often untenable. And so there we are.

Having to cast ourselves on the mercy of God. Not for a third way. But as THE ONLY WAY. The only truth. The only life.

I’ve made multiple errors in judgment. Jumped too quickly to condemn. Spoken wrongly. Remained silent wrongly and confusingly. I never get it completely together.

But what I will tell you is that I believe we are meant first and foremost to call out our own house, our own side, and our own identity group for its mind-boggling hypocrisy. These were my people. Evangelicals. Conservatives.

Claim what you will but I know who I am:

I am pro life from conception to casket.
I am pro small government.
I am pro godliness and the pursuit of a holy life.
I am pro marriage and family and pro-those God calls to remain single and sanctified and I’m deeply thankful for them.
I am pro traditional sexual ethics.
I am pro love of God and love of neighbor and the dignity of every person as an image bearer of Christ.
I am pro love all.
I am pro church. I believe in the community of the saints.
I am pro Bible study to the death and believe the aim of all discipleship is to know and love and follow and emulate Jesus Christ.
I am pro gospel. Dear God in heaven, I am pro gospel. I believe there is one name by whom we must be saved. Jesus.

What I am not is pro Trump.

Wasn’t pro Clinton. Wasn’t pro Biden. But those were not the candidates many in the world that I loved so much were cheering on.

I accept that Donald Trump is my president. I pray for him on a regular basis. I’m a law abiding citizen and pay my taxes. But I believe Trump fosters something in people that makes them lose their way.

[Mandi with an I @mwantley]

@Beverly54248353 @BethMooreLPM The Gospel message is damaged far more severely when people who claim Christ idolize a man who bears no fruit of the Spirit. Or any man, for that matter. We should all call out sin.

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

The politicizing of the Epstein files as to whether Clinton or Trump will turn up dirtier is surreal. Neither one had the moral fiber of an artichoke when they campaigned. They were of like ilk from the start which is precisely what made it so astonishing.

[Phil Vischer @philvischer]

“Trump announces new warship class named after himself”

We’re living in an SNL skit.

https://t.co/jbhlSo6Po8

[Russell Moore @drmoore]

How this vile, disgusting, and immoral behavior has become normalized in the United States is something our descendants will study in school, to the shame of our generation.

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

What I’ve been working on for 2 years. This world will keep trembling, the earth quaking, folks fighting, groups splitting, rulers rising and falling. The only way in my estimation to be a stable, courageous presence in this tumultuous world is to walk with God. January release.

[Mandi with an I @mwantley]

@BethMooreLPM It's important that I update this: I found the pants.

[Mandi with an I @mwantley]

@BethMooreLPM I've lost a whole pair of yoga pants. PANTS! I have prayed to find them, because, well...elastic waist are a blessing.

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

I long for people to know Jesus. I want to say so often, if you only knew. If you just knew. And, yes, what he’d do for you. Yes, yes, of course! The gracing, saving, redeeming, cleansing, restoring, healing, transforming, gifting and on and on, beyond our imaginings.

But more than that, to know who Jesus is.

To grasp the truth of his preeminence. To understand that there is no one like him. No one who loves like him. No one who stays like him. No one who is holy like him. Righteous and just. And GOOD. He is so good.

No one who is compassionate and merciful like him. No one who knows what he knows. And forgives what he forgives.

Jesus is a stand-alone.

I long for those who do not yet know him like this to know him well enough that you may be astonished by people who represent him poorly or inadequately but you do not confuse them/us with Jesus. He will prove true when everyone else proves a liar.

I’m moved every time I get to the part of Philippians 3 where Paul states his entire aim in life and death: “I want to know Christ!”

This is what I want. This is what I long for in my living and my dying. This is my longing this morning for both of us, my sister. For both of us, my brother. Oh, that we would know the true Christ. He is the one and only.

[Mandi with an I @mwantley]

@BethMooreLPM Connection

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

On a walk in the woods before church and, even though it’s still hot, I have joy in my heart just knowing autumn is inevitable. It may seem overdue but it’s coming. I feel that way about the new creation. Though we walk in a world quaking wide open with sin, hate, oppression, violence, suffering and death, this is not the way it will always be. A new creation is inevitable. I know that because the Lord keeps his word.

Take a deep breath this morning, you who place your faith in Jesus. Breathe so deep you get way down there to where hope hides and let it up again. The new creation may seem overdue but, brother and sister, it’s coming as sure as the sun rose this morning.

[Mandi with an I @mwantley]

@JohnMartinKeogh @BethMooreLPM 🤣🤣

[Mandi with an I @mwantley]

@BethMooreLPM I pray this is so.

[Mandi with an I @mwantley]

@BethMooreLPM @BrianDembo This is how I find out you back in Twitter?! I have so much to catch up on!

[Lance Orton @lancejorton]

Love this kingdom-centered perspective from @BrianZahnd.

[Russell Moore @drmoore]

I am completely convinced, without one shadow of a doubt, that this is true.

[Crosswalk.com @crosswalk_com]

5 Mental Health Facts Every Christian Should Know https://t.co/zxSSaim3SO

[Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth @NancyDeMoss]

Opening words on @ReviveOurHearts podcast today: “I perpetually feel like a weak, inadequate, unable servant. When I cry out to the Lord, ‘Help,’ over and over again, He supernaturally infuses His grace into my emptiness, my weakness, and my need.”

Once again today, in my weakness, I am crying out “Help, Lord!” as I record five new programs, teaching 2 Samuel. Trusting Him for “fresh oil” and all that I need.

What is your “Help, Lord” cry today? He will hear. And He will help. Amen.