Taking Sides

A Country Of Death

Dear Evangelicals:

Eugene Peterson once wrote that "The church is a colony of heaven in a country of death." He wasn't talking about a building. He was talking about us, and what we're supposed to be, to and for each other.

Look around: If no one else is flourishing, then the necrophiliac is you.

When Narcissists Ride Too High

Dear Evangelicals:

You're not going to like this, because it's about an individual you are apparently willing to defend to the death.

His name is Donald Trump.

Politics aside, the crux of Trump's problems is the pathology of narcissism. If you're still reading, it's because you know at least one narcissist who is ready, willing, and able to ruin your marriage, your family, your company, or your church.

What you can't understand, what keeps you up at night, is this: Why are things getting crazier and crazier when you and everybody else caters to this monster's every whim?

Michael Kruse doesn't exactly answer that question in The Trouble With Peak Trump, his piece for Politico. Instead, his harrowing story serves to validate what so many of us have known without knowing -- about Trump and every other narcissist in our lives: If we don't yank them off their high horse and back down to earth at the first sign of narcissistic behavior, they will destroy our sanity. Giving them what they plead for only drives them to exploit us further. As the old saying goes, "Give 'em an inch, and they'll take a mile."

There's only one guaranteed method for stopping Trump and every other narcissist in your life. It is this.

Godspeed.

Fear Not? Why Not?

Dear Evangelicals:

Maybe this is why the Bible tells us, "Fear not" so often -- not because it makes us all shiny and spiritual, but because worry is just a colossal waste of time.

Strength Training

Dear Evangelicals:

It's like exercise: You push yourself longer and longer each time. In this way, you develop spiritual strength.

Repelling the Narcissist

Dear Evangelicals:

Now, we get down to the real nitty gritty.

A narcissist may be able to fluff their way through the question posed in the last post, but there's no way they can survive an onslaught like this.

We may not be able to cure narcissists, but we can kick them out of our lives with the help of these strategies from the ever-helpful Sam Vaknin.

By the way, when he says "partner," he doesn't just mean a romantic partner. This applies to friends, family, colleagues, and fellow Christians, too, sadly enough.

Folks, this is your battle plan for spiritual warfare. God bless.