Star Wars, Shrewdness and Strategy

One of the things that I like to do whenever I need to relax or just decompress a little bit, blow off a little steam, people do different things, right? People go fishing, people go hunting, those are more manly things to do.

But other people will also just do various kinds of things, some people will read novels or whatever. I like Star Wars. And I don't know if I'd put that in the manly category, but it's just something I like.

And one of the things I like about Star Wars is, well, there's a lot of things I like about Star Wars, but one of the ways that I like to enjoy Star Wars is through Star Wars tabletop games. You might not know that about me, I enjoy tabletop gaming and have recently taken up Star Wars miniatures game called Legion.

And so I was painting this guy today. This is Director Krennic from Rogue One. He was, I thought, a very interesting character. Pure evil. Just pure evil. And I kind of liked him. So I don't know if you're going to see that or not, who knows, but I was painting him this morning and it turned out pretty good.

Turned out pretty good. Anyway, Rogue One was an interesting movie. You know, a lot of people give the new movies a lot of flack and I get it because they're just really, eh, for the most part. But I liked Rogue One actually a lot, even though it had sort of the unrealistic, you know, female character who's good at everything.

At least she has some depth to her though. Jyn Erso, she's not like a perfect character like Rey. She's got some demons, she's got some issues, you know, things like that. So I liked Jyn Erso a lot better than I liked Rey.

But anyway, what I liked about Rogue One is, I actually, in Star Wars games and stuff like that, I always want to be the Empire. I like the Empire for some reason. Psychoanalyze me if you must, but I love the Imperials and all that kind of stuff.

That's my favorite. But in Rogue One, you get an interesting look at the Rebels that you didn't really get before. Like, you got a little bit of it, like the Rebels, you know, just by the very nature of being Rebels, there's something lawless about them.

It's almost like, I mean, even in Star Wars Expanded Universe, the Empire calls them terrorists because that's really what they are. They're a small band of people that are lawless, breaking the laws of the Empire, trying to topple the Empire, the power structures, the institutions, things like that.

And so they're Rebels, they're terrorists is really what they are, in the eyes of the Empire anyway. But in the original movies, yeah, they're Rebels and they're a little bit lawless, but they're just mostly pure.

I mean, they're the good guys, obviously, and I'm not saying they're not the good guys in the Star Wars universe, they are the good guys. But Rogue One starts to explore this kind of dark side to them, because they're fighting for something good, they're the good side of the conflict, the Empire's definitely evil, but the Rebels don't really have any scruples.

They don't really have any law or, I mean, they play fast and loose with morality, and in Rogue One you get to see that, because some of them talk about how they're assassins, and they just kill people when it suits their agenda, and things like that.

In fact, the very first scene in Rogue One, you've got the spy, Cassian Andor, he meets his contact, and then the stormtroopers are coming in, they're about to catch him, and so he goes up to his contact and he's like, it's gonna be okay, don't worry about it, and then he shoots him.

So that way he can leave without leaving a paper trail behind him, so to speak. It's very interesting how that is explored in Rogue One, and I think it gives the Rebels sort of more depth, and I think it's a very interesting kind of way to go.

Shrewdness, Innocence, and Matthew 10

But anyway, why I wanted to talk about this is because I think that there is a little bit of the aspects of the Rebels that we need to embrace, and obviously we're Christians, so we have to have scruples, we have to have a standard of ethics, a code of ethics that we operate by.

But what we need to do is we need to take God's word seriously, where it says in Matthew 10, behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.

Now that's actually the ESV translation, I usually use the ESV, but actually I think a better translation is to be as shrewd as serpents and innocent as a dove. This is a command to be strategic and to be able to do things that might appear sneaky, but they're actually not, it might appear as something that, well, polite people don't do that, but it's actually not a sin.

In other words, what I said in the beginning of this week, we don't play by your rules of etiquette anymore. We need to do that, guys, and I need you to understand this, because in my little analogy of Star Wars, look, my side of this is the rebellion, no question about it, in my little analogy.

I'm not saying that we're rebels, what I'm saying is, in the analogy of Star Wars, we are the rebellion, and Big Eva and the institutions and all the SBC people that are circling the wagons now, they're the empire, they're the power structure, they're the movers and shakers, the power brokers and all that.

I'm not saying that it's good versus evil in the same way that Star Wars is, so please, I don't want to get any messages about how I'm saying that Al Mueller's the devil, I'm not saying that. What I am saying, though, is that we're the ones that are trying to scrounge up anything we can to fight against these tremendous machines of war.

The rebels, they've got tauntauns, and the empire's got AT-ATs, these big technical monstrosities. We've got to scrounge up a force, anything we can do, any kind of thing we can use as a weapon, we've got to use, but they've got all the power structures, all the political maneuverings, all of the ways to put pressure, and we're just in here rubbing two sticks together, and they've got a blowtorch.

You see what I'm saying? What I'm saying is, though, that we need to be shrewd in this fight, and the reality is that the power brokers, all of these Big Eva folks, the Gospel Coalition, Russell Moore, all of these guys, they understand what Jesus is saying here when he says, be shrewd as a serpent, as wise as a serpent, and as innocent as a dove.

They get it. The question is, do you? You see, they like to pretend they don't get it. They like to pretend like, yeah, you know, you gotta be, you can't say anything bad about people, you know, you can't mention a Southern Baptist by name, you can't criticize someone like that.

They like to pretend like they're like these polite, you know, just innocent as the driven snow kind of people, but they're right now in their comm boxes on Facebook and YouTube, and they've got their email chains and stuff.

We know about them. Come on, man, we know all about them. You guys have your organizations where you coordinate responses to things. We know what you do. You guys are shrewd. You guys are good at this, and you don't want to be challenged.

I get it, and you are going to come at the Founders Ministry and all of those like us. You're going to come at us with the full weight of whatever authority you think you have, but guess what? We're free men.

We are free men. You have no control over us. We submit to our pastors and our leadership and our local churches. Absolutely, we do, but guess what? Russell Moore does not have authority over me. He doesn't, and we don't want your conference speaking gigs.

We don't want your book deals. There's no pressure you can put on us that's going to work, because at the end of the day, we're in this because we believe in it, not to get power. I know I'm criticized a lot, well, he's just trying to build a platform.

He's just an attention whore. Somebody called me that the other day. I'm an attention whore, and I wonder, is there anything that I could possibly do to not be open to that charge? No, there's nothing I could possibly do, and the reality is, guys, if guys like me, and it's not just me.

There's so many of us out there, these regular Joes in the pews that have a presence online about this topic. If we were trying to get power, and we were trying to get attention and get a platform, do you really think this is the route we would go?

We'd have to be the biggest idiots of all time to try to go this route in order to gain power. Are you kidding me? I joke with people all the time. I could get a platform today. I could probably get a speaking gig within a year at a gospel coalition type of a conference.

All I have to do is recant of social justice and become an advocate for social justice. That's all I'd have to do. I'd have to recant of my anti-social justice perspective and become an advocate, a vocal advocate who said all the same things about intersectionality and being brown and white privilege.

All I have to do is that. I could probably do it really well, too. I really could. I could play ball, and I could probably get a speaking gig at one of these stupid conferences, but I don't want it. I don't want it.

I'm not saying I'm a big hero or anything. It's just not something I'm interested in. If I was interested in it, it'd be more tempting, but I'm not. I'm not interested in that. I'm a simple man. I enjoy my kids, I enjoy my wife, and I enjoy Star Wars.

That's the thing, guys. All of these people who are giving you these fake phony baloney rules, and I'm going to talk about some of these. I've got a couple articles in the queue of people who like to say, you can't do certain things.

There's one article that was put out by Midwestern for the church blog called Jerks for Jesus. It's just such a pious sounding article, but it's just complete nonsense. Guys, look. The power structure is circling the wagons.

They're telling you you're not doing it the right way, but you know what? They do this kind of stuff all the time. They coordinate to slander regular Joes in the pews all the time. They lie about you.

They're willing to put up with all kinds of vicious words said about you. They don't care about that stuff. What they care about is not letting the apple cart get upset. What they care about is keeping the institutions and the power structures the way that they are.

What they care about is their platforms, and so they accuse you of trying to build one because they know that's what they want to do. They want to maintain their platform so desperately. That's what they want, and so they assume that's what you want.

I don't want your power structures. I don't want that kind of power that plays footsie with critical theory. I'm not interested in it. I'm not interested in it because I actually do care about minorities, and I know that this kind of stuff is poison to their souls.

I see it every day online. People who have accepted this, that their souls are polluted by this covetousness, this anger towards their brothers and sisters in Christ, this unforgiveness which will rot your bones and will lead you to Sheol if you continue in it.

You have to forgive. Jesus said so. You have to forgive because we pray, we're Christians of course, we pray forgive us as we forgive others. So I actually care about these people, so I'll never do it.

I'll never buy into critical theory. Never. The day you see me buy into critical theory is the day you know that I've sold out, and I'm seeking that power, and I'm seeking that influence, and I'm seeking that money.

That's the day you'll know that A .D. Robles has sold out. Anyway, here's the thing guys. We need to listen to Matthew 10. Be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. Your enemies know how to do this, the pagans know how to do this, and they're playing us against each other right now.

They are shrewd. They are definitely shrewd. We need to figure out how to be shrewd but innocent at the same time, and I think the Founders Ministries guys have done exactly that, and I'm proud to be associated with people like that.

I don't have any... Look, when I say associated, I mean people like to think that I can answer for them. They like to think that we're on the same team, and I'd like to think so too. I didn't have anything to do with them.

They don't endorse my ministry. I'm sure that they like me. I like them. You know what I mean? I don't mean associated in any official way. Just to clear that up. I don't want them to have to answer for me.

But yeah, we've got to figure this out. Being shrewd and being innocent as a dove, that is required of a Christian. We have to do it, and going back to Star Wars for a minute, that's kind of why I changed my Twitter page picture.

This is a small thing. It's just an aesthetic thing, really, but it's really part of it because if you remember, I had Boba Fett on there before. Boba Fett is kind of like this mercenary, kind of plays by his own rules kind of thing.

You never really know what angle he's coming from, things like that, but I changed it to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Grand Admiral Thrawn is a strategist. He's careful about what he does. He's specific, and he does certain things, and he acts in certain ways because he thinks it gives him a strategic advantage to win the battle.

I'm hoping to be more like that. I'm not there yet. I haven't figured all that stuff out yet, but I'm trying to learn how to be as shrewd as a snake, and as innocent as a dove. Anyway, I hope this was helpful.

Have a great weekend. God bless.