Postcards from Babylon: The Church In American Exile

by Brian Zahnd

This is my question for you, dear reader, “Can you feel it?” It’s all around you, but can you feel it? Can you feel the falseness that prevails in Babylon? Babylon is always religious and knows how to keep up appearances, but that only serves to conceal the idols Babylon really worships. Money and Power. Economy and Military. The falseness is the phony assumption that the pursuit of money and power is sustainable and leads to a life worth living. In the Babylon in which I reside (hopefully as a missionary) the falseness is very strong right now—stronger than it’s ever been in my life. But most people are so sedated with the opiates of consumer culture and consumer religion that they never even suspect it. There are others who sense it but cannot quite name it. It takes a prophet to name it. It takes the courage of a prophet to come right out and call materialism and militarism a lie. Jesus was that kind of prophet. Listen to these bracing words spoken not to antagonistic Pharisees but to those in the capital city of Jerusalem “who had believed in him.”