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Reflections

Articles

  • Why Connecting to Your Heart isn’t Enough. 

    For years I have felt the siren call of new spirituality. I would see the messages of those following that path; “Connect to your heart- connect to peace”… “Meditation practices for transcendence and ascension”. The form of alignment and spirituality they appeared to possess intrigued me and it seemed that they truly had found a way to connect with themselves in a way that I longed for. Their countenance seemed so soft, as if bursting with peace- their bodies still. How I envied that. 

    They appeared deeply connected to a spiritual power. 

    I grew up in a Christian family and environment and for that I am eternally grateful, however I struggled with a dissonance. In some of my teen years I battled a very intense internal battle of OCD and intrusive thoughts and my body was almost never truly calm, although on the outside I was a perfectly normal girl excelling at everything. I had tried all of the spiritual remedies in the church only to be thoroughly disappointed. 

    And so the siren call spoke; and the problem wasn’t even that I read a 300 page book on breathwork and spent a lot of time hands folded meditating- those are all holistic practices that are biblical and rooted first in biblical truth. The problem was more so that I thought something in my faith was lacking- that God lacked towards me. 

    I was perplexed and frustrated by natural paths who had connected to the power of their hearts and achieved mental stillness and physical calm. I couldn’t stop asking in the quiet room of my heart, what are they doing right, and what am I doing wrong? 

    As years progressed I seemingly came out of the dark night of intrusive thoughts and felt more and more normal. Yet this alternative path still tantalized me- except now it was more about satisfying the spiritual emptiness and ache that gnawed at me. 

    Yet I feel that God’s truth has finally resounded inside of me. The world has said connect to your heart and you will have peace. Isn’t that the very heart that is so full of what can make our lives miserable? God created man with a spirit and that spirit craves connection- communion with God. The history of man is one of searching- a search for truth, an interpretation of reality, and I finally see that those who boast peace in themselves lie. There is no peace outside of God. 

    When they say, “You are enough and you are all you need”, that can seem so empowering and intoxicating like a form of independent self-reliance has been found. However, there can be no greater emptiness. We quickly find ourselves stuck in ourselves- alone. We think we can be good on our own- to confront our own weakness and look it in the face. We quickly find that we are not the solution to ourselves. I see now life isn’t a quest where we have to fix ourselves by becoming so calm that we eventually have this epiphany moment and everything “aligns”.

    We must connect to His heart- the heart of God. When we are anxious, He is our peace. When we are lost, He is our guide. What a joy that I don’t have to fix myself or achieve something in a solitary spiritual journey. God has offered Himself and most beautifully, His heart. He is not far off like I had felt so many days in those hard times in my teens. 

    The words of Jesus in John 14:27 share the truth: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” The peace of the world hypnotized me for some time, but now I see all it can offer is hallow, indeed all the world can give is a man engulfed in his own darkness.

    This revelation feels like a great return. A great embrace back into the arms of the One who never left me, and whose heart beats with strength towards me. He is all I need. I pray this blesses you. 

    Warmly, Destiny

  • Uncovering the Lies in Christian Discourse on Israel 

    Two years after Hamas instigated its latest terrible war with Israel, Christian Zionism remains a firm pillar of support for the state of Israel. Still to this day in America, 72% of white evangelical protestants have a favorable view of Israel with 57% of protestants in general also supporting the country’s right to exist. However, the Christian world is not immune to the current epidemic of misinformation.      

    While my school, Oral Roberts University, has maintained a largely pro-Israel campus with students who are unafraid of having tough but honest conversations about what’s happening in the Middle East, Christian communities across the country have struggled to maintain healthy discourse. 

    Why have so many young Christians adopted unfounded beliefs when there are so many factual and religious reasons backing Zionism? One major explanation I’ve observed is that more than a few prominent institutions and thought leaders have been manipulating our shared religious identity to make outright falsehoods about Israel seem morally acceptable. People like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson who rant about Israel wield great influence over millions in the Christian community and have effectively fueled a movement  against the only country in the region that actually protects its Christian citizens. 

    Candace said, “Israel has been a terrorist state…Israel right now is imparting… a holocaust on the Gazan people.” She has previously shared she thinks Zionists are demon worshipers. She distorts  “Zionism,” portraying it as some demonic force, rather than as the right for Jews to live in their country peaceably and defend themselves from terrorists as any other nation would. She repeatedly accuses Israel of committing genocide, even while more aid has flowed into Gaza than any other wartorn region. Even the UN admitted that  “…it had secured Israeli approval for 190,000 tonnes of food, shelter items, medicine and other supplies to enter the Strip, 20,000 more than previously agreed.”  

    But Candace doesn’t quite have the reach of Tucker, who recently interviewed an American nun  affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church with the St. Nicholas Convent named Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos. They unfortunately spent the entire interview not only pushing outright lies about Israel’s treatment of Christians in the region but attacking Christian Zionism as a movement. 

    Of the many incredibly dishonest claims of hers that Carlson let her get away with on his Million+ strong platform, here are the most egregious:

    • Argued that the state of Israel is persecuting Christian Palestinians through “apartheid like” land crossing regulations and permits
    • Accused Israel of intentionally attacking Palestinian Christian places of worship without referencing the terrorists who violently exploited those cultural sites in the first place 
    • Declares that Christian Zionism is to blame for the continued suffering of Palestinians

    It is critical to understand that the “regulations” and security checkpoints she criticized were not born out of racism towards the Palestinians, but rather as a means to defend the people of Israel after the cafe and bus bombings during  the second intifadas relentless attacks which saw the deaths of more than 1,000 Israelis and the injuries of thousands more. In addition, she also failed to mention that Jewish and Palestinian-Israeli citizens also are subjected to those checkpoints when entering and exiting the makeshift borders of the country. Rather than acknowledge any of this, Mother Agapia demonized Israelis by stressing that, “What Israel likes to do is destroy. … Not only do they control the place, but they almost take glee.”            

    She continued to distort history with her comments about the IDF’s 2002 actions in Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity after armed Jihadists took refuge, claiming that  Israelis were mercilessly attacking the Palestinians. She also failed to mention that this was just after a suicide bomber murdered over a hundred people attending a Passover meal in a hotel ballroom and Netanya Hotel and a terrorist murdered people attending a Bat-Mitzvah celebration.  Instead, this nun justified the murderers, saying that “they’re simply people fighting for their people, trying to protect their land.” 

    Her claim that “Christian Zionists …[are] killing Christians in the Holy Land,” is just nonsense.  Christians believe in the protection of all humanity  which includes standing for the defense of the state of Israel. Zionism has nothing to do with the discrimination of Palestinians. Millions of Palestinian citizens in Israel enjoying equal rights are direct proof of this. The suffering the Palestinians continue to experience is a result of the violent anti-zionism Hamas embodies. While their suffering  does cause true grief to the Christian community, that is not a rational justification to vilify the Jews of Israel. 

    In order to truly improve the state of the world and the way we relate to each other, it is critical we don’t give importance and authority to ignorant bigots in disguise who attempt to bring back the kind of antisemitism that has plagued our communities and scourged the world for millenia. Violence against Jews starts with the cultivation of inflammatory lies. As the Christian members of the world it is imperative we understand that our silence has never ended suffering and we have an obligation to act responsibly in these weighty times. 

    See published article on Israel365News: https://israel365news.com/413781/uncovering-the-lies-in-christian-discourse-on-israel/

  • The Heart of Journalism

    By Destiny Lugo

    Journalism- a courageous art of a profession, knows many faces, – actors who have both skillfully done it justice, and those who have brutalized it.  The scene is all too common; desks covered in the scribbled pages of news stories, journalists anxious to get the right look before airing live for the world to see, literary authenticity criticized by the dripping tar of political correctness, the heart of a human experience lost to the greedy impulses of interviewees desperate for a headline, and uncommon and unpopular narratives that expose, buried alive for the sake of conformity- for the sake of our mirage we tell ourselves is truth. 

             In the field, there are too many who call themselves journalists without truly understanding the nature of the word. Tragically, journalists have begun to sound like the pervasive current of indoctrination that pollutes our world. We must lift the battered and mud-covered art of journalism up from the filth of those who chase the platform for power and control, and speak the language of babel- we must rescue it from those who hastily speed the process of story cultivation for the sake of fame and visibility. 

             To the journalists of both today and tomorrow I implore you to see that your mind, your mouth, and your pen, has the power to shape narratives, to influence the way a whole society and generation think. Oh what treachery to be the catalyst of the spread of a lie, of a revolution of hate, and what bliss to be the inspiration of a wave of compassion- the promise of a dawn of justice and reformation. 

              As the future journalists, writers, and reformers of this generation, it’s critical we understand that we are here to tear down arguments, not people- to be those whose words burst with discernment understanding the battle is not in winning the argument, but rather in demystifying the fog of ideas, exemplifying a willingness to share experiences, prepared to discover any kind of truth. 

               We are to be peacemakers not peacekeepers- it’s time to burn the status quo and forge a new path- one where the walk of cowardice is forsaken, and the highway of truth is earnestly sought. The path so vehemently persecuted, yet so utterly rewarding. 

              For the journalists of today and tomorrow, I say to you, arise with courage, curiosity, openness, and above all, arise with passion; the kind of passion that re-affirms worth to the news scribbles, the passion that captures raw truth on camera instead of fabricated perfection, the passion that is brave enough to endure the scrutiny of publishing controversial pieces, the passion that sits with the humans we interview, refusing to see them as a means to an end for our next great story, and a passion so committed to truth, that it is willing to discover and make known to the world, anything it finds, refusing to be selfishly selective. 

             From the mud of misinformation, and the deceit of agendas, the journalists of both today and tomorrow can be the remnant of the profession who value truth over visibility, and the integrity of society over shifty trends. Together, we can return to the heart of journalism, and welcome a new day in the field- one where we can confidently declare, “I am a journalist!” 

  • Why I Write

    by Destiny Lugo

    For some people, becoming a writer is something they choose later on in life- like a revelation that hits them like a bolt of lightning in a clear night sky. My story however, is quite different. Growing up I had a memoir for every year of my life ten years old onward, and my memoir for when I was twelve, was a whopping 500 pages long. Later on in my teen years I discovered poetry and have never recovered. Writing and verbal expression have always been the sphere where I feel most alive- where I am most home. 

    However, the day my life truly changed forever was when I put my love for all forms of writing together with my life’s greatest passion and calling, which is to fight human trafficking and stand for those who have had everything taken from them. For me, there is no greater honor than to use my voice for those whose voices were taken from them before they even knew who they were, whose lives were plundered away from them before they were strong enough to know how to fight. 

    I think that when it comes to human trafficking, people can often feel that this issue is too vast, complex, and altogether out of their hands. However, I firmly believe that just like the oppressive giants of the past that have fallen at the feet of history’s great reformers, the issues and moral evils of our day can fall as well, if there are people who would have enough conviction to fight for something greater. 

    One of my favorite quotes comes from Schindler’s List, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”. Our duty is not to go about trying to save the world or rescue everyone, but our duty we are charged with is to do something, to start somewhere. We are blessed with freedom, with self-determination, not to squander it in selfishness but to share the light of freedom with this bleak world. This is why I write. Too many people believe they need to wait for a polished and grandiose platform to be able to open their mouths and say something. Still others wait out the storms of criticism hoping to speak when they feel safe from the threat of persecution. 

    The perfect circumstance will never exist- and your moment to speak may be lost. So while you are alive, while you have compassion and clarity- speak for those who are bound.