Elon Musk Wouldn’t Mind Being Saved Session 10 of 10.
“Molded out of faults”
“…all heroes have flaws, some tragic, some conquered and those we cast as villains can be complex. Even the best people are molded out of faults.” [1] William Shakespeare
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23 NLT
“This is how civilizations decline. They quit taking risks. And when they quit taking risks, their arteries harden. Every year there are more referees and fewer doers…When you have had success for too long, you lose the desire to take risks.” Elon Musk[2]
“There are no good guys in the Bible, Adam, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the whole lot, save one, and either he was a lunatic or the savior of the world.” Bill Hull
Elon Musk leaves rubble in his wake. But who doesn’t? The difference with Musk is that his mistakes or faults are magnified, done in public view. He once stated his exasperation while holding his head in his hands, “I’m trying to figure out how to get humanity to Mars with all this B.S…” [3]
Being wealthy and powerful means you can board your private jet and go where you want, with whom you want, but you can’t control other people’s opinions or agendas. There is a price to pay. In May of 2022 Musk flew to Saint-Tropez, France for a wedding. It was also the time of the Cannes Film Festival, a media and glitz hot spot. The wedding was for Ari Emanuel and fashion designer Sarah Staudinger. But that wasn’t the most spectacular or interesting thing about the event, it was the wedding officiant or minister. The Most Reverend Larry David, of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld fame, was the presiding officiant. Someone thought it would be a good idea to put David at the same table as Musk. Anyone who knows anything about David knows there is nothing reverent or reverend about him. He is highly opinionated, funny, ironic, angry, petty, and mean. Most of all, a totally secular Jew. When Musk sat down David was already angry about Musk. He asked Elon, “Do you want to murder kids in schools?” “No, no,” Musk shot back, “I’m anti-kid murder.” “Then how come you vote Republican” [4] the most reverend Larry asked. Later David confirmed the exchange and said he was fuming because Musk had said the Democrats were a party of division. David admits to being angry and offended.
Risky business
Musk is a truth teller, nearly an absolutist on the First Amendment, and that is enough to unleash the censor police on him. When you tell the truth and call upon others to comment you are putting yourself in the line of fire. That is what Twitter represents right now. Musk took the risk, and he is fair game, his faults are there for all to see, but telling the truth is no fault. You might not always be right, but you will always have your soul.[5]
What did Musk do to get in trouble? He took risks. He got rich, famous and powerful. And he’s asking and challenging the establishment to change, to step up, and in doing so has stepped on many toes, especially those of the Mostly Not Reverend Larry David. Curbing one’s enthusiasm is exactly the opposite of what is needed for progress. David seems to have concluded that you replace enthusiasm with cynicism. And I should know, I’m a natural born cynic and Larry makes me laugh, which confirms that I am a jerk. Yes, I am a man, men and women can’t turn into each other. If you have a problem with that, that’s your problem, not mine. Yet God seems to think that we are all worth the trouble.
God’s Masterpiece
You’ve heard the sports commentators praise coaches who have taken a flawed rag tag group of athletes and turned them into a team of over achievers. It was supposed to be a rebuilding year after they won the championship, but they surprised everyone when they returned to the finals and lost the final game. In the championship year the coach didn’t win Coach of the Year. But in a rebuilding year, the year they finished second, the losing coach wins Coach of the Year honors. Why? Because he did more with less. This is what God is doing, he is taking the flawed and broken and crafting something beautiful.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 NLT.
This all reminds me of a wonderful image from C.S. Lewis:
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of— throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The Bible is replete with images and stories about transformation, morphing, and change. The one thread of truth that runs throughout is that change is usually painful and unwanted. Pain is indeed the gift that no one wants. But God sends it to us as an act of mercy. It is better than leaving us stuck where we are. Suffering is how God moves our center of gravity. I recall Elizabeth Elliot’s definition, “Suffering is not having what you want and having what you don’t want.”That covers it, from there it is just a matter of degree. It can be as little as missing an important appointment or as big as terminal cancer.
Standing up in a Bow Down World
We have a part to play. God moves us, he speaks to us, he is active in the deepest parts of our beings. Again, the Apostle Paul explains it from his prison cell
“Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:12,13 NLT.
What this means here and now is to live and speak the truth. Don’t bow down to the gods of this culture. If you speak the truth and don’t moderate your opinion, you will pay. Jesus promised his then disciples and we his now disciples the same thing for speaking the truth as best we understand it. He promised that we will be
· Arrested and arraigned in court
· Put in jail
· Beaten
· Lose our family
· Hated and rejected [6]
We live in an empire of lies. It is raining lies and we are given permission to live in peace if we will bow the knee. Go along, keep your head down, sign all documents, and don’t argue. Like so many Christians in history, and half the world right now for our Christian brothers and sisters, they are given the choice to bow down or be punished. Daniel and his friends refused to bow to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, the early Christians refused to bow the knee to Caesar, and the list goes on. Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley refused to bow the knee to Bloody Mary. They were burned at the stake in Oxford, England on October 16, 1555. [7]
Latimer spoke these words as flames consumed them. “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.” Ridley was heard to say, “Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”
Christianity, civilization’s immune system
Come on my fellow disciples, at least we could say men can’t become women and women can’t become men. At least we could admit there is only one truth and that is Jesus. Elon Musk believes in our cause more than many of us do and he doesn’t believe it’s true. We cannot end this series on Musk without returning to his comments in The Christian Post. Musk said in the interview that he agrees with the assertion that Western civilization is doomed without Christianity. He likened Christianity to civilization’s “immune system,” that has benefitted both Christians and non-Christians.
“You can’t just have a cultural and moral vacuum,” Musk added.
Later Musk was asked by the Babylon Bee in 2021 if he would accept Jesus Christ as his “personal Lord and Savior.” A somewhat tongue in cheek question since it was coming from the Bee. He replied, “The principles that Jesus advocated such as treating people as you wish to be treated and turning the other cheek as opposed to an eye for an eye which leaves everyone blind according to Mahatma Gandhi. As Einstein would say, I believe in the God of Spinoza.” This suggests he adheres to deist beliefs. And then he uttered the now well-known words, “But hey, if Jesus is saving people, I mean, I won’t stand in his way. Sure, I’ll be saved. Why Not?” Thus, our byline for this series, “Elon Musk wouldn’t mind being saved.” [8]
Most of our fellow Christians, at least the serious ones, are living under the iron fist of fascist, socialist systems and leaders. [9] They are getting all the persecution that Jesus mentioned—even promised—his disciples.[10] Those of us in the West should consider this as previews of coming attractions. We are soft, weak, and quite vulnerable. Weakness is provocative for our enemy who prowls about looking for a chance to pounce. When we fear not the iron fist, but the raised eyebrow, it is an invitation for Lucifer to strike and destroy us.
So, stand up against the lies that are creating a malignant culture. Don’t bow down to the forces that insist on your conformity—and to which, if you don’t conform, threaten you with loss of what you hold dear. Speak up and speak what is true. Don’t just give your opinion, speak with the authority of God’s Word. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Keep your nose in the Bible, know it, and know that it gives you an authority that is found no place else. Finally, underline your words with a life that has personal integrity. Jesus said the church is like a city illuminated on a hill. And that we are salt and light to a dying and careless society. We season it with our stories and illuminate it with God’s story.
“O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 NLT.
Bill Hull
March 2024
[1] Walter Isaacson. Elon Musk, (New York City: Simon and Schuster, 2023), Page 614. There is some conversation about Shakespeare being Jewish. I have no idea, but the old Bard could tell a great story. I think it was David Mamet who said, all German humor is about the bathroom, all French humor about the bedroom, and Jewish humor is about the mind.
[2] Ibid, Isaacson, page 609.
[3] Ibid Isaacson, page 608.
[4] Ibid Isaacson, page 491, 492. All dialogue inside quotes.
[5] Jesus explains how to avoid losing your own soul in Luke 9:23-25. It involves self-denial, taking up one’s cross or mission daily, and following him as your Rabbi. Jesus claimed that if you gain the entire world, there is no profit for you there, because you sold out and lost your integrity—not a fate worse than death—it is a loss plus death.
[6] Matthew 10:16-23
[7] Read about this in my book, I will Not Bow Down, Living a Stand-up Life in a Bow Down World, page 9. You can access the first chapter for free as a PDF by subscribing to billhull@substack.com
[8] The Christian Post, January 4, 2024.
[9] I Peter 5:8,9
[10] Matthew 10:16-23.
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