Another Political Season

Another election season has begun and it's no surprise that it's as contentious and pugnacious as ever.  And it will continue to worsen until the day of the election (and maybe even after as we saw this past election).  

We call ourselves a Christian country - or at least a majority Christian - and yet the behavior on both sides is anything but Christian.  Accusations, name calling, screaming and even calls for violence are an everyday occurrence.  Somehow we feel justified doing all these things and more.  The division is increasing and turning into pure hatred.  While we used to respectfully disagree with the "other side," now each side feels so righteous in their beliefs that they feel the need to demonize the other side.  No longer is there a sharing of ideas or a healthy debate where debaters leave the room shaking hands and slapping backs. 

Brothers and sisters, stop.  Stop this behavior which is anything but Christ-like.  Stop acting like the world is going to end because the other side won the election.  Stop calling names, making unsubstantiated accusations, being disrespectful and worse.  We have a system in place and we work through the system to accomplish our goals in an orderly and lawful way.  And when the other side wins, we take a couple of days to lick our wounds but then we are supposed to be gracious (remember who showed us mercy and grace??) and respectful.  There will be another election to try and be persuasive - unless Jesus comes for His bride before the election and that's even better!!!

Perhaps we aren't opening our Bibles enough and remembering God's instructions. 

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God. Romans 13:1

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 1 Timothy 2:1-2

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. 1Peter 2:17

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Proverbs 21:1

These are just a few scriptures that command us to not only be respectful, but to pray for our leaders. Our leaders have difficult jobs and need our prayers.  God has appointed them and will use them as He wills and yet He listens to our prayers and can be stirred by them. God doesn't care about politics - God cares about souls; about character; about people.  And His ways are not our ways. . . . . . .

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

Therefore we are arrogant when we believe we know better than God. We do not have His vantage point or His mind. We see things from our perspective only - our time in history, our color, our sex, our culture, etc. God is above all these things. God is wise, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. He uses believers and nonbelievers alike. And so we are to trust Him and obey His commands. We would be far better off to be less concerned about politics and more concerned about sharing the good news with others.

Make God Great Again

Recently a friend of my husbands who is not a believer asked him how evangelicals could have voted for Donald Trump for president. The mere fact that nonbelievers are asking how evangelicals could have voted for Trump is additional proof that Christians should not have supported the man. As a group of people who are supposed to be a witness to the world of God's glory, turning our back on His values and morals only serves to confuse nonbelievers and certainly opposes our commandment to be a shining light. If we truly believe our God can do anything, then selling out His values in order to accomplish things such as appointing a conservative Supreme Court justice only serves to put God in a box and says to the world we really don’t believe He is sovereign. And if we truly believed God can use anyone to accomplish His purpose (even a dictator or a despot) and we used that argument to justify voting for Trump, then why not Hillary? Couldn’t God have used Hillary? Or couldn’t God have made Mike Castle (a Christian who also ran) president? Yes, God appoints the leaders and so yes, God appointed Trump – but we shouldn’t assume we know the reason for God doing so. As we observe in OT times (1 Samuel 8), God gave Israel the king they were insisting upon – but not the king God wanted them to wait for and the king He wanted them to have. And we know how that turned out……………..

When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” 1 Samuel 8:18-20

Sound familiar? “We want a president who will Make America Great Again!” At what cost? And who decides if America will be great again? Us? Trump? Or God? Oh yes, good things have been happening – or so we think. The economy is better and a conservative Supreme Court justice has taken the bench. We see these things as good and we pat ourselves on the back for electing someone who accomplished that. Our pockets are fatter and we are happier. But is that growing us spiritually? And what about Roe v. Wade? Has that been overturned – wasn’t that the mission? Some say there is more chance of that happening now. Maybe. Or maybe God is expecting us to do something individually to affect abortion. Instead of standing before the Lord one day and saying “Lord, I voted for a person who put someone on the bench in favor of abolishing abortion with the hope that one day that might happen (but maybe it never did)” wouldn’t it be better to say something like “Lord, I stood next to the pregnant woman and held her hand when it came time to decide whether or not she would abort her baby” or “Lord, I took a young, lost mother and her baby into my home when everyone else turned their back on her” or “Lord, I adopted a child that might have been aborted was it not for someone wanting to give that baby a home and love.” You get my drift. Not all of us may be called to this mission field, but to use this cause as our reason to vote for someone who is a misogynist, liar and cheat is hypocritical. And laws don’t change hearts – Love changes hearts. God didn’t assign us to be political rulers of the world or to force our way of life on others. He assigned us to obey Him and HE would take care of the world. His ways are not our ways …………..

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9

We certainly have become puffed up as a people – thinking we know it all and the world relies on us as a country and as leaders of the “free world”. But what the world needs from us most is what we are failing to provide.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16

We read the part about good deeds and use that to justify what we are doing as a country when in fact we are ignoring the second part – the most important part – glorify your Father in heaven.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:19-20

How are we teaching the nations to observe all things that God has commanded us when we throw away His commandments in order to gain what we decide is worthwhile? And if we are not observing all things He has commanded us, will he be with us always, even to the end of the age?

God’s word tells us not to worry or be concerned about tomorrow. We are only to obey what He tells us to do today – God will take care of tomorrow. We are arrogant to believe we are the ones in control and the world or our country will either decline or become great due to our efforts. The only true effect we might have on this world and our country is to get on our knees in prayer and to be a light unto the world.

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matt 6:31-34

As a Christian husband or parent, isn’t your first responsibility to be an example, to nurture and create an environment for your wife and children to grow spiritually and be protected from worldly influences? How protected do Christian women feel when a man like Donald Trump is elected to the highest office in the land and their husbands, fathers, brothers were the ones who help put him there? How respected do women and children feel when the men in their lives will find a way to justify implementing their own agenda over showing respect to them? I close with excerpts from a letter written by James MacDonald, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel. I am not saying this man has lived a perfect life nor am I saying he is right about everything or should be on a pedestal. I am saying I believe he got it right on this particular matter and I respect the stand he took by withdrawing his support of Mr. Trump. It was not a popular stand and I believe it was courageous of him to say it publicly. And I am guessing his wife and daughter feel valued, respected and loved by their husband/father.

(these comments are referencing the video that was released with lewd comments between Mr. Trump and Billy Bush)

Mr. Trump's comments released yesterday—though 10 years ago (he was 60)—are not just sophomoric or locker room banter. They are truly the kind of misogynistic trash that reveals a man to be lecherous and worthless—not the guy who gets politely ignored, but the guy who gets a punch in the head from worthy men who hear him talk that way about women.

I have a wife of 33 years, a daughter, and 2 daughters in law. I am not able to offer my time any further without an obvious "change of heart and direction" [that] true believers call repentance.


If Mr. Trump isn’t seeking our counsel now— 1) to be repentant 2) on how to portray that repentance, then the idea of a faith council (which has deteriorated into influence brokering anyway) is really kind of a joke right? I have spent my life helping men get free from such disgusting commentary on women—even writing my doctoral dissertation on self-disclosure of sin among men. I cannot and will not offer help to a man who believes this kind of talk a minor error.

Amen.

Our Constitution

In 1857 the Supreme Court ruled on the case of a Missouri slave named Dred Scott.  Scott's master had taken him into the free state of Illinois.  Because of the Missouri Compromise and a law passed by Congress, residents in free states could demand their freedom.  So Scott sued for his freedom.

Scott's owner, John Sandford, challenged the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise, arguing that slaves were private property protected by the Constitution against deprivation without due process of law.  Therefore Congress lacked the constitutional authority to ban slaver in Illinois or anywhere else.

The Supreme Court ruled in Sandford's favor.  Scott was sent back into slavery.  And then the Court ruled that Congress lacked authority to forbid or abolish slavery in federal territories.

When Lincoln became president, he was so outraged by this verdict that he ignored and openly defied the ruling.  His administration treated free blacks as citizens, issuing them passports and other legal documents - something that was unheard of.  Then he signed legislation restricting slavery in the western territories.

The point he was making was certainly one about humanity and God given rights, but Lincoln was also demonstrating the beauty of a system put in place by a group of men who knew about the power grabbing nature of mankind.  These men knew the courts were just as susceptible to the corruption of fallen man as the other two branches of government.

Today we seem to have forgotten that the three branches of government are equal in power to each other.  There is no one branch that has more authority.  And yet the courts seem to believe they have the final word on all matters that lie before them.  Not so.  We need to support the brave men and women who are courageous enough to stand up to the courts. We need to elect more politicians who know the Constitution and are willing to defend it.  If we fail to do so, we can expect things like gay marriage and abortion to be forced upon us - and only ourselves to blame.

Is Mormonism a Cult, and Does It Matter in 2012?

Dr. James Emery White

You’ve probably read the news by now. In a less-than-veiled attempt to sway evangelical voters to presidential hopeful Rick Perry after introducing him as a “true” Christian at the Values Voter Summit last Friday, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church-Dallas termed GOP front-runner Mitt Romney’s Mormonism a “cult.”
So is it?
The answer is both “yes” and “no,” and understanding why is an important discussion.
The answer is obviously “no” from a popular perspective, and this is what has created a bit of a firestorm.
Mention “cult” and most people think of Jim Jones or David Koresh. Or even worse, Charles Manson. They think poisoned Kool-Aid and Waco, mind control and isolation.
None of which would be true of Mormonism, and would be wrong to insinuate.
But in theological terms, if you were to define cult as a religious group that denies the biblical nature of God, the full divinity of Jesus Christ, and that we are only saved through His atoning death on the cross through grace, then yes, it is.
This is not news; it has been the position of mainstream Christian faith since Joseph Smith came on the scene with his extra-biblical revelations. In a LifeWay Research survey of 1,000 American Protestant pastors, 75 percent rejected the idea that Mormons were Christians.
Not because of bigotry, but because of theology.
So sociologically, no, Mormonism is not a cult. It is not like Scientology or Hare Krishna, Jehovah’s Witnesses or Christian Science.
But theologically, yes, it is.
But because of the cultural overtones, we’re better off calling them a religion that borrows heavily from Christianity but stands outside of mainstream orthodoxy. They themselves would agree, maintaining that they have something different to offer than traditional Christian faith.
But whether a theological cult or not, does it matter? Does it matter whether we elect a non-Christian president? In the rush to condemn the comments by Jeffress, many seem to be bending over backward to maintain that one’s personal religious beliefs are irrelevant to higher office.
Much of this is pure politics. If Romney’s Mormonism becomes a liability, it will hurt the GOP’s chances in 2012 if indeed he proves to be their candidate for president. According to the Pew Research Center, 34 percent of white evangelicals report themselves “less likely” to vote for a Mormon for president.
But should faith matter?
Again, “yes” and “no,” and, again, understanding why is an important investment.
The answer is “no” in that we are not electing a president to be a pastor or Pope, priest or prophet. The title is commander in chief, not cleric in chief. Further, Article VI of the Constitution is very clear: “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
There should be no doubt as to the freedom for any citizen to participate in the political process, regardless of faith.
But the answer is “yes” in that a person’s religious convictions, or lack thereof, shape their thinking. And we are very much electing someone to think and decide on our behalf.
Does the candidate claim a faith but it has no real bearing on their life?
That matters to me.
Does the candidate hold to an End Times view that will shape their dealings with the Middle East?
That matters to me.
Does the candidate sincerely pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jesus and Paul for wisdom and discernment?
That matters to me.
Does the candidate hold to a theological perspective that will shape views on marriage, the sanctity of life, the treatment of the widow and the orphan and the alien?
That matters to me.
I think the question would matter to any thoughtful voter of any political leaning. They may want different answers than I would, but most in the electorate would find the answers to be relevant. People who say personal conviction, or religious faith, is irrelevant to a presidential candidate are being politically and intellectual naïve. Yes, vote for president on the basis of your estimation of their ability to govern, but don’t be misled that religious conviction is irrelevant to the decision-making process inherent within governance.
So is Mormonism a cult?
Yes and no.
Does it matter if a presidential candidate is a Mormon … or a Muslim, or a Jew or a Christian?
Yes and no.
Just make sure you know which “yes” and which “no” you have in mind.
James Emery White