Why I Did Not Attend The Courthouse Prayer Rally On Thursday Night

There has been a dust up in the County where I live in East Tn.  I guess some atheists are upset that the School board opens it’s meetings with a prayer.  Then there is a badge that the Police Officers wear that has three words on it…Industry, Education, Religion.  So the atheists wanted the Police Officers to get rid of the badge.  Then the well-meaning citizens of Loudon County got together and organized a ‘Prayer Rally’ at the County Courthouse last Thursday night.  You’ve probably seen this same story a thousand times on Fox News.  Atheists come to town, Christians get stirred up, Prayer Rally, Courts, etc.  Same story, different county.

I did not attend the ‘Prayer Rally’.  Here’s why…

1. Prayers are not to the Government or Politicians.  Matthew 22:21.  Caesar can have my material possessions,but he cannot have my spiritual inheritance.
2. Prayers are not to be seen by others.  Matthew 6:1-6.  Not that I am against praying in public, but what is the purpose when praying in public?  When I bow my head with my family in a restaurant before we eat the purpose is to give thanks to God, whether others notice or not.  The purpose of this gathering at the Courthouse was to be seen by men and have our voices heard before men.  I cannot participate in that.  If you want to organize a protest against the erosion of religious freedoms, I’m for that.  But let’s not cast the spiritual pearl of prayer before the pigpen of politics.
3. Prayers are not to be used to make a political point.  Ephesians 6:10-20.  Prayer is a weapon wielded by the Christian to fight against spiritual forces.  It is our line of communication with God in the midst of our spiritual war with the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers over this present darkness.  It is our ‘wartime walkie-talkie’ as we fight against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
4. It demeans the Triune God.  It is demeaning to the Father to use our method of communication to make a political point.  It is demeaning to the Son to use our access to the Father granted through His life, death, resurrection and ascension in order to play politics.  It is demeaning to the Holy Spirit who indwells us, helps us to pray and makes our deepest, unknowable groanings known to the Father, when we use prayer as a political chess piece.
5. It was too ecumenical.  I cannot unite in prayer with others who do not affirm an orthodox view of God as Trinity.  If Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons or Oneness Pentecostals were present, then we are not praying to the same God.
6. It wasn’t ecumenical enough.  If the goal of the gathering was to be a protest against the erosion of religious freedom, would Hindus, Jews, Muslims, etc. be welcome to help in the protest?  I seriously doubt it.  Besides, since this was billed as a ‘Prayer Rally’, I would expect that only those that conform with the ‘cultural christianity’ of the South would be welcome.  But, if JW’s Mormons or Oneness Pentecostals were present, then why exclude other faiths?
7. It is a distraction from the true fight.  There is an onslaught of atheism, false religion and cultural christianity that we must fight against.  Instead, the enemy has tricked us into wasting our time fighting for our rights as Americans.  Jesus said His Kingdom is not of this world.  If His Kingdom were of this world then His servants would fight.  Jesus’ Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom that is at war with spiritual (not flesh and blood) enemies.  True, this war is played out in some sense in the physical realm, but as Christians let’s not get hung up on our civil rights and the enemies of those rights.  That is the place where you work as a citizen of the United States.  As Christians, we have another citizenship, and a whole other set of rules to live by that are not embodied in the Declaration Of Independence, the Constitution or the Bill Of Rights.  As Christians, we have the right to be mistreated.  We have the right to suffer as Christ suffered.  We have the right to be persecuted.  We have the right to be marginalized.  But we also have the right to bring our requests, burdens, cares and trials to the throne of grace through the vehicle of prayer.  Let’s take advantage of those rights and fight the battle that God has called us to fight.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
(2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison– that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
(Colossians 4:2-6)

Why We Need Steady Bible Intake

A snippet from the introduction to my sermon this past Sunday morning:

Let me go on a little rant here and tell you that this is why Bible reading, Bible study, and church attendance is so important for the Christian.  If you are not reading your Bible every day, then I can say with complete confidence that you are not repenting every day.  You are not changing your mind about Christ, about sin, or about your life because you are not being confronted with the facts of our life in Christ as God knows them and has told us.  If your mind is not being changed then your passions are not being changed.  If your passions are not being changed then your conduct is not being changed.  Instead, you are repenting backwards.  All that you see and hear in this world is going into your mind unchallenged by God’s truth and changing your mind about Christ, about sin, and about your life.  Instead of being conformed to the image of Christ through the Gospel you are becoming conformed to the mindset of the world through music, movies, media, and the mouths of friends, co-workers, acquaintances.  The same goes for church attendance.  If you do not regularly attend a church where the Bible is preached according to what it says, then even your personal Bible reading can be corrupted by the onslaught of information that is coming from the world.  We need Pastors who will tell us, “This is what the Bible says and this is what the Bible means when it says this.”  We need that.  We need it because our enemy controls most of what we see and hear in this world.  And Pastors need Pastors too.  That’s one reason we have more than one Pastor here.  I need to hear the Bible preached to me just as much as you do, because if I don’t have that, then just like with you, the world will influence the way I read the Bible and understand the Gospel.

Jesus Came Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom

Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.  Matthew 4:17-25 tells us of this beginning of Jesus’ ministry of preaching.  We see the topics of His message (verses 17, 23):

1. Repentance.
2. The Kingdom is at hand.

We see His disciples respond to this message (verses 20, 22):

1. They left their nets/boats/families.
2. They followed Jesus.

Finally we see the vindication of His message (verses 23-25):

1. He heals the sick.
2. Great crowds follow after Jesus.

These are necessary verses to put the Sermon on the Mount into its proper context.  When Jesus sees these crowds following after Him, He ascends up on a mountain, calls His disciples in close, and begins to teach them more accurately the good news of the Kingdom.  The good news is this (according to 5:3-12);

1. We are ‘Blessed'(supremely favored by God, we bask in the face of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, who for a time suffered the disfavor and ‘woe’ of God that we might live in this blessed state).
2. We have a present citizenship in the Kingdom.
3. We have a future hope of a revelation of the Kingdom.
4. Our circumstances here do not always reflect the true reality as God sees it.
5. Our present manner of life has eternal consequences.
6. Our present treatment by the world works for us a greater weight of glory.

Therefore…

1. We should respond to the call of repentance by renouncing all that holds us in the kingdom of darkness and follow our King, Jesus Christ.
2. We should have a joyful spirit which displays itself through the physical emotion of happiness even in the midst of poverty, mourning, hunger, thirst, and persecution.
3. We should conduct ourselves in a meek, merciful, pure, peacemaking manner in the midst of a world that seeks to dominate, threaten, defile, and separate us from the love of Christ.
4. We should be known by our joyfulness as we rejoice and are glad that we have been worthy to suffer after the manner of our Lord and Savior who endured such hostility from sinners so that He might redeem us from our sin and produce these marks of true religion in us.

The Marriage Contract: Should we shorten the term?

A new paper has been presented by Helen Goltz for discussion.  In this paper she proposes (pun intended) that the term of marriage contracts should be shortened from lifetime down to either five or ten years.

Immediately, Bible-thumping Christians such as myself will quote Genesis 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (ESV) The Bible is unmistakeably clear on the issue, one man, one woman, one lifetime.  And, just as Jesus and Paul let us know, besides death, there are only two ways for this contract to be dissolved, unfaithfulness and abandonment.  And even in those cases we should seek restoration first.  Divorce is always the very last option.

However, there is more to Helen’s paper than just an attack on the duration of marriage.  The objectives would be;

1) A fixed-term to the marriage which could be renewed by choice.

2) Mutual renewing of vows and for the celebration of this act.

3) Remove the shame and stigma associated with the failure of marriage by divorce.

4) Encourage partners to work towards maintaining a good relationship.

While two of the objectives are admirable, the renewing of vows, or at the very least a reviewing of marriage vows every few years would be healthy for couples, and encouraging couples to work towards making their marriage last, the other two would not be very helpful at all.

Why is renewing the contract by choice more desirable than understanding the concept of a commitment for life?  In a sense, every day that a man gets out of bed to go to work to love, protect, and provide for his wife and family, and a woman wakes to provide her husband with all the things that women do (caring for the children, caring for the house, loving her husband, putting her hands to work to bring in extra money), we are renewing our commitment to one another daily.  And, what better motivation is there for maintaining a healthy relationship than the lifetime commitment?

But the third objective gets us to the root of the matter, Goltz wants to remove the shame and stigma of the failure of marriage.  I, too, see this as my goal, but the path to my goal is through the strengthening of the lifetime commitment so that divorce itself becomes obsolete, not by making marriage easier to get out of.  Goltz’s plan would require no action at all on the part of couples seeking to dissolve their marriage.  At the end of the five or ten year term the contract expires.  The only requirements in her plan puts the burden on committed couples who want to renew their contract.

Finally, and most disturbing, is that Goltz’s plan assumes that children are negotiables in marriage, citing research from Families in Australia: 2008 she says,

“By 2026, couples without children are projected by the ABS to be the most common type of family in Australia (44% of all families);”

Children are becoming increasingly viewed as a burden, a burden to parents, to the environment, to the health-care system, and now to the health and vitality of marriage.  Yes, it is true, children do burden us in many social situations, but at the same time, children are a gift to be treasured. “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” (Psalm 127:3 NASB)

If we are to live in a society that values the propagation of human life, and the sanctity of marriage, then we must not entertain ideas such as Goltz’s.  We must not make marriage easier to get out of, but harder in many cases.  Children must be viewed not only as integral and necessary parts of marriage, but also as gifts from God, who gives life to all things, and who has created man and woman for one another.

Piper Speaks for the Voiceless

HT: Abraham Piper @ Desiring God Blog

By the way…

…did I mention that abortion is evil, wicked, ungodly, perverse, selfish, detestable, and injust to the core?

All instances, every time, no exceptions.

But so am I if, while writing this, I do not promote, support, or value the life of others with my actions.

Moore Abortion Talk

I listened to Russell Moore’s sermon on abortion titled, Joseph of Nazareth is a Single-Issue Evangelical: The Father of Jesus, the Cries of the Helpless, and Change you can Believe in, this morning.

I wish I had listened to it before I wrote my posts on voting.  I would have had lots and lots ‘moore’ to say.  Don’t worry, I’m done.

But I do need you to go listen to it now.

Glorify God With Your Vote part 4

The value of Chuck Baldwin’s candidacy is not in his viability.  I think the value of Chuck Baldwin’s candidacy, or the valueof the Constitutionalist Party, or for that matter, any third party or candidate, at this point in history is this…a vote for someone outside of the two major parties is a vote against the current direction of the U. S. leadership.  I use Baldwin as an example, because he holds my views more closely than any other candidate, and the Constitutionalist Party platform contains just about all the major points that I look for in a candidate.

My plan here in Tennessee is to wait another week or so, see where the polls are, and then vote.  I have two reasons for this.  First, I want to express my dissatisfaction with the current direction of both the Republicans and the Democrats.  Second, I will not risk my vote of dissension at the expense of millions of unborn children.  So if the race is close, and I suspect here in Tennessee it won’t be, I will vote for McCain/Palin.  But if it is not close, I will vote for Baldwin/Castle.

You see, voting is a matter of conscience, and my conscience will not allow me to take away a vote from the only person standing in the way of the murder of countless unborn babies.  But at the same time, I cannot sit by and let the direction of our Country be put at risk.

McCain says that education is is the civil rights issue of our time.  He’s wrong about that.  Education may be a civil rights issue, but the civil rights issue of our time is abortion.  So what I am proposing is that we use sound judgment in our vote.  My conscience will be less vexed with a vote for McCain than it would be with a wasted vote for Baldwin if the race is close.

Now in conclusion, I want you to all understand one more thing.  Not only are we to vote for someone who will promote justice and sound judgment, we are to recognize our rights in a free society to stand up ourselves for justice in the world.  What it means to be a Christian and an American citizen is that we ourselves have the responsibility as Christians, and the right as Americans, to voice our convictions, not just on election day, but every single day of the year.  We must be voices for righteousness and justice in our nation.  Part of that is supporting the candidates that share our convictions, but that is not all of it.

We have the responsibility before God to support the oppressed and those at the point of death who have had injustice on top of injustice poured out on them, and make sure that the injustices that have happened to them never happen to others.  Ultimately, we are to act as citizens of Heaven, loving God and trusting Him to be the final Judge of mankind, while loving our fellow-man, by speaking up on his behalf when others will not.  The way to glorify God with your vote is to vote for those who will stand up for justice and thenlive your life standing up against injustice yourself.  A vote for the right man spearated from the right actions on your part isn’t God-glorifying.  A vote for the right accompanied by the right actions from is a God-glorifying vote.

Glorify God With Your Vote part 3

We left off in the last post talking about the role of government biblical point of view and how the man in charge of the government must have certain qualifications in order to lead government in doing it’s job.

Now here’s where it’s gonna get hairy.  What about capitalism and socialism?  On the one hand, capitalism has had a bad reputation in the past for not wanting to take care of some of the people who are chewed up and spit out by the system.  On the other hand, socialism takes away personal responsibility. 

First, I don’t think it is government’s job to take money from some citizens in order to ‘bail out’ some other citizens.  Indeed, a sense of justice would dictate just the opposite.  Government’s job is to make sure that you are free to exercise your rights in your career choices.  We all want to provide for our families.  Government doesn’t have the responsibility of setting you up in business, nor does it have the responsibility of bailing you out when your business fails.  Government has the responsibility of making sure that you are protected from theft, bodily harm, and corrupt business dealings.  But if you try and fail, justice dictates that it is you who have failed and that you are not the responsibility of your fellow man.

Now, compassion in government may cause you to be bailed out, but it is not deserved, nor should it be expected from government.  There is a tension between justice and mercy in government.  Government should be at the front of the line speaking up for you when you have failed, but not at the expense of it’s other citizens.  I think this is the tension that is being walked right now by government, and I think that they have overstepped their bounds, by putting other citizens on the hook for other people’s failures.

I think government should have appealed to it’s citizens to step up and take responsibility for their fellow-citizens.  And I think that Americans would have done just that.  But instead of doing that, government has acted unjustly on the part of some of it’s citizens and deepened a divide of class in America.

Looking biblically at the issue, we must recognize that Scripture advocates both personal responsibility on the part of the individual (2 Thessalonians 3:10), and personal responsibility to those in need (James 2:14-17).  So a biblical view is, in my opinion, anti-socialist in the redistribution of wealth sense, but pro-compassion for the needy.  This is really the thrust of the second great commandment, to love our naighbor as ourselves. 

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Bible is pro-capitalism, but choosing between the two systems is pretty much a no-brainer for me.  Capitalism helps to give the individual the opportunity to obey both the commandment to take care of himself and his family, as well as the commandment to watch over your neighbor and take an interest in his welfare on a personal level.

How does this relate to the vote?  Both major candidates voted for the bail-out of Wall Street, or what I like to call, the sell-out of the American people.  That is, they voted to take your money and give it to other people whose businesses has failed, some of which fell through corrupt dealings.  That is socialism, and the worst kind of socialism, a socialism that steals from the poor to give to the rich.  Robin Hood is standing on his head. 

This makes a third-party candidate look all the more appealing.  Especially someone like Baldwin who opposes the socialistic leanings of both major parties.

But facts are facts, Baldwin has no chance of winning, which is one reason I suspect he is running.  I would like to think that if he thought he had a chance of winning that he would have passed on the opportunity to be a candidate for President in favor of his more important role as Pastor.

But is there value to his candidacy?  I think so.

Glorify God With Your Vote part 2

I finished my post yesterday like this;

So there are the options.  Sort of ‘pro-life’, ‘pro-abortion’, and Pastor.  What is a Christian to do with his vote?  Y’all discuss this for a while.  Meanwhile, I’ve got some more stuff to consider that I’ll tell you about later…like Scripture.

So…here it is.  As Christians in a country that gives us the privilege to elect our leaders, how should we elect those leaders?  In answering this question I want to make sure that I am as clear as Scripture is.  So while I am going to tell you how to vote, I am not going to tell you who to vote for.

The first Scripture I think we need to remember, as reflected by the title of these posts, is;

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1Corinthians 10:31) ESV

That’s a pretty broad statement.  What it means is, no matter where you are or what you are doing, you should do whatever it is that you do for God’s glory.  Obviously this applies to Christians in the United States casting their ballots for President.

So the question then becomes, “How do I, as a Christian, vote for God’s glory?” Let me assure you, there will be no option on your ballot marked, “God’s Glory”.  And yet we are told that even this action of going into the voting booth on our part must be conducted in such a way as to reflect, promote, and offer up glory to God.

I think looking at what Scripture has to say about government might be a good place to start.  The most obvious place to look in Scripture is Romans;

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (Romans 13:1-7) ESV

Here Paul very clearly tells us that government is instituted by God for our good.  Interesting side note here, Paul is saying that government is ordained by God for our good and that there is nothing to fear from government if we do what is right.  Then government chopped his head off.  Government is ordained by God, but that does not mean government is always right.  But even when government is corrupt and comes to the point of persecuting Christians, Christians are to submit to government as our friend.  But this can only happen if we remember what Paul has already said in the previous chapter;

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19) ESV

Taken in this context, Paul is telling us first, that God uses government to exact His wrath on the unjust, and second, that government to is subject to the wrath of God when it acts unjustly, especially against His saints.

But the fact remains, government is instituted by God to protect and provide justice to those under it’s authority.  So when we are looking at a Presidential candidate we must remember that a clear sense of justice is a requirement in governing authorities.

A second Scripture to look at is;

The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:1-9) ESV

Here again we see this issue of justice as a requirement for King Lemuel.  But there are other considerations here as well.

First is the man’s character. He is not give away his strength to women, or be involved in adulterous relationships.  This conduct will destroy a ‘King’, not only in his own house, but in the execution of his authority.  Adultery is injustice.  When a ‘King’ is unjust he has perverted his office of administrator of justice.  Instead he is to be faithful to his own wife, showing that he will be faithful to administer justice to his people.

Second is the man’s self-control. He is not to be a drunkard.  Drunkenness impairs judgment, and impaired judgment leads to injustice.  Instead he is to be a sober man, able to make correct judgments whenever necessary.

Third is the man’s compassion. He is to ‘give strong drink’, or, comfort, to the perishing and those in bitter distress.  That is, he should be able to discern and care for the needy in their trouble.

Fourth is the man’s conscience. He is to speak on behalf of those who have no voice.  He is to come to the aid of the innocent when they are accused and sentenced to death.  Let me take a moment and talk about abortion here.  If there was ever a description of the unborn it is that they are voiceless.  Even in our free society where we have freedom of speech, their voice will not be heard unless we speak up for them.  They are the truly innocent who in far too many cases have been sentenced to death for no good reason.  I simply cannot, indeed will not ever, for any reason cast a ballot for anyone who refuses to speak up for the unborn.  This in my mind is probably the greatest injustice in our world today, and second only in history to the murder of Jesus Christ by the hands of sinful man.

Finally, the man’s convictions. He must be a man who is not afraid to speak up against the rich when they have oppressed the poor.  Larry Norman wrote a song titled, “The Great American Novel”.  This song at one point asked the question, “You say all men are equal, all men are brothers, well, why are the rich more equal than others?”, or something to that effect.  While I certainly do not believe that the majority of the rich are actively seeking the oppression of the poor, I would be a fool to deny that it happens.  And when it does, the man that we elect must be a man who doesn’t mind refusing bribes or remaining certain in his convictions when he speaks up for the oppressed.

In short, the God-glorifying way to vote is to vote for the man who most clearly embodies these characteristics.  It is to vote for the man who protects the citizens and embodies the good judgment to give justice to those who most need it.  These are the reasons God gave government, and the way that God will be glorified through your vote is for you to vote your conscience on these issues.  Look at the policies, whether foreign policy, domestic policy, financial policy, education policy, etc., and vote for the man whose policies are colored by a clear sense of justice as evidenced also by his character, self-control, compassion, conscience, and conviction.

But recognize this as well, there is only one Just Ruler, and He will be faithful and compassionate to His saints and avenge them of their oppressors.