Thursday, February 19, 2009

LESSONS FROM NADYA

The case of Nadya Suleman, the “octomom” who had eight children by in vitro fertilization adding to the six she already had, presents a clear warning sign indicating where our culture is headed if we continue on this present course to societal chaos and dysfunction.

God has a design for his human creation: First marriage, then children raised by a mother and a father, not by a village or government welfare. Unfortunately, Nadya’s case is slowly becoming more “normal.” In many communities across our nation young girls no longer associate child-bearing with marriage. They see these as two unrelated events, with the former being more desirable than the latter.

For the sake of generations to come we must do our best to support single parent families, while we work to re-establish the prominence of the natural family. Men must step up to the plate to provide loving leadership while we all reaffirm that children are a sacred gift from God for whom parents must be willing to sacrifice. God help us if we become a nation that sacrifices the children for the parents’ happiness. God help the next generation if we don’t turn things around.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

CUT THE HOLE OUT OF MY JEANS

The “stimulus” package the feds are about to execute reminds me of the story of the little boy who came home crying because he had fallen and torn a large hole on the kneecap area of his brand new jeans. He pleaded with his mother, “Please Mom, cut the hole out of my jeans so it won’t be there any more.”

Needless to say, cutting out the hole just creates a bigger hole, but alas, at least “we’ll be doing something!” For people who claim at least a minimal level of intelligence, this is a pretty dumb move.

All one has to do is to look at the facts, look at our history, and project out into the future to see that by every measure this is a loser. But then again, that presumes the ability to defer immediate gratification for a long-term good, which the present administration and Congress doesn’t seem to have the common sense to do. Goodbye prosperity; hello poverty. God help us, and God help the next generation.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

COMING "CORRUSION"

Already, we’re seeing plenty of evidence of what I believe will be the norm for the next four years. Let’s call it “corrusion.” That’s the combined effect of corruption and confusion. Let me explain.

Confusion will take place when the new administration attempts to govern by situational ethics rather than by the time-tested principles codified by our founding fathers. The liberal view of our constitution held by Barak Obama sees a document interpreted by the light of current trends. As they see it, the Constitution, and all laws that derive from it, should be “liquid” enough to change as conditions change. They call it a “living” constitution. In effect, this means that the Constitution, and the entire legal system that flows from it, can mean anything depending on who is reading it. The final authority is the “reader,” not the document. Thus with many different readers you will have mass confusion. (The conservative view holds that the Constitution and the written law is the final authority.)

Corruption will then follow, because without a fixed sense of authority human nature will cause many to see their way as the right way. This will be further accelerated by our move away from being “One Nation Under God.” Everyone will be a god unto himself. More people in government will be driven by self-interests, and fewer will be there to serve others. It is a Judeo-Christian idea to live to serve others, while those gazing through a humanistic-evolutionary lens are guided by a drive for “survival of the fittest” and “self-preservation.” In this environment the “right thing” will be whatever is self-serving. The means justifies the ends. Just don’t get caught!

We will begin to resemble third world countries where the law is determined by who you know.

The confusion and corruption –the corrusion- will steal our peace and prosperity. Enemies, foreign and domestic, will take advantage of the confusion. Social, political and economic corrusion will be the norm.

That’s why the “What’s next?” question for the Christian has to be prayer –a lot of prayer! We must pray for our new president and those in power over us. We must pray for revival in our land. We must repent of our own sin of religious pride that shows up in ways that keeps us divided and ineffective.

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chron 7:14

We’ve heard it enough, now we must do it!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The End of Liberty?

With all this talk about the federal government bailing out car manufacturers, and financial institutions, there comes a valid question we must ask: “Has capitalism failed? Is this the end of our liberties and our free market system?” First of all we must realize -and make it known- that the reason our financial institutions got into trouble is not because of the free market, but rather because of government intervention. When the federal government mandated that banks make loans to people who weren’t financially sound we injected a manipulation into the market that caused it to operate according to a model doomed to eventual failure. Then everyone just kept passing the buck until it stopped at the American taxpayer. Now if the federal government bails out the auto industry they will again inject a false set of numbers that will eventually have to be paid by the taxpayer. The federal government will become an enabler to shoddy business practices. We’ll be like the rest of the world. Our free enterprise system is the best in the world, but it can only remain so as we adhere to sound principles based on a solid Judeo-Christian ethic.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Obama Wins - Now What?

Barak Obama has won the election for President of the United States. There was a time when the nation of Israel asked for a king like all their surrounding neighbors, and God granted their wish. King Saul became their leader to their detriment. God has, once again, honored the free will of his creation. The person we have chosen is a reflection of the character of the nation. If we have elected an individual driven by selfish ambition, it is because we, as a people, are driven by selfish ambition. There will be change. That’s not the issue. My concern is that the coming change will be to our detriment, and to the detriment of our posterity.

If there is any blame to be laid, it must be directed toward the Church. It is righteousness that exalts a nation, and that standard of righteousness has been entrusted to the Church. We have failed to teach righteousness –the principles of liberty under God- and we have failed to teach those under our care that our responsibility to provide godly leadership for our nation is part of our responsibility to God. 2 Chronicles 7:14 never rang more true than it does today:

“If my people, who are called by my name”


Now it’s time to gird our loins and prepare for battle. Unless Barak Obama has a Damascus Road experience with God, (We must all be in constant prayer for his salvation and for the salvation of his family) we will have to fight for the lives of 3,000 babies every day that are being murdered in the womb by fighting Obama’s promised “Freedom of Choice Act.”

We will have to fight to protect what God has called holy, “marriage” and work to keep the spirit of Sodom from permeating our culture by the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, as promised by Obama.

We will have to fight to protect our right to preach the Gospel in the church and on every street corner, by fighting Obama’s promised hate crimes laws and the Fairness Doctrine.

We will have to fight for the right to raise our children according to our value system without government interference by fighting Obama’s plans to indoctrinate our children using the Department of Education.

We will have to fight to preserve our liberty under God by resisting Obama’s plan to bring more of our economy and our society under government control. Woodrow Wilson taught us,

“The history of liberty is the history of the limitations of power, not the increase of it. When we resist, therefore, the concentration of power, we resist the powers of death, for the concentration of power always precedes the destruction of human liberties.”

We We will have to fight, or we will repeat the sins of the complacent church, in days past, that stood by while leaders driven by selfish ambition committed atrocities on innocent people. It’s nothing new.

My question is, “Will we?” Will we, as the prophet Nehemiah challenged the people of God,

“Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” (Nehemiah 4:14)

I pray we will.

Friday, September 5, 2008

GLITTER OR GAVITAS?

The contrast between the competing tickets in the Presidential race seems to have come to a simple matter of “glitter vs. gravitas.”

I began to see this when I watched the dual interview of Obama and McCain at Saddleback Church. I remember how after Obama spoke, I thought how polished he sounded. McCain was going to have to do pretty well to compete. But when McCain came on, it was clear he was in a totally different league than Obama. Where Obama’s responses were articulate and well reasoned, McCain’s responses took on an air of authority, depth of character and confidence. The contrast was stark. Obama sounded like a decent politician whose rhetoric was nice but superficial. McCain sounded like a leader. One was glitter, the other had gravitas.

Now with McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for VP we see a team that has a proven record of performance cleaning up government, something many have dismissed as ever being possible beyond theory.

The electorate was ready to settle for promise of change, but now there is a renewed sense of hope in the possibility of real change. Glitter or gravitas.

The choice is ours. I pray we make the right one.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

How Should a Christian Vote in 2008?

Someone called me this morning and asked the question I often hear just before election seasons begin, “How should a Christian vote?”

I have answered this question in a booklet I wrote several years ago entitled “How Shall I Vote? – choosing godly leaders in an ungodly world.” But let me here summarize some of the main points, particularly as we look forward to the November 2008 elections.

These are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of any organizations I have been associated with now or in the past.

We begin with the Bible. Throughout the Scriptures we are instructed to choose leaders who

“fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain.” (Exodus 18:21)

So when we look at the candidates we want to compare their positions, voting records, and governing philosophy with the standards of the Bible. The candidate whose positions on issues most closely lines up with God’s standard of righteousness, as revealed in Scripture, should get the Christian vote.

Before we even investigate a candidate’s general philosophy of governance, we must look at two major issues facing us in 2008 that, by themselves, in my opinion, settle the issue.

First is the issue of baby killing -abortion. Proverbs 24:11 is a clear call to rescue those who are perishing, who are being led away to slaughter, with the warning that we dare not turn a blind eye by saying we didn’t know. This was the sin of the Church during the Jewish holocaust, and it will be the sin of the current-day church if we pretend it’s not happening in America to 3,000 babies each day.

A Christian must not vote for a candidate who would continue to promote baby-killing, even if it is in the name of “choice,” nor should a Christian become an accomplice to murder by voting for anyone who would promote such an agenda.

This one issue outweighs all others. It is the only issue that matters to a million babies each year. Without the right to life, there can be no other rights.

A Christian cannot vote for a candidate who supports abortion –no matter where he stands on other issues- or he will surely have the blood of these babies on his own hands.

Though Barak Obama claims that he is driven by the Scripture,

“Whatever you did not do for the least of these you did not do for me.” (Matthew 25:45),

it’s obvious he does not count a baby in the womb –or out of the womb- among “the least” when a woman’s choice is involved.

Obama’s voting record is radically pro-abortion. He even voted against a bill that would protect the life of a baby if it was accidentally born alive, claiming that the mother’s intent for an abortion should be paramount.

On this issue alone, a true Christian cannot vote for a candidate whose views are so radically pro-murder. This would be no different than cheering on King Herod while he gave the order to kill every child under two years old in his quest to murder the Christ child for his own personal reasons.

The Roman Catholic Church, a champion for the unborn in our country, has categorically denounced Obama and his Vice-Presidential candidate, Joe Biden because of his pro-murder voting record though he claims to be a Roman Catholic.

Obama and Biden would clearly continue this American holocaust, and expand it, while Senator McCain has always demonstrated a clear pro-life position in all his years in Washington.

Furthermore, McCain has declared that he would select Supreme Court Justices in the mold of Scalia, Moore and Thomas, strict constructionists, to replace more liberal retiring justices allowing the possibility of overturning the horrendous Roe v. Wade decision.

This issue, alone, disqualifies Obama and Biden from gaining the vote of the Christian.

The second major issue is the definition of marriage.

“Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure.” (Hebrews 13:4).

God is the one who defined marriage, “male and female, he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

Any attempt to redefine what God has called holy could only bring detrimental consequences to a nation. Billy Graham reminded us that if God allowed us to accept homosexuality as normal, he would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Founding father, James Wilson, taught us that civil law must be consistent with divine law.

Therefore, any candidate who will not protect the definition and the sanctity of marriage should not get the Christian vote.

Though both presidential candidates have publicly stated that they believe marriage to be the union of a man and a woman, only John McCain has publicly supported efforts to protect that definition through constitutional amendments in California, Arizona and in other states where the issue is in question.

Barak Obama, on the other hand, has publicly denounced efforts to protect the definition of marriage calling such efforts, “divisive and discriminatory.”[1]

The definition of marriage will be fundamental to the peace and order of our society for generations to come. It is imperative that we maintain this godly order or be prepared to suffer consequences yet unimagined.

In his farewell address, the Father of our country, George Washington reminded us that

The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained”

Therefore, the Christian looking at these two major issues must disqualify Obama and Biden from receiving his or her vote.

General Philosophies of Governance

Though my father has long ago left this planet, I can still hear his voice as I was growing up saying, “The Republicans are for the rich; the Democrats are for the poor.” This same sentiment is still operative in the thinking of so many well-meaning supporters of the Democratic platform. But the truth is that both parties have the interests of the poor in mind. They just have different ideas about how to take care of the poor.

The Democrat idea is that it is the government’s responsibility to provide for the poor, while the Republican philosophy holds that liberty requires the citizenry to care for the poor with the least government intrusion as possible.

What does the Bible teach? Jesus commanded us to take care of the poor directly. He never encouraged us to pay higher tribute to Caesar so that Caesar would care for the poor. The same reason why no one would dare think of entrusting Caesar to care for the poor should warn us today about paying higher taxes to government and expecting the government to care for the poor.

Nationalized healthcare, guaranteed college tuition, and all the other promises made by the Democratic platform necessitate government control. What the government gives it must control. The more it gives the more control it must have, thus the loss of liberty.

A vote for the Democratic Party is a vote for Socialism and government control –a loss of liberty.

The Republican Party philosophy of governance places more responsibility on individuals, and voluntary associations and institutions established for the purpose of caring for the less advantaged. It adheres to the Jeffersonian idea that the government that governs least, governs best. The danger here is that the citizenry must freely choose to care for its own. Liberty necessarily implies the freedom to fail as well as the freedom to succeed.

We can go on and on illustrating the contrasts in the two distinct governing philosophies. For a further study I would suggest the booklet “How Shall I Vote?” However, I believe it sufficiently sums up the difference to say that the Democrats are for Socialism, while the Republicans are for Liberty.

IN CLOSING
In making these statements, I am exercising my own First Amendment Right to Freedom of speech much as the preachers during our founding period spoke out against the unbiblical policies of the British government, and I encourage preachers around the country to do the same.

Teaching our people how to vote is part of teaching the full Gospel. We must teach our people how to “choose leaders who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain.” (Exodus 18:21)

[1] Letter to a San Francisco Homosexual Activist Group