American Paganism

The fine idea of separation of church and state (the U.S. government shall not establish a religion) does not equal public atheism - the rejection of the God of Scripture in our courts or schools or any other government entity. There are other options.

Money, Me, and My Government

Here is a helpful, enlightening, and succinct take on money and government, by our friend Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. We all, I believe, need to know and understand these basics, for our families, our nation, and Christ's kingdom. Enjoy.

Voting in Jesus' Name

Well, how would Jesus vote? I say at the beginning I am aware that I do not speak with any kind of flawless authority. And as a man I am prone to error. My effort here is simply to give voice to biblical values, and briefly. Having said that I offer this:

1. I think Jesus would vote to protect the unborn. The Source of life is pro-life. For a really good word on this, and on our standing before God in judgment for how we vote, hear my pastor's sermon from yesterday. Click here. (Hit the "sermon" link and look for the message dated 11/4/2012).

2. I think He would vote against debt. The freeing God is for financial freedom. A president that continues to borrow to placate constituents while increasing the financial load upon citizens should be fired. In addition, there is nothing good about increasing a society's dependency upon its government. If Jesus tells the truth, how we relate to work and money says as much about us as anything, and more than most things.

3. I think He would vote for a truth teller. Jesus is Truth personified. Obama continues to tell flagrant lies about Romney's automobile company bail-out plan, among other things. And when corrected our president simply revs up the lying. Romney may be lying about things too. But if so, I don't know what they are. In my opinion, our president should have resigned due to the Fast and Furious scandal. And now we have the Benghazi debacle to settle. Again, a resignation is in order, not a re-election. I have a host of other dishonesties in my mental list, but I digress.

4. I think He would vote for humility. Jesus is not proud.

5. I think He would vote for a leader. Jesus gives sound direction and counsel. He's also not effeminate.

6. I don't think He would vote with His own financial interests as the primary matter. He's not selfish.

7. I think He would vote for heterosexual marriage, the way He designed it. He is true to His purposes.

8. I think He would vote for the same tax rate on all people - rich, poor, and otherwise. This is how God governed His people Israel. Surely we realize that a particular percentage on more money is more money; meaning that the greater one's income the more taxes she pays. So the wealthy do pay more, but not wrongly, as they would by being required to contribute a higher percentage of their income. A government's taking money from the wealthy and using it to supply services for the poor is a form of stealing. Robin Hood is a thief. He is simply one the poor love. Voting a higher tax rate for others than we would vote for ourselves is not just, or loving. And Jesus is both.

Personally, I'm not excited about either of the candidates. I prefer a Ron Paul Revolution, which has its own flaws, but not nearly so many. With the Democratic and Republican Parties, we are forced to choose between big Democrat government or big Republican government. I'm for neither; nor were the founders of our country.

How much does any of this matter? It matters in that we all do stand in the the light and fire of God's just judgment upon us for our choices, which flow from our hearts. And it matters because who the US President is does affect people, including God's people. But it doesn't matter in any saving sense. I have no hope invested in Obama or Romney to be to me and my family any sort of savior or provider. God is God alone. God alone saves, and takes care of His people. So I'm not counting on Uncle Sam for much of anything, including my children's education, my income, or our health care, to mention only a few.

What's sad to me is that tomorrow I will, God willing, vote for a professing Mormon over a professing Christian. What's more sad is that the Mormon's values are seemingly more in line with those of Jesus than are the "Christian's". I vote values, not titles.

Church and State with Martin Luther (1483-1546)

We should wash the fur of the magistrate and clean out his mouth whether he laughs or rages. Christ has instructed us preachers not to withhold the truth from the lords but to exhort and chide them in their injustice. Christ did not say to Pilate, "You have no power over me." He said that Pilate did have power, but he said, "You do not have this power from yourself. It is given to you from God." Therefore he upbraided Pilate. We do the same. We recognize the authority, but we must rebuke our Pilates in their crime and self-confidence. Then they say to us, "You are reviling the majesty of God, " to which we answer, "We will suffer what you do to us, but to keep still and let ii appear that you do right when you do wrong, that we cannot and will not do." We must confess the truth and rebuke the evil. There is a big difference between suffering injustice and keeping still. We should suffer. We should not keep still. The Christian must bear testimony for the truth and die for the truth. But how can he die for the truth if he has not first confessed the truth? Thus Christ showed that Pilate did exercise authority from God and at the same time rebuked him for doing wrong.

A Few More Remarks on Our Government

1. A chief reason entitlement money is missing is because over the past 40 years we have aborted (murdered) one in three of the people who would today be paying into the system (social security, medicare, etc).
2. I am not for this "system" because I don't understand Scripture to be for it. I understand Scripture to teach that the family takes care of the family. Where there is no able family, then the church steps in, as in the care of widows who have no children (1 Ti 5:3-10). And when I say the family takes care of the family, I mean that fathers are responsible to God for the provision, education, and spiritual progress of those under their care, including their aged parents.
3. The public education system, and our dependence on it, is the abdication of parental duty concerning education. I went through the public school system and I would not put my children in it. The education philosophy of the system is not conducive to actual learning and understanding, but a regurgitation of information, much of which is not even true. In addition, the public education system is dominated by women who expect young boys and men to behave as young girls and women. Within the system, in which a student will spend an average of 35 hours per week, the males have almost no model. Their models are mostly women who think like women, reason like women, feel like women, work like women, behave like women, etc, because they are women and consequently do not have the natural understanding of how young boys and men learn. The boys and men, therefore, are expected to be girl-like, and when they are not they are punished.
4. I place no saving hope in any political party or elected official. That would be idolatry no matter the party or official. But when the officials are too desperate and weak to answer a "yes" or "no" question with a "yes" or "no", well then to put any hope in them would simply be foolish. God give us men and women that say what they mean and do what they say. This is called integrity.
5. I am no one's judge, not in the sense that I know their hearts or can say whether someone is a Christian or not. What I am allowed to do, and must do, is make deductions rooted in their words and deeds. I am not permitted to state their motives with any full certainty unless they have expressed them. What I am permitted to do is examine the fruit of their choices -- what does this person produce? What is the outcome of their ways? These are the questions with which we must wrestle.
6. During a campaign interview with pastor Rick Warren, Mr Obama was asked questions in regard to faith and practice. But the one question that would have given us the most insight into his heart and life and ways and loves, was not asked. Pastor Rick did not ask Mr Obama, or Mr McCain, what role the Bible plays in their lives. This is the question. Far too many people who say they are Christians couldn't explain John 3:16 if you gave them 6 months and a Bible dictionary. They simply live in ignorance, and with apathy, toward the Word of God. So for our president to say he is a Christian really means close to nothing, unless he defines Christian according to the actual Christian documents. Christianity according to its own founding documents is the only kind of real Christianity there is.
7. I'm against the ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan, not because I don't believe in just war but because we, as a nation, cannot afford it, just or not. If you have to borrow money to wage war, you probably shouldn't wage it. The idea of America as the world police should be re-examined.
8. Related to #7, who are we to assume that every nation should be a democratic nation? Democracy is not how God established Israel. Nor did He move them toward it. When Israel rejected God as their good and rightful king and cried for a human one, God gave them a human one -- a monarchy, not a democracy. The issue of government is not primarily one of form, but substance. What is central is that whomever governs does so in righteousness. So in a democracy, if the elected officials are godly, then national life goes well for the people. But this is equally true in a monarchy, or dictatorship, or oligarchy. As long as the rulers are pursuing righteousness, the nation is blessed. We as Americans do not know this. We have basically equated democracy with righteousness. Arrogant.
9. Brent, what do you think governments should be busy with? Well, in my opinion, very very little; things like establishing an efficient and useful military, maintaining a just court system, printing money for which it has valuables to make what it prints valuable, collect just taxes. I currently can't think of anything else. What the government should not do is create thousands of programs and projects that are burdens to their people. It is not the work of government to educate people, to created jobs for people, to save money for people (social security), to provide medical care (medicare, medicaid), to regulate the economy, or a thousand other duties we're happy to depend upon them for. The more we allow them to do for us, the more dependent upon them we become. The more responsibility we forfeit to government, the more power they have over us. It seems to me this is precisely what our government wants.

Not SKIN, but SIN, is the Issue.

I did not vote for Barack Obama. I voted for John McCain, not because he's white, or godly, but because I understood him to be the best candidate for the unborn. I'm a one issue voter. Men and women who are OK with murdering the unborn, or the partially born, will NEVER get my vote, no matter what else they bring to the table. The person who will murder a child for the sake of convenience will do any wicked thing. So I would not have voted for Barack no matter what his color. And considering I have two children of the black race, surely no one will take my comments as racist. The great hope of the African-American community is not an African-American president, but a Jewish Christ.

By the way, we whites did abuse and oppress an entire race of people for many decades. We do owe them justice to the best of our ability. Therefore, I am for a program like Affirmative Action. If a government legally oppresses a race of people, locking them out of vocational progress and educational progress (just to name two), when it becomes illegal for that same government to any longer oppress the race, it should do what it can to make restitution. This is simply one step on the path of justice. For the government to expect the formerly oppressed to compete on a level playing field with the always free is ludicrous. When God delivered His people from Egyptian slavery, He sent them out with the plunder of their oppressors. He did not give them everything they could have earned during their 400 years of captivity. But He did give them something on which to build. I notice too that they did not get this from God by demanding it of the Egyptians, or of God. They received it as God chose to provide it for them through the Egyptians. Perhaps this approach of crying out in faith to our Deliverer will in our day prove more productive than demanding our supposed "rights", whether these are the "rights" of a particular physical race or of the "new race" called the Christian Church (Ep 2:15-17; 1 Pe 2:9). Now, to change the subject a bit. . .

I believe the greed of Americans put our current president in office. We worship money (the economy). Clearly the assumed potential of Mr Obama to make a positive impact upon said economy paved the way for his election. We here in America normally choose prosperity over holiness. That's because we're wicked, and our elected officials simply reflect back to us what we are at heart. Mr Obama had no experience or proven performance that commended him to us. He simply sold himself to the public. That's what politicians do. This is not to say that he was pretending to be something he's not. It's simply to say he did a remarkable job of convincing Americans that what he is is what we need. Again, that's what politicians do. But it is not what Christians do. And it is not what Christian pastors do.

I write such things, and preach such things, because I am a Christian, and, at least for now, a Christian pastor. It has always been a part of the prophetic role of God's messengers to speak to those, and of those, invested with civil authority [authority God Himself gives them for the national pursuit of righteousness (Ro 13)]. Whether we are speaking of Samuel with King Saul, or John the Baptizer with King Herod, or any other of God's spokesmen in between, a part of leading God's people is to speak to this issue, to hold God's people accountable for our relationship to government, and greed. 

"Give us a king", the people of Israel shouted (1 Ki 8). According to God's Word, this demand for a human king was evidence of their REJECTION of God as king. When God is our recognized king, we won't clamor for a social savior to lead us into an earthly utopia. When God is our recognized king, we love His ways and our minds are set on things above (Col 3). In other words, when God is our recognized king, we're not banking on any civil official for any form of salvation. Our hopes for people are not wrapped up in a politician. And the institution we see to be the best hope for people is not the government but the church. The church alone carries God's saving, and society transforming, gospel message.

Yesterday, our president called for the Justice Department to cease any contention in the courts in the defense of man-woman marriage. He has put forth a budget that continues to provide billions (should I day trillions?) in hand-outs (our government calls them "entitlements"). So just recently we have watched him support marriage other than Scripture defines it (Ge 1-2), and support profit without work, which Scripture condemns (2 Th 3:7-13). Why? Well, temporally speaking, I think it's because he believes government is the answer for America's ills, and believing that, he assumes the authority to re-define sacred things like family and labor.God put man and woman (marriage) in the garden to work (Ge 1-2). Again, these are sacred things, given by God as blessing. God, looking at them, declared them "very good". So if man-woman marriage and diligent labor are "very good", what should we make of same-sex marriage and profit without work programs? 

Since this post is getting a bit long already, and since I've barely begun to speak to this matter, and since I could rant on for many pages, here's my abbreviated conclusion: Our nation, I believe, is under God's judgment. But it's not because of the ways of unbelievers. For judgment begins with the household of God (1 Pe 4). It's God's people, through our persistent refusal to trust God with a glad submission to His Word, that brings upon our nation God's wrath. When I look at our country (which began with a proud rebellion against Ro 13 kind of commands disguised as a quest for God-given "inalienable rights"), I see a people in the midst of the kind of judgment we read of in the Scriptures for the same kinds of sins we read of from God's people. We're greedy, having exalted financial profit to the top of our values list. We're so greedy for this kind of gain, that we have legalized the killing of our own children, even those who are literally seconds away from exiting the birth canal. And we're trying to legalize the murder of our aged parents, parents whom God says to honor (Ex 20) and provide for and protect (Mt 15). We elect officials based upon appearance, rhetoric, and the promise of more financial gain. Generally, character means nothing to voting Americans within the church. We are hostile to objective truth claims, having been convinced by the devil that it is humble to be reticent where God has been clear and plain. We have disassociated our choice of civil governors from Christian living. The church is filled with people that see no connection between God's commands and whom we elect. We trust our own judgment and ways, and have adopted our own means of societal salvation. And we're so blindly committed to this enterprise, that we run it on a budget that requires us to borrow trillions of dollars from the atheist Chinese government. Our elected officials do not run their homes and businesses that way, but they seem quite content to run a country that way (perhaps because it's not their money).

By the way, to balance the budget (or even save some money), and to pay down the national debt, will require radical restructuring that will cost many thousands of government jobs, and the doing away with entitlements. There is simply no way for our government to bring us into a healthy financial condition without wiping out entire government departments and national programs. That will be the cost of financial fidelity, so it will never be done, not by politicians who make their decisions with the next vote in mind.

God give us real men and real women of a variety of colors and unusual courage who live not for the voter's approval, but for Yours. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Amen.

A Question

When loving Jesus becomes a crime in the U.S., 
which is more probable?: 

that I will be an outlaw, or a patriot?

"The cross waves higher than the flag" 

Steve Camp