Sunday, August 30, 2009
The New Campus Community Lunch & Service
Campus Church has moved to 11am Sunday mornings with a lunch following. So after our regular meet, head over to Campus Church for their service and meal. It will be a great time to fellowship with other college students and plug in to their service projects.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
SUNDAY LUNCH
Campus Community Group
Sunday lunch this week
July 19th
12:30pm (or just after service)
Come eat and hang out with us.
Bring your friends or forward this invite to anyone not on the list.
See you there!
-Wells
Sunday lunch this week
July 19th
12:30pm (or just after service)
Come eat and hang out with us.
Bring your friends or forward this invite to anyone not on the list.
See you there!
-Wells
Friday, June 26, 2009
I Corinthians 05: Spiritual Wisdom
This is the fifth message in the series in I Corinthians. We know that the message of the cross of Christ is foolish to the community around us. We know that as radical followers of Jesus that we are foolish in the eyes of the community around us. Don't feel too down on yourself...God has given us not only Wisdom, but a Wisdom that can only be taught by Him. The way that he teaches us is not only through the scriptures, but also by His Spirit, literally teaching and instructing us directly through spiritual communion with Him.
FirstCorinthian05PPT
FirstCorinthian05PPT
Our next Sunday lunch is coming!
July 5th, 12:30pm - 2pm
At the Wells'
Food, Talkin', and Birthday Cake....Don't miss out!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
BOWLING and ICE CREAM
WHERE? AMF Windsor Lanes, 4600 NW 23rd Street
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Article by Steve Deace on Christians and Government
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting a different result each time.
Albert Einstein
If I could not go to heaven but with a political party, I would not go there at all.
Thomas Jefferson
God's plan: The Bible defines principles for Christians in the political party. Man's plan: Political parties define what the Bible says for the Christian.
Pastor Bob Deever (my pastor)
One of my favorite expressions is "jump the shark," which is a reference to the now infamous episode of Happy Days when Fonzi water skis over a plastic shark in the water while wearing his famous leather jacket with his swimming trunks.
The scene was so laughable that ever since it aired the reference has been used by pop culture pundits to indicate when a fad, television show, series of movies, etc. have finally worn out their welcome.
If the election of Michael Steele as Chairman of the Republican National Committee isn't a jump the shark moment for Christians in the partisan arena, then the salt has truly lost its flavor.
Consider this quote from Steve Scheffler, longtime head of the Iowa Christian Alliance and current Republican National Committeeman from Iowa in the January 31st edition of The State, the top newspaper in South Carolina:
Scheffler said Steele had ties to Republicans for Choice (abortion), Log Cabin (gay) Republicans and others at odds with party conservatives. “It’s a whole group that is as far left as you can get,” Scheffler said. “I’ll support Steele because I’m a good party soldier, but certainly he’s my last choice.”
There's a reason every conservative group with any credibility at all didn't endorse Steele, just like they didn't endorse John McCain last primary season. But just like we saw when they didn't support McCain during the primaries, when overnight he suddenly became a true conservative and man of God for our times once he eclipsed the necessary delegates to clinch the nomination, suddenly Steele is our champion now that he won election as chairman on Friday.
It's amazing how alleged people of principle suddenly get amnesia about someone's true colors once the game of musical chairs for a seat at the table of power begins.
Scheffler should be applauded for telling it like it is about Steele, and for even doing it after he won election. There won't be many others that will even go that far now that Michael is the GOP's Man of Steele. But Scheffler didn't go far enough.
Can someone show me the Biblical standard for God's people determining where they stand based on what's popular or who's winning at the time? You know, Jesus has a word for those who act contrary to their stated beliefs for personal gain. It's a word He consistently used to hammer the religious moralists, the group He confronted the most directly during His earthly ministry, and a group He once pronounced seven woes upon.
That word would be hypocrite.
There is only one group in the New Testament and throughout all of the apostolic age that attempted to make moralism through the political arena the main device used to enact positive social change. That group would be the Sanhedrin, and the last I checked most of them wanted to crucify our Lord. Therefore, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that's probably not the group Christians should be modeling themselves after.
Before I go any further, let me plainly state that I am not, nor will ever, through some false sense of piety suggest that Christians in a still largely free republic vacate the public sphere for a life of religious or monastic solitude. It's very difficult to be salt and light in a culture by totally vacating the one sphere that impacts absolutely the entire culture in the first place.
St. Paul says to the Athenians at Mars Hill that the sovereign God has determined where everyone should live and for how long. Thus, it's reasonable to assume that if He providentially placed a large body of believers in a nation that gives its citizens the right to vote and determine their direction of leadership, He doesn't want Christians sitting on their hands anticipating some fantastical Rapture or voting "present" while the country goes to Hell.
However, the opposite of that is not compromising the eternal Word of God in exchange for some temporal access to the King's Court, either. There is no witness or testimony to the faith in that. Besides, the Christian doesn't get to take half the loaf because it's better than none. The Christian doesn't get to subjectively justify the lesser of two evils, because the Christian isn't supposed to be engaged in any level of evil -- period.
Please note the New Testament doesn't provide a specific moral scorecard to justify yourself over your neighbor down to the very last scarlet letter, and in fact Jesus repeatedly condemns such false piety from the very inception of His eartlhy ministry when He repeatedly says at the Sermon on the Mount, "You have heard it said..."
That sort of subjective self-righteousness is found in the traditions of religion alright, but not the teachings of Jesus Christ. In fact, it was Roman and Pharisee alike with their unique brand of subjective self-righteousness that brutally murdered Him because "it was better for one man to die then for a whole nation (i.e. movement, party, my income, my power, etc.) to perish."
Let's remember the Sabbath was made for the Son of Man, not the Son of Man for the Sabbath. Let's remember not to strain a gnat while swallowing a camel. Let's remember we are called to holiness, which means completeness, not a moral semi-circle that just needs to be a little more complete and defined than what the Democrats have to justify our own rationalizations.
Except we haven't remembered that. We've fallen into the pit, and become whitewashed tombs.
This is what it has come to. We now voluntarily bow the knee to Caesar in order to be "a good party soldier." It used to be Caesar had to at least threaten us with our lives before we would even think about such a sellout, and throughout history the vast majority of us decided we'd rather die than deny the truth.
I wonder how many Pharisees who later became Christians sat there silent that night they falsely put our Lord on trial because they wanted to be a "good party soldier?" The Sanhedrin was, if nothing else, a political body after all.
I wonder what those saints of old who faced down Nero, Domitian, and Muslim hordes of invaders would say if they saw us in this free and prosperous land, a land they would've begged God to let them have in their day, selling our souls like whores today?
I wonder what Rahab the whore would say to us today? She at least got into the genealogy of Jesus by selling out her countrymen. We're not getting anything in return for our sellout, so maybe we're not really whores. Maybe we're really just sluts, and we're just doing it for attention? We've run away from our Father into the arms of the high school jock, because we'd rather do things our way.
We don't get anything in return for our sellouts, except a class ring, varsity jacket, and the shotgun seat in dude's Camaro, which he'll gladly give to the next wanton woman that comes by and offers him even more of her affection.
Dire Straits were singing about Christians in the Republican Party when they sang, "Money for nothing and your chicks for free."
And we're the chicks.
Since getting into bed with the Republican Party a generation ago, look at what's happened:
--The government is bigger than it ever was, and that's largely with Republican presidents at the helm.
--The culture is more secular then ever before.
--The name of Jesus is more degraded then ever before.
--Our churches are less Biblical then they once were.
--Ungodly judges, most of them appointed by Republicans, have more power then ever before.
--The public schools have become open tools of evangelism for the American Left.
--Homosexuality is more accepted, as is divorce and shacking up.
But, hey, the good news is we've raised ungodly sums of money for counterfeit conservatives and Demas-like Christian leaders. Perhaps we would've been better off using that money to fund Christ-centered welfare shelters for the poor and widowed (single moms), rehab clinics for addicts, and Biblical discipleship organizations for the next generation of men?
Maybe that would've done more to advance the Kingdom of God then helping Jay Sekulow get a bigger house or Donald Wildmon become the white version of Rev. Jesse Jackson the corporate shakedown artist.
Just look at our modern day "prophet." We take orders on how to defend God's design for the family from a man that has been divorced three times, gloats that he doesn't want children, and does it all the while boasting he's "America's truth detector."
And we laugh at the liberals for listening to Oprah.
One of my friends in the faith I absolutely adore, that I would take a bullet for, and would get into a fox hole with, wrote to me this weekend about Michael Steele's election:
"I know that since God allowed (Steele) to be elected I will allow (Steele) the opportunity to keep his word (that he wants to work with us)."
This person's recognition of God's sovereignty is welcome, as is their humility, but their hermeneutics are flawed. The question isn't why did God allow Michael Steele to come to power. The question is what is God saying to His people by allowing it in the first place? What does the spiritual condition of God's people have to be when men morally confused ambitious opportunists like Steele, Obama, and McCain are allowed to rise to power to rule over them in a free country?
Steele is a man that worked with Christine Todd Whitman to target Christians in the Republican Party. This is a man that endorsed pro-abortion and pro-sodomy Rudy Giuliani for president, all the while claiming he was pro-life. Steele is pro-life, alright, just like McCain was. He's a man of position, not conviction.
Just like most Christians in America are, by the way.
Someone should ask Steele if he still would've supported Giuliani had his wife donated hundreds of dollars to white supremacists, like she did Planned Parenthood? After all, Giuliani was still for tax cuts and a strong national defense, right? And the person who's 80% my friend isn't my 20% enemy, according to Steele, so if someone is a baby-killer or a racist that's just an issue disagreement, not a violation of your Christian conscience. Therefore, you can overlook man's inhumanity to man as a good Republican because the two of you agree on tax cuts.
I think that's in the Bible right next to where it says, "The Lord helps those who help themselves."
But here's what's really sad. None of God's people in the area at the moment will even ask Steele such a question, and it's probably because they don't want to know the answer. Because if they know the answer, and it's revealed there is a wolf amongst the sheep, they'd have to confront the wolf.
And if I do that, I might miss out on my seat at the wolf's table.
We cannot serve two masters, and we've been lying to ourselves for a long time that God would not one day make us confront our mocking Him by trying to do so.
The day of reckoning is fast approaching, and every time our leaders line up to kiss the signet ring of the John McCains, Mitt Romneys, and Michael Steeles that reckoning draws even more nigh. These men are warnings to us to repent before it's too late, but repentance sadly isn't on the menu.
But you know what is?
Another 50 million babies slaughtered, another generation of unelected judges taking away our freedoms, another generation of broken families, another generation of making cowards and Elmer Gantrys obscenely rich, and another generation of bringing on government persecution because we have so politicized the faith, once and for all.
These horrors aren't happening because the forces of evil have suddenly discovered some new strategy to defeat God in our time that previously didn't work. Rather, I believe that God is using them to bring judgment upon us, just as He once used invaders from Assyria, Babylon, and Rome to do the same.
Why do I believe this? Let me count the ways:
Only 4% of us tithe, so God says if you won't honor me with your treasure, I'll allow the U.S. Treasury to steal at least 40% of your income each payday.
Most of us sit by and do nothing while Caesar takes our tax dollars to brainwash our children with pagan propoganda in the public school system, and worst yet I know of pastors who justify it as a mission field for 10 year-olds.
We get divorced at the same rate the pagans do.
We shack up at the same rate the pagans do.
We treat God as an intergalactic ATM, just here to make us skinny and rich, and then laugh at the pagans who buy into The Secret.
We run our churches under a business model, and allow worldly philosophies to take the place of true ministry in an effort to grow bigger and wealthier and become more popular.
And instead of just once looking at the plank in our own eye, we blame the decline and fall of the American Empire on those with a speck of dust in their own. Who do you think God has more mercy on? The homosexual male couple whose daddy abandoned and/or abused them, and now they have a need for masculine love in their lives so they find it in the arms of another man, or the heterosexual couple married at the church they were baptized in who now suddenly decide after years of marriage they've just grown apart and must divorce?
We know the answer to this question, which is why we don't want to ask it.
If you're a right-of-center unbeliever reading this, let me tell you why you're culture is in shambles and your Republican Party is now a laughingstock. It isn't, Doug Gross, because Christians won't get rid of their litmus tests.
It's because the Christians never had one in the first place.
Over and over again men of ambition and convenience rise to power because so-called Christians help them get there. Michael Steele won the RNC election because Ken Blackwell, a past member of Rod Parsley's church in Ohio, dropped out of the race and endorsed him.
The same Blackwell who had the endorsement of nearly every conservative group of consequence, including several Christians, and then turned around and endorsed the man Scheffler says is the most far left of them all.
Christians in Iowa worked for McCain's presidential campaign from the very beginning, despite the fact he routinely worked to stymie God's law in the U.S. Senate.
Christians across the country flat-out lied on behalf of Williard Mitchell Romney, and are still doing it.
Over and over again we are done in by our own people. If that's not an example of God's judgment I don't know what is. Why is that every time it seems we're going to get a hold of the ring of power Golem comes out of nowhere and snatches it out of our hands?
Maybe it's because we're not supposed to operate this way. We're supposed to cast that ring into the fires of Mordor, not seek it for ourselves. We're supposed to witness to this present world the kingdom to come, a kingdom that God -- most of the time in spite of us -- is ushering in as we speak in other parts of the world.
Which is why studies show a child born in Beijing, where THE CHURCH has been forced underground, has a better chance of being successfully evangelized today than a kid born in Boston, or Des Moines.
This isn't about the message, it's about the messenger. There is no new plan or strategy to replace the old one, because there's nothing new under the sun. There's simply God's people living by His grace for His glory -- period, end of sentence, regardless of circumstances.
Anything else leads to calamity and ruin, especially to an unbelieving world we're supposed to be loving and discipling. A world that sadly might have a better chance of hearing the truth if we weren't the ones communicating it.
Right now we're not part of the solution. We're the problem.
But at least we're good party soldiers.
http://www.whoradio.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=150515&article=4937519
Albert Einstein
If I could not go to heaven but with a political party, I would not go there at all.
Thomas Jefferson
God's plan: The Bible defines principles for Christians in the political party. Man's plan: Political parties define what the Bible says for the Christian.
Pastor Bob Deever (my pastor)
One of my favorite expressions is "jump the shark," which is a reference to the now infamous episode of Happy Days when Fonzi water skis over a plastic shark in the water while wearing his famous leather jacket with his swimming trunks.
The scene was so laughable that ever since it aired the reference has been used by pop culture pundits to indicate when a fad, television show, series of movies, etc. have finally worn out their welcome.
If the election of Michael Steele as Chairman of the Republican National Committee isn't a jump the shark moment for Christians in the partisan arena, then the salt has truly lost its flavor.
Consider this quote from Steve Scheffler, longtime head of the Iowa Christian Alliance and current Republican National Committeeman from Iowa in the January 31st edition of The State, the top newspaper in South Carolina:
Scheffler said Steele had ties to Republicans for Choice (abortion), Log Cabin (gay) Republicans and others at odds with party conservatives. “It’s a whole group that is as far left as you can get,” Scheffler said. “I’ll support Steele because I’m a good party soldier, but certainly he’s my last choice.”
There's a reason every conservative group with any credibility at all didn't endorse Steele, just like they didn't endorse John McCain last primary season. But just like we saw when they didn't support McCain during the primaries, when overnight he suddenly became a true conservative and man of God for our times once he eclipsed the necessary delegates to clinch the nomination, suddenly Steele is our champion now that he won election as chairman on Friday.
It's amazing how alleged people of principle suddenly get amnesia about someone's true colors once the game of musical chairs for a seat at the table of power begins.
Scheffler should be applauded for telling it like it is about Steele, and for even doing it after he won election. There won't be many others that will even go that far now that Michael is the GOP's Man of Steele. But Scheffler didn't go far enough.
Can someone show me the Biblical standard for God's people determining where they stand based on what's popular or who's winning at the time? You know, Jesus has a word for those who act contrary to their stated beliefs for personal gain. It's a word He consistently used to hammer the religious moralists, the group He confronted the most directly during His earthly ministry, and a group He once pronounced seven woes upon.
That word would be hypocrite.
There is only one group in the New Testament and throughout all of the apostolic age that attempted to make moralism through the political arena the main device used to enact positive social change. That group would be the Sanhedrin, and the last I checked most of them wanted to crucify our Lord. Therefore, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that's probably not the group Christians should be modeling themselves after.
Before I go any further, let me plainly state that I am not, nor will ever, through some false sense of piety suggest that Christians in a still largely free republic vacate the public sphere for a life of religious or monastic solitude. It's very difficult to be salt and light in a culture by totally vacating the one sphere that impacts absolutely the entire culture in the first place.
St. Paul says to the Athenians at Mars Hill that the sovereign God has determined where everyone should live and for how long. Thus, it's reasonable to assume that if He providentially placed a large body of believers in a nation that gives its citizens the right to vote and determine their direction of leadership, He doesn't want Christians sitting on their hands anticipating some fantastical Rapture or voting "present" while the country goes to Hell.
However, the opposite of that is not compromising the eternal Word of God in exchange for some temporal access to the King's Court, either. There is no witness or testimony to the faith in that. Besides, the Christian doesn't get to take half the loaf because it's better than none. The Christian doesn't get to subjectively justify the lesser of two evils, because the Christian isn't supposed to be engaged in any level of evil -- period.
Please note the New Testament doesn't provide a specific moral scorecard to justify yourself over your neighbor down to the very last scarlet letter, and in fact Jesus repeatedly condemns such false piety from the very inception of His eartlhy ministry when He repeatedly says at the Sermon on the Mount, "You have heard it said..."
That sort of subjective self-righteousness is found in the traditions of religion alright, but not the teachings of Jesus Christ. In fact, it was Roman and Pharisee alike with their unique brand of subjective self-righteousness that brutally murdered Him because "it was better for one man to die then for a whole nation (i.e. movement, party, my income, my power, etc.) to perish."
Let's remember the Sabbath was made for the Son of Man, not the Son of Man for the Sabbath. Let's remember not to strain a gnat while swallowing a camel. Let's remember we are called to holiness, which means completeness, not a moral semi-circle that just needs to be a little more complete and defined than what the Democrats have to justify our own rationalizations.
Except we haven't remembered that. We've fallen into the pit, and become whitewashed tombs.
This is what it has come to. We now voluntarily bow the knee to Caesar in order to be "a good party soldier." It used to be Caesar had to at least threaten us with our lives before we would even think about such a sellout, and throughout history the vast majority of us decided we'd rather die than deny the truth.
I wonder how many Pharisees who later became Christians sat there silent that night they falsely put our Lord on trial because they wanted to be a "good party soldier?" The Sanhedrin was, if nothing else, a political body after all.
I wonder what those saints of old who faced down Nero, Domitian, and Muslim hordes of invaders would say if they saw us in this free and prosperous land, a land they would've begged God to let them have in their day, selling our souls like whores today?
I wonder what Rahab the whore would say to us today? She at least got into the genealogy of Jesus by selling out her countrymen. We're not getting anything in return for our sellout, so maybe we're not really whores. Maybe we're really just sluts, and we're just doing it for attention? We've run away from our Father into the arms of the high school jock, because we'd rather do things our way.
We don't get anything in return for our sellouts, except a class ring, varsity jacket, and the shotgun seat in dude's Camaro, which he'll gladly give to the next wanton woman that comes by and offers him even more of her affection.
Dire Straits were singing about Christians in the Republican Party when they sang, "Money for nothing and your chicks for free."
And we're the chicks.
Since getting into bed with the Republican Party a generation ago, look at what's happened:
--The government is bigger than it ever was, and that's largely with Republican presidents at the helm.
--The culture is more secular then ever before.
--The name of Jesus is more degraded then ever before.
--Our churches are less Biblical then they once were.
--Ungodly judges, most of them appointed by Republicans, have more power then ever before.
--The public schools have become open tools of evangelism for the American Left.
--Homosexuality is more accepted, as is divorce and shacking up.
But, hey, the good news is we've raised ungodly sums of money for counterfeit conservatives and Demas-like Christian leaders. Perhaps we would've been better off using that money to fund Christ-centered welfare shelters for the poor and widowed (single moms), rehab clinics for addicts, and Biblical discipleship organizations for the next generation of men?
Maybe that would've done more to advance the Kingdom of God then helping Jay Sekulow get a bigger house or Donald Wildmon become the white version of Rev. Jesse Jackson the corporate shakedown artist.
Just look at our modern day "prophet." We take orders on how to defend God's design for the family from a man that has been divorced three times, gloats that he doesn't want children, and does it all the while boasting he's "America's truth detector."
And we laugh at the liberals for listening to Oprah.
One of my friends in the faith I absolutely adore, that I would take a bullet for, and would get into a fox hole with, wrote to me this weekend about Michael Steele's election:
"I know that since God allowed (Steele) to be elected I will allow (Steele) the opportunity to keep his word (that he wants to work with us)."
This person's recognition of God's sovereignty is welcome, as is their humility, but their hermeneutics are flawed. The question isn't why did God allow Michael Steele to come to power. The question is what is God saying to His people by allowing it in the first place? What does the spiritual condition of God's people have to be when men morally confused ambitious opportunists like Steele, Obama, and McCain are allowed to rise to power to rule over them in a free country?
Steele is a man that worked with Christine Todd Whitman to target Christians in the Republican Party. This is a man that endorsed pro-abortion and pro-sodomy Rudy Giuliani for president, all the while claiming he was pro-life. Steele is pro-life, alright, just like McCain was. He's a man of position, not conviction.
Just like most Christians in America are, by the way.
Someone should ask Steele if he still would've supported Giuliani had his wife donated hundreds of dollars to white supremacists, like she did Planned Parenthood? After all, Giuliani was still for tax cuts and a strong national defense, right? And the person who's 80% my friend isn't my 20% enemy, according to Steele, so if someone is a baby-killer or a racist that's just an issue disagreement, not a violation of your Christian conscience. Therefore, you can overlook man's inhumanity to man as a good Republican because the two of you agree on tax cuts.
I think that's in the Bible right next to where it says, "The Lord helps those who help themselves."
But here's what's really sad. None of God's people in the area at the moment will even ask Steele such a question, and it's probably because they don't want to know the answer. Because if they know the answer, and it's revealed there is a wolf amongst the sheep, they'd have to confront the wolf.
And if I do that, I might miss out on my seat at the wolf's table.
We cannot serve two masters, and we've been lying to ourselves for a long time that God would not one day make us confront our mocking Him by trying to do so.
The day of reckoning is fast approaching, and every time our leaders line up to kiss the signet ring of the John McCains, Mitt Romneys, and Michael Steeles that reckoning draws even more nigh. These men are warnings to us to repent before it's too late, but repentance sadly isn't on the menu.
But you know what is?
Another 50 million babies slaughtered, another generation of unelected judges taking away our freedoms, another generation of broken families, another generation of making cowards and Elmer Gantrys obscenely rich, and another generation of bringing on government persecution because we have so politicized the faith, once and for all.
These horrors aren't happening because the forces of evil have suddenly discovered some new strategy to defeat God in our time that previously didn't work. Rather, I believe that God is using them to bring judgment upon us, just as He once used invaders from Assyria, Babylon, and Rome to do the same.
Why do I believe this? Let me count the ways:
Only 4% of us tithe, so God says if you won't honor me with your treasure, I'll allow the U.S. Treasury to steal at least 40% of your income each payday.
Most of us sit by and do nothing while Caesar takes our tax dollars to brainwash our children with pagan propoganda in the public school system, and worst yet I know of pastors who justify it as a mission field for 10 year-olds.
We get divorced at the same rate the pagans do.
We shack up at the same rate the pagans do.
We treat God as an intergalactic ATM, just here to make us skinny and rich, and then laugh at the pagans who buy into The Secret.
We run our churches under a business model, and allow worldly philosophies to take the place of true ministry in an effort to grow bigger and wealthier and become more popular.
And instead of just once looking at the plank in our own eye, we blame the decline and fall of the American Empire on those with a speck of dust in their own. Who do you think God has more mercy on? The homosexual male couple whose daddy abandoned and/or abused them, and now they have a need for masculine love in their lives so they find it in the arms of another man, or the heterosexual couple married at the church they were baptized in who now suddenly decide after years of marriage they've just grown apart and must divorce?
We know the answer to this question, which is why we don't want to ask it.
If you're a right-of-center unbeliever reading this, let me tell you why you're culture is in shambles and your Republican Party is now a laughingstock. It isn't, Doug Gross, because Christians won't get rid of their litmus tests.
It's because the Christians never had one in the first place.
Over and over again men of ambition and convenience rise to power because so-called Christians help them get there. Michael Steele won the RNC election because Ken Blackwell, a past member of Rod Parsley's church in Ohio, dropped out of the race and endorsed him.
The same Blackwell who had the endorsement of nearly every conservative group of consequence, including several Christians, and then turned around and endorsed the man Scheffler says is the most far left of them all.
Christians in Iowa worked for McCain's presidential campaign from the very beginning, despite the fact he routinely worked to stymie God's law in the U.S. Senate.
Christians across the country flat-out lied on behalf of Williard Mitchell Romney, and are still doing it.
Over and over again we are done in by our own people. If that's not an example of God's judgment I don't know what is. Why is that every time it seems we're going to get a hold of the ring of power Golem comes out of nowhere and snatches it out of our hands?
Maybe it's because we're not supposed to operate this way. We're supposed to cast that ring into the fires of Mordor, not seek it for ourselves. We're supposed to witness to this present world the kingdom to come, a kingdom that God -- most of the time in spite of us -- is ushering in as we speak in other parts of the world.
Which is why studies show a child born in Beijing, where THE CHURCH has been forced underground, has a better chance of being successfully evangelized today than a kid born in Boston, or Des Moines.
This isn't about the message, it's about the messenger. There is no new plan or strategy to replace the old one, because there's nothing new under the sun. There's simply God's people living by His grace for His glory -- period, end of sentence, regardless of circumstances.
Anything else leads to calamity and ruin, especially to an unbelieving world we're supposed to be loving and discipling. A world that sadly might have a better chance of hearing the truth if we weren't the ones communicating it.
Right now we're not part of the solution. We're the problem.
But at least we're good party soldiers.
http://www.whoradio.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=150515&article=4937519
Christians and Government
How many of you watched President Obama’s inauguration this week? I watched it with an incredible sense of history. What an amazing time to be alive. I honestly did not think I would see the day when a black man would be elected as president of the United States.
This does not mean that I agree with Obama. In fact, I have strong reservations about his track record, policies and beliefs on certain issues that are important to me.
Since election night and the days leading up to the election when it became apparent that Obama would be president and we would have a large Democratic majority in Congress, I’ve been generally ashamed by the reaction of the Church and Christian people all over our nation. I’ve heard people say things like:
“I hope this isn’t the end of our Constitution.”
“I wonder how long our republic is going to last.”
“This is the end of our nation as we know it.”
“I am grieving for our country.”
“I am in deep prayer for the state of our nation.”
Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t grieve for our nation or be in prayer for the state of our nation. What I am saying is that if the election of Obama is what is causing a Believer to start grieving and praying for our nation, then that Christian has a deep misunderstanding of politics, our government, history, law, and most importantly, a Christian’s proper relationship with these things. That is what I want to speak on today. What is a Christian’s proper relationship with government?
The first step in evaluating a Christian’s relationship with government is to discover what Jesus had to say about the subject. The first place many people start is the famous “Render to Caesar” story that is recorded in all of the synoptic gospels. Lets read Matthew 22:15-22.
So lets get the essentials of this story in place. The Pharisees are plotting together on how to lessen Jesus’ growing influence and popularity, so they decide to lay a trap for him. They get together with some Herodians and devise a clever question to ask Jesus. The difference between Herodians and the Pharisees is key to this story:
Herodians were pro-Roman rule and they used the Roman system to gather to themselves personal power and benefits.
Pharisees were ambivalent to Roman rule, but they would generally tolerate it so long as Jewish customs and practices were left alone.
While the two had different views on Roman rule, they were brought together by their fear and hatred of Jesus, the King of the Jews. The devised a clever question. “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” They asked this question in specifically in the light of Leviticus 25:23 which says, “The land [of Israel] shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine.” This makes the question very complicated because Hebrew law is in play. Since Caesar is trying to take the land from God, is it not disobedience to pay the tax?
Jesus sees through this trickery at once and as was his custom, crafts a clever and strategic response. He asks the Pharisees to produce a coin. He then asks them whose inscription is on the coin? They respond, “Caesars.” Ah, but this is where Jesus had them. The actual inscription on all Roman coins during Caesar Agustus’s reign read as such, “Tiberius Caesar, Augustus, son of the deified Augusts, chief priest.” These Pharisees who were supposed to be upholders of the law had brought an image into the heart of Jewish life, the temple, that violated the second commandment. They had graven images, which in turn showed that in their hearts they violated the first commandment as well. In other words, they, not Christ, are the true hypocrites. They are the ones who have brought the Roman’s pagan beliefs into the temple and who have bought into their beliefs. He then tells them they cannot serve two masters. Render to God what is God’s. Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. You have made your decision and made a convenient compromise, but what about your obligation to God?
Now that we have a clear understanding of this exchange, we find that it provides us with little understanding of our relationship with government other than that we serve God first. He is above all government. Then we render to the state what is the state’s.
What other guidelines do we have from Christ? Lets look at the temptations of Christ in Matthew 4:1-11. The third temptation of Christ is all the kingdoms of the world. In light of Satan offering Christ the kingdoms of the world, lets read John 12:31. Satan is the prince or ruler of this world. Implicit in Satan’s offer of the kingdoms of this world is the fact that the kingdoms of this world belong to Satan. This means that the kingdoms of this world are at enmity with God.
This is also implicit in the teachings of Christ. Jesus consistently teaches that His Kingdom is not of this world. Lets read John 18:36. Furthermore, the Sermon on the Mount teaches us that the rules of Christ’s Kingdom are the opposite of the rules of earthly kingdom. Further, Matthew 6:33 teaches us that we are not to use physical force in an attempt to bring His Kingdom into being but to seek first his righteousness. The kingdoms of this earth are established with power and violence, while God’s Kingdome is created by humility (Matthew 18:4), services (Matthew 20:26), and love (John 13:35). While we must live in the states of this earth, we are called to remember that we are not citizens of this earth. Read Philippians 3:20.
In summary, by looking at the life of Christ we find that the state has strong ties to the rule of Satan and is antithetical to the Kingdom of God, which rejects the use of force and power for personal gain.
Lets turn to the teachings of Paul and look at Romans 13:1-7. However, lets substitute Nero and Herod, the kings of the time, for governing authorities.
So, how do we interpret this passage knowing that Nero was a mass murderer who actively slaughtered Christians? Surely this can’t simply mean, “Do what government says.” I don’t believe it does. In fact, the Old and New Testament describe heroes disobeying government on multiple occasions.
Moses being hidden from the Egyptians
Rahab lying to the King of Jericho
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
The Magi from the east
Peter and John deciding to obey God rather than man in Acts 5.
Obviously Paul can’t be admonishing Christians to always be obedient to the state. So what is he saying? Lets remember a few things about Paul. One, he is very pragmatic. Two, he knows exactly what his purpose in life and the purpose in life of all other Christians is to be, the Great Commission. Understanding these two things leads me to interpret Romans 13:1-7 in this way.
God is in control. His plan is in place and governments do not operate outside of His authority. You should do nothing in regards to government that would hinder your work in fulfilling the purpose you were called to fulfill. Whenever you possibly can, obey the government. Do not entangle yourself with it when you don’t have to, because it will hinder the Gospel. Here are some practical ways to do this.
In essence, he’s saying, God’s in control. Go about your business of preaching the Gospel as Christ commanded. Obey government in any way possible to avoid getting entangled with something that would hinder your purpose. This does not mean there isn’t a time to become involved or stand against government. Paul encourages us to overcome evil with good in Romans 12:21 and to be free if at all possible in 1 Corinthians 7:20-23.
In closing, I would say that our relationship in Government should be defined by our purpose on earth. Our purpose here is to complete the Great Commission. Christians today have this backwards. They relate to government for the sake of consolidating power and providing benefits for themselves and people who believe the same things they believe. The Great Commission has gone out the window. They have bought into the lie that we as Christians are called to change our nation from the top down with power, vitriol, and force. The truth is this: if our government is striving against God, it is because Christians have failed in their job of fulfilling the Great Commission. Don’t grieve now. Don’t predict doom and gloom because of a president being elected, and don’t be overjoyed because somebody who claims to believe the same things as you has been placed in power. This is sin. Instead, focus on your work. Preach the gospel, help the needy, and complete the great commission. Not only is this how you bring the Kingdom of God, it is how you influence an earthly kingdom to be more like God’s Kingdom. The government springs from its people.
This week, I want you to make a commitment to witness. Quit hating the lost. Quit striving for power and focusing on Satan’s earthly kingdom. At least once this week, do work to bring God’s kingdom to this earth.
This does not mean that I agree with Obama. In fact, I have strong reservations about his track record, policies and beliefs on certain issues that are important to me.
Since election night and the days leading up to the election when it became apparent that Obama would be president and we would have a large Democratic majority in Congress, I’ve been generally ashamed by the reaction of the Church and Christian people all over our nation. I’ve heard people say things like:
“I hope this isn’t the end of our Constitution.”
“I wonder how long our republic is going to last.”
“This is the end of our nation as we know it.”
“I am grieving for our country.”
“I am in deep prayer for the state of our nation.”
Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t grieve for our nation or be in prayer for the state of our nation. What I am saying is that if the election of Obama is what is causing a Believer to start grieving and praying for our nation, then that Christian has a deep misunderstanding of politics, our government, history, law, and most importantly, a Christian’s proper relationship with these things. That is what I want to speak on today. What is a Christian’s proper relationship with government?
The first step in evaluating a Christian’s relationship with government is to discover what Jesus had to say about the subject. The first place many people start is the famous “Render to Caesar” story that is recorded in all of the synoptic gospels. Lets read Matthew 22:15-22.
So lets get the essentials of this story in place. The Pharisees are plotting together on how to lessen Jesus’ growing influence and popularity, so they decide to lay a trap for him. They get together with some Herodians and devise a clever question to ask Jesus. The difference between Herodians and the Pharisees is key to this story:
Herodians were pro-Roman rule and they used the Roman system to gather to themselves personal power and benefits.
Pharisees were ambivalent to Roman rule, but they would generally tolerate it so long as Jewish customs and practices were left alone.
While the two had different views on Roman rule, they were brought together by their fear and hatred of Jesus, the King of the Jews. The devised a clever question. “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” They asked this question in specifically in the light of Leviticus 25:23 which says, “The land [of Israel] shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine.” This makes the question very complicated because Hebrew law is in play. Since Caesar is trying to take the land from God, is it not disobedience to pay the tax?
Jesus sees through this trickery at once and as was his custom, crafts a clever and strategic response. He asks the Pharisees to produce a coin. He then asks them whose inscription is on the coin? They respond, “Caesars.” Ah, but this is where Jesus had them. The actual inscription on all Roman coins during Caesar Agustus’s reign read as such, “Tiberius Caesar, Augustus, son of the deified Augusts, chief priest.” These Pharisees who were supposed to be upholders of the law had brought an image into the heart of Jewish life, the temple, that violated the second commandment. They had graven images, which in turn showed that in their hearts they violated the first commandment as well. In other words, they, not Christ, are the true hypocrites. They are the ones who have brought the Roman’s pagan beliefs into the temple and who have bought into their beliefs. He then tells them they cannot serve two masters. Render to God what is God’s. Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. You have made your decision and made a convenient compromise, but what about your obligation to God?
Now that we have a clear understanding of this exchange, we find that it provides us with little understanding of our relationship with government other than that we serve God first. He is above all government. Then we render to the state what is the state’s.
What other guidelines do we have from Christ? Lets look at the temptations of Christ in Matthew 4:1-11. The third temptation of Christ is all the kingdoms of the world. In light of Satan offering Christ the kingdoms of the world, lets read John 12:31. Satan is the prince or ruler of this world. Implicit in Satan’s offer of the kingdoms of this world is the fact that the kingdoms of this world belong to Satan. This means that the kingdoms of this world are at enmity with God.
This is also implicit in the teachings of Christ. Jesus consistently teaches that His Kingdom is not of this world. Lets read John 18:36. Furthermore, the Sermon on the Mount teaches us that the rules of Christ’s Kingdom are the opposite of the rules of earthly kingdom. Further, Matthew 6:33 teaches us that we are not to use physical force in an attempt to bring His Kingdom into being but to seek first his righteousness. The kingdoms of this earth are established with power and violence, while God’s Kingdome is created by humility (Matthew 18:4), services (Matthew 20:26), and love (John 13:35). While we must live in the states of this earth, we are called to remember that we are not citizens of this earth. Read Philippians 3:20.
In summary, by looking at the life of Christ we find that the state has strong ties to the rule of Satan and is antithetical to the Kingdom of God, which rejects the use of force and power for personal gain.
Lets turn to the teachings of Paul and look at Romans 13:1-7. However, lets substitute Nero and Herod, the kings of the time, for governing authorities.
So, how do we interpret this passage knowing that Nero was a mass murderer who actively slaughtered Christians? Surely this can’t simply mean, “Do what government says.” I don’t believe it does. In fact, the Old and New Testament describe heroes disobeying government on multiple occasions.
Moses being hidden from the Egyptians
Rahab lying to the King of Jericho
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
The Magi from the east
Peter and John deciding to obey God rather than man in Acts 5.
Obviously Paul can’t be admonishing Christians to always be obedient to the state. So what is he saying? Lets remember a few things about Paul. One, he is very pragmatic. Two, he knows exactly what his purpose in life and the purpose in life of all other Christians is to be, the Great Commission. Understanding these two things leads me to interpret Romans 13:1-7 in this way.
God is in control. His plan is in place and governments do not operate outside of His authority. You should do nothing in regards to government that would hinder your work in fulfilling the purpose you were called to fulfill. Whenever you possibly can, obey the government. Do not entangle yourself with it when you don’t have to, because it will hinder the Gospel. Here are some practical ways to do this.
In essence, he’s saying, God’s in control. Go about your business of preaching the Gospel as Christ commanded. Obey government in any way possible to avoid getting entangled with something that would hinder your purpose. This does not mean there isn’t a time to become involved or stand against government. Paul encourages us to overcome evil with good in Romans 12:21 and to be free if at all possible in 1 Corinthians 7:20-23.
In closing, I would say that our relationship in Government should be defined by our purpose on earth. Our purpose here is to complete the Great Commission. Christians today have this backwards. They relate to government for the sake of consolidating power and providing benefits for themselves and people who believe the same things they believe. The Great Commission has gone out the window. They have bought into the lie that we as Christians are called to change our nation from the top down with power, vitriol, and force. The truth is this: if our government is striving against God, it is because Christians have failed in their job of fulfilling the Great Commission. Don’t grieve now. Don’t predict doom and gloom because of a president being elected, and don’t be overjoyed because somebody who claims to believe the same things as you has been placed in power. This is sin. Instead, focus on your work. Preach the gospel, help the needy, and complete the great commission. Not only is this how you bring the Kingdom of God, it is how you influence an earthly kingdom to be more like God’s Kingdom. The government springs from its people.
This week, I want you to make a commitment to witness. Quit hating the lost. Quit striving for power and focusing on Satan’s earthly kingdom. At least once this week, do work to bring God’s kingdom to this earth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
