The Uncertainty and Confusion of Baptist Beliefs (reposted)

Question - What does a Baptist believe?

Answer - Anything he wants.

Some time ago I found a blog, “Junker Jorge,” and began following.  It is written by a former faith-pastor from the Word of Faith (WOF) crowd who has seen the light and repented of the heretical teachings of this man-centered Christian aberration.

In this particular blogpost he revealed that he had returned to his Southern Baptist roots. He did offer at least one good thing that he could say about the WOF crowd “…those guys are all pretty much on the same page. There are extremes, but you can visit most any Word of Faith church in the whole world and hear the same teaching. Faith, confession, healing, prosperity.”

But he also droped the bomb on the Southern Baptists with this stinging indictment: “The Southern Baptist Church is so splintered up that I don't even know what one Baptist church believes from the next one because they are so different from each other in doctrine and worship style. There are many, many factions and belief systems. I had always thought that Baptist was Baptist, but I found out that that is not the case.”
Well Jorge was right. I have been a Baptist most of my life and served in a pastoral capacity for six years and other full-time ministry for thirteen years. And I can attest that it is much worse than Jorge thought (or at least worse than he described). He was generally right in his implication that, in most denominations, the name is a fair descriptive of their doctrines or core belief systems. Not so among Baptists. There are Arminian Baptists, Calvinistic Baptists, liberal Baptists, Free-will Baptists, conservative Baptists, ecumenical Baptists, separatist Baptists, Seventh Day Baptists, charismatic Baptists, Reformed Baptists and non-denominational Baptists (those are the ones who are ashamed of the name, “Baptist”). I heard one young woman describe herself as a Buddhist Baptist. There are even some Snake-handling Baptists. The only thing that connects them all together is the single common practice of baptism by immersion.

Having said all that, I want to acknowledge Junker Jorge’s accurate observation that the SBC is fractured and is being ripped apart from within. A couple decades ago the SBC, under the leadership of Adrian Rogers, avoided a major split over liberalism. But trouble in the SBC remains as is evidenced in this article I posted last year titled Ashamed to be Baptist.

All the different Baptist conventions, conferences, and associations certainly have their variety of distinctions but I think a growing problem that is even more troubling occurs when pastoral leadership within a local church cannot agree on doctrine. It is not uncommon in multi-staffed Baptist churches to find both Arminian and Calvinistic pastors. And, often in those churches, because of theological or ideological differences and in the name of unity or tolerance, you are likely to find weak doctrinal statements and tacit endorsements of heresies such as contemplative prayer, spiritual formation, mysticism, New Age philosophies, WOF practices, and dominion theology.

Some Baptist churches that have historically declared themselves to be separatist, fundamental, non-charismatic, and Bible-believing Baptist Churches, under the care of infirm pastors, are increasingly enticed and confused by a spiritual smorgasbord of “easy-believism,” “decisional regeneration,” ecumenism, humanism, and the charismatic movement.

Possibly attributed to the wide and rapidly growing influence of church-growth programs and Christian leaders like Rick Warren, there has been a drifting away from orthodox biblical doctrines and practices for a long time. Nevertheless, the responsibility for protecting the flock from doctrinal error is clearly on the shepherds and the weapon they are to employ is the Word of God. The Apostle Paul gave very succinct instructions to Titus, “Speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). If the shepherds can’t spot the poison, the sheep will get sick or die.

I wish I could say we Baptists were all on the same page. As for Junker Jorge, Praise God for his deliverance and his courage to get out.





2-25-09

The Enemy Within

Maybe ATF agents should stick to what they do best; shake down toy dealers and confiscate their toy guns. 

Don't worry about Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, or Egypt.  Don't even worry about Muslim terrorists.

The real threat to America is domestic terrorism in our own federal government.  The very agencies that we trust for our protection are either staffed with dangerous imbeciles, incompetent fool, and bungling idiots, or they are tools of an enemy administration that has intentionally declared war on us.   Either way, the results are the same.

Their battle plan - arm the bad guys and disarm the good guys.  

How do you define treason?

The Second Amendment is not in our constitution to protect our rights to shoot at clay pigeons.

Light Penetrates The Darkness In Hemet, CA

GLORY!  This is the week that Light has come to the corner of Acacia Ave. and Santa Fe St. in the city of Hemet, CA.

True Ministry Must Address Real Spiritual Needs

I hear a lot of pious, platitudinal happy-talk these days from well-meaning Christians in ministry about how we need to minister to people’s spiritual needs. Most of that kind of talk seems to come from the "seeker friendly" crowd and when I hear it, I often wonder, “What do they mean by that? Do they know what spiritual needs are? What are the real spiritual needs of people?”

For sixteen years I manage a Christian home for the elderly. One of the sentences in our purpose statement said, “Our mission is to minister to their (the residents’) physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.” I thought about that for a long time. After all, if that is our mission, we should know what it means. So, I often quizzed my employees to see if they had any idea what those needs were.

Physical needs are easy to identify. When I asked people to list what they thought those needs are, their lists generally all agreed with mine. Everyone knows that people need food, shelter, clothing, healthy environments and they need exercise and stimulation.

When we considered emotional needs, although those are slightly less concrete, most people quickly identified the need for personal contact, sympathy, empathy, acceptance, approval, and love.

However, when I asked about spiritual needs, they usually gave me blank stares. Most people just simply don’t know what to say. This, they think, is too subjective or uncertain or ethereal or mysterious.

I know how most operators of other homes for the elderly approach the subject. They use the phrase for marketing purposes. They will ask a potential client questions like, “Do you have any religious preferences or traditions?” Based on the responses they get, they attempt to show the customer how they can be assimilated into a spiritual community, a special interest group, or a religious activity of their own preferences. They might plan for special services, meditations, readings, or moments of silence.

Basically, the erroneous assumption that most people make is that our spiritual needs are unique to every individual and so they are based upon whatever we want to believe or feel. Sometimes youth workers fall into this same trap of thinking that young people have different spiritual needs from older people. But really, spiritual needs have nothing to do with age, culture, preference, social status, religion, or even our personal beliefs. Our real needs are more about absolute truth and what God says we need.

Everyone has the same spiritual needs. Our supreme need is to know of the existence and the nature and the character of the one, true, soveriegn God. We need to hear a straightforward and complete message of the truth of the Gospel. We need to know that we are sinners and enemies of God deserving of eternal judgement and that salvation is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ alone. We need to repent and trust the Lord Jesus Christ for the saving of our souls and to obey Him as Lord. We need to be discipled and taught about separating ourselves from the world and its system and how to live a holy, sanctified life of service before God. Those are the real spiritual needs of all people young and old alike.

So true ministry must address those needs. Anything else might make us feel warm and fuzzy all over but it is illegitimate ministry, it doesn't do a bit of good for those whom we serve, and it dishonors God.

5/08

Important Lessons From The Playground

This mother has an amazing understanding of her real responsibilities in raising her children.  They will never learn this stuff at school.

Dear Other Parents At The Park:

Please do not lift my daughters to the top of the ladder, especially after you've just heard me tell them I wasn't going to do it for them and encourage them to try it themselves.

I am not sitting here, 15 whole feet away from my kids, because I am too lazy to get up. I am sitting here because I didn't bring them to the park so they could learn how to manipulate others into doing the hard work for them. I brought them here so they could learn to do it themselves.

They're not here to be at the top of the ladder; they are here to learn to climb. If they can't do it on their own, they will survive the disappointment. What's more, they will have a goal and the incentive to work to achieve it.

In the meantime, they can use the stairs. I want them to tire of their own limitations and decide to push past them and put in the effort to make that happen without any help from me.

It is not my job — and it is certainly not yours — to prevent my children from feeling frustration, fear, or discomfort. If I do, I have robbed them of the opportunity to learn that those things are not the end of the world, and can be overcome or used to their advantage.

If they get stuck, it is not my job to save them immediately. If I do, I have robbed them of the opportunity to learn to calm themselves, assess their situation, and try to problem solve their own way out of it.

It is not my job to keep them from falling. If I do, I have robbed them of the opportunity to learn that falling is possible but worth the risk, and that they can, in fact, get up again.

I don't want my daughters to learn that they can't overcome obstacles without help. I don't want them to learn that they can reach great heights without effort. I don't want them to learn that they are entitled to the reward without having to push through whatever it is that's holding them back and *earn* it.

Because — and this might come as a surprise to you — none of those things are true. And if I let them think for one moment that they are, I have failed them as a mother.

I want my girls to know the exhilaration of overcoming fear and doubt and achieving a hard-won success.

I want them to believe in their own abilities and be confident and determined in their actions.
I want them to accept their limitations until they can figure out a way past them on their own significant power.

I want them to feel capable of making their own decisions, developing their own skills, taking their own risks, and coping with their own feelings.

I want them to climb that ladder without any help, however well-intentioned, from you.

Because they can. I know it. And if I give them a little space, they will soon know it, too.

So I'll thank you to stand back and let me do my job, here, which consists mostly of resisting the very same impulses you are indulging, and biting my tongue when I want to yell, "BE CAREFUL," and choosing, deliberately, painfully, repeatedly, to stand back instead of rush forward.

Because, as they grow up, the ladders will only get taller, and scarier, and much more difficult to climb. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather help them learn the skills they'll need to navigate them now, while a misstep means a bumped head or scraped knee that can be healed with a kiss, while the most difficult of hills can be conquered by chanting, "I think I can, I think I can", and while those 15 whole feet between us still feels, to them, like I'm much too far away.

  Kate Bassford Baker

Yes, We Do Too Need Anti-Tank Guns For Skeet Shooting

Those on the left who favor strict gun control really want to take ALL our guns away. But they know they can't succeed (at least not yet) so they disingenuously deflect the conversation by trying to redefine the purpose and intent of the Second Amendment as being about our rights to collect antique firearms and about recreational target practice. Therefore, they argue, no one has a real need for assault rifles, bazookas, or rocket launchers, right? WRONG! Skeet shooting is for sissies. We really do need major fire power for target shooting. This guy shows how it's done.

(5-6-09)

Cemetery of the Innocents - An American Holocaust Memorial In Hemet

A stunning and shocking visual Sanctity of Life display presented annually by the good people of the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Hemet, California. 

Thousands of crosses memorialize this nation's war on the unborn.  Every day, approximately, 4000 babies are legally killed in the United States. Each cross in this memorial symbolizes 25,000 dead babies.

Even though the majority of Americans are now leaning pro-life and, contrary to His own, phony, baseless pro-life, rhetoric during His first campaign, the Obama administration is accelerating, fast and furiously, HIS OWN WAR by mandating that Christian ministries participate in free abortions for their employees.

The Lord hates hands that shed innocent blood. (Proverbs 6:16-17)
God, have mercy on us.

(1-23-12)

Christmas Message 2012

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 Condensed narrative of my Sunday School lesson for Christmas Sunday 2012

Galatians 4:4-5    But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

But when the fullness of the time had come...(or, “when the set time had fully come…)

That phrase literally means “at the appointed time.  God is sovereign even in every detail of history because He is the author of history.  And, because He transcends time, even the future is as though it were past. 

Jesus came at just the exact point in time and place in history that God had determined before He created the world. 

Another similar phrase in Hebrews 9:27 tells us that it is appointed for men to die.  We tend to forget that our days are numbered and our death will occur at the exact appointed time in the precise manner that God has determined.  We live like we have control or can prolong our lives through diet, exercise, and medicine.  But God is sovereign and He has set the appointed time of our deaths. 

Jesus’ birth was precisely on time.  The arrival of the Savior in a dirty feeding trough in a strange town was no accident.  He came on schedule in the precise place and time and circumstances as God ordained and foretold in prophetic scripture.

Jesus’ did not need the convenience or help of modern technology to do His Father’s will.  God was fully aware of all the inconveniences and the schemes of Satan to destroy His Son.  In fact, He orchestrated them to bring about His plan His way on His schedule.  The set time was fully come. The apostle Paul assures us that the time was precisely right.

God sent forth His Son…

This phrase declares the deity of Christ.  He was not just a good man, a prophet, a religious leader, a teacher, a martyr, or a role model.

Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt.16:15-16)

When Thomas saw Jesus after His resurrection, he cried out, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

The mystery of the Christmas story is that the baby conceived in Mary’s womb, and humbly born in a stable in Bethlehem, was God in human flesh.  We are reminded at least once a month, by our pastor in our communion services, that “the Lord took a body so that He could give a body.”

It has been said that when we finally get to heaven and we see God face to face, we will be looking at the face of Jesus Christ.  In the classic modern Christmas carol that point profoundly emphasized in the question,  “Mary did you know that when you’ve kissed your little baby, then you’ve kissed the face of God?” 

Born of a woman…

 While the phrase, “God sent his Son” affirms the divine nature of Jesus Christ, this phrase, “born of a woman” affirms that he was also fully and completely human.

From scripture we understand that He grew, He hungered and thirsted, He tired, He felt real physical pain, He experienced grief and loneliness. He cried.  He is fully God and fully man at the same time.

Jesus is the God-man.    At no time did He give up any part of His divine nature.  All the time He was physically alive on earth in human flesh, He remained in complete control over His creation.  

Theologians call that the hypostatic union shich means that He has the nature of deity and the nature of humanity.  But He is not two persons, nor is He divided.

Born under the law…

In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that all human beings are in one sense or another “under the law.” That is to say that we are not at liberty to decide what is morally right or wrong.  Jews in Paul’s time had the revealed law of God written in the Torah.   And all other peoples (the Gentiles) had a sense of God’s law written on their hearts.  Even atheists have a self-governing sense of morality; something we often call “conscience”.

In either case – whether under the written Law of God or under conscience – each and every human being has failed to follow that law and therefore we suffer condemnation and fear before God.

The reformers called that Total Depravity.  Its not that every person is totally bad but that every person ever conceived has an inherited sin nature.  And we are all caught in a continuous cycle of knowing what is right and failing to do it.  We are all guilty sinners by birth, by choice, and by practice and there is no excuse.

And that guilt results in a kind of slavery.  In verse 3, preceding this text, Paul calls it bondage (or slavery) under the elements (or the spiritual forces) of the world.“  

And from that slavery we need to be redeemed – a word that means freed from slavery, especially freed by means of someone paying a price.

But the good news is that there is one exception to the total human experience of failure before “the law.” Scripture affirms that in His humanity Jesus Christ was like us in every way, except without sin (Hebrews 4:15).   That is because, although He was born of a woman, He was also the Son of God (the God-Man).

He is, therefore, uniquely fit to be our redeemer, being both divine and human.

To redeem those who were under the law…

Jesus did not come to earth in human flesh primarily to teach or work miracles.  In His own Words He said that He came “…to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10).

Referring to himself as “the Son of Man,” he says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45-46).

Notice that last phrase.  He came “…to give his life as a ransom for many. “

What can we say really happened on Christmas day?  Well, without trying to sound trite, I think the answer to that question is, “Easter.”  The birth of Jesus is meaningless and irrelevant without His death, burial, and resurrection. 

It’s like the nursery rhyme, “Mary had a little lamb,” That’s the Christmas part of the rhyme but the verse continues, “ It’s fleece was white as snow.”  And that is the Easter part of the rhyme; The Lamb of God would be the pure, spotless, and only acceptable sacrifice for the sins of many.

A Savior was born in Bethlehem for the express purpose of redeeming His people by the deliberate and voluntary sacrifice of his life on the cross at Calvary.  His death was in view at His birth.  That is why God ordained that He should be swaddled in burial cloths and that is why one of the gifts of the magi was myrrh; a kind of embalming fluid.  He was born to die.

It was all part of His divine plan that started “when the set time had fully come.”

…that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Herein is the true purpose of the Christmas story.

His life, death, and resurrection were for the purpose of setting captives free to be adopted as “sons” and “daughters” of God.

Jesus is the only incarnate Son of God.  But through Him, every one of those He redeems becomes a child of God by “adoption”.

^“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:11-12)

"The claim that Christianity makes for Christmas is that at a particular time and place God came to be with us Himself.  When Quirinius was governor of Syria, in a town called Bethlehem, a child was born who, beyond the power of anyone to account for, was the high and lofty One made low and helpless. The One who inhabits eternity comes to dwell in time. The One whom none can look upon and live is delivered in a stable under the soft, indifferent gaze of cattle. The Father of all mercies puts Himself at our mercy."                             Frederick Buechner

Filling the World, He Lies In a Manger,
Maker of the sun,
He is made under the sun.
In the Father he remains,
From his mother he goes forth.
Creator of heaven and earth,
He was born on earth under heaven.
Unspeakably wise,
He is wisely speechless.
Filling the world,
He lies in a manger.
Ruler of the stars,
He nurses at his mother's bosom.
He is both great in the nature of God,
and small in the form of a servant.

Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

God’s greatest gift was not the birth of a little baby in a manger; it was the sacrificial death of His own Son on the cross of Calvary. 

Merry Christmas

A Special Christmas Greeting

To My Liberal Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the Winter Solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2013, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

To All My Conservative Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2013.

My 2012 Christmas Greeting To Obama

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Date:         12-22-12

To:             President Barack Obama

Dear Mr. President,

During the first American revolution, there was a man, a Brigadier General in the Continental Army, whose responsibility it was to dispatch vital food and supplies to the troops at Valley Forge.  But instead, he sold wagonloads of their provisions on the black market while Washington’s men were freezing, starving, and dying.   His name was Benedict Arnold and later he sold out West Point to the British for money.  

It’s not hard to understand why he was tried and convicted of treason.  The very things that were vital for the protection of this nation’s patriots were denied them and provided to their enemies.

Mr. President, in recent days we have seen Your administration actively involved in illegally placing thousands of guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and providing military weapons to other nations which are not friendly to us but are, in fact, enemies of our country- actions that, in fact, have caused the deaths of some of our own citizens.

At the same time we have observed how Your administration has deprived one of our ambassadors and three other men, the protection they needed in Benghazi resulting in their torture and death.

Now You are seemingly pressing hard to deprive us of our constitutional rights to obtain and keep the tools we need to protect ourselves and our families.

Please tell me sir, how are You different from Benedict Arnold?  Perhaps Benedict Arnold should be posthumously exonerated.  What do You think?

I hope You and Your family have a merry Christmas in Hawaii and I trust that You all are much safer than we are.

Respectfully,

Ralph M. Petersen
  

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; 

but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” 

Proverbs 29:2.

Fun "Sleigh Ride" Piano Duet

Another fun video added to my collection for the Christmas winter season.


HT to Dan Phillips who reminds us that if it's not about Christ, it's not Christmas music.

This One's For My Grandkids

Obama Admits That He Needs Prayer

Following is my first letter to Obama since the Nov. 2012 election. 

Dear Mr. President

Election Day is history.   To say that you were not my choice is an understatement.  In fact I believe that you will do serious harm to this country’s economy and our constitution.  But regardless of how I feel about the outcome, the legitimacy of your eligibility, or even the honesty of the votes, you are, once again, the president and we now must endure your administration until the next election.  Like it or not, God's Word charges Christians to pray for all those in positions of leadership and authority over us.  That especially includes you. “Pray for rulers and for all who have authority so that we can have quiet and peaceful lives full of worship and respect for God.  This is good, and it pleases God our Savior” ( I Tim. 2:2-3)  

Today (Sunday, November 18, 2012) on your trip to Bangkok, you jokingly suggested that you could use some prayer.  You have no idea how right you are.  The problem is that prayer is not a joking matter.  You also quipped, "I always believe in prayer.  If a Buddhist monk is wishing me well, I'm going to take whatever good vibes he can give me to try to deal with some challenges back home."

Well Mr. President, you have declared yourself to be a Christian and have professed faith in Jesus Christ.  If that is true, you should know that “good vibes from a Buddhist monk” are worthless if not blasphemous; the Only One and True God is the only God who can help you.

If, on the other hand, your profession of Christian faith is without substance, I must tell you that the Lord God will not hear any prayer from you except the prayer of repentance from sin and a cry unto the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you and save you.  Many Christians I know are praying that He would reveal Himself to you to that end, that you might be saved.

As for your recognition that you are standing in need of prayer and in response to your asking for it, I hereby confess that I have failed to do what God expects of me regarding your presiding over the affairs of this country.  So over the next four years, I will endeavor to regularly hold you up in prayer.  Here are several specific ways that I, and many other Christians, will be praying for you:

1.               I pray that you will realize your inadequacies for the responsibilities you face and that you will recognize your personal sinfulness.

2.               I pray that you will truly depend upon God for the wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and courage needed for leadership.

3.               I pray that you will reject all the counsel and advice of others that violates biblical principles.       

4.               I pray that God would enable you to resist temptations and pressures to violate your conscience.

5.               I pray that you will set aside your own personal ambitions for the sake of the best interest of the people, the good of their precincts, and the work of God.

6.               I pray that you would be quick to seek God and rely on His Word as the source of your strength and the key to real success.

7.               I pray that you will act carefully to maintain trustworthiness and righteousness in your office and that you will strive to guard the dignity, honor, and reputation of your position.

8.               I pray that you will be a good example to others in your speech and conduct while carrying out your responsibilities.

9.               I pray that you will remember that you will be held personally accountable to God for your attitudes, actions, and motives while serving your constituents.

10.            And finally, I pray that you will seek the Lord while He may be found and turn to Him for the salvation of your soul.

Respectfully,

Ralph M. Petersen

It Is Never Right To Do Wrong To Do God's Will

I am stunned by the number of professing Christians who DON’T VOTE!  What’s wrong with you? 

Not too many years ago, in another presidential election, a Christian friend and fellow church member DIDN’T VOTE.  I was stunned by his laziness and foolish, irrational and irresponsible behavior.  His excuse went something like this:  “I don’t waste my time with politics; God’s in control and there’s nothing we can do about it anyway.” 

Underlying that statement was his belief that God was on a predetermined course of action in this world that He foretold in Scripture.   My friend is looking forward to “the Rapture of the Church” and so by his failure to vote, he believed he was helping God to bring about the evil dictator (antichrist) who will rise to rule the world during seven years of tribulation after which, the Lord will return to take His throne and judge the world. 

We are just a little over one day away from election day and I don’t have time to craft this post so that it can be palatable.  So I am going to make a few statements here that may be hard to swallow and you may get angry with me but they need to be said. 

Sometimes it is WRONG to try to help God accomplish His will.  He expects you to do right even if His will seems to be in contradistinction to your actions.   I know that seems paradoxical but God’s ways are not our ways and He does what He pleases for His glory.  And He doesn’t need our help; if He did, He would not be omnipotent and He would be obligated to share His glory with us.  That’s not going to happen.

Is it right to do wrong in order to do God’s will?  NO!  God will accomplish His purposes; we must do right and you will NOT get a free pass for neglecting to do right, even if God is doing something else.   When God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the sins of the world, it was His will and His plan for good.  Yet it would be foolishness to suggest that those who actually beat Him, and nailed Him to the cross were doing right.

In this election we Christians have a duty to do right at the polls.  Our choices should be determined by our biblical values.  In our representative republic, our leaders are selected, and appointed by us as our agents.  Look, I don’t know how to say this any clearer; if you vote for an ungodly leader who does immoral things, YOU ARE GUILTY OF HIS SINS.  He is your agent.  You engaged him and empowered him.  When your representatives legalize baby killing, YOU legalized baby killing.  When your representatives destroy the institution of marriage between one man and one woman, YOU support queer marriage.  You cannot remain innocent of the wrongdoing of your representatives any more than if you hired a hit man to kill your neighbor and then plead not guilty to murder because you didn’t pull the trigger.  That’s absurd.  God will not be mocked.  He will bring judgment on those leaders who abuse power but don't be surprised when He brings judgment on those who empower and enable them.

And by the way, you don’t get a pass for sitting it out either.  By most analyses, if most professing Christians actually voted, we would elect conservative candidates.  So it follows that, since far too many Christians don't vote, we are getting the leadership we deserve.  Christians are to be salt and light in this present world.  If your light is out or if you salt has lost its flavor, you are kinda worthless.

Get up off your backside and go VOTE RIGHT. 

An Accident By Design

Incredible?  No, it isn''t incredible.  Incredible means to be so implausible as to elicit disbelief.
Amazing is a better word. 

Here is episode 1 in a series titled, Stories Of The Faith.  This one, Miracle at Midnight, features my friend, Dr. J. Don Jennings as he relates his experience of a near fatal "accident" that was not an accident at all but an amazing and intricately orchestrated event. 

It seems a truly amazing chain of events yet nothing is too difficult for our great God who is sovereign over all things.