In his first 100 days, President Biden has signed 42 Executive Orders.  He signed 21 in his first week in office!  That’s compared to 4 in the first week for President Trump, and 5 in President Obama’s first week.  There’s little question that this President intends to lead our nation by Executive Order.  

It’s poor leadership.  And I believe that’s true regardless of who’s President.  

I realize there may be a legitimate use of the Executive Order, but it seems to me it should be few and far between.  Time was when a President was expected to lead the nation to adopt his agenda by means of persuasion, presentation of evidence, and the art of strategic compromise.  Presidents used to work with Congress to see legislation passed that would reflect the ideals that got him elected to the highest office in our land.  If the Congress didn’t enact it as law, oh well.  Back to the drawing board.  Time to hit the campaign trail, to sit down in diners with everyday Americans, to take to the airwaves, to offer some give-n-take to key swing voters in Congress.  

But now, Congress is totally ignored. By-passed altogether. With a stroke of the Executive Order pen.

Some might say, “Rightly so!”  Indeed, Congress has proven quite sluggish in recent decades.  At times downright inept. Seemingly incapable of reaching right good compromises.  Deadlocked.  

But have we so quickly forgotten that this is by design?  

Our Founders brilliantly built such sluggishness into the legislative process precisely to prevent one man’s agenda, or one party’s platform, from so suddenly and swiftly domineering over the nation.  

But now we find ourselves awash in cultural chaos as the LGBTQ+ agenda is smashed into our faces, as the abortion agenda is driven down our throats, as massively over-priced environmental solutions are hammered into our infrastructures, as Critical Race Theory slashes us into deeper division, and as socialists keep handing us “stimulus” money presumably to help us forget about the unscientific draconian stripping of freedoms all in the name of public safety.  So much of our freedoms are lost due to our Governors’ use of, you guessed it, executive orders.  

Seems leadership by executive order is the modus operandi.  

Sadly, this has also infected the Church.  Although I have pastor friends who would respectfully disagree with me, I am standing my ground here.  I am now seeing the effects of pastors more-or-less forcing members and church-goers to wear masks and not touch one another during worship gatherings.  Though it was subtle, it was a form of “lording it over” the people, which God strictly forbids (1 Peter 5:1-5).  Although I support a pastor’s right and duty to make such decisions, in matters of Christian conscience, I have learned by God’s grace to trust God’s people.  They will find ways to love and care for each other, while respecting variance of opinions.  Indeed, we have experienced this first hand at Corydon Baptist Church – not perfectly, but consistently.  We attacked this thing a year ago with a three-pronged mantra: obey Jesus, honor the conscience, protect the most vulnerable.  God has truly blessed us.  We offer thanksgiving and praise to our great God!  It’s all of His unmerited favor in Christ.  

I am saddened, however, by what I often see and hear from other pastors and believers.  After months of no gathering, then more months of “social distancing” and masking, the entire atmosphere of churches has changed.  Many churches are still not conducting any children’s ministry, taking their cues from the ever-reliable, highly politicized public school system.  (I speak as a mad man, as the Apostle Paul would say.)  Having visited a few such churches in recent months, I can tell you that the change is palpable. And not for the better.  The critical element of our shared humanity, of our common spiritual and physical need, of our shared faith in Christ and our fear of only God, has been severely damaged.  I have had people apologize profusely for accidentally touching me.  In a church gathering!  Even the singing has taken a hit.  Depressed, isolated people just don’t sing with exuberance.  Relegating worship to pixels has hurt the cause of genuine New Testament Christianity about as much as anything in my lifetime, with the exception of heresy / false gospels.  

I mourn for the condition of the Church in America.  I pray our God will revive His people and restore His Church to the vibrant faith of our Reformer forbears.  COVID-19 exposed our ill-preparedness to suffer for the cause of Jesus Christ.  To take risks to do church His way.  To bow only to Christ as Lord.  The pandemic was totally precedented in history.  But the response from both governments and churches was totally unprecedented.  Historically unprecedented.        

But our God is in the business of Redemption and Restoration.  We need a new Exodus!  For the Lord Jesus Christ to lead us out of the bondage of self-absorption, consumeristic man-centered worship, and evangelistic marketing techniques.  We need Holy Spirit power to once again be His witnesses, and to seal our testimony, if necessary, with our own lives.  We need to learn to live for eternity.  To live so as to die well.  To follow Jesus, carrying our cross, until we lay it all down at His pierced feet.  May we remember we are under Ultimate Executive Orders from the One who has all authority in heaven and earth:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt 28:19-20). 

It seems the US government has an endless supply of money.  They just keep sending us checks, don’t they?  Maybe like me, you are wondering how this is possible!  I mean, aren’t we trillions of dollars in debt?  And, maybe like me, you do not want another check from the government.  I have written my legislators multiple times begging them to stop sending me unsolicited checks.  Rather, just continue to guard my freedom and God-given right to work hard and earn a living wage.  

But they are not listening.  I think an entire generation of young adults and children are being programmed to adore socialism.  Why is the United States giving our children checks, for crying out loud?  Are they hoping this will solve the mental health crisis the draconian shutdowns have caused?  Are they building an expectation to look to government to meet all needs?  

Well, God only knows their motives.  And, to be sure, I am not against all governmental assistance.  For those small business owners (definitely not Planned Parenthood) who lost their livelihoods during the pandemic, I think financial help should be in order for them.  

But, dear Christian, if I may ask you to leave your conspiracy theories and political persuasions behind for just a moment, let me then offer another perspective.  Whether or not we asked for or desired these stimulus checks, isn’t it worth asking what God Almighty wants us to do with them?  After all, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10), which is just a way of saying He owns it all.  So, have you prayed and asked the Lord how you might please Him in the way you spend or save these unexpected financial windfalls?  

On this Resurrection Weekend, when we celebrate the Greatest Gift ever given, let me offer some ideas on how we might honor our Righteous, Resurrected Lord with these stimulus checks:

• Tithe to your local church.  So many churches have struggled financially this past year, might this be God’s way to bless His kingdom work through the local churches?
• Tithe or give to a missionary, or to a gospel-centered missions cause.  If you do not know of any, ask your pastor.  
• Save or invest wisely.  The temptation is always to spend.  To consume it upon our lusts.  To increase our comforts and luxuries.  But the Bible is full of exhortations to save or invest wisely in order to be able to handle any future calamity (like tax hikes or another virus or just a needed automobile repair).  Please note, I am not recommending hoarding out of fear.  But rather, I am recommending a prayerful, wise savings plan.  
• Adopt a child. Adoption is such a beautiful picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  So many orphans and hurting children are waiting for loving parents to choose them, and rescue them, just like God in Christ has done for us.  Talk about kingdom impact!  Adopt a child and raise him or her in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).  
• Help someone else adopt a child.  Not all of us can adopt.  But, we can all offer to financially help a couple in our church who wants to adopt or is in the process of adopting.  Maybe you can garner support from other church members to start an adoption fund to encourage and assist those adopting in your church family.  
• Plan an evangelistic outreach.  Warmer weather is upon us.  Throw a backyard BBQ and invite unchurched and lost neighbors, co-workers or friends.  Share your testimony of salvation at this event, or ask someone else from your church to do so.  These kinds of efforts are great ways to share the gospel with others, and to invite them to a worship service. 
• Start a weekly gospel Bible study.  Consider starting an Exploring Christianity class in your home, or at your work or school (after hours), or at your local YMCA.  Have snacks and refreshments ready, and provide notebooks and pens at your expense.  
• Buy door-hangers and pack them with sweet treats and gospel tracts.  Go hang them on the doors of a neighborhood with your small group from church.  
• Make welcome baskets for newcomers to your neighborhoods or communities.  New home construction is booming.  So, when you see someone move in, go make them welcome, being sure to include some gospel booklets / tracts, local church information, gift cards to local businesses, hand sanitizer, and so on. 
• Tip a local waiter or waitress generously.  Buy a large bag of coffee for First Responders and deliver it to them at the Police Station or Firehouse.  Buy lunches for ER nurses and doctors.
• Help a local gospel-driven homeless ministry or a ministry to Veterans, or a pro-life pregnancy center.  

This is just a short list.  No doubt, you will have many more creative ideas for honoring Christ with your stimulus checks.  Let’s start a movement of selfless evangelistic generosity, dear Christians.  Jesus is worth it.  Let’s show off His lavish, unmerited love toward us.  Let’s share the Gift!  

“Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

This podcast is Episode 4 in a bigger series entitled "Convictions, Courage, & COVID", intended to help CBC members and others listening think through theological and ecclesiological matters that are crucial to helping Christians make wise, Biblical choices in the midst of circumstances that challenge in-person gathering (such as COVID-19).

Episode 1 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOBLDNTQ2is&feature=youtu.be

Episode 2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqirTYaqwSw&feature=youtu.be

Episode 3 : Episode 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzmHiKJMoy0

 

“Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).  

The last year has taught us all so much about the value of relationships.  Severed from one another for months, we were all forced to take stock.  Examine what really matters.  Consider those we love.  Think long and hard about how we define a relationship.  Of what is of most value in relationships.  

We learned to pine with the elder Apostle, “I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete” (2 John 12).   

Zoom burn-out set in for me somewhere about Week 1.  

And I have never been on Facebook, and have no future plans to hop onto it.

So I was, and am, so pleased to be a part of Corydon Baptist Church.  This Church lives as family.  We began gathering back in person about as early as any congregation I know (late May of 2020).  By late summer, our gatherings were bustling with hugs, rambunctious kids, handshakes and high-fives.  

The pastors here learned, to our great delight, that trying to keep you saints apart was like trying to lasso the moon.  Not going to happen!  Inspired by you, we stepped out on faith to honor God’s way of doing church, while making reasonable provisions for those wanting or needing more health precautions.  At each step, and with each decision, the members of CBC have shown themselves patient, loving, and oh so eager to stay deeply invested in one another’s lives.  All to the glory of God in the Gospel of Christ!  

But I want to urge all of us now, one year later, to take stock again.  Are there relationships that have been strained among us during this bizarre, trying year?  Have we said things, or posted opinions, that may have hurt our fellow followers of Christ?  Either intentionally or unintentionally?  Is there a Mark that you need to forgive?  Offer a second chance?  Ask forgiveness of?    

The last 12 months have been so often hi-jacked by Satan to divide us.  Gather or stay at home? Livestream or pre-recorded?  Zoom or Google Groups?  Masks or no masks?  Distanced or close?  One gathering or multiple gatherings?  Children’s ministry or not?  Vaccinate or not?  Conspiracy or not?  

Any church that survives all this potential relational strain and divisiveness with gospel unity intact ought to cry out with exceedingly great joy, “Glory to God in the highest!”  Indeed – Corydon Baptist Church – we sing and shout, “Hallelujah!  Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord!”  

But I urge you yet again, assess your relationships in the church.  Pray Psalm 139:23-24.  Go back and review your online posts and activities.  Ask God to help you find any source of unnecessary hurt or division, and grant you the courage to go seek reconciliation.  Search your hearts for judgmental attitudes towards brothers or sisters who have made different decisions than you.  Thought differently than you in non-essential matters.  Ask God for a Holy Spirit cleansing of unrighteous judgmentalism.  Truth is, none of us has responded to the various challenges of the last year with perfect righteousness or perfect consistency.  We have all played the hypocrite at least once, if not a few times.  So may we be reminded, as we see every member of CBC re-gathering on Sundays in the weeks ahead, that our only hope is Christ.  Always has been. Always will be.       

Our unity must not be surface level.  And the pandemic has certainly exposed a metric ton of shallow unity among churches, denominations, and among those labeling themselves evangelicals.  The sundry reasons we split with people or churches are varied.  But the grace of God in Christ, poured out on us richly, is greater.  The blood of Jesus makes the vilest sinner clean, and can reconcile and restore even relationships that seem doomed.  We don’t know the details of why and how John Mark and the Apostle Paul reconciled.  But praise God, we know they did!  Paul gave the young brother another chance. Thought better of his harsh view of Mark’s departure during Missionary Journey #1 (see Acts 15:36-41).  Time is so often a minister of God’s heart-softening grace.  No doubt Mark also had some fessin’ up to do too.  Soul-searching.  Asking forgiveness.  Recommitting to the King and His cause.  

The end result was beautiful. Powerful. A picture of Christ “making peace by the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20).  May God keep painting this scene across our own lives. Our own churches. Our own relationships. Redemptive Relationships that reflect the Redeemer.  

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity” (Psalm 133:1). 

This podcast is Episode 3 in a bigger series entitled "Convictions, Courage, & COVID", intended to help CBC members and others listening think through theological and ecclesiological matters that are crucial to helping Christians make wise, Biblical choices in the midst of circumstances that challenge in-person gathering (such as COVID-19).

Episode 1 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOBLDNTQ2is&feature=youtu.be

Episode 2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqirTYaqwSw&feature=youtu.be

This podcast is Episode 2 in a bigger series entitled "Convictions, Courage, & COVID", intended to help CBC members and others listening think through theological and ecclesiological matters that are crucial to helping Christians make wise, Biblical choices in the midst of circumstances that challenge in-person gathering (such as COVID-19).

 

Episode 1 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOBLDNTQ2is&feature=youtu.be  

 

This podcast is part of a bigger series called "Convictions, Courage, & COVID", intended to help CBC members and others listening think through theological and ecclesiological matters that are crucial to helping Christians make wise, Biblical choices in the midst of circumstances that challenge in-person gathering (such as COVID-19).

Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqirTYaqwSw

 

“Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

This has always been one of the most disturbing verses in the Bible to me.  It disturbs me for three main reasons.  

One, it’s very hard to interpret.  Is Jesus addressing lost people or saved people who are imbibing too deeply of the world?  Is this an invitation to salvation for the self-deceived in the Church, or an invitation to restored fellowship?  I don’t intend to comment further in this blog.  Just laying out the difficulty.  

Two, in context, these words point to the reality that a local church can become so enamored with the values of this world (primarily pride and prosperity), that it becomes useless in the kingdom of Christ and is completely rejected by Christ.  “I will spit you [the Church at Laodicea) out of My mouth” (v. 16).

Three, as if those two realities are not disturbing enough, consider now that the Lord Jesus Christ is outside the church!  He’s been locked out, as it were.  Excommunicated. An unwelcome and uninvited guest . . . in the church that presumably still calls Him Lord?  

The word “outsider” is a typical description of those who are lost without Christ.  They are living in sin, rejecting the Lordship of Jesus, severed from God’s saving grace (Mark 4:11; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; Colossians 4:5).  To be “outside” the Kingdom, outside the Church, outside of saving grace, is one of the saddest descriptions in the Bible of our sinful, lost, depraved and helpless condition before a Holy God.  Those who die in their sins apart from repentance and faith in Jesus Christ are cast into “the outer darkness, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).  

Is the shock of Revelation 3:20 coming into clearer focus?  

Jesus Christ, the Lord of Creation and the Lord of the Church, is standing OUTSIDE a church!  Requesting ever so politely to gain entrance.  This church is genuinely lukewarm. Useless. Unsalty salt.  

And that is the condition of a scary number of local churches and entire denominations in North America.  If the “pandemic” has exposed anything about the Church of America at large, it has flayed her as a cowering, State-worshiping, comfort-loving, prosperous in the ways of the world, lukewarm people who have kicked Jesus out.

We need look no further for evidence of my proposition than to Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Brother Coates sits in a jail cell. For what crime?  For having the audacity to hold a worship assembly above the government-mandated threshold of 15% capacity.  His young wife is now left at home with their young children, forced to visit their Dad, a Preacher of Righteousness, behind bars.    

And how have other churches and pastors responded?

Well, praise God some have responded with prayers for his release. Prayers that God would give His elect justice speedily (Luke 18:1-8).  Love. Support. Admiration. Count me among those.  I urge every believer in Christ our Lord to click below and listen to his Feb. 14th sermon, and the podcast with his wife conducted by Founders Ministries.  James and Erin Coates, speak for me!  I say “Amen” as loudly as I can.  O, may God use their witness and biblical fidelity and love for Christ to stir the lukewarm waters of so many churches across our land.  Knowing he would be arrested, Pastor Coates chose to preach a sermon to the government from Romans 13:1-4.  And his church keeps meeting.  Another pastor preached last Sunday.  Please, take time to visit these sites and if you are so led, you can give on their church webpage to support his legal defense team.  If we do not all hang together here Church, then we will all hang separately.  Read the statement on their homepage, too.  Even if you do not agree with everything their statement says, surely you can appreciate their bold stance and desire to please Jesus as Lord?                  

https://gracelife.ca/sermons/directing-government/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl-bwbnLLt0&feature=emb_title 

https://gracelife.ca/give/ 

#FreeJamesCoates    

Sadly, many churches and pastors have not responded positively or with prayer, love and support.  Instead, they have castigated Brother James for not bowing the knee to the Canadian Crown.  And in so doing, they are demonstrating that they and their churches reside in Laodicea.  

And nothing could be sadder.

Because in Laodicea, Jesus is locked outside the church.  

Imagine churches in America telling persecuted believes in Iran that they should just stop meeting and stop preaching because their government says so.  How can so many professing Christians in North America be so blind to the evils now being foisted upon us by Big Brother?  

Well, there’s surely no danger of Laodicean churches ever being persecuted or imprisoned.  Bow down to the State’s golden image, and all will be well with you . . . at least for now.  At least in this life.  But I read somewhere that followers of King Jesus are not of this world.  Not living for this life. Looking for a better city. Pilgrims passing through. Who fear not death, nor hell, nor the devil, nor disease, nor hardships, nor imprisonment, nor governments.  

Why?  Because Jesus is Lord.  Only. Jesus. Is. Lord.

“For the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).  

The Church of America had better learn to suffer.  We had better prepare for Babylon to arise and make war against the saints.  We had better run to Christ for courage to stand. We had better, those of us who cling tenaciously to the inerrant, absolutely authoritative Word of God, remember the chains of our Brother James Coates (Colossians 4:18).  For soon enough we shall be chained with him.  

O Lord, teach us once again to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” 

Dear Linda J. Lucas,

February 6th is generally a sad day in our home.  That’s the day our Savior called you to His side.  Your baby girl, Michele, was 10 years old.  So close to embarking upon her journey into young womanhood.  Although I know you are with the Lord where there are “pleasures forevermore” (Ps 16:11), I also know that way back then, the thought of leaving your little girl must have been agonizing.  

So, I am writing to you today.  Not because I think you are actually reading this letter.  Nor because I believe you are “up there somewhere looking down on us.”  I ascribe to neither of those views as I do not see them taught in the Bible.  I am thankful your spirit is with Jesus, and there is nothing but joy for you until the day when the Lord unites your spirit with your glorified resurrected body (1 Thess 4:13-18).

So, I am writing to you today for my own benefit.  Selfish?  Probably. But I am also writing to you in hopes that God might use my words, feeble as they be, to bless and encourage the women that God has so graciously placed into my care as Pastor.  

Linda, I am sorry I did not get to know you.  I do remember visiting you several times while you were on your death bed.  The cancer did not steal your obvious joy.  I remember you smiling at me more than once.  It was almost like you knew something.  

Indeed!  That little girl you left behind all those years ago . . . well, I married her.  And even though you had only ten years with her on this earth, I want you to know you did a great job as her mother!  Your infectious smile of joy now resides on Michele’s face.  In fact, after 25 years of marriage, I can say that your baby girl’s indomitable joy has been the greatest blessing of my life, save for the wonder of knowing my Savior by grace through faith.  Thank you for passing that joy along to her.  Its fragrance has spread to everyone who has ever taken time to get to know her.    

That girl you left behind grew into a woman. A woman who refused to allow her pain to define her. A woman who was given grace to repent of her sin and trust Christ alone for forgiveness.  A woman who has shown more grace and forgiveness to more people than anyone I have ever personally known.  Not the least of which is me.  A woman full of life, the very life of God!  A woman who laughs a lot. A woman who plays a lot. A woman who hugs a lot. A woman who loves a lot. A woman who cries a bit too much, because her heart is so soft and compassionate. A woman who devours God’s Word. A woman who loves Christ and His people. A woman who serves, and serves, and serves some more. A woman of grace.  A woman of faith. A woman saved by Christ, put in Christ, living for Christ, longing to be with Christ.  A woman who reflects Christ to so many.  A woman filled with the Holy Spirit.  I have heard these same things said of you by those who knew you best.  Thank you again, for showing your little girl Christ in the ten years God gave you with her.  As the old hymn says, “Little is much, when God is in it.”  

Your baby girl is “an excellent wife whose price is far above rubies” (Prov. 31:10).  

Your baby girl also grew up to be a Mom.  And this is where I struggle fighting back tears.  The humanity in me is so sad that you never got to see your baby girl’s baby girls.  They, too, are becoming women of indomitable joy.  The joy of Jesus!  And one of them is now a wife, looking to your little girl to know what it means to love and respect a husband in Christ Jesus.  The other has your face!  As you know, everyone called Michele “little Linda” because she looks so much like you.  Well, your adorable cheeks are now in their third generation!  You would love both of them and be so proud of them.  

I dry my tears now, sweet Linda, because Jesus is strong to save.  I dry my tears because Jesus will make all things new.  I dry my tears because Jesus has rendered death impotent.  I dry my tears now because by the mercies and everlasting electing love of God your baby girl and granddaughters will one day join you at the pierced feet of the Lord Christ.  And wonder of wonders I will too.  Whatever pains and heartaches and separations and longings we had down here will fade into the fabulous forever. 

And maybe, just maybe, by the sovereign goodness of our God, a 4th generation, yea a 5th generation, dare I say a 6th generation, of “little Linda’s” will sing with us there, “Worthy is the Lamb!”     

Come to think of it, February 6th is not just a sad day.  It’s also a glad day. 

“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

February 6th is one of those days when we can hardly wait for the morning. 

“But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to Me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah” (Jeremiah 23:14).  

In an all-too-common scene now in America, a peaceful protest turned violent in our Nation’s Capitol last week.  After months of what so many media outlets called “peaceful” protests foisted on American cities by Antifa and BLM, every single media outlet was quick to condemn yesterday’s violence as unacceptable lawlessness.  Southern Baptist leaders who last fall quoted MLK Jr, “A riot is the language of the unheard” in order to tacitly endorse the BLM violence, have forcefully decried the recent riot.  Dr. Russell Moore who leads the ERLC of the SBC called for the President to resign.  While I respect Dr. Moore as my brother in Christ and learned much from him when he was my professor at seminary, I am compelled to ask if Dr. Moore called for the Governors of Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Minnesota to resign after BLM and Antifa riots and looting and murders overran their city streets?  Where were you, Dr. Moore when innocent business owners, many of whom are minorities, had to board up and shut down their livelihoods in Louisville, KY, in my own backyard?         

Double standards are now our only standard, it seems.  Hypocrisy is now the crown of our Nation.

Don’t misunderstand me.  I am deeply saddened by the deaths and any injuries that happened at the Capitol Building.  I was also deeply saddened by deaths and injuries to persons and property during the BLM riots last fall.  My prayers are with suffering families, and our hurting Nation.  While conservatives have traditionally claimed the moral high ground, it is now painfully obvious that rage is consuming both sides of the political aisle.  We are all sinners, after all.  All in need of a Savior.  And it won’t be a President or Party.  It will only be Jesus Christ.  

While not condoning violent riots, isn’t it still fair to ask if anyone in our media or broader culture or in our churches will assign the label of “oppressed” to those who stormed the Capitol?  If indeed “A riot is the language of the unheard,” then will anybody acknowledge that millions of Americans do, in fact, feel unheard right now?  And they’re from all skin colors, all ethnicities, all economic backgrounds.  Not everyone who attended the protest or scaled the walls of the US Capitol were maniacal anarchists.  This is the inevitable result of years of feeling unheard. Unrepresented.  Turns out white people can be oppressed too, contra Critical Race Theory!  Whether or not this election was fraudulent (and I, along with tens of millions of others think it was), the fact remains that our government had not the courage to do anything about it at all.  Nothing. Nothing to provide assurance to nearly 50% of our citizens who feel betrayed by our elected officials.  That’s a sure recipe for anger to boil over.  I mean, for crying out loud, based upon video evidence and testimony in various hearings over the last few months – suitcases of Biden ballots being pulled out from under tables, Republican verifiers literally locked out of polling places, thousands of Trump ballots found in dumpsters, election laws being changed last minute by those not legally authorized to do so, to name a few – I would argue this election in some states looked more like a Third World dictatorship than the United States of America.  And those who agree with me are being castigated and ignored by our own government, and even by those within our churches!       

Again, I am not justifying the breaking of laws or violence against citizens or government officials.  I am simply crying out on behalf of a nation I love.  A Constitution I swore to defend from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.  It is obvious the majority of the enemies of our Constitution are now domestic.  They sit in our State Legislatures and National Congress and Cabinet positions and soon enough in the White House.  It is very hard to know how to defend the Constitution from these enemies.  The preponderance of evangelical and Baptist leaders, such as Dr. Moore, claiming there is never any justification for violence against our government is disturbing.  Since when did Baptists become Pacifists?  And if insurrection is never legitimate, then aren’t these leaders essentially claiming that America was illegitimate from the very start?  Our Founders did after all, take up arms against what they perceived as irreconcilable and irredeemable tyranny.  And many of them were devout followers of Jesus Christ.  This new understanding of absolute submission to a government (any human government) sounds more like Critical Theory than Bible.  Again, I stress that I am not claiming the riots of this fall or of last week were justified.  I don’t believe they were.  But neither do I believe that all acts of war or revolution against tyranny are indefensible, even from a Christian perspective.    

I will leave the Theory of the Just War for another blog and another day.  But surely we all see the significant potential for more violence on our national horizon.  It seems inevitable as tyranny continues to strip freedoms, and as the visions for America become even more polarized.  And they will grow more polarized under the next administration.  The Biden / Harris ticket, and the Democratic Party platform to which they are beholden, enthusiastically supports: 

• Hacking off the limbs of pre-born babies, puncturing their skulls and sucking their brains out, only to reassemble them on a tray and potentially sell their body parts. 
• Continued destruction of the family the way God designed it – a husband (biological male) and a wife (biological female) raising children.  
• Denial of the reality of gender as male and female, created by God as such, for His glory.  This is both heretical theology and hokey biology.  
• Ongoing celebrations of all sorts of sexual perversions and sexual immorality.  
• Growing State control of children, including permitting underage children to get abortions or vaccinations without parental consent or knowledge (already happening in Blue States).  
• Ongoing support for comprehensive sex education in public schools being under-written by PP and other organizations whose websites would sicken even some pedophiles.  
• Socialism, which is a form of government that replaces voluntary generosity with stealing.  Higher taxes in order to rob Peter to pay Paul, and only the government gets to determine who is Peter and who is Paul.  
• Critical Theory applied to every facet of life (see my former posts for biblical critiques of CT).  This will absolutely drive already existing divisions even deeper, by design.    
• Support for the religious movement called Environmentalism.  The Green New Deal is not biblical stewardship of the creation.  It is an idolatrous religion.  
• Increased discrimination and persecution of the Church of Jesus Christ and a redefinition of the 1st Amendment.  For an example of what’s to come, we need only look at Blue States’ treatment of the Church in 2020.  Truly Bible-believing congregations had better buckle up: anti-discrimination lawsuits are coming your way soon.      

Given the above, I genuinely have no idea how a Christian could have cast a vote for this agenda.  I believe such a vote was and is sinful, and should be confessed as such.  Yes, I realize some Democrats are pro-life and anti-socialism, like Tulsi Gabbard.  But she and her ilk are a tiny minority and the party platform is what drives the overall agenda.  And I realize some Republicans support godless ideologies as well.  But in my humble opinion, the Republican candidates nearly always represent the lesser of the two evils.  In the 2016 election, I was disturbed by then candidate Trump’s past so I wrote in a candidate that I knew would not win, but who also clearly stood for godly morality and government.  Under no circumstances could I justify a vote for the Democratic Party Platform.  In 2020, I voted for President Trump as the lesser of the two sinners. Too much swagger and popping off at the mouth?  Yes.  But in my mind, he was clearly the lesser by far of the two evils.  And, unlike most politicians, he was making good faith attempts at keeping his campaign promises, especially regarding the pro-life cause and the appointment of conservative Constitutionalist judges (which may just be a critical Divine mercy for the church in years ahead).  The dearth of truly God-fearing Presidential candidates as of late is itself a demonstration of Divine judgment upon us.  We ought to fear and tremble.               

I realize this post will not gain me friends. It may anger some, maybe many Christians.  Some Christians are saying we should just stop talking politics for a while.  But abortion, racism, sexuality, gender, parental rights, and governmental tyranny are not primarily political issues.  They are first biblical issues.  Ethical issues.  Right and wrong.  So, I truly believe that unless and until Christians begin to repent for the way they so easily dismiss massive amounts of Scripture when they step into the ballot box, our Nation is doomed. Under Divine judgment. And rightly so.  “For it is time for judgment to begin in the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).  

May God forgive us through Christ our Lord for strengthening evil hands.  For endorsing evil.  And for justifying it in the name of keeping the peace.  We are worthy of death (Romans 1:32).  God have mercy. 

Dr. Moore has often said and written, “We are Americans best when we are not Americans first.”  Amen.  Well said. On this we agree dear brother.  Right now, nearly every politician is saying “We are Americans first.”  So we need as Christians to hear Dr. Moore’s rebuttal of that philosophy.  Our ultimate allegiance is always and only to the Lord Jesus.  But we are also being forced to grapple with the reality that Americans no longer agree on what it actually means to be American.  And the best way forward is anything but clear.        

On the bright side of things, there has never been a riper field for an evangelism harvest in America.  Go tell someone about Jesus, the Savior of sinners!  Even church-goers don’t know the true gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  So go tell.  Jesus is a living hope!  And do not forget that God is sovereign over every nation, and over every election. Even fraudulent ones.  One day every nation will bow to King Jesus.  One day earthly kings will bring their glory into the New Jerusalem, and they and their people will walk by the light of the Lamb (Rev 21).

“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20).