“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14).  

While I want to guard against any notion of name-it-claim-it theology, and I renounce any doctrine that says we can manipulate God Almighty by our prayers, I do think two prayers said recently in Legislative Chambers speak volumes about the division in our Nation.  There really are two visions for the United States of America now.  The split is clearer by the day.  One of those visions, I contend, is much more in line with the original vision of the Nation’s Founders, as well as the principles of God’s Word.  The other, well, take a listen to this prayer:

https://youtu.be/qgI8HL7J4Ns 

Now, contrast Emanuel Cleaver’s prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives with that of Pastor Steve Weaver (Farmdale Baptist Church, `rank`fort, KY) who offered the following invocation at the General Assembly in the Commonwealth of Kentucky recently:

Our Great God,

We bow before you today on a day in which we should all be humbled before you. This past year has revealed to us how frail we are as humans—in our Commonwealth, our nation, and our world. A microscopic virus cell 3.5 trillionth of an inch in diameter has crippled the economies of the world and disrupted our way of life in so many ways. But even as the hymn writer confessed that we are “frail children of dust and feeble as frail,” he continued with “In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.”

And so we come to You, the Creator of all things. You alone are the God who made the heavens and the earth. And we come to You, the Controller of all things. Nothing is outside of your sovereign control and care. We come to You, the Conqueror of all things. 

We pray to you recognizing that you are in control over all things. There is not one maverick molecule in the universe. All planets, stars, comets, molecules, microbes, and viruses are under your sovereign control. You work all things after the counsel of your will. None can stay your hand or say what doest thou.

We acknowledge that not only are you sovereign, but you are a loving father over creation, and especially to those who know You. Not one bird can fall from the sky or one hair from our head without you knowing and caring. You knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. You know our bodies better than we know our bodies. You know disease better than doctors know disease and, ultimately, we rest in your loving, sovereign care.

We also thank you that you have given us as human beings the ability to understand disease and infection and how it spreads. Thank you for the medical community that has worked so hard to inform us, advise us, offer treatment, and develop a vaccine to combat COVID-19. Thank you also for civil government which was established by you to protect its citizens. Thank you for Governor Beshear and his leadership during these difficult days. Please give him wisdom and strength as he continues to lead. Thank you for the Kentucky General Assembly as they now convene to fulfill their responsibilities.

Give them wisdom and strength also as they make important decisions balancing concern both for our state’s economy and the financial and physical welfare of our citizens. Most of all we pray for a spirit of wisdom, reasonableness, and cooperation between the House and Senate, between Republicans and Democrats, and between the Legislative and Executive branch in order that all the citizens of this state are served in the best possible manner.

We pray for health and strength for these legislators, their family, and the staff that supports them. Please be with this body this session as they conduct the business of this Commonwealth. Give them peace as many of them are separated from their families and homes in this time of uncertainty. Give each of them your peace that surpasses human understanding.

Most of all we thank you for your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world of sickness and sin as an expression of your sovereign plan and fatherly love of this world. Thank you that by His sinless life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection, He conquered the grave, defeated death, took away death’s sting and, in the words of the author of Hebrews, delivered all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery! May all who hear these words know peace and comfort in the grace and mercy through faith in the Lord Jesus.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

This podcast featuring Pastor Keith and Biblical Counselor Lori Beard digs into the topic of fear.

Answering questions like: How should we understand fear from a Biblical perspective? When should we get help? How can we fight this sin?

This podcast is the first episode in a series of episodes so watch for more content right here and on our youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd7DPD2RaKleAj7osG5TnsA

Additional Scriptures to dig into concerning fear:

• Philippians 4:6-7
  
  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

• Psalm 56:3
  When I am afraid, I put my trust in you

• Deuteronomy 31:6
  
  Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

• Psalm 34:4
  
  I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

• 1 Peter 5:6-7
  
  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
  
  
  
  

Christmas Season speaks often of peace.  I mean, after all, the angels announced to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (KJV).  

Even if you prefer another translation, such as the ESV (which I do), the note of peace is still there: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.”

Peace is elusive, though, isn’t it?  

Peace is also so subject to numerous iterations and definitions.  

There’s political peace. Emotional peace. Relational peace. Inner peace. Peace of mind. Denominational peace. Educational peace. Peace like a river. And the ever-popular “World Peace” (at least among beauty pageant contestants).  And oh, don’t forget that extra piece of chocolate pie (OK, that’s a totally different word, just checking your pulse out there my faithful four readers).    

But what kind of peace did Jesus come to bring?  

If He intended to install world peace in the political sense, then He failed.  Or, maybe He just hasn’t intended to install that kind of peace yet.  The Bible says that day is not yet, but surely coming.  I’ve read the end of the Book.  I know how this all ends.  The Prince of Peace returns to make His enemies His footstool and He reigns in absolute peace over His redeemed people forever.  

So the question remains – what kind of peace did Jesus come to bring? In His first advent?  

Can we just get downright honest and say it must not, indeed cannot, be any other kind of peace except spiritual peace with God?!  The Christians in Northeast Nigeria who continue to endure beheadings, rapes, pillaging, and burnings of women, children, crops, homes, and houses of worship, at the hands of Muslim extremists, surely have no political, emotional, mental, or physical peace whatsoever!  And this scenario plays itself out all across the world every day.  These precious suffering saints are experiencing first-hand the truth of Christ’s words:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt 10:34-39).  

Well, that’s doesn’t sound much like “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays” to me.  No! It sounds more like a radical call to selfless submission to the Lordship of King Jesus.  It sounds like a clarion call to love Christ so deeply and lavishly that nothing or no one else could even be said to compare.  It sounds like an invitation, in the words of Bonhoeffer, to “come and die.”  

And thus, truly live.  

And find the truest depth of peace available to anyone in this life full of trials and temptations.  

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, the Lord God is an everlasting Rock” (Isaiah 26:3-4).  

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, don’t we need this good reminder from our God right now?  Presidential elections are settled in heaven.  The winner is ordained of God, who is the Only Sovereign King over all nations.  We’re simply waiting for the will of heaven to unfold and be revealed finally to us.

“The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will” (Daniel 4:25). 

While I do not want to speak out of turn or make claims that are simply too great for me, it does appear fairly clear that corruption has infected nearly every level of American society and culture.  That comes as no shock to those of us who believe God’s assessment of humanity.

“The human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9).  

God’s verdict upon the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the Prophet Hosea’s time sounds exactly like the condition we find ourselves in here in the USA:

“There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; thee is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish” (Hosea 4:1-3).  

Friends, whether or not the outcome of the election turns out like we hoped, every single one of us ought to at least be asking God to expose any legitimate fraud, and to bring justice to those who may have broken election laws or who may have intentionally corrupted the results.  Even non-Christians in America ought to desire genuinely free and fair elections.  If we cannot even hold such an election anymore, then our nation is sunk already.  

And maybe we are.  God has surely been long-suffering with our individual and national sins.  I pray God will keep giving us time. Time as a Church to tell more people of the Christ who saves sinners by His grace.  Time for lost neighbors and co-workers and students to be granted repentance of sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Time to keep laboring to finally end the scourge of abortion in our land. 

“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23)

A glimmer of hope – for those of us who respect life at all stages (womb to tomb), who support God’s design for marriage and sexuality, and who strongly oppose socialism – the Congress may continue to maintain the ability to neutralize or minimize the President, should Joe Biden be the winner.  If so, it would be yet another example of God’s immense mercy upon us. Yet more time for us to turn back to the Creator-Redeemer-Rock who is Jesus Christ our Lord.  

Personally, I think it unlikely that President Trump will be re-elected when all the legal dust finally settles. Yet, President Trump and his legal team are well within their rights to pursue all necessary recourses to ensure the results of the ballots are accurate.  And I am hopeful that at bare minimum any and all fraud will be exposed and rooted out by these legal actions.  Regardless of who wins in the end, I want to have some measure of confidence in the veracity of our election system.  Right now, I have none.  I pray God will use these next few weeks to restore our confidence in free, fair elections.  While these things do not matter most, they do matter, especially for our American form of government.  

May our hearts and minds stay fixed on God who doesn’t change. Who is a God of order. Though chaos swirl all around us, we can smile dear blood-bought saints; for our feet have been planted forever firmly upon the Rock of Ages!  His purposes shall prevail. The world is headed to its rightful end – prostrate at the feet of Jesus.  

And while I know from God’s Word this election outcome is already done in the mind of God, indeed ordained of old by Him, I cannot help from a purely finite human perspective wondering what might have been.  What if President Trump had modeled humility and kindness of spirit for the last four years?  What if he, like Christ, had refused to revile in return?  Refused to seek vengeance?  Pumped the brakes on the Tweet train?  Listened more and talked less?  His policies have been very good for our nation, in general.  But his pomposity has been hard on us.  On all of us. 

My prayer is that President Trump would be given grace by God to humble himself, repent of his sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  My prayer is that he be born again unto a living hope.  Even powerful Presidents need Jesus, for God is no respecter of persons.  And I pray the same for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  One day each one of these persons will stand before God on Judgment Day. And only one thing will matter then . . . 

“The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death unto life” (John 5:22-24). 

Well, it’s Election Eve. 

Who knows when we will actually know the winner? 

One thing I am sure of, Jesus Christ always wins.  Regardless of the outcome of our elections (important though they may be), King Jesus’ throne is forever secure.  And Jesus will continue to build His Church regardless of what kind of political or demonic forces oppose her (Matthew 16:18). 

But there’s usefulness in asking, “Under what system of government does the Church best thrive?” 

I said thrive. Not survive. And by thrive, I mean not just multiplication of disciples within the borders of one’s own nation.  While that’s the starting place, the Church’s mission mandate from our Lord is to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the peoples / nations.”

So I ask the question again, “Under what system of human government does the Church best thrive?” 

To put this in perspective, let’s rephrase the question: “In the past 2000 years, how many missionaries have been launched out into the world from absolute monarchies?  From communist nations?  From tribal forms of government?  From Fascist regimes?”

One struggles to even think of a few instances where the gospel was propagated freely to the world out of these kinds of governmental structures.  Can the Church go underground and survive in Red China?  Yes!  Praise God!  But how many missionaries are being launched into the rest of the world out of China?

As Europe and Australia have become more and more socialistic in their governments, they have sent less and less gospel missionaries to the world.  We Christians here in America need to think seriously on these realities. 

I have many reasons to strongly dislike socialism in all its insidious forms.  The Bible upholds the rights of citizens to own private property. The Bible condemns taking money forcibly from some people and redistributing it to others (it’s called stealing).  But even more important than these principles is the advance of God’s kingdom through the world-wide, free propagation of the good news of Christ. 

Do we think it coincidence that the Sovereign Lord chose to begin to first build His Church in the Roman Republic?  The gospel spread like wild-fire throughout the Roman Empire, and soon thereafter was being launched into Europe, the Far East, and even the New World we now call America.  O yes, there were some rough spots (i.e., Nero).  But make no mistake, the God of all the Earth selected to launch the world-wide mission of His gospel from Rome’s Republic. 

And do we think it coincidence that the United States of America has sent more gospel missionaries to the ends of the earth than any other nation in history? 

Socialism is bad for gospel missions. 

Why are left-leaning politicians and the judges they appoint relentlessly attacking our 1^st and 2^nd Amendments?  Because these basic rights stand squarely in the way of a socialist agenda.  Of course, the Democratic Party Platform feigns support for both of these rights.  But one needs only observe how the blue states are governed in these matters as compared to the red states to draw a quick conclusion!  Anti-2^nd amendment laws in Chicago, for example, have resulted in a crime rate that rivals if not exceeds some of the most dangerous cities of the world.  And where, pray tell, are churches being fined, threatened, and discriminated against all in the name of “pandemic control”?  I tell you, if a church cannot even assemble, it’s going to have a very hard time launching missionaries to the world! 

The votes we cast as American Christians matter, dear brothers and sisters.  But ultimately, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12).  Abortion is not first a political issue!  Sexual perversions and gender chaos are not first political issues. Freedom to assemble to worship is not first a political issue.  These are all moral, ethical, spiritual issues first!  God has spoken clearly to them in His Word. 

While we might not be giddy about any of our Presidential candidates’ moral character or personality quirks, their policy positions are distinct in the issues that impact our nation’s morality.  The party platforms and the candidates themselves give us a clear choice.  And I firmly believe our nation’s ability to continue being the world’s foremost propagator of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world is truly at stake.  And that matters most.

O Lord God, we cry out for mercy on our nation!  Almighty God, please do not give us leaders we deserve. Rather, give us leaders out of Your heart of grace. That the Name of Jesus might go forth from our land to the peoples who have still yet to hear.  Be exalted in all the earth, O God.  We know You do not need America to accomplish Your sovereign will.  But we desire to continue to be Your vessel to tell the world that Jesus saves!  We are seeking Your mercy, confessing our sins and clinging only to the strong Name of Christ, come what may.  Revive Your Church in America O Holy Spirit, and awaken thousands of our neighbors to their need of salvation in Jesus alone as we share the good news with our Jerusalem.  And may You once again use us to turn the world upside down for Jesus. 

Soli Deo Gloria!

“I will flat out change the law.”  

That’s how former Vice-President Joe Biden answered a question regarding transgenderism among elementary aged-children at a recent town hall.  The obvious ignorance of the US Constitution aside (Presidents cannot change laws), Biden believes 8 year olds should be encouraged to make permanently life-altering and physically damaging decisions about their bodies.  Well, because, you know, 8 year olds are completely matured in their mental and emotional development and can be trusted to know what’s best for them over the course of their entire lifetimes.  

What are parents for?  Who needs them at all?

Friends, this is the inevitable result of abandoning any objective standard of marriage and sex.  Throw God’s definition of marriage in the trash heap of history, and it’s an anything-goes-in-the-realm-of-sex-and-gender world.  Europe and Australia preceded us in this moral, relativistic non-sense. They are now legalizing and commending polygamy and polyamory, among other things.  Professors and researchers are now making arguments in various medical, scientific, psychological and sociological journals in favor of pedophilia, polyamory, and bestiality.  And in the realm of gender, it truly is a “whatever suits you” ideology.  

Gender dysphoria is plaguing our nation. It’s being encouraged in our public schools as early as kindergarten!  The voices of those who dare to speak out against it are shamed and silenced.  And those who have suffered the most from this mental illness and sin-sickness, who dare to urge others to please stop this insanity before it destroys more children and young adults, are treated with satanic vitriol.  I strongly encourage all of you to watch the new documentary by the American Family Association, called Made in His Image.   https://inhisimage.movie/                 

No-fault divorce. Fatherlessness. Homosexuality. Gender-confusion. Sexual perversions. Abortion. An epidemic of STDs. Rampant pornography addiction.  Sex slave trafficking.  Suicide rates through the roof, especially in the LGBTQ+ community.  This is what “sexual freedom” looks like.  No, this is what it looks like to hate God, to despise His good will and ways, and to live as our own gods.  O God have mercy!       

We can either have a President and administration who supports obvious child abuse (many courageous pediatricians are calling it by its real name), as well as total sexual chaos.  Or, we can have a President and administration whose policies have proven to be strongly pro-family, as defined by the Bible and good old common sense.  

Nobody has a “right” to change his or her biological sex (gender).  God determines human rights (see my former post https://www.corydonbaptist.org/blog/post/carzy-califormia).  Governments should not codify as “rights” behaviors that our Almighty Creator has forbidden.  Rather, government is established by God’s design to promote good and discourage evil (Romans 13).  But if we allow our society to give up any objective standard of good and evil, then nothing remains for us but chaos and anarchy. 

While we must treat all people with kindness, respect and love, this is no way means we must endorse sinful, destructive lifestyles or choices.  I love my daughter, but I will never support her if she suddenly chooses to saw off her arms.  All the “my body my choice” banter in the world will not convince me to commend or to allow my daughter to mutilate herself.  God gave her those arms!  She must learn to be thankful for them and to employ them in the cause of the advance of His gospel and His kingdom.  

Gender and sexuality were built into the very creational design of God for humanity.  “Male and female God created them. And God said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’” (Genesis 1:27-28).  Jesus affirmed the one man, one woman for life design of marriage (Matthew 19:1-6).  God expects men to be men and women to be women (Deuteronomy 22:5; 1 Corinthians 11:1-16).  

It simply is not loving to commend or encourage sin or distortions of God’s good design for human flourishing.  Endorsing sin is itself a sin (Romans 1:32).  We must not strengthen the hands of evildoers (Jeremiah 23:14).  Rather, we must hold out the hope of forgiveness of sins – all sins, the worst of sins – through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ the Lord.  

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed! You were made holy! Your were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God!” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11)

So, ask yourselves: Which party platform most strongly supports God’s vision of human flourishing in the matters of marriage, family, sexuality, and gender?  

Every decision, at its core, comes down to this: Will we trust God?  Or ourselves?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Amy Coney Barrett’s ongoing confirmation hearing in the US Senate highlights the criticality of Presidential elections.  Indeed, many conservative Christians voted for Donald Trump in 2016 based almost entirely on this issue – the appointment of Supreme Court Justices and judges all across this land.

For the past four decades, the phrase “Judicial Tyranny” has come to the forefront.  It’s the idea that instead of adjudicating or interpreting the law, judges at all levels of our society have been making law. Granted, legislating from the bench is often cloaked as “interpreting” or “applying the law.”  But from my perspective, it has surely felt like a tyranny foisted upon our society.  Things that should come from our State Legislatures and our US Congress, now routinely come down to us at the end of a gavel.  

For example, consider how so-called Gay Marriage is now referred to as “the law of the land.”  Why? Because of a Supreme Court decision.  Abortion. Law of the land. Why?  Roe v. Wade. 

And yet courts do not make law!  At least they’re not authorized to according to our Constitution.  

Imagine how a court “discovered” a right to chop up a baby in the mother’s womb imbedded in the words of our US Constitution.  I have read it several times.  There’s not a single word in it that would compel a reasonable, literate person to conclude the Framers and Authors of that document expected our society to give women the right to murder their babies. It’s judicial insanity. Tyranny. The same could easily be said of Gay Marriage.  

Yes, I am an originalist. 

That is, I expect Supreme Court justices to interpret the true “Law of the Land” (US Constitution) in a strict and literal manner. What did the original authors mean by what they wrote?  What did the words mean in their original context?  What they meant then, they mean now. The meaning of a document does not change. Words have objective meaning, else language is pointless. Readers do not determine meaning.  Authors do.  Instead of reading our situation into a text, we should read the original meaning and situation out of the text.  Whatever principles are actually in the text itself, we apply to our own context.  But invent principles that are not in the text itself we should not do.  

My thinking here should not surprise anyone that knows me.  I am, after all, a Reformed Southern Baptist Pastor committed to exegesis (Greek for “to know out of”) of the biblical text in its original context.  The only preaching model I desire to follow is Expository.  The point of the text is the point of the sermon. The structure of text is the structure of the sermon. What God’s words meant then (when they were written) is what they mean now. Objective truth does not change. Implications of the truth for us today may well vary, but authority resides in the text itself, as the Author gave it to us.  

Appointment of judges, and especially Supreme Court Justices, is one of the most significant consequences of a Presidential election.  Lifetime appointments may bless or curse us for many generations. Consider that in my entire lifetime, it has never been illegal for babies to be slaughtered in the womb.  All because of a few Justices appointed by a President.  Imagine an America where 60 million dead babies (the majority of which were precious black babies) are alive and with us today.  

The Democratic Party Platform supports federal funding for Planned Parenthood.  (PP is one of the most ironic business names in history, by the way. It should be called Avoiding Parenthood Responsibilities.)  The party platform cloaks its support of abortion mills in seemingly racially-sensitive language: “We will . . . restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides vital preventative and reproductive health care for millions of people, especially low-income people, and people of color” (p. 33).  

Well, PP surely doesn’t provide healthcare for millions of black babies in the womb!  

The Democratic Party Platform also explicitly supports appointing judges who “will respect and enforce foundational precedents, including . . . Roe v. Wade” (p. 40).  The platform also supports the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which has been used as a club to discriminate against Christian business owners all over America.  

The Republican Party platform says, “We oppose the use of public funds to perform or promote abortion, or to fund organizations like Planned Parenthood, so long as they provide or refer for elective abortions or sell fetal body parts rather than to provide healthcare” (p. 13).  The GOP platform also denounces “activist judges” (p. 13).  

The distinction and choice could not be clearer.                             

“Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:9).