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A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed.  Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established . . . and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother.  So shall you purge the evil from your midst" (Deut 19:15-19).

that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses (Jesus as recorded in Matthew 18:16).

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord (Prov 17:15).

Our nation is at a cross roads.  Few can doubt it.

The #MeToo movement arrogantly calls itself an "era."  Every day someone on the news or social media refers to the "MeToo Era."  That seems rather arrogant for a movement that has only been around a year or so.  Only several decades will tell whether there was any lasting impact from this movement.

Right now, thanks in part to the Judge Kavanaugh hearings, there is a fairly strong backlash against the #MeToo movement.  The upcoming elections will be fascinating!  But the backlash, at least among some, is not against standing against legitimate abuse.  It is not against standing against denigrating women or stifling their voices.  No!  All sane and even half-way moral people are against abuse.

The backlash is against what this movement seems to be trying to do.  That is, change the paradigm of due process that has been the heart and soul of America for over 200 years:

Innocent until proven guilty.

Or,

Guilty upon a single accusation.

This is critically important stuff for our society!  For any society.  The principle of being innocent until proven guilty was drawn out of the Word of God.  While I realize America is in no way Old Covenant Israel, nor is our nation the Church, that does not mean that the principle of due diligence to prove someone's guilt has no merits.  It has tons of merit!  And if you are the accused, you will most definitely want and expect due process to demand corroboration and evidence beyond a shadow of doubt before you are scalped.

We will never know what really happened on the day in 1982 described by Professor Ford.  I am not God.  Given the scant evidence and lack of corroboration, I cannot possibly come to any definitive conclusion regarding Judge Kavanaugh's guilt or innocence.  But because I strongly hold to due process (innocent until proven guilty) I must at this point assume the Judge innocent of the specific charges brought against him by Professor Ford.

Hearing someone's voice, or listening to someone's story, is not the same thing as automatically assuming its truthfulness.  Truth must correspond to reality.  And from a worldview perspective, what we are seeing with the #MeToo movement is a logical conclusion to 50+ years of ethical relativism.  Relativism - the idea that truth is not absolute / objective but is rather relative / subjective - has been taught in our public schools and universities for at least 3-4 generations now.  What effect does that have upon a culture and society?

Well, we are hearing people tell women, "Speak your truth."  The key word in that exhortation is "your."  Your truth.  Her truth.  Their truth.  His truth.

What happened to just the truth?

It collapsed under the barrage of relativism that has brought us to this precipice.  This precipice where whatever we think about anyone or anything is our truth; and therefore is true.  Facts?  Evidence?  Corroboration?  Two or three witnesses?  Reliable witnesses.  Not the kind hired by Jezebel to condemn the good man Naboth (1 Kings 21).  Not the false witnesses that slandered the Righteous One Jesus (Matt 26:59-61).  Good, proven witnesses.

To help give a more honest perspective on what is really going on beneath the surface of this national conversation, maybe we should all ask ourselves, "Would this be happening if President Trump had nominated a woman for the Supreme Court?"  Granted, the Left hate conservative women, but I think we all surely must admit that this uncorroborated accusatory tone would not be happening if the nominee were a woman.  Turns our Relativism is never satisfied with genuine equality.

God help us if we abandon objective truth as a society.  God spare us from giving up on the dogged pursuit of Truth with a capital T.  We will disintegrate into social, moral, ethical, familial and economic chaos.  Come to think of it, that's exactly what we see happening, isn't it?

Is the #MeToo movement horrible and evil in all aspects?  Not at all.  To bring more attention to real abuses in our society is a good thing.  But I pray this movement can somehow find its way back home to good old, biblical due process.  I pray this movement anchors itself in objective truth.  For that's the only way to truly show love for the hurting and disenfranchised.  Condemning the righteous or endorsing the guilty are abominable to the Lord.  And that is never good for anyone, anywhere at anytime. 

Lord Jesus, You are the Truth.  You said God's Word is truth.  Will you lead our nation to reacquaint itself with the concept of absolute moral truth anchored in Your revealed character and Word?  God, please do not allow Your true churches, filled with the redeemed in Christ, to drift away on the ocean of relativism.  Keep making us people of compassion who love so much that we insist on speaking Your truth to them, even as we listen to them.  Lord, we have all lied at some point.  Lord, we all have sinned.  All of us did evil things, especially in our younger years.  Father God, if someone ever accuses us as Your people of something that is true, give us grace to humbly admit it, confess it as sin and seek forgiveness from You and the offended person.  If we are falsely accused, help us not revile back, so that we glorify Jesus by following His perfect example (1 Peter 2:18-25).  Help us keep entrusting ourselves to our Heavenly Judge who does all things justly.  God, please keep exposing lies in our society and then give us grace to renounce them and cling to what is true, noble and good.  Most of all, Lord Jesus, we praise and thank You for receiving the "due process" of God's wrath against our sins.  Because we have been shown such immense mercy in Christ, we can and must show mercy to others.  May we demonstrate that mercy even in the way we speak of Professor Ford, or other women who bring accusations.  And may we show that mercy to the accused as we diligently work to discover the truth corresponding to reality.  For Christ's sake, amen.      

What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  For from within, our of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these things come from within, and they defile a person (Mark 7:21-23).

The flags of our nation are once again at half staff as we mourn 17 more precious young lives lost.  Gunned down by an evil mad man in yet another public school shooting.  Just a few weeks ago it was Marshall, KY.  Now Broward, FL.  And before that it was Sandy Hook, and so on, all the way back to the "original" in Paducah, KY.

There really are no words to describe what those parents and students must be dealing with right now.  No politician's or even pastor's words can really heal these wounds.  We mourn.  We are saddened to our core.  We are so sorry.  And we want all this to stop.

But nobody, it seems, knows how to stop it.

Predictably, politicians retreat to their respective corners and begin scrapping over gun rights or gun control.  And, although I am personally a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment, I do not think it is helpful to castigate every person who thinks there ought to be some measure of controls over who gets a gun and what types of guns they can get.  That's a reasonable conversation to have and at times like this we really must be willing to at least talk about those things and consider one another's viewpoints.  While some gun control lobbyists really do want to strip law-abiding citizens of their constitutional rights, that's just not true of everyone who wants to see some controls put in place.  Again, we all just want to see these killings stop.

While I might argue that gun control is one of the key causes of such shootings (after all, public schools are "gun free" zones that all but ensure students have no real defense or ability to be protected from evil killers), I should not resort to unkind name-calling or pigeon-holing when making my case to others who see it differently.  "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  That's to characterize followers of Christ even when we enter the political sphere!

Matt Bevin, Governor of Kentucky, recently expressed his deep sorrow over these shootings and pointed a finger at the home lives and culture our children are being raised in.  Specifically, he went after violent video games that glorify killing people, as well as music lyrics that encourage violence.  I have a genuine respect for Governor Bevin.  I believe, as best I can tell, that his Christian faith is true and he seeks to live it out as he leads the government of Kentucky.  And I agree with him that allowing our children and young adults (I dislike the term "teen") to play certain games or listen to overtly filthy music is not good.  What we put into our hearts, through our eyes and ears and other senses certainly can exacerbate the resident evil in our hearts as fallen sinful humans.  And Bevin is right to subtly call out parents (though he did not do so explicitly).  I personally wonder when parents will be charged for these crimes alongside the children that perpetrated them while living under their roofs?  That might at least jolt some of our citizens to the reality of how broken our homes are in this country.  Fifty years of the sexual revolution and what do we have to show for it?  Divorce.  Single-parent homes.  Out-of-wedlock births.  Kids raising themselves or being raised by so-called "professionals."  Drug addictions among all ages.  And "sex ed" classes in our public schools sometimes as early as elementary school being developed by Planned Parenthood that glorify all kinds of sex among all kinds of people with no boundaries, no right or wrong!

Darwin's theory owns our public schools.  And if you think that theory only stays in the "science" classroom, think again.  If we teach our children they are animals, then why are we surprised when they act like it?  And when they do act like it, we have more professionals who excuse it away with psychological labels.  Mental illness.  If we could just get these kids who make threatening posts on Facebook into counseling or mental institutions, this would all go away.  At least that's what some propose.

And again, I respectfully disagree.  Genuine mental illness plays a very small role in these shootings.  That's what makes it so hard to stop!  These killers do not come with tags - "Future Murderer."  And while sometimes, as it appears in the present case of Broward, FL, the killers do make alarming statements on social media, do we really think it viable to arrest every person who makes such posts?  And who then gets to decide which statements are alarming enough to get one arrested?  That is a very slippery slope.  Surely we freedom-loving Americans can see at least that much.  Most introverts don't murder people in cold blood.  Most people who make stupid social media statements don't either.

But I feel sure we all want this to stop.  Only the most depraved among us could celebrate school shootings.  So what to do?  The myriad issues are insanely complex.  My short analysis above hasn't scratched the surface!  Politically and practically, I would advocate for the "Israeli Model."  In Israel, all schools lock the doors and have armed guards.  There are no school shootings in Israel.  When we truly want to protect people, we do it with high level security measures, and our success rate is very high.  So, Americans are going to have to decide whether their children are important enough to protect with high level security measures.  And I suspect until schools start locking doors, arming and training guards, and scanning students who enter their doors, more and more parents will choose the homes schooling option.  At least in our homes, we can shoot back.

But truthfully, political and practical solutions can always only take us so far.  Because they do not address the human condition.  The human heart.  Not the organ pumping blood.  Our minds and our wills.  Only Jesus Christ can give us the true diagnosis of our condition.  God in the flesh knows exactly why 19-year olds kill 15-year olds.  And why moms do heroin while their toddlers play nearby.  And why dads abandon their wives and kids.  And why teachers believe the lie of evolution.  And why politicians and far too many pastors are too cowardly to address the true heart of the matter.  The heart of the matter is our fallen, sinful, hearts that hate God and His ways and love to exalt ourselves as ultimate.  Jesus diagnosed our deepest problem and need with crystal clarity.  We murder and lie and have sex however we want and brag about ourselves and look down upon others because we are sinners at our very cores.  We are depraved at the level of our minds and wills.

And there's only One Heart Surgeon able to literally transform us at that deepest level.  His Name is Jesus.  And His gospel, His good news is that He came to live the perfect life we could not.  God the Father was pleased with Him.  Jesus died the horrible death we deserved because of our resident evil.  He rose from the dead to prove He is our Divine Savior who can give eternal life to all who trust Him alone for deliverance from the guilt of sin and for righteousness that satisfies God.  Jesus saves!  Jesus turns murderers into lovers of God and mankind.  Just ask the Apostle Paul.  And until this nation once again proclaims salvation in Jesus Christ alone from every street corner, every classroom, every pulpit and podium, there simply will be no permanent, lasting solution to our violent, hateful hearts.  Why not cry out to Jesus today for salvation from the wrath of God that is certain to come upon you if you remain in your sins?  Why not beg Him for healing in your heart?  And why not trust Him not just to make you right with God in this life, but to one day make good on His promise to make all things right and give you everlasting life with God?

Even so Lord, come quickly!  For then and only then will all our evil finally stop.

These days, it seems gender dysphoria (as it is still labeled in the DSM of psychiatry / psychology) is everywhere.

For the last 25 years, we in the western world have been subjected to one of the most comprehensive assaults on worldview in modern history, if not in all of human history.  The brainwashing and inculcation was undertaken by a vast media campaign involving TV, internet, radio, ipods, magazines, advertisements, mainline news organizations, public schools, institutions of higher education, the porn industry, Hollywood stars and the movies they produce, and local judges and mayors all across this land.  It began, initially, as a push to accept and/or celebrate a homosexual lifestyle, and the end result of that particular movement was the legalization of so-called Gay Marriage.

But Gay Marriage was never the end goal of that movement.  We were warned, and now we see the prophets were right.  The latest iteration is called the LGBTQ agenda (and this acrostic seems to get a new letter weekly).  It is not enough to destroy the fabric of all stable and moral societies - marriage between a man and woman resulting in children raised well - the LGBTQ movement wants a total eradication of any gender or sex designations.  In some nations of Europe and South America (Columbia) that are farther down this "progressive" line than we are in the US, people are now marrying multiple partners legally, and some are marrying their pets.  Governments are using tax money to pay for sex change surgeries and dangerous hormone treatments to try and suppress the natural hormonal development in children and adolescents.  This is our future, America, short of a revival of common sense and true compassion.  True compassion never coddles or condones attitudes or behaviors that are destructive.

And now, the Church of England, which ceased to be a true church years ago when it gave up its belief in the absolute authority of the inerrant Bible as God's Word, is set to consider offering a special "re-christening" for those who have changed gender or who think themselves to be women when biologically they are men.  The newly proposed liturgy would celebrate the new gender identity and as one communicant put it, allow him "to reintroduce himself to God with his new name and gender identity."  Read more here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/church-of-england-official-transgenders-could-be-re-christened-after-sex-ch

This is church gone bad.  This is ministry that hurts, not heals.  The Church of England might as well start encouraging suicide and drug use and depression, since these thoughts and behaviors accompany those who suffer from gender dysphoria in far larger proportions than the general populace.  Even a raving feminist Bernie Sanders supporter knows better than this!  Camille Paglia recently rattled some cages with her remarks published in The Weekly Standard:

 “The cold biological truth is that sex changes are impossible. Every single cell of the human body remains coded with one’s birth gender for life . . . It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."

Well, I confess I genuinely appreciate an openly gay, politically liberal, highly intelligent woman like Professor Paglia (she teaches at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia) speaking such truth!  She goes on in that same interview to condemn special rights and privileges for categories of eccentricity, even while upholding the right of everyone to be treated with respect and kindness.

It is a sad day when non-Christian people know better how to minister to and serve the broken and confused than the Church of England does.  The truth is, we all have a tendency to use science to our own advantage.  To advance our own preferences and ideals.  This is just how sinners think, speak and live.  Apart from the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ, we all sit on the thrones of our own lives and serve mostly ourselves.  I remember not so long ago the homosexual community trying to use science to prove they really cannot be expected to behave sexually in any other way other than they do.  We don't hear much along those lines anymore.  They gave it up in favor of simply using personal anecdote to tug people's heartstrings.  They told stories of mistreatment and discrimination that should indeed raise our ire.  And as moral and legal restraints were gradually removed, sin ran its course and consciences got seared and we all felt like we knew someone who was gay.  Next thing you know, polls now reveal even the majority of those calling themselves "evangelical" embrace gay marriage.

These same tactics are now being used to foist a fog of gender confusion on us and our children.  Even Sesame Street recently tweeted a gay pride message using muppets the color of the infamous "rainbow."  Our pre-schoolers are being sexualized and gender-neutralized!  Christian parents be warned - the public school system is not your friend in this matter!  Just as they inculcated children with the view of homosexuality and bi-sexuality being something normal that must be accepted and celebrated, so they will not stop until your kids also think they have every right to think of themselves in any gender category they so desire.  Science be damned!  We will do what we want and answer to nobody.  One reason among many this pastor continues to strongly advocate for home-schooling!

But we, dear Church, must stand firm.  With love and respect and kindness for all people.  With God's truth on our lips.  With a biblical worldview that says "Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image.  He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation.  The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation" (The Baptist Faith & Message 2000).  We must love our children and our neighbors' children and our community enough to remind them that God's Law forbid men to dress as women (Deut 22:5).  The very desire to do so reveals an internal, heart rebellion against God's good creational design.  We must teach as Jesus taught:

"He who created them in the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man [singular masculine] shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife [singular feminine] and the two [not three or more] shall become one flesh'" (Matthew 19:4-5).

We, Church, must call all sin what it is - sin.  We must say what all sin merits from God - physical and spiritual death (Ezek 18:1-4; Rom 6:23).  We must point all sinners, all people, to the only One who can wash their hearts clean and make them a new person from the inside out - Jesus Christ (1 Cor 6:9-11).  We must never be mean-spirited or unkind to anyone (Luke 6:30-36).  But we must also never call evil good nor good evil, nor offer a bitter substitute for something sweet (Isa 5:20).  Sinners sin.  And sinners want to sin even more than they do and in ways which they may never even actually act upon (Matt 5:27-28).  This comes as no shock to Christians who know the truth of human nature (Eph 2:1-3).  But to celebrate sin (Eph 5:11) and "strengthen the hands of evildoers" (Jer 23:14) must be unthinkable for Christians.  

The Church of England is flirting with this very thing!  To offer and endorse a bitter pill (the devastating emotional, physical, mental and spiritual effects of gender dysphoria and hyper-sexuality) in the place of the sweet salvation and freedom from sin's bondage through faith in the Risen Lord Christ Jesus.

God help us.  If the darkness among those calling themselves the Church is this dark, what hope have we to "walk as children of light?"

Jane Roe was not her real name.  That's just the name the feminists gave her when they hijacked her life and her story to foist abortion on America.  They called her Jane Roe (Roe v Wade).  But as Pastor Jim Garlow recently quipped:

  History will remember her as "Jane Roe." But eternity will forever know her as Norma McCorvey, a child of God.

While Norma lived the first half of her life as a pro-abortion advocate, she gave the last half of her life to the pro-life cause.  And even better, she gave the last half of her life to the Lord Jesus Christ.  God used Pastor Flip Benham (yes, the Benham brothers' Dad) to lead her to faith in Christ.  Flip befriended her with love, and began pouring the gospel into her life.  She was stunned.  She had been told pro-lifers were mean and hateful.  By the grace of God, love won out in Norma's life!

In the summer of 1995, Norma repented of her sins and trusted in Jesus as Savior of her broken life.  Not only was her identity "stolen" by the abortion lobby, she also was essentially forced into giving her baby up for adoption. (Ironic, isn't it, that she never even had an abortion?)  But the blood of Jesus can wash the vilest sins from the worst of sinners!  Norma McCorvey was living proof.  Upon learning of her repentance and faith in Christ, Metroplex Chapel in Euless, TX, embraced her with the loving arms of Jesus.  Pastor Garlow describes it well:

Norma McCorvey, the "Jane Roe" of the infamous Roe v. Wade case had not only experienced the love and forgiveness of Jesus. She had now experienced the love and forgiveness of the body of Christ—the church. 

And that's as it should be!

Recently, one of the Pastors I am privileged to serve with here preached from Ephesians 2.  He spoke of our past, present and future.  And he noted that while past sins may be forgiven, our actual actions in the past simply cannot be changed.  But when the saving grace of God in Christ sweeps into our lives, our present and future are altered radically!  We receive a new history.  His story becomes our story.  We are wrapped up in Christ Jesus.  Seated with Him in the heavenly places.  Destined for an eternity of giving Him glory.  With all of the redeemed people of God in Christ.

Norma  - Jane Roe - is now experiencing the glorious eternal future ordained by God for those He saves.  Norma passed from death into life February 18, 2017, at age 69.  She is now and forever a trophy of God's amazing grace.

If you or someone close to you is suffering from the after effects of an abortion, or if you are pregnant and need help, please contact Choices Life Resource Center: http://choiceslrc.org/

For more detail on Norma's life, visit http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/63139-norma-mccorvey-s-first-church-experience-as-a-believer.

"Abortion Stops a Beating Heart!"

We've seen this bumper sticker on cars for decades now.  I'm not sure where the slogan came from, but it's certainly true.  Medical research is now showing an unborn baby's heartbeat can be detected at 12 weeks from conception, and sometimes even weeks earlier.  That means the brain has already developed enough to be "telling" the heart to beat!

One would think that someone who claims to be pro-life would unequivocally support the notion that "Abortion Stops a Beating Heart."  And one would think a pro-lifer would then desire to do whatever he or she could to keep as many of those little hearts beating as possible.  It makes so much common sense.

But not if you're Governor John Kasich.

Last week he vetoed the "Heartbeat Bill" which would have banned abortions in Ohio once a heartbeat was detected. And what's worse, the Ohio Right to Life supported his spineless decision!  The Ohio RTL cited potential difficulties getting such a bill to stand before the Supreme Court.

I think we can call that "fear of man."  Since when do we pro-lifers allow judicial viability to drive our decisions?  I thought we stood to defend the right to life!  Period.

And the Governor himself had the pathetic audacity to mention his concern about the cost of defending the Heartbeat Bill in the courts.  Did I just hear you correctly, Mr. Governor?  Saving babies is a great goal, but only if it doesn't cost too much?  Well, because of your cowardice and moral depravity, rest assured thousands of unborn boys and girls will continue to pay the ultimate price.  Your evil will cost them their lives.

While I was quite public in my lack of support for President-elect Donald Trump, I can now say, "Thank you Lord that John Kasich did not win the nomination."  I am hoping and praying Mr. Trump will demonstrate a true moral and ethical spine in the matter of the pro-life cause.  God make it so.  O Lord, remove this scourge from our culture.  How can we ever hope to glorify You as Creator and Sustainer of life when we continue to snuff it out in its most innocent and harmless form?

At this time of year, Christmastime, it is worth remembering and celebrating that our Mighty God did not ask Mary her opinion.  God did not give Mary the "right to do what she wanted with her own body."  Rather, He declared what would be!  He would use her to bring Himself great glory and to bless the peoples of the earth with His salvation in Jesus Christ.  With His sovereign, almighty Spirit, He simply "overshadowed" her and "therefore the child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).

Thank You God for being a Rock of Life.  Forgive our national cowardice.  And replace our yellow-bellied leaders with men and women of genuine, biblical convictions.  For the sake of Christ's fame among the nations.  Amen.            

Well, the most disgusting presidential campaign in my voting lifetime is over.  For that I thank God.  Let's take a really big breath.  In through the nose.  Hold it.  Out through the mouth.  There.  Feel better?

No?  I didn't think so.

At the risk of simply causing more angst, I want to help my few readers reflect a bit.  Hopefully, this will help and not hurt.  And I especially want to focus our church on what matters most now, in the aftermath.

• To those of my well-meaning brothers and sisters who chided me for "voting my conscience" (which for me meant a write-in vote for Tom Hoefling), I want to ask that you realize what a gift God gave me.  He allowed me a legitimate write-in option that did not force me to wrestle my conscience to the ground, crawl over it, and vote for a candidate with horribly immoral character.  The Christian conscience matters greatly.  If we believe it is being sanctified by the Holy Spirit and formed into the image of Christ, if we believe we "have the mind of Christ" then conscience is a big deal!  We are told to live out our faith with a clear conscience (1 Peter 3:16; see also Acts 24:16; 1 Tim 3:9).  We do not want to become "seared in our conscience" (1 Tim 4:2).  So, while our inner thought life might not be a completely infallible guide (1 John 3:21), it is a dangerous practice for Christians to ignore, suppress, or just plain beat back their consciences.  If you justified such a thing too easily, I gently urge you to humbly pray Psalm 139:23-24.  Only God can speak to your conscience.  Only God can change you at that level.  Seek Him.  Our consciences should always be only beholden to God and His Word.
• To those who voted differently than me, and who cast their vote for Trump with a clean conscience before God, I confess I am grateful that Clinton did not win.  I do think she would have been even worse than Trump in the matter of critical moral issues such as abortion, as well as other issues such as national defense.  I stick to my guns, though, that a President Trump is still an act of Divine judgment on the United States.  I hope the next four years prove me wrong!  And I am thankful our Lord is so good that He is still sprinkling mercy even in the midst of His acts of judgment against our nation.  His mercies are seen especially in some of the congressional and state and local elections across the land.  Why is God still even allowing us to remain a mostly free people, with glimmers of hope?  It's all of His mercy!  Praise the Lord!  His judgments are righteous.  His mercies are sweet.  Praise the Lord!
• To the Republican Party, are you listening?  An unprecedented number of us did not vote for either major party candidate.  I realize the bureaucrats may ignore my voice, but for me this election changed a lot of things.  I used to settle for "the lesser of two evils."  After all, the Gospel tells me I am always voting for a sinner in need of grace.  But this is the first election where neither front-runner even had a modicum of upright character.  In the past, the "lesser" candidates still had decent moral character.  Reagan / Carter.  Both President's Bush.  Romney.  McCain.  And though I have not agreed with much of anything he has done, President Obama has at least not womanized in office, or if he has we have somehow been kept in the dark about it.  So to the Republican Party I say, "If you want my vote in the future presidential races, you had better give me a candidate of character.  Character matters!  
• On a totally political note, am I the only one who struggles with the whole "electoral college" thing?  I think it was a great idea back in the day.  But in the 21st century, can't we just let the candidate who garners the most votes win?  Period?  I mean think of it. There is always a distinct possibility that your vote actually will not count for squat!  This is what some of my critics warned me of when I announced my intention to write in Tom Hoefling.  "You're wasting your vote."  Well, first I say the highest purpose of a vote is not to pick only someone you think can actually win.  But secondly, I say if Trump had won Indiana, but lost nationally, your vote would have been wasted too!  In fact, my votes for the last two presidential races accomplished precisely that - a whole bunch of nothing.  It can get depressing.  If we truly want every American to believe "every vote counts," then maybe we should rethink the electoral college.  And no, I am not smart enough to say much more than that.

Now, on to much more significant things.  Dear Church of the Living God, let me address you for a moment.  As believers in post-Christian America, we had better start to get a handle on these things right quick:

• God is sovereign.  To say things like "if people in the 90s had not voted for a third party candidate we would have never had President Bill Clinton" as a way to warn others not to vote their conscience, is just false.  The world may argue with that logic, but Bible believers should not.  There is absolutely no way we could have had anyone other than President Bill Clinton!  And there is absolutely no way we could have had any winner yesterday other than Donald Trump.  Sure, God uses human means to accomplish His will, but make no mistake, there is only one vote that really counts when it comes to world rulers (1 Sam 2; Psalm 75:5; 103:19; Dan 2:21; 4:17; Luke 1:52; Rom 13:1-7).  Friends, when the Holy Spirit says through Paul that God "works all things after the counsel of His will" He means it.  And as Christians we must take great comfort in it.  There is only and ever One King.
• Related to the above, evangelical believers are going to have to learn to rest in God's control of all things.  This would stop all our fear-mongering and anxiety.  To hear some of the Christians I know talk prior to this election, my vote was going to throw the entire nation into an irreversible tail spin (as if we've not been in that death spiral for decades already now).  Don't get me wrong, I take voting seriously.  It's not that it doesn't matter, it's just that it doesn't ultimately matter.  I know God may allow America to last until Christ returns, but He also may not.  I know every nation is headed to the feet of King Jesus.  All peoples will acknowledge Him as Lord (Phil 2).  I went to sleep well before the results were in last night.  I slept well.  No anxiety, by God's grace.  Why?  Because I knew when I awoke this morning King Jesus would still be at His Father's right hand, interceding for His blood-bought people and waiting until His enemies be made His footstool.  Rest easy Church.  Rest easy.  This world is not our home.  We're living for an eternal kingdom.  A fearful, anxious Church diminishes the glory of Christ in this world.  
• Moral authority.  The Church has been steadily losing it for 30-50 years.  When we try to speak to cultural issues of our day, we're basically ignored.  And no, I do not think for a second electing Donald Trump has changed that reality.  Our voice is mocked and ignored.  Why?  Perhaps because we're morally inconsistent.  We cry out for former President Clinton's head on a platter when he proves unfaithful to his wife, and then turn around and throw our full weight behind a candidate whose womanizing ways probably make Mr. Clinton blush.  And perhaps our moral authority is gone because those calling themselves Christians support the democratic party platform, which calls evil good and good evil.  Think on it Church.  Think on it.  "Judgment must begin in the household of God"(1 Peter 4:17).  We need to repent and return to our First Love.  And we had better get used to the idea of being the lone prophetic voice denouncing the evil and corruption of our nation and her peoples, where ever it is found.  And yes, that includes the logs in our own eyes (Matt 7:1-5).
• Mission.  It has not changed.  O Church arise!  This election did not even remotely impact our mission from our Savior to go make Him known to our neighbors and to the peoples of the world.  Be grateful we have freedom still to preach Jesus on the street corners (at least on most streets).  Ask God to help us leverage our wealth and our freedom to get the Gospel to more people in more places!  Stay on mission.  Stay on point.  Don't lose focus on lesser things.  Unite around the flag stained with the blood of our Savior, slain in place of sinners, risen for our justification!
• Gospel.  This is what Christians are supposed to be most about, whether in China or Corydon.  What kind of nation gives us Trump and Clinton as our two primary representatives?  The kind of nation that is lost and dying and walking in darkness under demonic domination.  The kind of nation that needs the Gospel.  The darker the American night gets, the brighter the Light of the World shines!  If we were all as passionate about promoting Jesus as we have been about promoting our favorite candidates this year, our churches would have probably doubled in size over the last 11 months!  God make us gospel people through and through.
• Pray.  We must now pray for President-elect Trump.  Like never before.  He needs to be humbled and he needs to, for the first time in his life, ask God to forgive him of his sins.  Imagine this happening in the White House!  Our God is able.  Let's cry out to Him on behalf of all our leaders (1 Tim 2:1-8) that we might continue to live in peace and have the ability to freely spread the Gospel.
• Confession and Forgiveness.  Last but in no way least, if you or I have said things that other believers in Christ may have found offensive or personally hurtful during this crazy election cycle, let's seek grace from God to humble ourselves, confess our sins to one another, pray for one another and be healed (James 5:16).  The Savior who unites us is far bigger than any political differences or personality quirks.  Let's not dishonor His name by refusing to ask for forgiveness where needed.  Let's display that radical love by which all men may know that we are His disciples (John 13:35).  Let's link arms to take His love and message into the culture of death and darkness.  We need each other beloved.  More now than ever.  Don't forget it.

 

Back in the summer of 1787, on the narrow streets of Philadelphia in what is now called Independence Hall, god-fearing men were sequestered for 100 days in the hot summer sun.  Laboring.  Debating.  And finally, in the end and only by the miraculous grace of God, crafting the US Constitution.

On the way home on that final day, having just produced the most politically unique document in human history, Ben `rank`lin was approached by a neighborly lady outside Independence Hall.  She got right to the point, asking, "Well doctor, what have we got?  A republic or a monarchy?"  `rank`lin's reply was legendary:

"A republic, madam - if you can keep it."

That one line - if you can keep it - contains the very philosophy and hopes of our nation's founders.  And it is the title of Eric Metaxas' latest book.  Having just finished the book, I commend it to every American.  But in particular, I urge every Christian in America to read it.  And even more especially, I urge the precious members of the church I pastor to take the time to read this book before you go vote in November.

Unlike most every political book I've ever read, this one grounds the very promise of self-government in the spiritual condition of the colonists.  You see, the writers of our Constitution dared to form a government of "We the People" only because they truly believed their fellow Americans possessed a common morality to enable them to do so.  And that common morality was undeniably impacted and formed by the First Great Awakening.

That Awakening was a sovereign move of God's Spirit on the American people's hearts whereby He swept many into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and made them new creatures in Christ.  The preaching of men like Jonathon Edwards and George Whitfield and John and Charles Wesley was the instrument God Almighty used to light this spiritual fuse in the new nation.  Our Founders wrote extensively on their faith in the Christian Bible and the Christian religion.  I scarcely need to even argue the point that they leaned heavily on the Bible and the values and ethics contained therein to structure our Republic.  Even the least godly and spiritual of our Founders, such as `rank`lin, wrote things that made them sound like ministers of the Gospel.  It was the "non-Christian" `rank`lin, after many weeks of absolute deadlock within the Constitutional Convention that led the men to began crying out in daily prayers together for God's aid to bring them to unity!

Alexis de Tocqueville came from France in the mid-1800s to study the wonder of American culture and political success.  He wrote in his book Democracy in America:

Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.  America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.

That quote has been used by many Presidents, including Eisenhower, Reagan and Clinton.  And Tocqueville went on to conclude, "Liberty cannot be established without morality."  That's precisely what our Founders believed! Regarding the various Christian denominations (which he called sects) in 19th century America, de Tocqueville wrote:

The sects that exist in the United States are innumerable.  They all differ in respect to the worship which is due to the Creator; but they all agree in respect to the duties which are due from man to man.  Each sect adores the Deity in its own peculiar manner, but all sects preach the same moral law in the name of God . . . Moreover, all the sects of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity, and Christian morality is everywhere the same.  

Friends, are you starting to see the very fabric that made our Nation powerful and unique for so many decades?  Looking to Divine Revelation in the Bible for our morality bound us together as a people.  It is why our Founders believed we might actually be able to "keep" the Republic they gave us.  I distinctly remember my Dad telling me that when he was growing up, even the pagan neighbors held to a common ethical and moral code as the church-going neighbors!  Now we have churches calling themselves Christian who endorse the very behaviors God so clearly calls sin in His Word.  America no longer even has a shared moral code among Christianity, much less among Hollywood and Wall Street.  God help us.  How can we ever govern ourselves like this?

This is not to say past generations of Americans were less sinful, or less in need of the forgiveness that comes only by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.  It is rather to say that this very gospel truth being proclaimed from pulpits and street corners and even the Halls of Congress is what created our Republic and gave hope to people that they just might be able to "keep it."  Our Nation needs a revival of God coming through the Gospel once again!  And that must needs begin with us, dear Christians and churches.

Today, extremes are becoming fashionable.  To hate America.  Or to idolize America.  Neither is good.  Of course we have national sins in our past, present, and surely in our future.  We need to keep repenting of them and asking God in Christ to forgive us and heal us.  On the other hand, we have some reasons to think we just might still be unconquerable.  After all, we've produced the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Billy Graham.  Yes, I realize those two people are universes apart theologically.  But my point is - would those two have arisen from any other nation in the world?  America worked for them!  Why don't we see democratic republics in China, or southeast Asia, or the Middle Eastern countries, or Northern Africa?  Why doesn't it work when we try to export democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan?

Spiritual truth and realities drive all others.  People whose hearts have not been radically transformed by the grace of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ do not typically thrive in a system of self-government.  They almost require some form of tyranny or monarchy or dictatorship.  It's the only way to keep law and order.  

Now consider what is happening every day across America.  And maybe you'll see why I believe with every fiber of my being that our one and only hope for somehow "keeping it" is a Sovereign move of God to give us another Great Awakening.  No political ruler or party can possibly rescue America from herself.  Law and order will continue to disintegrate unless and until the King of Kings either revives His people and sends us out once again a people on fire for telling everyone of Him, or He returns in glory to literally reign over all in majesty and grace.  I'm praying God will once again make America good, by applying the blood of Jesus to more and more hearts as we share the gospel widely.  I'm praying we'll then be able to once again massively export true goodness - the righteousness of Christ applied by grace through faith - to the nations of the world.

Interested in this line of thinking?  Read If You Can Keep It.  But mostly, keep reading your Bibles.

Quite a stir in the NFL right now.  Players and entire teams are now trying to make political statements during the playing of the National Anthem.  And, as expected, since kids all over America look up to those spoiled-rotten, millionaire boys-in-men's bodies, the "kneel down" protest has spread to middle and high schools.  It's all enough to to make this US Marine Corps Veteran want to strap an M-16 to their backs and drop them all in the middle of Iraq or Afghanistan so they can experience what it takes to provide such immense freedom that even enables them to protest while uniformed men and women hold the flag right in front of them in stadiums, standing at attention and saluting from the first note to the last.

While some have claimed they, as Americans, have this "right" or "freedom" to protest during the anthem, it is worth noting that 36 US Code 301, passed by Congress, states regarding civilians: "During a rendition of the National Anthem . . . all other persons present should face the flag, and stand at attention with their right hand over their heart, and men . . . should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart."

We used to be a Nation of Laws.  Now, we are lawless.  We celebrate lawlessness.  Sure, if a law violates God's Word, as a Christian, I am obligated to obey God and "protest" or "disobey" my government.  But friends, there's nothing in the Bible forbidding us to obey our nation's laws and protocols during national anthems.  So, believers in the Church who are defending the actions of these lawless millionaires might want to rethink in light of Romans 13.

While I support the 1st Amendment doggedly, I do not think it wise to use the National Anthem as the "platform" for protest or redressing grievances.  Imagine our Olympic athletes doing so during a medal ceremony!  Do you think the men and women in the military always agree with everything happening in our nation?  Yet they stand at attention and salute every single time.  Why?  Because they have been trained in the doctrine of law and order!  I mean, where will this end?  Should we allow people to burn the flag during the anthem?  Go spit in the faces of the sergeant holding the flag on the field?  Go punch a police officer trying to direct traffic in the parking lot?  Lawlessness leads to these very things, and no doubt someone somewhere is already planning it or maybe has done it.

And just what are these athletes protesting?  Racism.  Injustice in the law enforcement and/or court systems.  That's what they are claiming.  And I agree those things exist.  And I agree they are sinful and wrong.  And I agree we as a nation and especially we Christians in the Church ought to be fighting hard against them.

But I disagree that this platform is an acceptable means.  And I disagree that these millionaire boys are the right bearers of this banner of protest.  After all, they have "made it."  Many of them may have come "from the hood" but let's face it, they ain't there anymore!  America worked for them!

But, maybe just maybe some of them desire to use their privileged status to fight for the under-privileged.  If that is so, it's noble.  And yet again, I want to strongly protest the method and manner of their protest.  It is actually a lawless and senseless way to go about fighting for justice for all.  A better way would be for them to sacrifice their lavish lifestyles and don a police uniform.  Start walking the beat in the hood.  Or give up your millions, like your colleague Pat Tilman, to enlist in the Army.  Or at bare minimum use your star power to establish organizations that get police officers and citizens and judges all enjoying picnics together in their towns, talking to one another, listening to one another, loving one another.  

Kneeling during the anthem accomplishes nothing.  Sacrificial love conquers all injustices, though.  And this really has been and continues to be the purview of the Church.  Right?  Of all people, we followers of Christ should know the solution to injustices can never be merely political.  And the NFL has absolutely no real power to change men's hearts.  "Lawless" is an accurate description of every person.  And only the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross can remove the penalty of God against our lawlessness.  Only a new heart given by God's Spirit as we trust in the life, death and resurrection of Christ in our place will destroy bigotry and racism and injustice in our hearts.  We must remember, dear Christians, we were once the ones refusing to kneel before the Lord.  We once refused to salute His banner of love.  But He came to us in great mercy and gave us life and set us free to love Him and His Law (John 8:36; Eph 2:1-10).

Church, we can belly-ache all we want about these protests and the lawless condition of our culture.  And we can even disagree on the politics behind some of it.  And we can choose to turn off our TV sets, too, when the NFL games are on!  But we must never forget that this whole "freedom" and self-rule project called the United States of America rested on the spiritual values the Colonists once shared in the mid-1700s. This has been chronicled so well by Eric Metaxas in his book If You Can Keep It.  I'll turn my attention to that in future posts.  But for now, let us renew our commitment to proclaiming true justice and freedom only through the cross of our Lord and Savior.  What these football players are protesting is real.  And the fix for it is something only the Church possesses.  So go tell the millionaires and the hourly workers, the rich and poor - only Jesus saves, and only His kingdom will know no end.  All other flags will be furled eventually.  

Until then, work for continued political freedom and law and order, for sure.  But never misplace your ultimate allegiance.  If you've spent hours on social media arguing about the NFL protests, why not vow to spend even more hours speaking about true righteousness, and true justice, and the solution God gives in Christ for our unrighteous, lawless hearts?

"And every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them, I heard saying, 'To Him who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever'" (Revelation 5:13).

As Russell Moore says in his book Onward, we are Americans best when we are not Americans first.               

The man who called himself "the Greatest" is dead.

The Louisville Lip who used to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee was reduced to frailty and near inability to even speak in his final decades.  Like every man before him.  Ashes to ashes.  Dust to dust.

I never admired Muhammad Ali.  While his athletic prowess was world-class, I never bragged on him or admired him or thought much of him at all.  Maybe it's because my childhood memories are mostly 1980s, when Larry Holmes was the undisputed champ.  But mostly it's because my Dad, my earthly hero, told me Muhammad Ali was a coward not worth admiring.

My Dad, you see, was drafted in 1966.  Keep in mind Dad was a junior in college, was married, and was already intending to pursue pastoral ministry.  He could have easily pulled one of those "cards" to avoid military service.  He knew plenty of men who did pull those cards!

But not my Dad.  Not only did he do his duty, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps because he figured if he was going to go to Vietnam (a given in those days), he might as well go with the best!  And go he did.  Two tours in Vietnam.  Four years of active duty service total.  Battlefield promoted to Sergeant.  Winner of the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (the second highest medal for that government, if memory serves me).  My sister was not yet 1 year old when Dad left for 'Nam.  Call me crazy, but in my book, this is what heroes are made of.

"Somebody died in his place.  Somebody's son died in the place of that coward."  

That was Dad's assessment of "The Greatest."  It has been amazing to me how in the media aftermath of Ali's death, no one has mentioned the almost comical irony of Cassius Clay conveniently changing his name and his religion to avoid going into a real war.  With real bullets.  With real heroes who bled and died by the tens of thousands.  Sacrificed themselves for others, for a cause greater than themselves.  I mean, come on, does anyone out there not see the laughable irony of an "Islamic conscientious objector"?  Could you imagine someone trying to pull that card today?

I served for over five years in the Marine Corps alongside American Muslims.  In no way do I mean to belittle them or their religion.  The Marines I served with who were practicing Muslims trained hard and deployed, leaving family behind, and were ready to sacrifice for America just like me.  And just like my Dad did 45 years ago.  But that's precisely my point - they would not have even considered it an option to "opt out due to religion."  And `rank`ly, I am not sure any man should be permitted to do so.  It has always gotten under my skin that Muhammad Ali got filthy rich from a country he was not even willing to serve in the trenches.  All the benefits with no sacrifice.

Almost sounds like the new motto of America, huh?!

Well, perhaps you'll excuse this rant.  Perhaps not.  But one thing I can assure you of, I do not think Muhammad Ali was the greatest.  Not even close.  I am sad for his family.  But even sadder for him.  He spent his adult life in arrogance and defiance of the one true God.  He died, as far as anyone knows, believing that the Man who was truly The Greatest - Jesus the Christ - would one bow His knee to Muhammad the prophet of Islam.

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason God has highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him a name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:8-11).

Turns out Dad was right.  Somebody's son no doubt did die in the jungles of Vietnam in the place of the Louisville Lip.  But even more critically for all of us to grasp is that God's Holy Son, the Divine-Man Jesus, died in place of all His sinful people who would cry out to Him for forgiveness.  D-day is coming for us all.  Bow to Jesus today and you will know the joy and soul deep peace that no religion of human merits / works can ever truly give!  Islam is a religion of self-salvation, and a very uncertain one at that.  But no man, not even one we called "the greatest," can save himself from his sins.  That's why we call Jesus . . . Savior.  

One can't help but wonder what might have been had Ali submitted his life and his prideful lips to the Lord Christ. Surely nobody would have been able to get him to shut up about the love and grace of King Jesus!  But it was not to be.  His death is sad.  And thousands more are dying all around us on their way to the same Christ-less hell.

O Lord Jesus. help us start boasting more of You and Your cross!  And help us guard carefully who we extol as a hero.  Amen.  

Recently 1.5 million people signed a boycott of Target when it became public knowledge that the retail chain's bathroom policy is essentially "anything goes."

I signed it.  I encouraged others to do likewise.  But is this over-reacting?  Is the right of a citizen to use whatever bathroom or locker room he or she feels like using really worth making such a fuss over?

Well, only if you believe women and children are worth protecting.  Only if you believe God created men to protect women and children at all costs.  Only if you believe absolute truth exists and allowing a person to live in some kind of "alternate reality" (i.e., a lie) is actually not a loving, kind and commendable thing to do.  Only if you believe relativism leads to utter chaos and lawlessness in a society.

So, yeah, count me in as one of those who thinks this is a war worth fighting!

Some of us weirdo Bible-believing, Christ-exalting preachers actually predicted this very kind of thing after the SCOTUS put themselves in the place of God and redefined marriage.  Once that floodgate was down, look out America!  We have not seen anything yet.

And so already we are seeing absurd "laws" passed in states allowing a man with male genitalia to freely expose himself to my daughters in a public restroom!  Sexual predators are notoriously crafty and are 98% male.  Are we actually insane enough to think this will in no way backfire?  And, the reverse is also true.  A woman with female genitalia can now walk in and watch me urinate, and expose herself to me and any other men in that locker room or restroom.  Do we really need PhD scientists to tell us this might not be wise?  Are we living in that much denial about basic human nature?

Already we are seeing Congress begin to push for forcing our daughters to register with the selective service.  I suspect if this ever passes, assuming they do not offer a "conscientious objector clause," I and many other Christian men will find ourselves on the wrong side of the law.  They may need bigger jails, or they may need to be prepared to draft all us 40-something Dads who will go fight in our daughters' places!  Funny, I just read Judges 4-5 with my daughters this morning where we noted God mocks Balak for being such a coward that he insisted a woman go into battle with him.  But this is where a misunderstanding of true "equality" lands us.

We have become a society that wildly celebrates women bashing one another's faces to bloody bits.  I'm not even sure we should celebrate men doing this, much less make a cultural icon out of Ronda Rousy.  But I guess Ronda is old hat now, since she was defeated by "The Preacher's Daughter" Holly Holm.  And her pastor Dad was in the ring with her celebrating her violent victory over a fellow bearer of God's holy image.  If the church has so lost its way in the matter of true womanhood, America is hopeless.

And let's not forget that Fallon Fox, a biological man who self-identifies as a woman, recently was allowed to enter the cage to fight a biological woman (who happened to be an outspoken lesbian) named Tamikka Brents.  In less than 3 minutes, Fox fractured Brents' orbital, gave her multiple concussions, and probably ended her career as a fighter.  One blogger / commentator hit the nail on the head when he wrote, “On Saturday September 13, 2014 in a ‘cage’ in the Springfield, Illinois Convention Center, a crowd gathered to watch something that happens thousands of times a day worldwide: a man battered a woman” (https://gendertrender.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/fallon-fox-why-hormones-dont-make-a-woman/).

Turns out feminism just cannot seem to get the "man" out of men, no matter how hard it tries.  This is all a sickening project, America.  Please wake up from your relativistic slumber!  If science was supposed to save us from ourselves, it's failing miserably!  Interesting, isn't it, how we place so much faith in "science" in matters that are actually not even observable (such as the origins of life and age of the earth), and yet reject clear, observable science in other matters (such as biological maleness and femaleness).

God save us!  For only You can!  Help us point all people to the God-man, the Man of all men, Christ Jesus.  Jesus took the wrath reserved for us due to our insistence on being our own gods, due to our insistence on defining ourselves however we want.  That's what happened on the cross for all whom God would call to Himself and who would therefore call out to Him for redeeming mercy!  Is there hope for men, women, boys, girls, even those who are totally confused about who and what they are?

Yes!  His name is Jesus.  In Him, women find their true identity as women, and men find their true identity as men.  Want to read some amazing stories of the life transforming power of Jesus, even among the LGBT community?  Check out Brooklyn Tabernacle.  (www.brooklyntabernacle.org).