Your Duty

 

Your Duty to Engage with Good to Overcome Evil by Bill Wilson

In recent days, many emails have expressed discouragement with the political process and the quality of candidates that are winning. Some point to scriptures saying that God establishes the leaders, or the election is in God's hands, or God removes kings and sets up kings.

Others question how God will judge them for their vote. Using scriptures to justify not voting, voting for a third party, or writing in a candidate that has no chance of winning, in this particular election, is a vote for the dark side. Not voting or throwing away a vote still counts.

To those worried about judgment will in that day God say, "You had the choice I put before you and you chose not to choose"?

Kind of like the parable of hiding the talents? 

Aside from advancing the Islamic Marxist policies and agenda that have been established over the past eight years, there is the possibility of at least two Supreme Court appointments. If these fall into leftist--not just liberal--but leftist hands, as we have seen with the most recent appointments, the law and the Constitution will be twisted beyond recognition.

There is more at stake in this election than just another four years of Islamic Marxism, which is bad enough. Hillary Clinton's top aide is a Muslim Brotherhood operative, from a family of Muslim Brotherhood operatives. The Saudis essentially bought and paid for her husband's Presidential library. The list goes on and on. 

1 Samuel 8 describes how the elders of Israel got a king. They came to Samuel and said, "make us a king to judge us like all the nations."

Samuel went to God about it. God told Samuel to tell them what a king would do--tax them, take their daughters and sons for his own work, take a tenth of their sheep, and make them all servants.

The people still demanded a king. Verse 22 says, "Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king."

The ensuing chapters describe how Saul was chosen by God out of all the tribes, how he was introduced to the people, and the problems that came with it. God allowed the people to have their way.

He has let Americans have their way as well. 

Herein is my point. We do not have kings in America--no matter how flawed the system is--we have a choice for our leaders. Yes, God is sovereign, however, it is not an either/or situation. If you believe in free will, you also understand that God orders the steps of the faithful. God chooses to act through man. Otherwise nothing would be required of his creation.

You have to make the choice to receive God's gift of salvation and then you are commanded to the Great Commission, to overcome evil with good, to love one another, etc.

With all that is held in the balance for us as a people and as a nation, and knowing the difference of good and evil, we all have a duty to engage in this election.

 

 

The 88th Academy Awards

 

Commentary on the Academy Awards by Dr. Jim Denison

 

The 88th Academy Awards are still making news today. Two themes resonated last Sunday night that mirror the moral and spiritual condition of our culture today.

One: Whatever hurts others is wrong for us.

Spotlight won for Best Picture. The movie focuses on the Catholic church's clergy abuse scandal. Leonardo DiCaprio won for Best Actor and used his speech to warn against the dangers of climate change. (For more, see Nick Pitts's Leo Wins Oscar: Is Climate Change the Most Urgent Threat?) Lady Gaga delivered the most-discussed musical element of the night, focusing on the horror of sexual abuse. And host Chris Rock commented all night long about the lack of diversity among the nominees.

Two: Whatever you do personally is right for you.

Alicia Vikander won Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl, portraying the wife of a man who undergoes surgery to become a woman. Eddie Redmayne was nominated for Best Actor in the same film. Cate Blanchett was nominated for Best Actress, portraying a housewife who is threatened with losing custody of her daughter because she has a sexual relationship with another woman.

Why would Hollywood pass judgment on what people do collectively while accepting what people do personally?

It is conventional wisdom today that truth is personal and morals are subjective. As a result, the highest good in our culture is acceptance. Since we have no standard by which to judge others, we have no right to judge others.

But we know that this relativistic worldview cannot sustain a collective society. If all truth is personal, the Holocaust could be Hitler's "truth" and 9/11 could be al-Qaeda's "truth." So we judge personal behavior by the collective good. Behavior that hurts other people is rejected; behavior that doesn't affect others is accepted.

Such pragmatism is not a new idea. J. S. Mill published Utilitarianism in 1861, arguing that we should work for the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The late Richard Rorty, dean of American philosophers, claimed that truth is a social construct to be defined and lived in community.

Of course, God's word holds us to a higher standard than the common good. In fact, our Lord calls us to "be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). Why?

One: God knows that people, not societies, are immortal. C. S. Lewis: "Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat." We will each stand individually before God one day (2 Corinthians 5:10). You will receive or lose eternal rewards based on your personal holiness and commitment to Jesus today (1 Corinthians 3:11–15).

Two: People change culture. If Leonardo DiCaprio wants to impact climate change, he needs people to act personally. The same for sexual abuse or any other cultural challenge. Changed people change the world.

Last Sunday's Oscars will soon fade from the collective conversation. But what you do to love and serve Jesus today will echo in heaven, forever.

 

 

Our Desperate Need for Repentence

"If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14

If we do not turn from our wicked way and place our lives and our nation at the feet of Christ again, there are countless ways our devastation can be accomplished.

From meteors hurling in space to criminal illegal aliens crossing our unsecured borders, the instruments of our destruction are near at hand.

"Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." Galatians 6:7
"Be sure your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23

May we not be hard-hearted and entrenched in our sin...its penalty is far higher than our finite minds can calculate. Christ's love has already paid its price. May we not be so foolish as to reject so great a gift.

Nation In Distress

 

 

Stand or Fall?

We live in an age of deception. Politicians will promise anything to get elected to office. Telephone scam artists will pull anything to relieve an elderly soul of his hard earned money. Advertisers will assure unbelievable results if you will only buy his product.

And the list is endless, for there is no limit to the ways one can be deluded into accepting the lies of the unscrupulous. There is a high price to pay if one allows himself to be scammed--whether by a politician who unravels the fabric of a country or a false advertiser who promises restored youth.

A snake oil salesman, no matter his guise, is still a snake oil salesman.

And there is no greater treachery than that of a false spiritual leader. The one who says, "Thus saith the Lord," but who is not a true vessel through whom the Holy One speaks is a predator who will devour the gullible and relegate his soul to the pit.

Whole religious movements have been founded upon such deception and the world is a dangerous place because of the false prophets' success in dissuading their followers from truth.

The Word of God that cannot fail and cannot lie says, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

In order to survive in this age of delusion, YOU must know the truth! You must not merely accept what you hear from another individual as truth, but you must peruse the BIBLE and there find the immutable truth of the SAVIOR for yourself.

You must receive the Holy Spirit of the Living God who has been promised to "teach you all things." John 14:26

You must stand on the WORD of God or you will fall for a lie.

SOCIALISM FAILS--EVERY TIME IT'S TRIED!

The government has NOTHING to give to me that it hasn't taken from someone else.

The Biblical view of socialism / communism is that it's wrong. The Word of God is clear that man is to work, to earn his living. The Bible states clearly, "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." II Thessalonians 3:10

This is not to exclude generosity to those who are in need for reasons beyond their control; it is simply to state that a society cannot survive when it is based upon redistribution of wealth...and failed socialist / communist countries have proven this in the past. 

Can we learn from their mistakes or will we remake them?

Only those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.

Words to Ponder

“Because iniquity will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”  Matthew 24:12

Quotes of Presidents

"I SAW SEVASTOPOL and Yalta! And I know that there is not room enough on earth for both German militarism and Christian decency."  Franklin D. Roosevelt

"I give and bequeath my soul to God who gave it, my body to the earth, hoping that through and by the merits, sufferings, and mediation of my only Savior Jesus Christ, I may be admitted into the Kingdom prepared by God for those who love, fear and truly serve Him." Charles Carroll

The Scope of Prayer

 

March 1

Prayer

"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” John 17:9

Jesus gives the prayer in John 17 specifically for His disciples and for a specific reason. It was not the time to pray for any other than His disciples. However, this does not mean that Jesus never prayed for anyone but His disciples.

If we are supposed to pray only for converted brethren but not for our unconverted countrymen, how can we follow Jesus' many other examples and commands about this topic?

For example, Matthew 5:44-45, 48:

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

. . . Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

What a statement! He says praying for people outside the church is part of what defines us as children of our Father in heaven! Those who hate us and spitefully use us are certainly not fellow church members or converted believers, yet our Savior commands us to pray for them! There is perhaps no clearer passage on this topic!

In fact, how many of those whom Jesus prayed for and healed were "in the church" or had God's Spirit? Probably none of them! How many were worldly sinners? Certainly most of them, maybe even all of them!

Later, while hanging on the cross, Jesus practiced perfectly what He had preached, once more praying for people of the world: "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do," (Luke 23:34).

What clearer example could we have?

In fact, though Jesus did not participate at all in any of the world's evils, He lived His life among the people. Because He grew up in the home of a carpenter, He interacted with the public constantly. He never shied away from the people of the world. He enjoyed people, weddings, and parties enough to be accused—falsely, of course—of being "a glutton and a winebibber."

He felt comfortable accepting an invitation to dinner at the house of a Pharisee—He was even bold enough to invite Himself to dinner at the home of Zacchaeus, an ill-reputed tax collector!

How do we fare among the world? Are we comfortable with our "unconverted" neighbors? Would we accept dinner invitations and attend social occasions? Jesus, our Elder Brother, did.

Jesus was not like the Pharisees—the very name means "the separated ones"—who acted "holier than thou." Yes, we should separate ourselves from the ways of the world. Yes, we should live a holy life (I Peter 1:15-16). After all, we have the Holy Spirit. But we should not be like those "who admonish that we Keep to ourselves, do not come near me, for I am holier than you!

In Isaiah 65:5, God says of them, "These are smoke in My nostrils."