Why Jesus Would Not Vote For Obama

Disregarding the difficulties and ironies of Jesus voting for anybody, there is key information in the Bible which gives us a clear understanding of policies that God does not condone and by extension, would not vote for.

Besides the obvious ugly sin policy of legal abortion, the fiercely debated but no less wrong homosexual ‘marriage’ policies of various states, and the not-governments-responsibility of most social programs and pet projects, there are the social welfare policies. Policies which allow and even encourage people who will not work to continue in idleness. Policies which discourage people from earning their food and keep. Policies which encourage people to believe they are owed something merely for their existance.

Couched in the phraseology of “neighborliness” by Senator Barack Hussein Obama and “patriotism” by Senator Joseph Biden, those of us who make money are told we ought to pay more of our money to allow those ‘less fortunate’ to thrive.

How are they less fortunate?

My financial counselor asked me a key question on our first consultation: what was my greatest asset? It was my self, and now, my wife and I together. As long as we are and exist, our greatest asset is not one of our possessions or investments, but our potential.

True fortune is measured not by what we’ve achieved but by our potential. Every man’s potential is vast and unmeasured. By choosing a goal and doing all that is necessary to achieve that goal, man can change his fortune to wealth.

By choosing to live on the scraps of others, a man is squandering his fortune. By his own choice.

So what does Jesus have to do with this and why would He not support Obama?

Here are just three of the many Bible verses which speak regarding Social Welfare programs:

Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived with you? “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” And now we’re getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of you. This must not be tolerated. We command them to get to work immediately—no excuses, no arguments—and earn their own keep. Friends, don’t slack off in doing your duty.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 (The Message)

Is that not obvious? “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” There is not much wiggle room there.

There are definitely cases where the rule ought to be applied with grace, such as the case of widows or the truly infirm. But even then, all work is not hard or demanding, and some things are capable of being done by anybody, almost regardless their condition.

Besides the obvious and immediate benefits of food, work and accomplishment encourage a healthy self-image as well as a correct view of the worth and value.

Appetite is an incentive to work; hunger makes you work all the harder.

Proverbs 16:26 (The Message)

Again, the need for food drives the will to work.

Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

Galatians 6:7-8

God apparently takes this personally. To not work is to reap slothfulness. To succeed while not exerting yourself in good pursuits is something God does not smile upon.

All this to say, to those who couch their support for Obama in terms of his being most attuned to “WWJD” it would be well worth your while to check again your assumtions regarding what He would really do.

I work that I may support the necessary functions of government and then to support myself, my family, and those to whom I choose to give. Does a man who has trouble giving the smallest percentage of his own extensive wealth to charity have the right or deserve the ability to determine where I ought to spend mine?

I make no claim that Jesus would vote for McCain, but I know He has some deep questions to ask of Obama.

Great Lines

Jesus never promised people wealth, or instant healing. He didn’t promise his disciples houses on the coast. Pastor Benny has recast Jesus in his own image. He has forgotten that his Lord died, humiliated, tortured, alone and penniless. But how do you sell that.
~Reverend Dr. David Millikan

Reverend Millikan asking if Benny Hinn is really teaching what Jesus taught? Or simply what will bring him (Hinn) money and power.

It would behoove The Sun to enter the real world. Assumptions do not reality make, and safety is not achieved simply by perceiving it.
~John Farragut, Treasurer, Cornell Republicans, Cornell University

Thanks to Haemet, a Cornell University student, who’s been highlighting the fight for Constitutional Freedoms on the Cornell campus.

John Farragut was responding to an op/ed in the student paper, the Cornell Sun, Way Off Target, regarding the hearings scheduled to discuss the issue of on-campus concealed carry.

How To Win The Culture War

Romans 1:18-32 (ESV):

(18) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (19) For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. (20) For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (21) For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (22) Claiming to be wise, they became fools, (23) and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

(24) Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to (25) because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

(26) For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; (27) and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

(28) And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to what ought not to be done. (29) They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, (30) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, (31) foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (32) Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

This passage is contains the litany of sin from it’s roots, to it’s inception, to it’s fruition. Of particular importance is the fact that this litany is particularly applicable to a lifestyle of sin.

The process of temptation described in James 1:14-15 (ESV) is more universal in it’s application:

(14) But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. (15) Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James’ process applies to all in that even we as Christians are prone to temptation, lustful desires, sin, and spiritual death or dormancy.

Paul’s process and description is more applicable to the sin of lifestyle. From a consistent denial of God and His attributes, God will cast them down into degrading passions. If they will not exalt Him, He will deny them even ‘human’ decency.

But in our sinful state, the heart of man seeks approval, approbation, and acceptance. As our sins have crawled out of the closet and been accepted by others, they have gained courage and through courage, further acceptance. Eventually, and this is the state of our nation today, sin and acceptance reach critical mass and breaks out into the mainstream, demanding recognition as something other than what it is.

But how do we deal with this? The lines have been drawn, the gauntlet thrown down, our children are being indoctrinated in school and our cities are being cajoled into hosting sex-fests in their streets in the form of “gay pride parades”.

We’ve confronted them, attacked their ideology, beaten back their growth at times, but bit by bit they seem to be winning as people stop caring and say to themselves: “what’s so wrong about it, they aren’t hurting anybody”.

A key fact in any war is that those fighting FOR something have a distinct advantage over those fighting AGAINST something. A positive goal inspires confidence and wins allies, while a negative goal works against the human spirit bringing discouragement and desperation.

So far in our culture war, we’ve been fighting against the encroaching forces of multi-culturalism, sexual deviancy, and other forms of social decay. At times we remind ourselves that we’re fighting for our families and children and nation, but overall, it is a war of defense.

We have lost the high-ground though. The momentum is with the enemy. We are being backed into walls in nearly all fronts of this war. This is a good thing.

Yes, this is a good thing.

We now have something to fight for.

But what are we fighting for, and how do we wage that battle most effectively.

In the last year of blogging here at I, Pandora, I’ve come to realize the futility of forcing political change. Bringing about a political change may bring temporary gains, but we have to compromise. We force ourselves to accept less-than-optimal options in our leaders.

Political change is still important, very important. Those who stand in the gap for us are heroes who ought to be protected, and prayed over, and supported. But unless the hearts change, the same people will keep coming back with the same goals: to wipe out the influence and effectiveness of God’s word in the world.

Don’t be misguided, the people who champion the wrong ideas’ personal goals may be the forced societal acceptance of some deviance. But they are only the faces, they are not the enemy. They need true love, God’s love, as much or more so than any other.

No, the enemy is Satan. The deceiver. And it is in his impending and sure doom that we have our strength.

His goal is not acceptance of homosexuality, it is destruction of individuals in any way possible.

Our counter is the reaching of individuals in any way possible. And just as when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and it brought healing to those who saw it, and as Jesus, when He was lifted up on the cross, drew all men to Himself. Lifting God’s standard once again will draw men and women to Him.

The root cause, according to Paul, of the sin lifestyle is a refusal to recognize God, His attributes, and His truth. So we need to place God, His attributes, and His truth before them in an unimpeachable, undeniable, and undeniable way.

This is not done necessarily with posters and signs, slogans and shouts. But with lives lived wholly for Him.

The mission field is not just in Zimbabwe or Zambia, China or Croatia, or India. It may be in Indianapolis, or Sacramento, or Dallas, or Boston. For you it is wherever you are, whenever you are there. And if you’ve not started yet, it starts right now.

Your mission: to live your life wholly for God.

This does not mean perfection or even the illusion of perfection. God’s law and God’s love balance each other and provide guidance for us through our struggles and our triumphs.

The family is under assault, so shore up the breeches. Starting with as solid a foundation as can be found, Christ’s love, build your family with hard work and constant prayer. Grow it as large as God will give, and share and spread.

It is humorous, but conservative, loving, Christianity enjoys a distinct advantage over all alternate and deviant lifestyles even if only through the “Rabbit Method”: where we out-grow the deviant by means of procreation. (Soberingly, this is exactly how Muslims are taking over much of the world, by having large families).

Large families are not required, and I know many good people who choose a single life of service, or if they cannot have children, use their additional freedom to free energy to wage mighty war against the enemy.

The important thing is not that we have large families, but that we follow God’s call for our lives.

In our stable and strong, God-fearing, and God-glorifying relationships, we have something the rest of the world, including every religion and worldview and mythos, envies: peace.

Not a hypnotized, brainless, mind-numbing peace. But an despite-the-world-falling-around-us peace which comes from having the Master and Maker of all creation caring for us and promising that He’ll work everything together for our good.

That peaceful life, lived on ever lane and at each corner, in the car and on the roads. Lived in public and in private, at the grocery store and the lumber mill and the cannery. And yes, even on the battlefields around the world. Will draw all people.

So don’t beat your plowshares into swords or your rakes into Uzis. Using your plowshares and rakes to God’s glory will bring a far greater, far more lasting, and far more effective harvest.

American evangelicals are the wests best hope (American Thinker).

A Few Good Men

Kindred on the battlefield of culture. Brothers in the fight of moral excellency. Trained and battle-hardened soldiers on the front lines of American society.

Dinesh D’Souza and David Limbaugh are two men I respect greatly, both for their principles and for their courage.

Of all the substantive columnists I read regularly, these two are those I read the most reliably, popping out of Google Reader to read them on their home sites more consistently than any other writers of the hundreds of articles I peruse each day.

Recent columns from each of these two are noteworthy and well worth reading and I encourage all to add them to their regular reading.

•  Dinesh D’Souza - How Christians Ended Slavery
  

  [W]ho killed slavery? The Christians did, while everyone else generally stood by and watched.

• David Limbaugh - Observations on the Presidential Races
  

  It’s disappointing to watch candidates from both parties accept the premise that criticizing your opponents’ records and pointing out their inconsistencies and lies is engaging in dirty politics. It is not dirty but obligatory to draw distinctions between you and your opponents. Dirty politics is distorting one’s record or spreading lies about a candidate.

• Dinesh D’Souza - Are Atheists Cultural Christians?
  

  In The God Delusion, Dawkins portrayed the Christian God as a wicked, avaricious, capricious, genocidal maniac. Dawkins even blasted Jesus for such offenses as speaking harshly to his mother. Yet if the Jewish and Christian God was such a monster, what sense does it make for Dawkins to embrace the cultural influence of that deity?

• David Limbaugh - Conservatism’s Identity Crisis
  

  [F]or Republicans, there’s a fierce intramural debate not just over how conservative the party should be but also over the very definition of conservatism.

Evandelism

Originally posted November 19th, 2006.

Reading the posts scrawled on a rest-stop bathroom wall, this gentleman sees one etched deep into the wood of the wall: “Jesus Saves”. He does not dispute the accuracy nor the necessity of this statement, but he wonders: “Is this evangelism or evandelism?”

How will the world know we are Christians? What will cause them to see they are sick? Only those who know they are sick will see a doctor, and only those who see how that we have what they need will see to find the answer we have found.

It is by sacrificing, giving up something we value to achieve something of greater value. I am reminded of Roger Magnussen’s statement that God hides behind those little compromises waiting for us to make the right decision and then to bless us. A young girl, popular in her school, cheerleader, full of worldly success for someone so young, attends a church youth group and is drawn to the love of Jesus. She is faced with a quandary as the youth meeting is the same night as her cheerleader practice and her coach has told her she cannot miss any more practices and remain on the team. She seeks counsel from her pastor and he tells her that the youth meetings are not required to be a Christian. She agrees but says that to her the youth meetings and her Christian life is more important than cheer leading. The pastor does not see her for several more weeks and assumes that she has decided to continue cheer leading. Then, one at one youth meeting the pastor sees this girl walk in with the most radiant of smiles. She spots the pastor and walks directly over to him and tells him that she told her cheer leading squad and coach that the was not a “cheerleader who happens to be a Christian, but that she is a Christian who happens to be a cheerleader.” The pastor is stunned and then looks behind the girl to see a whole line of girls that have not attended before, and a woman who he has not seen at church before. The girl proceeds to introduce the entire cheer leading squad and the coach who heard this young girls testimony, so simply and directly put and so surely lived that they were drawn as moths to the light and as bees to nectar. Several weeks later the pastor has the joy of baptizing the entire cheer leading squad and then the double joy of seeing one of those freshly baptized girls turn around and baptize her own mother, the coach.

This is not some made up emotional tear jerker to make you want to be a ‘good Christian’, this is a true story and it happened at my church. I am reminded of the Steven Curtis Chapman song that says over and over to “Live Out Loud!” Am I a student/musician/worker/geek/brother/son/nephew/grandson/etc who just happens to be a Christian, or am I a Christian who just happens to be a human living my life out among all these I touch?

10 Promises For 2008

From MomLoveBeingAtHome, these are ten predictions with a 100% certainty of occurring:

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost.

Isn’t it great serving a God who is always the same, yesterday, today, for every tomorrow?

Congratulations, It’s A God

Originally posted December 18th, 2006.

Pastor told a story of a Christmas play written and performed by K and 1st graders for a church. The play proceeded normally enough until Joseph and Mary arrived at the stable at which time there’s a knock at the “door” and Joseph welcomes a Doctor in a white coat and bearing a stethoscope. The doctor proceeds to Mary who is behind some hay bales and groaning and straining sounds occur normal to a birth scene. After the final cry and a baby wail the Doctor comes out to Joseph who has been pacing nervously across the stage during this time and says to him “Congratulations, it’s a God.”

What wonder must Joseph and Mary have felt in that time. They knew better than any other the amazing nature of the child Mary bore. Perhaps they didn’t grasp the all the implications pursuant to such an event, but the amazement factor itself must have been nearly overwhelming.

As good Jews they were well aware of the awesome nature of God and knew only a little of the Love He showed completely through His son. They knew Him as unapproachable and Holy. They couldn’t even say His name. And yet here He had given them a son, His Son, His ONLY Son. He’s entrusted them His heart. And in the same way He’s taken the ultimate risk with each of us, He’s given each of us His heart through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, whether we accept it or not. Think of the father, mother, lover, going out on a limb, as it were, setting themselves up for endless hurt and betrayal if their son, daughter, lover, ignores their love and spites them. God gave His life, laying it on the live for each one of us, individually. No greater love has no one than this, than that He lays down His life for another. Christmas is only the beginning, Easter is only the epic moment in time when timeless God Himself changed the course of His Story to our dim eyes. The end comes when each of us dies and is brought to reckoning. It won’t be a “were you good enough to shave off enough days of purgatory” as the Catholics believe. It won’t be a “am I in a good mood did you kill enough infidels or do other feats to further Islam” such as Muslims believe. It will be “did you accept my gift.”

When the good Doctor says “Congratulations, the baby is healthy, and it’s a God” He’s given to each of us a gift that we can accept or reject. All the rest are just bonus points, or filthy rags, as Paul calls them.

Grinch Award?

Last night, I turned the radio on to the Christian station I have listened to since childhood. I wanted some nice Christmas music and was looking forward to listening to a station I have always respected.

I was a bit surprised to hear “The Grinch” song being played and was about to change the station when the DJ started talking. Intrigued, I listened, for she mentioned it was time to give out “The Grinch Award”.

I couldn’t imagine a Grinch Award having anything but a negative connotation and puzzled over it. I was not left in suspense for long as she proceeded to explain the award and tell who had won it for the week.

She first apologized for the lateness of the award explaining that she did not watch the show, The View, and so had to read an article in the paper about the show later.

Apparently, Barbara Walters grumbled and complained over the Christmas card she received from President and Mrs. Bush because it contained a Bible verse. Barbara Walters was appalled that they sent out a “religious” card.

Because of Barbara’s complaint, this local Christian station gave her the “Grinch Award”.

I am not at all surprised by Barbara’s reaction to receiving such a Christmas card. What more can you expect from someone who does not know and believe the story of Jesus?

I am shocked and appalled at the action of the radio station. They should know better. Their action will only push more people away from Christians.

As believers we are called to reflect and share the love of Christ - and they did the exactly opposite of that.

If anyone here deserves to receive a “Grinch Award” it should be this radio station for their unkind, unloving, and unmerciful act.

News I’m Glad To Forward

Danielle from Missiles and Stillettos has posted an article regarding an American Muslim who came to the aid of American Jews who were being verbally and physically assaulted on a NY subway by several people who had wished them Merry Christmas, to which they had replied with Happy Hannukah.

While I’m saddened deeply by the aggressors involving Christmas and by inference the birth of Jesus, I know Jesus is capable of defending His name.

I am glad to see there is a least one Muslim who has not lost his head.

Given The Authority

I wrote a response to Herman who had written about theistic evolution and here’s his response.

Hello, whoever you may be.

Thanks for writing.

No one walking on this Earth, besides myself, is an expert on Genesis. Do not

even listen to anyone else trying to expound what Genesis is saying, for they do

not understand the text. There is no “creation account” in Genesis. There is no

such thing as a “creation/evolution” contest. It is “evolution” verses the

“Observations of Moses”, given to Moses by God in 1598 BC, in biblical order,

as revealed by the Living Word (Jesus) in the Gospels.

The world of theology (and creationism) has never understood Genesis, so of

course they would not have told us about this earlier, since they never did their

“homework”. Each day in Genesis, from Gen. 1:2 thru 2:3 was a 24-hr day,

shown to Moses, taken from seven different weeks (1 day from Creation Week,

6 days from 6 restoration weeks), and each week was from a different geologic

age. Genesis chapter two covers about a 200 year period, starting in about 7200

BC, and has nothing to do with chapter one.

There was no “evolution”. There was Creation, followed by extinction, then six

periods of restorations, with five more extinction events in between. If you have

comments, issues, or questions, direct them to me (ephraim7@aol.com ), or read

the book “Moses Didn’t Write About Creation!”.

Why is it that you could not comprehend that the Fourth Day is the earliest in time,
then the fifth day, then the sixth day? The book further explains each day and the
time period that they were taken from.

If you have questions, I’m the one that has been given the authority to answer them.

Please advise,
Herman

Isn’t this the funniest thing ever!