Stand Up Christian!!

In just a few days America will elect a new president.  We’ve heard all the rhetoric.  We’ve watched the mudslinging.  We’ve identified many lies and we have seen great flaws in both major party candidates.  We’ve heard apologies, and we’ve seen cover-ups.  We’ve considered options, and by now most of us have made our final decision on our part in this election.  Hopefully, as Christians we’ve weighed each option with prayer, as it relates to God’s values revealed in His word and not just by our hopes, aspirations, prejudices or party affiliations.  It’s sad that we have no better option, yet we have to make a choice and we still need to let our voices be heard.

As US citizens we have the great honor of participating in the election of our leaders.  We live in a Republic, a system of government which allows the people to elect representatives to exercise power for them. We choose, as a nation, persons who best represent our ideology of what moving onward looks like.  We choose a president according to the majority’s values.  That president in turn chooses Supreme Court Justices according to his or her values, who will then each serve for perhaps a whole generation.  We watch, we listen, we learn and then make our decisions as best possible, based on what we perceive is the best course for our country.  Every American citizen has that right and it’s a heavy responsibility, but again it’s a great honor.

Is it an obligation for a Christian to vote though? No, it isn’t an obligation but it’s your right as well as anyone’s. Please understand though that the Christian MUST NOT be silent right now.  I urge you to vote.  Too much is at stake.  If you are quiet, you allow people with lower values to choose our national direction. Our nation needs your voice, your wisdom, your godly values, perhaps more now than ever before in its history.  We are salt and light in our society!  Sure, the ungodly desire that we be quiet, that we keep our voices contained within the four walls of the churches.  Just as the disciples were instructed in Acts 5 not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus, so we are challenged to keep separate ‘church and state’.  Just as the disciples of that day rose up and spoke boldly anyway, so must we!

The truth is, that for the Christian there is no separation of anything from our relationship with Christ, including politics or policy.  He is at the center of all we are… He defines who we are!  We cannot separate our Christian faith from our vote, that would be hypocritical.  Neither do they which cry out for us to be silent, separate their ‘religion’ of secular humanism from their voice! 

So we must stand up in defiance of the ungodliness that tries to take our nation toward the wrong ideologies!  Stand up church!  Stand against the spirit of division in this nation, standing up for our brothers or sisters in Christ whoever they are!  Rise up as people of God!  As Psalm 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”  Stand AGAINST the ungodliness of abortion!  Stand FOR the sanctity of marriage as God ordained it!  Stand AGANIST the stripping of our rights as Christians to free speech and the freedom of religion which we have inherited from our forefathers.  Stand for our right to preaching THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD unrestrained. Stand for God’s values!  Stand for truth!  Reject the pressure of the world to cave, and keep quiet!  Stand now, or else we’ll soon be standing illegally to preach truth.

The law might hinder me as a pastor from giving you a candidate’s name to vote for, I don’t desire to do that anyway, but it cannot keep me from pointing to the Word of God as our ultimate voter’s guide.  Stand up and be counted Child of God!  Be the salt and light you are called to be!  Vote!  Vote for those who have promised to uphold the principles of God.  Vote according to the Word of God! Let your voice be heard in the Earth and in our nation.  

P.s.  Is there something more important than my vote as an American Christian at this time in history? As important as your vote is in this election, yes!  I believe the prayer of God’s people is even more important.  Again, don’t be silent here either!  Let your voice not only be heard in the Earth, but also in heaven and before the throne of God.  Now is no time to be cowardly and quiet… Ask God for great things and put actions to your faith!  

"God Isn't Fixing This..." - NY Daily News

The article from the New York Daily News claiming that "God isn't fixing this", is an affront attack on Christianity.  It's an atheistic statement attacking Judaeo-Christian values and the practice of prayer. Sure, it's clearly meant to be a shocking statement of propaganda used to urge the public toward gun control, but it's also a jab at Christians.  There is another element too, the mocking of republican candidates. The mocking however, is focused on their practice of prayer. 

It's okay. I'm not offended. As a matter of fact, I'm unmoved by it in the least.  My ideas on my 'rights' as an American to bear arms are unscathed.  My 'trust in God' is unshaken. Political affiliation is irrelevant to this issue in my opinion, but prayer is still powerful. I'm still praying for the victims. This senseless tragedy is less a sign of a need for a change in gun laws though, than it is a sign of the need for changed hearts... which only happens with prayer.

It might surprise some, but I will agree with the statement, "God isn't fixing this!"  

God isn't fixing this because our nation has turned it's back on Him.  We have removed nearly every vestige of Him from American leadership. We have used our forefathers' idea of 'separation of church and state' to dispel God from anything governmental or political, when the original thought was clearly not that God should be removed but that everyone should have the right to worship Him as they see fit, free of government oppression.  Why would God step in on a national problem that we have banned Him from? He won't force Himself on us.  Biblical history shows us that His character is to abundantly pardon and forgive, IF we turn to Him... Not turn away from Him (See Isa. 55:7). The nation that forgets God though, will be allowed to continue on its chosen path and be turned into hell (Psa. 9:17). 

God isn't fixing this because we, the church, have not yet humbled ourselves and repented from our own wickedness as is prescribed in 2 Cor. 7:14.  Until the church itself is serious enough about the state of affairs that we find ourselves in, we will continue in our complacent unconcern and our nation will continue to be overrun by the godless. If, and when, we ever get concerned enough corporately to humble ourselves, repent, and ask God for revival and the restoration of our land, we are promised national healing. We don't see a 'fix' because church doesn't pursue it by pursuing God in prayer for it.  We don't pursue it because we don't believe it...  And we don't believe it because we are believing the propaganda, rather than the scriptures.

Do you want God to 'fix this'?  Then it's time to repent and seek Him for our nation. Attention New York Daily News, Attention Christians: There is no hope for America, other than God! Pray is exactly what we need to do, but the 'fix' begins with prayers of repentance.


Breitbart's link to coverage of this story...