We live in a world today where everything is politics. This is true especially in America. A working definition of the word politics is: the acquisition of power. The modern political movement and debate to acquire power began in earnest in ancient Greece. Of course there were limits to the debate, as Socrates found out. Today, politics has infiltrated every area of our lives. Everything on TV has either a right or a left bent to it. It is either pro-Trump or anti-Trump. Either pro-abortion or anti-abortion. Popular comedians like Stephen Colbert can make very vile and crude, sexual comments about the sitting president and it is just laughed off. Shows like The View can call the president and members of congress and the senate, mentally ill and it is just laughed off or taken with silent nods. This is the political state of America in 2017.
Add to the mix all this talk about hate speech and hate crimes. If someone says something that is not politically correct then it is hate speech and if someone commits a crime because of someone’s skin color or sexual orientation or religious orientation (unless they are a Christian) then it is a hate crime. It seems that hate crimes have different penalties than regular crimes too, which is strange, because love crimes are rare.
Put all this together and you have a world with rules that change minute-by-minute and ideas, standards and truth flow with the tide. The progressive movement has an agenda and their goal is march the ball downfield, year after year after year, election after election after election until a progressive utopia is created. Unfortunately for them, the election of Donald Trump was
so mind bending and inconceivable
that the pendulum of political behavior and thought has swung way out to the extreme and it does not look like it is coming back any time soon.
The challenge, for the Christian, living in a society like this can be great. However, it is important to look at and understand the history of the church in the world, and realize that what is happening in America is nothing new and certainly nothing that cannot be overcome. God chose to send Christ and start this ball rolling through history while the Romans were in power. At the time of Christ, Rome had already made the move from a republic to an empire and the emperors were ruthless and very violent men. The emperor at the time Christianity was launched was a sexually active man having multiple sexual partners of both sexes. Many statues of a young boy are found in Italy, and it is believe this was the emperor’s young lover.
Yet, Christianity flourished, grew and changed the world. Today there are churches in Iran and Saudi Arabia and China and a hundred other countries where it is illegal. So for us in America to just whine and complain that things are bad and we cannot do anything is anti-faith. The church is flourishing in Iran where they chop off your head if they find a Bible in your possession. Governments and countries will come and go and God will win. Kings will be raised up and taken down and God will win. The world has radically changed in the last 2,000 years and God has won.
For me, it is immaterial who is in the Whitehouse, who is the governor my my state or who are my representatives. I vote and I do my part as a citizen of America, but I follow God first, I listen to Christ first, I proclaim Christ crucified first. Recently President Trump signed an order weakening the Johnson amendment . This is good because that amendment, as people have said, was having a chilling effect on pastors. I do not preach politics, but the several letters I have received from the IRS threatening me and my church have caused me to think about what I am saying. It is sad that America is moving away from a place where pastors, like me, can preach against sin. Sin is not politically correct, and it looks like the lines are being drawn over the sin of abortion. So I preach Scripture alone, Christ alone, Grace alone, Faith alone and give glory to God alone no matter whose toes I step on or how politically incorrect it is.
#Thoughts on the News#
Add to the mix all this talk about hate speech and hate crimes. If someone says something that is not politically correct then it is hate speech and if someone commits a crime because of someone’s skin color or sexual orientation or religious orientation (unless they are a Christian) then it is a hate crime. It seems that hate crimes have different penalties than regular crimes too, which is strange, because love crimes are rare.
Put all this together and you have a world with rules that change minute-by-minute and ideas, standards and truth flow with the tide. The progressive movement has an agenda and their goal is march the ball downfield, year after year after year, election after election after election until a progressive utopia is created. Unfortunately for them, the election of Donald Trump was
so mind bending and inconceivable
The challenge, for the Christian, living in a society like this can be great. However, it is important to look at and understand the history of the church in the world, and realize that what is happening in America is nothing new and certainly nothing that cannot be overcome. God chose to send Christ and start this ball rolling through history while the Romans were in power. At the time of Christ, Rome had already made the move from a republic to an empire and the emperors were ruthless and very violent men. The emperor at the time Christianity was launched was a sexually active man having multiple sexual partners of both sexes. Many statues of a young boy are found in Italy, and it is believe this was the emperor’s young lover.
Yet, Christianity flourished, grew and changed the world. Today there are churches in Iran and Saudi Arabia and China and a hundred other countries where it is illegal. So for us in America to just whine and complain that things are bad and we cannot do anything is anti-faith. The church is flourishing in Iran where they chop off your head if they find a Bible in your possession. Governments and countries will come and go and God will win. Kings will be raised up and taken down and God will win. The world has radically changed in the last 2,000 years and God has won.
For me, it is immaterial who is in the Whitehouse, who is the governor my my state or who are my representatives. I vote and I do my part as a citizen of America, but I follow God first, I listen to Christ first, I proclaim Christ crucified first. Recently President Trump signed an order weakening the Johnson amendment . This is good because that amendment, as people have said, was having a chilling effect on pastors. I do not preach politics, but the several letters I have received from the IRS threatening me and my church have caused me to think about what I am saying. It is sad that America is moving away from a place where pastors, like me, can preach against sin. Sin is not politically correct, and it looks like the lines are being drawn over the sin of abortion. So I preach Scripture alone, Christ alone, Grace alone, Faith alone and give glory to God alone no matter whose toes I step on or how politically incorrect it is.
#Thoughts on the News#
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