Religion and politics, together again
Written by Garth Kant, featured on World Net Daily
Garth Kant is WND Washington news editor. Previously, he spent five years writing, copy-editing and producing at "CNN Headline News," three years writing, copy-editing and training writers at MSNBC, and also served several local TV newsrooms as producer, executive producer and assistant news director. He is the author of the McGraw-Hill textbook, "How to Write Television News."
Top pastor: 'Any nation that rejects God will be rejected by God'
WASHINGTON — Some people believe the pulpit is not the place for politics.
One of America’s most influential and respected evangelical leaders isn’t buying it.
Dr. Robert Jeffress told WND, “How can anybody read Jesus’ words and actually believe that?”
Instead of seeing a conflict between religion and politics, Jeffress described a complementary relationship, noting, “I believe one of the most potent ways we influence our culture right now is through politics.”
“Every time we go into the voting booth, we are either casting a vote for righteousness or for unrighteousness. So I believe we ought to as pastors be encouraging our people not to vote for Republican or Democrat values but to vote for biblical values,” he observed.
Jeffress is the senior pastor of the 11,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. And politics is on his mind because he will participate in “Washington: A Man of Prayer, 2014″ on May 7 in the U.S. Capitol.
Now in its third year, the event is the brainchild of Dan Cummins, pastor of Bridlewood Church in Bullard, Texas.
Host Michele Bachmann, emcee Mike Huckabee and some of America’s most principled public servants will commemorate the 225th inaugural anniversary of President George Washington, with members of Congress and national Christian leaders honoring the first U.S. president as a man of Christian faith.
Several lawmakers will offer prayers on behalf of the nation, our president and his Cabinet, the Supreme Court and its justices, and members of Congress.
Sign up here to watch the webcast of “Washington: A Man of Prayer” from the U.S. Capitol on May 7, 2014 at 7:30 EST. You can be there virtually and experience the history-in-the-making, the camaraderie, the inspiration and the prayers, just by signing up on this page for FREE.
Even President Thomas Jefferson, the man who coined the expression “separation of church and state,” saw a vital need for the worship of God within the very halls of Congress.
He signed a law allowing the U.S. Capitol to be used for weekly Christian church services, which he attended.
Those services were held in the very chamber where the House of Representatives met from 1807 to 1857, now called Statuary Hall, which is where “Washington: A Man of Prayer” will be held on May 7.
Jefferson would likely agree with Jeffess, who told WND he did not think there is any mandate in scripture to separate our spirituality from the rest of our life.
“The word politics simply means to govern control or influence, and when people say pastors and Christians shouldn’t get involved in politics, what they are saying is pastors shouldn’t try to influence the culture in which they live.”
http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/filmchat/files/2013/12/david.jpg
Michelangelo's statue of David before he was king, preparing to face Goliath
“When you look at the scripture, the role of the pastor is not only to teach God’s own people but it is to teach the truth of his word,” he observed.
Jeffress said the prophets, and even “Jesus himself did not confine their proclamations to God’s own people but was were willing to stand up and confront ungodly leaders and an ungodly culture and say without stuttering or stammering, ‘Thus sayeth the Lord.’”
He noted that in Old Testament times it was the king who determined the spiritual direction of the nation.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” said Jeffress. “If it was a righteous king, God blessed the nation. If it was an unrighteous king, God cursed the nation.”
That, Jeffress implied, puts the onus on the faithful to make sure their nation is righteous, or face the consequences.
“God is no respecter of people and nations. God does not get goose bumps when he hears the Star Spangled Banner. He doesn’t stand up and salute when he sees the American flag. Any nation, including the United States, that rejects God will be rejected by God.”
Jeffress said when people say to him that pastors shouldn’t get involved in politics, he asks them three questions.
•Do you believe God has any feeling about his name being outlawed from mention in the public square?
•Do you think God has any concern about the 50 million children that have been murdered in the womb since 1973 in Roe v. Wade?
“If you answer ‘yes’ to those questions you have just answered why pastors and Christians should be involved in politics,” Jeffress summed up.
Cummins calls this year’s celebration on May 7, now in its third consecutive year, “a historic first” because, even though the event is exclusively for members of Congress, churches around the world will be able to watch on a global webcast and join in offering prayers for our nations and its leaders.
The event will be broadcast globally by the Daystar Television Network, with World Net Daily Films and CBN News providing the satellite feed from Statuary Hall.
Churches can register online to host the webcast during their Wednesday midweek services at “Washington: A Man of Prayer.”
“Washington: A Man of Prayer, 2014″ will be hosted by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and emceed by former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.
Attendees include Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., and Reps. Louie Gohmert,R-Texas, Steve King, R-Iowa, Steve Stockman, R-Texas, Mike McIntyre, D-N.C.,
Kristi Noem, R-S.D., Corrine Brown, D-Fla., Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., Jeff Miller, R-Fla., Diane Black, R-Tenn. Steve Womack, R-Ark., and Chris Stewart, R-Utah, Jim Bridenstine R-Okla., John Mica R-Fla., and others will be in attendance.
As a bipartisan event, invitations have been sent to all 535 members of the 113th Congress.
Chaplains of the House and Senate, Fr. Patrick Conroy and the Rev. Barry Black will also participate. The United States Marine Band will also perform.
Christian leaders participating include the program director for the event, Dr. Jim Garlow, as well as Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., Dr. Robert Jeffress, Phyllis Schlafly, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, Star Parker, Penny Nance, Dr. Peter Lillback, Bill Federer, Bishop Angel Nunez, Rosemary Schindler Garlow, Charmaine Yoest, Sergio De La Mora, Tony Perkins, Samuel Rodriguez and Rafael Cruz (father of Sen. Ted Cruz.)
Downloadable promotional materials are available “Washington: A Man of Prayer” website. Also, free school curriculum (K-12) on the historical events surrounding the inauguration of President George Washington has been provided by The Brook Hill School of Bullard, Texas.
WND will run a preview piece on “Washington: A Man of Prayer, 2014″ every week during the 10 weeks leading up to the event on May 7
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/03/religion-and-politics-together-again/#BL7mI1yzPZ08lICR.99
TEN REASONS: Why Pathetic Pastors Stay Silent on Serious Issues
By Doug Giles / 12 March 2014
www.dailyclash.com
Here are 10 reasons why pastors avoid political and cultural issues:
1. Fear of man. If you purport to be a man of “the cloth”, then your regard for God and his opinion must trump the trepidation of the creature he created from spit and mud. Come on, man of God – don’t fear us. We’re ants with cell phones who’ll shoot Botox into our foreheads. We’re friggin’ weird and fickle weather vanes of the modern media. Lead us – don’t just follow us!
Man of God, fear God! Declare his will and his way and let the chips fall where they may. Within both the Old and New Testaments there are very unmuddled, eternal opinions on current political issues. These opinions should be embraced and shouldn’t be publicly curbed and bridled because some deranged deacon, some quacky congregant or a preening politician doesn’t agree with the scripture and might get their panties in a wad over a particular political issue. Never live for a nod from the congregation or some political twerp or a particular party, especially when said group is way off biblical base.
2. Ignorance. Most people are not bold in areas where they are ignorant … always excepting Michael Moore, of course. I know keeping up with all the pressing political issues is maddening but that’s life, Dinky, and if you want to be a voice in society and not an echo, you have got to be in the know. Staying briefed, running each political issue through the gauntlet of the scripture and determining God’s mind on a certain subject is par for the course, for the hardy world changer. It’s the information age. Get informed and watch your boldness increase.
3. Division. I hate the current non-essential divisions in the church as much as the next acerbic Christian columnist. Squabblin’ over the color of the carpet, who’ll play the organ next Sunday or who the Beast of Revelation is! Puhleese!
Dial down on the inconsequential seditiousness, okay, Jedediah? Relax. Go into the desert and get focused. The church is currently so divided and defeated with such minutiae that we can’t agree on which shade of white to use for our surrender flag.
4. Last Days Madness. Many ministers do not get involved in political issues because they believe that, “it simply doesn’t matter” since “the end has come”, and Jehovah is about to run the credits on this failed earth flick. These defeatists believe that any change in the jet stream, war, earthquakes, success of a corrupt politician, even a new Britney Spears video, is “proof” that God is getting really, really, ticked off and His only recourse is to have Christ physically return and kick some major butt.
Their only hope is in ‘The Rapture’. They see the church and themselves as impotent and having no real ability to change things culturally with any long-range ramifications. Thus, any stab at a better tomorrow is simply an exercise in futility for this crew. Attempting to right culture is, in their eyes, equivalent to polishing brass on a sinking ship. They are, therefore, content to simply pass out tracts, tramp from Christian rock concert to Christian rock concert, eat fatty foods, and stare at Christian TV.
5. Sloth. Classically defined, sloth is lethargy stemming from a sense of hopelessness. Viewing our nation and the world as an irreparable disaster, where our exhortations, prayers, votes and labors will not produce any temporal fruit, leaves one with all the fervor of a guy who’s forced to French kiss his sister.
If you wonder why your flock is so apathetic, ask yourself, Pastor Grim Carnage, if you have stolen their earthly hope that their valiant efforts can actually prevail in time, and not just in eternity. If you constantly pump the doom and gloom message, if you teach them that evil will ultimately triumph on our terra firma, if you spew messages that consciously or unconsciously convey “big anti-Christ and little Jesus Christ”, then you have effectively zapped what’s left of your parishioners passion.
6. Tax Exemption Pre-emption. Many pastors, priests and parishioners have been cowed into inactivity by the supposed loss of their tax-exempt status if they say anything remotely political. This can make folks who don’t or won’t get good legal advice as politically active as Howard Hughes during the flu season … but it needn’t.
First of all, there’s no need to have an IRS 501[c][3] tax-exempt charitable status to assemble and be a proper church. The church has been around a little bit longer than the 501 [c][3] statutes, right? We are afforded the right to assemble, by God and by the Constitution. Not having the tax exempt status simply means you’ll have to pay taxes at Costco when you buy hot dogs for the church picnic.
Secondly, 501[c][3] or not, we are called to obey God rather than men, and God has called his leaders to be involved in civic affairs, and to represent Christ and his word in all areas of society. And that entails expounding the biblical worldview all the time, including election time. Sometimes you have to rebel against unrighteous, limiting laws. There’s nothing wrong with proper civil disobedience when the need arises, especially if the government tries to stifle your scriptural rights and obligations.
Off the clock, in his personal capacity, the pastor or priest can endorse and support – or oppose – whoever or whatever he wishes, like any other citizen. There are no limitations to the individual; the ones which do exist under the 501[c][3] statute are only for the church entity and/or the pastor in his official capacity, not for the pastor or the members who make up the church.
7. Paltry pietism and the separation from the world mentality. Pastors and priests avoid politics because such concerns are “unspiritual”, and their focus is on the “spirit world”. Yes, to such imbalanced ministers, political affairs are seen as “temporal and carnal”, and because pastors and priests trade in the “eternal and spiritual”, such “transient” issues get the same attention from them as Rosie’s AbBlaster does from her.
What drives this type of clergy and Christian? Well, this brand of believer desires a “personal relationship with Jesus only” type of religion. This bunch is primarily into heavenly emotions and personal Bible study, tucked away from society and its complicated issues. Being preoccupied with looking inward and upward, such solipsistic saints inadvertently chain themselves to the never ending treadmill of spiritual introspection. They forget that they are commanded to be seriously engaged with our culture. The effects of this type of “Christian” separatism/pietism proved disastrous in pre-Nazi Germany, and aided and abetted Hitler in mounting his hellish warhorse.
8. The Thought Police have Tali-banned us. Pastors and priests have muffled their political voice because they fear being lumped in with the radical Muslim extremists by the politically correct thought police. The correlation made between Christians’ non-violent attempts at policy persuasion and Taliban’s kill-you-in-your-sleep campaigns is nothing more than pure uncut crapola. Here’s what I’m talking about: A minister who wants to protect the unborn, preserve the Biblical and traditional view of marriage, maintain our nation’s basis in some semblance of Biblical righteousness all of the sudden gets grouped up with Osama and his nuclear-suitcase-carrying cabal.
Ministers, please blow off the tongue wagging blowhards who try to intimidate you into silence by making quantum ludicrous scat laden analogous leaps in equating the implementation of a Biblical worldview with the Taliban’s cross-eyed perspective.
9. Mothering the Minute. Ministers can’t get involved in studying or speaking out regarding political issues simply because of the ten tons of minutiae they are forced to field. Spending time wet nursing 30-year-olds without a life and being bogged down in committee meetings over which shade of pink paint should be used for the Woman’s Aglow ministerial wing of their church, ministers are lucky if they get to study the scripture nowadays, much less anything else.
In the unending, need-driven narcissistic American church, pastors work overtime for spiritually overweight parishioners regarding issues that ultimately are inconsequential. This is both the fault of the ministers (messiah complex) and fault of the congregants (me-monkey syndrome), and both have got to have an exorcism or something if the church is going to tackle pressing cultural issues.
10. It’ll cost them Money. The creepy thing about a lot of ministers is their unwillingness to give political offense when offense is needed, simply because taking a biblical stand on a political issue might cost them their time share in Aspen and their Chrysler Mini-Van. Oh well, what do you expect? Christ had his Judas and evangelicalism has it cheap prostitutes.
Anytime a pastor takes a sturdy stand on a substantial issue, it usually ends up offending some people. If a congregant gets angry because you have just barbequed his favorite ideological golden calf, his cash will leave weeks before his physical body departs to find a church that’ll tickle his ears.
Never fear, pastor. Even though nailing your colors to the mast during putrid political times might cost you a parishioner or two, don’t sweat it. There are also tens of thousands of serious parishioners who are looking for leaders with the ‘nads to lead the church to make its proper stance during days of declension. So, my advice to you, Mr. Minister, would be to stay the Biblical course against the secular corrupters. I guarantee you four things:
God will send you better soldiers of the cross,
He will supernaturally increase your revenue to labor for His cause,
You won’t have to look the other way when you approach a mirror, and –
You will sleep better at night knowing that cash couldn’t buy your convictions.
If Christian ministers would crucify their fear of man, get solidly briefed regarding the chief political issues, not sweat necessary division, not get caught up in last days madness, maintain their hope for tomorrow, understand their liberties under God and our Constitution, not become so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good, focus on the majors and blow off bowing to cash instead of convictions, then maybe … just maybe, we will see their influence cause our nation to take a righteous turn away from the secularist’s putrid path.
Past Articles
TWO AMERICAS
by Bob Lonsberry © 2013
December 9, 2013
Read more of Bob Lonsberry at http://www.lonsberry.com/bio.cfm
The America that works, and the America that doesn’t. The America that contributes, and the America that doesn’t.
It’s not the haves and the have nots, it’s the dos and the don’ts. Some people do their duty as Americans, to obey the law and support themselves and contribute to society, and others don’t.
That’s the divide in America.
It’s not about income inequality, it’s about civic irresponsibility. It’s about a political party that preaches hatred, greed and victimization in order to win elective office. It’s about a political party that loves power more than it loves its country.
That’s not invective, that’s truth.
And it’s about time someone said it.
The politics of envy was on proud display last week as the president said he would pledge the rest of his term to fighting “income inequality.” He notes that some people make more than other people, that some people have higher incomes than others, and he says that’s not just.
It was the rationale of thievery.
The other guy has it, you want it, Obama will take it for you.
Vote Democrat.
It is the electoral philosophy that gave us Detroit. It is the electoral philosophy that is destroying America.
And it conceals a fundamental deviation from American values and common sense. It ends up not being a benefit to the people who support it, but a betrayal. The Democrats have not empowered their followers, they have enslaved them – in a culture of dependence and entitlement, of victimhood and anger instead of ability and hope.
The president’s premise – that you reduce income inequality by debasing the successful – seeks to ignore and cheat the law of choices and consequences. It seeks to deny the successful the consequences of their choices and spare the unsuccessful the consequences of their choices.
Because, by and large, the variability in society is a result of different choices leading to different consequences. Those who choose wisely and responsibly have a far greater likelihood of success, while those who choose foolishly and irresponsibly have a far greater likelihood of failure.
And success and failure can manifest themselves in personal and family income.
You choose to drop out of high school or to skip college and you are apt to have a different outcome than someone who gets a diploma and pushes on with purposeful education. You have your children out of wedlock and life is apt to take one course, you have them in wedlock and life is apt to take another course.
Most often in life our destination is determined by the course we take.
My doctor, for example, makes far more than I do. There is significant income inequality between us. Our lives have had an inequality of outcome. But, our lives also have had an inequality of effort. Whereas my doctor went to college and then gave the flower of his young adulthood to medical school and residency, I got a job in a restaurant. He made a choice, I made a choice. And our choices led us to different outcomes.
His outcome pays a lot better than mine.
Does that mean he cheated and Barack Obama needs to take away his wealth?
No, it means we are both free men.
And in a free society, free choices will lead to different outcomes.
It is not inequality Barack Obama will take away, it is freedom.
The freedom to succeed, and the freedom to fail. And there is no true option for success if there is no true option for failure.
The pursuit of happiness means a whole lot less when you face the punitive hand of government if your pursuit brings you more happiness than the other guy.
Even if the other guy sat on his arse and did nothing.
Even if the other guy made a lifetime’s worth of asinine and shortsighted decisions.
Barack Obama and the Democrats preach equality of outcome as a right, while completely ignoring inequality of effort. The simple Law of the Harvest – as ye sow, so shall ye reap – is sometimes applied as, “The harder you work, the more you get.”
The progressive movement would turn that upside down.
Those who achieve are to be punished as enemies of society and those who fail are to be rewarded as wards of society. Entitlement has replaced effort as the key to upward mobility in American society.
Or at least it has if Barack Obama gets his way.
He seeks a lowest common denominator society in which the government besieges the successful and productive and fosters equality through mediocrity.
He and his party speak of two Americas.
And their grip on power is based on using the votes of one to sap the productivity of the other.
America is not divided by the differences in our outcomes, it is divided by the differences in our efforts. And by the false philosophy that says one man’s success comes about unavoidably as the result of another man’s victimization.
What the president offered was not a solution, but a separatism. He fomented division and strife, he pitted one set of Americans against another.
For his own political benefit.
That’s what progressives offer. Marxist class warfare wrapped up with a bow.
Two Americas, coming closer each day to proving the truth to Lincoln’s maxim that a house divided against itself cannot stand.
Making Sense of an Apparently Senseless Foreign Policy
Michael Youssef | Mar 09, 2014
Dr. Michael Youssef is the author of 27 books including his most recent and timely Blindsided: The Radical Islamic Conquest. His blog: www.michaelyoussef.com Follow on Twitter: @MichaelAYoussef
A segment of the American public must be yelling expletives whenever the results of our apparently incoherent foreign policy show up on their TV screens. Many can only react to our dealings with Syria, Iran, Libya, Israel, and now Russia with bewilderment and anger.
The news outlets that are balanced keep replaying the words of Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, four years apart, predicting Russia’s intentions toward Ukraine. Watching those statements leaves us baffled as to why the mainstream media lampooned them when they accurately and perceptively anticipated Russia’s deviant move.
But let me explain what’s going on. It does make sense if you understand the perspective:
Obama/Clinton/Kerry, et al, represent a segment of society with a worldview that churns the stomach of anyone with a Judeo-Christian worldview. Their worldview was known in the 20th century as “secular humanism.” Now it is called “progressive ideology,” but the only thing progressive about it is its name.
During the 1930s and 40s, that worldview began to invade the church. In 1943, the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, alerted Christendom to the danger, warning that it would result in some churches retaining “Christian values without Christian faith.”
How prophetic was that?
The heart of secular humanism presents an opinion on “man” that directly contradicts the Bible. The Bible clearly shows that after the fall of man in Eden, man became capable of great evil. History offers a long, long list of people that have demonstrated that fact (see: Hitler, Stalin, etc.).
The secular humanists developed an opposite view, however, that man is innately good—and education and enlightenment can even make man very good. In fact, the motto of the American Humanist Association is “Good without a God.” Go figure.
We can now understand why, when President Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire,” the three major American TV networks went apoplectic. His statement directly contradicted their creed. No wonder the State Department tried to have that statement removed from Reagan’s speech (Reagan insisted that it remain).
A recent example of this is MSNBC's Joy Reid, who as a guest on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, was unwilling to brand either Putin or Assad as evil.
Now that much of our society has moved far away from the biblical worldview of good and evil, it is shocked when it sees evil penetrating the headlines. Evil doesn’t jive with the humanist mish-mash that has been taught for generations.
Obama/Clinton/Kerry, et al, are products of this “Good without a God” ideology. Now, with them in charge of our foreign policy, the most powerful nation is in danger. Under their stewardship, soon we will be a powerful nation no longer.
To them, since there is no evil, all nations and national leaders are good. And America is no better than anyone else. Therefore, America should not have such power, and instead, should lead from behind (if at all). They are bringing the greatest experiment in all of humanity down into the dirty mire that engulfed other great nations in the past.
Those who believe in an all-powerful God who rules the universe can still take comfort. They must keep insisting that there is good and evil, for surely Judgment Day will come and prove them right.
Reflections on America's fall, from CPAC 2014
Exclusive: Matt Barber says 'libertine libertarianism has infected' conservative movement
Published: 14 hours ago, March 7, 2014
Matt Barber is founder and editor-in chief of BarbWire.com. He is an author, columnist, cultural analyst and an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. Having retired as an undefeated heavyweight professional boxer, Matt has taken his fight from the ring to the culture war. (Follow Matt on Twitter: @jmattbarber).
The question is not, “Is America falling?” but, rather, “Why is America falling?”
I’m currently writing from CPAC 2014, the nation’s largest gathering of conservative political junkies. The event is being held at the beautiful Gaylord National hotel, adjacent the scenic shoreline of the historic Potomac River. We’re just a few short miles from Washington, D.C., which, at least for now, remains the modern-day equivalent of the Roman Empire.
I say “at least for now” because America finds itself skipping along the primrose path to Rome’s ill-fated finale. I needn’t trouble you with evidence to that effect as this tragic reality is hopelessly inescapable. It’s a self-evident truth. Unless our next generation of leaders – Gen-Y Millennials – can successfully turn things around, we’re up the Potomac without a paddle.
The day’s speeches have ended and conference-going night revelers are about. The indoor balcony to my 12th-floor room faces, as the hotel website accurately boasts, a “spectacular 18-story glass atrium.” My balcony door is open wide, and the bustling din from several parties across the cavernous vestibule soaks the room.
A chorus has begun. What is this? Have party-goers launched an impromptu rendering of “America the Beautiful”?
No, this is a chant, joined by scores – a hundred or more perhaps – of young conservative bacchanalians on multiple suite balconies and from the open air bar below. What is that they’re chanting? Is that, “Amer-i-ca! Amer-i-ca!”?
At first, it’s hard to tell. It’s a booming echo that reverberates throughout the entire hotel.
And then it becomes clear.
Alas, our next generation of conservative leaders are not chanting, “Amer-i-ca! Amer-i-ca!” They are, instead, chanting, “F**k O-bama! F**k O-bama!”
And I hang my head.
So, now, children at the hotel, parents, staff, tourists – both foreign and domestic – and every other conceivable variety of guest who happens to be staying at the Gaylord National hotel during CPAC 2014 has a skewed, and likely irreversible, first impression of America’s conservative movement.
Or is it skewed?
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m certain that the vast majority of CPAC attendees, both young and old, are as appalled and embarrassed by these drunken yuck monkeys as am I.
But I think the very fact that these blazer-clad, Cro-Magnon morons could even imagine, for a moment, that it’s somehow cool to publicly chant “F**k Obama!” – or “F**k” anything for that matter – speaks to a much larger problem, not just within the conservative movement, but, more importantly, within our entire culture.
I’m never going to win a popularity contest. It’s not my goal to be liked. I’ll probably never be a “Fox News contributor” or even broadly recognized as a dutifully compliant cog within the greater,
GOP-heavy “conservative” political wheel.
That’s because I say things like this: There is no political fix to America’s death spiral.
We are drowning in a turgid river of postmodern relativism. This is a spiritual problem, not a political problem. This is a worldview matter, not a partisan matter.
Hitherto it has been “progressives” alone dumping buckets of moral relativist poison into the Potomac. But, in the last decade or so, self-styled “conservatives” have likewise begun drinking the subjectivist Kool-Aid.
Libertine libertarianism has infected the conservative movement like a cancer. Situational ethics, driven by emotional, anecdotal sob stories, are used to justify every moral wrong as an absolute right. “Get off the social issues!” they demand. “Gay marriage? No problem.”
These gun-toting, free-market “conservatives” (of which I’m both) grace us with beauties like this: “I’m a ‘pro-choice,’ ‘pro-gay’ conservative,” or, “Yeah, I’m shacking up with my girlfriend, big deal.”
Relativism blurs the fixed lines of demarcation between right and wrong, which leads to the abolition of absolute truth, which leads to pockets of moral anarchy, which leads to Barack Obama and Eric Holder deciding which laws to ignore and which laws to enforce, which leads to lawlessness, which leads chaos.
Welcome to chaos.
Yes. The “social issues” matter.
The battle is not Republican vs. Democrat. Neither is it conservative vs. liberal. The battle precedes time itself. The battle is right vs. wrong. The battle is moral vs. immoral. The battle is truth vs. the lie.
The battle is between good and evil.
We’ve been playing political Ping-Pong for decades. We’ve been, as they say, rearranging the chairs on the Titanic while Democrats take the helm for a spell, and Republicans take the helm for a spell.
The reality is that both political parties have driven us into the iceberg, and then pranced off together, hand-in-hand, to play best-of-three racket ball at the congressional bathhouse.
While here at CPAC I met an interesting fellow by the name of Frank Mitchell. Frank founded the Memphis-based, classically conservative group: “A Shining City on a Hill.” During our discussion, Frank said this: “There is no liberty without justice. Liberty without justice is only license.”
Libertine libertarianism.
America cannot survive under a worldview that embraces unrestricted moral license. Such license destroys the individual. And such license destroys the nation.
“Liberty without justice is only license.”
There is only one Arbiter of true justice. And justice is defined by Him, not by us. He sets the parameters. As both individuals, and as a nation, we are ill-advised to breach those parameters and well-served to maintain them.
America does not need a political fix. America needs a spiritual fix.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/03/reflections-on-americas-fall-from-cpac-2014/#3wzTSG8F3ESuYJ3S.99
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
Go To . . .
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The Ruling Class Unmasked
Burning Her Last Bridge . . .
How Young Adults Are Beginning To Learn The Truth About Government
Commentary
March 9, 2014
Why was the founding of the United States of America unique?
For the first time in the history of the world, men designed a system of government that was controlled by the ordinary citizen, not a dictator, not a monarchy, not a religious order. This government, in order to survive and thrive, must have representatives of good moral character, elected for a time by those citizens who also must, as a body, have that same good moral character.
For when this nation of free men and women, relying on the laws they create through their representatives, becomes immoral, the government likewise becomes immoral and lawless.
As John Adams, one of the founders of our country and its second president said:
"While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence.
But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world.
Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Oaths in this country are as yet universally considered as sacred obligations. That which you have taken, and so solemnly repeated on that venerable ground, is an ample pledge of your sincerity and devotion to your country and its government."
Unlike almost any other nation on earth, the politics and the religious faiths of the United States of America are inextricably linked. As the morality of the country changes and the doctrines of Jesus Christ and the creator God are abandoned in favor of the doctrine of human ego, all restraints on free will are unguarded and there are no rules, except the rule of putting one's own desires before any other restraint. This is the reality in which our country now resides.
God help us..
Spear Warrior