Last night I presented this question to my social media followers and blog email list:
I wanted to share an encouraging note I received from one of my devotional readers; she is somewhat new to our group (now numbering 212). Tara wrote in response to my taking a devotional hiatus, and I publish this somewhat unwillingly because I do not want to draw attention to myself, but I felt a strong urging from the Lord to share this with you.
This dear sister-in-Christ so clearly addresses what we all struggle with; how to best serve the Lord. Here is her response:
So once again we are watching the circus live and in color on our television sets. The stage? Congress and the White House and the looming fiscal cliff. It is amazing to see after what was called the most important election of our lifetime that nothing has changed in Washington D.C. All the old leaders are the new leaders and you could not fill a bus up with those serving who are righteous in the sight of God. It reminds me of the old Rolling Stones song “We Won’t Get Fooled Again” where it ends with “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
I was asked by some, and accused by others, if I was looking for perfection in a candidate. My answer to both is I am looking for righteousness in our public servants. Those, whether or not they are Christians, who have a sense of responsibility to their electorate and more important to “the laws of nature and nature’s God.” As my buddy Steve Deace always says, “We want people of convictions, not positions.”
When I was a young boy and even in my teenage years growing up in Northern California near the Pacific Ocean, one of my favorite things to do when we went to Bodega Bay was to go out on the jetty at Doran Beach and climb and walk the big rocks all the way to the end. We would even fish from there. However, it was very dangerous and at times extremely slippery on those massive, jagged rocks. If you were not careful you could slip and hurt yourself real good.
As we go through this Christian life, keeping in mind the encouraging words of Christ to be of good cheer, we must be certain we know what that means. We’ve said it means to take courage, but often that is easier said than done. I would submit that we usually are fearful before we are courageous.
So many Christian patriots are very discouraged by the election outcome. Many are ready to quit; many are ready to start a third party; many are just ready “to go home” (I can sympathize with the latter sentiment). Discouragement is one of Satan’s greatest weapons against God’s people. It can be lethal. He may use persecution, predicaments, or privation to bring us to our knees and shout, “I give up!” Satan loves defeated Christians because misery loves company.
Beloved, we are not defeated! Our foe has been vanquished and we already have the victory.
Glory to God, for He is on His throne! Jesus is King, Lord, and Savior to all who call to Him for salvation. America is today still the greatest nation in history and I praise God for being born an American. No matter the outcome of our elections throughout history, the peaceful transition of power is a God-breathed miracle captured by godly men who founded our nation. They were God-fearing men who recognized and relied upon the Providence of God.
Our nation is truly at a crossroads. The political outcome of yesterday’s election is a reflection…a symptom…of what ails our great country. Over half of our country clearly has an entitlement mentality where they believe by merely being Americans who may or may not have been dealt a bad hand that they are entitled to other people’s money. Beloved, that is a clear indication of a deeper issue that must be addressed.
Tomorrow is election day. I’ve made my predictions as have many others. Some say Mitt Romney is going to win in a landslide (as I believe) and others are calling for a narrow victory for Barack Obama. Regardless the outcome, what will Christians do on Wednesday morning to whatever lies ahead? Will we throw our hands up in the air and give up because Obama was re-elected, or will we go back to our workaday lives no longer vigilant over government because Romney won?
The American Church needs to answer three questions and it is not I who has come up with them. The great theologian A.W. Pink in his book “The Sovereignty of God” asks the following:
I received a response from a dear sister-in-Christ to the comments the past two emails I sent out on whether or not we can vote for the lesser of two evils. Understand that this is no simple matter, voting that is. I am glad to see so many Christians thinking through all of this by questioning and searching the scriptures for answers. That is what we are called to do. In fact, I presented some questions to my pastor and interviewed him Monday night to get his perspective. Bro Dennis is the one man I trust most in this world and while I may not always agree with him, I know I will get a straight answer from him. So is the case with so many other men who bless my life. There are a few women who fit that category also. You can hear Part 1 of Bro Dennis interview at my other blog: http://www.aletheiagroup.org/?p=1088
Here are the words of one sister-in-Christ and her thought process in this election season, admittedly by her incomplete words but I believe they warrant sharing:
I am truly a blessed man. The many great men God has place in my life to sharpen me as iron sharpens iron is one of the great benefits of the blessed life in Christ.
One such man is my dear brother-in-Christ Dr. Rod D. Martin. Rod has been a great encourager of mine for over 5 years and gave me my start here at Salt and Light through he and his precious wife Sherri’s sponsoring of this blog. Rod saw the vision for it long before I did.
Alan Keyes
I struggled with writing yesterday’s devotional because I knew I was missing the mark on what I was trying to explain. Alan responded to my devotional and has wonderfully written of what I was only beginning to figure out. Without understanding it, it was the imperfection of which Alan writes that I was trying to allude. Alan has given me permission to publish his response.
Apparently the debate went real well for Mitt Romney from what I’m seeing in my email box and on social media. Many voters are lamenting the fact that we once again are stuck with voting for “the lesser of two evils.” I used to have the same lament but then I wondered if there were any other possibilities. Is there a such thing as a man or a woman who is not evil, biblically speaking that is? Is that “perfect” candidate or “good” candidate available? Can we judge a man by his words only or does his record count? What if he doesn’t have a record of public service? How do we judge him then? Just by his words? I have found in my 55 years on earth that it is far easier to say you will do right then to actually do it when faced with the situation.
So is there such a thing as a man not being evil, because if we are not to vote for the lesser of two evils or to never chose evil, what are our options when it comes to man? Is there even someone we can look at and call righteous?
That’s the topic of this week’s The Truth Newsletter. It seems that we can not only break God’s 6th Commandment, “You shall not murder,” but we can also disobey God’s 8th Commandment, “You shall not steal.” You can do these things if America’s survival is at stake. At least that is what I am being told by Christians and a Tea Party Leader.
I obviously have a very strong opinion about this that most of you could probably state verbatim. However, my opinion in and of itself means nothing if it is not grounded in Biblical truth. God’s 2nd Commandment is the second longest of the ten and I think it is most overlooked by American Christians. I know for me it is the commandment hardest for me to keep because I allow so many things in this world to become an idol. Here’s what God wrote:
This past Tuesday our nation’s debt rose to 16 trillion dollars. I spell that out because I’m not really sure how many zeroes it takes to write it out numerically (I think it is 12). That comes out to over $53,000 owed by every man, woman, and child. Is debt immoral? It all depends on the purpose of the debt. If you are subsidizing sloth, then yes it is immoral:
Random House Dictionary defines providence as “the foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the earth.” Of course we who believe the Bible to be inerrant and infallible would submit nature under God. After all, did not Jesus calm the stormy sea?
The Bible does not use the actual word providence; instead it teaches the doctrine of providence. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology explains there are three aspects of God’s providence.
The latest Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare so enraged many a person because justice was not served. Now you will hear many a pundit lavishing praise on Chief Justice John Roberts’ brilliance in his majority opinion for its political wisdom, but that’s politics, not justice. I will be writing on this ruling in this week’s The Truth Newsletter, but I want to explore Biblical justice.
How should we as Christians approach justice? Of course we must look at God’s view of it. We desire justice, somewhat foolishly I might add, because we only desire justice in others’ lives. But how does God view justice?
I’m looking at my brother-in-Christ Brian Ward’s new and improved website Boogai.net and reading the headlines there is not a means of starting your week off on a positive note (at least not all of the headlines). The Obama Administration has once again misused the executive orders powers to bring more tyranny to government. The State of California has laid off 32,000 teachers but can somehow afford to spend 3.2 billion (as in “B”) dollars on a new high-speed rail line. And the government has put more employees out of work through new regulatory burdens. Blue, blue Monday.
But Brian would tell you that we need not despair. You see Brian is not only the owner and proprietor of this excellent website, but more importantly he is a pastor who knows of and preaches about the sovereignty of Almighty God. And at our church we are doing a study on Nehemiah and Nehemiah understood who God was, even amongst the most trying times:
I do not think it a stretch to say our nation has become overall weaker than it once was. Whether it be economically, militarily, morally, or socially, the United States of America is not as strong as it used to be. How has this happen? Without a doubt the last three or so years under the Obama Administration has done much to weaken our nation. But that is the symptom, not the sickness. Electing and appointing unrighteous men and women to serve in the halls of government will always end up with a most destructive and despotic leader/ruler. But the issue is even deeper than that.
Our pulpits have been too silent for too long. Pulpits long ago stopped preaching against sin and a reliance of King Jesus and have preached a prosperity gospel that displays the Savior as some motivational coach to live your best life now. WE the People long ago, as a society, left the path of righteousness for a way of individualism, paved with self-esteem and lined with the poison of political correctness. King Solomon reminds us:
Two hundred thirty-six years ago today our nation declared its independence from the tyranny that had become the British Crown and Parliament. No longer would the colonists subject themselves to the enslavement of a despotic government unrighteous in all its governance. For too long the American colonists’ future was shrouded in darkness and yet the flame of liberty burned within their souls. This fire was stoked by a desire for economic independence and a religion that taught liberty as a central theme.
And not only was liberty a religious theme, it was a civic right bought for us by the price of Jesus’ blood. The Prophet Isaiah proclaimed:
Since Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare, I have seen all manner of exposition and explanation for why Chief Justice John Roberts’ ruling was brilliant. I have been asked if I want conservative judges, oppose liberal judges, want those that are Republican, and oppose those that are Democrats. Do I want originalists and oppose activists.
I take none of the above.
Faith is a tough thing. We’re going to look at faith more closely on Friday. The object of our faith at times is a moving target. As Christians we always proclaim faith in Christ, but when it comes to trusting the affairs of this world, are we willing to trust them to the sovereignty of God?
For God to be truly sovereign in our lives, He must be sovereign over all aspects of our lives. The Random House Dictionary defines as “a monarch; a king, queen, or other supreme ruler; a person who has sovereign power or authority.”
