Last night I presented this question to my social media followers and blog email list:
Moral courage seems to be in short supply these days, particularly in Washington, D.C. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is set to vote on increasing the debt limit as early as today. I’ve read any number of pragmatic opinion pieces on why the Republicans have no choice but to raise the limit.
Of course they have a choice. It isn’t a matter of choice, it’s a matter of courage.
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.”
To hope and trust in God means doing so in His power and providence; not in our might and motives. Again, this may seem as a simple truth, and it is, but always remember that simple rarely equates to easy. We are hard-wired to do things on our own. But when we are placing our hope and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can see with eternal eyes and know that God is in control.
We just finished preparing our annual church budget to present to the church. This is not a budget that looks at the economic uncertainty in our nation. It is not a budget that considers that perhaps people will be strapped for money and giving will inevitably be down.
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.
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:
In this week’s The Truth Newsletter I write about the Injustice of Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare. Men and women who are in seats of power who are not governing from a foundation of righteousness will almost always make poor if not lawless decisions. And when I say lawless I mean any decision, or law for that matter, that violates God’s law. Obamacare is theft and the Eighth Commandment clearly commands against stealing.
Lawlessness from judges is not a 21st Century phenomenon; it’s not exclusive American History. It has been in effect for centuries. King Solomon observed:
If you must take a stand for God, you must expect persecution to come. You cannot stand on the truth of God’s Word and all around you accept it peacefully, unless you are doing so in a “Christian ghetto” and even there pure aletheia truth is not always welcomed. And yet we do not have a choice of where we will stand for God; we can only choose to obey or disobey. David understood this calling very clearly.
My sister Minji (given name Mary) wrote yesterday in response to our devotional on the last conceit to go and said she has been struggling to understand her “artist self”, lately realizing that we never really understand ourselves. As we said, only God understands us. Minji is realizing a great freedom in losing herself instead of the exhausting fool’s errand of trying to find oneself.
Friends, it’s finally here!
Our new venture is up and running and we want to be sure you pass the word to everyone you know!
Just click on the banner below and you can see our new website, Aletheia Group LLC:
I received the following reply from Dr. Alan Keyes to my devotional “Despairing of Everyone.” You can read more of Dr. Keyes’ brilliant writing at his website, “Loyal to Liberty.” It is linked under my Citizen Action links.
Alan Keyes
Aletheia is a Greek philosophical word that means truthfulness that corresponds to reality. This means we can trust Biblical, aletheia, truth because it is true and it is real. It is undeniable. Do people deny this truth? Of course, but it does not make it any less true.
Why is our nation in the state it is? Many blame this political party while that party blames the other party. The church blames the atheists and the atheists blame the church. Seems like there’s a lot of finger-pointing going on these days. The concept of personal responsibility long ago left American society with Dr. Spock’s admonition to not spank children, the government enabling bad personal behavior, and the mainstreaming of immorality, just to name a few.
The first use of the word aletheia is actually used by the Pharisees in one of their tests of Jesus:
The next big fight in Congress is whether or not to raise the current debt ceiling. Supposedly, Capitol Hill and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—purportedly filled with self-avowed Christians—understand that this spending and debt accumulation cannot go on forever. Alas, right understanding does not always turn into right action, particularly not inside the Beltway.
Today is the 150th Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. It is considered our first modern war; it was by far America’s most costly. The thing that always amazes me, so eloquently and poignantly illustrated in Ken Burn’s “Civil War”, is the courage under fire of the men facing sure carnage.
How important is faith in the Christian life? Well, to become a Christian you must believe in the Only One who can save you, Jesus Christ. So faith in Christ is required to be a Christian.
With the economy and various states working to get their budgets back on track, there is a long overdue look being given to the many entitlement programs at both the federal and state levels. We’ve just learned this week that 1 out of 3 Americans receive some type of federal payout through wages and salaries, Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance. Over the coming months I will be launching a new entity that will address political and cultural issues through a Biblical lens because they are much too involved to cover in a few devotionals much less one.
