Posts Tagged ‘Christian’
Red States are going to church… Blue States are going to Hell!
Ok ….going to church does not necessarily mean that you are going to heaven. But according to multiple studies, it may mean that you are more likely to vote Republican.
In 2006 Gallop conducted a two year study into the correlation between voting tendencies and church attendance. And what they discovered is the following:
• Forty-two percent of Americans attend a church or a synagogue once a-week or almost once a-week; 43% say they seldom or never attend church.
How often do you attend church or synagogue?
Once a week 31%
Almost once a week 11%
Once a month 13%
Seldom 27%
Never 16%
• There is a strong correlation between frequency of church attendance and partisan voting tendency. The more frequent a person attends church the more likely they are to vote Republican. Conversely, the less frequent a person attends church the more likely they are to vote Democrat.
• The closeness of the national political divide is mirrored by the nearly even split between regular church attendees (42%) and non-church attendees (43%).
• Nine of twelve swing states in Presidential politics are within 4% above or
below the national frequent church attendance average (ie: they range between
38% to 46% frequent church attendance.)
• There are eleven states where frequent (once a-week/almost once a-week) church attendance is 50% or more. Each is a safe Republican voting state in Presidential elections.
This study was further bolstered by a 2014 survey which identified states with the most and least frequent church attendance. And it is no surprise that the 10 states with most frequent attendance are overwhelmingly Republican, while the states with the least frequent attendance are largely Democratic.
These studies do nothing more than shine a light on what has long been obvious to us BIBLE BELIEVING Christian voters. Of the two major parties, it is the Republican Party that is most consistent with our Christian values.
But it also raises an interesting question for “Christian” Democrats. How do you explain the inverse relationship between those who regularly sit under the word of God and those who vote for Democrats? And secondly, do they see themselves as an anomaly in this phenomenon or is their church attendance and belief in the biblical scripture just as shaky as those who don’t call themselves Christians?
The fact is many who call themselves Christians, spend very little time getting to know Christ. Few attend church more than two times a year; Christmas and Easter. And even fewer actually spend time reading the Bible or praying. I have even encountered those who claim to be Christian, but don’t believe in the Bible. And without exception, these folks have all turned out to be liberal Democrats.
Then there are those who do attend Church, pray and I believe love God. But for some reason, they continue to support candidates for public office who are actively working to promote laws and statutes that conflict with the word of God.
I will be the first to admit that the Republican Party isn’t perfect. But when it comes to supporting Christian Values, it stands head and shoulders above the Democratic Party. In my six years of studying God’s word as it relates to the role that Christians are supposed to play in civil government, I have discovered the following duties that we, as believers are called to do:
1. Pray for Leaders- whether we like them or not.
“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers,intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”[I Timothy 2:1-2]
“IF My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, THEN I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” [II Chronicles 7:14]
2. Select God Fearing Leaders- who Advance Christian Principles in Civil Government
“Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.”[Exodus 18:21](e.g., Federal—State-County/City)
“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. You shall not pervert justice…” [Deuteronomy 16:18+]
3. Seek Knowledge and Wisdom (Biblical principles are to be the benchmark for selecting political parties, people (candidates for office), and ballot propositions.)
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” [Hosea 4:6a]
“Incline your ear to wisdom. And apply your heart to understanding. …Cry out for discernment… Then you will understand the fear of the LORD.” [Proverbs 2:2, 3, 5]
4. Take Action to Advance His Principles Until He Returns
“Occupy [do business on My behalf] till I come…” [Luke 19:13b]
“Faith without works is dead…” [James 2:26b]
“For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required…” [Luke 12:48]
“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” [James 4:17]
5. Obey Governing Authorities and Laws
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” [Rom. 13:1] (see also I Pet. 2:13,14)
6. Resist Tyrants and Laws that Violate Scripture [Daniel 3 & 6, and
Acts 4 & 5] See Daniel 3 & 6 and Acts 4 & 5 for examples of godly individuals who violated man’s law in order to obey and honor God.
7. Teach Our Children the Biblical Principles (including their duty to select just leaders and the Biblical principles of Liberty); we must re-establish an inter-generational perspective
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children…” [Deut. 6:6-7a] (Also see Deut. 4:9 and Proverbs 22:6)
How many of us really do these things? I would say very few Christians do even half of them. If we did, we would not see the degradation in the moral values of our leadership that we see today.
Take for example my home state of California. Frequent church attendance stands at just 32% (23% once a-week and 8% almost once a-week) Placing the state near the bottom in frequent church attendance. Only six states have fewer people attend church on a regular basis. This is the same state who’s legislature was the first legislative body in the country to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. How exactly is this in line with the values of Christian Democrats?
I would ask my Christian brothers and sisters to consider whether they have transformed their political world view to be consistent with their Christian faith or if they have perverted their faith to conform with their political beliefs. Are you a Christian first or a Democrat first? By their every action, the Democratic Party has demonstrated that they “despise” God. Do you?
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Matt 6:24
Is Obama The Most Anti-Christian President Ever?
I usually try to be pretty level headed in my criticism of the left, the President in particular. )I know my friends on the left would disagree. But they tend to see any disagreement with them as extremism.) But when I read an article, America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President by Wall Builder’s David Barton, I could not help but wonder if it was really true.
In the piece, Barton outlines a litany of actions taken by the Obama Administration that could be deemed hostile by those of Biblical Christian faith. And it is a long list! In fact, it is much longer than would have ever guessed… longer than I am sure most of his “Christian” supporters would like to believe.
I won’t go as far as saying that the President is behind all of these offenses. Understanding how many major decisions he has to make on a daily basis, I doubt many of these rose to the level where he had to make the call. But he is the man in charge. It may not be his fault, but he is the one who is responsible.
So, to those Obama supporters who call yourselves “Bible Believing Christians”, how do rationalize backing a President who has allowed his administration to be so hostile to your faith?
And to those who are not Christian, is this an example of the “Tolerance” you are asking all of us to have? Is it truly tolerance?
Is America a Christian Nation?
President Barak Obama’s declaration that America is not a Christian nation has sparked debate and controversy throughout the country. So, how would you answer the question?
For me,the answer to this question would depend on your interpretation of what it is to be a “Christian Nation”. America is not is not a theocracy (a church run state) and Americans have never been compelled to believe in any one faith perspective. But it is undeniable that America has a distinctly Judeo-Christian heritage and that our history is rooted in Biblical principles from which all freedom flows. Absent these Judeo-Christian principles, there would be no America and no liberty!
Consider the following:
1.52 of the 55 Founding Fathers who worked on the Constitution were members of orthodox Christian churches and many were evangelical Christians (see David Barton’s resources at Wallbuilders.com).
2. A study conducted at the University of Houston involving a sample of over 15,000 writings revealed that 94% of the Founders’ quotes were directly or indirectly based on the Bible (David Barton).
3. Key components of our governmental structure are clearly derived from Scripture:
a. The rationale for the Separation of Powers comes from Jeremiah 17:9 based on the Biblical idea of fallen man
b. The structure of the three-Branch System of Government comes from Isaiah 33:22 and
c. Tax Exemptions for Churches comes from Ezra 7:24.
d. The concept of Federal, State and Local Governments comes from Exodus 18:21
4. Our Founders instituted prayer at the beginning of every session of Congress and a Chaplain system in the military.
5. The Motto of the American Revolution was “No King but King Jesus!”
6. The Bible was called the “Great Political Textbook of the Patriot.”
7. The Mayflower Compact, dated November 20, 1620, records the purpose for the Plymouth colony and subsequent expansion across North America, “for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith…” This is the American Covenant, that is, the document which organized the first civil government with linkage to the Great Commission and based on the principle of Christian self-government!
8. Our Declaration of Independence, dated July 4, 1776, makes four direct references to God and our dependence on Him.
9. Our US Constitution was ratified on September 17 “in the Year of our Lord” 1787 (Article VII, subscription clause)! Its principles are distinctly Biblical.
And if our founders were truly Deists, how do you explain the following quotes:
George Washington
The first President of the United States in his Farewell Address (Sept. 19, 1796) stated, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars…”
John Jay
The First Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court and one of the three men most responsible for the Constitution said, “It is the duty—as well as the privilege and interest—of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
Noah Webster
Founding Father, Author of Webster’s Dictionary, educator, largely responsible for Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution “The religion that has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles… to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government. …No truth is more evident to my mind than that Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”
John Quincy Adams
America’s sixth President, said (in a speech delivered on July 4, 1837, at Newburyport): “Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?”
These are not the words of Deists. These are Christian men declaring that the precepts upon which our nation is founded are indeed Christian and to preserve the blessings of this nation, we must preserve this Christian foundation.
What are these precepts?
1. Man is fallen and capable of wickedness (Jer. 17:9), therefore, the powers of civil government must be separated (and found the Biblical pattern for separation in Is. 33:22).
2. God-granted inalienable rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (private property and free enterprise): this stands in stark contrast to the idea of Man-granted privileges (“divine right of kings” which allows the sovereign to live “above” God’s and man’s law).
3. God’s principle of individuality: Exalts God and explains how He works through individuals and individual nations; each person is a unique and valuable creation of God.
It exposes the error of secular collectivism (i.e., the idea that the state has value, not the individual) and the error of individualism separate from Christ. (I Corinthians 12:4-11)
4. The Christian principle of self-government: In order to have true liberty, man must be governed internally by the Spirit of God rather than by external forces. Government is first individual, and then extends outward to the family, church, and community. The principle of self-government involves God ruling internally from the heart of the individual and is dependent upon man’s obedience to “the spirit of the law of Christ” (Rom. 8:2; Prov. 16:32; Rom. 8:2; Eph. 6:6; I Tim. 3:5)
5. America’s heritage of Christian character: The image of God engraved inside the individual brings dominion and change to his outside environment. The Founders understood that Christian Character (based on a strong sense of accountability to God) in governmental leadership is essential to the preservation of liberty in America. The model of Christian character is the Pilgrim and Patriot character. Becoming accountable for one’s individual actions and productivity is the fruit of Christian character. (Matt. 7:24-29; Acts 24:16; Phil. 4:13; II Tim. 4:7)
6. Private property with conscience as the most sacred of all property: Christians are required to exercise faithful stewardship of their God-given sense of right and wrong which is the key to the proper use of private property. Conscience is also a tool for the development of self-government as each child learns to submit his will. (Acts 5:4, 24:16; Eph. 2:10; I Tim. 3:9; II Tim. 1:3; Heb. 13:18)
7. Planting the seed of local self-government and the importance of the home: Identifies the Judeo-Christian home’s responsibility for maintaining religious and civil liberty under law (and the fruits of local sovereignty) including teaching and practicing industry, charity, and obedience to all laws not contrary to Scripture. (Deut. 6:1-9; 10:12-14; Is. 9:6; Lk. 9:6)
8. The Christian principle of voluntary union: God wants His children to cooperate and work together politically, commercially, and in meeting community needs through voluntary consent, without compromising a Christian conscience or Scriptural separation. (Ps. 133:1; I Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:1-3)
With all this, the question still remains, “Is America a Christian nation?”
If one were to judge based on our foundation the answer would be undeniably “Yes!” But as we turn away from these precepts, we become less and less a Christian nation. And despite what some would have us believe, this is not a good thing.
Is the Religious Right wrong for the GOP?
Is it just me or wasn’t the man at the top of our ticket a guy who took great pride in the fact that he was not a member of the Christian right? And wasn’t his campaign run by folks like Steve Schmitt, who did everything possible to run their candidate as anything but a conservative Republican? Face it, this was the year of the “Moderate Republican” and they lost.
The only reason it was as close as it was, was because of the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket. We all watched as crowds cheered, donors gave and volunteers flooded the campaign. Why were they doing this? It was because this young energetic PRO-LIFE, PRO-GUN, PRO-MARRIAGE, CONSERVATIVE woman was now on the ticket. Like her or not, Sarah Palin brought energy and excitement to this presidential election at levels her more moderate running mate could not. And had it not been for the conservative haters in the campaign undermining her at every turn, the ticket might have done even better.
But let’s be honest, considering the level of Obamania that swept the country and the media, an almost $1 billion war chest and a meltdown of the financial markets; Ronald Regan- heck, even Abraham Lincoln couldn’t have won. So, I don’t blame John McCain. But to blame religious conservatives for the state of our party is just plain wrong.
I believe that there are two primary culprits to this meltdown.
The first is Republicans not walking the talk. We claimed to be about smaller government, but the greatest expansion of government spending happened under our watch. We claim to be about family values, but we had leaders propositioning congressional pages and playing footsies in the men’s room. We claimed to be the party of “Ethics and Moral Values”, meanwhile members of our party are being run out of office (some to jail) under corruption charges. We claim to be a party who supports equality for all, but we can’t seem to find our way to some communities until we need their vote. To make a long story short, we lost because we governed like democrats.
The second culprit is the GOP infighting. Moderates blame conservatives, stating that the only way to win is to abandon our socially conservative principles and change the party platform. Then conservatives fire back, questioning the “Republicanism” of anyone who disagrees with them on anything. We become the proverbial circular firing squad shooting at each other instead of the Democrats. If we are to turn this around two things are going to have to happen. First, moderates need to stop attacking our conservative values. Conservatives make up the core to of the GOP’s base. We are the meat and potatoes, moderates are the side dish. So, stop trying to change the platform. Likewise, conservatives must realize that not everyone is going to score 100% on the conservative values test. The party platform is the measuring stick we should use when judging our candidates. But we must also keep in mind that in some cases the perfect Republican candidate will not be the perfect Republican. Believe it or not, one can be a fiscal conservative and social moderate and still be convicted of being a Republican. In the infamous words of Mr. King (Rodney that is) “Can’t we all just get along?”
However, there is a silver lining to this rather dark cloud. The best solution for the syndrome that now ails the Republican party past has always been a Democratic administration. Nothing brings combatants together like a common enemy.
Let us not forget that Jimmy Carter helped us usher in the Regan Revolution. Then there was Bill Clinton’s liberal leadership, which led to the Contract With America. The election of Barak Obama could turn out to be best thing that could have happened to the GOP. That is, if we can learn to get along, govern according to our values and take a serious look at how we plan to attract new Republican voters.
So, what will Republican need to do to attract these new voters? We need to go to where they are; to get to understand their issues; and then, effectively communicate how our common conservative values can produce societal and public policy solutions to the challenges they face.
Hate from the Pulpit
Senator Barak Obama’s quest for the presidency has been in major turmoil over the last few weeks. These problems have stemmed from controversial comments made by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. These statements were made from the pulpit of his church which Obama attended for over 20 years. For those of you who have not heard these comments, let me just say that they were incendiary, anti-American, racist and needless to say, not very Christ-like. (Click Here to see the video)
But the fact that Jeremiah Wright would make such hateful comments doesn’t surprise me at all. The truth is, he is not the only “Man of God” that has chosen to use his platform to advance an agenda that has nothing to do with God.
Just this week the San Francisco Chronicle wrote about sermon delivered by a Rev. Amos Brown on Easter Sunday. According to the Chronicle:
The Rev. Amos Brown’s Easter sermon at the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco didn’t have much to do with Jesus’ crucifixion or resurrection from the dead and instead covered everything from skyrocketing gas prices and the subprime mortgage crisis to race relations in the United States and presidential politics.
During his fiery Sunday morning speech, he called President Bush a “one-eyed man,” told the predominantly African American congregation that the country is as segregated now as it was 50 years ago and said “America is running on fumes right now … we are on the wrong road.”
So, instead of using the occasion to recognize the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ; Rev. Brown chose to berate the President of the United States, and declare the recent criticism of Obama to be a conspiracy hatched by white America. I must have missed that part of the Easter Story…
Like the Pharasis in Jesus’s time, Jeremiah Wright and Amos Brown have taken to perverting their roles as Shepards, leading their congregants not to Christ, but to a modern day “Black Nationalism” that is based in hatred and mistrust of America; White America, specifically.
Now this is not to say that these men are not entitled to express their opinions. But God holds those who represent him to a higher standard.
I will not go as far as saying the Barak Obama agrees with all of his pastor’s views. But I do believe that his decision to sit under the teachings of a man who possesses such heartfelt views does raise legitimate questions about his judgment.
And his lack of judgment in the selection of his pastor should serve as an indication of how he will go about selecting his advisors, should he become president.
Guilty by Association?
You had to know that I was going to post this!
Now I am not going to spend a lot of time trying to tie this guy to Barak Obama or insinuate that he thinks this way as well. There are enough pundits out there doing this. But I will raise the question about whether one should question his judgment when it comes to following a man who would preach such hate.
And before you get started….By any objective standard, this is hate speech. If you doubt it, ask yourself this question, “If a white pastor were saying the same thing about black people, would you consider it hate speech?” Barak Obama himself has worked to distance himself from his pastor’s comments by comparing his former “Man of God” to a crazy uncle with whom he does not always agree.
Well maybe you can’t choose your family. But you can chose with whom you chose to associate. And you most certainly can choose your pastor. Clearly, Mr. Obama chose this man to be his pastor; the man who married him to his wife, dedicated his children and was his spiritual teacher 20 years. One has to wonder how much his views line up with his pastor’s views and whether someone with that mindset should be president.
Things that should never appear in a school yearbook: drugs, alcohol, violence, gangs and God”
The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting:
After years of banning God from its award-winning yearbook, a Brentwood high school recently reversed the policy. But the change of heart came after the book went to the printers, so a conservative religious-liberty group is threatening to sue to get the school to pay $21,000 for a partial reprinting that would include God.
How does religion come to fall into the same category as drugs, alcohol, violence and gangs? And why isn’t sex on the list? This is just one more example of the education establishment’s hostility toward God. It is time that these educators get a civics lesson regarding free speech and religious freedom. And that is exactly what the Pacific Justice Institute is going to help them get. Unfortunately for them though, it will come with a $21,000 price tag.
The bottom line is, when a school district creates a public forum for free speech, it cannot engage in discrimination based on religion,” said Brad Dacus, president of the institute. “If this is not resolved, a lawsuit would be in order.”
In the name of “not offending anyone” school districts have repeatedly usurped the rights of Christian students and their families to exercise their free speech rights. I am glad to see that they are standing up and speaking out.
Did God Create Evil?
I recieved this via email. I usually don’t post this sort of “pass it on if you’re a real Christian” type of stuff. But this piece is too good to keep to myself. Enjoy
A University professor at a well-known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question.
“Did God create everything that exists?”
A student bravely replied, “Yes, he did!”
“God created everything?” The professor asked.
“Yes, sir, he certainly did,” the student replied.”
The professor answered, “If God created everything, then God created evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil.”
The student became quiet and did not answer the professor’s hypothetical definition. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, “May I ask you a question, professor?”
“Of course,” replied the professor. The student stood up and asked, “Professor, does cold exist?”
“What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?”
The other students snickered at the young man’s question.
The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.
Absolute zero (-460F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.”
The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?”
The professor responded, “Of course it does.”
The student replied, “Once again, you are wrong, sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.”
Finally, the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?”
Now uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course, as I have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.
To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a world that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”
The professor sat down.
The young man’s name — Albert Einstein
**********
Clarifiation
It has been pointed out to me by several readers that this confrontation featuring Albert Einstein never happened. For the record, let me state that I don’t doubt that they are correct.
But whether or not the story is true, does that make the logic presented in the story any less true? Are the facts about cold and darkness stated in this fictional story false? I think not….
I did not post this story because it had Albert Einsteins name attached to it. I did so because the logic contained in it reveals truth that I thought my readers would benefit from.
California Legislature to mandate STD vaccination for 6th grade girls
The childless author of the now infamous “anti-spanking bill” California Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, has introduced yet another bill intruding on the rights of parents to raise their children. Lieber’s AB 16 would mandate that all female students be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) before being allowed to enter the sixth grade.
Let’s begin with a few facts. First, 70% of cervical cancer cases are caused by the four strains of HPV targeted by the newly approved vaccine best known as Gardasil. But it is also important to note that all four strains are transmitted only through sexual contact; protected or not.
So the first question we should be asking is whether or not we should be mandating a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease to children who should not be sexually active. Unlike other diseases for which we mandate vaccination (i.e. Tuberculosis and Small Pox) HPV is not highly communicable. Furthermore, the ONLY method of transmitting the HPV strains targeted by this vaccination is sexual contact.
We should also question the wisdom of mandating a vaccination that has been on the market for such a short period of time. Gardasil was just approved by the Food and Drug Administration back in June 2006, less than a year ago. And while it did go through extensive trials, does it really make sense to mandate it be given to children when we have so little history upon which to determine the long-term safety of the product? What’s the rush?
Finally, the hypocrisy of the “choice movement” on the left never ceases to amaze me. Explain to me how a twelve year old girl is mature enough to “choose” to be taken from a school campus and given birth control or even an abortion without her parents’ even knowing about it, but isn’t mature enough to “choose” whether or not the want to receive a vaccine for a disease that is only transmitted through sexual contact? Why can’t she simply “choose” not to have sex until she is in a faithful, committed marriage relationship?
The Culture of Christ (Uncommon Sense Radio)
One of the great things about growing up in the United States is the wonderful diversity of cultures here. And we can often identify one’s culture by their traditions and how they live their lives.
In this edition of Uncommon Sense, we ask whether or not others could look at your life and identify you with the Culture of Christ.
Are you walking funny? (Uncommon Sense Radio)
“If you are going to talk the talk, you should walk the walk.”
How often do we question those who’s deeds are inconsistant with the values they proclaim to hold? In this edition of Uncommon Sense we will help you anwer the key question, “Are you walking funny?”
Enjoy! — Craig DeLuz
Oh Hell No! Coming to Calvary Christian Center- October 2006
“Oh Hell No- A Revelation of Hell” is an original production by the Theater Arts Ministry at Calvary Christian Center.
Watch the preview:
Runtime – 0:51
Pastor Joseph Warren is a passionate and God fearing man who has dedicated his entire life to reaching the lost for Christ. Joseph is a man who seeks the Lord in every area, so when he and his church body become the targets of an intense spiritual attack, he immediately turns to God.
God’s answer to prayer is not at all what Joseph was expecting. A mysterious visitor, who Joseph soon learns is an Angel of Lord, has come to take Joseph on a journey into HELL.
HOSTED BY:
Calvary Christian Center
LOCATION:
2667 Del Paso Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95815
TIME:
7pm nightly
CONTACT INFO:
Web:www.ohhellno.net
Email: info@ohhellno.net
Phone: (916) 922-1505
**Bonus***
The performance on Sunday October 29th will be broacast live over the internet at Streaming Faith.
Liberal Christians? Now that’s an oxymoron.
The Democrat Party is leading an all out assault on moral values. However, they have come to realize that their fever to redefine marriage, kill the unborn, indoctrinate school children with sex education and homosexual lifestyles and remove all references to God from the public square (unless that god is Allah) has so offended the moral values of Christian voters they must to something to recapture at least part of this significant voting block. Enter in… the Liberal Christian Movement.
The Orange County Register is reporting:
This summer, hoping to attract believers who feel their faith has been hijacked by political interests, Progressive Christians Uniting, a 10-year-old Southern California-based organization, opened an Orange County chapter.
The group has already begun launching teach-ins and discussion groups, including one to be held Sept. 12 to Oct. 31 at First Christian Church in Fullerton. The seminars will be based on a 2006 essay collection, “Getting on Message: Challenging the Christian Right from the Heart of the Gospel,” which was edited by the Rev. Peter Laarman, the group’s executive director.
Who are these folks? These are cafeteria Christians who want to pick and choose which parts of the Bible they want to follow. I pretty much summed them up in an article I wrote “Liberal Christian Talk Show Host can’t handle Uncommon Sense” which chronicled my experience of being a guest on a liberal Christian radio show.
First, did you notice how Schoenwald dismisses the Bible in favor of his own definition of Christianity? Like most Christian liberals, he dismisses the validity of the Bible because much of the scripture is in conflict with this liberal world view. So, instead of altering their world view to fit their faith, they alter their faith to fit their world view. Thus, they only talk about those parts of scripture such as love, forgiveness, and charity that they agree with and dismiss those parts like the consequences of sin, righteousness and repentance that they don’t like. I also love how he throws in “Tolerance”. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I don’t know where in the Bible God says that we should be tolerant of sin.
To make a long story short, these people are idol worshipers.
Ok… I know that sounds harsh, but think about it….
By picking and choosing the parts of Christianity that they like and discarding the ones they don’t, are they not simply creating their own religion? Is that not what those who worship idols (false gods) do? They create their own object (religious code) and call it god. In his warnings against worshiping false gods (idol worship), God also admonishes those who do not honor all of his law. “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.” Deut. 12:32
Rev. Laarman and his group claim that their main focus will be on the “heart of the Gospel” which is Love. On this, I would have to commend them. Although, I don’t think that their version of the Gospel is the same as God’s.
Unfortunately, the differences are far to numerous to point out in this one article. But I will be writing a series of pieces comparing different aspects of liberal ideology to the Word. I think I’ll call it “To Liberal Christians- What the Word Says”.
I look forward to hearing what you think.
The Heart of a Leader (Uncommon Sense Radio)
What does it take to be an effective leader? It all starts in the heart.
That is why In this edition of Uncommon Sense we will study how to have the heart of a leader.
Let me know what you think…
Get a Job! (Uncommon Sense Radio)
God loves to work! Think about it… when creating the world, he worked six days and rested only one. And when he created Adam, the first thing he did was give him a job.
On the other hand, man tends to have a very negative outlook on work. We can’t wait for Friday to come so that we can leave work and dread Monday, when we have to return. And try to get people to give of their free time to volunteer.
As we are called on to have the mind of Christ, shouldn’t that also include our attitude towards work?
This edition of Uncommon Sense explores God’s perspective of work and our attitudes towards it and those with whom we labor.
Should Christians be involved in politics (Uncommon Sense Radio)
For some reason, the Christian Church has bought into the false doctrine of “Separation of Church and State”.Well this edition of Uncommon Sense Radio provides an introduction into what I like to call “Christian Civics” and provides some biblical arguments as to why we are not only allowed to participate, but we are mandated to participate.
Here are a couple of other posts on the subject:
Red States are going to church… Blue States are going to Hell!
Should Christians Vote Christian?
Five things in Hell that ought to be in the Church (Uncommon Sense Radio)
The title of this episode pretty much says it all! We in the church could actually learn a few things from those in hell. As a matter of fact, my pastor has a saying, “If you are going through hell, don’t stop! And when you come out, bring some fire with you!”
Enjoy!!!!!
Standing in the GAP
One of the most exciting and inspirational events I have ever had the privilege of participating in took place a couple of weeks ago. The Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) is designed to spur discussion about the tragedy of abortion came to UC Davis. And I was blessed to be on hand to minister to and talk with UC Davis faculty, staff and students.
The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform sponsors The Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) which is:
… a traveling photo-mural exhibit which compares the contemporary genocide of abortion to historically recognized forms of genocide. It visits university campuses around the country to show as many students as possible what abortion actually does to unborn children and get them to think about abortion in a broader historical context.
I know what you are thinking… “Oh great!!! Another Christian, right-wing whacko carrying around disgusting abortion pictures making us ‘Sensitive’ Pro-lifers look bad!” Well nothing could be further from the truth. Those who organize the GAP make every effort to create a positive atmosphere for discussion and dialogue.
It is our policy to treat everyone who approaches the GAP display with respect. We do not yell or use amplified sound. CBR holds staff and volunteers to strict rules of engagement. We know that the images we display are not pleasant. They represent an injustice of such magnitude that words alone fail us. Until injustice is recognized, however, it cannot be eradicated. We place our images in the public square because it is the last mass-media venue available to us. For all the people who will not take the time to be educated about abortion themselves, we bring the education to them.
As a matter of fact, every volunteer must sign a code of conduct before being allowed to participate in the project. It stated that we were not allowed to shout at people or force them to look at the photos. We also were not allowed to bring up religion, unless asked specific questions relating to the topic. But I will tell you, there was plenty of discussion and almost all of it was positive.
I made it a point to share that while I realized that these pictures were upsetting, we were not responsible for what was in them. These photos displayed the reality of abortion… A reality that Planned Parenthood and others in the abortion industry don’t want people to know about.
It was amazing how misinformed many of the folks I spoke with were. One student could not believe that abortion was legal past the first trimester. And when I shared how partial-birth abortions are performed, many of the abortion supporters even had to agree to that it was a barbaric procedure.
And then there were those who were simply in utter denial. One onlooker admitted that he believed a parent’s right to choose should even extend to after the child was born. Another, when confronted with statistics demonstrating the disproportionate number of abortions performed in the Black community, made the statement that most young Black men are in prison anyway. So it was probably a good thing. This was a left-wing, liberal white woman saying this!
There were also those whose perspective on abortion was clearly altered as a result of the discussions that took place. It was hard to look at pictures of 8 and 10 week old aborted children (most of which had visible hands, feet, eyes, etc.) And not at least question whether or not it was a child. And our plea to them was “that if there is any doubt, shouldn’t error on the side of allowing the children to live?”
Person after person shared their personal testimony of how they, their girlfriend or a friend toiled through the process of having an abortion and the devastation it caused in their lives. They said that if they had known the whole truth, they might have made a different decision. In love, we let them know that many of us have made that mistake because we simply didn’t know. And that is why we were there, so that they could be exposed to the information that the abortion industry has intentionally hidden from them.
Most encouraging was the overall response by the students at UC Davis. With very few exceptions, they were gracious, respectfully inquisitive and even those who did not agree with us treated us with respect and recognized our right to freely express our views in the public square.
The folks at UC Davis were class acts and I for one would like to thank them for being so hospitable.
Purity Balls… The latest casualty of San Francisco style tolerance.
Fathers make a profound gesture to support their daughters in their decision to save themselves for marriage, and what do they do in San Francisco? Mock them!
Tolerance is alive and well in San Francisco…
San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Mark Morford writes the following:
Purity Balls. No, not some sort of newfangled spherical chastity device to be inserted sing vacuum tubes and pulleys, but rather fancy creepy dress-up rituals taking place in towns like Colorado Springs and Tucson and Zoloft Jesusville, in which Christian dads rent a bad tux while their daughters, mostly teenagers but many as young as 6 or 7, get all dolled up in gowns from JCPenny and they all drive out to the airport Marriott and prepare to, well, lose their minds.
It begins. At some point the daughter stands up, her pale arms wrapped around her daddy, and reads aloud a formal pledge that she will remain forever pure and virginal and sex-free until she is handed over, by her dad (who is actually called the “high priest” of the home), like some sort of sad hymenic gift, to her husband, who will receive her like the sanitized and overprotected and libidinously inept servant she so very much is. Praise!
Would that I were making this up.
The dad — er, high priest — in turn, stands up and reads his pledge, one stating that he will work to protect his daughter’s virginal purity that he has so carefully and wickedly drilled into her since birth, since she was knee-high to a disturbing dogma, that he will protect her chastity and oversee it and help enforce its boundaries, which might or might not involve great amounts of rage and confusion and secret stashes of cheap scotch, although his pledge claims it’s with honor and integrity and lots of bewildering Godspeak. Which, in many households, is essentially the same thing.
It’s true. Purity Balls are happening, right now. And yes, you have heard this all before. Particularly from the conservative Right, especially from America’s rigid and pale fundamentalist “core.”
What he is speaking of is an event at which fathers honor their daughters for their commitment to remain “pure” until they get married. Focused on the Family Magazine reports:
“This is not a debutante ball, but an elegant spiritual celebration that honors what God has created in fathers and daughters,” said Lisa Wilson, who with her husband, Randy, founded Generations of Light. (Randy is a Focus on the Family employee.) “We know that the covenants made that night will influence generations.”
Ample research shows that teen girls’ identities and their choice of future mates are strongly influenced by the relationship they have with their fathers — or the lack of it. Lisa’s father left when she was 2, and she grew up without knowing fatherly love or example. “I felt unprotected. I felt unloved. I had no identity,” she said.
The pledge that a father signs at the ball, Lisa said, is about his responsibility to model a righteous standard for his daughter, a standard of integrity, honesty, wisdom and discretion. And the purity message of the ball does not pertain only to sexual purity. “We want to help them enter marriage as pure, whole persons,” she said. “But it’s not just physical. It’s moral and emotional purity.”
Why does the existence of such an event offend Mr. Morford so? Is he being force to attend? Are they marching down the public streets celebrating their vows? Are his kids being forced to learn about these folks in their public school classrooms? I think not!
What offend Morford is that anyone dare have any moral standards. And that they would have the nerve to try and instill those same standards in their own children. Mark Morford is a part of the “Do Whatcha Like!” culture that has ruined the city of San Francisco. And with all their rhetoric about tolerance, they refuse to exercise any of their own.
Good is good? No! God is good!
A good friend The Intellectual Insurgent wrote on her blog post “Good is Good”:
My parents are not very religious people. They were both raised in Muslim families but my father’s family is secular. Although mom’s family is very religious, her marriage to my father pretty much put an end to praying five times a day and all that jazz. Never went to the mosque when I was a kid. Dad did not like “those religious people.”
In hindsight, it amazes me how “liberal” my parents were. We celebrated Christmas and Easter. They let my sister and I go to church with our friends on Sundays and I even went to Christian summer camp with my best friend Tricia the summer after 8th grade. Those are my earliest memories of religion and my utter disgust for it.
I’ve been to Mormon church, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopalian and have sat through hours of inane and painfully boring Catholic masses. Perhaps it is the character with which we are born; maybe we are hardwired to be pre-disposed for or against religion; because every church I attended sickened me more than the last. The dogma, the ritual, the pageantry. It all seemed so idiotic to the teenage me. There went Christianity….
She goes on to tell of her experiences with other religions and how she would eventually come to the conclusion that- Good is Good. And while she professes to have a healthy distain for all religions, one can clearly see a soft spot for the Muslim faith which is understandable considering her background; along with an extra special hatred of Christianity, which seems to have been fueled by those she refers to as religious, judgmental and hypocritical. (In her defense we all know folks like this!)
Anyway, everything I know about her says that she is a good person who is seeking intellectual enlightenment about who God is and why we should care. It is truly a great conversation.
Photos from “The Cup”
Jesus raises a girl from the Dead
Jesus washes the feet of the Disciples
Judas is called out
Jesus shares his heart with the disciples
The Last Supper
Judas Betrays Jesus
Pilate
The Two Marys
Mary the mother of Jesus
The Scourging
More Scourging
Even more scourging
On the cross
Jesus is crucified
Jesus breathes his last breath
Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives to come to California?
LESLIE PROPOSES GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF FAITH-BASED
(SACRAMENTO) – Faith-based and community organizations have a long tradition of helping Americans in need and together represent an integral part of our nation’s social service network. In order to help these organizations as they help Californians, Assemblyman Tim Leslie (R-Tahoe City) has introduced legislation creating the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI).
• Encourage organizations to seek public funding for their charitable services;
• Act as a liaison between state agencies and organizations;
• Advise the Governor, Legislature, and the advisory board of the Governor’s Office of Faith-based Community Initiatives on ways to increase dialogue between non-profits organizations and the government to more effectively work together to serve California’s neediest communities.
• Partner with the California Service Corps to develop events and communications that foster public support for non-profit organizations and honor their work.
California has over 135,479 non-profit organizations. And of the $1.482 billion distributed via federal competitive grants in 2004, California received just $114.5 million. This means that California’s nonprofits received only 8.23% of these federal grant funds even though they serve 12.1% of the US population.
Craig DeLuz
Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com
Liberal Christian Talk Show Host can’t handle Uncommon Sense
First of all, we’ll ignore the fact that a liberal Christian is an oxymoron.
But setting that aside, I was invited to go on the air with a Dean Schoenwald, a liberal Christian talk show host on WVOL 1470AM in Tennessee. When we spoke on the phone I was told that his listenership was middle of the road politically and they really didn’t have an agenda for the show; we would simply go wherever the discussion lead us.
Sound like a setup? Well it was. But I guess he didn’t know who he was dealing with as yours truly turned the tables on him. As a matter of fact, the intellectual beating got so bad he actually hung up on me.
Here is how the whole thing went down. Schoenwald called the President of the California Black Republican Council, David Morgan and asked him to be a guest on his show. He was equally as evasive with David, so he decided to check with the California Republican Party press folks to see if they were familiar with this show. And in fact, they were.
Evidently, CRP Chairman Duff Sundheim had been on the show and his experience was less than pleasant. So, heeding their advice, David decided that he would employ the services of a bona fide “Liberal Slayer“. Thus, knowing of my background in talk radio, he thought he would give me a crack at doing the show.
Now, I’ll admit that my performance wasn’t perfect. But keep in mind that I had no idea what the topic was going to be or that they would be coming at me from a “Christian” perspective. Had I known, I would have been better prepared with historical and scriptural references. But overall, I think I did ok.
But I did want to point out a few interesting observations.
First, did you notice how Schoenwald dismisses the Bible in favor of his own definition of Christianity? Like most Christian liberals, he dismisses the validity of the Bible because much of the scripture is in conflict with this liberal world view. So, instead of altering their world view to fit their faith, they alter their faith to fit their world view. Thus, they only talk about those parts of scripture such as love, forgiveness, and charity that they agree with and dismiss those parts like the consequences of sin, righteousness and repentance that they don’t like. I also love how he throws in “Tolerance”. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I don’t know where in the Bible God says that we should be tolerant of sin.
Secondly, how Christian is it to lie to someone in order to get them on your show? As I previously stated, Schoenwald was insistent that they did not have a topic in mind for us to discuss. It sure sounded like he had a topic in mind… Clearly, he wanted to go after me on the war in Iraq. And from what I heard about Duff Sundheim’s experience, this was his typical MO; to call Republicans, act like he is an objective talk show host who is interested in open dialogue and then he ambushes his unsuspecting conservative guest. Is this supposed to be Christ-like? I think not.
And finally, he showed his true colors when he commenced to call me names. “An embarrassment to Black People”, “A coward” and stating that I was “not a Christian” were just a few of the zingers he threw my way. Although I guess calling him “An Idol Worshiper” wasn’t the nicest thing to say. But hey… at least I backed it up with scripture.
Craig DeLuz
Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com
‘Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion’
This is the title of a movie review written by British film critic, Poly Toynbee of CS Lewis’ masterpiece turned Hollywood blockbuster entitled “The Chronicles of Narnia” . It clearly demonstrates the contempt that many non-believers have for Christianity.
In her piece which was published in The Guardian, Toynbee writes:
The lion exchanging his life for Edmund’s is the sort of thing Arthurian legends are made of. Parfait knights and heroes in prisoner-of-war camps do it all the time. But what’s this? After a long, dark night of the soul and women’s weeping, the lion is suddenly alive again. Why? How?, my children used to ask. Well, it is hard to say why. It does not make any more sense in CS Lewis’s tale than in the gospels. Ah, Aslan explains, it is the “deep magic”, where pure sacrifice alone vanquishes death.
Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to? Poor child Edmund, to blame for everything, must bear the full weight of a guilt only Christians know how to inflict, with a twisted knife to the heart. Every one of those thorns, the nuns used to tell my mother, is hammered into Jesus’s holy head every day that you don’t eat your greens or say your prayers when you are told. So the resurrected Aslan gives Edmund a long, life-changing talking-to high up on the rocks out of our earshot. When the poor boy comes back down with the sacred lion’s breath upon him he is transformed unrecognisably into a Stepford brother, well and truly purged.
I have always found it interesting how the issue of Christianity causes otherwise thoughtful intellectuals to devolve into unintelligent bigots whose discourse is filled with the very same hostile and hypocritical judgment they try to attribute to Christians.
What is most interesting about Toynbee’s commentary is that nobody forced her to go to the movie. No one forced her to read the book. No one is forcing her to believe the message being shared in the Chronicles of Narnia. And most importantly, no one is forcing her to believe the teachings of the Bible, including the miracle sacrifice that Jesus made so that we could have everlasting life. Why does the mere existence of Christianity offend her so? She could simply chose not to go to the movie, read the book or believe the teachings of the Bible.
As a matter of fact, one of the primary tenants of Christian faith is that of choice. You can choose to believe or not. You can choose to sin or not. The Bible says, “I set before you life and death, now choose life.” This also implies that those choices have consequences; some good and some bad.
But what I think bothers these brainiacs is the fact that they cannot find a way to logically pick and choose what biblical principles they will apply to their lives and which they will ignore. For those who are intellectually honest, they know that “Cafeteria-style Christianity” doesn’t work and it infuriates them. They want their religion to fit their world view. But for us to receive God’s blessings our world view must be transformed by our faith. And it is that idea of faith that they cannot grasp. It simply seems absurd to them that one must first in faith open their heart to God and then he will prove his love, his faithfulness and his promises. Wouldn’t it be easier?
Although a lot of the hostility that intellectuals have toward Christianity is also deeply rooted in bad experiences they have had with Christians, a lot of it also is the result of the most basic of man’s faults- pride.
Craig DeLuz
Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com
