Watchman's Corner

“Time flies when you’re having fun”.

So the saying goes.  However, I find the time that we are living in is flying faster than ever – even though we’re suffering in this kettle of pain we chose to jump into back in 2008.  At the time the nation was chanting “Hope and Change” and “Yes We Can”.  Now the nation is slowly waking up to the fact that without God there is no “Hope”.  To be independent from Him will not result in any “Change”.  Finally, we in the Church who have been commissioned by God to save the lost, recognized that by dazzling people with our hip programs, our seeker sensitive culture and our palatable Gospel, we have concluded that without the power of the Holy Spirit, “No We Can’t”.

We are about 9 months away from choosing another President.  There has been a lot of chatter in churches – “Black” churches especially, that people will re-elect Barack Obama based solely on his skin tone.  Regardless of your political affiliation, the standard of choosing a leader to rule over you should always be based on the Word of God.  Those who choose political expediency over God’s Word are no better.  Sarah Palin, who claims to be an unashamed Christian wrote a note on Facebook concerning Bella Santorum, Rick Santorum’s daughter who was admitted to the hospital recently, “Thank you, Rick and Karen Santorum, for living the Christ-like example of sacrifice and right priorities”…..  Yet she endorses Newt Gingrich for President?

As I have said in previous postings, “Just because I say I’m a Cadillac, doesn’t mean that I am”.  As this and subsequent years moves on – providing that the Lord tarries, it will become more and more evident of who verbalizes the teachings of Christ, as opposed to who lives them.  In Biblical terms, the chaff has grown with the wheat and harvest time is upon us (see Matthew 13:24-30).  This doesn’t mean that those who have made mistakes that repentance is not available to them.  I am speaking directly to those who have chosen to walk in error and refuse to look at that error for what it is.  That the pride in their heart is more important than the approval of the Holy Spirit.  That their position holds more sway than God’s direction.  That the ruling of men is tantamount than the serving of them.  These leaders and all that willing to follow them are part of the Laodicean church that Jesus spoke of that are miserable, wretched, blind, poor, and naked ( See Revelation 3:17).

In the coming months we will see more political rhetoric than ever – on both sides of the aisle.  Our countrymen will be doing a lot finger pointing saying that “My side is right”.  or “God is on my side”.  While there maybe instances that could bear that out, I think Abraham Lincoln said it best:

“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

Lincoln knew a thing or two about having a clear vision to eliminate tyranny;  what we now call slavery.  We in the Church should learn from history, lest we damn our country to repeat it.

Last week we rung in the new year.  Some of us were partying the last vestiges of 2011 with some type of hope that the new year will be better than the last one.  Some of us  – as was I,  were wondering what is the Church in America  going to do as the very freedom that we as Americans enjoy and that most of the world envied are now being stripped away from our possession right in front of us with no attempt of concealing this nefarious plot, and we in response are so silent that not even so a much as whimper was being uttered.

As the dawning of 2012 is here, an ominous specter is no longer on the approach toward our shores.  It has gone past the point of establishing a beach head. It has now been woven and solidified into our laws;  and with Blitzkrieg type speed will influence and dominate our culture.  That specter I am speaking of is tyranny.  It is a governmental order that has taken the most civilized of cultures and has caused them to sink into the most base, vile, depraved, abysmal, and wretched displays of humanity that has ever been recorded in the annals of human history.  Why?  The answer is quite simple.  Tyranny is mankind’s attempt to replace God.  It is those at the top of this order who have an insatiable hunger and thirst to be the object of human worship.  To have mankind – by force or deception,  bow down to them in thought, word and deed, and to carry out their twisted agenda to it heinous conclusion.

Tyranny, like liberty has one thing stopping it:  Your choice.  Sounds farfetched?  Don’t believe me?  Consider the children of Israel when Samuel’s sons were making perverted judgements (see I Samuel 8:3).  What was the people’s response?  “Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations”.  This was not God’s will.  This was the people’s choice.  God solidified that this was the people’s choice by saying, “And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them“. (I Samuel 8:7 emphasis added)

On November 6, 2012, barring martial law being implemented, we will have another – and could be our last, opportunity to elect a President, Vice-President, Congressional leaders, et, al.  so that we can retain our freedoms that God has given us. We will have another chance to preach the Gospel freely without any fear of being carted off to jail or executed on the spot for being an enemy of the State.  In short on November 7, 2012, the government we as American citizens will live under will be because of God’s will or….

In this season of time known as election season,  we as Americans in general and Christians in particular,  have the God-inspired, Constitutionally ordained choice of who will rule over us.  The political “machines” have taken this sacred choice and perverted it into a cult of personality – which candidate has the most appeal to the voter.  We in turn, have joined into the fray by subscribing to the idea that if you are Conservative or Liberal, Republican or Democrat (or any other affiliation for that matter), that you were in the “right”  party and all others are in the wrong party and that it is your “duty” – from the machine’s point of view, to convert or eliminate those on the other side because they are your “enemy”.

People think politics is a complicated matter.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Politics is not a contest of party affiliation as it is a contest of worldviews.  In other words, on Election Day which worldview will we as a nation follow until the next election cycle?  I go into more detail about this in my blog “Elections Have Consequences”.   When you eliminate the “fluff” you are really left with two choices – A Biblical worldview or a Non-Biblical worldview.  Most Christians can not articulate what a Biblical worldview is.  Therefore you can’t confidently vote for something or someone that reflects your values.  What is worse is that you can’t convince a person that holds a Non-Biblical worldview through a discussion, that their worldview has flaws and that a Biblical worldview has the answers that they are looking for.  Consider this:

• How would you classify abortion?  Murder of innocent blood or a woman’s right to choose?
• How would you define marriage – as God sees between a man and a woman or something else that Scripture doesn’t support?
• How would you classify the rights and freedoms you enjoy as an American – God given or government given?
• How do you view political office – as a responsibility to be stewarded or a stepping stone to get what you want?

These are just a few questions you would need to ask yourself before you engage a person with a different worldview, much less a candidate running for public office. I think we do God as well as ourselves a disservice if these questions are not addressed in our hearts and in the pulpit.   Like tithing, we must be continually  reminded that it is our decisions that bring forth God’s blessing or His curse.  It is our decision to elect a candidate that has a Biblical worldview.  It is our decision to pray one in if you don’t see one.

I have encountered people who have tried to use Daniel 2:21 as a political “Get out of jail free” card; meaning it is Biblically permissible to get out of the political process.  However, we haven’t had a king ruling this country in over 200 years.  Remember, with the exception of the Judges, every political authority in Scripture was a dictatorship.  From Pharaoh to Agrippa and every one in between – including David and Solomon.

However, every country in world history did have supreme ruling body on the Earth.  In the time of Jesus it was known as Caesar.  This would make many Christians feel justified in their minds that there is nothing we can do because they will quote “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar, and render unto God that which is God’s (see Matthew 22:21).  While this is true, in America we must recognize what is classified as Caesar.  Most Christians – including a lot of preachers get this incorrect.  “Caesar” in America is not the President, Governor, or any person in public office that has authority. It’s not the body itself; such as the U.S., State, or local government.  Caesar in America is the U.S. Constitution.  It is the supreme law of the land.  It is the document that all State officials, the entire Congress, The Supreme Court, and all service members in our our Armed Forces, including the President and Vice-President swear and a oath of allegiance to uphold, protect, and defend.

So in the day that we live in you can read Scripture this way:  Render unto the Constitution that which belongs to the Constitution.  Render unto God that which belongs to God.  When you read Scripture in this context, knowing that the Constitution was framed around the Declaration of Independence – where over half the signers held seminary degrees, you can make the case that our Founders have a Biblical worldview and that it is our obligation to ensure that the Constitution remains the standard – not a “living document” that needs to be changed.   On November 6, 2012 we will choose a worldview.  The question of what is more important to us as Christians and Americans will be answered on November 7th: God’s blessing or His curse.

Choose Wisely, America.

On New Year’s Day I wrote “2011:  The Mark of  a Decade, The Mark of the Church, or The Mark of the Beast“.  I wrote it as a “seed” for the American Church to think about.  The last paragraph states:

“As we the Church in America enter into 2011 we must make no mistake.  A mark will be made this year.  The question is what kind of mark will you as a believer will leave behind.  Will you be known as a person that was despised because you refused to do your job?  A person that conspired to abandon your job of maintaining Constitutional vigilance and leaving it up to someone else to do for you?  Or will you be known as a person who stood up for righteousness in the public square and the political arena; To be an inspiration to our countrymen that Biblical Truth is worth living for and that God ordained liberty is worth fighting for“.

It takes approximately nine months to create a child   Let’s take a spiritual and political “ultrasound” and see the ‘child” the Church has created.  We have 17% unemployment (regardless of what the government says).  We have seen and allowed Socialist-style capitalism to take place (see Solyndra).  Yet the pulpits of America are eerily silent when it comes to calling out this type of sin.   Sure,  we point out the obvious ones such as same same -sex marriage.  Why?  Because pointing those sins out is considered “safe”.  Why are they considered safe?  The world has come to expect the Church to call out those sins.  Yet instead of  feeling the conviction of God’s Word that’s being preached, we are largely ignored.  Why?  Because we are regarded as no real existential threat to the American Culture because truth be told, we don’t believe in the Truth of the Word of God.  Why Not?  Because so long as our Pastors keep dangling the “prosperity carrot”  in front of us, we are more than willing to let the world pass us by since we have become so fixated on our “breakthrough”.

We have at least heard of the trial and conviction of Pastor Yusef Nadarkhani of Iran.  Yet what kind of “solidarity” have we seen coming out of the Church?  What viral videos on YouTube have been posted?  Where are the “fire and brimstone” sermons that tells the congregation that God is the one who gave us our rights and it is those rights we are called to steward?  That if this can happen in a place where Sharia Law is accepted as the “Law of the land”,  then it has the potential of becoming the law of the land here because we allowed it.  Can’t happen in America you say?  Think again and read this article:  “Sharia Law in America – Is it Possible?: YES!“  Ask yourself this question:  Why is there no outrage in the pulpit over the Solyndra debacle?  That a corporation in a niche industry can ask and receive loan guarantees totaling hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money – God’s money, right Pastor? Yet very little to no accountability is being called forth.  These are two of many examples that the Church in America instead of proclaiming and implementing the solution of God’s Word, we have become an integral part of the problem.

What is the solution you may ask?  I would classify it as the three “Rs”:  Repentance, Removal, and Restoration.

Repentance – This is a job that Church in America MUST initiate from the top down.  That those in spiritual leadership would repent to God AND the congregation for not leading us in the way we should go.  Once that is initiated we invite the entire country to join us in this spiritual, but critical exercise.

Removal – We mount with up the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit along with the intestinal fortitude necessary to hold those that in public office accountable and to remove those who have  chosen not to be.

Restoration – This is something that can happen only at God’s direction.  As the Church we must keep our ear toward Heaven and our eyes on the Earth, so to ensure that what we hear from Him is translated in to what we see because of our obedience to His Word.

When the three “R”s” are properly implemented, we will hear the cry of the child that is the new birth – revival.  If not,  this child will come out the womb stillborn and we the Church will be held responsible  by God.