Archive for Political
I walked into the office this morning and my secretary had a tea bag attached to the cabinet above her desk and that got me thinking. I have no idea what many of you think about the tea party’s going on around America tonight, but I think they are a good thing personally. It caused me to go back and look at the history of the Boston Tea Party…those guys were patriots and risked it all. I thank GOd that we live in a nation in which we can have a tea party in freedom, but sadly I don’t know if the tea party’s will make a difference.
Before I proceed let me get one thing out in the air…can a pastor speak on taxes…should a pastor speak about taxes…isn’t this political and on and on go the questions…so what should a pastor do? Taxes are a reality in life and they impact our families, our communities, our commerce and much more; therefore, a pastor should bring proper perspective to these matters. A pastor is called by God to bring His truths to all matters…even taxes. It is sad that in our culture there are those who have tried to compartmentalize life so that common folk don’t view all of life connected to the Creator…but our forefathers knew better (read the Delcaration). But life is life and God is a part of our lives…this is a fact; therefore taxes and all other issues are to be spoken on from a biblical persepctive unashamedly. You cannot put God in a box, nor can you put your faith in a box. Our faith should impact our view of taxes…to let others tell you otherwise is a lie, deceptive, and harmful to the good of society.
Enough said…so what about tea party’s? First, I agree that the approach of the leadership in America today is to spend money we do not have and this should be protested becasue it is is not biblical. I am not saying the church protest it, but we as citizens have the right to protest it. Secondly, we must realize that Jesus said we should pay taxes “Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s, but give to God what is God’s.” We need to pay taxes for the good of society. So from my biblical perspective we are not saying taxation is wrong, but that the way government is spending is wrong and we pay too much in taxes already. SO I say let’s throw the tea bags in the harbor…there is nothing wrong with that. We need to stand, we need to be involved, and we need to say enough is enougy. Our Governemtn has got to get our priorities straight and as Christians we must speak Godly wisdom to this situation. It is not biblical to spend money you don’t have, it is not right to reinforce bad commerce through bail-outs, and it is not biblical to not balance a budget…and there is more I could say, but will stop there.
God intended government to be for our good…the good of all of society (Romans 13). However, when you have a President and Congress who are bailing company’s out for mismanagment and spending money we do not have and then not balancing a budget and on and on and on it goes…it is not for our good. We may get through the economic crisis, but someday we will reap what we have sown. Then you add on all the morality issues that our judical branch is creating…we have a mess…we are already reaping this and it will only get worse. I think the tea party is long over due. I am not sure we can trun back the core issue which is our values and morals. I beleive that taxation has a value/moral base to it. Sadly I think we are so far down stream that we missed the harbor opportunity.
Regardless, I also think the tea party is a good idea even though I believe it will have little effect for the politicians and the judges will continue to do what they want and the American people continue to loose ground morally and value wise each day. I don’t know if the voice of the people who care really matters and I don’t think a lot of people really care or know what is going on. It is a sad reality. We are kind of like Jeremiah…he was the weeping prophet. He came with a message that no matter what you do you are going down, but you still need to return to God anyway. In other words God turned them over to the results of their own doing and allowed Jerusalem to fall. He still loved them and wanted them to return to Him and His ways, but the consequences would not be altared. That message didn’t sit well with the people of Jerusalem and I am sure it doesn’t bring us a lot of hope either.
Regardless I think it’s tea time and that we have the GOd-given right to take such action as Christians and as citizens for the glory of God and the good of society. I can only hope and pray that it has some impact.
Following up on my blog from last week about Rick Warren and his position on Larry King Live about the gay-marriage issue.
After the dust has settled a little I still have some issues. It is not neccessarily what Rick Warren said, but what he did not say that is troublesome to me. I still believe that the Purpose Driven LIfe has great merit, is Biblically solid and God has used this work to accomplish some great things and transformed lives. I also still beleive that Rick Warren is a good man and that he does love the Lord. However…
Let me first applaud Rick Warren for clearly defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I can also understand him trying to not be associated with the anti-gay movement. For we as Christian’s are not anti-gay people. So what is the however? THe however, is that Rick Warren is involved in many cultural aspects. The mere fact that we find purpose from God (as he espouses in his book) means that we need to promote God’s purposes. Rick did promote the definition of marriage. In his mind he probably believes that he did enough. But the problem is that when asked about the Iowa Supreme Court decision he said he was oblivious to that and then went on to say that is not on his agenda. THis is the problem. It is GOd’s purpose to establish God-honoring homes…homsexual marriage is not GOd’s purpose. How can we live a purpose driven life when we cannot defend the purpose of marriage. Rick had an opportunity to stand for truth…in my opinion he fail short.
So now what? First, I believe my initial reaction was too strong. Looking over the actual footage…not what others have said or written about it reveals that Rick does hold a Biblical view. So the real issue is that there are many who beleive Rick did not take a firm enough stand and dodged the issue. This is something that still bothers me, but it is not something that I can reject Rick Warren’s ministry upon. I hope and pray that in the future Rick will not be oblivous to culturally relevant issues that the Bible clearly speaks about. I also pray that Rick will be more forthcoming and supportive of pro-marriage issues instead of taking a back seat and declaring he never attended or supported them. Lastly, may we realize that people who speak in public are allowed to make mistakes. Rick lost an opportunity in my opinion. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say that I believe his intentions were good and that he does desire to glorify God…but along the way all of us that desire that sometimes fall short of GOd’s glory (Romans 3:23). But in the end thanks for Jesus who gives us the victory (Romans 6:23).
* I had told everone that in my assessment as more information came out I would be humble enough to change my position if neccessary. That is what this write up is about. If things change I will post more in the future. God bless – PC
I think that over the last three months everyone has been educated in economics! All of us have been touched by the economic hard times that face our nation. Most of know people who have lost jobs and know that things are pretty serious. In fact I would say America is in a panic right now.
Think about it. President Obama says he inherited this wrapped wiht a bow. The democrats are adding pork like crazy to what is supposed to be a stimulus bill to create new jobs…I am wondering how polar ice cap exploration is going to create jobs for the people I know? I see business begging for money or they will go under and tank the economy. I see us printing and spending money we do not have. I see all kinds of blame and not responsibility. I see know one saying…we knew this was comgin and I see no one saying we need to consider what we do today for the future, all we care about is now. We need to stop this recession now. We need to stimulate our economy now. We need…now, now, now, now! We sound like a little baby.
What I have not heard is what is God trying to say to us? Are we ever going to learn that the economy belongs to God? Will we ever realize that we have overspent ourselves? Will we ever realize that we can only go so far into debt? Will we ever realize that we need to stop and focus and truly pray about our future?
I am not an economist. I have bee hit by the economic pinch…we all have. I could be out of a job as easily as the next guy…I realize this. But I cannot go out a write a Chris McCombs stimulus check to stimulate the McCombs fourtune 500. That is absurd. I have to work hard. Make srue I pay my bills. Make sure that I have more money left over at the end of the month than what I pay out. I have to be responsible.
God tells us to be good stewards…we are reaping what we have sown right now. Sadly some people are being hurt…I believe more will experience the pain. I don’t think the Government is our answer…but God’s ways. Our government through this panic may end up putting a bandaid on a huge bleeding wound. But only God can heal our economy by each of us changing the culture of materialism, debt, and greed that we all live by as American’s.
We are so blessed…never forget that. No matter what happens may we never forget to remain calm as believers knowing that God provides and that it is the economy of God that I am banking on.
I hope you enjoy my rambling…but I really needed to get that off my chest.
For a good book on this pick up the “Economic Earthquake” by Larry Burkett.
Today we witnessed history for many reasons. We saw a new president take office, we witnessed the first black president, we saw an embrace of an outgoing president of a incoming president and so forth. But what still amazes me the most is that we have a civil and peaceful transition of power. It has to make you proud to be an American.
Another thing that I think is so awesome is that even though Barack Obama does not espouse many of my political views and even though I find several of his political views to be ungodly, unbiblical and not good for the whole of society; he is still my president. I am called by God to pray for him and support him so long as he follows God’s principles. Whenever he does not I am called to question his policies and decisions…and I will. I will never forget that I am called to be a citizen of Heaven first and an American second.
I also think that this is a time for all of us to realize that our nation may have many problems and our system is far from perfect, but on the same note is it also pretty spectacular. America is morally going down the wrong path and there were many statements in the inaugaration speech that lead me to believe that this will continue to be the case. We will continue to move away from Truth and moral absolutes and move toward what seems good – tolerance. This concerns me, but it does not mean we give up. We all must stand for what is right and good…the ways of God.
To everyone…let’s pray for our new president, hope he will be humble, stand against evil and injustice and seek God as he leads us. May we pray that God changes our president and may he follow the ways of God in the Scriptures. Let’s pray that God will use the presidency of Barack Obama in ways only God can!!!
The changing of power happened in America today…but may we never forget who rules the nations – GOD ALMIGHTY…His power remains unchanged!!!
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year – I can say that right?
Posted by: Pastor Chris | Comments (1)In America the Christmas War continues. We all have witnessed it. It truly is a “Silent Night” in so many ways. The battle has been fought through fear tactics. Schools are threatened lawsuits if they have a nativity or a Christmas program that mentions Christ…even though they have won these battles in court School boards don’t know this. Merchants don’t want to offend anyone so they try to be neutral but in doing so they offend those who hold to the true meaning of Christmas and a majority of American’s who still celebrtate Christmas in some form or fashion. I don’t have to tell you, you have probably witnessed it. If you are one of them that wants to take away Christmas or say Happy Holidays so not to offend then please put this in all of your Christmas Cards:
“Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country. This statement is made to you without regard to your race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference.”
How insulting this must be God, but also to our Founding Fathers of this the Greatest Nation on God’s Green Earth. It not the holidays…its Christmas!!!
So to all who know the Way, the Truth and the Life and are not afraid to speak the truth:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
“As for me and my house we will serve the Lord” We will not follow the gods of the people.
To all of my congregation – know that the Great Shepherd loves us all and your pastor is proud to serve Him and you. Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS that is filled with Christ’s message and love and have a Blessed New Year in which the Hand of God guides you every day.
Pastor Chris
I am a firm believer that Christmas is about Christ. I also believe that Christmas is Christmas…I don’t celebrate the holidays this time of year…I celebrate Christmas. I am truly offended by our culture trying to appease everyone while we compromise all that is good in the name of tolerance. We need to speak out against this movement in our culture. This Christmas learn a new art called TOSSMAS. When someone sends you a HOLIDAY maganzine tell them Merry TOSSMAS. When someone wished you a Merry Christmas make sure they know how Merry you are.
See link below…and Merry Christmas!!!
http://www.citizenlink.org/videofeatures/A000008654.cfm