Not everyone, it seems, was well pleased with my �Ed�itorial last week. I laid out some character flaws that I see, personal opinion, about one of the presidential candidates. There were some arguments that I had improperly mixed religion and politics.
I do not agree. To be honest, Christianity, proper considered, is a world and life view which encompasses the entirety of our daily existence. When political views come into that focus, it is only right and proper to speak upon them. It seems to me that politics has overstepped its bounds in seeking to muzzle what should be free religious speech. As an example, it seems that after the �Patriot Act� went into force that a church can not open a checking account without becoming, in essence, a �State Church.�
I had tried to have royalty checks from my books sent directly to a �church� account. It seems that it is no longer possible to open such an account with any bank or credit union unless one has registered the church with some sort of state registrar. The problem with this is that the �State Churches� then lose their right of free speech. The government, under penalty, denies those churches the right to speak on political matters.
Scarey. Given Sen. Obama�s recent harangues concerning FOX News, what other �free speech� adjustments are in view.
All of the new �hate crimes� acts are, at their core, also directed towards the restriction of speech. I can think of no crime that might be committed against an individual because of �love.� The core of the �hate crimes,� and �hate speech,� legislation is to deny certain thoughts to be enumerated.
Please; don�t misunderstand. There are a lot of �thought processes� with which I strongly disagree. But, isn�t the right to be stupid and wrong a fundamental right in the founding of this democracy. Sure; the rhetoric of the Klan is stupid and demeaning to many. When one considers the rhetoric of the Rev. Wright, as displayed in those sound bites on television, couldn�t we say the same thing?
Well, folks, get ready for more of this censorship. This is a sign of the end of the age. It really is.
We, the Christian, will adjust.
This particular ministry has never solicited any funds at any time. Further, on our old television show I told people not to send any money to us. I still believe that the tithes (regular and systematic giving) and offerings (anything over and above the regular) belong to the church where one fellowships.
To be fully honest, I do try to sell a book or two from time to time!
The point is that the Christian can not allow himself to be silenced. The world at large hates our message of sin and salvation. Often that is because we�ve been so intolerant and just plain mean in the proclamation of that message. We�ve earned a lot of the animosity we�ve received.
I no longer call myself a �Fundamentalist.� Now, doctrinally speaking, I am a fundamentalist. No question about that. I have just seen too much of the hatred spewed out by the fundamentalism. The superior attitudes and slimy �better than thou� speech is nauseating. The clannishness which refuses to walk into the �highways and hedges� is unscriptural.
I am a �Biblicist.� The Bible knows nothing of the above attitudes. The Bible message is that God so loved the world.
To be completely true, my own self described moniker isn�t exactly proper. According to the Bible we are to be Christians. That simply means that we are to be followers of Christ.
Our job is not to attack people for their sins, no matter how gross and horrible these seem to us. Our job is not to work to change society, except it be by calling one person at a time to the Savior. Our job is to tell people that Jesus Christ loved them enough that He died in time so that they might live in eternity.
Those other things might be evils. We might work as good citizens of this world to hold down these sins. But, that is not our job as Christians. Our purpose is to spread the Gospel message into the world at large. Let us never confuse people that they might find a �works� salvation by simply changing their ways. They need to understand that the only work was performed by Jesus Christ at Calvary.
Salvation, my friends, is a gift - not a life style.
The world can never be allowed to silence our voice for Christ. We might find it a little more uncomfortable in the future to be free in Christ while living in an increasingly secular world.
No problem! We�ve got a secret �weapon� the world will never understand. The Spirit will empower us as we allow Him to use us, even in adversity!