Thanksgiving

Given by George Washington on October 3rd, 1789. The next time someone mentions separation of church and state…

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

Pray for our nation

As Christians, we need to be praying for our nation and those in power. We do not know how God is working through the current administration, but we do know according to 2 Chronicles that we should be praying as a body of believers. Take time today to pray for those raised up to lead us. Pray that they will seek God’s wisdom for the decisions they will render. Pray that God will work within them for His purpose.

Romans 13 teaches us how we are to act towards government. We are to submit to authority, however when we see that which we know is not pleasing to God, we are to pray. God wants to hear from His children.

The power of prayer

Every once in a while, a story like this comes around. In this case, a man entered a bank intent on robbing it, and ended up praying with the teller. He did take a couple of items, a cell phone and around 20 dollars but he turned himself in the next day.

When I see a story like this, the first thing that comes to mind is 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NASB) “…if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

While a lot of people in the world will simply dismiss this episode, we in the faith community should be rejoicing with God and the angels in Heaven that a sinner has repented. From Luke 15:10 “”In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Keep Gregory Smith and his family in prayer. Thank God for Angela Montez bearing fruitful witness to this young man in trouble.

Georgia School District Prohibits Cheerleaders Signs

From the local ABC affiliate in Chattanooga, TN. A group of cheerleaders had a practice of holding up banners before football games for the football players to run through. These banners had religious as well as non-religious messages. The problem was with the religious messages.

A parent took offense at the message and called Catoosa County School Superintendent Denia Reese to voice her complaint. The superintendent did most public officials do when confronted with a complaint about religion. She promptly caved in and ordered the girls not to display the banners on the field.

The first amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

For the life of me, I cannot see how the first amendment applies to this. Did Congress pass a law here? This requires some serious ideological gymnastics in order to get the first amendment to remove the banners. We have reached a point in society where someone feels if they are offended, they have the right to have the offending article removed.

Once again, more than 2000 years after his death, Jesus is still causing people to rebel against their own consciences. If you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one that got hit. First Corinthians 1:18 says: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

NH Judge orders Christian girl into public school.

The Alliance Defense Fund has reported that Judge Lucinda V. Sadler has ordered a 10 year old girl into public school. The order can be found here.

One would think the underlying reason is of course that the mother is not providing a proper education causing the child to fall behind other children in her age group. Apparently that is not the case since the court order states she is “well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising, and intellectually at or superior to grade level” and that “it is clear that the home schooling…has more than kept up with the academic requirements of the…public school system”. So that’s not it. Her education is excelling.

Maybe it’s the new liberal mantra about children not being able to interact with other children because of their sheltered lives. Again, this would not seem to pass muster since she attends the local public school to take art, Spanish, and gym classes. The public school instructors have also commented that she is well rounded in her social skill.

No. It seems the reason the reason this child was ordered into the public option to quote Marital Master Michael Garner, “vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view.” Digest that for a minute.

What this appears to say is, we as Christian parents have to allow our children to consider other religious points of view without a vigorous defense of our Christian beliefs or risk government intervention? And the best way to prevent our Christian beliefs from being passed to our children is by enrolling them in public schools.

How old is the earth?

The statement by Arizona Senator Sylvia Allen that the earth has been here for 6000 years has been ridiculed all over the left wing blogs as well as by some in the media. Here is the clip:

Most of the ridicule is directed at her faith, making her sound like a Bible believing idiot with no mind of her own. This seems to be a tack taken by a lot of critics of people of faith. But is there any scientific evidence for young earth creationists, or is it as the critics say, simply blind faith? Let’s take a look.

The biggest argument used by most is carbon dating. This is put forth by almost everyone as the slam-dunk settled science that proves the earth is billions of years old. However, as we have moved farther along in discoveries, we have seen that carbon dating is not reliable. There is an apologetic argument here that does a much better job than I could do here. It is interesting to note that when a penguin dies, his radiometric carbon dated bones shows it died about 8000 years ago. Clams and mollusks carbon date at around 24,000 years. Here is an example of what happens when dinosaur bones are sent to a lab for dating without any indications of where they came from. Hint: they carbon date around 6000 years.

This is not a forum to discuss the merits of carbon dating or the other dating methods. What I would like to put forward is the notion that people of faith are not mind numbed robots. While we do believe the Bible to be the word of God, there is good scientific evidence to back it up.

Back from Soulfest

Updated 6 August 2009 07:01

For those of you not familiar with Soulfest, it is a large Christan music festival held in Gilford, NH every year. This year’s headliners over the four nights were Skillet, Newsboys, Casting Crowns, and Third Day. The music was absolutely fantastic. Anyone in New England who appreciates Christan music and fellowship with several thousand fellow believers really should attend. I camp there for the week with my family and it’s a good chance to slow down and get reacquainted with the One who gives us everything we have, while enjoying the majesty of His creation in the Lakes Region of NH.

The music is the biggest draw. The Revolution Stage is the main stage set at the base of the mountain near the main parking lot. The Inside Out Stage is a smaller stage geared toward the teen crowd featuring some of the more edgier artist like The Chariot and As I Lay Dying. One of the bright points for us was seeing Daniel King singing at the Deeper Well. Dan sings in our church and has a fantastic voice as well as an outpouring of faith. The headliners sounded great. I am not much of a fan of Skillet who played on Wednesday night and since it was raining, we opted to stay back at the camper. Thursday night featured Newsboys. As usual, they put on a great show. Michael Tait will take some getting used to as a lead singer. Although he is very talented, he is not Peter Furler. We have grown used to the Aussie accent and this will take some getting used to. The headliner on Friday night was Casting Crowns. They were absolutely fantastic. Marc Hall did a great job singing and the intros to the songs were moving. He is truly a gifted singer and minister. Then there was Third Day. Saturday night’s show absolutely rocked. They sounded fantastic, playing a great mixture of old and new music. Mac and the band love playing Soulfest and it showed.

Being a Christian festival, there were also a good amount of fundraisers and outreach opportunities. The sponsor of the main stage as the Not For Sale Campaign . While a good cause, their message was not age appropriate for the younger members of the audience. I hope that Soulfest really thinks about what is on the main stage next year so I don’t have to explain to my 9 year old daughter what they mean by “ten year old girls rescued from brothels forced to service 15 to 20 men a night.” This is more of an adult oriented matter and every night they came on, I would distract her from what was being said. I did find something of great interest in a program called Fondespwa. They are an organization that provides microloans to woman entrepreneurs in Haiti, providing a hand up not a hand out. The repayment rate of the loans is 99% and there are no administrative fees. They are definitely worth checking out. There was also a drive to sign people up for the national bone marrow registry. That was a no-brainer.

All in all, it was a great time. There was some rain and mud but it wasn’t all that bad. I can’t wait until next year.

We won’t stand for blashpemy

Exodus 20:7
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”

Vice president Joe Biden decides to ignore another commandment.

From a Wall Street Journal interview published on Sunday July 26,2009:

“I can see Putin sitting in Moscow saying, ‘::BLASPHEMY DELETED::, Iran gets the nuclear weapon, who goes first?’ Moscow, not Washington.”

He needs to understand how we cherish the name of the Lord. If we were to replace the blasphemy with the name of someone he cherishes, it would hit home.

Let’s try this one:

“I can see Putin sitting in Moscow saying, ‘Neilia Hunter Biden, Iran gets the nuclear weapon, who goes first?’ Moscow, not Washington.”

I’m sure the official white house apology team (a group that should see rapid expansion over the next three and a half years) will be rolling out an apology to the 2.1 billion Christians in the world, but the way it rolled out of the man’s mouth speaks volumes to his character. It’s not surprising this man was chosen as the running mate of someone who sat and listened to hate filled venom spewed from the pulpit in “Rev.” Wright’s “church.” And was also endorsed by such “Christians” as Tony Campolo, Brian McLaren, and the Matthew 25 organization.

Hey Campolo, McLaren, Matthew 25 group: We’re calling out your guy.

The sad state of today’s church in America

I ran across this newsweek article and after some head shaking, I broken heartedly have to agree with the author. Although I am not a Catholic (I am a non denominational Christian), I have seen this trend throughout evangelical churches as well. We have opted for the feel-good social justice approach while ignoring the root principles of Christianity. Namely that our job here on earth is to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel, call people to repentance, and put their trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Obama’s pragmatic approach to divisive policy (his notion that we should acknowledge the good faith underlying opposing viewpoints) and his social-justice agenda reflect the views of American Catholic laity much more closely than those vocal bishops and pro-life activists. When Obama meets the pope tomorrow, they’ll politely disagree about reproductive freedoms and homosexuality, but Catholics back home won’t care, because they know Obama’s on their side. In fact, Obama’s agenda is closer to their views than even the pope’s.

This is a shame. Have we lost our way so far that we can look the other way at someone who would allow a human baby to be born alive and not feel that child deserves to get medical attention? Will we really look the other way at the exportation of abortion through the Mexico City initiative because we happen to agree with the president that we should feed, clothe, and shelter the poor? Do we ignore what Scripture has to say about homosexuality and the sanctity of human life so that we can feel good about ourselves and our community service?
Apparently we do:

Yet polls bear out that American Catholics do not want to be told by the Vatican how to think. Despite the rhetoric of love and truth, the Vatican shows disdain (if not disgust) toward gays. But 54 percent of American Catholics find gay relationships to be morally acceptable, according to a 2009 Gallup poll.

If there is truly 54% of any group of Christians finding homosexual relationships morally acceptable, there is a total breakdown in the teaching of the church. This would also explain how someone with views like the president can garner support from within the faith community.

For Obama, respectful disagreement and a willingness to recognize differences was the animating spirit of the presidential campaign, and it was central to his Notre Dame speech. That is the kind of politics many Catholics practice. They’re tired of watching the church grasp frantically for control at the expense of truth and love. In America last November, it showed: 54 percent of Catholics voted for Obama.

Interesting that this is the second time “truth and love” have been used to make a point contrary to Scriptural teaching. Start with love. We as people of faith are willing to show love to anyone. We do not hate homosexuals. We do not hate people who have abortions. We do not hate the president. We as Christians have a love for all of humanity. We know what God has said and done for us. We also know what is in store for those who love God and obey Him, and our heart breaks for those who choose to blatantly disobey Him. It is our love for mankind that drives us to reach out and try to find those who are lost.
We do this through the truths that have been revealed to us through God’s word.

As Christians, we take the Bible to be God’s word to mankind, inerrant in its entirety. We have a president who believes that MOST of the Bible is inerrant. I am also afraid that we have a large body of professing Christians that feel this way as well. In this case, all bets are off. We do not have the ability to pick and choose which parts of the Bible are true and which are not. We either accept it as a whole or we reject it as a whole. Truth is not relative. Either something is true or it is false.

There is a principle in Biblical study called hermeneutics. This is how it is determined which scripture is meant for us today and which scripture was meant for a certain people at a given time. For example, dietary laws were given to prevent the widespread death of people eating shellfish when there was no refrigeration and worked very well keeping God’s people alive. As a general rule of thumb (very condensed version): Dietary and ceremonial worship rules were meant for a specific group of people at a given time. Moral laws, such as the Ten Commandments, were meant for all people at all times.

Biblical truth is not subjective. If you walk down the middle of the highway because you believe there is no such thing as 18 wheelers, the truth is that they do exist. And eventually one is going to get you. Not believing in Biblical truth is going to be completely irrelevant when you are standing in front of your Maker. Going to church every Sunday doesn’t make you a Christian much like working in a garage every Saturday doesn’t make you a car.

Exclusuvity of Jesus in a time of “Oprahnity”

John 14:5 – 7
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

In an age of tolerance, how can we proclaim the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as being the only way to eternal salvation without offending someone? The truth is, we can’t. We are going to upset some people. But it is our responsibility to get the word out. We are commanded to go out and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19 -20). With this “Great Commission”, comes great responsibility. We are to preach the word of the risen Christ to all people in all nations so they may be saved.

With influences in our culture like Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra teaching that all roads lead to heaven and that God is whatever or whoever you make Him out to be, we have a daunting task. We need to tell people when they are heading down the wrong path. They are embracing idolatry plain and simple. Instead of carving out an idol and worshiping it, they are creating one in their own mind. And you can be assured the God they create will not be angry at their sin. No, they will create a God that allows them to live their lives as they see fit because they are “good” people. Of course being Christians we know better. Jesus himself said in response to someone calling Him good, “”Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.” (Mark 16:18).

So while we are commanded to go out and make disciples, we need to do it lovingly and gently. However, we need to make sure that we do let everyone know that if they die without Jesus forgiving their sins, the punishment is eternal damnation. We know the truth. It is up to us to proclaim it.