DIMMING OF CHRISTIANITY

                                                 DIMMING OF CHRISTIANITY

    The Gospel is the Good News, and I would prefer to write all the nice little
inspirational stories we can find in many Christian publications. The sad truth
is our "accepted" faith is spiraling backwards to the time of John the Baptist.
Remember him? Let's look at Matt. 3:1-3. "In those days John the Baptist
came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, 'Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand! For this is he who was spoken of by the
prophet Isaiah, saying: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare
the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.'"

    You doubt my word, protesting Christians are witnessing, quoting scripture,
sending missionaries, tithing and doing all the good things Christians are
supposed to do. It's the evil heathens and followers of Satan who are taking
people down the wrong path. You, my friend, have been reading instead of
studying and listening instead of reasoning. You are not on John the Baptist's
wavelength. He urged everyone to REPENT. That means to examine yourself
and the life you are living to discover your mistakes. 

    The vast majority of Americans who say they are Christians are so pleased
with themselves and their righteousness it drips from their words and is full of
holes large enough to be mistaken for Swiss cheese. As a door-to-door cult
member smugly told me, "I have the truth!" Friends, he didn't have the truth.
He only had some scattered verses of scripture, and didn't come close to any
understanding of the Gospel. He wouldn't discuss scripture with me even though
he knew I was a minister. Without any formal education in scripture, he knew it
all.

    As a minister, I love to discuss scripture and things of the Lord with people.
It is painful to me to find so many "Christians" that know it all and can't wait to
enlighten me about the path they truly believe is the one John the Baptist is
preaching. I'm fully aware you are going to drop my message as soon as you
read things you don't like. I sort of know how John felt.

    Before I begin scolding, I want to tell you what someone else has said about
the state of Christianity. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary, told the New York Times, the church people are getting
their message out, but the moral landscape has changed. He was commenting
on the results of our presidential election. Christians are surprised that their
candidate lost. God must have made a mistake. He didn't answer their prayer.

    This is the end of America? That's what I hear from disappointed people who 
did not really examine the issues brought forth by the losing candidate and his
other presidential hopefuls. Each told us about "their" personal connection with
God, who wanted them to be president. If you took the time to research their
background, you may have wondered what that connection could be. You may
say the winner isn't even a Christian or a bonafide citizen. How a pretender
could get past the thousands of opposition lawyers to even run for the office
is a mystery. His Christian commitment is not for us to judge, as is the case for
his opponents. Matt. 7:1 tells us "Judge not, that you be not judged."

    So...only God knows who is really committed to Christ. I am not supporting
the winner of the election, as you may have concluded. I am pointing out that
nearly all the candidates claimed a connection to Jesus Christ and God. They
intimated they were the person God wanted to get the job. Obviously they all
had the wrong number. To make a quick "spell check" as to the correctness
of their claim, you only need to research their background and what comes
forth from their mouth. You say they all lied, including the winner. Very true, but
you also need to weigh the points they made issues to vote for or against.

    If you continue to read the book of Matthew, or the other Gospel books, you
will discover the TRUE message of Christ. I heard very little of Christ's teaching
in the comments and claims of the church people who say they are conservatives.
And, I heard lots of derogatory comments about "doubtful" church people who
were not conservatives. The nicer comments were Liberals, rather than libs,
dimocrats, demorats, Communists, queers, etc., etc. So, to be a Christian, one
had to be a conservative. Friends, to be a Christian, one has to fully commit to
Jesus Christ as Savior. The next step is to study scripture--especially Christ's
teaching--and, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, put His teaching into the
guidance of your life.

    Whether you're a conservative, liberal, Muslim or anything else, Christ taught
the correct principles of God--the Ten Commandments, and don't forget Christ
added an Eleventh Commandment. Christ made the points of the Commandments
clear in parables if you take the time and effort to really study what He said. You
should note there is NOTHING in His teaching that includes nastiness or cheating.
There is nothing to encourage greed, nothing to champion material wealth and
nothing to encourage oppressing anyone who genuinely needs help. Would you
consider the Good Samaritan a "sucker" for helping the beaten and injured man?
Or would you call the injured man a "leach" or "victim" that feeds off fellow citizens?
Look at the Word  of God, the teaching of Christ, if you want to claim you're one
of Christ's followers.

    Mr. Mohler also had this to say about the conservative church people movement.
They got their message out, and it was obviously understood. Among the leading
issues were abortion, same sex marriage, gay lifestyles and fiscal responsibility.
Mr. Mohler was correct in stating the moral landscape has changed. Part of that
change is the understanding that theocracies have never worked because mankind
cannot handle total control. God told Samuel in 8:7 that the people rejected Him as
leader, not Samuel as God's personal contact to the people. Most church people
know as little about scripture as history. Don't want another history moment? Here's
your Thanksgiving history moment: The Pilgrims came to America to gain religious
freedom. When they got here they established their "freedom of religion" church.
Within minutes, they set non scriptural rules and regulations that included locking
people in stocks, trying them for witchcraft, burning at the stake, and other free
choice matters. It was so bad, Roger Williams left and established a more friendly
church in what is now Connecticut. You may want to look up the Inquisition.

    Did the voters reject the issues put forth by conservatives and church people?
Before you conclude that is the case, you need to listen to the understanding other
people have of the issues. I don't favor abortion and I don't favor murder. Just this
week as I write this, a pregnant woman in Ireland died because she was refused an
abortion. She was in the midst of a miscarriage and in her 17th week. She died of
blood poisoning. Ireland's constitution bans abortion. So...the fetus died. If you know
scripture, you know the baby-to-be went to heaven. (Didn't know that? Didn't know
where that scripture is? Don't want to know?) We don't know if the woman was saved,
so we don't know her whereabouts. Oh yes! The woman died! She didn't have to die
from a relatively common medical condition. She was denied treatment. She was
MURDERED by a church rule. 

    This incident is one of the reasons people did not "buy" into the zealous campaign
issues and set in cement interpretations of scripture by candidates and their supporters
who obviously need to do some study. You see, not all abortions are murder of an
innocent fetus or baby. Not aborting may be murder. This is not to mention you deny
other children the woman may already have and the husband's need for her alive.
Feel better now that you understand the full meaning of abortion?

    Another major issue was contraception. Some candidates were seemingly frothing
at the mouth about contraception. Amusing that these were mostly males. I agree that
abortion shouldn't be a means for contraception. I disagree that all women should be
controlled by the decisions of others, especially men who frequently shirk any
responsibilities of their actions. It seemed several candidates were obsessed with sexual
issues, including the medical invasion of privacy. If all conception must be documented,
and all carried through, who is going to provide for and pay for the medical people
required, the record keeping, the support of all the babies and their mothers? In the
ministry we see many cases of extreme hardship and need with women and children
abandoned by fathers. I'm not quoting scripture here. This is real life. You need to
have some common sense AND study of Christ's teaching. 

    Church people of several political leanings agree that gay lifestyles are sins. They
are only one sin, and are included in the Ten Commandments. Some people believe
this is the "worst" sin, perhaps because scripture lists it as something God hates.
All sins are equally "worst". If you single one out, that is also a sin. You're guilty. All
sins except one are forgivable. Check Matt. 12:31 under "unpardonable sin". You don't
"beat" or "fence out" gay or suspected gay children as some pastors preached. It's
difficult for me to believe someone would preach this from the pulpit, but it happened.

     I'm also not in favor of same sex marriage. However, you miss the possibility that
two people of the same sex are just best friends, not sexual partners. They are truly
soul mates. It's tragic that some traditionally married people are not best friends. 
There would be fewer divorces. Same sex marriage for the purpose of sex is wrong,
and cannot be justified. That is scriptural. Certain civil rights should be given where
same sex is platonic, not sexual. It's even constitutional. Some apparent sexually
obsessed people even claim friendships such as David and Jonathan had were sexual.

    The biggest difference in issues was perhaps the obsession with money. I'm not
speaking of fiscal responsibility, but the definition of words such as entitlement, victims,
leaches and lazy. The percentage of citizens who don't want fiscal responsibility is very
small. The burden for building a bridge is the need for building material. The burden
for balancing the budget is the need for money. It is also the need for wisdom on the
part of those who decide what and how money is spent. Most congressmen and officials
use ear marks. Most of these are very wasteful.

    You pay bills with money. You live by eating and drinking. Do you think you could pay
your bills by quitting eating and drinking? That's what fiscal conservatives believe. By
not spending money for certain things, we can pay our bills. I have searched the Gospels
over and over, and I haven't found any such directive by Christ. Christ was never
concerned about the well-being of those with money. In fact, friends, He was very
concerned about those who had money. Look at Matt. 6:19, Matt 19:16-22, Matt. 21:13,
Matt. 25:14-30 (pay attention,especially to verse 26), and Luke 19:11-27. In this last
reference, do you understand Christ is talking about how money is used for political
control?

    The issue of social security and going broke with social security is claiming that
money is an entitlement is a total lie. That money represents a portion of salary paid
to workers. It belongs to them just as the cash in your wallet is yours. For many, that
is their 40lK or other retirement account. People pay into medicare.
That is not an entitlement, either. There are some people who are unable to work,
and they receive a social security supplement. Some who receive this do so
fraudulently. We can't paint all recipients as frauds. Unemployment recipients were
also included as lazy entitlement people. Do you know a person has to have current
work history and pay records to be eligible to receive this money? It is money paid
by the worker and employer while he works. Again, it is his money.

    It was claimed nearly half the citizens think they are victims and they don't pay
taxes. There are federal income taxes, state income taxes, municipal taxes, county
taxes, excise taxes, school taxes, property taxes, worker privilege taxes and sales
taxes. Even welfare people pay some of these taxes. The little people who may not
pay federal income taxes run out of money from the other taxes before they get to
the federal income tax. They (especially families with children) actually pay a
disproportionate amount of taxes just through normal everyday taxes. Listing nearly
half the citizens as non tax paying leaches is a lie, and further ignores the importance
of workers who do the more menial jobs so the "more professional" workers can do
their jobs.

    It wouldn't be so terrible, if those who bemoan the lost election only read Christ's
teaching and the Gospels and discovered why their election was lost. None of the
issues in this message put forth by the conservatives were Godly messages. The
election outcome should stimulate people who neglected to understand Christ's
teaching and instead listened to man's way of doing things.

    The church people who have talked to me all have said they couldn't believe their
candidate lost. Now America will go down and be destroyed. Not One of them gave any
thought about God's role in the election. None considered Obama was God's choice, 
and their reasoning was Satan controlled the election. None considered they were
totally unscriptural in that reasoning, because they are then confessing that God IS
 not omnipotent, and Satan has free reign. They may have accepted Christ as
Savior, but God is subservient to Satan. In conclusion, they must believe America
is doomed. There is no hope. They won't follow the leader God chose. By this decision,
they will insure the fall of America.

    The lure of money and the willingness to accept misleading rhetoric have brought
many professing Christians to the cliff of disaster. If you are a victim of this gloom and
doom thinking, you are a professing Christian, not a committed Christian. Satan knows
divide and conquer works, and the lack of truth makes the conquest quite easy. No
matter who won the presidency, it was under God's control. He still rules the universe
and your life. Better get used to it, and correct your course.

    If you believe God is supreme, you must believe America can escape the terror of
end time and destruction. However, you must also believe you must follow the leader
God selected. I was told by someone they would vote for a conservative because they
represented family values. Those subverted values resulted in the murder of a woman
in Ireland. Part of the campaign myth was that non conservatives don't have morals, and
that still persists among many church goers. 

    Satan is the representative of evil and darkness, according to scripture. If issues and
rules are disregarded, they are subject to legitimate doubt. The talk is of transparency.
Yet, we saw only one year's federal tax return for the losing candidate who refused to
make any other returns public. This was bad enough, but he has a great deal of money
in off shore banks--not in America. This raises a very strong suspicion about honesty.
It is also ridiculous that poor people have to furnish their tax records to receive any type
of assistance money such as the aid for winter fuel. If conservatives are so fiscally
conscientious, why didn't they demand the tax returns? Why do the poor, who are supposed
to provide the cushion at the bottom of the cliff, have to prove they're in need when it's
obvious they are poor? How many of this "lower" class have worked their entire life and
performed the grunt work (janitors, waiters, military people, cleaners, etc.?) Much of the
wealthy people's money comes from investments--it is "earned" on paper only, not with
sweat and callouses. They have freedom, the use of highways, communications and
other services. They also enjoy an elite lifestyle. Do they want the poor to sacrifice even
more while they've already collected $129,000 in each of the last 12 years in a tax break?
It is easy to understand Christ's teaching in Matt. 19:24, "And again I say to you, it is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God."


    We're talking about honesty, Christian belief and God. We're also talking social justice,
because that's what God and Christ teach. Notice I said "teach". That's because the
information Christ gave us is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Do not forget
Heb. 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." He knew you could
be diverted from the Word of God by human emotions, and money and greed would be 
even a bigger diversion than love. That's why He gave us the Eleventh Commandment,
Matt.22:39. "And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." You shall 
love the Lord (verse 37) is the great commandment, and (verse 40), all the law and prophets
hang on these two commandments. If you truly love the Lord and Jesus Christ, you will
give a great deal of thought to verse 39, and drop your commitment to jealousy, greed,
and money.

Rev. Walbear