A silent Protest
by David Krueger
On Wednesday (November 1) of the MBC annual meeting at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Senator Jim Talent spoke to messengers. When Senator Talent walked to the podium, I silently slipped out of my seat and went to the vendor display area. It was my way of protesting the Senator's presence at the annual meeting.
The Senator spoke for about four minutes and then quickly left. When he left, I came back into the meeting. News accounts report that the Senator thanked the convention for its stand against Amendment 2, and for supporting the ‘Marriage Amendment’ that appeared on the 2004 state ballot. He also called on the messengers to resist "activist" judges who are openly trying to change the Constitution through the courts. The Senator received several standing ovations and numerous "Amen's" from messengers.
At the time of his address to the convention, Senator Talent was in an extremely close race with Clair McCaskill.
What was I protesting? It was not Senator Talent per-say. I had every intention of voting him, and on November 7th proudly cast my ballot for the Senator. What I was protesting was the increasing tendency of our convention to be ‘Republican friendly.’ I simply can not recall the last time a Democrat was invited to address the messengers at an MBC annual meeting -- and I've been attending the MBC annual meeting for nearly thirty years. There are approximately 600,000 Southern Baptists in Missouri. My guess is a significant number of them are Democrats. My protest – as silent and unobtrusive as it was – was on their behalf. If I were a dyed-in-the-wool Missouri Democrat, I would feel increasingly disenfranchised by my own state convention. It’s hard to believe that the invitation by convention leadership to Senator Talent to appear ever-so-briefly before the messengers was not intended to be a wink-and-a-nod toward his candidacy. Considering the closeness of the annual meeting to the election, it would have been appropriate to also invite Clair McCaskill to address the messengers as well.
Annual meetings must not become Republican Rallies – even if for only four minutes. The mere appearance of supporting one candidate over another ought to be avoided, if the convention is to maintain its prophetic voice at the state capitol.
While I believe that resurgent Evangelical interest in politics is to be welcomed and commended, I also fear that our involvement may eventually become as politically misguided as was the activism of liberal Christianity in the early 20th century. As I stated in my last article, "The price a nation pays when Godly people don’t vote," Christians need to exercise their civil stewardship by being involved in the political process. When Christian men and women do not vote, they allow history to be shaped by silence. The result is that wickedness flourishes. But conventions, like churches, ought to avoid the appearance of partisanship. History also demonstrates that the marriage of Christianity to partisan politics almost always produces discord and disillusionment among believers and frequently dishonors the name of God. Christ commanded His followers to be ‘salt and light’ in this world. In other words, Christians are to have a positive affect upon the culture in which they reside. I believe this command gives us a mandate for using every moral and ethical means available – including the political process – for influencing the culture for good. However, we should never be so naive as to think that the ballot box alone is the answer to the real problem – sin that is deeply rooted in the lives of citizens. The real answer, as all Baptists should know, is a life changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
The Price a nation pays when Godly people don't vote
By David Krueger
"When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness. By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown." (Proverbs 11:10-11, ESV)
In his commentary on this passage, John Phillips in Exploring Proverbs writes:
In this passage, Solomon lays down two fundamental principles for strengthening a society. First: Extol the righteous and you extol society: When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness. Second, Exalt the righteous and you exalt society: By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.
The health of a community is linked inevitably to the way in which those in power treat upright, law-abiding, God-fearing citizens and the way in which those in power treat the lewd, immoral, and criminal element. A wise government extols and exalts the righteous and vigorously suppresses and punishes criminals, immoral persons, and subversives. Such a government makes laws that protect the righteous and define and punish unacceptable behavior.
A nation often deserves the government it gets. President James Garfield understood this when he wrote:
Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . . If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.
All too frequently I've heard Christian men and women proclaim their intentions to boycott the ballot booth. Their reasoning often goes like this, "How I vote doesn't make any difference." Yes it does! In the 2004 election, of the 94 freshmen elected to the House, 61 were pro-life, pro-faith, and pro-family (i.e., about two-thirds of the new members). Similarly, of the 19 freshmen elected to the Senate at that time, 15 were pro-life, pro-faith, and pro-family (about 79 percent of new members). These new Senators provided the margin of victory needed to confirm the appointment of two new strict-constructionist pro-life Justices to the Supreme Court; and the Court has already begun to change, including this year's decision reversing a pro-abortion policy implemented twenty-five years ago in 1981. In addition to these two Justices, those Senators have confirmed dozens of other strict-construction judges to the federal Courts of Appeal. When God's people elect godly, bible-believing, pro-life, pro-faith, pro-family congressmen, the righteous are extoled and exalted.
The "enterprise" Garfield spoke of is America. Those who represent that enterprise are the voters. If we, i.e. Christians, do not exercise our responsibility in representing the enterprise, then we deserve the government we get. It was Edmund Burke, a British member of Parliament who said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." When Christian men and women do not vote, they allow history to be shaped by silence. The result is that wickedness flourishes.
As America becomes increasingly secularized, the biblical principles our founding fathers built into our controlling documents are being abandoned. No longer are the righteous extolled and exalted. They are increasingly ridiculed and marginalized. Some even see the righteous within society as the source of the nation’s problems rather than as a blessing to the nation. They are considered intolerant and even irrational.
There was a time in America when godly, bible-believing, church-going, Christ-honoring men and women were seen as the backbone of this nation, and the guaranteers of God’s blessings. Today, however, the Michael Moore crowd derisively refers to that great swath of middle America where the great majority of godly, bible-believing, church-going, Christ-honoring men and women live as "Jesus Land" and see us as the great enemies of the state. Nowhere is that animosity more clearly seen than in John Sperling’s book, "The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro." In it, he presents Christian believers – Evangelical ones that is – as unintelligent, uninformed, unsophisticated, hate-filled, backward, and yes – dangerous! He writes sarcastically that we’re "God, Family, and Flag folks." Well, if godliness, filial loyalty, and patriotism make me hazardous to my county – just call me "Dangerous Dave!" The condescension in Sperling’s book is almost unbelievable. Yet he speaks for a great majority of the nation’s left-wing intelligentsia.
Sperling reminds us that our nation is divide by a huge clash of worldviews. One is thoroughly secular, guided by humanist philosophy, and seeks to remove all mention of God from the public square. The other is thoroughly biblical, guided by Scriptural principles, and seeks to restore the nation to the Christian worldview held by the vast majority of our Founding Fathers.
Our nation was founded by men and women who understood Solomon’s principles and sought to build a nation based on those ideals. They wrote those ideals into the nation’s first great document – The Mayflower Compact. Later, these principles would find their way into the Declaration and our Constitution. Both voice the nation’s dependence upon God. Johnson continues:
They built their educational institutions on the Bible. They exalted righteousness and put curbs on wickedness. And they built a great country on freedom, equity, and justice. The society they built was essentially religious. The righteous fared well and the nation partook of the blessings of God. The wicked were punished.
Though America still retains a veneer of the Judeo/Christian faith, this is not our forefather’s nation. Secular humanism has penetrated all levels of society. Schools and universities, the media, the courts, and the halls of Congress have all been deeply affected by this godless philosophy. Prayer and Bible reading have been forbidden in the classroom. The cross and the Ten Commandments have been banished from the public square. Bible-based standards of morality and decency are sneered at. The consequences of forty-plus years of moral erosion is abortion-on-demand that has resulted in the deaths of thirty million babies, Pornography is protected free speech, sodomy has been legalized, hard work is penalized through confiscatory tax system while laziness is rewarded through abundant entitlement programs.
Solomon was correct, and we need to heed his wisdom. Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord and whose legislators believe the Bible, reward goodness, and punish evil. Woe to the nation that turns its back on the Word of God.
By David Krueger
"When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness. By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown." (Proverbs 11:10-11, ESV)
In his commentary on this passage, John Phillips in Exploring Proverbs writes:
In this passage, Solomon lays down two fundamental principles for strengthening a society. First: Extol the righteous and you extol society: When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness. Second, Exalt the righteous and you exalt society: By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.
The health of a community is linked inevitably to the way in which those in power treat upright, law-abiding, God-fearing citizens and the way in which those in power treat the lewd, immoral, and criminal element. A wise government extols and exalts the righteous and vigorously suppresses and punishes criminals, immoral persons, and subversives. Such a government makes laws that protect the righteous and define and punish unacceptable behavior.
A nation often deserves the government it gets. President James Garfield understood this when he wrote:
Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . . If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.
All too frequently I've heard Christian men and women proclaim their intentions to boycott the ballot booth. Their reasoning often goes like this, "How I vote doesn't make any difference." Yes it does! In the 2004 election, of the 94 freshmen elected to the House, 61 were pro-life, pro-faith, and pro-family (i.e., about two-thirds of the new members). Similarly, of the 19 freshmen elected to the Senate at that time, 15 were pro-life, pro-faith, and pro-family (about 79 percent of new members). These new Senators provided the margin of victory needed to confirm the appointment of two new strict-constructionist pro-life Justices to the Supreme Court; and the Court has already begun to change, including this year's decision reversing a pro-abortion policy implemented twenty-five years ago in 1981. In addition to these two Justices, those Senators have confirmed dozens of other strict-construction judges to the federal Courts of Appeal. When God's people elect godly, bible-believing, pro-life, pro-faith, pro-family congressmen, the righteous are extoled and exalted.
The "enterprise" Garfield spoke of is America. Those who represent that enterprise are the voters. If we, i.e. Christians, do not exercise our responsibility in representing the enterprise, then we deserve the government we get. It was Edmund Burke, a British member of Parliament who said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." When Christian men and women do not vote, they allow history to be shaped by silence. The result is that wickedness flourishes.
As America becomes increasingly secularized, the biblical principles our founding fathers built into our controlling documents are being abandoned. No longer are the righteous extolled and exalted. They are increasingly ridiculed and marginalized. Some even see the righteous within society as the source of the nation’s problems rather than as a blessing to the nation. They are considered intolerant and even irrational.
There was a time in America when godly, bible-believing, church-going, Christ-honoring men and women were seen as the backbone of this nation, and the guaranteers of God’s blessings. Today, however, the Michael Moore crowd derisively refers to that great swath of middle America where the great majority of godly, bible-believing, church-going, Christ-honoring men and women live as "Jesus Land" and see us as the great enemies of the state. Nowhere is that animosity more clearly seen than in John Sperling’s book, "The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro." In it, he presents Christian believers – Evangelical ones that is – as unintelligent, uninformed, unsophisticated, hate-filled, backward, and yes – dangerous! He writes sarcastically that we’re "God, Family, and Flag folks." Well, if godliness, filial loyalty, and patriotism make me hazardous to my county – just call me "Dangerous Dave!" The condescension in Sperling’s book is almost unbelievable. Yet he speaks for a great majority of the nation’s left-wing intelligentsia.
Sperling reminds us that our nation is divide by a huge clash of worldviews. One is thoroughly secular, guided by humanist philosophy, and seeks to remove all mention of God from the public square. The other is thoroughly biblical, guided by Scriptural principles, and seeks to restore the nation to the Christian worldview held by the vast majority of our Founding Fathers.
Our nation was founded by men and women who understood Solomon’s principles and sought to build a nation based on those ideals. They wrote those ideals into the nation’s first great document – The Mayflower Compact. Later, these principles would find their way into the Declaration and our Constitution. Both voice the nation’s dependence upon God. Johnson continues:
They built their educational institutions on the Bible. They exalted righteousness and put curbs on wickedness. And they built a great country on freedom, equity, and justice. The society they built was essentially religious. The righteous fared well and the nation partook of the blessings of God. The wicked were punished.
Though America still retains a veneer of the Judeo/Christian faith, this is not our forefather’s nation. Secular humanism has penetrated all levels of society. Schools and universities, the media, the courts, and the halls of Congress have all been deeply affected by this godless philosophy. Prayer and Bible reading have been forbidden in the classroom. The cross and the Ten Commandments have been banished from the public square. Bible-based standards of morality and decency are sneered at. The consequences of forty-plus years of moral erosion is abortion-on-demand that has resulted in the deaths of thirty million babies, Pornography is protected free speech, sodomy has been legalized, hard work is penalized through confiscatory tax system while laziness is rewarded through abundant entitlement programs.
Solomon was correct, and we need to heed his wisdom. Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord and whose legislators believe the Bible, reward goodness, and punish evil. Woe to the nation that turns its back on the Word of God.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Calvin Akbar!
Since 9/11 Americans have become all too familiar with the shout Allah Akbar!. It is Arabic for “God is great,” and is often uttered shortly before an Islamic terrorist crashes an airplane into a building or pulls the fuse on a bomb-vest killing himself and dozens of innocent victims. While the phrase is regularly uttered during a faithful Muslim’s daily prayers, the exclamation of praise to their god has taken on an evil infamy. Sadly, most Westerners have only become familiar with the term as a battle-cry of Muslim terrorists.
According to Ergun Caner, however, there are some new and more terrifying Jihadists among us. Their battle-cry is Calvin Akbar – “Calvin is great!” Ergun, President of Liberty Theological Seminary, and himself a former Muslim who converted to Christianity at the age of 13, has recently engaged in a war-of-words with James White over the Doctrines of Grace, more commonly known as Calvinism. James White is the founder of Alpha and Omega Ministries and a Christian apologist. The two, including Ergun’s brother Emil and Tom Ascol, Executive Director of the Founder’s Ministry (a ministry devoted to teaching and promoting the Doctrines of Grace among Southern Baptists), were scheduled to deliberate the topic on October 16, 2006 at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg , VA. in a long-anticipated and what was sure to be a closely-watched debate. The debate never took place. Rather than go into all the reasons here, I’ll leave it to the reader to Google for answers and drawn their own conclusions.
In response to the ‘great debate that wasn’t’ Caner wrote on his blog that “Calvinists are worse than Muslims,” and referred to Southern Baptist Calvinists as “Calvinist Jihadists.” In the on-gong debate concerning Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Caner has now – very openly and very publicly -- accused the Calvinists within the convention of spiritual terrorism. This kind of vitriolic diatribe is uncalled for does little to foster honest intellectual and theological debate among Southern Baptists. Frankly, I resent such outlandish accusations!
Convention leaders need to just as openly and just as publicly distance themselves from Dr. Caner’s remarks.
Does Ergun really mean to imply that pastors and laymen in the Southern Baptist Convention would actually resort to a violent take-over of the SBC? Isn’t that what Jihadists do? Does he really mean to imply that our loyalty is to our theology and not our Theos? I can only hope that Dr. Caner is being his typical bombastic self when he makes these kinds of statements.
Since 9/11 Americans have become all too familiar with the shout Allah Akbar!. It is Arabic for “God is great,” and is often uttered shortly before an Islamic terrorist crashes an airplane into a building or pulls the fuse on a bomb-vest killing himself and dozens of innocent victims. While the phrase is regularly uttered during a faithful Muslim’s daily prayers, the exclamation of praise to their god has taken on an evil infamy. Sadly, most Westerners have only become familiar with the term as a battle-cry of Muslim terrorists.
According to Ergun Caner, however, there are some new and more terrifying Jihadists among us. Their battle-cry is Calvin Akbar – “Calvin is great!” Ergun, President of Liberty Theological Seminary, and himself a former Muslim who converted to Christianity at the age of 13, has recently engaged in a war-of-words with James White over the Doctrines of Grace, more commonly known as Calvinism. James White is the founder of Alpha and Omega Ministries and a Christian apologist. The two, including Ergun’s brother Emil and Tom Ascol, Executive Director of the Founder’s Ministry (a ministry devoted to teaching and promoting the Doctrines of Grace among Southern Baptists), were scheduled to deliberate the topic on October 16, 2006 at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg , VA. in a long-anticipated and what was sure to be a closely-watched debate. The debate never took place. Rather than go into all the reasons here, I’ll leave it to the reader to Google for answers and drawn their own conclusions.
In response to the ‘great debate that wasn’t’ Caner wrote on his blog that “Calvinists are worse than Muslims,” and referred to Southern Baptist Calvinists as “Calvinist Jihadists.” In the on-gong debate concerning Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Caner has now – very openly and very publicly -- accused the Calvinists within the convention of spiritual terrorism. This kind of vitriolic diatribe is uncalled for does little to foster honest intellectual and theological debate among Southern Baptists. Frankly, I resent such outlandish accusations!
Convention leaders need to just as openly and just as publicly distance themselves from Dr. Caner’s remarks.
Does Ergun really mean to imply that pastors and laymen in the Southern Baptist Convention would actually resort to a violent take-over of the SBC? Isn’t that what Jihadists do? Does he really mean to imply that our loyalty is to our theology and not our Theos? I can only hope that Dr. Caner is being his typical bombastic self when he makes these kinds of statements.
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