Politics and Religion: A Fruit Inspection

June 10 2009

It is important to understand that we live in a time when even professing Christians are confused and many of them buy the lie that “truth is hate speech.” Nothing could be further from the truth (no pun intended). Scripture says “you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” We are to expose the deeds of darkness, “make a righteous judgment,” and to judge the “fruit” (though not the person). Unfortunately, most people can’t distinguish the difference, and thus default to secular tolerance.

Truly knowing the God Who IS Truth implies knowing His Truth, His “opinion” on every kind of Truth that exists, for the God Who IS Truth KNOWS all truth, and we do well to seek His truth in every aspect and on every issue lest we be deceived by anti-Christ in these last days. I’m increasingly convinced that the “mark of the beast” happens between the ears before it is accepted on the forehead or the hand. A big start in that direction is the subtle belief that government is god (the essence of liberalism).

The idea that there is no absolute truth, that everything is relative, and the highest virtue is to be tolerant of “others’ truths” is an intentional lie from the pit of hell. It is a “gross darkness covering the peoples.”

There is absolute truth about every issue. Judging the “fruit” of a person’s actions is not the same as passing judgment on the person. This is also true of our political leaders and their political agendas. Indeed it is required stewardship. Pastors from the era of our founding fathers would excoriate such ignorance and passive irresponsibility as we have in the church and nation today.

So let’s inspect the “fruit” of President Obama and his performance so far. And again, these comments regarding President Obama have to do with his policies that the Bible clearly condemns and which the Constitution prohibits, not with the person. He and his family are loved by God and it is His earnest desire (and my earnest prayer) to save them. It is God’s job to judge the character of the man and his heart; what I address are the fruits of his policies and the resulting damage being done to our nation.

Most mature Christians who believe the Bible and its principles will have little difficulty discerning that his pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, anti-church positions and other anti-Christian, anti-Biblical, and anti-constitutional policies of Obama’s are wrong and should opposed. Yet, astonishingly, massive numbers of not-so-mature Christians who knew these truths still voted for him. If ever there was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Obama qualifies. And six months into his administration, his “coat” is beginning to shed.

Not only did he support infanticide as an Illinois state Senator, he supports abortion on demand, and is now working to make it illegal for doctors to refuse to perform an abortion because of their Christian beliefs and/or personal conscience.

His “stimulus bill” prohibits funds from going to any school or university that allows their facilities to be used by Christian organizations although such activities have been upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court – an intentional slap at Christianity. His “stimulus bill” is itself a massive Socialist/Marxist coup d’état against the free enterprise/capitalist economy through which the poorest among us live a veritable “lifestyle of the rich and famous” compared to most other countries.

His firing of private business leaders (talk about audacity), the refusal to take back “stimulus money” from businesses who have thought better of it, and the recent bankruptcy of General Motors is disastrous, but more importantly, an assault on the constitutional limits of the federal government. Especially since Obama structured it via destroying most of the private investment in GM–including those of the elderly and the average worker’s retirement plan–and giving it away to the UAW. Shameful! The shutting down of dealerships that contributed to Republicans (only one “democrat” dealership is being closed) is frightening if not illegal, and certainly revealing about his ACORN mentality and “Chicago gangster” approach. “You give-ah allegiance to me, we take-ah care of you; you don’t, we take-ah you out at the knees.” The “trickle-down” economic damage will be broad and long-lasting as GM is not an island.

Beyond his long-term destruction of our economy, the interest on the debt he has incurred (more than all the annual debt incurred in the history of our nation combined) is nothing less than child abuse and theft against our children and grand-children. It would be bad enough if this entire “stimulus bill” had any positive effect, but it hasn’t. Its money borrowed only to be burned.

Then there is his half-hearted pseudo-support of Israel. Talk about speaking with a forked tongue. He’s telling Israel how to run their business to such an extent he’s now “ordering” them to build no new settlements – not even for population growth. This is on top of his genuflecting before a Saudi King, and now we have his recent statements that Iran has a right to nuclear power.

What Socialist/Marxist re-make of America would be complete without an overtly activist judge on the Supreme Court? Judge Sonia Sotomeyer certainly fits the bill with her admission that the Appellate Court is “where policy is made.” Pardon this tidbit of truth, but according to the constitution (I know what a drag that outdated and mostly ignored document is to “progressives” like Obama) the Congress is where policy is supposed to be made, not in the imagination of one who believes that by virtue of her “Latina” experiences, she would make a better judge than a white male. If the reverse had been stated by a white male, liberals would have been apoplectic, and the offender would have been rightfully disqualified. But such a comment gets a pass by virtue of the fact that she is a “Latina.” The brazen hypocrisy of liberals is mind boggling, but alas, it is increasingly the norm in our nation of dumbed-down sheep.

Then there are the more subtle things that are happening that don’t really make much news, but which have profound implications. One example is Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s appointment of Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GSLEN), to be Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. GSLEN promotes affirmation of homosexuality in schools starting at the Kindergarten level. According to the Family Research Council, “Jennings wrote the foreword for a book, “Queering Elementary Education” which among other things praises teaching masturbation to a 7-year-old girl.” And, “in a speech in a New York church in  2000,  he declared, “We have to quit being afraid of the religious right….I’m trying not to say, “(F—) ‘em!” which is what I want to say, because I don’t care what they think! Drop dead!”  Thank you, President Obama and all you Obama-voting “Christians” for this assault on our children.

Yes, this is just a small sampling of the fruit of what so many mistakenly believe is our “messiah;” the “one.” Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many will insist that Obama is a Christian sent by God to save America. Scripture suggests otherwise. Titus 1:16 says “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” (Emphasis mine.)

The question is: is all this unholy and wrong fruit born out of the ignorance of an inexperienced rookie, or, to borrow a phrase, the work of intelligent design?

Mark Williamson is the Founder and President of Foundation Restoration Ministries and Federal Intercessors, educational and intercessory ministries dedicated to the restoration of Biblical truth, righteousness and justice in the nation, and the high offices of the Federal government. The views expressed in this column are his personal opinions and observations. Learn more and join the prayer cause at www.federalintercessors.net. You may contact him directly at mark.williamson@federalintercessors.net, or at 713-722-4301.

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The Preaching of The Cross

December 21 2007

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

The heart of Christianity is the Bible, the heart of the Bible is the Cross, and the heart of the Cross is the very heart of God: a heart full of the most tender compassion for sinful, erring man; a heart that was bruised and broken while atoning for our guilt. Christians need to pray that Holy Spirit will give us a clearer vision of this wondrous Cross and a more real and deeper experience of it’s transforming power.

The Cross of Christ is the most awful and yet most glorious object ever seen by men or angels outside the gate of heaven. The message of the Cross is not heard from just one single text of Scripture. If we are to receive this message in all the fullness of it’s significance we must hear the whole Word of God concerning it. The great message of the Cross is much misunderstood because of the fragmentary fashion in which it is often represented. But no matter how fully the gospel of the Cross may be preached it will still be to them that are perishing foolishness.

How searching and astonishing this is! It is a sign that you are perishing if you do not see the infinite wisdom and power of God in the Cross of Christ. The preaching of the Cross is God’s Word about the Cross and His message of love and grace to us through the Cross. What a wonderful word this is!

The preaching of the Cross is God’s Word concerning holiness and sin. This means the holiness of the sufferer and the vileness of sin for which He suffered. Jesus said in John 8:34, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant (slave) of sin;” Then in verse 46 He says; “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” According to the teaching of Jesus Christ, sin and slavery are linked together. There is no true liberty where there has not been the breaking away from sin. “Christ did no sin,” if He had He would have come under it’s dominion, and thereby forfeited His Messiahship and His fitness to be a sacrifice “without blemish.” Christ was holy, harmless, separated from sinners, yet this Holy One, whose character and words were revelations of the invisible and eternal God, bore our sins in His own body, and was put to death by wicked hands. Acts 2:23

The holiness of God and the sinfulness of man have met in awful conflict in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That Cross which reveals God at His best, if we might so put it, reveals man at his worst. As darkness can have no fellowship with the light, neither can the unrenewed spirit of man have fellowship with the Holy Spirit of God. This preaching of the Cross then is the word of victory to holiness, the defeat and putting away of sin.

The preaching of the Cross is God’s Word concerning love and sacrifice. When God gave His Son, it was not with any expectation that some way or other He might escape the cursed death of the cross. God had no hope of saving men but by the death of His Son, so man has no hope of being saved but through the power of His Cross. Acts 4:12 reads, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” The Cross stands for the love of God the Father, and the sacrifice of God the Son. John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2 read, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.” Our Lord’s own testimony is “Even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life as the redemption price of many.” Matthew 20:28.

The message of the Cross is the message of infinite and undeserved love. Only God could so love a world of sinners as to give His only begotten Son up to the death of the Cross for them. Only God the Son could so love us, while we were yet enemies as to give His spotless soul a sacrifice for sin. “Herein is love,” herein is sacrifice. The sufferings and sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the proof and expression of the intensity of the love of God.

So the preaching of the Cross is the message of the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. It is God’s unfailing, ever active instrument, by which anyone may instantly through faith be lifted out of darkness into light.

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