Tag Archives: politics

February 5, 2020 · 4:46 pm

Sad

I am sad today.

Maybe it’s the fact that I didn’t sleep.

Maybe it’s the fact that I can’t speak what is on my mind. I know the fallout that will happen as soon as I post this. But I can’t be silent.

God gave us Ten Commandments. They define for mankind what is right and what is wrong. Moses said, “And he added no more”. He also wrote these commandments on the hearts of men and women whether they are God’s people or not. The conscience bears witness to that. When God’s people sinned, God sent prophets to them.

Isaiah begins his book like this:

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. (Isa 1:1-2)

Here’s the rundown. Uzziah, not a bad king. He was on the right side politically.

Jotham was a good king. He was on the right side politically

Ahaz, wicked king. Liberal. Changed Judah’s worship. Made an alliance with Assyria and built an alternate altar on the temple grounds. Offered his children to Baal.

Hezekiah, a good king.

But when they sinned, Isaiah rebuked them in the name of the Lord, no matter who they were. Harshly. That is what he was called to do.

Today we only have one standard of right and wrong:

For half the country – if a Republican does it, it is right. If a Democrat does it, it is wrong. If I Republican says it, it is true. If a Democrat says it, it is a lie.

For the other half of the country, if a Democrat does it, it is right. If a Republican does it, it is wrong. If a Democrat says it, it is true. If a Republican says it, it is a lie.

And, as Bob Dylan famously put it, “we have God on our side”…no matter what party you are. You are right. They are wrong.

Ethics by political association. How did that happen?

Shouldn’t we, as God’s people, define right and wrong by what God has written in his word?

Please don’t comment. I don’t think I can stomach it.

I’m not concerned that corrupt people of both parties are in power. That is the way it has always been.

I am concerned that our lives and our ethics are driven by our politics. I am concerned that the “others” are ridiculed, mocked, insulted, and hated. We can’t even open a dialogue without starting an all-out war.

We are so terrified of the others we can’t even associate with them? Treat them as human beings? Listen to them?

I remember that I used to be like that. Then I realized that life is more complicated and people more complex than political sloganeering and slandering.

Then I realized that almost every single political statement on social media runs the risk of violating the 9th commandment in the eyes of God. Are we more afraid of the other party than the wrath of God?

Are we so sure that we our sources are so infallible and that our opinions so wise and holy that we can repeat the latest slogan and not be guilty of bearing false witness?

The only solid place to put our feet is the word of God, and political platforms are not that.

When was the last time someone in power voted their conscience rather than the way their party told them to? When was the last time you agreed with something that the other party did?

Do you really believe that the other half of the country has NO morals, no wisdom, no opinion worth hearing, nothing good whatsoever to offer, no scrap of humanity left?

Should we not, as the people of God, speak for what is right no matter what the political party is? And should we not speak out against the wrong, no matter what the political party is? Are we nothing more on this earth than yes-men to the rich and powerful?

Last night, I read “Night” by Elie Wiesel as a cheerier alternative than the current political spectacle.

Maybe this is why I am sad.

When we get to the point where half the country is, in our mind, idiots, brutes, fools, stupid, worthless, dangerous, enemies of the people, not really human, reprobate, scum, cockroaches –

When we get to that point, we are simply one tiny, tiny step away from watching the cattle cars hauling our neighbors away.

Comments are moderated. For the sake of my sanity, every comment for or against any political party will simply be deleted.

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August 18, 2016 · 4:29 pm

Sorry, I just can’t

I don’t like using this blog for politics, since I find the whole subject distasteful. But I have been told repeatedly that if I don’t vote for Trump then I will be casting a vote for HILLARY!

Well, I find it sad that the only argument for voting for the Republican party is that we have to keep someone else out of office. Seriously? The Republicans can’t do any better than that?

But this post isn’t about that.

I am a Christian. This means that above all else I obey and serve Jesus Christ and follow his commandments. I serve Jehovah, the creator and sustainer of the world as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. And the first commandment is this: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

There have been many times in history – some of them recorded in sacred scripture – where God’s people were faced with a choice: obey God, or lose everything. God brought them to a position where their faith was tested. Where it seemed, by all human reasoning, that obeying God would bring disaster. God’s question was this: will you be god, knowing good and evil? Or will you obey me, and trust me for the future?

One such time was in the days of Ahaz and Isaiah. To Ahaz, the only possible way out of disaster was to make a treaty with Assyria. The only problem was that God said, “Don’t do it.” (Isaiah 7). Ahaz’s refusal to obey God didn’t change God’s plans, but it did bring disaster upon the house of Ahaz.

So here is where it comes down for me.

16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. (Psa 50:16-18 KJV)

God calls these people wicked and refuses to hear their prayers or acknowledge their status as covenant people. What was their wickedness? They consented with thieves and were partakers with adulterers. They did not hate sin as God hates sin.

As a Christian, I am called to hate sin more and more each day. I am to hate workers of iniquity, even while I pray for their forgiveness. I am to fear God rather than man.

And there is one thing that I fear far, far more than even Hillary Clinton. I fear God. For this reason, I cannot vote for Donald Trump.

His lying is well-known. He is a proud and unabashed serial adulterer. He is a relentless, hardened thief and a covenant breaker.

Don’t tell me about who he plans on putting into the Supreme Court. He has never once told the truth, and I don’t believe a word out of his mouth. He could appoint Howard Stern and Hugh Heffner for all I know. He has more in common with them than with any Christian.

He is a reviler, a covenant breaker, a thief, an adulterer, a bully and a wolf.  You will probably at this point say that even if this is true, Hillary would be worse. Maybe so. But I won’t vote for her either.

I have no idea what God will do with our country. I have no idea about the future. I have no say in the matter. None of us do. But I cannot ever disobey God and give my vote of approval to a man that the Bible says God hates. (Notice I did not say a reprobate. God could indeed bring him to repentance, and I pray that he does – but I can only know what God has revealed to me. God hates the wicked every day and calls us to have the same revulsion of their wicked deeds that He does).

How can we expect God to “bless our country” when we who are to be salt and light shut our eyes and give our consent to such a godless, wicked man? Will good come from our shameless disobedience to God?

For me, to ignore all of those Bible verses that command me to shun the evil doer; never walk in the counsel of the ungodly; have nothing to do with the sons of Belial – for me to do that would  be a violation of the commands of God. I cannot and will not do it.

I fear God far more than I fear Hillary.

May he have mercy upon us.

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