by Pastor Ed Evans
Scripture: Psalm 14
14:1 Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.
14:2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
14:3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
14:4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord?
14:5 There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous.
14:6 You would confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.
14:7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the Lord restores the fortunes of His people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
Dean Martin used to sing about it being a marshmallow world; "It's the time for play, it's a whipped cream day ... It's a sugar date, what if spring is late." Nothing can go wrong in a marshmallow world. If only the world was like that, all sweetness and light. But instead there are bad people, ugly surprises, things we don't like with trends for good and evil going every which way. But at least watching trends can warn you.
I love trends, and as I read more news and information blogs, newspapers, magazines and watch more TV news than any human being probably has a right to, I'm always delighted when I see a trend developing that supports the Christin principles that were once so in evidence in the common good of American society. It's almost as if the angels all got together and said, "Father, this week we're going to be righting wrongs wholesale and watch the demons squeal!"
This past week was one of those weeks, and I could almost hear the squealing! Here are eight examples:
Judgment Vindicates Calif. Student Punished for Pro-Life T-Shirt
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081305.html
Pro-Condom Bishop Corrected by Southern African Bishops’ Conference
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081308.html
Canadian Gvmt Lets Off Pro-Lifer for Refusing to File Abortion-Funding Taxes
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081307.html
D.C. Admits Planned Parenthood 'Private Property' Sign was False
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081313.html
Majority of US Hispanics Oppose Abortion and Gay 'Marriage': Poll
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081317.html
Urban Oufitters Pulls Planned Parenthood Condoms
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081306.html
Russian Would Fire Abortion-Compliant Employees, Seeks 'Orthodox Transfiguration of Russia'
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081309.html
Atheists Answer Christians with Blow Dryer "De-baptisms"
http://indyposted.com/33511/atheists-answer-christians-with-blow-dryer-debaptisms/
These eight examples run the gamut from "Praise the Lord!" to the truly silly. No one seems to be without an opinion about Christianity, any more, although that is what you hear most, opinions. Few have bothered to "go to the Book" to see what God's take on these matters is, where He stands concerning our both licentious and legalistic society.
This has become especially true on the subject of Islam and the building of mosques. Far too few of us have bothered to educate ourselves about a religion that is followed by about 7 million of the people in America. We listen to "ghost stories" and colorful gossip, but we don't really know, so when confronted, we fall back on "Jesus loves everybody" and "everyone has a right to their religion." After all, this is America.
Before I go further, I want you to know that within our own U.S. Armed Forces there are 6,000 Muslims in uniform, serving our nation. They fight the terrorists just like the guy or gal beside them. They are also appalled with what Nidal Hassan did at Fort Hood; those were their fellow soldiers. And many of them are U.S. Marines who are my friends on the social network, Facebook. You can learn more about them at http://www.apaam.org/.
There are many "kinds" of Muslim Americans, just as Christianity has Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Episcopalians, and so forth, not all of whom believe in speaking in tongues, immersion baptism, tithing or even supporting large church buildings. It is the Islamic extremists, the political terrorists against whom we must guard. So i say to those who paint everyone with the same brush, don't lump my Marines in with terrorists; it's easy to stuff everyone into the same box, but it's not smart. That's how you make enemies of friends.
But Islam in America has become a recent issue for three reasons. The first is that the 2,810 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack -- including citizens of 115 different countries -- were murdered by Islamic terrorists. These extremists used the religion of Islam for their political terror.
Secondly, an Islamic Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is working to build an Islamic Center, which some say will include the worship center of a mosque, just a few blocks from what has become known as Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers stood, where so many died that terrible day.
Third, the President of the United States, at a Muslim dinner celebrating the beginning of the Islamic Ramadan, at the White House, interjected himself into the issue by announcing the Muslims had a right to build what is being called the Cordoba Building near the Ground Zero site. That has elevated the discussion to the national news level and caused many more people to choose sides than wanted to. Based upon elements of President Barack Hussein Obama's previous conduct with the Muslim world, this latest event has led many to question his claim of Christian faith, declaring he is Muslim by his actions.
President Obama may be the victim of the kinds of trends we were discussing. On the one hand he may be following the admonition from Jesus Christ to love our neighbor and is attempting to find common ground with them. If that's the case, his assistants are doing a terrible job of helping us to understand, and he is making no attempt to do so.
On the other hand, we have a young boy named Barry Soetoro, trained as a Muslim, of whom we know precious little before he became a politician from Illinois and then President, all under the name of Barack Hussein Obama. We know precious little because the President has gone to expensive lengths to hide from public view his school records, travel records, and even his birth certificate. Such actions do not inspire confidence in that person's fidelity. What is he hiding?
Criticism of the President and his office have even reached the point that what was at first circulated as a joke, took on such a sinister meaning among some people that a merchandiser with that punch line, a quote from Psalm 109:8 was taken off the market at the beginning of a holiday season. Psalm 109:8 reads, "May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership." Many people seemed to think it was some kind of code for violence against the President.
So we need to address the question, should Christians respect President Brack Hussein Obama?
First, yes, we need to respect the Office of President of the United States, as good citizens of this nation we love, honor, and respect. But when the person in that office abrogates his responsibility to We the People, we have a right and a responsibility to call that person to account and move to limit the amount of damage being done to this nation.
Now, some will immediately leap to Matthew 7:1 that tells us not to judge lest we be similarly judged. But the real answer is in the context. Jesus is telling us not to judge hypocritically, to make self-righteous judgments about people. Holy scripture cannot be read piecemeal, picking a line from here, a line from there, cafeteria style. We must study scripture in context.
Christians are often accused of judging by those under the microscope, those who know no more scripture than they found in a fortune cookie, no more than Matthew 7:1. But how are we then to discern and beware of those who practice evil, those who are false prophets, if we cannot make judgments about them? We can.
If we see someone caught up in sin, we have a Christian duty to lovingly confront them with their sin, and offer them the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. That requires a judgment on our part, so we can restore them to fellowship.
2nd Chronicles 19 and Ezekiel 3 both buttress Ezekiel 33:8, which tells us, "If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand." Before God Almighty, the action is ours, to correct, rebuke, and encourage, as 2nd Timothy 4:2 says, with great patience and careful instruction. We are to judge sin, always with the intent of presenting the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as the solution for sin and its consequences, according to John 14:6.
Would this apply to President Obama? It does in this pastor's eyes. I do not know Barack Hussein Obama personally, and I can only look at the fruit of his actions and how that affects the citizens of this historic experiment called America.
And I cannot share his stated value system for this nation, for example, his views on abortion, the murder of children; his radical Marxist views on re-distribution of wealth from those who have worked hard for it, to those who will not work.
I cannot agree with his plans to raise taxes for everyone who makes more than $250,000 a year, a figure that has changed three times since last August.
I absolutely cannot agree that the United States of America is arrogant and is not a Christian nation. This nation has shared trillions of dollars in aid to devastated nations, still provides clothing, food, water and volunteer manpower to countries around the world who are in need. The arrogance is in the person of the President, with an approach to people and problems that is almost regal in content, dictatorial, "my way or the highway." I feel certain people are taken aback by that. But it is his implementation of that arrogance as it concerns Muslim issues that truly frighten people. They are concerned about his fumbling approach to the economy, jobs, and the lot, but having his face set toward Islam is frightening for most of us.
To claim that America is not a Christian nation flies in the face of history and current facts. Speaking at a press conference in Turkey in May 2009, President Obama told the world, "One of the great strengths of the United States is ... we have a very large Christian population -- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."
That would have been a surprise to the 76.5% of Americans, 159 million, who consider themselves part of an historic and de facto Christian nation.
No one should have been surprised, however, for on the campaign trail in 2007 he told CBN's David Brody the same thing. He added, "When you have pastors and television pundits who appear to explicitly coordinate with one political party; when you're implying that your fellow Americans are traitors, terrorist sympathizers or akin to the devil himself; then I think you're attempting to hijack the faith of those who follow you for your own personal or political ends." From the campaign trail that was seen as a shot at those who were not aligning with his political party, apparently all those Christians no longer part of a Christian nation he said didn't exist.
But that's not all. Neither can I share his view on reducing our military by 25% while we are still under attack, throwing even more men and women out on a failing job market. Nor can I agree with his decision to give amnesty to all those in America illegally with no means to pay for their own healthcare, to make their own contributions to the Social Security system they are to draw from, who will play havoc with the job market by taking jobs at lower wages than those who are not on immigrant support can live on.
Also, I join those who see his healthcare system as a tragic mistake, the life and death impacting implications of which we are only now beginning to see.
I believe he is wrong on homosexuality, wrong on the definition of marriage, wrong about Radical Islam being our friend and Israel being our enemy, and that he is acting from a completely skewed strategic view of the problems in the Middle East. Neither I nor history agree with his intentions to appear submissive, obsequious, or servile towards those in the regimes of Iran, Korea , China or anyone else.
Perhaps most of all, I do not share his spiritual views, either those he claims as a Christian from 25 years of black theology rants against America, or his demonstrated support for Islam.
G. K. Chesterton was an English writer of whom it was said provided "common sense for the world's uncommon nonsense." Known as the "prince of paradox," in what has been called his "reasoned apologetics," Chesterton wrote, "It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong." Islam is a religion which refuses to allow examination of itself. As such, it takes itself off the table of consideration by reason, and makes itself an enemy of every other religion.
The current Islamic issue holding America's attention, a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City, was neither a religious nor political issue, until Pres. Obama moved it up to such with his pontification about it at the dinner in the White House celebrating Ramadan, with other Muslims. But it still is not about one more mosque.
There are already Islamic mosques all over America, 100 just in New York City, so it is not that Americans are Islamophobic. Islam has been practiced privately and publicly in the United States for many years, and you can see where the mosques are all over America by going online to http://halalmaps.com/. But Islam does not allow for the existence of other religions, and this is a nation which allows exactly that. Americans are not Islamophobic. Islam is Christophobic. It cannot allow the existence of Christianity in order that Islam may flourish. Islam even forbids the building of a Christian church within the entire nation of Saudi Arabia. That is religious bigotry.
The Imam behind this Islamic building says it is not just a mosque, but it will be a cultural center. However, if the effort is to share the Islamic culture with others, then the question is do we need exposure to the Sharia Law culture of wife beating, jihadist activities, and religious extremists integrated into our society? Okay, maybe that is unfair. Then let's tone down the rhetoric and just ask if we really need the cultural influence of burka wearing, uneducated women held down and demeaned by their men, women unable to see a doctor unless the doctor is a woman, or who must look at her problem through a hole in the sheet separating them; women punished if they are in the presence of a man to whom they are not married, women who can be cast adrift in society at a man's whim; violent punishment for daughters, to the point of death, for a father's disapproval; temporary wives for men; and a societal approval of lying and deception to those not of your own religion. This all detailed, and allowed, in the Islamic Koran. If this is not to be the case, Muslims such as my military friends must speak up, and we must support them.
America is a nation that says all people are created equal, with the right to work to better themselves, with the right to worship as they wish. The relevant question is does the Islamic culture square with that?
The reason 70% of Americans do not want a mosque built near the 911 Ground Zero site in New York City has nothing to do with Islam as a culture or as a religion. It is because those extremists who kidnapped the people in those aircraft and destroyed their lives, and murdered all those people in the Twin Towers in a most horrendous way, it is because they were Islamic and creating that horrible tragedy for religious reasons. If those murderous thugs had been Christian, or Mormon or Hindu or whatever, the reaction would be the same accordingly; do not rub our nose in the religion of those who did this. To do otherwise is to show an incredible insensitivity to the victims' families and to their memories. To a reasonable person, that is easy to understand. Those who fly in the face of that reasoning will do so only for ulterior purposes, for their own unspoken agendas. That conclusion is so obvious it deeply offends the American sense of respect and justice.
This is not an issue of religion, not an issue of legality or rights. It is an issue of old-fashioned, deeply held American sense of justice and fair play. Jesus says to love our enemies, and we can do that if we can be assured the extremists will be made to put away their swords and play nice.
Here's a suggestion. Build the Cordoba Initiative next to the Kaaba, the Dome of the Rock, in Mecca, in memory of all those who died in the Twin Towers because of Islamic extremism. And let America know when that is to be accomplished. Then we can all celebrate, lest it be true, "They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one."
Amen.
Daily Scripture Readings for August 23-29, 2010
Monday -- Matthew 23:1-36
Tuesday -- Matthew 20:28
Wednesday -- Matthew 6:1-24
Thursday -- Matthew 6:25-34
Friday -- Matthew 5:1-11
Saturday -- Matthew 5:13-20
Sunday -- Ezekiel 18:1-9, 25-29; Psalm 15; Hebrews 13:1-8; Luke 14:1, 7-14
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