Saturday, October 13, 2007

Christian Leaders Gone Astray

friends, the title of this post, says it all,"christian leaders gone astray." what is happening to the current christian leadership?? in turn, what does this mean to to the christian community at large?

as i continue to learn more about politics, and specifically, christians in politics, i find myself becoming increasingly disillusioned and discouraged. i stand by and watch christian leaders, doing things and making decisions, that seem uncharacteristic and inconsistent with the bible.

but how can that be?? they are christians. they read the same Bible we read. they go to church and worship on sunday. as bible believing christians, how can a christian possibly reconcile being pro-choice and same sex marriage? if they are leaders, we are assuming they are called into that position of leadership. they have a responsibility to represent the christian community with integrity, right?

friends, i wish i knew the answers to those questions. moreover, i wish i could give a resounding "yes!" to the integrity question amongst leadership. however, unfortunately, i cannot. on the contrary, up to now, i find myself continually aghast and appalled as i watch christian leadership in action. it just doesn't seem consistent with the christianity i know.

yet, upon further thought, i realize it is, indeed, a different christianity. it is POLITICAL CHRISTIANITY. (yes, i hear all the, "aaahs.." and see the nodding of heads....) this is a different bird, entirely.

apart from dr. dobson's recent ope-ed article, it appears the current high profile christian leadership has gone awry. leaders like gary bauer, tony perkins, and richard land are seriously compromising principles and values for what they perceive to be, the win. they are asking the christian community to have 'an open mind', and invoking 'christian charity' on issues that are clearly contrary to the christian fatih and beliefs. they are compromising, and are asking the christian community do the same. I, FOR ONE, WILL NOT!!

although, as christians, ideally we look to leadership for guidance and leadership. we must also realize we have a personal responsibility to exercise wisdom and prudence, in whom we follow and why. we must carefully scrutinize the credibility of the leaders as well as the viability of their arguments and recommendations.

this past week, in an article for "the hill" both gary bauer of american values and tony perkins, of family research council spoke to "reporters at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor in advance of next week’s Values Voter Summit."

christians.....RED FLAG!!!! RED FLAG!!!!

gary bauer and tony perkins are speaking at a breakfast sponsored by the christian science monitor?!! this is the same group founded by mary baker eddy, the church of christ, scientist. friends, the church of christ, scientist and mary baker eddy are NOT representative of evangelical judeo christianity. why are two high profile evangelical christian leaders speaking at a breakfast sponsored by a christian cult? what is wrong with this picture?? for more information re: "the church of christ: christian or cult?" see here.

this is troubling, friends...very troubling.

this past week, both gary bauer and tony perkins have been encouraging and unofficially endorsing canidates like mitt romney and fred thompson. it also appears they are actively trying to dissuade christians from considering support of govenor huckabee. in the article, they ask for an 'open mind' to canidate thompson, and proceed to try and punch holes in govenor huckabee's policies and viability.

friends, there is something amiss.


also, this past week a well known christian public relations executive, sent out a 5 page letter. (published in the new york times) to 150 conservative christian leaders, asking for support of mitt romney, despite his mormon faith. stating, "it's not if you would vote for a mormon, but would you vote for this mormon." unfortunately, the rest of the letter does not get much better.










christians.....




what are these christian leaders thinking??!!










yesterday, i heard an insightful teaching by a well known bible teacher. the study was on psalm 118. specifically, he cited verses 8-9.









"it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in man. it is better to trust in the Lord. than to put confidence in princes." psalm 118:8-9












the teacher proceeded to discuss that this principle was important to remember, specifically, when voting. he said we needed to vote our 'conscience and principles' and trust God for the rest.













he then cited 2 chronicles 7:14
"if my people who are called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land."

he then explained, that in context, this refers to "US". it refers to christians, the child of God. if WE will humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways...THEN God will heal our land.

christian, the responsibility lies squarely on OUR shoulders. WE must exercise our will and choose GOD. simply because current christian leadership is compromising....does not mean we must follow.

christians, we must pray. we must humble ourselves before the Lord, seek God's face, and turn from our wicked ways. quite simply, it is going back to the basics. it starts with each one of us.

God has always given us the freedom of choice. now, christians...we must exercise it.


God bless you,



"our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." matthew 6:10

christians for mike huckabee

11 comments:

Gandolf said...

You are on to it ...Trouble is there is a whole lot of christians out there with the mindset that its the athiests that are vilifying christianity thats the problem .L.o.L one has to have a wee chuckle as i think why would they need to ?, christians make a pretty good job of it themselves .

And of course what is the biggest problem and will be a problem with some/many who read what im saying , is they drop their bottom lip refusing to even think it could be themselves that has to do with the problem .And excomunicate from you and storm off in a huff refusing to even speak .

I amagine God saying to himself my children when will you open your eyes ears and mind .

LD Jackson said...

The Christian leaders are afraid of losing their influence and their organizations becoming irrelevant. If we choose to vote with our values and not the way they tell us we should, then that is what will happen. I say it is high time we Christians stood up for what we believe and not for something someone else tells us we should stand up for.

pebspicks said...

gandolf,

yes, we as christians, do need to take responsibility, and trust God to do the work. fortunately, despite our lacking...God is faithful, and in control!

thanks for your comments!


larry,
amen! so true. despite the christian leadership, it's time for individual christians and communities, to stand up, and be counted.

onward!

Monica Clifton said...

I am completely with you on this. I have been for Huckabee since seeing him in the first debate. We were so sure he would be the candidate that all the religious leaders would be behind. It's sad to see that they are not and that they are willing to compromise on their values. I will continue to pray for Mike Huckabee and do all I can to raise him up. The rest is really in God's hands.

pebspicks said...

monica,

i, too am continually amazed that the christian leadership is not ecstatically and enthusiastically supporting such a viable canidate, like govenor huckabee.

i think if the christian community at large, begins to realize that the leadership is compromising, and vocalizes their opposition, it will be very interesting to see what happens.

ironically enough, for years the very leaders that have encouraged christians to STAND FOR THEIR BELIEFS AND VALUES, are themselves, buckling under the glare of politics and the spotlight.

keep spreading the word, and praying, praying, praying.

thanks so much for your comment!

Karen said...

Isn't this an interesting election? There are many who have said, "I can't understand why Christian leaders have not readily backed Huckabee" or "It is inexplainable why Huckabee hasn't caught fire yet." The Christian "leaders" have said time and again that Huckabee can't win, and that's what driving all these rationalizations from them. If you read Dr. Land's piece where he used code names for all the candidates, he even admitted that Candidate Baker (i.e. Huckabee) was the candidate that we could agree with on 100% of the issues, then proceeded to encourage everyone to vote for the 80% candidate, Thompson. Janet Folger, in an article on World Net Daily, reminded everyone that Huckabee will have the support needed to win when we all finally get behind him and support him. Duh! I am so glad that she pointed out the ridiculousness in all of this. It seems to me that supporting Huckabee right now takes faith. Faith that believing God's principles are more important than dollars raised and that God is in control of this and he can do anything and He is asking for our faith. We might just have to walk around the wall and blow trumpets and yell because we know it is what God would have us to do while others laugh or promote other candidates and say, "You can't win!" I believe God is asking for our faith and to see if we will stay true to His Word. This unraveling is quite interesting. I wonder what we, as a nation, will do...

pebspicks said...

thanks for your comments, karen.

you're so right. it really is an issue of values and faith.

as christians, i think we should be incensed at the behavior of the current high profile christian leadership. we need to vocalize our disappointment, and hold them accountable for their activities and endorsements. might be time to start a letter writing campaign!

btw, ya know, the good thing about marching around the wall, yelling and blowing trumpets??...in the end...THE WALLS FALL DOWN!!! :)

keep praying, and standing on principles and faith. GOD WILL BE GLORIFIED.

thanks, karen!

Editor said...

This is
Illinois4huckabee

I need your help activating a grassroots movement to knock some sense in some of our Ivory Tower Christian Leaders.

Here's a copy of an email I sent to Gary Bauer, I have more on Illinois4huckabee.blogspot.com you are welcome to duplicate as a guest entry or put your own words to it, we need to shake these guys up a little. If nothing else get them to pray about this. Everything I read tells me they are reasoning, thinking and strategizing but NOT praying!

Mr. Bauer:

You, Tony Perkins, Mark Demoss and Richard Land are seriously compromising Christian principles and values for a perceived political win. At best I think you will assure a win for Democrats.

I will not compromise.

Christians should be involved in the political process, they should have influence but my friend we do not abandon our principles to win politically. When we do, we lose, because we become what we are opposed to.

For the first time in a long time, we have a Christian man driven by principle, a man of strong character, a man who lives what he believes, a man we can trust, a man who by his very nature can restore dignity and trust of the Office of President, a man who has more experience than any other candidate, a man who is electable.

And you have turned your back on him and endangered my family.

Count the cost, my friend. You and your co-leaders failure to stand behind Mike may cost not just the election in 2008 but will cost you your leadership position with me and thousands upon thousands of others. I think you guys need to get the message:
We want Uncompromising Leadership.

I also think you and the others should apologize to Bill Clinton. Apparently Character is not the issue.

"it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord. than to put confidence in princes." Psalm 118:8-9

Praying for God's intervention in the hearts of our most prominent Christian Leaders,

email gary.bauer@mail.amvalues.org let him know what you think!

If you know Tony Perkins, Mark Demoss or Richard Land's email please send it to me.

Are you with me on this!

Vote at Family Research Council straw poll

pebspicks said...

illinois4huckabee,

great idea and letter!

i think you're right. these christian leaders need to know that the christian community-at- large is watching. and we're not liking what we're seeing! compromising on values and principles for power, is NOT the way to go, no matter how you cut it. 'the end DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS'.

i will put this up on my 'action ops' section, and will blog about it.

again, great job!!! keep up the good work!

pray on!

RGeorgeDunn said...

Amen! The Lord said in Revelations, " You are neither hot nor cold, you are luke warm and I spit you out of my mouth."

Dr. Dobson has said this. He claims it would be better to have Hilary then any of the half Christian candidates as president. In so saying, we need to support the best candidate based on principle, not supposed electability. Gov. Huckabee is in the lead among the true Christians. Go Huck!!!

pebspicks said...

thanks for the comment, mr. dunn...

yes, it is based on principles and values. christians need to realize the gravity of the situation, and the potential power they wield, in voting their conscience.

we DO NOT HAVE TO FOLLOW CHRSITIAN LEADERSHIP as they go astray. although, we may not be able to control the leaders' decisions....we CAN control our own.

thanks for your great input!