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An article by
Kenneth Uptegrove
Edited by Lora
Uptegrove
(((See
Article on election By David Ravenhill below)))
In the four
gospels Jesus did not speak against Rome or slavery, but He did
speak out against the religious leaders of Judea. He said to
give unto Caesar what is Caesar's, meaning taxes even though the
tax was unjust and spent in ways contrary to the will of God.
Jesus seemed to be more concerned with sin in the Kingdom of God
than sin in the kingdoms of men.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
While at a 5 AM prayer meeting on election day (Nov 4, 2008) my
wife, Lora, got this insight: "I got my answer at that meeting
as to why last week I heard in the Spirit that this week 'the
church will rejoice.' In fact, without me saying anything, that
very subject came up during the prayer time, and it was what I
needed to hear to let me know I had not missed something. It had
nothing to do with what I wanted to hear, or my interpretation
from my intellect. This is what was impressed upon me: it is
'the church will rejoice'. In other words,
those who He sees as
truly His...will rejoice in HIM at this time and not be swayed
by what the election outcome was.
And that was truly the spirit of the Tuesday meeting...rejoicing
in Him, being secure in Him, no matter what will happen around
us."
From this line of
thought wisdom says we are to fulfill all civic duties expected of
American citizens, which includes paying taxes and voting. Of course
it is legal to NOT vote, and illegal to not pay our taxes,
but I am talking about Christ mandates, not the law of the land.
We know that Bible
prophecy says that all world governments and society will fall to
the antichrist system, so to be both wise and meek at the same time,
we are compelled as citizens to vote...but vote in a way that will
frustrate the antichrist’s agenda, and further the Kingdom of God as
much as possible … until Jesus comes to replace this temporary
tyrant with His eternal kingdom.
Rather than focusing
on what the antichrist system is doing, we need to keep our eye on
what God is doing in the Kingdom of God. God's Kingdom is always
victorious, no matter how fierce the dragons that rages around it.
But the religious right as a political group seems to have their
eyes and their hopes in the wrong kingdom.
There are no Ronald
Reagan's in this election year, but the Republican Vice
Presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, is perhaps equally
conservative. And lest we forget, all the Democrat candidates are
far more liberal (secular humanistic) than any of the Republican
candidates.
Among the lesser of
two evils, ANY choice for president on the Republican ticket is
better than, or not as bad as Barack Hussein Obama (who is more
socialistic and secular humanist than Hillary).
In a Constitutional
Republic, in the most Christ centered church, and in any area of
life we have only humans to work with. Imperfect humans! Some are
sinners saved by grace, and the rest are of their father, Satan.
And when was there ever a PERFECT candidate for us to vote for?
Ronald Reagan was a Godsend, but he wasn’t perfect.
Consider the
options. If we get real cynical and NOT vote at all, or vote for a
third party (or a write in) candidate we will thereby ASSURE the
worst possible result. Third party votes, write-in votes and
no-votes almost always take away from votes for the Republican
candidate, allowing the Democrat to win by default. Will we vote
for the most electable or the most acceptable candidate? A leader
may not be a "godly" man, or even approved by the "religious"
community, but God is able to fulfill His will, is He not?
Some may argue that
true Christians will never vote for “the lesser of two evils.”
They say TRUE Christians can ONLY vote for committed Christian
politicians, acting as if politicians were pastors and that
America is still one nation under God. By this logic, TRUE
Christians should not pay taxes (and some don’t). But remember
that Jesus said to, “Pay unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s,”
meaning taxes … and voting.
Looking past our options and ideals, we can see the best (or
least evil) option left to select from, and that is to vote for
what option comes the closest to our ideals. In a long hike,
walking 9 miles is more ideal than walking 10 miles, an option
we can welcome.
Romans 13:1,2 says be subject to the governing authorities, but
whom puts them into power, either His people or his people.
Romans 13: Every person is to be in subjection to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and
those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever
resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who
have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For
rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.
Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and
you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of
God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for
it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of
God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only
because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because
of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God,
devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is
due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to
whom fear; honor to whom honor.
People forget to read verses 3 & 4 sometimes. However, in
punishment for the sins of a people, or for other reasons known
to Him, God allows evil rulers to have authority for a time, as
OT prophets frequently testify, ideally, God grants authority to
serve good ends. Verse 4 when government officials use force to
restrain and punish evil, they are not doing wrong, Rather, they
are God's minister (servant) and are doing good.
Just a few ideas.
The
notion that we need to punish the Republican Party by showing
them they do not own us is about as futile a notion as I have
ever heard. Our black brethren have learned that about the
Democratic Party that feels they own the black vote. Watch Black
bishop E. W. Jackson make that point loud and clear at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_FrySY8oYM&feature=relmfu
Political
parties will not learn a thing, even after a dozen losses,
because Bible believing Christians wouldn’t back their
candidates. They just don’t get it. Conservatives, the
Republican Party, our nation and the world gets more
socialistic, more secular, more anti-Christ (Liberal) every
decade, not less. Only the true church of Jesus Christ stays
faithful to Yahweh and His Holy Word (the Holy Bible), and I
wonder about some Christians sometimes.
Wisdom says…
By holding to our
convictions, Christians in the religious right may very well —by
default— vote
Barack Hussein Obama
into office. God forbid! Tell me THAT is Godly!
Tell me that
WAS
Godly! When there are no good options left,
then only undesirable solutions are left. The lesser of two evils
is our only option in such times, and it seems to me that we are now
in such a time. The argument that, "To vote at all is to condone the
evil that pervades all government," ignores the wisdom to use the
strategy to at least slow down the run-away train before it wrecks.
A few survivors is better that (not as tragic as) no survivors.
I am not
going to campaign for any candidate in 2012, but I will vote for the
Republican ticket (as I have for 40 years) in order to slow down the
impending Socialist train wreck. God will not hold me responsible
for the sins and error of whoever wins the office, or give me any
rewards for any holy or righteous deeds that president might
perform. God only holds me accountable to be a responsible citizen
and vote, and apply the wisdom invested to me through maturity and
living a Godly life. I am not a
Republican or Democrat or independent, I am a Bible believing
conservative who identifies with the religious right. But:
Even in the
religious right, our social, political, and theological views are
very diverse and at odds with each other. Despite all our
self-righteous rhetoric, we are one in name only. We do not have
one spokesman or voice. So I am forced to more specifically
identify myself as a Bible believing, Christ centered Christian.
But even there we have diverse Christian groups making the same
claim. Again, no single spokesman or organization represents us.
Where are our spiritual leaders today? Praise God, we have Jesus!
Even so, there is a
good reason for every conservative and Evangelical Christian to vote
Republican these days, no matter how poor our choices seem to be in
this election cycle. No matter which Republican candidate were to
win, he would not be very likely to veto any legislation that
conservatives got passed in the Senate.
Barack Hussein Obama
would veto any conservative legislation in a dragons breath, and
would do all he and his ultra-liberal cohorts can conjure up. A
ten-to-one chance is better than no chance.
The fatalists … the
defeatists (who are sure nothing can be done) seem to be in a rush
to embrace the inevitable. But if it is inevitable, why not waylay
the “inevitable” for as long as we can? Why not redeem the time left
to us by evangelizing, raising our children, and having more time to
prepare for the future physically, mentally, and spiritually?
For those who say
Christians should not be involved in things of the world, meaning
politics and government in this case, let me point out that there
has always been a lot of politics in religion and a lot of religion
in politics. If we could get the politics within denominations
removed, and the politicians who are Reverends saved (Huckabee being
an exception), then we could walk our talk.
Our responsibility as
Christians is to proclaim and perform the will of God to the best of
our ability. That means to speak out against evil, and to be a part
of any positive area of ministry we can. Heal the sick, comfort
those who suffer loss, feed the poor, proclaim salvation in Jesus
Christ...and vote for the best outcome that is possible.
If in dire times the
only food available at the grocery store was bread that was one-week
old, two weeks old, and three weeks old, I would pick the one-week
old bread. I do not enjoy old bread, but I won’t starve either. Not
getting any bread because all the choices are bad is a sure road to
hunger and starvation. I think we are approaching dire times. What
do you think?
I hope this is an
encouragement to us all to vote, and put our vote where it can count
the most to keep Hussein Obama out of the Whitehouse.
God judges where a
nation is
at spiritually and gives a people the leader
they deserve. We must decide to engage ourselves in the right of
collective self-defense against unprovoked aggression from the
anti-Christ system in America. The election outcome will reflect
the spirituality of the religious right.
There is no social,
economic or political solution to the ills of society. Christ is the
only solution, so my advice is to urge all Christians to pray for
our nation and our churches, asking God for His will to be done on
earth (in America) as it is in heaven.
We need to employ
wisdom in this season, and understand what is happening around us.
Our nation is in a precarious time; to be swayed by emotion could
bring us results we would be sorry for, for some time to come.
Through wisdom a
house is built, And by understanding it is established. Pro 24:3
Wisdom is
found on the lips of him who has understanding, But a rod is for
the back of him who is devoid of understanding. Pro 10:13
How will you vote?
As a Christian, it is as much your civic duty to pray for those in
authority as it is to vote!
By the way, God can use the worst candidate by calling the nation to
pray for them.
If we are to "Sing
the Swan Song" let us be cleaver like a fox and write ourselves four
verses to sing, not just one or two! Let's not take the loser
mentality, but put on the Mind of Christ. Jesus is our hope, or
Lord, who takes us through all hardships and hard times. I read the
last page in the Bible, and it says
JESUS WINS!
PRAISE THE LORD!
Are you praying for
the candidates and the nation?
One reader said, "This article, President by Default, was well
written, complete thought achieved, illuminating point made......
thank you very much!"
What are your thoughts about how Christians should vote?
Strength in (Small) Numbers
Although lesbian, gay, and bisexual activists are among the most vocal
of any special interest group, they are also one of the smallest. Far
from the 8-10 percent figures that some cite,
the number of homosexuals in America is
only 2.9 percent of the 18 and older population,
according to researchers from Hunter College. One author of the study,
Professor Patrick Egan, says that the media typically cite the number
of homosexuals based on voter exit polls. That's a mistake, Egan
insists. "Exit polls are based on the people... who show up at the
polls. Gays and lesbians vote much more consistently than the general
population," Egan concludes. Although homosexuals may be in the
minority, they have a "disproportionate impact on the political
process." In almost every political category, they outwork the average
citizen. They volunteer, write letters to the editor, contact
government officials, and protest more than most Americans. That feat
is even more impressive when you consider that not everyone in that
2.9 percent is an activist for homosexuality, meaning that an even
smaller fraction of homosexuals is forcing its agenda on the nation.
People who say they are Christians and are opposed to special rights
for the gay crowd make up over 50% of the population, but what percent
of them/us vote and speak out on social issues?
Get
Thee Behind Me Satan!
By David
Ravenhill www.davidravenhill.net
If
you are unfamiliar with the words of this title, let
me remind you that they were spoken by Jesus in
response to Peter's rebuke of him. Ahh! Now you
recall the incident. Jesus has just asked the
disciples what people were saying about him. "Some
say you are John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or
one of the prophets…" they explained. Jesus went on
to tell them that he was going to Jerusalem where he
would suffer many things, including the fact that he
would be killed. Peter immediately rebuked him for
his 'negative confession'. After all, this was the
last thing the disciples had in mind for their
beloved master and potential King.
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