Is God surprised by...evil...uh I mean Obama care?

Obama care is the prevailing thing in the news. There seems to be a lot of stress and concern about it. Anytime something like this comes along I get the feeling that people especially Christians forget that God is in control. I was reminded of this last night as we discussed the issue of evil at an apologetics class one of my sons is a part of. Romans 9:22-23 says, "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— " (ESV) In this passage we see that God is far from being surprised by sin and evil. As a matter of fact He uses that very thing to reveal more about Himself to the vessels of mercy. Think about it. What if there had never been any sin and everything was perfect? We are walking with God in the garden in the cool of the day. God is revealing what He can about Himself to finite beings as we commune together. He mentions that He really hates sin. He tells us that even though He hates sin that He is a God of mercy and grace. He says that He is long-suffering and patient. Remember there has never been any sin in this scenario. How could we begin to understand what God means by hate and sin if we have never experienced it. We would have no framework for understanding mercy and grace if we never needed it. Who could comprehend patience in a world that is perfect with everything happening according to God's perfect plan.
You see because God allowed Adam to fall and allowed sin to enter into the world we will know God far better for all of eternity. Because Pharaoh refused to let the enslaved children of Israel go we saw the power of God to change the course of history. God was not surprised by evil. He could have stopped it but then there would have been less revealed about God's nature to those who come to know Him. Obama care is no different. I don't know what God is doing. But I do know that He is not surprised by it. I am praying for Obama that God will use him to magnify His name and exult Jesus. He may use Obama like He used Pharaoh. I don't know His plan, but I know that Obama care is not outside of it. We can trust God in the midst of this. My prayer is that I will come to know Jesus better because of it.

Getting priorities straight

I read an article on Foxnews.com by Phyllis Chesler called, "Where's the Outrage?". In the article she highlights how the muslim community gets up in arms over a proposed burning of the Koran. She then contrast this with the Muslim world's complete silence when it comes to the treatment of women. She talks about a woman who is scheduled for stoning and has been imprisoned in Iran for adultery since 2006. According to Phyllis the accusation of adultery can mean,

"...anything from she was raped or dared report it, or that she dared to leave a husband against his will."

The Christian community is often classified as pro-life and when we study scripture we see that God is against those who harm the fatherless and the widow (Isaiah 10:1-3). This is essentially a pro-life position. When the woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus, He confounded the Pharisees accusation and granted her grace (John 8:3-11). Once again the position is pro-life. The main thing that stands out to me here is that our news media has been almost completely silent about this woman in comparison to the uproar over the proposed Koran burning. What is ultimately more important: The life of the woman or the Koran? For the Christian would you have felt differently about the proposed Koran burning if it was being done to push Iran to release the woman accused of adultery? I would venture to guess that the vast majority of Christians are more plugged in and concerned about the politics of what is happening this November then the woman in Iran. Yet if we look at this from the perspective of what a God focused life demands we should value, I think it changes what is important. When potentially injustice against children and women are before us what are we willing to do?

Prop 8 - Winning battles and losing the war

Last week the news was falling all over itself to report on the overturn of proposition 8. I am not sure how this is being reported in the rest of the country so if you need to get up to speed here is an article from the San Jose Mercury News titled, "Federal judge strikes down California's ban on same-sex marriage". 50 years ago we would have said universally that homosexuality is sin and it was viewed by most people as morally reprehensible. Today this is no longer the case. Today people see pedophilia as morally reprehensible and sin. Will this still be the case 50 years from today? It is a legitimate question in the light of how our culture has changed in the last 50 years. What has happened that has brought about the changes that we see today. 50 years ago the 1960's were kicking in and free love with a strong dose of independence was the siren call many could not resist. The moral walls of our society began to crumble. What caused the walls to be so weak in the face of the immoral tide that struck it? I did not live then but I think that the roots of the problem can be traced to the church of the early twentieth century. From what I can tell in church history there was a strong reaction to the neo-orthadoxy coming out of Germany's seminaries and universities. Two things happened. Neo-orthadoxy called into question the literal inspiration of scripture and saw inspiration as being something more personal that happens when the word of God becomes inspired for me (This is a broad simplification because of space. E-mail me if you want to discuss this.). The second thing is the conservative church over-reacted to what they saw as a liberal take on inspiration. Another thing was coupled with this. The church was hit with a widely distributed set of books called, "The Fundamentals". This produced a conservative swing that put up code of conduct fences and condemnation fences. Phrases like, "I don't smoke, I don't chew and I don't run with boys that do" were byproducts of this conservative swing. I think it was during this time that some denominations developed the theology of secondary separation. In a nutshell they separated themselves from anyone that did not adhere to their brand of doctrine. Some denominations still hold this view to this day. What happened is, we added a whole bunch of things to the Christian life and walk that were not scripture, but were held in the same regard. This did not have the intended effect of strengthening the church. Quite the opposite happened. The young people growing up in this environment in these churches saw right through the hypocrisy of it. Essentially the moral strength of the word of God was gutted by man insisting on adding his two bits to the pot. Since the churches moral base seemed to many to be arbitrary the next logical decision was that anything goes. People started crossing lines that were clearly spelled out in scripture. Line after line was crossed. The church retreated from this onslaught. Usually she demanded more and more that her position on all these added things was the right one. When she seemed to be losing the culture she resorted to politics. The church began to be seen as political -- seeking to legislate her version of morality. This brings us to today with a society that is rapidly sliding toward an ancient Roman style of life. Rome was marked by open pedophilia, gladiatorial games and meaningless marriage. The church as it appears to the world is a moral mess. She has very little integrity left. She pats herself on the back when a bunch of conservatives in California rallied the people to make a state constitutional amendment even in the face of great opposition. We won that social battle but we lost the court battle at this point, and it looks like we could lose the war.
And yet there is still hope. I see a fresh desire for God, a renewed embrace of God's word and a greater compassion for the lost. God is moving in people everywhere to ignite a passionate fire for Him in their hearts. The only way that this war will be won is in the hearts and minds of people. They have to meet the awesome God of the Bible Jesus the Christ (Psalm 24:1-5). Their moral foundation needs to be in the bedrock of His word and His word alone (Hebrews 4:12). Is this a daunting challenge? NO! God used 12 men to turn the world upside down. With God anything is possible (Mark 10:27). Be encouraged. Don't be ashamed (2 Timothy 1:12, 2:15). Keep your eyes on Jesus and show the world around you the magnificent God that you serve. Helping others to embrace a God focused life will bring them freedom from slavery to sin and give them the greatest possible future they could ever hope for. So seek the Lord and take Him with you into the world.

Going with the flow?

Every now and then I am reminded of how much we as people tend to go with the flow. I'm convinced that this is one of the main reasons for transfer growth between churches. As a people we think the grass is greener on the other side. We begin to listen to the comments that people make that line up with what we want to do and then before you know it we find ourselves going with the flow. The interesting thing about a God focused life is that your attention is not on the grass on the other side of the fence. You don't care about what other people are doing or where they are going. What matters is that Christ is exulted and glorified where you are. This is primary. It supersedes going with the flow. Your attention is so firmly on Jesus that what others are doing fades into the background. You do what you do for an audience of One and no other opinion matters (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Why a common news story is an indictment of Christianity

On FoxNews there is a story called, "Should the West Ban the Burqa?" Article's like this point out the freedom of religion we enjoy in this country should allow women to dress in this manner. While I agree with the principle, the bigger issue for me is the failure of Christianity to be a relevant source of informed thinking. God has gotten pushed out of the public square. I think most Christians struggle with how we go about bringing a Christian World view to bear on issues in a relevant way. More often than not the Christian response is seen as a political one. This has been an utter failure. God's kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Jesus said in the previous John passage that if His kingdom were of this world His servants would have been fighting. So if we are Jesus servants and His kingdom is not of this world, why are we fighting? About 4 years ago we did a survey in our local town and with about 90 responses we discovered that roughly 40% of the people we got to fill out surveys did not know why Jesus come to earth. They have heard Jesus talked about because He is very politicized. They just don't know why He came to earth. This problem of lack of information has one source. A failure of the church to train for and encourage outreach. We do not know how to bring a Christian world view to bear on the issues before us today because we have failed to teach people how to live God focused lives. We must help people to move from head knowledge to loving and pursuing Him with all of our hearts. It is only in loving God in the midst of life as it happens that we will begin to once again bring the word of God to bear in a relevant and meaningful way. Should the west ban the burqa? I don't know, but what I can tell you is that this might not even be a question we would be entertaining if the church had not failed to pass along the good news of the gospel to the next generation in a way that is relevant and meaningful to life and living.

Why the tea party movement will not save us

The reason that the tea party movement will not save us is the same reason that Obama and the democrats cannot save us. In both cases we are looking to a political movement to solve our problems. Lets think about what some of our problems are? (These are just a few of the general ways in which the public is talking.)

• Man is basically good and just needs a break - so lets have the government give him a hand out.
• Sexuality and what I do is my business and does not affect anyone else - so lets have the government protect my freedom of sexual expression.
• My rights of expression are being threatened - so lets have some laws enacted to protect them.

Freedom is essentially a moral issue (Romans 6:16-18). The ultimate question we need to ask is not which political movement will save us, but what must we do to be saved (Acts 16:31). The tragedy is that our society has drifted so far from a Biblical moral base that the first statement in my informal list is generally accepted everywhere. Man is fallen and born in sin and the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually (Romans 5:12, Genesis 6:5, Psalm 140 ). Government cannot save fallen man from himself no matter what programs they start. Sexuality was created by God for the sake of His glory (Ephesians 5:31-32). Perversion of God's intention for sexuality is man assaulting the God's picture of Jesus relationship with His bride the church. If you want to assault God's picture don't be surprised when He responds in retribution. Only faith in Christ and a love for Him can help us get our bearings in the sea of sexual perversion on which we drift. The extreme emphasis on personal rights within our society exist because we  are a self centered society. Only in the love of Jesus do we gain the freedom to die to self and minister to others as if we are ministering to Christ. A political movement will never be able to solve these problems. These problems need a real Savior to restore our hearts back to God. Lets pray that God will give more hearts a Godward focus on Christ and a desire to pray. For only when God steps in and hears our prayers will our nation be healed (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Why do people kill people?

An article today on Foxnews.com titled, "Jamaica's Bloody Lesson On Guns" talks about how banning guns for citizens does not keep them out of the hands of criminals. Even if the criminals are on islands with no easy access to areas where gun controls are not in place. Every time I see one of these articles it seems to me that they always overlook the most important part of this problem. People kill people because the heart of man is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9, Genesis 8:21). Taking away an evil persons means of producing evil does not stop the intent to produce evil. What must be dealt with is man's desire to do evil. There is only one person that can deal with man's evil desire and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. If we would see people stop their evil ways we must introduce them to the one who conquered sin, death and evil for all time. If we would seek to live a God focused life we would find that God begins to change us so that we might be more effective in helping to really help introduce the seeds of change in the hearts of others.

Environmentalism or god complex

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens eruption. A few weeks ago an Icelandic volcano shut down all air travel over Europe with predictions of long term environmental repercussions. On Foxnews.com an article titled, "Scientist Disputes EPA Finding that Carbon Dioxide Poses Threat to Humans" appeared today.  I am amazed at how many of my Christian brothers and sisters are pulled in to the orbit of these issues. Now do not get me wrong I am all for conservation efforts, but that being said I think of several passages from the Bible that put the whole issue in perspective. I think that Hebrews 11:1-3 is a good starting place. Here we see that faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. I hope for God's word to be fulfilled. I am convicted of the truth of God's word by the Holy Spirit living in me. What does God's word say about the world. Genesis 1:1 tells us that God is its creator. Psalm 24:1 tells us that the Earth and everyone that dwells in it is the property of God. Basically it follows that if He is the creator then the Earth belongs to Him. All of these things point to the fact that the world is God's. Any perceived ability of man to destroy or alter the earth is simply a vain imagination. God has proven time and again that the earth is incredibly resilient. God can open a few volcanoes up and in a very short time pump more particulate and bad stuff into the air than all the people on the earth combined can produce in a year or even 100 years. Man is a created being that likes to think more highly of himself than he ought. This is Jesus' world and no man can destroy it and no man can save it if God has set out to destroy it. In Psalm 33:8 the Psalmist called us to, "...fear the Lord...(and)...stand in awe of him!" If you are tempted to become an environmentalist and join the forces that think of man as god-like and able to save the planet remember 1 Chronicles 16:3. In this passage we are reminded to, "tremble before Him...the world is established; it shall never be moved." If that doesn't cause you to pause and consider then go on and pursue your god-complex. For me and my house we will continue to fight our god-complex by living lives focused on our great God and creator of all Jesus Christ.

When religious faith enters politics

There is an article on FOX news today about an Alabama candidate running for governor of the state. The ad titled, "Ad Questioning Candidate's Faith Jolts Alabama Governor Contest" deals with some comments that are apparently taken out of context. The candidate is really upset by this because he is a really committed Christian and takes his faith very seriously. As the story unravels through the article it begins to point out that there may be some collusion between this republican candidate's republican opponent and the democratic opponent. Of the two republicans apparently the democrats want this guy the least. What do we say about something like this? Well I for one would rejoice over the fact that my faith is so apparent that it matters. It would be great to know that Jesus has so affected my life that the unsaved world rejects me. In Matthew 10:37-38 Jesus talked about how people who claim to follow Him are not worthy of Him if they do not love Him more than all others. He then goes on to call His followers to take up their cross daily and follow Him. The question I see in the midst of this is: If we are living a God focused life, has it so affected our attitudes and actions that the world finds love flowing out of us, but rejects us because that love is so clearly rooted in Jesus Christ?

Heading off regrets

Raquel Welch who has been in the movie business since 1964 is now talking about morality in an article on CNN called, "It's sex o'clock in America." The article is good because it points out the problems that exist with sexual freedom that has become the norm. She laments the lack of commitment in marriage while lamenting the fact that she has had 4 marriages. I respect the fact that she had the courage to take this stand. But the real question is what expectations can we have for children when the example that they have had is sexual freedom and no commitment? Why are we surprised when they take it one step farther.
This blog is not about social commentary. It is about the reality of how far we have come from living lives that are focused on our Lord Jesus. Raquel is living in the secular community what many believers live in the Christian community. We live before our children a lack of commitment to God. We demonstrate for them an extreme commitment to sports, racing, hunting or any number of other occupations that eclipse our commitment to Jesus Christ. These things are little idols in our lives and our children see it. When our children grow up and leave home is it any wonder that they take the separation from church and God one step farther than we did? Proverbs 22:6 calls on us as parents to train up a child in the way they should go. What is the way that they should go that we are teaching them. Deuteronomy 6:7 gives us some clues. We are to do it diligently. We teach them when we sit down. We teach when we walk and when we lie down and rise up. This sounds like we are teaching all the time. Exactly! I don't know who said it but I think it is true. The most important lessons in life are often caught and not taught. We are teaching our children by what we do. Are they catching God from us? Deuteronomy 6:5-6 clarifies what we are teaching. It tells us in these verses that we are to love the Lord our God. Ultimately the way we want our children to go is to God. Are we training our children to pursue Him by our lives? Or are we going to be like Raquel spiritually looking back and lamenting our actions wanting better things for our kids? We can head off these regrets by living and teaching them to live God focused lives?

Why sin becomes acceptable

Roman Polanski broke his silence today. After 33 years from his Swiss Chalet house arrest he tells the world he just wants to be treated fairly. He sites technicalities that he believes gave him the right to flee. What is never mentioned are the facts of the case. He fails to talk about the crime of raping and sodomizing a 13 year old girl after giving her champaign and drugs. He was convicted of the crime. He underwent the evaluation at a psych ward and then split the country when they case was going to be revisited for additional sentencing. So now he says he wants to be treated fairly. Fairly!?! If it was my daughter that he did this to I would want him to be treated fairly too. Fairly severely for what he did. You see after time passes we start to add in all kinds of additional excuses and reasons that things are the way they are. The reality is that the unsaved world wants to do the same thing with God. I share my faith with people one on one on a regular basis. One of the things that always strikes me is how often people will say they are going to heaven without Jesus. When you ask them why the answer is almost always the same.
Well god is a good god right and after all I have done a lot of good things in my life...
Men fail to grasp the seriousness of their sin. The fail to look clearly at the facts of their case. There is a Holy God who cannot allow sin in his presence. They have sin. If the sin is not paid for there is no righteousness that can blot it out. We do not want to think about that. Just write the person off that is caring enough about you to warn you and then go your merry way in the safe haven of the fallen world. Our own extradition to stand before the judge of all men is coming when we die. At that point no justification or excuses will matter. At that point we will be dealing with facts. We made our own gods, we lied, we hated, we lusted and coveted things that were not ours, we violated the Lord's day and took His name in vain, etc.. The judge will judge righteously and fairly. Those who spurned the offer of salvation that was made available to them in Jesus will face a sentence that is based on their wages of sin that they earned. Let's realize that sin in any form is an abomination to our Holy God, Jesus the Christ. If we would know Jesus better we must come to grips with the awfulness of sin. A God focused life is the best way to become sensitive to the sin that so easily besets us.

Understanding Christianity's role in politics

Yesterday I talked about how Christianity should not really be associated with a political party. So how does Christianity come into play. Trusting in Jesus and following Him is not about joining a club or being part of a team. It is first and foremost about a relationship. It is about pursuing knowing and loving God. In Matthew 22:37 Jesus said, “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Jesus calls us first and foremost to love Him. Political parties are formed around ideas and ideals not relationships. When we reduce the relationship with God offered to us by Jesus death on the cross to a political ideal we cheapen it. Are we called to impact the world? Clearly! In Acts 17:6 the Jason and some others were accused of being part of those who have turned the world upside down. What were they doing that turned the world upside down? They were introducing others to Jesus. These people were so affected by the relationship with Jesus that they stopped worshipping the emperor. They were willing to face persecution and death rather than stop following Jesus. The way to influence and change politics is to change hearts. When hearts are changed and committed to following Jesus in everything then laws will change because the people have changed. The problem we face as a church in general is we have become too much like the world. 1 John 2:15-16 is instructive. It lists three things as being of the world.

1. Desires of the flesh
2. Desires of the eyes
3. Pride in possessions

For the most part most people who would call themselves evangelical Christians embrace these things. Those of us who are seeking to live a God focused life if we are honest struggle with these things at some level. These things make us an enemy of God and put us in alliance with the world. We must return to living lives that have an unquenchable desire for God alone. This is the really the only antidote to the influence of the world and the best hope for changing hearts and lives. This is the only real role Christianity should play in politics.

Who loses when Christianity becomes political?

In my conversations with people throughout the years about Christianity and Politics it seems like there is one thing that is consistent. Conservatives usually want to see Christianity plastered as a subtext to the campaign they support. Liberals get up in arms and defensive when they see Christianity plastered as a subtext to any campaign usually crying separation of Church and state. Who looses in these collisions between politics and Christianity. I think Jesus does. Before you liberals rejoice and you conservatives tune me out please hear my reasons. I am all for a Christian being able to take a political position or hold office. I am even for them having the freedom to base their position on the Bible. What I am not for is a whole church or denomination supporting a party. When this happens it becomes divisive. Christians who hold a liberal stance are offended. Christians who hold a conservative stance don't really gain anything in the end. The big problem here is really a foundational issue that arises out of the Bible. In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” The foundational problem with Christianity and Politics is that Christians are not getting involved under a Christian umbrella in order to follow Christ. The main reason that they trumpet to get involved is to protect our rights. But the last time I checked if we have died to self (Romans 12:1), rights should be a distant second or ever much further behind the glory of Christ. I would like to feel I can support other Christians but when I see my saviors name used to advance a political cause that has very little to do with His kingdom I find it impossible to support. My goal in living a God focused life is to advance His kingdom. Jesus kingdom is filled with grace something I see very little of in politics branded as Christian.

The threat of prayer

As I reflected on yesterdays post, it occurred to me that those who oppose prayer have a real problem on their hands. First of all many of those that oppose Christian prayer claim to be atheist. That is they do not believe in any God. Now I do not believe in the tooth fairy or the easter bunny or celebrating halloween, but I do not go around trying every legal thing within my power to shut those things down. Why because they have no power over me. Interestingly enough the atheist involved in bringing lawsuits and the ACLU have overlooked on multiple occasions Muslim prayers or Hindu prayers. Why? These prayer hold no threat for them. They are no threat because they do not have any power over them or over anyone for that matter. But Christian prayer is a different story. Romans 1:18-20 tells us that something within them recognizes God. They suppress their recognition of God. One of the ways that they do this is by squelching Christian prayer any time they can. This action by the atheist of our world to try and squelch Christian prayer no matter what else they may say is an admission that these prayers are a threat to them. By opposing Christian prayer they make a tacit admission that the God of Christianity is real and that He threatens the life and existence without God that they desire. So take heart when the world opposes you. It is not so much you they oppose but Jesus Christ who indwells you by the Holy Spirit. Rejoice when the pagan opposes you because what they recognize within you is God's image. You have been counted worthy to face opposition for living a God focused life (Acts 5:40-41).

When evil becomes good and good becomes evil

The New York Times has an article titled, "Evangelist May Be Disinvited to Prayer Day Event at Pentagon". A more complete article was on Yahoo, "Army considers rescinding invitation to evangelist." Apparently the Pentagon is considering rescinding an invitation for Franklin Graham to pray at the national day of prayer event at the Pentagon. The reason for the potential recall of the invitation hinges on a statement Franklin made in 2001. After the terrorist attacks he said, "Islam is a very evil and wicked religion". Since we have Muslim employees at the pentagon people are afraid that Graham's presence might endanger American troops by stirring up Muslim extremists.
Now lets think about this logically. Our troops are in the middle east fighting muslim extremist because they attacked us first. Somehow a Christian preacher praying at what is a historically Christian tradition in a Christian country is going to stir up muslim extremist. The extremist are not already stirred up by the fact that our troops are fighting their fellow extremist?!? A preacher praying for a few minutes in our country is going to push the extremist over the edge? I guess they will now become extreme extremist (whatever that is). This is just evidence that we have become a nation that is held hostage to the radical belief that we can somehow pacify our enemy into accepting us. This will never happen and that is apparent. Since this is not a political blog why the political focus? I am glad you asked. You see we do the same thing in the church. We do it with the seeker friendly movement. All this is a watering down of the gospel to make it relevant to the unsaved. What we have done is stripped the gospel of its power to change lives in the name of having more friends. We are trying to pacify them into accepting us. This will never happen. Men and women need a change of heart in order to accept Christ. Jesus was not acceptable in His day and to the pagan He is still not acceptable. Why? Jesus requires us to repent of our sin and accept Him as our Lord. Paul called people to repent and believe in Acts 19:3-5. There are people in the church today who would tell you it is evil to share this message with someone. We have begun to call good things evil when we do this. We seem to have forgotten where we should be seeking our friends. James 4:4 says that friendship with the world makes us an enemy of God. See what we need to do is seek Christ first and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). This will result in a transformed life and a real care and compassion for people that comes from Jesus. This is the only way that lives will be changed from evil to good. We must never give up seeking to live the God focused life.

Tax Day-Render to Ceasar...

I can't help but reflect on Jesus response to the Pharisees who were trying to trap Him. Matthew 22:20-22 says, “And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.” The fact that they marveled always strikes me. It reminds me that at a certain level we too should be abandoning ourselves to God first and foremost. Money should not be something we hang onto and grasp for but rather it is a tool to advance God's kingdom. We too should marvel at the one who truly supplies all we need. When tax day comes and we owe do we give it up grudgingly? Or do we recognize that God has ordained the current system we have. The money that is rendered to the government is certainly part of God's ordained economy. I am not saying don't vote or try to effect a change. But there is a sense in which it demands that we trust God. We must look beyond the government and realize that it is truly God that supplies our needs. Use tax day and any money that you might owe as an opportunity to refocus your life on the one who truly supplies your needs. To realize that our greatest treasure is truly found in our Lord Jesus.

Cheating in a culture without God

There is an article out today on Yahoo about how rampant cheating hurts China's research ambitions. I am drawn to this because this problem will get worse in America as we drift further away from the God of Christianity. China has actively worked to suppress religion throughout its modern history. This has resulted in a culture that has no authority to answer to outside of the state. All men even men in China know that there is a God (Romans 1:19). The problem is that they have suppressed the truth of God and believed a lie in order to alleviate their consciences. What this has produced is a society that for the most part will cheat, plagiarize and resort to ghostwriting to get by. The article sites that in research papers bought and sold in 2007 fully 70 percent were plagiarized. This points to a moral decay in the society that can only be helped by one thing. Bringing the Lord Jesus to the people of China will reform their hearts. This happens in an effective manner when people really come to know Jesus. The Holy Spirit living within them convicts of sin and the need for righteousness (John 16:7-11). But the bigger issue I see is the increasing moral decay in the United States. As a society we are drifting away from God. This is happening for a variety of reasons but the single biggest issue lies at the feet of pastors and their churches. What has happened is we have taken the presentation of a message oriented around the unchanging and awesome God who has rescued us from eternal damnation, and replaced it with a message that is oriented around the people and their world. The God in this second message is the means to an end and the end is us. He serves us. This is a far cry from the message of Jesus to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24). What has happened is most people who attend church are comfortable with allowing that and perhaps devotions in their home to be the biggest expression of public Christianity that they make. We have become a society of Christians consumers living in our Christian ghetto content to let the world go. The majority of people manning the oars in the boat of our society are pagan. They have no moral base outside of the tattered remains that have been passed down from our forefathers. The direction they are rowing us is away from the light of the gospel. How can this change. Politics will not do it. The only answer that can rescue a society adrift is for Christians to live like Christians. We must bear the glory of Jesus to the people that we meet. If we do not share the marvelous message of Jesus redemption with them they will not hear and if they do not hear they cannot believe (Romans 10:17). The only hope for a changed society begins with you and me being willing to live God focused lives to the glory of Jesus Christ.

Is there a reason to agree with Sam Harris? Why?

Today I will conclude my dealing with Sam Harris's talk on why we should ditch religion at the TEDs conference. I have addressed some of the issues raised by Sam Harris and qouted by John D. Sutter in an article on CNN.com called, "Philosopher: Why we should ditch religion." These comments in the article are recaps from his 20+ minute video presentation on the TED web site. (There is a link to it in the link above if you want to see it.) Sam's case is an emotionally charged one. He makes the statement that, "Religion has convinced us that there's something else entirely other than concerns about suffering. There's concerns about what God wants, there's concerns about what's going to happen in the afterlife." This statement is a legitimate statement if there is no God. But as I have talked about in earlier blogs Sam has not made His case that there is no God. Rather Sam has made the case for suffering and the insufficiency of religion using appeals to human dignity and man's knowledge as ultimate determinate factors without explaining the basis for either. Sam depends on God's image in man without acknowledging that dependence. However I would agree that the Christian church is often too caught up in trying to force unsaved pagan people to live a life that is moral by God's standards. The pagan man hates God (Romans 1:30). We are not called by Jesus to change the actions of people. Changing peoples actions makes us Pharisees (Matthew 9:11, 12:2). God said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Since we cannot change the heart of men our job is not to change pagan men and women but to introduce them to the one who can change their hearts. 
Sam also talked about how there is no reconciling Islam and Christianity and indeed he is correct. The problem is that Sam sees all religions as the same and here is the fatal error. Jesus made it clear in John 14:6 that He is the way the truth and the life and that no man comes to the Father except through Him. This then explains the problem with all religion outside of the Christian faith. It is the need of Jesus to be the central figure in the lives of those that would be reconciled to God that drives Christianity. We do not kill or force our belief on others because it is God that changes their hearts. What do we do? We kindly and compassionately share the gospel with those that God places in our lives. Our heart for them is to save them from God's wrath. If they reject that then they are rejecting God. At that point our focus should be to live God focused lives before them. The only way the society will be changed is if Jesus Christ first changes us.

Responding to health care legislation

No matter what position you take on this issue one thing is certain. It will cost us more money not less. There is no possible way to add a layer of government oversight to this big of a sector of our economy and not have the total cost be higher at the end of the day. This can only drive us ultimately to a more dire financial position as a country. What does this have to do with living a God focused life? In Jeremiah 25:9 God calls Nebuchadnezzar His servant. He served as God's hand of judgement. If you know the story you remember that Nebuchadnezzar took the kingdom of Judah into captivity. This was not a positive thing. Why did God bring all of this destruction on His people? Jeremiah 23:13-19 give us a pretty good clue if we will only listen. In the beginning of this passage God says that the prophets of Baal in Samaria did an unsavory thing by leading the people astray. This is easy to identify. Any cult or thing that man puts his faith in other than God is an unsavory thing in the mind of God. This would include government. Our trust should be in God not the government. The second part of this passage is the toughest and most important. The prophets in Jerusalem are condemned by God not for doing an unsavory thing but for doing a horrible thing. They claimed to speak for God and yet they did not. They told the people the things that they wanted to hear, not the things God was telling the true prophets like Jeremiah. If healthcare legislation drives us to financial ruin and plunges us into a depression or worse it would be the hand of God. We must realize that the reason God brought calamity on Judah was to turn her heart back to Him. For far too long now in America many of the churches have been preaching to people what they want to hear. That message will wither under the wrath of almighty God. He judges harshly those who claim to speak for Him but say what they perceive people want to hear. He judges harshly those who want to hear from people like this. It should be our goal to turn our hearts toward God not legislation for our help. We need to guide our families to look to God, and yes we need to encourage our pastors and elders to point us toward God. We need to say with the Psalmist, “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”(Psalm 121) Our only and best hope is to focus on our marvelous Lord Jesus in every situation.