17-Nov-2006

Dear Family:

The political climate is getting hotter with each passing day and the issues are becoming more and more obscure. So what are Christians to do? How are we to know which side of issues to come down on and who to line up with in the coming election. What criteria do we use to analyze the candidates and issues? How do we decide which is more important, today's comfort and benefits or the effect today's decisions will have on our children and grandchildren after we are gone from this world?

For the non-Christian it is pretty simple. Just look at it through the eyes of self interest and self gratification for the moment. For the Christian it is not as easy as thinking or saying, "It will all work out" or "let the majority decide." Remember the majority have historically sat on the sideline while only a handful of special interest groups have decided how we are governed. The media and special interests are deciding what is best for our lives as well as for the future of our children and grandchildren. Quite frankly I do not want Peter Jennings, Ted Kopel, Rush Limbaugh, CNN or FOX making those decisions for me. 

We are living in an age when we have access to more accurate information than ever before  Most of us have learned over the years how to get the information we want. Most of us know it requires time and effort to find the facts of a particular subject. We also know there is a world of misinformation available as well. So what do we do? How do we decide? I am going to give you just three or four criteria to use as you search and analyze the information you gather.

FOR CHRISTIANS ONLY

1. What does the Bible say on this issue?

2. What would Christ have done?

3. What effect will this have on my children and grandchildren?

4. Have I prayed about this and asked for God's revelation?

5. How will this affect the future of Christianity and the church?

6. Will this help to evangelize the world for Christ?

7. Will this further the development of civility in the world?

8. Will this help the cause of freedom worldwide?

9. Will this open or close the doors of debate worldwide?

10. Will this help the cause for world peace?

11. Will this help achieve the spread of the gospel message worldwide?

FOR NON-CHRISTIANS ONLY

1. Is this in agreement with the intent of the founding fathers of this country?

2. What effect will this have on me and my descendents?

3. How does this compare to the basic values my parents impressed upon me when I was growing up?

4. What advice would my parents and grandparents say on this issue?

5. Will this further the development of civility in the world?

6. Will this help the cause of freedom worldwide?

7. Will this open or close the doors of debate worldwide?

8. Will this help the cause for world peace?

9. Will this help achieve the spread of democracy worldwide?

10. Will this help achieve human rights worldwide?

I'm of the opinion that each of the questions above, regardless of whether you are a Christian or not,  have only a yes or no answer. I further believe any issue which cannot be given a yes or positive mark should be opposed by both Christians and non-Christians alike. 

You and I may differ politically and theologically but I doubt we will disagree on civility and humanity when greed, power, immorality and lawlessness are considered.

Each day I am going to add links to the bottom of this page to help make your research easier. Each link will lead you to a world of discussion on the issues. I will try really hard not to express my opinion -- too much! This I will say to the Christians who visit this page,  Jesus Christ is our savior but He is also supposed to be our Lord. That means we have a commitment to Him for the way we conduct our lives and the affairs of our lives. We are called to holy and sanctified living. Holy means to live without sin in our lives. Sanctification means to be set apart for His use. So, I am going to concentrate on studies designed to help each of us grow in our relationship to Christ. In this way, we can become more closely aligned with what Christ has in store for us. I encourage each of you to set aside a specific time each day to read the Bible, pray and meditate on what you have read. Most importantly, start applying what you have learned all day every day in your normal routine. Then I encourage you to share the things you learn with those around you. I know each of you receive e-mail chain letters and multi-forwards each day. Just think what an impact we could have on this world if each day we had a positive, life changing effect on the life of someone we came in contact with.  Then, as best we know how, help that person to have the same effect on those he/she comes in contact with daily. What a tremendous difference we would make in the world. 

Look at the example Christ gave us more than 2000 years ago:

Mark 2:15-28

15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.
16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

The tax collectors were much like many of our politicians today. They had the duty of collecting the taxes for the Roman government. As a part of the agreement they were to collect a small portion for themselves. They were for the most part like our politicians, or constables. They were agents or contract workers.

 According to the Nelson Bible Dictionary:  The Greek word translated tax collector (tax gatherer, NASB, NEB) is incorrectly rendered publican by the KJV. Publicans were wealthy men, usually non-Jewish, who contracted with the Roman government to be responsible for the taxes of a particular district of the imperial Roman state. These publicans would often be backed by military force.
By contrast, the tax collectors to which the New Testament refers (with the possible exception of ZACCHAEUS) were employed by publicans to do the actual collecting of monies in the restricted areas where they lived. These men were Jews, usually not very wealthy, who could be seen in the Temple <Luke 18:13>. They were probably familiar to the people from whom they collected taxes.
These tax collectors gathered several different types of taxes. Rome levied upon the Jews a land tax, a poll tax, even a tax for the operation of the Temple. The distinctions between the kind of rule which a given province received dictated the kinds of taxes its people had to pay. For example, since some provinces, like Galilee, were not under an imperial governor, taxes remained in the province rather than going to the imperial treasury at Rome. These differences within the taxation system prompted the Pharisees in Judea (an imperial province) to ask Jesus, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" <Matt. 22:17>.
As a class, the tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews. They were classified generally as "sinners" <Matt. 9:10-11; Mark 2:15>, probably because they were allowed to gather more than the government required and then to pocket the excess amount. John the Baptist addressed this when he urged tax collectors to gather no more money than they should <Luke 3:12-13>. But even further, the tax collectors were hated because their fellow countrymen viewed them as mercenaries who worked for a foreign oppressor of the Jewish people.
Jesus, however, set a new precedent among the Jews by accepting and associating with the tax collectors. He ate with them <Mark 2:16>, He bestowed His saving grace upon them <Luke 19:9>, and He even chose a tax collector (Matthew) as one of His twelve disciples <Matt. 9:9>. By His attitude toward the tax collectors, Jesus showed that God's covenant of grace extends to all people-- not simply the righteous who observed the Law of the Old Testament. In fact, His message was that God would welcome the repentant and humble tax collector, while He would spurn the arrogant Pharisee <Luke 18:9-14>. His mission was to bring sinners-- people like the tax collectors of His day-- into God's presence <Matt. 9:11-13>.
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
(Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

It was in this setting that we find Jesus giving us a lesson as to how we are to conduct ourselves. Jesus, when questioned why he would associate with tax collectors and publicans said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." While we, through necessity, must keep company with those who are not Christians, we should not agree with their lifestyle or with their political, social or moral views. Like Christ we came not to seek those who have received the gospel but rather those who have not received it. The church is the place where Christians gather to fellowship and study to grow spiritually, not its evangelistic arm. The members are the evangelistic arm of the church. It is the members of the church who are out there in the workplace, neighborhood and shopping centers exemplifying to the world who Christ is and,  the difference He makes in peoples lives.

Our faith is one of show and tell unlike others which make ungodly demands. When you consider the long-term results of failure on the Christians part to evangelize the world, the motivation becomes pretty clear... evangelize or face eventual extinction. Somewhere along the way we stopped evangelizing and began to try  instead to democratize the world. We are failing at home and abroad in both. The solution to the war on terror is evangelism. It was Christ who preached human rights, and set the example. It was Christ in his inaugural address who set forth the rules for life. (See Matthew 5:) It was Christ in his ministry who demonstrated how to live and it was Christ at His ascension who told us to evangelize the world. Each and every issue of life is addressed by Him.

We are not as committed to our God as other religions are to theirs. We are more committed to ourselves than to our God. We are fast becoming like the Roman empire before its fall. The Romans turned their back on God, sought power, wealth and entertained themselves with brutality and sexual deviance. They became so involved in lasciviousness that nothing satisfied their appetites for blood, sex, gold and power. Their lifestyle brought their society down and it will bring America down if God is not put back on His throne in the lives of those of us who profess His name. We make too much of what we eat, what we drink, the air we breath but Christ said:

Mark 7:21-23
21 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 "thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
23 "All these evil things come from within and defile a man." (NKJ)

Paul warned the early Christians to guard against permitting this mindset and lifestyle to creep into their lives and into the church. We cannot fire the preacher who preaches disciplined living.  We cannot permit the environment we live in to become sin tolerant. We must stand against the legislators and judges who would remove God and morality from society and vote them out of office. We cannot legislate morality or Christianity but we can prevent morality and Christianity from being legislated out of our society. The change will come when the hearts of mankind change. The change comes from within and it has to start with me and you and it has to start now.

Look at the verses below. The problem of sin did not start yesterday. It started the day Adam and Eve said okay to satan and hid from God. It has continued with ebbs and tides throughout the centuries. When will God say, "ENOUGH" and bring it all to an end. Perhaps sooner rather than later.
 

Gal 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (NKJ)

Paul knew some of his loved ones would not inherit the kingdom of God.  I dare say each of us know and love some around us who are in the same boat as those spoken of by Paul and Jude.

Jude 1:4-8
For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.  But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.  And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;  as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. (NKJ)

It is time to get back to the basics. It is time for Christians to come back to the God of our salvation. It is time for Christians to give Him His rightful place of Lord in their lives. It is time for Christians to become reacquainted with Him in a personal and intimate relationship. It is time for Christians to experience the life changing effect of His lordship in their lives. It is easy to do. Just spend time with Him in bible study and prayer. Then resist the devil and he will flee from you. Resist is not compromise.

If you have compromised your commitment to Christ, you can come back. He is there waiting with open arms ready to forgive, cleanse, love and welcome you back. It doesn't matter how far away you have wandered. The distance back is always the same and the trip is a short one.  It is just a breath of prayer.

If you have never given your life to Him, then today is the day. Take your life back and give it to Him. You were brought to this place because He loves you and wants you to choose to love Him in return. Just get on your knees right now right where you are and ask Him to forgive, cleanse, and come into your life. He will and you will never be the same. Then thank Him and let me know you have decided to give your life to Christ. I will pray with you and so will the thousands who visit this website.

In Christ,

Chuck Thomas