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[Numerous sub-pages for this topic can be found using the highlighted Religion/Christianity/Christianity & Politics menu above.]
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“Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.”
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Why This Page? Because political choices — by definition — are expressions of personal morality in the arena of public policy , whether those choices were made with an awareness of God’s hierarchy of sin or not. These moral (political) choices affect not only the individuals who make them but they also affect everyone in the communities governed by the politicians & policies chosen in elections. Therefore, despite what many people (including many professing “Christians”) believe to the contrary, God will judge their political choices every bit as righteously as He will judge even what they think are trivial moral choices made during their lives.
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“As, therefore, the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, it follows that [Christians] cannot be wise in the sight of God, unless [they] are fools in the view of the world.”
—John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/calvin/1_corinthians/3.htm
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“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for [Christians] to do nothing [for Christ on election day].”
―Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797), Irish statesman
http://www.openculture.com/2016/03/edmund-burkeon-in-action.html
&
https://biblicalproof.wordpress.com/2017/03/29/evil-wins-when-christians-do-nothing/
[Yes, Burke was a Christian so ASND’s substitution of “Christians” for his original “good men” was contextually appropriate since that was Burke’s original intent. The rest of this page is devoted to explicating what actually is and what actually is not “for Christ on election day.“]
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“God’s will is no concern of [Democrats].”
—Jerrold (Jerry) Nadler, former Chairman, U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee
[Nadler, of course, is a Democrat so ASND’s substitution of “Democrats” for his original “this Congress” was contextually appropriate since his party controlled not only the House side but also the Senate side of the U.S. Congress when he said that. BTW, in the first week of the next Congress (2023) — controlled by Republicans — Nadler, speaking for almost all Democrats, said the following in opposition to the Republican-sponsored ‘Born Alive Bill,’ which addresses infants who survive their own mothers’ attempts to murder them via doctor-provided abortions:]
“[I]t endangers some infants by stating that that infant must immediately be brought to the hospital…”
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“[Liberals – including all Democrats and many Republicans] have finally dared to ‘come out’ and publicly identify who exactly they consider to be their biggest enemy. Christians.“
https://www.wnd.com/2022/07/ruling-elites-hate-fear-genuine-christians/
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The satanic roots of the left’s all-out war on Christian America
“Democrat politicians today overwhelmingly favor late-term abortion up to the very moment of birth – formerly known as ‘infanticide.’ They encourage children too young to drive or vote to have their breasts and/or sex organs amputated in pursuit of a ‘gender transition‘ that is both delusional and impossible, and which leads to staggering rates of depression and suicide. This same mass hysteria likewise leads them to promote the de facto destruction of women’s athletics worldwide by allowing men to compete with women, and to permit countless females to be raped in prison by male inmates claiming to be ‘trans women.‘”
https://www.wnd.com/2023/12/satanic-roots-lefts-war-christian-america/
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[[In the early 2000s, nearly 80% of Americans identified as Christians. By 2014 that number had dropped to about 70% . By 2018 that percentage was still about the same but by 2019 it was down to about 65% and two years later it was down to about 63% , which correlates with other data about professing Christians, including data revealing that closing churches have recently outnumbered opening churches (a trend that continues beyond the CoViD-19 pandemic). The percentage of Americans, though, who actually live biblically — revealing their faith to be real rather than fake (which really means false, i.e. non-existent) — has remained fairly constant for decades, though there are signs that pattern, too, may soon devolve. While the historical dominance of Christian self-identification has diminished in recent years, a majority of Americans still claim to be Christians. As so often occurs on these pages, ASND Asks:
“If most Americans claim to be Christians, why don’t most American Christians vote to have Christian (i.e. biblical) values represented and codified into laws at local, state and federal levels?“
Answer: Because not all professing “Christians” are actual Christians . Instead, many — perhaps most — professing “Christians” either a) understand the truth that…
If you openly confess what Jesus taught and daily walk as He lived, you will surely be, in one way or another, hated… just as Jesus was.
https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2021/09/you-will-be-hated/
… and they would rather be loved by the world rather than loved by Christ, or b) they believe and live out the lie that asserts Christianity is merely a personal matter of subjective feelings and moral beliefs which have nothing to do with the real, objective world — especially not in how they should vote.
“Rejection of the truth of a Christian worldview has resulted in two realms, like a house divided into two stories. In the lower story [open to public scrutiny and interactivity] is the realm of objective truth/facts/empirical evidence/science… In the upper story, the place for bedrooms and privacy [i.e. closed to public scrutiny and interactivity], is the realm of subjective truth/values/moral preferences/religious beliefs. Today’s [secular leftist-dominated] culture insists that [moral beliefs] remain private [except when those same liberals demand “moral” obedience to their public agenda including such issues as systemic cultural racism , exercising self defense with the same weapons criminals use, shutting down economies (and therefore millions of livelihoods) in pursuit of unachievable climate stasis , etc.]. These [hypocritically enforced ‘moral‘ choices] may be ‘true for you‘… but don’t try to bring them into the public square [for objective analysis and scrutiny] and insist they are true for everyone [unless they are essential to the leftist agenda of race-baiting, anti-self defense, anti-fossil fuels, etc.]… [However,] In Christ, both facts and values are part of His created reality… One is not more real or important than the other. They are not in tension. [Another way of saying that is, all truth is God’s truth since God is truth personified.] In a Christian worldview there is no fragmentation between scientific truth in the lower story and truth that’s ‘true for me‘ in the upper story.”
and…
“Far too many Christians have bought into this line of thinking or have been cowered into it… [They] fall into these thinking traps because [they] don’t understand worldviews in general and the Christian worldview in particular… [because] Christians are [so often] unable to defend themselves from skeptics and believers of other stripes… [since so] many in the evangelical movement have a largely anti-intellectual bias.” [Much more on this topic available here .]
https://www.probe.org/total-truth/?print=pdf
ASND offers dozens of examples supporting the above-stated Answer and the thesis cited in the last two articles — with the requisite evidence — on this page. First, of course, is the biblical evidence for fake “Christianity” (since the Bible is the only universally available source for the definition of real Christianity). Second, ASND offers the biblical evidence for real Christianity, made clearly evident by Christ’s commands to make His values alone determinative of how real Christians should vote. Third, ASND offers dozens of references explicating and expounding upon Christ’s commands for Christians to actualize His dominion via their votes. Fourth, ASND offers dozens more examples of societal evidences revealing the consequences of fake “Christianity”. ]]
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Fake Christianity: According to Christ
“Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+14%3A23&version=ESV
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mat+7%3A21&version=ESV
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Tim+4%3A1&version=ESV
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers [and politicians] to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths [including political myths, a.k.a. lies ].”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy+4:3&version=ESV
“They {[who rejected] ‘sound [i.e. biblical] teaching‘} went out from us [i.e. out from Christianity], but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Jn+2%3A19&version=ESV
“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will... [have] the appearance of godliness, but [will be] denying its power. Avoid such people [and their choices, including how they vote ].”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2Tim+3%3A1-5&version=ESV
“For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+6%3A7-8&version=ESV
“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm [evidenced, in part, by your not voting for God’s will to be done on Earth], and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+3%3A15-16&version=ESV
[See, also, the Fake Christianity Claiming Authenticity section near the bottom of this page.]
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“[T]rue repentance does not exist without a resolve to obey the Lord. It is not enough merely to recognize our sin, admit it, and ask for forgiveness; we must also intend to serve God and keep His commandments, even while we recognize that we will not do so perfectly ( Deut. 30:1–10 ; 1 John 1:8–9 )… [T]o have no resolve to obey and no fruit of obedience whatsoever reveals the lack of true spiritual life, that is, the lack of the new heart given in regeneration that exercises saving faith ( John 3:1–21 ; James 2:14–26 ).”
https://tabletalkmagazine.com/daily-study/2019/12/the-jews-covenant-to-obey-god/
and…
“If we rob our Faith of its social implications, we are no longer talking about Christianity. Such a personalized, privatized moral system may make us feel better, but it will never stand up to the rival worldviews of our day.“
https://www.breakpoint.org/critical-race-theory-and-a-christian-worldview/
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Real Christianity: According to Christ
“Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6:10&version=ESV
“Seek, first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness…”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6:33&version=ESV
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%2013%3A5&version=ESV
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness [including how you vote], but instead expose them.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5%3A11&version=ESV
“By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness [including in the voting booth] is not of God…”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Jn+3%3A10&version=ESV
“ [Jesus] said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your… mind. This is the great and first commandment.’”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A36-38&version=ESV
“[Christians must] destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought [and therefore every action, including every vote] captive to obey Christ…”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+10%3A5&version=ESV
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+12%3A9&version=ESV
[Yes, genuine, biblical, Christian love hates evil, it does not merely ignore or avoid evil.]
“O you who love the Lord, hate evil!”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2097%3A10&version=ESV
“Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the [courts, congress and White House].”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos%205%3A15&version=ESV
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?… But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.‘ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works [including by his votes].”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+2%3A14&version=ESV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+2%3A18-24&version=ESV
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+1%3A22&version=ESV
“So, whether you eat or drink [or vote], or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians+10:31&version=ESV
“…choose this day [in the voting booth] whom you will serve, whether the gods [of unbelievers]. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+24:15&version=ESV
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“[W]hen Jesus said, ‘my kingdom is not of this world‘ in John 18:36 , He did not mean ‘my kingdom has nothing to do with this world.’ Rather, He meant that His kingdom is not from this world, does not use this world’s methods (such as violent revolution), and does not aim at the world’s ends… Jesus’ kingdom absolutely does affect this world… in which He holds individuals and governments accountable for administering justice and punishing violence against the innocent… As for the [belief among many professing “Christians”] that neither Christ nor the first Christians [were political and they never] tried to take over Rome, anyone who says this should read further in their history books. In A.D. 325, the Emperor Constantine ended the official persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Just decades later, in the year 380, Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. As a matter of simple historical fact, Christians did take over Rome!… [I]t’s simply not true that early Christianity did not seek to [politically] impact earthly governments. Early Christians showed intense interest in impacting governments in everything from the outlawing of infant exposure [i.e. abandonment, which was as common then as abortion is today] to ending persecution [of everyone, not just Christians] to the ending of the gladiatorial games [in which innocents were slaughtered for “sport”]… [B]y advocating for good and just governments [a.k.a. political activism] — especially when it comes to protecting innocent lives — Christians are loving their neighbors and fulfilling the other half of our calling in this world: to pray and obediently work so that God’s kingdom will come and His will [will] be done on earth as it is in Heaven [if Christians honor Christ with their votes]… We are saved for a purpose. Along with evangelism and worship, we are to be good citizens and to love our neighbors [both of which — under a democratic government — require voting]. This will involve supporting [i.e. voting for] righteous [i.e. biblically based politicians who will vote for biblically based] laws and opposing wicked ones… The idea that Christians have a calling so high that it keeps us from politics may sound spiritual, but it’s something almost no Christian in history would recognize. Nor would Jesus.”
https://www.breakpoint.org/what-not-of-this-world-doesnt-mean-why-christians-are-called-to-politics/
and…
“[Many] Protestant evangelicals have lost their nerve when it comes to politics. Or at least many of their leaders want them to… [because] many opinion-forming ‘evangelicals’ argue that a vigorous engagement with politics will lead to a form of idolatry and worldly-mindedness that causes Christians to lose sight of their heavenly calling and destiny… [Most] of these [erstwhile evangelical ‘thinkers’] in their own way come back to the same basic point: politics is dirty business; it corrupts the soul; it turns people away from what really matters (the salvation of the soul) toward earthly matters of no eternal significance. That is to say (for many at least): politics turns people away from what really matters if one’s politics corresponds with the priorities of the right. If one’s politics happens to be in line with the priorities of the left, you’ll often find [those same] ‘evangelical’ opinion formers straightforwardly equating their views with those of the Bible (e.g. caring for the poor, abused, marginalized, and so on). Their own political priorities are [therefore] framed as non-political, as nothing more than the priorities of the Bible itself… [A] healthy dose of classical Protestant political thought [outlined in this essay] will help evangelicals regain their confidence to engage in contemporary politics without the nagging fear that they are somehow abandoning or subverting Christian spiritual priorities.“
https://americanreformer.org/evangelicals-fraught-relationship-with-politics/
and…
“The irony [of contemporary, apolitical, catacomb ‘Christianity’] is that the varieties of Christian expression that see political power as a form of theological debasement are often the loudest in the pursuit of social justice. What this reveals, at root, is a lack of coherence concerning public theology… Catacomb Christianity cannot have it both ways… One cannot hope for the reclamation of injustice while rejecting the means of reclamation… It is akin to exercising judgment without there being criteria upon which to judge… There is also a great irony to catacomb Christianity: It cannot decide what to do with the Great Commission… [Therefore] catacomb Christianity is not only a disavowal of Christian public ethics, it is a betrayal of Christian love.”
https://americanreformer.org/against-catacomb-christianity/
and…
“With their public theology limited to the Great Commission, and their vision of ‘making disciples‘ merely a matter of getting people to pray the Sinners’ Prayer, evangelicals have for the past couple generations been complicit in the de-Christianization of America, as faith is reduced to a purely private concern, and religion reduced to the business of saving souls… [because f]or many [modern American] evangelicals, the idea of a Christian government is unthinkable, intolerable, a betrayal of the essence of [what they misguidedly believe is “authentic”] Christian faith… [Yet] earlier generations of American evangelicals understood that religious revival also entailed cultural renewal… [such as] public social norms, artistic norms, popular entertainment, business practices… [Yes,] A Christian public culture, like a Christian person, will still be deeply sinful and deficient. But it can still be an awful lot better than the [anti-Christ-ian, secular] alternatives [that American evangelicals — with their apolitical retreatism — have allowed to dominate American public life]... A Christian public culture will be better than the alternatives in at least three ways… First, even for the many members of society who never come to share Christian faith, a Christian public culture serves as a profound form of neighbor-love… Second, for Christians themselves, a Christian public culture is an aid to living out a life of Christian virtue… Third, a Christian public culture is even a support to Christian faith [because unbelievers] will have a larger chance of coming to saving faith in [such] a society… A properly Christian America, then, will need to be an America characterized by laws and a government that promote Christianity and Christian norms… A [truly biblical] Christian America… would not be one in which theocratic zealots went around looking for reasons to lock people up. Rather, it would be one in which a largely Christian public culture used the authority of laws to maintain and perpetuate the goods of that culture: affirming the importance of the natural family, the Christian family, and the virtues of self-restraint [to name just a few]… [T]here is nothing crazy or radical or unconstitutional [about these ideas as a]ll these things… were done throughout much of America for much of America’s history [until the last few decades].”
https://americanreformer.org/reimagining-a-christian-america/
and…
“The [Evangelical Industrial Complex] EIC fell into the [very] trap [former New York City pastor Tim] Keller had resolved to avoid. Keller warned — ‘if we are not deliberately thinking about our culture, we will simply be conformed to it without ever knowing it is happening.’ To [ anti-Christ-ian , leftist-dominated] blue communities [such as New York City, and most other major U.S. cities], un-woke evangelicals became, as Hilary Clinton taught the nation to view them, ‘a basket of deplorables.’ The EIC [pretended it wanted to] strike a less political posture. But the [ anti-Christ-ian , leftist-dominated] communities to which the movement tied its branding, messaging, and platforming dictated terms of ‘winsomeness’ incompatible with [i.e. hypocritically against] that [falsely asserted] aim.”
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[Having introduced this page above, ASND is also keenly aware of the unfortunate lie many true Christians believe, that politics is God’s primary means of separating His sheep from Satan’s goats. (Notice, btw, that God’s word clearly specifies that His people (the “sheep“) are found on the “right” while Satan’s people (the “goats“) are found on the “left“. As well, Ecclesiastes 10:2 says, “A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left.“. Coincidence? ASND thinks not.) We know that is a lie because only the Gospel defines God’s means of separating His sheep from Satan’s goats. While believing the Gospel, though, many of those true Christians have elevated politics above Christ and His word, the Bible, fighting a “culture war” rather than fighting for truth, justice, and the biblical way.]
“The problem with the culture-war approach is not that it (rightly) discerns opposition from the world. The problem is in the chosen mode of response… [Some Christians, eager to defend Christ’s righteousness] employ battle tactics we normally would not find defensible:
We express outrage over every new infraction we see in the news or on social media — forgetting that we are neither to give in so easily to anger ( 1 Cor. 13:5 ; James 1:20 ), nor to imitate the evils of outrage culture, cancel culture, or victim culture ( 3 John 11 ).
We fight and quarrel with our opponents — forgetting that such skirmishes stem from selfish motives ( James. 4:1 ), and that ‘the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone‘ ( 2 Tim. 2:24 ).
We mock those in opposition to us, using the popular rhetoric of sarcastic memes, name-calling, and condescending language — forgetting that we are to communicate ‘with gentleness and respect‘ ( 1 Pet. 3:15 ), and to ‘walk in wisdom toward outsiders‘ by letting our ‘speech always be gracious‘ ( Col. 4:5–6 ).”
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/if-youre-fighting-the-culture-war-youre-losing/
[All of that that is quite true, and quite important to rightly apply, avoiding the self righteousness that so often angered Christ, causing Him to respond without any gentleness or respect . Yes, those unequivocal, Christological exceptions to the aforementioned biblical standards of discursive interaction pose Scriptural and ethical dilemmas for Christians: How can we be called to a higher standard than Christ Himself modeled — at least in certain circumstances? The answer to that question is not simple or short but it can be answered. Readers interested in that answer can request it to be written by using the Reply option at the bottom of this — and every — ASND page.]
and…
How to Know If You’ve Made an Idol of Politics
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-know-if-made-an-idol-politics/
[Likewise, many of those true Christians are more faithful to their chosen political party than they are to their potentate Savior.]
“Consistent faithfulness to Scripture will never square with total alignment with any political party.”
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/prophets-not-partisans/
[While properly citing those quotes in the context of this brief, sub-introductory essay, ASND takes issue with some of what is presented in those last two articles because they never correctly identify either a) the proper, biblical connection between Christian morality and secular politics (politics being — by definition — the expression of morality in the secular arena of public policy) or b) the essential hierarchy of moral considerations (often including moral dilemmas) which Christians must ‘correctly discern‘ from Scripture in order to make properly biblical political choices (a.k.a. Christ-centered votes). While that moral hierarchy is not explicitly enumerated as such in Scripture, the Bible does provide unmistakable guidance for the discernment of said hierarchy — applicable to any generation and/or culture. ASND has endeavored to present on this page a) the biblically-mandated connection between morality & politics and b) the biblically-defined moral hierarchy which Christians must consider when making political choices (i.e. when voting). While no political party is uniquely Christian in its moral substrate (which is why Nobody Important is not a member of a political party), it is unequivocally clear from Scripture that, given the God-ordained moral hierarchy essential to making political choices, the published platform of one political party in the U.S. today towers morally over all the others .]
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[Now back to the main issue of this page. While misunderstanding and overemphasizing Christ’s counsel on participation in the never-ending culture wars is indeed a problem in the body of Christ, the biggest problem with Christians regarding the culture war is not that they are over involved in fighting them but that most Christians ignore the culture wars completely and refuse to honor Christ when voting as their most legitimate response to the culture wars.
2020: 30 million Christians weren’t even registered and wouldn’t even bother to vote
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/30-million-christians-arent-registered-dont-vote/
[The biggest problem, therefore — now — is that far too many professing “Christians” grab the pendulum of correction so rightly described in the essays cited above and ride it back across the intended nadir (middle point), where they then jump off and remain, in useless, passive, self-righteous “compassion,” “tolerance,” and “open-mindedness” toward abject filth , sin , and wickedness . But ‘tolerance” of and “open-mindedness” toward sin is not the intended nadir of Christ’s corrective pendulum vis-a-vis the culture war. While Christ never called Christians to fight a culture war with an intent of winning battles, He (and His apostles) did call Christians to discern , defend , and deploy righteousness in a lost and condemned culture, both for the good of Christians who love Christ and for the good of those who hate Christ (and therefore hate Christians who reveal Him to them) as well.]
“Christians have often joined the tidal wave of this mainstream value [of ‘tolerance‘] and often long to be known for their acceptance of others’ opinions and lifestyles. On the surface it seems to be a positive virtue, one that exemplifies the life of the Christian. But have you ever considered that tolerance is never encouraged in the Bible? The fruit of the Spirit includes love and kindness, but missing from the list is tolerance. In fact, Christians aren’t called to tolerance, because we serve an intolerant God.”
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-loving-intolerance-of-god/
[Mrs. Kruger (wife of theologian Dr. Michael Kruger), while correctly stating the truth about God’s “intolerance”, unfortunately omits from that statement the fact that God’s “intolerance” is focused — almost entirely and universally — on intolerance of sin (which is universal to all humans, including all members of all ethnic groups). Mrs Kruger goes on in the article to make that point in spades but since it was missing from that excerpt, I felt it necessary to point out why.]
and…
When Christians Disengaged From Politics, the Antichrist Spirit Stepped In
and…
“God is the author of all truth. Truth always has political implications, whether we like it or not. Therefore to avoid politics is to avoid truth [and] To avoid truth is to ignore the author of all truth: God.”
https://freethinkingministries.com/marx-attacks/
and…
Christians Shouldn’t Mix Politics & Religion?
“[I]f one truly believes that God exists, created humanity on purpose and for a specific purpose, and that Jesus revealed how we ought to live, then the laws [which] politicians [write on our behalf] will either approximate to the ‘law above the law‘ (ultimate reality) [i.e. God’s Law ] or not… If God does not exist, then humanity was not created on purpose or for a specific purpose… [and] politics are objectively meaningless (along with everything else) as there would be no objective purpose of the existence of humanity (say goodbye to human rights). If God exists and Christianity is true, however, then one’s subjective political opinions can be objectively right or objectively wrong… [W]hen a Christian claims [he/she] do[es] not want [his/her] ‘politics and religion mixed‘ that is a good indicator that [he/she] probably do[es] not understand [his/her] own religion for at least two reasons:
1- Jesus got involved in politics [see the article for the biblically accurate explanation of that fact].
2- We are commanded to love all people and to share the gospel with the world…
[I]f a Christian does not take politics seriously, then [he/she] probably do[es] not take [Christ’s command to do] evangelism seriously [which command cannot be obeyed under most socialist and all communist systems, which is exactly what American liberals today seek to impose ]… Unless Jesus Christ is running for office, all elections are a vote between the lesser of two evils… [but] If you believe Christianity… is true, you must ‘mix‘ it with politics… After all, if Christianity corresponds to reality, then the politicians you support and vote for should strive to correspond to reality too.”
https://freethinkingministries.com/dont-mix-politics-religion/
and…
How Turning Christianity Into A ‘Nice People Club’ Is Destroying The Church
After so much dialogue, tolerance, and compromise, the majority of faithful people now lack the capacity to defend themselves against oppressive systems.
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Local “Christian” Would Do Anything For Jesus Except Believe Things That Are Unpopular Among Non-Christians
[ASND reminds readers (on dozens of pages here) that satire is made good when it correctly identifies something wrong (often evil) using humor.]
and…
“Christians are so narrow-minded!“
[Really?]
https://www.bethinking.org/jesus/you-christians-are-so-narrow-minded
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WWJD — In A Voting Booth?
See this page .
——————-
[Knowing now what Jesus actually would do in a voting booth — and a little about how to apply His perfect view to our imperfect worldviews — it is obvious, at least to those who have been given eyes to see (by that same Jesus , who, btw, withholds that gift from many), that He expects those who claim to love Him to actually be like Him… including in the voting booth. What even some true Christians fail to realize, though, is that Jesus expects His followers to be like Him — including in the voting booth — for their own good (see ‘ground rule‘ 3 in that second essay). The existence of representative government — while not the biblical ideal (heaven is a theocratic monarchy) — is, like every other good thing on this Earth, a gift from Jesus. And like all gifts from God, He expects us to use them for His glory and our own good , which means to perpetuate (i.e. vote for) the ideas, goals, laws and institutions that reflect and display Him to a world that not only doesn’t know Him but overtly and unceasingly despises Him. God’s will in politics will always result in being for their good too, even if they refuse to believe it and never come to Him for forgiveness.]
“[W]e have [only] one life to live. One live to serve. One live to make an impact. And then we die… How did we live our lives? Did we make things better or worse? Were we good stewards over our freedoms or did we become enslaved [politically to the enemy of our souls because we refused to simply vote for God’s will to be done on Earth, as it is in heaven]?… Have we, through… being salt and light [in the voting booth], helped our nation go in a positive direction? [For those who don’t know, the biblical metaphor of “salt” refers to the power of preserving — or conserving (hence the word “conservative”) — and the metaphor of “light” refers to the power of illuminating — or revealing — Jesus, by way of doing His will in our world, including in the voting booth.] Have we helped raise moral standards? Are people more conscious of God? More compassionate? Are families stronger? Are we leaving a godly legacy to our children? Have we raised up schools or ministries or businesses or organizations or churches that are making a lasting difference? And so we [are commanded to] stand up and fight for what is right [when we vote]. It is who we are [commanded to be]. It is what we [are commanded to] do. Yes we, God’s people, are the moral conscience of the society and the light of the world. But if we fail to shine [God’s] light [by voting for God’s enemies], there will be cultural deterioration [which, no surprise, there has been]. And then, eventually, cultural collapse [exactly as it has begun to do]. That would mean great suffering and hardship for our kids and their kids and then their kids [which is already happening]. That would mean moral confusion and spiritual bankruptcy and social anarchy [and we are already down on the second of those three steps into hell on Earth — and it has been our own fault for not following Jesus in our voting booths]. That would be […no, that already is a] real tragedy.”
https://stream.org/putting-the-culture-wars-in-a-multi-generational-perspective/
and…
“America is now the target of an intense spiritual onslaught — brought on by its own rampant descent into decadence. The left [that is, Democrats, have] been at war with America as founded [and therefore with Christ, since America was founded on Christian principles ] for decades, and it has made great progress in transforming our culture and institutions. Leftists are activism-oriented and relentless. They pursue their goals 24/7, exhausting their less activist and less calculating opponents, and advance their agenda by sheer attrition. But a more important factor in the left’s success is the depressing naivete of too many conservatives about its ultimate aims… The [corona]virus isn’t red or blue [i.e. Republican or Democrat], but the leftists [i.e. Democrats] immediately weaponized it against President Donald Trump, their endless efforts to remove him [by way of impeachment and Russiagate] having failed. From the beginning of this scourge, it was obvious they were more interested in demonizing Trump than in defeating the virus… Though Trump and virtually all of America condemned the senseless killing of George Floyd, the extreme left seized the moment not merely to protest officer misconduct but to condemn the nation for ‘systemic racism,’ ‘white privilege,’ and ‘white supremacy.’ Leftist activists converted the protests into riots, looting, and violence, and Democratic leaders refused to condemn it and instead fanned the flames lit by the organized mob. They have joined the movement to topple monuments and erase all other unpleasant aspects of American history — as if they never occurred. This is nothing new for the Democratic Party… Too many on the right also mistakenly believe that this Democratic frenzy and leftist unrest is all based primarily on their contempt for President Donald Trump. He has made them crazy, and they’ll do anything to get rid of him. Then everything will return to normal. Yes, he makes them crazier, more desperate, and more unreasonable — mainly because he’s fighting them hammer and tongs — but he didn’t make them leftists, and leftists don’t need any prompting to unleash their hell on America. It stands for everything they hate. With or without Trump, their goals remain the same. But without Trump, their chances of finally undoing America immeasurably increase [primarily due to the unceasing and inexcusable willful disregard for truth, justice, and the biblical way demonstrated for decades by Republican party leadership, who place a higher value on electioneering than they do on moral consistency]… Note to [true] conservatives [i.e. Bible-believing Christians]: If you have been casually dismissing leftist extremism, maybe now you will wake up. Can’t you hear the alarms blaring?”
[If you cannot, that is only because you do not want to hear them.]
https://pjmedia.com/columns/david-limbaugh/2020/06/19/the-silent-majority-can-be-silent-no-more
[That article, and the next (among others featured on this page), reference Donald Trump several times. Readers interested in a more extensive examination of how Christians should understand and deal with Donald Trump — and any others like him who may follow him — (including in the voting booth) will do well to read the citations on the Christians & Donald Trump page.]
and…
“[True] Christians get treated as the red-headed stepchild[ren] by Republicans… for the same reason [that] Democrats take [blacks] for granted: [True Christians] have nowhere else to go [during elections]. At best, we can threaten to stay home in November[s]. But that would just help our [and Christ’s] really, really [ evil ] enemies [i.e. liberals , a.k.a. Democrats ] to win [those elections]… This was true through 2016, when Donald Trump came along… Trump promised an end to business as usual in the GOP… [and] He also was so isolated in the party [at that time] that he needed us, and actually listened [to us, which he had never done before]… And indeed, on a number of fronts he delivered. He has still been more pro-life than any president since Reagan… And yet here we are. Trump’s first pick for the U.S. Supreme Court [Neil Gorsush] legislated from the bench. He adopted the crackpot, Obamadite theory that the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed LGBT discrimination… [and this was entirely predictable because] Neil Gorsuch’s stance on LGBT issue was public as long ago as 2008…. Worse still, that the vast apparatus of the federal anti-discrimination police will now be unleashed against Christians… Soon enough, churches and ministries… will be pressured to ‘train‘ [i.e. indoctrinate, according to godless, left-wing dictates] their employees in transgender and [radical homosexual] ideology. This, or face lawsuits by disgruntled employees who assert a ‘hostile workplace environment.’ No, the First Amendment won’t likely protect these Christian enterprises [anymore]. It’s open season on churches [now], and little Christian businesses [the number of big Christian business can now be counted on the fingers of a single hand]… Evangelicals and other serious social conservatives [a.k.a. true Christians] need to stop trusting a small cabal of pro-business hacks and tribalist Catholics in Washington, D.C. with decisions as crucial as [Supreme Court nominees]… [and] We need Republican presidents to know that we won’t just blindly march to the polls at every election to back the candidate who promises to persecute us a little more slowly… As long as our country is going to be, in Antonin Scalia’s words, an oligarchy of five judges, we need to be much more careful how our side chooses them. It’s the only real input we have on a topic like… the survival of Christian institutions. Or their bankrupting and destruction via the death of a thousand lawsuits.”
https://stream.org/are-christians-slaves-on-the-gop-plantation/
and…
“In Exodus 34 , after Moses narrowly saves the Israelites from God’s wrath (they had made a golden cow to worship), God gives instructions. They amount to staying apart from the world. God tells Moses not to place himself under financial or legal obligation to the unbelieving world. Rather he should stand prepared for perpetual conflict with [the unbelieving world] in order to obey God. This mission remains particularly important for the churches [today], as the body of Christ gathered… The juridical [including the ostensibly ‘conservative’ U.S. Supreme Court], economic, and political powers [which currently exist] have told churches that they cannot exist [if they remain obedient to God’s eternal, immutable moral law] in the United States unless they enter into a new social contract with the unbelieving world [which would be unfaithful to God’s eternal, immutable moral law]. The new social contract amounts to an occupation of Christian America… It is effectively against the law [in the U.S. now] to be a true Christian… Think for a moment about the opening pages of [the Bible’s book of] Revelation. Seven churches are mentioned, of which five… are scolded [for their wanton immorality]. In the end times the vast majority of organized churches is not going to pass [God’s moral-law] muster. We should know which churches are heading in the wrong direction [i.e. directly to hell, which ‘churches’ already and obviously include the Roman] Catholic , Anglican , Presbyterian , Methodist , and now even Southern Baptist churches [why Dr. Lopez omitted the Episcopal and ELCA ‘churches’ from that list escapes me]… The Lord has made it so plain to see who will be losing their lamp stands [i.e. sentenced to eternal damnation] when Jesus comes back.”
https://stream.org/how-bad-for-faithful-christians-are-the-recent-scotus-rulings/
and…
“A key dynamic in our present epistemological crisis [a.k.a. liberalism] is the way truth has moved from being a matter of reason to a matter of feeling. Rather than something discovered through logical discourse in community, truth is now — to many people — discovered primarily through felt experience as individuals. What matters most [now] is whether I feel something to be true for me, and this only has implications for others insofar as they must respect the viability of ‘my truth‘ and not threaten it with ‘their truth.’ It used to be that if another’s understanding of truth conflicted with yours, you could engage with and entertain their view, potentially letting it challenge and adjust your own view (and vice versa). Not anymore. Now, if another’s understanding of truth challenges yours, you mute them, cancel them, [or] accuse them of bigotry… Spend any amount of time on social media and you’ll see this in action… Evangelicals have been complicit in this trajectory. It isn’t just secular progressives who tend to mute differing voices or avoid encountering ‘threatening’ ideas. Many [ostensibly] conservative Christians do the same thing. In the 20th century, fundamentalist fears of ‘worldly‘ ideas led many evangelical parents, pastors, and institutions to shield their children, parishioners, and students from wide swaths of potentially hazardous influences. To be sure, we’ve cultivated our own ‘safe spaces.’ Accusations of evangelical anti-intellectualism are thus often — though not always warranted. Meanwhile, much of evangelical Christianity has emphasized the therapeutic and emotive experience of faith above the theological ideas that undergird it. Poor catechesis and avoidance of difficult doctrine means that for many Christians, religious identity is only as secure as the feelings that accompany it — which is to say, not secure at all. When difficult questions arise and one is forced to wrestle with the intellectual scaffolding of belief, the house of cards collapses, as we see often in deconversion accounts. Untrained in the art of logic, reasonable discourse, and articulating what they believe, many evangelicals turn out to be just as fragile as the secular ‘snowflakes’ they critique… But if we are going to make progress as a society — and for Christians, as missionaries and advocates for the capital ‘T’ Truth — we can’t avoid discomfort. Truth must be contended for, and that process will inevitably be contentious… [I]f we give up on persuasion, all that’s left is power. This is why politics has become a new religion [to liberals and fake Christians]… Sadly, many [professing, deceived] Christians are functionally atheists in this regard; they’ve thrown in the towel on contending for truth, opting instead to just claw for [political] power. But this approach doesn’t change minds. It doesn’t lead anyone to the freedom that comes from knowing the truth ( John 8:32 ). It’s nihilistic and dangerous, and it will only escalate the violence of our culture wars.”
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/exit-echo-chamber-persuade/
and…
“In his voluminous and detailed survey of the influence of Christianity on the cultures it took root in, Alvin Schmidt mentions in detail how Christians, from the time of the early church, have engaged and transformed the society around them. So profound has their impact been that most people today take for granted these efforts and don’t even know that it was Christians, following their understanding of the Scriptures, who laid the groundwork. Fundamental attitudes about the value of human life came from Christianity (as opposed to the Greeks and Romans, who slaughtered people; watched gladiators rip out intestines with glee; and aborted babies, killed infants, or left them on the street; not to speak of human sacrifices practiced by so many ancient and not-so-ancient cultures). Fundamental attitudes of the sanctity of marriage and sexual fidelity and marital responsibility were natural responses to God’s Word by Christians, versus the rampant promiscuity of Roman society and the open displays of perversions such as homosexuality, pedophilia, and the denigration of women found in other societies. Basic human compassion in the form of orphanages and hospitals were all ‘inventions‘ of Christians. And when Christians practiced the ungodly sin of slavery, other Christians helped abolish it.”
https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2020/07/salt-and-light-for-the-world/
——————-
True Christians: Liberal or Conservative?:
“[Liberal] Christians are more likely to establish their identity through politics, while conservative Christians find their identity in theology.“
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/research-progressive-conservative-christians/
and…
“The left, unable to demonstrate moral superiority based upon traditional Judeo-Christian values, must attempt to pass a ‘ woke ‘ socialistic agenda as a more Christian alternative. That’s where progressivist priorities — such as government-run universal healthcare , climate change , and open borders — are ostensibly a nod to Christian charity (as long as you only pay attention to the intent and not the results)… Distraction is the key to accomplishing leftist goals… Progressive ‘Christians’ [an oxymoronic term of the first order] distract by using moralistic sounding language while redefining the words with leftist definitions. For example, the very word ‘progressive’ sounds good, yet it assumes some kind of moral progress. Progress toward what? An ultimate standard of good? [Where is that ultimate standard found except in God’s Word, the Bible? Yet progressive ‘Christians’ flatly reject God’s clear moral teachings on the most important issues humans will ever face]. [Progressive ‘Christians’] do what many with a bad case do. They distract and deceive by not only redefining the standard, but redefining the moralistic sounding words they use to sell the new standard. We might say that they come as an ‘ angel of light .’ ”
https://stream.org/progressive-ideology-and-the-hijacking-of-the-christian-faith/
and…
“[True Christians (a.k.a. ‘conservatives’)] believe in the Judeo-Christian tradition; those on the other side of our cultural divide [a.k.a. ‘liberals’] believe that this tradition is a myth. [True Christians] hold that our tradition reveals moral truths that dictate how we ought to live; [liberals] believe we make up our own moral values. The moral relativists [all of whom are also liberals] believe our Judeo-Christian moral teachings are oppressive, hateful, and dangerous. [True Christians] believe that [liberals have their] own myths [a.k.a. ‘lies’] and that many of [those lies] are dangerous. [Those lies include:] 1) The [lie] that humanity is merely the product of a contest for survival that rewards the ‘fittest‘ of organisms gave rise to theories of racial superiority, eugenics, and ideologies of ‘might makes right.’ 2) The [lies] that there are no innate differences between men and women and that ‘gender‘ is merely a social construct have given rise to same-sex ‘marriage,’ transgenderism, and harmful ‘reassignment‘ surgery. 3) The [lie] that confining sexual activity to marriage is repressive and harmful while unrestrained sexual expression is liberating and healthy has led to the mainstreaming of teen sexual promiscuity and the proliferation of pornography. 4) The [lie] of personal autonomy is now used to justify the killing of one’s own child in the womb. While divisiveness is not desirable in any society, there is no middle ground between opposing abortion and approving it. Or between viewing marriage as the only proper place for sexual intercourse and seeing it as just one option among many for pursuing sexual fulfillment. Or between the Judeo-Christian teaching that [humanity] is created in the image of God and atheistic Darwinism’s view of [humanity] as the result of blind, purposeless forces. As long as destructive cultural [lies] remain [i.e. as long as liberals remain], there will be a need for [true Christians] to continue debunking them, for the sake of human dignity and truth.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo50/divisive-myths
[As ASND often does (to improve clarity and provide evidential support not provided by the cited articles’ authors), the hyperlinks inserted into those last two extended citation were added here. They were not part of the original articles.]
and…
“Those [true Christians]… who have become known for [biblical] positions on sexuality hear many of the same refrains from [their fake Christian] peers in the movement. ‘God bless you, you are so brave,’ folks will say privately. But [those same fake Christians] will [not] hire [true Christians]. Heck, [fake Christians] don’t even want to be seen talking to [true Christians]. There’s always something [fake Christians] need to protect: their donors, their grantors, their friends, their kids, etc. At the core of it, [fake Christians] are protecting themselves by not fighting something they know is wrong.”
and…
Christianity and Politics: How Shall the Twain Meet?
http://www.modernreformation.org/default.php?page=printfriendly&var1=Print&var2=736
and…
How should Christians apply a Biblical worldview to social and political issues?
https://www.probe.org/christian-worldview-and-social-issues/
and…
What is a Christian’s Responsibility to Government?
http://www.ligonier.org/blog/christians-and-government/
and…
“[Christians] must decide what in our culture is worth conserving and what needs to be rejected so that we can progress beyond it.”
http://www.canonandculture.com/the-religious-problem-with-conservatism-and-progressivism/
and…
“From time to time Christians may find themselves in tactical alliance with conservatives, just as with liberals, over particular policies, precepts, and laws. But they cannot be in strategic alliance, because their reasons for these stands are different; they are living in a different vision.”
https://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/04/the-problem-with-conservatism
——————-
Anti-Christ-ian [a.k.a. Liberal ] Politics:
“Today’s Democrat Party insists that a… full-term human baby just about to be born isn’t really a human being, and therefore can be slaughtered at will – maybe even after he or she is born – just as long as ‘the mother and her doctor‘ agree … The Democrat Party’s top leaders also passionately warn that the entire earth will become uninhabitable within 10 years due to [ CO2 – induced ] global warming … The modern Democrat Party likewise contends there are more than a hundred different genders that never before existed in history, that men can get pregnant and have babies… and that if you don’t agree with all this, you’re a deplorable bigot – and anti-science… These are the people who proudly identify themselves as ‘the party of science‘ and contemptuously dismiss critics and political opponents as ‘science-deniers‘… Most recently, throughout the coronavirus pandemic , Democrat leaders and their media propagandists have played their ‘we-listen-to-the-scientists!‘ card more brazenly than ever.“
https://www.wnd.com/2020/06/lefts-war-science/
[That “article” is actually an ad for a magazine, and while everything it claimed about liberals (who are hardly limited to Democrats ) was true, it didn’t include any useful references to prove those claims. I have, therefor, inserted several references (hyperlinks) which do.]
and…
“Witches do not hide their involvement in the violent [2020] protests [against alleged racism by police]… The hashtag #witchesforblm serves a meeting place for practicing witches who want to learn how to cast protection spells, draw occult sigils, and hex police. Five days after the hashtag started, it garnered 10 million views on the TikTok app… The witches are part of a growing movement mixing [liberal] politics and the occult. Numerous books of spells have been published since the 2016 elections advising occultist activists how to invoke the powers of darkness for [exclusively liberal] political causes. Witches and satanists are appearing more often in public to push their agenda and display their scorn for God and His Law. Such occult activism appears at odds with past leftist policies. The left used to follow a secular outlook that did not recognize spiritual powers of any kind. It always tried to keep politics and Christianity separate by labeling Christian action as superstitious. However, the left is now welcoming witches and occultists with their dark arts into the public square.“
and…
The ‘Christian Doomsayers’ Are Right
Democrats really do pose an ‘existential threat’ to Christians
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/12/the-christian-doomsayers-are-right/
and…
As liberal fake “Christians” attempt to redefine what Christianity is, they also attempt to shame and silence real Christians.
and…
“The first moral error of political liberalism is propitiationism. According to this notion I should do unto others as they want; [but] according to Christianity I should do unto others as they need [ Luke 12:5 ; 2Cor 13:5 ]… The second moral error of political liberalism is expropriationism. According to this notion I may take from others to help the needy, giving nothing of my own; according to Christianity I should give of my own to help the needy, taking from no one [ Ex 20:15 ; Acts 10:1-2 ]… The third moral error of political liberalism is solipsism. According to this notion human beings make themselves, belong to themselves, and have value in and of themselves; according to Christianity they are made by God, belong to Him, and have value because they are loved by Him and made in His image [ Gen 1:27 ; John 3:16 ]… The fourth moral error of political liberalism is absolutionism. According to this notion we cannot be blamed when we violate the moral law, either because we cannot help it, because we have no choice, or because it is our choice; according to Christianity we must be blamed, because we are morally responsible beings [ Rom 1:20 ; Mark 16:16 ]. Of course absolutionism cannot be practiced consistently, nor would it be so convenient to its practitioners if it could… The fifth moral error of political liberalism is perfectionism. According to this notion human effort is adequate to cure human evil; according to Christianity our sin, like our guilt, can be erased only by the grace of God through faith in Christ [ Eph 2:8-9 ; 1John 2:23 ]. Perfectionists also think the cure can be completed in human time. Some even believe it can be arranged for whole societies at once. By contrast, the faith teaches that God must start over with each person, and that although guilt is erased immediately, the cure of sin is not complete until the next life… The sixth moral error of political liberalism is universalism. According to this notion the human race forms a harmony whose divisions are ultimately either unreal or unimportant; according to Christianity human harmony has been shattered by sin and cannot be fully healed by any means short of conversion [ Rom 2:12 ; Rom 10:9-10 ]… The seventh moral error of political liberalism is neutralism. According to this notion the virtue of tolerance requires suspending judgments about good and evil; according to Christianity it requires making judgments about good and evil [ John 7:24 ; 1Th 5:21 ]… The eighth moral error of political liberalism is collectivism. According to this notion the state is more important to the child than the family; according to Christianity the family is more important to the child than the state [ Eph 6:1 ; Col 3:20 ]. “
https://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/03/the-problem-with-liberalism
and…
“[Liberals] openly declare their desire to obliterate [Christianity]. In their own minds, their intentions are noble — they want to save the human race from the social injustice and oppression that [Christianity] allegedly inflicts on humanity. ‘Religion must die in order for mankind to live,’ proclaimed left-wing commentator and comedian Bill Maher in Religulous, the most-watched documentary feature of 2008.“
https://www.thenewamerican.com/print-magazine/item/32393-the-war-to-destroy-christianity-in-america
and…
“There is a deep spiritual crisis in… the United States. Society has become void of any kind of fundamental values. In fact, morals and morality have been turned completely upside down. It means that we are actually having a kind of mercy towards people [liberals] who want to do evil to our society, and we are very angry with people who tell the truth… [Christians are] get[ing] socially marginalized [by liberals who are]… criminaliz[ing] your opinions… [Liberalism has become] cultural Marxism [devoted to sexual] identity politics [e.g. homosexuality, transgenderism, etc.]… It appears tolerant and loving, but it’s anything but. It is a completely anti-Christian system. And the most diabolical part of it is that [many professing ‘Christians’ are] using Christianity to welcome this [outright evil]… [These professing ‘Christians’] are using… [left-wing, anti-Christian] ‘Christianity‘ to break down the Christian culture… I don’t think it’s possible to understand what’s going on today on the political scene if you don’t understand spirituality and these dominions that are unseen… we’re not fighting against flesh and blood but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And I think they’re very much at work today… [These anti-Christs] never come to you and present themselves as evil forces. They come in the disguise of something that is beautiful [i.e. liberalism] and looks really great and, you know, light.“
… &
Cultural Marxism Is Grinding Christianity Into Historical Dust
… &
“Political correctness, the new intolerant-tolerance and ever-increasing erotic liberty… [as well as] identity politics, intersectionality and the rise of victimhood culture are [all] part of [cultural Marxism, a.k.a. neo-Marxism and Critical Theory ]… How should Christians respond [to cultural Marxism]?… First, Christians need to realize that we have a far more penetrating analysis of both the problem and the solution…. [but] This does not mean that we have nothing to learn about oppression and injustice from [cultural Marxists]… Second, while we are not to cast ‘pearls before pigs‘ ( Matt 7:6 ), we must not only be ready to answer those who inquire about our hope ( 1 Pet 3:15 ), but to ‘preach the word … in season and out of season‘ ( 2 Tim 4:2 ). For the gospel is still the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes ( Rom 1:17 )… [In other words, Christians] need to explain our culture [to cultural Marxists] through the Bible that we might better explain the Bible to our culture… Fourth… most of us can learn to engage in fruitful neighborly conversation or workplace discussion about moral, social and spiritual issues. Some may even be in a position to impact public policy formation — perhaps in schools, businesses or some level of government… [W]e must not exile ourselves, and we certainly must not retreat into silence while we still have a platform, a voice, and an opportunity.“
and…
“There’s a symbiosis to the way culture works. We create culture by what we choose to do in the world [above all else, in how we choose to vote], and then culture in turn shapes us as it affects our perceptions of reality.” [ Rom 12:2 ]
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo43/watch-rescue-ops
[It is neither an accident or a coincidence that the right to vote — i.e. democracy — emerged in the Christian west centuries before it began to spread around the world. Democracy is both a logical consequence of biblical Christianity and a gift from Christ to His faithful church. That His church — i.e. evangelicals — have begun to ignore His explicitly expressed will (see above) in how they are to vote reveals the transience (i.e. falsehood ) of their faith.]
and…
Your Local Vote Matters: Left-Wing Groups Are Taking Over School Boards Across the Country
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/election-day-2019-why-your-local-vote-matters/
and…
Satan’s Ten Strategies Against Christians
Most of them are endemic to liberalism
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/satan-s-ten-strategies-against-you
and…
“[I]f you really want to influence people in the Christian direction you must not only talk politics and deal with social conditions in speech, you must take an active part in them.”
— D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, M.D., 30+years pastor, Westminster Chapel, London.
https://www.agradio.org/when-your-pastor-becomes-a-social-justice-warrior.html
——————-
Legislating Morality?:
Yes, Legislating Morality. That’s What Every Law Does, Regardless Who Writes It.
http://trevorgrantthomas.blogspot.com/2013/03/legislating-morality.html
and…
Is Legislating Morality Biblical?
http://www.equip.org/article/is-legislating-morality-biblical-2/
[The short answer to that question, of course, is “yes“. The reason why is this . ]
and…
Who Are You To Impose Your Morality on Others?
http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/201003/201003_114_IMPOSE_MORAL.cfm
and…
‘You can’t legislate morality’ actually means ‘You shouldn’t make laws based on your morality, but on mine instead.’
http://thefederalist.com/2017/10/13/can-legislate-morality/
and…
You Can’t Not Legislate Morality
https://www.thinkingchristian.net/posts/2013/06/you-cant-not-legislate-morality/
and…
“The most often quoted teaching of Jesus seems to be ‘Judge not, that you be not judged.‘ ( Matthew 7:1 ) It’s also… one of the most misunderstood…. [I]f we read this as a commandment to suspend all judgment… He’d be requiring the impossible because we’re incapable of having no opinion of what’s right or wrong…. [and] He’d also be contradicting Himself, because He specifically calls us, in other verses , to judge.”
https://stream.org/misunderstanding-judge-not/
and…
Are Christians who vote according to the biblical worldview “imposing” their views on others?
Ask the opposite question as well. Are liberals imposing their views on Christians? Is the liberal position neutral? Is it unbiased and objective?
Of course not. Liberalism rests on a highly contentious, dualistic view of human nature that involves a subjective definition of a person and a crassly utilitarian view of the body. There is nothing neutral about any of that. [So] when [liberals] mandate their policies [via government] based on their worldview, [they are] imposing a secular liberal [i.e. anti-Christ-ian ] ideology on [Christians].”
https://www.facebook.com/1476753582446105/posts/2467924979995622/
and…
“[P]olitics is not separate from culture, nor irrelevant to culture, nor downstream from culture. Politics is a key part of culture, and often drives [culture]. The law [therefore] can [and does] serve as a teacher and a guide to encourage positive behaviors and discourage negative ones. Consider, for example, what the Civil Rights Act did to racist discrimination in the South. Not only did it become unlawful to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, it became viewed within the culture as morally repugnant.“
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/10/porn-culture-and-political-courage
and…
“The [recent, liberalism-imposed] ‘Christ without culture‘ model — meaning Christianity [is] indifferent to culture — … results in [Christianity] acquiescing [to] the culture’s demand that [Christianity] confine itself to the sphere of [mere] privacy [or to the “second story” of a two-story worldview, see here ]… In more contemporary language, [Christianity] is whatever works for you… In different times and in different places, [Christians have] understood [their] relationship to culture in different ways. There [has been] Christ against culture, the Christ of culture, Christ above culture, Christ and culture in paradox, and Christ transforming culture [popular since the 1970s among dominion-minded fundamentalist Christians]… The one model that is not possible, except by deluding ourselves and betraying [Christ’s commands] to the world, is Christ without culture.”
and…
Fear Theocracy? That’s misguided.
All political beliefs are philosophical beliefs, and all philosophical beliefs are theological beliefs.
and…
“Because every law springs from a system of values and beliefs, every law is an instance of legislating Morality… The question before us is never whether or not to legislate morality, but which moral system ought to be made legally binding.”
http://www.equip.org/articles/law-and-morality/
and…
The Separation Of Church And State Is An Impossible Fiction
It is impossible even at the conceptual level, let alone at the level of practice.
http://thefederalist.com/2019/01/21/separation-church-state-impossible-fiction/
and…
Should Christians Impose Their Moral Standards on Society?
http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2012/02/should-christians-impose-their-moral-standards-on-society.html
and..
“If [Christians] don’t cast our votes [based on Christian principles], we will quickly lose our voice – not just politically but in other ways. We will quickly find our rights disappearing. Hostility to Christians will become the national norm. We will be silenced on many fronts. Why? Because those who hate us won’t stop voting. And those who despise our morals won’t stop campaigning. And the [ anti-Christian , leftist] activists who feel a sacred calling to oppose us will be empowered.”
https://stream.org/evangelical-christians-quandry-politics/
and…
Christians, Be Like Athanasius and Machen. Stand Against the World.
https://stream.org/athanasius-machen-against-the-world/
and…
“The story of Daniel and his friends is a clarion call to our generation to be courageous; not to lose our nerve and allow the expression of our faith to be diluted and squeezed out of the public space and thus rendered spineless and ineffective.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo35/steeled-faith
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“The left’s progressive-or-bigot binary [lie] is an immensely powerful force, intimidating [thinking] people into submission by implicating anyone in bigotry who disagrees with the dogma. Now that enough of its enforcers have migrated from academia into newsrooms and boardrooms, the left’s cultural power is snowballing rapidly. [Thinking people,] Do what you can to stop it. Our silence is how these small battles in the culture war are lost. Don’t let the left terrify us into normalizing anemic police departments, hormone prescriptions for struggling children, Mount Rushmore and the national anthem as emblems of white supremacy, sanitized comedy, false history, impossible speech restrictions, and so much more. Finding the courage and wisdom to speak up, even on issues that seem trivial, will send the message that reasonable people disagree with unreasonable demands.”
https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/17/a-silent-majority-isnt-good-enough-in-the-culture-war/
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“Christianity” Today:
[That section title was intended as a pun but not as a reference to several recent controversies involving Christianity Today magazine (and Web site). Those controversies have their own section below.]
[T]he Bible teaches a religion of public involvement; it’s actually a matter of Christian doctrine [see the many biblical citations just above]. And in a democracy, that necessarily includes political involvement. So when people [including, amazingly, many professing “Christians”] tell [real] Christians we should keep our religion out of our politics, they’re imposing contrary, un-Christian [actually, anti-Christian ] views on us.“
https://stream.org/problem-evangelicals-and-politics/
and…
“[I]t is now controversial to affirm the Christian Scriptures [even] in… allegedly Christian schools [which are several years behind the social and moral decline of society at large]… To be unmoved [to action, especially in the voting booth] by this [reality] is to be indifferent, apathetic, compromised, and complacent.“
https://stream.org/why-we-cannot-be-silent/
[ASND simply asks, “Where is Christ in any of those?“]
and…
“The beliefs and practices of most people who call themselves Christians do not look like what we’d expect from people who are actual disciples of Christ… Such ‘nominalism‘ impacts everything [including] the rule of Christ [in political choice-making].”
and…
Christian Leaders Agree: The Church Isn’t Ready for What We’re Facing Today
The older churched generation still tends to think we live in a Christian culture, where people would believe in Christ if only they heard the message clearly enough.
Those days are long over.
https://stream.org/spiritual-leaders-agree-church-isnt-ready-facing-today/
[To understand why the church “isn’t ready for what we’re facing today,” see the “Politics From The Pulpit” page here .]
and…
Many “Christians” Now Cheer the Criminalization of Christianity
… &
Based solely on the historical record compared with explicitly biblical standards of morality (the answer is not a matter of mere opinion), who was — far and away — America’s most anti-Christian President?
Hint: Like the “Christians” cited in the previous article, He claimed to be on himself.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273643/americas-most-anti-christian-president-david-horowitz
——————-
“There should be an urgency for Christians to learn more about where their money is going, what it is funding and if their God-given resources are actually supporting causes that conflict with their beliefs. The answer is called Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI).”
https://healthymomsmagazine.net/2019/08/christians-must-stop-supporting-evil-with-investments.html
——————-
Religious Liberty:
“The greatest threat to religious freedom [in] the United States [is] the imperialism of woke culture [a.k.a. liberalism].”
and…
“[A] growing number of Americans [meaning liberals] see religious freedom as a self-serving relic of America’s past, one that only offers contemporary [Christians] a license to discriminate against [liberals]… When [biblical] beliefs collide with the values ushered in by the sexual revolution, [Christians] seem intolerant, bigoted, and even evil [to liberals]… A recent Barna poll revealed that about 55 percent of Americans strongly agree that ‘True religious freedom means that all citizens must have freedom of conscience‘… Just five years ago, the percentage was 69 percent. Even Protestant clergy are significantly less concerned today about their own religious freedom.”
http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/10/breakpoint-free-to-believe-2/
and…
Even many American pastors are less concerned today as their own religious liberties are stripped away from them by liberals.
and…
For the first time in American history, it has become respectable [due to liberalism — which was voted into public office and political power by professing “Christians”] to publicly oppose religious liberty and its supreme value in our polity. This unprecedented turn is ominous. It will not only diminish our constitutional law, it will remap our common life, for religious liberty has always been a linchpin of our political culture.
https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/04/50836/
… &
Joe Biden Pledges to Gut Religious Freedom Protections, Saying They Give ‘Hate‘ a ‘Safe Harbor‘
and…
The Christian Case for Religious Liberty
Religious freedom has its origins in Christianity. Unfortunately, in today’s liberal political climate [created, in large part, by professing “Christians” in their local voting booths], that fact may actually be viewed — by liberals — as an argument against religious freedom.
https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/04/50589/
and…
In the final analysis, liberalism is antithetical to biblical, Christian values
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/04/leftism_a_warped_reflection_of_christianity.html
and…
The 7 Most Important Religious Liberty Cases of the Decade
——————-
The Best Book on Politics for Christians
What Christians face (or choose to ignore) in the world of politics today.
The power of social media to censor and silence.
The corruption of our courts.
The completely unearned sense of superiority which ignorant, sneering 20-year-olds display toward seasoned believers.
The slow-motion train wreck of the Democratic Party, which has ceased to be a patriotic or even a sane organization.
The rise of a new, inquisitorial religion, which worships a flittering shadow called ‘social justice.’
The slow grind of laws meant to persecute our faith.
In his new book ‘Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America‘, David Horowitz exposes in fewer than 200 pages the motivations, strategies, and logic of [liberal, Democrat-driven,] anti-Christian campaigns… to erase every trace of Christian culture.. [a]nd America, from its free economy to its culture and Constitution.
https://stream.org/best-book-politics-christians-2019-david-horowitz/
[That article cites liberal “corruption of our courts“. The word “our” there was intended to mean “American” but it is easily and often misinterpreted to mean “our liberal” or “our conservative” courts, as if the courts belong to an ideology rather than to the entire nation. In a very real sense, however, the courts actually do belong to a particular ideology, i.e. whichever ideology is willing to actually vote its own interests into national (federal) political power because all federal judges — including all Supreme Court justices — are appointed by the elected President of the United States and then confirmed (or rejected) by the elected U.S. Senate. Whichever ideology has been elected into control of those two branches of U.S. government, therefore, gets to decide which ideology will be permitted to interpret the Constitution with regard to U.S. (federal) laws. Tragically, many professing ‘Christians’ either couldn’t care less about these facts or they can’t be bothered to exercise their biblical responsibility to vote in accordance with their professed Christian ideology. Because they haven’t, the following realities have inevitably resulted.]
Until The Supreme Coucrt Acts, Christians Will Be Punished For Thought Crimes
Courts can’t stop the corrosion of liberalism, but they can stop state-sponsored attacks on individuals.
https://thefederalist.com/2019/06/10/supreme-court-acts-christians-will-punished-thought-crimes/
——————-
Should Christians support the death penalty?
http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.5410739/k.C212/Capital_Punishment.htm
and…
The Ethics of Capital Punishment
http://www.equip.org/articles/the-ethics-of-capital-punishment/
——————-
“… studies confirm that if all Christians tithed, poverty would just about end.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/09/the_biblical_way_to_care_for_the_poor.html
——————-
The Gun Control Debate: Two Christian Perspectives
https://www.equip.org/article/gun-control-debate-two-christian-perspectives/
[That is false. Anyone who actually takes the time to carefully read both articles and the source references cited in those articles will realize that only one of the articles deals truthfully with all the cited statistics, all the legal arguments and all the historical & biblical references. One cannot be a Christian while believing and teaching lies. Readers interested in further researching the facts so egregiously misrepresented by one of the above-cited authors can do so here .]
——————-
Fake Christianity Claiming Authenticity:
“[S]ocial conservatism has been abandoned by the entirety of the right wing. Not just the libertarians [like Rand Paul] or [the] Paul Ryan [social liberal] types. Not just the Guilfoylesque and Kushnerian MAGA friends of Dave Rubin and Brandon Straka, whom [true Christians were forced to] ma[k]e peace with during the Trump years for the simple reason that [they] had no other choice. Even many pro-family groups that shout the loudest have been part of the big betrayal [of Christ on the social ‘justice’ stage]. That includes a lot of the public figures currently tut-tutting about [Kristi] Noem’s veto [of an anti-transgenderism bill in South Dakota] as if they haven’t taken the infamous ‘phone call‘ from wealthy pro-[homosexual] bigwigs and fired pro-family advocates in their own separate fiefdoms — under the cover of darkness, of course.”
and…
“Many [self-identifying] Christian institutions, though thoroughly compromised [i.e. internally infected], have maintained a[n external] public stance against homosexuality. Why? Presumably to keep their conservative stakeholders’ trust [read, ‘money‘]… Meanwhile, no codes existed to stop the purge of true conservatives [read ‘true Christians‘] at the exact same institutions… Bostock now makes it impossible to play this two-faced game. At least without feeling a financial hit at the institutional level. I am sure Christian leaders will go to donors and parents. They’ll say they need even more money to fight back against this government intrusion. That’s a farce. Institutions got to this point because they wasted all their financial support. They did the LGBT lobby’s dirty work while pretending to take a strong stand for the gospel. Christians who have placed their trust in Conservative, Inc., must not lose sight of recent history. Not even in the maelstrom caused by Bostock. ‘Christian‘ and ‘conservative‘ organizations have voluntarily enforced pro-LGBT policy. They have purged anyone who would boldly defend Biblical sexuality against the LGBT movement… [T]he ‘religious liberty argument‘ fell prey to all the follies and contradictions in the Republican Party’s mangled philosophy. The GOP has a one-sided, almost ‘stalker’ crush on corporations, church leadership, and the police. But there are all entities with a lot to lose from public opprobrium. So they constantly undermine and betray the conservatives who defend them. (Can you say Chick-Fil-A?).“
https://stream.org/have-our-churches-brought-the-bostock-disaster-on-themselves/
[Hmm… Speaking of Chick-Fil-A…]
——————-
National Sins and National Judgments
A sermon by John Owen
https://purelypresbyterian.com/2016/08/15/national-sins/
——————-
Another Slow News Day 