JackHammer

If you had asked me four years ago, I would have told you that voting third party was foolish.  Throwing away your vote.  Wrong for the country.  Not the way it works.  But then, I’ve done some thinking since then.  And I want to share some thoughts with you.  This month, I’ll let the pundits do the high class opinionating.  I’d just like to think out loud.

John McCain is the very first presidential candidate to ever get me to think about voting third party.  A couple of months ago, as I was driving my wife home from school, I mentioned this to her.  I cannot stand the thought of John McCain being our next president.  The only thought that makes me shudder more than a McCain presidency is an Obama presidency.  And that is what leaves me in a quandary.

In the political season Before Palin (B.P.), I had decided that I was not voting for McCain.  But, when McCain nominated Sarah Palin, I gave it another look.  Am I one of those deplorable “undecided” voters, the kind I used to revile?  To be honest, yes.  I am.  Here is why.  If I could bypass McCain and vote directly for Sarah Palin, I would do so.  We can discuss the whole voting for a woman president issue in the comments section if you like, but for right now I will only say that I would have voted for Margaret Thatcher, and I would have voted for Deborah as well.

My quandary is in voting for a Presidential ticket because I support the Vice Presidential nominee.  If I did vote for McCain, I would be doing so in the hopes that the Vice President would become President.  I’ve never voted for a guy hoping that something would happen to remove him from office.  Nor am I persuaded that I should.

No doubt our commenters will have plenty to say on this issue, some giving good reasons for voting McCain anyway, and others giving good reasons not to.  I’ll let the comments section carry on that debate.  I meanwhile intend to throw out some thoughts on voting third party, which is what I will do if I don’t vote for McCain.

First, these elections are not in the voters hands.  God controls the nations.  There is no power but of God.  God removes kings and sets up kings (Daniel 2:21).  The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men (Daniel 4:17).  By Him, kings reign and princes decree justice.  By Him princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.  Elections are not in our hands.  Our vote counts, but when the votes are counted, God’s will is always done.

This is not a fatalistic view of the election process.  It is a simple acknowledgement of the Sovereign rule of God.  It is not up to us to vote or to “ensure” that we get the best man in there.  God will take care of putting the man in office that He intends.

This also reminds me of a conceit that voters often have — the conceit that says that my vote, especially in a Presidential election, makes a difference.  We have been told this and told this, and yet we all have the vague notion that the argument and reality have nothing whatsoever in common.  Neil Postman called voting “the next to last refuge of the politically impotent.”  He went on to say that “the last refuge is, of course, giving your opinion to a pollster…”

Here is my point.  I have had the privilege of voting in four presidential elections.  In two of those elections, William Jefferson Clinton was elected President.  In both of those elections, my vote was overwhelmed by those in favor of Clinton.  In the other two of those elections, George W. Bush was elected President.  In both of those elections, my state voted nearly 70% for Bush.  As much as I would like it to be the case that my vote mattered, it really didn’t.

But thinking out loud, I’m not sure anymore that this is a reason for me to vote.  In other words, I’m not convinced that “your vote matters” is a moral argument for voting, or that it is a moral argument for voting for the candidate that has been forced on me by the two parties.

Rather, I consider my vote and my right to vote to be a gift from God, a sacred trust.  Understanding that the outcome is according to His decree, I view my vote to be more of a responsibility on my part — a responsibility to use that vote to make a statement (however impotent that statement may be) about who should be leading this country.

When I think about it that way, the old “hold your nose and vote” idea goes away.  Obviously, I cannot give my approval, no matter how inconsequential my approval might be, to an unqualified candidate.  Not even if that unqualified candidate is the overwhelming choice of The Party.  In matters of conscience, The Party should never be granted authority to dictate who will be voted for.

Some will no doubt argue against this, that voting Third Party is like voting for Obama.  But I would invite those who argue this way to take a fresh look at the history of Presidential politics.  There has been a time or two when one or the other of the two major parties split.  The Bull Moose Party comes to mind, when Teddy Roosevelt prevented the Republican candidate from being elected.  Whenever the split has been severe, the result to the party has been reform - sometimes for good, other times for bad.

The Republican Party really does not represent our values, not even the way it did in the 1980’s.  Clearly not in the way it once did.  Until we as Christians stand up and say, “enough is enough,” the Republican Party will continue its slide right behind the Democratic Party.  A split in the party might put a bad guy in the White House for four years.  But the good accomplished could also straighten up the mess in short order, if the Republican Party got the message.  And that could be a good thing.

JackHammers will not be silenced.  We’ve found some stuff to chisel.  Eye Protection firmly in place.   Hands gloved.  Sleeves rolled down.  Heads wedged in hard hats.  Sweat squiggling out from beneath the head band.  We’re workin’ overtime.

We are the elect.  This is the election.  McCain or Obama.  Republican or Democrat.  Or Constitution.  Palin or Biden.  Electoral or Popular.  Gallup or Zogby.  We vote.  And we’re Christians.   We’re elect, and we elect.

Political discussion all month.  Not election — THE election.  Wear gloves.  Squint manfully.  Wipe sweat before it drips.

I want to make it easier for everyone to understand how people are polling for the upcoming vote.  You may already know, but I want to blend it so you can drink it through a straw.  Please don’t tell me the problems of McCain here.  I’m aware.  I’m sure that the Constitution Party and the American Independent Party take a stronger position than he.  We’re talking about the two who can win.  Here goes.

Obama Gets the Women’s Vote, not the Men’s

Right now the Gallup poll breaks it down like this:

Obama Women—52%    Obama Men—39%

McCain Women—44%   McCain Men—49%

If only the men voted, McCain wins a landslide.  They say McCain’s got a woman problem. Obama’s got a bigger man problem.   I’m sure you know that Obama also gets the metrosexual and sodomite vote—the limp wrist faction—by a large margin.  Some have commented on “women rule over them” (Isaiah 3:12).  Well, this is how women rule in this country.  Remember 1 Timothy 2:14?  “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”  Women have a more natural disposition to be deceived.  God designed them to have male headship.  Elections give us a living example why.

Obama Gets the Kiddies’ Vote, not the Adults’

The Gallup Poll indicates this right now:

Obama 18-29 year olds—59%   McCain 18-29 year olds—33%

Obama 30-49 year olds—48%   McCain 30-49 year olds—46%

Obama 50-64 year olds—48%   McCain 50-64 year olds—46%

Obama 65 and above year olds—43%   McCain 65 and above year olds—47%

We’ve got to be glad for modern medicine keeping people alive much longer.  Plus, people are having less kids, so there are less and less in the kiddie categories.  It doesn’t help solvency of social security, but it comes in handy for this election.  The older people are more likely to vote too.  That 18-29 category has the lowest percentage of turn-out.   Obama is doing his best to get the idiot vote in Colorado.  This is “democracy at its best.”

This statistic reminds me of when President Clinton was running for president.  He had several town-meeting type gatherings where he sat on a wooden stool in the middle of children, asking them what they thought he should do.  The first half of Isaiah 3:12 reads:  “children are their oppressors.”  If it isn’t the women, then it will be the children.  Who wins if you raise the voting age to 21 again and then abolish women’s suffrage?  Just wondering out loud.

Obama Gets the Atheist’s Vote, not the Church-Going’s

We can see from the Gallup Poll:

Obama Weekly Church Attenders—28%   McCain Weekly Church Attenders—66%

Obama Semi-Monthly Church Attenders—37%   McCain Semi-Monthly Church Attenders—56%

Obama Non-Church Attenders—52%   McCain Non-Church Attenders—40%

Obama has the hard fought pagan vote.  Vote evil, vote Obama.  Don’t shoot the messenger.  I’m just looking at what we have here.  If you look at education, Obama and McCain essentially tie in every category until post-graduate education.  There Obama destroys McCain by nearly twenty percentage points.  The further you get along in state education, the more secular you become.  Either that or Christians are so unwelcome in state postgraduate education, that they don’t even try.  The more you get God in your life, the less you like Obama.  Why does that happen?

Obama Gets the Unmarrieds’ Vote, Not the Marrieds’

Gallup registers this:

Obama Unmarrieds—58%   Obama Marrieds—41%

McCain Unmarrieds—34%   McCain Marrieds—52%

Obama gets the “shack-up” vote.  People with a commitment to each other, to stay together, among many other important qualities of marriage, they don’t vote for Obama.  They vote for McCain.  Obama gets the self-centered vote.  Obama gets the “me” vote.

Conclusion

When you put it altogether, the consummate voter for Obama is an atheistic, unmarried, young woman.  That’s his perfect demographic.

You won’t find the English word “practice” in the King James Version of the Bible. We do have the Greek word for “practice,” which is praxis. If you say “praxis” to people, they’ll think you have a speech impediment. The first time it appears in Scripture is in Acts 19:18 and it is translated “deeds.” It is found five other times and translated “works” and “office” (Rom 12:4) also. BDAG, the foremost Greek lexicon, says that it is “a function implying sustained activity,” “a way of conducting oneself, way of acting, course of action,” or “customary daily activity.” The verb form is prasso, which is found 38 times. BDAG says it means to perform an act or engage in an activity and shows how that prasso is used in that way.

Something that is “practical” is something that can be put into practice. Teaching is practical when it shows how to practice what is being taught. When we preach the Word of God, we want the listeners to practice Scripture. We don’t want just head knowledge, but we desire for the stuff in the brain to be lived out. Accurately obeying Scripture is the practice of Scripture. Living God’s Word can’t be easier than it is. We can’t take everything the Bible says to do and turn into something different than what Scripture says and have it be more practical. When it is practical, it is still Biblical.

The Problem

We have our problem, however, when men think that something that isn’t Biblical is superior to Scripture because it is either easier to practice than what the Bible says to practice or it seems to work better than what God has actually told men to do. This is Read the rest of this entry →

Eleven years ago, I saw Utah for the first time, from behind the windshield of a Hertz-Penske moving truck, pulling the family car on a trailer, with my wife at my side and the family cat on her lap. We saw the sillouette of the gorgeous Wasatch mountains against the night sky, and we wondered what life in Utah would bring us. Would we, could we have a ministry in Ogden? And of course, one of the big questions at the top of our list — how would we witness to the Mormons.

Life in Utah was different than we expected. We have yet to meet a polygamist (as far as we know). We don’t see wild-eyed, bearded prophets like we were expecting. We don’t get shunned, and jobs are as available to us as they are to anybody. We had heard that non-Mormons could not buy land in Utah. I now am buying my second home since moving here. Our church has owned its own property for over forty-five years. The LDS (Latter-Day Saints) people are friendly and kind and make good neighbors, and I have no complaint about them.

When we got here, we were most surprised by how much the LDS church dominates cultural life. The news media openly discusses church news. Even sports-talk radio stations regularly discuss the LDS church. Every spring and fall before the General Conference, stores have special sales and discounts that are directly connected to church doings. Even as I sit here at my keyboard hunting and pecking away, our entire state is celebrating a Mormon holiday. This morning there was a parade and businesses are closed for the day, as Utah celebrates “Pioneer Days” — a part of our Mormon heritage.

I am very grateful that God sent my family and me to Utah. It is a great privilege to serve the Lord and stand for him in such a place as this. And, God is doing some wonderful things here in this state. By God’s grace, we will see more in the years ahead. One thing is for sure — as is the Temple of Diana, so will be the LDS Temple.

Witnessing to Mormons is a demanding task. All of the “conventional” approaches to witnessing simply do not get any traction here. LDS doctrine has taken all of this into account, and has the advantage of being in flux, so that Read the rest of this entry →

When I googled the “reformation doctrine of justification,” I got 1450 sites. “Reformational doctrine of justification, ” 45 sites. “Reformed doctrine of justification,” 4040. “Reformers doctrine of justification, 106. Many reformed claim justification as a doctrine originated by the reformers out of their study of Scripture.

Not many histories of the doctrine of justification have been written. A few have been penned by reformed theologians. When you read the table of contents of the very few volumes, you will get the history of the doctrine in the Old Testament, next in the Apostolic Age, then in times of the patristics, and finally you jump to the reformation. They read as though there was an actual total apostasy of the doctrine of justification. The reformed writers say that you can see justification implicitly in the early and late church fathers, but not until the reformation do you see the doctrine developed. Is that true?

A Gap in the History of Justification

If that is true, that is, that the New Testament doctrine of justification stopped Read the rest of this entry →

We live in the midst of a revival of replacement theology. A growing gaggle of Gentile commentators call national Israel long dead and buried, but I am happy to announce that reports of her death are greatly exaggerated. God still plans for Israel, even while we speak. Among other human authors, that’s what the Apostle Paul tells us, and especially in Romans 11. He also explains these types of accusations—Gentile arrogance or conceit—when he writes (vv. 23-26):

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

Paul warned Gentile believers about becoming proud because unbelieving Israel was cut off from blessing so that the blessing might be offered to Read the rest of this entry →

 More haiku (in case you haven’t yet tired of it):

Guess what our theme is

We will tell you when you guess right

We’ll give three chances.

 

Theme introduced through

Riddles in poetic form,

Haiku not old (yet).

 

April’s theme hinted

It pays to discover the

Card that pays you back.

 

As light as paper

Almost as valuable

Heavy to the weak.

 

Some who have it don’t

It has you, you don’t have it

Even when you do.

 

The root of evil

Not necessarily this

Though you might dissent.

Have at it! 

For many years, Lake Superior State University has put together an annual list of the words that they would want banished from public use for the next year. In honor of their list, I give you this message of encouragement.

I’m no wordsmith, but I’d like to give back to my audience by bestowing you an emotional send-off to 2008 with random commentary, a perfect storm of organic joy to decimate the black Friday that is this pop culture. None of you needs a webinar to tell you that the surge in Iraq authored by the president has given us new hope in this post 9/11 world. Back in the day, we could count on aggressive actions from our military, waterboarding or not. None of us wants personal freedoms thrown under the bus, but sometimes it is what it is. Maybe Mike Huckabee or Fred Thompson is the new Ronald Reagan and all of this will clear up. That would be sweet, huh?

Whatever your state in 2008, let’s stay obedient to Scripture, watching and waiting for the Lord.

To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

Thanksgiving is here, and hopefully not without your taking time to give thanks. Of course, our thanksgiving should not be limited to one day of the year, duly set aside and observed. Every day should be a day for thanksgiving (I Thes 5:18; Heb 13:15). Nor should a single day end without our taking note of the many reasons we have for giving of thanks.

Are we not blessed in the simple fact that we have someone to thank? We have so many blessings, both simple and grand. Who do we thank? To God only wise, be glory. We would glorify Him as God, and we would be thankful. We need not wonder whom to thank, as if we received an anonymous gift. God gave the gift, and He put His name on the tag. We know Whom to thank, and that is a blessing.

But we should also note that God is glorified through Jesus Christ. God filled the earth with all things to delight the senses, and for that we thank Him as Creator. But Creation is not the greatest gift given by God to man. Creation, in the grand scheme of things, is sort of the “stocking stuffer;” the preliminary gift. Creation is indeed a grand gift, chock full of good things. But our deepest gratitude is reserved for God’s unspeakable gift (2 Cor 9:15). And thus we glorify God through Jesus Christ.

It is through Jesus Christ that we are able to glorify God. Apart from Christ, we were God’s enemies, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in us, because of the blindness of our heart. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: Through Christ we are reconciled. Through Christ, fellowship with the Father is possible, for Christ is our mediator. Through Christ, we can please God. Through Christ, God is glorified.

For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

May our praise never cease. May our thanksgiving only increase. May God be continually glorified through Jesus Christ for ever.

AMEN!