Is That the Best You Can Do?

As I have been reading and studying the Word, I thought maybe it might be a good idea to put my thoughts down. I’m going to shoot for a chapter a day, just a quick overview with some context. And, since I’ve never written down anything but scribbles in the margins, I figured, why not start with Romans, the [Sarcasm Alert!] one book in the Bible that doesn’t really bear on anything.

So, here goes. I’m reading in the English Standard Version, because it’s a literal (word-for-word) translation in more conversational language than many of the extant literal translations. So, crack open your own Bible, or click on the link below and read along! Comments are both encouraged and welcome! (You can find the beginning of this series here)

ROMANS 4

This chapter is key in describing the continuity of God’s plan from the Old Testament through the New. There is no distinction made between Jew and “Greek” here: justification by works is nonexistent; God has always saved according to faith.

²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and his faith was counted to him as righteousness. ⁴Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁵And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness

Paul is attempting to underline the uselessness of our efforts on our own behalf; all the striving to please God that we can muster will never be enough to satisfy our guilt before our Lord and Judge. If the sacrifices, the ways, even the thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, how, then do we become righteous in God’s eyes? By justification. How are we justified? By grace, through faith.

⁹Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. ¹⁰How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. ¹¹He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

So what about the Law?  Does it even apply anymore?

[My Lovely Bride and I were talking about this very subject just last night, the relationship between the OT and the NT.  My take on it is this:  If we wish to follow the Law of Moses, we must follow all 600+ components of it.  I don't think there's an exemption for moral law, or another exemption for ceremonial law.  And I don't know how you'd easily pick out which was which; there are all sorts of proscriptions all piled on top of each other.  Keeping the Law means keeping all of the Law; likewise, failing any part of it means violating all of it.  So what use is the OT?  Well, it's certainly good color commentary on our world today.  It reveals to mankind a portion of the character of God.  But where the Law can only show us how far off we really are, grace allows us to bridge the gap.  Thus, the OT should be viewed only through the lens of the NT.]

¹³For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

Jesus said once said he had come to fulfill, not abolish, the Law.  Other places in scripture talk about breaking the chains of sin, or about not being a slave to the flesh anymore.  And set free from the bonds of sin, where we were shackled under the law, we are now free for the first time in our lives …to not sin.

 ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” ²³But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, ²⁵ who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

God’s grace covers us completely.  We have the ability to screw things up royally on our own.  Nobody knows this better than me.  How much easier would it be for us if we simply followed Abraham’s example and trusted in God to do what He’s told us He’ll do?  I mean, the reference in the above quotes are to the story in Genesis about God telling 100-year-old Abraham and his 90-year-old wife Sarah that they were going to have a son.  And Abraham believed Him, unquestioningly.  Please don’t misunderstand me here; I’m not advocating — and I don’t think God would want — mindless drones buzzing around in His name.  By all means, ask for clarification and reassurance.  Gideon tested God several times, and he had arguably seen an angel face to face!

The thing to remember is:  God’s.  Grace.  Is.  Sufficient.

So, how’s that working out for you?

As I have been reading and studying the Word, I thought maybe it might be a good idea to put my thoughts down. I’m going to shoot for a chapter a day, just a quick overview with some context. And, since I’ve never written down anything but scribbles in the margins, I figured, why not start with Romans, the [Sarcasm Alert!] one book in the Bible that doesn’t really bear on anything.

So, here goes. I’m reading in the English Standard Version, because it’s a literal (word-for-word) translation in more conversational language than many of the extant literal translations. So, crack open your own Bible, or click on the link below and read along! Comments are both encouraged and welcome! (You can find the beginning of this series here)

ROMANS 3

Paul now discusses some of the further implications of the Law, in regards to the Jews. Since they had the Law, oral traditions, and, not to mention, several thousand years’ direct interaction with God, they have greater accountability before Him. They’re kind of like the spiritual older brothers of the world: they knew all the rules, and they knew their responsibilities; they should have been helping the rest of us along.

³What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

“That you may be justified in your words,

and prevail when you are judged.”

The important point here is, God is always there for us. He never gets tired, never needs to see other people. He will always do what He told us he’d do. When everyone else in the world has abandoned reason and sanity, God is still there, right where he was last time we looked. It’s kind of like the first time you took off your training wheels, and your Dad was jogging along beside you, hand hovering over the seat so he could grab it if you really screwed up… forever.

⁸And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

We shouldn’t adhere to the “broken window” fallacy… whether morally or economically. It does not further God’s agenda if we do evil in order to create an opening for God to triumph. [I’ve read the end of the book: God wins] What we need to do is to look to our own relationships with God, and with each other.

Then we see why all humanity is condemned before God. Paul quotes Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah to illustrate. There are some real positive things to be said, like:

¹⁰as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;[Psalms 14:1-3]

¹²All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good, not even one.”[Psalms 53:1-3]

¹³“Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”[Psalms 5:9]

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”[Psalms 140:3]

¹⁶“in their paths are ruin and misery,

¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known.”[Isaiah 53:7,8]

Nice, huh? This describes us all. I know it does, because it’s human nature. And rather than excuse, our natures accuse us because it is the very character of human nature that it extends not from God, but from how we are when God’s not around, when we don’t let Him in.

²⁰For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

It is our nature to sin, apart from God; the Law simply exposes this nature for what it is. We can’t change that under our own steam.

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

But God is, first and foremost, a God of love, eager to be reconciled to His creation, man

²⁴and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

²⁸For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law

³⁰…He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

I think God desperately wants us to return to Him. It amazes me that He is so desirous of my return to Him, someone as depraved as I know myself to be. Like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, anytime I wander off, He’s watching the horizon, waiting for the first glimpse of me coming home.

Elsewhere, Paul writes that we are saved by grace through faith. But which is the chicken, which the egg? Does grace bring about our faith, or does our faith give us access to grace?

³¹Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

That is, faith allows us to claim the substitutionary sacrifice which by grace satisfied the penalties of the law. Grace provides the opportunity for faith to grow; it’s as if grace is what shows us the tub full of clean water. Faith allows us to conceive of not wallowing in the mud.

Who Are You to Criticize?

As I have been reading and studying the Word, I thought maybe it might be a good idea to put my thoughts down. I’m going to shoot for a chapter a day, just a quick overview with some context. And, since I’ve never written down anything but scribbles in the margins, I figured, why not start with Romans, the [Sarcasm Alert!] one book in the Bible that doesn’t really bear on anything.

So, here goes. I’m reading in the English Standard Version, because it’s a literal (word-for-word) translation in more conversational language than many of the extant literal translations. So, crack open your own Bible, or click on the link below and read along! Comments are both encouraged and welcome! (You can find the beginning of this series here)

ROMANS 2

I think this letter was written by Paul specifically to the believers in Rome. It’s universal in that it applies to all saints everywhere, and everywhen; however, the message is not one of salvation but of sanctification. And since sanctification is a process, unlike justification, his exhortations here should be applied to our own lives as followers of Christ, and not to the great unwashed multitude. The way I see it, the Gospels are for the lost, and the rest of the New Testament, while it can be useful in reaching unbelievers, is mainly concerned with the admonition and edification of the elect. That said, today’s passage is geared especially to the judgmental Christian. [Bear with me here, this is a working thesis]

¹Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ²We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. ³Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Here, Paul is essentially pointing out that there is but one Judge, and we shouldn’t go around trying to do His job for Him. God’s been God for a really long time, and He’s probably got a much better grasp of how to do His thing than any of us do. Besides, when we sit in judgment of the lost — that guy with at least one tat and two piercings for each of his possession convictions, or the “tarted up” chick with the neckline down to here and the skirt split up to there — the only thing that differentiates us from them is grace. That’s it. [As in, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”]

⁶He will render to each one according to his works: ⁷by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. ⁹There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, ¹⁰but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.

God’s judgment, like the rain, falls on everybody, the just and the unjust, alike. [Hey! I think I read that somewhere!] Our actions decide our reward; God repays us, like Lord Denethor [of LOTR fame] told Pippin, “Fealty with love. Valor with honor. Disloyalty with vengeance.” And He may not wait until the Last Day to mete out our rewards, for good or ill. “What we do in this life, echoes in eternity,” adds Maximus.

Here’s where I get the thought that this letter really only addresses the saved: Paul wrote, “There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil… but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good.” For while the lost will, indeed, experience God’s wrath in an up-close and personal way, believers, too, may become vessels of wrath,

¹¹For God shows no partiality.

What a comforting, or, depending on where you’re coming from, chilling statement! God will one day say, “Here’s the bar. Here’s how far short you were.” It doesn’t matter whether you’re Charlie Manson, or Benedict XVI, you have to meet the same standard. No amount of whining, dealing, or temper-tantrums will lower the bar, or raise your grade. No special treatment. [That line strikes me kind of like, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”]

¹²For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. ¹⁴For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them ¹⁶on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

This takes away any concern that those under the Law, or those who heard of neither the Law nor Christ, are judged fairly, as well. And yes, this would be a departure from my general thesis. [But not entirely, since this would tend to put to bed some lingering questions about how the whole “Covenant of Grace” deal works… what about all those people who die without ever hearing the Gospel? Thinking, caring believers may be tied up in knots about this kind of thing] This also includes part of what I snickeringly call “Biblical post-modernism”: those with the Law are judged by rigorous standards of the Law; those without the Law are judged outside of the Law, they’re a “law to themselves.” Put succinctly, legalism kills. The much better way to go is to not only hear — which anyone, Jew or Gentile, saved or lost, can do — but live God’s Word. The freedom afforded us as believers allows just this ability to live uncorrupted lives in Christ; the question is, will we use that freedom, or continue to shackle ourselves to our sin?

¹⁷But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God ¹⁸and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; ¹⁹and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²²You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

This passage compares the dichotomy between unbelieving Jews and the saints. Well, I think it has a dual purpose: it also holds up the Jewish leadership, who should have been able to see clearly, as a cautionary tale to the saints; that’s sort of the subtext message I see here. But Paul is exhorting us to be pure in our motivations, to see that we are not ourselves immune to temptation and stumbling, no matter how “mature” we are in our faith.

²³You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. ²⁴For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

How powerful are those two statements? The cost of hypocrisy: driving the lost away from God. [Wasn't the Great Commission something like: "Go forth into all the world, telling everyone how much better you are than they"?] What could possibly be more tragic? Is this why we were saved, why Jesus sacrificed? So that we who have benefited from his death can seal the doom of those who don’t know Him? [I know for a fact that I am guilty of this]

²⁵For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Paul was underscoring – maybe a reflection of the false apostles in Corinth – the fact that our only hope as believers in reaching the ideal that Christ has put forth for us is [literal] reliance on God and [figurative] casting off of our flesh.

So… how can I endeavor to live as Christ while not putting myself in His place of judgment?

An Exposition, Of Sorts

As I have been reading and studying the Word, I thought maybe it might be a good idea to put my thoughts down. I’m going to shoot for a chapter a day, just a quick overview with some context. And, since I’ve never written down anything but scribbles in the margins, I figured, why not start with Romans, the [Sarcasm Alert!] one book in the Bible that doesn’t really bear on anything.

So, here goes. I’m reading in the English Standard Version, because it’s a literal (word-for-word) translation in more conversational language than many of the extant literal translations. So, crack open your own Bible, or click on the link below and read along! Comments are both encouraged and welcome!

ROMANS 1

Here, Paul sets the groundwork for the explanation of why we need salvation, why all humanity stands guilty before God, and why that (in light of God’s character) made Jesus’ redemptive sacrifice not only necessary, but ineluctable.

¹Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle for the gospel of God… ⁷To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called …saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul gives this lengthy introduction, which I’ve pared down, because he wanted every reader or listener to know that the person writing the letter was the well-known and trusted apostle he claimed to be. It’s sort of a short-hand C.V. He was also trying to get across how important he thought his work on God’s — and the believers in Rome — behalf was.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

How many of us can say this? I love reading Paul’s letters! Not for nothing he told us to emulate him, as he emulates Christ. But this is not exclusionary; “Greek” here could be replaced with “Gentile.” The gospel of Christ is for everyone. As the first 39 books attest, God sent his Word to the Jews first, that they could spread knowledge of Him throughout the nations. Their efforts — when they made any — were, arguably, a failure. At any rate, the Law can only convict sin, not absolve it, as we’ll see later. Also, those who had no Law were guilty anyway:

¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. [Emphasis mine]

Everyone stands guilty under the Law. Nobody can go through life and not sin against God. Nobody. And let’s face it: who would even try? Who could?

²⁴Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

God said, “You want it? You got it. Do what you want to do. No, no. You don’t have to listen to me. You do what you gotta do, and I’ll do what I gotta do.” My daughters don’t particularly like to hear me say that, because they know they’re going to get in trouble if they do whatever it is they wanted to do after that. It’s much easier on them if they listen, and do as they’re told. They’re 4 and 2, respectively. I wish we were as wise as they, when God talks to us. ‘Cuz, if it’s bad when I say it, how much worse must it be when the sovereign of the universe says it?

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with one another and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

For those among my readership [quite limited, though it may be] who either cannot or will not accept the evidence of their own lying eyes, let me paint a picture for you: homosexual relations, forbidden in Leviticus 18:22, are still wrong in the New Testament. [Despite what activist Christians™ would have us believe] Contrary to some of the modern press about it, God still isn’t handing out passes for buggery. Or for heterosexual fornication, either, for that matter.

But next comes the “whammy”:

²⁸And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. [Emphasis mine]

Wow. Look here — in the midst of all these Really Bad Things (murder, inventors of evil, ruthless, etc.) you have “inconsequentials” like “gossips” and “disobedient to parents.” God doesn’t mess around, does he? That is “old school” …real old. Like, stone-your-rebellious-son-to-death-at-the-city-gates old.

What does that say about us? As I read this, I was thinking, “Paul’s talking to us. To me.” As a believer in America, how many lies do you tell? Paul wrote, “deceit.” I sometimes pat myself on the back because I don’t lie to my kids about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. [There’s that “haughty” thing] How many rumor mongering prayer requests are wrapped in some version of “bless his/her heart?” Or what about the “envy” we feel when we see that guy roll down the street in his super cherry, totally tricked-out 1965 Mustang with the over-size rear tires and racing stripes, with glass packs rattling the pictures off your walls? [Or is that just me?]

And how often do we “not only do… but give approval to those who” do? Guys, how often do we vicariously rubber-stamp the amorous exploits of the single guy at work? How often do we nod in agreement while our co-workers kvetch about our supervisor’s Big New Idea? How much of our money do we spend rewarding Hollywood for making movies that in no way reflect a Christ-centered worldview?

Don’t get me wrong: among the body of believers, I’m the worst when it comes to this stuff. But as believers in America, how can we judge anyone else, when we are so far from on-target, ourselves? And if one of the Greek words translated as “sin” simply means “missing the mark,” are we not, as a nation — as a church — steeped in sin?

And if this describes the church, how much worse off are the lost?

[Go to Romans chapter 2, here]

What Happened to the Southern Baptists? Let’s talk about it

[This discussion began with a letter I received in an email recently, which you can read here.  I welcome further discussion, and I'm planning a follow-up post soon.]

[Update:  I just realized Laurence M. Vance, the author of this article, is the same Laurence M. Vance who regularly contributes to my favorite libertarian website, and has written several books on history, government, and Christianity, as well as Bible and Biblical language study aids.]

Pacifism for the sake of pacifism is nothing less than cowardice, and leads inexorably to the Chambers policy of appeasement, which is famously predicated on the sincere hope that the crocodile will eat you last.  Jesus said Himself that, in the last days, there would be wars and rumors of wars, ordered His disciples to be sure to sell their cloaks and buy a sword.  The overuse of “turn the other cheek” is a fallacy.  Men have a duty to protect their families, and by derivation, their countries; insofar as a war is moral, Christian men have a duty to serve their countries in war:  the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and WWII (though that was really our own fault).  But when morality does not attach, they have a duty to resist:  the War Between the States, WWI, and everything since Korea, inclusive (with the possible exception of Persian I – but we didn’t really have a dog in that fight, did we?).  David, the man with too much blood on his hands to build the Temple, was still a “man after God’s own heart.”  If the SBC ever entertained a blanket stance against any war, for any reason, then I believe they were dangerously close to apostasy (if they claimed an iron-clad Biblical basis for this position), and at any rate, I name them:  cowards.

This sea change in the SBC is not a stand-alone.  The entire “conservative” establishment has been decidedly un-conservative for many years now.  Thus, the SBC is just symptomatic of the general shift.  Case in point:  the new president, in Texas, of that worthy group is a woman, something I strongly disagree with, something unprecedented and unjustifiable.  Call me a misogynist, a throwback, a fossil, a dinosaur; I don’t care, and I’m a big boy – I can take it (you don’t spend several years on a US Navy submarine without growing a thick skin; I leave easy offense to the USAF-country-club guys ).  Of course, this follows the general rule that all societies, over time, move to the left.  Who was it that said a democracy will survive only so long as it takes the voters to discover they can grant themselves largesse from the public treasury?

Which leads me to my next point…

George W. Bush is a traitor.  I say this as someone who voted for Bush the Younger twice. Bush and his entire coven of advisors have one goal, and only one:  power.  Look to the power structure of our southern neighbor to find the template for the Bush-Clinton ideal.  Mexico is ruled by an almost monolithic power elite of European-descended whites, who are vastly, vastly wealthier than the average Mexican.  And the Anglo-Saxon tradition of the Rule of Law has virtually no presence.  Clinton and Bush both have greatly incentivized outsourcing of manufacturing in the pursuit of corporate sponsorship and dividends, and Bush is dedicated to amnesty for people whose very presence in this country is an affront to the Constitution.  And Congress has been steadily increasing the numbers of foreigners who can come here legally and undercut native workers’ salaries.  This is an all-out assault on the American Middle Class, the dissolution of which is crucial to advancement of the Bush agenda.  Another crucial step is growth of the Nanny State, at which Bush has been extremely successful, having grown the government by nearly 50% (adjusted for inflation) since taking office seven years ago.  And, with his administration’s antics (ahem, Patriot Act! Habeus corpus, anyone?), he has pretty much shredded the Constitution more than any President since Lincoln conducted a war of aggression against the Confederacy… and the Union.  But I digress…

The “neocon” movement that has seriously taken over the “right” since the end of the Cold War is anything but conservative.  Yet it has insinuated itself into ever facet of American political dialog.  Largely populated – in addition to complicit evangelicals – by barely-reformed Trotskyists, hippies fresh out of rehab, and non-practicing and/or openly apostate Catholics and Jews, these are a group of people who never had anything but contempt for true conservatism.  How can I make these claims?  I can see their fruits: the Patriot act, warrant-less wiretapping, a US hegemony being birthed in the Middle East, numerous thrusts at rewarding lawless illegal aliens, even our very involvement in such groups as the UN and NATO.  If you are familiar with George Orwell, you can guess at where this chipping away of personal freedoms and limits to government are headed.

I say all that to say that neocons have likewise infiltrated religious institutions, or their shills have.  A mindless – and wholly Scripturally unjustifiable – devotion to the manufactured state of Israel typifies these shills, as does the cleaving of them to any politician who claims to be a Christian.  The Anglo-Saxon basis of the US population historically has had a strong – and valid – mistrust of the government, any government.  All the government policies since the New Deal, however, have slowly eroded this well-advised mistrust.  And, after the shenanigans of the Clinton White House, I’m pretty sure the public was ready for anyone who could fit the form of a moral person.  So Bush and his ilk show up, talk about the Bible, and give all the “Sunday School” answers, and groups like the SBC take it hook, line, and sinker.  Sort of an evangelical group-think.  (Not to mention that the feminist movement has, since the ’70s, conditioned us all to not speak out against the herd – even when they’re dead wrong, to make everyone feel good, and not risk offending anyone.  Of course, I can’t find any of that – but actually, Paul ordered the opposite – in Scripture)  The result is, they’ve identified (right or wrong) that the Democrat party is immoral, so anything the Republicans do or say is by default inerrant.  And Southern Baptists – and other evangelicals, apparently, are stoopud, because we fall for this every time, regardless of what their lying eyes tell them about the Anointed Party.

Finally, let me make the very important point that the SBC in no way speaks for the Southern Baptist wing of the Church.  Always, and by design, a confederate (little “c”) organization, its edicts and resolutions are never – cannot be – binding on any church body.  That’s the case now; it was the case in 1845.  It is therefore likely that such resolutions did not in fact represent the passions and feelings of great, broad swathes of Southern Baptists at any given time, but simply a majority of those present when the resolutions passed.  And I especially hope that is true of the views of officers of the SBC, and in particular Richard Land.

Mr. Land is a member of the extremely anti-American Council on Foreign Relations, which is a godfather of the Security and Prosperity Partnership a la George W. Bush.  Regardless of their propaganda, the SPP is intent upon:  ”breaking down trade barriers” (read: ensuring middle class wages are undercut to the benefit of multinational conglomerates and foreign-born cheap laborers) between the US, Mexico, and Canada; and providing for the “mutual security” (including that of the governments against any attempts to practice the God-given right to overthrow them) of the member states.  It’s basically attempting to lay the foundation for a free commerce zone in the Americas.  Of course, the EU started out as a free-commerce partnership, you’ll remember.  You know, the EU… which just recently told British PM Gordon Brown that his plan – to ensure most new jobs in the UK go to Britons, rather than to one of the mushrooming population of alien residents – violates EU laws, and he can’t take this necessary step to protect British citizens.  That’s where Land, the ersatz Propaganda Minister of the neo-SBC, would have us go, apparently.

(By the way, according to World Net Daily:

According to a variety of sources, the following presidential candidates are either members of [CFR, the Bilderberg Group, or the Trilateral Commission – three highly-connected and influential internationalist think tanks] or have strong ties: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, John McCain, John Edwards, Fred Thompson, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson.

Mike Huckabee, though not a member, spoke to the CFR in September. Since then, his political star has risen to the point that he has become a top-tier candidate.

And Land is part of it.  Ever read Daniel?  Revelation?  I’m just sayin’….)

It’s informative (and in particular to this very issue) that so many who call themselves “conservative Christians” are giddy over Mike Huckabee, a man with a very long, very anti-conservative record. In case you’re keeping score, there are only two conservatives running for the GOP nomination, in my opinion:  Paul, and a somewhat distant second, Tancredo.  The others are pretenders to the throne.  And though I wouldn’t vote for him, Kucinich is the only Dem I can really respect; he’s at least a true believer.  But, again, I’ve gotten off-topic.

There are many reasons that our God is our personal Lord and Savior, and that it’s important that all believers pursue an intimate relationship with Him.  We should all be intellectually vigilant and do our dead-level best to learn all facts about any issue before us, lest we be led into sin.  Following the dictates of a group – any group, regardless of its pedigree – without first researching the facts ourselves, even if the group wraps itself in the Bible (or the flag), can only cause more harm.

For “many are called, but few are chosen,” and we are, all of us, each, ultimately, responsible for what we do, and who we believe.