no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

THE CHURCH IN AMERICA
It's not Johnson Amendment muzzling pastors -- it's cowardice
Michael Brown: 'We have compromised for the sake of comfort and convenience'


If President Trump succeeds in removing the oppressive Johnson Amendment, which limits freedom of speech from the pulpits, will Christian leaders be more outspoken on controversial moral, cultural and political issues? I have my doubts, since I don’t believe it is the Johnson Amendment that has muzzled preachers across America.

I believe it is the fear of man that has muzzled us, and it is our desire to be affirmed by the world that has silenced us. Until we repent of these sinful, carnal attitudes, our tongues will not be loosed. We have been paralyzed from the inside, not the outside, and the removal of outward hindrances will not set us free within.

Let’s be honest about this. The Johnson Amendment, as wrong as it is, is quite limited in its scope, primarily prohibiting “certain tax-exempt organizations from endorsing and opposing political candidates.”

It does not prohibit pastors from speaking out against political corruption.

It does not prohibit pastors from speaking out against LGBT activism.

It does not prohibit pastors from speaking out against abortion.

It does not prohibit pastors from speaking out against a host of other moral and cultural issues, yet it is here that we have seriously failed our people – I say “we” because I, too, am a ministry leader, although not a pastor – since these are the very issues so many of us studiously avoid.

Who needs the controversy? Who wants to be vilified? Why stick your hand into a hornet’s nest? Why ask for trouble?

You might say, “Maybe some pastors think like this, but that’s not the real issue for them. The issue is that they don’t want to distract from the gospel. They just want to tell people about Jesus.”

Unfortunately, this line of reasoning doesn’t hold water, since Jesus Himself was tremendously controversial – if memory serves me right, He was actually put to death by His generation – and He said that if we followed Him faithfully, we would be hated just as He was hated (see John 15:18; Matthew 10:24).

Why is it, then, that the same world that hated him so much loves us so much? Why is it that He offended so many – by being a perfect, shining light, full of grace and truth – yet we offend so few? (Sad to say, when we do offend people, it is often due to us being offensive and obnoxious or hypocritical and self-righteous rather than shining so brightly that people hate our light.)

It is true that Jesus was a friend of sinners – especially the societal outcasts – and we do well to follow His example. But is equally true that He was a threat to all that was wrong in His society – including the religious establishment – while we frequently find ourselves completely at home in this world. How can this be?

In 2014, George Barna discussed the results of his latest poll during an interview on American Family Radio. He explained that, “What we’re finding is that when we ask [pastors] about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, ‘Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues.’ Then we ask them: ‘Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues?’ and the numbers drop … to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.”

And what, exactly, holds them back from addressing controversial issues from the pulpit, including, “societal, moral and political issues”? According to Barna, “There are five factors that the vast majority of pastors turn to. Attendance, giving, number of programs, number of staff, and square footage.”

He continued: “What I’m suggesting is [those pastors] won’t probably get involved in politics because it’s very controversial. Controversy keeps people from being in the seats; controversy keeps people from giving money, from attending programs.”

Yes, at all costs, we must avoid the controversy that will stop us leaders from fulfilling the Christian version of the American dream: Great success and popularity and a happy, financially prosperous congregation, all made possible by preaching a watered-down gospel.

This mindset has nothing whatsoever to do with the New Testament faith.

Fired up by the results of the Barna poll, pastor and radio host Chuck Baldwin wrote:

Please understand this: America’s malaise is directly due to the deliberate disobedience of America’s pastors – and the willingness of the Christians in the pews to tolerate the disobedience of their pastor. Nothing more! Nothing less! When Paul wrote his own epitaph, it read, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7) He didn’t say, “I had a large congregation, we had big offerings, we had a lot of programs, I had a large staff, and we had large facilities.”

Are his accusations too harsh? In many cases, yes, since there are sincere shepherds who simply feel ill-equipped to address the hot-button issues of the day, instead finding their gifting in the systematic teaching of the Scriptures and caring for their flocks. It is not fear that holds them back as much as a sense of calling to minister in a different way.

But in all too many cases, Baldwin’s accusations are right on target: We have compromised for the sake of comfort and convenience. We have found a way to bypass the cross and its shame. We have created a no-cost, pop-gospel, forgetting that a gospel that costs nothing saves no one and is not a gospel at all.

The irony of all this is that Barna’s survey also indicated that the vast majority of Christians surveyed – around 90 percent – wanted their pastors to address these difficult moral and cultural issues, since this is the world they live in, and these are the problems they confront, right down to their kids in nursery school.

They are expecting their pastors and leaders to help them sort these things out based on scripture, and they are frustrated and grieved when the men and women they look to are not there when they need them. Shouldn’t the shepherds care more about the well-being of their flocks than their own popularity? Shouldn’t the pastors care more about the health of their congregation than the wealth of their congregation?

To be clear, I have preached in wealthy, large mega-churches that are not afraid to tackle the controversies, and I have preached in poor, small churches that are afraid to tackle these issues. The fear of man comes in many shapes and sizes, but the expression of it will always be the same: You will not do what you know is right because you fear the negative consequences.

That is a fear that must be broken, and it is only the Lord – not Donald Trump – who can help us break it.

Will we rise to the occasion, when society needs us the most, or we will cower behind our cheap excuses?

It’s time for the lion to roar.

(In a subsequent article, I plan to write on the “Trump effect,” referring to others becoming bold because of his boldness. It will complement, not contradict, this article.)


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2017/01/its-not-johnson-amendment-muzzling-pastors-its-cowardice/#8RdoDvUrYQ3VtzmF.99

padremike Loc: Phenix City, Al

There has been a recent movement in the past couple years where many pastors have, from their pulpits, preached against the politically correct anti-Christian policies of the Obama administration and purposely mailed a copy of their homilies to the IRS. To date, and the best of my knowledge, no action has been taken against any of these clergy. No true Christian can claim to be a Christian and at the same time a Democrat. By tacit approval of the Democrat/Progressive moral agenda you compromise the Christian faith and Christ. That is why today many Democrats are atheist and agnostics. The Democrats are a magnet for their moral relativistic anti-God philosophy.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

You are right and it has become the first thing I use to evaluate a candidate. While I don't intentionally do the same when meeting a new person, by the time I have known him a while, I will have selected for close friends the same type of people who would fight the politically correct agenda tooth and nail

Dummy Boy Loc: Michigan

Why do ministers need to participate in worldly matters?

Can you provide one example (recent of course) in which the church picked the "right side" of issue?

If prayer cannot fix it, I think you already have God's answer.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
Deuteronomy 14:2 You have been set apart as holy to the LORD your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure.
Revelation 18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.
Psalm 4:3 You can be sure of this: The LORD set apart the godly for himself. The LORD will answer when I call to him.
1 John 4:4-5 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them.
2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.
Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Colossians 3:1-3 Since you were raised from the dead with Christ, aim at what is in heaven, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Think only about the things in heaven, not the things on earth. Your old sinful self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God.
1 John 2:15-16 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.
Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Matthew 10:16-17 Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues.
2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Ephesians 5:11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
Deuteronomy 18:14 because those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to those who practice witchcraft and divination. But the Lord does not allow you to act this way.
Exodus 23:2 You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice.
Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
John 15:18-19 If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

1 Peter 4:4 Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you.
Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
John 14:23-24 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

Dummy Boy Loc: Michigan

You couldn't explain fire to Joan of Arc. What an idiot, liar and hypocrite.

padremike Loc: Phenix City, Al

That was not said in jest. It was based upon your many previous comments. You don't have the common sense or intellect to pour piss out of your yellow tennis shoes if the instructions were printed on the bottom. But I do love it that your rage over our new president continues to burn your butt to ash. Hence the scripture, "remember man (speaking of you Marxist progressives) thou art butt dust......."

Dummy Boy Loc: Michigan

Is that an issue you struggle with pouring you piss out of your shoes (because your "man-diaper" failed)?

I think you have me confused with someone else, I haven't raged about tRump at all.

My rage was your claim that a driver's license is sufficient for identification of citizenship: it isn't, period. Your birth certificate or when you were made a citizen is proof of citizenship. It is conceivable that people voted illegally, but unless someone is paying you to vote, why would you vote?

Is that what you consider an intellectual discussion?

tRump hasn't burned me in anyway. I can't think of single issue in my life that has been made for worse. I'll probably pay less taxes next year, that's the only difference between December 31st and his post swearing in. I don't go to protests in DC, sleep in any of his shithole hotels, gamble, or golf in faux crappy golf courses. The skies are still blue when the clouds clear and the sun still sets in the west. Nothing to see hear. And we're guaranteed fewer press conferences, since he considers everyone a liar. Yea, I can't conceive in anyway how my butt got burned.

Hopefully, he cuts your SSA benefits and geezer tax breaks. You spent a lot more time ruining the roads than me, and sticking up the country.

padremike Loc: Phenix City, Al

If you voted for Democrats you are everything I said you were. Case closed.

Dummy Boy Loc: Michigan

I didn't vote for one democrat, not one.

I voted for Gary Johnson, and I voted for many other libertarian's in my home state.

Just because I constantly bring up the fact that Hillary has been constantly accused of high crimes; and senate committees, judges, lawyers offer no evidence to convict her of anything; doesn't mean she's isn't liar. But it doesn't mean that tRump isn't a liar or at best a pathological misinformation "alternative fact" generator or in practical parlance a "gossip". The thing he hates the most, he himself wants to control. It's a lot easier to lie when you deploy the "law" that is: the justice department, CIA, FBI, and cops to chase rabbits into holes.

...so the bottomline is a lot of people and corporations are going to pay less in taxes, and the purported savings by spending more money to save America from a bunch fictitious problems will go on....but, yea I'm okay with paying less in taxes. It's great, don't you think? Now let's take a look at that deficit next year, 'kay?