Ok, I know I promised no more political posts for a while, but this is simply too good to not comment on. Here in Minnesota, we're still in the middle of figuring out who won the senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken.
I'm on Coleman's e-mail list and tonight he sent out a mailing with images of some of the ballots Franken is challenging. After looking at these it's obvious the Franken campaign has ever (a) lost its mind, (b) become very desperate or (c) lost all respect for the voters of Minnesota. My money's on (d) all of the above.
You can click on any of these images to see at full resolution
This first one has Coleman clearly marked as the vote. However, there's a miniscule dot next the Libertarian candidate, which according to Franken means the voter's intent is unclear. Don't feel bad if you don't see it at first, the dot really is that small.
The second one's the same story. There's a line that's kinda, sorta, not really by Dean Barkley but Coleman's bubble is clearly filled in. You'd have to be on hard drugs to think voter intent isn't clear here.
The last one I'll print here (there are several others like the two above) shows Franken's extreme double standard. On this ballot both the Dean Barkely and Al Franken circles are completely filled in. However, Franken claims the voter intent is obviously for him. So let me get this straight, a small dot next to Charles Aldrich's name is enough to cancel out a vote for Coleman but an entirely filled in Dean Barkely circle means nothing so long as Franken's circle is filled in as well. Despicable.
I'm all for having a recount when the vote is this close but what Franken is doing here is an abuse of the democratic process and insult to voters. It's shameful and an embarrassment to Minnesota. If this is what we can expect from Franken during the recount he ought to concede right now and spare the rest of us this pathetic and petty behavior. Shame on you Al Franken; you have no business representing my state.
One of the biggest and most effective attacks the enemy has use against The Gospel throughout church history has been convincing us to take the pure message of The Gospel and add to it.
This attack is no less effective today than it has been for the last 2,000 years. To name just a few that are prominent these days we have The Gospel + social change, The Gospel + morality and good behavior, The Gospel + ritual and religious ceremony, The Gospel + sound doctrine, The Gospel + authenticity. I could go on and on.
Now, I'm not diminishing any of those things. Several of them are essential parts of the Christian walk. Of course we want to make an impact on society and help those around us. Of course we want to encourage right behavior and Christian morality. Of course there is value in Christian rituals such as communion. Of course we want sound doctrine and an authentic approach to our faith and our lives. They're all important, which is why this trap is so effective
However, for as important as all of those issues are they are not The Gospel. The Gospel is Christ bringing us life and life to the full. It is the seeking and salvation of what was lost. It is our rescue from damnation and the promise of Heaven. It is freedom from our sin and our heart of stone being replaced with a heart of flesh. It is healing for the brokenhearted and our transformation into a new creation. It is life flowing fully and richly from the heart.
It is precisely because those other things are so important that The Gospel must be kept central. When we take The Gospel + morality we wind up with a legalism that does little to actually change sinful behavior and brings none of the life Christ promised. When we tack on ritual and religion we get an empty shell of faith where we go through the motions but lack any fire or passion of true faith.
But when The Gospel is central and we live from the heart then we find true transformation and reach a level of holiness unavailable to even the most strident legalist. We find true joy in religion and ritual as they become one more way to express love and intimacy with God.
We all have issues that we care about. It's part of how God created us so that the Body of Christ would work as it was meant to. But when we make those issues central instead of living from the heart, the Body of Christ becomes shattered. Instead of one Church with many functions we have many Gospel +_____ churches, each with one function.
I say this even about issues close to my heart such as truth, sound doctrine and the right to life of the unborn. I care passionately about each of those but they cannot take the place of The Gospel as being central. Doing so not only diminishes Christ's message but it prevents those issues I care about from becoming part of the fuller, complete Body of Christ.
We've all got our own list of issues and if we're honest we'll admit we all have a tendency to want to make the items on our list central. Let's not. Let's take a stand and say that we as a body of believers will accept only The Gospel plus nothing. Only then can we truly see the Body of Christ begin to work and those issues so dear to our hearts begin to be advanced as part of the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is one of the coolest videos I've ever seen. It's an a cappella quartet singing famous John Williams theme music using dialogue from the Star Wars Trilogy. If this isn't nerdy I don't know what is. The Jurassic Park part is awesome!
Update: so apparently Annie and Ellie just finished watching the video and Ellie was enthralled the whole time. How about that! Less than two months old and she already loves Star Wars!
Ok, I promise this will be the last political post for a while but this is an important enough issue that I'm going to ask you to bear with me through one more post. I want to talk now about the Freedom of Choice Act. This is a pro abortion piece of legislation that will be reintroduced in Congress next year. Among the things it would accomplish would be to:
-Strike down bans on partial birth abortion -Strike down parental notification laws -Create a federal law guaranteeing a right to abortion
If you don't think this is a serious threat than you need to watch this video of Barak Obama speaking to Planned Parenthood
Two of the main quotes from Obama in the video:
"On this fundamental issue [abortion], I will not yield."
"The first thing I'd do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act"
I know that not everyone is as conservative as I am or as worried about the Obama Administration. But this is an issue we need to unite around. Please visit fightfoca.com (thanks to John C. Wright for the link), sign the petition and consider donating to help fight this evil piece of legislation.
But more important than that let's pray. We've got over two months until Obama takes office and we can do a lot of fighting in the spiritual realm long before this bill gets to Congress. Let's pray passionately and fiercely. Lives are depending on it.
Here's how I intend to be praying.
I'm going to pray that God will soften the hearts of President Obama and of the pro choice members of Congress. We know from the story of the Exodus and elsewhere in Scripture that God can both soften and harden the hearts of rulers. Let's pray that we see that happen again.
I'm going to pray to bring the Kingdom of God against the kingdom of darkness in this country. At His ascension, Christ gave believers spiritual authority to bring the Kingdom. As citizens of this country, we have authority in Heaven and on Earth over what goes on here. We can bring the Kingdom, and the full work of Christ, against this legislation and against the powers of darkness in our nation. Remember the story of Daniel and the prince of Persia. There is more going on than we can see and we have authority to fight it.
I'm going to pray that the hearts and minds of individuals in this country will be opened and that they will see the truth about abortion and the horror of this legislation.
I'm going to pray for The Church in America. We as a church need to stand against abortion and that's more important now than ever.
Pray as the Spirit leads you but please pray and pray often. Lives are depending on it.
By now it's become pretty obvious that this year's presidential election is not going to end the way that I had hoped and prayed for. Here are a few of the thoughts going through my head as I brace myself for the most liberal administration in American history.
-The legal front of the pro-life movement has been set way, way back. Ginsberg and Stevens will be replaced on the Supreme Court by younger, equally liberal justices and that will prolong Roe vs. Wade for a long time. However, the legal front, though extremely important, is not the only front in the abortion battle. We need to keep praying, keep spreading the message of Christ's healing and grace to those who have had abortions and keep spreading the message of life and redemption to those consider abortions. Make no mistake, this country needs to see abortion outlawed but there's a lot we can do between now and when that happens.
-That said, may God have mercy on us for extending the legal life span of this evil, evil process that much further. It's time for Christians to go back, reread and relisten to what Francis Schaeffer had to say about abortion. It's time to draw a line in the sand. This must be a no compromise issue going forward.
-I believe who we choose as our leaders matters enormously but we need to remember we live in a larger story. Our story began way before any nation and it will still be going long after all nations have passed away.
-Prayer changes things and it is more powerful than any legislature or president. As citizens of this country we have spiritual authority over what goes on in it. Let's use it.
-A lot can happen in four years. Conservatism is far from dead and it will be back.
-America is still the greatest country on Earth and even with a socialist president I'm still enormously proud to be an American.
I want to preface this post with two quick items. The first is an excerpt from John Eldredge's blog last Friday. The second is a video from CatholicVote.com. It's addressed to Catholics but the message is applicable to everyone.
From John Eldredge:
There is a sort of “moral equivalency” that has crept into our thinking. We’ve come to believe that one issue is just as weighty as another. Or that one set of issues balances out another. That we are free therefore to pick and choose according to those things which “matter to us.” But as believers, we know that some moral questions are far weightier than others. For example, issues of life and death are far more significant than economic reforms we might like to see.
Jesus speaks about “the weightier matters of the law” (Matt 23:23). Some things are more important than others. The Scripture does not teach a level moral playing field where all issues are the same.
The messages in the blog and video above are enough to decide this election for me. Even if I agreed with Obama on everything else (which I do not) I could not vote for him. Abortion matters. Life matters. Whether or not our leaders believe it is ok to partially deliver a baby and then kill it in a way more barbaric than I will describe here matters.
Barak Obama is more liberal than any major presidential candidate has ever been on the issue of abortion. I've heard various excuses from him and his campaign as to why he voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act but his excuses are empty and hollow. This bill would have prevented babies who survived an abortion from being thrown into the trash simply because they were unwanted. There is NO EXCUSE good enough for voting against that bill. There is NO EXCUSE for supporting partial birth abortion. It is evil. There is no other word to describe it. And the fact that Barak Obama's judgment is so impaired that he can't see that disqualifies him in my mind. I'll wear the single issue voter label with pride if the issue is this issue.
But there are other issues too and I want to touch on those briefly.
I'm voting for McCain because I believe in victory in Iraq. Whether we should have gone there in the first place is a great question for historical debate but we're there, thanks to the surge we're winning and we need to finish the job.
I'm voting for McCain because I believe in federalism, in the value of doing as little as possible at the federal level and leaving the rest to state and local governments. The federal government is too big. It's time to shrink it.
I'm voting for McCain because I don't think anyone should have their taxes raised no matter how rich they are.
I'm voting for McCain because I believe it is immoral for government to "spread the wealth around."
I'm voting for McCain because I believe in the second ammendment and in the defense of private gun ownership.
I'm voting for McCain because I oppose activist judges and believe we need a constructionist philosophy in our courts.
I'm voting for McCain because he understands what it means to sacrifice for his country.
I'm voting for McCain because I'm sickened by Barak Obama's messiah complex. The man's arrogance is astounding and horrifying.
I'm voting for McCain because he's capable of admitting when he's wrong. I've never once hear Obama admit he's wrong. All I ever hear from him is spin, excuses and half truths.
I'm voting for McCain because the thought of Joe Biden one breath from the presidency is almost as scary as the thought of Barak Obama in the presidency.
I'm voting for McCain because I don't think it's the federal government's job to give me health insurance.
But mostly I'm voting for McCain because he values human life. Excuse me if I sound like a broken record but I can't restate this enough. Millions of babies are being murdered every year. With Ginsburg and Stevens set to retire on the Supreme Court we have a chance to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Let's take it and begin building a culture of life in this country. Abortion matters. More than anything.
