UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES: 2005/01-02
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The Newsletter of Contend for the Faith, Inc
1 Chronicles 12:32
January-February 2005
Finding Evidence for God in DC
Deborah and I had the great pleasure of attending the second Inauguration of President George W. Bush in January. A friend was able to get us tickets to a standing area close to the Capitol building, so we had a good view of this historic event.
It turned out to be a beautiful day, even though it was cold. We really enjoyed meeting many fellow believers there who were also celebrating this event.
We love to visit Washington D.C. to get a sense of so much of the history of our country. The day after the Inauguration we went sightseeing. We had the privilege of going onto the floor of the House of Representatives where the Congress does its business and where the president addresses the nation each year on the State of the Union.
What really struck me in the House chamber was this:
In this room where laws are passed that affect everyone in our country, some legislators oppose certain bills because they worry about a violation of the “separation of church and state.” Yet inscribed in the marble above the chair of the Speaker of the House is our national motto, “In God We Trust.” And in the center of the wall of the upper level, facing the speaker’s platform, is the image of Moses.
The next time the members of the House debate a bill, they should look around the chamber and remember that this nation was founded by Christians who understood that we need to trust in the God of the Bible and follow the principles laid out in His Word. Our lawmakers ignore these things to our collective peril.
Pray for Teenager Jacob
In January I got a call from a friend in South Carolina who had a Christian friend who was frantic because her 18-year-old son had just announced to her that he was going to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a few days. The mother was angry at her son and desperate for help to keep him from joining the Mormons. For months he had been dating a Mormon girl (always a bad idea for teens from a Christian home) and had decided to join the LDS so the relationship could continue.
I could not meet with Jacob and his mom that evening, so I asked my friend Scott to go instead. He did, and Jacob agreed to delay the baptism for 30 days in order to look into the problems with Mormonism.
A few days later I met with Jacob. I started out by asking him several questions about his beliefs concerning the essential teachings of Christianity, such as how many true Gods are there, was Jesus always God, etc. He began each of his answers with, “We believe . . .” as if speaking as a Mormon. The interesting thing was that almost all of his answers were in line with Christian orthodoxy, clearly contradicting Mormonism.
I spent the next two hours showing Jacob the problems and errors of Mormonism from their own texts, and I demonstrated how Joseph Smith’s teachings radically contradict the Bible.
By the end of the evening, Jacob was no longer speaking as a Mormon believer, but he was voicing concern for his Mormon girlfriend that “she needs to see this information too!”
Since that night another friend of mine, Derwin, has met with Jacob, and we are all praising God because Jacob has decided he cannot become a Mormon because its teachings are false.
Jacob has been attending a Christian youth group and been going through a discipleship class. He has said that he now wants to be baptized as a Christian.
Please pray for Jacob that he will trust in the true Jesus of the Bible and embrace the true Christian gospel for salvation. And pray that his girlfriend and her family will come out of Mormonism and into the Kingdom of Christ as well.
SPEAKING SCHEDULE 2005
February 27, 2005
Contending for the Faith, Introduction, Sunday School Class, Southern Evangelical Church, Charlotte, 11:00 am www.SouthernEvangelicalChurch.org
March 6, 2005
Contending for the Faith, Thinking 101, Sunday School Class, Southern Evangelical Church, Charlotte, 11:00 am www.SouthernEvangelicalChurch.org
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
UNDERSTANDING THE MORAL STATE OF THE UNION
As we begin 2005, I thought it might be good to look at a few key moral issues in our society to see where we stand today.
LIFE ISSUES
Certain things in American life never seem to go away: death, taxes, and debates on abortion. Yet there have been some very positive signs of change on the abortion issue.
Since the elections of 2004 demonstrated that a clear majority of voters nationwide cast their ballots according to where the candidates stood on key moral issues, pro-abortion politicians and advocates have showed signs of rethinking their hardcore stance.
Amazingly, The New York Times has run not one but two front page articles that should give pro-life Christians cause for hope.
On Feb. 2nd, an article told of how crisis pregnancy centers, funded by church groups, are using sonogram machines to turn women away from having abortions. There was even a photo of one woman and her cute nine-month-old daughter. The mother decided not to abort her baby when she saw the sonogram. Of course there were also quotes from pro-abortion groups accusing the pro-life clinics of being “coercive” and dispensing “propaganda” by using the machines to show women the babies growing inside of them.
On Feb. 16th, a page one story explained how some members of the Democrat party are rethinking their position on abortion, with some leaders recruiting pro-life candidates to run for Senate. This has angered the resolute abortion advocates who want to give up no ground in their battle to maintain the “right” to kill the unborn.
Even Hillary Clinton, the liberal New York senator who is expected to run for president, recently spoke of the need for pro-abortion people to find “common ground” with pro-lifers to prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions. Speaking to a pro-abortion group in New York in January, Mrs. Clinton called abortion a “sad, even tragic choice to many, many women.”
Mrs. Clinton even voiced uncommon respect for pro-lifers when she said, “I, for one, respect those who believe with all their hearts and conscience that there are no circumstances under which any abortion should ever be available.” While many believe these remarks are more rhetoric than reality for Mrs. Clinton, the mere fact she would say such things to abortion supporters indicates the effect that “values voters” are having on politicians.
There are still some politicians who seem to have learned nothing from the November elections. John Edwards, the former NC senator who ran for Vice President with John Kerry, recently told George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” in response to a question about abortion, “I don’t believe that life begins at conception.” Unfortunately the obvious follow-up question was not asked: “Well, when do you believe that life begins?”
Overall, the culture seems to be clearly moving toward the pro-life position. When even long-time champions of abortion are forced to rethink their position, Christians must be doing something right.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
While these faux “marriages” are still recognized only in Massachusetts, the New York Supreme Court decreed on Feb. 4th that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry. The ruling was stayed for 30 days to allow for appeals.
To date 17 states have passed amendments to their constitutions to protect traditional marriage, with each measure passing by an overwhelming majority. When the people of this country get to vote on the issue, there is no question that they oppose any judicially-mandated redefinition of marriage.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
On March 2, 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments on two cases involving the public display of the Ten Commandments.
In Van Orden v. Perry, which will be argued first, justices will decide whether the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals was correct in ruling last November that a stand-alone monument of the Ten Commandments on the capitol grounds in Austin, Texas, is constitutional.
In McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky, the high court will consider if the Sixth Circuit followed the Constitution last December in ruling against the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in a display of historical documents in two Kentucky county courthouses.
Because there have been so many contradictory rulings concerning these displays from different courts around the nation, the Supreme Court agreed to hear these together. The rulings on these cases will likely set the direction on church-state issues for years to come.
We need to pray for the justices of the Supreme Court, that they will rule properly on these cases according to (not in spite of) the Constitution, leaving personal preferences aside. Pray for the lawyers who will argue in favor of these displays, that they will represent the truth well and argue persuasively for what the Founding Fathers enacted with the Constitution. And pray that the decisions will protect and expand public religious expression.
