Problems are for Solving

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
(1 Timothy 2:1-6, ESV)

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post that no matter who you voted for you should be praying for President-elect Obama. Why?

Paul, in the verse I’ve quoted above exhorts that prayers be made for all people, specifically for “kings and all who are in high positions.” And he tells us why: “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” And then he goes on to talk about the Gospel and Jesus Christ the one mediator between God and man.

So why should we want a peaceful and quiet life? So that we can preach the Gospel! So that people would come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

When Bill Clinton was President of the United States, it would often bother me how many Christians would spend so much time complaining about him. I can actually only remember one time (in a sermon) that anyone mentioned praying for him. Now Clinton was not an honorable man, nor do I believe that he was honest nor a faithful Christian. But irrespective of that he was the president, and God tells us to pray for all people in high places.

So today, and every day from now until January, 2013 when there may be another president, pray for Barack Obama. Pray that God would use him to make a way for Christians to lead a peaceful and quiet life, so that the Gospel may be preached. Pray that God would convert him in the same powerful way as was Nebuchadnezzar.

And don’t stop there.

Pray for Nancy Pelosi. For Harry Reid. For your governor. Your state legislators. Your congressmen and senators. Pray for all those in high places so that you may live a peaceful and quiet life. And God, who holds the heart of the king in His hands, will hear that prayer and may be merciful to give us that peace and quiet, whether we deserve it or not.

And don’t stop there.

Whether the peace and quiet comes or not, both in word and deed proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ of salvation to horrid sinners like you and me to every creature.

May God bring a prayerful heart to every one of us, and may He be merciful to give us a peaceful and quiet life, and may we respond with faithfulness in the proclamation of the Gospel of Peace!

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalms 2:1-12, ESV)

Today, many people are having reactions to last night’s news. And they will continue reacting as more news comes in today. The voting is over, and as the final ballots are counted news will abound.

In January Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States. And many of those who did not vote for him are fretting about what kind of Presidency he will have, and in a future post I will deal with that fretting.

First, though, about reactions. The King of Kings is still enthroned. And as I wrote yesterday, it is God who removes rulers and sets others in their places. In our republic He does that through the means of the voters and the electoral college–but it is God who does it. And God has determined that Barack Obama will be the next President.

And Christians will be tempted to react many different ways today.

To those who voted for McCain: He did not lose because of your brothers who did not vote for McCain. Do not curse your brothers who voted for third parties, or even those who voted for Barack Obama. Furthermore, consider the additional executive powers that you were just fine with President Bush exercising and remember why limited government is important: power shifts. And if you’re not comfortable with Barack Obama wielding certain powers you shouldn’t want George W. Bush to have them either. And sit down and pray for our nation, and for our next President (more on this in the next post). You voted as you thought you should, and God will bless that–rest in that and trust in God for what will come next.

To those who voted for a third party: Do not gloat over the inability of the centrist, “RINO” McCain to inspire the nation. Do not say “I told you so” or bite back about how horrible it is that your brothers voted differently than you did. Don’t revile VNS for bad third party reporting. Don’t take a “holier than thou” attitude towards others who voted differently. Sit down and pray for our nation, and for our next President. You voted as you thought you should, and God will bless that–rest in that and trust in God for what will come next.

To those who voted for Obama: Do not gloat in his victory. And more importantly, despite whatever inspired you about him, never forget that he is a man. And many men, good though they appeared, have been corrupted by power even if they were not before. Also, be prepared to watch him do things that he said he would that you paid no attention to like signing the Freedom of Choice act and pursuing the so-called fairness doctrines that may hamper your free speech. I will resist the temptation to say “I told you so” later, but consider those possibilities now and do not be surprised if those things happen. And do not look down on your brothers for not voting the way you did. I am very happy that the USA was willing to vote for a Black president so soon after our war, even though I am sad that the first Black president has the views he does. And maybe this will bring some of that healing, but do think of those who did not vote for him as racist or betrayers. And sit down and pray for our nation, and for our next President. You voted as you thought you should, and God will bless that–rest in that and trust in God for what will come next.

Finally, to the title and verses above. There are many in our nation who want no part in the holy God who created them. They want to cast the cords that bind them away–rage against the Most High. No matter what happens in the public square over the next four years, God is neither surprised nor shaken. In fact, the efforts to throw off His control he scoffs at. He laughs! Our King is still enthroned, and He watches over our world, and He will not be dethroned no matter who rules on earth over any nation.

So pray for President Bush. Pray for President-elect Obama. And trust in the King. And serve no King but Jesus Christ.

This morning, on my way home from the gym, I plan to stop and vote. Later tonight someone on the news will tell us one of three things, which most of you have probably heard by the time you read this. Either John McCain or Barack Obama will be elected to serve a first term beginning in January, or the election (for whatever reason) will not be over and we will have to wait to find out who will sit in the White House from January, 2009 through January 2013.

Every four years many Christians seem to forget that what matters most is not who is in the White House, but Who is on the throne. We will have a president, one way or another. More importantly, we have a King. His Name is Jesus.

Daniel 2:20-21, says:

“Daniel answered and said, ‘Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons, he removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;”

Most of us understand that Daniel was living in exile when he spoke these words. As we approach this year’s election many of us may hearken back to the 2000 presidential election. The election that didn’t seem to end.

As I write this I do not know who will be elected president. I don’t know whether he will prove to, in hindsight, be a good man or an evil man. But I do know, as Daniel did, that God alone removes kings and sets up kings.

When Daniel said this, he may have hearkened back himself to Isaiah’s words, when God calls the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar His servant. Daniel had no way of knowing when he said these words that Nebuchadnezzar would become a believer. But he did know what you and I can know-that God sets up kings.

We need not fear what lies ahead-because God knows and has promised that that gates of Hades will not prevail against His Church. We can bless the Name of God for ever and ever because He alone sets up kings. He alone gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. And He has promised to care for us.

Tomorrow morning many Christians may be fretting over the election of Barack Obama. The Republicans may lose even more ground in the Senate. No one expects them to even make up ground in the House of Representatives. But no matter who is ruling inside the DC beltway-Jesus rules from Heaven without fail.

Psalm 2 says that kings rage against the Messiah-but that the One in the Heavens laughs at them. He knows. He knows that they must stand on His lap to slap Him in the face. He knows that they are not mighty-and that they will fall at His command.

In 1997 I was diagnosed with adult onset asthma. Several times over the past years I have come close to death because I could not bring that next breath into my lungs. I have lived for years now with the ever present awareness that God holds every breath that we take-both for me and you.

Sparrows don’t fall to the ground without God’s knowledge. God knows when we sit down and rise up. He knows the words we speak before they are on our tongues. God’s thoughts for each of us outnumber the sand! Do we need to fear what man can do to us?

Psalm 118:6-9-”The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The LORD is for me among those who help me; Therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”

Is our trust in princes? May it never be! Our help comes from the Lord on high-and He has not ceased to sit upon His throne for one nano second since He ascended on high almost 2000 years ago.

Whether our President be John McCain or Barack Obama-Jesus is our King. Let us live today and every day trusting in Him alone. Let us worship Him with every breath that is in us and glory in His providence every moment.

“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. For His lovingkindness is everlasting.” (Ps. 118:29)

FDA Faulted for Stance on Chemical in Plastics - washingtonpost.com
The FDA’s position on BPA has been controversial because it contradicted more than 100 studies, as well as a finding by the U.S. National Toxicology Program, that there was “some concern” that BPA may affect the brain and behavioral development in fetuses, infants and small children, thePostsaid.

Relying on the government for protection puts us at risk. It invariably becomes politicized. As the quote above points out, the FDA (your watchdog!) approved something more than a hundred studies said was a bad idea.

Private consumer protection is a better option. The FDA has no profits at stake when their advice is wrong, and there is no one to watch the watchdog when that watchdog is the government.

Will U.S. Taxpayers Need A Bailout?, Declan McCullagh Says Plan To Partially Nationalize U.S. Banks Has Many Potential Perils - CBS News
The almost-nationalization will happen even if, as the Wall Street Journal
delicately put it it, bank executives and shareholders are “unhappy” and oppose the idea.

This invites micromanaging from Washington, D.C. Members of Congress will have a strong incentive to demand preferential treatment for borrowers in their home districts or among politically-favored constituencies. Politicians who are members of the committees overseeing the Treasury Department’s budget will enjoy outsize influence. So will Treasury and other regulators that banks must please to stay in business.

A new column at CBSNews.com called Other People’s Money, of which this is the first installment, just got added to my reading list.

Looks like it will be informative to those who want to see the government spending less money, rather than more.

I received a comment from someone on this post from the Coalition for Secular Government. They called the amendment I was touting in Colorado, “a monstrous evil.”

I found the contradiction ironic. Secular government coalition using the term “monstrous evil.” How do they know? What constitutes a monstrous evil? How do they know that this is evil?

I believe that the killing of defenseless people is murder, and therefore it is evil. Murder is a violation of God’s law (6th commandment, 5th for my Lutheran readers), and God says it’s wrong. Throughout God’s Word he elaborates on why and when killing is murder, and when it is not. And killing Jews because you don’t like them is murder (Hitler). Killing citizens because they might rise up against tyranny is wrong (Stalin). And killing your baby because he might change your life in a way you don’t like is murder (3,500 babies today, tomorrow and the next day).

And I can say this beyond doubt because I’m relying on a standard outside myself. This is evil. Life is good. End of argument.

For the Coalition for Secular government, defining good and evil is somewhat more complicated. Who gets to decide what is good and evil? Majority vote? Nine men and women in black robes? The Coalition for Secular Government?

You see, neither Hitler nor Stalin believed what they were doing was wrong. And they religiously attacked those who they hated, and used their power to kill.

People who do not love babies viciously attack the unborn and kill them. And other women are either fooled into believing their babies are not human or are lead to think they have no other options when in fact those options exist. To the tune of 1 baby murdered for every 3 babies born.

God created us to be worshiping beings. It’s written into our makeup as creatures created in His image. We were created to worship Him. homo adoranis. homo sapien is inadequate.

And that natural proclivity to worship is undeniable and inescapeable. Even the rebellious who turn their backs on God worship something. It may be a baseball team. It may be an ideal, even an ideal that is a good ideal like personal liberty. It may be personal peace and affluence. For everyone, there is something in your life that is worth more than anything else. Even if that something is yourself.

The Coalition for Secular Government worships secularism. They want to be freed from all reminders that they were created by a sovereign, loving, just, holy God. And they want to make laws with no foundation. And their false worship will drive them further from God as they try to bury His image into something unrecognizable. And Jesus Himself, in David’s Psalm 2 tells us that this will happen, even among the kings of the earth:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
(Psalms 2:1-3)

But they can’t. Because it’s inescapable. God exists. The next verse in Psalm 2 says He laughs at these efforts. His image in man exists. And so even they will use the term “monstrous evil,” even though they don’t have any way to define what is evil and what is good.

True religion involves turning to the creator and submitting to Him.

Sad thing is that you can’t. Not on your own at least. And that is why the loving, holy, sovereign God sent His own Son to become a man and to pay for the rebellion of people like you (and me!), and to bring into the world the power to turn from death and darkness and evil to a loving Son who takes us to the Father in forgiveness.

I know what is good and evil because Jesus came to divide the waters and to give evil people like me life for death and a heart of flesh for a heart of stone. May those at the Coalition for Secular Government turn to and honor King Jesus, and may each of us do this today and every day.

I’ve been writing quite a bit of late about politics, and especially about abortion. Every two years I long for a parliamentary system or a Godly king. I believe firmly in the republican form of government (representative democracy, not democracy despite what you hear in the evening news), but how it has become is saddening to me.

What is sad as well, is the level of rhetoric that is displayed in campaigns. American voters (or so the media and advertisers seem to think) don’t want to vote on issues. Not on character. Not on firm convictions of the person they’re voting for–convictions that will turn into actions when elected. Nope, we must be voting based on how we feel about the candidate, what the candidate’s family looks like, how good looking he/she is, where they buy their clothes, what goofy things the pastor says and his broad thoughts about “stuff” in general–because that’s what we’re told about. No specific solutions. No sound, hard principles that will be fought over and died upon.

Sarah Palin has, in her short time as the Vice Presidental choice of John McCain, taken quite a few knocks, especially in her comparison to Obama. One thing I truly respect about her is her true (not rhetorical, actual) convictions about party corruption:

Palin vs. Obama on Reform and Ethics (Cato-at-liberty)
In 2004, she joined a Democratic representative in filing an ethics complaint against Republican Attorney General Gregg Renkes over a trade deal. Renkes resigned.

As a Murkowski-appointee to the Alaska’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Palin went after fellow commissioner Randy Ruedrich, also chairman of the state GOP, charging him with doing political business on state time. That investigation led to his resignation and a $12,000 fine. Quick: name one member of Chicago’s Democratic machine that Barack Obama took down along his rapid ascent to the U.S. Senate. (emphasis mine)

I live in Illinois. Barack Obama is my senator. And Illinois politics, as most people are aware, are very corrupt. And Obama may talk a rhetoric of change, but he’s changed nothing. He asked a six term Washington insider to be his VP candidate. And talk is just talk.

And that’s why I’m not voting for McCain.

I really like Palin. I think I could probably vote for her. But she’s not running for President. John McCain is. And his proven record is that he does not care enough about the one thing I think is most important, the life of unborn Americans who are murdered by the thousands every single day.

He says he is pro-life. He says that human rights should be extended at conception. But his actions have shown otherwise. He has not voted only for judges who will sustain that belief. He has supported the experimentation on human embryos, nay even the taxpayer funding of such heinous acts. And he contributed to a PR bait and switch, wherein the Republican congress, instead of doing what they (in their platform**) believed they should: supported a constitutional amendment declaring the personhood of the unborn, the Congress outlawed a procedure called Partial-Birth-Abortion that placed, according to the majority opinion, no real restriction on abortion. He has voted to use taxpayer funds for Planned Parenthood.

So John McCain may have changed his mind. But I do not trust him. And so I cannot vote for him with a clear conscience, because as I said yesterday, there is only one most important issue, and that is the lives of the thousands of murdered children who die every day while the magistrate does nothing.

**”We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.” p. 52, GOP Platform)

I recently read, via Isaac’s shared items, a post about the “myth of multitasking” and it started some thinking. The main thrust of the post is that we say we multitask, but really we’re just really quickly switching back from one thing to another, never really getting anything done

And I thought about that in terms of political incrementalism. Right now most people who are politically active are concerned about a broad base of issues. And there are many important issues out there: school choice, gun rights, abortion, the war, taxes ….

In the 1986 Action/Fantasy film Highlander, a group of “super-beings” has a lone calling of killing one another until there is only one left. “There can be only one!” is the cry as each one is killed, and only by cutting off the opponent’s head. And there can be only one–in that there can be only one thing that is most important.

Only one.

And I agree with Joshua that the choice isn’t even close, when it come to public policy #1: it’s abortion. Everything else is second by a country mile.

I also agree with Seth, that the battleground is not only, or even primarily, the political realm. And I will have more to say about that later on, but right now it’s major political season. The conventions just ended, and the national election is heating up. It’s less than two months away now.

And while “single issue voters” get dissed in the public eye sometimes, you can call me that. Though not really. I have lots of issues, just one that is a dealbreaker. You can’t want to kill babies. None. Not some, not most, not any. Not ones that come from the sin of the father, and not ones that belong to poor people. Nada. And if you’ve ever either helped support the killing of babies or you haven’t supported the end of the killing of babies you’re out. No vote from me. Doesn’t matter who all is on the ticket–I’ll write in “none of the above” if I have to.

There can be only one.

Some may accuse me of not being incremental in my thinking. I am very incremental in my thinking about the public sphere. Incremental in the sense that I think we take one thing at a time. Most of the people who might argue with my version of incrementalism should consider this: If you were a Russian at the time of Staln’s purges and were allowed to vote, would there be any issue to compare to saving the lives of those Stalin threatened daily? If you were living in Georgia, in the antebellum South, would there be any more important issue than the lack of equal treatment under the law to (watch the anachronism here) african-americans? If you were alive in Hitler’s German would there by any issue that even compared to the ongoing slaughter of the Jews?

Likewise there’s no better issue to start with than extending the rights of life and liberty to whom they divinely belong: every human being from conception to death. And if those rights are being denied by legalized murder, it is up to those who say they agree to act NOW and save those lives, by whatever legal means necessary until this scourge of legalized murder is driven from our land.

Colorado Voters Will Be Asked When ‘Personhood’ Begins - washingtonpost.com
A proposal to define a fertilized human egg as a person will land on Colorado’s ballot this November, marking the first time that the question of when life begins will go before voters anywhere in the nation.

The Human Life Amendment, also known as the personhood amendment, says the words “person” or “persons” in the state constitution should “include any human being from the moment of fertilization.” If voters agreed, legal experts say, it would give fertilized eggs the same legal rights and protections to which people are entitled.

Colorado voters will have the opportunity to do what ought to have been done a long time ago, declare constitutionally the personhood of the unborn.

The Post article is filled with bias (I’ll admit mine; will they?) in terminology. The issue is clear, and the Colorado voters will be able to actually decide: is a human embryo a human being who deserves all the rights of any other human, or is it (legally speaking for God already determines the answer to this question) merely a mass of biological tissue with no rights at all?

God’s Word says that the child is knit together in the womb, and that these embryos are humans, bearing His image. If the voters agree this will be a strategic step towards overturning the legalized holocaust of the unborn.

Last night our family watched an old movie A Man Called Peter together. It was a fun movie to watch as a family, though certainly not perfect. The love story between Peter and Catherine was wonderfully told, and Peter’s receiving a call from God and waiting for His timing in all things (though not always patiently) was beautiful to watch.

I highly recommend the movie, especially if you haven’t seen it.

It did, though, raise some thoughts.

First, the movie tells the story, with honor to Christ, of a man who loved Jesus and lived for Him. Preaching right up to the last minute. But never once did the producers let the Gospel of salvation through forgiveness in Christ alone by grace alone shine through. Not surprising, even in 1955, but sad.

Second, the church that Marshall pastored is still there in Washington DC. The seminary he attended is still standing. Both are abominably liberal (in the theological, not political sense). They have a wonderful history, and yet today they stand as a shadow of what they used to be. I found that sad, especially since this is less than 100 years ago.

Marshall’s highlight sermon (though I don’t know the veracity of this part of the film) was to a group of Naval Graduates on the day of his son’s birth and just before Pearl Harbor. He changed his sermon at the last minute, and preached, not knowing what was to come, about the brevity of life and the importance of liberty.

It was a great film, and despite its flaws I encourage you to see it if you haven’t. You will laugh and cry, and while there’s some singing it’s not a musical (that’s for you, Seth).

Marshall is a man to be admired, who went to Washington and made a difference. And he made a difference not by flowing with the town, but by rightly ministering to the people that God brough his way, including a freshman senator. I look forward to meeting Dr. Marshall one day.