Warning: This article is controversial and will raise hairs! I challenge you to read it and consider its contents! It is Truth as contained in Scripture- which promises to divide the goats from the sheep.
As I ran my errands today, I noticed a car with a "Jane Norton for US Senate" bumper sticker and it got me thinking.
The calming rush that comes over me when I see bumper stickers that promote conservative candidates can be deceiving. I have to admit that I am made to relax when I see a force of support behind conservative candidates and when I contemplate the guaranteed victory to Republican candidates come November. When I think about the energy the tea parties generate and how good it feels to march at those rallies- building support and excitement amongst the majority of Americans who agree with conservative tenets, and how I giggle at the never-ending array of bumper stickers that scold the current administration, "If it speaks like Marx and acts like Stalin, it must be Obama." That's funny…right? And so sadly true. I mean, I have never seen someone who wanted so badly to be the antichrist (Read the books of Daniel and Revelation if you're unsure of his prophesied attributes), and yet, just like the office of POTUS, he isn't qualified for that post either.
But, the truth is, like so many Americans, we are looking forward to an election of brakes, right? That's what we're voting for in November- brakes. The vehicle of the democratic majority is careening out of control, "in the ditch" as the POTUS-T (President of the United States Teleprompter) so eloquently stated, and we're hoping that a conservative victory in November will put the brakes on this crashing situation. All of our ranting and raving did nothing to stop the death-care debacle, except for to give the Republicans an easy platform from which to run on. Democrats were going to see that passed, just as they are so eager to do with other unpopular legislation because they know that their reign is short-lived and it was a perfect storm that would not come again for a hundred years. Come again, you ask? Oh, yes. Because this nightmare we see happening before us is a guaranteed certainty with such an ignorant electorate who forgets too easily the consequences of its choices.
So, November will prove to be an easy shoe-in for Republicans, unless the vote is split between a tea-party endorsed candidate and a Red-Blood Republican- which would hand victory over to the Democrats, yet again. Now, I won't advocate you voting against your principles, so long as you're able to correctly identify what your principles are— which is exactly the point of this article.
Conservatives chant, "No to socialism!" and slap bumper stickers to their car that promote "conservative" candidates- which, let's be honest, it doesn't take much to be labeled a "conservative" candidate in today's market. "Fiscal" conservative is probably a more fitting term. One can be a social liberal and still receive endorsement from the tea party…and its followers. But, a socially conservative/fiscally moderate/liberal Republican doesn't stand a chance. Now why is that? Chew on it for a moment. Why will we accept all manor of moral degradation as long as we have (the perception) of a strong economy? Does money even matter if our kids are lost to immorality, if our families are broken, but, most importantly, if we have turned our backs on our Savior Christ? "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36
And, here's the real question: Why are we willing to elect leaders who are not walking in salvation? Does it do us any good to have members of Congress who call themselves "conservative" yet do not know Christ and His Word? Does it even make a difference if we have an unsaved Democrat or an unsaved Republican if neither is serving the Living God? Won't both be capable of committing the same damage, albeit through different acts?- John 8:44 says, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." The book of Hebrews tells us, "And without faith it is impossible to please him <God>." One cannot be a successful leader or servant if it is not done through the Lord.
So, now we might have come to a place where we can agree on the importance of our elected officials being saved of Christ. No- it cannot be one of any "faith", nor through any of the many false cults that call themselves "Christian". But, can we agree on what a Christian is? It is not one who speaks Christian-ese, or as I call them, "CINO's" (Christian in Name Only).
We are living in a time of unprecedented apostasy and deception. Scripture warns that the days just prior to the return of Christ would be marked by it. There are very few, if any, churches that are not marred by it's presence. We live in a sizable and growing city and cannot find even one church that is not practicing this apostasy. It is the New Age movement, baptized by "Christianity". It has all of the deceptively lovely and alluring aspects of mystical religions, Catholicism included, but it's practitioners have succeeded in convincing themselves that it's perfectly fine if they cloak it in Christian terminology.
I can promise most of my readers that if you go to church, the chances are high that yours is one of these churches. The problem is a lack of time spent in Scripture. If one would daily spend time in study of God's Word, and commit to the true act of repentance- the turning from the world and to obedience to God's Word, despite what the world thinks, then one would be blessed of the Lord to gain discernment and wisdom. How many people can honestly say they do that? Christianity is so much more than some trendy "Not of this World" sticker from your local, apostate "Christian" book store. Don't believe me? Spend time browsing their aisles and their website and you'll see a vast selection of the latest and greatest counterfeit-Christianity books and authors. I refuse to financially support a store that boasts it's "Christianity" and yet offers whatever sells- even those items that are leading the multitudes astray. And, why, I ask, such a selection of books written by man? A truly great Christian store would offer a King James Bible- nothing more, nothing less. Afterall, Scripture says of itself, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" 2 Timothy 3:16 and "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." 2 Peter 1:3 We gain knowledge through Scripture and He tells us it gives us all we need pertaining to life and godliness.
Deception occurs when people do not confine themselves to Scripture, solely, but consult whatever feel-good or self-help book is popular at the moment. Luke 4:4 says, "And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." You see? We are literally survived by the Word of God! Without it, we die. When viewing it through that lens, it makes the selection of books sitting on those shelves pale in comparison, eh?
So, now we understand the importance of using one's attitude toward Scripture as a test of one's true faith. Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Without daily and deep indulgence in the Word, one cannot have faith, therefore rendering one who claims to hold to the faith, a deceiver.
Today's churches are pushing post-modern Christianity, or emergent Christianity which completely makes the Word of God of none effect. Mark 7:13 "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." The mysticism movement such as contemplative spirituality or contemplative prayer nullifies the need for the Word, bridging the gap of all religions through transcendence. And prayer mantras, which have become increasingly popularized through Catholicism's use of the Rosary, and The Jesus Prayer, the Prayer of Jabez, etc., violate Jesus' own words in Matt 6:7 when he warns, "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." And, to top it all off, so many are willing to make ecumenical stew- working with anyone and everyone of any belief system if it seems it serves the greater good. I challenge you to find any Scripture that promotes ecumenism, rather we read, "Can two walk together except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3 It leads to apostasy and mayhem. The Manhattan Declaration is a good example of a modern ecumenical gathering that is unbiblical and ungodly- particularly when you have to lay the Truth of Scripture aside to sign your name to it. Luke 12:51 "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division." The Word of God divides, joints and marrow, it does not unite at the expense of Truth!
If, therefore, these churches are wolves in sheep's clothing, cloaked in Christian terminology, and it's members are unsaved and undiscerning from time not spent in the Word, yet call themselves "Christian", we can trust His words in Matt 7:21 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
So, what's the point of this seemingly peripheral information and what is it's relation to politics? Many of the candidates, including Jane Norton, call themselves Christians, but Mrs. Norton attends an emergent church here in Colorado. Following the above criteria, it's certainly cause for concern. And likely, if you were to bother to research particular candidates, you would find a similar narrative. MANY call themselves Catholics- which is the leading deceptive cult on earth! Owen Hill, another Colorado candidate, works for Compassion International- an organization that promotes contemplative prayer. Angry yet? How dare I call out Compassion, right? Wrong! Romans 16:17 says, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." So, if you like their mission, but righteously despise their compromise in Truth, be the one to start a truly righteous and Biblical organization that does the same- yet one that actually does it according to God's will and with his blessing.
How can true Christians vote for candidates who are not truly saved? It is of no profit- but maybe for an illusion of security. Psalm 20:7 "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God." We cannot put our hope, our trust, our dream of security in chariots of men and women that we elect to office. They will let us down and will vote against our will, but most importantly against the will of the Most High God. I can hear the naysayers now- quoting from the few lines of Scripture they know, "Something, something, something…God puts the man in office and directs the heart of a king…" I can already hear them saying that. God allows for sinful man to dig himself in a ditch, God allows for wicked rulers to rise as a means of judging the earth-dwellers (the ungodly) amongst us, and God would never violate His own Word and His own covenants in his leading/guiding/directing.
So, you now see the internal battle of being in the world and not of it. Excitement at a conservative revolution, but a Scriptural harness of Truth that tells me "salvation" is not contained in an elected official.
I hope this article encourages you on your journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land of Heaven. Please don't respond in haste without searching the Scriptures out yourself- Acts 17:11. As we approach November, remember to "choose this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord!" Joshua 24:15
