Does the President's Faith Really Matter? A Message to Christians

Much is being made about President’s Obama’s faith. According to a recent USA Today survey, ”Nearly one in five Americans incorrectly say President Obama is a Muslim, up from 11% last year, according to a Pew Research Center poll released today.

In the survey, about one-third of Americans correctly say Obama is a Christian, down from 48% who said so last year. In all, 43% say they do not know what religion Obama practices.” http://tinyurl.com/28zg2m2 Of course what one thinks of the President’s faith has no bearing on the Presidents heart.

But for many professing Christians there is concern that The President should be a Christian. And that if he does not hold their views, then the President should be subjected to criticism. Such a negative bias against the President is contrary to biblical teaching.

The New Testament was written under Roman rule. The Caesars saw themselves as divine. Pagan idolatry was the state’s religion. But under these circumstances, the earliest apostles of the faith exhorted the early church to respect and honor the government. In Paul’s Letter to the Church in Rome, He writes, Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.

Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority. (Romans 13:1-7NLT)

The elected authorities are God’s servants whether they are Christian or not! If Paul can say this about a pagan ruler, then why is there so much disrespect for the President of the United States? Every government official takes an oath to uphold the Constitution. President Obama is doing this within the constraints of his office. Roman rulers were dictators. A government of checks and balances is far superior to a dictatorship. The United States of America should count her blessings. Perhaps Christians today should read more of the Bible and pray for their leaders. After all, a government is only as good as its citizenry! Who knows who the next president will be and what he or she will do!
　
　

Jesus is the Answer to Islam, Bhuddists, Hindus and CHRISTIANS!

With all the news in the USA regarding the proposed mosque/community center at Ground Zero, I thought it worthwhile to remind all of us (whoever us might be) what sets Christianity apart from other religions. But first let me say that as an American, the denial of the mosque being built will challenge the legality of such a decision under the Bill of Rights. This article is about what makes Christianity different from other religions. Having said that, let me say also that most Christians do not know what Christianity is about.

All non-Christian religions are systems of works righteousness. Do this and that and you will escape suffering, have a better life in the future, be rewarded, etc. And yes, many TV preachers who call themselves Christian appear to espouse the same! Christianity is really about what one person has done for those who believe in Him. It is not one more organization with buildings and ritual. Jesus is the object of our worship not because he makes sense when it is convenient to our particular needs but he has saved us from that fiery demise promised to all sinners. And we are all sinners. My membership in a church does not save me from that demise! Jesus teaches us that no one is good. (Mark 10:18) Later Jesus also teaches us we cannot save ourselves. That impossible feat is left to God. (Mark 10:27) Hence, we need to understand who we are in relationship to Jesus and His death upon the cross. When we scream at people (an act of violence on a smaller scale) we force them to see us as an enemy. And when we force people to see us rather than Jesus who alone is to be glorified, we are guilty of idolatry for we make ourselves more important than the one who does all the work in our lives. Jesus came to change our hearts. This is done by hearing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. We deserve punishment for all our sins and by His death upon the cross, Jesus has saved me from deserved judgement. As King David says in Psalm 51, The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart. (17) A changed heart results from an experience of God's mercy. We cannot earn our way into paradise. The way is narrow and only God can change us through His grace. This is true for all people including Chrisitans in name only! Faith in Christ comes from hearing the Gospel. Not proclaiming who is right. ( Romans 10:14-21)

Never Stop Feeding the Soul

At least I believe that as long as there is breath in one's body, prayer is efficacious and the Word of God can still bear fruit. After all, it is God at work and nothing can stop His saving grace. These are my thoughts as I pray for my mother who is in the last days of life imprisoned in her body diseased with cancer.

And why am I reflecting on this? The beginning of this year, my churchgoing mother confessed that she did not believe in an afterlife. As an orthodox Christian I do believe in an afterlife as revealed in Scripture. When her cancer was diagnosed as terminal, Mom declined any further treatments resigning herself to death as it was inevitable. As her health declined, she began not attending church as well as refusing communion from the lay Eucharistic ministers who would come by her apartment. This was her choice. But I have to give some credit for my beliefs to Mom and Dad as they raised me in the church. Growing up we heard bible based preaching. So seeds must have been planted.

But as I have grown, so has my theology. I pretty much am a Calvinist, a good 5 pointer if you know what I mean. God chooses us, we do not choose Him! Who is to say, that God cannot redeem Mom's soul while she lies in bed, now unable to speak, unable to eat? The parish Mom has been attending preaches a works righteousness. Outside of the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist, there is not a proclamation of the Gospel. Didn't Jesus say something about it being worse for those who cause someone to stumble? (Matthew 18:6) Is it not Jesus who calls us to life as we are dead in our sins and therefore cannot speak for ourselves? (Ephesians 2:1-5) I ponder these things as I have been exploring the burial rite from the American Book of Common Prayer in preparation for my mother's funeral. While doing this I have been reading the suggested Scripture readings to Mom aloud as she can still hear. And one suggestion from St. John's Gospel struck me with profundity.

²⁴ “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. ²⁵ Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, ²⁷ and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice ²⁹ and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. (John 5:24-29, New King James Version)

If the dead can hear, why not a soul in a body close to physical death? Why can't a soul awaken to new life even if the body is broken? After all, God Himself will show mercy on whom He desires. But how will a person believe if there is not a preacher sharing the Word? (Romans 10:14-17) So if you have a loved one dying, never stop praying, never stop feeding the soul!

Florence Nighingale: Nursing as Calling

I write this post from my mother's bedside. She is in a nursing home run by the nuns of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a nursing order in the Dominican tradition. They are called to tend to those dying from cancer.

Florence Nightingale believed she was called to the sick and dying. But in her day, nursing was relegated to prostitutes and substance abusers. For Florence, she saw the dignity of God in each suffering soul she ministered to. Today's hospitals owe much to the reforms Florence initiated.

But what I often see missing in our Christan life is the celebration of acts of mercy to the sick and suffering. What the nuns are teaching me, and what Jesus has taught already, is how serving the poor allows Christ to serve us through them. Florence saw nursing as a noble profession in a day when women who lived on and off the street were demanded to care for those deemed untouchable by disease and accident. Today we now have men in nursing and expect a professionalism once reserved for doctors. But what can't be reserved is mercy. The God we worship is a merciful God. Let us be merciful to all who suffer in our day!

Life-giving God, you alone have power over life and death, over health and sickness: Give power, wisdom, and gentleness to those who follow the lead of Florence Nightingale, that they, bearing with them your presence, may not only heal but bless, and shine as lanterns of hope in the darkest hours of pain and fear; through Jesus Christ, the healer of body and soul, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Mel Gibson and the Sovereignty of God

When I reflect on Mel Gibson's behavior, I wonder how could such a person could have produced a necessary film such as, The Passion of the Christ? Firstly, let me put forth some assumptions that one may agree with or not.

The Passion of the Christ put the suffering of Jesus into a true historical context that is often lost on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Jesus did not just hang on a cross quoting from the Old Testament waiting for Easter to come along. His fate was a horror. For those of us who are Christian believers, the suffering of Jesus as the propitiation for our sins, is essential to our salvation. Gibson removed the sugar coating so we can taste Christ's death. Hence, I would recommend The Passion to anyone who asks what is Good Friday about. So one assumption I am making is Gibson contributed to the Christian understanding of what Jesus did for humankind by allowing us a front row seat at His execution.

The second assumption I will also make is that the very man who made this very film that I believe is worth seeing is not a Christian. Jesus, the Man who died for our sins, also spent a few years teaching on God's will for us. Much of Christ's teaching deals with our behavior, the fruit of our heart. We will be judged by how we treat others, what we say and how we allow our heart to express itself. In other words, we are to bear fruit worthy of repentance. (Luke 3:8) This is not works righteousness but rather we will be judged on whether or not our heart has been regenerated. A heart is regenerated by the Holy Spirit following the will of God and produces fruit in accordance with the Spirit. An unregenerate heart remains dead, void of the Spirit of God. And therefore, the works of the flesh remain evident. All of this is the supernatural work of God. Humans can not make this happen by our own initiative. (John 3) So based on what we know of Mr. Gibson's behavior, he has yet to show a repentant heart. I will not go into past tabloid allegations suffice it to say his latest public drama shows no improvement from previous verbal utterances not to mention his flagrant fornication. So how could such a person have made such a fruitful movie such as The Passion of the Christ?

My answer is God will glorify Himself in spite of us! God does not desire for us to behave based on our carnal nature. Hence, the need for a spiritual rebirth. But God will use all people for His purpose and His glory. Gibson may have thought he was contributing to his bank account in the Kingdom of Heaven by making the film. This is common thinking among non-spiritual 'Christians'. The thinking goes, I will give lots of money for this project. I will help the clothes closet. I will do such and such. In other words, look at me. While such works may be 'good', if they are not done out of the impetus of the Holy Spirit, they cannot be considered God's will but rather a work of the flesh. All that we are to be and do is to glorify God and it is God who knows how He wants to be glorified. He is the Master, we are His servants. (See Articles XII, XIII, XIV of the Anglican Articles of Religion)

But what if the work I do brings someone to God and not to me in spite of my self-centered motivation? What if I am leading a Bible study because I am trying to impress the Church leadership and others by wanting them to think how smart I am? But in spite of this hypocrisy, one person in that Bible study discovers who Jesus is and surrenders to Him. Who gets the credit? God and He alone. Chances are, if in one area of my life I seek man's praise, idolatry, I will bear fruit of idolatry in the rest of my life. (Romans 1:28ff) Ergo, I will be judged by my behavior before Christ. Yet, one person was found by God in spite of my self-glorification. God foreknew my desire for honor using it to His purpose.

To judge God's providence or what it means to be a Christian based solely on Mel Gibson's well documented behavior is to have a very small view of God. To base the movie The Passion of the Christ on Gibson's character is limiting God's power. God makes use of us, we cannot make use of God. He is the master, we are the servants! As St. Paul states, "Who can resist the will of God?" (Romans 9)

The Need to Repent

Today is the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist. His ministry was to call us to repentance preparing the Way of the Lord. It seems in the modern church that repentance is discussed very little. The meaning of the word repent is to have a deep sorrow for ones condition or behavior. The Greek word, 'metanoia' has the sense of changing one's heart or one's mind. Basically, we are to have a profound change in our attitude and behavior. One that turns away from our self-centeredness and toward total dependence on Christ as Lord, the ruler of our lives and savior, the propitiation for our just punishment of eternal damnation. Hence, we must know our condition to know Jesus' position.

In order to bear fruit that is worthy of repentance, we cannot choose to do whatever we like thinking it will be good enough for God. We must understand that we must change and that only God can change us! How often do we think we are alright as it is? Do we have an understanding of ourselves that says that all is not all right with us and One greater than us who is perfect must come into our hearts for our sake. And for our sake must be for the sake of The Kingdom. In other words, the end of our lives must be the beginning of our life for Him who was crucified died, and was buried! To say we believe in God is far different than saying our hard hearts are broken by the Him who died for us. Such a broken heart is necessary for new birth and that can only be done on Jesus' terms. Anything else is by our own initiative disregarding the Other's sovereignty!

Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ARE WE SOWING RICE CHRISTIANS?

Yesterday I found myself in a parish that I once was a member of when I was a teenager. My sister and mother are members there now. It is ensconced in the wealthy northern suburbs of Atlanta. While I wore my collar, I sat in the pew listening to the sermon and stood in line to receive communion. The sermon was preached by a professional acquaintance of mine from several years ago! The readings appointed for the day were rich. 1 Kings 17:17-24 told of Elijah stretching himself upon the body of a dead boy crying to God to bring life back into the boy and the boy came back to life and was returned to his mother who would have been destitute without his care. From the Gospel of Luke the widow of Nain mourns the loss of her only son only to have Jesus say, "Arise!" and he too is returned to his mother who would have been destitute without her son. (Luke 7:11-17) And let us not forget Paul's Letter to Galatians where he proclaims that the Gospel is of God and hence supernatural rather than an invention of men. How else could he be a Christian proclaiming salvation to the Gentiles! (Gal. 1:11-24) Alas, the sermon really did not address the fact God can raise people from the dead. Or that the Gospel is supernatural in nature. In the sermon there were a couple of nice stories. They were more about how humanity can do the right thing. Really nothing about what God can do that is supernatural. If you feel good, perhaps you will see God.

So I come home, flop on the couch and turn the TV on. On TCM was an old Gregory Peck movie, The Keys of the Kingdom. The movie was about a Scottish RC priest who is somewhat of a misfit in his hometown. He is sent off as a missionary to pre-revolution China. There he sees an old dilapidated church building and 2 hosts who tell the new rector that everyone left when the previous pastor left as they had no one to receive payment from to stay and worship. But this couple will help repair the buildings and grow the church for their customary stipend. Fr. Chisolm, Peck's character, replies he has no money and has no intention of raising up "rice Christians". At this the couple leave in a huff and mock the priest's efforts in establishing a medical mission and a parish.

As a parish priest for over 20 years, I have encountered similar sentiments from my North American mission field albeit more subtle than the Chinese who looked forward to American and European missionaries doling out the wealth. Fr. Chisolm knew what a true convert was. But do we who pastor in comfortable America? There is an overriding, "What's in it for me?" attitude among church goers. When we make people happy, we are creating Rice Christians. Our goal is to preach Christ crucified. Are we bold to say that miracles abound today and that God still heals? Are we honest when we cannot say we have witnessed a miracle that defies explanation but are humble enough to appeal to The Almighty to show us one? After all, God is supernatural! Any effort to make church for selfish reasons is an effort to sow Rice Christians. When we define God on our terms rather than the Scriptures, we are making Rice Christians. It is no wonder that people church shop.

Later in the movie Methodist missionaries arrive in the Chinese village where Fr. Chisolm has labored many years. Knowing that it has not been his job to build a church but rather seek the lost for Christ's sake, he welcomes the Methodists as co-laborers! The Church for Fr. Chisolm was what Jesus wanted, not necessarily his traditions!

The problem with the American Church is that we want to build an institution, not the Body of Christ. We want to talk about ourselves and not about what God is doing or can do. We do not want to confess that maybe we are blind and deaf to His presence. A confession that requires repentance!

The truth is that Jesus is doing all the work to draw people to Himself. Those of us who are true believers can be missionaries in our own denominations and accept others who are members of Christ's fold in spite of our traditions!