Category: Politics

Foolishness, Responsibility and the Rape Culture

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways~ Proverbs 2:12-13 NIV

 This last week I was blindsided with not one but two— face palming— lose your faith in humanity forever— let me off this planet— now— kind of moments.

 The first occurred when the news program I was watching covered the early release of Brock Turner. For those who do not own a television or have been vacationing on another planet, Brock Turner is the bag of human filth Stanford student found guilty of raping an unconscious woman on campus following a fraternity party.

 Although his guilt could not have been more obvious (DNA plus two eyewitnesses), Brock Turner was initially sentenced to only six months in jail for the assault. The paltry sentence was for some reason, (known only to God and the numbskull judge) cut in half.

 Six months of jail time for raping an inebriated, unconscious woman is such a staggering miscarriage of justice that I literally have no words for how furious it makes me. Cutting the sentence in half for any reason makes a mockery of the entire notion of justice.

 The second of the face palming— lose your faith in humanity forever—let me off this planet— now— kind of moments quickly followed.

 The women discussing the case bantered back and forth on the generalities of the case for a while, before moving on to the problem of campus rape. Then they debated what should be done to prevent rape on college campuses.

 It wasn’t so much what was said that caused me to face palm but what wasn’t said. Not a single word was uttered concerning the notion of people in general and young women in particular avoiding the act of becoming too drunk to function in public places. Not one word. In fact, the whole idea that college students can or should drink less was openly ridiculed.

 Once I got a grip and quit muttering under my breath about the lack of logic on this planet. I came to the sad conclusion that as a society we have become so consumed with the notion of personal rights that we have completely lost the entire concept of wisdom and, with it, personal responsibility.

 Wisdom is the ability to look at a possible course of action and see in advance what the likely outcome might be. Wisdom is sometimes defined as the correct use of knowledge, underscoring the fact a person can acquire a lot of knowledge concerning a lot of things but be completely lacking in wisdom.

 For the record, I do not believe intoxicated women deserve to be raped; anyone who believes that lie is clearly out of touch with their own humanity. Furthermore, I truly believe rape is a hate crime and ought to be charged as such with a mandatory-minimum ten-year sentence. So please, don’t accuse me of being soft on rape.

 That said.

 If as a society we are going have any sort of thoughtful dialogue about preventing rape we need to tell women and girls that getting drunk in the presence of strangers is simply unwise. This world is full of horrible people who gleefully seek out defenseless women for the sole purpose of taking advantage of their defenselessness. Sadly, rapists are not born with gross deformities, an “R” on their foreheads or any other identifying marks. Therefore, the key to rape prevention is situational awareness. No one is aware of their situation when they are wasted. Period.

 It’s not just in the arenas of criminal justice and college rape where our society has lost its collective mind. There is a lack of wisdom everywhere we look. From parenting to food consumption to marriage to how we view gender to how we approach the complexities of daily life. As a society we have rejected the giver of wisdom (God). In the process we have become fools who wander around in bewilderment wondering out loud why our lives and our society are not working the way we think they ought to.

 Sadly, Christians cannot wave a magic wand and make our society more rational. However, we can seek wisdom from God on a daily basis and commit to living lives that model wisdom and good sense. We can also work to reform the system. Christians need to pay attention to what is going on in schools, churches, the justice system and the political world. Then we need to courageous enough to call out foolishness when we see it.

 

 

 

Voting for Corruption

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

 

Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them~ Isaiah 1:23 NIV

 I am an ardent fan of all things political.

 The Presidential elections are my favorite; it actually bums me out that they only roll around once every four years. I look forward to the presidential election season the way some women look forward to a fifty-percent off sale on Jimmy Choo shoes.

 I am a registered Independent and although I cheerfully admit to leaning conservative I am attentive to the goings-on on both sides of the political aisle. I will vote for any politician evidence reveals is a decent human being who can pass a drug test, possess a solid ethical compass and has a working knowledge of basic economic principles.

 This election has been a gloomy one for me. It has challenged my love of politics as well as my faith in the intelligence of the American electorate. Somehow the nation I love has succeeded in picking the two most tragic candidates in the history of our Republic. The out-and-out absurdity of these two choices for President baffles me to no end. My unending irritation over the Republican pick has caused me to say precious little about Hilary Clinton.

 Well, no more.

 Recent revelations have made me so insane with righteous outrage that I can no longer hold back my uncensored opinion on the dangers of a Clinton presidency.

 I will begin with the email controversy.

 It is an irrefutable fact that Hillary Clinton set-up a private email server in a bathroom. She committed this criminal act against the counsel of her staff, proving she is either hopelessly dimwitted or has zero interest in keeping classified information out of the hands of foreign governments. For the record, I do not believe that Hilary Clinton is dimwitted. Nor do I believe she was ignorant the law (as she claims), nor do I believe her emails are so desperately dull that no foreign power would ever be intent on reading them, as she stated in an interview with the comedian Jimmy Fallon. Hillary Clinton is an attorney who has worked at the highest levels of government for most of her life. She simply despises accountability, doesn’t care who she hurts and believes herself to be above the law.

 If the email debacle were the only example of flagrant corruption, I might be inclined to let it go, sadly that is not the case. In 1997 the Clintons created the Clinton Foundation, ostensibly for the purpose of raising money for do-gooder causes. In all fairness the foundation has raised a lot of money for various causes, many of them good. Exact numbers are tough to pin down but conservatively speaking millions have been given to help people around the world.

 That is a good thing.

 What is not a good thing is how Ms. Clinton used the foundation while she was Secretary of State. Credible allegations charge she used the foundation to line her own pockets by selling meetings (to the tune of $156 million) to individuals, corporations and foreign countries in exchange for donations to her foundation. Donors include the Prince of Bahrain who pledged $32 million to the Clinton foundation.

 Doubtless these folks were astute enough to get something in return for the money they paid. Naïve people have argued that there is no actual evidence she ever gave anyone a favor in exchange for a cash donation. Sadly, that unlikely scenario makes the whole situation worse rather than better. It means she and her aides were running some sort of a flimflam operation out of the office of the Secretary of State. Trust me: the crown prince was promised SOMETHING in exchange for 32 MILLION DOLLARS. No one in their right mind pays 32 million dollars simply to meet with someone. He had an ulterior motive and if he did not get what he paid for, he’s seriously furious.

 When her email server was exposed, she blamed her own ineptitude (like that is supposed to make any of us feel better), then she blamed her colleagues. When her colleagues declined to be hurled under that particular bus she blamed COLIN POWELL. Seriously, she blamed Colin Powell for her illegal server, that’s like me blaming the mailman for the sloppy condition of my front yard. When four Americans were killed in Libya she blamed an anti-Islamic video that few people had actually viewed for the disaster. When her husband sexually harassed women he worked with she blamed the women.

 I could go on forever.

 Hillary Clinton’s closest aide, Huma Abedin, was born in Michigan but raised in Saudi Arabia. She is the daughter of Muslim intellectuals who have dedicated their lives to spreading the Muslim faith. Abedin acted as the assistant editor for a radical Muslim publication for ten years. The scholarly journal Ms. Abedin edited openly promotes Sharia law, is anti-women’s rights, anti-Christian, anti-Israel and blamed America for the 9-11 attacks. The woman slated to be the next Whitehouse Chief of Staff has close ties to radical Islam. At the very least this fact proves Hillary Clinton does not have the good sense necessary to make her own staffing decisions.

 Any American who is not troubled by Hillary Clinton’s corruption and poor judgment is at least as dimwitted as she pretends to be.

   This is the most depressing election of my lifetime. A Clinton Presidency may very well be unavoidable. However, that doesn’t mean nothing can be done. Christians everywhere need to pray. It is not too late for God to intervene. He is in the business of miracles and we could certainly use one right now. Christians also need to vote— the congressional election is critical this year. If conservatives lose the house and senate and Clinton wins the Presidency all will truly be lost. The most openly corrupt person in the history of American politics will control everything.

 God help us all.

Getting God Back in America

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart~ Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

 It’s been a decade of progress and change. Sadly, much of the progress has gone in the wrong direction and the changes have been mostly bad.

 Civility and respect have all but vanished. Policymakers routinely go to war over everything and anything, and yet somehow seem incapable of solving even the most rudimentary of problems. Regard for rule of law and those who enforce the law is rapidly declining. The murder of police officers has doubled in twelve short months.

 To our everlasting shame as a nation, many black citizens feel the need to affirm the obvious fact that their lives really do matter. Just as appalling, some of those same folks become outraged at the notion that all lives really should matter equally.

 Bakers, photographers, florists and other professionals are routinely sued and sometimes even criminally prosecuted simply for declining to participate in ceremonies they don’t wish to celebrate.

 Nearly half (forty percent) of the children born in 2016 will be born to unmarried women. The news that divorce rates have declined in recent years is a blessing; sadly, few experts believe it’s because commitment has made an abrupt comeback. Rather, fewer couples are getting married, opting instead to live together.

 Being born with a particular set of “parts” is now considered entirely irrelevant to the notion of being born male or female. Gender is now entirely relative to how one feels when they wake-up in the morning.

 To Christians, all this “progress” is simply heartbreaking. Most of us never even imagined that such behaviors and attitudes would become so widely accepted. For most of us, our natural response is to long for a time when respect for life, marriage, God and the law were the prevailing standard in our society.

 We want to get God back in America.

 How to accomplish this objective is a matter of vigorous debate.

 Some think that if we simply do stuff the way it used be done those changes will transform our society back into a saner version of itself. Those who long for the good old days believe that if we return prayer and corporal punishment to public schools, kids will be better behaved and more God-fearing. Conversely, some folks sincerely believe that if hymnbooks, dress codes and Sunday school classes were to make a return to the church scene, churches would become as healthy and fruitful as they were when those things were customary.

 Others believe that the right political leader can and will bring God or at least godly values back to America and life will settle back into something that looks and feels a little less scary and hopeless. They believe that if laws change to reflect a more conservative way of thinking, hearts will eventually follow.

 Both views are fatally flawed.

 Changing actions or laws only changes people and institutions if the changes were prompted by inner transformation or, as we used to say, “heart change”. We could have the best laws and leaders in the world and no one will follow either one if their hearts are unrepentant and bent towards evil.

 I would love nothing more than to have a President who would stop actively supporting evil and undercutting virtue. That said, I also recognize that one person can only do so much. Unless of course that person is Jesus Christ and sadly He isn’t running for President this year.

 It’s not what we do or who our human leadership is that transforms our society or determines how much God we have in America.

 You and I decide how much God we have in America.

 The New Testament teaches that God occupies the hearts of people who have come to faith and repentance in Jesus Christ (Acts 7:48). If Christians (myself included) do not feel good about the level of morality, integrity or appropriate behavior we see in our communities or country. It’s time to look inward at our own spiritual lives and attitudes rather than at the world and their wickedness.

 We will never have more God in America (or anywhere else) than we have God in the hearts of individual believers. We get more God inside of our hearts when we live in closer relationship to Him and when we love people unconditionally. We will get more God in America when we ruthlessly eradicate sin from our lives, seek to become more obedient to His instructions, and when we make a daily effort to know Him better through the study of His word.

 When Christians everywhere make those pursuits their number one priority, we will have more God than we can handle in America.

 Powerful political and social change will follow our obedience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Should Christians Vote in This Election?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him~ James 1:5 ESV

 After a long, sometimes uncomfortable year of name-calling, adolescent antics, ducking indictments, character distortions and mud slinging. The conventions are upon us and by the end of the week the people will have two official candidates for the office of President of the United States.

 God help us all.

 Sadly, Americans have become accustomed to holding their noses as they vote for President. But seriously, these two contenders redefine the whole concept of crummy options.

 The one positive thing to be said for Hillary Clinton is she’s a known quantity. Sadly, everything we know about her is pretty terrible. Her employment history is jam-packed with appalling lapses in judgment, brazen corruption, terrible ideas, near indictments, government overreach and reasonably credible rumors of toddler-like temper tantrums.

 Ms. Clinton has pledged to make the next four years an extension of Obama’s legacy. If she keeps that promise, she will spend our country into poverty, inflame economic and racial conflict, select the most liberal judges imaginable, champion Planned Parenthood, continue to defund the military and sanction additional bathroom shenanigans.

 Sigh.

 Then there’s Donald Trump. Because he’s a recent arrival to politics we can only speculate on how he might govern. We do know his views have “evolved” on every subject imaginable from abortion to taxes to healthcare to his feelings concerning Hilary Clinton, his former “close friend”. Reports of shady business deals and allegations of fraud follow him around like stink on a dog. Trump is seemingly powerless to reign in his tongue; policy experts openly fear his obnoxious rhetoric will lead to an international incident of some sort.

 So, what is a Christian to do?

 There are some who have made a sad sort of peace with the fact that there are simply no good choices this year. These folks are a practical bunch, who simply wish to elect the candidate they believe will do the least amount of long-term damage. They understand that this will likely be a tight race and believe that abstaining or selecting a write-in candidate is the essentially the same thing as voting for Hilary. Few in this crowd actually like Trump; they simply hope he’s better than the alternative.

 Their case is bolstered by the fact that the next President will likely choose three Supreme Court Justices. For a generation now Supreme Court rulings have determined the moral attitudes of our nation. Three strictly liberal judges would slant the balance of the court for at least a generation, all but guaranteeing there will not be another sensible Supreme Court decision for at least four decades. If elected Trump has pledged to do everything within his power to build a more conservative Supreme Court.

 That is no small promise.

 The other side is viewed by some as inflexible but they are perhaps more realistic. They see Trump’s record of flip-flopping and history of ethically debatable conduct and conclude that he’s too much of a risk to be trusted with the Presidency. They simply do not believe he will keep his promises. This crowd believes that in this case the lesser of two evils is still evil and they simply are not interested in backing evil of any sort.

 Both views have legitimacy. Every person I know grappling with this issue is a good Christian with a healthy fear of God who believes they will answer to God for whatever choice they make.

 If this were a typical election, I would simply advise folks to prayerfully study 1st Timothy 3:1-5 and choose the candidate that comes closest to the biblical ideal for leadership presented in that passage. Sadly, neither candidate fits that particular bill, so it all comes down to a matter of conscience.

 I believe every God-fearing believer should pray and fast and then pray and fast some more. Then they should do what God tells them to do, because I don’t know the answers, and the answers might be different for different people.

 However I do know some things we should not do.

 Christians should not judge one another, or belittle another’s opinions or anxieties. Nor should one Christian attempt to persuade another Christian to violate their conscience and vote for someone they believe God has told them not to vote for. According to the Apostle Paul (1st Corinthians 8:10, 2nd Timothy 1:9) the human conscience is fragile thing and repeatedly violating it can lead to all sorts of future problems.

 I am persuaded that who we vote for matters less than the amount of time we put into praying for our future leader. At this point neither candidate appears to be worthy of the office, however that can change. God is able to make them worthy.

 God knows the outcome; it’s time to trust Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Islam a Religion of Peace?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

They come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them~ Habakkuk 1:9-10 NIV

 Last Sunday morning I woke to the sad but not terribly shocking news that there was yet another terror-attack on American soil. This time forty-nine people were killed in an Orlando, Florida nightclub.

 There are no words for the sorrow I feel for those who lost someone they love in this senseless tragedy. My heart breaks for the family and friends of the victims who will undoubtedly continue to experience fallout from this tragedy for years to come. I pray that each one will find the peace that only Jesus can bring in the midst of their pain and loss.

 I watch a lot of news.

 So far this week I have heard analysts and legislators on both sides of the aisle blame the attack in Florida on guns, politics in the Middle East, homophobia, the sorry state of our mental healthcare system, loose gun laws, the shooter’s Dad, the internet for “radicalizing the shooter”, sexual repression, morality in America and the sin of “Islamaphobia”.

 Whatever that means.

On and on it goes.

 Sadly, everyone is working so hard to find an excuse for the inexcusable that nobody is asking the one question that really needs to be asked. What is the one common denominator nearly all extremists and their sympathizers share in common? No one asks, because truth-be-told no one wants to discuss the elephant in the room.

 Islam

 Every time a terrorist attack occurs anywhere in the world every ignoramus with access to a microphone or a keyboard rushes in to say “Islam is religion of peace”, and that a few bad apples have hijacked an otherwise wonderful religion. The implications are clear, anyone who dares to disagree with the notion that Islam is a peaceful religion is a racist hater. It has become a highly effective tool for shutting down the conversation.

 But is it true?

 Is Islam a religion of peace? It seems to me that it would be more accurate to say that Islam is religion of violence that has been hijacked by a whole lot of peaceful people who wish to transform Islam into something it is not- at the very core of it’s teaching.

 I do not hate Muslim people. Nor do I believe that the vast majority of Muslims are violent individuals. However, I have come to believe that the religion of Islam is a profoundly violent and tyrannical belief system that seeks to control and dominate every individual on this planet.

 Sharia is the heart and soul of Islam. The word Sharia means “way’ or “path” and is the body of law that flows out of the Quran. Sharia directs every facet of public life for Muslims and much of their private lives. The vast majority (two-thirds) of the worlds 1.6 billion Muslims believe that Sharia law ought to be the law of the land EVERYWHERE.

 Sharia teaches:

 The penalty for rejecting Islam is death~ Quran 9:29-31

Husbands are to beat disobedient wives~ Quran 4:34

Muslims are commanded to terrorize non-Muslims~ Quran 8:60

Men are superior to women and meant to rule over them~ Quran 4:34

Murdering innocents is a valid form of inspiring terror~ Quran 9:14, Quran 9:5

The penalty for homosexuality is death~ Quran 7:80-84

Torture is demanded for apostasy, adultery, and refusal to convert and during times of war~ Quran 24:2, Quran 22:19-22, Quran 9:73, Quran 5:33, Quran 8:12

 The worldview that develops as a result of Sharia translates into a living nightmare for non-Muslim’s residing in Muslim countries. Even in so-called “moderate” Muslim countries such as Pakistan “blasphemy” laws ensure that no non-Muslim has authentic freedom of speech, assembly or worship. Nor are non-Muslims ever really free from the threat of imprisonment, torture or death.

Blasphemy laws in Pakistan are responsible for the murders of at least two hundred Christians (including children) since 1994. Remember, Pakistan is a “moderate” Muslim country; their government is extraordinarily progressive in their treatment of non-Muslims compared to, say, Iran or Iraq.

 As Christians we should not fear or shun Muslims, nor should we ignore the reality of they believe or buy the lie that Islam is a religion of peace, because it’s not.

 Every Christian ought to be educating themselves on the basics of Islamic doctrine, so that we can effectively pray for the salvation of Muslim people. Muslim men and women need to know the love and spiritual freedom that only Jesus Christ can offer them. It’s our responsibility as believers in Jesus to reach them with that truth.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

God and the Election

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare~ Jeremiah 29:7 NLT

 Life is filled with disappointments.

 For most of us, our acquaintance with disappointment begins fairly early usually around the same time we discover the truth about Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. Hopefully, as we mature, the issues that cause us disappointment evolve at least a little. Nevertheless disappointment tends to remain an issue for most of us.

 This reality has been validated by the outcome of the 2016 election.

 As of this week, the fix is clearly in. We know with absolute certainty that barring a federal indictment or a third party miracle candidate either Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump will serve as leader of the free world come January 20th, 2017.

 This was not the outcome I wanted or I prayed for. I have made a gloomy sort of peace with the fact that this election will be a choice between the lesser of two evils and I have to choose one or I am in effect choosing the other, and I have chosen my candidate.

 However, I don’t have to like it.

 In my opinion neither is fit for public office. I have never in all my life seen two candidates who are both so terrible in their own unique way. For me, having to choose between the two is almost like being forced to choose which incurable venereal disease I want to have. Both have a consistent track record of flip-flopping, personal corruption, shady deals and less-than-stellar judgment calls.

 Sigh.

 My initial inclination was to purchase a tract of land in a remote section of Wyoming and begin hoarding dehydrated food and drinking water. Eventually I calmed down and began a journey through the five stages of grief. I probably spent more time in denial and anger than is healthy before landing on acceptance, with acceptance came the acknowledgement that God is still firmly in control.

 Then I started thinking.

 I started thinking about God’s purpose in all this and how Christians (including myself) ought to respond to the chaos that has erupted in recent years. After some thought and a lot of prayer I concluded that there are at least three things Christians can do right now to prepare for the future and be light in the increasingly strange times we live in.

 First:

 Pray- Matthew 7:7, 1st Timothy 2:1-3, Matthew 18:18-19

 Pray that spiritual leaders will be discerning and sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Pray for truth to take root in our world. Pray for wisdom. Pray for world leaders. Pray for the next President. Pray for people to get saved. Pray our political leaders will become the people we desperately need them to be. Just pray.

 Speak boldly- Acts 4:31

 For too long most of us have equated spiritual boldness with rudeness or disrespect for the values of others. Since no rational human wants to be an impertinent jerk, Christians have become timid and even fearful when it comes to proclaiming truth. It’s time to find some balance and start speaking the truth about sin, life, death, heaven and hell. We should choose our words wisely when we speak (Colossians 4:6). That being said, we need to speak up. Our world is literally perishing due to a lack of spiritual knowledge.

 Get grounded in the word- Psalm 119:105, John 8:32

 We live in an age of deception. We are constantly bombarded with the message that right is wrong and wrong is right. Even some who know better have departed from the truth and begun to assert that all spiritual paths lead to the same place and some prominent teachers and preachers have begun to claim that the God of the Bible goes by many names. None of this is true. Not coincidently, these radical shifts in thinking have taken place as corporate Bible studies are being dropped in many churches. The truth found in the Bible is the only antidote to the deception out there. We should study it.

 God has reminded me over and over again these past weeks that my hope is not in the political process. My hope is in God who calls each one of us to fully face the challenges of our world with hearts full faith.

 The fact that God has ultimate control over the political process is in a sense all the hope we need in this world. We know that no matter what happens in the coming weeks and months, we can rest easy knowing that God, not the next president is ultimately in control of all things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who’s to Blame?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

 

Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you~ Hosea 10:12 NIV

 If you have been a reader of my blog for any length of time you have probably already recognized two truths. First, I am an enthusiastic follower of all things political and second, I’m less than satisfied with the state of political affairs in our country.

 I have written several blogs detailing my opinions concerning several of the candidates running in the 2016 election. However, my irritation with the current political landscape runs far deeper than the sorry collection of candidates running for office this year.

 Like many in our culture, I have concluded that prevailing “wisdom” and government policies have encouraged and enabled folks to reject the principles of hard work, faith, unity and personal responsibility. For decades now a large share of the population has chosen to actively reject the very values and principles that made America great in the first place. The choice to abandon our founding principles has not been without consequences. America has become a nation fractured by discord and conflict, a country overrun with rabble-rousers, crybabies, and freeloaders.

 Sane people (especially Christians) are naturally panicked by the devolving social and political structures. There are two opposite but equally rational and all too human responses to the cultural and political turmoil. The first is all too common in Christian communities. We withdraw from the greater culture and pretend the darkness and problems don’t actually exist or that they can be fixed through superficial, feel-goody kinds of events or undertakings.

 We turn off the television news, tune into our families and focus in on our local churches and the activities that make us feel secure, happy and like we have at least a little bit of control in this world.

 This approach directly defies the biblical directive to act as salt and light in our sin-weary world. If the last three decades have taught us anything it’s that when we retreat into our holy huddles we preserve and enlighten only each other. It does not take long for the devil to gain a foothold in the social and political realms, and the world devolves rapidly into social and political chaos.

 Another option is to try and outsource our job as salt and light. We work to get the “right” people elected and then demand that those folks legislate political and social changes. The hope is that if the right laws are passed, those laws will eventually change the hearts of people and even if hearts aren’t changed at least questionable behavior is kept in check.

 The political approach has accomplished little in past decades but to alienate unbelievers who have determined that Christians think it’s their business to police the rest of the world’s behavior. Even in the cases where it does work, it’s still a disaster from a spiritual perspective. For the most part all we’ve done is produce a crop of well-behaved heathens who lack the spiritual insight to recognize how lost they truly are.

 Truth be told, the Christian community bares at least partial responsibility for the mess our world is in. It is our God-given duty is to morally preserve and spiritually enlighten whatever culture we find ourselves in. If you’ve turned on the news recently you know that for the most part we have failed to live up to our obligations.

 Roughly two decades ago Churches ceased to pray corporately because prayer meetings are boring and the people in the pews no longer felt like praying. Around the same time many Pastors stopped preaching on the importance of prayer, repentance and doing hard things, even when we don’t feel like it. In its place the Church has focused a lot of energy on helping folks to feel good about bad choices.

 The solutions to the problems we see in our world will not be found in church programs or improved marketing campaigns designed to make Jesus cooler and more user-friendly than He really is. Our problems will only be solved when the people in the Church renew an interest in prayer and repentance and stop looking to worldly people to solve spiritual problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be the Leader you Want to see

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land~ 2nd Chronicles 7:14

 We live in an age of bizarre contradictions. Some are amusing, others are puzzling, and a few are rather troubling:

 For the first time in human history places exist where it is possible to be both overfed and undernourished.

 Most organizations striving for equality for women refuse to recognize the right of unborn woman to actually be born.

 Those who report spending the most time “connected” to social media sites are also the most likely to report feeling “lonely” and “disengaged” from others.

 Leadership is another arena of inconsistencies and absurdities. A recent and rather hasty Amazon search for “leadership books” netted a whopping 185,460 results. Leadership seminars and conferences have become virtually ubiquitous and every high school student in America is required to take at least one leadership class in order to graduate. Leadership is the current buzzword and yet good leaders are getting tougher and tougher find.

 The sad state of leadership in our culture is most clearly seen in the political realm. Many of the “leaders” who are running for President tell lies on a fairly consistent basis. Few are above stooping to dirty tricks to win an election. One frontrunner will likely be indicted on federal charges and the other is being sued for fraud. Few of the officials who presently hold office are any better. Almost none of them have done what they promised to do; fewer still are humble enough to own up to their lack of accomplishment.

 The political realm is not the only arena where leadership is sadly lacking. Both male and female teachers are frequently dismissed from their positions for having sex with the students they are paid to lead. Sports, movie, and music icons are eager to take the material blessings and notoriety that come with celebrity. However, few are prepared to use those blessings to benefit others or lead kids in a wholesome direction. Some of the vilest offenders of common decency have stated categorically that they “are not role models.”

 Leadership is an issue in many churches as well. There are an appalling number of Christian leaders who live lives of duplicity, preaching love and righteousness from the pulpit and mistreating people or viewing porn when they think no one is watching. However, incidents of obvious sin are not the only issue creating chaos in our churches.

 Many “leaders” in our churches are so averse to saying anything that might possibly be construed as offensive, or hurt someone’s feelings that little of substance is actually said. Christians have bought into the lie that it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to do ALL the convicting and challenging.

 Conviction, or the awareness that we have done wrong, is the natural outcome of exposure to spiritual truth (Acts 26:20, 2nd Timothy 4:2). Too many churches seem to have set the bar at simply transforming sinners into nicer people, rather than leading them to a radical change of thinking about life and God that leads to repentance and transformation.

 It is simply a fact that the Holy Spirit is the only one actually capable of truly transforming a person’s heart and mind. However, Christians have an obligation to give Him something of substance He can work with as He does the work of persuading people of their need for change.

 The muddled state of leadership in our world ought to give us all pause. If history is repeated and it usually is our future world will likely be rather grim. Typically following a period of corrupt leadership and cultural anarchy, strict, autocratic and sometimes even fascist leadership rises from the ashes of cultural decay.

 It’s not too late. Change is still possible, but it won’t come easy. Christians need to be the leaders they want to see. We cannot be anything or do anything of any substance without God’s leadership, help and mercy. It is time for Christians everywhere to to pray and seek the face of God. Don’t pray that God changes the world; rather, pray that He changes us so we can change the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Christians Should Not Vote in This Election

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan~ Proverbs 29:2 ESV

 Our country has come to a place the founding fathers never imagined in their darkest of dreams. Unless the political winds shift quickly, this presidential election will likely be the strangest in our history. Bernie Sanders, self-confessed socialist/communist; and Donald Trump, reality television star/wealthy mogul, will be going toe-to-toe for the most powerful job in the world: President of the United States of America.

 Take a moment and let those words sink in. It’s unlikely either outcome will be pretty and neither can happen without the support of Christians.

 Our first option is the Senator who clearly lacks even a rudimentary understanding of how large economies work. Bernie’s fondest wish is to raise the tax rate on EVERYONE. We are told there is no need to worry because Bernie will reallocate all resources collected in a more “objective” and “equitable” fashion. Under his leadership the same government that is incapable of providing adequate medical care for military veterans (a relatively small percentage of the population) will be deciding who gets how much of pretty much everything.

 The alternative will be Trump, a full-grown adult with the temperament of a toddler. Donald was busy this week. He vowed to sue one of his rivals for producing a negative ad consisting entirely of video clips of his past statements. A day later he called the Pope “disgraceful” and said he was “going down” for criticizing his views on immigration. Trump stated repeatedly this week that he believes spiritual leaders do not have the right to criticize or correct what people believe. If that statement does not scare you, you have literally dismissed all rational thought.

 Many Christians intend to or have already voted for one of these two men. Many believe for whatever reason, that it is wrong to choose not to vote for anyone based on Christian principles. They have decided that Christian values should be consigned entirely to the private sphere of life. Those who support this view inevitably quote Luke 20:25 to justify their belief:

 Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s~ Jesus

 Context is key here. Jesus was not telling His followers they should never use biblical standards when considering a political issue or candidate. I suspect Jesus would have thought the idea that anyone should not apply biblical standards to any subject absurd.

 The question at hand in this passage was whether or not Jews were obligated to pay taxes to the Roman government. Period. Jesus was not telling his followers to abandon reason, so they could vote for some yahoo completely lacking in decency or sense just because they promise something the voter wants.

 In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells his followers to love God with their intellect as well as their emotions. For that reason it is critical that Christians contemplate the character and conduct of a candidate when they consider whom to vote for. Anyone who promises to do a good thing that is not achievable or sustainable from a fiscal perspective is either dangerously ignorant or deliberately dishonest. He’s as bad as Trump who proudly tells the press he could shoot someone on the street and people would and should still follow him. Both should be rejected on the basis of character.

 It is critical we remember God promises that ALL people (Christian and non-Christian) will give account for all their choices, including those made in the voting booth (Romans 14:12, Hebrews 4:13).

 It’s time for Christians to get a firm grip on their feelings and stop wishing for more of the immediate change that helped propel us into this mess. We must accept the fact that the right candidate is not the person who proudly spouts vile, sinful things we sometimes think and shouldn’t. Nor is it the candidate who makes promises he cannot deliver without taking significant resources from the people who actually worked for those resources.

 The right man or woman is the person with enough humility to admit that the problems we have are too big for one person to fix alone. A true leader will be courageous enough to remind us that we all bear some responsibility for the mess we’re in, rather than tell us what our itching ears long to hear (2nd Timothy 4:3-4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six Reasons it Would be Stupid to Waste a Christian Vote on Trump

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit~ Matthew 7:18 NASB

 Regular readers of this blog may have noticed I rarely delve into political issues. I have many political opinions and I certainly don’t have a problem sharing those opinions. However, one of my principal objectives in life is to keep the main thing the main thing, whatever that thing may be. In the case of this blog the main thing is Jesus, not my insignificant little political opinions.

 That said, ultimately all of life is spiritual, and there are times when the spiritual and political intersect. Such is the case with the 2016 presidential election. 2016 is without question the strangest political primary I have ever personally witnessed—possibly the strangest on record.

 Experience is a dirty word. Being loathed by anyone even loosely linked to “the establishment” is ballyhooed as a badge of honor. As a result the outsiders are now the insiders and every political analyst on the planet is face palming right now. It’s been a wild ride and we have yet to cast a single vote.

 Then there’s the Trump thing. The candidate who began as a punch line has become the odds-on favorite. Trump is leading in nearly every poll and his endorsements are piling up. Some Trump enthusiasts make a strange kind of sense. It came as no shock to this blogger that Charlie Sheen, Jesse Ventura, Mike Tyson, Dennis Rodman and Tila Tequila all threw their support to Donald Trump. Like attracts like. I get it.

 Other endorsements make far less sense. Mega-Church Pastor Robert Jeffress, Willie Robertson and Jerry Falwell Jr. are respected, intelligent Christians who have all formally or informally endorsed The Donald.

 I have come to believe that many in the Christian community have lost their way this political season. We could very well find ourselves choosing between a geriatric communist and a loudmouthed reality television star this November. That scenario will not happen without evangelical votes. It’s not my business to tell anyone how to vote. That said, I feel an obligation to share why I believe Christians would be wise to reconsider a Trump vote.

 Trump doesn’t even pretend to be a nice person-

 Trump is a bully. He mocks the handicapped and criticizes women he views as unattractive. If you want to see a display of classic mean-girl maneuvers, take a peek at the ABC interview where Trump tells the reporter “nobody likes Ted Cruz” because “he’s a nasty guy.” Trump regularly shreds anyone who opposes him. Imagine what his level of spite and pettiness will do for democracy and civil discourse.

 He acts like a toddler-

 Maturity and willingness to tackle tough situations are the foundation of strong leadership. Trump skipped out on a debate because he didn’t like (felt intimidated by?) one of moderators. Need I say more?

 Trump thinks way too much of himself –

 Trump’s promise to single handily make America great again encapsulates his pride. The Bible is clear that arrogance, pride and absence of humility are dangerous traps, especially for leaders. Pride blinds folks to the obvious and opens them to deception. Trump’s ego is so out of control that he is doomed to be a victim of deception.    

 

The press wants him to win-

 Two acrimonious divorces, innumerable flip-flops, four bankruptcies and a tongue he is clearly unwilling to control. Trump is the definition of a target-rich environment. Every other candidate has been scrutinized to the point of absurdity (Rubio’s finances, Carson’s books, Cruz’s citizenship, etc.). Yet none of Trump’s issues have been discussed in any detail. I understand how irrational and crazy-town this sounds, but I believe that many in the media want Trump to win. If he secures the nomination it will be easy to discredit him; at that point it will be too late for conservatives to choose another candidate.

 He’s playing us-

 Trump freely admits that he is not, nor has he ever been, a spiritual man. But out of nowhere he’s dropping God bombs and lugging around a Bible the size of a smart car. He’s quoting “two Corinthians” really badly, and swearing up and down that when he’s elected, “everybody will say Merry Christmas”. Trump obviously believes evangelicals are stupid and easily fooled. God help us all if his theory is correct.

 He is either a deceiver or he has no idea what he believes –

 He was for partial-birth abortion; now he’s pro-life. He was pro-immigration, now he wants to build a wall. He was for single-payer insurance; now he’s not. Trump’s flip-flopping is more than mere political evolution, as some have suggested. It’s indicative of a man who will say anything to get elected.

 I do not know what the Christian community sees in Donald Trump. It’s possible that the Church has been worshipping at the altar of worldly success for so long that we have forgotten what God’s definition of success is. It could be that we have given up on getting a godly leader, so now we are willing to settle for any leader we see as tough. It’s possible that some of us have lost our ability to think biblically about secular issues.

 Whatever the reason, the time has come for the people of God to get on their knees and pray like crazy for this country and the people in it. It’s time for those who call themselves Christians to think about life and politics from a spiritual perspective rather than a worldly one. If we refuse, we will get the leader we deserve, and if that happens we will have plenty of time to repent of our foolishness.