Christian Politics

Christian Politics, almost like an oxymoron, huh? Here in California we are coming up on election day. Next Tuesday we will be choosing who we would like to run for President. My major,when I was in college was Political Science so almost every election is of some interest to me. I enjoy listening to what politicians say and then trying to figure out what it is that they are really saying. In this day in age it is also fun to watch the media and how they,in their non-bias,(yeah right),reporting on what they want you to know about each politician. Some of you might think that is a cynical way to look at politics and the media and all I have is one thing to say to you and that's "Wake up!", "Get real!", OK I had two.

Anyways, this election has been fun because quite a few of the candidates have claimed to be a Christian. When I say "fun" let me clarify this...I like watching the candidates sell themselves to whoever they feel are the get elected crowd. Right now it would appear that calling yourself "Christian" is. I am quite amused by this because what they call "Christian" and what I call "Christian" are two totally different things....and when I say different I mean polar opposite. Let's take a look at a few.....

Mike Hukabee - Former Baptist minister. Seems like a promising start, right? Wrong! Scripture tells us that we are to be above reproach(Titus 2:8)Well here is what Judicial Watch had to say about him "Governor Huckabee enjoyed a meteoric rise in the polls in December 2007, which prompted a more thorough review of his ethics record. According to The Associated Press: “[Huckabee’s] career has also been colored by 14 ethics complaints and a volley of questions about his integrity, ranging from his management of campaign cash to his use of a nonprofit organization to subsidize his income to his destruction of state computer files on his way out of the governor’s office.” And what was Governor Huckabee’s response to these ethics allegations? Rather than cooperating with investigators, Huckabee sued the state ethics commission twice and attempted to shut the ethics process down." Not quite the guy I would want to be my pastor.

Barack Obama - Now I know this guy flip-flops between being Christian and Muslim like Kerry flip-flops on what he really stands for, but here is the key note speaker at Rick Warren's Aids Conference. Judicial Watch had this o say about him, "A “Dishonorable Mention” last year, Senator Obama moves onto the “ten most wanted” list in 2007. In 2006, it was discovered that Obama was involved in a suspicious real estate deal with an indicted political fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko. In 2007, more reports surfaced of deeper and suspicious business and political connections It was reported that just two months after he joined the Senate, Obama purchased $50,000 worth of stock in speculative companies whose major investors were his biggest campaign contributors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that benefited from legislation Obama pushed just two weeks after the senator purchased $5,000 of the company’s shares. Obama was also nabbed conducting campaign business in his Senate office, a violation of federal law." Boy with his type of capitalism I'm quite suprised he's not a Republican. You might also want to check out this article about his "Christian" roots.

Hillary Clinton - Yes, Hillary claims to be a "Christian". In fact the ex-President helped ex-President Jimmy Carter with a Christian conference called The New Baptist Christian Celebration. In fact Hillary said this about her faith, "I think that the Methodist Church, for a period of time, became too socially concerned, too involved in the social gospel and did not pay enough attention to questions of personal salvation and individual faith." She also said this when it came to the atoning death of Christ, "Do you believe in the father, son and Holy Spirit? /Hillary: "Yes" /"The atoning death of Jesus?" /Hillary: "Yes". Not bad for a person who believes ion same sex marriage and is an abortion advocate.

Mitt Romney - You really didn't think that I would leave him out did you? He is Mormon and believes that being Mormon means he belongs to just another "Christian" denomination. Wrong! Christianity and Mormonism are completely different. For the religious differences check out The Mormonism Research Ministry or The Christian Research Institute.

Anyways, In all reality none of the above are really Christians. Now I do not know their hearts, but I can look at what they endorse and filter it through scripture to see if it is biblical. If you are a true believer you need to really discern this up coming election what you hear the candidates say and what scripture says. We need not to look at the "Christian" label as much as what they say and do. By the way to all of you Christians that say that you would rather vote for Rudy Giuliani that Mitt Romney because Romney is Mormon....get real! Let me put it another way.....you would rather vote for a person who endorses abortion and has said that he would vote for same sex marriage if he felt that's what America wanted over the guy that is Mormon. What a leader!

OK on to more studying of the candidates and filtering what they say through scripture. Man I hope my guy wins, I hate voting for losers.

Sunday Night with Family P

OK Sunday night at our house is all about the girlie shows. We watch HGTV.....not just like one shows worth of HGTV....but a nights worth. For me it's better that chamomile tea or taking Nyquil. For me and my boys if it doesn't have a ball, a gun or bombs it probably won't be a show that we chose to watch. So needless to say Caleb is playing X-Box and I'm on the computer.

The last show we watched was called "Offbeat America". This show had a ranch where the owners said they were hubcap collectors. The current owner of the ranch compared his hubcaps to the glitz of Hollywood. Shiny hubcaps.....Hollywood lights......I get the comparison........ok I don't, but that's probably why I don't collect hubcaps. The owner introduced his son as the fourth generation hubcap collector. all I can say is that if my dad did that to me I'd look to move to the most remote part of planet earth.

We are currently watching a show called "Extreme Houses". Now I've heard of extreme sports and extreme lifestyles, but extreme houses? When you watch this show you learn real quick that "extreme" is just a code word for multi-million dollar home. Some of these people and there houses make me wonder what they do for a living. This one home they showed in India made me wonder what they do for a living. I mean this house was in the middle of the Indian jungle. I'm convinced that they are hiding from the FBI or the IRS.

Lastly my wife likes this show called "Sleep on it".This show allows people who are looking for a home to spend the night in the house. My wife likes this show so much that she even goes around the house singing its song. From what I have seen of this show I know that I would not want anyone sleeping in my house while I'm trying to sell it.....especially the people that this show highlights. Let me just say......well.....I think Ricky Lake could make a come back with these people.

Anyways......It's on to our next show...."What's with that house?" It's about different houses.....different equals uggggllllyyy.

Heath Ledger's Death a Tragedy

I normally don't comment on actor's or actresses and their goings on, but this one is different. This morning as the kids were getting ready for school and I was getting ready for work we had Good Morning America on and they were talking about Ledger's death. My daughter made the comment that it was a tragedy that he died so young. I believe my daughters comments are pretty much that of a lot of people, Christians included. I proceeded to tell her that the tragedy was not that he died so young, but that he died without Christ. Many Christians will have the same feeling as my daughter and it will escape them that Mr. Ledger is not the only one who's death is a tragedy, but that many people die every day and die without knowing Christ.

The way I see it there are two tragedy's here. The first tragedy is that a person that could have spent eternity in heaven next to his Savior will now spend an eternity in hell. The second is that we as a body of believers would rather pray for movies like Brokeback Mountain and that this movie would not be shown and that we would not pray for the salvation of those creating the movie. As a body of believers we need to stop missing the point, salvation is the point.

If you are a believer ask yourself, "Do I impact people for Christ?" "Do I take every opportunity to develop a relationship with the unbelievers around me so that I can share the Gospel with them?" "Do I get to caught up in picketing the sin and forget the sinner needs Christ?"

If you are an unbeliever there is only one question for you, "Are you ready for an eternity in hell?" Without a confessing Christ as your Savior that is the reality of life.

Road Rage to the Glory of God

When I as a younger man, that is than I am right now, I used to drive down the 405 freeway into Sherman Oaks for work. About 2 exits before I would exit the freeway it would start to back up quite fast and if weren't paying attention you would have to go from, in my case, about 80-90 mph (If my wife is reading this, it was more like 25-30 mph)to 0 mph in about 5.5 seconds. Well one day I was listening to the radio on my way to work and for some reason I got really into the discussion and stopped paying attention to my driving (If my sons or daughter are reading this, I better never catch you doing this while driving my car). Guess what came up on me real quick? Yep! the traffic. As I started to slow down I saw that the lane next to me had less traffic in it, thus giving me more time to slow down.....so I thought. When I changed lanes, wouldn't you know it, there was some guy in my blind spot, so I cut him off. My fault, not his. As we are sitting in traffic this guy that I cut off is cussing up a storm, calling me every name in the book....and I don't mean Barney, Fred and Wilma. He's using hand gestures to tell me how good my driving is and so on and so forth. Well this went on for about the next 5 minutes when the lane to our right opened up enough for him to move over. So as he's passing me, and I'm apologizing for my bone headed move, he's still calling me every foul word in the book. Finally his lane goes fast enough to pass me. When he went by, I noticed on the bumper he had one of those "fish" stickers and another sticker saying, "Follow me to...." with his churches name on it. Man, I thought to myself, what a testimony to all the people on the 405 that day. I will say one thing about that guy, he gave it his all. He was so mad that he didn't hold back one thing, except maybe taking me out.

In studying for a lesson I was teaching in our churches college group we looked at 1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." As I was studying the text I realized that I do not glorify God in everything I do. I do not give my best to an all glorious, all beautiful, all gracious and all forgiving God. In meditating on this I came up with a checklist of the following seven things. My hope and prayer is that I would go through this checklist every so often to make sure that I am glorifying God in a way He deserves.

1) Do I present myself like I desire to glorify God? This could be my general appearance, i.e. how I dress, how I smell, or it could be how I allow myself to be perceived, i.e. the way I speak, the way I write.

2) Do I tackle tasks so that God is glorified in how I accomplish the task? This would be the way I tackle my chores, studying for Sunday school, the way I follow through with tasks I am asked to do by others and the attitude presented while doing the task, preparing for the task and after the task.

3) Do I present the Gospel through my daily living in a manner that glorifies God? This would be what I watch, what I listen to, what I view on the internet and discerning between what is good and what is not. This would also being attentive to who I am around so that I do not cause someone to stumble.

4) Do I seek to glorify God in my treatment of Sunday’s? Do I attend church diligently? Do I attend Sunday School regularly? Do I look at who’s teaching that day and decide if I will attend or not? Do I look forward to Sunday’s?

5) Do I seek to glorify God when I am by myself? Do I let my guard down and allow myself to be less holy because no one is around to see me? Am I lazy?

6) Do I seek to glorify God in my time with Him? Do I see this as flex time? Do I seek accountability? Do I look forward to that time?

7) Do I serve in any way I can? Do I diligently seek opportunities to serve the local body?

I hope I always remember that God deserves everything. He created me for His glory and not to glorify myself. For those of you who know me, feel free to ask me any of the above questions and please feel free to hold me accountable.

Dude?...Dude.....Duuudddeee!!!

Ever since I was in high school my favorite word has been "Dude". I mean what other word can be used as an exclamation, a question or just as a name for a friend? One of my favorite movie quotes is from the movie "Baseketball" (if you are thinking this is a movie endorsement think again. Lame movie, good quote). It went something like this:

Coop: I'm not gonna do it, dude, end of story!
Douglas "Swish" Reemer: Dude
Coop: Dude!
Douglas "Swish" Reemer: Dude!
Coop: Dude!
Douglas "Swish" Reemer: Dude!
[Coop looks shocked]
Douglas "Swish" Reemer: Dude.
Coop: I guess you have a point.

So what is the origin of this great word? Believe it or not no one knows where this word came from. One dictionary says this: formal definition - An Easterner or city person who vacations on a ranch in the West. Informal definition - A man who is very fancy or sharp in dress and demeanor. Slang - a man; a fellow.

OK first thing, a word that has no origin has 3 types of definitions?!? Second thing, a fellow?!? .....a fellow?!? What in the Wide World of Sports? Let me tell you that when I call someone "dude" I'm not calling him a fellow!

Now is there some times when "dude" is not appropriate. Like when my son gets so flustered that he calls his mom dude. Bad idea. Another time would be when you are about to get a ticket and you say to the cop, "Dude?"

So with that Dude, I'm outtie....

Poetry From the 1000 Acre Woods

One of my favorite characters in all of the books I have ever read, as a kid and as an adult, is Tigger. You know T....I....double gah.....err from A.A. Milne's books on Winnie the Pooh. What most people don't know though is that A.A. Milne wrote some poetry also. Here is one of my favorites....

Bad Sir Brian Botany

Sir Brian had a battleaxe with great big knobs on;
He went among the villagers and bopped them on the head.
On Wednesday and Saturday, but mostly on the latter day,
He called at all the cottages, and this is what he said:

"I am Sir Brian!" (ting-ling)
"I am Sir Brian!" (rat-tat)
"I am Sir Brian, as bold as lion -
Take that! - and that! - and that!"

Sir Brian had a pair of boots with great big spurs on,
A fighting pair of which he was particularly fond.
On Tuesday and on Friday, just to make the street look tidy,
He'd collect the passing villagers and kick them in the pond.

"I am Sir Brian!" (sper-lash!)
"I am Sir Brian!" (sper-losh!)
"I am Sir Brian, as bold as lion -
Is anyone else for a was?"

Sir Brian woke one morning, and he couldn't find his battleaxe;
He walked into the village in his second pair of boots.
He had gone a hundred paces, when the street was full of faces,
And the villagers were round him with ironical salutes.

"You are Sir Brian? Indeed!
You are Sir Brian? Dear, dear!
You are Sir Brian, as bold as a lion?
Delighted to meet you here!"

Sir Brian went on a journey, and he found a lot of duckweed:
They pulled him out and dried him, and they blipped him on the head.
They took him by the breeches, and they hurled him into ditches,
And they pushed him under waterfalls and this is what they said:

"You are Sir Brian - don't laugh,
You are Sir Brian - don't cry;
You are Sir Brian, as bold as a lion -
Sir Brian, the lion, good-bye!"

Sir Brian struggled home again, and chopped up his battleaxe,
Sir Brian took his fighting boots, and threw them in the fire.
He is quite a different person now he hasn't got his spurs on,
And he goes about hte village as B. Botany, Esquire.

"I am Sir Brian? Oh, no!
I am Sir Brian? Who's he?
I haven't got any title, I'm Botany -
Plain Mr Botany (B)."

TV Watching in the House of the Family P

For those of you who know Suzi and I you would think that we agree and more things than not. Well I don't want to burst your bubble, but Suzi and I, like most married couples, don't agree on a lot of things. Music and Television are two of those things. It's kind of funny, because on the music end of things if you don't like the same type of music as Suzi she calls it "devil music". On the television end she likes the Home and Garden channel and I like any sports station that is currently showing a competitive event. She likes the Style channel and I like the Discovery channel. She likes the Food channel and I like the History channel. Here is an example of what our nights look like after I get home from work.....Suzi says "Tom pick out something we all can watch" (this is code for pick something I like....see above for the choices). Tom says "Sure hun" (this is code for what channel is the Laker game on?). Suzi says "Thomas no sports" (this is code for see the stations above for a choice that will allow you to sleep in the same bed as me tonight). Tom says "Sure hun" (this code for where is that stinkin' Laker game?). Suzi says "Fine give me the computer if your going to control the TV" (this is code for your in big trouble mister). Tom says "I am multi-tasking here" (this is code for I know....uh I mean, uh.....I hope she forgets about this tonight). Fun, huh? By the way we are currently watching "How Do I Look?".....I guess I can sleep in my own bed tonight.