The good news is…IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!!!!

For Christians it doesn’t matter because our God, not our government or any world power or economic system, is our source! It is He who promises to supply all we need to do all He asks… period! What God asks of us is faithful, dependent, obedience to His Spirit moment by moment. If the sun shines or it rains, in good times or bad, in sickness or in health, in democracy or totalitarianistic socialism – our call is to trust Him for all we need to do all He asks AND HE WILL!!!

There is no need for weeping and wailing or gnashing of teeth! IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! Don’t waste time or energy!

This is like the endless and wasteful debate over the return of our Lord, whether He will come before, during, or after the tribulation! IT DOESN”T MATTER! It is just a distraction! What matters is moment by moment trust and obedience now, in the moment. He will come again for each of us and when He does, whether that is before, during, or after the tribulation, all that will matter will be our trust and obedience. He has a plan for each of our lives and He will always provide all we need to fulfill it! No power in heaven or on Earth can stand against Him. Jesus isn’t dependent on any form of earthly government or economic system. He is the absolute sovereign and infinite power of the Universe.

So, don’t be discouraged. Of course we have preferences concerning our government and who is best qualified to lead it, and we need to be informed and vocal in support of candidates who represent our values and views. But no matter who leads the country this is not our home and it will never be perfect or even really close, and it will never change our Source or what we need to do to receive all we need to live abundantly from Him. We are here for a short term as Ambassadors for Christ and then we’ll go home. Faithful Ambassadors don’t look to the country where they are sent to serve to supply their needs, they look to home. Press on, the Bema awaits!

These three are  supported by the fourth lie. This is one of the most damaging and crippling lies and distortions of all, and has been the foundation for so much damage to the work of Christ that it can’t be calculated. It is the lie of The chasm between the clergy and the laity. This lie is so deeply embedded in The Body of Christ that it would appear hopeless to remove it, failing a truly miraculous work of God.

This lie comes to us in so many subtle ways, but they all have the same basic message; that pastors, priests, and missionaries are the truly anointed ministers of God, and that the rest of us lay people are really second class serfs who are sent to labor in the fields of the world to grub out some mammon to bring to our holy leaders that will allow them to carry out the work of God. We are told this lie subtly and overtly, and it is so powerful because it is told to us by the very leaders to whom we look for truth. And even more devastating is that the very system that depends on the perpetuation of this lie is the system that trains and prepares the leaders we look to for the truth of our way in life. The seminaries and the hierarchies of our denominations would be drastically changed, and their prominent place in religious society altered, and their security threatened, if they taught the truth of the priesthood of all believers and the true call of God on the life of every believer. Many would cease to exist entirely. Jesus warned us that “if the light that you have within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.” When we take in a lie, which is darkness, and believe that it is truth, which is light, we are doubly deceived, and this type of deception is very hard to remove.

              The greatest lies are those which contain the most truth. This lie, number four, is a perfect example of this technique. It is true that pastors are gifts that God gives to The Church. They are specially called and equipped. (As are missionaries, evangelists, and prophets and teachers.) But not to do the work of ministry, their call and equipping is to prepare and equip the “saints”, you and I, for the work of ministry. It is not to do it themselves! The religious professionals are not an elite group of ministers to whom all the really important work of ministry has been delegated. They are the teachers and trainers who are called to enable and encourage you and I to do it!

            The list of destructive effects that are traceable to this lie is amazingly complex. But, in sum, we can say that like perhaps no other, it hinders the work of the Church in reaching the world for Jesus, and as a little realized but devastating byproduct, robs believers of uncounted eternal rewards.

            Each believer has a unique and personal destiny and ministry created in the heart of God. Finding and fulfilling that ministry and destiny is the purpose of the life on earth of a believer. The process of the seeking, learning, and doing the will of God in his/her life and unique ministry is the “reasonable service” of every believer, not only the religious professionals. How much of our true spiritual heritage, and how many eternal rewards will you and I forfeit because we feel we are “second class” Christians?

            The fifth lie feeds many of our human weaknesses and temptations. It is the lie that God wants every one of His children to be rich in worldly terms, and everyone can be rich financially.

            This lie is at the heart of the “name it and claim it” and “health and wealth” distortions of Christian doctrine. Again, this lie has its’ roots deep in the truth. God does want all His children to prosper “even as your souls prosper”, and Jesus did come to give us “life abundant.” But the prosperity and abundance He refers to have absolutely nothing to do with worldly riches! The prosperity and abundance of God are of the inner man and not dependent on anything external. A poor man has equal access to God’s prosperity and abundance with a rich man. When God grants one riches they are only tools to be used to fulfill His call and plan for the life and ministry of that one, and the one to whom they are given will be responsible to Him for their use for His purposes. Worldly riches are a responsibility to be carefully handled, not a blessing that God wishes He could give to all His children.

            God doesn’t want all His children to be rich, He wants us to be holy. He doesn’t want us to be conformed to the image of Solomon, He wants us to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

            Receiving this lie, even in part, causes many Christians, who God has called to humble service, in small businesses, churches, or ministries, to fall to the sin of comparison and envy, and to do things He hasn’t called them to do, like borrowing money, to try to grow to be as big as others. It encourages an ungrateful spirit and an unthankful heart which hurt God. It makes true contentment impossible and leads to stress and frustration. God has not made us all to be rich, but He has made us all to be wealthy in true life abundant.

            The last lie we will deal with, but by no means the last Satan uses, is the perhaps the daddy of them all, at least of those we are affected by today. This is the lie that says; The Bible ”contains truth, but isn’t wholly true. There are many permutations of this lie, but they all have in common the purpose of opening a crack in God’s written revelation to man. A crack that, once opened, will allow such an increasing dilution and distortion, that over time will render it meaningless altogether. We are seeing the results of this lie in our lives almost daily as we watch one truth or one principle after another be explained away under the guise of modern critical interpretation. In our day men who call themselves Christians tell us that oral sex isn’t sex at all, homosexuality is an “alternative lifestyle”, lies that don’t hurt anyone aren’t lies at all, and that we must respect all ideas equally. We are told that we must read the Bible in the “light of the culture in which it was written”, meaning since our culture is now so different the Bible can’t be applied. This lie has been so cleverly implanted that we now have turned from the use of the Bible to judge other works, to the use of other works to judge the Bible. This lie reduces the Bible to equality with every other religious book such as the Koran or The Book of Mormon.

            If  we accept the lie that any part of the Bible may be untrue then we open the door that any other part may not be true. The task of picking and choosing which parts of the Bible are true and which are not is a hopelessly impossible slippery slope, and no one can stand on it. Once one steps there, there is no stopping. If we Christians give up our objective and extrinsic standard of truth, the written revealed Word of God, we have lost the fight forever. Oh, we may not appear to have done so immediately, but it is over nonetheless. ONLY if the Bible is NOT totally true can Christianity be positioned as only one of many great religions, and its’ teachings treated as optional. Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible makes NO room for other faiths. Period.  The Bible never even infers that there may be even one other way to God let alone many, and only if the Bible does not tell the whole truth is that thought even an option.

            To the degree we as Christians have been influenced by these six fundamental lies we are being hindered in doing what God has called us to do. Jesus said, “IF you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Free from lies and to be all He designed, and to do all He planned. Think about it:

            If the Bible isn’t totally true, I can’t trust it.

            If God wants me to be rich and I’m not, something must be wrong with me.

            If my faith shouldn’t be a part of my business, then it’s all about money.

            If my faith can’t be a part of my politics, then it’s all about power.

            If morality can’t be legislated, then the immoral will rule.

            If I am a second class Christian, what I do doesn’t matter much.

Jesus taught His followers to be careful not to be deceived. He used the metaphor of darkness and light to represent lies and truth and warned to be careful about what we accept as “light.” He said that if we receive darkness believing it to be light the deception would be “great.”  Let me give you and example of how this works.

Let’s take the statement “You can’t legislate morality.” Have you ever heard that? Do you believe it? Well, most people do. And yet, nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that morality is the basis for ALL legislation. Legislation establishes and codifies morality. Laws are passed to define moral behavior among those under the authority of the governing body that creates them.   

God legislates morality. It doesn’t bother Him a bit. He made laws and commandments. Can you see the effect in America today of this lie? Because so many have believed it we have become unable to define right from wrong to an almost unbelievable degree. We are being consumed by post-modern thought that denies absolute truth and allows determination of what is right in an anarchistic way, meaning everyone being able to choose what is right for themselves.   

When combined with lie number two, “You can’t mix business with religion” and lie number three, “You can’t mix religion with politics” lie number one is used to confuse us and distort reality with devastating results. These lies have been the basis for much of the marginalization of our faith today. Since we are told that we are not to mix our faith with business or politics, those Christians that God has placed in positions of strategic influence and leadership often feel that they must compromise their belief or keep it private somehow, which is in fact impossible. The attempt to do so turns them into hypocrites and compromises their testimony.

The reality and truth is that we can’t separate our religion from our business, politics, legislation or anything else! Our faith, if it is real, is the center and basis for all of life and when we attempt to separate it from any part, chaos in that part is the result.

The mixture of these clever lies which sound so good and logical is what allows the deception of our politicians and leaders to the extent that they feel they can say that, while they hold “personal” belief against something which the law of the land says is legal, they can and do support it. The most glaring example of this deception are those politicians who say they are Christians but who support a woman’s “right” to have an abortion because the law of the land decrees it to be legal. Since when does the law of the land supersede the law of God? And where does God ever give His permission to violate His laws if most of the people want to? Abortion is murder and the killing of unborn babies is at the heart of the moral rot of our nation.

We will stop here for today, with just the first three examples of darkness presenting itself as light. Have you believed any of the first three? Think about how these three have impacted our culture! There’s much more to come, stay tuned! Oh yeah, and by the way, light always overcomes darkness. Walk in the Light!

This piece was written by “Anon”, a pastor’s wife, whom I wish that I could credit. I think that it is spot on. 

“And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land
called America , having lost their morals, their initiative, and their
will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that
person known as “The One.”

He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He
hypnotized the people telling them, “I am sent to save you.” My lack
of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my
association with evil doers are of no consequence. I shall save you
with hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the
land that he who proceeded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation,
and that all he has built must be destroyed. And the people rejoiced,
for even though they knew not what “The One” would do, he had promised
that it was good; and they believed. And “The One” said ” We live in
the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!”
And the people said, “Hallelujah! Change is good!”

Then He said, “We are going to tax the rich fat-cats.” And the
people said “Sock it to them!” “And redistribute their wealth.” And
the people said, “Show us the money!” And then he said, ”
redistribution of wealth is good for everybody.”

And Joe the plumber asked, ” Are you kidding me? You’re going to
steal my money and give it to the deadbeats??” And “The One”
ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe’s personal records were hacked and publicized.
One lone reporter asked, “Isn’t that Marxist policy?” And she was
banished from the kingdom!

Then a citizen asked, “With no foreign relations experience and
having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with
radical terrorists?” And “The One” said, “Simple. I shall sit with
them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they
will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!” And the people
said, “Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons
into free cars for the people!”

Then “The One” said “I shall give 95% of you lower taxes.” And one,
lone voice said, “But 40% of us don’t pay ANY taxes.” So “The One”
said, “Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!”
And the people said, “Hallelujah! Show us the money!”
Then “The One” said, “I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell
your homes!” And the people yawned and the slumping housing market
collapsed. And He said. “I shall mandate employer-funded health care
for every worker and raise the minimum wage. And I shall give every
person unlimited healthcare and medicine and transportation to the
clinics.” And the people said, “Give me some of that!”
Then he said, “I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas.”
And the people said, “Where’s my rebate check?”

Then “The One” said, “I shall bankrupt the coal industry and
electricity rates will skyrocket!” And the people said, “Coal is
dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don’t care for that part
about higher electric rates.” So “The One” said, Not to worry. If
your rebate isn’t enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out.
Just sign up with the ACORN and your troubles are over!”

Then He said, “Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let’s
grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches,
free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing…” And
the people said, “Hallelujah!” and they made him king!

And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and
ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others
simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto
a rock dropped from a cliff.
The banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a
crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.

Then “The One” said, “I am the “the One”- The Messiah – and I’m here
to save you! We shall just print more money so everyone will have
enough!” But our foreign trading partners said unto Him. “Wait a
minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have
to pay more… And “The One” said, “Wait a minute. That is
unfair!!” And the world said, “Neither are these other idiotic
programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and
a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!”

And the people cried out, “Alas, alas!! What have we done?” But yea
verily, it was too late. The people set upon The One and spat upon
him and stoned him, and his name was dung. And the once mighty nation
was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or
shelter or hope. And the Change “The One” had given them was as like
unto a poison that had destroyed them and like a whirlwind that
consumed all that they had built.

And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish,
“give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!!” But it was too
late, and their homeland was no more.”

You may think this a fairy tale, but it’s not.
It’s happening RIGHT NOW


_ ]]> http://buckjacobs.com/the-one-by-anon/feed 4 http://buckjacobs.com/think-about-this-two-huge-flaws http://buckjacobs.com/think-about-this-two-huge-flaws#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:51:37 +0000 Buck Jacobs http://buckjacobs.com/?p=321 There are two basic flaws in out current Christian paradigm and practice that have allowed America, and by extension the world, to slide closer and closer to moral rot and decay. This post will be short. I just want you to think deeply about what you see as you participate in or observe the contemporary Christian church. These flaws are so severe that they must be totally reversed if we are ever to see the renewal or revival or restoration of our nation. The problems are spiritual, not economic or political and the slippery slope deepens almost daily.

Flaw number one is the paradigm that the members of the church exist to equip the pastors for the work of ministry. They are do this by bringing their tithes into the “storehouse” and building ever larger and more ornate storehouses. The beautiful storehouses will attract the lost and they will want to come visit the beautiful storehouse and be saved. The lost will become saved and then will help the building of even more ornate storehouses. This paradigm is exactly backwards from the true model which says that the pastors and leaders are given to the Church to equip the members to do the work of ministry as they “go into all the world.”

Flaw number two is that the Church needs to bring the current culture of the world into the church rather than taking the Church into the culture of the world. Again, exactly backwards from reality of Biblical model and truth. Christians are to be “salt” and “light” not sponges.

These  maladjustment’s have produced a compromised and powerless church. Think not? Get a grip. Read on.

I know that many of you will be saying; “Yes, but what about the wonderful mega-churches that are growing and prospering? Aren’t they they way of the future? Isn’t the “emergent church” the new way of doing church.”

Is it? Think about this – if we were to add together all the attendees of all the mega-churches and emergent churches together I doubt there would be a total of a million attendees. And if we use George Barna’s statistic to measure the true believers (those having a Christ-centered worldview) out of the total attendees we end up with a fraction of those who attend, say 10% . Statistically this says that there are less than 10% (100,000) of  1 million real believers out of three hundred and fifty million in our population. That’s ,0035.  Statistically insignificant. and that’s what the church has become in contemporary American culture, insignificant. Quibble with the numbers if you want to but even if you double or triple them the resultant powerless and insignificance won’t change. All the result of the two basic flaws. Think about it. What has to change?

It is a pointed and penetrating piece worthy of the time it will take you to read it. It touches on a deep and sobering perspective of our contemporary culture and its shallowness, and our willingness to accept how things or people appear without looking too deeply for what they really are. Our national focus has become one of form over substance. Character has come to mean nothing to us.  I suggest that you read the article before proceeding.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/opinion/20rich.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

I don’t agree with all Mr. Rich says in his article but the important point is that the majority of us have sacrificed our critical thinking to a superficial  ”easy way” mentality and a selfish non-involvement in anything that costs us more than attention to a sound bite. We are willing to be had if the one promising whatever looks and sounds good on the surface.

We suspend disbelief to jump into get-rich-quick schemes of all kinds because we have become greedy and unhooked profits from the provision of genuine value. (See the Savings and Loan scandal, Enron et.al., the dot.com bubble, the real-estate bubble, Bernie Madoff, etc., etc., etc,.) People who should know better choose not to in hope of quick and effortless gain.

We think nothing of the value of our word if breaking it seems to offer us some form of personal benefit. We divorce, casually setting aside our wedding vows. We sue hoping t0 hit the deep pockets lottery. We tolerate, no idolize, athletes and performers that make millions and live like immoral pigs. We tolerate a president who disgraced the office and his family with his adolescent sexual behavior and then didn’t think too much about the fact that he lied to us looking us right in the eye while doing so. (Hey, the economy was good!)

Why shouldn’t Tiger be Person of the Year? We don’t have any standards left to judge him by.

How’s all this working for you?

The Bible, which we, as a formal practice and often legal necessity, now disregard as irrelevant and unfit for use outside of the walls of a church or in private, says “There is a way which seems right to a man. but the ends thereof are the ways of death.” As a nation we are on that “way.” The moral degradation and the decay of the standards of our society are evident to anyone who cares to objectively examine them and we are reaping what we have sewn through selfish indifference and self-indulgence.

Can the trends be reversed? Not unless there is an unbelievable change in our national moral trajectory. If nothing changes, nothing changes, and in this instance they always get worse. To do good takes great effort, evil will spread on its own. We are in great danger. The slippery slope gains speed over time.

We can only turn the momentum of our culture slowly and one at a time. It’s up to you and me. Our leaders can’t or won’t. We need to step up and step in.

Watch this video and think about it.  Click here One nation Under God

We are being represented by prostitutes who gladly sell their integrity for money, power, and popularity. (See: Where are the Statesmen? – http://buckjacobs.com/one-life-where-are-the-statesmen) The media turns a blind eye to the lies and distortions of our faux-leaders and uses its diminishing influence to promote a leftist agenda that would have been unthinkable to our parents generation.

It is patently obvious to me that the people leading our nation in the House and Senate, as well as the president, have no respect for us or our opinions. They know better than we do what is best for us! They see themselves as the elite, superior and enlightened beings who have been “chosen” to rule over us and care for we unwashed masses.

And its not as if there is a clear choice in the party that is out of power! When they had the chance to govern they blew it in a mess of scandal and excessive spending and a lack of clear demonstration of positive leadership in every area but war on terror.

I think that I have been in denial, somehow hoping for the best and not really believing what I have been watching unfold before me as our president and the leaders of the House and Senate have revealed themselves and their naked lust for power over us. No more, it is clear, unless we the people rise up and throw all the bums out, we are toast!

It won’t matter too much to me what happens. I’m 72 and have had a wonderful life since I gave it to Jesus in 1973. But my children and grandchildren and yours, what will we be leaving to and for them? Are we so selfish and blinded by entitlements and BS that we don’t see or care? Time will tell, but for me I’ve had it! No more denial, no more hope in a poser and a bunch of prostituted politicians. I will pray and search for statesmen and speak out where I can against the corrupt practices and disingenuous posturing of the posers. What about you/

Oh yeah, the rumbling you hear? That’s the founders of our nation and our forefathers spinning in their graves!

1) Real per-capita income in our country has doubled since 1960.

2) Life expectancy has nearly doubled in the last century and continues to rise?

3) The size of the average new home has grown from 1100 square feet post WWII to 2300 square feet today?

4) We Americans are more prosperous today than 99.4% of anyone who has ever lived?

5) We have technology and labor saving devices beyond what could be imagined just 50 years ago?

6) The total of the knowledge we have gained in the last 50 years is 50 times greater than all that was previously known to man and continues to double every year or less.

7) We live in the country with the greatest individual freedom that the world has ever seen?

In spite of the above, all studies show that we are no more happy or satisfied with our lives than we were two and three generations ago. We are living in the most abundant and liberated society the world has ever seen. We have the greatest degree of personal freedom. But…

25% struggle with or are experiencing depression.

Our rates of addiction and suicide are flat or increasing.

Violence against children is rising.

We have a greater percentage of our population in jail than ever before.

Divorce is more common than fidelity to our marriage vows.

With all of the gains we have made through science, all the incredible total knowledge we have gained, with all of our basic needs for food and shelter met beyond anyone, anywhere in history, we’re not happy by even close to the same degree.

The question is… WHY????

Discontent fuels so much of the pain that we experience in our lives! For most of us what we have is never good enough and we live in a constant state of delusion and delayed hapiness because we don’t have whatever it is…..yet! Yet? Yet means that we don’t have it now but it is coming, sometime…but not now. The problem is that contentment, happiness, peace, and joy only exist in the now! In the moment. We can remember them from the past, we can hope for them in the future, but we can only experience them in the present moment! Look around! Who do you know that has these qualities as a consistent characteristic of their lives! Do you? If not, why not, are you waiting for… yet? We don’t have to live for …yet! There is another way.

The delusion that causes us this disconnect is no accident, it’s an intentional strategy. There is a source for this unhelpful way of thinking about reality. At heart discontent is a product of the pit of hell.

God is using Satan to create the opportunity for choice in life. God doesn’t want robots to love Him back because they can’t. The only love that matters is love that is a choice and has a cost. God has created us with a free will to choose and make meaningful choices.  Satan has limited but significant power to offer us alternatives and he has created an alternative reality to offer in place of true reality as defined by God.

Satan’s reality is the world’s system of material reality and value and it’s values are all drawn from the material and temporal. They are packaged in shiny, attractive, and sexy boxes but the problem is all the boxes are actually empty and opening one only leads to wanting another. There is never enough whatever. Remember, “If you can’t be happy with what you have, you’ll never be happy with what you want” because what you get becomes what you have.

Think about it. How many times have we set a goal or had a desire for something, committed ourselves to strive to get it, got it, and found that the satisfaction doesn’t last and only leads to another goal or desire   that leads to another…. Whether it is a net worth, a degree, a job or promotion, a relationship – anything outside of ourselves, our inner person.

Two pervasive characteristics dominate our 21st century culture and have been the source of so much of the world’s pain forever; competition and comparison. Our American culture is so totally captured by the misuse of these two that it is almost impossible to find examples of lives that aren’t totally given over to them. Our education system, the over-importance of sports in our culture, our attitudes towards our careers, almost everything we do is fueled by comparison and competition.

Our economy, the world’s economy,  is driven by advertising that bombards us constantly with messages designed to make us…discontent with what we have. Think about it! Talk about pervasive!

When we live looking outward in this way, comparing ourselves to others and striving to compete with them in what is perceived as a zero sum game we can never be content. If we can’t be content life is….what would you say? Frustrating? Empty? Tiring? Busy,busy?

Are you content? What would you say to God if He spoke to you and said “Your life is as good right now as it will ever be. You’ll never have any more stuff. No one will ever think more highly of you than they do. You’ll never be promoted or get a raise. ” Chances are He will never say that but, if He did, could you say “That’s OK Lord! I don’t deserve what I have and it’s plenty for me. Thank you for caring for me and giving me all I need to do and be all you want!” If you can you are not only content, but blessed beyond  most who have ever lived and have received the first gift of Christmas. It all starts there.

Statesmen are leaders (men and women) who stand for what is right regardless of the popularity of their position. Politicians are ONLY concerned with what is popular. A nation ruled by politicians, as we are now and have been for quite some time, will inevitably sink to the lowest common denominator of morality, which, unfortunately, always trends lower and lower over time.

This is also true in the church where we long for leaders who are called and anointed men of God, prophets, but get careerists who seek to build personal careers rather than Jesus’ Church. Careerists are primarily concerned with popularity with “seekers” and with a “nickels and noses” orientation because increasing these metrics leads to larger personal reputation and more money. Careerists are willing to compromise to be popular and in their hearts love money and security just like their heathen neighbors. Their lifestyles, which model no discernible difference from reasonably honest heathen’s, demonstrate their true values. They have redefined sin to be mistakes and poor choices.

(If you’re wondering whether you are a part of a church led by a careerist just ask yourself; when was the last time was that you heard a sermon that condemned divorce, abortion, or homosexual behaviour, and if your “praise team” is so loud you can’t hear anyone else sing.)

Christain careerists in business lead dichotomous lives using one standard in church and another at work. They too care more about personal career success and “security” than about God’s Kingdom. If being a Christian in the workplace ever became a crime there would not be enough evidence to convict them of even a misdemeanor. Others consider them to be hypocrites because they observe them living one standard but professing another.

It’s not like there is no option for this mess. There is the truest “Statesman” ever living in the heart of every true Christian. God’s Holy Spirit ALWAYS stands up for what is right, never compromises, and never backs down in the face of popular opinion. He always has an opinion and never fails to strive to make it known through the noise of the culture. We have so very few statesmen only because we don’t listen or have the courage to obey when obedience would clash with what’s popular. No wonder we get politicians. Basically, we deserve them.