Jesus of Nazareth (The Christ) called out the Pharisees for who they were… a brood of vipers. He called them names in public to their faces. These were both the political and religious leaders of his day. They were the leaders of his country, of his nation. Ancient Israel was a theocracy. He also called them whited sepulchers (burial tombs) full of the rottenness and stench of decaying bodies. He was deeply involved in the politics of his day as were many of the historical figures recorded in the Bible (i.e. Moses, Daniel, Joseph, and the Apostle Paul just to name a few).

  I’m astounded by the position of some prominent religious leaders in our country right now. Their commentary on this election is indicative of men leaning more toward dogma and less toward the wisdom and common sense collectively outlined in God’s Word, the Bible.

  Voting for a candidate is not necessarily an endorsement of their (reprehensible at times) behavior. A presidential campaign is a job interview and you and I are the employers. We are responsible to hire the right person for the job.  I am supporting Ted Cruz but he did not win the primary. Therefore, within our election system we have Hillary and Donald. Those are the two choices that we know of now and can control with our votes now.  Tossing your responsibility over the fence by refusing to vote to win and claiming you’re making a stand for God smacks of piety and engages “magic thinking”. Thematically (hermeneutics) the stories in the Bible show men engaging in all that they could do before God engaged with what he would do. That is called true biblical faith.

  The idea that you will not vote for a candidate because you “fear” rubber stamping his very public, negative (even sinful) behavior and commentary is not entirely accurate from a biblical perspective. If it were Jesus would have never gone to Mathew’s house. Jesus Christ rebuked the Pharisees very openly and publicly as I mentioned above but he didn’t then refuse to go to the cross because he knew many of them would never follow him to salvation. Instead he gave voice and action to the truth and went anyway because it served the greater good. In other words his thinking was long term in its wisdom and required personal sacrifice. We as Evangelicals preach that we love the sinner but hate the sin. So, call out the sin (and yes the church is commissioned of God to do that so get over yourself and the brow beating of the hyper-religious and the PC secularists.) It’s not judgmental when you offer (or witness to) someone the same salvation you received for your sins. If they reject that truth it’s their problem. The greatest act of love is to tell your neighbor the truth after going through first yourself. Isn’t that what Jesus did with first his preaching and next to the cross?

  I refuse to allow the secular (often Godless) press to redefine Evangelical. I accomplish this by writing articles like this and getting up every morning and just being who I am… consistently as I am able.  People are always going to be less than perfect because they do not always walk in love…even though we try daily. This includes all Evangelical Christians. This is our witness and is a major contributor in fulfilling the commission of Mathew 28 for which we are ALL accountable.

  The Church has taken the verse “be ye separate from the world” out of context and legalized themselves right off the playing field and out of the stadium which is exactly what the Godless secularists want. Are you not any smarter than that? And how can this interpretation be accurate when Mathew 28 clearly tells us to go right into the world with the Gospel of the Kingdom and preach it to everybody with no apologies. This includes governments and government leaders by the way. And believe me those men and women fear that. They really do and as well they should. The truth doesn’t set you free. Knowing and acting on the truth sets men free. Know the difference and then go witness…fearlessly. And by the way preaching the Gospel doesn’t necessarily mean tossing verses of scripture around like loaves of bread. Be relevant with your witness. Unchurched people do not speak “Christian-ese”.

  Jesus Christ didn’t avoid going to Matthew’s house. In fact he literally invited himself to dine with publicans and sinners that night. He wasn’t afraid of the association, of getting “dirty” or what people thought (which is the man-fearing spirit). He just did the right thing knowing that his father knew his heart.

  We (the church) are in this weak position right now because of legalized dogma, poor discipleship training, scriptural weakness and tepid leadership. We fear our own people will walk out the church door if we preach too hard, which they have done and sometimes do. That is their choice and their responsibility. Let them go if they want to. Yours is to deliver the message. Let God do the changing. We don’t need 3000 to win the war when 300 who are actually committed to God and his word will do. For heaven’s sake be “salt and light”, get back into the game and make a fight of it. Proverbs says, “If you wait for perfect conditions you will never get anything done.” (para). The wise Evangelical is thinking 2 or 3 elections from now and not fixated on itemized dogma. If you’re intellectually honest with the scriptures you will find God the Father is exactly the same way. We’re commissioned to preach the “ideal” while understanding and accepting that we live in the “real”.  The Apostle Paul knew this and wrote about it. God is not going to freak-out on you if you’re genuinely trying. What needs fixing in America cannot be accomplished in one election. This is basic wisdom and common sense. It’s a process not an event so let’s grow up and get to it while there is still a First Amendment to defend.