JudgeRight

The Voice

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:46:29 -0700

Just wanted to let the community know about the new internet show from CrossActionNews called "The Voice."

First Show The Voice

Look for this show to become big. I've been a contributor to their news site for a few months, thanks to Twana. It looks as though these folks are on the up and coming track, so keep your eyes peeled for their shows and watch their growth.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Speak Truth to Power? NO, Authority to Power

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:23:30 -0700

Over at the group, "Rethinking the Church and its Relationship to the Community" I watched this video posted by Butt Rock Ken of Mark Lowry interviewing Tony Campolo. Now I oppose Tony Campolo's work on separation of church and state, but the rest of his writings, sermons, speeches and thoughts are utterly clear, sound thinking. In this interview he demonstrates this in recounting the difference between power and authority. So this is the seed of this article.

Authority

Power
1 a (1): ability to act or produce an effect (2): ability to get extra-base hits (3): capacity for being acted upon or undergoing an effect b: legal or official authority, capacity, or right2 a: possession of control, authority, or influence over others b: one having such power; specifically : a sovereign state c: a controlling group : establishment —often used in the phrase the powers that be darchaic : a force of armed men echiefly dialect : a large number or quantity3 a: physical might b: mental or moral efficacy c: political control or influence4plural : an order of angels — see celestial hierarchy5 a: the number of times as indicated by an exponent that a number occurs as a factor in a product <5 to the third power is 125>; also : the product itself <8 is a power of 2> b: cardinal number 26 a: a source or means of supplying energy; especially : electricity b: motive power c: the time rate at which work is done or energy emitted or transferred7: magnification 2b8: ¹scope 39: the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis in a statistical test when a particular alternative hypothesis happens to be true

Authority
1 a (1): a citation (as from a book or file) used in defense or support (2): the source from which the citation is drawn b (1): a conclusive statement or set of statements (as an official decision of a court) (2): a decision taken as a precedent (3): testimony c: an individual cited or appealed to as an expert2 a: power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior b: freedom granted by one in authority : right3 a: persons in command; specifically : government b: a governmental agency or corporation to administer a revenue-producing public enterprise <the transit authority>4 a: grounds, warrant <had excellent authority for believing the claim> b: convincing force <lent authority to the performance>

In my experience, the church is involved in sacrificing for their community and for the world. Every church I have been a member of (admittedly a small number) has been involved in giving food, services, and care to their communities and giving to poor and needy people around the world. I don't mean giving out of their wealth either. I mean often giving when they are in need. I agree with Tony Campolo's assessment about authority and in my opinion the church does earn that authority. While there are instances of some churches trying to impose political will on the nation at large, this is not to be confused with the authority bought and paid for by sacrificial giving. As Mother Theresa had the moral clout to speak to college kids about their immoral lifestyles and to President Clinton about abortion, the giving church has moral clout to speak to their communities about their immoral policies. This is where I believe Tony deviates from his own message on the separation of church and state. Tony is himself involved in politics, why then would he suggest that the church should not be involved in the same way. Is it the organizational aspect of the Christian voice? What then? Are we to leave the political power to the secularists who've demonstrated an effective collectivist activism and influence on the political system? It would be a suicide of reason and result in the loss of our fundamental right to freedom of religion to vacate the opposition of the anti-Christian movement.

On Christian involvement

My greatest criticism goes to the main stream media and to the generation which disrespects authority. The generation that had as one of its mantras "Never trust anybody over thirty." Another is "Speak truth to power" as if power is by definition seats of deception and corruption. Positions of power are not born in corruption though they have been and some currently are filled with corrupt individuals. Jack Murtha is the first to come to mind. Those powers were born of necessity for a civil society to function. We try to judge which candidates would fill those roles to best benefit the society they govern. This brings us to the crux of Christian involvement in political activism. Who better to judge who has moral clout? Who better to influence those powers for the benefit of society than those willing to sacrifice of themselves for that community? The media influence on the popular view of religious people is similar to the one we see in the arena of science debate. Christians have real reasons to debate the theory of evolution, but we have been shut out of the discussion and ridiculed for our belief in a Designer. Our explanation for the existence of everything has been labeled 'fanatic' and 'superstitious.' This view has progressed to the point that our belief is banned from the institutions of education. The media continues this system of demarcation by putting a ? in front of every interview with a religious figure, yet it is those same Christians who are sacrificing of themselves to go to the drug addicted, pimps, poor, homeless, and even into the prisons to bring about real benefit to those trapped in their circumstances.

We are earning moral clout and nowhere is that more evident than in the personal lives of those who've escaped their addictions and economic traps through the aid of the Christian community. Where we are ridiculed and shunned is in the very halls of authority that those we emulate established. We began the fight that ended slavery, we began the fight for human rights and self rule and determination. We continue that fight to this day. Those are the values this nation was born on and not, as the secularists claim, on the mix of many cultures. Mixing the cultures is good, but it wasn't the idea of many cultures mixed. It was the idea of a Christ centered heritage open to all comers.

Back to authority. What authority is bought by holding up a sign that says "No Blood for Oil?" There is no sacrifice in that. Neither is there any benefit to society locally or globally. What sacrifice to march through the streets of Washington shouting slogans for equal rights to marriage for gays? These groups have no moral clout, no authority to speak of rights. This is merely a selfish demand as is the anti-war campaign. They see the war as a 'sacrifice' they are not willing to make. This is why giving in to these demands is a step away from morality rather than toward it. These are anti-sacrificial movements pushing greater evil into the world born in and fueled by selfishness.

Speaking truth to power means nothing when truth is described as relative by pop culture. "What's true for you is not true for me." Truth used to mean we all assume one way to be true and all others to be false and wrong. How about speaking authority to power? Where the voices that are buying credibility by investing in the society with their sacrifices are more valued than the voices demanding of society rather than investing in it.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Shoot to Kill

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:23:41 -0700

Genesis 9:5,6 "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man."
New King James ver.

Spirit Filled Life study helps.
Kingdom Dynamics
The sacredness of life, human worth. Life was breathed into man by God. Man was made in the "image" of God, and after God's "likeness" (1:26; 9:6). Man was God's unique, spiritual, immortal, intelligent creation. Thus, God commands, "You shall not murder" (Ex. 20:13). To take human life is to assault the image of God in man. Human life should be respected and reverenced. Life, even prenatal life, is always a miracle; and no one should feel he has the right to shed the blood of an innocent human being. The word "require" (Gen 9:5) indicates God was doing more than simply stating a rule. He was saying that He will actually "pursue" (Hebrew darash) or "seek" a man's life in payment for the innocent life he has taken. Let no disrespect for human life invade any mind. Let us proclaim the value and the sacredness of life. (Gen 3:17, Acts 17:26)

Exodus 22:2-4 "if the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. "if the sun has risen on him, (if he is found out or was identified and arrested) there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft is found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall restore double."

Nehemiah 4:14 And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

Acts 25:11 "For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar."

death penalty

Time and time again, I hear from the anti-death penalty and anti-war proponents that Christians are hypocritical for supporting these two very necessary elements of civilized society. Mike Farrell accused Dennis Prager of licking his lips at the eminent death of convicted murderer Tookie Williams. The exact quote was, "You disgust me. You sit there licking your lips about the death of another human being. You sicken me. You people are dragging us back into the caves." Dennis Prager is not a Christian but is a practicing Jew and so holds many of the same values since Jews and Christians study the same Holy Book until you get to the New Testament. Without getting into the debate over corporal punishment and the merits of the war option, I wanted to defend the Christian perspective that these are not the equivelant of murder.

Murder is the unjust taking of life and is entirely different in definition from killing in the scope of war and criminal justice. So, wherever you stand on the issues, please stop obfuscating the discussion with false charges against Christianity. Christianity is reliant upon the scriptures in the Bible (taken as a whole) for its standard of operation. And the scriptures support both venues (war and corporal punishment) for killing in both the Old and New Testaments. This is yet another case of non-Christians trying to judge Christians according to the Christian doctrines and standards when they have no understanding and very little knowledge of them but feel compelled to inform us of our doctrines. I, for one, am unwilling to allow the double standards to continue in our culture where secularists attempt to hold Christians to a standard to which they will not hold themselves. The irony here is that most believe they are holding to the principals taught in the same scriptures though they have never read them.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Brush Arbor

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:38:54 -0700

Brush Arbor "What About Him"

Brush Arbor "Swingin' Bridge"

Brush Arbor- "Thank You Mom and Daddy"

Brush Arbor- "Brush Arbor Meeting"

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The Turnaround

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:38:37 -0700

The conversations on recent articles have turned to the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way to God. You can track back to the conversations here and here. I am brought back to the event of my own conversion to dependency upon Christ from dependency on my own self will and wisdom. Some years ago, I wrote a poem relating my relationship with God before and after. It is my hope that the poem communicates to those who believe that Christ is one of many ways to God, something of why my personal experience is more than some wise instructions written in an ancient text. My relationship with God is present, personal, and constant. My relationship is no more metaphorical than was Paul's of Silas, the 12th apostle of Christ who met Him on the road to Damascus.

The Turnaround

Peace I want, for peace I'm searching
hard to find in this world, but well worth reaching
Peace long lost if indeed I've ever known her
Peace moves not, 'tis I who is lost and losing
Not easily reached nor easily sought
too many years wasted because I thought
'twas to be found without, while 'twas within
My own self doubt, my justifying sin

I knew, I knew and seriously didn't want to,
the truth I'd been rejecting, "God is present!"
He's designed a blessing, it was my dissent
that brought me curses, the rules are for ME,
not for Him, and I couldn't see
through closed eyes, His continued plea
fell on covered ears until my pain
and endless tears convinced me my disdain
was foolishly placed against my God.
I turned my face and finally called,
"You're right, You were right all along."

JudgeRight

Christians aren't perfect. We are sinners just like unbelievers. The only difference is in the fact that we have accepted Christ's sacrifice to be justified before the Father and in the fact that we turned from our self will. We have all this programming inducted into our lifestyle by parents, by friends, society, etc., and by our own desires for pleasure and security. We have determined to read and meditate on the Bible and to employ its instruction. In doing so, we intend to subject ourselves to the will of God, to put His will above our own. This is not a simple thing. For most, lack of self discipline is an early and major hurdle. Its easy for a while, but as the new experience of absence of guilt wears off, the old habits begin to roll back in like a tide having rolled away rolls back again. Each bad habit has to be defeated and replaced with good habits as we discover the ill they portray in the Bible's revelation.

It is in this sense, when we say we are traveling the same road as the unbeliever, but we are going in the opposite direction. We mean we are moving toward God while the rest are moving away from Him. Again, the Christian is not perfect. He can still choose to move away from God and prefer to make his own choices according to his desires rather than adhere to the instruction he knows and understands the Bible gives. Without getting into theological debates over whether this means he has rejected Christ, we recognize that the Christian walk is difficult and any person who has had to break even one habit knows, you can sway back and forth and still wind up defeating the habit. The point I'm making here is that Christians sin. That doesn't make him a hypocrite. It does mean he is working out his salvation. In the same sense, the unbeliever is not perfectly evil, disdaining the Creator. He may be wavering between acceptance and rejection of God's will.

Since we are not perfect and still sin, we absolutely cannot depend on our works to make our way to God. Heaven's reward by any other means than through the sacrificial payment made by Jesus Christ is named as thievery by Christ. This grace (reward by Christ's sacrifice) is unique to Christianity. In every other form of religion, works are counted as the only avenue to God and/or reward. Now, this is where I have to get theological. Why aren't good works good enough? This verse in the letter Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus explains just one reason why works are not sufficient to get you into heaven.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves [it is] the gift of God Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
However, this verse gives the most basic reason. God has supplied the means and to reject this sacrifice is to reject the most valuable gift God could offer.
He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
Luke 11:23

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Obama Missed it by THAT Much

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:12:33 -0700

Obama is No Joshua

I was reading through my newsletters today when I came across a reference to this article by Cal Thomas. Cal has a pretty good take on Obama's attempt to 'relate' to Christians. If you're going to play the religious card, it really pays to know the doctrine. He may consider himself a Christian, (I have my doubts) but his comments on the topic certainly don't pass the muster when it comes to Catholic or Evangelical understanding of the scriptures. Perhaps in the 20+ years he sat under the teaching of Jeremiah Wright, he's never heard the Gospel message. Perhaps in all that time as a Christian he's never read the Bible which repeatedly states that there is but one way to heaven and Jesus is it but shouldn't he have heard from his political council on what the Christian expects to hear from a Christian candidate? It is a mightily uninformed Christian who thinks there are many paths to God and certainly no Christian who is serious about his faith is going to claim there is any other path to heaven. Surely, he's heard the true message of the Bible at some point in his life. Its an even sadder tale to tell that no member of his campaign advisory team could have told him that Christians believe there is only one path to heaven. Whether or not he thinks himself a Christian, he demonstrates no basic knowledge in the tenets of the faith. More likely is the possibility that he has heard the right message and rejects it because it is politically inexpedient or is not being honest in his attempt to be all inclusive. As he presents his view of religion, it becomes abundantly clear that he is neither a Christian nor willing to accept the Gospel message.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Turning Tables on Barry Lynn

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:06:26 -0700

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=76259

Liberty Legal Institute hoping to 'turn tables' on liberal group

Allie Martin - OneNewsNow - 4/17/2008 8:00:00 AM

Hiram Sasser, an attorney for the Houston Area Pastors Council, says the tables are being turned on Barry Lynn and his liberal group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The Houston Area Pastor Council (HAPC) sent a letter to the IRS accusing Lynn's group of attempting to influence the upcoming presidential elections. The complaint says Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) has tried to chill the speech of ministers nationwide by filing and publicizing frivolous complaints with the IRS against pastors.

Sasser, with Liberty Legal Institute, represents HAPC. He says AU has attempted to bully pastors into silence for years. "[Lynn's] trying to intimidate pastors and trying to prevent those pastors and other pastors from speaking out on the 1candidates of their choice. But by doing ... what he's doing, he's tampering with the election process. And since the Americans United for Separation of Church and State is non-profit, answerable to the IRS, they're violating the very rule they're trying to use to intimidate others," Sasser contends.

Lynn and his liberal organization, according to Sasser, have silenced many churches and pastors through intimidation. "This intimidation strategy that Barry Lynn and the separation of church and state group have had for a long time has been working very well," the attorney admits. "Pastors are fearful of engaging in their First Amendment right to endorse candidates in their personal capacities because of this type of intimidation. We need to put a stop to this. If anyone has been unlawfully interfering with elections, it has been Barry Lynn," Sasser says.

The letter to the IRS point out that AU files its complaints not after, but before elections -- and then makes a public announcement.

Sasser points out that if Americans United cared about the supposed "separation of church and state," they would not be so interested in getting the government involved in harassing pastors and churches.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Death at the Door

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:18:47 -0700

I was visiting my mother last week for Resurrection Day. We had a very good visit and were able to talk over some things that had been on her mind. Mom is 64 and quite ill. She has heart problems and respiratory problems and a degenerative spinal problem, and she smokes.... while using oxygen! I've seen the results of a cigarette and oxygen tube combination. One of my acquaintances from years ago had a father in similar circumstances and he died in his chair by catching himself on fire. An oxygen rich environment makes material that normally would not burn very flammable. The smoker does not die in a sudden explosion. Instead the oxygen makes your skin, your chair, your rug, everything burn like gasoline. Being elderly and in poor health, they do not have the strength to get away from the oxygen or to fight the flames. I'm sorry if this scares somebody, I'm not telling you this because I get some kind of thrill from scaring people. I'm telling you this to let you know how I feel about it. Please speak to your loved ones who smoke and are on oxygen about the terrible danger of a torturous death or injury they are exposing themselves to.

On the second day of my visit, she started into a coughing fit and knew she was in real trouble. She did get her bronchial pathways cleared that time but it scared her. This same visit, my mother confessed to me that she is not ready to die. She is a believer, she does have a relationship with God, and she feels secure in the knowledge of that relationship. But she has regrets and she has a lot of time to run over those regrets again and again in her mind. She is in no condition to do anything to correct those things, but she doesn't feel ready to meet God because she is focusing on her works.

I have recommended she read Dennis Prager's book, "Happiness is a Serious Problem" I've even taken her a copy but she hasn't gotten to it yet. What she would learn from the book is that contentment is the key to happiness. Paul the apostle said; Philippians 4:11"Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be ^(B)content in whatever circumstances I am." So we do what we can toward reparations and leave the rest in God's hands with prayer and supplication.

I have been present at only one conscious death but that was of a non-believer. He had cancer and wasted away to nothing until he was, very like my mother, too weak to clear his bronchial passages. That man is the bravest man I've ever known. After the doctors had pronounced his case chronic, he refused any medical assistance to the very end to the point of fighting off an oxygen mask in his last minute. He was naturally very unsettled about the prospect of his death, but refused any 'preaching' from anyone. "He'd lived his life as an unbeliever and he damned sure wasn't going to hypocritically turn at the last minute."

I once read about a Christian who was secure in his faith so on the day he felt the nearness of his death and calling all his unbelieving acquaintances in to watch him die said, "Today, you will see how a Christian faces death." It may have been British preacher Charles Simeon who is quoted as he smiled brightly, “What do you think especially gives me comfort at this time?” When they all remained silent, he exclaimed, “The creation! I ask myself, ‘Did Jehovah create the world or did I?’ He did! Now if He made the world and all the rolling spheres of the universe, He certainly can take care of me. Into Jesus’ hands I can safely commit my spirit!”

This is the way I want to go when my time comes. Assured of God's approval, assured of my faith, assured I am going home to a mansion in the city of peace and not to rot in the dirt. This notion, "If I'm wrong I've lost nothing, but if I'm right I've gained heaven." (evangelical argument to atheists) is still looking backward. Those guys were eagerly awaiting their reward. So, with some reflection on the topic, I read over the phone to my mother, quotes of dying believers and quotes of martyrs. She searches the scriptures herself, but a little boost of fresh examples of life yielding faith can only encourage her.

I ask you to pray for her to find peace in these last weeks and months of her life. That she would know the presence of God and can use it to witness to unbelievers. Let her go in with a flourish sweeping lost souls into the faith as she goes. In her final struggle, may she demonstrate the presence and the goodness of God toward His children and may it all bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ.

AprilTrip 028

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Silencing Christians

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 03:14:09 -0700

This is a movie about the stifling of Christian speech in America. It details the accounts of people who've been arrested, had the microphone unplugged when they were speaking, children being led through Muslim prayers in school, etc., Very important documentary revealing the present day persecution of American Christians by America.
http://www.silencingchristians.com/video4.aspx
this is an important resource to prove our experiences happening now all over this nation.movie

Send to a friend