Achuckallen

Instigating Better

God and Country

Saturday Share with AChuckAllen

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I enjoy sharing an article that brought a teaching or encouragement to my life and thought Saturday might be a good day to share them with you. Today’s article is from one of favorite authors, Dr. Jim Denison.

Here you go:

President Trump told the nation yesterday that no Americans were hurt by Iran’s missile attack in response to the death of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. He stated that Iran appears to be “standing down” and indicated that American forces would not respond further.

Unsurprisingly, reaction in America to Soleimani’s death has fallen largely along partisan lines. For example, a Fox News commentator stated that “Soleimani was an unparalleled organizer and a pitiless murderer. His death was richly earned.” A CNN commentator, by contrast, called his killing a “reckless gamble.”

This partisan divide is sadly familiar, of course. But I recently read an explanation for it that was both insightful and relevant to more than our politics.

Four ways to do foreign policy

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat views American foreign policy through a prism developed by scholar Walter Russell Mead, who created this famous typology named for four American presidents:

• Hamiltonian: protection of commerce

• Wilsonian: moral principle

• Jeffersonian: maintenance of a democratic system

• Jacksonian: populist values and military strength.

Douthat describes the Hamiltonians as “business-minded internationalists, cold-eyed and stability-oriented and wary of wars that seem idealistic rather than self-interested.” He describes the Wilsonians as “idealists, whether neoconservative or liberal-humanitarian, who regard the United States military as a force for spreading democracy and protecting human rights.” He claims that most foreign policy leaders in Washington “belong to one of these two groups.”

According to Douthat, however, “far more American voters are either Jacksonians or Jeffersonians.” He describes Jeffersonians as “more common on the left than on the right,” an impulse that “regards global hegemony as a corrupting folly and America’s wars as mostly unwise and unjust.” Their defining attitude is “No blood for oil.”

Douthat locates the “Jacksonian tendency” as “more common on the right than on the left” and describes it a “pugilistic nationalism that’s wary of all international entanglements but ready for war whenever threats arise.” Its essential credo is “More rubble, less trouble.”

According to Douthat, President Trump is a Jacksonian working within the Hamiltonian-Wilsonian strategic framework that dominates Washington’s political leadership. As with much of the president’s agenda and actions, the killing of Maj. Gen. Soleimani doesn’t fit within their ideology, which helps explain the polarization and rancor of our political discourse.

Whether you agree or disagree, it’s important to note the formative power of a leader’s worldview in shaping foreign policy in practical ways. How we see the world goes a long way toward determining how we experience it.

Seeing Iran through spiritual eyes

The same is true for us spiritually. For example, a church worker in Iran told CBN News that, forty years after Iran’s Islamic revolution, there’s another spiritual revolution underway in his country.

He states, “More people have come to faith [in Christ] in Iran in the last forty years than in the previous 1,400 years.” Believers there say that persecution in Iran is not hindering the church. In fact, it is growing it.

One missional leader explains: “When the persecution stops, the growth stops. What we want is the Gospel to spread far and wide and deep in Iran.”

Seeing our souls through spiritual eyes

Henri Nouwen made an extended observation that seems especially relevant to this point in history:

“When we lose a family member or friend through death, when we become jobless, when we fail an examination, when we live through a separation or a divorce, when war breaks out, when an earthquake destroys our home or touches us, the question ‘Why?’ spontaneously emerges. ‘Why me?’ ‘Why now?’ ‘Why here?’ It is so arduous to live without an answer to this ‘Why?’ that we are easily seduced into connecting the events over which we have no control with our conscious or unconscious evaluation.

“When we have cursed ourselves or allowed others to curse us, it is very tempting to explain all the brokenness we experience as an expression or confirmation of this curse. Before we fully realize it, we have already said to ourselves, ‘You see, I always thought I was no good. . . . Now I know for sure. The facts of life prove it.’

“The great spiritual call of the Beloved Children of God is to pull their brokenness away from the shadow of the curse and put it under the light of the blessing. This is not as easy as it sounds. The power of the darkness around us is strong, and our world finds it easier to manipulate self-rejecting people than self-accepting people.

“But when we keep listening attentively to the voice calling us the Beloved, it becomes possible to live our brokenness, not as a confirmation of our fear that we are worthless, but as an opportunity to purify and deepen the blessing that rests upon us. Physical, mental, or emotional pain lived under the blessing is experienced in ways radically different from physical, mental, or emotional pain lived under the curse.”

How King David approached conflict

King David was no stranger to war with his enemies and with himself. In a time of intense conflict, he made this simple but profound declaration: “Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord” (Psalm 4:5).

As we work, God works. As we face conflict in our nation and in our souls, the key is to do what only we can do and trust God to do what only he can do.

What “sacrifice” will you offer him today?

What challenge will you trust to him today?

___________________________________________

Pretty good, right?

Have a Great Day, AChuck

The Fight Inside the Fight

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The Fight Inside the Fight by AChuckAllen

I’ve been keeping up with the ongoing congressional battle regarding the attack that President Trump authorized to eliminate Qasem Soleimani. I’ve heard the ongoing chatter from those that oppose this action and from those that are touting it as a great win. Regardless of your personal thoughts on this military action, I think that we would all agree that we do not know what the military intelligence was, or what all of the details were that spurred the President to authorize this attack. We each base our opinions on one or more of these thoughts; What we think about Donald J. Trump, what we believe about the American intelligence community, what we feel about military action in the Middle East or how we feel about targeting individual terrorist leaders.

As for me, based on what little I know, the world is a far safer place without Qasem Soleimani. I do not have any access to the intel, or the logic included in making this decision…BUT, this country elected President Trump to make those decisions. Given the status of the American political landscape, everything done by one side of the aisle is overly criticized and crtiqued by the other. Think about that last sentence. Even in the effort to eliminate a crazed, murderous psychopath, both sides are so busy battling each other, the elimination of Soleimani is buried beneath the infighting of Washington as the lead story!

To all of that, I say, C’MON MAN! We have become a country being led by a bunch of whiners and tattletails. I’m so weary of the jabs and quips from congressional and political leaders that have no other purpose than to either secure their seats or exit someone else’s seat. Again, C’MON MAN!

I know that we have, as a republic, for decades, had political battles regarding the placement of presidents, congressional leaders, senatorial seats and all of the roles that make up the branches of government, but seriously? Could we please find a voice of reason and a voice that allows for political enemies to adopt President and General Dwight Eiesenhour’s mantra, “Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong.”

Could we not find common ground without the bully stump blusters? Especially when it involves an enemy of our great country and when the topics include our brave men and women serving in military hot spots around the globe, or people in poverty in our country and our communities?

If you think that this is written from a position of either conservative or liberal, you’d be wrong. I write this as a pastor, an American and a concerned grandfather. I long for our leaders to lay down their petty verbal attacks on each other and collaboratively work for the common good of our American people and the threats to democracy across the globe.

In regard to what our part, as citizens and as believers, I would like to see we Christians lay down the pitchforks. In spite of our many political and social disagreements, we are causing great divide in our churches, our faith system and the ability to remain a place of safety, acceptance and hope. Let us lose the rancor and foolish banter that doesn’t bring honor to our Creator. I do not think there is any way that the Lord looks upon our bickering and feels honored and loved by His children. This isn’t limited to political battles, but also to the bickering and foolish tirades from spiritual leaders as well. Let us stop the social media rants about how we believe and find the collective greatness of serving and leading more like Jesus, Himself.

What now shall we do? Speak with grace. Speak only what we know to be true, not what pundits offer for us to think. Let us seek truth in prayer. Let us seek wisdom from on high. Let us ask the Lord for understanding. And, let us find a voice that is pleasing to the Divine.

Go in Peace, AChuck

Who Else Can We Impeach?

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I’ve watched the Impeachment vote and the encircling fall-da-rah that comes with it and I’m left with three thoughts that are clearly an indication of my simplistic mind. Nonetheless, I do indeed have three thoughts that seem to remain in this cycle of political antics in Washington DC.

First, I think we could all agree that President Trump doesn’t need to be the spokesperson for a kinder/gentler nation. He makes it hard for guys like me to like him. I desperately wish to snatch his smartphone away from him and end the Twitter battles. It’s just another antic that I liken to NFL players that strut like peacocks after simply doing their job…Come on Man! Having said that, my church is benefitting greatly from the healthiest economy since, well…ever. My house has increased in value, the markets continue to set all time highs and the trade deals that he bantered about in the election have been reset with healthy guidelines and a path to a better and more stable future. So, there’s that. Oh, yeah. Back to the three things. Just because he is a bully, a flame throwing businessman, a rude and crude spokesman and lacks many of the finer graces, that doesn’t make him a criminal. It doesn’t seem to meet high crimes and misdemeanors. I have heard the evidence. To dislike Donald J. Trump is understandable. To impeach him is silly, middle school theatrics.

Second, I have seen men and women argue and bicker straight down party lines. Is it truly possible to have a viable third party in the 21st century? Is it not possible to have electable people that can think with conviction and not political expediency? This system has taken America in a direction that is not healthy and is possibly unrecoverable. And before you chuckle, thinking it’s whatever the “other party” is to you, it’s both party’s fault. I’m disgusted by both tire-slashing, trash-talking selfish party line tirades. It’s past time for a third party, or at least a handful of outliers that will speak with a voice of reason, rather than a voice of rancor.

Third, nobody is really winning at this game of name calling. If you are a Never Trump person, you might think that “we finally got him.” If you are a MAGA hat wearing Republican, you might be thinking, “we will get the House back and we are definitely winning the 2020 election.” The truth is that America is the loser in all of this. Are we to call for impeachment when our local mayor wins, but the city council wanted somebody else to win? Are we to assume that Presidents in years past have never had a call like the one that President Trump had with the President of Ukraine? Stop it! Just stop it!

Every four years, this great country has the privilege of choosing a President to lead the way. I’ve voted in every presidential election since Jimmy Carter in 1976. I’ve seen a few winning elections and a few losers. Either way, we have an opportunity to change horses every 48 months. At this rate, we will be carrying the results of Major League Baseball games to the Supreme Court because half of America hates the team that won game seven in the bottom half of the 9th.

I realize that the chatter is louder these days as a result of social media and the digital age, but we are better than this foolishness, aren’t we? I pray that we are. I’d hate to think that my grandchildren would have to devalue American leaders so much that we couldn’t agree with the old adage, “sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”

Just three things I thought about while watching Survivor, I mean Congress today.

Peace, AChuck

The Burden of Blight

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The Burden of Blight by A-ChuckAllen

When humans exist in an elongated period of sorrow, loss, tragedy, or poverty, they can fall into a state known as human blight. It’s that place where hope seems to have been gone forever and hurt seems to have taken up residence in the human heart.

Human Blight is what I experienced on the Abacos Islands last week. I arrived into Nassau Thursday and immediately hopped in the back of a Piper Cub and flown into Marsh Harbor. Marsh Harbor is truly a disaster zone, but it was nothing compared to what I saw on Man-O-War Cay or Hopetown. These are just two of the complete disasters in the Abacos Islands.

What I saw would crush any person’s heart. What was an oasis of beauty and what was once quaint little beach towns, untouched by the rapid westernization and chain hotels and restaurants, is quite literally destroyed. Nothing is left that is green. Every leaf and every tree – gone. Every colorful hamlet – gone. Most every boat sunken, capsized, tossed into parts, or picked up and carried miles inland. While flying about 300 feet over the islands on the way back to Nassau, I spotted boats that had been picked up by winds or by storm surge and placed entirely miles inland in the middle of a chicken farm.

The natural disaster left in the wake of Dorian is overwhelming. The task to clean up and rebuild seems impossible. There is more debris than the islands can burn or bury. Every home is either destroyed or already covered in mold. Every resource is down. No running water, very little electricity, and then comes what I believe to be the worst disaster of all. The catastrophe of human blight.

People are destroyed under the enormous loss and chaos created by the sustained 185 miles per hour winds and island swamping water surge. What didn’t blow away, has been washed away. To add insult to injury, there is very little mass coordination regarding the relief efforts, and of course, there are the sin-filled and evil people that are seeking to profit from these folks’ misery and lack of resources. I wouldn’t consider myself an angry or violent man, but some folks need to have their hind parts beaten because of their insensitivity and wicked ways. And just to put the rotten cherry on top of the spoiled whipped cream, these tiny ports are under stress to manage duty on the incoming relief supplies in container ships. Small ports used to handling wholesale goods to mom and pop shops are trying their best to adjust to the new demands…and not terribly well, quite yet.

I honestly could talk for hours about the problems, and the pictures do no justice to the damage as you can see in most pictures the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean just beyond them. So what are we regular, American folk to do? Here are what I believe to be the best avenues to help, considering that it might take three years to restore these gorgeous islands.

The burden I feel for these folks is more than I can carry and more than our church can carry alone. I’ve been so blessed to have become a part of a vast network of organizations and people that can help.

  1. PRAY! Pray for these poor folks. And yes, I mean sick as in economically, spiritually, and emotionally. The only way that these gracious people recover is by the hand of God and the sweat of God’s People!
  1. Start with rebuilding and restoring the churches. Most of the small churches on the islands were completely demolished. Start with the easiest to restore and get them rebuilt, dried in, mold-free, and operating. You cannot imagine the importance of the local churches and their pastors on the islands. The church is the center of hope, food, restoration, recreation, and health. These churches aren’t worried about how big they grow, but how they love their people – Great concept, right? One church, like the church I pastor, could rebuild and sweep debris away from the local church and set up extraordinary temporary structures in one week! Sugar Hill Church will start with one and restore as many as possible! Please, join us!
  2. Restore the homes of the local pastors. Many of these folks have had to relocate to shelters. If this were the American church, I’d say, restore them last, but the people of Abaco see their pastors differently. These leaders are more than pastors. They are the connection of God to a tiny part of the world, filled with the similar strife that we Americans deal with, minus the affluence. Sugar Hill Church will start with the pastor’s home of our first church and continue to restore as many as possible. Will you and your church consider helping us?
  3. Restore dignity and hope into the lives of the Bahamian people, Bahamian-Haitian people, and Haitian migrants, both legal and illegal. Yep! You heard that right. The Bahamas has a much smaller immigration challenge, but a challenge for sure. They also have a race problem. All three of the people groups I mentioned have great need, and none of them are immune from to blight of hopelessness. As a supporter of the Prime Minister and the government of the Bahamas, I want to support and aid their rebuilding agenda…but not at the loss of human dignity and human rights of the Haitian people. Sugar Hill Church will help rebuild homes and start providing help for any people. We aren’t that big, but human dignity requires very little money. It does require a great deal of empathy and compassion. Will you and your church consider helping us?

I know this may feel cold, as this short agenda seems focused on rebuilding things, but friends, this is about restoring hope, health, and order found in the love of Christ Jesus and the power of the Divine God of all Creation working through His people and His church. We do not have much time to wait and get structured. I’m building a website that can update people on how they can travel to help, pray to help and give to help. I’ll also pass along ongoing work with a few heroic organizations that have been on the ground from day one. One such group, led by a superhero, Austin Holmes, has already restored the structure and dried in six churches. And every one of those churches held worship gathering s last week (more to come). As soon as the site is live, I’ll connect you guys.

More to Come – Go in Peace,

A-Chuck

The Sermon Not Preached Sunday.

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The Sermon Not Preached Sunday 9/29 by AChuckAllen

It was a perfectly beautiful Sunday, if it were the middle of July. Ninety degrees and a heat index adding another 10 degrees made for a challenging morning for an outside Worship Gathering. That’s why this sermon wasn’t taught. So, here you go…The sermon not preached on Sunday!

Can you imagine what it’s like to be blind? I mean, what if you couldn’t see anything? What if you couldn’t even imagine what the world’s most beautiful beach looked like? Or what if you had never seen a sunset as the purple turns to orange and the orange fades to pink on a beautiful summer evening? What if you felt like you offered nothing to society? That you were considered a problem rather than a person?

What if, like the character in our story today, you had to panhandle, you begged for your sustenance and survival? Having to sit there every day in the hot sun and call out to people walking down the street, people you can’t even see, who might be mocking you even as they drop something in your cup.

So it was with a man by the name of Bartimaeus. Every day on the side of the road, sweaty and grimy with the nasty dust kicked up in his face, and the stinking animals…well, let’s not go there today..

Let’s try to walk alongside Jesus as we see Him through the eyes of Witnesses. In Mark’s account today from the New Testament writer of Mark 10:46-52.

Mark 10:46-52

[46] Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. [47] When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” [48] “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” [49] When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” [50] Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. [51] “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “My Rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!” [52] And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.

I wonder, as he awakened that morning, if Bartimaeus thought there to be anything unusual about this day? I doubt it. It likely dawned like any other day; he was likely awakened by the early-morning noise of the city of Jericho.

Bartimaeus clutched his ever-present coat around himself and struggled to his feet. His crude living quarters provided him shelter and little else. With matted hair and unshaven face, this blind beggar began to make his way into town.

Most of those who did see him diverted their attention away from him quickly. It is difficult for the sighted to fathom the handicap of blindness; it is difficult for us to fathom what grinding poverty must be like. He lived a life of surviving on charity, on people’s leftovers. He experienced little joy in life, little success, little peace. His daily goal was survival.

And so he sat. Passover was coming, and the crowds in the streets would be larger—maybe this would be a more profitable day than most!

Meanwhile, a crowd had gathered around Jesus. Jericho was only about 15 miles away from Jerusalem, and the main road ran right through town. Jesus was on His way to the Passover; and so, people gathered around and listened to his teaching on the trip.

If Vice-President Pence were walking through Sugar Hill, a lot of folks would come out! So the streets would be lined with people. And maybe, just maybe, this would be a red-letter day for a beggar like Bartimaeus!

Anticipation was heavy in the air as the crowd began to enter the city of Jericho. The mood was festive; people were hopeful that they were in the beginning stages of ushering in God’s long-awaited Messiah, the political deliverer who’d get them out of this bondage to the Romans.

They say that when a person loses one of their senses, others compensate to the degree that they are able. His sense of hearing then being keenly developed, Bartimaeus could tell that something had caused a huge crowd.

He had to find out what all the commotion was all about, and so he cried out, asking if anyone could tell him the reason for the ruckus, and he was told: Jesus of Nazareth was coming that way!

He had heard stories about the rabbi, the miracle worker.

“How could a man do these things unless God is with him?” Many times he had thought, “If only I were in the presence of this Jesus, he could heal me too!”

He had no eyesight, but perhaps he had remarkable insight. Helen Keller said, “Better to be blind and to see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing.”

This was Bartimaeus’ moment of truth; it was act now, or forever be consigned to blindness; forever wonder what might have been; forever live with regret and pain. There come such moments of decision in this life for all of us. Moments which, looked back upon, are make-or-break moments.

He swam in the sea, drank of the deep Embraced the mystery of all he could be. This was his time!

For Bartimaeus, the opportunity was now-or-never. He didn’t allow the negativity of the crowds deter him. He didn’t worry about his handicap; he didn’t lament what he couldn’t do, rather he just did what he could. He didn’t hesitate; he began calling out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Did you catch the response of resistance from the crowd; they tried to shut him up. Why spoil the Passover celebration? “We’re on our way to the Holy City; we have no time for a blind beggar!” “Don’t bother the Master, you old beggar man!” “He’s got more important things to do than to fool with you!”

Oh the irony here!

This is the church crowd, on their way to a religious festival! These are people who are listening to Jesus’ talk about the kingdom of God! They are in the right place, listening to the right thing and they completely miss the point!

Sunday morning doesn’t matter a whole lot if what we do when we leave this place doesn’t reflect the truth that we have met with Jesus, the Son of the Living God!

There were people who were with Jesus, listening and taking it all in, in the right place, if you will, but when it came to helping out a blind man, they told him to shut up. They failed to seize a golden opportunity that smacked them right in the face. Does that represent what the church does sometimes? They were so interested in listening and so woefully short when it came to obeying. They told the blind man that Jesus wouldn’t have time for him.

But that’s where they were wrong, dead wrong. Jesus was far more concerned with the hurting and the needy than His schedule or His fame.

Bartimaeus just cried out all the more, “Jesus, Son of David, hey, have mercy on me!” When the cry reached Jesus’ ears, it froze Him in His tracks. That phrase, “Son of David”, had significant overtones; this is the first time we read that anyone had publicly referred to Jesus as such. He heard a plaintive cry and a prophetic salute at the same time! Jesus knew who was crying out for Him and why.

And so Jesus, on His way to becoming the Savior of the world, stops to become the servant of a blind beggar!

The fickle crowd had been saying, “Shut up!” Now, their refrain changes, as they say, effectively, “Cheer up!”

There was a real reason to cheer up, to take courage, for Someone was here Who could make a real difference! Now the crowd said, “Get up!” The Master was calling, and when Jesus calls, we better not stay where we are. Up to his feet he leapt, and following as best he could the sound of the voice, he made his way to Jesus. Tossing aside his old coat he made his way to Jesus. Bartimaeus responds to the call of Jesus.

“What do you want?” Jesus asked. In Bartimaeus He saw true faith. God responds to faith! And He asks Bartimaeus, “what do you want?” He asked Bartimaeus to articulate the words of faith, words that acknowledge why the blind man had called for Jesus in the first place: “Teacher, I want to see!” And Jesus granted His request!

Think of it: total darkness to 20/20 vision in a millisecond! And just think – the very first thing that blind man saw was the face of Jesus! He once was blind, but now he sees!

But the story doesn’t end here. Bartimaeus “began following Jesus on the road.” He never went back and grabbed the old coat. When Jesus changes us, we don’t need the old things anymore! Just imagine the things that Bartimaeus would see just a few short days later, as this gentle Healer was scourged and mocked and then crucified.

The faith that caused Bartimaeus to call out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” was a faith that sustained this man, having been delivered by the mercy for which he cried, through the most trying of times, a faith that was bolstered by the event of the resurrection!

And there, lying on the ground by the Jericho roadside, is an old coat, no longer wanted or needed by a man whose life has been radically transformed by Jesus, now a memorial of the fact that, when Jesus changes a life, we don’t need the old stuff anymore!

Are you ready to lay down your old coat and let Jesus, the same Jesus that stopped for Bartimaeus stop here in Sugar Hill and offer you healing, forgiving mercies?

Peace by Yours, ACHUCK

The Christian and Impeachment

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The Christian and Impeachment by A-Chuck Allen

I realize that the hate mail might flow from both sides of the aisle after reading today’s article, but here goes. Let me start by saying, I am in no possible way endorsing any candidate by writing this article.

This effort to impeach the President seems like another multi-million-dollar burn rate hunt that seems, from all apparent speculation to be poor partisan leadership that’s running wild at best and fool-filled hatred at worst. That’s not a good rock or a hard place to be.

I’ve been vocal on this BLOG to point out what I see as presidential errors and foolishness, but let’s face it…the country elected him, and he is our Commander in Chief. I’ve also praised him for opening more doors for the faith community to serve in areas previously off-limits to churches and faith-based non-profits. As best that I can tell, President Trump may have opened more faith based doors than any president in our history.

But dang it, he makes it so hard to love him and at times, even like him. I do indeed praise him for the efforts that have allowed me (first hand) to play a small role in the Southern Border Crisis and lending resources and aid to The Bahamas. For that I am grateful. For the judges that have been appointed, I’m grateful for that.

Now, after the Mueller Report seemed to be much laborious reading about nothing, we are opening official impeachment hearings. Yep, with tongue entirely in cheek, that’ll surely help the country!

I detest President Trump’s horrific description of women, caught on tape with Billy Bush. I daily want someone to close his Twitter account. I do not like or admire his language, especially when my Lord’s name is taken in vain. But are we really to believe that dragging the country through more hate-filled, hate-speech, petty bickering is going to lift our country to it’s highest decorum in decency and kindness? Not a chance.

You might have read this far and want to firebomb my car, but give it another paragraph before bailing out.

Let the man serve his four years and if you don’t like him as the POTUS, elect somebody else! Stop finding every possible way to derail and sabotage our country by attempting to undermine his administration. There are good people serving in so many offices that spend more time dodging hateful barbs thrown their way than doing their job.

You might be saying, “great Chuck, but as a Follower of Jesus, what should I do?”

  1. Don’t get sucked into the partisan, binary hate-speech and innuendo.
  2. Stop joining the arguments on either side. Start offering to serve in one of the many ways that you could help and make a difference instead of loading up with pundit popularism about the latest “he-said-she-said-they -said” gossip and half-truth. At best, don’t speak at all unless you are better educated than the casual viewer of CNN, MSNBC, FOX News or any other pundit rants.
  3. Stop assuming that someone – anyone on the “other side of the aisle” is wrong in every way. There are great people in both camps and we do them a disservice to lump them all into the same basket.
  4. Please stop the mindless arguments on social media that seem to be more hateful as the days go by.
  5. If you think someone offers a better future economically, in the appointments of faith-friendly judges, and in allowing the faith community go to work beside governmental friends, then defeat Mr. Trump in November 2020.
  6. Please stop expecting the pulpit to become a politically supportive cowbell, calling in all of the chips to make a point about politics and not Jesus. I’ll stick to my guns. If we were to elect God’s person to lead this proud land, it most likely woudn’t be anybody in the running! But if we were to put Jesus in the right priority in our life, the rest is a forgone conclusion.
  7. PRAY without ceasing. Pray for wisdom from on high for the Trump family. Pray for his cabinet. Pray for wisdom on the other side of the aisle and pray for ways that you can impact your community without the argumentative process of offensive, angry pundit talk.
  8. Serve people in need and watch how the Lord will elevate your voice and your potential to make a difference in the lives of real people with real problems. Jesus was Waterford crystal clear on this: “If you want to be great, you must become a servant.”

I’m no longer able to watch the political trash on any network, but I do pray every single day for Mr. Trump, his family, his pastor, Paula White and for the Democratic leaders, especially those running for the highest office in our land. All of Washington needs our prayers and according to God, “The effective prayer of righteous people avail much.” So pray!

Support whoever you wish, but do so because you have a deep conviction in what is right and just and holy. You might have to look really deeply into your soul. If you seek the Lord in all of your ways, He will use you in the effort to serve people in need and vote with conviction…regardless of who you vote for.

As Chuck Colson (a man who knows a few things about impeachment) said,  “Politics is nothing but an expression of culture. It is not enough to win elections, for political power alone cannot change how people live or change their values. It is essential to change hearts and minds as well. And that starts, not in Washington, but with our neighbors.”

Go in Peace,
AChuck

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