Life as a Christian Woman

¹I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— ²for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2: 1-4

I was on Facebook the other day (yeah, I know… but I like keeping up with friends back home). Anyway, I saw the page of a girl of about 10 who attends a Christian school in the area, who is the daughter of a friend of mine. I clicked to look at her page, expecting to see the usual pictures of dance classes, band and school friends.

But right there, next to Political Views, she had typed: I hate Obama.

I stared at it for a minute, then started checking other friends’ pages, friends who are outspoken conservative Christians.

And I saw more of the same.

Phrases such as “Obama hater,” “Obama must go away,” and my personal favorite, “I hope Obama and Oprah like to spend time together, because they will be in Hell together for eternity.”

Seriously?

I mean, really? What part of any of that screams, “I am a Christian, a follower of the risen Lord who died for my crummy sins?”

Now, lest you think I am some “left wing, radical, liberal nut” (I hate labels), I am a conservative Christian who voted for the other guy. I have grave concerns, worries, about the direction of our nation.

But when I read scripture, I’m missing the part where it says to hate, to wish Hell on someone. I mean, isn’t that the opposite of what we are called to do? Aren’t we supposed to base our faith on love? To hate the sin, but love the sinner?

We are told to pray for our leaders, to lift them up to God. How, exactly, do you lift someone up that you profess to “hate” or that you hope to condemn to Hell for eternity?

And worse yet, are parents imparting this to their children?

Agree or disagree with the President, Senate, House, state officials, etc., we are told… COMMANDED!… to pray for them. According to scripture, they have been placed in power by God:

¹Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ²Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

Romans 13: 1-2

Later in Romans 13 we read:

⁸Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. ⁹The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13: 8-10

Explain to me how you can fulfill our command to love one another, yet hate? Sorry, those two things are diametrically opposed to each other.

Should we take whatever our leaders say and follow like sheep? No. However, we must pray for them, pray for their spiritual life, pray for their ability to seek and discern the will of God in the mountainous decisions that they must make.

To do anything less, to hate or cause others to hate, to disparage our leaders, is sin.

We are no longer a Christian nation. I consider us a post-Christian nation.
Rick Howerton

I heard those words tonight from pastor and small group specialist Rick Howerton. I have a great deal of respect for Howerton, as a former pastor at my church and the man who baptized my husband. Howerton travels the country teaching and leading small groups, and has written numerous books on the subject.

And I think he is right.

This past week we have seen thousands take to the streets in California to protest the passage of Proposition 8, which amended the California state constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to that between a man and a woman. The proposition passed with a majority of 52% of the vote, and went into effect the day after the election.

Crowds marched and protested in front of churches, particularly the denominations that had come out strongly in favor of Prop 8. There have been threats of burning churches down in retaliation. Just a few years ago, such statements would have been unthinkable; Thousands more would have taken to the streets in defense of our faith.

What can we do? We can’t afford to sit idly by and let our faith be commandeered by those who want to destroy it. We can’t allow ourselves the luxury of letting others fight the battle for us.

Each of us must take up the banner of Christ! We must defend our faith, we must grow in our faith and be prepared to stand up for our Christ. Silence is the same as denial. To sit in a crowd and hear others trash our beliefs, and not respond, is to deny God.

It isn’t easy. It never is. We are not the mainstream in many ways now. We are the “outsiders.” Our path is rocky and full of dangers… but it is the path of righteousness.

I don’t think it is too late; it is never too late for a revival within a church, city, nation or world. But we must be willing to fight for our faith, to raise our children to be strong in their faith. We must be prepared.

Press on!

It’s finally over.

I will not miss the ads, the debates, the constant barrage of opinions and rhetoric. I will not miss the unsolicited phone calls asking me to support issues and candidates. I will not miss actors telling me who to vote for, or economists attempting to explain which candidate is better for the stock market.

And now that Barack Obama has been elected president of our great nation, it is time to put away blue state/red state ideals and come together. No matter who you voted for, your prayers now need to be focused on this man that has been chosen to lead.

In 1 Peter we read:

Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
1 Peter 2:17 (New International Version)

We are called to show respect to our leaders. But beyond that, we are called to pray for them, to intercede for them with God:

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NIV)

So now it is time to put our differences behind us. We must join together as “One nation, under God” and continue the fight that God has laid out before us.

So rather than grumble that your candidate wasn’t elected, intercede for those who have been elected at all levels of government in this nation.

After all, prayer is a mighty sword!

First I must say whoever wins the election will have my prayer support.
– Huntley Brown

Unless you have been living in a cave for the past, oh, four years, you know that we are in the final stages of a political campaign in the U.S. As we enter the last few days (yippee!), the mud is sailing, the rhetoric has gone into double-time.

And the out-and-out lies are flying. But not from the candidates…

From you and me.

The internet can be a wonderfully informing place to be. But it can also be a dangerous place. We all know about predators that lurk in chat rooms, scams trying to drain your bank accounts, and hackers who want to steal your identity.

But those seemingly innocuous emails that come in from friends, with challenges to “step up to the plate and let all your friends know how bad “Candidate A” or “Candidate B” is, well, in most cases they, too, are dangerous, and all lies.

Each time I get an email, I go straight to Snopes.com to verify. And in the past two weeks I have gotten over 20 emails, each one with more lies than the last. They are full of innuendo designed to scare the reader away from one candidate and straight to another.

These emails challenge me to pass them on, to help warn other voters about the dark past, or secret goals, of one candidate or the other.

First of all, I doubt that any email has ever changed someone’s vote. But if they are forwarded without thought to fact-checking, then the forwarder becomes complicit in the smokescreen.

This past week I got a forwarded email that I found out was true. Huntley Brown, a fabulous African-American pianist and strong Christian man, had been asked repeatedly by his friends who he was voting for and why. Mr. Brown has said it was never intended for mass publication, but one of his friends posted it and it has entered the internet, never to be stopped!

At any rate, there are several parts that jump out at me:

First I must say whoever wins the election will have my prayer support.

I process my identity through Christ. Being a Christian (a Christ follower) means He leads, I follow. I can’t dictate the terms, He does because He is the leader.

I can’t vote black because I am black; I have to vote Christian because that’s who I am. Christian first, black second.  Neither should anyone from other ethnic groups vote because of ethnicity. 200 years from now I won’t be asked if I was black or white. I will be asked if I knew Jesus and accepted Him as Lord and Savior.

All of this makes sense as a Christian. We have to put aside our personal biases, and look at this and any election as a Christian first. Which leader is more likely to continue an agenda that is faith-based?  Who is more likely to take our Christian beliefs and push them to the back, in the name of political correctness.

This isn’t about being Democrat or Republican, Blue State or Red State, Black or White, Liberal or Conservative. It is about following your Christian convictions. It is about breaking through your own biases and opinions, and seeking the opinion of the only One who matters.

And then following Him.

It also means that, as a Christian, you must get out and vote! No excuses. Christians cannot lead, cannot expect to hold onto this country, if we do not take the time to vote for the ones we feel God leads us to vote for.

Vote!