Links & Quotes

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“People who suffer the loss of a loved one will tell you that your presence is comforting, not your answers. In his first sermon after losing his son to suicide, Pastor Rick Warren advised his congregants that if they were unsure about what to say in a tragedy, say nothing. Just be there. Job’s friends initially did that. It was only after they began to speak that they made matters worse. If you’re hurting right now, I risk making matters worse by giving intellectual answers to emotional pain.” —Frank Turek

“Men may as well build their houses upon the sand and expect to see them stand, when the rains fall, and the winds blow, and the floods come, as to found free institutions upon any other basis than that of morality and virtue, of which the Word of God is the only authoritative rule, and the only adequate sanction. All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they have of stringent state government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet. It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about the state supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is religion which must support the state.” —Robert Winthrop, speaker of the US House of Representatives (1847–1849)

Some wonderful quotes from Maya Angelou.

“Anything which you have in this world, which you do not consecrate to Christ’s cause, you do rob the Lord of.” —Charles Spurgeon

“If we don’t kill every hint of immorality, we’ll be captured by our tendency as males to draw sexual gratification and chemical highs through our eyes. But we can’t deal with our maleness until we first reject our right to mix standards. As we ask ‘How holy can I be?’ we must pray and commit to a new relationship with God, fully aligned with His call to obedience.” —Steve Arterburn

[VIDEO] So are Christian scientists biased in their research? Yes! Any scientist is, but that is why there are controls—

Money & Hammers

Money checklistHammers are very similar to money. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at some of the things they have in common. They both…

  1. …are tools.
  2. …can be used to build up or destroy.
  3. …are amoral.
  4. …don’t have any power until they’re in a person’s hand.

I realize in church circles it can make people uncomfortable to talk about money, but it shouldn’t be that way. The Bible is very clear in saying wealth comes from God, as well as how to use that wealth, so why should that be uncomfortable? Here are some of the things the Bible says about wealth:

  • If we honor God, He blesses our work (Proverbs 3:9-10).
  • If we take the glory for our success, God calls us “foolish” (Luke 12:16-21).
  • Money can be used to build God’s kingdom (Acts 4:34-37) or to build our own reputations (Acts 5:1-11).
  • Making the pursuit of money our priority becomes an idol (Luke 16:10-13).
  • The anxiety over money can choke our spiritual life (Matthew 13:22).
  • God gives us the ability to work, to make money, and to enjoy both the work and the rewards of work (Ecclesiastes 5:19).
  • God alone judges our attitude toward money (Luke 16:15).

It’s not money that is immoral, but our pursuit of Money (with a capital “M” or what the Bible calls Mammon) that is immoral.

It’s not money that will ruin us, but our trust in money that will ruin us.

It’s not money that gives us a secure future, but God Who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17).

Don’t envy people with more money than you. Don’t look down on people with less money than you. Don’t—as Jesus said to the Pharisees—justify your opinions and attitudes about money.

Only an honest listening to the Holy Spirit about your attitude and lifestyle concerning money is what can keep us from letting money rob us of God’s blessing.


Democracy, Immoral Laws, And A Christian’s Responsibility

We know the law is good if one uses it properly. (1 Timothy 1:8)

Whether laws are labeled spiritual or civil, the IF in that verse is very important. Law is intended to restrain unbecoming or immoral activities. Laws are aimed at lawbreakers. But in order for any law to carry weight, it has to be backed up by something more solid than a man’s opinion of what is “right” or “wrong.”

According to Scripture, a law must…

  • …be supported by sound doctrine (1 Timothy 1:10). What defines “sound doctrine” is the word of God, not man-made opinion. Jesus said about the Pharisees, “They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men” (Matthew 15:9). The New Living Translation renders this verse: “Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as the commands of God.”
  • …conform to the gospel (1 Timothy 1:11). Literally this means filtered through Scripture. Any law that does not have its foundation set on a biblical principle is, by definition, an immoral, man-made law.

So what is the Christian’s role in the legislative process? I see four responsibilities for Christians:

1. Pray for our elected officials that they would have a God-fearing, biblically-sound perspective in their legislative activities (see 1 Timothy 2:1-2).

2. Stay informed on the law-making activities on both the local, state, and national levels (see Acts 17:11; 1 Chronicles 12:32).

3. Speak out against unbiblical, immoral laws (see Esther 4; 1 Peter 2:17).

4. Disobey immoral laws. The Bible commands us to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Luke 20:25). We must never give to Caesar what is God’s (see Acts 5:29)!

I love Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter From Birmingham Jail where he addresses Christian pastors about the rightness of peacefully disobeying immoral laws. If you haven’t read this masterpiece, please take time to do so. In this letter, Dr. King wrote:

Over the last few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. So I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or even more, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.

Christian, you have a responsibility. Pray, be informed, respectfully speak out against immoral laws, and then peacefully disobey when it is necessary.