After President Bush, we had President Obama who showed us how far from Christian values our nation has drifted. Many younger voters have no church experience and get their values from the secular press. President Obama openly attacked the value of life by promoting abortion, attacked the value of law by pushing to defund the police, and attacked the value of the family by pushing Gay privilege and gender confusion. He also attacked the church and tried to suppress Christians who sought to promote Christian values. They thought they had control of the elections and could remain in power, but were shocked at the response of the voters who elected Donald Trump to restore Christian values. He sought to remove programs that violated the value of life, the rule of law, and the family, but he was hampered because he remained within the law and would not make laws through executive order and did not have the support of Congress who could make the laws. However, he repealed many of President Obama’s executive orders that violated the law and undercut moral values. The voters apparently forgot how bad things were under President Obama and believed Joe Biden when he said he would restore America. However, he followed the same destructive path as President Obama. Americans have shown that they still have some support for moral values by reelecting President Trump. He now has a Republican dominated Senate and House but unlike Democrats who are united in tearing down moral values, Republicans are not united in supporting them. While Democratic party leaders pressure their representatives to support the party policies, regardless of what their voters want, Republicans still seem interested in listening to the voice of the people, so it is important for voters to be informed on the issues and let their representatives know how they want them to vote. While laws can prevent actions, like killing, stealing, and divorce, the church must teach values and lead people to Christ to help people really understand and believe the moral values, which can eliminate the hatred and greed that lead to the killing and stealing. Presidents like President Bush and President Trump can open the door to allow the church to teach moral values, or Presidents like President Obama and President Biden can close the door and prevent the church from teaching them. That is why it is important who we elect. For a full understanding of Christian values, see my series of lectures on Christian values vs manmade values.
Posts Tagged ‘Church & Society’
Church and Society-K
In 2001, terrorists struck the twin towers. I believe God allowed that to tell us that He would no longer protect us unless we turned back to Him. It was Rosh Hosanna, the Jewish holiday reminding them of the coming judgement where God would judge men and they blew the trumpets to sound the warning and read the Scripture that told that if God’s people would turn from their wicked ways and pray, God would hear their cry and would heal their land. They did not know that God allowed it to serve as a wakeup call. Unfortunately America did not listen. They rushed back to church for a little while, but did not change their ways and many soon drifted away from church again. George W. Bush was in office and trying to maintain the values that made America great but laws can only control evil when they are enforced and then they can only control actions, they cannot control feelings. It can stop a lot of killing but it cannot control the hatred that causes it. Unless people value life, they will find a way to kill. Unless people value the law, they will not obey it if they feel they can get away with it. Unless people value marriage, they will not preserve it. Many churches no longer teach the value of life, the value of law, and the value of marriage and many in church have gotten their values from the world.
Church and Society-J
While people tend to become absorbed in the present, they fail to see the long term changes. When I started ministry in 1970, Christian values prevailed in this country. They were taught in the churches which led to them being taught in the schools and on the media, and enforced in our courts. Even most of those who did not believe in God held them in theory, if not always in practice. People would tell you killing was wrong and the law applied to everyone equally. The courts ruled on the application of laws as written. The family was sacred and divorce was frowned on. Women were to be protected by keeping men out of their bathrooms and showers. While not always true, it was what people sought. Since then we have been in a struggle between the powers of life and the powers of death. Liberals have been pushing man-centered values. The churches have fallen silent allowing liberal teachings to infiltrate our schools and our media, and even our churches. They teach that life is only valuable if it benefits you. They have pushed abortion, assisted suicide, and euthanasia (mercy-killing). They have used the courts to benefit themselves and their friends and threaten their opponents. They act like laws are guidelines to be ignored if they get in your way. They look down on marriage and push for easy divorce, and push their Gay agenda, teaching it to children, and teaching them that they can be any gender they want, encouraging them to destroy their bodies with sex altering drugs and surgery. While liberals call for the complete separation of church and State, they are seeking to destroy the church or at least prevent it from interfering with their plans to take control of the country. The separation of church and State was intended to prevent the government from interfering with the church in teaching Christian values but liberals are using the government to prevent the church from teaching values, so they can spread their own values.
Additional note on Epiphany Feb 18
Building Community– When My wife and I first moved into a trailer park, trailers were still small and very mobile. Few people got to know their neighbors because they were basically bedroom communities where people slept, but they worked and shopped elsewhere. Similar conditions existed in many of the cheaper apartment complexes. In addition, people were very mobile. It was easy to hook up a trailer and move it somewhere else, or move out of an apartment, so your neighbors didn’t stay very long. Many of the families had problems with alcoholism and drug abuse, spouse and child abuse, and crime. Very few had any church connection. I began visiting the families there and in nearby apartments to minister to any needs and start Bible studies for those who were interested. Most of those who lived in houses in stable neighborhoods owned their homes and knew many of their neighbors. Stable neighborhoods were much safer. People did not move frequently and home ownership was preferred over renting. Trailers and apartments were for the people who were mobile or those not able to afford to purchase. Since then, people have become very mobile and that includes many who own their own homes. It is not unusual for someone to sell a house and purchase a new one in their new location when they move to another area. In addition, there has been a big shift from owning to renting. In many places, more people live in trailers, apartments, and rental homes than in homes that they own. People are far less likely to live long-term in the same place. As a result, the people are far less likely to get to know each other so the same problems that prevailed in trailer parks and apartment buildings, have moved into more settled communities. In addition, businesses have moved away from residential areas so even stable neighborhoods have become bedroom communities. Christian families can become a catalyst for restoring a sense of community in their neighborhoods as they get to know their neighbors and help them get to know each other.
Sixth Sunday of Epiphany–Feb15
Building Bridges– Today, many neighbors are isolated and do not know each other. In the past, neighborhoods were close knit communities where people worked and shopped nearby and helped each other in times of need. Increasing mobility has separated housing from office and shopping areas and has made even stable neighborhoods into bedroom communities. People work and shop elsewhere and only come home to have supper and sleep. Extended family used to provide support but many live a long way from any family members an increasing number are not having children or only a couple and have no one to help after their parents are no longer able to. They have no one to reach out to in an emergency or in time of need. By getting to know your neighbors you can build bridges that help you be there when they need help and it opens opportunities to share the Gospel with them.
study course-Reaching the Lost
Jesus told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, starting in Jerusalem. Often churches today send out missionaries to far off lands but fail to reach those who live near the church. Many church members tell me they would like to reach those around them but don’t know how. Pastors are often not taught how in seminary. When I approach churches about supporting neighborhood evangelism, they often aren’t interested. As a social Worker and pastor, I have often been asked by churches to help them develop programs to help those in need, both spiritually and physically. I have been working to reach the lost and helping churches to minister to the needy for over 50 years. We are currently offering our course “Reaching the Lost” for free until 12/8/2025 to the first 100 who sign up at referral code https://www.udemy.com/course/reaching-the-lost/?couponCode=DE2D88C
MAGA-A-C
Our society says it doesn’t matter what you believe but all we have to do is look around us and see the difference between America in the 1950’s and America today. The values of the culture have changed and it has deeply affected our society. The liberal attacks on the value of life, the value of the rule of law, and the value of the family have destroyed the fabric of our nation and opened the door to the violence that now grips our nation. Liberal politicians see situations and grab the easiest solution. Got an unwanted baby, abort it. It doesn’t deal with the problem that created it or the girl’s problem of dealing with it afterward. Got someone shooting up a school, take away everyone’s guns. It doesn’t deal with the anger. The shooter at Sandy Hook had a propane tank filled with explosives he intended to set off which would have killed dozens of kids but police were able to take him down before he reached it. If he could not have gotten a gun, he would have set off the bomb first which would have been far more devastating. They just try to put a band aid on a gaping wound which doesn’t solve the problem, it just sweeps it under the rug. We just saw where a shooter opened fire on children in a church. It was refreshing to hear Malania Trump call for a common sense solution. We need to identify potential shooters and try to defuse the anger or get them off the streets. Though the shooter did not give specific information, he broadcast his intentions long before the incident but nobody listened. Other shooters have also openly broadcast their intentions before hand but nobody was listening, they were too intent on taking away the guns from innocent people.
MAGA-A-B
When I was young, I was not taught about God but I was taught Christian values because my parents grew up in church. When we had massive medical bills from my illness, the church did not care about us, its only concern was that we pay our tithe so my dad demanded that neither God not church be mentioned in our home. Because I had Polio and was bullied a lot, my values were basically survival putting me first, yet I held Christian values as a standard because that is what I was taught by my parents. When I met a group of Christians in high school, they cared about others, including me. They encouraged me to join a church, and I found the same love and concern there. During high school, I worked for a while in the inner-city. It was vastly different then mainstream America. Christian values were so imbedded in mainstream society that even those who did not believe in God held them as a standard. In the inner-city, there was very little belief in God. Life was basically survival of the fittest. Over the years I have seen the influence of the church decrease as it no longer teaches Christian values, and its members no longer live out those values in their daily lives. Many of those in church now view life from a self-centered view and are very little different than those who don’t attend church. That is why I wrote the series on values.
Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost-A-August 24
Few people think about those that travel, yet a large portion of our society travels at one time or other. Many travel by car and by plane but many also travel by bus. Many spend only a short time at their destination before returning home. Many people traveling stop at hotels and motels but do not know their way around town. Those who regularly attend church at home may or may not seek a church to attend while they are away. If they do, they may look up churches in the phone book but not know the times of services or how to get to the addresses listed. Calling the numbers listed in the phone book often doesn’t help since few churches offices are staffed on weekends. Motels used to have notebooks in each room with a list of nearby churches, directions from the hotel, and service times, which was compiled by local ministerial groups, and included a map to show directions, however I have not seen any for years. It would help visitors find a church to attend. It would also help people moving into an area to find a new church home. Local ministerial groups can compile the list, organize the notebooks, and distribute them to local motels.