Tag: republican

Severed Heads, Silence, and Selecting a Political Candidate

by Sean Perron
by Sean Perron

Previously, we highlighted how abortion was the scarlet letter of our day. We fully believe that Jesus extends love and forgiveness to those who have had an abortion. We are also convinced that Jesus can forgive the abortionists who were in the recent viral videos about Planned Parenthood. These beliefs, however, should not keep us from praying that Planned Parenthood shuts down. In light of the recent videos, I have an unspoken topic that needs to be addressed. I believe Christians should speak up for the unborn and leave the Democratic Party. I know that there will be some who read that last statement and frown because I’m getting involved with politics. I request that those who feel uncomfortable hear me out.

I am not saying: it has always been a sin to vote democrat. I’m also not saying that Republican equals Christian or the GOP is saintly, blameless, or even… worthy of praise.  I am not saying that Republicans get everything right and the Democrats get everything wrong. No.

I am saying: the current Democratic Party should not get a Christian’s vote. Only the politicians who believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of existence for all people should get the Christian vote. This transcends politics. Life and death are hanging in the balance at the voting booth. The official stance of the Democratic Party is pro-abortion. Their website states: “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.” (Emphasis Mine)

You can verify this for yourself, but sadly I doubt that is necessary. We need only ask the following questions about the 2016 election:

1)   Has a single democratic candidate spoken out against the butchering at the hands of Planned Parenthood? I can’t name one.

2)   Have the democratic candidates supported Planned Parenthood favorably in the past? A resounding yes. In fact, several have come out in defense of Planned Parenthood since the viral videos. Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi are being true to their party which firmly asserts “We oppose any and all efforts” against abortion. Remaining silent in the midst of this evil and injustice is a sin (Ezekiel 33, Proverbs 24:11-12). What’s more, it is a high handed sin to endorse such evil practices. Romans 1:28-32 states:

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

It is not only a sin to murder, it is a sin to give approval of those who murder. And endorsement is exactly what takes place when you vote democrat. To say that you are against abortion and then actively vote democrat is a contradiction. Follow the “logic”:

  • I am not a racist, but give money to the KKK.
  • I am against domestic abuse, but don’t report it when I see my neighbor beating up his wife.
  • I live in Germany in 1944 and every day I walk by Auschwitz, look in the windows, and then go home to have dessert with my family.

Do these scenarios sound outrageous? They should. The abortions that are facilitated by Planned Parenthood poses a similar conundrum for the Christian Democrat. I would be a hypocrite if I said the following:

  • I am against abortion, but I vote for a political party that supports an organization that has killed millions of infants.

If this bullet point seems different than the previous three, you have been blinded and calloused by the ideals and ethics of our culture. You may be assuming that I am advocating “single-issue voting” at this point. In part, I am. But let me be clear, We shouldn’t cast our lot with any politician just because he is pro-life. Yet we must agree that pro-life is a requirement for our vote. If we could have voted in the womb, this would have been our fundamental requirement. We live in a fallen world and will not always be able to agree with every candidate’s beliefs. It is not wrong to vote for an imperfect politician, however, it is immoral to vote for someone who supports the slaughter of the innocent. Perhaps you have voted democrat your entire life. I would ask you to consider that a blessing because of the solitary fact that you have a life in which you can vote. I cannot say the same for millions of others whose lives have been snuffed out because of what the Democratic Party supports.

I am not trying to be a party pooper, but some things always ruin a party. “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” does not work when babies are being drowned. The Democratic Party may have some merits, but those merits are drowned out because they “strongly and unequivocally support” baby genocide. For the sake of our lives and for the sake of countless others, let’s leave behind the party that seduces us to think it’s okay to remain silent and chomp on our salads while heads are being severed. We don’t want to drink the kind of wine that the “doctors” at Planned Parenthood have to offer. Christians cannot support abortion in any way, shape, or form. In fact, we must do the opposite. We must do everything we can to stand up for the genocide that is taking place. Here are some starters:

  1. We should not endorse politicians who remain silent when it comes to slaughtering children. Many politicians, including our current president, are deathly silent in response to the recent videos – and I mean deathly silent. Nine hundred babies are dismembered each day our politicians do nothing about Planned Parenthood. And those numbers are just from the Planned Parenthood facilities.
  1. Speak against these issues and point out logical inconsistencies. Speak loud with lungs full of truth in love. What do we have to lose? Certainly not our lives. But babies’ lives are being lost every day as we dodge this topic because of political issues. Our president is right; we do need to “put our politics aside.” But not in the way he hypocritically suggests. We need to put politics aside and actually talk about the evils of abortion. Our country needs moral clarity. Call, write, email, and tweet to your congressmen and women.
  1. I want to encourage you to share these videos. Speak up on social media using #defundplannedparenthood, #defundPP, and #PPsellsbabyparts. More videos will be released each week. If you have not done so already, please watch and share them. Fill up your feed. Let your favorite social media outlet become the voice of the unborn.
  1. Most importantly, we need not only talk about these things, but we need to take action. This includes voting. It includes going down to your local abortion clinic to offer sidewalk counseling or peaceful protesting. I want to specifically encourage you to take a look at Speak for the Unborn ministries and see how you can get involved.
  1. If you are a pastor, I want to encourage you to consider bringing these matters before your congregation and even partnering with likeminded churches in the area. Perhaps you can select a day when your church will participate in sidewalk counseling together with other churches in your city.
  1. Fast and Pray. These are weighty matters and the God of heaven deserves to be praised by every human voice. Each child is precious to God because he created them in the womb (Psalm 139). Our God is in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases (Psalm 115:3). Let us seek his face and ask for him to turn hearts away from destruction and towards life (Proverbs 21:1).

Conclusion: We can’t merely agree in our hearts that abortion is wrong. Jesus can forgive every person who has aborted a child and every abortion “doctor” who has murdered one. But there has never been a better time to ask Jesus for forgiveness about our silence, our votes, and to begin encouraging others to speak up for those who cannot.

Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? (Proverbs 24:11-12)

First Video: Salads, Wine, and Baby Parts

Second Video: “I want a Lamborghini” 

Prediction vs. Prayer: Christian Responsibility in the Presidential Election

by Heath Lambert

During this election cycle just reading the headlines will make you lose your mind.  A short week and a half ago, headlines warned: Romney is Running out of Choices and Time, Romney Desperate in Search of Votes, It’s Over—President Obama Will Be Reelected.  One debate later the headlines are very different, even opposite: Romney Opens Cracks in Obama’s Firewall, Obama’s Aides Plot Comeback, Obama’s Dilemma—How to Reset the Race.

I get it.  This is high-stakes political theater.  A lot of people are paying attention and everyone would like to be the person who correctly guesses the outcome of the election.  The operative word, however, is guess.  Nobody knows what is going to happen on November 6th.  As Christians we know that God alone knows the future.  The prophet Isaiah links God’s glory with his ability to declare the future when he says,

I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them. (Isaiah 42:8-9)

God will not give his glory of authoritatively declaring the future to another.  God enjoys displaying his glory in being the only one who knows for sure what happens next.

That is why the story of presidential elections (and everything else for that matter) is the story of surprises.  There are surprises in every presidential election in the last century.  Sometimes those surprises are huge in magnitude (President Truman’s defeat of Thomas Dewey in 1948).  Sometimes those surprises are of a smaller sort (Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee to George W. Bush in 2000).  The same will hold true this year.  There is a vice-presidential debate tonight, and then two more presidential debates in the weeks to follow.  The election narrative will reset after each of those events.  Then, when we wake up on November 7th, all of us will be puzzling over different things.

That means Christians should not waste their time playing the pagan game of guessing the future when it comes to elections.  Instead of guessing Christians should be using their time doing three much more important things: praying, pondering, and persuading.

First, we have a command that we are to pray for “Kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Tim 2:2).  That means we should be praying for Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.  One of them will be our president for the next four years and they need grace to be wise, strong, and full of integrity.  Instead of guessing about the election we should be praying for it.

Second, we need to ponder the many different issues at stake in this election.  There is no shortage of crucial issues to consider—abortion, tax policy, religious liberty, international affairs, and many others. Some Christians think we shouldn’t vote because Romney is a Mormon or because the candidates are not that different.  Many Believers think that Romney should be elected because he is the best to defend the moral issues Christians care about.  Some argue Obama would be a better defender on social justice issues.  The point is that all these things are worth pondering.  Thinking about such matters (and praying for them) is infinitely more profitable then chewing your nails trying to figure out what will happen on election day.

Finally, after we have prayed about the issues, and pondered them, we need to try and persuade others.  As Christians we should use our conversations, tweets, blogs, and news stories to contend for the candidate we believe is the most suitable to hold an office as significant as president of the United States.  For my money, Christians will make an egregious error if they abstain from voting or vote for any candidate who is openly in favor of killing innocent human beings.

I’m sure there are some who are offended by that  or who disagree with me.  That’s fine. Let’s talk about it.  That is a conversation that will matter.

When we have it at least we won’t be wasting one-another’s time playing
God and hazarding guesses.

Heath Lambert is the Executive Director Elect of the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors and the assistant Professor of Biblical Counseling at Boyce College; He is also the author of Biblical Counseling After Adams and co-author of Counseling the Hard Cases.