The Scriptural Prohibition of Alcohol

Here is a sermon I preached this last Sunday night at our church on the Scriptural prohibition of alcohol. You can listen or download here. It's an expositional message about 45 minutes in length. I post this because of the growing number of confessing evangelicals in support of alcohol.

Laugh Hard

I would first like to apologize to anyone offended at my thinking that this is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

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How to Separate

Scripture teaches separation everywhere. We also learn from the Bible how to separate. Here is a sermon I preached on June 29, Sunday evening, this year, entitled How To Separate (click on link to listen or download). Much of the bad reputation of separation and of separatists comes from how separation is practiced. This message will consider what God's Word says about it. Tell me if you agree or disagree. Perhaps if men knew how to separate, they might obey the Lord in this matter.

The View on the Decision for the Iraq War that Rings True with Me

I'm not a Bush apologist. I'm ambivalent about party loyalty. I didn't vote for him in either 2000 or 2004. I voted American Independent/Constitution Party along with all the other less than 1% of Americans. Did I waste my vote? No. Presidents are elected by an electoral college. President Bush wasn't going to win California and I liked the American Independent candidates better. Who were they? 2000--Howard Philips. 2004--Michael Peroutka. Absolutely household names, huh? However, I wanted Bush to win, since I knew my guys couldn't.

I was really happy with Bush's Supreme Court appointees. For all the Reagan loyalists out there, think about who he appointed. Two of the four were good. Rehnquist--good. Scalia--good. O'Connor---bad. Kennedy---bad. I recognize that the two bad Reagan Justices are better than the Clinton and Carter appointments still on the Court, but they regularly came down on the side of the liberals on very important decisions. Kennedy exemplified this recently with his opposition to the death penalty for child rapists. W's dad gave us Souter. Ouch! But Clarence Thomas too. So Bush looks angelic with his two for two, John Roberts and Samuel Alito. And they have performed very nicely in their time on the Court. By the way, who is a good justice? Someone who fulfills the Constitutional purpose of the Judicial branch, to interpret the law. They should be making their decisions based on the constitution, not making new law.

President Bush's Iraq War, especially due to the daily scathing hits he takes from the drive-by media, has his popularity rating at 23%. The media also pounced all over the Valerie Plame case with constant speculation that was all debunked by Richard Armitage confessing that he truly was the source of the leak of her identity, not Scooter Libby or Karl Rove. What they didn't jump on was the exposure of the lies by her second husband, Joseph C. Wilson, described in this National Review column. Bush has actually been fully vindicated in the Plame case, but people wouldn't even know it because the mainstream media doesn't report it. It seems that every single prisoner "abuse" issue sticks to the president like Velcro. They advertise the number killed in Iraq incessantly even though most wouldn't know that we see more murdered in California in two years than men who have died in combat in Iraq in five. At the same time, they don't eagerly pick up stories like this about Obama. Maybe it will get traction, but it would seem that the two issues that would resonate in this election would be gas prices and foreclosures. Obama doesn't want to drill and Obama may have been personally involved with corrupt mortgage brokers.

The talking point on the Iraq War has been "War of Choice." They picture President Bush as out to get revenge for the assassination attempt on his father. They paint him as tied in by greedy oil companies. Then they get started on how the war has been fought. Regarding a War of Choice, we haven't heard almost anything from people who are actually involved in the decision making on Iraq. Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, wasn't an inside participant---he reported just what he was told, even by his own words. Now someone truly credentialed is writing and it is W's Under Secretary of Defense Policy from 2001-2005, out with a new book, introducing it with a column in the Wall Street Journal, totally debunking the "War of Choice" mantra. That should be put aside permanently now. It won't because of Democratic sycophants, whom the media loves, but it should be. The White House decided it was a war of necessity. Maybe it was or maybe it wasn't, but they had to make a decision that would impact whether we could become a target of a nuclear attack. The rest is history.

Former Reagan Economist Debunks the Idea that Drilling Would NOT Immediately Lower Fuel Prices

Obama and others (including my congressman, George Miller) make the inane argument that offshore drilling would take 20 to 30 years to impact oil prices. On the other hand, they say that costs skyrocket mainly to fuel "speculators" (actually investors, their politically charged word). They say about anything that they think will work to calm especially the undecided voters who likely vote their pocketbook. The high gas prices hurt the Democratic largest demographic more than any people group and they must convince them that gas prices are higher, not because of government regulation, a barrier to oil production built by the Democratic party and their inseparable relationship to radical environmentalists, but because of greedy rich Wall Street "speculators," who are actually Republicans. We will see if this line coming from the Democratic presidential candidate, his party, and his surrogates will work on the American people. It isn't true.

You actually can't have it both ways. When people "speculate" about, that is, invest in oil, they must determine what the oil prices will be based on supply and demand. If we aren't doing more drilling and refining of oil, then the prices are bound to go up. If we escalate the process of oil production, investors will see the future increased supply and see the price of oil going down. Some bidders will "speculate" cheaper oil prices and the dollar amounts of bids will decrease. The reality of drilling will lower gas at the pump.

A former Reagan economist makes this point about commodities, including oil, in this week's Wall Street Journal.

The Supreme Court Ruling on the Second Amendment

I wasn't happy about the very recent Supreme Court ruling that disallowed states to punish child rapists with the death penalty. I don't see anything in the Constitution that would disallow that. The moderate Reagan appointed Justice Kennedy is the new swing vote on the Court and he said NO to killing child rapists. Too harsh! On the other hand, and the stated topic of this post, I was very appreciative of and thankful for the ruling on the second amendment that again came down to a 5-4 vote and I guess we'll have to say that Kennedy was the swing vote again. However, on this Justice Scalia writes a brilliant opinion in favor of individual gun rights. For your convenience, I am providing a link to the 157 page decision (Click on link for pdf). You constitutional law and history buffs as well as second amendment supporters, enjoy!

The Basis of our Fellowship with Others

We've been considering the issue of fellowship and separation in some of my recent posts. This last Sunday evening in our church, I preached just a basic sermon on this issue, entitled "The Basis of our Fellowship with Others." I recognize that in the sermon, some who read here will find some disagreement, as I briefly mention the preservation of Scripture issue and the local church issue. Besides that, this will give you a very basic understanding of the doctrine of separation in Scripture as we consider what is the basis of our fellowship.

The Basis of Our Fellowship with Others

Click on the above link to either listen online or to download this sermon. It is about 40 minutes long. It doesn't cover everything on the issue, but it should help someone to get a taste of the doctrine.

Multi-Cultural Gobblygook from Young "Fundamentalist"

Do you see this article (click for link) as representative of a Scriptural way of thinking? Jason Janz, recent former owner of online fundamentalist forum, SharperIron, wrote this as a guest commentary for the Denver Post. I guess that this fits one of the stated "core values" for the work that Janz has started in downtown Denver, that is, "Culturally Engaged"---he believes cultural engagement is a fundamental value of a church. You won't find that in Scripture unless you put it in. By that, from this article, here's a bit of what he says it is:

"I also believe that celebrating another culture will enrich your life. Learning about another culture will teach you much about your own."

"You cannot fully understand your own culture unless you understand others."

"At the same time, you will see the differences between your culture and African-American culture as unique gifts from God to make this city a beautiful place to live and work."

Cultural engagement is closely related to cultural diversity, diversity training, and multiculturalism. As much as Jason Janz may say cultural engagement looks for similarities, it has long been about finding and accepting the differences. At least you better accept the differences or there will be "racial tension." Not to endorse the Ayn Rand Institute, but it has given a very good definition of multiculturalism and reflects what I have heard it's chief spokemen to mean when they talk about celebrating and learning another culture:

In brief, multiculturalism is the view that all cultures, from that of a spirits-worshiping tribe to that of an advanced industrial civilization, are equal in value.

Jason Janz may not believe multiculturalism, but I think he is an intelligent man, so I think he knows what he is saying when he writes this piece for the promotion of this African-American celebration that his church (if it is a church as of yet) is sponsoring (and every church that is sponsoring him and his church). Just like him, I too would show up to the event, except with a handful of tracts to pass to the participants, welcoming them to the one and only Jesus Christ (a real, historic, and Jewish Person). We did the same thing at the Sikh parade in our area, that "celebrated" their "peace-loving" qualities.

Our church is racially diverse. The school that we operate is racially diverse. In our church, whites, Euros, or whatever you want to call them, are probably in the minority. In our school, caucasians make up 25% or less. We got that way by not trying to be that way. We got that way by not caring about it. We are not culturally diverse. We have and promote one culture. We believe that all culture is inferior to it and that is Godly Culture or Biblical Culture. Everything is to be judged by the Bible. The way to become racially diverse is by racial ambivalence. If you try to become racially diverse, you will conform to the world system. His article smacks of liberalism. The way to become racially diverse is to be no respecter of persons in your preaching of the gospel. God has one way of salvation and it is the same for every one. Sanctification is the same for every race too. So that covers everything.

What is black culture anyway? Is black culture really African culture? Aren't white and black just colors? Aren't we just talking about pigmentation? We have plenty of Eritreans and Ethiopians and Kenyans among American blacks in our school. We have had a South African in our school who was an African American. He was white. Our church has a black man from Paris, France, a black family from Eritrea, another from Kenya, and then several from the United States. I've found that the "culture" of black America is much different than that of black Africans who live in America. Some of what we're talking about with "black culture" isn't something that a Christian, black, red, yellow, or white, should appreciate, accept, or even tolerate. A lot of popular American culture is trash that every believer should reject.

No human culture has anything to contribute to our learning and understanding. Most of it is neutral and the rest of it is bad. Jason Janz may say that he knows that, but if he did, then he would also be saying that he is merely pandering to multiculturalists and black people who are tuned into multiculturalism in many cases for political gain. There are plenty of black people who don't cow-tow to the multicultural way (think Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, and Walter Williams). Hip-hop is black culture, for instance, and listen to what John McWhorter says about that (click on link). The aforementioned men themselves know that you don't help black people by catering to multiculturalism. I would hope that Janz would read something like Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington or the works of Booker T. Washington (concentrate on his Sunday night talks given to Tuskegee students after they got back working in churches all day Sunday) from some good local library to see that Washington, who by far represents a Scriptural way of thinking, saw the world far differently than the W. E. B. Dubois Harvardian ideas reflected in multiculturalism.

I can see other doey-eyed young fundamentalists whose brains have been softened by the modern media picture of race relations. They want to go to the inner city to "make a difference." It isn't as though they were the first people to think about the inner city. I've gone door-to-door through the neighborhoods that black people cringe at when I mention them. I still play basketball places where I'm outnumbered racially 35 to 1. Many others have gone ahead of me to the inner city. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. You don't go anywhere with race in mind. You go with the only saving message.

To God be the glory. God isn't glorified when we tolerate unscriptural activity. Aspects of African, European, American, Indian, and Asian culture must be repudiated with no uncertain terms. The goodness of God will lead them to repentance. They believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him. Paul said that race relations broke down in Christ. Preach Christ. Forget the racial stuff. When we are reconciled to God, we reconcile to one another. And if you happen to be in a place with a lot of races, don't make a big deal of it. It doesn't mean anything once you're in Christ.

Read this speech given in 2004 about the thing that Janz is encouraging---by a former Colorado governor.