The Truth Manifesto

Republican. Democrat. McCain. Obama. Biden. Palin. You can’t move or breathe today without seeing their names in the headlines. One thing that has become apparent for both sides of the fence is that invoking God is for nothing but a soundbite because they are truly tied to the religion of politics.

If you look up the definition for the word religion, it has several meanings. One of those meanings is this one:

religion – any system of belief, worship, etc. often involving a code of ethics; any object that is seriously or zealously pursued.

The Signs Of A Disciple

So how do you know that you’re a follower of this religion of politics?

1. You wake up to see what the latest political news is first and foremost.

2. You spend all day promoting political candidates.

3. Your conversations begin and end with the most current political news.

4. Your internet bookmarks are mostly political websites.

5. Your political party dictates how you will think and vote regardless of what they stand for.

6. The people you hang out with are all just as committed.

How many times have we heard that old saying, “Two things you don’t talk about are religion and politics.” The word religion is normally used for any system that mentions God. However, in the last few decades, it’s been referring more to Christianity and specifically in the political arena, conservative Christians. Candidates who believe in Jesus Christ, especially if they’re running for political office, are vilified and said not to be fit for service for having a solid, biblically doctrinal worldview. John Ashcroft comes to mind.

My Convenient LITTLE god

What we have seen going on for quite some time now is a vehemence against conservative Christians because of their stance on God and Jesus Christ in particular…except when it’s politically expedient. As long as He doesn’t make you look bad. If He can make you look good then you better use Him all day. The outlook is always to use Him to serve instead of being used to serve Him.

The ridiculous comment below of Steve Cohen, a liberal Democrat, who supports Obama comparing him to Jesus, is an example of when it’s supposedly acceptable, to the left, to use Him for political expediency (his statement is a world class lesson in biblical ignorance to boot. Plus…what is up with that Heatmiser hairdo? What is wrong with dat head?):

Steve Cohen Campaigns for Obama on House Floor

Now compare that to Sarah Palin’s backpedaling of her statement about knowing the will of God (another lesson in biblical ignorance):

Sarah Palin ABC Interview Charles Gibson

One attempted to use God for political expediency (and for those of you who don’t know, the Bible states that Jesus Christ is God. Read up) while the other had to get rid of Him and pass off the statement onto someone else in order to stop the bleeding of the statement she made about God.

The Long And The Short

The whole problem with this is that people are ultimately putting their hope in an individual or a system that is flawed because man runs it. No matter how good the system of a democratic republic is, because man is evil (Luke 11:13) it’s fallible. Even so, many people think the world will end if Obama or McCain becomes president. Well let me encourage you today…it ain’t gonna happen.

You see, whoever gets into the Oval Office, God is the one who allowed them to be there. He’s the one who who is sovereign over all (Daniel 4:35). He has used good kings and evil kings all for His glory (Proverbs 21:1). Since God is love (1 John 4:8), goodness (Zechariah 9:17), righteousness (Psalm 71:19), and justice (Jeremiah 50:7), you best believe that no matter how bad it may look that it’s all working out for the purposes of God and that they are good (Genesis 50:20). We can not know everything because our minds are finite. We don’t think like God (Isaiah 55:8-9). If we did, there would have been no need for Jesus to be sacrificed for our evil.

I’m not saying that we should abandon the public square and stop debating the issues. We need that and more of it. What I am saying is that if we stand for God, we need to stand for God everywhere and always. Politics. Art. Philosophy. Media. Everywhere and always (1 Corinthians 10:31). If your faith is REAL and the true God matters, then we do what we do in service to Him in accordance with His word…and not be ashamed of it (Luke 9:26).

Back to The Truth Manifesto.

Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:13)

I’ve been curious as to why God was censored along with such words as “crap” and “Nazi”. So I went on a little investigative journey to find out. What I found was that is was a carry over from another MMORPG by the same company, NC Soft, called Lineage which is fantasy based (Lord Of The Rings type fantasy). It was filtered out because of the other word that it’s usually tied to. Funny thing is when you type in that word, it’s unfiltered. Go figure.

I got a real good response from someone who played both games and was into the exact details:

The list is from another game. The code to implement the filter is not. The two are not 100% compatible, and “god” being filtered is one of the results of that incompatibility. To be more precise, the list contains multi-word filters, but the code supports only single word filters, and “god” is part of one of the multi-word filters that gets treated as a single word filter instead.

The bug is unlikely to be fixed. I reported it back in 2005 or so, and nothing came of it.

Now, I’m not saying that NC Soft has some sinister anti-Christ thing going on. That’s not the case. But what I find pitiful is the fact that they are so politically correct because of the world that we live in. I mean come on….Nazi?

Yet, every day when you look at the news, whenever God is mentioned, the person who said it is either vilified, said to be are crazy, made fun of in some way, or use it for their own advantage.

Let’s take this year’s 2008 election. Barack Obama has talked about small town U.S.A. and the people in it clinging to their guns and religion. On the other side, Barack supporters want to use religion, specifically Christianity, to make him look good. The hypocrisy is blatant.

Then there’s this video recently of Sarah Palin being interviewed by Charles Gibson of ABC News (who pretty much showed his bias in the way he asked his questions…but that’s another post):

Sarah Palin Clarifies “God and War” Remarks

Here’s the problem: Sarah Palin says that she wouldn’t presume to speak about knowing what God’s will is. This is just showing her true ignorance and what I see as a politically savvy answer to curry favor with voters. That’s just me though.

The Bible states that we, as Christians, can pray and receive the things we pray for when it’s according to the will of God (1 John 5:14). We receive those things because we’re thinking like He thinks and doing what He does (Phillipians 2:5, Ephesiians 5:1) which is evidenced by obeying His commandments (1 John 3:22). God’s word is His will.

It would probably be beneficial if she actually picked up a Bible and read it.

Let’s not be fooled by what’s going on here. Conservative republicans, though their philosophy is in line with much of scripture on major issues, they really use Christians at election time and summarily seem to forget them for the most part until the next election. However, even so, as Christians, if they’re not against us, they’re for us (Luke 9:49-50). We can call their card on their insincerity later (2 Timothy 4:2).

As the time winds down here, we’ll be seeing the very mention of God receive more and more hateful responses, let alone Jesus. This shouldn’t surprise us. We should be ready for this and being faithful until He comes back (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).