I’ve been reading the book, “The Forgotten Spurgeon” by Iain Murray. It has been really interesting to read about Spurgeon’s life. Here is a quote from Spurgeon about the perpetuity of the Church that I really enjoyed.

“Reflect first that a Church exists. What a wonder this is! It is perhaps the greatest miracle of all ages that God has a Church in the world…Always a Church! When the full force of the Pagan Emperors came like a thundering avalanche upon her, she shook off the stupendous load as a man shaketh the flakes of snow from his garment, and she lived on uninjured. When papal Rome vented its malice yet more furiously and ingenuously; when cruel murderers hunted the saints among the Alps, or worried them in the low country; when Albigenses and Waldenses poured out their blood in rivers, and dyed the snow with crimson, she lived still, and never was in a healthier state than when she was immersed in her own gore. When after a partial reformation in this country, the pretenders to religion determined that the truly spiritual should be harried out of the land, God’s Church did not sleep or suspend her career of life or service. Let the covenant signed in blood witness to the vigor of the persecuted saints. Hearken to her psalm amidst the brown heath-clad hills of Scotland, and her prayer in the secret conventicles of England. Hear ye the voice of Cargil and Cameron thundering among the mountains against a false king and an apostate people; hear ye the testimony of Bunyan and his compeers who would sooner rot in dungeons than bow the knee to Baal. Ask me “Where is the Church?” and I can find her at any and every period from the day when first in the upper room the Holy Ghost came down even until now. In one unbroken line our apostolic succession runs; not through the church of Rome; not from the superstitious hands of priest-made popes, or king-created bishops (what a varnished lie is the apostolic succession of those who boast so proudly of it!), but through the blood of good men and true, who never forsook the testimony of Jesus; through the loins of true pastors, laborious evangelists, faithful martyrs, and honorable men of God, we trace our pedigree up to the fishermen of Galilee and glory that we perpetuate by God’s grace that true and faithful Church of the living God, in whom Christ did abide and will abide until the world’s crash.

The chief wonder is that she abides perfect. Not one of God’s elect has gone back; not one of the blood-bought has denied the faith. Not one single soul which ever was effectually called can be made to deny Christ, even though his flesh should be pulled from his bones by hot pincers, or his tormented body flung to the jaws of wild beasts. All that the enemy has done has been of no avail against the Church. The old rock has been washed, and washed, and washed again by stormy waves, and submerged a thousand times in the floods of tempest but even her angles and corners abide unaltered and unalterable. We may say of the Lord’s tabernacle, not one of the stakes thereof has been removed, nor one of her cords been broken. The house of the Lord from foundation to pinnacle is perfect still: “The rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell not”; nay, nor a single stone of it, “for it was founded upon a rock”. - Charles Spurgeon

I just got home from our annual youth hayride and bonfire. We began this tradition last year with about 15 students. We took the teenagers on a hayride down through the woods to an open area with a big bonfire. We ate, hung out, and played games in the dark. This year we decided to do the same thing, only instead of 15 teens we had over 40 show up. Needless to say I had to do some last minute scrambling to get van drivers and some of my adult leaders who were gracious enough to let us do this on their property had to find another trailer with hay bails on it.

Here are a few Hayride tips that I have learned this round:

1. Get some idea of the number of people who might show up (although it is impossible to get an exact number). This serves you well when you have already lined up enough vans, drivers, food, and trailers.

2. The more kids on a trailer, the heavier it is. The heavier the trailer is, the more weight it puts on the tractor. This makes for a pretty wild ride going down a very steep hill. We found this out as the trailer actually pushed our tractor up in the air onto its front wheels. Let me repeat that. The tractor, trying to slow the trailer full of teenagers down, took a nose dive. The weight caused the back end of the tractor to flip up into the air as it rode on its front wheels, nearly flipping itself and the trailer behind it over. I needed a change of clothes after that little adventure.

3. Never buy and pass out 40 glow sticks to irresponsible teenagers who like to break them open and pour the glowing chemical all over their hands, clothes, and neighbors. While it looks cool as people are running all over a dark field, the end result is a huge mess. It also became a favorite pass time to place their glow stick into the fire, watching it erupt into flames.

4. Always sit in the front of the trailer. This allows for the occasional tossing of hay up into the air and getting it into the hair, clothes, and eyes of all the people behind you. The nice thing about it is they can’t get you back because the wind direction doesn’t allow them to throw hay to the front. I had fun with this.

5. Never stand around the chocolate chip cookies when you are on a diet. Enough said.

Pressed

This evening I was reading an article from Agape Press entitled “Is It a Sin Not to Vote?” This particular article really jump started my thought process. I began to brainstorm on a few questions that came to mind:

Is it a sin not to vote at all?
This was the question asked in the article, and one in which I found to be quite interesting. If a Christian were to take no interest in politics, or become so fed up that they decide not to vote, is that a sin? Call me what you will, but I might be inclined to say yes.

Here is why. First of all I believe that we should take great interest in anything that God establishes. Romans 13:1 - “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Our civil government is ordained by God, and we are to be obedient to what God has ordained, not ignorant of it. Romans also says in 13:6-7 “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you own taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” Paul is describing the civil rulers of the day who were pagans, and yet calls them “God’s servants.” Whoever becomes president I must respect his/her position as president. The second reason I believe it could very well be a sin not to vote is the simple fact that I believe Christians are responsible for being the moral compass of society. While I don’t expect lost people to go along with Biblical morals, it does not negate the responsibility of the Christian to be the ‘light in the darkness.’ We should point to the truth and the morality of God’s Word regardless of what the world believes. To not take part in our political process is not taking the opportunity to point to what is right and good. James 4:17 says, “Anyone then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” If we can do what is right by voting for a party that will vote our values and convictions and we choose not to vote at all or to ignore Biblical morals for our own feelings and reasoning then I would consider that sin.

What is the moral obligation and responsibility of the Christian in the voting process?
Again I look to James 4:17, “Anyone then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” If we know what is right and good then it is our moral responsibility to do what is right and good. So, how does this apply to voting? Good question! I think it depends on what our voting emphasis should be as Christians. What I mean by voting emphasis is the special attention a person gives to what he/she thinks to be important. For instance, when we think about a political party we instantly begin to consider their stances on many different issues. Things like taxes, money, foreign policy, moral issues, education, environment, etc. Some people may find taxes to be a more important issue than the environment and therefore their vote will mainly be decided by their preference for a candidate’s tax policy and not so much on their environmental policy. The question I have is what should a Christian’s voting emphasis be? Should we be overly concerned with money and taxes when God says in Matthew 6:31 So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Should we be overly concerned with the environmental policy when we know that no matter how hard we try we cannot destroy this planet, its resources, or the world as we know it lest it be God’s will? I am not saying that we shouldn’t be good stewards of what God has given us, however, should these be the most important deciding factors in our vote? I believe education is extremely important, but should that be the most important deciding factor in my vote? When it comes down to it, there is no one party or one individual who holds the perfect position on all of these issues. So what should be the most important deciding factor or factors?

While I know a majority of people’s vote is completely hinged on job security and higher and lower taxes for middle and upper classes, I seriously don’t think the Christians vote should center on this issue. When we focus too much on whether we have more money or less money and whether or not our particular jobs are available we place our dependence on ourselves and reveal our lack of faith in God and the provisions he promises us. I could continue to go on and on about all of the different things we look for when deciding our vote, but for sake of time, let me just get to the point. I personally believe that one of the most important deciding factors in a Christians voting decision should be the moral values held by a particular political party. Why? Because this is something we know for certain. We can ascertain God’s stance on moral issues from his Word and we can vote on values with the assurance of doing what is right in that area. While it remains disputable as to whether or not we should have higher or lower taxes or better environmental plans, it will never be disputable as to whether or not we should kill babies. This is a cut and dry issue for me, when I vote; values will be one of the deciding factors. I believe Christians have a moral obligation to vote their values established from a solid Biblical perspective, more so than their inclination to vote for their personal preferences regarding trivial or disputable matters.

Is voting a spiritual issue, or should our religious convictions be set aside for the voting process?

While voting is usually not made into a spiritual issue, per se, I believe our Christianity should indeed determine our vote. We should never set aside what we know to be right; our morals and values must be a part of our voting process. A Christian should not try to separate themselves from religious convictions in order to vote with an unbiased opinion. Our decision will always be influenced by our belief about what is right and wrong regardless of who we are or what we believe. In many ways, voting can be a spiritual issue which leads me to my next question.

Should we vote based on our own logic, reasoning, and feeling or is this an issue that Christians should pray about, seeking God’s purposes and voting according to His leadership?
I believe any big decisions for a Christian should begin with prayer. How many of us can honestly say that we have been praying for God’s leadership on who we should vote for? Instead, we often come up with our own opinion on who we want to support and blindly support that political party with no leadership from God at all. I venture to say that most of us don’t even hold the option open that God would want us to vote the other way. For some of us, not even God could change our minds. However, I believe this issue is important enough that we should be in a state of prayer, asking God to lead us in voting the right way and remaining open enough that we would allow God to change our minds and hearts in this matter.

Is it a sin to vote for the wrong party? (Meaning, is it God’s will and purpose that one particular person be elected, and therefore is the Christian who voted for the opposite party morally wrong or outside of God’s will on this issue?)

Of all these questions I find this one the most fascinating. I have never really thought about this before. If God, who is ultimately in control of all things, has in his plan a particular person to be president of the United States, would it be wrong to vote against that candidate? Whether they be Democrat or Republican, if we believe that it is God’s will that a particular person becomes president, then to vote against that president would be to vote against God’s will. Is this a sin? I guess it really depends on whether or not God really does have specific people in mind for his plan. If so, this really emphasizes the importance of praying and seeking God’s leadership on the matter and being open to His leadership. It may be, however, that God established authority, but gives us the ability to choose the leadership of that authority. In this case, God doesn’t really have one specific person He wants in office and therefore it would not be a sin to vote either way based on the person alone. However, I still think it would be wrong to vote on a political party for the wrong reasons and the wrong values. While this question is fun to play with, I honestly have no clue. I could theorize for days and come up with no conclusion but it is a good one to ponder if you are in the mood.

Obviously there are so many different scenarios, thoughts, and processes that go into this. I know for a fact that not everyone will agree with me on this issue, which is ok. It amazes me how disjointed the Christian Vote really is. Of those who call themselves Christian, their vote is certainly split. To me, this reveals a specific lack of unity among the people who call themselves children of God. While there are many different reasons for this dis-unity, I can’t help but wonder, if all true Christians sought out God’s will on political matters and voted according to God’s will, would all true Christians vote exactly the same way?

“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. Colossians 1:16-18

Picture yourself near a stream. Birds chirping in the cool, crisp mountain air.

Nothing can bother you here. No one knows this secret place.

You are in total seclusion from that place called the “world”.

The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity.

The water is so clear that you can easily make out the face of the person whose head you are holding under the water.

There now…Feeling better?