Call me extreme

If being pro-life, pro-second amendment, pro-small government, libertarian leaning, anti-obscene spending, willing to put my life on the line for liberty and freedom, anti-illegal immigration, pro-self sufficiency, pro-national defense, and conservative makes me extreme; Then I wear “extremism” as a badge of honor.

Department of Homeland Security “domestic terrorism” report.

Obama and “Evangelicals?”

The last couple of days I’ve read a few posts where “evangelical” Christians have stated support for Obama. Even in the face of his radical position on abortion including his opposition to bills that would mandate emergency care for children born alive during botched abortions they won’t change their minds. They seem to have elevated helping the poor, protecting the environment, and stopping the war as somehow more important than stopping murder. This is troubling considering that stopping murder is the most “black and white” in Scripture of all these issues.

Josh Harris answers a possible church member in his post – “Abortion and Voting” on the Covenant Life Blog. I think he handled it well, although, I wish he would have hit on the fact that there’s no Biblical mandate for the government to take anyone’s money by force of law and give it to someone else. The Bible mandates that Christians take care of the “Widows and Orphans” and the poor. But that’s a charge to individual Christians and Churches not to governments. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 also says that “if you don’t work, you don’t eat.” Proverbs 10:4 and 6:9-11 also address the issue. All one has to do is look here in Houston in the aftermath of hurricane Ike. The local entities and charities are doing a much better job distributing aid and resources than FEMA. There’s no way I want the federal government to take over my healthcare decisions. What BO and these “evangelicals” are calling for is at best socialism and at worst Marxist/Leninism.

I also don’t think there’s any support in the Bible for an environmental policy that does nothing to help the environment and only redistributes wealth from the US to third world countries. It does say to work and have dominion over the earth. So when there’s a decision between building a dam to provide drinking water to millions of people and saving a “snail darter” the people win. Let’s face it; neither party is for dirty water or polluting the air.

One other post by emergent leader Tony Jones incensed me. His post simply titled “Abortion” states some of his reasons for supporting Obama despite the abortion issue. In it he states “Second, I really have nothing to gain from an Obama presidency, except maybe a more just and civil country.” What does this mean?

Christian Tracy from Texas puts it well in his comment to Tony’s post:

We really need to elaborate on how a BO presidency would lead to a more just and civil country. I have been listening to BO and don’t know what Tony is referring to. What I hear is very polished speaking with little substance. The guy does not have much of a voting record given his limited time in the Senate but just enough to expose his socialist leanings.

Based on what we do know about BO these statements can be made about his form of “justice and civility”:

1. He will bail you out if you take on more debt than you can afford and in the process make those who’ve made responsible decisions pay the bill.
2. Your education will be paid and he’ll take from the “wealthy” to pay for it.
3. He will provide you with retirement by increasing taxes on those with “lots of money” but not provide them with compensatory benefit toward their retirement.
4. If you are poor he will take money from America’s corporations to provide you with a better existence costing millions of Americans their jobs.
5. If you don’t have enough of anything he will take from those that have plenty and ensure you have what you need.
6. If you are a small business owner he will require you to provide benefits that you cannot possibly afford to appease those too ignorant to know that in his doing so he will force you to fire your staff and close down your business.

I would add two more:

1. He will use thugs to shut down any opposition to his plans or ideas.
2. He will “listen” in order to repeat back peoples grievances in order to foment class warfare.

So, even though the abortion issue alone is enough to disqualify BO in my book there are plenty of other troubling things about him for Christians to be weary of. Communism, Marxism, and Socialism are absolutely not compatible with Christianity. Obama has a higher liberal rating than that of self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders. Another fact that disqualifies him.

Obama = Infanticide

Ok so-called “evangelicals” supporting Obama. He turns my stomach. I’m sorry, but I would not vote for Obama if there was a gun pointed to my head.

A brave young lady, Gianna Jessen, a survivor of a botched abortion speaks out.

Couple of different views – Palin

Ok, It’s no secret that I’m somewhat impressed with Sarah Palin. The issue of whether a woman can serve as VP or President for that matter, is not cut in stone or black and white in my book. In my previous post I tend to agree with what Dr. Mohler says on the issue. There are a few folks that I respect and love (In the case of my son, Richard.) that have a different take than I do. That’s ok. So in support of balance I commend their posts on the subject to you.

First, my son Richard is very settled on the issue. In his post What does “conservative” mean anymore? It seems a fluid concept to me… he states his belief and position very succinctly. One statement that I need to think about further is this….

I was saddened by a response to a blog I read a few days ago where an individual stated that a woman should put God before her husband, which of course “gives her some allowance to go against her husband,” in the event “God is telling her” to do something her husband does not approve of. Friends, if we have set our minds on loving God and doing what he commands, then we cannot ignore His created order. Yes, women are ultimately accountable to God for their actions, and not their husbands. But this Biblical concept does not stop here! It means furthermore that they will give an account of their obedience to His commands, one of which is to submit to their husbands!

I agree with the statement and think that it applies to children as well. What I’m not settled on is that it totally applies in this situation.

I also respect Richard’s pastor Voddie Baucham. In his post Did McCain Make a Pro-Family VP Pick? He raises states his thoughts that VP is “Not a Pro-family Job” and her pick is “Not a Pro-family Message.” He gives me something to think about in the quote…

Are we really saying that we want to completely erase the distinctions between men and women.  Do we really believe that it is good for our country to promote the view that women are merely men who happen to be biologically capable of having children (when it does not interfere with career advancement, of course)?  I don’t think so.  What do we do with the Bible’s admonition in Titus chapter two?  Are Christian conservatives saying that Paul’s instructions concerning women’s duty to be “keepers of their homes” has somehow been overturned in light of recent discoveries?  Or are we saying that pro-family means one thing when we’re in church, but something else when we’re trying to beat the Democrats?

Lastly James McDonald has a thought provoking post, Voting in Faith, where he makes that case that voting requires prayerful consideration in the dichotomy of voting based solely on principle vs. voting on a combination of principle and strategy. Here’s his statement that makes me think…

The Bible says in Romans 14 that anything not done in faith is sin. Could it be that two Christians could vote in faith but vote for different men? Could one vote on what he believes to be principle, for a candidate he knows will not win, and do so in faith? Can another believer vote in a strategic fashion, recognizing his choice is not “perfect,” but represents some of his most important values, and has a chance of winning? Can this one vote in faith as well?

All good men who I respect greatly. To be honest I have no idea at this point who I’ll vote for except that it won’t be Obama. I rest in the fact that a sovereign Gods sets up our leaders and takes them down.

Great post on the Gospel – Steve Camp

This is a great post about preaching justification by faith alone even if you’re not a “5-pointer”. If you read anything the first paragraph under “Reformation” is especially edifying. Actually that whole section including the breakdown of Rom 4:5.

Here’s the first paragraph under “Reformation” for the “time-challenged”:

This is at the heart of the Reformed faith (Calvinism) and more importantly – biblical Christianity. Salvation is of the Lord – it is all of grace! We add nothing to it and do not cooperate in it to obtain it. It is God’s free gift to sinful men. It is a Sovereign act of a holy God upon unregenerate people who are by nature children of wrath, sons of disobedience, and dead in trespasses and sins. We must “made fit” for the inheritance (Col. 1:12-14); because in and of ourselves we are hostile to God; enemies of Him and His truth, with all our own righteousness being nothing but dirty, filthy rags. But because of His great love, unfathomable grace and never-ending mercy – by grace through faith in Jesus we may be clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ our Lord.

SBFYC 2008 – It’s history

It’s been a couple days since my family and I returned from Bolivar, MO and the 2008 Saved By Faith Youth Challenge (SBFYC) conference. This was an especially exciting year because it’s the first year my son Jordan attened as a Christian. He was really excited and I could tell he got a lot out of it. My 19 year old son Josh was in the ensemble (JJ Stupote) and I was the photographer for the event. We were also able to fellowship with our brothers and sisters from the church we attended while living in the Austin area, Cornerstone Baptist Church. We’ve missed those folks and it was really great to see them again.

I would like to give a recap of the event and some of the travel involved.

Friday, 07/04 – My wife Carole, son Jordan, and I set out in the morning for Hutto, TX so that we could meet up with our son Josh. My job for the day was to get him to Owasso, OK so that he could practice with the band on Saturday. Carole and Jordan stayed behind and came up with the Cornerstone bunch on Sunday. Josh and I got on the road about 12:40pm and drove about 450 in 7 hours, 15 minutes. Pretty quick! We made a quick stop at Little Ceasars in Waco for lunch (5 minutes) and then once (About 10 minutes) for gas in Dallas. We arrived safely at the home of Bill Stinson (And family). an associate pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Owasso, OK. They still had their 4th of July celebration going and we got to enjoy the great view of fireworks from their home. I just want to say that the Stinson’s were great hosts and we appreciate their hospitality during our three day stay there.

Saturday, 07/05 – This was the day that the band practiced. I was greatful to be able to watch and listen as these fine young men and women practiced with a goal towards glorifying God with everthing they did. As I listened I started reading the book Why We’re Not Emergent by Kevin Deyoung and Ted Kluck. So far and interesting book. I’ll probably write about it when I finish it. Anyway, the band put in a full ten hour day practicing and had to break down all the equipment so that it could be pack into the trailer on Sunday so that it would be ready to go on Monday morning.

Sunday, 07/06 – Josh and I got to attend Bethel Baptist for services on Sunday. It was a pleasure to finally get to hear Brother Bill Ascol preaching in his Church. I’ve heard him many times at SBFYC and he once did a conference at Cornerstone Baptist in Elgin, TX. In the morning he preached from Romans 7:1 – 8:4. The sermon was titled “The Law and the Christian.” He spoke about how to understand the relation of the Law to the unconverted. He made the specific point that the Law is the “plumb line” for sin. It gives the knowledge of sin. The evening service was just as much a blessing with the sermon covering Matthew 18:15-20 with the title being “A Call to Renewal. God’s Method of Recovering the Wayward.”

Monday, 07/07 – The first day of the conference (Or camp. I’ll use the terms interchangeably.). The band needed to get there around lunch time and the trip from Owasso to Bolivar, MO was supposed to be about three hours. The plan laid out by Bro. Bill was to leave about 7:30. I think by the time we loaded up and made a quick “snack” stop we were on the road a little after 8:00 am. We arrived around the time planned and began to unload and get setup. Here’s JJ Stopute’s leader Josh Ascol:

Josh Ascol hauling a couple monitors

Setup was pretty intensive. You can see it took the whole band to setup the drums:

And….time to start jamming:

The guitar/Bass players are always ready to go

After the campers showed up the conference started off with a rally and introduction. Really a great time of fun and getting accquainted. Here’s a few shots from the evening:

Megan Monroe on vocals

Luke Harden on guitar

Leader Josh Ascol

Camp Pastor - Todd Wilson

Director Bill Ascol

JJ Stupote

It was a great evening and ended a long day. With folks traveling from as far away as Florida we were grateful to God that everyone made it without incident.

Tuesday, 07/08 – Tuesday was the first full day of camp. Of course each day included devotion time, prayer meeting, three meals, recreation, and free time. But the highlights of each day was a morning seminar, a morning worship service, evening “Rally time,” and evening worship. The Tuesday seminar was lead by Bill Ascol. His topic was “Relationships Shaped by the Great Commision” and he used Matthew 28 as his main text. He led un in answering two questions: “Why are you here?” and “Why do you go where you go?” He stressed the point that the great commission doesn’t call us to get decisions but to make disciples. We all have a Jerusalem, a Judea, a Samaria, and an uttermost part of the earth. We noted that in Acts 8:1-4 it took persecution for the Christians to go out and witness. He spoke about why we go and do the things we do. For example, God could have made us so that we’d never need a haircut or have to go to the store. But these “needs’ get us out into the world and are great opportunities for witnessing. He ended by summarizing that we should go where we go for the glory of God and the great commission.

In the morning worship time Dr. Roy Hargrave of Riverbend Community Church in Ormond Beach, FL brought the message. Bro. Hargrave spoke from Romans 1:16-32 and the Ramifications of Mis-Understanding This Text. He posited that the first relationship to honor God is to love God. We’re to love God before all others and two obsticles are 1) The flesh and 2) Not knowing the truth about God. He asked the question, “Do you know God or a contrived notion of God?” He ended with three points, 1) When God’s wrath is ignored, there is an increasing denial of man’s depravity. 2) When God’s revelation is ignored man’s accountability is diminished in his own eyes. 3) God removes His restraint and sin is allowed to abound with its consequences.

Dr. Roy Hargrave

In the evening worship time Dr. Hargrave’s sermon was titled “But Now” and he used Romans 3:9-26 as his text. Basically he answered the question, “What does the Bible say that the Law says to us?” Is says death, 2 Cor. 3:4-8 The 10 commandments say “I kill you,” Galatians 3:10. His main points were, the Law proves that we’re truly guilty, It gives us the knowledge of sin, it drives us deeper into sin (Gal 3:23), and You must look to the merits of Christ alone for your salvation. Overall it was a very evangelistic message and spoke to many conference goers.

Wednesday, 07/09 – The seminar for the day was “Relationships as it applies to our Parents” and was led by Pastor Bill Stinson from Bethel Baptist Church in Owasso, OK. Rev. Stinson used Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:1-2, and Colossians 3:20. He explained that to honor means to give special favor, hold in high esteem, or place value on. In the case of our relationships what comes out of our mouths reflects what’s in our hearts. Luke 6:45, Mark 7:21, and Matt 12:34. He also gave a test in the form of a list of points or questions to ask yourself about your relationship with your parents. It’s pretty long and I didn’t get all but here are some:

• Refusing to talk to them
• Rolling your eyes (Proverbs 30:11-13)
• Raising your voice (Proverbs 15:1)
• Calling them names
• Telling them no
• Threatening them
• Looking at the angrily
• Withholding affection
• Scoffing
• Willfully disobeying
• Cursing them
• Being rude
• Refusing to be corrected
• Not being attentive
• By Inturrupting
• Murmuring and complaining
• Comparing them unfavorably to friends parents

There was also a list of things to do to show parents honor:

• Remember that you will not always have your parents
• Learn to distinguish between their personality and position
• Learn to esteem them more than yourself (Proverbs 3:7, Philippians 2:3)
• Learn to listen attentively and do not interrupt
• Tell them right up front that you will obey. Obey first
• Let then know when you are angry
• When you blow it – stop – ask for forgiveness
• Learn how to make an appeal
• Work hard at being patent when they correct you – it’s their appointed responsibility
• Express gratitude that they love you enough to do what they think is best for you
• Pick wise relationships
• Learn to delight in their company
• Pick their brain – Ask what’s important
• Imitate what’s good in them – complement then on what’s good
• Remember that you are also a sinner (Eph 4:32, Col. 3:13)
• Remember that you will be blessed

Rev. Stinson closed with a reminder that to dishonor your parents will bring a curse on your life. Prov. 3:17, Gen 9:22. Lest the kids think I’m picking on them all these points apply to me in my relationship with my parents. While they are alive they deserve my highest respect.

Bro. Hargrave spoke in the morning worship service a sermon titled “God Gave Them Up” and his passage was Romans 1:24-25. He posited that sin is progressive in nature – it grows by degrees over a period of time. We were reminded that we should glory in God’s longsuffering towards us. Psalm 86:15.

For the rest of this post I will just introduce the topics so as to keep this long post from getting even longer. You can get recordings of the messages from www.sbfyc.com.

Wednesday evening Dr. Hargrave spoke to us again. His topic was “Sin and Wrath Before Grace and Truth.” The text was Romans 1:8. The main points were – 1) Paul declares the universal nature of God’s revelation, 2) Describes teh voluntary and radical corruption of humanity, 3) Defends the presence of God’s wrath against high treason, and 4) Debunks the general consensus that we can gain favor with God outside of Jesus.

Here’s a couple shots from Wednesday:

Sarah Stinson, Josh Ascol, and Andrew Stinson

Megan Monroe, Josh Rector, Nate Koch, and Luke Harden

Evening Worship

Thursday, 07/10 – The last full day of SBFYC 2008. This is always a bittersweet day. We’re (The adults at least.) tired and ready to head home but at the same time sad that the conference and great teaching are coming to an end. I missed the moring seminar because my camp photographer duties had me busy getting pictures ready so that Karen Ascol could get a slideshow together for the evening rally time. However, Michael Jordan of Capitol Baptist Church in Oklahoma City brought the message “Relationships and a Christian Worldview.” I heard it was fantastic and plan on getting the recording when it’s available.

Dr. Hargrave brought the message in the morning worship service. His title was “Gospel Ingredients” from Romans 1:14-17. His main points were – 1) We have a moral debt to pay, 2) The proclaimation of the gospel, 3) The problem of the gospel, 4) The power of the gospel, and 5) The purpose of the gospel. I commend the recording to you. One statement he said that stuck out to me was “You don’t see the Holy Spirit, you see the fruit of His work.”

During the afternoon recreation time there was a short opportunity for JJ Stupote to play and take requests. It was relaxed and most who attended had a blessed time.

JJ Stupote leads an afternoon worship time

The highlight of Thursday recreation time the “Precision Abdominal Diving” (PAD). It always promises a bit of entertainment and red skin.

Takin' it on the chin

Thursday evening was the last time we were all together. Another favorite at SBFYC is “Mini-Josh” and “Are You Unique?” Here’s a couple shots from Thursday evening rally time:

What's that going down his arm?!

"Mini-Josh" trying to eat jello

Impromtu gathering on the stage for the "Shower song"

The message brought by Dr. Hargrave was titled “The Ministry of Reconciliation” and came from 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. The main points were – 1) God knows my motives, 2) We must guard the reputation of other Christians, and 3) We’re qualified to be ambassadors for Christ because we know what it’s like to be under sin.

All in all it was a great conference. I personally had a blast being the “official photographer” and will post a link to the candid shots soon. If you are looking for group pictures to order you can do that here.

Friday, 07/11 – Time to head home. We all got up between 6 and 6:30 am with the intent to be gone by about 7:30. After packing and cleaning our rooms we headed to McDonalds in Bolivar. After a long wait we had our breakfast, gassed up the vehicles and got on the road right before 9:00am. We were going to “caravan” with the Cornerstone folks until we got to Dallas. Then they would head to Austin and we would head to Houston. Jordan was going to ride with them until the split. Well, that was our plan anyway.

I called my son Richard as soon as we took of to check in on them. My daughter-in-law Laura was expecting their third child any day. Well, when I called Richard informed me that Laura was in labor! We quickly retrieved Jordan and made tracks for Houston. Of course, I was thinking we had plenty of time. Labor lasts about 8 to 12 hours right? Not! At about 10:20 my son called and said I had a new grandson at 10:08! I just can’t describe what that feels like. You have to experience it your self.

We made it to the Houston area about 8:30 pm and got to see Noah John on his first day of life. What a blessing to end a week of blessings.

Don’t agree with Piper on this one

I usually agree with John Piper on things. I see where he’s coming from in this post about defending oneself.  and appreciate the attitude he takes. However, I think this is one of those area’s that’s not so black and white. While he believes he would be right to possibly acquiesce in the face of someone intent on doing him harm, I don’t believe the Bible teaches that I should just sit there and take whatever comes if someone kicks in my door or accosts me on the street. I will probably defend myself with any means possible. I say ‘probably’ because there’s always the possibility that the Spirit will lead me to something else. Anyway, here’s Piper’s post:

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1288_Guns_and_Martyrdom/