The Death of a Nation as We Once Knew It - The U.S.A.

The U.S. election results from this week saddened many Christians.  We prayed for mercy and some of us cast our votes for the lesser judgment.  More and more Americans have drifted from acknowledging God and turned to worship self or things or other people.  They no longer observe the facade of believing what they have rejected.   We are living in a time when Romans 1 is being lived out in America.  God is giving the nation over to all kinds of sin and degrading passions.  America has been destroying hundreds of thousands of  babies every year for a long time now by abortion.  No, we aren’t the only nation participating in these behaviors...murder and immorality.  It is just sad to see the death of a nation.

Many of our churches teach false doctrine or keep the flock at baby level.  Then when teenagers leave the church and turn away from God the people wonder why.  What was the Gospel message that they heard?  Did they hear that all sins that they commit...such as lying, lusting, hate, stealing, worshiping idols or self are sins against a perfect Holy Righteous Judge that they will one day face? The just punishment for those sins is eternal punishment in Hell.
Works will not save anyone from hell.  The only thing that will save is faith in Jesus who took the punishment for all who truly confess and turn from their sins and turn to God (repent) and trust in Jesus' death on the cross for their sins and believe that He bodily rose from the dead.

The people who try to claim that they don’t believe in God or can’t know anything actually do know that God exists, but they suppress the truth in unrighteousness.   Doing so helps make them feel more comfortable about their sin and keeps them from acknowledging that they will be held accountable one day.  Yet many of these people would admit there are some things that they personally feel is wrong.

Apart from God, nobody can have a basis to claim anything as right or wrong. If someone came to the door of someone they loved and wanted to kill them, on what basis could anybody claim that their decision was morally wrong if there was no absolute truth?   But there is absolute Truth, and the people of this nation need to hear the Gospel and repent. 

If you are a Christian, when is the last time you made some effort to get the Gospel out? 
What have we done to encourage others to give the Gospel out? 
Beyond the Gospel, what can be done to get churches out of their un-Biblical practices and encourage them to teach the Word of God and evangelize?  I will leave that to godly Christian men, but sometimes it is so frustrating in a place where there are numerous churches and many of them not following Scripture.  There are many false converts out there lost and thinking they are saved as well.  I am so blessed to have a good church even though it is quite a ways to go and we don’t always make it.  I listened to one of the messages that I missed in person, and it was really good!  

Will I Be Voting In The 2012 Presidential Race?

I was in a quandary of whether to not vote in the 2012 Presidential race, because I don't trust Romney on the life and marriage issues, etc.

It was with prayerful consideration that I decided that I would wait to see who he picked for VP. If the person was pro-life and pro-marriage, then I would be voting for him more than I would be voting for Romney.

Many leaders in the Bible were unbelievers and even the priests of God were disobedient sinners as in Samuel's time. People who call themselves Christians are often not truly Christians.

If someone like Obama claims to be a Christian, does that mean we vote for him? May it never be!  Mitt Romney is also not a Christian.  So, there is no current major candidate who is a Christian or holds 100% to my worldview / values.

We are to pray for leaders and respect their position.

Romans 13 says that all authority is from God. In general they are there to punish evil behavior.

Of course, when there is a true Christian candidate who is competent - meeting the requirements of authority and also supporting my worldview - I would prefer them over someone who is not a Christian.

It is your right not to vote if you should so decide, but as a Christian I would rather see some lives saved than someone who voted in a way that babies could be killed even after birth (Obama...see http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/unearthed-audio-obama-calls-newborn-baby-a-fetus-outside-of-the-womb).

Do not forget that voting for Paul Ryan means that he could be the tie breaker in the U.S. Senate on a pro-life or pro-marriage issue.

So, even though I am not a Roman Catholic, I will vote more for Ryan than Romney to possibly save lives. Pray about it and please don't judge people who have struggled with the issue and not ignored the Bible or conscience. I respect your right not to vote if you should so decide, and I also respect your right to vote for an alternative candidate even though they will likely not be able to win.

Go with your conscience as the Bible would instruct....like as in eating meat.

2012 Presidential Primary Issues That Matter To Christians

The Primaries are here for many people in the U.S. Where do the candidates stand on issues that matter to many Christians?

Some of these issues are addressed on this voter scorecard available online:

http://www.frcaction.org/alerts/voter-guide-for-republican-presidential-candidates


Marriage

Romney says he supports marriage between a man and a woman, but he was willing to sign “marriage” licenses for homosexuals. To me that makes it clear that he is not strong enough to follow conscience on this issue. He also is for allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the military.
He is willing to appoint homosexuals to the bench (as judges).  See 2/3 down the page at the following link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/new-hampshire-debate-meet-the-press--facebook-debate-transcript/2012/01/08/gIQAqYMDjP_blog.html
Rick Santorum is supportive of marriage between a man and woman, and he has stood up for it even when it might cost him votes.

Ron Paul claims to be for marriage between a man and a woman, but he would leave it up to the states to decide. This means that states could falsely redefine marriage. This also means there could be fights when people move from state to state. He also supports allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the military.

Newt Gingrich supports marriage between a man and a woman, but he has not been a good example of moral faithfulness.

Rick Perry supports marriage between a man and a woman, but he was for giving vaccines to kids who shouldn’t be having intimate relations to get Hpv.


President Obama does not even support the current defense of marriage law, but he supports homosexuals openly serving in the military.


Abortion

All of the major Republican candidates claim to be against abortion,
but Ron Paul again would leave it up to the states. That would mean that people in certain states could choose to have killing the unborn legal. Does that sound fully pro-life?

Romney will support a protection act for pain-capable unborn children? Check out these links on him: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/269984/my-pro-life-pledge-mitt-romney If this following one is true about Romney, it doesn't sound good:
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/12/30/mitt-romney-didnt-just-give-planned-parenthood-money-he-gave-them-extra-power/

Newt Gingrich does not think America is ready for a Constitutional ban on abortion Santorum opposes abortion in all cases even rape. I believe he is right on. The child is not responsible for the father’s crime. He supports a Constitutional amendment. Rick Perry supports a Constitutional ban. I believe he recently changed to opposing abortion in the case of rape, but he still hasn’t changed about the life of the mother sadly. It’s never necessary to murder somebody. All efforts should be made to preserve both mother and child.

Obama is for abortion. Also, I have not forgotten about the born alive issue that came up leading up to the last election. Please check out these links: http://www.nrlc.org/ObamaBAIPA/Obamacoveruponbornalive.htm & http://www.lifenews.com/2010/11/07/obamaabortionrecord/

To see more information of how the candidates stand on the issues go to: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/01/06/2338870/republican-presidential-candidates.html

Who do I plan to vote for? Rick Santorum