Brilliant essays by Chuck Baldwin: Christian warmongers and American comfort

Chuck Baldwin, Christian writer and thinker extraordinaire, is always a treat to read. But his two most recent columns, I found to be especially illuminating.

First there is this one from last week: "They Prefer Caviar, Even If It Comes With Chains", in which Baldwin articulates why too many Americans... including far too many American Christians... have given up the risks of liberty for the comfort of security and in doing so have ended up as slaves. To amplify the point he uses a story from the Book of Acts...

There is an Old Testament story that parallels with what is going on in America today. The story is found in Numbers chapter 11. God had delivered His people from great bondage. They witnessed His mighty hand of power and deliverance in defeating their oppressors and leading them toward a land of promise and liberty. He even dropped “angels’ food” (called manna) from Heaven to sustain them. But after being delivered from bondage, they began to yearn for a return to Egypt. In verse 5 of that chapter, the people are recorded as complaining, “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick.” (KJV)

Can you believe it? After hundreds of years of floggings, imprisonments, beatings, chains, and slavery, they remember FISH? I don’t know if caviar was considered a delicacy back in those days. If it wasn’t, I suppose it’s possible that slaves ate fish eggs also. But can you believe it? After being delivered from the worst possible slavery, all they remembered was the fish? Holy Creepers, Batman!

Now, to understand what’s going on here, we have to read verse 4, “And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also.”

I have heard countless sermons on this passage, and in all honesty I cannot remember one that identified what they were lusting after. Lust here means “to covet greatly.” So, what were they coveting? Was it food? Was it the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic? No! What they coveted, what they lusted after, was SECURITY!

In the wilderness, there was risk, uncertainty, and potential failure. They had to depend totally on divine Providence. They could not see what the morrow would hold. There were no guarantees, no entitlements, and no assurances. And even though God had delivered them with great power, sustained them daily with manna, and promised them a land of freedom of their very own, they lusted after security. To them, security was more important than liberty.

If this story does not parallel with what is happening in America right now, nothing does! God delivered the American people out of great bondage. He proved His power and might on our behalf. He gave us a land of liberty of our very own. And now all Americans seem to be able to think about are the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic of bondage. They lust for, and greatly covet, SECURITY.

It seems that there is no usurpation of liberty so egregious that the American people, both churched and un-churched, will not gladly accept, as long as it is presented to them as a way to make them feel more secure. In truth, so many Americans–especially so many of those who call themselves Christians–are practicing idolaters. They are worshipping at the altar of safety and security. Big Government politicians and bureaucrats are the priests, the Department of Homeland Security is the temple, and the taxes, fees, and assessments are the tithes and offerings. Hallelujah!

There is much more that Baldwin writes, and It's all well worth the time to read it.

And this week, Baldwin is asking "How Did Christians Become Warmongers?"

And I realize that right now the vast majority of evangelicals eat, breathe, and sleep only one mantra: “Get rid of Obama!” They would vote for anybody to beat Obama. Well, anybody except Ron Paul, that is. Evangelicals might hate Ron Paul more than they do Barack Obama. And after Mitt Romney is elected on November 6, these same “Christians” will go into a state of extended hibernation, ignoring every unconstitutional big-government decision that Romney makes. Not only that, buckle your seat belts boys and girls, because Romney is going to expand America’s foreign wars (and the emerging police state at home) like nobody’s business. And when he does, guess what? Evangelicals will be the ones who clap and cheer the most.

Let me ask my Christian brethren some questions: does God give governmental leaders a pass on obeying His moral laws? If God will hold you and me accountable to His command to not murder, for example, will He not hold our civil magistrates accountable to His command to not murder? Or do you really believe that murder is justified on the word of a king? If so, had you been alive in Hitler’s Germany, you would have supported his atrocities, too, right? And is that whom you think occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: a king? Is murder justified simply because a magistrate orders it? And if that’s true, is it then justified that government forces pillage, plunder, and rape? If not, why not? After all, if it’s lawful for men to murder on the command of a magistrate, why can they not pillage, plunder, and rape? What’s the difference?

Accordingly, I personally believe that evangelicals owe Bill Clinton an apology. They excoriated him when it came to light that he had committed adultery. They then turned around and supported G.W. Bush’s unconstitutional, unprovoked, preemptive wars of aggression, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents. Pray tell, if a President is exempt from the moral law against shedding innocent blood (Genesis 9:6; Proverbs 6:17) why should he not be exempt from the moral law against adultery?

Believe it or not, a local pastor here in the Flathead Valley of Montana recently preached a message to his congregation on Romans 13 with the typical erroneous “obey-the-government-no-matter-what” claptrap. When a member of his congregation later asked him personally to explain himself, he told the parishioner, “If government agents or troops came to my house and laid my wife on the kitchen table and raped her, Romans 13 tells me I cannot resist.” That’s what he said, folks. I’m not making it up.

Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark!

Read the rest of this most fine article here.

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In-vitro adoptions rising among evangelical Christians

Krista Kapralos writes a most fascinating piece in The Washington Post this week: about how evangelical Christians are coming to the forefront of adopting frozen embryos that have been fertilized in-vitro. The article cites that there could be approximately 600,000 embryos being stored in liquid nitrogen around the United States. And that in keeping with their pro-life values, many who identify themselves as conservative Christians are choosing to legally adopt children... and then carrying them to term on their own.

From the article...

The embryo was frozen in liquid nitrogen when Gabriel and Callie Fluhrer found it. They didn’t know whether that embryo would grow to be a boy or a girl, or whether it would even grow at all.

But to the Fluhrers, it was worth the risk. That tiny collection of cells was a baby, they believed. And if they didn’t pluck it from the warehouse where it had been stored since its biological parents decided they didn’t need or want it any longer, it was likely to die.

“If we’re going to stand against abortion, it’s not simply picketing a clinic,” said Gabriel Fluhrer, a public relations and publishing coordinator for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. “It’s doing the hard work of adopting the orphans around the world, whether embryos or orphans living in China.”

Anna Fluhrer was born in December 2010: from a frozen embryo to a healthy baby girl.

For some reason or another, I found myself studying human embryology last week, particularly the first few days and weeks of the zygote. Something that keeps fascinating me: how the heck does a little ball of cells like that know how and where to achieve bilateral symmetry? That seems like such a tiny detail but for the life of me, I can't figure it out.

Pondering about that reinforced something that I was told years ago by someone in the medical profession: that a baby truly is a miracle. There are a thousand things that could go wrong in a pregnancy, but more often than not a healthy human being is born. We don't appreciate that nearly enough.

So back to this story: as a person who strongly believes that human life begins at conception, I have to applaud that there are many people who are willing to demonstrate their ethics in this fashion. I'm also of the mind that medical knowledge is a wonderful gift from God and that it absolutely can be a blessing for those who need it, including for those who on their own cannot conceive a child.

But I'm also now seeing how my friends among the Catholic persuasion are onto something as well with their church's position that in-vitro fertilization is wrong. Because of all those hundreds of thousands of lab-fertilized embryos, many of them won't be implanted at all. Quite a number of them are fertilized but otherwise not viable for coming to full term. And therein is the ethical problem: that the in-vitro procedure, in an effort to bring about new human life, must also acknowledge that human lives will be lost as an unavoidable consequence.

I'm not coming down one way or another about this. Just wondering aloud if, perhaps, in some ways the miracle of medical technology exceeds our moral grasp.

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Fair warning to any other "soul winners" who come to my door

Before you even think of knocking, please know this ...

- "King James Version-Onlyism" is not only bullcrap, it is a doctrine bordering on heresy. I'm not talking about using the King James Version as a personal preference. I use it myself a lot of times. And no doubt always will. But to suggest that I'm a "lost sinner" because my main preference is the New International Version or some other translation is a lie from the pit.

- If you are doing this for your church or your pastor, you've already messed up. You're supposed to be doing it for Christ.

- Yes, I have a "home church". It is a real home church, in every sense of the term. If you believe that a "church" must have a building and a pastor, then you don't understand what church is to begin with. And it's not my problem if you can't comprehend that.

- If you don't even know why you are asking me "Are you saved?" then don't waste your time asking at all. Because I've been around the block enough to know that practically every time I get asked that, it's from someone who doesn't give a flying rat's butt about me or my salvation at all. They just want to know if I'm "of the same mindset" as they are and more to the point they want enjoy having a smug sense of superiority.

- If I tell you a story about Thomas Aquinas, it's only because I want you to think about it and if you understand the gist of it, then I hope you'll take it to heart.

- It's hard for me or anyone else to tell you that we're going to Heaven if it's too obvious that you are not sure if you are going to Heaven to begin with.

- I'm not interested in building up "your church". And I don't want to be bothered by people who are trying to grow a church either. I would much rather be visited by people who are sincerely interested in building the Kingdom of God.

- If you tell me that your church is "fundamentalist", keep on walking. Because you do not want me as a member.

- Understand that you are paying a visit to an irreligious follower of Christ, who is not interested in "religion" at all.

- I can spot the people who are witnessing for the sincerely right reasons a mile away. If that ain't you and you come here with the wrong motive, I will know.

- Realize that you are dealing with a guy who is fed-up with how a lot of Christianity is "playing games" and "putting on a show" more for our own sake than for God's.

Sorry I have to do this folks, but after what happened yesterday here, I'm compelled to post a notice to anyone else who may come a'knockin'. I'm thinking of making a sign of it for my front door too.

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Great Delusion: Why evangelicals WILL back Fred Thompson

The Politico today has a story about why evangelical Christians - who are almost entirely registered Republicans - will be opposing Fred Thompson.

Don't believe it.

If Fred Thompson is nominated to be the Republican candidate for President next year, you will not only see most of these so-called "conservative evangelicals" not oppose Fred Thompson, but will see them support him with their wallets and their prayers.

You will hear preachers - as much as they can get away with it - crying out from their pulpits to their congregations that it is their "good Christian duty" to vote for Thompson.

You will witness the supposed "leaders" of Christian virtue in America do an about-face and instruct their followers via websites and radio programs and "voter guides" that they "cannot turn away from their God-given task" by failing to support Fred Thompson... especially if Hillary Clinton is the Democrat nominee.

And if Hillary is the Democrat candidate, you'll hear it preached far and wide that it will practically be a mortal sin not to do everything in our power to defeat her. The raw hatred for Hillary Clinton will blind so many that they won't even want to consider what exactly they will be choosing as the alternative.

You think it won't happen? I'm talking about the same people who still believe that George W. Bush was directly anointed by God to lead America. The ones who still refuse to believe that Bush can do wrong and who adamantly hold that whatever evil is attributed to him is merely "liberal media bias".

And you don't think they'll buy into the con that Fred Thompson is a "good Christian man" just like them?

They'll not only buy it, they will insist that he is good and virtuous. In spite of his lobbying for dictators and for the abortion industry, they will accept him. So long as he has that magic "R" stamped next to his name on the ballot come November 2008 and it's the "right" Democrat he's running against, they will gladly cast a vote for Fred Thompson.

I know these people well. Have met far too many of them over the years. For the most part, sincere and earnest Christian men and women. But try to tell them how Bush and other Republicans have been so un-Christlike in their actions, and they tune you out. They turn their heads away. They don't want to hear it. It's almost impossible for them to reconcile whatever you are telling them - however truthful it is - with the perceptions they like to entertain. It would literally hurt them if they tried to contemplate your facts. You want to see Orwell's "doublethink" in action? Find one of these self-proclaimed "evangelical conservatives" and get them to talk about how Bush is right to want to bomb Iran. Look at how much they will seem to want such an attack... and then confront them with Matthew 5:44. Brace yourself if you do such a thing: he or she will probably tell you that you're not being a "good Christian". Or a "good American" anyway.

It's the Great Delusion, happening right before our eyes: people who proclaim to follow Christ, throwing their principles away for sake of worldly power. It's as if Jesus rebuked Satan when He was offered all the kingdoms of the Earth and millions of those who professed to follow Him immediately raised their hands and waved to Satan crying "PICK ME! PICK ME!"

Evangelical Christians are the battered spouses of the Republican Party. They are beaten, exploited, raped, and subjected to indignity. But plenty enough of them to matter will keep crawling back to the GOP. Because as they say: "Who else is gonna take you in? Where else are you gonna go?"

Too many Christians in this country have decided we want the kingdoms of Earth over the Kingdom of Heaven. What does that say about the measure of our faith, indeed? Why should the rest of the world want to look at us and want what we have, if this is our testimony?

This is why I hate so much of what Christianity in America has become. It's turned into a spineless pile of mush that will do whatever the hell it's told to do, so long as the person giving the orders has money or power or picks up a Bible and waves it around and says the right words for itching ears.

No wonder this country is screwed-up. No wonder this world is so screwed up. Because we as Christians, who are supposed to be representing something apart from this earthly realm, keep demonstrating over and over that we don't really want that at all. We are commanded to be "the salt of the earth" but we've lost the saltiness and as Jesus said, we've become worthless. Everything is rotting because of it.

Okay, I'll go ahead and say it: "Americanized" Christianity is, literally, a God-damned piece of crap.

Why do I say "God-damned"? You surely don't think God is going to bless what we've done in His name, do you?

So if Fred Thompson is nominated and is on the ballot a year from now: just watch. The evangelical Christians - at least the ones still locked in this lust for power - will absolutely support and follow the man. They're too inebriated with the Great Delusion to want or know to do otherwise. It won't occur to them that "voting for the lesser of two evils" is still voting for evil.

They will do this, because they do not truly have Christ as the foundation of their lives upon which to stand.

You might could consider this little rant to be "Part 1" of a "diptych" that I am working on. The second part will follow sometime in the next day or so, and will likewise examine Christians in America and how we have let our desire for power overcome us to the detriment of all.

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