Only three months into the Obama administration, it seems like a lifetime until the next Presidential election.  However, there are some interesting early maneuvers being made.

I think there is little doubt that Senator McCain’s over-promoted cheerleader plans to run (God help us if she makes it past New Hampshire).  I had high hopes for her last fall, but they were gone long before she got into last week’s virtual shouting match with her daughter’s ex.  This latest PR fiasco appears to have removed any traces of credibility that she might still have been clinging to.  If she really wants to have any shot at a credible run she will need to spend more than a single election cycle in the wilderness.

Speaking of time in the wilderness, the brightest light in the darkness of Obama’s Reign of Error is Newt Gingrich’s recent appearances.  Newt has a tough fight ahead of him if he wants to win the Presidency.  But I’m pulling for him, because he has the mind and the steel to be a great President if he can overcome the legacy of his time as Speaker.  And despite his recent hedging on the question of whether he will run (any stronger statement would have been premature), I feel very confident he will be running based on his recent activities. 

I also think Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal, and Rick Perry from Texas are strong probabilities.  I’m still not fond of Romney, and Perry (The Governor from Merck) might make me vote Democratic for the first time.  I don’t really have an opinion yet on Governor Jindal.

For what it’s worth.

I read today that on Face the Nation Senator Obama said that Senator McCain deserves no credit for his work on the banking reform act, and then proceeded to explain why the credit should go to him for his work on the act, which he admitted to having done by phone from the campaign trail.

I think it is safe to say that the Senator from Harpo Productions has been phoning it in since before he took office. 

He has in recent weeks begun to play the race card more heavily as the polls have evened out, then as McCain surged, and as the polls evened out again.

I don’t doubt that there are those who will vote against the Senator from Harpo simply because of his color.  I find that tragic since there are so very many excellent reasons not to vote for him. 

I personally am voting against him not because of the color of his skin but because of the content of his character.  Abortion is bad enough, but he voted to allow doctors to withhold treatment from babies who were born alive in  botched abortion attempts.  (I wish the abortion lobby would spare us their rhetoric about hangers in back alleys when they seem perfectly willing to allow a living breathing baby to die of neglect on a cold hospital table.)

And then, after voting against protecting these smallest Americans, he lied repeatedly about his reasons for doing so.

Senator Obama is not worthy of the office he holds, much less the office he seeks.  Not because of the color of his skin but because of the abysmal content of his character.  He does not deserve to ride the coattails of men like Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson, or even Al Sharpton, into the Oval Office.

I had minimal respect for the Democratic Party before, but to see them whore out their credibility on such a cynical attempt to buy the black vote, is nauseating.

In my Sunday School class I have been working through a study of the book of Acts.  It has been an enjoyable and educational study for me; my class would have to answer for themselves as to whether they have received anything from it!   But I was thinking I would post some of the lessons on here.  I'm going to start today with my lesson on Acts 4 from a few weeks ago.

Acts 4

Do Right ‘till the Stars Fall.

We are blessed because we live in a land where we do not often face persecution for what we believe.   The United States has almost always protected Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion.  We have, in fact, codified it in one of our most cherished documents: the Bill of Rights.

However there are winds blowing in our country that would see this change in the name of individual liberty.  This is perhaps one of the largest ironies in 21^st century politics. 

The IRS says that a church cannot endorse political candidates under pain of losing its tax exemption, as though its tax exemption were benevolence from the state rather than the acknowledgement that God is not subject to taxation. 

Recent legislation (The Matthew Shepherd Act, HR 1952) has attempted to codify hate speech in such a way that a pastor preaching against homosexuality would be at risk of being prosecuted.  In the House of Representatives’ floor debate it was pointed out, and not denied by the supporters of the bill, that this was a possibility.

A pastor may well choose that the best way to follow his calling is to reach the largest possible audience, and not draw political distinctions from the pulpit.  Each of us has to make our own choices about how to reach out to others in truth and love.  But the scriptures say in 2 Timothy 4:2:

2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.

The King James says “instant” where the NIV says “prepared.”  I find I prefer the urgency implied by the KJV's translation in this situation.

If a minister chooses to keep his message open, in order to reach more people with the Gospel, that is between him and the Savior.  But let no one stand before their Creator at the end of this life knowing that they restricted His message for fear of governmental repercussions.

We may, before long, see the day when a preacher has to choose between obeying God and obeying the state.

Someone once said “If I had to choose between betraying my friend and betraying my country, I hope I would have the courage to betray my country.”  We may, in our own lifetime, sooner rather than later, be faced with the choice of betraying our country or betraying our creator. 

Given that set of circumstances, may we all have the courage to betray our country.

It may not need to come to that.  This November we have a clear choice.  We have a choice between a candidate that would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade, and a candidate that would seek to strengthen it.  We have a choice between a candidate that would oppose gay marriage and a candidate that would allow it. 

Senator Obama has said that he opposes gay marriage but listen to the following from The Pew Forum:

"Obama says that he personally believes that 'marriage is between a man and a woman' but also says that 'equality is a moral imperative' for gay and lesbian Americans. He advocates the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) because 'federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does.' He supports granting civil unions for gay couples, and in 2006 he opposed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. In March 2007, Obama initially avoided answering questions about a controversial statement by a U.S. general that 'homosexual acts' are 'immoral,' but Obama later told CNN's Larry King, 'I don't think that homosexuals are immoral any more than I think heterosexuals are immoral.' "

While I cannot say loudly enough that God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat, and that each party has areas in which it comes closer to scriptural teaching than the other, one candidate’s platform clearly supports biblical principles while the other’s does not.

In Acts 4 Peter and John were given the choice between obeying the mandate of their government and obeying the commands of God.  Let’s see how they handle it.

1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

This is a continuation of the events in Chapter 3.  Peter and John had asked God to heal the man at the gate called Beautiful and had then gone into the courtyard with the man and preached the Gospel.

  I.  Note that the rulers are not angry over the healing.

They are angry that the “apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.” 

II.  When called before the Sanhedrin Peter and John stand strong.

5 The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?" 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them:

·         Note that Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit.

He does not do this under his own power but under the leading of the Holy Spirit.  There is a safety in following the will of God.  He has the support and the indwelling of God.

·         Note also that He does not equivocate.  There is no hemming and hawing; there is only a straight presentation of the facts of the Gospel.

"Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is "'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.' 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.

·         The healing of the man with them gave them credibility the Sanhedrin could not deny.

·         This is why God healed.  Specifically it is most likely one of the reasons the disciples encountered that man that day.  Note God’s providence in putting in their path someone that would give them both an opportunity to speak and irrefutable credibility when they were called to account for the message of the Gospel.

III.  The Sanhedrin commands them to not preach the Gospel any more.

15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name." 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Our government does not do this.  There are governments on earth today that do.  There is the possibility that our government will in the future.  The winds of tolerance are blowing in that direction.  Of this, there can be little doubt.  There will come a conflict between our nation’s history of freedom of religion and freedom of speech and this generation’s genuflection at the altar of tolerance.

IV.  Peter and John’s respectful answer is that they will not obey the courts ruling.

19 But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." 21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Would you have had the same courage, in the same situation, to tell the court to its face that you would disobey its order?

V.  Please, please, please, note that their next step is corporate prayer.

23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

·         Could there be any more appropriate quotation here?

26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.' 27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

·         They prayed for strength

29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

VI.  Note that their prayers were answered!

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

The Lord said to give to Caesar’s what was Caesar’s and to give to God what is God’s. 

But this passage shows so clearly that when the two are in conflict our duty is to God.  We should obey the laws at all times, we should obey them in private, we should obey them in public.  We should always speak respectfully of our leaders.  But when the leadership is in contrast to the Savior, our loyalties should be clear.  When given the choice between leadership that supports the Savior and leadership that does not, our choice is clear.

Bob Jones Sr. used to say “Do Right till the Stars Fall.”  He also said that “the test of a man’s character is what it takes to stop him.”  How long will we do right?  And what will it take to stop us?