William and I have been surprised lately by the statistics showing “jobs growth,” most of which coming from low skilled positions by the way, however an advertisement caught my eye in my inbox yesterday. I shop, like many other Americans online; usually getting free shipping and most of the time paying no sales tax. Under Armour basically spams my inbox daily; however, this one was a doozy and the guy who sent it out probably should be re-assigned. Here at reallyright.com we don’t have a practice of call for people to be fired (unless they work at ESPN or for taxpayers). Take a close look at the email…it says additional 30% off! Yet the prices of said items have actually been marked up by 30%. Not a great look if you are a major, publicly traded company, especially one with a ton of people who consume your products.
Under Armour plus 30 percent sale Hurry 05/22/2019 Only
This is really a rough look, which makes me wonder if they decided to switch to an inflation model where the price changes as inflation rates are dictated? Or is this a new Venezuela based system that since the value of the currency is so low the price must keep going up? Either way rough look, nonetheless. What’s even more disturbing? The original email went out at 9:58 am and the retraction didn’t go out until 6:15 pm. Who was minding the store? I find it hard to believe no one caught this…this is a pretty large error? The retraction gets sent at the end of the day? I wonder what sales were like? The types of things in this society that go unnoticed blows my mind.
As an additional nugget a “pride email” showing off their newest “pride offerings” went out as well, and there were no errors in that, so I guess we see where they stand on “the issues.”
This is an issue that has been building for a while now, I will detail it in a future blog, but the “job growth” is happening at the high end, or the very low end. The 90-day types will cheer the job reports, but mass layoffs have started, and it is not pretty. These are low skilled workers assigned to social media/email accounts trusted with sending the info out. They are monitored by aloof absentee middle managers who spend most of their time applying for their next job, so retractions don’t go out till later. Anyone want to take bets; if the “pride email” was screwed up, a couple of people would be paying with their jobs?
I ran across an article about a pastor that in one Twitter storm announced that he quit his job, his faith, his family, and his god. While this case is extreme, I don’t think this man is alone. I would like to look at his post and go thru it. The posts were assembled on a reddit page.
The Pastor, Dave Gass, ministered at Grace Family Fellowship in Missouri.
Grace Family Fellowship was founded as First Baptist Church of Pleasant Hill in 1867 with 18 charter members. God has been faithful to us for over 150 years! We are centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we desire to make disciples of all nations.
Gospel centrality not only means that we declare the gospel, but also that we demonstrate it with our lives. We do this by being good neighbors, befriending our coworkers, working for the good of our city, and caring for the least, the lowest, and the lost.
The church website does not list any background, biographical information, or qualifications of its pastoral staff; thus I don’t know the specific flavor of Baptist or seminary preference of this particular congregation. However, having spent many years of my life as a Baptist (ages 13-22), I know the distinctives of their beliefs.
The reddit page where the tweets were reassembled into an essay has some errors. The biggest error is that some paragraphs were repeated in their entirety which really disrupts the flow. Other errors are related to spelling and grammar-some purposefully done.
I will quote the pastor’s presentation without the repeated paragraphs and periodically insert my comments. I believe this topic has application beyond this particular set of circumstances and touches on the reasons that many youth are falling away from organized Christianity. Several of his accusations against the Church have been stated by others.
Oh, and as an added bonus, following my take on Pastor Dave’s Twitter storm, there is as Paul Harvey often said, a “Rest of the Story” moment which may make you reread this letter again, this time in a different light.
Note: Just for easier reading, I will show Pastor Dave Gass’ letter excerpts with yellow background throughout this post. Bible quotes in red and any other quotes in blue.
I’m not a Christian anymore: a thread. After 40 years of being a devout follower, 20 of those being an evangelical pastor, I am walking away from faith. Even though this has been a massive bomb drop in my life, it has been decades in the making.
When I was in 8th grade and I was reading greek mythology, it dawned on me how much of the supernatural interactions between the deity of the bible and mankind sounded like ancient mythology. That seed of doubt never went away.
The pastor makes many truth claims in this article which are either outright distortions or untrue. Equating the God of the Bible with Greek mythology is just the first. The God found in the historic Creeds which are a summary of the Christian Faith as found in the Bible are diametrically opposed to the Greek, Roman, Germany, Egyptian, Sumerian, or any other belief system in the world. Monotheism didn’t evolve from polytheism and he knows it. In fact history shows the opposite to be the case.
Gass also may be invoking a variation of the heresy known as modalism. Some falsely believe that God is portrayed in the Old Testament is petty, cruel, and harsh (thus the comparison to Greek mythology) but suddenly in the New, God is displayed as loving and compassionate. I have heard others express such beliefs from the pulpit but again this is not derived from Scripture but ignorance.
I was raised in a hyper-fundamentalist family, and it felt good to be in a system that promised all the answer and solutions to life. The problem is, the system didn’t work. The promises were empty. The answers were lies
We are not called to be followers of a system, a religion, or a set of rules. Baptists are really big on reducing Christianity to a set of negative propositions. The old saying about, “I don’t, smoke, drink, or chew and I don’t go with girls that do” is really true in some circles. Except you need to add prohibitions to dancing, rock music, mixed bathing, interracial marriage, smoking, Sabbath breaking, organized sports, etc. I have encountered all these rules at one or more churches in my lifetime; often in writing. The song line, “I was dealing with a system, now I’m dealing with the King” comes to mind.
As an adult my marriage was a sham and a constant source of pain for me. I did everything I was supposed to – marriage workshops, counseling, bible reading together, date nights every week, marriage books – but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be
The more times I read this paragraph, the more I get the feeling that he was trying to reduce marriage to a set of rules that could be followed to be successful. Marriage is a relationship that takes daily effort. The Bible makes a direct linkage between being a pastor and having a successful marriage.
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? I Timothy 3:5
There is a lot of “I”, “me”, “my” in this essay. This guy is as self-focused and full of hubris as President Obama.
Biblical Marriage is not about what I can get out of the relationship. Instead, it is about what I will do for my wife because I care for her. I put her first. I am commanded to love her as Christ loved the Church and gave His life for it (Ephesians 5). I put my wife and children first every day. That is my job as a husband and father. This is not always easy nor was it promised to be. We’ve had our struggles but when my wife knows that I put her first, then she is willing to follow my lead. At our wedding, she promised to “honor and obey” because that is biblically what she is supposed to do.
I was fully devoted to studying the scriptures. I think I missed maybe 12 Sundays in 40 years. I had completely memorized 18 books of the bible and was reading through the bible for the 24th time when I walked away.
Pastor Gass followed all the “rules” for being a good Christian. So what? Our faith is a relationship based in love not a spiritual checklist. He sounds like Saul of Tarsus.
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Philippians 3:4-6
As Baptists are quick to point out, head knowledge and heart knowledge are two different propositions.
I devoured all the “christian apologetics” books that came out, and none of them answered my questions regarding the nature of god and the problems I found within the Scriptures. I found these books to be trite, dismissive, and full of pseudo science and evidence.
I don’t know what books the pastor is referring to, but the use of the word “all” covers more ground than he could possibly cover. Josh McDowell, Ray Comfort, Ken Hamm, Walter Martin, Greg Bahnsen, Henry Morris, Kenneth Gentry, Gary North, David Chilton, Ray Sutton, and Francis Schaeffer are just a few of the guys that I can think of that Pastor Dave has clearly not read. I have read much by these guys and there are many more. Yes, the selection at your average Christian bookstore—if there are any still out there—is lame but as a seminary graduate you should know better than I where to get such books.
There are defects in Baptist theology but that is not the Bible’s problem. Some apologetic books are defective in the sense that you can’t reason yourself to Christ. You can prove He exists because we already know that He does (Romans 1:19-21), but only special revelation can teach us how God restored our relationship with Him.
I think these comments by Pastor Dave also reveal a defect in the Baptist church model where the local pastor is not accountable to any other clergy. They are purposely and proudly left to fend for themselves as they shepherd their flock.
“We believe in the autonomy of the local churches, free of any external authority and control.” –Grace Family website
If your church is independent, then who is your pastor’s pastor?
The more I read and studied the scriptures the more questions I had. Literally from the first chapter to the last, so many problems. And the more I learned about how the scriptures were canonized, the less I could believe in the “inerrancy” model that I had to espouse.
The Pharisees read the Scriptures and didn’t understand them either. When I was running around in Baptist circles we used to talk about nonbelievers being unable to understand the Bible because they were reading someone else’s mail.
I always marvel when a person claiming to be a Christian denies the authority of Scripture. The Bible is an all or nothing proposition not a cafeteria where we can only pick the things that we like.
We have more evidence of the truth of the Bible than any previous generation and more availability of copies of the Bible and this ironically has translated to a decline in the number of believers. We, as a people, have forgotten God and take for granted the blessings that he has given. We are not thankful for his blessings.
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:21
I can see why Pastor Dave might have a problem with the cannon of Scripture when he doesn’t vest any authority in The Universal Church. The true Baptist knows only the local level and rejects the continuity of the faith. But the Church was created by Christ who rules and governs it. The Church is the only institution that will last forever. Christ commissioned first Apostles and then Bishops to oversee local congregations. It was those holding the office of bishop that met to discuss and decide the cannon of the New Testament. (The Old was never in dispute.) When Baptists reject the authority placed over The Church, is it such a leap of logic that they could question the cannon? (Although most don’t since the cannon was decided by the early and undivided Church.)
In 40 years I never witnessed a single event that was supernatural. Not one. Time and again I watched people die of cancer. I did funerals for 47 people from the age of 4 to 96. I prayed in faith with hundreds of people for healing to no avail. god didn’t answer prayers
This guy is really selfish, blind, and dumb. I see miracles all the time. No, not the quadriplegic picking up their bed and walking out to the parking lot kind but I know God could do it if he wanted. Seeing my son born, having the wife that I do, being alive, watching the fall of the Berlin Wall, getting safely to and from work each day, having a place to live, my marriage are all miracles. Miracles happen all the time but apparently this man of God thinks the world is governed by chance, coincidence, and randomness.
Dear pastor, none of us get out of here alive. We can exercise, eat right (whatever that is), get regular check-ups, take multivitamins, or whatever, but we will all die of something. You of all people know this to be true. You sir, are a most selfish and ungrateful person.
My devoutly christian parents were abusive, my marriage was a sham, prayer was never answered, miracles were never performed. People died, children rebelled, marriages failed, addictions occurred – all at the same rate as non believers. The system just doesn’t work.
Here is a summary of the above lamentations. He blames his parents, his wife, and God for failing him and his expectations. The bottom line is that his ministry made no difference to the people under him thus when it comes time to affix blame, it was God’s fault.
I pastored mega churches & tiny churches. I did college ministry, camp ministry, youth ministry, music ministry, preaching ministry, church planting – everything in the church except work in the nursery. And what I saw was people desperate for the system to work for them.
thousands of teenagers at a time, wrote blogs, was published, formed curriculum, taught workshops, was an up-and-comer reforming my denomination. The whole time hoping at some point it would click, and become true for me.
An inescapable reality that I came to was that the people who benefited the most from organized religion were the fringe attenders who didn’t take it too seriously. The people who were devout were the most miserable, but just kept trying harder.
Christianity for this man is a system of rules but notice that there is never a single word about a relationship with Christ. Christians are followers of Christ not followers of church.
A constant theme in this essay is that this man is trying to be good enough for God. He is pursuing salvation thru works not trusting in the grace of God. He is in the same place as Luther before comprehending grace in the book of Romans or Saul on the Damascus road.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? Matthew 7:22
All the while, the experience I had within the church was that a lot (granted, not all) people use the church for power and influence. Many involved people in churches use it as their small kingdom for personal control and ego.
And the entire system is rife with abuse. And not just from the top down, sure there are abusive church leaders, but church leaders are abused by their congregants as well. Church people are just shitty to each other.
I spent my entire life serving, loving, and trying to help people in my congregations. And the lies, betrayal, and slander I have received at the hands of church people left wounds that may never heal.
I get the feeling reading to this point that the pastor views his office or calling as being more spiritual than being a plumber or carpenter. Yes, some people go to church to be seen or perceived as being spiritual without really knowing Christ. Read Machiavelli. In The Prince, he says people should appear to be religious but don’t really let it affect the way that you live.
Depending on the particulars, in a Baptist church, the congregation is ruled with an iron fist by either the pastor or the board. When things are good this seems to work but in the face of conflict, it can be very destructive.
One undercurrent thru this document is a sense of pride. I really get the vibe of an “I’m better or deserve better than I got” attitude. I also sense a real lack of thankfulness for the blessings that he has been given. It’s more of an “I deserve” sense of entitlement. Almost a strain of the prosperity gospel where it’s God’s will that we all be healthy, wealthy, happy, and comfortably upper-middle class.
Sorry pastor but last I heard, a church was a hospital for sinners. We all suffer from a fatal case of sin nature. Only when we look to Christ can we begin to overcome—by God’s grace—our propensity to wrong doing. As a congregation, we confess our sin and enjoy Communion with Christ on a weekly basis, something you seem never to have experienced.
This massive cognitive dissonance – my beliefs not matching with reality – created a separation between my head and my heart. I was gaslighting myself to stay in the faith.
Eventually I could not maintain the facade anymore, I started to have mental and emotional breaks. My internal stress started to show in physical symptoms. Being a pastor – a professional Christian – was killing me.
The pastor finally hit the wall and could no longer maintain the façade of a believer. Please note that he viewed himself as “a professional Christian” as opposed to the rest of us. Also, note that he admits to self-deception. You will see this again as you read further.
During this time I also found something amazing: I found a handful of people who were more Christian than any Christian I had ever met – and they weren’t Christian. I found love in places where love wasn’t supposed to exist. I found acceptance among people who were godless.
I learned that love is real. That acceptance is possible. That life is vibrant and full. But the church burdens people with fear, shame, and guilt, all for the purpose of maintaining control. I now see the church as a system perfectly curated to control people and culture.
I was a part of a system that enslaves people, and I was both a slave and a slave driver. We called chains freedom, and misery happiness. We had impossible standards that we could not meet so we turned the attention on others so the spotlight wasn’t on our own inadequacies.
These words sound familiar to many of us. Claims of finding acceptance and love outside of God, Christ, Christianity, and the Church are the same arguments that homosexuals use to try to prove they are not notorious sinners and should be accepted without the need for repentance. “…hath God not said?” seduced Adam and Eve into error and that refrain still does today.
Instead of God’s Law measuring us and driving us to repentance, we prefer using our feelings as the measure of all things. When comparing ourselves with others, we tend to do well on whatever scale we choose to utilize. However, God doesn’t grade us on a curve, we all fall short. Measuring others by our standards is simply a form of self-deception or as Romans says, exchanging the truth for a lie.
Love—be it God’s love for us or ours for each other—is beyond the scope of what this pastor discusses. Again, Christianity is not following a set of rules but a living relationship with our Savior. We can never perform well enough to gain God’s approval. The Bible says our righteousness, our best good deeds, are nothing but used tampons (flithy rags) in God’s sight. It is Christ that did the work not us.
As for enslaving people, Pastor Dave do you really want to go there? The Bible says in Romans that we are dead in our trespasses and sin. We are enslaved to sin. None of us are righteous. There is no hope. But then Paul writes about us partaking in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:22-23
Dave, the dark side seduced you. That’s not anything new or a George Lucas thing, it’s a Genesis thing. You are more comfortable being a slave to sin. Gary S Paxton called it “That prison called freedom.” Cue Keith Green singing “So you wanna go back to Egypt.” Dylan was right, “You gotta serve somebody.” Our options are serving sin or God; there is no third option.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:30
Eventually I pulled the lever and dropped the bomb. Career, marriage, family, social standing, network, reputation, all gone in an instant. And honestly I didn’t intend to fully walk away, but the way the church turned on me forced me to leave permanently.
For those of you who want to yell at me, that’s fine. I know that many will call me an apostate, say I was never really saved, that I was a wolf in sheeps clothing, and that a hotter hell awaits me. And to you I say I love you. My heart is tender toward you.
To those who have been in my congregations or under my teaching/preaching I sincerely apologize. I thought I was right. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I could fake it until I made it. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I love you.
I have lost everything. I gave literally everything to serving Jesus. And walking away has cost me everything. All I can hope for is that the second half of my life can be full of love and genuine human relationships. I was wrong. I’m not faking anymore
So faced with a crisis of continued hypocrisy or getting out, the good pastor quit his job, his marriage, his reputation, etc. He flushed his whole life away to start over. This was necessary because “the church turned on me and forced me to leave.” It’s one thing to have conflict in a church which does happen but to be shown the door by the congregation, now that’s a new wrinkle in this tale.
He apologizes—well sort of—saying that he lost everything. Then curiously he claims that “I gave literally everything to serving Jesus”. This is the only mention of Jesus in the whole account.
Again, I get the vibe that he was trying to do good works to become acceptable to God but following the church playbook proved a fruitless and futile venture. And, now failed by his parents, wife, congregation, and God, with nowhere to go, the pastor gets booted from his own church and has nothing to show for it. Bummer!
But folks, the story doesn’t end here.
As promised, the Rest of the Story.
Paul Harvey
A Twitter user quote tweeted Gass’s thread, saying “There is something simply off in this thread…something about the language rings alarm bells, makes me skeptical. But at the least if it is truthful (background wise) it speaks to the foolishness of churchianity. Real faith lives in the real world.”
Justin Tuttle responded to the tweet, saying “Yes, he was my pastor when he ‘walked away.’ He actually just slept with a married women in the church and got caught. He never repented and they still live together.”
“Last year all the information came to light,” Tuttle added. “The affair happened for almost a year before it was uncovered. So the whole, ‘I did everything right in my marriage’ part was kinda funny until I saw how many people liked his story.”
So now you’ve read the tale of Pastor Dave Gass; a man that literally threw it all away so he could roll in the hay with another man’s wife. I know Baptists stay away from the Ten Words but it’s funny that Pastor Dave followed all the manmade rules but not God’s. I think that his whole Twitter storm was just a tantrum on why he shouldn’t repent.
Dave, I have some bad news for you. Every clergyman that I know that followed his “little brain” to be with someone else’s wife, had his stay on the planet cut short. You may be seeing Jesus sooner than you planned on.
At your next traffic stop in California, prepare to meet the new rainbow police.
Yes, from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to your local cop, the state legislature that can’t shoot straight has decreed that when the public interacts with law enforcement that men are no longer men and women are no longer women. Under the law, if a cop calls a man “sir” or a lady “ma’am”, they can be subject to discipline for violating the state’s laws on gender discrimination. The officer is required to ask what gender identity and pronouns are appropriate for them to address you before writing you the citation for speeding or jaywalking.
Once the traffic stop is completed, the officer is required to include the gender identity information in their report. This is an expansion of the laws already on the books to document and prevent racial profiling. These statistics are required to be given to the perpetual litigant of President Trump, Javier Becerra.
The below is from the California Attorney General’s website
Stop Data Collection Requirements and Final Regulations
In addition to requiring the collection and reporting of data regarding citizen complaints that allege racial or identity profiling, AB 953 requires all city and county local law enforcement agencies in California, as well as the California Highway Patrol and peace officers of California state and university educational institutions, to collect perceived demographic and other detailed data regarding pedestrian and traffic stops. Probation officers and officers in a custodial setting are excluded from this collection requirement.
The data to be collected includes, among other things, the perceived race or ethnicity, gender, and approximate age of the person stopped, as well as other data such as the reason for the stop, whether a search was conducted, and the results of any such search. Law enforcement agencies subject to this reporting requirement must report this data to the California Attorney General’s Office every year, with specific reporting deadlines set forth in the statute.
So there you have it. California cops must check your gender identity so as not to offend you when writing you a ticket but they sure as hell better not check your residency or immigration status.
There is a Democrat Presidential wannabee that has spent the last several days attacking Vice President Mike Pence because Pence is an Evangelical Christian. Pence has done nothing to merit this attack but the mere fact that he exists is enough to set this guy off.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 presidential hopeful, took direct shots at Vice President Mike Pence Sunday regarding his sexuality, telling the vice president his marriage to a man has moved him “closer to God.”
“That’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand: That if you have a problem with who I am, your quarrel is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator,” the Indiana Democrat said during a speech at the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s annual brunch.
If you dig deeper into the story you will discover that Pence and this guy have had a cordial working relationship in the past when Pence was governor of Indiana. This guy is attacking Pence solely to elevate his profile within Democrat circles and fundraise in the process.
I’m going to defend Pence but not as politely as the VP would. You see, I’ve got a dog in this hunt and I’m tired of the bullying from the “rainbow people”; especially, when they try to justify themselves by using the Bible.
Lest you think I’m picking this fight, try this from the fake news outlet, MSNBC.
Buttigieg, most recently, targeted Pence at a fundraiser for the LGBTQ organization Victory Fund on Sunday.
“If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade,” Buttigieg said. “And that’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. That if you got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me — your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”
Buttigieg’s comments came hours after he made critical comments about evangelical voters’ support of President Donald Trump during an appearance on “Meet The Press.”
“It’s something that really frustrates me because the hypocrisy is unbelievable,” Buttigieg said. “Here you have somebody who not only acts in a way that is not consistent with anything that I hear in scripture in church.“
Mayor Pete is an openly homosexual guy that claims to be a Christian in good standing because he is a member of the Episcopal Church, an ecclesiastical body that endorses his sexual preference.
I don’t know about you, but I am reluctant to get any biblical advice on sexuality from any guy whose last name begins with Butt… however, let’s look at the money quotes in the above citations.
Claim #1 Homosexuality is God’s Will
Mayor Pete says in essence, “God made me this way so your problem is with Him.” I think this is a fair summary of his position.
There are two responses that I can make with the statement, I can agree with the mayor or disagree with him but either way he is wrong.
Argument 1: God Made Me This Way
God makes some people to be vessels of wrath. They are made for destruction.
Paul’s letter to the Romans Chapter 9:18-24
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Paul’s letter to Timothy Chapter 2: 19-26
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
So if Mayor Pete believes that God made him that way, as a vessel of destruction, he is biblically correct.
Argument 2: Mayor Pete Chose This Way
Paul’s letter to the Romans Chapter 1:18-32
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
So whether Mayor Pete was made that way by God or chose the lifestyle himself, he is on the receiving end of God’s wrath, a vessel fit for destruction.
Claim #2 My Church Affirms Homosexuality
Pete claims, Mike Pence “acts in a way that is not consistent with anything that I hear in scripture in church.” As stated before, his honor is a practicing Episcopal.
Christianity is defined in terms of the historic Creeds; these are Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian.
Think of Jesus as the Shepherd and Christians as his flock. The Creeds are the fence line surrounding the pasture. Any denial of the Creeds makes that person not a Christian and thus outside the faith.
Sadly, the Episcopal and Methodist churches in the United States have left “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3) Their clergy no long must to affirm that God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the bodily resurrection; the incarnation; six day creation; biblical marriage; sin; Jesus as the only way to God; etc.
So what mayor Pete might hear in church could conflict with what Mike Pence says, does, or believes. Pete is not a member of the Christian Church but a heretical, non-Christian sect. Mike Pence is not the standard, God’s Word is.
I am not saying that a homosexual cannot be saved. The Apostle Paul writes,
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
A homosexual will cease to be one once they come to Christ. They will be a “new creature: old things are passed away.” (2 Cor 5:17).
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Romans 6:1-2
Mayor Pete is not really a believer. If he were then he would stop celebrating his sin and repent. Instead he claims God is honored by his sinning that grace may abound. Thus he turns Scripture on its head.
Mayor Pete may rage all he wants but his moral and ethical problem is with his sin. Pete needs to repent or perish. Unless God intervenes, he is destined to be a vessel of dishonor, fit only for destruction.
I knew that Dinesh D’Souza was supposed to be in Stockton last Friday but at $50 per ticket, there was no way I could afford to go let alone take the wife and son. The day of the event, I got an unsolicited text message from the Sith Lord asking if I was interested. It seems the promoters had given the Sith Lord nine tickets for the event. These weren’t just tickets but VIP tickets. I told him that I was interested but could not attend the VIP event prior to the event. After a short phone call with my wife, we decided to go on a road trip to Stockton that evening to see D’Souza.
The only exposure that our family had previously had with D’Souza was via his movie on Hillary Clinton.
For those unfamiliar with D’Souza, he researches history and digs up nuggets of inconvenient truth that have been buried by those in power because their past is often at odds with the narratives that they put forward. Truthfully almost everything you were ever taught in school about history is so incomplete as to be completely untrue.
D’Souza’s appearance was at the Bob Hope Theater in Stockton. The venue can hold up to 2,000 people.
Based on the amount of paid security and other employees, this place cost the promoters a pretty penny. In my opinion, based on the number of comped tickets available the day of the event, many in attendance didn’t actually pay to attend. I think that fiscally this event was unprofitable. I would guess the crowd to be less than 400 souls.
D’Souza was entertaining and spoke at length about the success of President Trump in spite of the relentless and blistering attacks on him. His basic thesis is that Trump’s ego is so big that Trump doesn’t care what people think about him. That coupled with the fact that Trump gives more pushback than he gets allows him not only to survive but thrive. In an era where “politics is perception” Trump is a non sequitur.
D’Souza then went on to talk about his films and presentations on the typical college campus. As is our experience as Conservatives, once you get past the bumper sticker slogan that someone on the Left has memorized, they are out of substance. D’Souza talked about his mission not to convert the hardcore Liberal but reach the person on the fence in order to get them to think. He expressed his mission as to provide irrefutable information that undoes the conventional narrative and hope that causes folks to further challenge their worldview. D’Souza never stated so, but his belief in the Truth prevailing is due in part to his faith in God.
Peppered throughout his discussion, D’Souza also spoke at length about the history of the Democrat Party and the lie of socialism. In light of constant attacks on history and Trump (and I guess a new book that he authored), D’Souza once again put to rest the lie that National Socialism was an ideology of the right. FYI: Socialism, Fascism, and Nazism are all the exclusive purview of the Left. The real zinger to me was the claim from his new book that the Nazi’s rules on the treatment of Jews were a direct rip-off of Southern Jim Crow laws. D’Souza claims to have a written record of this early 1930’s meeting in Germany. I would be skeptical except he wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true; he has too much at stake to be wrong.
D’Souza is not alone in correcting the record by any means but as an immigrant from another country he doesn’t have to deal with the construct placed on us that have gone thru the American educational system. I have found D’Souza correct in his information and analysis. He is only controversial because he is confronting recent history and current events. D’Souza is only controversial because the truth is counter to the prevailing narrative.
This also true with much of what passes as American History. If you want a voice correcting the record for another era of our nation’s history–namely the millennia prior to the Vikings–look up three books by Barry Fell: Saga America, Bronze Age America, and America B.C. Last I checked they are out of print, but the basic point is that everything you think you know about “Native Americans” is wrong. For example, people in the time of heyday of Carthage and Rome travelled here all the time and so did others. Fell documents much that has fallen into obscurity or runs counter to academic dogma.
D’Souza is worth listening to because he has the pulse of what is real in an age of noise and fury. I’m gratful that the Sith Lord made this night possible for my family.
If you want a cold, honest assessment of socialism you will not do any better than David Chilton’s forgotten book, Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators. Written at the height of the Cold War (1981), it is more relevant now than it was when he wrote it.
I have owned my copy of the book since I met David back in 1989 but I never read it. Why? Back in 1989 is when the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed. I considered reading it back then, but we thought socialism, like the Soviet Union, had been disgraced and relegated to the scrap heap of failed human experiments. Sadly, like a bad movie or a fatal case of cancer, socialism is back.
David Chilton 1951–1997
One reason that I like reading the book is because Chilton is far removed from the current controversies raging in our country. This makes him a disinterested party free from opinions on Bernie Sanders and A.O.C. He is looking at the facts of socialism from a philosophical and historical perspective.
David goes further by not just describing the disease but the cure. In his writings, all things are measured by Scripture including governments and their ideas. On its surface, the book is a rebuttal of a “Christian Socialist” named Ron Sider.
I’m not done with the book, but I just had to blog on it after reading the excerpt which I quote below.
Envy is the greatest disease of our age. It is often confused with jealousy and covetousness, which have to do with wanting the possessions and privileges of others. Envy is much more insidious – and deadly. Envy is the feeling that someone else’s having something is to blame for the fact that you do not have it. The principal motive is thus not so much to take, but to destroy. The envier acts against the object of his envy” not to benefit himself, but to cut the other person down to his own level-or below. The American Puritan divine Samuel Willard defined envy as “a man’s repining at his neighbour’s Prosperity, looking upon himself to be Hurt by it.” In his massive study of envy, Helmut Schoeck points up this central factor: “the envious man’s conviction that the envied man’s prosperity, his success and his income are somehow to ‘blame for the subject’s deprivation, for the lack that he feels. ‘ It can be summed up in Pierre-Joseph Proudhon‘s famous epigram: Property is Theft!
This explains why “Envy and Malice are inseparable”; as we can see from the example in Genesis quoted above, the envier’s goal is destruction. Henry Hazlitt writes: “The envious are more likely to·be·mollified by seeing others deprived of some advantage than by getting it for themselves. It is not what they lack that chiefly troubles them, but what others have. The envious are not satisfied with equality; they secretly yearn for superiority and revenge.”
And it is this envious, destructionist mentality, nursing itself on the notion that ”your wealth is the cause of my poverty, “that is the basic ethos of socialism. For socialism does not…..and cannot – build up capital. It seeks only to expropriate or destroy the capital of others. It exalts a malignant, misanthropic disposition into an article of political economy, a machine for tyranny. Socialism is institutionalized envy. Pages 139-140
Wednesday, I was browsing my email account when this gem from former Pennsylvania US Senator, Rick Santorum, showed up in my IN Box. Folks, when I read it, I had about the same reaction that I do when Chef Gordon Ramsey is pillaging a restaurant’s walk-in refrigerator on Kitchen Nightmares.
The email in question stated that Santorum has started a campaign to get Conservatives on board with supporting paid family leave. Rick apparently is proud to attach his name to this idea. “Little Marco Rubio” is also attached to this venture. Here is a screenshot of the email from Santorum.
Santorum’s email promoting Paid Family Leave
Santorum, like the Republican Party in California, has jettisoned the old notion of less government and exchanged it for more tyranny. Apparently the old adage “if you can’t beat ‘em…” still rings true. When “conservatives” are offering more government as the solution to the problems created by government, then you know that something is amiss.
Folks the entire concept of paid family leave is nuts. The only reason that women must work is due to the confiscatory taxation of our population. If you added everything up, half of what you earn goes out in taxes of one form or another. If you don’t believe me, just make a list. FYI there are about 30 different taxes on your telephone. I don’t even think the “Sith Lord” could list them all but he’d probably get closer than our average reader.
What real Conservatives believe or at least they used to, is that you should keep more of your money because you can spend it better than someone in Washington or Sacramento.
The idea that a Conservative Political Action Committee (C-PAC) would ever give Santorum, Rubio & Company a place at their event is proof that their values are eroded.
In case you went to public school or weren’t paying attention, we threw the British out of here in 1776 because of a three percent tax! Boston Tea Party ring a bell? The cry was “Taxation without representation.” So how has the “taxation with representation” worked out?
Oh, speaking of three percent tax rates, that was the maximum tax proposed on the very rich in 1917 when the temporary tax called the Federal Income Tax was adopted to pay for our involvement in World War I. Again, how has that taxation with representation worked out?
Many years ago, I did contribute to Santorum’s failed Senate re-election bid. In light of recent events, it’s a good thing he lost. If this is what it takes to stand out in Republican circles these days and gives you the “street cred” to claim the conservative mantle then Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell aren’t the only guys stinking up the once Grand Old Party.
Oh, if you check Rick’s website, they are talking about letting you tap your Social Security Trust Account to pay for this. No, really.
The plan is relatively straightforward — new parents could borrow against their future Social Security benefits by taking up to twelve weeks of payments after the birth of a child.
Back in the last year of the Bush Administration, I looked up the government’s statistics on unfunded mandates of the Federal Government. Social Security was the lion’s share of underfunded mandates totaling about 55 trillion dollars and now “Little Rubio” wants the snowflakes to tap it? Great idea.
I like President Trump but apparently he supports this idea too.
If this does get implemented, how much will you bet me that the Democrats find a way to take all the credit? This has been one of their pet issues for many years.
Hey Rick, way to throw the next generation under the bus by claiming to save them. Oh wait, I sense another government program on the horizon to fix this mess…
On my old version of my blog, I used to have the following quotation from Martin Luther:
If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking,I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.
If you want to know why the Church in America is so weak and ineffective, just look at the aftermath of the incident that I blogged about a few days ago.
First To Recap
A rural pastor in California put the following on the sign in front of his church:
Bruce Jenner is still a man Homosexuality is still a sin The culture may change but the Bible does not
Some local people that were not church members or as best as I can tell, not self-identified Christians, protested.
The pastor responded:
The church has lost its saltiness and I fully expect to get as much or more flack from the visible church as I am getting from the world.
If a conservative mountain farming community is no longer a safe place to call sin, sin, then is anywhere in this country still safe for real Christians?
Follow-up
Little did the pastor know that he had preached him last sermon. You see, his congregation abandoned him and cut him loose for “calling a sin, sin.”
Pastor Justin Hoke posted the following on Facebook on Saturday.
As of today, I am no longer the pastor of Trinity Bible Presbyterian Church. After much prayer and counsel, I have decided that it is best to briefly communicate what has taken place. I was informed by our other elder that he felt he could no longer follow my lead as Pastor of TBPC. I was informed that essentially all but one couple in membership would leave the church if I continued as pastor of TBPC. Our other elder and the couple felt that those who left would likely return if I would leave. Our other elder was agreeable to stay and assume the pastoral responsibilities. Therefore it was determined that it would be in the best interest of the local body for us (TBPC and the Hoke family) to part ways. Update 1/14/19 I would like to add this, I did not want to leave, I did not quit, and I was willing to stay.
Justin Hoke Facebook post
Bottom line was the pastor was faithful, but the flock was not. The clergy would not support him, and the congregation abandoned him.
Please note that he was their pastor for seven years and they kicked him to the curb for being right. Let me emphasize that again:
not for cheating on his wife
not for messing with the altar boys
not for skimming money from the collection
not for buying his wife a Lamborghini
but for BEING RIGHT
He called people to repentance and as a result got the boot. This brings me back to the quote from Luther who said in essence, if you are right about everything except where the devil is attacking at that moment and flinch on that point your faith is worthless.
Sadly, pastor Hoke’s congregation is the rule and not the exception in much of the modern western church. So next time you want to vent about the stupid pagans and what they are doing, remember that they are acting according to their nature—dead in their trespasses and sin—while we that are claiming to be alive in Christ are often the ones to blame.
Sadly, too many Christians read II Chronicles 7:14 like this:
“If those other people, would call on my name, humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Unfortunately for them, this verse in not directed at the pagans in our world and commanding them to repent; instead, it is directed at the Church to repent, humble themselves and pray. Those claiming to be believers have failed in their mission. We need to repent and turn to God and that will heal our nation.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Thanks to, Joe Miller, for making me aware of the update on this tragic situation.
Lake Shastina is a little hole in the wall community northeast of Weed, California and south of the Oregon border. The area is full of old hippies from the 1960’s (and their descendants) and also a mix of farmers and people once associated with the logging industry. It is an eclectic mix of folks.
Lake Shastina
Lake Shastina finds itself in the news because the Truth is offensive to those that choose to embrace lies. In this case, a local church has put up a sign that has got a few pagans and Liberals up in arms. The purpose of such signs is twofold, give information about what the church is doing or what they believe—commonly called outreach. In this instance the Church sign reads:
Bruce Jenner is still a man Homosexuality is still a sin The culture may change but the Bible does not
The church’s pastor, Justin Hoke, said he expected “flack” regarding the sign’s message, but believes it is poignant because it “rebukes sin” and calls people to repentance. “It is not possible to preach the gospel in short pithy statements. I have used this sign for seven years now to provoke reflection or make a strong point about a single truth,” Hoke wrote on Facebook. “Such as this one: ‘The culture does not determine truth, God does.’ … The funny thing is, I could have put those words up and no one would have cared. Why? Because it does not rebuke sin or call anyone to repentance. The church has lost its saltiness and I fully expect to get as much or more flack from the visible church as I am getting from the world.” In that same Facebook thread, Hoke posted, “The response we’re receiving from this sign proves that it was posted way too late. If a conservative mountain farming community is no longer a safe place to call sin, sin, then is anywhere in this country still safe for real Christians?”
One protester, worried about what the church message conveys to youth, described the sign as “an amplified voice telling [those youth], ‘You’re wrong.’”
All three propositions are true so what’s the issue? Oh yeah, this is California so I guess I do have to defend each just because…
Statement One Bruce Jenner is still a man. Here’s the offensive part, God made him a man. No manner how much Jenner has paid to have himself mutilated and pumped full of hormones, biologically and genetically he is still male.
That Jenner has mental and spirit problems is tragic. To be human is to be an image bearer of God. Jenner can’t hurt God so he attacks Him by attacking His image bearer, in this case himself. God is the primary victim of this and every crime, Jenner is a secondary victim to this rebellion.
Statement Two Homosexuality is still a sin. Homosexuality is not only a sin in both the Old and New Testaments, per Romans chapter one, it is a judgement upon men for exchanging the Truth of God for a lie.
Homosexuality was common in the period when the New Testament was written. If you look at Paul’s arguments in Romans, in chapter one he takes the Greco-Roman world to task for rejecting God and then in chapters two and three, he takes on the Jews of his day that think themselves religious and concludes that they too fall short of God’s standard. Toward the end of chapter three he concludes in verse 23:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God
As you continue reading, Paul lays out the case that we cannot save ourselves and only Jesus can save us. So while chapter one condemns homosexuality, the rest of the book presents the case that all people are sinners and need Jesus.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11, Paul points out “And such were some of you”. His point is God can save and redeem even the worst of us.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Statement Three The culture may change but the Bible does not. God doesn’t change. You can look at creation and see that there was a designer (Romans 1) but to have a relationship with Him requires special revelation. God’s special revelation, the Bible, is the standard by which we are measured and as stated above, we all fall short. That doesn’t make His standard wrong, just us.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Hebrews 13:8
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16 -17
The point is not to call everybody wrong but to call people to repentance. Repentance means that you are sorry for your sin; turn around, you’re going the wrong way.
Stop running from God but instead embrace Him. Jesus is the only way to the Father.
The church message is not a message of hate, it is a warning that people that are going the wrong way and that they need to repent.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12
Which is more loving, seeing someone heading straight to hell and say nothing or warn them to turn around before it’s too late.
The Sith Lord–who is a certified Eagle Scout from back in the days when boys aspired to be men—and the rest of us that remember when BSA was America’s premier organization for young boys are not surprised that the Scouts have filed for bankruptcy.
The Scouts’ membership has cratered since it abdicated its founding values to become politically correct. BSA’s corporate leadership can’t admit their recent foray into social engineering is related to their current woes so instead they are saying that the reason for their problems is litigation for sexual abuse claims. Talk about liberals accusing other of what they do!
BSA trashed all moral rules of conduct and turned the Scouts into a safe haven for sexual deviants of all types to prey upon shall children and then blames the heterosexuals for their woes. Talk about irony.
Participation in the organization’s programs has fallen in recent years, though the group opened some of its programs to girls and transgender boys. The Boy Scouts currently have more than 2.3 million youth members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, formerly one of the group’s largest sponsors, has said it will withdraw from Boy Scout programs. The church said it would develop its own program for young men.
The Boy Scouts group has drawn scrutiny over its slow pace to become more inclusive, including by lifting a ban in 2015 on gay men and lesbians serving in leadership roles.
The group has also dealt with fallout from its decision last year to expand its recruitment of girls, putting it in competition with the Girl Scouts of the USA, a separate group that offer ssimilar programming and has also seen membership fall.
This story is spin at its best. Membership fell because BSA allowed these other groups in. Sure many youth pursue sports over Scouting butthings have cratered not just in membership but financial support as well.Please note that the article makes no mention of declining financial support. Also no mention is made of rural verses urban membership in Scouts.
Like the Liberal churches that have abandoned Christianity—Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.— surviving on trusts left to the Church back when they were faithful to their values, BSA is in the same boat. They have vast assets deeded to them when they stood for traditional America and Judeo-Christian values. Scouts could not continue to exist without the generosity of past generations.
Liberals want to control the things that they hate and if they can’t control them then kill them. In this case they have done both. They killed Scouting as it was and replaced it with something else. Sadly the only thing that was allowed to survive is the name. It is only a matter of time before Boy Scouts of America is relegated to the dung heap of Liberal victories in their war against Western Culture.
Addendum: In a rare public appearance, the Sith Lord has the following observation concerning the Scouts:
Here is an interesting statistic, of the reported 2.3 million Boy Scouts today, a third are registered to LDS chartered units leaving the BSA at the end of 2019 for their own newly created LDS program.
Additionally, I checked out the websites of the two BSA councils that I have been a member and found something interesting. There has been a significant reduction in the number of Boy Scout camps listed. The BSA councils have closed several summer camps that were leased from the National Forest Service and have sold other camps and properties. Some of these facilities have been used by the BSA for over 75 years.
