Google \u0093anti-Christ\u0094 and see what you get.\u00a0 That\u0092s what he said.\u00a0 In fact his pastor had suggested it.<\/p>\n
So easily we do it.\u00a0 Slander, character assassination.\u00a0 But don\u0092t worry because it\u0092s okay if your cause is just.\u00a0 Actually we don\u0092t usually say that out loud but we do live by the rule.\u00a0 And it doesn\u0092t matter whether Republican or Democrat, God-believer or atheist, every group does it.<\/p>\n
My friend passed that suggestion along to me from his pastor the other morning.\u00a0 As we were visiting, he gave me a handout which demonstrated how John McCain was the clear choice for president over Barack Obama.\u00a0 A little later in the conversation he suggested that I \u0093google\u0094 the word anti-Christ as I may be interested in the results.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u0092t.\u00a0 I already had the point.\u00a0 Demonize the enemy so our righteous cause prevails.<\/p>\n
It\u0092s kind of like how some people view the process of selling a car.\u00a0 It\u0092s just business, nothing personal.\u00a0 So what if a little information is withheld or embellished, everyone does it.\u00a0 After all, it\u0092s just business.\u00a0 So the single mom who scraped together just enough money to provide transportation for her family shouldn\u0092t take it personally when the transmission gives out in four or five weeks.<\/p>\n
It\u0092s just business.\u00a0 It\u0092s just politics.\u00a0 Obama is this distant figure, a target, the object of our rallying cry.\u00a0 Don\u0092t take it personally, Barack.\u00a0 We\u0092re just calling you the anti-Christ.\u00a0 It\u0092s just politics.\u00a0 And it\u0092s so easy.\u00a0 So easy in fact that we can do it in our churches and no one raises an objection.<\/p>\n
So that is what I am doing as an evangelical, fundamental, Bible-toting believer in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 I\u0092m saying it is wrong.\u00a0 It is very wrong.<\/p>\n
I learned this several years ago as we evangelicals delighted in slinging mud at \u0093Slick Willie.\u0094\u00a0 You remember ol\u0092 Willie, don\u0092t you?\u00a0 President William Jefferson Clinton.\u00a0 I was a pastor then and did my part in bashing Slick Willie.\u00a0 Until I read one day in Paul\u0092s letter to the Romans that Slick Willie was one of God\u0092s ministers of government, that his being president was a God-thing.<\/p>\n
So I had a choice to make.\u00a0 I would either honor and respect President Bill Clinton, the person God had appointed to lead our country, or I would choose to disobey God.<\/p>\n
That ended the Slick Willie talk for me.\u00a0 My cause wasn\u0092t righteous enough to justify ignoring God\u0092s instruction.\u00a0 Is yours?<\/p>\n
This is what I sent in to our local newspaper for the editorial page.\u00a0 I hadn’t written an opinion letter for twenty years but felt compelled to do so.<\/p>\n
Here is a link to the Romans text<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Google \u0093anti-Christ\u0094 and see what you get.\u00a0 That\u0092s what he said.\u00a0 In fact his pastor had suggested it. So easily we do it.\u00a0 Slander, character assassination.\u00a0 But don\u0092t worry because it\u0092s okay if your cause is just.\u00a0 Actually we don\u0092t … Continue reading