Sarah Palin
Many are in full cry today on how Sarah Palin said in a speech at her church in Wasilla that Bush's war in Iraq is a mission from God.
Well, that's not what she said. She said that when such a mission is undertaken we should pray that it be a mission from God. What's wrong with that? As she said later in her interview with Gibson, this amounts to Abraham Lincoln's statement that we should be praying that we be on God's side.
Now it's not a likely prayer to be answered, because a mission undertaken in greed - that is, in the spirit of Gog and Magog - is in fact inspired by Satan, as we learn in our Bibles by comparing Ezekiel 38:10-12 with Revelation 20:7-8. But we ought to deal with what the woman said, instead of distorting it for partisan advantage.
But considering Palin has clarified things for me. In her I now clearly understand why it can be very bad for Christians to rule. Proverbs 16:32 rightly says, "One who rules his own spirit is greater than one who takes a city." So long as we are unable as Christians to govern ourselves, as evidenced by actually doing the things that Jesus says, having authority and power will ruin us, will cause the name of Jesus to be blasphemed in the world, and will ruin our neighbors too. In history, this much is as obvious as it gets.
I've gotten thankful lately for non-Christian authorities, charged by God to rule until my companions and I are enough under God's government that we can be entrusted with some responsibility without bringing disgrace on the gospel.
Palin clearly illustrates the consequences of coming to the kingdom unqualified.
Any unbeliever knows that it's not OK for her to use her position for private vengeance against her sister's ex-husband, however much he may deserve it. Now, having promised to cooperate in the legislature's investigation, she is trying to obstruct it by having her staff refuse to talk to investigators, by trying to divert it to the personnel board that she appoints, and by having the state attorney general investigate the legislature's investigator.
Any unbeliever knows that it's not OK for her to trumpet her opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere" when she in fact supported it until it became too embarrassing to do so, and even then she made sure that the state government kept the federal money. For any of my fellow Christians that don't see the problem, lying about what happened to make ourselves look better than we were is the sort of thing that if you do it on your resume will get you fired by any company that catches you doing it. There's a problem when Christians are not able to come up even to the standards universally understood among the unbelievers.
So long as Christians have problems understanding such ethical problems, except in other people, we should know for certain that God will consider us unqualified for any position of trust. Rather than politicking to put our people in high positions, we should attend to these problems so that God doesn't have to find us unfit to hold them. This way we won't find ourselves fighting against God, which is a really tough and useless way to live.
Well, that's not what she said. She said that when such a mission is undertaken we should pray that it be a mission from God. What's wrong with that? As she said later in her interview with Gibson, this amounts to Abraham Lincoln's statement that we should be praying that we be on God's side.
Now it's not a likely prayer to be answered, because a mission undertaken in greed - that is, in the spirit of Gog and Magog - is in fact inspired by Satan, as we learn in our Bibles by comparing Ezekiel 38:10-12 with Revelation 20:7-8. But we ought to deal with what the woman said, instead of distorting it for partisan advantage.
But considering Palin has clarified things for me. In her I now clearly understand why it can be very bad for Christians to rule. Proverbs 16:32 rightly says, "One who rules his own spirit is greater than one who takes a city." So long as we are unable as Christians to govern ourselves, as evidenced by actually doing the things that Jesus says, having authority and power will ruin us, will cause the name of Jesus to be blasphemed in the world, and will ruin our neighbors too. In history, this much is as obvious as it gets.
I've gotten thankful lately for non-Christian authorities, charged by God to rule until my companions and I are enough under God's government that we can be entrusted with some responsibility without bringing disgrace on the gospel.
Palin clearly illustrates the consequences of coming to the kingdom unqualified.
Any unbeliever knows that it's not OK for her to use her position for private vengeance against her sister's ex-husband, however much he may deserve it. Now, having promised to cooperate in the legislature's investigation, she is trying to obstruct it by having her staff refuse to talk to investigators, by trying to divert it to the personnel board that she appoints, and by having the state attorney general investigate the legislature's investigator.
Any unbeliever knows that it's not OK for her to trumpet her opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere" when she in fact supported it until it became too embarrassing to do so, and even then she made sure that the state government kept the federal money. For any of my fellow Christians that don't see the problem, lying about what happened to make ourselves look better than we were is the sort of thing that if you do it on your resume will get you fired by any company that catches you doing it. There's a problem when Christians are not able to come up even to the standards universally understood among the unbelievers.
So long as Christians have problems understanding such ethical problems, except in other people, we should know for certain that God will consider us unqualified for any position of trust. Rather than politicking to put our people in high positions, we should attend to these problems so that God doesn't have to find us unfit to hold them. This way we won't find ourselves fighting against God, which is a really tough and useless way to live.
posted by Peter Attwood at 9/13/2008 04:02:00 PM
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