Glenn Beck a Mormon

I should be somewhat careful here not to malign any and all Mormons out there. I really believe that the majority of Mormons believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior the way most mainline-denomination Christians do and are unaware of many of their church's actual doctrines or the inner-workings of their religion's hierarchy. But as you know FOX television and right-wing radio pundit Glenn Beck has been ramping up the religious rhetoric on his show and characterized his recent "restoring honor" rally in Washington D.C. with Sarah Palin as an opportunity for America to return to God.

My hope is that thoughtful Christians be aware of Beck's religious background. My suspicion is that, like many public figures, he is misusing religion as a populist weapon to stir up political division in his favor. You may think that my concern is either because he has been critical of politically progressive Christians, trying to make people believe that terms like "social justice" and "community activism" are code for communist, atheist or socialist or even Muslim. Or you might think that I am jealous of Beck's attempt to co-opt the legacy of the civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's. While both of these are things that bother me a great deal, my greatest concern is that well meaning Christians, Protestant, Catholic, and Evangelical are becoming caught-up in what seems to be a spiritual fervor of what Beck no doubt hopes will become a movement- when in fact, in the strictest sense, Beck himself is not actually Christian.

Glenn Beck is also a convert to the Mormon faith, joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1999 along with his wife and children. Despite Glenn’s Catholic upbringing, he and his wife were inactive in the church. Eventually Glenn and his wife Tania went church shopping to find the faith that they could share as a family. A long time friend encouraged them to try the LDS and eventually Beck asked his friend to baptize him Mormon. 

Before you stop reading or imagine that I am trying to "get back" for Beck or other conservatives for perpetuating the lie that President Obama is not Christian, please hear me out. I grew up in Phoenix Arizona, a very conservative place. A place where the dominant religion is Mormonism. The Lutheran Church went to great lengths to educate it's members about the history and theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Much of it's information has been provided by former Mormons. In Phoenix, the political and economic power brokers of the Mormon Church were more feared than the Mafia.

According to Christian scholars Ed Decker and Dave Hunt, the Mormon Church still believes and teaches that Jesus was begotten through a sexual relationship between God the Father and Mary. Jesus and Lucifer are brothers. Mormons will become "gods and goddesses" and enjoy the eternal pleasure of celestial sex. Women and minorities have been viewed as lesser beings than white males. Some Mormon doctrines still justifies the practices of blood atonement and polygamy. 60 - 80% of Mormon converts (Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints) come from Christian backgrounds. The LDS Church spends millions trying to convince the public that they are more "Christian" than the Christians. The LDS is one of the largest and most powerful business corporations in the world.

One of the goals of the LDS is to install Mormons into positions of National and eventual World leadership. I'll be honest with you, this is one of the reasons why I was so disappointed that so many Christians supported Mitt Romney in the last election. Some have speculated that Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally may have been a way of testing the waters for either a possible Presidential run, or possibly running as Sarah Palin's running mate.  A recent article in the Washington Post suggested that Beck seeks to advance a "restoration theology," in which God tells Beck how to rewrite America's laws, establishing a theocracy.

Again, I do not mean to slander or offend Mormons. Most of the Mormons I have known in my life are wonderful people, devoted to Jesus and to their families and communities. And I may be wrong in thinking that Glenn Beck's motives are deceptive or some how sinister. I tend to think that he is more intoxicated by his fame, influence, and wealth and that he is merely mistaken or misguided about using religion to fire up enthusiasm for libertarian political ideology. Be that as it may, I want all of my Christian friends, Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike to be fully informed about Beck and the LDS before jumping on the Glenn Beck bandwagon- or, to consider jumping off if they're already on.

I respect and appreciate that for many Christians, issues of abortion and gay-marriage are very influential in our politics and voting- as the issues of poverty and civil rights are to others, but we should always be careful in our passion for what we believe in, not to get swept away by those who would take advantage of our beliefs. We don't want to "strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." (Matthew 23:23-24).

I encourage everyone to buy or borrow a copy of the movie, Temple of the Godmakers from Jeremiah Films, often your church library or Thrivent agency may already have a copy. I do not wish to stir up any kind of Mormo-phobia the way some have incited Islamaphobia lately, but I do want people who accept and believe the teachings of the Apostles' and Nicean Creeds to be completely aware of the origins and official doctrines of religions that claim to be Christian but don't know Jesus quite the way that more orthodox denominations do.

Official stance on the LDS of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod:

Q. Are Mormons generally regarded as Christians, and how do their beliefs differ from those of the Missouri Synod?

A. The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, together with the vast majority of Christian denominations in the United States, does not regard the Mormon church as a Christian church. That is because the official writings of Mormonism deny fundamental teachings of orthodox Christianity. For example, the Nicene Creed confesses the clear biblical truth that Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, is "of one substance with the Father." This central article of the Christian faith is expressly rejected by Mormon teaching -- thus undermining the very heart of the scriptural Gospel itself. In a chapter titled "Jesus Christ, the Son of God: Are Mormons Christian?" the president of Brigham Young University (Rex Lee, What Do Mormons Believe? [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992] summarizes Mormon teaching by stating that the three persons of the Trinity are "not... one being" (21), but are "separate individuals." In addition, the Father is regarded as having a body "of flesh and bone" (22). Such teaching is contrary to the Holy Scriptures, destructive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and indicative of the fact that Mormon teaching is not Christian. 

For more information about beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints read this document prepared by the Commission on Theology and Church Relations. ( source http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=2239 )

Fear, hate & division, or faith, hope and reconciliation?

Sorry- I'm probably gonna offend some more wing nuts with these two, but the truth hurts

(click here to view)

Deb Milbrath FreelanceAug 31, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

(click here to view)

Jim Morin The Miami HeraldAug 31, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

Two ways of thinking

These are a couple of the most concise explanations of what I feel is wrong with politics and religion in America that I have ever heard. They are listener comments (letters-to-the-editor) from NPR's afternoon news program All Things Considered. Click here to listen to/see a transcript in the original context.

SIEGEL: And now your letters about yesterday's program. Many of you wrote about our story on Tea Party supporters and their belief that the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress are subverting the Constitution.

Well, Peter Lury(ph) of Richmond, Virginia, writes: One interviewee proudly proclaimed she does not study this hallowed document, but it's hard to understand why she claims the Obama administration is eviscerating the Constitution when it's not clear that the small copy she keeps in her purse has ever been read, much less understood.

NORRIS: And David Steigerwald(ph) of Columbus, Ohio, had this to say: I'm struck by the similarities between the Tea Party's concept of the Constitution and the way fundamentalists treat the Bible. Each is considered a sacred text, handed down from God through a handful of prophets and treated as immutable and inviolable. And yet, in both cases, the texts are read very selectively. Bits and pieces are plucked out, always without context, to defend a rigid political position. I'd wager the two groups overlap a lot in membership, as well as mentality.

I really don't think that it's so much a problem of conservative/liberal. We don't really understand what those terms mean anymore in America today.

I'm not so sure that it's a problem of Christian/nonchirstian. If only because too few Christians understand and really believe what Jesus taught or the example He set. Also because too many people abuse Christianity as a politically expedient tool or as an emotional weapon.

I think that the issue may be one of law and gospel, and frankly, as I've said before on this blog, an issue of love versus fear (1 John 4:18). Jesus died so that I can be forgiven an thereby be capable of a relationship with God. God makes me whole so that I can be capable of healthier relationships with others. It's all about the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18).

It seems to me that an awful lot of us who call ourselves Christian are not sharing grace and mercy and healing with those who need it, but instead are consumed with suspicion and frustration and indignation. Guess what, these are evidence of anger and insecurity and they eventually give birth to hatred and prejudice.

It also seems to me that an awful lot of us who call ourselves patriotic are not genuinely committed to the Constitutional ideals of unity, security, the common good, liberty, equality, empathy, responsibility, and participatory democracy, let alone civil debate.  Just as the only Bible verse many of us remember is John 3:16, the only Amendment any of us care about is the right to bear arms.

I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, but I realize that even Peter, Paul and John were imperfect, sinful men. I may think that Martin Luther wrote a lot of wise things about theology- but I realize that he was also dead wrong about a lot of things (like antisemitism).

I thank God for the maturity, foresight and intellects of men like Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Madison, and Payne. But they would all be quick to admit that they were just men, not demigods. They were fallible and finite. They designed a system of checks and balances to account for that. They knew that they couldn't know what our time would be like, so the intentionally devised a system and a Constitution that would  be adaptable, flexible, and relevant- not rigid, restrictive, or archaic- and most certainly not beneficial to a narrow and elect, privileged few.

Genuine Christians are humble servants. Fundamentalists are arrogant Pharisees, Judaizers (Galations 5:1-12), and white-washed hypocrites (Matt. 23:17).

Genuine Americans are egalitarians, compassionate idealists, and empathetic community builders. Tea Party extremist are at best deluded disciples of dangerous demagogues and at worst deceitful and volatile radicals who only wrap themselves in the flag and misuse religion to hide what they really are, mislead others, and deny to themselves that maybe there's a possibility that they're wrong.

President Obama reflected on this problem in his book The Audacity of Hope. When he was a Constitutional Law professor at the University of Chicago, he wondered if his colleagues in the Theology department had the same struggle with students who tried to cite narrow references to back up their predetermined points of view but rarely bothered to read the document they so vehemently declared justified their positions.

One of the best things we can do as Christians, is to actually read our Bibles. One of the best things we can do as American citizens is to actually read the Constitution.

Lay down your weapons

I've been thinking again about the so called "culture wars." Abortion, gay rights, evolution, prayer in public schools, the "war-on-Christmas," public monuments and displays of faith... It just seems to me that so much of it is not really about rescuing a lost world as it is about desperately trying to exert control over a society that seems out of control. Jesus already won the victory, all we have to do is stand- not attack and demolish.

I end up in an awkward position because some conservative Christians think that I'm a traitor fighting against them, when really I think of my self as a conscientious-objector and a non-combatant. If there's a battle, isn't it one for hearts and minds, even souls- not for authority or control or power or vindication? Isn't the goal to bring souls into the family of God and under his grace and forgiveness- not to kick people out, not to engage in some kind of religious ethnic-cleansing?   

^"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world." ~2 Corinthians 10:3-4. 

Today's weapons are words, laws, court cases, sound bites, arguments and debates, movements and organizations. But the weapons that I believe Jesus wants us to use are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. The tactic I believe He wants us to use are to heal the sick, feed the hungry, defend the widows, orphans and aliens, to visit those in prison, to turn the cheek, go the extra mile, give the shirt of our backs, to love our enemies and to pray for those that persecute us. Positive not negative, faith and love, not fear and anger, freedom not tyranny, progress not regression. You  might say that God's strategy is to fight smarter, not harder.

So brothers and sisters who are confounded by my political and social stances, please know that it's not that I'm fighting against you or failing to stand with you on issues that you are so passionate about- it's that I don't understand why you're so zealous about fighting when the outcome has already been decided. It was won on the cross. My God and His truth doesn't need feeble me to defend Him. Not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit reigns the Lord.

'Weapons' by Jars Of Clay
From their new album, The Long Fall Back To Earth

Halleluiah, we can finally hear
It's a miracle we feel anything at all
The things we planted on the worst days of the year
Grow to fingers that rip at the joy
And set our backs against the wall

LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN
LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN
THERE ARE NO ENEMIES IN FRONT OF YOU

Halleluiah, we can finally see
How the bitterness was bruising on our skin
We didn't notice that grace had run so thin
'Till we're falling apart
And the cracks in our hearts let the truth sink in

LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN
LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN
THERE ARE NO ENEMIES IN FRONT OF YOU (repeat)

Halleluiah, we can finally hear
It's a miracle we feel anything at all

So lay your weapons down
There are no enemies in front of you
There are no enemies in front of you

LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN
LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN
LAY YOUR WEAPONS, THERE ARE NO ENEMIES IN FRONT OF YOU (repeat)

Beware of claims of religious heritage

Source:, Wikipedia.

William Bradford was born on March 19, 1590 near Doncaster, in Austerfield, Yorkshire. At an early age, he was attracted to the "primitive" congregational church, in nearby Scrooby, and became a committed member of what was termed a "Separatist" church, since the church-members had wanted to separate from the Church of England. By contrast, the Puritans wanted to purify the Church of England. The Separatists felt the Church was beyond redemption due to unbiblical doctrines and teachings.

By comparison, Luther wanted to reform the existing church, other protestants wanted to break off from the Catholic church. Some cynical historians have said that the "Pilgrim" Separatists were to the Church of England (Anglicans) as the Branch Dividians were to the Seventh Day Adventists, or maybe like what the polygamous Fundamentalist LDS groups are to the Mormons. Not just a sect, but a radical, almost -like sect.

When James I began to persecute Separatists in 1609, Bradford fled to the Netherlands, along with many members of the congregation. These Separatists went first to Amsterdam before settling at Leiden. Bradford married his first wife, Dorothy May (d. December 7, 1620), on December 10, 1613 in Amsterdam. While at Leiden, he supported himself as a fustian weaver.
Signing of the Mayflower Compact, a painting by Edward Percy Moran, which hangs at the Pilgrim Hall Museum

King James I is the same guy who commissioned the King James Bible, that so many people seem to like more than Revised Standard, New International, or just about any other translation. Britain has had a great deal of political and religious strife between Anglicans and Catholics- "Bloody Mary," etc. Unfortunate that they couldn't embrace some sort of pluralism or evangelicalism between Christian denominations, huh? Take some time to study the English Civil Wars from Charles I and Charles II through the time of Oliver Cromwell and you'll find that Christians, not Muslims, Jews, or Atheists were the biggest threat to Christians in British history.

Shifting alignments of the European powers (due to religious differences, struggles over the monarchies and intrigues within the ruling Habsburg clan) caused the Dutch government to fear war with Catholic Spain, and to become allied with James I of England. Social pressure (and even attacks) on the separatists increased in the Netherlands. Their congregation's leader, John Robinson, supported the emerging idea of starting a colony. Bradford was in the midst of this venture from the beginning. The separatists wanted to remain Englishmen (although living in the Netherlands), yet wanted to get far enough away from the Church of England and the government to have some chance of living in peace. Arrangements were made, and William with his wife sailed for America in 1620 from Leiden aboard the Mayflower.

Puritanism was founded on the theology of John Calvin, and one of their major doctrines was predestination. Calvin believed that the grace of God was the only way into Heaven and that his grace could not be earned. But, whereas Luther taught that. we are saved only by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9) Calvin believed that God's grace was bestowed upon a select few, they and only they were permitted to be saved. We know that this is wrong because God does not want ANYONE to perish (2 Peter 3:8-9). Do I need to remind you about the Salem Witch trials, or the stockades or banishing Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson for conducting Bible studies?

TREASURE our First Amendment right from officially government sanctioned religion and our right to the unrestricted free exercise of religion. Sure, pluralism permits false teachings to coexist with the truth. Jesus evan talks about this dilema in His parable of the weeds and the grain Matthew 13:24–30, 36-43.

The next time someone starts talking about how America was founded as a "Christian Nation," remind them that that just means it was founded by sinners and hippocrites and by no means makes us perfect- nor should it mean that we should persecute or alienate peoples of other faiths or people of no faith.

Most importantly ask them which denomination Christian Nation America was founded on. Jamestown was Anglican, Plymouth was Separatist Puritan, Texas, Florida, California, and Louisiana were all Catholics, Pennsylvania had Quakers, Lutherans, and Jews. Utah, of course by Mormons.

Religion did indeed play an immeasurably important role in the founding of the United States, but so did geopolitics, imperialism, tobbacco, cotton, and slavery. And mammon- don't forget, money. After all, the London Company and the Massatchusetts Bay Company were corporations intended to make profits for their stock-holders after all. Money makes the world go round.

We should appreciate and recognize our religious herritage, but we should also be careful not to make too much of it of fall into the sins of pride and arrogance because of it.

Post-"Moral-Majority"

"The Religious Right was a Christian mistake. It was a movement that sought to implement a ' agenda' by tying the faithful to one political option -- the right wing of the Republican Party. The politicizing of faith in such a partisan way is always a theological mistake. But the rapid decline of the Religious Right now offers us a new opportunity to re-think the role of faith in American public life.

Personally, I am not offended or alarmed by the notion of a post-Christian America. Christianity was originally and, in my view, always meant to be a minority faith with a counter-cultural stance, as opposed to the dominant cultural and political force. Notions of a 'Christian America' quite frankly haven’t turned out very well." ~Jim Wallis

Read the entire article at Sojourners.com

Recently right-wingers were attacking Sen. Chuck Grassley, an opponent of gay marriage for not being outspoken enough or moving quickly enough in response to Iowa's recent Supreme Court decision calling a ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. They're accusing him of drifting away from socially conservative values. I guarantee that if Jesus was traveling 21st century America as He did first century Palestine, Christian Conservatives would criticize Him for cavorting with sinners and tax collectors and for not fasting and not ceremonially washing His hands and gleaning grain from the edge of fields on the Sabbath and healing on the Sabbath etc. etc.

One of my biggest beefs with my fellow Christians is that we too often lean too heavily on the Law at the expense of the Gospel. We cannot and will not turn people's hearts toward God by legislation or judicial decision or constitutional amendment or for that matter by ranting and raving and protest and boycott. We can never save someone from their sin by coercively preventing them from sinning. It's as ridiculous as thinking that we can extract reliable intelligence from an enemy by torture.

People who genuinly want to follow Jesus and can't give up on their precious "culture war," should consider that we are not battling against flesh and blood and therefore conventional (and by that I mean political, practical, and especially Machiavellian , Tzu-ian and Rovian) tactics. The way to win the hearts and minds of unbelievers (and first of all, we can never do this, only God, with His Holy Spirit can do it- perhaps using us as His tools) is with love, compassion, example, and prayer. And by addressing their needs, not what we perceive as their faults and errors.

A Christian Nation?

For decades now, religious right-wingers have been telling us that we need to be a "Christian Nation," and that God is punishing us for permitting abortion and homosexuality. I've always held that America was founded on commerce, specifically mercantilism and imperialism dependent on slavery- not on the Bible or mighty, idealized Christian principles. I also have the philosophy that a "Christian Nation" begins at home- in other words, we all need to work on producing good fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc. etc.) rather than trying to impose or legislate a religious morality.

But in the wake of yet another stock market dive and almost daily revelations about CEOs', Madoff, and the Bush Administration's abuses and misuses of money and government- someone said to me that we seem to be a LONG way from being a "Christian Nation," and that we seem to be a society based on greed , lobbying, deregulation, loopholes, off-the books accounting, mortgage-backed securities, schemes, plots, and getting richer quicker without any consideration of the impact on others. And Rush Limbaugh warns that the Democrats will take away our liberties. What he means is that they'll demand accountability and transparency so that the fat cats won't have the liberty to rob the rest of us blind anymore. We've already seen out privacy and Constitutional protections revoked by the Cheney/Bush government who eliminated habeus corpus, tortured and secretly listened to us.

I may sound like a liberal, even a (gasp) "socialist," and people may accuse me of inciting "class warfare," but the Bible I read says that it is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matt 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25). I think that if we were to truly become a "Christian Nation," we would have to become our brothers' keepers. We should not just return the tax structure to what it was like under Reagan, but pre-Reagan (the middle class grew most robustly between 1932 and 1980). The Obama administration is finally starting to talk about the cost of health care and insurance, and it's high time.

The Republicans had control of all three branches of government under George W. Bush. Supposedly, their "base" are conservative-Christians. Not only did we lose our standing in the world in terms of foreign policy, but the current recession (some suspect depression) created by the supply-side, laissez faire economic faith worshiped so devoutly since Ronald Reagan began deregulating markets and busting unions, rhis recession is pulling the entire world's economics into crisis. This isn't God's divine retribution, but it IS direct result of our collective, corporate sin. The sins, not of homosexuality or abortion, or teaching evolution but the sins of greed, arrogance gluttony and avarice.

Gays and illegal immigrants aren't the problem. Iran and Iraq aren't the problem. Muslims and foreigners and Hollywood and high school and college science teachers aren't the problem. We're losing jobs and homes and insurance and benefits and maybe we want to blame Bernie Madoff or George Bush, but let's face it, as the cartoon character Pogo said back in the 50's, "we have met the enemy and he is us." Matthew 28 is important, Jesus did die for our sins so that we can join Him in Heaven someday, but you know what? Matthew 25 is ALSO important. If we aren't feeding the hungry, healing the sick, visiting those in prison, loving the unloved and unlovable- loving our neighbors and even our enemies- if we aren't caring for the poor, the aliens, the widows and orphans- if we are more intent on protecting our profits and avoiding taxes than sharing the fruit of our labor with others in need, then how DARE we call ourselves Christian, let alone a "Christian Nation."

"Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?" ~James 2:5-7

Ocean front property in Arizona

Conservative Christians have been arguing that there's no such thing as global warning. I'll admit that it's been a hard winter which certainly makes it easy to doubt the veracity of claims from scientists, politicians and activists who warn us that we're damaging the environment. Be that as it may, Christians should be careful not to close their ears to the pleas of Al Gore too quickly.

The position of many is that humans must be amazingly arrogant to think that we could somehow ruin or damage something which only God Himself has created. Hey, I'm no deist, I'm totally with you that God is God and I am not and that He alone retains ultimate sovereignty over His Earth.

But please hear me out. My wife and I are home owners. The deed is in our name, we pay the mortgage and the property taxes and the utility bills. But guess what- we still have to nag our kids to clean their rooms and pick up their dirty clothes off the floor and hang their towels in the bathroom and their coats on their hooks. Believe me, as much as I love my children, given complete run of the house, they would wreck it in short order.

When we were renters we were blessed with a great landlord. He was a good friend and a master electrician. He took care of the furnace and the air conditioner and the security alarm. Once he even fixed the garbage disposal. But guess what- I still had to take out the trash and sweep the floors and scrub the bathrooms and wash the windows, and change the air filter not to mention flush the toilets and dust the furniture.

Sure, it may seem arrogant to think that humans are capable of destroying what God has made, but I'm afraid that it's also terribly irresponsible and perhaps even just as arrogant to assume that we aren't damaging the planet, even to the point of altering the climate. Just as children naively and perhaps selfishly assume that their parents are going to take care of everything- (especially if they're spoiled and never taught to make their own beds or wash and fold their own clothes) we would be fools to imagine that 7 billion people, ravenously consuming limited resources, especially with fossil fuels are not or could not demean and even destroy God's creation.

Maybe they did a disservice to mislabel climate change as "global warming" so that when Iowa has the 6th coldest winter in recoded history, the conservatives are so quick to declare that it's all some big lie that we should ignore. The weather has more extremes and the oceans are rising, there may not be any more or any fewer volcanoes, earthquakes or wars, but there are more tsunamis and hurricanes and those hurricanes are more powerful that they used to be. The winter may be colder in Iowa, but the summer is also hotter. And smog , contaminated water, and endangered species are not things to shrug off and disappearing polar bears is not something to just joke about.

Please consider something. Conservatives may not have much patience for environmentalists and they're justified be concerned that jobs shouldn't be sacrificed for trivial and emotional campaigns to save obscure animals. However, why would environmental activists, scientists, and all those terrible "Liberals" make up false claims about the environmental crisis? Just to make themselves feel important? To undermine and destroy all our precious freedoms and American way of life? Do they really want to just ruin all the fun?

Please. These are serious people and as "bleeding hearts," they are by definition, caring and concerned people who want to help make things better. Even if you think that they are sometimes overzealous or misguided, you cannot argue that they are uninformed or negligent. They are thoughtful and intelligent and their concern is for all our best interest. So please, don't write them off as morally inferior or irrelevant and ignore them.

Indeed, we all- especially Christians, need to search ourselves and reflect on our behaviors and attitudes toward the environment. I know that I for one am guilty of crass consumerism and laziness when it comes to "leaving more behind than I came in with," which was the opposite of how they taught us to treat out campsites in Boy Scouts.

God calls us to be stewards of HIS Earth. It was the first responsibility He gave to Adam and Eve and a serious responsibility bestowed on Noah. Humans may be the only creatures made in His own image and the apple of His eye, the only ones He sent His Son to die and rise again for, but it is still arrogant, selfish, and short-sighted for us to think that we are the only creatures that He cares about or that all of creation is meant merely for us to use up and cast off any way we please or that He won't hold us accountable for our poor stewardship- including letting us wallow in the squalor we find ourselves in.

I like to tease atheists by letting them know that just because they don't believe in God, He still believes in them. Well you know something- just because conservatives deny that there's such a thing as global warming, doesn't mean that we shouldn't all start buying that ocean front property in Arizona!

A corollary to yesterday's post about political bedfellows

George W. Bush Bush dumped $848,000 worth of Harken Energy stock back in 1990, two months before the company announced a $23.2 million loss; he was 34 weeks late in filing a form the Securities and Exchange Commission required to record the sale... According to Time Magazine, "...Harken concealed losses by selling most of a subsidiary to an off-the-books entity controlled by company insiders. Bush was on the audit committee, which, at least in theory, approved the deal. It's the same tactic used by Enron—on a massive, more pernicious scale..."

Time reported in the same issue that "Halliburton, while Cheney was CEO, greased the books to boost the firm's flagging fortunes." Creative accounting.

Dennis Kozolowski, Ken Lay, Merrill Lynch, Enron, Andersen, Halliburton, Adelphia, R.J. Reynolds, Tyco, Bristol-Meyers, Global Crossing, the list goes on and on of individuals and corporations involved in abuse and corruption during early part of Bush's FIRST term. It's as if there was no S.E.C. no accountability or transparency or ethics of any kind in business, finance, and government.

The Bush years were a new gilded age or cancer-stage capitalism. A culture of corruption flourished.

Is it any wonder that we're now dealing with the likes of Bernard L. Madoff, Goldman Sacs, Lehman Brothers, the entire mortgage-based-securities, and auto executives flying in on private jets to ask Congress for bailouts?

Obscene greed. Yet Conservative Christians only get worked up about abortion and gay marriage. When I wrote columns scrutinizing John McCain's connection to the "Keating 5" and the S&L bailout scandal of the 1980's and how his role in deregulation of the financial sector may have helped lead to our current meltdown I was raked over the coals as some kind of unpatriotic, America-hating, abortion promoting liberal.

Transparency and accountability, and a whole lot of self-discipline is what America needs now.
Time for Relief, Recovery, and a whole lot of REFORM.

But what do I know? People have labeled me a "liberal" and now I have to wear that label like a scarlet letter.

If you lie down with dogs, you pick up fleas

I am an idiosyncratic person and I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time defending my political opinions from those who think I should fit in a box (preferably their box). Liberals (which are not bad) think that I am too conservative. Conservatives (also not necessarily a bad thing to be, if you genuinely are and don't just identify yourself as that) obviously think that I am way to "liberal" (especially if they're at all religious) although more often than not, those who identify themselves as "conservative" wouldn't know a REAL liberal if one bit them.

Comedian Mort Sahl once said that if you "maintain a consistent political position for too long in this country, you'll eventually be tried for treason."

Kurt Vonnegut once noted that "Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative."

I want people to know that while yes, I'm a registered Democrat, and yes, I voted for Barack Obama and intend to give him a chance because I believe he is both more intelligent and more empathetic than George Bush, I am who I am, an independent thinker, responsible practitioner of representative democracy, and a deeply devout disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, the only begotten Son of the one and only living God, but I am not any kind of ideologue and I resent being labeled and compartmentalized almost more than I resent being pressured to conform to anyone's box.

So, as someone who- believe it or not-is fairly conservative on many issues and a deeply committed Christian, may I present the following cartoon critique of the Republican coalition:


This cartoon is how I see the Republican Party. Not all Republicans themselves, mind you. Many of my closest friends and best loved relatives are Republicans, and they are basically very good people with pure hearts and the very best intentions. But let's face it- as the cartoon points out, those religious and social conservatives are "in bed" with corrupt corporatism, and plenty of other unsavory characters.

Friends, readers, neighbors, and relations- if you are passionately identifying yourself with the Republican party or if you are zealously judgmental, intolerant or even just over enthusiastically skeptical of Democrats, Progressives, and Liberals of any stripe- beware. The conservative movement, Right-wing talk radio, and a few false prophets on TV want to continue to use wedge issues to make you think that they are right and everyone else is wrong. Think for yourselves instead. Evaluate policies, projects, proposals and people individually on a pragmatic, case-by-case basis. Be skeptical. The Republican Party likes to "use religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon."

Hey, I believe in a balanced budget and reducing deficits and the debt. I believe in protecting American industry and American jobs. I love Jesus and attend church every week, I don't condone drugs or promiscuity. You'd THINK that that would make me a "conservative." But I believe in the little guy and the small town, the mom and pop business, and the family farm. I believe in oversight and accountability (AKA regulation) and it seems that in this day and age, at least in the area that I live in, I'm considered a "LIBERAL Democrat." As if that were some great sin.

I don't believe in abortion- makes me conservative, but I recognize that rape, incest and life threatening complications ought to be exceptions to any prohibition of abortion. Besides, human nature being what it is in a sinful world, people will still seek abortions if they were outlawed, and the idea of going back to a time of coat hanger abortions makes me cringe. So I can life with permitting clean, safe, legal abortions in the first trimester. For some people that makes me an unforgivable godless liberal monster.

Interpreting the Constitution in such a way that "reproductive rights" and more importantly, a right to privacy is implicit may not be "strict construction," but by most definitions, Washington, Jefferson, and even more so Lincoln were liberal.

I believe that by definition, marriage involves one man and one woman. You can call a coup a sedan, but it still only has two doors. This makes me conservative, some would even call me a bigot. On the other hand, I believe that constitutionally, we cannot deny anyone equal rights and opportunities under the law. If two consenting adults have been living in a monogamous, committed relationship, we cannot legally and should not deny them insurance benefits, tax status and spousal rights. That, no doubt makes me a "flaming" liberal.

Sorry, but neither my marriage or my faith are in the least bit threatened by permitting homosexuals their civil rights. Frankly, that's a VERY "strict" interpretation of the Constitution and while people may thing it opens up the door for a more permissive society, it is actually a very conservative approach to civil matters.

So think about it. Do we really put "Country First," before our party or political affiliation? Do we put God first and Country second? Can we be bi-partisan? Can we live in a post-partisan time?

Maybe I'm not being fair to the Bush or the GOP, but watch and listen over the next few months- how fair is FOX and O'Rielly and Limbaugh to the Dems or Obama?

Is it eye-for-an-eye? Or Turn the other cheek?

My Jesus speaks to us in Matthew 5 in a sermon on the mount, not from pamphlets and voter guides or from a microphone on TV or talk radio. He speaks of love, forgiveness, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self control- not anger, exclusion, rendition, deportation, shock and awe, retaliation, illegal surveillance and controlling others.

Maybe I'm wrong, and you're entitled to think so, but aren't I entitled to be wrong too?

Think about it.

Bad Fruit

From October 2007 on my main blog-

I've offended dearly loved friends by being so frustrated with them for seeing the Bush administration in a favorable light. I'm sorry, sue me.

Right is right and wrong is wrong, or as they teach you when learning how to mount a horse, "left is right and right is wrong."

You'll know a tree by it's fruit. Jesus said that. So okay, look at Republican policies and this Administration, then look at all those "bleeding heart liberals" (including Jimmy Carter) that you think are such America-haters and unpatriotic, slimy socialist- Which group has the right kind of fruit? Check out Galatians chapter 5 (it's in the Bible).

Bad Apples;

• sexual immorality (Senator Craig, Senator Foley, Pastor Ted Haggard...)
  
• impurity and debauchery
• idolatry (Ronald Reagan, god of all that is 'Right') and
  
• witchcraft (Nancy Reagan's Astrologers)
  
• hatred (nooses in trees, torture at Abu Ghraib, xenophobia, racial profiling, gay bashing, alarm about illegal immigration, etc. etc....)
  
• discord (The religious right, the Big-business right, the internationalist right, the Neo-Con right, the gun-nut right, the nut-job in the woods in a militia and or white supremist group right....)
  
• jealousy (First Bill Clinton, now Hillary Clinton)
  
• fits of rage ( Vice President Cheney telling people to "F--- Off" all the time)
  
• selfish ambition (MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY, MONEY... big oil, Enron, stock portfolios, the Carlyle Group, Haliburton, did I mention big oil?
  
• dissensions
• factions and
  
• envy (did I mention the Clintons?)
  
• drunkenness (Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert, and oh yeah, is 'W' a "dry-drunk?" How come no one cares that he usded to have a cocaine problem, but they freaked out when they heard that Bill Clinton once tried pot?)
  
• orgies, and the like (well, okay, who doesn't like a good orgy? Republican or Democrat)
  

Good Fruit:

• love (see also compassion, empathy, caring...)
  
• joy
  
• peace (blessed are the peacemakers, who said that? Hmmmm)
  
• patience (okay, not me)
  
• kindness
  
• goodness
• faithfulness
• gentleness and (you're right, not me again, or any other political humorist or cartoonist)
  
• self-control (yeah, I know- obviously I need to work on this one otherwise I wouldn't go off on rants like this or let my blood pressure go up every time someone compares George W. Bush to Abe Lincoln or Jesus or whoever. Breath, breath, find your happy place...)

Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord

I have been trying to say this to my fellow Christians for the last 25 years, but they wouldn't hear me because I'm a lefty. Cal Thomas is notorious arch-conservative columnist. Surely they might just listen to him-

RELIGIOUS RIGHT R.I.P.

By Cal Thomas

Thirty years of trying to use government to stop abortion, preserve opposite-sex marriage, improve television and movie content and transform culture into the conservative Evangelical image has failed. The question now becomes: should conservative Christians redouble their efforts, contributing more millions to radio and TV preachers and activists, or would they be wise to try something else?

...Scripture teaches that God’s power (if that is what conservative Evangelicals want and not their puny attempts at grabbing earthly power) is made perfect in weakness. He speaks of the tiny mustard seed, the seemingly worthless widow’s mite, of taking the last place at the table and the humbling of one’s self, the washing of feet and similar acts and attitudes; the still, small voice. How did conservative Evangelicals miss this and instead settle for a lesser power, which in reality is no power at all? When did they settle for an inferior “kingdom”?

Evangelicals are at a junction. They can take the path that will lead them to more futility and ineffective attempts to reform culture through government, or they can embrace the far more powerful methods outlined by the One they claim to follow. By following His example, they will decrease, but He will increase. They will get no credit, but they will see results. If conservative Evangelicals choose obscurity and seek to glorify God, they will get much of what they hope for, but can never achieve, in and through politics.

Read the entire article on Thomas's official website

Strange Fruit and Sour Grapes

When I take a look at Galatians 5:19-26, God convicts me.

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

I may not be immoral or impure (although at least one person has all but accused me of debauchery by implying that I must be teaching school children “liberal” values, when in fact all I teach them about lines and shapes and colors). I may not be a drunk or attend orgies, but I suppose that what I draw and write contributes to discord, factions, and dissent. I don't engage in witchcraft (I don’t even read the horoscopes), but I do get in such a rage about what I perceive as other people’s idolatry, that it may just be becoming a form of idolatry for me. And I suppose that to dream about someday becoming a professional political cartoonist or writer is a vain, selfish-ambition.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Lately I've been dealing with irritation, depression, frustration, sarcasm, crabbiness, loneliness, and apparently a vitriol writing style. So I know that I'm not bearing good fruit. So maybe when I look at 1 John, this whole election is an antichrist for me. I've always dreamed of becoming a political cartoonist and/or columnist, I swore that's what God made me to be. But it seems like it's worse than being an alcoholic or a philanderer.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

So, I guess, while being a Christian may or may not preclude voting for democrats- at least for me, maybe God doesn’t want me to be a political columnist or cartoonist. Heaven forbid I should offend anyone!

I never meant to hurt anyone, just make them think. I hope you know that I don’t just “spread lies” or make smears. I actually research my columns and genuinely feel that what I write is as honest and helpful as I can make it. I realize that sometimes I may be wrong and there will always be people who disagree with me with good reason.

If you’re worried about what you consider inexperience, or if you’re so uncomfortable with Obama’s positions on given issues, so be it. I completely respect you decision not to vote for him. And I hope that we can agree to disagree and continue to be friends and respect each other and seek the myriad of things on which we agree.

But it feels like again and again, that people don’t just disagree with me, but consider me morally inferior or spiritually anathema- somehow subhuman. I feel hurt, lonely and resentful that fellow Christians would think that I should be silenced because my political opinions don’t align with theirs. I’m feeling a lot of anguish over giving up writing and cartooning. And it boggles my mind that smart, well meaning people don’t see some of the same things that I see and aren’t just as outraged by them.

As a result, I am plagued with doubt, about our democratic system, about the body of Christ, and about my place in both of them. So here I am wresting with these issues in public, airing my dirty laundry on the web for all to see. If you have no pity for me at all, please at least pray for me. I’m lost, without purpose or value.

When will the truth finally set us free?

Recently someone forwarded an email to me warning that Barack Obama is the Antichrist because the book of Revelation says that his reign will be 42 months, the same as a U.S. Presidential term. Big mistake. I hit the "reply" button and preached that brother a sermon. Here's what I wrote:

It's not possible for the book of Revelation to claim the anti-christ is of Islamic decent, 1) Islam wasn't invented yet when it was written, 2) it's a religion not an ethnicity so you can't be of Islamic decent.

An anti-Christ is anyone who takes attention away from the true Christ.

I suggest you read the 1 John 4:1-3

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."

Obama publicly acknowledges Jesus as his Lord and savior.

While you're at it, you need to bone up on your both your theology and your eschatology a little bit. Many fundamentalist strains of Christianity believe in a false doctrine called dispensationalism that is not truly found in Scripture, but rather was developed in 19th century America.

You're trying to frighten Christian voters into being afraid of Barak Obama, a devout Christian himself- not a Muslim or the anti-christ. This is NOT a Christ-like behavior.

1 John 4:18 tells us that "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Besides, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

What you're doing is "the ends-justifies-the-means." You're so afraid of Obama yourself, that you're willing to spread lies and propaganda about him to insure that McCain/Palin win. That's not Jesus- that's Machiavelli.

Dispensationalists pretend to be friends of Israel because they think that Jerusalem will be some kind of celestial star-gate for Jesus' second coming, when in reality they are anti-semitic, hating Jews and blaming them for killing Jesus. They can't wait for them to be "Left-Behind" and sent to Hell. Whereas, granted, Jesus may be the only way, truth and life (John 14:6) BUT- God does not WANT ANYONE to perish (2 Peter 3:9).

It's so unfortunate that politics makes such strange bedfellows because Catholics that are so adamantly opposed to abortion find quick and fervent allies among fundamentalist and evangelicals in the religious-right movement, yet many of these allies suspect the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church itself of being the Antichrist and/or the Beast!

How do we know that Jerusalem won't be a cosmic star gate for his arrival to usher in some millennial reign? Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:22-24 that His true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth, not in physical, geographical or political locations.

As for predictions and prophecies and televangelists who think that the market crash is a sign of the end times or Sarah Palin's prediction that Christians will find refuge from the tribulation in Alaska- Jesus tells us that he will return like a thief in the night in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and in Matthew 24:36 He assures us that "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." We need to love and trust Him and not worry about signs or trying to help arrange things for Him politically. He doesn't need any help.
I know you mean well and I'm sure you truly love God and America, I'm sure you're a good person. But be careful not to be corrupted by politics and political messages, whether they're from the right OR the left. Don't be motivated by fear or anger. Be motivated by love and a desire to reconcile everyone to Jesus.

As God tells us in 2 Peter-
" 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."
Thank God, He's granted us liberty and privilege to elect our own leaders in the United States. If you want to vote solely on social issues that are important to you so be it. This is your right. But please, don't be frightened into any choice based on shoddy theological assertions of people who seek to use religion as a means to assert their political agendas.

Remember Galatians 3:28- "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Guess what- there is neither Republican nor Democrat, Independent nor Libertarian, Black nor White, Asian nor Hispanic, Urban nor Suburban, Metropolitan nor Rural, either. Believe it or not, there ARE Liberal Democrats who LOVE Jesus and America and want what's best for everyone. I'll even bet that when we get to Heaven, we might just find a few Socialists, Communists, and even Anarchists there!

When will we ever live up to our motto? "E Pluribus Unum"- From many, one.

Soon, I pray.

Please forgive me if I've come off as angry or condescending in either of these emails. I happen to love Jesus and to love America and I have been wounded and persecuted and attacked and alienated and ostracized and doubted, slandered and shunned because I disagree with other Christians who watch Fox News more than they read their own Bibles and I feel like I have to either take a stand like Luther or gradually be pushed away from my Savior by His own "sheep."

Please forgive me, but please, please, don't fall prey to fear, lies, or political propaganda, let alone to false prophecies, false doctrines, and foolish heresies. Read the Bible, not political email forwards. Share God's love and His good news of forgiveness, not fear and racism.