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The title above from a recent article stood out as a glanced through the morning news. It said, “Texas is home to one of the largest evangelical populations in the country, most of which traditionally votes Republican. But some current and former members of the evangelical community have turned to the Democrats, espousing more progressive beliefs.”

After just getting back from Texas where I had the privilege of meeting James Robison and Pastor Jack Graham, and many other fine Texans, I wanted to chime in and remind all of us about some important truths that can be found in past articles. (My interview with James Robison can be viewed here.)

1. “Progressive” doesn’t always mean progress.

The church today finds itself in an interesting spot. On one hand, we are commanded to love all people who struggle with sin. On the other hand, we cannot affirm sin nor turn a blind eye to the unrepentant practice of sin by those who claim to be Christ’s followers. We care so much for others that our desire for them is to have a relationship with God via repentance, but in return, we are labeled haters and homophobes. What irony. Those who love are called haters, and those filled with hate are called tolerant. Liberals are “mainstream,” while those who support the tenets of Scripture are called mean-spirited fundamentalists. Up is down and down is up. Right is wrong and wrong is right. We make decisions based on not offending others, never stopping to ask if God is offended by our position. Folks, this is not progression; it’s digression. Many who plan to vote Democrat also embrace liberal theology. Doesn’t anyone else see a connection?

2. We aren’t voting for a person; we are voting for principles.

The Bible says don’t murder innocent children (abortion). It also says that we should work hard if we can (no socialism). It also says that the government is to guard the nation, securing borders and fighting terrorism (see Rom. 13). The Bible adds that we should have conservative judges who are honest and that we should bring God’s Word into all areas of life. And on and on it goes. Many of President Trump’s staff are doing all this and more. How a person, let alone a Christian, can overlook these things is a mystery to me. We have a politician actually doing what he said he would do. His past is not perfect, but he is guiding America in the right direction. He is surrounded by many godly men and women, and many governmental agencies are now hosting Bible studies. Sex traffickers are being prosecuted at a very high rate, and religious freedoms are being secured. Just ask the underground church in China and Iraq how important religious freedom is lest you take it for granted.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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It’s the question I’ve heard now for many years, specifically from evangelical Christians: “Since the world is only getting worse, why bother fighting the culture wars? What’s the use? What’s the point? Isn’t it better for us simply to share our faith and prepare for the return of Jesus?”

To be sure, if I knew for a fact that Jesus was coming back in a week, I would not spend that week writing articles about transgender activism. Or trying to change hearts about abortion.

In fact, I would not spend that week teaching a class in our ministry school. Or sharpening my Arabic or Babylonian reading skills. Or even hanging out with other believers.

Instead, I would spend every last moment reaching out to friends and relatives who were not in right relationship with God, urging them to repent and believe. And I would prepare my own heart to meet the King.

The fact is, though, we don’t know if Jesus is coming back in a week. Or a year. Or a decade. Or a century.

What we do know is that we have one life to live. One live to serve. One live to make an impact. And then we die, and the baton is handed over to the next generation. And then the next.

That has been the cycle of life for millennia, and it will continue until the end of this age.

Unfortunately, many Christians are so focused on the world to come that they lose sight of the importance of living fruitful lives in the here and now. And many others are so focused on the return of Jesus that they fail to live with long-term vision. They fail to ask what kind of world they are leaving to their children and grandchildren.

There’s an interesting quote attributed to Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai (30 BC-90 AD): “If you have a sapling in your hand, and someone says to you that the Messiah has come, stay and finish the planting, and then go to greet the Messiah” (Avot d’Rabbi Natan 31b).

In other words, continue to live your life in a normal, productive way. Be faithful to your current responsibilities. Don’t get caught up with end-time speculation. Planting a tree means you’re thinking of tomorrow.

Similarly, it is recorded that evangelist D. L. Moody (1837-1899) was asked, “What would you do today if you knew Jesus Christ was coming tomorrow?”

He answered, “I would plant a tree.”

Knowing that Moody was a great soulwinner, it’s hard to imagine that, if he really knew Jesus was coming tomorrow, he would plant that tree.

But again, that’s the point. We don’t know. And so we plant the tree today, knowing it will grow tomorrow, even after we are long gone. That’s the cycle of life.

To bring this back to the culture wars, it’s crucial that we think in multigenerational terms, especially in light of end-time pessimism. In other words, since many Christians believe that we’re in the final generation and things will only get worse, they expect cultural defeat.

It’s like a person with terminal cancer in hospice care. Hope for recovery is gone. Just make them comfortable until they pass away.

In the case of the culture wars, many feel that the return of Jesus is imminent and therefore the complete collapse of culture is also imminent. The dam is ready to burst. Why waste our time plugging the holes?

But this misses the whole point.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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NASHVILLE (BP) — Pastors shared hope and faith in the midst of death and destruction early Tuesday (March 3) just after a series of tornadoes tore through middle Tennessee, killing at least 22 and heavily damaging businesses, homes and at least two Southern Baptist churches.

An elderly couple who were longtime members of First Baptist Church of Mount Juliet in Wilson County are among the dead, their pastor Phillip Dunn told Baptist Press hours after the storm passed, heavily damaging the church campus.

“We do know we’ve had the loss of at least one couple that did not make it through the tornado,” Dunn told BP. “And we have other church family that are assessing their own property damage, that have lost a home, so we’re mindful of them. And then with our facility, a good portion has been touched and damaged; we’re kind of in the direct line.”

In Putnam County, where at least 16 people died, an associate pastor praised God for the “miracle” that spared him and his family, Stone Association Director of Missions Mark Davis told Baptist Press Tuesday.

“One of our associate pastors told the story this morning … that it’s a miracle” he and his family are alive, Davis told BP. “They were right in the center of the tornado.” Associate Pastor Darrin Crockett of Vinebranch Community Church in Cookeville was digging through debris that remained from his home, David said, and was not available to talk with BP.

Deaths were also reported in Benton and Davidson counties.

In Nashville, the tornado tore the roof from the Nashville Baptist Association (NBA), causing rain and wind damage inside the building. At least one church in Nashville, The Church at Lockeland Springs, was heavily damaged, said Rusty Sumrall, NBA director of missions.

“I put a call out to all the other churches, and I’ve called most the churches that I was aware was in the path,” Sumrall said, “and I haven’t heard of any other church that had major damage.”

Disaster relief teams were being assembled as early as the storms cleared, associational and mission leaders said; and church members in several communities were helping families and churches in need, pastors told BP.

Green Hill Baptist Church in north Mount Juliet fared well during the storm, pastor Daryl Crouch told BP, and is among those assembling volunteers to help others.

“Because we have power — we know a lot of folks don’t — we’ve opened our buildings the next three days for folks to come,” Crouch said. “There’s work space, to recharge their devices, to get free coffee and snacks. … We’ve been in contact with a lot of other pastors in our town.”

Victory Baptist Church in Mount Juliet is serving as a shelter. “I went by there this morning,” Crouch said, “so a lot of our pastors already know each other and are part of a coalition called Everyone’s Wilson (named for Wilson County), a group of Gospel-oriented churches that are seeking the welfare of our community.”

First Baptist Church of Cookeville is serving as an American Red Cross shelter, The Church on the Hill is serving as an identification center for families to identify the bodies of loved ones, and Stone Association Disaster Relief teams and other volunteers will assemble at 8 a.m. Wednesday to be dispatched to help communities, Davis said.

The bulk of the damage in Cookeville spanned a five-mile swath from east to west, and “took out a lot of neighborhoods,” Davis told BP.

“I’m super proud of our churches. They’ve come out of the woodwork and responded well,” Davis said. “In the face of tragedy, in the face of loss, we still find a way to come together as people and make sure that we’re identifying with the body of Christ.

“As many churches as we have, that are all different kinds and shapes and sizes, they all want to help each other,” Davis said. “And that is just a blessing to see in our day and age.”

Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief teams responded early, the Tennessee Baptist and Reflector state Baptist paper reported.

Source: Baptist Press

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he talked with a Taliban leader, days after the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement that calls for the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after more than 18 years and provides assurances that the country will not be used to launch attacks on the soil of the United States and or its allies.

“I spoke to the leader of the Taliban today,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn. “We had a good conversation. We’ve agreed there’s no violence. We don’t want violence. We’ll see what happens. … We had actually a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban.”

A short time earlier, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted: “The President of the United States Trump held a phone conversation” with Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

No other details were disclosed.

Acknowledging a military stalemate after nearly two decades of conflict, the United States on Saturday signed a peace agreement with the Taliban.

The deal, signed by chief negotiators from the two sides and witnessed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, could see the withdrawal of all American and allied forces within 14 months and allow Trump to keep a key campaign pledge to extract the U.S. from “endless wars.” But it could also easily unravel, particularly if the Taliban and other factions of Afghan society fail to have successful talks plotting a political way forward for the country.

Copyright 2020 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

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FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — Today, 155,252 people around the world will die lost and enter into a Christ-less eternity, International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood told The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel audience Feb. 27.

Chitwood preached Revelation 7:9-10, wherein John sees a vision of “a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language” standing “before the throne and before the Lamb,” clothed in white robes and praising God. Chitwood explained that, for 2,000 years, “the church has remained on earth for the very purpose of accomplishing this vision.”

“Why would the Lord, who loves His sons and daughters, whom He has adopted into His family, not bring us home to be with Him?” Chitwood asked. “Because there are others. The Lord has left us here for them.

“The Lord has left us here with a mission and with the great confidence that the mission that we undertake can and will be accomplished.”

In addition to Chitwood’s sermon, the chapel service featured the celebration of the one-year anniversary of Adam W. Greenway’s election as the ninth president of Southwestern Seminary. Danny Roberts, who chaired the presidential search committee that selected Greenway and currently serves as vice chairman of the seminary’s board of trustees, recognized and prayed over Greenway at the beginning of the service. He rejoiced that, though “it’s been a great year” and “God has done some amazing things,” “it’s only just begun, and the best days of Southwestern Seminary are out ahead of us right now.”

Following Roberts’ prayer, Greenway invited his wife, Carla, to join him on stage, and he shared that “it has been the greatest year of our married life and of our ministry to have served as your president now for one calendar year.” He added that he could not be president at Southwestern “if not for the president’s wife, Carla Greenway.”

During his sermon, Chitwood analyzed the “who,” “where,” “how,” and “why” of John’s Revelation 7 vision. Chitwood noted that the adjective “every” is significant, for it means that heaven is inclusive — that is, people from across the globe may stand before the throne of God through faith in Christ. This requires carrying the Gospel to the ends of the globe, Chitwood said.

“There is still much Great Commission work to be done. And that’s why you’re here,” said Chitwood. “You’re here because the ‘who’ of the vision are still out there; they’re yet to be reached.”

The “where,” Chitwood said, is before the throne and before the Lamb. As for how people may stand in such a position “clothed in white robes,” Chitwood explained, “That’s the how of salvation.”

Source: Baptist Press

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