Pastor Bob’s Blog

Our public universities trumpet “tolerance,” “diversity,” and “free expression” as core values. Apparently those values do not extend to those who express strongly-held Christian beliefs.

Crystal Dixon has been a human resources leader for twenty-five years.  In May 2008, she was terminated from her job as the interim associate vice president for human resources at the University of Toledo.  What was the terrible transgression that led to her termination?

In April, Ms. Dixon wrote a guest column in the Toledo Free Press.  She was responding to a pro-gay rights editorial entitled, “Gay Rights and Wrongs.”  In the column, Ms. Dixon emphasized that God values all people regardless of their choices, but took umbrage with the assertion that gays and lesbians are “civil rights victims.”  Ms. Dixon wrote that she can not wake up tomorrow as something other than a Black woman, but that many gays and lesbians choose to change, often because of a work of God in their lives.  She wrote that gay and lesbian practices violate God’s divine order.

The response from the president of the University of Toledo was swift.  The president opined that, having expressed her beliefs, Ms. Dixon could not possibly do her job well.  Her opinions, the president concluded, violated the university’s core values.  No doubt had Ms. Dixon written a column deriding Christians as mean-spirited and judgmental towards gays and lesbians, her job would have been secure.

When did our universities break free from the moorings of truth?  How can they call themselves “tolerant” if they censor and deny the free speech rights of people of faith?  How can universities trumpet “diversity” as they shed Christians who express their devotion to the God of the Bible?  And how can they expect to find truth independent of the God of the Bible?

Ms. Dixon has filed suit against the University seeking reinstatement to her position and back pay.  I wish her well, and pray for her success.  Just as she and her ancestors were forced to resort to the courts to protect their civil rights, so she is being forced today to defend her rights as a person of faith who believes in the God of the Bible.  And I applaud her church, End Time Christian Fellowship, and its pastor, Bishop James M. Williams, Sr., for supporting her.

Ms. Dixon has created a web site.  A copy of the letter that led to her dismissal can be found there, as well as her explanation of what has happened since.  http://www.crystaldixon.com/

As Ms. Dixon’s brothers and sisters in Christ, we are injured because she is injured.  Let us pray for her and support her as she perseveres in the Lord’s work.

Yesterday we witnessed one of the marvels of the American republic.  Although they differ on almost every issue of importance, President Bush and President-Elect Obama met to discuss the orderly, peaceful transfer of power on January 20.  It is one of the blessings the Lord has given us, to hand off authority without bloodshed.

Many evangelical Christians are wary of the president-elect.  Some of his vocal supporters pushed an agenda of unrighteousness, and the positions Mr. Obama took during the campaign seemed to mirror that agenda.

I don’t want to minimize the apparent differences we have with his stated opinions on issues of life and righteousness.  We need to be vigilant.  Yet we must also be mindful that God is still on the throne, and His Word says that the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, and that He turns it (the king’s heart) wherever He wills.  (Proverbs 21:1).

We also must be mindful of this admonition:  “You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.”  (Acts 23:5 NKJV).  In that passage, the Apostle Paul had just spoken some strong words to Ananias, not knowing he was the high priest.  The words of Exodus 22:28 leapt to Paul’s lips, just as they should to ours.

Let’s also remember this.  During the years of his ministry, the Apostle Paul was living under the ungodly pagan authority of the Roman empire.  Wickedness in Roman society and among Roman leaders was no less prevalent than it is today.  Yet the Apostle Paul wrote this to the church at Rome, the seat of the empire’s authority:

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.  (Romans 13:1 NKJV).

We have marching orders straight from the Word of God:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  (1 Timothy 2:1-4 ESV).

Let us pray that the Lord turn the president-elect’s heart to rule righteously in the fear of the Lord.  Let us pray that he selects godly counselors.  Let us pray that the Lord give the president-elect and his advisors the wisdom of God.  Let us pray that the Lord give this nation and the church peace, quiet, and prosperity, and that we may live godly and honestly without interference from our government.  Let us pray that in the next four years a revival of the gospel sweep this nation, and that many people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

At all times - first of all - let us pray!  And when we pray, let’s pray in faith, not doubting, but believing we receive.  Pray!

“Pay Attention to Me…My system is stronger than ever.”
Don’t pay attention to or make any plans based on what the media says
or what the politicians say. Stand on My Word in John 16. Pay attention to Me.
I [the Holy Spirit] will obey verses 13-15. I will show you things to come. I will
lead you through troubled times. I already have THE plan for you, and it’s very
good. Follow it. It will not only get you through, it will place you in a very high
place—a rich place—a strong place of victory.
You will have to discipline yourself and be diligent to listen to Me. All the
other voices will have a plan, a word, an idea for your future and security.
Don’t listen to Babylon’s system. It has fallen apart. My system is stronger than
ever. My kingdom is flourishing, and THE BLESSING is the place to be.
Keep your eyes on My Word. Listen to it. It will guide you and I will
perform it. Love Me. Love My people as I have loved you. Walk in it. Love never
fails, and neither does My plan.
Be very cautious to stay completely clean from covetousness. First
Timothy 6:10 must live in the forefront of your thinking. If you will do these
things and continue therein, you will come into your wealthy place. A place
lifted up. A place in Me already planned and prepared for you now. Here. Not
heaven—not yet. But it will seem like heaven right in the midst of all the
trouble, and you’ll be able to reach out to untold numbers of suffering people
with the Good News of the gospel.
I’m coming very soon. Sooner than you think. Keep your eyes on Me and
you’ll get the job done.
—Prophecy delivered by Kenneth Copeland
Oct. 19, 2008

Today in church, one of our college-aged members read Proverbs 24:21- 25 (NKJV), scripture on which he had been meditating for several months in the context of next Tuesday’s election:

My son, fear the LORD and the king;

Do not associate with those given to change;

For their calamity will rise suddenly,

And who knows the ruin those two can bring?

These things also belong to the wise:

It is not good to show partiality in judgment.

He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,”

Him the people will curse;

Nations will abhor him.

But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,

And a good blessing will come upon them.

Change has been a predominate theme in the presidential campaign.  But the passage above instructs us not to associate with those given to change.  Some other translations of that passage use the word “rebellion” instead of change in verse 21.

I will not tell you how to vote.  I will instruct you to pray, ask God to show you how to vote, and vote in light of scripture.  Are you being asked to vote for, and therefore associate with, a candidate who seeks to change this nation from its Judeo-Christian values?  Are you being asked to vote for a candidate who regards as righteous what God has called wicked?

Unless we are firmly tethered to God, we will drift with the natural flow of this world.  As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, though, we are called not to drift with the current, but to swim against it with all our might.

So pray.  Search scripture.  Vote.  And on Wednesday, no matter who wins, begin fervently fulfilling our privilege and obligation from 1 Timothy 2:1-4:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  (Matthew 4:4 NKJV)

Satan tried to tempt Jesus to turn stones into steaming hot loaves of bread to fill Jesus’s hungry stomach.  Jesus denied what his flesh wanted and resisted Satan’s lure by declaring Deuteronomy 8:3.  As we read it today, we need to be reminded that we are to live by God’s Word, and what God finds important, not by “bread alone.”

In the current election, candidates for offices from President to commissioner are emphasizing the economy.  Even Christians have been swept up in making their voting decision based on what they think will benefit their pocketbooks.  That’s bread alone!!  We’re not supposed to be living by bread alone, but by what God values.

If we ignore the candidates’ positions on the sanctity of life, we’re living by bread alone.  If we ignore the candidates’ positions on sin (by other labels), we’re living by bread alone.  If we ignore the candidates’ positions on issues pertaining to the poor, widows, and orphans, we’re living by bread alone.

As those who call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, we need to shake off temptation, crucify our flesh,stop living by bread alone - and start living by God’s Word!

Senator Charles Grassley, though not here, has been mentioned in several of the messages preached here.  For those of you who aren’t aware, Sen. Grassley (R-IA) sent letters to six pentecostal, Word of Faith churches asking very intrusive questions.  Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Creflo and Taffy Dollar, Joyce Meyers, Benny Hinn, Paula White, and Bishop Eddie Long all received letters, each with a different set of questions.  The bottom line in each, though, was the prosperity message each preaches from God’s Word.  Senator Grassley snidely commented that Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, and he didn’t understand why all of these ministries needed jets.

What impresses me is that both the Copelands and Pastor Dollar have acted with such integrity and kept in the love of God throughout all of this.  While we’ve had a few laughs at Sen. Grassley’s expense (come on - Jesus didn’t have the option of using a jet, but he did ride a donkey that had never been ridden before), everyone has been very respectful.

Sen. Grassley says he’s exercising his authority to set tax policy and to oversee the tax code and the benefits it confers on non-profit organizations.  But the First Amendment to the Constitution confers rights on houses of worship, like churches, that do not extend to the Red Cross, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or other 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.

Don’t believe what the news media feed you.  Kenneth Copeland Ministries  is the “dba” (doing business as) of Eagle Mountain International Church.  The church gave extensive, respectful responses to Sen. Grassley’s questions.  However, some of the questions stepped over the rights of the church.  The church and its very experienced legal counsel devised a very fair way to get information to the Senator while still protecting the privacy of the ministry’s information.  In an unprecedented step, John Copeland, the ministry’s CEO, asked the Internal Revenue Service to conduct a church tax inquiry.  Who would do that if they had something to hide?  Only a ministry of integrity would do that.  All of the information Sen. Grassley has requested would be provided to the IRS in a church tax inquiry.  Under a section of the Internal Revenue Code, Sen. Grassley and his committee could get the information from the IRS, review it, and do their tax code oversight and policy functions.

What’s the difference between turning information over to the IRS and turning it over directly to Sen. Grassley’s committee?  Privacy.  If the information goes directly to the committee, it will be made public.  If the committee has to access it from the IRS, the information must be kept private.

Sen. Grassley apparently wants to make the information public.  He’s a politician.  Politicians like to bask in the media limelight.  He wants to try to embarrass a ministry of high integrity.  (Who do you suppose is behind this?  Who steals, kills, and destroys?)

Brother Copeland has made it clear he will go to jail rather than to turn over private information,.  All religious organizations have a stake in this matter, and all should be backing Brother Copeland.  If the Senator can force these churches to disgorge private information, it can do it to any other religious organization - and the constitution will be trampled.

Here’s another thing you won’t read in the media.  This ministry has sown at least 21 airplanes into other ministries.  For those of you who don’t understand the concept of sowing and reaping, that means the ministry gave (and didn’t sell) the airplanes into the other ministries.  The ministry has sown millions of dollars into orphanages, disaster relief, buying people homes and food.  It has supported other ministries that have led millions of people to salvation.  Kenneth Copeland Ministries is an awesome testimony to the goodness of God and the love of God.

Cherie and I sowed into the purchase of the Citation X the Copelands fly around the world preaching the gospel.  We’re thrilled they have it!  When we became aware they were believing for that particular aircraft, our regret was not that they wanted a jet, but that we couldn’t just write a check and buy it for them.

If you want more information, go to www.believersstandunited.com.  And pray!  Pray for the Copelands, the Dollars, and the other ministries affected.  Pray for Senator Grassley, the other members of his committee, and the committee staff.

Even though the Copelands don’t know us from the man in the moon, Cherie and I consider them our spiritual parents, and we love them more than we can express.  We’re so blessed to be their partners, and we’re blessed to have the example they’re setting about how to walk through an attack from the devil.  In this, as in all circumstances, Jesus is Lord!

This morning I read with both sorrow and determination a story on the front page of The Columbus Dispatch.  It reported the results of a large study of religious beliefs held by people in the United States.  The study was conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Society.  What were the results?

Seventy percent of Americans believe there are many paths to eternal life, not just the way of their own belief.  For Christians, that alone should be cause for concern and kindle our desire to evangelize.  What really struck me, though, was that fifty-seven percent of self-described Evangelical Christians also believed the “many paths” deception.  The percentage was higher in mainline denominations.

Jesus couldn’t have made it much clearer.  He told His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  (John 14:6 NKJV).  Jesus didn’t identify several ways.  He said He was the only way.  He told Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  (John 3:3 NKJV).

John was the disciple who had the clearest revelation of the love of God.  He’s the one to whom Jesus entrusted His mother when He hung on the cross.  By the Spirit of God, John wrote this:  “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”  (1 John 4:14-16 NKJV).  Because God loves us, He made one path - Jesus - for us to walk to be saved, to fellowship with Him, to be part of His family.

The great Apostle Paul, by the Spirit of God, gave us the roadmap to God:  “. . . if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  (Romans 10:9 NKJV).

Will all those Christians who believe people can get to heaven without Jesus lose their salvation?  Not if they believe Jesus is the son of God, if they have made Him their Lord, and if they believe in their hearts God raised Jesus from the dead.  No, they’ll make it to heaven.

But if we followers of the Lord Jesus Christ don’t believe what Jesus said, we will not have the fervor to speak the truth to our family, to our neighbors, to our co-workers, and to others who are destined to perish eternally.  It’s so much easier to flow along with the society around us than to swim upstream with the truth.

If we believe people can be saved by being a good person, or by praying to some great universal spirit, or by walking in the woods and experiencing good karma, or by affiliating with a false god, then we relieve ourselves of the pressing business of sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God and making disciples of those around us. If we really love our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, and others we come into contact with, we’ll want to tell them the truth.  We’ll want them to know that without Jesus, they’re lost.  We’ll want them to know that no one is in hell because he’s a bad person, a murderer, a rapist, a liar, a cheat, a drug dealer or user, or an adulterer, any more than anyone is in heaven because he’s a good person, has been faithful to his spouse, did lots of good deeds, took a bath at least once a week, went to church, or prayed to some universal spirit.

No!  As Christians, we’ll want to tell people the good news that God loves them, that He’s not red-in-the-face angry with them, and that the only sin that is keeping them out of the kingdom of God is the sin of rejecting the one way - Jesus.  Once they’ve been born again, and become new creations in Christ Jesus, God will help them break free from their sin and live holy lives - just like He did and does for us.

I can hear it now:  “But that’s so narrow-minded.”  Hey, I didn’t create the universe, I didn’t make the rules, and I didn’t write the Bible.  Jesus Himself said:  “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  (Matthew 7:13-14).

Imagine your dearest friend is drowning, and is being swept along by a rapid river.  You have it within your power to extend a securely fastened vine to your friend.  You cry out to your friend, “Grab the vine and I’ll pull you in.”  But to your horror, your friend bypasses your secure vine to grab a little limb, believing it is as secure as your vine.  The limb gives way, sending your friend to a watery death.  Would it be your fault that your friend didn’t grab your secure vine?  No.  Were you narrow for only offering the vine?  No!  Would you be grieved that the friend perished because he believed that there were many ways to be saved, including an insecure limb?  Yes!

How do you suppose our Heavenly Father feels when so many are lost in the deception that there are many paths to Him - especially when His children believe it and are telling those drowning in their sin that they can grab on to insecure branches instead of the One Secure Vine?

Pastors, we need to do a better job of teaching this to our churches.  Those fifty-seven percent of evangelical Christians and the rest of the Body of Christ need to hear the truth from the pulpit.  Then all of us as believers in the Lord Jesus need to rekindle our passion for souls, to turn the tide of what the Pew Forum study shows.  We need to share the good news!!