Huckabee on a Roll

~ fundyreformed ~ 5 Comments

Even if you didn’t watch the 2nd Republican Presidential Debate on May 15th, you might have heard about former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s line of the night: “We’ve had a congress that spent money like John Edwards in a beauty shop.”

Sure the line was funny, and it got the biggest laugh of the night. But more importantly, it has helped Huckabee generate some steam in his push to become a viable candidate worthy of winning the Republican nomination.

Huckabee has shined in both of the recent Republican debates. His performance in the second debate has attracted considerable media attention and praise. Some claim he is on the verge of breaking into the top tier of Republican candidates. Time’s Joe Klein, in a recent blog (HT: Mike Huckabee President 2008) claims that Mike Huckabee is out-performing Sam Brownback in “the battle of the religious conservatives”. Excepting the far-out Ron Paul and the current top 3 candidates (Guliani, McCain, and Romney), Klein contends that Huckabee (of the remaining 6 debate participants) is the most likely to survive.

Just this week, former South Carolina Governor David Beasley joined the wife of his predecessor, the late Carroll Campbell Jr., in endorsing Mike Huckabee for president.

There’s only one problem for Huckabee. Money. He started his exploratory committee relatively late (January) and has been playing catch-up ever since. Perhaps some of the big time donors wonder if he could win the general election. Despite his staunch conservatism, I sincerely feel he can. He appeals to young voters (just watch these University of SC students rave about Huckabee during Foxnews.com’s live webcast of the debate). And even has a significant appeal across party lines (see his interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, showcased here).

Well, by now you’ve guessed it. I’m making a plug for you all to join me in financially contributing to Huckabee’s campaign. You don’t need to contribute a lot, just contribute! Explorehuckabee.com is pushing for 400 contributions over the next 4 days (96 hours). Help Huckabee reach that goal and do a small part in ensuring a sound conservative is the next Republican nominee.

One more thing, I should stress that I am not usually so political in this blog. I don’t foster a hope that politics can “save America”, necessarily. As a Christian, I am more concerned with Christ’s kingdom than our republic, and I don’t think the two are synonymous. But Huckabee seems to me to be an unusual politician. He does not spiritualize America or the presidency, but he aims to do what is right (as a Christian should) were he to be elected. I can get behind that idea. I hope you can too.

Why Go to Church?

~ fundyreformed ~ 13 Comments

I’m back. We returned from a grueling 3000 mile road trip last week. It was fun, but left me worn out. I need a vacation from my vacation!

I realize I haven’t been keeping up with the blog all that much in the past few weeks. I hope to pick the plow back up this week. Unfortunately, when I returned I found out that my sidebars had vanished. Just the WordPress default sidebars are showing, all my customizations just disappeared. Hopefully I’ll be able to restore them soon.

On our trip (we drove to Pensacola, FL to see my sister-in-law graduate, and then to North Canton, OH to visit my brother’s family and my mom), we couldn’t help but notice this unusual sign on Interstate 65 a few miles north of Montgomery, AL.

This sign raises a question: why do we go to church? I, for one, don’t think the answer given on the sign is theologically correct. Before I explain my thoughts, perhaps some of my readers (assuming I still have any…) would like to weigh in on what is wrong with this sign. Or maybe you agree with its basic premise. Please, join the conversation. I’ll be posting my thoughts on this later today or else tomorrow.

Update: Here are my thoughts concerning the sign above:

My beef against the sign is that it seems to imply that one earns brownie points for going to church. If you don’t get those points, you become vulnerable to the Devil. Now it is highly probable that if one is not going to church they also are vulnerable to the devil’s attack, but such is not a direct cause and effect relationship.

Salvation from the devil comes by grace. It is only because of Jesus and His work on the cross that we have a hope of standing against the devil. Going to church and living obediently does not earn us anything. It can provide for greater assurance, and it witnesses to the genuineness of our salvation. If obedience is lacking we should have cause to doubt the legitimacy of our salvation. But in all of this we are to trust in Christ more.

Trusting and believing in Jesus is how we overcome the devil. It is true that he is seeking to devour us and is very real. The way to fight him, however, is not to grit our teeth and determine to go to church more often. Instead it is to find our hope and faith in Jesus and fly to Him for refuge.

Going to church should be something us believers LOVE to do. We should want to meet God and find more grace in the assembly of believers. We go to church because God wants us to (Heb. 10:25), and we want to obey and please Him.

Our hope should not be that we are religious people who go to church. It should not be that we have DONE anything, not good works, baptism, church membership, or even doing the “sinner’s prayer”. Our hope should be that Jesus DID it all for us, and he has caused us to love and trust Jesus alone for our only hope of salvation.

I am sure the people responsible for the sign have every good intention. I have nothing against them. I just think such a sign obscures the gospel message. If you are unsure of what the Biblical gospel is, or if you have been trusting in your own efforts to ward off Satan, please take time to follow the links near the top of my right sidebar, under the title “Good News”.

Thanks to all for the excellent interaction in the comments concerning the question “Why Go to Church?”

A Letter from the Church of Smyrna

~ fundyreformed ~ 1 Comment

I want to briefly encourage you all to read a letter from the modern-day Church of Smyrna. The letter speaks of recent persecution: a German missionary, a local Turkish  pastor and another Turkish Christian were martyred for Christ.  

Read the letter. Be challenged to pray for the persecuted church around the world. Be encouraged to see that God is presently at work redeeming a people for His name from every tongue and tribe. Be convicted of the importance of the gospel. And be shamed for your lack of dedication and committment to the cause of Christ.

May God turn our rightful shame into a determination to risk all for Jesus Christ and for the spreading of the Gospel to all peoples.

Hiatus

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

As you can see, friends, I’ve been on a brief hiatus from my blog. I don’t get paid much for doing this, so every once in a while, I give myself some time off.

I plan on finally posting my review of O. Palmer Robertson’s book The Christ of the Covenants next week. I won’t promise I will return to the KJV Only Debate series until mid-May, as we will be going on a week and a half-long trip starting next Sunday.

Sorry for the news, I know you all hang on my every word…. Not likely!! If you’re starved for reading material, however, feel free to follow what I’ve been reading in the blog-o-sphere by keeping close attention to the “My Blog Finds” section on the left near the top of my sidebar. You can also go to this link, to see more of the blog-posts I’ve enjoyed lately.

Blessings from the Cross of Jesus be on all of you.

Bob