Ronnie W. Rogers, “Taking every thought captive…”

Thanksgiving, quite contrary to political correctness and revisionist historians, began as an act of faith and worship by the Pilgrims.

The first Thanksgiving was held in the autumn of 1621 in Plymouth, and it was a celebration of God’s bountiful blessing, which the Pilgrims shared with the Indians.

The Pilgrims’ lives had been characterized by religious persecution and loss of almost all worldly possessions. Many had died during the grueling voyage to the new land, and those that survived faced many more hardships that are so dramatically more treacherous than the difficulties faced by Americans today that we cannot quite grasp the gravity of it except romantically.

Yet, with bountiful food and the freedom to worship God, they gave thanks many times each day, but on this day in a most festive and worshipful way.

Let us not forget: Thanksgiving is an act of worship by God’s people. It is our thankfulness to Him for what He has done and does. Thus from the vantage point of heaven, complaining must be a most sacrilegious act of self-absorption.

This Thanksgiving, celebrate it as an act of faith and worship, fulfilling the will of God. “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Some scientists claim that what one can experience with the five senses is all there is; hence there is nothing outside of the material universe.

But wait a moment. If scientific naturalism is true, nature is all there is, religion is merely an expression of need, want, or a quest for power, and only what can be measured is real, then one needs to ask, why trust the scientist? In order for scientists to practice science, which is not a physical thing, they must be outside the prison of nature with its domineering and unstoppable determinism. (more…)

Since the cultural shift of the 1960s, the driving ideology for cultural change has been to do away with any and all objective moral standards. This has included even cultural mores based upon those objective standards.

For anyone who knows anything about the way things were, these standards were basically drawn from either the implicit or explicit teachings of Christianity. However, the morals du jour have become “everything is an experiment” and standards of right and wrong drawn from the Christian faith are not needed.

So, we lower standards in personal morals, academics, maintaining a common language, requirements for being in the military, fire department, teaching, school and work dress codes, social decorum, distinguishing between adults and children by the use of “sir” or “ma’am”, personal life being considered in job applications, marriage and divorce, etc.

So what caused the banking debacle? First, greed and immorality of those in positions of power, be they the private sector or political. Second, the lowering of standards that have to be met in order to get a home loan.

The devaluing of Christian morals in our society has had and will continue to have an extraordinarily deleterious impact upon all of us. The reason is simple. Our form of government and capitalism both are built upon the Judeo/Christian ethic, without which, government will become more intrusive, gargantuan, and controlling.

By the way, lest you think I am the first to say this, read the following excerpts.

James Madison said, “I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and [who] are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare their unsatisfactoriness by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; and I wish you may give in your evidence in this way.”¹

Thomas Jefferson said, “The practice of morality being necessary for the well being of society, He [God] has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral principles of Jesus and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses.”²

John Quincy Adams said, “In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”³

Congress, U.S. House Judiciary Committee, 1854 declared, “Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle… In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity… That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.”⁴

1. 73. James Madison, The Papers of James Madison, William T. Hutchinson, editor (Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1962), Vol. I, p. 96, to William Bradford on September 25, 1773 [↩]
2. Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Alberty Ellery Bergh, editor (Washington D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XII, p. 315, to James Fishback, September 27, 1809 [↩]
3. John Quincy Adams, An Oration Delivered Before the Inhabitants of the Town of Newburyport at Their Request on the Sixty-First Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1837 (Newburyport: Charles Whipple, 1837), pp. 5-6 [↩]
4. Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives Made During the First Session of the Thirty-Third Congress (Washington: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1854), pp. 6-9 [↩]

Should pastors address political issues and/or the moral and political positions of candidates? The answer from many is a resounding NO! This is particularly true of those who seek to trivialize faith or live contrary to their espoused faith.

Historically, pastors have been very outspoken in critiquing political issues and politicians in light of Scripture.

Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, said that Quakers should not be governors since they were pacifists, because that would undermine the role of government. Historically pastors preached “Election Day Sermons” where they spoke specifically concerning candidate’s views and whether they should be elected

Pastors spoke clearly on the legitimacy of and need for the American Revolution. For example, “The Presbyterian clergy were so effective in preaching the ideals of freedom to our Colonial forefathers that the Presbyterian clergy in those days were called the “Black Brigade” by the political leaders of England.” The “Black Brigade” referred to the black robes they wore when they preached. Jefferson’s election fueled heated debates between the pulpits of the Puritans and Baptists as to whether he would destroy religious liberty or enlarge it.

Pastors have preached and led the charge to abolish slavery and to promote women’s suffrage. The civil rights movement was a Christian movement, and the leaders were primarily preachers, e.g. Martin Luther King Jr. pastored the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama and was co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer lamented the failure of the German Church to publicly refute the sins of the state, and believed that the Church’s silence allowed Hitler’s influence to spread throughout Germany with little or no struggle.

The famed London pastor, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, ” I long for the day when the precepts of the Christian religion shall be the rule among all classes of men, in all transactions. I often hear it said, ‘Do not bring religion into politics.’ This is precisely where it ought to be brought, and set there in the face of all men as on a candlestick.”¹ At home and abroad, pastors have preached messages that addressed the politicians and political issues of their day. Had they not, America might be known as “England North”.

One popular speaker and writer who was a clergyman wrote, “Americans used to roar like lions for liberty, now we bleat like sheep for security!”

1. Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 27 (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1882), 225. [↩]

As a Christian and an American citizen, we owe God and our fellow-citizens to be faithful to vote. Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(Matthew 22:39)

Since we have a representative form of government, one way we show love and mercy to our fellow citizens is by righteous voting; conversely, treating lightly our privilege and responsibility to vote is not loving our neighbor because by not voting, you voted the “I don’t care” ballot.

Righteous voting chooses a candidate based upon his position concerning the non-negotiables. For example, the candidate’s position on the sanctity of life, marriage, family and moral consonance with explicit scriptural teaching trumps any issues of a secondary nature or what he promises to give to those who vote for him.

Voting for a candidate simply because of what he says he will do for you, while he supports babies being exterminated at the rate of approximately 4000 per day through abortion is akin to supporting Hitler because he promised to improve the economy—never mind his fetish with race purification.

To vote is a stewardship, to vote and win is exciting, to vote and lose is a clear conscience, to not vote and complain is hypocrisy and sin. “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”(James 4:17)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, “We are now called upon to exercise one of the privileges and duties which go with liberty, let no man be neglectful in it. Every God fearing man should give his vote with as much devotion as he prays.”¹

1. Lewis A. Drummond, Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1992), 521. [↩]