Take Your Stand
Ephesians 6:10-12, “Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil…”
I had fallen in love with Ozark Christian College (Ozark Bible College in 1960). It was far superior to New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Tech. where I had done my undergraduate work in geology. However, I still had a lot of apologetic questions. That spring, OBC announced that a returned home missionary would teach apologetics in the fall. The A and A+ students that were going into this class took a stand; the professor was not qualified; so, Rebecca Wilson (Dean Seth Wilson’s older daughter), Mary Lou Chrisler, Lynn Gardner (to become Dr. Lynn Gardner, teacher of apologetics and dean of the college), Marcia Kay Thomson, others, and myself established our own summer school for Apologetics under the correspondence authority of Johnson Bible (now Johnson University). We caused no little stir, but the summer was successful; we took a stand. We were blessed, and the college responded.
My life has been one of seeking to do the right thing, no matter who I was challenging. I have always voted issues and moral values regardless of the popular opinion. In the 1950s I voted for Stuart Hamblin running on the Prohibition Party. Since then, I have missed very few votes of any kind, voting Democrat, Republican, Independent, and for those some where in between. It has always been the moral issues.
For the past forty years the only difference in the political parties has been a whispered stand by the Republican Party, seeking a precarious near stand against abortion and fetal stem cell experimentation. Bush took a stand for life, but could not verbalize his stand, thus lost ground. The truth, we were all on the cusp of a roaring avalanche, moving at mach one toward certain disaster. I was ready to give up and resign to being aliens in the land of my nativity, resorting to Jeremiah 29, and starting over.
At that point, my nearly lifelong prayer partner, quiet advisor, and antagonist, Melba Jean Pinney, slammed on the brakes and said her view of things. Now, you need to understand, Melba and I have had discussions that filled a 300-mile car trip, then the agreement to finish the discussion on the way home, iron sharpening iron, both learning something. At this time there were sixteen persons running for president on the Republican ticket; the lesser known political figure was billionaire Donald Trump. Melba announced that Donald Trump would win the Republican selection and the election. She said, “Just as in the time of the judges, God selected fighters when he needed a job done, men of other religions he could convert. Israel was in the dumps and needed rescued; we are in the dumps today and need rescued. It will take a fighter; the nice Christian-conservative folks have failed.”
I had learned to politically listen to Melba when we disagreed about Jimmy Carter, a nice Sunday School Southern Baptist teacher. He makes a wonderful Sunday School teacher and home builder for Habitat, but not a wonderful President. So, I listened, I began to read full speeches and position papers, and thrilled with Melba at each victory. I named Donald Trump our junkyard dog that would bite anyone that comes across the fence, brother-in-law or outlaw. I was thrilled as he became an evangelical Christian, yes, a new baby in Christ with a lot of growing up to do, but growing up he is. I have been astounded with what he has accomplished with a large group of the Republicans against him, the majority of the Democratic Party against him, and the vast majority of the national media against him. He has done more in two years to move us back toward the Constitution, done more for Bible Christians than all the presidents in the past fifty years combined.
Yes, he has a wild mouth and tweets. He is our first cultural war time president; he is a fighter. He uses the left’s play book. He is using their tactics from Saul Alinsky’s battle plan that Mrs. Clinton and President Obama and others have used for the past thirty-two years. He, like General Grant and General Patton, is a battlefield fighter, and whether you like it or not, he is using language the Left can understand, and tactics that they have been using, and getting the fighting job done; and we sanctified Christians can put our fingers in our ears.
When Jesus—Angel of the Lord—called pagan Gideon, and Gideon proved who He was; the Lord sent him home to burn the idols in his front yard. Now listening to God, not the crowd, he whipped up on 120,000 enemies with 300 passive soldiers that swung into action and mopped up the remaining enemy.
On the other hand, Samson was from a good Hebrew mama and daddy, did not listen to God, sought crowd popularity, was a moral disaster, and in a vengeance final move, killed more in his death, than in his life.
I have, all my 84 years past, been willing to take a stand, in family, in education, in business and in politics. With some partners I am starting a new publication, The Sons and Daughters of Issachar. I am quoting next the cover pages from the inside cover explanations so you will understand. It will be mailed only upon request. It won’t be popular with right or left ideologists, but for those that want to think and come to reason together, it may be of value.
It is our desire to provide a fair and civil forum for all points of view
on the hot button subjects in Doña Ana County, Santa Fe, New
Mexico, Washington D.C., and all places in between. As we have room
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[…]
Our staff writers age from 20 to 85 years of age. They range in
education from trade school to private accredited colleges, also to
state universities and colleges. Our goal is not to see every issue the
same, rather to seek common ground on the major issues of the day,
and to provide a place of civil dialogue for all to be informed.
Being brave is doing what is right regardless of consequences.
We have come to a time that all too many of our citizens are for a
free and prosperous society as long as they don’t miss a meal or their
favorite ball game. We know better; freedom is not free. It is costly
on the battlefield, at the union hall, or in the church assembly. We are
told in the Bible that “iron sharpens iron, so one human sharpens
another” (Proverbs 27:17 NIV). To do that, we are going to have
differences of opinions. That is because we begin with different
information; we are based on different epistemologies; we have
different goals. The last 40 years our only dialogue has been attack
advertisements in the media, and seeking to shout each other down.
We have resorted in all too many cases to tearing down the
opponents’ political signs, and even attacking them physically. This is
not the way our Democratic Republic was set up.
We have to admit, we have come to troubling times; if one were to
believe the hard right or the hard left, we are about to go to a
disastrous civil war. There are foreigners that are throwing gas on the
conflict. As Isaiah, the prophet of old, said, “COME LET US REASON
TOGETHER” (Isaiah 1:18 KJV), it is our goal to provide a vehicle
where civil and honest discourse can take place; it is my goal that we
will all learn something.
In search of truth.
This decision is dangerous for a founding minister and teaching Pastor of a growing church. The truth is, if the political avalanche to the left is not stopped, there will be no above ground Bible-based church left standing. For the past five years I have taken a moral stand and took political sides in elections, local and national. I have sent certified manuscripts to the IRS. We are not a government welfare church. We pay the local, state, and federal taxes at the hardware store, Wal-mart, or grocery store. We are benefited by community services, and should pay our fair share. The IRS knows the Johnson amendment was totally undefendable in the courts, and have left us, some 5,000 ministers, that have taken a stand, totally alone.
I could at 85, and 70% disabled roll gently into an old folks care center and read and watch television the rest of my years. But, risk taker that I have always been, I want to stay in the game. Even if my preaching sounds like an 85-year-old, I am an 85-year-old. I will stay in the game until the bottom of the ninth, go up at bat, swinging at an outside ball, and come sliding into home all battered and dirty—win or lose. I will take my stand.