Editorial Comment - Oct 10, 2004 - Falling Star or Jesus?

So, the evangelical Christians have hitched their cart to a falling star instead of  to Jesus. Well so it seems. Rev Jerry Falwell is quoted from the Cox News Service as having said, "You cannot be a sincere, committed born-again believer who takes the Bible seriously and vote for a pro-choice, anti-family candidate", expressing confidence in  Bush's victory over Democratic Sen. John Kerry.

But are they taking the example from Jesus? Certainly Jesus  said, "Take up your cross and follow the pro life candidate", didn't He? No, He said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24. Certainly Jesus advocated political activism didn't He? Well, no He didn't. Maybe He thought we had all we could do making sure we followed His example. Maybe He even thought that if we followed His example then we would be an example to others. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

And who have these people taken as their champion on earth? It would appear from Rev Jerry Falwell's statements above that it is George W. Bush. Well then how does he measure up light-wise? He's the war president. He started a war that many thought, and that many still think, was not necessary. Now that too is odd. George W. Bush seems to be confused as to who attacked us on September 11, 2001. It seems he says that we went after Saddam Hussein because Osama Bin Laden attacked us. He couldn't be that confused, could he?

The United States  started a war. And I always had thought we were John Wayne-ish in that we would never start a fight but if someone else did we would certainly finish the fight. That's what we've been doing all through history. We've been the ones that come to the rescue. We were always the hero with the white hat. The bigger than life hero who had the might to put things back in order. But we would never start a fight. Well not until George W. Bush became president.

Who starts fights? Everyone else. but not us. Satan, King George, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and criminals of all types start fights. Well evangelical Christians, what do you think of yourselves for championing a fight starter? Have you ever heard that "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" Matthew 5:9?  But Ecclesiastes 3:8  says there is   " A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace". Jesus later said "And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also" Luke 6:29. That doesn't sound as if Jesus was saying a time for war happened very often.

Then there is the proof we now have that George W Bush got into the National Guard ahead of others who had been waiting in line. That's your champion. Jumping line, that's not Christ like, is it? But that was so long ago. If there wasn't overwhelming evidence that he is the same today I might be convinced that he has changed. What do I mean? Election 2000. It was his people who put a stop to a recount. They said the recounters couldn't get it right anyway. Well if they couldn't get a recount right then why did we place any faith in their first count? It was Bush's people who used the courts to put George W. Bush in power. Thank God the framers of the Constitution were led by God to put the Constitution together in such a way that we could solve such a big problem peacefully. Other countries would have had chaos but we didn't. Long live the Constitution. Don't mess with that thing.

But John Kerry is not anti-abortion. Well who said we were going to appoint him spiritual leader if he wins the election? I don't want John Kerry to be my spiritual leader and I certainly don't want George W Bush to be my spiritual leader. President George W. Bush has been president for almost four years and abortion is still legal. If George W. Bush has acomplished anything it's just that the poor don't get to choose. But then after the last nearly four years the poor don't have much of the little they had going for them previously. But then many of the rest of us don't have it as good as we did four years ago either.

I think I'll get along just fine with Jesus, the Lord God, Jehovah, as my spiritual leader. Mortal men just can't be a suitable spiritual leader. How could they be? As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:10. I guess that means George W. Bush as much as it means John Kerry.

The United States is not a theocracy and was never meant to be. All right, it started to go that way because so many of the first settlers came over here to be able to practice their chosen religion without government interference. But right away the framers of The Constitution put in Article VI, Section 3 to keep the US from  leaning toward theocracy. Further proof that the US was not intended to be a theocracy can be seen in the Treaty of Tripoli. A little known legal document written in the late 1700s explicitly revealed the secular nature of the United States to a foreign nation around 1797. The treaty was written up under George Wasington's presidency (very close to the end of George Washington's presidency), Timothy Pickering, the secretary of state, endorsed it,  John Adams concurred (now during his presidency), sending the document on to the Senate. The Senate approved the treaty on June 7, 1797, and it was officially ratified by the Senate with John Adams signature on June 10, 1797. It became public when it was published in The Philadelphia Gazette on June 17, 1797. It went through multiple reviews before it became official, then was published and it was never required that the statement that was in it, that the United States was not founded upon the Christian religion, be removed. One can be quite certain from that that it was the position of the United States in 1797.

That should be enough to put the question at rest. But I still wonder if we will not still be hearing explanations why what it says is not what it says. Possibly some explanations will be quite outlandish. I don't think the erroneous claim that the US was founded upon Christianity will pass away quietly. Too many are using the idea for their own gain.

10/5/04 John Vernooy