Abortion is Not the Only Issue to Control Voting

Posted on 14 October 2024 by Seth Meyers

It is a habit that needs to end to say that my vote is controlled by whether a candidate supports the murder of babies. This morning while working on visa papers again, I listened to a discussion from 4 pastors about voting. As I listened, I immediately thought of pastors that I know who have spoken about politics. Several come to mind who had advanced degrees and yet were reticent to openly support Trump. On the other hand, three, faithful, honorable pastors that I can think of who had little formal training, were all happy to support Trump openly.

In the discussion linked to above, the main issue that was discussed was abortion. And I can understand that. Many times as a kind of shorthand, I have communicated to Africans that I could not support Barack Obama because he encouraged the murder of children. I have said that I could never support baby murder.

There may, however, be other issues that we should consider even though abortion is certainly an important matter. In our world, there are always—and only—tradeoffs. When I spend a morning opposing abortion, I cannot spend the same time writing my Sunday sermon. If I send $50 to Prager U for their excellent videos, I cannot send that same money to Ted Cruz for his campaign.

1. Living child mutillation

Trans gender surgeries are child mutilation whereby their bodies are permanently damaged. Some politicians support this grotesque and demonic practice and force the citizens to pay for it. And the entire society is catechized that they should begin to accustom themselves to this. Ought we not to consider child mutilation when we vote? This was not a concern because no one had pressed depravity to this level 50 years ago, but it is something which we must consider now when we vote.

2. Safety from murder

Politicians can protect their citizens by maintaining the police and punishing crime. However, some politicians promote pro-criminal, anti-victim, and anti-citizen policies. Illegal aliens kill many citizens every year. Should those lives be considered when voting? It is a terrible sin to kill a baby, but what about killing an adult? Laken Riley was a young adult American citizen murdered by an illegal alien who was allowed to enter the country because of evil policies. Shouldn’t we vote to protect her as well as the unborn baby? My pro-life voting does not end with the unborn, but with college students as well, and I have reason to believe that a Trump presidency will save many more lives .

Illegal aliens allowed to enter the US by evil policies have hurt American citizens very badly. Compare the crime of illegals during the last 8 years in this government chart remembering that the first 4 columns were under Trump and the last four under Harris.

Conviction Type20172018201920202021202220232024
Assault, Battery, Domestic Violence6925242992081,1781,1421,254991
Burglary, Robbery, Larceny, Theft, Fraud595347184143825896864626
Homicide, Manslaughter332360622927
Illegal Drug Possession, Trafficking1,2498714493862,1382,2392,0551,414
Sexual Offenses1378058156488365284202

American citizens were murdered 20 times more by non-citizens during Harris’ term. Why don’t we hear strong, dogmatic concern for those lives? And that is only murders—think of the horrific numbers of child rape, beating, and drug use! Do these lives have no value to be neglected when godly pastors speak of the Christian’s duty?

3. Safety from war

If there is an active war at the time of an election or the credible threat of a looming war, voters ought to consider the lives that have been lost or might be lost. Judging from the likely factors, it seems that the terrorist attack on Israel would not have happened on 7 October 2023 had Donald Trump been the president. Should we not love our neighbors by considering the 13 Americans murdered by the democrat withdrawal from Afghanistan? Those lives would not have been lost had we voted in a better candidate. There is good reason to think that the lives lost in the Ukraine war would have been saved had Trump been president. Why not consider those lives, godly pastor, when you counsel your people regarding voting?

When considering the US elections next month, it seems likely that other lives will be lost in conflicts with China, Korea, Iran, Russia, and Turkey if Trump is not the US president. Why is protection for these lives not a clear factor in a pastor’s counsel to his people? War kills not only soldiers, but civilians, and not only lives but budgets. Historically, it makes missionary service difficult and commonly stunts the growth of Christianity. Is it not good to vote so that peace will be maintained?

4. Protection of America

What other country was founded on an idea? What other country has done so much for liberty? What other country saved so many other countries by itself in World War I and again in World War II and again in the fight against communism?

What other country has given the world so many inventions like cars, laptops, and cell phones? What other country invests so many billions of dollars to build companies around the world and lift its people out of the dirt? What other country is changing the world year by year with technology?

What other country is followed by every other country with courts who balance the president? What other country teaches the world about free speech? What other country brings justice to all its citizens as equal before the law?

What other country sends out so many evangelists? What other country sends so many dollars to poor pastors around the world? What other country has helped with hospitals and schools through its citizens’ lives and gifts?

America is unique. She deserves gratitude and respect from every Christian. Muslims recognize this when they hate America, but yet are still drawn there by all her benefits. When pastors talk about voting, they ought to remember that it is a Christian duty to preserve such a signal providence as God showed on the world in 1776.

Every poor pastor getting some of the $12 million per year from HeartCry missionary society ought to be thanking God and publicly supportive of America. Every convert from an American missionary ought to pray for the protection of that country. Every US missionary making his salary from American believers ought to thank God for his passport and pray for America to flourish. Every US pastor who leads a middle class life because his members can pay him should stand up for the national anthem.

Specifically, Harris has pulled men from all around the world into America illegally diluting the laws, language, and culture and is aiming to make them a new electorate. Either she is incompetent to realize that she is on course to destroy America, or she demonically hopes to do so.

In elections in the USA, men should consider whether a candidate will make America great or diminish her divinely given torch. Will a candidate protect religious freedom so that we can teach all that Jesus commanded, guard free speech so that we can speak against perversion, and preserve an economy that shoulders nearly all the world’s mission works? Are these small things to be neglected?

5. Protection of private property

It is a sin to steal, yet many candidates run on a platform of promoting theft by increasing taxes and giving out other people’s money. This is a sin even though murder is a greater sin. Since Christians use their money to pay pastors, build church buildings, finance seminaries, publish books, translate Bibles, print literature, open schools, and send missionaries, we must not neglect to vote on the economy.

Yes, abortion deserves more attention than the economy, but even that must be measured. Murdering a baby who was born alive is even worse than murdering a baby at week 30 which is itself worse than taking an abortion pill when the child is 4 weeks old. How can we compare saving one baby’s life with losing 5,000 troops in war? As long as we are on the earth, we must make trade off’s between doing one good thing and avoiding another good thing.

Though we ought to vote to save the lives of unborn babies, it is not safe to say that abortion is the only issue on which to vote. Further, men who forget the evil of Roe v. Wade and the strength of character Trump showed to get his Supreme Court nominees seated, are ungrateful. I remember praying for years that God would overturn that abominable 1973 decision. America and the pro life cause are better because a president appointed judges who made the right call in 2022.

We should not struggle with this: It is a sin to support Harris with a vote or money. And it is particularly bad judgment not to see all the other lives and precious things that must be protected along with the lives of unborn babies.

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8 Proofs and 12 Descriptions of Christian Hatred

Posted on 11 October 2024 by Seth Meyers

Hatred is a Christian duty. Our Lord was chosen because He hated iniquity (Heb. 1:9). Believers hate even the spots of sin on their robes of righteousness. Twice Jesus said His disciple must “hate his life in this world” (John 12:25 and Luke 14:26). Repentance is hatred. The Baptist Confession of 1689 says that as God hates (2.1), so must the Christian (15.3).

What should we hate?

  1. We ought to hate what brings the most hateful end.

Sin brings us to eternal wrath and torment (Rev. 21:8, 27). There is no language in Scripture more extreme than the descriptions of the end of the wicked. Such terms are fierce and heavy, and yet it is only sin that justifies such heavy terms. Evil men will immediately hate the sentence of eternal condemnation when it is finally realized by them. But it is sin only and always that will bring, has brought, and must bring this result. Therefore, sin should be hated by all the wise right now.

  1. We ought to hate what opposes the most beautiful end.

Proposition #1: Sin defiles the glory of God.
Proposition 2: The glory of God is most beautiful.
Conclusion: Therefore, sin defiles that which is most beautiful.

Proposition #1: Sin defiles that which is most beautiful.
Proposition #2: Whatever defiles the most beautiful should be hated.
Conclusion: Therefore, sin should be hated.

Proposition #1: Sin should be hated because it defiles God’s beauty.
Proposition #2: God’s beauty is only defiled by sin.
Conclusion: Therefore, sin only should be hated.

  1. We ought to hate that which has brought the most pain and destruction in history.

Only sin is responsible for the pain of history. In the last book of John Milton’ Paradise Lost, an angel shows Adam prophetically what will happen in the future because of his sin. It is a long and terrifying catalogue of the murders, heartbreak, wars, and demonic activity. This long story of the earth is a continuous saga of sin and its effects.

Sin made Satan from a glorious, holy angel. Sin introduced the mind-numbing, false religions that have trapped the world’s populations in ignorance and poverty. There would be no conflict in any story without sin. And the reason we want a happy ending is that the sin of the story will finally be set right. If you like good stories, then you know instinctively that sin should be hated.

  1. We ought to hate what the evil love before all else.

The men in Sodom were struck blind, but then, in their blindness, in the face of a miracle, they tired themselves searching for the door to the house which they were kept from finding if in any way even in their defeated condition, they might pursue and fulfill their passion for sin.

Evil men are addicted to sin. All their conclusions are bound up in it. Freud thought sexual desire controlled men, and Marx thought greed, yet they are both partly right, and totally wrong. Their theories seem plausible to academics today because it is so palpably obvious that men have an unstoppable urge for fulfilling their desires in sinful ways.

Sinners drink iniquity (Job 15:16), and they devour it like a lion takes raw meat (Pro. 19:28). They think it is a dessert to enjoy (Job 20:12), and they make it the goal of their lives (Hos. 4:8).

Old tastes for sin pass away, and all his tastes become new when a man is born again.

  1. We ought to hate what the best have rightly hated.

The Son of God hated sin, and this was one of the reasons the Father chose Him for the mission of Redemption (Heb. 1:9 cf. Ps. 45:7).

David hated every sinful thing (Ps. 101:3; 119:104, 163).

The prophets reference their hatred for sin repeateddly. (Ezek. 35:6; Hos. 9:15; Zech. 8:17; et. al.)

Ralph Venning wrote 300 pages trying to stir men to hate sin. John Bunyan does the same in his The Holy War where individual sins have names and the heroes must kill them one by one.

The best Christians, those who saw revival, those whom God used, those who converted many, those who wrote the songs that strengthen us today, all hated sin.

  1. We ought to hate what has harmed the highest good of those we love.

Do we love our children if we let some great danger live near to them and grow among them? And when they are ravaged by it and cry out under its effects, do we have any love if we do not despise the cause of their suffering? If we do not look for the dangers that will come to them and hate that thing, are we in any way good parents? True love must have some hate in it.

When vile beasts were attempting the greatest outrages on my dear family in 2014, I thank God that He helped me to burn against them in righteous anger. How much more then will we not hate the sin that would eternally murder our little children and happy wives?

  1. We ought to hate what we have been expressly commanded by God to hate.

The Bible tells us to hate this one thing and only this thing.

Hate evil, you who love the LORD. Psalm 97:10

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil. Proverbs 8:13

Hate evil, love good. Amos 5:15

Abhor what is evil. Romans 12:9

What more do we need than a word from the Lord?

  1. We ought to hate what our best and most natural impulses tend to hate.

Man’s nature is dead in sin, blind to sin, and bent to desire evil. And yet deep in the soul of every man lies still the image of God such that some evils when conceived appear immediately loathsome and vile unless by long practice, he has become accustomed even to these grotesque actions.

How does this fit with the fourth point above? Simply that men are inconsistent because of sin itself. The common grace of God’s image makes us all naturally hate some sins while at the same time secretly opposing our own best interests and judgments. Sin alone brings inconsistency, but from the beginning it was not so. The remnants of that original beauty speak through our consciences and tell us so that we all truly know sin is the sole object worthy of hatred.

How can we describe the hatred of sin that we ought to feel?

  1. We ought to hate sin urgently by running from both sin and temptation to it.
  2. We ought to hate sin constantly day by day in a repeating schedule.
  3. We ought to hate sin consistently with every other duty and grace.
  4. We ought to hate sin carefully by examining our motives, impulses, and responses.
  5. We ought to hate sin simply without regarding circumstance, personality, or culture.
  6. We ought to hate sin publicly by condemning it with words.
  7. We ought to hate sin verbally by confession of it.
  8. We ought to hate sin comparatively by the holiness of God and His Son.
  9. We ought to hate sin fearfully by reviewing divine judgments and our own history of failure.
  10. We ought to hate sin ultimately by seeing it as the cause of the cross.
  11. We ought to hate sin logically by searching through each category of our lives.
  12. We ought to hate sin wisely by anticipating where it might lurk or trap us.

Only one thing should hated because God’s hatred is very simple. But hating sin is hard and exhausting and will bring many others—even Christians—to conflict with you. Be strong in the Lord to hate sin and only sin.

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The Purpose of Missionary Suffering

Posted on 9 October 2024 by Seth Meyers

The church at Corinth is about 5 years old, when Paul writes his first letter to them. A few months later, news reaches him that the believers have listened and obeyed. So he pulls out his pen again to encourage and comfort them. The first chapter of his second letter to the Corinthians uses the word “comfort” more than anywhere else in Scripture.

But this morning, I saw something surprising.

Paul is about 55 years old. He has planting churches for about 8 years and has seen 12 or more churches planted. But he has also suffered, and he tells us about it 4 times in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11; 4:8-11; 6:3-10; and 11:23-28. While he was in Corinth, sinners cursed him, took him to court, and beat one of his converts (Acts 18:1-17). And of course, he was greatly discouraged so much that he wanted to leave the city and perhaps mission work entirely.

When he writes 2 Corinthians, at the very beginning, he shows that all of his suffering as a missionary is intended by God to produce true faith in the hearts of those on his mission field.

And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: 2 Corinthians 1:6

The purpose that should motivate a missionary to go through his pain and hardship is the spiritual comfort and ultimately the salvation of the natives to whom he is bringing the gospel. And when the missionary sees the new converts taking strength from his example, that produces even more ability to endure on and on.

What does a missionary suffer?

  1. Learning an undeveloped language—Many missionaries experience some or all of these: no language school, no Bible, no dictionary, no internet videos, no songs, no vast vocabulary.
  2. Increased crime—Paul the apostle experienced crime because he was a churchplanter, and many missionaries put themselves in higher risk areas because of their calling.
  3. Being lied to over and over resulting in wasted time, temptations to bitterness and anger, and sometimes theft or injury.
  4. Working with governments for visas and land ownership—Unfeeling bureaucrats make life very stressful for missionaries often by their simple incompetence and apathy.
  5. Very small ministries—A church might meet for years with less than 10 people, for example: 2 grandmas, 4 youth, 2 women, and 1 man with no husband and wife units.
  6. Rejection and apathy in evangelism—The despair that comes from being constantly rejected, mocked, or ignored feels like staying awake for a week without sleep.
  7. Unusual diseases and inferior medical care—This can be a very heavy weight especially for the mother.
  8. Living far from family—help with child birth, phone calls in the same time zone, more frequent visits, sympathy of shared cultural experiences.
  9. Unique conflicts with other Christians—From supporters, to converts, to friends, interpersonal tension can be very stressful.

The list does not include beating, poverty, and famine like Paul because those are not so common in the modern world though some certainly experience this as well.

The great insight that struck me today was that all these hardships endured with manly grace and kindness show to the new converts the nature of Christianity in such warm and lively colors that they too find faith kindled in their hearts. We suffer for their salvation, not to remove the Father’s wrath, but our suffering persuades them to the truth of the doctrines we have preached.

Sixteen days ago, I received a voice note from a first generation Tsonga believer saying that after watching the life of a missionary he had learned what true Christianity is. I think that is what Paul is saying, and I had never seen it before.

In other words, Missionaries endure every hardship for the sake of the elect so that they might be saved.

Posted in Missions | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Ernest Creux: Missionary to the Tsongas

Posted on 3 October 2024 by Seth Meyers

The Swiss Mission to the Tsongas

  1. In Switzerland in 1861, a 16 year old man named Ernest Creux devoted himself to be a missionary.
  2. Matt. 24:14 convicted him: This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
  3. His dear friend Paul Berthoud agreed to go with him.
  4. The church decided to send them to Africa, and the easiest way to enter at that time was through the Cape.
  5. At 26 years old, Creux arrived in Lesotho. Nine months later, Paul joined him.
  6. 1873, Creux and Berthoud depart from Lesotho and travel to Limpopo.
  7. At this time, cannibalism was still practiced among both the Tsonga and Venda peoples after victory in a war.
  8. There were no schools, no Bibles, no shops, no churches, and no clothing (or very little).
  9. Further, the black slave trade was still active with black chiefs trying to buy guns from the white men with black slaves stolen from other tribes.
  10. They purchase a farm to use as a mission station, and name it Valdezia after their home town, Vaud.
  11. Hundreds of years earlier, the Waldensians lived in area where France, Italy, and Switzerland joined.
  12. In French they were called the Vaudois—and their descendants brought the gospel to the Tsongas.
  13. 1876, The first Tsonga believer: Lydia Sehlumula.
  14. The two missionaries were both imprisoned for 6 weeks by the British government because it was afraid their preaching would stir up political trouble.
  15. 1875, Ernest’s little girl dies.
  16. 1879, Paul’s wife and little girl dies.
  17. Within four weeks of April alone (presumably 1879), each family lost two more children.
  18. Example: In 1835 alone, 30 of 78 missionaries sent to West Africa died within one year.
  19. 1879, Paul Berthoud returns to Switzerland broken in health and family.
  20. The record in Tsonga records that “the love these men had for the black people was greater than the love which they had for themselves.”
  21. One Tsonga believer stood at the grave of the children as they were being buried: “You have passed my parents in love for me. These graves will judge anyone who rejects the the doctrine of God [that you have brought.]”
  22. Circa 1880, Creux purchases the farm named Elim in hopes that the sicknesses will be less severe.
  23. 1882, Chief Njhakanjhaka at Elim declared that the people could learn from the missionaries if they wanted to.
  24. Before the end of 1882, the church in Elim was sending out Tsonga men to preach in other villages.
  25. After 10 years of work among the Tsongas: 5 churchplants; 180 baptized members; 350 in attendance each Sunday; 1-2 missionaries.
  26. Compare this with the German missionaries working 50 kilometers away among the Vendas: 184 church members after 10 years; 326 after 20 years; 4-5 missionary couples.
  27. 1884-1889, Creux, his wife, and four other children return to Switzerland.
  28. Creux commonly wrote songs in Tsonga for the churches, at least 72.
  29. 1898, 3,000 people gather for the 25th anniversary of the missionaries.
  30. At this celebration, Chief Njhakanjhaka broke down and testified publicly that God had humbled him and made him to believe.
  31. 1902, Creux left Elim to be stationed in Pretoria at 57 years old.
  32. There in Pretoria he opened churches for the lepers and other terminally ill Africans until he was 79.
  33. His tomb stone reads: “For 53 years a missionary and a father in God to the Native Peoples.”
  34. His wife passed away after him in 1932.
  35. The Tsonga Bible was first translated in 1907, and it was revised in 1929, the year of Creux’s death. It is this translation that we still use today.
  36. The Swiss missionaries continued to come and join the team. They published the Bible, wrote a song book, developed Tsonga grammars, started schools, and opened a hospital.
  37. But Satan was active at the same time. The final chapter of the Swiss mission is a fulfillment of the warning in 1 Timothy 4:1.
  38. They joined the liberal World Council of Churches. Some of their missionaries taught evolution and the social gospel (see Junod’s two volume anthropology).
  39. The change was so complete that a Tsonga man and member of the Swiss Church in 2013 attacked the missionaries as rude, aggressive, thieving, brutal, selfish, fierce, hypocritical, treacherous, money-loving tricksters. (And that is only the first 3 pages of his 16 page attack on the missionaries and Christianity.) Halala, “Matimu ya EPCSA”
  40. Though they gave us the Bible, I have found very few Christians–born again, Bible readers–among the Tsongas.

Lessons

  1. Jesus calls us to sacrifice our lives and even our families for the evangelization of the lost.
  2. Men do not easily leave their religion. They will pretend to be Christians in order to get some benefit. But it is rare that they are prepared to leave their culture, way of life, beliefs, and sinful habits.
  3. Many good beginnings slip into apostasy after time.
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5 Reasons Every Christian Should Vote for Trump

Posted on 1 October 2024 by Seth Meyers
  1. The unique strengths of America ought to be protected.

America sends out the most missionaries by far of any country in the world. Practically speaking, its wealth and freedom are two major reasons why the churches are able to devote so much energy to missions. Of course, He who sits in the Heavens can raise up missionaries from an impoverished realm of men dwelling in huts. But it has not been so in history, and we ought not to count on miracles to save us from poor husbandry of such a great gift to the modern church as America’s believers.

Every missionary-loving Christian should rejoice at the prosperity of America, but that is not all. Its emphasis on freedom of speech and equality under the law has influenced many governments around the world in a more Biblical, humane direction. The best books and the best publishing houses are largely coming from the USA. The strongest opposition to Islamic terrorism comes from the USA.

Yes, good things can come from hard times, and perhaps that is God’s sovereign will for the future of the country that has sent more missionaries and planted more churches than any in 2,000 years. But Paul told Timothy to pray that citizens might live a quiet, peaceful, godly, and honest life. Trump is by far the better path to such a life, and so it is a Christian duty not only to pray for such a life, but to vote as well.

  1. The other side is uniquely evil.

As if it were only a small beginning to rejoice in sodomy, the democrats now press on to overcome every distinction of male and female. Democrats try to force women to accept men in their bathrooms, schools, sports, prisons, and meetings. They despise Biblical manhood and spit on the gentle beauty of femininity. Not being content to teach society, they would codify this evil in numerous, binding laws.

In their eyes it is a sin to place any restriction on the murder of babies. Their leaders take smiling photos in the deadly offices of Planned Parenthood. They give money to such abortion mills. They are not shocked at murdering even those little ones who have been born alive. Though they hate freedom in the best sense, they promote freedom from the consequences of their own wicked lifestyles.

The democrats despise America, and every Christian should ask themselves, Why? They have no regard for her Constitution, but instead choose judges that would rewrite, overlook, and contradict it. They give police powers to non-citizens, open the doors for illegal aliens to vote, and force through unjust taxation the honest citizens to pay for food, medicine, and education for criminals. They have opened the borders and dangled carrots in front of the rest of the world to rush in so that the culture can be diluted as quickly as possible. When criminal invaders murder, rape, and steal from the citizens, the democrats are quick to overlook or even pay for their legal deliverance. And of course, these illegals are being allowed to vote which will change all future elections. Many times elections are decided by 100,000 or fewer votes, and already 15-20 million illegal invaders have been let in. Even Elon Musk can see this now.

The democrat nominees for judges are almost all extremely leftist. They let rapists go free, charge fathers with non-crimes, attack masculinity and femininity, and overthrow the rule of law. The Biden nominees are almost every one anti-law, anti-Christian, and anti-victim. The destruction of the judiciary is an attack on the rule of law.

Paul Kengor in his excellent books on communism has showed again and again how communism regroups after each defeat to come back in a stronger, more virulent form. This most violent of all ideologies is surging into the ears of students by the promotion of the democrats. It has now reformed like a nightmare demon into Cultural Marxism whereby the politicians, educators, masters of technology, and media personalities are dominated by it. Generally, conservatives start businesses because their focus is on their families and churches. But if your life is not structured around family and church, then you will devote yourself to entertainment or “great causes” such as restructuring society. The democrats are mastered by communism in this form (if you doubt this at all, check the linked historical paper), and it is such a sin for a Christian to support this idea that it calls their Christianity into question.

But this is not all. Though no wars were started from 2016-2020, there is now a war in Ukraine and Israel. John Milton imagined in the last book of Paradise Lost how evil is the action of war. Who can fathom it? War is such a terror that we must search every possible way out of it unless there is no other way. The democrats and a majority of the republicans, however, start wars in nearly every term. Let us not forget how terrible it is for a young man’s life to be ended in a bomb blast. Very few wars in the world ought to have been fought; nearly all are unjust and evil. America could have an influential effect on peace around the world, but a vote for the democrats in 2024 is a vote for the deaths of many young men, not only from our citizens but from the militaries of other countries.

Though the list of evils promoted by the big-government, globalist, leftist regime could go on, I come lastly to theft. Inflation, unjust taxation, most government spending, grants to poor people, inefficient laws, federal control of medicine, wasteful lawsuits, international aid to foreign countries, foolish wars, university subsidies, unbalanced budgets, and the majority of the salaries of government workers are all kinds of stealing. The democrats promote these, and their combined effects reduce the wealth that believers have available to train their children, send missionaries, build churches, and support Bible translations. Satan comes to steal, and his children are known by this family birthmark.

I am not saying, “This is the most important election of our lives!” No, I am saying that in this election of November 2024, these evils are uniquely seen on one side more than on the other, and much more than in times past.

  1. There is a unique alignment of hatred toward him.

Between evil men and good men lies a mutual abhorrence as king Solomon observed in Proverbs 29:27. Who hates Trump? The democrats call him Hitler and tried already to assassinate him more than once. They impeached him twice groundlessly even after he left office. The hoaxes about Russia and Ukraine were both proven false years after they were raised at great expense to the taxpayers and the candidate, yet there has been not only no apology, but a constant assembly line of more. He has been sued in four different courts without basis. His home was illegally raided by armed government officials. The Department of Justice, the FBI, the CIA, and now even the Secret Service have all been shown to have employees with influence who tried to attack him. The director of the FBI publicly doubted that he was shot in the face though the entire world saw it. Joining all these government assets, the worst republicans have refused to support him as well. The government that the Founding Fathers warned us about hates Trump.

The main stream media such as the most popular television channels have given more than 90% negative coverage to the 100% positive coverage of Harris. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and most other newspapers who delight in taxation, abortion, sodomy, and cultural Marxism seethe with hatred at Trump. The press hates Trump.

He was banned from Twitter, FaceBook, and YouTube meaning the masters of technology are against him. Google searches raised false and evil stories about him, burying positive statements. Amazon’s Alexa will not say anything positive about him, and books that praise him have had their covers changed or their distribution limited.

In general, the more unchristian a group’s stance is, the more likely that group will hate Trump. When all the devils of Hell direct their attacks on a single enemy, you are generally safe in supporting him.

  1. His policies and previous administration are generally consistent with Christianity.

What Christian could disagree with his 20 policy positions?

Close the border—In other words, he will oppose multiculturalism. There is a meaning to American culture and American citizenship is the gateway to full membership in that culture. Currently, citizenship is being offered to large numbers of people who do not share the language, the work ethic, or the commitment to law. And many of them are drug dealers, child traffickers, and violent criminals.

Lower taxes—Since any unbiblical tax is theft, lower taxes almost always glorify God. Trump respects private property.

Relative international peace—One of the greatest achievements of his first term is simply refraining from wars. Tucker Carlson mentioned that the international policy of America controls the politicians because there is so much money involved in war. Trump was a good president because he allowed no money to be stolen for unjust wars, and no lives to be lost on the same—the first president in many years.

Stop the government attacks on US citizens—Since the democrat party is now controlled by men who want to reshape American culture away from its Christian roots, then they want to frighten those who hold to traditional values by arresting law abiding citizens. Trump will stop this at least for his term.

Election integrity—There is no good reason to use computers for voting or to have voting extend multiple days. Trump has promised to introduce legislation or an executive order for something so important and obvious as same-day, citizen-only, paper-ballot elections.

Stop transgender insanity—Trump will issue an executive order to stop men from invading women’s bathrooms or sports.

Pro Israel—In the most careful, precise exercise of military power against a foe that intentionally hides among civilians, Israel is fighting for its life with groups that have promised to absolutely destroy the nation. Trump will be supportive of the nation of Israel to exist and defend itself.

Cut regulations—The best government makes very few rules, but Biden’s government is pouring out rules. Trump cut rules and will do so again.

Conservative judges—In his first term, 234 judges were appointed almost all of whom are constitutionalists. Biden on the other hand has done 213 so far and a shocking number are activists who want to write law rather than interpret it. This single category alone is enough to make Trump the best choice since many judges sit for a life-time appointment.

  1. There are no substantive reasons why a Christian should not support him for president.

I have no evidence that Trump is a Christian, but neither have I heard anything other than superficial critiques of him.

Today I read several leftist websites listing the reasons Trump was a bad president. The reasons overlapped as if they were all reading from the same script. The list from the New York Times included that he is a racist, he hates immigrants, he did not release his tax returns, he wants paper ballots, he tried to stop Obama-care, he is an isolationist in foreign policy, he boasts, he refused to help stop climate change, he cut taxes (yes, that was a weakness), he failed in COVID, and he removed regulations. Other authors listed that he appointed conservative judges, overturned Roe v. Wade, and lost jobs for Americans. Do you think these are valid reasons to let Kamala Harris in office?

But what did the conservative critiques of Trump say? He is not pro-life. He supports homosexuality. He is proud, angry, rude, immature, and petty. These were the most substantial critiques I could find from conservatives. On both pro-life and homosexuality, I could wish he were stronger. But is it good judgment to reject his good policy positions when so many fires are burning? The same thing goes for his personality. While I could desire the character of Joseph and the statesman’s speech of Ezra, it is a matter to be overlooked after making a remark about it.

By several measures, Trump’s net worth went down after his presidency, and he worked for free returning $1.6 million in his salary to the government. For the privilege of carrying the heaviest job in secular society, he is in court, maligned, and losing the chance to retire in luxury. My job is more important as a church planter and evangelist, but I can at least unequivocally support my country by endorsing Donald Trump for president.

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A Prayer to be Kept from Falling

Posted on 30 September 2024 by Seth Meyers

Yesterday, two members at one of our church plants appeared to be falling away. Last week, we heard of another man who has fallen terribly. In that light, let us pray to be delivered.

To the One who is able to keep me from falling, I do address my prayer. My mind is troubled by my own sin. My heart is disturbed by so many temptations, but mostly from the fact that they come from within. It is my own self that would destroy me. My worst enemy is inside my gates.

And today I am troubled because I have seen how many strong ones this inner foe has cast down. It is a match too great for me. In my own library I have a Greek New Testament that was given to me by the woman whose husband made a pretense to teach himself the original languages only to leave her and his big efforts for the pleasures of sin—a modern Samson, except he did not repent in the end. On another shelf is The Knowledge of the Holy by Tozer which I received at 20 from a dedicated pastor who had started several churches, yet he too, fell away in his 70’s! Lord, who is safe? Another large book about salvation from another shelf was written by a man whose double life was revealed just recently. In total, I have counted 4 books on my shelves that were written or given by good men who fell. Lord God, save me!

Art thou not the Almighty God? Art thou not the One who freely distributes strength to the weak, eagles wings to those who cannot walk, and warrior hearts to those in the battle? Who is weak if not me? Who is a paralyzed beggar if not me? Who is a worm, a man sold under sin, an unprofitable servant, a door turning on its hinges, a member of the faithless generation, if not me? Grace has, like Ahab, been poured on me over and over, and yet for all the kindness, how often do I return dog-like to the vomit?

Yes, I praise you that I have stood firm in the faith for this is also true, and it is owing to your past kindnesses. Do Thou mercifully give future grace until I reach the end! Please, Father, I ask for today’s Bread of Life that I might be sustained and for my wife and children. Lead us not into temptation today. Deliver us from the Evil One for this one brief period, and ingraft the Word into our hearts such that we breathe out these requests again and again.

Your Spirit has so brightly made Heaven to shine in my eyes and sin to stink in my nostrils, but what of tomorrow? Enhance my senses, make my eyes keen in the growing darkness that I might see into eternity and not be distracted by the false candles of earthly comfort.

Life is too long for me. The 70 or 80 years is too much for my reservoir. And yet it is a mist, a vapor, the pass of a weaver’s shuttle, water flowing quickly in a stream, a moment, a drop in the bucket. Are not a thousand years like a day? I therefore plead for persevering power for what is to me a great race though it be in Thy sight the smallest of challenges.

Even from the falling and failing of other men, I find help for my faith. Has their failure not inspired me to pray? Has it taken away my inner confidence and self-boasting? Has it not destroyed the foundations of my own conceit? What amazing wisdom and providence to allow the failure of some that others—and I trust a great many—may stand. Judas fell that Peter might learn to repent. Demas fell that Timothy might not. Please make the terrible sins of these men work to save me and my sons and their sons as well.

And what of these few souls Thou has placed in my charge? Of the 18 in Valdezia, are several not at this moment on the verge of going back to the world? What word can I say except, Save them, Master of Mercy, before they crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. May I know no happiness save that of hearing you say to my wife and children and these dear Tsonga and Venda and Shona souls, “Well done, my good and faithful servants. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

The lion is prowling, so grant us watchfulness and boldness that we might do valiantly to dash even the little ones of our sins against the stones. The flesh is exhausting and even tempts us in our sleep, so give us strength, might, and power to run through the troop and leap over the wall.

I ask this for today for myself, for my dear wife, for my children, and for the little groups in 8 different villages in Jesus’ name.

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7 Arguments for Total Abstinence from Alcohol

Posted on 17 September 2024 by Seth Meyers

Though it is exceedingly unpopular to speak against alcohol, the Bible presents at least 3 important arguments and experience blended with Biblical principles add 4 more.

  1. Alcohol raises a risk of eternal damnation.
    It alone can produce drunkenness which is condemned unequivocally as the mark of a man who will never enter the kingdom of God (Matt. 24:48-51; 1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21; Luke 21:34). If something can lead me to an eternity of torment, under what circumstances would I give it a place at my table? Does the wise man not see the potential danger and hide himself? Has it not killed so many already that whole societies the world over are dedicated to helping people be free from it?

  2. Alcohol is deceptive.
    Men are easily tricked by a false view of themselves and the nature of the world. They fancy that though others fell, they will not. They consider their minds to be strong, their wills to be firm, and their judgment to be sufficient. And yet many, many men have fallen to sins because of these misplaced, exalted self-evaluations (Pro. 20:1). I cannot think of anything that deceives so many people and is yet defended by truly Christian men. But that is what Solomon told us, we will need great wisdom to escape such deception. What good is in alcohol that makes it worthwhile to bring a deceiver into your house and your own body?

  3. Alcohol brings great evils in this life.
    When the evil of alcohol is placed on the scales against its possible good, evil far outweighs the good. The best that can be said for alcohol is that some say it tastes good. But the worst that can be said is that it has murdered women who received beatings from intoxicated men; it has stolen the shoes, food, and housing from children whose fathers drank the money away; it has thrown mud on the name of Christ when professing Christians sin by it; it has ruined girls by leading them into pregnancy; it has ruined the babies by damaging their little, pre-born bodies; it has raised taxes on citizens due to the increased crime and medical problems; it has torn apart marriages; it has depleted savings; it has impaired judgment so many times as to boggle the imagination; it has taken innocent lives and resources through car accidents; it bears the responsibility through Lot’s drunken stupidity of creating countries that have tormented the Jews; it is a mark of the pagans before they were converted (1 Pet. 4:3-4); it saps the time and mental acuity of many thousands of the poorest in the world so that they become as insensible as rocks when they need to work and raise themselves. Are these consequences so mild that we can overlook them or risk them?

  4. Alcohol is prohibited explicitly in Scripture.
    It is common to hear people argue that alcohol is not prohibited by Scripture, but Proverbs 23:31 explicitly says, “Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.” You might justifiably look on wine, but not in that condition. When this mode is true of this substance, look elsewhere. Solomon describes it three ways to clarify that he is speaking about intoxicating beverages. Walking through the store looking for something to refresh you, you are to keep walking past that particular aisle if it has drinks that have their own life. Can this drink produce the result of seeing strange things, speaking perverse things, and addicting your palate? Its the drink that has brought people problems, and it makes their eyes red (23:29). Well, some reply, it is only prohibited in Proverbs. When we find a single proverb that teaches a doctrine we agree with, we are glad to find it. What is happening to our souls when the Spirit inspires a verse (here a paragraph, 23:29-35), and we look for ways around it?

  5. Alcohol is entirely unnecessary.
    Technology and production have advanced our world in many ways so that every meal for a middle class citizen of a developed country can now be a taste thrill. A dizzying variety of non-alcoholic drinks are available to excite, comfort, satisfy, and please. Furthermore, we can now measure alcoholic content and processes of fermentation as well as store through refrigeration in ways that the Jews of David’s era could not. That ancient world had options such as water, milk, wine, and strong drink whereas we have whole aisles in our stores with juices, carbonated beverages, dairy drinks, flavored waters, coffees, and teas. If you lived in a society without refrigeration, running water, trucks supplying you with dozens of low-cost options, and instruments to measure alcohol content levels, I could see why you would speak about juices without always clearly delineating between alcoholic and non-alcoholic. With all the differences between the lifestyle and options of the past and present, why would any Christian have a need for choosing an intoxicating beverage?

  6. Charles Spurgeon hated alcohol.
    At least 18 times in Spurgeon’s Practical Wisdom (originally published as John Ploughman’s Talk) he rebukes drinking any alcohol.

  7. Alcohol is associated by many with drunkenness.
    Many of the Tsongas among whom I work assume that a man who drinks is either getting drunk or involved in fornication. Recently, a church discipline situation arose in our church where one member who had been converted about 2 years spoke to another member of about 3 years after finding that he had been seen with alcohol. The church agreed with the one who rebuked that Christians should not hold or drink any alcohol. The implication was alcohol and drunkenness were integrally or at least consistently related. The apostle wrote, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” The apostle’s Savior wrote, “Be perfect like your Father” so that “men may see your good works and glorify your Father.” If alcohol is connected to drunkenness then why would believers get near it?

Posted in Alcohol, Pastoral | Tagged , | 1 Comment

10 Questions Atheists Can’t Answer

Posted on 10 September 2024 by Seth Meyers

When I say atheists can’t answer these questions, I mean they can’t answer them smoothly, persuasively, coherently, or popularly. Of course, any question can receive a stumbling word salad from the person questioned. But these questions completely defy the system because it is false.

  1. Why are some things always bad? Why is there a category of badness, evil, or wickedness?
  2. Where do the laws of logic come from?
  3. How can we call people, nature, music, or virtues beautiful without a Great Beauty? Why beauty, if no Beauty?
  4. Where did the first material come from?
  5. Why do all (or nearly all) men believe in god, gods, or the God?
  6. Why are atheist social experiments always violent, authoritarian, and cruel like Russia’s or China’s communism?
  7. If atheism is true, then why can’t it produce as many good actions as Christianity?
  8. How can there be truth without God? What does meaning mean without a Personal, Absolute, Logical Word?
  9. Where are the inspiring historical examples of atheists who sacrificed themselves to serve an honorable cause like Corrie Ten Boom in World War II, Jim Elliot in Ecuador, Paul Carlson in the Congo, and the thousands of defenseless missionary martyrs like them?
  10. Why are the great works of beauty in sculpture, orchestra, architecture, and literature all created by theists and mostly from a culture steeped in the Trinity?

Atheism is bankrupt. It does not have a good historical record to receive the investment of your soul. Better to hear the words of the wise Man who said, “Strive to enter at the narrow gate because many will try to enter, but will not be able.”

Posted in Hypothetically speaking, Lists | Tagged | 2 Comments

No Rest Til Heaven: The Life of Richard Baxter

Posted on 3 September 2024 by Seth Meyers

Youth and conversion

  1. On 12 November 1615 in England, Richard Baxter was born.
  2. He lived with his grandparents because his father was ungodly.
  3. About 10 years old, his father was converted and took his son back so that he might lead the boy to Christ.
  4. Baxter came under great conviction of sin:
    1. “I was much addicted to lie that I might escape [correction].” 8
    2. “I was much addicted to the excessive gluttonous eating…” 8
    3. “I have often gone into other men’s orchards, and stolen their fruit…” 8
    4. “I was somewhat excessively addicted to play…” 8
    5. “I was extremely bewitched with a love of romances, fables, and old tales, which corrupted my affections, and lost my time.” 8
    6. “I was guilty of much idle foolish chat…” 8
    7. “I was too bold and irreverent towards my parents.” 8
  5. Baxter was led to saving faith by his father’s prayers and reading as well as privately reading other godly books.
  6. To the end of his life, Baxter believed reading good books—after manly preaching—was the best way to see a sinner saved.
  7. Even after finding the truth, Baxter doubted his own conversion for years.
  8. He later thanked God for these doubts since the doubts (15):
    1. Taught him to hate his own sin since they were the cause of the doubts.
    2. Kept him from wasting his youth with too many sports.
    3. Made Christ and salvation very important and desirable to him.
    4. Showed him that the world was like a dead carcass.
    5. Urged him to study the Bible and theology in detail.
  9. These years of doubt and introspection prepared him to deal with the complex problems in the souls of many others.
  10. Baxter only had an informal education with private tutors, but he read carefully and was able to feed himself.
  11. From age 20 to 76 Baxter was constantly sick writing many things like, “being seldom an hour free from pain (40),” or “God was pleased so greatly to increase my painful diseases (108).”
  12. Because of sickness, he was often confined to bed, but he said that the pain was not nearly so hard to endure as the loss of time. 60

Pastor at Kidderminster

  1. At 24 years old, Baxter was invited to preach in Kidderminster.
  2. His sicknesses were still so great that he wrote, “[they] made me live and preach in some continual expectation of death, supposing still that I had not long to live.” 27
  3. “[My sicknesses] I found, through all my life, to be an invaluable mercy to me for: 27
    1. They greatly weakened my temptations.
    2. They kept me in a great contempt of the world.
    3. They taught me to highly esteem time. If any of it passed away in idleness or unprofitableness, it was so long a pain and burden to my mind.
    4. They made me study and preach… as a dying man to dying men.”
  4. “Time hath seemed to me more precious than gold, or any earthly gain…” 27
  5. In Kidderminster, he preached for 17 years seeing a miracle of revival in the town.
  6. At first, he recorded the names of all those who were converted, but then so many came to Christ that he stopped the list.
  7. After two years he was taken with such a violent sickness that he thought again he would die.
  8. At this time, he wrote The Saints’ Everlasting Rest about the glory of Heaven.
  9. When he was stronger, he began the practice of visiting, evangelism, and catechism two days per week.
  10. They continued to expand the church building in the small town until more than a thousand could squeeze in.
  11. When Baxter arrived, there was less than one family per street who were true believers. After a few years there was less than one family per street who were unbelievers.
  12. He influenced the pastors around him by meeting with them on a consistent pattern so that he could say, “[The pastors in this area now] were wholly addicted to the winning of souls.” 51
  13. He devoted himself to youth evangelism since they were the most likely to be converted and it is easier to prevent than repent.
  14. He wrote a book to encourage pastors to be humble and evangelize, The Reformed Pastor.
  15. Now his books were becoming so popular that he devoted himself to writing while relaxing by preaching.
  16. Baxter wrote on average 3 books per year for 50 years.
  17. About this time, the king offered Baxter a very large church with a high salary, but he turned it down.
  18. Baxter often supported missionaries even writing a book touching on how to reach unreached areas.
  19. Throughout this time lies commonly circulated about him.
  20. “I had long been learning not to overvalue the thoughts of men.” 76

Marriage to Margaret

  1. He had resolved to live a single life so that he could give God more of his time.
  2. Yet a woman in his church Mrs. Charlton urged him to marry her daughter Margaret.
  3. She had come to Christ under his preaching, and now they were married though he was 46 and she was 22.
  4. They loved each other dearly and she even accompanied him when he was sent to prison.
  5. At her death, Baxter wrote a biography of his wife professing her deep spirituality and spiritual insight.
  6. He said she has more ability to help souls in sin than most pastors.
  7. They lived together for 19 years before she passed away at 41.

Suffering

  1. Baxter lived and ministered during the great plague when men would get sick in the morning and die in the evening.
  2. Burying the dead overwhelmed the people and villages were devastated and emptied.
  3. He was sent to prison more than once for preaching the gospel.
  4. At the end of his life, his books and even bed were seized by the government authorities.
  5. He urged his people to remember that “the design of Satan was more against their souls than their bodies.” 90
  6. As a 70 year old man, he was unjustly sent to court and then prison while he was sick and widowed.
  7. During his last sermon, he nearly died in the pulpit.
  8. On his death bed, his friends visited him, and heard him say, “You come hither to learn to die; I am not the only person that must go this way. I assure you, that your whole life, be it ever so long, is little enough to prepare for death.” 127

Lessons from the life of Richard Baxter

    1. Time is a special and limited gift from God. We must be especially hard working, not losing a day or even a minute if we can help it. In this sense, men are all the same. They are all given the same amount of time: One life.
    2. The human soul is infinitely valuable because it will live without end and because it has a unique role in honoring God.
    3. The wise man will give himself to reading good books. Even without formal education, we can be teach ourselves through careful reading and discipline.
    4. Souls will not generally be won to Christ without a great deal of hard work in prayer and conversations. If we truly believe Heaven, Hell, sin, and Christ, we will study how to speak in a persuasive, lively way.

    Thesis

    • Seeing that life is so short and eternity so long, let us serve the Lord and the souls of men with all our might while we have might.

    Bibliography

    • Richard Baxter’s abridged Autobiography by Christian Focus.
    • “Richard Baxter” Meet the Puritans.
    • “Memoir of Richard Baxter’s Life” The Practical Works of Richard Baxter.
    Posted in Biography, Book reviews | Leave a comment

    Another Christ-less Pastor

    Posted on 28 August 2024 by Seth Meyers

    Saturday* my boys and I picked up a sharp and friendly Tsonga man who needed a lift. For about 30 minutes he was in our car resulting in this conversation as best as I can reconstruct it.

    Seth: “Do you call yourself a Christian?”

    Man: “I am a pastor.”

    Seth: “How do you know that you are a Christian?”

    Man: “My lifestyle; I live the way I should.”

    That answer is strike 1. Maybe I’m pitching too fast.

    Seth: “Is there anything else? Any thing else that you would say you are trusting in?”

    Man: “And prayer. That too.”

    Seth: “There is something else that you are forgetting. What are you forgetting? When I tell you, you will say, ‘Oh, I knew that.’ But you need to ask why you didn’t know before you were told. Can you think what it might be?”

    Man: “Can you remind me? I can’t think of it.”

    Seth: “I will tell you, but before I do, I want you to know that you are very similar to most of the people that I pick up. When I speak with them, they answer like you are answering. Where do you worship?”

    Man: “I started a church in my house.”

    Seth: “Why did you start a church? Is it different from the other churches? What is your main reason for wanting a new church?”

    Man: “We saw that many people were chasing these prophetic ministries so that prophets would tell their futures. But I told the people, you cannot be prophesied over until you prophesy for yourselves.”

    Seth: “So that is the main reason you started your church? Is there anything else you would add to that?”

    Man: “No.”

    Seth: “What about Jesus Christ? What about the Cross? Heaven, Hell, Life, Death, repentance, and humility? Why didn’t you say anything about these matters?”

    Man (smiling): “I forgot.”

    Seth: “Christ did not come out of your mouth because He is not in your heart. But this is not my first and second time to hear these kinds of answers. Nearly everyone answers without Christ as you did. Let me ask, Have you ever read the whole Bible: Genesis to Revelation?”

    Man: “No.”

    Seth: “The entire NT, it is only 260 chapters and takes about 15 hours to read?”

    Man: “No, and I will tell you, I am not accustomed to read the Bible. When I preach, I just open and find a verse. Then I talk.”

    Our conversation went on, but you now have the salient points faithfully narrated. Later that same day, I met again two other pastors who had been with me at one of the preaching points for nearly a year. Neither man was able even to recite the 5 Solas though we had repeated these week after week. In less than 6 months they had forgotten Bible Alone, Christ Alone, Faith Alone, Grace Alone, and Glory To God Alone.

    *This took place in October 2023.

    Posted in Accounts of African Religion | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment