Why I Write These Columns: An Open Letter To Christian Conservatives

Chuck Baldwin Ministries ^ | 01-30-03 | Baldwin, Chuck

[My2Cents]

Why I Write These Columns

Because you're starved for attention?

[FatherOfLiberty]

I would challenge you to show where the author is wrong in his contentions about President Bush failing in his Constitutional duties. To wit:

Accordingly, I charge G. W. Bush with posturing himself as a conservative while giving us bigger government than did even Bill Clinton. I charge him with creating the machinery with which a police state may emerge. Furthermore, I charge President Bush with attempting to take more freedoms away from the American people than any president in modern memory.

I also believe that Mr. Bush has redundantly violated his oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and that he has given nothing but lip service to the pro-life and pro-family agendas. It is also my contention that President Bush has jeopardized the security of these United States and has made a mockery of our nation's laws by his treacherous illegal alien amnesty proposal. He also lied to the American people by saying he supported the Second Amendment only later to endorse the Clinton gun ban.

You may not like it that the author has Truth in Mouth Syndrome, but his observations are correct, especially as it relates to Bush's misconstrued policies on illegal aliens. If you disagree with the author, provide evidence contrary to his statements. Save the rhetoric.

[My2Cents]

The Reverend Chuck has a very limited knowledge on how God moves in history, and how He moves upon leaders. He has a right to express his opinion, but he's way off base if he thinks he knows all about God's ways on these matters, or that he speaks for conservative Christians. Nowhere in any of his missives does he ever talk about intercession, or specifically, praying for our leaders. I think if he'd spend half the time praying for Pres. Bush as he does before his word processor, he might have a different perspective on the things he's trying to talk about.

[jimkress]

See if you can find anything there about Jesus.

Did you look here:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/sketch.html

or here:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/king.html

or here:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/read.Jesus1999.html

or here:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/salvation_ipoc.html

I thought not.

[tdadams]

[Many] now swear loyalty and allegiance to G. W. Bush and the Republican Party. It seems that many Christians have become little more than spineless lackeys for a political machine. They seem to have lost the ability to think critically and objectively.

He couldn't be talking about anyone here, could he?

[FatherOfLiberty]

This discussion thread will separate the wheat from the chaff in regards to constitutional republic-anism. Do we have principles that we apply uniformly, or selectively? Do we divine right from wrong, no matter the person?

[tdadams]

The Reverend Chuck has a very limited knowledge on how God moves in history, and how He moves upon leaders. He has a right to express his opinion, but he's way off base if he thinks he knows all about God's ways on these matters

And you do?

[PaulaB]

Thats a great question...something my husband has been asking for weeks. How far to the left does our party have to go before we force the issue back to the right. I don't know the answer to that question yet. I for one do not consider Bush a so called "RHINO" I do not agree with immigration amnesty (I'm a Texan) and I believe he could do more to stop the killing of our babies in this country. Having said that I still believe in my heart he is a conservative, god-fearing man. I think there are things moving out there to split this conservative party. We have to start uniting here. We cannot afford to split between conservatives and constitutionlist. We are the same. The only ones that will win with this split is the liberal left and God save this country if that happens.

[Softballmom]

You know? I didn't post to get into a constitutional argument. It's simply my opinion that Bush makes decisions he thinks are right. In the end, he may be dead wrong. The Reverend compared Bush to Clinton and I was pointing out that the decision process of these two men are completely different. I would prefer to back a man who prays about his decisions rather than one who take a poll.

[Softballmom]

Thanks for this post, PaulaB. You said it so clearly. I agree with you whole-heartedly.

[Chi-townChief]

Of course, you miss the point; this "minister" believes he is immune to criticism just like all of those washed-up "pop stars" whose desire is also to awaken their lessers.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Benjo]

Thanks for the post. I especially liked the part where Baldwin said real conservatives put their loyalty in the constitution, bill of rights, and declaration of independence, not in the administration of any particular president.

Teddy Roosevelt was right: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

[My2Cents]

And you do?

Actually, I do. How can I say that? Because my wife and I, along with another couple, gather together two nights a week to pray for Pres. Bush, pray for our political culture, pray for members of Congress, pray about issues and concerns in our society, pray about the war on terror, for the safety of our troops, and for the success of our efforts to democratize the Middle East, for the sake of regional and world peace, and for the sake of the suffering people of the Arab world. We also pray for the persecuted church thoughout the world. We've been praying consistently each week for these things for over three years.

What my experience in intercession has shown me is that prayer isn't tacking a laundery list of "wants" -- a wish-list -- on the door of heaven. Prayer is communion with God, whereby one lets God talk, and we respond by giving voice to what God has expressed. It is coming into contact with both the heart and mind of God. One can never know the perfect will of God, because His thoughts are way above our thoughts. But He has given us His Spirit who resides in our hearts, and He has given us "the mind of Christ" to understand His will and His ways. He has also give us His word through the scriptures. God directs our prayers very often as we "pray the scriptures" for our nation and its leaders. I use Psalms pretty heavily in such prayer times, as it has a lot to say about the character of leadership, the suffering of people at the hands of corrupt leaders, the importance of integrity, the things God blesses and the things God curses, and so forth.

So, yes, I do know about God's ways on these matters, because I have spent countless hours on my knees fellowshipping with God on theses matters. The fact I never see "Pastor Chuck" talk about the importance of prayer, or any testimony about what God has shown him in times of prayer, tells me that his missives are the product of his own fleshly political ideology, and not the product of plumbing the depths of God's heart, mind, and will. I'm not standing in judgment of his spiritual disciplines...I just never see him ever refer to the place and importance of prayer in what he says.

I know what I've seen and heard and learned in the presence of God in intercession. And no one's cynicism can detract from that knowledge.

[RightWingMama]

I hope you don't mind, but I printed your post to put in my Bible for those times when I am "too tired" to pray. Excellent post. BTW, I love your home page.

[My2Cents]

Thank you, RWM. It is the rare person who understands the things I am saying. Three and a half years ago, I would have thought someone crazy who said they "knew the heart and mind of God." But that's what persistent prayer has shown me -- that it IS possible to know heart, mind, and will of God. In fact, He desires us to know these things about Him. He's given us His Spirit so that such fellowship, knowledge, and experience of God is possible. This is His great desire for us..that we have this kind of fellowship and knowledge of God. I should also say that the knowledge of the will of God is more sharply focused in corporate prayer, where you have a number of people praying out on the same subject in the same meeting, for all to hear. Each person, through the Spirit within them, may provide a slightly different facet or perspective to the items being prayed about, and when taken together, this gives a larger and clearer picture of God's will.

Rare is the person who understands these things. One only understands these things through experiencing them. But what a blessing to come across someone who does. Thanks for your word of encouragement.

[Softballmom]

I agree with RightWingMama. Excellent post. I took a look at some of Reverend Chuck's articles and find them a bit disingenuous. I'm not impressed.

[My2Cents]

Thank you. The nature and efficacy of prayer (and we are told in scripture to prayer for "kings and princes" and national leaders) isn't up for ideological debate. The nature and efficacy of prayer are found in the nature and character of God. He set it up. Prayer is THE main way that the kingdom of God breaks out on earth. Anyone who has spent any time truly praying to seek God's heart and mind will tell you the same thing.

One of the weaknesses of Christian "activism" in politics is that it has put the wisdom and methods of man above the power of prayer. "Pastor Chuck" says he doesn't believe that GW Bush has a special anointing from God. Oh really.... Well, I spent 35 nights in a row from November to December 2000, praying about the election stalemate, and I can assure you that God anointed GW Bush to become President. We now owe it to Pres. Bush, and also to our God, to pray that W will continue to walk in close fellowship with God such that the purpose for which God anointed him for this office will be fulfilled. This obligation overrides one's particular "ideological" disagreements with the President.

Again, I don't want to come down too hard on "Pastor Chuck," but in reading what he's said, and noting what he DOESN'T say, I'd say his fleshly political biases are determining his attitude toward Bush more than his persistent seeking of God's will in regard to Bush.

[Theodore R.]

being seduced by the spirit of party

Actually, you are probably thinking of a line in Washington's Farewell Address (1796) in which he warned his compatriots to "beware of the baneful effects of the spirit of party."

[Poohbah]

I wasn't thinking of it at all. Talk to joesnuffy about it.