“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” -2 Cor. 3:17
Looking to Scripture
Should Christians participate in ministries that are focused on shaping public policy and informed civic activism? Good question.The Family Research Council believes that the problems Americans face in our communities and our nation are not just political and cultural, they are spiritual in nature (Eph. 6:10-13). Consequently, these problems ultimately require a spiritual solution administered by spiritual leadership. That is why we are championing pastors to transform America.As you walk out your calling as a pastor, we want to serve you, stand with you, and be an encouragement to you, just as the Bible teaches:
“Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.” – 1 Thess. 5:12-13a.
Learn more at watchmenpastors.org
Looking To The Distant Past
What were the Pastors preaching during the American founding era?
Free to read online (via text links) is the two-volume collection of sermons written between 1730-1805 by people such as Jonathan Mayhew, John Wesley, Moses Mather, John Witherspoon, Richard Price, Jonathan Edwards, and Noah Webster. See in-depth descriptions here.
Ellis Sandoz, Political Sermons of the American Founding Era. Vol. 1 (1730-1788) [1991]
Ellis Sandoz, Political Sermons of the American Founding Era. Vol. 2 (1789-1805) [1991]
Was the American Revolution a holy war?
Holy war can seem like something that happened long ago or that happens far away — the Crusades of medieval Europe, for example, or jihadists fighting secular forces today. But since their country’s founding, Americans have often thought of their wars as sacred, even when the primary objectives have been political.This began with the American Revolution. When colonists declared their independence on July 4, 1776, religious conviction inspired them. Because they believed that their cause had divine support, many patriots’ ardor was both political and religious. They saw the conflict as a just, secular war, but they fought it with religious resolve, believing that God endorsed the cause. As Connecticut minister Samuel Sherwood preached in 1776: “God Almighty, with all the powers of heaven, are on our side. Great numbers of angels, no doubt, are encamping round our coast, for our defense and protection.”
Read the full article at washingtonpost.com
Looking To The Recent Past
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Lesson On Civil Disobedience
In Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” comes a lesson for us as Christians on how we are duty-bound to stand for righteousness and justice instead of allowing evil to prevail. Just as Dr. King challenged the culture of racial hatred in his day, so must we apply these same basic principles of righteousness today. In our case, it is unjust for men to be forbidden to exercise the God-given liberty to pray or freely exercise their expression of faith even in the public square. We are seeing increasing resistance to the presence of our Judeo-Christian culture as our public servants exercise their powers to restrict if not eliminate altogether with the individual’s right to pray, display or even mention any references to Jesus or Christianity in general. Groups seeking to remove public displays of crosses, Bibles, and replicas of the Ten Commandments, government administrators seeking to regulate prayer and religious activities even at our Veterans National Cemeteries and the general public ridicule and portrayal of Christians as being psychologically impaired and unintelligent are some of what we face.
Continue Reading Dr. Melvin Johnson’s article at christianpost.com
Looking At The Present
LibertyChurchProject.com is a program to help churches come out of the state-licensed 501(c)(3), to be a free church.
Watch the new Liberty Church Project video update featuring interviews and speeches with newly established non-501c3 church pastors and church members from around the country for the year 2014.
Pastors, Church Leaders, and their flock need legal resources
