President Bush spoke to the National Association of Evangelicals this morning. His remarks remind me of how difficult it is to hold a governmental power in check when it believes the nation to be (not unlike the Blues Brothers) on a mission from God. Striving to achieve the will of the Almighty sure does help justify and excuse any damage that may be done en route (Jake and Elmore smashed a bunch of cars).
Honestly, until recently I didn't believe George W felt that way himself, only that he recognized how much his base of support did. But I am more and more convinced that he's a card-carrying 700 Club member. Do they have cards? Can we use that in the election, like his Dad used Dukakis' ACLU card?
Today, 3 sentences after using the old-time-religion word, "calling," to describe the NAE's dispensation from God, he uses the same word to describe America's relationship to the world:
"America is a nation with a mission. We're called to fight terrorism around the world, and we're waging that fight. As freedom's home and freedom's defender, we are called to expand the realm of human liberty. And by our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, more than 50 million people have been liberated from tyranny, and they are reclaiming their dignity as free people."
He was introduced today by the NAE President, Ted Haggard. Ted presides over the largest church in Colorado (10,000 members), and is President of the World Prayer Center, the (not making this up) "spiritual NORAD," which is in Colorado I presume because of it's elevated proximity to God.
Ted is an interesting character, and I'm no social scientist, but I believe he has more than a few issues of guilt and self-
"We have a credibility problem. We have some wonderful churches, but increasingly, people do not seek to be connected. We have some outstanding para-church leaders, but others are seen as self-satisfied right-wing crusaders who wouldn’t hesitate to banish the Supreme Court, establish a Christian theocracy, and use the power of the state to force the non-compliant into godly living. . . .
It is no wonder that the secular world is hesitant to look to Christian leaders for realistic answers to today’s problems. They think that we are just another special interest group, and I doubt that they see us as bastions of wisdom and insight. Salt and light we are not.
Maybe we’re not Christians. Maybe we’re just the most popular religion of the day, using the power of persuasion, the force of our numbers, and the strength of our money to advance our ideology.
Maybe we just believe whatever makes sense to us by default, and we don’t truly—as individuals and as communities of Christians—seek to be genuine disciples and to do God’s work of caring for the fatherless and the widow of our day.
Could we be Pharisees? Our own books, television programs and prophecies should make us wonder.
When we preach, write, lobby, raise money, build, broadcast, threaten, sue and spin, we present conflicting images that don’t stand up very well against the tests of time and scrutiny. We are confusing the world, other Christians, and our families. . . .I know we love God, and we often talk about our love for Him, but the culture of modern ministry indicates that our hearts are far from Him.
If you are like me, you are conflicted. I don't like this column. Granted, there is a part of me that does. But most of me likes the comforts of the church I serve, the way I travel, the way I'm treated by both the public and the body of Christ. I enjoy the political platform we Christians are given.
But at the same time, there is a dark cloud in the back of my mind. . . .We need to ensure that we are not the whitewashed tombs and snakes of our day. We need to be sure."
Wonder how he's going to be sure of that in a way that doesn't make him actually have to stop any of that fun stuff he's worried about? While he waits for God to tell him he's ok, the spiritual NORAD is up and running! Take a 360-degree virtual tour!
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