A new article asking if a Christian can be a Democrat reveals how far the NAR has infiltrated into the church today...

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"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. -- Matthew 25: 31-32 (ESV)

https://www.christianpost.com/news/can-a-christian-be-a-democrat-204951/

Thanks to the growing infection of the New Apostolic Reformation within the body of Christ the lines are getting blurrier about politics and Christianity. Because one of the seven mountains of culture the NAR adherents falsely teach must be conquered is government the church has become overly enamored with the political sphere. That infatuation is at its heart corrupt because politics is corrupt. I like to use the Titanic analogy. The ship has hit the iceberg already, Jesus is the lifeboat and politics is the argument over who is best suited to drive the ship into the icy depths. Where do we find the majority of Christians in this country? Are they directing people to the lifeboats or arguing for their captain? Beloved, and hear me very plainly here. Neither party cares about the cause of Jesus Christ. The things of God are utter foolishness to those who are perishing, regardless of political party. Many however believe they have figured out the recipe to the secret sauce. They have squarely aligned themselves with one party, even if they must resort to the lesser of two evils argument. The problem with that is they quickly lose sight of the fact that they still have chosen evil. One such person I came across recently was Dr. Mark Creech, columnist for the Christian Post (article linked above). He recently wrote about a six-term North Carolina Democrat legislator, Rep. Bill Brisson of Bladen County, announcing he was changing his voter registration to Republican. He changed because he felt that the party had become too liberal for him. Brisson is a secular politician who has every right to make that assessment. Dr. Creech however is supposed to be a reverend that is representing Christ. So let us reason together beloved and see the NAR mindset at work.

"I don't claim to speak for Rep. Brisson, but I suspect, knowing his love for the Lord and his unflinching commitment to a righteous culture, it became increasingly difficult to stay in a political Party that supports policies far removed from Christian teachings. In fact, I personally believe a lot of Christians who are in the Democrat Party should consider changing their registration." -- Dr. Mark Creech

Herein is the crux of the problem within Christo-politics. There is no such thing as "righteous culture." The entire term is biblically absurd. Romans 3 teaches us that none are righteous. None seek after God. The NAR however believes in a Christian utopia set up within the United States. A fantasy land where if only the unsaved goats would behave better then God might somehow spare America the judgment that all nations must face according to our key verses today. The NAR teaches this nonsense because they like the sin and excess they enjoy in Sodom right now. They do not want their apple cart upset. They like selling doves in the temple for four times their worth to foreigners. When Creech says he thinks Christians who are Democrats should consider changing their registration he is setting up the fallacy of a righteous party. None are righteous. Just take a look at Alabama right now! Is there anything righteous about a senate candidate who has five women accusing him of sexually predatory behaviors when they were underage? What has been the Christian response? One Christian office holder tried to say that because Mary was a teenager it was ok. Others have flat out said that even if the allegations were true they would still vote for Roy Moore. Think about how chilling that statement is. That as a Christian it is more important to have a Republican in office then worry about whether he is a pedophile. Where is our faith? Where are our morals? You might scream Bill Clinton at this point and you would be absolutely right! That is the entire point! None are righteous. Creech continues:

'"Why?" you ask. "Can't I be a Christian and a Democrat too?" The question is somewhat like the one an elderly parishioner of mine asked me many years ago when I paid her a pastoral call. She said, "Pastor, can I still dip my snuff and go to heaven?" I replied, "You most certainly can, but you'll have to go to hell to spit." My attempt at humor wasn't meant to say she would go to hell if she kept dipping. It was only a light-hearted way of trying to convey that her use of tobacco wasn't consistent with a better Christian walk.' -- Dr. Mark Creech

So being affiliated with the Democratic Party is now akin to being addicted to tobacco? The worst part here however is that last line. According to Creech being Republican is more consistent with a better Christian walk. Wow. What staggering arrogance. He now lists six areas that show the gap between the two parties and holding a "Christian worldview", which he is quoting from Wayne Grudem, in Politics According to the Bible.

'1. Liberal versus conservative views of government. Democrats represent a group who favor more government control of individual lives and government-enforced equality of income. Republicans typically believe in smaller government and allowing people to keep the fruits of their labor, rather than confiscating their wealth and giving it to people the government believes should have it.

Grudem rightly contends the Bible's emphasis is on individual freedom and a limited role for government. In my estimation, wealth redistribution by the state is a violation of the eighth commandment of God, "Thou shalt not steal."' -- Dr. Mark Creech

These are what are known as carnal talking points beloved, not facts. The reality is that if the government decides to tax, Jesus says to pay the tax not whine that it is "wealth redistribution." If you want to see real wealth redistribution look at what actual tax rate the rich and corporations pay after they use the loopholes provided for them that average people do not have. But do you know what that is beloved? It is a carnal answer to a carnal supposition. There is nothing Christian about this garbage. It is also abusive to the Word of God to pretend that taxation is theft. The Bible says to obey the governing authorities. So Grudem and Cheech can have their estimations but they are not biblical.

"2. Abortion. The Democrat Party is dominated by people who favor the protection of abortion rights for women. Protecting people's so-called sexual freedom has become a higher value than the sacredness of human life, more specifically, the fundamental right of the unborn to life. Behind this commitment is the belief that there are no moral absolutes for human conduct, particularly sexual conduct, which has also contributed to their commitment to gay rights and same-sex marriage. Republicans, by contrast, are dominated by those who believe quite the opposite.

There is absolutely no support in orthodox Christianity for the wanton destruction of the unborn in our culture. Moreover, the commandments of the Lord are not negotiable, and the Bible always speaks of sex outside of marriage between a man and woman or same-sex relationships in a very negative way." -- Dr. Mark Cheech

Abortion is the third rail of Christianity. Few are willing to speak honestly about this but I will try. Creech is correct that there is no place in the Bible that allows the killing of the unborn. The commandments of the Lord are not negotiable but who are they not negotiable for? The Bible is not a book that we are to wield as a cudgel against the unsaved who still think the things of God are utter foolishness to them. It is a sword meant to pierce the heart through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to spread His Gospel to all the world and the church can't seem to get out of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Then there are the worldly considerations. Creech is lofting up the Republican Party as the party that is anti-abortion but are they really? I mean besides what they say they are going to do. All one has to do is look at the three years under President Bush when they controlled both houses of Congress and do you know how many times they brought up abortion? Zero. No one could have stopped them from outlawing it at that point but no one said a peep. Not to mention even if Roe were overturned, abortion would not end -- it would just go back to a state by state decision. In fact, a portion of the "pro-life" crowd are actually arguing for states' rights, not rights of the unborn.

"3. Individual human responsibility for good and evil. Democrat policies tend to minimize individual responsibility and blame evil acts on factors outside of the individual, such as family, society, guns, or big corporations. Minimizing individual accountability, they think that people who do bad things can be persuaded to do right by conversation and more negotiation. Republicans, however, generally speaking, recognize evil is something innate, which requires strong military and police forces, and stronger enforcement of criminal laws to effectively defend against evil and promote good." -- Dr. Mark Creech

Wow, now that is a carnal secular argument! It is also a strawman argument. I have never heard any politician excuse blame for the individual, while pointing out other mitigating factors. It is possible for example to blame the evil of someone who walks into a school and murders 20 children for no reason while simultaneously thinking that maybe you should not be allowed to by an Uzi at a gun show without a background check. Or maybe we should revisit mental health services, psychotropic medication, or the effects of a violent culture on the minds of our kids. Either way, what does this have to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ again? That's right -- absolutely nothing. In fact, can you imagine of Jesus thought this way? We all are innately evil! Yet while we were such, He still went to the cross.

"4. Beliefs about the human race and the natural world. Materialistic evolution is inclined to explain life with the assumption that development of the earth's resources will cause damage to the environment, and, therefore, people in the Democrat Party typically support stricter environmentalist policies. But those who believe the Bible as their directive for life; tend to believe God created the earth and its resources to be used sensibly for man's benefit. Such people have largely gravitated toward Republican policies that advocate "wise use" of environmental resources in the interest of God's crowning creation - mankind." -- Dr. Mark Creech

Putting aside the blinding arrogance of that statement, this is the first time I have heard a Christian try to make the argument that the Republican Party is the party of responsible environmentalism. I did not realize that "Drill Baby Drill" was code speak for "wise use" of resources. Just consider this argument for a second. Cheech is proffering the notion that the policies of destroying God's creation faster are somehow more aligned with a Christian worldview! That it is only man's benefit we ought to concern ourselves with. Is that what you take away from the life of Christ?

"5. Beliefs about whether we can know right from wrong. If a person doesn't hold to an absolute standard of morality, then it follows one person's views are as good as the next. If it follows you can't really know what's right or wrong with any certainty, the people who are most dangerous to society are those who hold strong religious convictions -- these folks have to be kept at bay and shouldn't be allowed to influence public policy. The people that should have the power in society are those which agree with them about their own subjective beliefs concerning what's good. The Democrat Party certainly attracts people of this persuasion, while Republicans, by contrast, attract more people who believe in absolute standards of morality as found in the Bible, traditional Jewish teaching, the Bible plus Roman Catholic tradition, or the book of Mormon. Moreover, Republican policies tend to reflect these moral absolutes -- beliefs that rely on a higher authority and transcend themselves." -- Dr. Mark Creech

The outline presented is kind of correct, although I am not sure why Cheech would be supportive of an ecumenical government. The Book of Mormon should be complete anathema to a Christian. It is something added to scripture, treated as higher than Scripture and emanating from a satanic cult. Roman Catholic tradition is also incorrect and not something we should be holding aloft as a virtue of anything. Let's put all of this aside however and deal with the argument being made. Cheech is right that if you believe in the Bible then you believe in absolute truth and the world likes their shades of gray within which they can feel better about their sin. Is this a surprise? We have already stated multiple times that the things of God are foolishness to man. Thus the concept of absolute truth is foolishness to them. Now, the world does tend to not want Christians in positions of power but perhaps that is because for every Christian praying dutifully, there are ten Christians screaming Deuteronomy verses at them. Perhaps they also see our blatant hypocrisy. Another Christian office holder in Alabama said this past week, that other than the fact that the girl in question was 14 he didn't see what the big deal was. I do not want to gloss over this. Roy Moore has made it his mission in life to play the Christian card at every turn. Even in defiance of the rule of law, for which he was removed from office twice. He now stands with five women accusing him of sexual advances to assaults, all of which were 18 or younger, all the way down to 14 years of age. A fellow office holder at the time is now on record as saying everyone knew the 32 year old Assistant District Attorney dated high school girls and thought it was weird. Reports are now out that one of the malls and the YMCA banned him because he would proposition young girls. When asked about whether he dated girls as young as 17, he offered a mea culpa of not being able to remember with the caveat that he always asked the mother permission to date the daughter. What kind of 32 year old man needs a mother's permission to date unless the girls are under 18? I do not really care about Roy Moore. He is just another in a long line of Bible thumpers who should have shown more humility considering the life he has led. My concern is all of the Christians lining up to stand with him. My concern is people like Dr. Michael Brown providing cover for him. My concern is Franklin Graham tweeting that he is praying for Roy Moore and not the victims. When you see only your NAR dominionist agenda however, the cause of Christ always takes a back seat. What do we think the world sees?

"6. Religious Beliefs. As a whole, there is a significant difference between the religious beliefs of Republicans and Democrats. The Democrat Party leans more to the favor of those who either have no religious belief or are moral relativists. Those that view the Bible as God's Word in its entirety and authoritative in all matters of life, typically align themselves with the Republican Party.

Grudem concludes that the differences in our political system, which is largely a two Party one, Democrats and Republicans, have great significance for the Christian. "These differences are not accidental," he says, "but stem from differing convictions about several moral and theological issues." Although some of these issues overlap each other, Grudem is absolutely right. Of course, an article of this nature is bound to result in some folks wrongly concluding Rev. Creech and the Christian Action League are just another arm of the Republican Party. Hardly! Those who know me are familiar with the way I can be appropriately critical of Republicans when I think they have departed from eternal verities. Neither do I mean to suggest that Republicans are always better morally than Democrats. And I don't exclude the fact some good Christians choose to register as an Independent or with a third Party that they believe is closest to their biblical convictions. What I am saying, however, is that Christians who are members of the Democrat Party and earnest about bringing their politics into line with a strong Christian worldview, may want to seriously consider changing their political affiliation." -- Dr. Mark Cheech

The last offering here is just silly logic. Because most Christians identify as Republican, you should too? Despite his pleas to the contrary, Dr. Creech is a shill for the Republican Party. Sure he may throw a little shade their way on issues he cannot avoid. He may even spank them for the Moore situation. In the end though he has sold out the cause of Christ for the politics of man. While he admits that democrats are not always morally inferior he says that regarding individual people. His beliefs seem pretty clear that he thinks as a party -- the Republicans are more righteous. That is because of his skewed worldview, which he has convinced himself is Christian. His first piece of evidence was on limited government, a topic never covered in Scripture. He had to mutilate the eighth commandment to try and make it appear pious but in the end this was about a carnal preference wrapped up in Christianese. His second example was the usage of the two prominent wedge issues always used to divide Americans. There is no recognition however of what people have actually done in each party versus what they merely promise they are going to do. Perhaps Dr. Creech needs to be reminded that six of the seven approved votes for Roe versus Wade were republican appointees. None are righteous. None seek after God. His third argument seemed to be a placard for the NRA or indemnity for rogue corporations. His fourth argument was to try and convince us that the republicans are the real party of the environment but that dog don't hunt. The fifth point seemed to advocate for a one world religion as long as they had some standard of morality that he approved of. His last argument was intellectually and scripturally vacuous.

Within these specious arguments however were slivers of what Dr. Creech seems to believe and has bought into. It is the NAR that teaches the Republican Party is more aligned with Christianity and is the more righteous way to go. It is the NAR that convinces Christians to vote myopically on issues no one has any intention of doing anything about. It is the NAR that promotes this "worldview" nonsense. Are we seeing the pattern yet beloved? Dr. Creech titled this article Can a Christian be a Democrat but that can be asked of virtually any party affiliation. The real question is can someone sold out to any political party truly be a Christian? Where in this false NAR worldview is taking care of the neediest in society? Where are the widows and orphans? Where is the Gospel? It is not in the NAR or politics. No matter how much Dr. Creech wishes it was.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- November 14, 2017

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.