There's an old saying among preachers, "If you throw a rock into a pack of dogs the one that yelps is the one it hit." This saying is especially true among street preachers. As any street preacher knows, "a yelping dog will draw a crowd" which then allows the preacher to expound upon sin issues to the people gathered to hear what he has to say.
Since there is no way for man to effectually hide sin, this tactic is often effective in drawing out someone who is having problems with a specific sin in their life. A preacher makes an open-ended comment against a sinful activity without specifically mentioning the sin -- pushing a hot button.
Of course, the way they react in defense of the activity identifies just how bitter and deep-rooted they are in that sin and where the axe needs to be laid to the root of it. As the Bible says, "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James 5:19-20).
Recently I have been focusing in on the national public sin of Christians voluntarily choosing to be "unequally yoked with unbelievers" by joining themselves to, and identifying themselves as, Republicans. The grave damage this sin does through undermining the redemptive message of the Church to call unbelieving sinners to repentance is going virtually unnoticed by most Christian leaders today.
Why? Because most Christian leaders today do not go out on the streets where sin is going on and "do the work of an evangelist," making full proof of their ministry to the man out on the street (2 Tim.4: 5). If they did they would find out real quickly that the man out on the street sees the hypocrisy of so-called Christians who are publicly joined at the hip with an abortion-funding, sodomite-honoring, God-hating political party.
Understand this; I mean no disrespect toward the Brethren. It is never the mark of a wise or holy man to boast of being free from error, or to refuse to acknowledge an error. The Lord, and many more, knows I was a dedicated Republican activist. As a State Legislative Researcher; Communication Director of a State Republican PAC; State Communication Director of a Presidential Campaign; and an At-Large National Delegate from my home state to a National Republican Convention, I was what Paul would call a Republican's Republican. I now praise the Lord for bringing me to repent in 1993 of my involvement in the Republican Party and setting me free from that yoke of bondage.
No doubt my political party experience was an invaluable preparation for the rigors of a street preacher and news editor in our nation's capital. However, when I became a minister and preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then stepped out on the street to point at the sin of the people and call them to repentance, I found out fast that the American public does not tolerate hypocrisy in preachers who are preaching about their sins.
If you don't think you're a hypocrite, then you Christian men who identify yourselves with the Republican Party determine now when you will go to the nearest abortion clinic from where you live and "do the work of an evangelist."
But -- before you go -- put on your big GOP lapel buttons, and when you arrive at the abortion clinic, let all the abortion people -- clinic workers, sodomites/lesbians -- know that you support G.W. Bush and the Republican Party, and then open your Bibles and try calling them to confession and repentance of their sin.
You can expect to be called lying hypocrites. If you go to an inner-city abortion clinic in the "poor section" of town and try this, chances are they will need to call an ambulance to haul you away.
Can you see what is happening around the nation concerning the proclamation of the Word of God to unbelievers when it's delivered in a GOP package? When nationally-known Christian ministers who expound on pro-family or pro-life issues and then identify themselves as being Republican or publicly support Republican candidates, then these ministers are nothing more than a bunch of lying hypocrites to the man out on the street.
The man out on the street sees a Republican administration committed to keeping the nation's abortion clinics open. They see a Republican President honoring sodomites in the White House and appointing them to positions of influence and authority. And all so-called "pro-choice" and "gay-rights" activists know full well that President Bush has requested and approved federal taxpayer funding supporting their criminal and vile activities.
Have Christians no knowledge of what this Republican Party association is doing to our witness? How can Christians call murderers and sexual criminals to repentance through Jesus Christ when Christians are identified with the Republican Party which is gladly funding those criminals' activities?
It is from this perspective that I consider George W. Bush to be much worse than Bill Clinton ever was. With a Clinton-led Democrat Party we had a clear and present danger in the White House. But with a Bush-led Republican Party we have someone in the White House who is teaching Christian men how to be complacent about sin while at the same time continuing to promote and maintain the most vile and egregious sins known to man.
For the redemptive message of the Church in America to be effective in calling unbelievers to repentance of their sins, it must come from men who can deliver an unadulterated message. That is simply impossible if the men delivering the message are identifying with the baby-murdering pro-sodomite Republican Party. Such an association not only creates enmity between Christians and the unbelieving people we are called to reach, and between the brethren, it creates enmity between Christians and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My final point is this. The salvation of one soul is of infinitely greater importance than your Republican Party identity -- get rid of it.
Jim Rudd
Editor
The Covenant News
email: editor@covenantnews.com
