Attention Patriots: Pastors and People!

Voting and participation in both local and national business - you don't have to call it politics is not only a privilege; it is a Christian duty!

When asked by His disciples, "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar?" or is it right to pay taxes to the ruling government? Jesus told them not only, "Render therefore to God the things that are God's, but also render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesar's." We live under government that requires certain things, particularly taxes, which pertain to government.

We are not required to vote. So uninformed people and careless people and lazy people do not vote! AND THIS ALONE, in so many instances, has placed us in this nasty and dangerous spot we are in! We are informed that there are 103,000 evangelical Christian in Missouri alone who do not vote! If those people, nationwide, had voted their values, we would not be in the terrible predicament we are in nationally.

August 7 is a pivotal date for Missourians! On your ballot is the RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AMENDMENT which, if passed, will grant the right of voluntary prayer in public school, and of others to pray or acknowledge God on public property and in public meetings in Missouri. (A summary of the Amendment follows.)

This session the 96th Missouri General Assembly last year passed Resolution 2. What is needed NOW is for the general public to vote this Amendment into law. To fail, or refuse to do so, would be the crime of the century!

We need the support of every Christian's vote to counteract the vote of the Liberals! To fail to vote is to give a vote to those who oppose God and Christianity! They have destroyed religious liberties granted us in our United States Constitution.

Please start now to announce, to offer transportation to the polls and to get absentee ballots into the hands of others who need them. EVERY VOTE COUNTS! VOTE YOUR VALUES!

It is going to be critical to the future of the citizens of Missouri to vote in the August 7 primary election for a couple of very important reasons.

This election cycle Missouri conservatives have an opportunity to make a big difference by supporting and voting for a slate of Constitutional Conservative Candidates.

The quick check for a candidate is to find out where they stand on right to life issues, (from conception to natural death). If strong on Life issues, you can be fairly sure that they will consistently vote for liberty and freedom on any and all other issues.

The second vital issue to appear on the primary ballot is the Religious Liberty Amendment. It will amend Missouri's Constitution to ensure that:

·       Children will have the right to pray voluntarily in our schools.

·       Citizens will have the right to pray and acknowledge God in public settings and on public property.

·       Elected officials will have the right to pray and acknowledge God in public meetings and ceremonies.

·       Students will have the right to decline participation in school assignments or programs that violate their religious beliefs.

·       Every public school in the state of Missouri prominently display the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Undoubtedly you would agree that religious liberty is one of America's most important and cherished freedoms. Our forefathers, in their wisdom, included a clause in the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing that no citizen's expression of religious expression would be impeded by the government.

Unfortunately, we live in an era where there is confusion over the precise religious liberty rights that the 1st Amendment actually guarantees.

To help clarify those rights, the 96th Missouri General Assembly passed Joint Resolution #2 in 2011. The proposed amendment  spells out the worshiper's religious rights in the public sphere. It will appear on the August 7, 2012 State Primary Ballot.

Ballot Language: A "yes" vote will amend the Missouri Constitution to provide that neither the state nor political subdivisions shall establish any official religion. The amendment further provides that a citizen's right to express their religious beliefs regardless of their religion shall not be infringed and that the right to worship includes prayer in private or public settings, on government premises, on public property, and in all public schools. The amendment also requires public schools to display the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. (Web site http://www.prayeramendment.org/)

A "no" vote will not change the current constitutional provisions protecting freedom of religion. And remember, to not vote is to cast your lot with the ones that would abolish Religious Liberty.

If passed, this measure will have no impact on taxes.

Vote YES on Amendment 2 - Aug. 7

I borrow his story from the life of Dr. Mathbie Babcock. During his pastorate in New York, a physician of his congregation, interested in his pastor's physical welfare, presented him with some theater tickets. He felt sure that his pastor needed some relaxation.

Upon examining the tickets, the pastor realized that this was of a kind he could not conscientiously attend, thanked the donor saying, "I can't take these. I can't go."

The physician asked, "Why not? You need the entertainment."

"Yes, I'm tired and I do need some relaxation. But, doctor, it's like this. You're a surgeon, and when you operate you carefully scrub your hands until you know that you are aseptically clean.  You wouldn't think of operating with dirty hands. Well, I'm a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and deal with precious immortal souls. I wouldn't dare to do my work with a dirty life."

A guy named Guy

Christians are caring people. This old saying has made the rounds: "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Guy was a drinking man whose wife was a radiant and faithful Christian. From the day of her conversion she never wavered. These were people I knew well.

Then I left the area of my first pastorate and was gone for many years. Occasionally I heard from the church, and a few times held revival services there. Things for Guy and his wife went on as usual. Guy often attended church and had many friends there.

One day Guy said to a man who was a member of the church, a younger brother of mine, "They say you would give the shirt off of your back if somebody asked for it."

"Yes, if somebody needed it," was the reply.

"Well, I need it."

Then and there - they were not at church on this occasion - my brother took off his shirt and gave it away.

I don't know if this give-away had anything to do with the sequel, but after this demonstration, this guy named Guy came to the church and was converted. Now he went "all out" and wanted to be baptized. Then he wanted to be sanctified. The old life was all history.

As far as we know, he kept good victory until he died. You know the old saying, "All's well that ends well."

Helping Sir Christopher Wren

Our viewpoint makes all the difference!

While St. Paul's Cathedral was being built in London, the architect Sir Christopher Wren was visiting the work site. He came upon a stone mason and asked him what he was doing. The man replied that he was cutting this stone to a certain size and shape. Moving on, the architect asked another workman the same question. His answer was that he was earning so much money, shillings and pence, per day. That was all. The third laborer when asked the very same question, looked up, squared his shoulders, and proudly stated,  "I am helping Sir Christopher Wren Build St. Paul's Cathedral."

All of us are builders! We are building for eternity! Note what St. Paul states in I Cor. 3:9-15 "For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building . . . I have laid the foundation . . . let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon . . . Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire . . . " (Please read the entire passage vs. 9 through 17).

Let's be careful how we build!

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury which now graces the campus of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It is reported that the poet John Milton was married in this church. During World War Two this church was bombed, as was about 480 others, by the Germans. After the 1946 visit of President Truman and Sir Winston Churchill to Westminster, and Churchill's famous Iron Curtain speech, the ruins of the old London church were brought to Fulton and reconstructed on the college campus. At it dedication, the son of an acquaintance of mine, and a cousin of my cousin, Leland Wren, was asked to cut the ribbon.

Annually, Thousands visit this Churchill memorial church.

The Right Picture

This is the third our attempts to suggest a picture of Jesus or to bring Him closer into clear focus. One of our favorite portraits of Jesus is one of Jesus and the little children. We are sure that they were drawn to Him as a strong magnet picks up metal.

Then we see Him having compassion on the sick and suffering and also those hungry physically. He went willing also to touch and heal the leper. He was severely criticized for His close association with tax collectors, and even eating with sinners! A favorite picture of many is that one of Christ knocking at a closed door. What a graphic and powerful, silent message!

There are but a few Old Testament references to God as Father. But Jesus was always speaking of the Father. He taught us in that model prayer to say, "Our Father". He spoke of the everlasting home of the saints as "In my Father's house are many mansions . . ."

So many think of God of the Old Testament as a stern giver of the law and as a solemn Judge. And while we can say that this is not totally inaccurate, for God is just; it is also true that "God is love" (I John 4:8). Heaven is a holy place. One preacher we heard stated, "God won't live in a dirty house." That was what Jesus was teaching Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again - born of the Spirit - he cannot see the Kingdom of God" John 3:3 . . Jesus stated "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" John 14:9. We can then state plainly that any picture or idea we have  of God that is different than that of Jesus is not the right picture.

"Well, that sure looks like him!"

Without a doubt, one of the most difficult mysteries for beginning theology students to unravel is that of the trinity and the incarnation. That is, how God the father and God the Son are one in essence and yet two in manifestation. In the text of Heb. 1:3 it is stated that Jesus is "the express image" of God. This is the King Version. The RSV translates this; "The very stamp of his nature." and the New English Bible: "the stamp of his very being." In both of these the Greek text this word stamp is "character" and is derived from a sharpening tool or "sharpened to a point" like an engraving tool to stamp an exact or perfect likeness of the original.

There is a story of a little boy who asked his mother what the picture of God looked like. She tried to explain that in the time of Jesus on earth they had no photography and that no one had a picture of Jesus. Yet right there on the wall of their home was that famous Holman-Hunt paint of Jesus. Looking at the framed "picture", the little boy stated firmly, "Well, that sure looks like him!"

No, we don't have a picture. But we do have a scripture, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" II Cor. 5:19; and we do have part of a song, "Stamp thine own image deep on my heart", and "O to be like Thee". That's where belief really counts!

Lord Horatio Nelson

Lord Horatio Nelson, as you may remember, was the English Admiral who defeated the fleet of Napoleon in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and lost his life in that battle. The grateful English people erected a towering 170 foot statue at Trafalgar Square in London in his honor in the years 1839 - 1843. That is the monument that is that high, but the statue of the man atop the monument is that high, but the statue of the man atop the monument is so high above the street that the people objected that one could not see the man that was so honored. When I was in there in a long-ago January he was up there with the London fog and the pigeons.

The bringing of Lord Nelson down to street level is, I think, the perfect illustration of what our Heavenly Father did when He sent the Lord Jesus to earth in human form. Primarily, of course, this was so He, as a man, could die as the all sufficient atoning sacrifice for mankind. In response to Philip's question, Jesus stated, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." John 14:9. This truth is stated many times in scripture. See also John 1:1; John 10:30; 12:45; 17:11- 22; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3.