Pastor Jim Garlow will stand before congregants at his 2,000-seat Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa, California, on Sunday, October 7, just weeks before the U.S. presidential and congressional elections, and urge his flock to vote for or against particular candidates.
He knows such pulpit pleading could endanger his church's tax-exempt status by violating IRS rules for a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. A charity can take a position on policy issues but cannot act "on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office." To cross that line puts the $7 million mega-church's tax break at risk....
I believe preachers should absolutely preach about moral decay. Not enough of that being done. What I don't want to see and I would NEVER vote for is a theocracy. America would have ceased to exist a long time ago if the church ran the country.
Jim Lincoln wrote: if churches mess around in politics that is clearly anti-Biblical.
Are you saying that if government and political policy impinge upon Bible laws and doctrines - The Christians should play chicken run hide and surrender to the worldly? Is there no back bone at IHCC??
Jim Lincoln wrote: Not really, Mike, though I repeated myself in two different threads sorry about that. If you mean if Christians are suppose to live --individual-- lives that are exemplary yes, that is Biblical, if churches mess around in politics that is clearly anti-Biblical. ---
Take those individuals out of what you're calling "church," and there is but an empty building left. I know of no buildings that mess around in politics. But I have read of fiery political and spiritual sermons being preached from colonial pulpits. They apparently didn't understand that they shouldn't be commenting on the moral issues of the day, esp. if a politician was involved in the creation of the moral issue. Of course they weren't quite as susceptible to false unconstitutional notions of separation of churches and politics as we are today.
Not really, Mike, though I repeated myself in two different threads sorry about that. If you mean if Christians are suppose to live --individual-- lives that are exemplary yes, that is Biblical, if churches mess around in politics that is clearly anti-Biblical.
Gil Rugh said or, wrote: The Church and social responsibility have to be seen in light of the Great Commission. This has become a question in the Evangelical church. As individual Christians we are to be characterized by generosity, kindness, compassion, love. As a Church, Christ has already told us what to do. When Christ tells us we are to spread the Gospel, this does not involve developing or supporting social programs.
Hey, if these "pastors" aren't really interested in what Christian leaders should be doing, then hey at least they shouldn't drag their churches into activities, that they may or may not want to participate in.
They can go out on weekdays and put up signs, send out broadsides, and make telephone calls for their favorite political candidates--though they can be considered to have lost some of their saltiness--but leave the politics at home on Su
You aren't elaborating, you're diverting. It's not about moving away from evangelism to become political, it's about not excluding one particular mode of making a living, namely politics, from salt and light. The colonial preachers had no problem with it, neither do I.
Phil Johnson wrote: ...some Christians, have even made the same mistake I made, before I became a Christian, and that is, they think the solution to society's moral decline is a political agenda, and they have thrown all the energies and their resources into trying to redeem society through politics, which this passages teaches us is an utterly futile undertaking. Our pastor, John MacArthur has had much to say about this over the years---if you have been listening, you know that, because as the energies of the Evangelical Movement have been diverted more and more away from evangelism and the preaching of the gospel, and invested more and more in political lobbying, public protests, and in some cases, all out war on American culture--as we've seen that happen, John MacArthur has spoken out in favor of preaching and evangelism instead. He has consistently said what this passage says, and that is that sin is what ails modern society and so the gospel is the only effective remedy. But that message isn't popular with everybody, even among our evangelical friends.
Jim Lincoln wrote: Government agencies should go after "churches" who are really no more than an arm of a political party.--- The federal and state governments are practicing criminal neglect by not removing the tax exempt status of these "churches" --- Here's what a Catholic lawyer had to say about this mixing of religion and politics, '"It will get worse unless the IRS takes action, and they seem reluctant," said Nicholas Cafardi, dean emeritus and professor of law at Duquesne University and the longtime lawyer for the Catholic diocese of Pittsburgh. 'Cafardi called the current state of affairs "toxic" in its mingling of the two worlds. Many religious leaders do not support the trend toward more political involvement by organized religion and worry it will undercut their moral authority.'
quoting an RC, Jim? Here's lyrics from a song you may identify with:
Looking through rose-colored stained glass windows Never allowing the world to come in Seeing no evil and feeling no pain And making the light as it comes from within So dim...So dim
The problem with you and your RC friend's position is that you want to be light,(sort of) but not salt. Salt requires going to that which requires rot prevention and preservation.
Government agencies should go after "churches" who are really no more than an arm of a political party. If these "pastors," false shepherds want to play around in politics then let go support their favorite candidates on other days besides Sunday, or whatever day they meet. The federal and state governments are practicing criminal neglect by not removing the tax exempt status of these "churches" One of the things I couldn't stomach when I was Methodist was the interest of their ministers in politics. Here's what a Catholic lawyer had to say about this mixing of religion and politics,
'"It will get worse unless the IRS takes action, and they seem reluctant," said Nicholas Cafardi, dean emeritus and professor of law at Duquesne University and the longtime lawyer for the Catholic diocese of Pittsburgh.
'Cafardi called the current state of affairs "toxic" in its mingling of the two worlds. Many religious leaders do not support the trend toward more political involvement by organized religion and worry it will undercut their moral authority.'
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It's not about moving away from evangelism to become political, it's about not excluding one particular mode of making a living, namely politics, from salt and light. The colonial preachers had no problem with it, neither do I.
If these "pastors," false shepherds want to play around in politics then let go support their favorite candidates on other days besides Sunday, or whatever day they meet. The federal and state governments are practicing criminal neglect by not removing the tax exempt status of these "churches" One of the things I couldn't stomach when I was Methodist was the interest of their ministers in politics. Here's what a Catholic lawyer had to say about this mixing of religion and politics,
