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Does the New RNC Platform Align With the Bible on Abortion?

Discerning The Times / Brian Thomas
The Truth Network Radio
December 17, 2024 5:00 am

Does the New RNC Platform Align With the Bible on Abortion?

Discerning The Times / Brian Thomas

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December 17, 2024 5:00 am

Is the Republican party moving away from the Bible with its 2024 RNC platform?

In light of changes, what should the Christian do?


Those are the two questions that we will answer in today's episode. 

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Blessings to Israel presents Discerning the Times, a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible.

Is the Republican Party moving away from the Bible with its 2024 RNC platform? That is what I want to talk to you about this week. And in light of what we've seen, what should the Christian do? Those are the two questions that I want to pose and answer on this week. But before I do, I must remind you that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. If you've already received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but maybe life has not played out the way you had hoped for or dreamed of.

Maybe when it comes to that marriage or the dream job, the family, the home, whatever it may be. I want you to know the best is yet to come because you will spend eternity in a perfect kingdom with our Lord. So don't be discouraged.

But if you leave this out of life not having received him as Lord and Savior, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire separated from God. So will you please give your heart to Jesus Christ on today? All right, folks. So once again, I want to talk on a subject that I'm long overdue in addressing because these changes took place several months ago, back in the week of July 15th of 2024.

That is when the Republican National Convention took place. Now, let me just say for those who are not familiar with me, I am an independent registered voter. I am not a Republican or Democrat or anything. I am registered as an independent. But I was registered for many years as a Democrat simply because, well, I am black. And in the black culture, you are born and raised to vote Democrat. But it was when the Holy Spirit began to work on me and show me that there were things that I was voting for.

There were in contradiction to what I believed in the Bible as a Christian. And so I had to leave the Democratic Party. And with that said, since I've left the party, I have voted straight Republican in every single election. But with that said, I do not carry the Republican Party flag. So I don't wave this flag as if the Republican Party is the end all be all. But I do acknowledge it is much more in line with the Bible than the Democratic Party. And one thing we have to keep in mind when we look at things politically is that we are dealing with fallen man.

We are not in a utopia and we won't be in a utopia until Jesus returns. And I know there are some out there who are Christians and they don't want to get involved in politics and government. But let me just remind you of what the book of Romans Chapter 13, verse four states. It says, for he and speaking of the government, it says, for he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. So, again, that is talking about the government. The Bible describes it as God's minister.

God ordained government in order to execute wrath punishment for those who practice evil. So that is something we must keep in mind. But when we look at things politically, you know, my conviction is that you cannot be a pro-life Christian and vote Democrat. I do not see how you can reconcile that difference, because when you vote Democrat, you are complicit to the murder of unborn babies and to a lot of things in the policies platform that goes against the Bible. So I do not understand how someone who is informed and that is the key informed. If you truly know the issues, you truly know the platform, how an informed person can be a Christian and still vote Democrat.

That is something that I do not understand. But to get us started, what I want to do is first take a look at the platform. And I want to I want to show you how the platform has changed from the prior version to what it is in 2024. So we're going to look at the platform from 2016. That was the prior version to where it is today and what we just saw take place in 2024. So for those that are looking at the video version of this platform you see on the screen, this is the Republican Party platform of 2016.

Now, I want you to watch very closely as I do a search and I'm going to search on a couple of topics and I want you to see the difference between 2016 and 2024. So as we look at the topic of abortion, you see here in the search results, 35 times it is mentioned in the 2016 platform. You see here the statement at the first mention, we oppose the use of public funds to perform or promote abortion or to fund organizations like Planned Parenthood, so long as they provide or refer for elective abortions or sell fetal body parts rather than provide health care. That's great. Let's look at a few more few more mentions. We will not fund or subsidize health care that includes abortion coverage again. Great.

Let's go a little bit further. We applaud the U.S. House of Representatives for leading the effort to add enforcement to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act by passing the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which imposes appropriate civil and criminal penalties on health care providers who fail to provide treatment and care to an infant who survives an abortion, including early induction delivery, whether the death of the infant is intended. And folks, let me just say it is really telling and really sad that we are at a point in society that something like this even needs to be mentioned, because it should go without saying that you will do all you can to give care to a baby. But this act, well, it was brought about because there were some who say don't give the baby any care. If the baby survives an abortion, just allow the baby to lie there and die. And folks, that is just barbaric.

It is really barbaric. Here's more language again from the 2016 Republican Party platform. It says the point at which current medical research shows that unborn babies can feel excruciating pain during abortions.

OK, so again, that's that we should acknowledge that and it's good that that is here. It says here we support state and federal efforts against the cruelest forms of abortion, especially dismemberment, abortion procedures in which unborn babies are literally torn apart limb from limb. It is just barbaric to think that that type of thing is actually taking place, but it's great that the 2016 Republican Party's platform was addressing this, speaking against this. Let's go a little further, says the Democratic Party is extreme on abortion.

That is a truthful statement, something that we have to acknowledge. So again, you see here great language in addressing the topic of abortion from the 2016 Democratic, sorry, 2016 Republican Party platform. Now, I want you to see the contrast, because here is where the issue is when we look at the platform from 2024, the one that was just drafted and agreed upon by the party just a few months ago.

All right. So again, for those of you watching on video, you see on my screen again the 2024 platform. And if I put in the search for abortion, you see one mention, one single mention. And as we go to it, here is what it states. We will oppose late term abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control and IVF. That is the only mention of abortion in the 2024 Republican Party platform. And that's that's concerning. That's a problem. That is really a problem, because for the first time in 40 years, the platform does not have strong pro-life language in it. And that is disturbing a lot of people. Now, one thing I must say is that for those of us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we know that the Bible is our standard.

That is what we go by. But I'm all for organizations having statements, bylaws to show what their principles are, what their values are, what they stand for. Because, again, when we vote, we should be looking at platform. We should be looking at policy.

And unfortunately, too many people get caught up in personalities as opposed to looking at the real issues. So as I stated earlier, what should the Christian do in light of this? What do we see taking place?

What should the Christian do? Because there are many Christians that support the Republican Party because of its pro-life position, along with other areas in which it is more in line with the Bible. So on that note, I want you to hear report. This is from Fox News 6 in Milwaukee from July 8th of 2024. While the Republican National Convention officially starts a week from tonight, thousands of delegates are already in town working on the party platform. And some of them aren't happy with the Republican Party's official stance on abortion.

Christina Mantels joins us live with the new concerns tonight, Christina. Yeah, we're going to tell you why those delegates are upset tonight. But we did also find other people who say they like this change in wording on abortion and then others who say they're still unsure. Monday, the RNC platform committee approved the party's platform before it heads to the convention floor next week.

I think that from the historical perspective, a platform is very important. The platform highlights 20 issues, immigration, the economy, taxes and crime. It does not include a national abortion ban, something many pro-life Republicans were counting on. It's very significant whenever a party does something that's sort of out of the ordinary. The platform reads, in part, we will oppose late-term abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control and IVF.

UWM professor emeritus Mordecai Lee says it's vague. If you're the Republican Party and you want Donald Trump to win Wisconsin, you want fuzziness. Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, calls the platform unbecoming.

He says during Monday's meeting, delegates had no time to look it over before a vote was called. On the other hand, some Republican voters in Wisconsin are happy about the platform's wording when it comes to abortion. I'm hoping that we'll pull in more votes for the Republican Party. Democrat voters call it dishonest. The more vague Republicans keep their actual intended policies, they can garner in more of the undecided, more centrist voters. As for the undecided Wisconsin voters, Lee says you really have to face a decision. Am I a single issue voter?

All right. So that was a report again from Fox 6 News out of Milwaukee. And that was the report from the committee's approval of the report on the committee's approval of the platform before the Republican National Convention back in July.

And you heard during the soundbite, the professor mentioned fuzziness, that if you want to win, you want fuzziness in there. But I call it compromise and I call it unrighteous compromise because there is a good compromise. If you have two siblings that are differing on what television program to watch and one says, well, I got to watch what I wanted yesterday.

So today you get to watch what you prefer. That is a good compromise. But when you are watering down biblical values, watering down what is right in order to try to get people to like you or to vote for you or support you, that is called an unrighteous compromise.

And it will cause Republicans to lose support of Christians. We've already heard people say they are not pleased with it. And we'll hear more as we continue to go forward in today's podcast, because, folks, you do not water down your position to make a bigger tent.

And that's the term you'll hear from a lot of people is that we need to make a bigger tent so we can get more people in. But, you know, and he mentioned in the clip there, are you going to be a one issue voter? That's what you have to decide. But a lot of people would say, well, if the one issue was slavery, there is no way they could vote for that party, regardless of anything else they had to say, because you couldn't vote for a party that endorses slavery. And just like now with abortion, well, it's gone to the states. So the individual states will choose. But how many people would be in favor of saying, well, each state can choose their position on slavery? So Virginia may say no to slavery, but you go a few miles south to North Carolina and North Carolina says, yes, we are OK with slavery.

How many people would be fine with that? But that is what is being pushed or or asking people to do when it comes to abortion. And it should not be.

There should be a nation wide ban against killing of unborn babies, just like it is illegal nationwide to have slavery. Let's listen to another clip. This is from NPR News from July 9th of 2024 addressing, again, this same topic. The Republican Party published its platform, the principles it will run on for the false campaign, adopting former President Trump's objectives, softening the party's positions on abortion.

NPR's Stephen Fowler has more. After 35 mentions of the word abortion in 2016's platform, the current platform only has one. Because of Trump, the official stance now is that states can decide what level of restrictions to enact. I mean, Republicans have been consistently on the losing side of this issue at the ballot box ever since that Dobbs Supreme Court decision. While Republicans do not commit here to a national abortion ban, this platform is not binding in any way. And it doesn't change the views of many of his allies and advocacy groups who still want that type of restriction and will likely still push forward if Trump wins.

All right. So as I said earlier, I am happy that Roe versus Wade was overturned, but we still don't want abortion legal in any states. And you heard during the clip that the previous version mentioned abortion 35 times in speaking against it, whereas the two thousand twenty four version mentions it just once. And also, you may have noticed when I shared the the platform, the party's platform on the screen, that the 2016 version was 66 pages long. The new version of 2024 is only 28 pages. Now, I am all about being concise and not having unnecessary language to get a point across.

But you don't want to do it to the point that you water things down to where people don't know your position, that you're being vague. And that is what I think we see taking place. Here's another report from WISN and ABC affiliate from July of twenty twenty four.

Take me inside. There were no phones. Was there any debate? How unusual was this this year? It's never happened before.

I mean, I guess I've done this several times. There was no there was no committees. We always had subcommittees where we can go in and work on a section of the platform. We can propose amendments, debate them, add them. Always happens.

I've done it many times. And then that would usually take today. And then tomorrow we would come back and meet as a complete platform. And sometimes there'll be more amendments. They didn't allow any amendments. They didn't allow any discussion. They rolled us. So they did.

We only spent thousands of dollars to be here. And what we think they told us they were going to do isn't what happened. Didn't none.

None of it happened. I've never seen this happen before. I don't understand why they did it. And I'm extremely disappointed that we do not have any pro-life language. There are good things in this platform. There are a lot of things in there that I support and that I would want. But I didn't vote for this because we've never had a platform.

I've been coming to these conventions since 1992. And this is the first time we don't have a pro-life platform. The platform simply says that we oppose late term abortion. Well, what about before then?

There's nothing that doesn't even want any place to mention the unborn baby at all. Never happened before. And I've never been treated so badly to have them force this vote on us before we even had a chance to read the platform. We didn't even have it. They gave it to us. But then they had a meeting with people speaking. So we glanced through it.

But we have time to study it and read it. And then all of a sudden somebody made a motion to to vote on the platform. And that was it.

And then they sent us home. You know, said, well, goodbye. All right. So, folks, keep in mind that I'm not sharing this with you today in order to trash the Republican Party. Again, as I said, I have voted Republican every election since the last for the last 16 years. And so that is not what I'm doing. But I want you to be aware of what's taking place, because that was a delegate describing her experience. And as she said, opposing just simply late term abortion is not good enough, because what about all the babies that are being aborted prior to late term? We don't want as Christians any babies to be aborted, any baby's lives to be taken in their mother's womb. But we have to ask the question, why were there not subcommittees like before? As you heard the delegate stating, she said there was no allowance for proposals or debates or amendments by subcommittees.

And she said, quote, they rolled us, end quote, and said she's never been treated so badly. So this is very concerning. And again, it is going to drive away Christians. Now, let me be clear, I was very happy that Donald Trump won the presidential election over Kamala, because the platform, again, is not even a close comparison. But if Donald Trump orchestrated this kind of atmosphere, he was wrong. And I have to state that even for someone that voted for him, because I have to be willing to call out when I see something that is not right. And I know people out there when it comes to their political party or their their favorite candidate, they don't say anything against what they're doing. No matter how wrong it is, they still defend every action. And when a person does that, that that tells me that person is disingenuous and they lose credibility. So I am just saying simply, if this is something that Donald Trump orchestrated, it was not right.

It was not wrong. And I have to call it. Here's another report that I want you to hear. This is Travis Weber, the vice president for policy and government affairs on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins. Before we get into some of some of the specifics of some of these other issues I want to cover, just give me your 30,000 foot perspective of the platform today.

Yeah. So I was able to observe the process that unfolded today. And, you know, there were several things that really struck me about it. One was just the tight reign of it was really a feeling of control that was being exerted upon the whole process. And these are delegates that are selected to represent the interests of the people in a national gathering of the Republican Party to determine what policy positions the party will determine.

It wants to rally around. That should be a process with input, with collaboration, involving collaboration, involving hearing the perspectives of the delegates. None of that was present. And it was abundantly clear that there was an agreement behind whoever was running things today that they wanted to retain a tight control on things and stop that. Well, you make that decision, you get what happened.

You get a frustrated group of people who are not feeling heard in a process in which they should feel heard. So that was very clear. I think it was a missed opportunity.

And it was very disappointing because no one's fooling anyone. Everyone knows when someone is trying to ram something down their throat. And it was very clear that this was being rammed down the throats of everyone there today.

All right. So again, that was Travis Weber from July of 2024 during the process of drafting the party's platform. And like the previous clip, the delegate, the previous delegate clip, he expressed the tight control over the process. And I have to be honest with you, from what the reports that we're hearing, it sounded like it was a dictatorial type of process. And he described it as being rammed down their throats. And you have to ask the question of why. Why was that the case?

Why was that taking place? There are some out there who go along with this narrative that being pro-life hurts you politically. They feel like you cannot really take a stand in the position of being a strong advocate for pro-life because they think it will hurt you politically. And this is what Senator Lindsey Graham is addressing on The Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.

And let me just say this. There are a lot of very rich Republican donors who appreciate their support, who are not pro-life, who believe that social issues cost us elections. Marco Rubio ran in Florida and won big in 2022, embracing being pro-life. Governor Kemp knocked it out of the park. Every governor who ran on a pro-life agenda in 2022, they tried to demagogue the abortion issue and they won.

There were actually 11, 11 of them that ran in that cycle. I mean, you had Governor DeWine in Ohio who signed a heartbeat bill and he ran and won handedly. You had Governor DeSantis, same thing. So you're absolutely right. So the narrative that being pro-life hurts you politically is a false narrative perpetrated by the liberal media who wants us to be ashamed or afraid of embracing pro-life policies. I'm very glad to hear Senator Lindsey Graham state that. And I know a lot of people have some issues with Lindsey Graham and I understand those issues. But at least when it comes to this clip, I'm in agreement with him because there are those that claim that you have to be vague on pro-life or you will lose.

And we've seen evidence of those who were strong on pro-life and they did not lose. But the thing about it is, folks, we cannot embrace pragmatism. And the definition of pragmatism that I looked up online states dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations. And I just have to take exception with the part of that definition that says sensibly and realistically, because I look at this is just another way of saying unrighteous compromise. When you're trying to be pragmatic, when you're trying to say, OK, I'm not going to state how I truly feel on the side of what's right because I want to make sure that I win.

I want to make sure that I get support. Because what if in the Bible, what if the Hebrew boys would have taken the pragmatic approach and worshipped Nebuchadnezzar's idol in order to escape the fiery furnace? What if they had done that? Or what about Daniel when the decree went out to pray to none other than the king or you go to the lion's den?

What if what if Daniel and what are the Hebrew boys would have said in both of those cases? Well, you know, we know what we believe in, but we have to be pragmatic. We have to save our lives.

You have to use common sense. That would be a clear demonstration of a lack of faith in God because they were willing to die for God. And that's what we all must be willing to do.

You have to stand for what's right. Matthew 16, 25 says, For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And in the case of Daniel and the Hebrew boys, we know how it went. God stepped in and he supernaturally saved them from that physical death. But we should be willing to die physically if that's what God calls us to do, because we don't sell our souls.

We don't become self advancing pragmatists. We have to stand for righteousness and trust God. Leave the outcome. Leave the consequences to God.

Whatever he decides, stand faithful and true to him. So we have to stand for the life of babies. And if a politician loses the election as a result, you can stand in good conscience before God. Matthew 16, 26 says, For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? I'm not giving anything in exchange for my soul, folks. And I encourage everybody out there, politicians, no matter who it is, stand for what's right. We do not want to become pragmatic. Here is Tony Perkins, who is the president of the Family Research Council, giving his take on what we saw take place with the platform.

All right. Listen, we've had the platform now has it's been voted on. It is what it is. People are beginning to read it, seeing what's in it. What kind of reaction are you seeing from people now? Well, I think as more people read it, they see it for what it is. It's not a bad document. It's kind of cotton candy.

It's not rat poison, but it's cotton candy. You know, it's not the substance that we're accustomed to that lays out these enduring principles that that movements are built upon. It does lack, as we talked about yesterday, clarity on the issue of life. It is a step back. And I just I don't like spin.

OK, I just don't like spin. It is a step backwards. It doesn't move us closer to recognizing that all human life, which is created in the image of God, is to be welcomed into our world and protected under our laws that fall short of that.

And it moves it further away. That said, Jody, no victory this side of heaven is permanent, nor is any defeat permanent. And so we keep going.

All right. So, again, that was Tony Perkins, the president of Family Research Council. And you heard him say it's not a bad document. It's not like the document the platform is stating immoral things. He just said it's cotton candy is not rat poison.

It's cotton candy because it is a watering down of what it appears in order to win the masses again in order to spread a big tent. And I'm with Tony Perkins. I do not like spin. I want to know where a person stands, even if you are in opposition to what I believe. I want to know where you stand.

I don't want you to be vague. And we see that today politically. And unfortunately, we see it a lot in churches today where a lot of churches and pastors will not take strong stands on what the Bible says when it comes to issues, because they say, well, we're going to run people away or people are not going to feel welcome. But, folks, we have to stand on the truth of God's word and again, leave the consequences to God. We cannot go with spin in order to try to get people to like us or to support us, to attend our churches and to to give in the offering. You have to just speak the truth and then trust God.

And then you can stand in clear conscience before our Lord. We do not want to become pragmatists. But again, let me just stress the Republican Party platform, even in his watered down state, is certainly better than the Democratic Party's platform. I mean, when you talk about the Democratic Party's platform, it is so it's so demonic.

I'm not even going to waste time reading it because it's not even a it's not even a comparison. And that is what I stress to people all the time when we talk about things politically, how we approach it as Christians. We are looking at policy.

We are looking at the platform. And that is the problem with so many people out there when they're going to vote. They're not even looking at policy.

They don't even know what the issues are. Many of them, they're looking at things like skin color. And we've talked in the past about identity politics. They're looking at gender. They're looking at all of these things, personality, looking at all these things other than what the platforms are. And so, again, even with this watered down platform, it is better, much better from a Christian perspective than what we see on the other side.

But the problem is and watering it down, I do have a major concern that this is going to drive away the Christian. Because, again, when we compare to the parties, you know, Kamala, she made it very clear that the restoration of Roe versus Wade was a priority for her. We saw throughout the campaign the way she pushed abortion.

It seemed like at least two out of three commercials that she put out. And every time she would speak, she was she was encouraging abortion to take the lives of unborn babies. And as Christians, we do not go along with that because Proverbs 6 17 states that God hates hands that shed innocent blood. And Jeremiah Chapter one, verse five, before I form you in the womb, I knew you. So I point those verses out because there are people out there that, again, will try to argue a woman's right to choose. But the Bible says, no, that is a human being that is in there in your womb and it is not your body.

It is another body that is inside of your body. But you don't have the right to take that baby's life. That baby was made in the image of God.

You don't have the right to take that life. But as we wind things up, I want to share one last clip because I asked the question, what should the Christian do in light of these changes of the Republican Party's platform? So this is Pastor Jack Hibbs and he's addressing this. He's speaking in this clip before the election that we had in 2024. But here is his advice on how the Christians should approach this issue.

Regarding this upcoming election, who should you vote for? For the Christian, it's super easy. It's super easy because if you pull back rhetoric and emotion, it's a slam dunk. There is one party that's more pro-life than the other. In fact, the other is 100 percent pro-death. It's a death cult. And I'm talking about the Democrat Party.

The Democrat Party is, in fact, a bonafide, card-carrying, platform-holding death cult. Kill the baby. Even after it's born, kill the baby. Just on this topic alone, a Christian cannot vote for a Democrat candidate. It's impossible. You cannot say to God, I am a lover of God, a lover of the Word, a lover of Jesus, and I'm a follower of my Lord, but I'm going to vote to kill babies.

You can go ahead and do that, but you're going to stand before the Lord to give an answer for that. The flip side is this. I'm going to vote Republican for this reason. Because with that, I get J.D.

Vance. I get Tulsi Gabbard. I think Secretary Mike Pompeo will probably be back in a secretary position in some other area, perhaps, other than the State Department. But we are going to have a plethora of great people in their lane. And it is not totally, but it is still a pro-life platform. And that's how I'm going to vote. If you vote for one, you get death.

If you vote for the other, you get a lot of good stuff with that candidate. So that's that's how you should vote if you're a believer. If you're a non-believer, you're going to do what you want to do anyway.

All right. So I agree wholeheartedly with Pastor Hibbs. As I said earlier, I do not understand how a person can say that they are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet be in favor of taking the lives of unborn babies. I really do not see any way that you can reconcile or justify that. Let me share also, before I close, there are other concerns I've been talking about abortion.

That is the focus of this podcast. But there are other concerns within the 2024 version of the Republican National Convention platform, because in it, the definition of marriage is watered down. When you look at Israel, Israel is mentioned just once in this latest version versus 19 times in the previous version of 2016. And that is the 2016 mentions in support of the nation of Israel.

God is mentioned twice in 2024 version versus 16 times in the 2016 versions version. So these are all concerning issues for me as a believer in Jesus Christ. And it should be an issue for all the Christians out there.

But as I stated earlier, what should the Christian do? And Jack Hibbs has already answered that question for us. Because one thing again, we have to remember, we are not yet in a utopia, folks. So we're not going to have a perfect party. We're not going to have perfect candidates because parties are made of human beings and we are all fallen sinners. We have to go with the best that we have, because we're again, we're not going to have anyone as perfect. Not until Jesus returns to rule and reign and to govern.

And that will happen someday. But what we have to do is choose the one that is advancing the least amount of evil. Because as Jack Hibbs said, the Democratic Party is like a death cult.

You know, you just hear that pushed all the time. And what we must do as Christians, I want to encourage Christians out there, apply pressure to the representatives of the Republican Party to return to biblical values. Let them know that if they continue down this road, that Christians are going to leave in droves. We must let them know that we have to return to the biblical values and not to water down the platform. And I know a lot of Christians out there that they take this approach of, well, I'm not going to get involved in the political process because it's just too, too messy, is too dirty, is too corrupt. But I want to warn against pietism and pietism is very dangerous because that is when people are taking the approach that they are just too righteous.

They are too good to participate in elections. And, folks, that is a haughty attitude. That is a haughty mindset. Don't put yourself up there on that pedestal. The Bible says do not think more highly of oneself than you should, because, again, we are all fallen creatures. We're all fallen sinners in need of the Savior Jesus Christ. None of us are perfect. And so we have to work with the best that we have.

But if you know one party is advancing evil more so than the other, then you have a duty. And that is when Jesus talked about the parable of the talents. He said, don't bury the talent.

That was the lesson in it for the one who did nothing but the talent that he that he was given. And there are many people out there who have the right to vote and they bury that talent. The Lord is not pleased with that because you can make a difference in saving the lives of unborn babies, along with many other issues that are out there. Again, I know there are those who say don't talk about politics as Christians. We can't talk about politics. I know a pastor who said, well, he doesn't have a problem with Christians talking about it, but it shouldn't be done from the pulpit during Sunday morning service. And I wholeheartedly disagree with that because, folks, politics is part of the gospel.

Politics is the making of law, the making of policy. The first five books of the Bible is the law. And you have to understand that in the gospels, Jesus hammered the political leaders of Israel when he was on the earth.

That is the gospel. He hammered the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were the ones who were the makers of the law. They were legislators of law, along with being religious leaders. And Jesus hammered them. Jesus didn't say, well, no, I'm not going to get involved in that because that's that's politics. He wasn't. And of course, Jesus was perfect. He is God. And so if anybody could say, well, that's too dirty.

I don't want to get in that field. Jesus had the right to do so, of course. But he didn't do that. He called them out for what they were doing that was wrong.

And he was trying to get across the point to repent from that and turn to righteousness. And so that is the influence that we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ need to have. We need to be the salt and the light. The Bible says salt is a preservative. Back in the days before modern refrigeration, they the only way to preserve the meat was to pack it in salt. And what salt did was it delayed the process of decay.

It kept it from decaying before they could cook it. And so we as believers, when the Bible says we are to be salt and light, we are to be those that are preserving morality in society to keep society from decaying with sin. And we are to shine the light of our Lord Jesus Christ. But there are many out there who profess to be Christians and they don't do that. And again, Jesus is not pleased with it. One other thing I want to say before we close is that there are critics that claim, well, Jesus is my savior, not the Republican Party, not Donald Trump, not Joe Biden, not whoever. The thing, folks, we have to understand, we choose a mechanic for the job of maintaining our vehicle, not salvation. We choose a doctor for the job of maintaining good health, not salvation. We choose a president for the job of legislating policy and law, not salvation. God the Father chose Jesus for the job of salvation, not for being the president of the United States, although Jesus is going to come back and he's going to rule and reign over everything on the earth. But I'm making the point that we have to not get caught up in being blindsided and deceived by Satan to not participate, because Donald Trump nor any politician is our savior.

Jesus Christ is the only one who carries that title. So when you elect a president, when you go to vote, you're not voting for a savior. You're just voting for someone to do the job of the president, which is to make policy and to make law. Because what about your spouse? For those of us who are married, is your spouse perfect? By choosing him or her, does it mean you are endorsing everything they have ever done?

Of course not. You choose them for the purpose of being a spouse. You do not choose them for the purpose of being a savior, for salvation. And that is something that a lot of people are being deceived to not participate. Don't be tricked by the devil, folks. You can do good.

You can be salt and light and you need to do so. And again, urge the Republican Party's representatives to return to strong biblical values or else they are going to lose the Christian base. And I know a lot of people already, they said in this past election, because of the position of certain things, Christians said, no, I can't go along with that.

And on one side, I mean, I can sympathize to a degree as to, yes, it is disappointing, but not to the point of saying you cannot participate. Because, again, if one side is saying, well, unborn babies should be aborted at any state all the way up to birth and even after birth. And the other party is not going that far with it.

You have to go with, again, the one that is that's choosing the lesser of the evils, because the difference is the life in one baby versus another. And as we saw on the platform, this this barbaric procedure, and I'm being kind and saying that is not even a procedure. It is literally murder. But this barbaric process of tearing a baby apart limb by limb in its mother's womb. And people say, well, it's a woman's right to choose. But folks, God is not pleased with it.

It's murder. And our nation needs to repent. And again, the Republican Party do not move away from biblical values. We have to be willing to to call out the ones, even the ones that we support, the party that we favor. We have to call them out, just like my children.

I love them. But when my children do wrong, I can't just go along with their wrong and say, well, because they're my child, I can't I can't say anything. No, I want what's best for them because I love them and I want them to do what's right. And so I say, hey, repent of that. Turn away from that way. Don't just go along with it. The same with the spouse.

Yes, you love your spouse, but you don't go along with everything that they say and do when they're in the wrong. And so when it comes to the the party, the Republican Party, I want to encourage and urge the Republican Party, please do not water down the next platform, the next version, return to strong abortion stance, return to strong pro-life language when it comes to the topic of abortion. So, folks, that is going to wrap it for this week. I want to thank you for tuning in.

I hope you have got something from this topic. Please come back and join us next time as we continue to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the Times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel, and seek first the kingdom of God.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-12-17 06:16:31 / 2024-12-17 06:32:56 / 16

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