Letter to Government Official

Mr. Santorum,

During your time as our U.S. Senator, you demonstrated a good voting record on most issues that matter to informed conservative pro-Life voters.

However, your support of Christine Todd Whitman showed a severe weakness in your political thinking in regard to who you represent – us or the political party you are a part of. You chose them. You later indicated that would not happen again, yet you caved in when you endorsed Arlen Specter and demonstrated the same lack of leadership even on a greater scale. You chose the Party over the people once again – privilege over principle – following as opposed to leading. As a result, you were humiliated in your election by a weak candidate – with none of the communication skills you were blessed with. You lost because those who were working on your behalf and their money were betrayed. It’s not enough just to vote right; our nation is in need of leadership!

Mr. Santorum – you are everything that is wrong with the republican party. Beltway disease is rampant – we need a leader or statesman, not another self-justifying pragmatist. You are so close to being everything right. Which one will it be? And how do we trust you yet again?

Looking for a clear answer,

Keith Tucci

Senior Pastor

Living Hope Church

352 Charles Houck Rd

Whitney, Pa 15693

A CHRISTIAN POSITION ON THE EXECUTION OF OSAMA BIN LADEN

Is it wrong to rejoice? Should he have been brought to trial?

Is it wrong to rejoice when an enemy falls? Yes and no.

Let’s start with “no”. We may not rejoice when a personal enemy falls or is plundered. When I use the term “enemy”, I mean someone who, by words or actions, has planned harm against us, not just by our suspicion or interpretation. We should walk humbly with an understanding that we have hurt people–intentionally and unintentionally.

“Yes”, we may rejoice when a corporate enemy falls, who will bring continued and eminent harm against others–especially uninvolved or judicially innocent people. Biblical justice and civil government was created by God for the punishment of the wicked and protection of the innocent. This is a fact!

What about a trial? Osama Bin Laden had already adjudicated himself as being guilty and made it clear that he was utterly unrepentant. At no time was there ever anything said or done to mitigate this guilt in any way. He was indeed a Biblical candidate for the death penalty.

The U.S. position is that they gave him a brief moment to surrender. I am quite sure this was literally a “moment”. The U.S. Armed Forces acted expeditiously and protected other lives by not turning this into a judicial circus. The guilt was already admitted to and the proper penalty was administered.

Let’s Get to the Root of it

How many times have you heard the phrase used in passing, “What is the root?” or “Let’s get to the root of it.”? I noticed that the word root seems to primarily be used in only one of its primarily two core meanings:
a. Foundation; source; anchor. (Like a root on a tree or a root on a tooth– it keeps it strong or tight.)
Yet, when the Bible talks about root, it’s reference more often is not just regarding foundation but rather:
b. Nourishment; nutrition. (What does it feed from?) Note: Proverbs 12:3 ” A man will not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will not be moved.” This is more than just holding something steady, but is connected to what that thing is feeding from.

What is really feeding you? Is it being smart enough to comprehend Christian principles and enjoy a better life? Or is it a deep consecration to God and His purpose? Benjamin Franklin said that, while he was unsure of the deity of Christ, there was no doubt that the Christian religion caused people to prosper. I believe we have churches full of Christian pragmatists and humanitarians, whose root is not eternal. What they feed from is their experiences, their circumstances and their feelings rather than their connection to God. They are moved by life improvement principles. This root will die in time of trouble, hardship and disappointment

“Where is God?” If God is not below the surface in your life in good times, His power will not rise up in you and surface in your life in times of testing. One of the roots that is spoken of in the scripture is the root of bitterness (Hebrews 12:15)–a poisonous root–one that kills us on the installment plan. No matter how sweet our life or circumstances could possibly be, when we are feeding from the root of bitterness, we are insuring spiritual death. Do you compare yourself to others? Do you play the “fair game”? Do you live life looking back or looking forward? Do you struggle when others around you are blessed? These are just some of the signs of a life that is feeding from the bitter IV drip of a bad root.

It’s interesting that when God talks about our heritage and our legacies, much attention is paid to the root., i.e. the root of David, the root of Jesse, the root of righteousness. How deeply are we connected and do we ultimately understand that what we feed from will eventually determine the degree that we can lead?

Critical Election Update

As this next critical election comes upon us, as true patriots and citizens of the Kingdom of God, we must once again become aware of the trap of political Messiahship–by expecting the political system to do the work of the church, or by us doing political work so we won’t have to do the work of the church.

The question is not or should not be whether we are politically engaged. The question is this: Are we looking for a means to the end, other than seeing the expansion of God’s Kingdom on earth? That expansion will not come by the majority of votes but by a commitment to obedience.

Our political activism needs to be a lifestyle, not an event in November. Otherwise, we confine ourselves to the process of gaining votes, assuming that even if the best available people are elected, we can then go back to our lives and churches–business as usual.

On the contrary, that’s where our prophetic role as the church should really go the next level, by holding those we now elected to a high standard. Politics and church have many things in common. One of them is that our greatest failures do not come from without but from within, when we do not exercise the courage that is necessary to do the right thing. Our prophetic role become a stimulus of courage for those who may have run for office with good intentions, but now find the giants in the land a little scarier than they had previously imagined.

A KEY TO REFORMATION

A key to reformation is an outpouring of grace that effectuates an abounding joy and gratitude. However, without a serious understanding of our own depth of sin and our utter and complete need of forgiveness, this type of grace does not exist, except in the songs we sing and the out-of-context scriptures we use. These often create the doctrine of “divine slack” that is the grace of God’s patchwork for our problems and issues, rather than His rescue mission from the quagmire of sin we are in.

“Where sin does abound, grace does much more abound” can only happen when we comprehend the complete viciousness and eternal penalty for sin. Obviously, this type of awareness is not happening in the Church at large. If it were, our congregations would be abounding with thankfulness that would instantly paralyze gossip and nick-picking and personality issues. This type of grace provokes witnessing and soul winning and personal acts of service and sacrifice. Grateful people cannot be silenced or stopped. But, gratitude of this magnitude only happens when there is a real comprehension of what we have been forgiven of and as a result, what we have escaped from, not to mention what we’ve now been blessed with.

William Booth, the founder and firebrand of the Salvation Army said this, when a young man asked him about how to be a better soul winner, “Pray God hangs you over hell for 30 seconds.”

WHAT KIND OF GOVERNMENT DO YOU BELIEVE IN?

Yesterday I had an interesting encounter with a gentlemen in a business situation. He was an extremely nice fellow and expressed a deep interest in being kind and generous toward our church in a potential business situation. I noticed he had an Obama sticker on his vehicle. After our business portion of the meeting was done, I asked him if I could ask him a personal question. So, I raised the issue, “How could someone who is in business, has employees, owns property, and is committed to their family, have these divergent political affections?”

Interestingly, the first thing he told me was that he had voted for Ronald Reagan because he thought he would get the job done. But, in most cases, he votes for democrats because he thinks they will get the job done. It became quickly apparent that this man had an actual position that “it is government’s job to take care of all these social situations that are stealing our wages through forced charity.” When I brought up the misuse of social security funds, he agreed with me but basically dismissed it as “you will always have corruption”. I told him “This is not corruption; this is policy”. Again he readily agreed that he disagreed with a great deal of that policy, but he really believed that it was government’s job to take care of all these social ills.

So, there really are people out there that go to work, embrace certain values, but yet see government as the “answer”. Then, there are those on the extreme other end, who see government as evil, that resent authority and resent any legislation that they disagree with. There is no candidate that is worth their vote and they are almost anarchists in their theological positions.

When the French Revolution happened, interestingly, both of these sentiments were very strong. While the American Revolution was driven by an understanding that government, in itself, has no intrinsic value but, rather, it must understand that it is accountable to God.

As we see the stir that the Tea Party has created, if you listen to the rhetoric very closely, by in large, the leaders seem to be in a more solid position, but the masses are all over the field. They hate what’s happening, but for many different reasons. This highlights the great need for real leaders so that a vacuum of merely anti-government sentiment is not what we descend into. Will the rank and file that is being stirred right now be able to follow anybody that is “less than perfect” in their eyes? Conservatives, without Christ, are simply liberals in the making. I call it the “Goldwater Snydrome” , as in Barry Goldwater—the man who was once the “radical, right-wing standard bearer”, but who died as a left-wing liberal on almost every issue. Yet, he did this so incrementally and, as such, was really never taken to task. So, what kind of government do you believe in and why?

The Irrelevance of Being Relevant

If the current culture of being relevant continues to drive the Church, it would be good if some of those behind the wheel would look at the roadway to see where we are heading. Relevance in the culture serves as a tool or a medium or format with which to convey a message that can be grasped. Relevance by itself is not “the message”.

We must approach the matter of “being relevant” just as a missionary would a new nation–learn the language and customs so that truth can be communicated in ways that have a chance to be considered, digested and ultimately implemented. Being familiar and clear about truth is the first principle. Then being schooled in how to present it is second.

We are ending with with a generation of presenters–many of which are legitimately sincere, but in error because their main goal seems to be “being heard”, not being faithful to the truth. One wineskin must submit to the other.

Are Mormons Christians?

The clear answer is “no”, they are not. If, in fact, they believe Mormon doctrine which denies that Jesus is God who came in the flesh. They teach that He is a “type” of created being rather than the Creator of all beings. Mormons teach that Jesus is a spirit being; a member of the angelic family just as Lucifer (who is fallen angel) and Michael who is an Archangel. The Scriptures clearly teach Jesus is God who came in the flesh that, according to Philippians 2, “emptied Himself” to operate as a man anointed by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 61/Acts 10).

How could Mormons not believe the true report of who Jesus Christ is?

A. Because they have a higher authority than the Bible called the Book of Mormon. This book was revealed to only one man, their prophet Joseph Smith.

B. They have a one-man prophetic revelation based on a visit from the “angel” Maroni and “Golden Tablets” that only Joseph Smith saw and could interpret. (Anytime you have an Italian angel, that should be a tip-off that you are in trouble.)

Throughout Mormon history, there have been various splinter groups, some more cultish than the mother group. And some who have truly embraced the Kingdom of God by rejecting the heretic teaching that Jesus is anything less than God.

The two basic litmus tests for a cult is:

1. Who is Jesus?

2. What is their authority for revelation/doctrine/teaching?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) clearly fails the Biblical test and is a classic cult in doctrine and practice. 1 John 2:19-23 gives us a description of these false prophets.

They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

(1 John 2:19-23)

Can Mormons be good people? Yes. Is it possible for a confused believer to be in the LDS? It is possible primarily because life as a Mormon can have very little doctrine, and like all cults, they redefine terms such as “Son of God”, “Redeemer”, “Savior”, etc. These terms sound the same, but mean something completely different in their doctrine. When the Scriptures refer to Jesus Christ as the “Son of God”, we know that it is a reference to His deity, not that He is a disembodied spirit, or that He is some type of mystical prototype of what God would want us to be.

Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” That is still the question of the day and hour. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Without that you cannot be a Christian.

Burn, Baby, Burn

I have watched with amazement the last several weeks the carnival that resulted from one local church willing to call Islam what, in fact, it really is–a lie! Some of the same folks who talked about what an insult this would be are the same folks that tell us that having the Ten Commandments on the wall of the schools will do psychological damage to children. While the Bible is removed by government fiat, one local pastor is shish-ka-bobbed for his courageous stand.

I was asked about this by a lot of people. Had I not had a setting in service for a new pastor, I really believe I would have went to Florida to try to meet with this pastor. I’m sure he was in no way prepared for the media onslaught and the government pressure he received.

I actually did have an idea. “OK, we’re not going to burn the Koran–we will just rip out the pages that promote violence and burn them one by one” to make it more specific. While many people were quick to point out the provocative factor, we should be answering clearly that that is the problem with Islam. Do people fear offending Christians, thinking that possibly their personal safety would be violated. No, of course not. So, now we must use this opportunity to expose the fact that, in their declaration about the “religion of peace”, they themselves are confessing that Koran followers cannot be trusted.

Glen Beck, The Salt Shaker

I watched the news with some interest after the recent Glen Beck rally in D.C. While many believers are confused as to how Beck–a confessing Mormon–can lead one of the most significant pro-Christian events in the last decade.

Do not be surprised. Beck’s study and passion for history has indeed put him in a place of acknowledging God, just as a former or as they say, “recovering alcoholic” acknowledges a higher power–which in many cases leads to true faith in Christ.

Most Mormons, unlike Jehovah Witnesses, are not heavily indoctrinated. They are, in fact, cultural Mormons, who appreciate and enjoy the benefit offered through moral and social guidance of a non-secular identification and organization.

Will this lead to Beck’s conversion? He keeps hanging out with some very clear and authentic Christian believers. But please don’t discount the pre-evangelism effect Beck is having. We know that even laws that are Godly and Biblical in nature, without a Biblical quotation, are still, in fact, culturally reforming, because they set a standard of behavior and consequence. Honor, faith, truth and prayer were the buzz words. The most obvious missing ingredient was “sin”. Stay tuned. MAYBE the Church will step up to the plate.

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