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Distributed by Way of Strife Literature's Parody Service.
These articles can be spread around on BBS or Internet
sites without express permission from the author. In fact, we would
encourage you to do so! Just link back here if ya could, please. This material
can be spread on good websites like FreeRepublic.com, but if someone like MAD
Magazine wants to use it, they really should hire me first. This is a listing for
Christians who are trying to live out the faith being saved by grace, not the legalistic
ravings of fundamentalists et al. Our goal is, as everything else a Christian is
supposed to do, devotional. However OUR PRIMARY
PURPOSE IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST CHRISTIANS IN THE BUILDING UP THE KINGDOM
OF HEAVEN AGAINST THE TROUBLE THAT CLOUD AND OTHER FUNDAMENTALISTS ARE STIRRING
UP IN THEIR APOSTACY. And if it takes parody to do that, so be it! If you desire
to receive this type of material on a regular basis, let us know and we'll churn out
more! And it won't be implied that you see our ministry as proudly as Cloud sees his that
we'll ask you for a donation, either.
WAY OF STRIFE LITERATURE PRESENTS DAVID CLOUD'S
JESSE VENTURA IMPLIES THAT CHRISTIANS ARE
WEAK MINDED
(Or: "Republicans 17, Jesus 0")
October 1, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277) - In an interview with the licentious Playboy magazine, the governor of Minnesota implied that Christians are weak-minded people. Excerpts from the interview were published by the Associated Press. Governor Jesse Ventura said, "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers." He complained that organized religion "tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people’s business."
In an ineffective attempt to explain this inane and slanderous statement, Ventura’s spokesman John Wodele claimed that the governor was talking about "extremists of the religious right." Wodele claimed that the religious right is intolerant and "the governor cannot stand intolerance." This is fascinating. It is fine for Jesse Ventura to be intolerant of those who have strong religious convictions, but the latter are forbidden to be intolerant of anything. This reminds me of the ecumenical crowd who complain that fundamentalists should not judge others, but the ecumenical crowd does not hesitate to judge fundamentalists, calling them mean-spirited Pharisees, among other things.
Ventura was elected in 1998 and was the first Reformed Party candidate to win a seat as governor. This is the party that was founded by billionaire Ross Perot. It is also the party that Republican presidential contender Pat Buchanan is considering joining. The Reformed Party focuses on conservative economic issues and largely avoids social concerns such as abortion, homosexuality, and drugs. (Jesse Ventura also stated in the aformentioned Playboy interview that America should consider the legalization of prostitution and the loosening of laws against some types of illegal drugs, such as marijuana.)
It makes no sense to me for Bible-believing Christians in America to abandon the Republican Party today. I don’t say this because I believe the Republican Party is ideal. It is extremely weak and imperfect, as a matter of fact; but I continue to support it for two reasons:
ONE, I DO NOT WANT TO ABANDON IT BECAUSE IT REPRESENTS THE ISSUES I HOLD DEAR MORE CLEARLY THAN ANY OTHER PARTY THAT HAS A CHANCE OF WINNING ELECTIONS. Politics in this present fallen world can never be more than an imperfect thing for a Bible-believing Christian. At its very best, politics in a democratic republic is the art of compromise. You can’t get what you really want; you can only get an imperfect representation thereof.
I don’t believe the Republican Party is the great problem in America. I believe the problem is the people themselves. There is no "moral majority" in America. That has been demonstrated time and again. It is true that the Republicans have failed to achieve great change in government over the past few years, but I don’t see that so much as a failure of the Republican Party. I see that as a failure created by the American people. The American people put huge obstacles in the way of the Republicans achieving significant change. It is the American people who gave the Republicans only a slim majority in Congress, a majority large enough to accomplish only tiny, incremental changes. It is the American people who at the same time put a liberal Democrat into the White House to hinder the Republicans on every hand, and then who re-elected him even after he had plainly demonstrated his socialistic politics and his deceitful character. Some say there is no significant difference between the Republicans and the Democrats today, but I disagree with that. The difference was evident during the impeachment of the president. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives boldly voted articles of impeachment against the president in the face of merciless slander by the Democrats and the mainstream press and even in the face of what appeared to be lack of support for impeachment by the majority of the American people. The impeachment process faltered when it reached the Senate, but that is because the Republicans hold a slimmer majority there and tend to be weaker than their compatriots in the House. Again, this was a problem with the American people, not with the Republicans. If the majority of American people would have expressed outrage against the wickedness of President Clinton and would have demanded that Congress take severe action against him, you can be sure that it would have happened. The Democrats and the weaker Republicans were emboldened by the lack of concern by the American people; yea, by their apparent support for the president regardless of his immorality and deception.
SECOND, I REFUSE TO ABANDON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BECAUSE TO DO SO DIVIDES THE CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL VOTE AND HELPS ELECT PEOPLE LIKE BILL CLINTON AND AL GORE. I believe this is precisely why Clinton was elected in 1992 and 1996. He did not win even a majority of the overall votes, but the conservatives were divided enough and the opposing Republican candidates were weak enough for him to slip into office. The damage he has done to our country is inestimable. Those who switched parties in order to "send the Republicans a message" or to "vote their conscience" are partly to blame, I believe.
I don’t usually deal with politics in these
articles and I am not interested in debating this issue, but I wanted to say
this much for the sake of my country.
If you ever go to Cloud's site, you'll find that "Our goal is not devotional.
OUR PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE
PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR." And by act of admission, here
is where we as Christians are going wrong in this world. To be in Christ, to have
a relationship with Him, means that everything is to be devotional to Him! But are
we really doing that? Are we striving to seek Him out in a humble and loving spirit?
Are we commiting all our plans to the Lord and trusting in Him, instead of ourselves?
Are we doing the work He has given us on earth for His glory or for our own?
Jesus Himself warned His disciples -- and His followers today -- that there
would be a price for following Him. Christ's message of love for one another and
the forgiveness of sins runs every bit opposite of what this world has cast its
die for. We can't be naive, and we can't expect to not take heat for doing this
work, because we are reaching the world in a language that it can't understand and
as a response, it fears. The world is going to hate us for being in Christ...
because, also as He told us, the world hated Him before it hated us.
So in our response to the world's hate, we fight back in the way He taught us:
in love. Because we have died to our old selves, this violent flesh of bloodlust
and all its sinful ways, and daily groan for our redemption when it will be a burden
no longer. Until then we are the salt of the earth, trying to stave off the world's
rot. Trying to fulfill His greatest commandment: love one another.
And then we have the "Christian" mindset of one like David Cloud, who takes
offense when the world does what the world only knows to do. And instead of
responding in love, he attacks Ventura with the same vitriol that he tried to pour
on Christians. Where is the "turn the other cheek" in this picture? It's not to be
found. Yes, what Ventura said was wrong (and I, a former atheist, know how wrong
he is: it takes a lot of strength to surrender one's life to God's will), but that
does not mean that we respond in kind.
Cloud is making a mistake that a lot of Christians are making against the
Lord's will: we're judging others, by pre-determining that they are lost. Christians
who has been convicted and forgiven by the grace of God should remember that just
as another might be lost, WE were lost also. And were it not for God's grace, we
would still be lost and condemned. I count myself as being the worst of sinners,
because I rejected Christ so many times and in so many ways, consciously, for almost
ten years. And were it not for the love of God in the hearts of those who He sent
into my life, I would not know Christ as my savior today.
We are not put on this earth to gain dominion over the world, or to
make Christ our self-righteous banner of conquest. When we become Christians,
by conscience we take part in the one mission He has given us that dwarfs all
others: the building up of the Kingdom of God. It's not a kingdom of political
or military might, but a kingdom of peace, and love, and intimate communion with
God our Father through His Son.
How do we build up His kingdom? By crucifying our old selves, now dead to sin.
And by letting Christ live within us and going out into the world so that He is
seen in our lives. Love is our tool: love of Christ expressed in everything that
we do and for everyone that we meet. Including Jesse Ventura. Including Bill Clinton
and Al Gore and everyone else who would count as our enemies. Because God loves them
just as much as He loves us, and He's trying to bring them home someday, just as we
will be with Him.
Cloud's statements here are NOT motivated by Christian love. Instead, and it's
rather tellingly so, he's concerned himself with temporal might and political
power... and Christ is the flag by which that is meant to be grasped in his book.
Pat Robertson does the same thing. So do a lot of other people who have made it
more important to "win" instead of doing what's right... what's right according
to the work God has done in our hearts. Instead of building up God's kingdom,
they want to "win", and they don't care a bit who gets hurt... even if that hurt
might mean denying someone a chance to witness God's love. On this count, I hold
David Cloud and anyone else likewise to be far crueler than Jesse Ventura was in
his statements to Playboy.
Count how many times the name of Jesus appears in this article, written by a
preacher. The name of our Lord didn't come up once. But the Republican party is
mentioned seventeen times. Which are we basing our strength in: God, or men?
Is a group of men now seventeen times mightier than our Lord? Are we so confident
of ourselves that we need not humble ourselves before God and ask for His guidance
and wisdom? This is why I felt so strongly led to post this tonight: because we may
be using the name of Christ in our actions but we are NOT acting in His name to
give Him all honor and glory. We aren't supposed to put our trust in the princes of
this world, and here is one who considers himself a pastor, a man of God, who wants
us to do exactly that. And he's far from the only one again.
God doesn't need the Republican party. God doesn't owe America any special
favors. He will bless this country just as He has done before if we turn back to
Him, but He could never bless us if we try to bring glory to ourselves. We should
be seeking out His glory only... and render unto Him praise for revealing it to us.
And God is NOT going to bless anyone who tries to hog the credit that is due Him.
Here's what I'm driving at, what I've felt God putting on my heart about this:
we're Christians. We don't need to be one political party over another. We aren't
to hate those who hate us. And we are NOT to put our trust in other men, who have
suspicious motives... whether it's Bill Clinton or Pat Robertson. We are in Christ,
and He works through us according to the will of God. All we have to do is surrender
our lives to Him so that He can work through us.
What if everyone who professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior decided
tomorrow that they would not do anything that the Spirit counseled them against?
What if we ignored political affiliation and voted according to how our conscience
led us? What if every Christian took just a few minutes to share his or her faith
with someone who didn't know Christ as their savior. And shared His love and His
work in our lives in that spirit of love and humility? What if we realized that
being a Christian means something, and took the time to dwell upon those awesome
implications?
Why, if those things happened, America would be made a better place. But we
could claim no credit for doing it. It would have been God, all the way. And not
the Democratic or the Republican parties could steal His thunder.
Don't give in to hate. Don't look to the "wisdom" and petty devices of man.
Look to GOD and God alone. Have faith that He will do things in His perfect timing.
And when He calls, let yourself be used by Him. That's the only way that we are
going to witness the changes in this country that we yearn to see.
Be humble. And love one another.
In His love,
June 10, 2000 Way Of Strife Literature
This was the first article of Cloud's I ever felt led to crique. It also
demonstrates much of what is wrong with the fundamentalist movement in America.
"Darth Sidious"
