Politics, Pastors and Business as Usual Part 4
The Wake-up Herald
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans 13:11-14
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Robert McCurry, Editor & Publisher
September 20, 2012
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"Politics, Pastors and Business as Usual
Part 4
by Robert McCurry
Pastors pledge to defy IRS, preach politics from pulpit ahead of election
Published September 20, 2012 FoxNews.com
More than 1,000 pastors are planning to challenge the IRS next month by deliberately preaching politics ahead of the presidential election despite a federal ban on endorsements from the pulpit.
The defiant move, they hope, will prompt the IRS to enforce a 1954 tax code amendment that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, from making political endorsements. Alliance Defending Freedom, which is holding the October summit, said it wants the IRS to press the matter so it can be decided in court. The group believes the law violates the First Amendment by “muzzling” preachers.
“The purpose is to make sure that the pastor -- and not the IRS -- decides what is said from the pulpit,” Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group, told FoxNews.com. “It is a head-on constitutional challenge.”
Stanley said pastors attending the Oct. 7 “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” will “preach sermons that will talk about the candidates running for office” and then “make a specific recommendation.” The sermons will be recorded and sent to the IRS.
Unfortunately, these pastors are ‘mixing religion with politics’ because: One, their churches are incorporated State churches and two, their churches are an IRS licensed tax-exempt and controlled ‘religious organization.’ Question; why hasn’t their legal counsel explained this to them? Sadly, the other 300,000 churches in America are also government licensed and controlled churches. It’s business as usual for all these churches.
These 1000 pastors are seeking ‘political salvation’; America’s 300,000 pastors/churches seek ‘political blessings and protection’ by their silence. Both positions are spiritual anathema.
The LORD’S solemn message
“Thus saith the Lord; Cursed [with great evil] is the man that trusts in on relies on man, making [human] flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turns aside from the Lord” (Jer 17:5).
"If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God" (Deut 8:19, 20).
Matthew Henry
The LORD repeats here in Deut. 8:19, 20 the fair warning He had often given them of the fatal consequences of their apostasy from God. Observe, 1. How He describes the sin; it is forgetting God, and then worshiping other gods. What wickedness will not those fall into that keep thoughts of God out of their minds? And, when once the affections are displaced from God, they will soon be misplaced upon lying vanities. 2. How He denounces wrath and ruin against them for it: “If you do so, you shall surely perish, and the power and might of your hands, which you are so proud of, cannot help you. Nay, you shall perish as the nations that are driven out before you. God will make no more account of you, notwithstanding His covenant with you and your relation to Him, than He does of them, if you will not be obedient and faithful to Him.” Those that follow others in sin will certainly follow them to destruction. If we do as sinners do, we must expect to fare as sinners fare.
We have arrived
General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army proclaimed, "The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without Hell."
Wake-up, Pastors! Wake-up, Christians!
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The Wake-Up Herald is published by Robert McCurry. The publication is designed to exalt the true God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, and inform, inspire, and challenge its readers regarding biblical truth and real-life issues. The contents are the sole responsibility of Robert McCurry and do not represent or speak for or on behalf of any other person or group. There is no subscription charge. The publication is a ministry of faith dependent on the contributions of its readers. Contributions are not tax-deductible. Send all correspondence to: Robert McCurry,605 Moore Rd, Newnan, GA 30263 or herbap@aol.com Remove? Send reply with “remove” in Subject line
