For The Liberal Democrats
by Doug Perry
Up until a few months ago, I was as "Right" as you can get. Conservative, Christian, White, Business Owner, Weekly Standard-subscribing, Fox News-watching, Sean Hannity-reading, full-on Republican - even got a Rush Limbaugh 24/7 subscription. Somewhere in a closet around here I might even have a gun that my Dad gave me when I was a kid.
Well, I'm still white and Christian and own a business, but none that other stuff matters to me anymore. My wife just sold a bunch of my Hannity/OReilly/Coulter/Limbaugh books on Ebay. You see, God's been doing something in my heart the last couple of years. And it's not the God that they were talking about at the big Mega-Church we used to go to. THAT God is a sissy who needs money for a shiny new gym or nothing can get done. THAT God wants everybody to be warm and fuzzy and entertained so they'll keep giving their money. That's not MY God.
I found myself arguing with people on discussion boards online and watching interactions between Christians and non-Christians. Sometimes I find that, in their observations of America, the most wild-eyed anarchists are making more sense than some of the Christians!
We've been on a strange journey. Our business has grown like crazy because we've ignored everything we learned in business school and just tried to treat people like we think the Bible instructs us. Turns out if you're nice to people, you tell them the truth and you sell a quality product, they really like it. Who knew?
As we've grown we've carefully chosen to sell from many small, family-owned American companies who are "Green" in their manufacturing; we avoid products from any country where we can't be completely sure about the labor conditions; we've taken care of our employees and won two Family-Friendly workplace awards; 50% of our staff are work-from-home moms and dads and grandmas; and we've grown more than 5000% in five years and no sign of slowing down. Earlier this year we started a retail division to sell over 1,000 Fair Trade products from all over the world with all profits returning to target countries through micro-enterprise lending, training and education projects. We've helped create and sustain jobs for hundreds of the poorest of the poor (because "charity" is "welfare" and thus a dead end). We take our Biblical responsibility for widows and orphans seriously, so we support lots of projects for women in poverty, in abuse or recovery situations and we support a variety of job training programs for teenagers in orphanages (so they don't end up on the street) and fund-raising programs for special needs orphans. Personally, we're in the midst of an adoption of a 3 year old girl with special needs from China and hoping to go in the Spring and pick her up. We support reforestation programs in the rainforests and organic farming methods with our gourmet food and Fair Trade departments. All that to say, none of it was my plan or for my glory. We just dedicated ourselves to do as God directed, not what the "business" world told us to do.
You can imagine that I don't fit in anymore with some of the old crowd I used to listen to - either the media, the businessmen or the big churches. But I do fit in with Jesus. He wasn't a Liberal - he was urging the Jewish people back to their first love, to the way it should have been and to remind them of God's promises to them. He argued against the Religious Right (Pharisees) that were so caught up in their legalism and "showy" religion that they couldn't see the core anymore. He argued against the Far Left (Saducees) that were so absorbed with esoteric arguments about the nature of man, resurrection, utopia and the world that they had no practical application or impact on the needs around them. Jesus wasn't political. Jesus was Jesus.
He had the biggest heart for the most impoverished and rejected. He healed the sick, cared for the down-trodden, earned no salary, had no home, fed the hungry, mentored his disciples, corrected error, and even forgave those who tortured and killed him. More than anything else he was the perfect living role model of everything he said. He lived out his commitment to service. He washed the disciples feet, he provided for their needs, he gave his life as an offering for the sins of the world. That kind of honesty and integrity is sorely lacking today. People know it when they see it and they know instinctively when it's missing. Whether or not you believe Jesus was the son of God, it seems like he was the kind of leader that you ought to study if you share some of those values mentioned above. No political or military leader is the basis of the modern calendar and has his principles as the basis for the founding documents of democracy. Why was Jesus so different?
His kind of pure honesty and absolute integrity is missing in America. It's missing in business, in government - and it's missing in the Church, the very place where it should be most evident. So I don't care about politics anymore. God is in control and it's God that endorses or removes those in office. We're instructed to pray for those in leadership of our nations and to just worry about ourselves and to do right.
I'm convinced (as are many others) that something big is coming. That a renewal and repentance in the church is going to change the way the whole world thinks of God and Jesus. Unfortunately there are two such movements happening concurrently and it's going to be really, REALLY important to carefully figure out which is true and which is false. The Bible predicts some really scaring things in the "Last Days," many of which are coming true and lead us to believe the time is short. The day is coming when there will arise a One World Government headed by one man who will promise peace and unity, and he'll be supported by a One World Church and single religious leader who will show great miracles and wonders to sway the world. Both the renewal of the church and the rise of these false leaders were predicted thousands of years ago in the Bible. And not just vague references, but with amazing specificity. We're not setting dates or anything, but it sure makes sense to be watchful and to be careful that we don't play into the hands of the wrong side. Open up your mind to the possibility that the whole world might be cycling toward some giant cataclysmic conclusion. Not so far fetched really, the environmentalists and population scientists and lots of others have been saying it for awhile. Read this - www.FulfilledProphecy.com especially - or this www.AntipasMinistries.com or this www.CuttingEdge.org and see if you agree something big is coming.
There is a danger in Liberalism to believe that we could create a Utopia on Earth if we could just finally perfect the right political system. Communism, Socialism, Fascism, Imperialism - it's all just an attempt to bring lots of people (or ALL of them) under the domination of a select few (or one). Read my Undeniable Axioms. The Anarchists are closer to the truth. Human systems and organizations are inherently dangerous - the bigger they get, the more dangerous. Nothing could be as dangerous as a One World Government supported by a One World Church - especially a church that lied about the nature of man and removed all moral restrictions on behavior. If such a thing is coming, you need to understand that no matter what it says about peace, it's ultimate goal is domination and devastation. It is pure evil. Read my Undeniable Axioms again.
A global Christian church running things is not what we have in mind at all. That's not what God is calling us to say and strive for. Just the opposite. We're already too enmeshed in culture. There is GREAT danger in using the Christian people to control government. We're not any more pure than anyone else. We're just as capable of corruption, fraud, selfishness, and even persecution of those who disagree with us, as anyone else.
The Christian churches and their members are calling down judgement on themselves when they are pious on Sunday and do whatever they want the rest of the week. If it's true that it's possible to receive the ultimate gift of salvation and be adopted by God to a birthright to sit next to Jesus in heaven, then shouldn't that be something that causes such a massive response in gratitude that a person is changed and is urged powerfully to live as Jesus did? Isn't that the best way to honor the gift? But that's not what we're seeing. It's not what you're seeing, either. So it's no surprise you think we're all a bunch of hypocrites. We have been. But ... I hope ... some will listen and repent and be different.
Stay tuned. Something big is on the way. Tune your ears to TRUTH and when you hear it, pay attention. It's more rare than you would think.
Copyright Doug Perry 2004. Use with permission only and without changes. Link preferred.