Would You Vote for a Pro-Abortion Candidate?

A question was posted on ACANETWORK by a blogger that asked should Christians vote for a candidate who supports same-sex marriage and abortion. It was pretty much understood that the candidate in question was Barack Obama. What follows here is my perspective on the issue and my response to some of the various comments that were posted there. If you have not visited the new social network you ought to do so. It was started by Brian Malone and maybe some others. I start with answering the question of who is responsible for the state of affairs in this country as it relates to abortion and same-sex marriages.
When it comes down to who allows these things to happen (legalized abortion and same-sex marriages), ultimately on the human level it’s the people. By putting candidates in office in the legislative bodies of our state and Federal governments and by electing governors who are willing to put forth and pass legislation granting such so-called rights.

Every poll I have seen shows that the majority of the American people oppose gay marriages and for over 197 years the majority were opposed to abortion on demand but the will of the people has been successfully circumvented by judges who legislate from the judicial bench, effectively creating rights where there formally were no rights as defined by the constitution. The role of the judiciary as we all know is to interpret the laws that already exist not to make new law or interpret the constitution or laws in ways that violate the spirit or intent of those that enacted the law (i.e., the founding fathers or the congress). State and federal Supreme Court Judges are appointed for life. They are not elected which means they are not subject to the will or wishes of the people. If a Congressman or Senator or President for that matter proposes or supports legislation that goes against the wishes of the people who elected him or her they can be thrown out of office in the next election cycle unlike Federal Judges and Supreme Court Justices who effectively legislate from the bench and defy the will of the majority.

The reason we cannot pray in the public schools is not because the majority of the American people are opposed to it, it’s because the Supreme Court has said that it violates the Separation of church and state and that the constitution guarantees’ not only the right of freedom of religion but the right of freedom from religion. That is a right, by the way that no one knew existed prior to that decision. What other mysterious rights will some judge or justice discover hidden in the constitution? How about the right of a man to marry another man? What about the right of a man to marry his Doberman Pincher?

Can you give people the right to choose without agreeing with their beliefs? It’s not just about giving people the right to choose its about the moral responsibility that we all have to choose what is right. It’s about being clear about what is right. It’s about using the power at your disposal to influence people to do what is right.
The reason a woman can legally destroy the life of an unborn child in her womb or one which is partially delivered is not because a clear majority of the American people approve of it. It’s because 7 out of 9 Supreme Court Justices discovered that the right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution included the right for a woman to have an abortion and destroy the life of another human being. It’s as if the founding fathers didn’t have the intelligence neither sufficient command of the English language to choose the right words to express what they really meant.

A similar analogy would be like those who suddenly discover that "...singing and making melody in your heart" included the use of mechanical instruments. The man who wrote that inspired directive to the church at Ephesus (the Apostle Paul) obviously did not believe that it did because he never used them himself nor encouraged others to use them in the worship and praise of God. For over 400 years after the church was established members of the church never used them and even to this present day millions of Christian all over the world refuse to use them because the command to sing does not give you the choice or the right to sing and play. But one Pope n the 6th century, A.D. suddenly discovered a right that no one prior to his time had discovered. When the organ was introduced into the worship of the Catholic Church it split that denomination into the two factions that still exist today. One of those factions, the Eastern Orthodox Church still refuses to use the instrument and holds to the ancient tradition of Acapella music.

Who believes that those who wrote the constitution, in their wildest dreams envisioned themselves sanctioning same-sex marriage or in their insistence that the government make no laws to interfere with our freedom of religion really meant that prayer must be kept out of public schools all public places? They had a chaplain and conducted daily prayers at the opening of their deliberations in the most public place of all. To this very day both houses of congress open their proceedings with prayer.

It is true that the President is only one man but no one should be deceived into thinking that one man cannot effect the destiny of millions of people. He is only one man but he is not any ordinary man. People would not give hundreds of millions of dollars to put a man in office if they didn’t think that one man could make a difference in the quality and quantity of their lives. People don’t argue and fight over what they perceive to be insignificant and unimportant issues. The issue of which man will be the one to occupy the white house is a crucial issue Not only in this country but in the entire world. George W. Bush is just one man but who will argue that his impact on this country and on the rest of the world has been insignificant? Abraham Lincoln was just one man, George Washington was just one man, Martin Luther King was just one man but untold millions now experience a much different reality than they would have had these men not appeared upon the stage of human history.

It is a rather curious strategy indeed to vote for a candidate who supports and will not oppose people who are determined to create a world that you find deplorable because you are banking on the dubious notion that he is just one man and therefore cannot tip the scales for good or evil in one direction or the other. If a man does not personally believe in abortion,that is if he believes it is wrong does he not have the responsibility and moral obligation to oppose it? [“…have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but reprove them…” Ephesians 5:11]

We have bought into the false argument that the vote is the only way you can make your voice heard. Actually, given the choices presented to us by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, a vote for either candidate in most cases would be tantamount to silencing the voices of millions of people because neither of the candidates speaks for them or represents their world view. This is especially true for those of us who are committed to the task of seeing to it that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Every election year as many as 70% of eligible voters do not vote.

We will continue to slide further into darkness until God’s people wake up and realize that the voice that most desperately needs to be heard is the voice of God. That voice cannot be heard with clarity and power if filtered through the apparatus of political machinery which by its nature and design distorts the original signal and mixes in other voices to produce an ear-pleasing sound. The greatest and most tragic failure has not been that of government to hear the voice of God but that of the church and so-called Christians to preach and to practice what God has spoken and what we profess to believe.

Someone has observed that a significant number of the abortion clinics would have to close tomorrow if everyone who called themselves Christians would stop using them or working in them! Half of the liquor stores would go out of business if those who call themselves Christians would stop opening them and/or buying their products. We will have our biggest impact on the world and on the government when we get serious about converting the world not into democrats and Republicans or Independents but into true children of God who will first hear the word of God and then believe it and live it.

The "Legend" of Willie Lynch

Minister Louis Farrakan of the Nation Of Islam in a speech delivered at the Million Man March in 1995 made a reference to a letter supposedly written by a man by the name of Willie Lynch who was alledged to have been a white plantation owner in the West Indies. Legend has it that he was summoned to the state of Virginia in the year 1712 to give a speech to slave owners on how to control their slaves. Lynch gave a list of things which if implemented by the slave owners would render the slaves powerless to break the yoke that held them in servitude to their white masters. These measures, according to the legend had been tested by Lynch himself and were considered fool-proof. Prominent on that list were things like creating a system of house slaves and field slaves and accentuating the differences between them that would incite jealousy and hatred between the two. The overall strategy it seems was to divide and conquer. Louis Farrakahn used a quote from this speech of Willie Lynch to put forth the assertion that the self-loathing and self-defeatish tendencies which is sometimes observed among blacks in this country were due to sucessful implementation of the Willie Lynch strategy. Farrakahn's speech was carried live on C-Span into millions of households around the world. Since that time the Willie Lynch speech has been the subject of countless discussions and emails circulating on the internet. Several Black leaders have made reference to the so-called "Willie Lynch Syndrome" in explaining and sometimes excusing blacks chronic lack of progress towards extricating themselves from the clutches of poverty, crime, low academic achievment and high incidents of illegitimate births and other deadly social ills. Well, come to find out the whole Willie Lynch story is nothing but a hoax. So says, Professor Manu Ampim Of Oakland Ca. (profmanu@acninc.net) and serveral others who have done extensive research into the matter including William Jelani Cobb of Spelman College. Professor Ampim's work can be found at:
www.manuampim.com/lynch_hoax1.html. Read it for your self and draw your own conclusions.

Black Voices on AOL carried a blog by Madison J. Gray that sought to debunk the myth of Willie Lynch. Dozens of people posted comments in reaction to the blog. after reading a dozen of so of the comments I submitted my thoughts which can be read at:

http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2008/04/21/willie-lynch-black-urban-legends/6#c11806625

As I said in the post to the blog, it is really depressing and frighteneing to see how hostile some black people are to new information that challenges their assumptions about the cause of black poverty and low achievment. Some people fight to hold on to the Willie Lynch myth like a crack addict to a crack pipe. Their whole world seems to revolve around belief that their plight has to be caused by a diabolical plot that the white man has been flawlessly carrying out for some three hundred years.

My take on the whole issue of a so-called Willie Lynch Syndrome is this. I believe that there is a plot to destroy black people and keep them in sevitude to poverty and perverted lifestyles and self-destructive and self-defeating behavior. I believe the person behind the plot is the same person who is behind the plot to do the same thing to white people and brown people and yellow people and red people. It is not some Willie Lynch syndrome it is a Wiley Lucifer Syndrome.

The devil is a master strategist. The scriptures tell us that he has wiles and that he uses devices. These are words that refer to his strategies and methods. We are warned that we must be vigilant and sober because our adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The devil is a murderer and a liar and he comes to steal, kill and destroy. He works against us through three avenues: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. He is also known to use the weapons of oppression and intimidation. He is a most formidable foe. He understands human weakness. His early work is a demonstration of how effective his strategies are. He sowed seeds of discord and doubt in the minds of Adam and Eve to get them to distrust their creator and to disobey his instructions so that they would forfeit his protection and provisions. He appealed to Eve's desire to be wise (pride of life) and her craving for the forbidden fruit (lust of the flesh) to entice her to sin. He got her to act in a selfish and presumptuous way and in a way that disrespected Adam as the husband and head of the house. Eve usurped authority, took the lead and made a devastating decision that plunged her family and the whole creation into chaos and confusion. It was clear that Satan had accomplished his goal when God called Adam to account and Adam blamed the whole thing on Eve. As a matter of fact he tried to implicate God In his failure when he said, "the woman that you gave me she gave me of the fruit and I did eat.” it’s not my fault. It’s your fault and that woman’s fault. Adam refused to take responsibility for his actions. Eve blamed the serpent refusing to take responsibility for her actions as well. Of course they both shared responsibility and God did not let them off the hook. God revealed to them both the results and the consequences of their sins. Behind every lie is Lucifer. Behind every plot to murder, maim and manipulate for evil purposes is a wily devil whose mission is to steal, kill and destroy. But he cannot do anything without our cooperation and consent. As was in the case of Adam and Eve so it is with us today. There are predictable consequences that flow out of our choices. The bulk of what ails black people today has nothing to do with Willie Lynch but it has everything to do with a wily Lucifer, the devil. Don't waste your time blaming and hating white people or any people for that matter. Examine yourself and look at the choices you are making. If you choose to drop out of school you have got to accept that your decision to do so carries with it consequences of diminished opportunity for gainful employment. It increases your chances of being involved in criminal activities and drug use. If you choose to have sex outside of marriage and lead a promiscuous lifestyle that decision carries with it the possible consequences of STD's, unwanted pregnancy, lost educational opportunities and opens you up to poverty and a whole host of other negative outcomes. The scriptures tell us that we don't have to succumb to Satan's plan to destroy us because we are not ignorant of his devices. If that is true concerning Satan's devices why is it not true concerning this so-called Willie Lynch strategy? We are not ignorant of his plan. We are not helpless, powerless slaves. We don’t have to eat of the fruit just because it is offered to us. We have our freedom to choose what we will do. We can choose to be vigilant and sober and we can choose to love and not hate. We can choose to live clean moral lives. In conclusion we can choose to obey God and live or we can choose to obey Lucifer and die.

Flicks From the Forrest

The IMAGE Ministry has been busy documenting the first quarter activities around the Forrest. Check out these flicks.

Certain Sounds Ministries: Pro-Am Golf Tournament

Certain Sounds Ministries: Pro-Am Golf Tournament

Which is Best: Consolidation or Separation?

I think almost everyone would agree that quality education and economic opportunity go hand in hand. You cannot have strong economic growth without a well trained and educated work force. The better educated and trained you are the better your chances are of obtaining a good paying job. Companies that offer good paying jobs are looking for the best qualified and best educated workers to fill those positions. Does the fact that a school system is consolidated has any bearing on quality education? It is believed that Companies make decisions about whether they will locate or whether they will expand to a given area on the basis of whether the system is consolidated or not. The Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber Board has made it a top priority to find out if this is so and if so how much of a factor it actually is.

The Chamber has set up a Task Force to Study the issue and I am priviledged to be a member of that Task Force. I have had several opportunities to talk about the purpose of the study before civic clubs, in radio interviews and on two television stations which serve the Valdosta broadcast area. The study is to be an independent objective and unbiased study conducted by experts who have done a number of these studies in similar areas across the state and across the country. Upon the Task Force’s recommendation the Chamber signed a contract with the Carl Vinson Institute and the Fanning Institute of the University of Georgia to conduct the study. Completion of the study is expected in mid-2008 and the results will be shared with the community at that time.

Consolidation is a hot topic in Valdosta and Lowndes County for several reasons not the least of which is the concern about the loss of a great football legacy at Valdosta High school which would cease to exist under consolidation. I have posted a link to WALB TV's website and a recent interview that I did along with Rusty Griffin the Chairman of our Task Force. Please click on the link below to view the video.
http://www.walb.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=2387416&h1=Is%20one%20school%20system%20better%20than%20two%3F&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=112333&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.walb.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D8170725%26nav%3Dmenu37_2&rnd=28766068

Second Place winners: Chester Mayfield and Joe Williams (Southside Chruch of Christ, Durham, NC)

Madd Dash Golf Outing

The winners: Devins Jackson and William Stephens

Modern black church shuns King's message.

John Blake posted a story on the CNN website entitled the Modern black church shuns King's message. I have inserted portions of that story on this blog. Blake asserts that the so-called black church has failed to carry forth kings model of prophetic ministry in challenging the status quo and speaking truth to power. He reveals the growing debate in the black community over so-called prosperity preaching as done by T.D. Jakes and Creflo Dollar and prophetic preaching as exemplified by preachers like Jerimiah Wright. I have posted my observations and comments at the end of his his quote. You can find the entire story at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/06/mlk.role.church/index.html


The contemporary white church has largely accepted King as a religious hero. Yet some observers say there is one religious community that continues to shun King -- the black church

Forty years after his death, King remains a prophet without honor in the institution that nurtured him, black preachers and scholars say. King's "prophetic" model of ministry -- one that confronted political and economic institutions of power -- has been sidelined by the prosperity gospel.

Prosperity ministers preach that God rewards the faithful with wealth and spiritual power. Prosperity pastors such as Bishop T.D. Jakes have become the most popular preachers in the black church. They've also become brands. They've built megachurches and business empires with the prosperity message.

Black prophetic pastors rarely fill the pews like other pastors, though, because their message is so inflammatory, says Henry Wheeler, a church historian. Prophetic pastors like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, often enrage people because they proclaim God's judgment on nations, he says.

"It's dangerous to be prophetic," said Wheeler, who is also president of the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"I don't know many prophetic preachers who are driving big cars and living very comfortably. You don't generally build huge churches by making folks uncomfortable on Sunday morning," he said.

The prosperity gospel started as a fringe doctrine in the black church. It was pioneered by "Rev. Ike," a prosperity televangelist with a pompadour who boasted during his heyday in the 1970s that "my garages runneth over."

Jonathan Walton, author of "Watch This! Televangelism and African American Religious Culture," says that although people may have chuckled at Ike's flamboyance, his theology exerts more influence in the modern black church than King's.




It is not coincidental but significant that King found his model for social change and civil disobedience in Mahatma Gandhi not Paul or Peter or Jesus; Hinduism not Christianity. There simply is no Christian tradition of King-style, Gandhi style Civil Disobedience and protest.

The gospel message came initially to the Jews who were an oppressed people. The Jews were disenfranchised and discriminated against. They were second class citizens in their own country. They had a legacy of suffering, slavery and abuse yet the message Christ and the Apostles delivered to them focused on deliverance from spiritual bondage and satanic oppression not a this-present-world social agenda.

The message was "love not this world neither the things of this world... Set your affections on things above and not on things of this earth."
The fact is you can read the New Testament from beginning to end and you will find no support whatsoever for a church based social activism.

The concept of a black and a white church is not biblical. Though there certainly is a black church sociologically speaking there is no such thing as a black church scripturally speaking. Faithful gospel preachers do not owe allegiance to a so-called black church but to the church that Jesus said, "I will build." The only traditions a minister of Jesus Christ is obligated to observe and uphold are those handed down by the Apostles of Jesus Christ.

King was a great civil rights leader but King was not and is not God's model for preachers. No mere human is. Jesus is our model. What do you think?

Pro-Am Golf Tournament

Looks like I'm going to have an opportunity to play in my first Pro-Amateur golf tournament on April 30th this year. The South Georgia Classic (SGC) is a PGA Nationwide Golf Tour event. It will be held again for the second year at the Kinderlou Golf Course here in Valdosta, Georgia. Kinderlou is my "home" course and maybe that will give me a good chance at posting a respectable score. I sure don't want to be embarrassed with all of the attention we will be getting. The SGC is sponsored by the South Georgia Medical Center Foundation and is the charitable beneficiary of the tournament. I will be playing with Greg Powell, Devins Jackson and a fourth person to be selected at a later date. I am looking forward to having big fun. visit: www.pagtour.com/tournaments/h092/ for information.

Around the Forrest

A Band of Brothers: William A. Stephens, Lee Roy Butler, Jr., Devins T. Jackson, Chester Mayfield

Men's Ministry

There is a new ministry in the Forrest and it is called BROTHER 2 BROTHER. It is a ministry to men designed to provide a time for men of the congregation to bond and build up one another. We started with 25 men and have had two meeting as of the date of this post. The men vary in age from 63 to about 27 years old. We are currently meeting twice a month on the second and fourth Thursday at 7:00 PM. We had such a great time during the first meeting that the session stretched into about two hours. I gave everyone the option of leaving after about an hour and fifteen minutes but the men were enjoying each other's company so much that no one was in a hurry to leave.

We have adopted a purpose statement which is as follows: The Woodlawn Forrest Brother 2 Brother Ministry is a Christ-centered ministry dedicated to equipping, empowering and deploying men in Christian service to their family, church, community, and the world. We plan to use a book entitle "WHAT MEN MUST DO" written by Dr. Larry Jones of Charlotte NC as a tool to stimulate discussion on topics that are hot-button issues for men. Topics such as: "Living Without Respect". Dr. Jones is a Medical doctor and Christian father and husband. We look forward to having Dr. Jones come and share his enthusiasm, insights and great wisdom with us in person. We also intend to use local speakers to address other issues such as men's health concerns and financial literacy. If you are a brother interested in being the best you can be we would like to connect you with other brothers so we can relate Brother--2--Brother.

Lording it Over the Flock

1 Peter 5:2-4 (ASV)

2Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock. 4And when the chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.

I have found that there is a lot of confusion surrounding this phrase used by Peter to describe what elders are not to do in shepherding the flock of God. Lording it over is a term which means: to enforce one's own will and opinions as a matter of law (heretic); to use coercive and abusive tactics to get people to comply with directives or rules; to rule as a dictator or tyrant. The Lord is our Shepherd. Christians, as the flock of God, are to follow Him and obey his voice. Under shepherds (elders and evangelist) must speak with the voice or authority of the Chief Shepherd in leading the sheep of God. Their words must not be their own but the words of Christ. They must teach no other doctrine but the doctrine of Christ (1 Tim 1:3). They are to lead by example and let their lives be a testimonial to their faith in God. The people of God are not servants of their leaders but they are servants of Christ. The leaders (elders and evangelists) are servants of the people. They are helpers of their joy and not lords over their faith (2 Cor. 1:24). The flock will hold every leader who serves them faithfully and lovingly in high esteem. This was Jesus' solution to his disciple's quest for greatness in the kingdom. He taught them that that the way up is the way down (Matt. 20:20). Commanding and controlling is not the pathway to greatness--loving and serving is. Love does not seek its own. If a man really loves the Lord and the church of Christ he will submit his will to that of Christ and esteem others better than himself.

Welcome to Certain Sounds Ministries

I appreciate you logging on to this blog. This is my first time experimenting with such a medium and I'm not sure what the outcome will be but I have long been fascinated with the idea of exchanging ideas and dialog with such a wide audience. I hope you will visit often and freely share your thoughts on the topics that will be posted here.