A Letter For The Advancement of the Gospel Amongst the Illegals Within Our Gates

Below is a letter that I received from a friend of mine who is Latino and Reformed. It is a plea to the Reformed Churches to reach the Samaritans of our day:

On this May Day, as we see in the news or in your home town the Latino/Mexica people protesting and marching for immigration rights, I would like to offer these insights and even challenge.

How will the Reformed and Presbyterian Church respond to the growing number of immigrants, particularly the Latino/Mexica immigrants, which are the largest group?

Will individual Reformed and Presbyterians jump on the Republican, Nationalist, anti-immigration band wagon and thus alienate the immigrants from even giving an audience to the Reformed Faith? Speaking out against the “invasion” of the other cultures within our borders and wish to turn these “illegals” over to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)?

OR

Will the Reformed and Presbyterian Church/individuals act like Christ and stretch out their hands to the disliked and unloved Samaritans of our time? Dine with the harlots and tax collectors (so to speak or as many see the immigrants)? The duty of Christians is to proclaim the Gospel to all people regardless of their social standing, and not to be an agent to oppress those that are perceived below their status.

We talk about sending missionaries to foreign lands, what will we do with those from foreign lands that are at our doorstep? Ignore them or reach out to them with the one True Gospel? Many of them are Roman Catholic or Muslim by profession, WE can reach out to them and by the power of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit they can become followers of Christ.

The Church has a tremendous opportunity and even obligation to reach out to the newly arrival in this nation. I pray that the Church does not squander this due to political ideology that can cause Christians to act contrary to the Gospel proclamation as was done towards the African-Americans.

 

Symington Says

There is a vast difference between godly rulers and worldly rulers; much like between godly people and worldly people. Rulers are to look to the Lord Jesus Christ for the way in which they are to rule. The Second Psalm tells all rulers and kings that they are to submit to the Lord Jesus Christ lest they perish! Jesus is a just and merciful King!

What is the main differences between our King, and the rulers of this world? William Symington sums it up well in his magnum opus, Messiah the Prince:

Rectitude of intention characterizes all his (King Jesus’) plans. Everything is designed for the good of his people and the glory of the Godhead. Other kings may have sinister ends to serve: even when doing what is right in itself, they may have an ultimate respect to their own personal aggrandizement, to the advancement of some favorite courtier; or, supposing they move solely by a regard to the good of their subjects, they may be seeking this at the expense of some neighboring state.

 

Monday: The Suffering Servant’s Lack of Desirability

For preparation for the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, I will be meditating on Isaiah 53. This week will be dedicated to some thoughts on the Suffering Servant, Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53:1-2 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Nothing about Jesus Christ was what the Jews of the day were looking for. They desired a prince to come and rule in Jerusalem and to free them from all of their outward oppression. Little did they know that what they needed above all things was a Christ that would build a spiritual kingdom. I imagine that each one of us, if we were in the same cultural circumstances, would be highly tempted to reject King Jesus, who appeared to be anything than a king. Our king looked more like a pauper.

John Gill said that in Christ there was, “nothing that looks grand and majestic, or like a king; they [unbelieving Israel] not beholding with an eye of faith his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father; only viewing him in his outward circumstances, and so made their estimate of him; they expected the Messiah as a temporal prince, appearing in great pomp and state, to deliver them from the Roman yoke, and restore their nation to its former splendour and glory; and being disappointed herein was the true reason of their unbelief, before complained of, and why they did not desire him, who is the desire of all nations.”

 

Politician’s Religions

It seems that the media has become quite interested in the religious lives of this country’s leaders. I am sure that it is because Americans are quite interested in religion and the media is reflecting that. It always interests me to see how different people view God and His Son, Jesus Christ. It saddens me when people hold error (as I am sure it does for all who love Christ). Here are two stories that I saw in the news today concerning two prominent political leaders:

• President Bush admits that he is a theological pluralist and denies that Jesus Christ is the only way to God.
• Barack Obama’s pastor and ‘spiritual adviser’ is a social-gospel advocate that relates the biblical narrative to the struggles of minorities.

 

Thank You Mrs. P: More Thoughts on Aliens

For those of you who do not follow comments: hidden under the post with the great Lloyd-Jones quote lies a buzzing comment section concerning the church’s duty to illegal immigrants. My position is that the church has a spiritual duty to minister to them and part of that duty is calling them to repentance for their violation of the 10th commandment. Others feel differently.

To give some spiritual widsom to this heated conversation, I would like to ask those interested to read the OPC position paper on illegal immigrants and church membership. I would be interested in reading other’s thoughts on this issue as well.

 

A Liberal Church is not a ‘Liberal’ Church

It is interesting how many of us have been influenced by the liberalism of the 1920s. Even in conservative Reformed circles the hope for society is placed in government agencies, political parties, and social programs. (Of course, we need to acknowledge that government is a creation ordinance.)
The church used to be that institution that met the needs of the poor, advanced the betterment of society, and promoted all of the ‘social’ aspects of the Gospel of Christ. In our day, we have handed those reins over for unconverted men and women to do through social programs.

If the church is to take back her rightful place in society, then she is going to need to set up the programs to meet these needs, in advance of those in need coming to her. I am as guilty as the next guy in not reaching out to the needs of the fatherless, widow, and (illegal) alien within our gates. May we all pour our energies into the body of Christ so that she can do that which she is called to do.

It is upon this brotherhood of [the] twice born sinner , this brotherhood of the redeemed, that the Christian founds the hope of society. He finds no solid hope in the improvement of earthly conditions, or the molding of human institutions under the influence of the Golden Rule… A solid building cannot be constructed when all the materials are faulty; a blessed society cannot be formed out of men who are still under the curse of sin. Human institutions are really to be molded, not by the Christian principles accepted by the unsaved, but by Christian men; the true transformation of society will come by the influence of those who have themselves been redeemed. True Christianity differs from liberalism in the way in which the transformation of society is conceived. But according to Christian belief, as well as according to liberalism, there is really to be a transformation of society; it is not true that the Christian evangelist is interested in the salvation of individuals without being interested in the salvation of the race. And even before salvation of all society has been achieved, there is already a society of those who have been saved. That society is the Church. The Church is the highest Christian answer to the social needs of man. -J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism.

 

Sabbath a’Brakel: On the Civil Government

It is the duty of civil government not only to uphold the second table of the law, but also the first. It must see to it that God is honored. It may not tolerate any idolatry, worship of images, or any false religion within her jurisdiction, but must rather eradicate these. It must prevent the vain use of God’s Name by way of cursing, swearing, and blasphemy. It must prevent the desecration of the Sabbath, punish violators of this commandment, and see to it that the gospel is proclaimed everywhere within its jurisdiction. It must see to it that the church, as the darling of the Lord Jesus, is protected and preserved; and that neither internal dissension nor any external oppression disturb or destroy the church, but that instead she be safely preserved in the use of the privileges and liberties which her King Jesus has given her (II: 179).

 

More on Our "Christian" Nation

My wife, who brings a lot of theological insight into our home, had this to say to me concerning my former post, “Who cares if we were or were not a Christian nation? What do we have to do to become one now?”

This is a very good question.

She then read a quote to me from Daniel Webster that is worth sharing on the blogosphere.

If religious books are not widely circulated amongst the masses in this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a nation. If truth be not diffused, error will be; if God and his Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy; if the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will; if the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness, will reign without mitigation or end.

The power of the Gospel is the only thing that can reform a nation that is possibly more corrupt than the one from which we declared independence. Man-centered documents, political parties, rights and entitlements; they are unable to do anything in comparison to the power of the Gospel coming to sinners, families, communities, and even nations. Pray that kings of the earth would kiss the Son as they are commanded to do!

 

PRESBYTERIAN THOUGHTS on Independence Day and our "Christian" Nation

What were Christians of the time of the writing of the Constitution of the United States thinking?

Today intellectual circles spill ink over whether Washington was a deist or a Christian (deist). They want to know if the founding fathers were believers (despite holding a secret society to write the Constitution, members of the Masonic Lodge, and deny biblical authority for civil government). Despite these aspects of the intellectual debate over the “Christian-ness” of the States, we need to ask, what were Reformed Christians thinking at the time of our national law’s writing?

Here is a quote from WM Glasgow that sum up the position of the Presbyterians of the day:

While civil society is founded in nature, it is one of the “all things” that are put under Christ as Mediator, and the nation flourishes or decays as it is obedient or disobedient to His law. Now as our highest allegiance is due not to the state, but to Christ, it is the duty of every Christian to stand aloof from such a government and refuse to incorporate with the political society which refuses or neglects to acknowledge the authority of Christ and His word in its fundamental law. The document reads: “We, the people of the United States * * * do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” This declaration is historically, philosophically and scripturally untrue. The Constitution in all its essential elements was in existence before the document thus called was penned; constitutions are not ordained of men, but grow; and the Scripture affirms that the powers that are legitimate powers at all, are ordained of God. These glaring defects, with the denial of any religious qualification, the absence of the name of God from the oath, and the license of immorality and crime upon which it sets its official seal, give the document, called the Constitution, such a character of infidelity and irreligion that no true Christian ought to give it his full sanction.

For some further thoughts on this issue, check out this site.