You Don’t See This Very Much Nowadays

Starting with a bench and water currents but it isn't really about those things...

While I’m going to talk about the bench and currents in the water, this post isn’t really about those things but instead about something else we don’t see much of nowadays. But I have to start with the bench and currents...

Friday morning, I was (as usual) out with Scout and I saw something I don’t remember seeing too often.  The currents at Winton Lake were moving East-to-West as there was a stiff East wind blowing in both of our faces.

The vast majority of the time we are out, the water is either fairly still or moving in directions other than from the East.  The reason for this easterly shift was that we were just starting to get some of the effects of Hurricane Helene that was just starting to make its way up from the Gulf.   Throughout the day on Friday and Saturday (and even still this morning a bit), we were getting an east wind.  It definitely happens but it doesn’t seem like it happens very much.  This morning, we walked out there and saw both of the benches submerged and a ton of stuff washed up in an unusual spot because of the easterly winds and currents.  (Photos below).

But this isn’t necessarily about the currents but instead about something else that I saw that we don’t see too often today.  It is this clipping from an October 14, 1984 issue of the Assemblies of God weekly called The Pentecostal Evangel.   Read these over.¹

For those who don’t travel Christian circles very much, the Assemblies of God was at the time, and still is, a very conservative branch of the Christian faith.  In 1984, they definitely would have considered themselves conservative, evangelical, and likely fundamentalist.  Not much has changed with the Assemblies of God in the last 40 years on that front.  But (and this is not trying to denigrate the AoG), these ten statements likely would not show up in an official AoG publication today nor coming from many branches of conservative Christianity (or some branches of progressive Christianity either for that matter).

A few things I noticed in this.

• Five of the ten begin with “at all times.”  Not just some of the time or when it is convenient - at all times.  At all times verify information before accepting it or repeating it.²  At all times, work to understand a candidate and their positions and also look at that person’s integrity.  At all times, try to understand the issues on your own.  At all times, recognize that Scripture doesn’t speak to everything and that some issues are not reflected in the Bible.  At all times, uphold your leaders in prayer.  Note that last one - not just the leaders you like or support.  Simply “your leaders.”

• The statements make it clear to not intermix Christian faith and practice with patriotism, national pride, or Western culture. This is a clear pre-rebuke of the Christian Nationalist message we are hearing far too much today.

• #3 - The whole thing but especially the second sentence....do not consider a brother or sister who is of like precious faith an adversary if she or she holds a different political view.  How often right now is our current system set up as “us vs them” with no space in between?

• #8 - Don’t vote for someone just because they profess to be of the Christian faith. To me, it is not essential that my elected leaders are Christian or not.  With this one I think of Micah 6:8 of how I evaluate candidates.  Do justice.  Love kindness.  Walk humbly.  Notice I leave off the last two words of the verse - “with God.”  I don’t feel my leaders need to be people of any faith necessarily but instead people of integrity who will work for justice and be kind.

In addition to these points, the full article is powerful and, again, not something we are hearing much in Christian circles nowadays.

About the relationship between religion and government, he writes:

But history also shows that sometimes when evangelical Christians have come to positions of political influence or leadership, the subsequent course of events was not always what they expected or what Scripture would have condoned.

However well-intentioned they might have been, Christians have sometimes favored laws which later proved to be unwise, lent their support to unscriptural causes, or opposed laws which later proved to be wise and desirable.³

And then there was this speaking to the idea of Christians being “persecuted” in America today…

Sometimes enforcing just laws (and justly enforcing the laws) results in what Christians consider undesirable, and we must be prepared to accept that. To do otherwise would make our government no better than those of Iran or Libya. We must not interpret every law or court decision that is unfavorable to Christians as religious persecution.⁴

And towards the end of the article Huber writes the following about looking closely at ourselves and not just at politicians:

This is a major election year; however, we may have to cast a beam out of our own eye before we remove the motes from the eyes of secular politicians. The beam is not necessarily sin. More often it is closedmindedness, prejudice, or intolerance. The process may be painful, but it can be done more easily if we first acknowledge people's attitudes toward issues may properly differ.⁵

I wish I could share the whole article but I have not received permission to do so (I have asked and still waiting a reply).  If I do receive permission I will share it for sure.

If I go back to 1984, I wasn’t thinking much about the intersection of my faith and politics.  I was more interested in Star Wars, Lego, Colorado sports teams and heavy metal music.⁶  But as we are about a month away from the United States elections, I am going to work towards trying to live these out.  I wonder what would happen if more did the same and that a message like Rev. Huber’s is more of what we heard today because we sure don’t hear it very much nowadays.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

PS - Here are some of the bench photos following the rains from the Helene remnants that came up this far along with a beautiful glimpse of some early Autumn blooms a few days before the rains came here.

1. Here is the full text of the clipping in case the image doesn’t come through:

10 guidelines for Christian voters

1. Do not confuse patriotism, national pride, and Western culture with Christian faith and practice.

2. Do not confuse secular political activity with the purpose of the church, nor campaigning with witnessing and preaching.

3. Do not make slanderous or false accusations against your opponents, but maintain your integrity. Do not consider a brother or sister who is of like precious faith an adversary if he or she holds a different political view.

4. At all times endeavor to verify information before accepting it as true or before repeating it to others.

5. At all times endeavor to know and understand the candidate's positions and evaluate him or her on that basis, on the basis of his or her ability to perform the duties and functions of the office, and his or her integrity.

6. At all times endeavor to know and understand the issues; do not excuse yourself from this duty by saying, "God will show me whom to vote for."

7. At all times compare a candidate's position with Scripture but only where the Scripture addresses the issue; do not force scripture to address issues that the Author did not intend it to address.

8. Neither vote nor work for a candidate merely because he or she professes to be of the Christian faith.

9. Do not neglect your family, worship, prayer, or Bible study.

10. At all times uphold your leaders in prayer.

2. For example…about this post specifically. I saw the snippet as an image on twitter several days ago and spent a chunk of time hunting down whether it was legit or not. It eventually led me to a Pentecostal Archives website where I was able to find a link to this issue of Pentecostal Evangel. From there, I had to register (free), request further access because this article was “locked”, and then I was granted access on Monday morning to download it. Interestingly, the person who replied to me noted that he had received another request for the same issue recently.

3. Pentecostal Evangel, October 14, 1984.  “Christian Involvement in the Electoral Process “by Huber, Dennis W.

4. Ibid

5. Ibid

6. Not much has changed in 40 years for me apparently…