Pray for Supreme Court Justice Joseph Albright

Please pray for West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Joseph Albright as he recovers from surgery.

Charleston Gazette Article

Reformation, Revival, and the Religious Right

Tom Ascol wrote a great article on how we can experience reformation and revival in America. In it he wrote:

“It is not that the agenda of the religious right is too radical. It is not radical enough. They greatly underestimate the depth of the problem. We cannot "Christianize" culture. The nature of sin guarantees that. Neither are we called to try! Did Jesus or Peter or Paul ever try to organize believers into a voting bloc to "Christianize" any geo-political structure? Culture can and will be positively influenced when its participants are made disciples of Christ.

"The moral crisis in our nation will not be solved by getting the right people in the White House, Congress, and on the Supreme Court. Society will not change until people change. And the only way that people can be changed is by the sovereign power of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Consequently, proclaiming that gospel in the power of the Spirit is the task to which churches must give themselves. This constitutes the only great commission which we have received from Jesus Christ.”

The article concludes:

"When reformation and revival come, they will come through the ministry of God's Word and prayer! This is God's way for His church to do His work in the world. Anything that would intrude on our commitment to these God-ordained means is a distraction and will ultimately keep us from seeking the only remedy which can cure our churches' spiritual apathy and our nation's moral decay."

While taking our part in our country's political process in the upcoming election, we must constantly keep before us our God-given priority of proclaiming the gospel and making disciples of every nation.

Read Tom Ascol's complete article.

Do Not Trust In Princes

Psalm 146 is a great passage for us to consider during the upcoming election season:

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

3 Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation,
4 His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.

5 How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 Who made heaven and earth,
The sea and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free.

8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord raises up those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous;
9 The Lord protects the strangers:
He supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He thwarts the way of the wicked.

10 The Lord will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

We may be tempted to put our trust in “princes”, counting too much on those we elect and in the political process to change our state and our nation.

This Psalm reminds us it is God who is sovereign; it is God who provides; and it is God who saves. This means we do not put too much hope in the choosing of human leaders. Neither do we become discouraged or distraught over the outcome of elections.

Certainly we take advantage of our rights and responsibilities to vote and in other ways participate in the political process. However let us remember that our trust ultimately rests in God.