Kansas tried to require proof of citizenship in 2013: The result was that 30 cases of undocumented voters were prevented- but 31,000 legitimate citizens were prevented from voting. This is why the SAVE act is harmful.
Should You Need to Prove Citizenship to Vote? www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/u...
“Any notion that salvation is just forgiveness or that Christians can have justification without sanctification is as far from the NT teaching as heaven is from hell.” Ron Sider
In Jesus’ revolution he put the poor, the downtrodden, the alien and the stranger first. It was about love not judgment, community building not nation building. About loving others not controlling others.
Jesus’ disciples wanted him to make Israel great again. They wanted a political and military solution. But Jesus embraced a revolution based on radical love and inclusion for all people. He called his followers to be ambassadors of his great love and his gospel of forgiveness.
When helping the poor and the vulnerable it’s easy to give them a hand-out, but it takes time and effort to give them a hand-up. A hand-out leaves them in poverty. A hand-up leads them out of poverty and toward a better future. The long hard way is the better way.
How should we apply this teaching of Jesus to immigrants? “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” Mt 7:12
One temptation that ensnares many Christians is the ‘sin of certainty’. When we are certain that our interpretation of scripture is 100% correct and everyone else is wrong,we become legalists like the Pharisees-we exclude thise who disagree. Jesus was all about grace and he invited all to the cross.
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin's womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th'incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"
“If you’ve ever encountered true fundamentalists, you know why. When you combine eternal stakes with absolute certainty, it produces the kind of people who are happy to be cruel in the name of God.” David French
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed…”Rom 1:16-17
What if we actually demonstrated God’s love for the world instead of just talking about it? If we truly love God, we will express it by loving our neighbors, and when we truly love our neighbors, it expresses our love for God.
Seen any of these lately in our politics?
Check out the new 2025 edition of The Hole In Our Gospel - named Christian Book of the Year when it was released. And, if you want me crawling around in your brain for a few hours you can get the audio version, read by your truly!
Jesus never asked us to say ‘the sinners prayer.’ He asked us, to live sacrificially, to help the poor and the vulnerable, to stand up for justice, to live lives of integrity and to share the good news. He asked us to take up our cross and follow him. And he told us it would be costly.
When Saul became Paul he transformed from an angry, judgmental-and even violent Pharisee persecuting his ‘enemies’, to a kind and loving evangelist inviting those who were lost to embrace Jesus. We have too many ‘Sauls’ in the Evangelical movement today.
When Saul became Paul he transformed from an angry, judgmental-and even violent Pharisee persecuting his ‘enemies’, to a kind and loving evangelist inviting those who were lost to embrace Jesus. We have too many ‘Sauls’ in the Evangelical movement today.
Jesus never asked us to say ‘the sinners prayer.’ He asked us, to live sacrificially, to help the poor and the vulnerable, to stand up for justice, to live lives of integrity and to share the good news. He asked us to take up our cross and follow him. And he told us it would be costly.
This was Jesus’ mission-ours too: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.’
“Generosity tills the soil of our soul.”
Pastor Prentice Park
“The Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me
and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt.” Isaiah 30
The Church and politics? “For without consulting me, you have gone down to Egypt for help.
You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection…But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated,
and by depending on him, you will be disgraced. He will not help you.
Instead, he will disgrace you.” Isaiah 30
When the church seeks to change the world through political power, it does not change the world, it becomes the world.
As Stanley Hauerwas famously says, “The first task of the church is to make the world the world.”
We’re not called to battle for Christ like soldiers-we’re called to be ambassadors of His great love to a watching world with a special concern for the most vulnerable. Compassion, not judgment. Kindness, not anger. Humility, not arrogance.
We’re not called to battle for Christ like soldiers-we’re called to be ambassadors of His great love to a watching world with a special concern for the most vulnerable. Compassion, not judgment. Kindness, not anger. Humility, not arrogance.
Reagan reflecting on the America that was a shining city on a hill in 1989.
As Christians, we can be so consumed with the sins of those we disagree with that we fail to see our own sins of judgment, anger and choice not to love our perceived enemies. This is why Jesus warned us about removing the ‘log’ from our own eye before seeing the speck in theirs.
What the Bible doesn’t say: “The fruit of the Spirit is anger, judgement, division, arrogance, insult, scorn, coarseness, cynicism and cruelty.”
From my pastor yesterday: “We need to replace our lip service with life service.”