Today I came across an interesting Christian Universalism article on The Christian Post “Is There Grace Beyond the Grave?”  The author, Diane Perkins Castro, believes that we all will get another chance to repent even after death and she wonders:

At the very end of his life, Muammar Gadhafi changed from an arrogant, ruthless tyrant to a terrified, whimpering child, just in the face of the wrath and judgment of men. What will he do before God Almighty?

In Ms. Castro’s reality it would be rather foolish, if not downright stupid, to reject another chance at salvation once we’ve finally seen the truth of God after we die.

To insist that no unbeliever would ever turn to Christ after death, even if he were given the chance, is a tacit admission that something is not right: If we say that there is no chance to repent, then we find ourselves compelled to say that no one would take it anyway, because we recognize that if some would indeed ask for forgiveness, then it is unfair not to offer it. So the standard position is to maintain that no one who has rejected God in this life would ever receive Him in the next, even if he had the opportunity.

Yet that assertion flies in the face of common sense. For one thing, there will be no atheists after death. All the philosophical questions about the existence of God will go out the window when a person stands before the living God. And any illusions a person may have about his own goodness will be dispelled when he stands before the holy God. Those who rejected Him in this life thinking He was cruel will see that He is truly a loving God.

Apparently faith isn’t part of Ms. Castro’s salvation equation. As she correctly pointed out, after death there will be no questions left to ask so there’s no need for faith either.

And what about justice? Does God’s justice give a free pass after death to the world’s worst despots? How does that work?

There are a number of very interesting comments to Ms. Castro’s article that are well worth reading. I even took the title of this article from one of the comments.

Ms. Castro is feeling rather lonely because most of those commenting didn’t buy into her fairy tale. Perhaps if she has been a far left theologian, she might have been able to pull it off? We can thank God that this one was easy to see through.

She responded to the comments a little while ago:

To GWS and Tam, Nice to see you here! As you can tell, it’s a bit lonely for me. Thank you both for giving me a hearing. The other commenters may not agree on what I’m wrong about, but they all agree that I’m “WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I am told I’m deceived, and it was even suggested that I have the spirit of antichrist. May God give us all a heart to know His truth and a mind to receive it with understanding.

Today I came across an interesting Christian Universalism article on The Christian Post “Is There Grace Beyond the Grave?”  The author, Diane Perkins Castro, believes that we all will get another chance to repent even after death and she wonders:

At the very end of his life, Muammar Gadhafi changed from an arrogant, ruthless tyrant to a terrified, whimpering child, just in the face of the wrath and judgment of men. What will he do before God Almighty?

In Ms. Castro’s reality it would be rather foolish, if not downright stupid, to reject another chance at salvation once we’ve finally seen the truth of God after we die.

To insist that no unbeliever would ever turn to Christ after death, even if he were given the chance, is a tacit admission that something is not right: If we say that there is no chance to repent, then we find ourselves compelled to say that no one would take it anyway, because we recognize that if some would indeed ask for forgiveness, then it is unfair not to offer it. So the standard position is to maintain that no one who has rejected God in this life would ever receive Him in the next, even if he had the opportunity.

Yet that assertion flies in the face of common sense. For one thing, there will be no atheists after death. All the philosophical questions about the existence of God will go out the window when a person stands before the living God. And any illusions a person may have about his own goodness will be dispelled when he stands before the holy God. Those who rejected Him in this life thinking He was cruel will see that He is truly a loving God.

Apparently faith isn’t part of Ms. Castro’s salvation equation. As she correctly pointed out, after death there will be no questions left to ask so there’s no need for faith either.

And what about justice? Does God’s justice give a free pass after death to the world’s worst despots? How does that work?

There are a number of very interesting comments to Ms. Castro’s article that are well worth reading. I even took the title of this article from one of the comments.

Ms. Castro is feeling rather lonely because most of those commenting didn’t buy into her fairy tale. Perhaps if she has been a far left theologian, she might have been to pull it off? We can thank God that this one was easy to see through.

She responded to the comments a little while ago:

To GWS and Tam, Nice to see you here! As you can tell, it’s a bit lonely for me. Thank you both for giving me a hearing. The other commenters may not agree on what I’m wrong about, but they all agree that I’m “WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I am told I’m deceived, and it was even suggested that I have the spirit of antichrist. May God give us all a heart to know His truth and a mind to receive it with understanding.

There is no doubt that a great many evangelical Christians believe that Mormonism is a cult. We should be reminded, however, that throughout the ages Christians have often pointed to other Christians and proclaimed that “the others” were cults or worse. The point of this article is not to debate Christian theology.

According to the Values Voter Summit web page, the following American conservative organizations sponsored this “Summit,” which was about the upcoming American Presidential election, not a Christian theology debate:

American Values, The Heritage Foundation, Liberty University/Liberty Counsel, Young America’s Foundation, and FRC are sponsors only of the educational portions of the Values Voters Summit.

These organizations are not sponsoring the appearance of any candidate for public office, nor do they support or oppose any candidate for elective public office.

The reporter was setting a trap for Jeffress and either Jeffress willingly walked in with hopes of garnering some attention, or he fell in with both feet firmly planted in his mouth.

Instead of using the Values Voter Summit as his theological band wagon, he could have pointed out that his theology wasn’t what this Summit was all about. But he didn’t!

Here’s an excerpt from GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney denounces ‘poisonous language’ against his Mormon faith by Lou Gulino

Jeffress’ told Fox News that Mormonism has never been considered a part of main stream Christianity, “Mormonism was invented 1800 years after Jesus Christ and the founding of Christianity, and it has its own founder, Joseph Smith, its own set of doctrines and its own book, the Book of Mormon. And that, by definition, is a theological cult, that’s all I’m saying.”

Jeffress added, that if the race for president came down to a contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, he’d vote for Romney. “I personally would rather have a non-Christian like Mitt Romney who embraces principles than Barack Obama,” he said.

Jeffress didn’t do Perry any good. He didn’t do Romney any good. Most of all, Jeffress didn’t do evangelicals or his own denomination any good.

Here’s an excerpt from The evangelical case for Mitt Romney —and against Robert Jeffress by David French. I’m not using this excerpt in support of Romney in particular. I’m using it because what Mr. French has written so well applies to how we Americans should evaluate all of our candidates.

In my years as an evangelical conservative lawyer and activist, I have learned (and lived) the painful reality that we evangelicals are all too often no better – and sometimes much worse – than the very people we seek to convert. If God’s strength is truly made perfect in weakness, then we surely give God many occasions to show his power. The gracious gift of knowledge of God and relationship with Him should fill us with humility – not arrogance.

In short, self-identification as evangelical should be irrelevant in presidential politics – neither an asset nor a liability. When voting for president, we should judge candidates by their competence, character, and ideas. Indeed, those are the very factors that drove me to support Mitt Romney for president in the 2008 cycle (when I helped found Evangelicals for Mitt) and to redouble my efforts for 2012, when our nation is in even greater distress.

A least once a day I receive a chain email prayer from one of my friends or Internet acquaintances. Often the prayers come from “Good Christian” friends – church goers who ought to know better. The prayer is usually very lovely, or sweetly poetic, and sometimes a heart-wrenching story is attached. The prayer is something that initially makes me feel good about wanting to forward it. After all, it’s a way of blessing all of my friends at once. But by the time I get to the end of the prayer or story something not quite so nice is almost always lurking there.

Is it just me or have you noticed it too? The simple little prayer of blessing suddenly has a magical condition attached.

“REMEMBER to make a wish before you read the prayer. That’s all you have to do. There is nothing attached. Just share this with people and see what happens on the fourth day . . . .

Now, send this to 11 people within the next 5 minutes . . . You must send it to 11 people including me . In 8 minutes you will receive something you have long awaited. Have faith . . ”

These kinds of prayers really aren’t about asking God to bless your friends. These prayers are NOT about having faith in God. No, they are just a numbers game and the god of this prayer is nothing more than a false belief in a magical dispensing Genie who is more like a one-armed bandit. When you forward this prayer, your faith is actually placed in numerical odds, not in the Living God.

“If I put enough coins in (forward it to enough email addresses) I’m bound to win something.”

See, it’s really all about me but it’s so wrapped up in nice godly-sounding words I didn’t even realize it.

Isn’t it cunning how the Devil works?

Are you just about to pull the hair out of your head over receiving these kind of prayers day after day? Are you simply forwarding them just to keep the peace – afraid of hurting your friend’s feelings?

Instead of forwarding or lecturing or ignoring or deleting just send your friend a real prayer:

A Blessing to Friendship

Father,

I ask you to bless my friends reading this right now!

Lord,

show them a new revelation of Your love and power.

Holy Spirit,

I ask You to minister to their spirit at this very moment.

Where there is pain,

give them Your peace and mercy.

Where there is self-doubting,

release a renewed confidence in Your ability

to work through them.

Where there is tiredness, or exhaustion,

I ask You to give them understanding, patience,

and strength as they learn submission to Your leading.

Where there is spiritual stagnation,

I ask You to renew them by revealing Your nearness,

and by drawing them into greater intimacy with You.

Where there is fear,

reveal Your love, and release to them Your courage.

Where there is a sin blocking them,

reveal it, and break its holdover my friends’ life.

Bless their finances, give them greater vision,

Raise up leaders, and friends to support, and encourage them.

Give each of them discernment

to recognize the demonic forces around them,

and reveal to them the power they have in You to defeat it.

Father, I ask You to do these things in Jesus’ name!

Amen.

You don’t have to send this prayer to 11 people within 5 minutes. And in 8 minutes you may or may not receive a thing. If you do send it to someone, don’t do it via chain mail. Send it individually and pray for them first.

God knows you and He knows your friends and He knows those who have prayed for you and yours. Have faith that God will bless each of us and our friends in His own time and in His own way.

Here is an excerpt from “Is God a Cosmic Santa Claus?”

Christians often approach God in prayer as a kind of “cosmic Santa Claus. . . . We pray for better parking spots, for better jobs, for a million dollar check to show up in our mailbox. It seems like prayer, for many Christians, has become more about what God can do to serve us, rather than what we can do to serve God. . . How often do we take time just to thank God for who He is and for all He’s done in our lives? How much time do we spend asking God to bless others versus how often we ask Him to bless us?

Excerpt from “Prayer (Lesson 1)”

. . .Prayer is not some magic process where you say a few chosen words and then everything you desire will come true. Sometimes we say our prayer and we end it with the words “In Jesus’ name,” and we think we can just kick back and wait for the blessings to come. It’s almost as though we think saying “In Jesus’ name” is like saying “abra-cadabra.” But that’s not what prayer is all about. We can’t “name it and claim it,” like some churches teach, or speak things into existence. If you have that idea, you will soon be disillusioned. Prayer is not getting God to do what we want. Prayer is a time of coming before God with our concerns and asking Him to show us what He wants for us, and then trusting in the way He responds even if it is different than what we asked for.

Some additional articles on Prayer:

Bad Prayers?

God as Santa

Does Praying Really Help?

Ephesians 6:10-20 (NIV 1984)

The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

 

Here’s a definition of “Elite” from Wikipedia:

“Elite (occasionally
spelled élite) (Latin, eligere – “to elect”) refers to an exceptional and/or privileged
group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence.”

Why do we Conservatives keep calling the Left “The Elite”
when it’s so obvious that most of the Left are only pretentious wannabes? Of
course, it should be obvious that we conservatives use the term “elitist” as a
pejorative. Unfortunately, the great number of Lefty, pretentious, wannabes,
don’t even understand what a pejorative is, nor can they even define
“pretentious,” and the rest of the Left don’t really care. They actually want
to be called “The Elite – The Elect.”

Conservatives are well
aware that the real movers and shakers on the Left are in fact very “elite.”
They are the Ivory Tower occupants of most colleges and universities, and they
control Hollywood and most of the arts. They are content in their collective
narcissism, which keeps them above the fray, while they hold out the elusive
promise to their less fortunate followers that one far off day they just might
get to join them.

The Elite are the
privileged and they intend to stay that way. Most of them are very rich, and
most of them have as much or more influence on Wall Street than Conservatives.
And what they do with such great skill is to make their followers actually
believe that they have the “little guy’s” interest at heart and that they, and
only they, are working for you.”