May 21, 2024 Show with Dr. Joseph C. Morecraft III on “Should Christians Be Involved in Politics?”

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May 22, 2024

00:03: Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer
00:11: George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend
00:16: Jim Thorpe. It's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,
00:23: Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.
00:31: Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 17, tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
00:38: Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.
00:50: It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.
00:57: And now, here's your host, Chris Arnson. Good afternoon,
01:09: Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.
01:20: This is Chris Arnson, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 21st day of May, 2024.
01:29: Before I introduce to you my guest and our topic for the day, I have a couple of announcements to make.
01:35: First of all, if you have not yet registered for the next free biannual
01:41: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Pastors Luncheon, which is going to be held June 6th, 11 a .m.
01:47: to 2 p .m. at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania, which is
01:53: Perry County, Pennsylvania, featuring for the very first time our keynote speaker, Dr.
01:59: Joel Beeky, who is Chancellor of Puritan Reform Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
02:07: If you haven't registered for this free event, if you are a man in ministry leadership, we urge you to register absolutely free of charge if you are able to get to Perry County, Pennsylvania on Thursday, June 6th.
02:22: Not only is the event completely free, but every attendee will receive a heavy sack of free brand new books, possibly even two heavy sacks of free brand new books personally selected by me and donated by generous
02:37: Christian publishers all over the United States and the United Kingdom. So, if you want to register, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com
02:44: and put Pastors Luncheon in the subject line. Also, I want to give a very heartfelt word of thanks to Dr.
02:55: Rhett Bergeron, who is the founder of Real Health Medical in Georgia, who just provided Iron Sharpens Iron Radio with an extremely generous financial gift, one that we urgently needed to pull ourselves out of a very scary financial situation here at Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
03:19: And I want to thank Dr. Bergeron and hope to have him back on the program.
03:25: He has been a guest on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio in the past, and I hope that he will visit our program as a guest once again.
03:33: For more information on his medical firm, especially for those living in the Georgia area, go to realhealthmedical .com,
03:42: realhealthmedical .com. Also, I just learned moments ago of the homegoing to Christ for eternity of Christine Otis, the wife of my friend
04:00: John Otis, who is also a mutual close friend of my guest today. She went home to glory last evening, so I ask of you to pray for John Otis and the
04:12: Otis family as they mourn the loss of this precious woman. But today, we have on the program my dear friend
04:23: Dr. Joe Moorcraft, Joseph C. Moorcraft III, who is pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, and is also the author of the eight -volume commentary series on the
04:36: Westminster Larger Catechism known as Authentic Christianity. And today, Dr. Moorcraft returns to the show to discuss the theme,
04:45: Should Christians Be Involved in Politics? It's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr.
04:52: Joe Moorcraft. I always love being on your show, Chris. Well, I would like for you also to begin the program by letting our listeners know who have been praying for you and your daughter and your new granddaughter that went home to be with the
05:13: Lord in infancy recently. If you could give a word to our listeners about this update in your family.
05:22: Well, of course, it was very hard on my daughter and her husband. They didn't expect to ever see this little baby, but she was born and lived for a month.
05:40: And they got to love her and play with her for a month. And then they had a burial for the family and a celebration of her life later on that evening.
05:55: The pastor of their church is a Reformed Baptist preacher by the name of Will Hawks, and he's very good.
06:02: Well, praise God. And so God worked in their life. They're now at the beach, and next week they'll be in Scotland.
06:14: So that'll be a great comforting time for them. And for those of our listeners who have not heard my prayer requests that I was announcing for several weeks,
06:28: Rebecca Hope, the little baby that recently passed after a month of life on this earth.
06:35: She had a serious fatal heart condition, and the doctors did not even know for certain whether the baby would be born alive.
06:47: And the baby outlived the life expectation of the physicians.
06:54: So we ask of you to continue to pray for the Moorcraft family as they continue to grieve the loss of this precious little life.
07:03: But if you could, Dr. Moorcraft, let our listeners know about Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia.
07:11: Our church is in Cumming, Georgia, which is the county seat of Forsyth County, a northern county just outside metropolitan
07:20: Atlanta. We have 70 or so members. We started 10 years ago with 27 members, and they come from all over the place.
07:30: We continue to grow. In the past month, we've had one, two, three, about four or five people join the church, and they are every age, but most of them are young adults in their late 20s and 30s.
07:47: We have a lot of babies, and they have strong lungs, especially when
07:53: I'm trying to preach. And we continue to grow.
08:02: We are in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Hanover Presbytery. Our doctrinal statement is the original
08:09: Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, and we're committed and devoted to carrying out the
08:18: Great Commission. We send teams to preach the gospel to various places, trouble spots.
08:27: In North America, we've sent a team of people, and we financed them to the southern border twice to preach to 10 cities.
08:36: We sent a team to Cuba to preach to the Cubans, and it was so successful that the
08:43: Cubans want them back just as soon as possible. And we just praise the
08:49: Lord for establishing us and in causing us to continue to grow, and our influence even is greater than our numbers.
09:00: Oh, it sure is. In fact, for those of our listeners who do not know, and if you're a regular listener, it'd be impossible for you not to know, but Heritage Presbyterian Church, although a very small congregation, is by far one of the largest financial supporters of Iron Sherpa and Zion Radio, so that should give our listeners an idea of how you are far greater in your outreach than your size would indicate.
09:30: Yes, sir, and we also finance a young Brazilian in the southern part of Brazil who plants churches, who started a seminary called
09:40: John Knox Seminary in Brazil, and who started a national organization of Christian schools.
09:48: He has a great influence down there. His name is Frank Brito, and I pray for him.
09:54: Of course, the government is not sympathetic, but he has a tremendous influence all over the gigantic nation of Brazil.
10:03: Now, when you say the government is not sympathetic, is that because of the Roman Catholic influence, the secular humanist influence?
10:13: Socialists. Outspoken, corrupt socialism.
10:19: Yes, in fact, the leader of the missionary team in Cuba, who
10:27: I will not mention his name, he is remaining anonymous for my interview coming up on Friday, June the 7th on Iron Sherpa and Zion Radio, but he is remaining anonymous not only to protect himself from being barred from re -entrance into Cuba, but also to protect the lives of the
10:50: Christians with whom he works in Cuba, so I'm looking forward to that interview.
10:56: I've never done an interview that I can recall. Well, actually,
11:01: I did one interview on Cuba years ago with a former native of Cuba, a former resident of Cuba who came to the
11:11: United States and became a Presbyterian pastor, but this will be... Go ahead.
11:17: He's a great man and a reformed Baptist. Yes. Powerful preacher, and he preaches for me sometimes when
11:26: I'm out of town or something, so one Sunday evening after he had preached at church,
11:33: I asked one of our members, how was Brother Abbott, and she said, loud.
11:44: Well, just mark your calendars for our program on Cuba for Friday, June the 7th.
11:50: And by the way, I should also mention that this donation I mentioned earlier from Dr.
11:55: Rhett Bergeron of Heritage, I'm sorry, not of Heritage, I'm looking at Joe Moorcraft's website of Real Health Medical, that came about through the friendship that Dr.
12:09: Joe Moorcraft has with Dr. Rhett Bergeron, and my guest today,
12:14: Joe Moorcraft, is largely responsible for that gift coming in, that urgently needed gift.
12:20: So I have to thank you as well, Joe. Yes. Well, if anybody wants more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Coming Georgia, go to heritagepresbyterianchurch .com,
12:36: heritagepresbyterianchurch .com, and also if you want to find out more about the eight -volume commentary series on the
12:47: Westminster larger catechism titled Authentic Christianity, you can go to westminstercommentary .com,
12:54: westminstercommentary .com. And that's another thing I've got to thank you for, is that Dr.
13:00: Moorcraft, out of the kindness and generosity of his heart, just recently shipped me these eight volumes absolutely free, and that was such a blessing to receive those on my front steps not long ago.
13:15: They got here a lot quicker than I expected them to, and I will be forever in your debt, brother, for your generosity toward me.
13:23: Well, I'll expect you to have them read by August. Yes, and keep in mind, folks, these are eight large volumes of this commentary series.
13:34: But today we're talking about should Christians be involved in politics, and there are all kinds of views on this running the spectrum.
13:46: Even differences, and sometimes very heated differences, that exist in the body of Christ between people who theologically are in great agreement, who at times disagree on this.
14:02: They may even share the same confession of faith. They may even be in the same denomination or the same fellowship of Christians, but yet disagree over this.
14:14: And if you could start with, why is it that this was burdening your heart to want to readdress this subject on the show?
14:25: Well, that is a good question. I talk about it all the time. You can never talk about it too much, because today, politics is the reigning theology in the
14:37: United States. Everything is political. Politics governs everything we do in this country.
14:46: It's our religion. It is the way we look at life, the way we look at God. It's the source of our problems.
14:54: It's the source of a solution for our problems. And it's idolatrous, the way people think about politics.
15:05: Let me talk for a minute just about what I mean by politics. I don't necessarily mean that a
15:13: Christian should join a political party, though that's a very good idea. I think by politics,
15:20: I mean everything that politics involves. Elections, political candidates, political issues, who qualifies to be elected to an office, who qualifies to vote, how do you determine who's right and who's wrong and why you should believe this person and not that person.
15:45: It governs the whole range of things. In the United States, back at my grandfather's day, people would hardly ever see a politician.
15:56: My people were in West Virginia, because about the only politician they'd ever see would be a revenuer messing up their moonshine still.
16:10: But now you can't escape politicians. You can't escape federal employees.
16:16: They're everywhere, because politics does affect and govern every area of our life.
16:24: And that's the way it has been since the Civil War and the Unitarians of the
16:29: North sought to transform the entire culture of the
16:36: United States and to make it a great social estate to accomplish
16:42: Unitarian goals. See, the Unitarians hated Christianity. They are a transplant from Europe in the very late 18th century, and they hated
16:53: Christianity. They particularly hated Calvinism. They believed in the perfectibility of man, that man is basically good.
17:04: They hate the idea that he's depraved. They hate the idea that there's a divine revelation.
17:13: And so the Unitarians knew that in order to perfect man, they had to do two things.
17:20: They had to control every aspect of society. They had to control business.
17:27: They had to control everything. And secondly, they had to create state -supported compulsory education and require all
17:37: American children to go to those state -supported schools.
17:43: And so ever since, and that's what's behind everything in the early 1800s.
17:49: So the Unitarians basically were not fighting to end slavery, and the
17:56: South was not fighting to defend slavery. The Unitarians were fighting to create a social estate where everything was under the control of the federal government, and the
18:09: South was created to defend America from that view and from that attempt.
18:15: We lost. So ever since 1865, there has been this attempt to expand and extend the power of a
18:27: Unitarian understanding of politics, which is basically socialism.
18:33: So we live in a socialist country, in a
18:39: Unitarian country, and the whole idea of limited government and constitution government has been so watered down and misunderstood that it's hardly ever applied today.
18:57: The reason I talk about all this so much is not only because of the need for it, and Christians need to be informed as to what they are supposed to believe, that is what the
19:09: Bible teaches. And like the sons of Ithaca are to understand their day and really understand what the issues are that we have to face.
19:21: But, and this might shock some people, the reason I talk about it so much is because there's so much about politics in the
19:29: Bible. Now what's amazing is how people still say that Christians ought not to say much about politics because the
19:37: Bible doesn't speak much about politics. And anybody that says that obviously hasn't read his
19:43: Bible. Let me just give you some references to politics. I'm not going to go into it deeply, but I want to show you how much in the
19:53: Bible there is on various aspects of politics, good and bad.
20:01: You have in the first book of the Bible, you have
20:09: Abraham fighting an alliance of kings. In Exodus, you have
20:16: Jethro telling Moses under God's inspiration, how to create a representative civil magistrate.
20:26: You have laws in Exodus 19 through 24, civil laws, the underlying moral principle of them to still be applied in every age because it's an application of the
20:43: Ten Commandments. You have civil laws in Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
20:50: You have judges, the whole book about politics. You got
20:56: Joshua, which the whole book was about the conquest and occupation of Canaan under Joshua and the creating of a civil political moral order under God's word.
21:10: You have 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2
21:16: Kings. All of those are the histories of good kings and bad kings and oppressive kings in Israel and in Judah and around the world.
21:29: You have the book of Proverbs, which is a book written by a king to tell his son how to be a good king.
21:40: You have Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, etc.,
21:48: where the prophets of God confront kings.
21:54: They confront Israelite kings. They call the kings to repentance.
22:02: They lead Israel in revivals. And they also confront non -Hebrew kings in various other nations of the world so that what the
22:16: Bible says about politics does not just apply to Hebrews. And then in the
22:21: New Testament, you've got Paul and the classic statement on politics in Romans 13.
22:30: You've got the classic statement on politics in 1 Peter. You've got the great figurative metaphorical description of the war between the church and apostate
22:46: Judaism and anti -Christian Rome in the book of Revelation. And you have
22:52: Jesus. And, of course, everybody says Jesus didn't say anything about politics.
22:58: That shows they don't know much about Jesus. I heard a famous Reformed evangelical on YouTube the other day criticize those of us who believe that we should say more about politics as preachers from the pulpit by saying we would rather have
23:22: John the Baptist than Jesus because at least
23:28: John the Baptist would speak critically of Herod, that fox, and Jesus would keep his mouth shut.
23:37: Well, the problem is it wasn't John the Baptist who said that. It was Jesus who said that. And it's obviously wrong also to pit them against each other.
23:49: Yeah, that's exactly correct. And then, of course, one of my favorite political statements is about Jesus at the end of his life when he's being tried before the church of the state.
24:02: He's been tried before the Pharisees, and they wanted to talk theology. They wanted to make sure he was theologically sound and not a blasphemer.
24:12: But then he came before Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate was just a shrewd old politician.
24:19: He didn't care about theology. He just had one question in mind.
24:26: He said to Jesus, are you a king that will threaten my authority?
24:32: That's all he wanted to know. And Jesus answered, it is as you say.
24:42: So just as clear as anything could be, Jesus tells
24:49: Pilate that Pilate better be worried about him because he is a king, and he's a threat to him, and his kingship is even greater and more powerful than Pilate's because his kingly authority originated in heaven.
25:06: It originated with God, not with man. And therefore, it's backed by all the power and authority of heaven.
25:16: He said, my kingdom is not of this world. That's why you better worry,
25:23: Pilate. Well, the average Christian thinks that what Jesus is saying is describing the nature of his kingdom.
25:31: My kingdom is not of this world. It has no concern with what goes on in this world.
25:37: Yeah, that's actually a favorite text of those who say we shouldn't be involved in politics.
25:44: Yeah, I know it. And they say that the kingdom of God is not concerned with anything on this earth, particularly politics.
25:52: It's concerned with dying and going to heaven. But they don't understand Greek. Anybody that says that hasn't studied
25:58: Greek. When Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world, it's from another place.
26:05: What he said in Greek was, my kingdom is not from this world.
26:11: It's from another place. He's not saying anything about its nature.
26:17: He's talking about its origin. My kingdom originated not with man, but with the living
26:22: God. So you better be afraid of me, Pontius Pilate. Wow. In fact, pick up where you left off there because we have to go to our first commercial break.
26:30: If anybody wants to join us with a question of your own for Dr. Joseph C. Moorcraft III on the question, should
26:37: Christians be involved in politics? Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.
26:42: chrisarnson at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, city and state of residence and country of residence if you live outside the
26:49: USA. Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Let's say you disagree with your own pastor or elders over this issue and you obviously don't want to draw attention to your identity publicly or you're the pastor yourself.
27:06: You have disagreements with your fellow elders or your denomination over this. Whatever the case may be, things like that would obviously compel you to remain anonymous.
27:15: But if it's a general question, please give us your first name at least, city and state and country of residence. We'll be right back.
27:21: But Joe Moorcraft, please do not go away. Armored Republic exists to equip free men with tools of liberty to defend
27:28: God -given rights against the twin threats of tyranny and chaos. If you own a rifle to resist tyrants and criminals, then you should own body armor and a med kit for the same reasons.
27:39: A rifle stops evil, body armor and a med kit keep you in the fight and preserve your life.
27:45: Armored Republic is a body of free craftsmen united to create tools of liberty. We are honored to be your armorsmith of choice.
27:52: Civilian ownership of body armor is about increasing decentralized power and by comparison, reducing the advantages of centralized power.
28:01: The danger of centralized power is often represented by the word king. As Americans, we hate the word king applied to any mere man.
28:11: We are Armored Republic. And in a republic, there is no king but Christ. Arm yourself with tools of liberty at armoredrepublic .com.
28:30: I'm Pastor Bill Shishko of The Haven, an Orthodox Presbyterian church in Comac, Long Island.
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28:43: Chris Arnzen, in the highest esteem. And I'm thrilled that you're listening today. I'm also delighted that Iron Sharpens Iron is partnering with one of my favorite resources for reformed
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30:52: But today, I want to introduce you to my senior pastor, Doug McMasters of New High Park Baptist Church on Long Island.
31:06: Doug McMasters here, former director of pastoral correspondence at Grace to You, the radio ministry of John MacArthur.
31:13: In the film Chariots of Fire, the Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell remarked that he felt
31:19: God's pleasure when he ran. He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God.
31:25: I sensed that same God -given pleasure when ministering the word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God.
31:33: That love starts with the wonderful news that the Lord Jesus Christ is a Savior who died for sinners and that God forgives all who come to him in repentance, trusting solely in Christ to deliver them.
31:45: I would be delighted to have the honor and privilege of ministering to you if you live in the Long Island area or Queens or Brooklyn or the
31:52: Bronx in New York City. For details on New High Park Baptist Church, visit nhpbc .com.
32:01: That's nhpbc .com. You can also call us at 516 -352 -9672.
32:11: That's 516 -352 -9672. That's New High Park Baptist Church, a congregation in love with each other, passionate for Christ, committed to learning and being shaped by God's word and delighting in the gospel of God's sovereign grace.
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38:51: Moorcraft III. We are talking about should Christians be involved in politics? And before the break, you may have opened the eyes of many of our listeners with the startling news to many that when
39:09: Jesus told Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world, he literally, according to the
39:16: Greek, according to your knowledge, was saying my kingdom is not from this world, that its origins are not from this world, not that his kingdom is solely a concept for the sweet buy -and -buy.
39:31: So if you want to basically add to that or continue that. Yes, Christians need to realize that they don't have to be scholars in politics to be thoroughly
39:45: Christian in their biblical approach to politics. We're Bible -believing
39:52: Christians. We get an understanding of politics from the
39:57: Bible and not from any man or any tradition. And so in Romans 13,
40:03: I wrote a book on Romans 13, and I think you can still get it on comprehensivechristianity .com.
40:12: It's called With Liberty and Justice for All, Christian Politics Made Simple.
40:19: And we've interviewed Dr. Moorcraft in the past on that book, so you can type in the search engine, with liberty and justice for all.
40:30: And if you could also type in Moorcraft, M -O -R -E -C -R -A -F -T, and all of Dr. Moorcraft's past programs will come up on irontripandsignradio .com.
40:39: Sorry for the interruption. Well, good. And because Romans 13 tells us three basic principles, and that if we learn these three basic principles, we can have a biblical worldview of politics.
40:57: The Bible doesn't just talk about how to be safe from hell when you die. Praise the Lord, it does say that.
41:03: But the Bible is aboundingly authoritative in everything about which it speaks, and it speaks about everything.
41:09: And Romans 13 tells us that if we're going to be living sacrifices to the
41:15: Lord Jesus Christ, then we are going to have our mind renewed, and we're going to think as well as live, think the way the
41:25: Bible says for us to think. And so it gives us a basic worldview of politics, and it says three things,
41:34: Romans 13. And that if you brothers and sisters out there will just remember these three simple things, you will not be deceived by politics, you will not be manipulated by politicians, you'll not be confused by Christians who don't have any idea what they're really supposed to believe, particularly preachers, preachers who are celebrity preachers that try to get you to believe that the
42:06: Bible teaches something different than it really teaches. There's three basic points in Romans 13. Number one, it says the origin of politics is
42:14: God. Powers that be are ordained by God. Now, if the powers that be, if political powers are ordained by God, then that means political powers are accountable to their source, that they must recognize the supremacy of God, that they are accountable to the
42:35: God who is the source. Man's not the source of political institutions. God is.
42:43: And that separates us from all other forms of political theory, simply by saying that political institutions, political ideas and policies originate with God himself and not with man, and therefore are accountable to God.
43:03: You know, God had to break Nebuchadnezzar, had to really break him in order to get him to realize that one point, that he's not ultimate in this world, that God is.
43:15: I used to have a bumper sticker on my car, and it was written in ancient
43:22: Babylonian, and it said Nebuchadnezzar for president.
43:33: And it had reference to the things that Nebuchadnezzar said after he got his census back.
43:40: But the point is, that separates us from everybody else. Political institutions have their origin with God himself and not with man, and therefore, they're accountable to God and not to man.
43:53: Second, in that chapter, Romans 13, it talks about the purpose of civil magistrates.
44:01: And I use the word singular. The Bible gives us one purpose for the civil magistrate, and that is, the civil magistrate is to be, and to paraphrase, a terrorist of evildoers.
44:19: It is to punish the bad guys for the protection of the good guys.
44:28: That's simply it. It's not responsible for education, health, welfare, any of those things.
44:37: It's responsible for one thing, and that is to terrorize evildoers.
44:43: So that if anybody out there has the thought that he or she wants to be a criminal, he or she will remember that they have to deal with the living
44:54: God and with his wrath if they choose to disobey his law and live wicked lives.
45:06: Now, let me ask you a question about that. Okay, go ahead. Continue your thought. No, go ahead.
45:14: I was going to ask, that sounds very much like something that would be in harmony with a
45:23: Christian libertarian view. I'm not saying you're a run -of -the -mill libertarian who may believe in all kinds of ungodly liberties because of their agreement with us on a small government, but I'm talking about a
45:41: Christian libertarian would want a government that is so small that it really is only supposed to have the authorities that you just mentioned.
45:52: Now, I believe in the past you have said on my show that you disagree with libertarianism, so if you want to address how what you are saying is different.
46:03: Well, a lot of people who agree with me call themselves Christian libertarians.
46:10: I don't particularly like the word, but nevertheless, that's okay. What they mean to say is that the purpose and function of the civil magistrate is limited to the punishment of evil people for the protection of the good.
46:28: Therefore, the function of civil government is limited. It should not get involved in health, education, or welfare.
46:37: Nowhere in the Constitution of the United States does it give the government any authority whatsoever to become involved in health, education, and welfare.
46:49: The Bible gives the civil government one responsibility to terrorize evildoers, to punish the evil for the protection of the good.
47:02: Now, the implication of that is that the civil government has got to know what the difference is between good and evil.
47:11: The only book in the whole wide world that gives us an infallible standard on how to distinguish good from evil is the
47:24: Bible. There is no other book. So therefore, if the civil government is to punish the evil for the protection of the good and not make the mistake of punishing the good for the protection of evil, then it must know the difference between good and evil according to the
47:43: Bible. In other words, it can't escape being a
47:48: Christian government. There's no such thing as neutrality. You can't be religiously neutral.
47:54: You can't be politically neutral. People say, well, are you saying that we should legislate morality?
48:03: Well, it all depends on what you mean by that. You can't escape it. Every law, every resolution that comes before Congress or any other legislative body has come before that body because somebody believes that it's good, it's morally good.
48:28: Right. And the leftists are champions at that, even though a part of their rhetoric against conservatives and Bible believers is, you cannot legislate your morality.
48:41: Well, they try to do that in every moment of their lives. They do, and they mean by that something we don't.
48:49: They mean you can't make people good by passing laws, which, of course, we agree with wholeheartedly, even though the hypocritical liberals don't, because they believe if they can outlaw guns, then
49:04: America is going to be a more peaceful, less violent country, which, of course, is ridiculous, because if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns.
49:13: Right. And so we're not saying that at all. You can't make people good by passing laws, but every law that is made, every legislation that's presented before Congress is presented because somebody thinks it is morally good.
49:34: And when somebody votes against that law, it is because they think that law is morally bad for the country.
49:42: How do you make the difference? Right. The country is—we are in a—today that the distinction is clearer than ever.
49:52: We think, well, should Christians get involved? Should we involve religion and politics?
49:58: Well, the question is not whether we should. The question is, which religion are we going to get involved with politics?
50:07: Because you can't escape it. Right. You can't escape mixing religion and politics.
50:13: That's right. The question is, which system of laws are you going to mix with politics?
50:20: Which religious views? Sharia law. There's the big distinction. You want
50:25: Sharia law? You want laws in the United States based upon Islam?
50:32: You want humanistic law? Laws for the government based upon the opinions and the preferences of people who despise the living
50:44: God himself? Do you want Buddhist law? Or do you want the law of God contained in Holy Scripture?
50:53: And, of course, secular humanism is a religion, no matter how much the leftists today have always claimed that it is not, and therefore they claim they're not guilty of imposing their religion politically.
51:08: They are lying about that. That is true. Humanism is the belief that man has the ability to determine good and evil for himself without any reference to God.
51:24: And Christians have to realize this is a religious war, that the ultimate problem is not politics.
51:33: The ultimate problem solution is not politics. The ultimate situation is whose authority is going to determine what our political views and laws will be.
51:50: Christ or Caesar. It is as simple as that. And we have to go to work.
51:56: When we pass our laws, where are we going to get our laws? When a law comes before the
52:01: Congress, how is a man, a congressman, going to determine whether he's going to be for or against that law?
52:09: Does he study an ancient Indian tribe?
52:16: Does he consider statistics? Does he consider who believes and who doesn't?
52:26: For Christians, the answer is simple. God is the source of all law.
52:34: If Christians get that right, we're halfway home. And we have to go to our midway break.
52:43: And if you could just pick up where you left off, because we have to go to our midway break. Go ahead.
52:48: And if anybody wants to join us for the question of your own on should Christians be involved in politics, and by the way, you may feel free to disagree with my guest, and please give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence, if you live outside the
53:06: USA, and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal or private matter. Also, please be patient with us because the midway break is always a little longer than the other breaks in the show, because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1
53:19: FM in Lake City, Florida, requires a longer break in the show because the FCC requires of them to localize geographically
53:27: Iron Trip and Zion Radio with their own public service announcements and other local things that they air in the middle of the show, while we, on the other hand, simultaneously air our globally heard commercials.
53:39: Please use this time wisely. Please try to respond to our advertisers as often as you can, keeping in mind that the finances that come through our advertisers are what keeps
53:49: Iron Trip and Zion Radio going. And also, send in your questions for Dr.
53:55: Moorcraft to chrisarnsen at gmail .com. We'll be right back. Please do not go away. It's such a blessing to hear from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners from all over the world.
54:15: Here's Joe Riley, a listener in Ireland, who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed,
54:24: Dr. Joe Moorcraft. I'm Joe Riley, a faithful Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener here in Atai, in County Kildare, Ireland, going back to 2005.
54:34: One of my very favorite guests on Iron Sharpens Iron is Dr. Joe Moorcraft. If you've been blessed by Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr.
54:41: Moorcraft and Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, are largely to thank, since they are one of the program's largest financial supporters.
54:50: Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming is in Forsyth County, a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area.
54:56: Heritage is a thoroughly biblical church, unwaveringly committed to Westminster standards, and Dr.
55:01: Joe Moorcraft is the author of an eight -volume commentary on the larger catechism. Heritage is a member of the
55:07: Hanover Presbytery, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, and tracing its roots and heritage back to the great
55:16: Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Heritage maintains and follows the biblical truth and principles proclaimed by the reformers, scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone,
55:28: Christ alone, and God's glory alone. Their primary goal is the worship of the Triune God that continues in eternity.
55:34: For more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com,
55:40: that's heritagepresbyterianchurch .com, or call 678 -954 -7831, that's 678 -954 -7831.
55:51: If you visit, tell them Joe Roiland, Iron Sharpens Iron radio listener, from Attoy, in County Kildare, Ireland, sends you.
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01:04:16: Sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King, Jesus Christ, today and always.
01:04:34: This is Pastor Bill Sousa, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.
01:04:41: Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially.
01:04:50: Grace Church at Franklin is an independent autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work of our
01:05:03: Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end for which we strive is the glory of God.
01:05:09: If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some
01:05:22: Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.
01:05:32: Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org, that's gracechurchatfranklin .org.
01:05:40: This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our
01:05:46: Sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ, today and always.
01:06:03: Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read.
01:06:10: He who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.
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01:08:16: Before I return to Dr. Joseph C. Moorcraft III in our discussion on should
01:08:22: Christians be involved in politics, we have some important announcements to make. If you love this show, folks, and you don't want it to disappear,
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01:10:53: Joseph C. Moorcraft III on our issue today, Should Christians Be Involved in Politics?
01:10:58: chrisarnsen at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, city and state, and country of residence. Now, this is where the issue gets more complicated because on the one hand, when
01:11:12: Christians proclaim the gospel and they proclaim whatever they believe to be biblically true, it is objective truth.
01:11:23: It's not a matter of personal opinion. It's not a matter of debate.
01:11:29: These things we believe to be absolutely true, where on the other hand, the person for whom you are voting is more of a subjective concept.
01:11:39: Now, I'm not saying that Christians have the liberty to vote for baby murderers or those who are trying to keep legal as if it's legal in the sight of God ever.
01:11:52: They're trying to keep legal the murder of babies. They are trying to keep legal the so -called marriages of men to men and women to women.
01:12:04: They are trying to spread the legal ability to have children sexually mutilated through surgical and pharmaceutical means through the delusion that they are a different gender from which they were born.
01:12:25: We obviously know that that is not a liberty for Christians, but on the other hand, it's not a liberty for Christians to vote for such people.
01:12:34: But on the other hand, there may be God -honoring, God -fearing, biblically literate
01:12:42: Christians who share nearly identical views that you and I do as far as theology, but they may say that because, for instance,
01:12:53: Donald Trump has become softer on his views against abortion, that they're going to vote for an independent candidate, even if they know that person is going to lose, and even if they know that will further enhance the likelihood of Joe Biden winning, they will say,
01:13:12: I cannot vote for Donald Trump. He has become softer on abortion even though he claims to be pro -life, and on top of that, he is a very arrogant and vain and immoral man, so I am going to vote for an independent candidate that I love who's a born -again believer, and he's got the same exact views to abolish abortion that I have.
01:13:34: So when it comes to that arena, doesn't this make it more of a difficult issue when it comes to putting our politics into practice through our faith?
01:13:48: Yeah, it does, and we must never vote out of fear. There's two things about voting.
01:13:54: We always talk about qualifications for those who hold political office, but we don't talk about what the
01:14:02: Bible says about the qualifications of those who may vote. Not everybody has the divinely given authority to vote, and also, if you vote out of fear, you will always make a mistake.
01:14:20: Most Christians today, I have found, when they go into the voting booth, they leave the
01:14:28: Bible on the outside, that instead of asking the question, who has the qualifications for all of us to abandon by the
01:14:41: Scripture, they say, well, we better vote for so -and -so, because if we don't, we'll just get into more trouble, and the bad guy will win.
01:14:57: Well, who's the bad guy? You know, the average person today says that we should vote for the less of the two evils.
01:15:08: Well, sometimes we make a mistake in thinking, who is the less of the two evils?
01:15:15: We must understand where that phrase comes from. That phrase, the less of the two evils, comes from right after World War I, and the
01:15:32: Weimar Republic was in place, because Germany lost World War I, and Germans hated the
01:15:41: Weimar Republic, because most of the resources and profits of the
01:15:48: Weimar Republic would go to the Allies, the United States, and other people, and these powerful
01:15:54: German industrialists could not make the money that they wanted to make, because it would mostly go to the
01:16:01: West. So, a politician came to them, a
01:16:06: German politician in the 30s, and he said, I know you don't like me and everything, but if you elect me to office,
01:16:17: I'll see to it that the Weimar Republic will no longer keep you from making the profits that you want to make by your great industries.
01:16:30: So, these German industrialists, they were not Nazis. These Germans, they were capitalists.
01:16:40: These great industrialists got together and said, let's vote for the less of the two evils, and they all voted for Hitler.
01:16:56: Thinking Hitler to be the less of the two evils. So, our standard for determining who we're going to vote for must not be that.
01:17:13: That way, we're setting ourselves up as the standard. We can't make fear the standard by which we vote, and I have a lot of good friends that want to run for political office, and they agree with me, and they're great, but there's really no wisdom in them running for office, because they may have the right ideas, but they don't understand what it takes to get elected to office.
01:17:50: I ran for the United States Congress in 1986. I raised a lot of money.
01:17:58: I had a great team of men and women that would work for me to try to put me in office.
01:18:08: We tried to do it, but we got defeated. Now, it wasn't just a win with me.
01:18:18: It wasn't that I just woke up one day and said, hey, I think I'll run for Congress tomorrow. I believe all the right things, and surely if I believe all the right things,
01:18:29: God will put me in office. That type of naivete gets us nowhere in the whole field of politics.
01:18:41: I think more people should run for office. I think more should make the effort of developing political campaigns, raising money, influencing people, and many times we'll get defeated, but eventually we won't.
01:19:02: I can't see how in the world Biden is going to get elected. Unless they cheat.
01:19:10: Yeah, his worst problem is not that he's demented. His worst problem is that he's evil.
01:19:19: Trump is a populist. Trump is not conservative or liberal, either one.
01:19:27: Right. I agree with him on a lot of things, and I disagree with him on a lot of things.
01:19:34: Yes, like we said before, he has offered more reasons for women to murder their children as a part of his platform on abortion than he once held in the previous election.
01:19:51: He has become softer. That is true, and if Trump gets elected, which
01:19:56: I think he will, if Trump gets elected, he will give us some breathing room, but the solution to America's problems is not the election of Trump.
01:20:08: The solution to America's political problems is not political. The reason we have the political in the political crisis we're in today is because of the spiritual condition of the church.
01:20:26: Right. I say this almost every time I'm on your program, but it's so important.
01:20:32: The spiritual condition of the church determines the political and social and economic condition of the nation in which that church exists.
01:20:44: We are where we are today in the United States on the verge of collapse because of the failure of the church to be faithful to that heritage that God has given her.
01:21:01: Though we must stand as Christians on every political issue and make sure that our opinions are based upon the
01:21:11: Bible and not upon man, and though we must be outspoken against all of the evil candidates, against all the evil policies, we must understand that nothing's going to be any different until the church of God repents of a betrayal of her heritage and the preachers of the pulpit repent of their apostasy.
01:21:49: I had a man tell me one time, a farmer, and he said, you can't get the mud out of the stream until you get the hogs out of the spring.
01:22:05: And he said, November is hog killing time. So we must understand if we're going to solve these problems why we have them.
01:22:16: And there's no quick solutions, there's no easy solutions, and nothing but biblical solutions work.
01:22:23: Nothing, nothing, nothing. We do have a listener. That's all we have, sir.
01:22:30: Yeah, you can continue. We have a listener question. We must understand that the basic, most important political issue of the 21st century is who is king of the
01:22:50: United States? Christ is Caesar. Who is the source of America's laws?
01:23:05: And we must not hesitate to say that as Christians, we're not neutral about this thing.
01:23:14: It's Christ or chaos. It's Christ or death.
01:23:21: And we as Christians must be willing to stand and look Satan right in the face and look our friends and our families and all other voters,
01:23:31: Republicans and everybody else right in the face and say we as Christians are committed to Jesus Christ, the
01:23:41: Son of God and King of Lord of Lords. And we are against all laws and all policies that are not rooted in the law of God contained in Holy Scripture.
01:24:00: We can't say anything less. Most Christians become cowards at that point.
01:24:08: But that is where we have to stand and not flinch because we will be there.
01:24:18: We have a listener in Lake Wells, Florida, Brainard.
01:24:24: I wonder if Brainard is named after David Brainard. Brainard says, you said just moments ago that you do not believe
01:24:34: Christians have the liberty to vote for the lesser of two evils. But isn't that actually the case whenever we vote for anyone when only non -believers are running for office?
01:24:46: We have a case where both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are not Christians and both, unless they are repentant before they leave this planet, will both share the same hell.
01:24:59: And yet those are our major options right now. Even if a Christian was running, he doesn't necessarily understand biblical politics well enough and may make horrendous mistakes in the positions for which he stands.
01:25:13: So isn't it always a matter in some degree of the lesser of two evils for whom we are voting?
01:25:20: Oh, that is a very good point. The answer is that we should always vote for the person that comes closest to meeting the standards for political office contained in Holy Scripture.
01:25:37: There are—sometimes I will not vote for a Republican if he believes in aborting one baby.
01:25:45: A lot of things about Trump I like, but I hate his view that he wants to decriminalize homosexuality all over the world.
01:25:55: I will not vote for a man that wants to decriminalize homosexuality all over the world.
01:26:03: I will not vote for a man who believes in aborting one baby.
01:26:11: So Christians have to stand fast, stand by their guns. So even though a person is a
01:26:17: Christian, sometimes Christians make fools of us. And so that the man,
01:26:24: Mr. Brainerd, has a very good point. There are not everybody that runs for office is evil, and I'm not going to vote for somebody that falls far away from the biblical standard.
01:26:42: There are no perfect candidates. There are no candidates that have no flaws.
01:26:51: They make mistakes one way or another. But I'm not going to vote for somebody who will self -consciously seek to unravel everything
01:27:05: Christians have sought to build for the past 200 years. And that's where Christians have to draw the line.
01:27:14: And they have to particularly, since we know our audience, particularly we've got to make sure
01:27:22: Republicans know that, that we're not water boys for the abortionists or pro -homosexuals or pro -socialists, no matter how famous Republicans they are.
01:27:41: It's Christ or chaos for us. That's the line. Okay.
01:27:48: Does that mean, therefore, that you made an announcement, perhaps a subtle one, that because of Trump's differences with you on serious issues, you will not vote for him?
01:28:00: That's what that means. Okay. I hope he wins. But somebody that wants to legalize and decriminalize homosexuality all over the world and devotes himself to that.
01:28:18: Even though that's something that he never can literally have the authority to successfully do?
01:28:25: It's really just rhetoric, isn't it? What's interesting is, is when we put people in office who are committed to unbiblical views, it strengthens evil people.
01:28:41: I would not be surprised if Trump was not a Christian. I've heard him say some things that would really thrill you.
01:28:49: It thrilled me when sometimes he gives speeches about Christ, and it's thrilling to me, and I hope he does win.
01:29:01: But Christians have to draw the line, no matter what the cost. And we have
01:29:09: Barry in Troutdale, Oregon, who says, isn't it very dangerous for a
01:29:17: Christian to destroy his or her testimony when they very vociferously, actively, and passionately, in public, candidate for or at least passionately promote a person running for office?
01:29:36: Because that person may wound up completely embarrassing the church and those who are voting for him by having it revealed later on that they are some kind of a very overtly evil person, like an adulterer, homosexual, or pedophile, or something to that nature.
01:29:59: For a Christian to drive around with bumper stickers with somebody's name all over their car and other things like that, to show up in clear view on film at rallies, waving flags and wearing costumes in promotion of a certain candidate, can that not be very dangerous?
01:30:18: Well, we must be wise in whoever we vote for, and men can deceive you.
01:30:28: That's why Christians must do their best as they evaluate candidates, and we cannot see the heart, and we're not perfect, but we must do our best to vote for men of integrity who come close to the standards of Holy Scripture.
01:30:48: I have been disappointed. I have been for people that I thought were very good, and they turned out to be deceivers.
01:31:01: That hasn't happened many times, but it does happen because we live in a fallen world and because our evaluation of people is not perfect, but we must try the best we can as Christians to evaluate candidates in the light of the word of God.
01:31:20: Talk to them. Take them out to lunch. That's what I would do. These Republican candidates think
01:31:29: I'm more influential in the Republican Party than I am, but I don't tell them any different, so I take them out to eat because they want my support, and I ask them the hard questions that a lot of people won't ask them.
01:31:49: I had this one Republican congressional candidate that I took out to eat, and I said,
01:31:58: Sir, you are obviously a conservative Republican. But I have one more question
01:32:05: I want to ask you because they want my vote, so they're a captive audience. They can't get up and leave.
01:32:13: I said, I have one more question I want to ask you. If you get elected to the
01:32:18: United States Congress, and you're standing there in the well fighting for or against the law, how are you going to represent the crown rights of Christ the
01:32:35: King? He said, after a pause, he said, well, nobody's ever asked me that before.
01:32:47: And I said, I figured they had and had not. So let me take about 45 minutes to explain to you what
01:32:54: I mean. And if you're willing to represent the crown rights of King Jesus, I'll fight for you to the death.
01:33:04: If you're just going to be another country club Republican that takes a neutral stand towards Christ and just seeks to gain power, you're going to have to pay for lunch.
01:33:24: We have a listener in St. Matthews, Kentucky, Troy.
01:33:31: And Troy asks, Do you think Pastor Robert Jeffries of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, who is a well known vociferous outspoken promoter of Donald Trump has gone way overboard in his accolades and promotion of President Trump, such as even at his church, when they had an event celebrating
01:34:00: Trump, they had a choir of children singing songs of adoration to him.
01:34:06: I don't mean adoration in the sense of worship, but I mean, giving him earthly praise.
01:34:12: Isn't this really overstepping the bounds of Christian liberty and proper conduct?
01:34:18: Well, I know the man and I admire him for his efforts, for his zeal.
01:34:29: But it's a zeal without knowledge. I've heard him give political talks.
01:34:37: And his view of politics is not based upon the Bible. It's based upon Republican opinions and traditions.
01:34:51: So, you know, Robert, we got to draw the line. We have to draw the line somewhere. You know,
01:34:56: Robert Jeffries personally. No, I just listened to him. Oh, OK.
01:35:03: Several times. Well, we are going to go to our final commercial break.
01:35:08: And if you do have a question for Dr. Joseph C. Moorcraft III, send it in immediately because we're rapidly running out of time.
01:35:16: ChrisArnsett at gmail .com. ChrisArnsett at gmail .com. Don't go away. We'll be right back after these messages.
01:35:26: James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here. If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know
01:35:31: I have a great love for getting Bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity.
01:35:38: And besides that, they feel so good. I'm so delighted I discovered post -Tenebrous Lux Bible rebinding.
01:35:45: No radio ad will be long enough to sing their praises sufficiently, but I'll give it a shot. Jeffrey Rice of Post -Tenebrous
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01:36:46: That's ptlbiblerebinding .com. Hi, this is
01:36:51: John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona, taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnson and the
01:36:59: Iron Sharpens Iron podcast. I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the
01:37:11: Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray.
01:37:20: I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise and yet God has raised
01:37:27: Chris up for just such a time and knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances.
01:37:36: I'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting
01:37:41: Iron Sharpens Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?
01:37:50: I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com
01:37:57: where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com. I'm Dr.
01:38:09: Tony Costa, Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary. I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love,
01:38:19: Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Coram, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jensen and Christopher McDowell.
01:38:26: It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God like the dear saints at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Coram who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in his holy word and to enthusiastically proclaim
01:38:44: Christ Jesus the King and his doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island and beyond.
01:38:51: I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love as I have.
01:39:00: For more information on Hope Reformed Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.
01:39:07: That's hopereformedli .net or call 631 -696 -5711.
01:39:16: That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.
01:39:40: I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President Emeritus and Professor of Systematic and Applied Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
01:39:49: Every Christian who's serious about the Deformed Faith and the Westminster Standards should have and use the eight -volume commentary on the
01:39:57: Theology and Ethics of the Westminster Larger Catechism titled Authentic Christianity by Dr.
01:40:04: Joseph Moorcraft. It is much more than an exposition of the Larger Catechism. It is a thoroughly researched work that utilizes biblical exegesis as well as historical and systematic theology.
01:40:17: Dr. Moorcraft is Pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, and I urge everyone looking for a biblically faithful church in that area to visit that fine congregation.
01:40:28: For details on the eight -volume commentary, go to westminstercommentary .com, westminstercommentary .com.
01:40:37: For details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com,
01:40:44: heritagepresbyterianchurch .com. Please tell Dr. Moorcraft and the
01:40:49: Saints at Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, that Dr. Joseph Piper of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary sends you.
01:40:59: Puritan Reformed is a Bible -believing, kingdom -building, devil -fighting church. We are devoted to upholding the apostolic doctrine and practice preserved in Scripture alone.
01:41:11: Puritan Reformed teaches men to rule and lead as image -bearing prophets, priests, and kings.
01:41:17: We teach families to worship together as families. Puritan is committed to teaching the whole counsel of God so that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.
01:41:30: We sing the Psalms, teach the law, proclaim the gospel, make disciples, maintain discipline, and exalt
01:41:36: Christ. This is Pastor David Reis of Puritan Reformed in Phoenix, Arizona.
01:41:43: Join us in the glorious cause of advancing Christ's crown and covenant over the kings of the earth.
01:41:50: Puritan Reformed Church. Believe. Build. Fight. puritanphx .com.
01:42:02: Chris Arnzen here, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
01:42:23: I strongly recommend a church I've been recommending as far back as the 1980s, Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey, pastored by Alan Dunn.
01:42:34: Grace Covenant Baptist Church believes it's God's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he shall be represented in the world.
01:42:43: They believe churches need to turn to the Bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship
01:42:50: God in spirit and truth. They endeavor to maintain a God -centered focus and to protect worship from the intrusion of carnal entertainments and distractions.
01:43:02: Reading, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, baptism, and communion are the elements of their corporate worship performed with faith, joy, and sobriety.
01:43:15: Discover more about Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey at gcbc -nj .org.
01:43:24: That's gcbc -nj .org, or call them at 908 -996 -7654.
01:43:34: That's 908 -996 -7654. Tell Pastor Dunn you heard about Grace Covenant Baptist Church on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
01:44:00: Greetings, this is Brian McLaughlin, president of the SecureComm Group and supporter of Chris Arnzen's Iron Sharpens Iron Radio program.
01:44:11: SecureComm provides the highest level of security systems for residential buildings, municipalities, churches, commercial properties, and much more.
01:44:22: We can be reached at securecommgroup .com. That's securecommgroup .com.
01:44:31: But today, I want to introduce you to my senior pastor, Doug McMasters of New High Park Baptist Church on Long Island.
01:44:44: Doug McMasters here, former director of pastoral correspondence at Grace to You, the radio ministry of John MacArthur.
01:44:51: In the film Chariots of Fire, the Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell remarked that he felt
01:44:57: God's pleasure when he ran. He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God.
01:45:03: I sense that same God -given pleasure when ministering the word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God.
01:45:11: That love starts with the wonderful news that the Lord Jesus Christ is a savior who died for sinners and that God forgives all who come to him in repentance, trusting solely in Christ to deliver them.
01:45:23: I would be delighted to have the honor and privilege of ministering to you if you live in the Long Island area or Queens or Brooklyn or the
01:45:30: Bronx in New York City. For details on New High Park Baptist Church, visit nhpbc .com.
01:45:39: That's nhpbc .com. You can also call us at 516 -352 -9672.
01:45:49: That's 516 -352 -9672. That's New High Park Baptist Church, a congregation in love with each other, passionate for Christ, committed to learning and being shaped by God's word and delighting in the gospel of God's sovereign grace.
01:46:07: God bless you. When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the
01:46:17: New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the
01:46:25: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the NASB.
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01:47:37: Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
01:47:46: Go to nasbible .com. That's nasbible .com to place your order.
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01:49:18: I also want to remind our listeners that this program is paid for in part by the law firm of Buttafuoco &
01:49:24: Associates, the law firm founded by my very dear friend going back to the early 1990s,
01:49:30: Daniel P. Buttafuoco, a friend and brother in Christ. If you are the victim of a very serious personal injury or medical malpractice anywhere in the
01:49:39: United States, call Dan Buttafuoco at 1 -800 -NOW -HURT 1 -800 -NOW -HURT or visit his website 1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com.
01:49:48: Mention that you heard about him and his law firm from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
01:49:54: We're now back with Dr. Joseph C. Moorcraft III. We have been discussing should
01:50:00: Christians participate in politics, and we do have a listener in Albany, New York named
01:50:12: Wendy, and Wendy wants to know, when is using your vote and involvement in the political process, in your opinion, a sin?
01:50:25: Oh, when you vote for somebody who's seeking to unravel and destroy everything
01:50:31: Christians have tried to build in the United States for 200 years. I used to not say this.
01:50:39: I used to think that people who said that are going too extreme, but I think the vote for a
01:50:45: Democrat is sinful. I think it is rebellion against Almighty God. And to vote for Republicans who think like Democrats is also sinful.
01:50:59: We are at a war. This is not a game. Politics is not a game.
01:51:05: It is a war, and the future and lives of our children and grandchildren are at stake, and we must be serious about this thing and stand fast and inflexible and unbending for the
01:51:23: Lord Jesus Christ. There is something I want to make sure that your listeners know about.
01:51:28: There is a new video out. It's about an hour and a half video. It's on YouTube.
01:51:36: It's already gotten eight and a half thousand views and likes, eight and a half thousand, and it's called
01:51:46: Honor the Son. It's produced by a young American named
01:51:52: Nathan Anderson. I think he lives in Chile. There are a lot of people on this video that your listeners will be familiar with.
01:52:02: Many of them, some of them have been on your program, and the point of Honor the
01:52:09: Son is to help Christians learn how to think biblically about the future, the future of the kingdom of God, the future of this world, how things are going to turn out, should we be defeatists and think the world's getting worse and worse, and Christians are going to be wiped out, and the church is going to be destroyed and raped by the antichrist, and we have no future, and therefore we just should learn to play guitar and wait for Jesus to come, or is there a promise of victory for the kingdom of God in this life prior to the second coming of Christ that would stir up Christians to become involved in the advance of that kingdom in every area of life?
01:53:00: Great video. Honor the Son. It's free for the listening, and I would recommend that all of your listeners listen to it.
01:53:10: Now, who is the one that spearheaded this video? A man named
01:53:15: Nathan Anderson. Okay, I've seen that beard.
01:53:25: He lives in Chile, and I mean he is one of us through and through, and within the first few days of that movie being out, thousands of people downloaded it.
01:53:43: Wow. Honor the Son. And you've got to give me
01:53:49: Wolf of the Air, Nathan's contact information, if you have it. I don't have it, but it's not hard to get the movie.
01:53:59: Just got Honor the Son on YouTube. In fact, I just pulled it up.
01:54:09: Yeah, it's wonderful. Okay, well, I will definitely watch it tonight, God willing, and I will try to get
01:54:14: Nathan. Oh, you'll love it. You'll want to watch it more than once. Great.
01:54:19: Well, I want you now to summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners today before we run out of time.
01:54:31: I want Christians to believe that Jesus Christ is king, and that's the most important issue of the 21st century.
01:54:42: We must not bow before any other king. We must allow his word to govern all of our thoughts, to govern the way we think, the way we vote.
01:54:56: We must not follow man's tradition or any celebrity.
01:55:02: We must draw the line. It is Christ or chaos. It is
01:55:09: Christ or death. There is no other choice. Amen.
01:55:18: Well, I want to remind our listeners of all your contact information.
01:55:24: First of all, Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia can be found at heritagepresbyterianchurch .com,
01:55:34: heritagepresbyterianchurch .com. Also, if you'd like to order the eight -volume commentary series on the
01:55:40: Westminster larger catechism titled Authentic Christianity, you could go to westminstercommentary .com,
01:55:49: westminstercommentary .com. And also, for all of Dr.
01:55:56: Moorcraft's other books and to find out more about his activities and so forth, you can go to comprehensivechristianity .com,
01:56:06: comprehensivechristianity .com. I also want to remind our listeners, if you're a man in ministry leadership, please register if you possibly can make it on June 6th to Perry County, Pennsylvania.
01:56:22: Please register for the free biannual Iron Trump and Zion Radio Pastor's Luncheon at Church of the
01:56:29: Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania, featuring for the very first time our keynote speaker,
01:56:35: Dr. Joel Beakey, the Chancellor of Puritan Reform Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
01:56:43: He is going to be speaking on ten ways to cope with criticism in the ministry.
01:56:50: That should be something that every ministry leader has experienced and would love to have some godly counsel over that subject.
01:56:59: Not only is admission free and your lunch free and your time of fun and fellowship and rest and relaxation and edification all free, every attendee is going to receive one and possibly two very heavy sacks of free brand new books personally selected by me and donated by Christian publishers all over the
01:57:20: United States and United Kingdom. And I was thrilled to hear the good news that another one of these generous publishers,
01:57:29: Reformation Trust, which is the publishing wing of R .C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministries, they are going to be shipping free copies of the book
01:57:40: Feed My Sheep for the men in attendance at the luncheon. And that's a book that is co -authored by multiple authors, including
01:57:49: Dr. Joel Beakey, our keynote speaker, and Sinclair Ferguson and others. So if you would like to attend this free
01:57:56: Pastor's Luncheon on Thursday, June the 6th, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania, please send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail dot com, chrisarnson at gmail dot com, and put
01:58:10: Pastor's Luncheon in the subject line. Last but not least, folks, several times a year, three or four times a year, we as a program face very frightening financial circumstances.
01:58:24: And I know that we are commanded by Christ to be anxious for nothing. And I have to confess that one of my most frequently committed sins is violating that command.
01:58:34: But I'm just asking you, if you really love the show and you are financially capable of helping us out without without dipping in to the money that you have set aside for your local church, and of course, if you're really struggling to survive and make ends meet, wait until you're back on your feet financially before you help us.
01:58:54: But if you're able to financially, please help us because we really need your support. Go to irontriponsirenradio .com,
01:59:02: click support, then click click to donate now. And you could donate instantly with a debit or credit card. And for fans of snail mail, a physical address will also appear on the screen where you can mail your checks, may payable to Iron Tripons Iron Radio.
01:59:17: Also, if you want to advertise with us, whether it's your church, parachurch, ministry, your business, private practice, like a medical firm or law firm, or just a special event, send me an email to chrisorensen at gmail .com
01:59:30: and put advertising in the subject line. I want to thank you again, Dr. Moorcraft for not only being such a very close and wonderful friend and brother, but also a generous supporter of this program and a superb guest on Iron Tripons Iron Radio.
01:59:46: I want to thank you for your participation today. I want to thank everybody who listened today. And I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater