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Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend Jim Thorpe.
It's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today. Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 17, tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
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. 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.
And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen.
Good afternoon, 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. This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 21st day of May, 2024.
Before I introduce to you my guest and our topic for the day, I have a couple of announcements to make. First of all, if you have not yet registered for the next free biannual Iron Sharpens Iron Radio pastors luncheon, which is going to be held June 6th, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania, which is Perry County, Pennsylvania, featuring for the very first time our keynote speaker, Dr. Joel Beeky, who is Chancellor of Puritan Reform Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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.
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 Christian publishers all over the United States and United Kingdom.
So if you want to register, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put pastors luncheon in the subject line. Also, I want to give a very heartfelt word of thanks to Dr. 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.
And I want to thank Dr. Bergeron and hope to have him back on the program. 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.
And for more information on his medical firm, especially for those living in the Georgia area, go to realhealthmedical .com, realhealthmedical .com. Also, I just learned moments ago of the homegoing to Christ for eternity of Christine Otis, the wife of my friend 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 Otis family as they mourn the loss of this precious woman. But today, we have on the program my dear friend, 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 Westminster Larger Catechism known as Authentic Christianity.
And today, Dr. Moorcraft returns to the show to discuss the theme, Should Christians Be Involved in Politics? It's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr. 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 Lord in infancy recently, if you could give a word to our listeners about this update in your family.
I prayed hard on my daughter and her husband. They didn't expect to ever see this little baby. But it was their full month, 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.
The pastor of their church is a Reformed Baptist preacher by the name of Will Hawks, and he's very good. Well, praise God. And so God worked in their life, they're now at the beach, and next week they'll be in Scotland.
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, Rebecca Hope, the little baby that recently passed after a month of life on this earth, she had a serious fatal heart condition.
And the doctors did not even know for certain whether the baby would be born alive. And the baby outlived the life expectation of the physicians. 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.
But if you could, Dr. Moorcraft, let our listeners know about Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia.
Our church is in Cumming, Georgia, which is the county seat of Forsyth County, a northern county just outside metropolitan Atlanta. We have 70 or so members. We started 10 years ago with 20 submembers.
And they come from all over the place. 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.
We have a lot of babies. And they have strong lungs, especially when I'm trying to preach. And we continue to grow. We are in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Hanover Presbytery. Our doctrinal statement is the original Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.
And we're committed and devoted to carrying out the Great Commission. We send teams to preach the gospel to various places, trouble spots. In North America, we've sent a team of people and we financed them to the southern border twice to preach to 10 cities.
We sent a team to Cuba to preach to the Cubans. And it was so successful that the Cubans want them back just as soon as possible. And we just praise the Lord for establishing us and in causing us to continue to grow.
And our influence even is greater than our numbers.
Oh, sure is. In fact, for those of our listeners who do not know, and if you're a regular listener, it would 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 Trubman's Iron Radio.
So that should give our listeners an idea of how you are far greater in your outreach than your size would indicate.
We finance a young Brazilian in the southern part of Brazil who plants churches, who started a seminary called John Knox Seminary in Brazil, and who started a national organization of Christian schools.
He has a great influence down there. His name is Frank Brito. And I pray for him. Of course, the government is not sympathetic. But he has a tremendous influence all over the gigantic nation of Brazil.
Now, when you say the government is not sympathetic, is that because of the Roman Catholic influence, the secular humanist influence? Okay. Outspoken. Yes. In fact, the leader of the missionary team in Cuba, who I will not mention his name, he is remaining anonymous for my interview coming up on Friday, June the 7th, on Iron Trubman's Iron Radio.
But he is remaining anonymous not only to protect himself from being barred from reentrance into Cuba, but also to protect the lives of the Christians with whom he works in Cuba. So I'm looking forward to that interview.
I've never done an interview that I can recall. Well, actually, I did one interview on Cuba years ago with a former native of Cuba, a former resident of Cuba who came to the United States and became a Presbyterian pastor.
But this will be—go ahead.
Reformed Baptist. Yes. Powerful preacher. And he preaches for me sometimes when I'm out of town or something. So one Sunday evening after he had preached at church, I asked one of our members, Brother Abbott, and she said, loud.
Well, just mark your calendars for our program on Cuba for Friday, June the 7th. And by the way, I should also mention that this donation I mentioned earlier from Dr. 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. Joe Moorcraft has with Dr. Rhett Bergeron. And my guest today, Joe Moorcraft, is largely responsible for that gift coming in, that urgently needed gift.
So I have to thank you as well, Joe. Yes. Well, if anybody wants more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, go to HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com, HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com.
And also, if you want to find out more about the eight-volume commentary series on the larger— on the Westminster larger catechism titled Authentic Christianity, you could go to WestminsterCommentary .com, WestminsterCommentary .com.
And that's another thing I've got to thank you for, is that Dr. 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.
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.
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. But today we're talking about should Christians be involved in politics? And there are all kinds of views on this running the spectrum, 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.
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. And if you could start with, why is it that this was burdening your heart to want to readdress this subject on the show?
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 United States. Everything is political. Politics governs everything we do in this country.
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. It's the source of a solution for our problems. And it's idolatrous the way people think about politics.
Let me talk for a minute just about what I mean by politics. I don't necessarily mean that a Christian should join a political party, though that's a very good idea. I think by politics, 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.
It governs the whole range of things. In the United States, back at my grandfather's day, people would hardly ever see a politician. My people were in West Virginia. And because about the only politician they'd ever see would be a revenuer messing up their moonshine still.
But now you can't escape politicians. You can't escape federal employees. They're everywhere. Because politics does affect and govern every area of our life, and that's the way it has been since the Civil War and the Unitarians of the North sought to transform the entire culture of the United States and to make it a great socialist state to accomplish Unitarian goals.
See, the Unitarians hated Christianity. They are a transplant from Europe in the very late 18th century, and they hated Christianity. They particularly hated Calvinism. They believed in the perfectibility of man, that man is basically good.
They hate the idea that he's depraved. They hate the idea that there's a divine revelation. And so the Unitarians knew that in order to perfect man, they had to do two things. They had to control every aspect of society.
They had to control business. They had to control everything. And secondly, they had to create state-supported compulsory education and require all American children to go to those state-supported schools.
And so ever since, and that's what's behind everything in the early 1800s. So the Unitarians, they were not fighting to end slavery, and the South was not fighting to defend slavery. The Unitarians were fighting to create a socialist state where everything was under the control of the federal government, and the South was created to defend America from that view and from that attempt.
We lost. So ever since 1865, there has been this attempt to expand and extend a Unitarian understanding of politics, which is basically socialism. So we live in a socialist country, in a 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.
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 Bible teaches. And like the sons of Issachar are to understand their day and really understand what the issues are that we have to face.
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 Bible. Now what's amazing is how people still say that Christians ought not to say much about politics because the Bible doesn't speak much about politics.
And anybody that says that obviously hasn't read his 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 Bible there is on various aspects of politics, good and bad.
You have in the book of the Bible, you have Abraham fighting an alliance of kings. In Exodus, you have Jethro telling Moses under God's inspiration how to create a representative civil magistrate. You have laws in Exodus 19 -24.
The underlying moral principle of them to still be applied in every age because it's an application of the Ten Commandments. You have civil laws in Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. You have judges, the whole book about politics.
You got 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. You have 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 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. You have the book of Proverbs, which is a book written by a king to tell his son how to be a good king.
You have Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, etc. where the prophets of God confront kings. They confront Israelite kings. They call the kings to repentance. They lead Israel in rebellion.
And they also confront non-Hebrew kings in various other nations of the world so that what the Bible says about politics is not just about a pile of Hebrews. And then in the New Testament, you've got Paul and the classic statement on politics in Romans 13.
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 Judaism and anti-Christian Rome in the book of Revelation.
And you have Jesus. And, of course, everybody says Jesus didn't say anything about politics. 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 John the Baptist than Jesus because at least John the Baptist would speak critically of Herod that fox and Jesus would keep his mouth shut.
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.
Yeah, 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. He's been tried before the Pharisees, and they want to talk theology.
They wanted to make sure He was theologically sound and not a blasphemer. But then He came before Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate was just a shrewd old politician. He didn't care about theology. He just had one question in mind.
He said to Jesus, Are you a king that will threaten my authority? That's all He wanted to know. And Jesus answered,. Jesus answered, It is as you say. So just as clear as anything could be. Jesus tells 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.
It originated with God, not with man. And therefore, it's backed by all the power and authority of heaven. He said, My kingdom is not of this world. That's why you better worry. Well, the average Christian thinks that what Jesus is saying is describing the nature of His kingdom.
My kingdom is not of this world. It has no concern with what goes on in this world.
Yeah, that's actually a favorite text of those who say we shouldn't be involved in politics.
Yeah, I know it. And they say that the kingdom of God is not concerned with anything on this earth, particularly politics. It's concerned with dying and going to heaven. But they don't understand Greek.
Anybody that says that hasn't studied Greek. When Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world, it's from another place, what He said in Greek was, My kingdom is not from this world. It's from another place.
He's not saying anything about its nature. He's talking about its origin. My kingdom originated not with man but with the living 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. If anybody wants to join us for the question of your own for Dr. Joseph C. Moorcraft III on the question, Should Christians Be Involved in Politics?
Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com. 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 USA. Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal or 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, 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. 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, but Joe Moorcraft, please do not go away.
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I'm Pastor Bill Shishko of The Haven, an Orthodox Presbyterian church in Comac, Long Island. I hold the Iron Sharpens Iron radio program hosted by my longtime friend and brother, 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 Christian literature for decades now, Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service. Well, with the economic nightmare that we're all currently enduring, CVBBS .com, I want to enable you to build a wonderful personal library of the best literature that the Reformers, the Puritans, and the great Christian minds of today have to offer, and at affordable prices.
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We can be reached at securecommgroup .com. That's securecommgroup .com. But today, I want to introduce you to my senior pastor, Doug McMasters, of New High Park Baptist Church on Long Island.
Doug McMasters here, former director of pastoral correspondence at Grace to You, the radio ministry of John MacArthur. In the film Chariots of Fire, the Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell remarked that he felt God's pleasure when he ran.
He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God. I sense that same God-given pleasure when ministering the word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God. 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.
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 Bronx in New York City. For details on New High Park Baptist Church, visit nhpbc .com.
That's nhpbc .com. You can also call us at 516 -352 -9672. 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.
I'm Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You with John MacArthur. I've been a frequent guest on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, and I highly recommend this show. But today I want to tell you about one of its advertisers, Rare Document Traders.
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I'm Pastor Keith Allen of Lindbrook Baptist Church, a Christ-centered, gospel-driven church looking to spread the gospel in the southwest portion of Long Island, New York and play our role in fulfilling the Great Commission, supporting and sending for the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
We're delighted to be a part of Chris Arnzen's Iron Sharpens Iron Radio advertising family. At Lindbrook Baptist Church, we believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, inherent in the original writings, complete as the revelation of God's will for salvation and the supreme and final authority in all matters to which they speak.
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For details, visit LindbrookBaptist .org. That's L-Y-N-BrookBaptist .org. This is Pastor Keith Allen of Lindbrook Baptist Church reminding you that by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast of the Lord's blessing and the knowledge of himself.
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So please go to royaldiadem .com today and mention Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. We're now back with Dr. Joseph C. 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 Jesus told Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world, he literally, according to the 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.
So if you want to basically add to that or continue that.
Yes, that they don't have to be scholars in politics to be thoroughly Christian in their biblical approach to politics. We're Bible-believing Christians. We get an understanding of politics from the Bible and not from any man or any tradition.
And so in Romans 13, I wrote a book on Romans 13, and I think you can still get it on comprehensivechristianity .com. It's called With Liberty and Justice for All, Christian Politics Made Simple.
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, and 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 irontreponsineradio .com.
I'm 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. The Bible doesn't just talk about how to be saved from hell when you die.
I praise the Lord it does say that. But the Bible is aboundingly authoritative in everything about which it speaks, and it speaks about everything. And Romans 13 tells us that if we're going to be living sacrifices to the 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 Bible says for us to think. And so it gives us a basic worldview of politics, and it says three things, 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 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 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 God who is the source. Man's not the source of political institutions. God is. 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. 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.
I used to have a bumper sticker on my car. And it was written in ancient Babylonian. And it said Nebuchadnezzar for president. And it had reference to the things that Nebuchadnezzar said after he got his census back.
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. Second, in that chapter, Romans 13, it talks about the purpose of civil magistrates.
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. It is to punish the bad guys for the protection of the good guys.
That's simply it. It's not responsible for education, health, welfare, any of those things. And that is to terrorize evildoers. 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 God and with his wrath if they choose to disobey his law and live wicked lives.
Now let me ask you a question about that. Okay, go ahead. Yeah.
Continue your thought. No, go ahead. I was going to ask, that sounds very much like something that would be in harmony with a 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 Christian libertarian would want a government that is so small that it really is only supposed to have the authorities that you just mentioned.
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.
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, and therefore the function of civil government is limited.
It should not get involved in health, education, or welfare. Nowhere in the Constitution of the United States does it give the government any authority whatsoever to become involved in health, education, or welfare.
The Bible gives the civil government one responsibility, to terrorize evildoers, to punish the evil for the protection of the good. Now, the implication of that here is that the civil government has got to know what the difference is between good and evil.
And the only book in the whole wide world, the only book that gives us an infallible standard on how to distinguish good from evil is the 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 Bible.
And in other words, it can't escape being a Christian government. There's no such thing as neutrality. You can't be religiously neutral. You can't be politically neutral. And people say, well, are you saying that we should legislate morality?
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.
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. Well, they try to do that in every moment of their lives.
They do, and they mean by that something we don't. 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 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.
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.
And when somebody votes against that law, it is because they think that law is morally bad for the country. How do you make the difference? The country, as we are today, the distinction is clearer than ever.
We think, well, should Christians get involved? Should we involve religion in politics? Well, the question is not whether we should. The question is, which religion are we going to get involved with politics?
Because you can't escape it. Right. You can't escape mixing religion and politics. That's right. The question is, which system of laws are you going to mix with politics? Which religious views? Sharia law, there's the big distinction.
You want Sharia law? You want laws in the United States based upon Islam? You want humanistic law for the government based upon the opinions and the preferences of people who despise the living God himself?
You want Buddhist law? The law of God contained in Holy Scripture.
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.
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. And Christians have to realize this is a religious war, that the ultimate problem is not politics.
The ultimate solution is not politics. The ultimate situation is whose authority is going to determine what our political views and laws will be, Christ or Caesar? It is as simple as that. And we have to go to our—.
When we pass our laws, where are we going to get our laws? When a law comes before the Congress, how is a man, a congressman, going to determine whether he's going to be for or against that law? Does he study an ancient Indian tribe?
Does he consider statistics? Does he consider—. Who doesn't? For Christians, the answer is simple. God is the source of all law. If Christians get that right, we're halfway home. And we have to go to our midway break.
And if you could pick up where you left off, because we have to go to our midway break. Go ahead. 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 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 FM in Lake City, Florida, requires a longer break in the show because the FCC requires of them to localize geographically 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. 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 Iron Trip and Zion Radio going.
And also, send in your questions for Dr. 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.
Here's Joe Riley, a listener in Ireland who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed, Dr. Joe Moorcraft.
Hi, I'm Joe Riley, a faithful Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener here in Atai in County Kildare, Ireland. Going back to 2005, 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. Moorcraft and Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia are largely to thank since they are one of the program's largest financial supporters.
Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming is in Forsyth County, a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Heritage is a thoroughly biblical church, unwaveringly committed to Westminster standards, and Dr. Joe Moorcraft is the author of an eight-volume commentary on the larger catechism.
Heritage is a member of the 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 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, Christ alone, and God's glory alone. Their primary goal is the worship of the Triune God that continues in eternity.
For more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com. That's HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com. Or call 678 -954 -7831. That's 678 -954 -7831. If you visit, tell them Joe Reilly, an Iron Sharpens Iron radio listener, from a tie in County Kildare, Ireland, sent you.
Hello, my name is Anthony Uvinio, and I'm one of the pastors at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Corum, New York, and also the host of the ReformRookie .com website. I want you to know that if you enjoy listening to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio show like I do, you can now find it on the Apple's iTunes app by typing Iron Sharpens Iron radio in the search bar.
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Subscribe to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio podcast right now. And while you're at it, you can also sign up for the ReformRookie .com podcast and visit our website and the YouTube page. We are dedicated to teaching Christian theology from a Reformed Baptist perspective to beginners in the faith as well as seasoned believers.
From Keech's Catechism and the Doctrines of Grace to the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Leviticus, the Reform Rookie podcast and YouTube channel is sure to have something to offer everyone seeking biblical truth.
And finally, if you're looking to worship in a Reformed church that holds to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, please join us at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Corham, New York. Again, I'm Pastor Anthony Ovinio, and thanks for listening.
If you love Iron Sharpens Iron radio, one of the best ways you can help keep the show on the air is by supporting our advertisers. One such faithful advertiser who really believes in what Chris Hansen is doing is Daniel P. Patafuco, serious injury lawyer and Christian apologist.
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Hi, I'm Buzz Taylor. Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio has had a long-time partnership with our friends at CVBBS, which stands for Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service. They specialize in supplying Reformed and Puritan books and Bibles at discount prices that make them affordable for everyone.
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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 Lord Jesus Christ.
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Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin. Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org. This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our Sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always.
This is Pastor Bill Sousa of Grace Church at Franklin here in the beautiful state of Tennessee. Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,.
Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read. 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.
You need to read.
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Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
And let me highly recommend a book that includes a chapter from one of my guest Joe Moorcraft's favorite authors, now with The Lord for Eternity, Greg Bonson. This is a book titled The Risen Christ Conquers Mars Hill, Classic Discourses on Paul's Ministry in Athens, and it includes chapters from many of the great heroes of the faith, both from centuries ago and including those in the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Before I return to Dr. Joseph C. Moorcraft III and our discussion on should 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, I'm urging you, please go to ironsharpensironradio .com, click Support, then click Click to Donate Now.
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So, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com, and put advertising in the subject line. And also, if you are not a member of a biblically faithful, Christ-honoring, theologically sound, doctrinally solid church, like Heritage Presbyterian Church in Coming Georgia, I have extensive lists of biblically faithful churches spanning the entire globe, and I have helped many people in the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience all over the planet Earth find churches that are biblically faithful, sometimes even within just a couple of minutes from where they live.
And that could be you too, no matter where you live on the planet Earth. I may be able to help you find a biblically faithful church. If you send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com, and put I need a church in the subject line, that's also the email address where you can send in a question to Dr. Joseph C. Morker III on our issue today, Should Christians Be Involved in Politics?
Chrisarnson 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 Christians proclaim the gospel, and they proclaim whatever they believe to be biblically true, it is objective truth.
It's not a matter of personal opinion. It's not a matter of debate. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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. But on the other hand, there may be God-honoring, God-fearing, biblically literate Christians who share nearly identical views that you and I do as far as theology, but they may say that because, for instance, 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, 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'm 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.
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?
Yeah, it does, and we must never vote out of fear. There's two things about voting. We always talk about qualifications for those who hold political office, but we don't talk about what the 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. Most Christians today, I have found, when they go into the voting booth, they leave the Bible on the outside.
That instead of asking the question, who has the qualifications for all of us to abandon the 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.
Well, who's the bad guy? You know, the average person today says that we should vote for the less of the two evils. Well, sometimes we make a mistake in thinking who's the less of the two evils. 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 Weimar Republic was in place because Germany lost World War I. And Germans hated the Weimar Republic because most of the resources and profits of the Weimar Republic would go to the Allies, the United States and other people.
And these powerful German industrialists could not make the money that they wanted to make because it would mostly go to the West. So a politician came to them, a German politician in the 30s. And he said, I know you don't like me and everything, but if you elect me to office, 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.
So these German industrialists, they were not Nazis. These Germans, they were capitalists. These great industrialists got together and said, let's vote for the less of the two evils. And they all voted for Hitler, thinking Hitler to be the less of the two evils.
For determining who we're going to vote for must not be that. 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. I ran for the United States Congress in 1986.
I raised a lot of money. I had a great team of men and women that would work for me to try to put me in office, to do it. Now, it wasn't just a win with me. 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, God will put me in office. That type of naivete gets us nowhere in the whole field of politics. 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. Can't see how in the world Biden is going to get elected.
Unless they cheat. Yeah, his worst problem is not that he's demented. His worst problem is that he's evil. Yes. Trump is a populist. Trump is not conservative or liberal, either one. Right. I agree with him on a lot of things, and I disagree with him on a lot of things.
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. He's become softer. That is true.
Trump gets elected, which 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. 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. Right. I say this almost every time I'm on your program, but it's so important.
The spiritual condition of the church determines the political and social and economic condition of the nation in which that church exists. 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.
And though we must stand as Christians on every political issue and make sure that our opinions are based upon the 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 in the pulpit—I had a man tell me one time, a farmer. He said, you can't get the mud out of the stream until you get the hogs out of the spring. And he said, November is hog-killing time.
We must understand, if we're going to solve these problems, why we have them. And there's no quick solutions. There's no easy solutions. And nothing but biblical solutions work. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
We do have a listener. That's all we have. Go ahead. Sir? 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 United States, of America's law.
And we must not hesitate to say that as Christians, we're not neutral about this thing. It's Christ or chaos. It's Christ or death. Amen. 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, Republicans, and everybody else right in the face. Are committed to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and King of Lords. And we are against an all politics that are not rooted in the law of God contained in Holy Scripture.
Amen. We can't say anything less. Most Christians become cowards at that point. But that is where we have to stand and not flinch. Okay.
Because we will be there. Yeah. We have a listener in Lake Wales, Florida. Brainerd. I wonder if Brainerd is named after David Brainerd. Brainerd says, you said just moments ago that you do not believe 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? 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.
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.
So isn't it always a matter in some degree of the lesser of two evils for whom we are voting?
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. Sometimes I will not vote for a Republican if he believes in aborting one baby.
A lot of things about Trump I like, but I hate his view that he wants to decriminalize homosexuality all over the world. I will not vote for a man that wants to decriminalize homosexuality all over the world.
I will not vote for a man who believes in aborting one baby. So Christians have to stand fast and stand by their guns. So even though a person is a Christian, sometimes Christians make fools of us. And so the man, Mr. Brainerd, has a very good point.
There are not everybody that runs for office as evil. And I'm not going to vote for somebody that falls far away from the biblical standard. There are no perfect candidates. There are no candidates that have no flaws.
They make mistakes one way or another. But I'm not going to vote for somebody who will self-consciously seek to unravel everything Christians have sought to build for the past 200 years. And that's where Christians have to draw the line.
And they have to particularly, since we know our audience, particularly we've got to make sure Republicans know that. That we're not waterboys for the status quo. That we're not going to carry the water buckets of pro-abortionists or pro-homosexuals or pro-socialists, no matter how famous Republicans they are.
It's Christ or chaos for us. That's the line.
Okay, 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?
That's what that means. Okay. I hope he—but somebody that wants to legalize and decriminalize homosexuality all over the world and devotes himself to that.
Even though that's something that he never can literally have the authority to successfully do? It's really just rhetoric, isn't it?
The thing is, is when we put people in office who are committed to unbiblical views, it strengthens evil people. I would not be surprised if Trump was not a Christian. I've heard him say some things that would really thrill you.
It would thrill me when sometimes he gives speeches about Christ, and it's thrilling to me. And I hope he does win. But Christians have to draw the line, no matter what the cost.
And we have Barry in Troutdale, Oregon, who says, Isn't it very dangerous for a 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?
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.
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?
Well, we must be wise in whoever we vote for. And men can deceive you. 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.
I have been disappointed. I have been for people that I thought were very good. And they turned out to be deceivers. 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. Talk to them. Take them out to lunch. That's what I would do. These Republican candidates think 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. And I had this one Republican congressional candidate that I took out to eat.
And I said, sir, you are obviously a conservative Republican. But I have one more question I want to ask you. Because, you know, they want my vote, so they're a captive audience. They can't get up and leave.
But I have one more question I want to ask you. If you get elected to the 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 the king?
He said, after a pause, he said, well, nobody's ever asked me that before. And I said, I figured they had and had not. So let me take about 45 minutes to explain to you what I mean. And if you're willing to represent the crown rights of King Jesus, I'll fight for you to the death.
If you're just going to be another country club Republican. Take the neutral stand towards Christ and just seek to gain power. You're going to have to pay for lunch.
We have a listener in St. Matthews, Kentucky, Troy. 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 Trump, they had a choir of children singing songs of adoration to him.
I don't mean adoration in the sense of worship, but I mean giving him earthly praise. Isn't this really overstepping the bounds of Christian liberty and proper conduct?
Well, I know the man and I admire him for his efforts, but it's a zeal without knowledge. I've heard him give political talks, and his view of politics is not based upon the Bible. It's based upon Republican opinions and traditions.
We've got to draw the line. We have to draw the line somewhere. No. I've just listened to him several times.
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Hi, this is John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona. Taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnson and the 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 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.
I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise, and yet God has raised 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.
I'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting Iron Sharpens Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one-time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?
I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com.
I'm Dr. 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, Hope Reform Baptist Church in Corham, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jansen and Christopher McDowell.
It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God like the dear saints at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Corham 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 Christ Jesus the King and His doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island and beyond.
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. For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.
That's hopereformedli .net. Or call 631 -696 -5711. That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Ironsharpensiron.
I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President Emeritus and Professor of Systematic and Applied Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Every Christian who's serious about the Deformed Faith and the Westminster Standards should have and use the eight-volume commentary on the theology and ethics of the Westminster Larger Catechism, titled Authentic Christianity by Dr. Joseph Morecraft.
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. Dr. Morecraft 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.
For details on the eight-volume commentary, go to westminstercommentary .com, westminstercommentary .com. For details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com, heritagepresbyterianchurch .com.
Please tell Dr. Morecraft and the saints at Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia that Dr. Joseph Piper of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary sends you.
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. Puritan Reformed teaches men to rule and lead as image-bearing prophets, priests, and kings.
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. We sing the Psalms, teach the law, proclaim the gospel, make disciples, maintain discipline, and exalt Christ.
This is Pastor David Reis of Puritan Reformed in Phoenix, Arizona. Join us in the glorious cause of advancing Christ's crown and covenant over the kings of the earth. Puritan Reformed Church. Believe.
Build. Fight. PuritanPHX .com.
Chris Arnzen here, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. 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.
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. They believe churches need to turn to the Bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship 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. Reading, preaching, and hearing the word of God, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, baptism and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship performed with faith, joy, and sobriety.
Discover more about Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey at gcbc-nj .org. That's gcbc-nj .org. Or call them at 908 -996 -7654. That's 908 -996 -7654. Tell Pastor Dunn you heard about Grace Covenant Baptist Church on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
Greetings, this is Brian McLaughlin, President of the SecureComm Group and supporter of Chris Arnzen's Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Program. SecureComm provides the highest level of security systems for residential buildings, municipalities, churches, commercial properties, and much more.
We can be reached at securecommgroup .com. That's securecommgroup .com. But today, I want to introduce you to my senior pastor, Doug McMasters of New High Park Baptist Church on Long Island.
Doug McMasters here, former director of pastoral correspondence at Grace to You, the radio ministry of John MacArthur. In the film Chariots of Fire, Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell remarked that he felt God's pleasure when he ran.
He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God. I sensed that same God-given pleasure when ministering the word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God. 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.
God bless you.
I'm Pastor Nate Pickowitz of Harvest Bible Church in Gilmont and Ironworks, New Hampshire, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.
I'm Pastor Rich Jensen of Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, New York, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.
I'm Pastor Sule Prince of Oakwood Wesleyan Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.
I'm Pastor John Sampson of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.
I'm Pastor Chuck Volo of New Life Community Church in Kingsville, Maryland, and the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Steve Herford of Eastport Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.
I'm Pastor Roy Owens, Jr. of the Church in Friendship in Hockley, Texas, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.
Go to nasbible .com. That's nasbible .com to place your order. Chris Arnzen here. I am forever grateful to Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service for their generous financial support of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
But that's not the only reason I love them. CVBBS .com carries the finest in theologically reformed literature from 16th century classics like Calvin's Institutes, 17th and 18th century Puritan treasures like the works of Jonathan Edwards, 19th century volumes by the Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, all the way up to the 21st century with the best of R .C. Sproul, Steve Lawson, Votie Baucom, and more.
On top of their stellar book selection, CVBBS .com offers up to 50 off retail prices with an added 5 off for orders of $50 or more when using the promo code IRON. Visit CVBBS .com today and use promo code IRON.
That's CVBBS .com. Enriching minds and maintaining the theologically reformed influence of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio through their financial support. Now shipping worldwide. Welcome back. I also want to remind our listeners that this program is paid for in part by the law firm of Buttafuoco and Associates, the law firm founded by my very dear friend going back to the early 1990s, 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 United States, call Dan Buttafuoco at 1 -800-NOW-HURT, 1 -800-NOW-HURT, or visit his website 1 -800-NOW-HURT .com.
Mention that you heard about him and his law firm from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. We're now back with Dr. Joseph C. Moorcraft III. We have been discussing should Christians participate in politics? And we do have a listener in Albany, New York, named Wendy.
And Wendy wants to know, when is using your vote and involvement in the political process, in your opinion, a sin?
When you vote for somebody who's seeking to unravel and destroy everything Christians have tried to build in the United States for 200 years. I used to not say this. I used to think that people who said that are going too extreme.
But I think to vote for a Democrat is sinful. I think it is rebellion against Almighty God. And to vote for Republicans who think like Democrats is also sinful. We are at a war. This is not a game. Politics is not a game.
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 Lord Jesus Christ. There is something I want to make sure that your listeners know about.
There is a new video out. It's about a nine and a half video. It's on YouTube. It's already gotten eight and a half thousand views and likes. Eight and a half thousand. And it's called Honor the Son. It's produced by a young American named Nathan Anderson.
I think he lives in Chile. There are a lot of people on this video that your listeners will be familiar with. Many of them, some of them, have been on your program. And the point of Honor the 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 is 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?
Great video. Honor the Son. It's free for the listening. And I would recommend that all of your listeners listen to it.
Now, who is the one that spearheaded this video?
A man named Nathan Anderson. Okay, I've got to get him on my show. He's an American. He's an American. Oh, you should. He's an American with a big black beard. 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. Wow.
Honor the Son. And you've got to give me Wolf of the Air, Nathan's contact information, if you have it.
I don't have it. It's not hard to get the movie. Just go Honor the Son on YouTube. In fact, I just pulled it up.
Yeah, it's wonderful. Okay, well, I will definitely watch it tonight, God willing, and I will try to get Nathan on.
Oh, you'll love it. You'll want to watch it more than once.
Great. 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.
I want Christians to believe that Jesus Christ is king, and that's the most important issue of the 21st century. 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.
We must not follow man's tradition or any celebrity. We must draw the line. It is Christ or chaos. It is or death. There is no other choice.
Amen. Well, I want to remind our listeners of all your contact information. First of all, Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, can be found at heritagepresbyterianchurch .com, heritagepresbyterianchurch .com.
Also, if you'd like to order the eight-volume commentary series on the Westminster larger catechism titled Authentic Christianity, you could go to westminstercommentary .com, westminstercommentary .com, and also for all of Dr. Moorcraft's other books and to find out more about his activities and so forth, you can go to comprehensivechristianity .com, 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. Please register for the free biannual Iron Trump and Zion Radio Pastor's Luncheon at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania, featuring for the very first time our keynote speaker, Dr. Joel Beakey, the Chancellor of Puritan Reform Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He is going to be speaking on 10 ways to cope with criticism in the ministry. That should be something that every ministry leader has experienced and would love to have some godly counsel over that subject.
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 United States and United Kingdom.
And I was thrilled to hear the good news that another one of these generous publishers, Reformation Trust, which is the publishing wing of R .C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministries, they are going to be shipping copies, free copies of the book Feed My Sheep for the men in attendance at the Pastor's Luncheon.
And that's a book that is co-authored by multiple authors, including Dr. Joel Beakey, our keynote speaker, and Sinclair Ferguson and others. So if you would like to attend this free 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 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. 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. But I'm just asking you, if you really love the show and you are financially capable of helping us out 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.
But if you're able to financially, please help us because we really need your support. Go to ironsharpensironradio .com, 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 through Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Also, if you want to advertise with us, whether it's your church, paratruch ministry, your business, private practice like a medical firm or law firm, or just a special event, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line.
I want to thank you again, Dr. Morecraft 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 Sharpens Iron Radio.
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 savior than you are a sinner.