THE PROBLEM WITH BEING A MODERATE

It seems all the pundits say you need to be a "moderate" to win. Funny thing. John McCain was a moderate. None of these folks pushing for a "moderate" boosted the "moderate" and he didn't win. In 1980, Jimmy Carter was a "moderate". Ronald Reagan wasn't. Who won? Not Carter. Bush 41 was a "moderate". He lost to Bill Clinton. And of course, just a few weeks ago "moderate" McCain lost to the ultra-liberal Obama.

The Associated Press wasn't "moderate" about Sarah Palin -over 95% or their articles trashed her. I don't remember ONE hit piece on Biden or Obama, and their "scandals" were far more relevant to governing than Palin's - especially since most of her alleged issues were made up by their creative reporters. The entire press didn't vet either Obama or Biden properly, and there were loads of questions of substance that few people heard answers to. MSNBC isn't "moderate", Rush Limbaugh isn't "moderate". No one likes listening to 'moderates". It is like kissing your sister.

I'm not alone in being against middle-of-the-roaders. GOD isn't much for them either...
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
spoken by Jesus, quoted by St. John in Revelation 3:15-16.

People in the world aren't often "moderates". Why should Christians be? I watched Penn State destroy Michigan State and then Oklahoma utterly destroy Texas Tech. These coaches and players are not "moderates". They play to win and they play to utterly demoralize the other team. They don't say, "We had the joy of scoring three straight touchdowns; we'll let you have three so you can have that same joy." They view each other as the enemy much as businesses due in order to win and to survive. Our younger son Dan played baseball for the Chestnut Hill Fathers' club. He was very competitive and very good. We lived in Mt. Airy at the time, and they were trying to build up a program there. Mt. Airy has been afflicted for quite a while with a serious case of political correctness. They wanted to organize a baseball league where the emphasis wasn't on winning. No one who was any good wanted to waste time with that - and it IS a waste of time. With no rewards, the competition is not keen and there is no joy comes from the fruit of developing your skills through hard work. Players become the lowest common denominator. It is the same thing in schools where everyone is grouped together. Thank God they still had "tracking" when I was in school. I was with students who wanted to learn and were willing to work to learn. We were pushed hard and responded to it. In countries where people are given everything no matter how hard or not so hard they labor, their incentive is dulled and the societies decline. Jesus said those who won't work shouldn't eat, with exceptions of course for those who can't.

It is too bad many people have never learned what Jesus said, that the farmer should be the first to enjoy his crops. We are being afflicted, and unfortunately, there are many people being appointed to power now who believe in the failed ideas of socialism rather than in the proven merits of people competing and working for their success. You will note that President Elect Obama is not the least bit "moderate" in his appointments. Some scary left, many Clinton retreads, but not one with any significantly different ideological bent. Not change one can believe in. That has been the way it has always been, and Obama is not different from past political hacks in that way.

It is hard to find "moderates" in unions. It is hard to find "moderates" on "Dancing with the Stars". It is hard to find moderates in our educational system. "Moderate" philosophers. "Moderate" screenwriters. "Moderate" anything. Hollywood seems unable to actually produce a movie that doesn't have swearing in it. Even "E.T." had bad language that detracted from a charming story. They aren't "moderates" by at least leaving children innocent and protected. They are not "moderate" in their teen offerings, making every boy a filthy guttermouth and every girl a Britney Spears wannabe. There is no moderation about marriage. On TV, almost every marriage is bad, there is never any sex unless it is fornication, adultery, or perverted in some way. Virgins are vilified. People who hold out for virtue are mocked. Hardly "moderate". And how about the world of science? Evolutionists aren't "moderates". They don't say, well, perhaps millions of years ago or was that hundreds? Or, it could have taken a long time for the Grand Canyon to be carved out by the Colorado River, and then again. it might not have. No, they pontificate with great surety and allow no room for those pesky creationists like me. In fact, they disparage all who disagree and have been largely successful in keeping professors from allowing free discourse in the classroom and even outlawing the questioning of their illogical dogma in museums, universities, schools, etc. It is like the emperor's new clothes. It is obvious to professional designers like me that we live in a professionally designed world. Yikes, it is painfully obvious to me as an architect to see a structure that was simply thrown together, but even the worst building has some design to it, whether done by a committee who couldn't agree on anything or simply by an unskilled wannabe. How anyone with a brain can look at their own body and assume it just happened defied logic and any such person must be intellectually challenged. Why two ears? Why are the eyes at the midpoint of the height of the head? Why are the edges of your smile aligned with the centerlines of your eyes? And why are buildings that are designed using the same principles used in the design of the human body considered the most attractive by us?

There are millions of bits of evidence of design, and I am no "moderate" about it. I don't believe God "used" evolution to create man. I believe he made him out of the dust of the ground. I don't believe he used a long, cruel process of death and violence and destruction to make what he called "very good" and in a time before sin entered the world. "Moderate" Christians compromise on the clear and unequivocal teaching of Genesis, and then one by one, they progressively deny all the miracles and finally the deity of Jesus Christ. They end up with spiritual death. The difficulties some students have dealing with the frontal assaults on the Bible are probably the main reasons most Christian students lose their faith in college. And it is not just secular universities. Few "Christian" institutions of higher learning are willing to stand for God's truth and reject man-made ideas either.

Try going to a "moderate" church. Like sitting in the front? Like the back? The left side? The right side? You'll have a choice of seats. You will have plenty of options. Want to sing in a choir but glasses on the shelves vibrate and break when you sing? Or worse yet, the little kids put their fingers in their ears and clutch their mother's skirts? Believe it or not, you may be asked to join the choir on your first visit!

You'll have a harder time finding a seat where Christ is preached unapologetically - where the Bible is believed verbatim, where the Kingdom of God and the work of the Holy Spirit is not explained away. The twelve apostles who turned the world upside down were not "moderates". They didn't settle for a "spiritual" resurrection. They knew whom they believed and were willing to die for it. Paul didn't say 'believe and be circumcised' - he told them he wished those who wanted to add to Christ's sacrifice would mutilate themselves. Not very ecumenical or moderate.

It was just like that with the heroes of the American Revolution - they were driven by yearning for freedom, and compromise was not in their vocabulary. They dumped the tea into Boston Harbor, they didn't donate it to charity. They didn't sit down and negotiate with the British without preconditions. Moderates were despised during that revolution and some of them had their houses burned down.

Try to find a "moderate" Muslim who is happy you are a Christian and is fine with it when another Muslim repents and finds Christ as savior and Lord. FInd a sinner who delights in the' diversity' of having a Bible-believing uncompromising Christian as a friend. The children of the devil are not "moderates". EVERYTHING they do is to attain one end - to win and not end up in a stalemate. Why do some Christians act scare-dy-cat to simply stand for the truth regardless of prevailing opinion?

How can you be "personally" against sin but not do EVERYTHING in your power to defeat it? How can you decide under what conditions to kill a baby before he or she is born? How can you not preach against the abomination of homosexuality which is the ultimate rebellion - a rejection of who God made you? How can you accept racism because the person promoting it is "so nice" in other ways? How can you pretend to love God while favoring the rich in every possible way? How can you stand for the rule of law and then have no consequences for those who flaunt the law? How can you protect your country while coddling its enemies? In short, when we are dealing with RIGHT and WRONG, how can you actually promote being half-right and half-wrong? How can you vote for leaders who do not believe in moral and constitutional absolutes? No we must be ALL-RIGHT! No one will follow an uncertain trumpet in going into battle. No one will follow a compromiser, a middle-of-the roader, a luke-warm Christian. No indeed, we want the real thing! The unvarnished truth!

Ever go to a "moderate" rock concert? NO screaming. No 150 decibels. No ranting about the establishment. No hard rhythms or bone shattering bass. Just a nice "moderate" time when you can use their music as a backdrop to reading a good book. Ha! How about a "moderate" drug party where only marijuana is allowed? Or a beer party with no Vodka? Good luck. How about a "moderate" political rally? "Well, we'll let two people praise our candidate and then to be 'fair and balanced', two will criticize our candidate!" My friends, the enemies of the cross are not "moderate". The devil is not "moderate". He goes around like a roaring lion seeking those he might devour. And so do followers of Satan - they go after YOU, seeking to destroy YOU and devour YOU. They are not interested in a round-table forum! They are not interested in you sinning once! They want you bound by sin - utterly trapped. They are interested only in destroying YOU!

Too many Christians are "moderate". They cross the aisle to talk with the devil and his angels. They figure they have done so much good for God that they deserve to sin a bit! They don't want to go all the way with God. Just part way. Far enough to get to heaven and reap some blessing. Not far enough to be persecuted for the sake of the name of Jesus.

We should learn something from them! We should be just as determined tell the unvarnished truth and to live unvarnished lives. We should show no mercy to the devil! We should accept no compromise with truth! Once truth is compromised, a little leaven leaveneth the whole loaf! There is no stopping the lies. When there is uncompromised truth, there is no stopping that either. The wicked Roman Empire changed because Christians stood for the truth and refused to compromise. Our country won't change from its depraved condition unless we do likewise. Jesus told us that we would know the truth, and that the truth would set us free. He said he does not want us lukewarm. Who wants the Lord to spit them out of his mouth? OUCH! Not me. Let's embrace the truth and take the consequences.

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded, that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.