{"id":18312,"date":"2016-10-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/bible-and-voting-part-16\/"},"modified":"2016-10-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T05:00:00","slug":"bible-and-voting-part-16","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/bible-and-voting-part-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Bible and Voting – Part 16"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[65],"series_event":[466],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18312","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-proverbs","series_event-the-bible-and-voting-2016","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Bible and Voting - Part 16","sermon_date":"20161023","sermon_month":"10","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":4014,"sermon_slides":4015,"sermon_mp3":4017,"sermon_id":"102316942425","series_or_event":466,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":65,"chapter_and_verse":"14:34","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSUGAR LAND BIBLE CHURCH\n\nOctober 23, 2016 The Bible and Voting, Part 16\n\nProverbs 14:34\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them Mark 7, verses 20-23.\u00a0 And\u00a0 if you\u2019re here visiting for the first time you\u2019re going to say what kind of church is this, what in the world?\u00a0 Well, we are actually at the tail end of a study; I was going to use the analogy I\u2019m going to try to land the plane today but since we\u2019re talking about terrorism I didn\u2019t think that was the best thing to say so that metaphor not withstanding we\u2019re at the very tail end of a study on the subject of the Bible and Voting.\u00a0 You know, voting, and politics and debates and all that kind of stuff is in the air.\u00a0 This is not the kind of series to tell you who to vote for; that application is between you and the Lord.\u00a0 It\u2019s a series really designed to communicate biblical principles that I think sustain people in any election as we are given a great stewardship in this country of electing people to office.\u00a0 And I guess one of my great fears is we, as God\u2019s people, go about that practice largely the Bible is the last thing we think about.\u00a0 So this series really is designed to get us to understand that the Bible speaks to the great issues of the day.\n\nWe\u2019ve gone through various economic issues that the Bible speaks to.\u00a0 We\u2019ve gone through various social issues that you hear about in the culture all of the time that the Bible speaks aggressively to, including things like abortion and the debate about marriage and so forth.\u00a0 And really we\u2019re at the very tail end of the study where we\u2019re learning that the Bible actually speaks about issues related to foreign affairs.\n\nOne of the key points for today is to remember that God is the one that has authored the nation-state.\u00a0 Independent nations functioning on their own freedom independent of global government, this is one of the things that God established to maintain the social order, which includes a lot of different things that nations have a responsibility to do that the Bible speaks of.\u00a0 Examples would include enforceability of national borders.\u00a0 Examples would also include the obligation, I believe, that nations have to bless the nation of Israel, and in fact, whether God blesses or curses a nation largely depends upon their posture towards Israel.\u00a0 And then another obligation that we\u2019re looking at here is the whole subject of military strength and use.\u00a0 Nations under certain circumstances have not just the right but the obligation under God to curtail evil through military power.\n\nAnd of course this topic gets into something that we wrestle with quite a bit because it\u2019s something called terrorism, its advent in our world.\u00a0 You know, terrorist activity has almost become a normal staple of American life; it\u2019s almost regularly that we pick up the newspaper or watch TV, listen to the radio and we hear about some terrorist activity or event which claims the lives of innocent people; 9-11, Fort Hood, the Boston Marathon bomber, Orlando Florida, Chelsea New York, San Bernardino, California, even abroad in places like France, Nice France, (I think you pronounce that niece, it looks like it says nice France, but I think it\u2019s Nice, France if I\u2019ve got my pronunciation correct.\u00a0 Paris, on and on we could go.\n\nAnd you look at something like that, as horrific as it is and you wonder where is God in these things?\u00a0 And beyond that, has the Bible actually addressed this issue.\u00a0 I\u2019m thoroughly convinced as we complete our study, hopefully today, God willing, I\u2019ve been saying that for the last six weeks but I think today we\u2019re going to complete it, but the Bible actually addresses this issue of terrorism.\u00a0 In fact, when\u00a0 you let the Bible talk and you actually investigate what the Bible has to say it speaks far more aggressively on the issues of the day than your typical Christian is even aware of.\n\nWe talked about terrorism\u2019s false causes; if you don\u2019t have a biblical framework you have to attribute evil to something and so you get explanations like poverty, lack of education, it\u2019s America\u2019s fault (that\u2019s called American Imperialism).\u00a0 None of them really capture what the Scripture says about where violence emanates from.\u00a0 We\u2019ve looked at several verses but violence in the\u00a0 Bible, particularly terrorist activity, is the result of two things coming together in a person\u2019s heart.\u00a0 The first is the natural depravity that we all have.\n\nJesus is very clear when He talks about murders in Mark 7:20-23, that these things proceed out of the man.\u00a0 The fact is, all of us have the potential for murder and every good criminal investigator understands that.\u00a0 Nobody is somehow above and beyond the propensity or the proclivity to murder.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why we need the Scripture in our lives to act as a countervailing influence telling my sin nature to not do things it naturally wants to do.\u00a0 Jesus, in Mark 7:7-23 says it\u2019s not what goes into the man that makes him unclean, it\u2019s what proceeds out of man.\u00a0 And he gives a whole laundry list of sins which I won\u2019t repeat to you here because we\u2019ve gone through this passage, but one of the things he articulates is murder.\u00a0 [Mark 7:20, \u201cAnd He was saying, \u2018That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.\u00a0 [21] For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,\u00a0 [22] deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.\u00a0 [23] All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.\u2019\u201d]\n\nWhen murder comes together in a person\u2019s heart alongside an ideology of some sort that gives them permission to murder in the name of accomplishing some sort of higher good you have the makings of a homegrown terrorist.\u00a0 And therefore if you don\u2019t have the right cause for terrorism you\u2019ll come up with the wrong solution.\u00a0 We have many people today, because they\u2019re not informed, many of our leaders, by the light of God\u2019s Word they come up with all kinds of definitions or attempts to deter terrorism which, on the surface, looks like they emanate from a good human heart but they really never grapple with the issue because they never deal with the issue in terms of what the Bible says about it.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have the right cause of a problem you can\u2019t come up with a right solution.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 So military reduction, appeasement, dialogue, treaties, subsidies, apology tours, these are all in the air; these are all the thinking of the leaders and yet isn\u2019t it interesting that terrorism has not been abated but continues on, even more aggressively as the years roll on.\n\nThe book of Ecclesiastes \u201cBecause the sentence of an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 And this gets now into the effective deterrent for terrorism and God has an institution that He has established to curtail violence.\u00a0 Violence, of course, is something that characterized the pre-flood world in Genesis 6:11, it says, \u201cNow the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.\u201d\u00a0 And although the flood waters changed the environment or the geography or topography, cleansed the world, they never fixed the human nature in man which is bent towards evil.\u00a0 The sin nature continues on into the flood world as the world is repopulated through Noah\u2019s three sons.\n\nThus God established the institution of human government, Genesis 9:6, where God says, \u201cWhoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.\u201d\u00a0 The fear that government places in the hearts of people provides a natural deterrent or check and balance against the violence that is inside all of us.\u00a0 If we didn\u2019t have the institution of human government the world would quickly regress to what it was like before the flood.\n\nSome people say well when is Andy going to quit talking about politics and get back to the Bible?\u00a0 The fact of the matter is, we wouldn\u2019t have any understanding of politics or government if it weren\u2019t for what?\u00a0 The Bible.\u00a0 The Bible provides the foundation for properly understanding government and politics.\u00a0 And this is why many things that people do in the political world seem crazy to the Biblicist because they don\u2019t start from the right premise; they don\u2019t start from the Scripture and build up.\u00a0 Many people have a worldview, many people have theologies for that matter, but because those worldviews and theologies don\u2019t begin with the Word of God they have a worldview which doesn\u2019t work, is aberrant, and in fact in the long run causes destruction.\n\nSo we need to hold all thoughts, as Paul tells us, accountable to the Word of God, even how we think about political issues.\u00a0 This far transcends mere partisanship.\u00a0 It deals with a biblical philosophy of life, all of life, including politics.\u00a0 God, therefore, has ordained human government to restrain evil.\u00a0 Paul comments on that in the New Testament, Romans 13:3-5, we\u2019ve read that passage, we\u2019ve read that passage, But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.\u201d [Romans 13:3 \u201cFor rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;\u00a0 [4] for it is a minister of God to you for good.]\u00a0 \u201cBut if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.\u00a0 [5] Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.\u201d\n\nThe government is not perfect but it produces in us something called fear.\u00a0 Not all fear is bad; fear of being caught, fear of being prosecuted, fear of being imprisoned is something that God established to hold back the actions of people from what their sinful impulses are telling them to do.\u00a0 And if a person is controlled by their sin nature and a radical ideology literally the only thing that\u2019s going to prevent them from doing more mayhem, which is going to destroy more lives made in God\u2019s image, is the fear of government itself.\u00a0 That\u2019s the logic of the Noahic Covenant which goes back to Genesis 9 which is the beginning of human government.\n\nNow of course we all have examples of governments that go too far and that\u2019s why we, last week, went through the eight principles of just war; these are principles that Christian theologians generally recognize and embrace; governments can\u2019t just go to war for the sake of going to war.\u00a0 There is an unjust reason governments go to war and there are just reasons governments go to war.\u00a0 And it\u2019s so important in this age of terrorism that we understand the biblical principles of just war so we can understand if our own government, that\u2019s accountable to \u201cwe the people\u201d is stepping out of biblical guidelines.\n\nAnd beyond that there is a way to prosecute a just war; four concepts that we looked at last time, when to go to war, eight concepts; how to prosecute a war, four concepts.\u00a0 The Bible again is speaking to these things.\u00a0 And we conclude our study, we wrap up our study today by looking at what I would call legitimate methods that governments of the earth can employ under God in deterring something as terrible as terrorist activity.\n\nI tried to show you what government should not do but what can government do?\u00a0 And some of the things that I\u2019ll talk about may be sort of surprising to you because they seem at first unloving.\u00a0 They seem at first glance somewhat unchristian.\u00a0 At first glance it kind of looks like they contradict the Sermon on the Mount at points.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll show you that each of these methods, I believe, are in fact ordained by God and necessary to deter what?\u00a0 The evil and the depravity that already exists in human beings.\n\nYou see, if you start from the premise that men are naturally good some of these things that I\u2019ll talk about seem overly harsh but the reality of the situation is from cover to cover the Bible teaches the depravity of man.\u00a0 People, when left to their own devices have the ability to do good things but by and large if left to their own devices and their heart is uninfluenced by, (A) Scripture, (B) a parental upbringing that\u2019s good, and (C) the threat of fear from government, they will have a natural bent or a natural propensity towards evil and that\u2019s the whole logic of why God established human government in the first place.\n\nSo here we go.\u00a0 Number 1, what is something legitimate, what are things that are legitimate that the nation\/state is obligated under God to do to curtail something as evil and wicked as terrorism.\u00a0 Number 1, they have to have the freedom to give it the proper label.\u00a0 How can you solve a problem, any problem, let\u2019s leave terrorism out of it for a minute.\u00a0 How can you solve the problem of cholesterol?\u00a0 How can you solve the problem of finances?\u00a0 How can you solve the problem of over eating or under eating?\u00a0 How can you solve any problem unless you are allowed the freedom to label the problem for what it is.\n\nAnd you see, this is where we are already losing right here in the United States of America because we are not allowed (because of political correctness) to put the right label on the problem.\u00a0 The problem has to do with depravity coming into contact with a radical ideology; the most radical ideology that we\u2019re facing today is what I like to call consistent Islam or fundamentalist Islam or people that take the teachings of Islam, which we\u2019ve gone over in this series, some of them, to their logical and natural consequences.\u00a0 You cannot say today radical Islam is the cause of terrorism because somehow we have in our mind that that\u2019s denigrating the religion of somebody else.\u00a0 We are so afraid of this issue of political correctness that it has blinded us to our ability to\u2026 the first thing you have to do before you solve any problem is put the proper label on the problem.\n\nSo what is terrorism today called?\u00a0 Well, anything but radical Islam.\u00a0 And by the way, just for the record, I really don\u2019t like the expression Radical Islam.\u00a0 The problem is not \u201cRadical Islam,\u201d the problem is Islam consistently applied; that\u2019s the problem.\u00a0 I much prefer the expression Fundamentalist Islam or Consistent Islam.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say that every Muslim is a terrorist but those Muslims that aren\u2019t terrorists are living inconsistently with what their own holy books demand.\u00a0\u00a0 There is a minority of Muslims in the world, and even in the United States of America that are believers in everything that their holy book demands.\u00a0 That\u2019s the problem!\u00a0 That\u2019s what they call radical Islam, I prefer the expression consistent Islam or Fundamentalist Islam.\u00a0 But they won\u2019t even allow today (the government) to use the expression \u201cIslam\u201d when talking about terrorism.\u00a0 They use expressions like this: work place violence.\n\nYou know, the terrorist activity in San Bernardino county there was so much evidence, not to mention in Fort Hood, of the beliefs of the perpetrators of this crime.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take any great skill at all to discover their motives on social media, things they\u2019ve written other places.\u00a0 But because of political correctness, because of the fear we have of denigrating someone else\u2019s religion we call it other names, like workplace violence.\u00a0 Here\u2019s one of my favorites, Overseas Contingency Operations, what in the world is that?\u00a0 Islamic consistently applied terrorism!\u00a0 Any government on the earth that wants to solve this problem has to be given the freedom to give it the proper label.\n\nThe second freedom that any government on the face of the earth has the freedom under God to do is something called deterrence.\u00a0 Deterrence is the idea that look, I won\u2019t harm you because I know that you\u2019re more powerful than me militarily and if I injure you,\u00a0 you will come back at me two-fold, three-fold, four-fold, five-fold.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what keeps my hand, or many hands of the earth from doing evil; plain and simple deterrents.\n\nBack to Deuteronomy 13:10-11, now granted, this is from the Mosaic Law but it clearly establishes that deterrence works.\u00a0 It talks about crimes that you committed within the nation of Israel, and Moses said this: \u201cSo you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.\u201d\u00a0 Look at this next clause, [11] \u201cThen all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.\u201d\n\nToday people debate whether deterrence even works.\u00a0 Well, may I just say to you that if you respect the Bible (and you obviously do or you wouldn\u2019t be here) deterrence works.\u00a0 God\u2019s inerrant Word tells us that it works; the threat of punishment from government itself.\u00a0 You\u2019d be surprised how many people out there in the world do not believe that the deterrence actually works.\u00a0 Why do they think that way?\u00a0 Because of their misconception of human nature.\u00a0 Humans are basically good they think, largely getting that idea not from the Bible but from modern day psychology so you can dialogue someone out of an evil act.\n\nMy home state of California, Diane Feinstein, made this statement: Senator Diane Feinstein, of California, has said nuclear weapons are\u201d quote, \u201cnot a deterrent but a grave and gathering threat to humanity.\u201d\u00a0 Close quote.\u00a0\u00a0 I disagree with her.\u00a0 When I was in that state I didn\u2019t vote for either, I voted against her because I believe that deterrents actually work, I believe that the threat of a nuclear exchange holds people\u2019s hands back from evil which keeps me safe, my wife safe, my daughter safe, my church members safe as well.\n\nI like the way Wayne Grudem, in this book that I\u2019m using here, called Politics - According to the Bible:<\/em> a conservative evangelical theologian summarizes the issue, he says this, \u201cWill nuclear disarmament ever be possible?\u00a0 The short answer is no.\u201d\u00a0 He goes on and he says, \u201cThis is why the United States in particular has a weighty responsibility to maintain clear superior nuclear force that can defeat any potential attacker and it must speak and act in such a way that the potential attacker is convinced that the United States will overwhelmingly retaliate if a nuclear weapon is launched against it.\u00a0 To fail to do so would be to fail to protect the citizens of the nations effectively.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Politics - According to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture by Wayne A. Grudem]\n\nI understand the fear of a government going too far; that\u2019s why we went over the principles of just war last week.\u00a0 But if the principles of just war are followed deterrence is an actual biblical concept.\u00a0 And if I haven\u2019t offended\u00a0 you yet let me keep trying here.\n\nNumber 3, a missile defense system; I believe that a missile defense system is a logical thing that any government of the earth in this war-torn world would seek to implement.\u00a0 And I remember when President Reagan argued for a missile defense system back in the 80\u2019s, it was called The Strategic Defense Imitative, SDI, and I remember the ridicule, the absolute ridicule that he received for this proposal.\u00a0 They mocked it as something called Star Wars and they argued that it would never work.\u00a0 And they argued that President Reagan claims to be a Christian, he claims to be a Bible believer and yet what is he talking about, this missile defense system which intercepts missiles out of the sky.\n\nWell, suddenly the nation of Israel is under attack and they got some ideas from us related to SDI and Star Wars and they are able to do that very thing.\u00a0 And as these weapons of destruction are launched into the borders of Israel suddenly you begin to see the logic of a missile defense system.\u00a0 To me it\u2019s common sense; it\u2019s not even a matter of debate, it\u2019s just simple logic given the innate depravity of people and the rapid spread of radical ideologies around the world that would seek to destroy the United States or any other country through weapons of mass destruction.\n\nOne of the things that\u2019s interesting is what kept us safe during the Cold War era?\u00a0 There was something called the Cold War, as you know, and we were kept safe during that whole era because of two basic assumptions: number 1, you have only two nuclear super powers.\u00a0 That\u2019s assumption number 1.\u00a0\u00a0 The United States and the former Soviet Union.\u00a0 And number 2, both parties that have nukes or nuclear weapons are rational, or logical.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 We want to survive; they want to survive.\u00a0 They like life; we like life.\u00a0 So what kept each other from destroying one another is the belief that\u2019s called MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction, two nuclear super powers, both of them are logical and rational parties or players in the sense that both want to survive.\n\nThat\u2019s what kept the United States and the world free for all of the decades of the cold war; those two assumptions.\u00a0 Do those two assumptions apply today?\u00a0 Let\u2019s take the first one; there\u2019s only two nuclear super powers.\u00a0 Obviously that assumption doesn\u2019t apply today, think of all of the nations that are entering or have entered the nuclear club.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know if this list is exhaustive.\u00a0 My list is nine, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea\u2026 North Korea which went nuclear during the former Clinton administration, (I\u2019m not sure if we\u2019re going to get a second Clinton administration, I don\u2019t know who I\u2019m going to vote for, Ahab or Jezebel in this next election), Israel, and then if you\u2019ve been following the news you know that Iran has nuclear ambitions.\u00a0 In fact, the United States, for reasons I don\u2019t even understand, is expediting Iran crossing the nuclear finish line; should Iran get their hands on nukes that brings the number from two up to ten.\u00a0 So the first assumption of mutual destruction only two nuclear super powers in the world, that assumption is gone.\n\nWell, what about this idea that both parties are rational, both parties are logical, both parties love life and want to survive.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t apply any more either, particularly when someone\u2019s mind is contaminated by an ideology which tells them that if you die in the cause of Allah you immediately go into heaven where all of your essential desires through seventy virgins are immediately gratified.\u00a0 If somebody believes that, and obviously there are people that do or they wouldn\u2019t be driving planes into the World Trade Center buildings on 9-11, people obviously believe that, how do you rationalize with somebody like that?\u00a0 How do you use logic?\u00a0 How do you say to them we will wipe you out if you damage us?\n\nSo the concept of logic or rationality is out; the concept of only two nuclear superpowers is out, and in that type of environment is not a missile defense system something logical that we would seek to implement and not ridicule?\u00a0 We need to think about these things.\u00a0 We need to think about the implications of these things under the authority of God who has given the nation-state the power to protect its own citizens.\n\nSomething else is preemption, a preemptive attack.\u00a0 Let me quote, just for a minute, from Dr. Grudem\u2019s treatment of this.\u00a0 He writes, \u201cBut defeat of such terrorists poses a particular problem for law enforcement.\u201d\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because many of them are committed to giving their lives to what they think of as a martyrdom in the cause of God in carrying out terrorist activities or attacks.\u00a0 This means that older forms of criminal investigation that are aimed at capturing and punishing the wrongdoer after the attack\u201d which is the old school of thought, \u201csimply will not work, because with a suicide bomber the wrongdoer is already dead.\u201d\u00a0 Do you see that?\u00a0 \u201cUnder Islamic ideology the wrongdoer is already dead, therefore they must be defeated before they can launch the attack.\u201d\n\nThe advent of Islam, it\u2019s not new but it\u2019s new in the sense of its incursion into the borders of the United States has gotten us to rethink the way typical criminal investigation and deterring crime is taking place.\u00a0 Do you arrest the person after the fact or do you try to stop it beforehand?\u00a0 If someone in their mind is already dead because it\u2019s just a matter of time before the plane collides with the building and their soul goes into the presence of nirvana or Allah, where sensual desires are gratified with seventy virgins, that person is already dead, and thus the necessity of trying to stop a crime before it begins to occur becomes a necessity.\u00a0 That opens the door to all kinds of things, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Wiretapping, monitoring people.\n\nI\u2019m aware that government is going to use its power here but I\u2019m also aware that there is something at work in our world that we\u2019ve probably never seen before, at least in this country, a radical ideology which declares people to be dead before they actually die.\u00a0 So if you already believe that\u00a0 you are dead before you actually die there\u2019s nothing, there\u2019s really nothing to hold you back from evil.\u00a0 And how do you keep our children safe, our world safe, our churches safe, in that type of environment?\u00a0 It gets into the whole subject of preemption.\n\nLet me take you to another one here.\u00a0 This takes us to number 5, invading another nation.\u00a0 I believe that under God if the principles of just war are followed one nation has the right to invade another nation to stop a greater harm from occurring.\u00a0 Certainly we understand that with World War II, where the allies invaded Nazi Germany stopping Hitler\u2019s spread of Nazi fascism throughout the earth.\u00a0 And you say well, what kind of pastor are you?\u00a0 I mean, you\u2019re talking like this?\u00a0 I thought you were a man of God?\u00a0 I thought you believed the Bible?\n\nWell, my response is have you read the book of Obadiah lately?\u00a0 Obadiah is one chapter; Obadiah was written against a nation named Edom.\u00a0 I have a map there of Edom, very close to the borders of Israel in the Transjordan.\u00a0 And there\u2019s this one chapter book called Obadiah; I believe he was probably the first writing prophet, and the whole subject of the book is why did you not intervene, Edom, to help the nation of Israel.\u00a0 Obadiah verse 11, you can read the whole book when you get home, it\u2019s a very short read, but verse 11 says this, \u201cOn the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem--You too were as one of them.\u201d\n\nAnd here\u2019s the context of that prophecy. Babylon invaded the nation of Israel, mistreated the nation of Israel.\u00a0 Edom, a border state, just sat there and pretended like it wasn\u2019t happening; it did nothing.\u00a0 And God now is bringing condemnation upon Edom because they didn\u2019t act.\u00a0 May I put this in modern vernacular?\u00a0 They didn\u2019t act unilaterally to help a fellow nation, in this case the nation of Israel.\n\nYou start putting some of these things together and if the principles of just war are followed one nation has the right under God (under certain narrow circumstances) to enter another nation, to invade another nation, to prevent a greater evil from transpiring.\u00a0 This is the expectation of God.\u00a0 Obadiah, Edom, that wasn\u2019t God\u2019s special nation, the nation of Israel.\u00a0 They came sort of from the same roots, these two, but Edom was not God\u2019s special nation and even though Edom was not God\u2019s special nation (Israel was God\u2019s special nation) Edom under God had an obligation to help out a sister, a fellow brother nation.\u00a0 And God devotes an entire prophetic book to condemning Edom for not helping.\n\nSo the proper label, the subject of deterrence, missile defense, preemption, invading other nations, let me take you to a sixth one, holding nations accountable that harbor terrorists.\u00a0 Under God a nation has a responsibility, not just to hold those within its borders committing terrorism and bringing them to justice but it has a responsibility to exert pressure on other nations.\u00a0 And this is why following 9-11, although I wasn\u2019t personally crazy about everything the Bush administration did during that era, the speech that George Bush gave following 9-11, I believe is articulating a biblical concept.\u00a0 Bush said this to an address of a joint session of Congress following 9-11.\u00a0 Quote, \u201cWe will starve out terrorists their funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place until there is no refuge or no rest.\u00a0 And we will pursue nations\u201d plural \u201cthat provide aid or a safe haven to terrorism.\u00a0 Every nation and every region now has a decision to make: either you are with us or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded as a hostile regime,\u201d in other words, an enemy of the\u00a0 United States.\n\nIt\u2019s not enough simply to stop terrorism within your own borders.\u00a0 In fact, as we all know borders are becoming sort of porous, aren\u2019t they.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to get our politicians even to enforce our own borders, which enhances the travel of terrorists from one nation to the other, which demands that we not only hold terrorists accountable but we hold other nations accountable for their irresponsible policies related to terrorist activity.\n\nLet me take you to a seventh point here: Spying.\u00a0 Nations under God to stop evil have an obligation and a responsibility to be invested heavily in spying, work like the CIA.\u00a0 What does the CIA do?\u00a0 It coordinates America\u2019s spy network around the world.\u00a0 You say well, is this in the Bible?\u00a0 My goodness.\u00a0 We need to read the Bible a little bit more carefully, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Joshua 2:1 sent out what?\u00a0 spies to spy out the land of Canaan.\u00a0 Joshua 2:1.\u00a0 Joshua 2:1 says, \u201cThen Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, \u2018Go, view the land, especially Jericho.\u2019 So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.\u201d\u00a0 Spying there is in the book of Joshua.\n\nDavid sent out spies, 1 Samuel 26:4, to spy on the whereabouts of King Saul.\u00a0 [1 Samuel 26:4, \u201cDavid sent out spies, and he knew that Saul was definitely coming.\u201d]\u00a0 David sent out another spy, Hushai, to serve as an undercover agent when Absalom was about to capture Jerusalem.\u00a0 2 Samuel 15:32-37; 2 Samuel 16:15-19; 2 Samuel 7:15-22.\n\n2 Samuel 15:32-37, \u201cIt happened as David was coming to the summit, where God was worshiped, that behold, Hushai the Archite met him with his coat torn and dust on his head.\u00a0 [33] David said to him, \"If you pass over with me, then you will be a burden to me.\u00a0 [34] But if you return to the city, and say to Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant in time past, so I will now be your servant,' then you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me. [35] Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So it shall be that whatever you hear from the king's house, you shall report to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. [36] Behold their two sons are with them there, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son and Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and by them you shall send me everything that you hear.\"\u00a0 [37] So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem.\n\n2 Samuel 16:15-19, \u201cThen Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, entered Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him, [16] Now it came about when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, \u2018Long live the king! Long live the king!\u2019\u00a0 [17] Absalom said to Hushai, \"Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?\"\u00a0\u00a0 [18] Then Hushai said to Absalom, \"No! For whom the LORD, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain.\u00a0 [19] Besides, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father's presence, so I will be in your presence.\"\n\n2 Samuel 7:15-22, \u201cThen Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, entered Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. [16] Now it came about when Hushai the Archite, David\u2019s friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, \u2018Long<\/em> live the king! Long<\/em> live the king!\u2019 [17] Absalom said to Hushai, \u2018Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?\u2019 [18] Then Hushai said to Absalom, No! For whom the LORD, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. [19] Besides, whom should I serve? Should I<\/em> not serve<\/em> in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father\u2019s presence, so I will be in your presence.\u2019\u00a0 [20] Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, \u2018Give your advice. What shall we do?\u2019\u00a0 [21] Ahithophel said to Absalom, \u2018Go in to your father\u2019s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened.\u2019\u00a0 [22] So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went in to his father\u2019s concubines in the sight of all Israel. [23] The advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was<\/em> as if one inquired of the word of God; so was all the advice of Ahithophel regarded<\/em> by both David and Absalom.\u201d]\n\nIf we knew a little bit about the Bible we would see that spying, CIA type activity translated back into that day, was normal.\u00a0 And one of the things that is very disturbing for me to watch in this culture is how the CIA, America\u2019s spy network, is demonized constantly.\u00a0 In fact, the propaganda on this is so severe that it comes right at\u00a0 us through the entertainment world.\u00a0 Anybody see the Jason Borne movies?\u00a0 The Jason Borne trilogy?\u00a0 I watched all of them, I thought they were very good, I thought they were very well done, they\u2019re taken from a novel but it\u2019s interesting, the movie reaches a different conclusion than the novel.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 They took some literary license, the movie producer.\u00a0 Do you know who the bad guy is in the movie?\u00a0 It\u2019s the CIA.\u00a0 The CIA is the bad guy!\u00a0 America\u2019s spy network is the bad guy.\n\nNow we look at that and we say well, it\u2019s just a movie, it\u2019s just harmless.\u00a0 This is seeping into the minds of people.\u00a0 Another movie that I watched, now some of these movies I watch I don\u2019t watch because I agree with them, I like to do what I like to call opposition research to figure out what is being said, and then I get some popcorn out of the deal.\u00a0 The movie came out in 2007 is called Rendition<\/em>.\u00a0 The whole focus of Rendition<\/em> is how it\u2019s actually America going abroad and torturing people, America is the bad guy.\n\nAnd let me say something; I know this is going to step on a few toes and we can still be friends at the end of the day, but I know there are people, even in this group, and I see this constantly on the internet, I see it on social media, I see it on You-tube and what we are told over and over again by a certain group of people, and it began really with a video called Loose Change<\/em>, which is easily accessible online,\u00a0 you can read it, and basically the premise of it is 9-11 was an inside job.\u00a0 America is really the entity that brought down the twin towers.\n\nNow I would commend to you an edition of Popular Mechanics, an engineering magazine that goes through the arguments that Loose Change<\/em> makes and refutes them point by point if you are prone to that type of thinking.\u00a0 I wish I had more expertise on the subject but let me tell you about the part of that that really disturbs me: it takes America\u2019s eyes off the ball; no longer is it fundamentalist Islam or consistent Islam that\u2019s the problem, suddenly it\u2019s America that\u2019s the problem, and consistent fundamentalist Islam really isn\u2019t so bad after all because America brought all this on herself.\n\nAnd this is the part of it that most impacts my soul when I hear this kind of thing because it\u2019s demonizing an institution that although is not perfect, is not an institution that God wants demonized.\u00a0 God wants the CIA, God wants an aggressive military posture, not to make the world less safe, less stable, but it has the opposite effect, it makes the world more stable.\n\nSo as you hear this from people I want you to think about, very carefully, even if you\u2019re a subscriber to this, what this does to a person\u2019s mindset, particularly a young person that may not have a fully developed worldview yet?\u00a0 What is that going to do to their heart?\u00a0 What is that going to do to their soul in turning their mind against an institution that God Himself has established and God Himself has ordained and how it gets our eyes off what the actual problem is.\u00a0 So Selah, which means in Hebrew consider carefully.\n\nOne more and we\u2019re finished, but don\u2019t celebrate yet, this might take us a little while.\u00a0 And by the way, even before I get to this last point, do you remember what the Apostle Paul said?\u00a0 1 Timothy 2:1-4, \u201c1<\/strong><\/a>First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and<\/em> prayers, petitions and<\/em> thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,\u201d and then he specifically says, [2] \u201cfor kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness [and dignity. [3] This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, [4] who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.]\u201d he is rehearsing what Paul said in Romans 13, he is rehearsing the function of the Noahic Covenant, and he is basically saying that the believer has an obligation to pray for the institution of human government, because the institution of human government if it\u2019s functioning correctly performs this great service in the world of deterring evil.\u00a0 And as evil is curtailed we enjoy a time of tranquility and quiet, which according to this verse enhances the movement of the gospel.\n\nAnd people all of the time say don\u2019t get wrapped up in politics, just worry about the gospel. Look at how Paul connected the two there.\u00a0 Look at how he connected the proper functioning of government to the rapid transmission of the gospel.\u00a0 I mean, if anybody understood this it was Paul since he just got released from Roman imprisonment.\u00a0 He knew what a corrupt government could do to halt the progress of the gospel\u00a0 We have so bifurcated in our minds politics from spiritual things that we have created a false dichotomy that God never created.\u00a0 And so we, as Christians are called upon to (unless the government is abusing its power) submit to government, pray for government, respect government.\u00a0 We are not anti-government people.\u00a0 This is why I can\u2019t get onboard with the Libertarians; I can\u2019t get on board with anybody these days.\u00a0 But the Libertarians will come along and they\u2019ll say we should get rid of government, I mean, they don\u2019t even argue we should have limited government, let\u2019s just abolish it.\n\nAbolish it?\u00a0 If\u00a0 you abolish it you\u2019ll have a wild, wild west scenario just like that, that will be exactly what was happening in the days of Noah.\u00a0 God ordained government for the social order.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we are called upon to pray for government.\u00a0 Can I ask you a simple question?\u00a0 Do you know the names of your city council members?\u00a0 Do you know the names of your state and local representatives, those that represent us in the Texas Legislative Branch?\u00a0 Do you know the names of the Texas Supreme Court justices?\u00a0 Do you know the names of the United States Supreme Court justices?\u00a0 Do you know the names of your federal and national Senators, Congressmen and women?\u00a0 How can\u00a0 you pray for those people\u00a0 unless you know who they are?\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet we\u2019re called upon as God\u2019s people to make active intercession for these individuals because of the function that they fulfill in society.\n\nAnd so many Christians want to get involved in a political cause of a boycott to correct some kind of social evil and there are many social evils on the menu, don\u2019t get me wrong, but it is the conviction of my heart that if we were actively interceding for these people regularly as God\u2019s people a lot of the social evils that we are so upset about (rightfully) wouldn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 And it\u2019s almost like we\u2019ve gotten the cart before the horse.\u00a0 Yes, let\u2019s be good stewards; yes, let\u2019s show up and vote but let\u2019s not let that be a substitute for intercession and prayer.\n\nDo you pray for the CIA?\u00a0 I do, I pray Lord, I know there\u2019s great evil in this world and I pray today that Your active spy work that You have ordained, that\u2019s not perfect and can do wrong things, would function correctly and hold someone\u2019s hand back from evil today so beings that bear your image are saved, first of all physically protected and secondly have the opportunity in their lives, before they are whisked into a violent and early grave to hear the gospel and trust Jesus Christ as Savior for salvation.\u00a0 We don\u2019t even pray like this today, do we?\u00a0 If we\u2019re honest.\u00a0 And yet this is our calling as the people of God.\n\nThis last one some of you may be surprised on this one; \u201cI believe that it is within the auspices and the jurisdiction of the nation\/state to stop terrorism by pursuing enhanced interrogation techniques.\u201d\u00a0 Charles Krauthammer of Fox News articulate something that he calls the ticking time bomb test.\u00a0 The ticking time bomb test says this: How should the United States treat a captured terrorist, especially when it has a strong reason to believe that the terrorist has planned a future terrorist attack against it or has detailed knowledge about a future attack.\u00a0 Newspaper columnist Charles Krauthammer called this the \u2018ticking time bomb\u2019 test.\u00a0 Gruden summarizes the moral question; the moral question in this case is whether the United States Government has a moral right to use less than humane treatment, including treatment that causes discomfort and even significant pain in order to preempt or to compel the terrorist to do what is morally right, namely to disclose the location of the ticking time bomb or the identities and the locations of those planning to carry out a future evil attack.\n\nA bomb is ready to go off in Houston, New York, Los Angeles, somebody with a terrorist mind knows exactly where that bomb is.\u00a0 That terrorist happens to be a prisoner of the United States of America and\u00a0 you\u2019ve got to get that information, don\u2019t you?\u00a0 The typical means of dialogue aren\u2019t going to work with someone that\u2019s steeped in a radical ideology.\u00a0 You have to use something more aggressive; that\u2019s what\u2019s been called enhanced interrogation techniques.\u00a0 Now I find this to be\u2026 and some of you will be surprised by this, I find this to be a biblical concept.\u00a0 Why do I call it a biblical concept?\u00a0 Because the Bible teaches the reality of physical pain without creating lasting damage in a person.\n\nGod uses this on us all the time if you think about it.\u00a0 Proverbs 13:24, \u201cHe who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.\u201d\u00a0 There are ways to bring pain into a person\u2019s life that won\u2019t permanently damage the person.\u00a0 That\u2019s what enhanced interrogation is all about.\u00a0 Now some of you are just looking down your nose at me; how could you say that?\u00a0 How could you think that?\u00a0 If you\u2019re a mother or a grandmother may I just say to you, you use this all the time.\u00a0 It\u2019s called the quick shoulder squeeze.\u00a0 Those of you that are in authority over children know exactly what I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019m very proud to say that our VBS crew knows exactly how to use this.\u00a0 This involves the squeezing of a muscle, the trapezius I think is how\u00a0 you pronounce that, that runs between the shoulder and the neck; it hurts, and yet is one of the most effective means of discipline with no physical damage.\n\nI believe the governments of the earth have an obligation under God to use what we would call non-traditional enhanced interrogation methods to prevent the ticking time bomb from destroying millions in an innocent city.\u00a0 One enhanced interrogation technique is truth serum.\u00a0 \u201cA related issue is the injection of sodium pentothal, commonly called truth serum.\u00a0 It tends to reduce a person\u2019s inhibitions and make him more willing to talk with interrogators.\u00a0 It has also been widely used in previous years as an anesthetic for surgery.\u201d\u00a0 I. C. Grudem says, \u201cI see no moral obligation to use this or similar drugs in exceptional cases to attain valuable information about terrorists.\n\nWe\u2019re living in a time period where we have to start thinking about these issues.\u00a0 The second is something you probably know a little bit about, you\u2019ve heard a little bit about it, called water\u00adboarding.\u00a0 \u201cThis involves holding a prisoner\u2019s head down so that his head is lower than the rest of his body while he faces up.\u00a0 The cloth is put over his nose and now and water is poured over the cloth giving the prisoner the, watch this, sensation of drowning.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s not actually drowning, it gives him the sensation of drowning.\u00a0 For a number of years this same process has been used on thousands of U.S. troops, giving them survival evasion resistance escape, SERE, training to resist an enemy if captured and this has been done \u2018with the full knowledge of Congress.\u2019\u201d\n\nThere are a plethora of voices that will tell you that such practices are inhumane, they are un-Christian, and the fact of the matter is they don\u2019t work anyway.\u00a0 Do they work?\u00a0 They are surprisingly, in fact astonishingly effective.\u00a0 \u201cAs a result of such coercive methods a terrorist,\u201d now this is a name that I can\u2019t even pronounce so I\u2019ll just call this guy Z, Z \u201cdisclosed information which\u00a0 led to the capture of\u201d another guy I\u2019ll call R, \u201canother of the planners of September 11th<\/sup> who in turn disclosed information which helped lead to the capture of KSM,\u201d you might know who KSM is, Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed\u00a0 mastermind of the 9\/11 attacks and other senior terrorists and the disruption of follow up plots aimed at both Europe and the United States.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 These are actually tactics and techniques that are overwhelmingly effective in procuring information.\n\nHayden and Mukaseyi in a Wall Street Journal article on these enhanced interrogation techniques make this very interesting statement; they say, \u201cIt is doubtful that any high level Al-Qaeda operative would provide useful intelligence in response to traditional methods of interrogation.\u00a0 Yet KSM and Z provided a critical information after being waterboarded, information that helped prevent a second wave attack in Los Angeles.\n\nThese two authors go on and they say in other words, these enhanced interrogation techniques worked remarkably well.\u00a0 The claim that they don\u2019t work is disproven by U.S. history.\u00a0 The authors go on and say that \u201cthe idea that these measures never work is a \u201cignorant view.\u201d\u00a0 Now you say wait a minute, wait a minute, isn\u2019t there something called the Geneva Convention, which is an international treaty that protects the rights of prisoners of war?\u00a0 Grudem writes this: \u201cWhen someone enters the United States to carry out a terrorist attack that person forfeits their status as a prisoner of war for two reasons.\u00a0 Number 1, he is deliberately attacking civilians, and number 2 he is fighting out of uniform since he is trying to disguise himself as an innocent civilian.\u00a0 Therefore according to international law he is not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions.\u201d\n\nBut the other side is true also\u2014can a government go too far?\u00a0 Of course they can, that\u2019s why the principles of just war are so critical.\u00a0 There are five ways the government can go too far.\u00a0 Number 1, immorality, to commit actions that are in themselves immoral, such as raping a prisoner.\u00a0 Secondly the government can go too far is in the denial of medical treatment.\u00a0 Third way the government can go too far is in what we would call sadistic humiliation.\u00a0 The fourth way the government can go too far is in the far is in the violation of religious convictions; to attempt to force a prisoner to violate religious convictions that pose no threat to the United States nor its defense, for example, it would be wrong to give a Muslim prisoner only pork to eat, or only alcoholic beverages to drink so as to force him to sin against his religion or starve to death.\u00a0 That probably would be an example of the government going too far.\n\nAnd the last way a government can go too far is in the creation of lasting physical damage, to do things that would shock the conscience of any court, such as cutting off fingers or toes, gouging out eyes, branding someone\u2019s face, twisting and binding limbs so severely so as to cause permanent disability, and so forth.\n\nSo with all of these issues there\u2019s always a balance.\u00a0 Yes, let\u2019s hold the governments of the world accountable for doing what God called them to do, which may even include enhanced interrogation, pain without causing lasting physical damage, but let\u2019s not go overboard here.\u00a0 And let\u2019s also understand that the people administering the government are corrupted sometimes, and all times by the same sin nature as the person they\u2019re interrogating.\n\nTerrorism\u2019s false causes; terrorism\u2019s true causes, ineffective deterrents to terrorism, effective deterrents to terrorism, going too far in deterring terrorism, legitimate methods in deterring terrorism.\u00a0 That concludes The Bible and Voting series as we\u2019ve looked at economics, social and foreign affairs, issues, you\u2019re probably saying to yourself I\u2019ve never heard anything quite like that in my local church.\u00a0 But I trust that you have enjoyed that.\n\nNext week we\u2019ll be returning to verse by verse teaching of the Word of God as we\u2019re going to be taking a look, going verse by verse through the book of Daniel.\u00a0 I chose the book of Daniel because number 1, I have never taught an Old Testament book in this church, and number 2, Daniel is describing events of the last days, many of which we\u2019re seeing coming to pass before our eyes.\u00a0 And finally, number 3, Daniel is a book about living for God in a pagan culture because Daniel and his three friends as teenagers were exported from the land of Israel 350 miles to the east in a place called Babylon and they were called upon to live for God in a culture that was pagan, knew nothing about God and in fact didn\u2019t have the same assumptions about God that they were\u00a0 used to when they were comfortable in the land of Israel.\n\nAnd whoever wins this election, the fact of the matter is America is becoming, not just a post-Christian culture but to a large extent becoming an anti-Christian culture.\u00a0 So we\u2019re having to make choices constantly as God\u2019s people regarding taking stands or living for God in a world system that\u2019s very hostile to God.\u00a0 Our brothers and sisters around the world have been living in that type of circumstance for the last 2,000 years.\u00a0 It\u2019s unique to us here in the United States because we have been blessed to live in a culture with Christian assumptions.\u00a0 But as those Christian assumptions are discarded we have to start thinking the way the rest of the Christian world has had to think and live and so those are the reasons that I\u2019ve selected the book of Daniel.\n\nIf\u00a0 you\u2019re here today and\u00a0 you don\u2019t know Christ personally our exhortation to you is to believe in Jesus Christ, the only hope for lost Scroll to top<\/a>humanity.\u00a0 Jesus stepped out of eternity into time to pay a price for our salvation which we could never pay.\u00a0 His last words on the cross were \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 His bodily resurrection from the dead proved that He was who He claimed to be and by exercising simple faith in this man, Jesus Christ, and His promises you have the hope of eternity.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you have to walk an aisle to do, join a church to do, raise a hand to do, give money to do, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you trust in the provision of God and your eternity is secure the moment you do that.\u00a0 And if the Spirit of God is convicting\u00a0 you in any way that you need to do that our exhortation here at Sugar Land Bible Church is to respond to that convicting message by trusting Christ and Christ alone.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful, first of all, for Your Word and how it speaks to volatile issues of the day.\u00a0 I thank You also for a special group here that wants to grow and hopefully has grown in this area.\u00a0 I pray, Father, that\u00a0 you\u2019ll be with us as we move through the book of Daniel and as only Your Holy Spirit can do as You make it clear it to us and apply it to our lives.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We lift these things up in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026.\n\n ","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t