Earlier this week a big news story revolved around a so-called prisoner exchange between the Hezbollah and Israel. At that time I said I didn’t get it, and I still don’t get it. In an earlier blog post I asked the question - Did Carter Do This? - In that post I wondered aloud if the former President Carter, who traveled to speak with the Hezbollah terrorists against the will of the United States government, could claim victory. The former President sat down with Hezbollah and allegedly told them to start playing nice with Israel. If this is what they call nice nice, then I must have a vastly different definition of nice than the former President. First off, in the so-called prisoner exchange earlier this week, Israel received the remains of two soldiers, while Hezbollah received five live Lebanese prisoners. These prisoners by the way, were prisoners because they’re terrorists and murderers. But, nonetheless, the exchange was made. I asked it earlier, and I’ll ask it again - Who brokered this deal!? - Two dead for five alive hardly seems like a deal to me.

Now the recent news out of Hezbollah since what some called an historic day has the Hezbollah militants vowing vengeance on Israel. That’s right, rather than showing gratitude for their release, the five Hezbollah terrorists who were returned to Beirut, Lebanon are pledging to fight Israel. Dressing in military fatigues, the five made their vow at the grave of a Hezbollah commander. One of the former prisoners, Samir Kantar, declared, “We swear by our god to continue on your same path and not retreat.” In other words, the terrorist is continuing to declare his plan to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

Just who is Kantar? He took part in a 1979 Palestinian guerrilla attack and was convicted by an Israeli court for killing four people, including a father and his four year old daughter. An Israeli spokesperson said, “Kantar is a brutal child murderer who instead of being rejected upon his return, was held up as a rock star.” This is a man who bludgeoned the little four year girl to death with his rifle butt. Now he’s free and back in his own country saying he’s ready to go back to and kill more Israeli’s.

Again, this just doesn’t make sense. It’s things like this that make me very nervous concerning the rhetoric of presidential candidates like Senator Obama. He says “lets just sit down and talk.” Lets all sing a campfire song and get along. If the Senator truly believes that will make things all better again, he needs to take a long hard look at the so-called prisoner exchange and think again. Not only does the Senator need to wake up from his make-believe-land, but I also wonder if many American’s need to wake up from the same make-believe-land.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

I’ve addressed this issue before, but now I believe we’re starting to see what I’ve been referring to as an evangelical backlash. First it was Reverend Wright and Senator Obama’s connection with him and the church. Now in the latest backlash Senator McCain is rejecting endorsements from longtime preachers like the Reverend’s John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Like Senator Obama, the reason Senator McCain is rejecting these men revolves around some things they’ve said in the past.

Now, I’m not going to address the what of what they said. Instead, I’d like to point out that what we see happening here is something I’ve addressed before on this blog. This is an evangelical backlash as both politicians and the voters, are becoming more and more aware of the fact that the evangelicalism of past White House Presidents is starting to be more of a detriment, than a benefit. Also, before anyone starts ranting at me that the likes of Wright, Hagee and Parsley do not truly represent the evangelical movement, let me clarify something here. I am well aware of this fact. But reality is most people don’t know the difference between an evangelical, a charismatic or a pentecostal. As a matter of fact, those in the charismatic and pentecostal movements often don’t even know what makes them different. As a result, when many hear the word Christian, they usually associate that with the evangelical movement.

That being said, I believe we’re seeing an evangelical backlash for a number of reasons. They range from poor leadership, a misunderstanding of what it means to be a Christian, and what we could call the fringe elements of some belief systems. Combine those elements with the fact that we also have the flip-flopping endorsements of people like James Dobson, and suddenly many are timid of the whole evangelical movement and the leaders connected with them. This could get worse, before it gets better. Of course many inside the church will start calling me a heretic. However, the real issue here has nothing to do with separation of church and state, and nothing to do with endorsements from religious leaders. Instead, this has more to do with the fact that many in the church have become so disconnected with the world we live in, that they are no longer relevant. We are called to be “in” the world but not “of” the world. But we find ourselves on a slippery slope of sometimes trying to straddle the “in” and the “of” aspects of the world at the same time.

The bottom line is this, it’s less about what some of these religious leaders are saying, and more about an understanding of what it means to transform the environment we live in. I will agree that the recent statements from men like Rev. John Hagee and Rev. Wright are outlandish. However, when you know their background and their belief system, to them, their statements are no more outlandish than me saying the sky is purple! From my perspective, the sky is purple. Why? Because I’m color blind and I don’t see blue. That color is always purple.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

So, how will he back out of this one? Just who will he throw under the bus as he does another one of his political two-step dances trying to explain away his own lack of faith basis?

If you haven’t heard yet, Senator Obama is back at it again as controversy swirls around yet another religion comment. First it was his connection with a man he calls his mentor, Rev. Wright. Now the Senator said over the weekend that the only thing the bitter people in Smalltown USA have is faith and religion. In other words, the only people who need religion and faith, are bitter people. Of course Senator Obama was quickly called to task on this. Then he tried to explain it away by saying what he meant to say is the only people who need faith are people facing hard times and are bitter.

In other words, it appears in Senator Obama’s world, religion and faith is nothing more than a crutch. He went on to say that “religion is a bullwork and foundation only needed when things aren’t going well.”

Hmmmm, isn’t that interesting. Maybe the Senator, who does claim to be a religious man, needs to spend some time in Jeremiah where we’re told “God has plans to prosper us, not harm us, giving us hope for the future.” Or how about Paul who tells us time and time again that “hope does not disappoint.” But wait a minute, I thought Senator Obama was running on a platform of hope. Maybe in his world he’s the only one with hope.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

Life in conservative talk radio must be going nuts today. What will the likes of Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity do now. I’m sure they will come up with lots of excuses, but in the end, the bottom line is this - their sweetheart Republican Delegate they thought would save the world, has shown his true colors. Former Governor Mitt Romney has decided to throw his support behind Senator McCain. What will Laura and Sean do now? After all, if you listen to their shows you know they really hate McCain! So with the one they crowned as the new messiah jumping on board with the one they hate, how will they explain that?

While this doesn’t make sense on the surface, when you scratch the surface and look to the roots of Romney’s mormon background, it makes all the sense in the world. The conservative pundits called for former Governor Huckabee to put his support behind Romeny because those who really have no clue about religion, figured it was a smart move. After-all, they said, mormonism is the same as Christianity. Well folks, it’s not. And now, with Romney, who said his religion is just like Christianity, throwing his support behind McCain, all the world has truly seen Romney’s true colors.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

Former Governor Mitt Romney announced he is dropping out of the race for the presidential nomination from the Republican party. It’s been a hotly contested race, across the board, as both the Republican and Democrat races have been very close. However, this latest development in the GOP arena is very interesting.

Former Governor Mike Huckabee has been making great strides, and garnering a number of votes, while working on a shoe string budget. While it’s true Huckabee trails in the result category, we must remember both Romney and Senator McCain have spent millions of dollars. While many on the conservative side say they’re looking for the common-man candidate, I can’t figure out why they ignore Mike Huckabee. He’s not a professional politician, he’s moving forward with a grassroots campaign, working with limited money. The same people who held Romney up as the candidate to vote for, are the same ones who say there’s too much money behind the rich politicians who buy all their votes. Hello, lets take a look at what’s going on here. Romney spent $40 million dollars, of his own money, for his unsuccessful bid. Does that sound like the common-man candidate?

But, I digress here. The title of this blog entry is James Dobson - A Day Late & A Dollar Short, and I’m sure some are wondering what that means. A few days ago I wrote a blog entry entitled When A Non-Endorsement, Is An Endorsement. In that entry I pointed out the political double-speak Dr. Dobson seems to have discovered. While he says he’s not endorsing anyone, he did say he would vote for Mitt Romney. While it’s a non-endorsement, it is an endorsement. But, Dobson does the non-endorsement two-step dance because he’s protecting the 501c3 status of Focus on the Family. When he did that two-step, I pointed out the fact that it was interesting to hear Dobson throwing his support behind a mormon.

Now, in light of Romney pulling out, Dobson is back at it again. This time he says he’s throwing his support behind Mike Huckabee. What’s up with that? Reality is, this is where his support should have been in the first place. Especially in light of the fact that Dr. Dobson is an influencial leader in the evangelical movement. Now he decides to back the evanglical preacher who’s running for President?

Sorry Dr. Dobson but this is like showing up for a party a day late and a dollar short without a present. You’re attempting to save face here. Reality is, if you really don’t want to be involved in politics, then you should keep your opinions to yourself.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

We find ourselves in the midst of a very tight political race as candidates are working hard to get the nod from their particular political party to run for President in the upcoming election. We just made it through Super Tuesday and while some candidates won what they call key states, the race is still tight. Another thing taking place are all the endorsements, and even what I’m calling non-endorsements.

The Republicans are looking for the so-called perfect conservative candidate. This of course leads to much name calling. Just what does the perfect conservative candidate look like? That all depends on which side of conservative you happen to fall on. Whatever the case may be, there is a very disturbing, for me anyway, trend taking place. The noise of talk radio is trying to crown the best conservative candidate, and they’re really pig-piling on some, while others are held up as the next messiah.

But even more amazing, are two recent developments in the GOP race. I was surprised when former Senator Rick Santorim came out and very vocally endorsed former Governor Mitt Romney. I’m surprised because Santorim is a conservative evangelical Christian, who’s decided a mormon is the man for the job.

However, when James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family came out yesterday backing Mitt Romney, I was even more suprised. Of course Dobson seems to have discovered how to use political double-speak very well all in the hopes of protecting his 501C-3 status. Whatever political gobbledegoop Dobson wants to use, the bottom line is, he’s endorsing Romney.

A letter from Dr. Dobson was read on the Laura Ingraham show yesterday in which he listed the reasons he would not vote for Senator McCain if he receives the nomination from the GOP’s to run for President. The letter went as far as to say if McCain wins the nomination, Dobson will “sit out” the election and not vote for anyone. That is very sad and if he does such a thing, then he has no right to talk about the government because he decided to not be involved in the process. After the letter was read, Ingraham, who’s having a love-fest over Romney these days, says every conservative in the United States should vote for Romney. Of course she too says she’s not trying to sway votes, she’s just putting out the information. Yeah, sure, right. Laura spends most of her show trashing all the other candidates and loving on Romney.

Even more disturbing is the fact that after she read the Dobson letter she went on to say, “Okay all you evangelicals out there. A major evangelical voice, James Dobson, has just endorsed Mitt Romney. That means you need to dump former Governor Huckabee, line up and vote for Romney.” Wait a minute, I thought she was just putting out the information, not telling people how to vote.

Now I was once again surprised that James Dobson would endorse Mitt Romney. So, I called Focus on the Family. Of course they told me he’s not endorsing anyone, but they did go on to say James Dobson did another radio interview yesterday where he said he would vote for Mitt Romney.

Call it what you want Dr. Dobson, your non-endorsement, just turned into an endorsement for Mitt Romney.

Yesterday everyone was saying Huckabee should drop out of the race because he’s holding back Romney’s chances to beat McCain. Reality is, the vote is still split three ways, and in some cases Huckabee is running ahead of Romney. So, maybe the call should be for Romney to quit because he’s splitting the vote. Funny thing is, the love-fest continues over Romney, from those who say they’re not endorsing him, and the thought of him holding back Huckabee will never cross their minds.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

Let me see if I have this straight.

Politicians and of course the ACLU love to scream “separation of church and state” when it serves their purpose of things like banning prayer from schools, taking the Ten Commandments out of buildings and telling cities they can’t have anything remotely looking like a religious symbol on their letterhead. But, when it serves the purpose of the politician, suddenly no one says a word. If the politician is looking to garner votes and get ahead in a political campaign, it’s fine to mix faith/church with the state.

First off, I need to stress here that the whole idea of separation of church and state is a myth. The phrase does not appear in the Constitution. If anything, those who’ve forced us to take prayer out of school and all the other things mentioned above, are stomping all over the expressed constitutional right of freedom of speech.

Now after saying that, let me move on with what I see as a huge conflict of words vs action here.

A couple weeks ago former Governor Mike Huckabee, who happens to be a Baptist preacher too, appeared in a pulpit one Sunday morning preaching. While the incident kind of flew under the radar, some people did pick up on this. A few Republicans and other conservatives did pick up on the fact that in the past Republicans have screamed foul when Democrats show up in churches and pulpits during an election year. But, for the most part, the incident didn’t draw a lot of attention.

The Democrats were on the move yesterday in celebration of Martin Luther King Junior day. The most obvious was Senator OBama who showed up on the platform of the famed Ebenezer church in Atlanta. In pretty much every news story, it was pointed out that the church is endorsing the Senator in his run for office.

What a minute, what’s up with that!?

James Dobson, the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family faces criticism every time he talks about a political candidate. He was even threatened at one point with loss of charitable status for Focus on the Family for what appeared to be an endorsement of a Republican candidate. As a result, everytime Dobson talks about politics now he’s very careful to NOT use the word endorsement.

What’s the difference here? As the old saying goes - What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Why is it no one is screaming foul now? What makes the appearance of political candidates in various pulpits around the nation any different from the actions of James Dobson or others who’ve been threatened with loss of charitable status for similar actions?

In my opinion, an observant political activist, who might also be involved in trying to put the myth of separation of church and state to rest once and for all, could use some of the recent actions by political leaders to get prayer back into schools.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

Some have been saying this for years. Some have even been removed from churches because of such a stance. Bill Hybels, the one many church leaders flocked to looking for the quick fix and fast growth method, has come out publicly saying he was wrong about the seeker friendly method of doing church.

That’s right, you did indeed read that correctly. Bill Hybels has now publicly said the Willow Creek Community Church method used in Chicago, is wrong. In his own words, here’s what Bill Hybels said to Bob Burney, host of Bob Burney Live, heard weekday afternoons on WRFD-AM 880 in Columbus, Ohio.

“We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.”

Hybels went on to say;

“Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.”

Wow! Can you hear the collective gasp in some portions of the body of Christ as suddenly they realize their self-proclaimed guru of church growth help actually lead them down the wrong garden path? What will the next step be? I’m sure Hybels won’t suddenly close up shop and stop taking in millions of dollars on church growth help. No, instead, he’ll probably come up with a program to sell to all the churches that missed the mark with the seeker sensitive method.

While working on my Doctorate at the Wagner Leadership Institute I remember a comment Dr. Peter Wagner made one day about church growth methods. Commenting on the volumes of material he’d written about church growth Dr. Wagner boldly proclaimed; “Some of what I wrote I need to ask forgiveness for because the thoughts about church growth were simply wrong.” Wow! Now there’s a full cycle comment if I ever heard one. I also remember how some of us in the class applauded Dr. Wagner for such a comment. Not only did he say he was wrong, but he also asked forgiveness. Then, right after making his statement, Dr. Wagner went on to teach about relationship, responsibility, and affecting the environment we live in. After all, isn’t that what the original 12 disciples did who studied at the Master’s feet?

Hey, I have an idea. Let’s simply go back to the what Jesus calls us to do. We’re called to be “salt and light” in the world, affecting the environment we live in, pointing people toward Him. It’s about relationship, not just numbers. There’s nothing wrong with using story, which of course was a large part of what Willow Creek did, and still does, to touch people. Jesus was, and is, the Master Storyteller. But, he never pulled any punches when it came to the reality of what the story He told meant. Yes, we need to mainstream the message, but lets not water it down so the call to responsibility is lost in the mix.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

The complete article by Bob Burney can be read here — A Shocking “Confession” from Willow Creek Community Church.