A heated conversation from
this previous thread deserves a post all its own. It has been quite a while since I have posted a "blogment." Welp...today's the day. To catch up on the conversation, go to
this link and read the comments. I have brought just the last three over here:
Mike wrote:
spud tooley said...
[Note: Gary previously wrote] - As for Mike, he kind of reminds me of Sylvester Stallone in Rocky before he got his head on straight. He could have been a decent fighter, but instead he settled for being a bone breaker for loan sharks. Mike could have been a decent intellect. Instead he sold his integrity to peddle lies. So tragic.
that was pretty cutting, gary.
but it's become quite clear to me that God has used this election to reveal the current state of Christians and the Christian church as being as far removed from what Jesus intended for today as the pharisees were from Him in His day.
to fail to see how "He associates with sinners and prostitutes" isn't the spitting image of "he hangs out with known terrorists" is past unbelievable to the point of being embarrassing ... for you.
and not to get too silly, but the similarity between the exchange of Jesus and the pharisees in John 8 and the lying accusations that you all throw up here time and again about obama is so perfect you could hold it up to a light and see the same outline.
no, he's not the messiah. but he's much closer to being the right man at the right time than the antichrist figure you all paint him as. and just to be a fly on the wall when you stand before God and say either 'well, they were saying the same things, too' or 'but i read it on the internet!' ... like the mastercard commercial says, that would be priceless.
carry on in your bitterness and naysaying. just stay out of the way while america tries to heal. as you see the times change, you're quite welcome to come alongside everyone else - and no one will say anything like 'i told you so.' we'll take grant at Appomattox as our example ... or maybe Jesus when he felt sorry for the smelly, stinking sheep, knowing that in the end they were simply without a shepherd.
-mr
October 30, 2008 11:51:00 AM PDT
Update: I am adding Gary's comment which appeared before mine in the thread:
Gary Baker said...
Mike,
You'll pardon me if I discount your comments on the state of the church. I'm not necessarily denying the assessment as it pertains to some quarters, but rather your ability to assess its condition in a reasonable light. As for the lying reference, as usual you have it wrong. My comment was not directed at Obama for being a liar, but toward you for peddling it. In your Mike Rucker Press article you give a lengthy, somewhat impassioned discussion of the benefits of Obama's proposed economic policy. It would be inspired were it not for one thing: It is entirely predicated on a lie.
You start out by stating that it appears that Obama is asking those with more means to contribute more to the less fortunate. We both know that's a lie though, don't we? He isn't asking. He is telling. He is trying to convince a majority of people to vote for him with the promise that he will take money from others and give it to them. Since that's the case, it isn't generosity, is it? I mean, let's face it: If the left really considered paying lots of money in taxes then they would already be saluting the successful people who pay far more of a percentage of their income. I'll make a deal with you Mike: Show me Christ said that it was good to steal from one man to give to another and I'll vote for Obama.
The argument is generally that they are only being asked to pay their fair share, but for some reason they never seem to give a good number of what that is. I'm nowhere near the the magic "250K" income figure, but I figure that between all of the taxes I pay it amounts to about 40% of my income to the government. That's getting close to half of every hour I work going to someone else. Who is Obama and who are you to say that I'm not already paying my fair share, especially since, unlike Obama, I contribute regularly to charity.
You and your guy are promoting envy, Mike. Coveting. The left can't stand the idea that someone might have something they don't, so they're reaching out to someone who claim's they'll take it away. And five years from now when socialism works its magic and the economy is in the toilet and everyone on the left is still bitter they'll all be thinking it wasn't supposed to turn out this way.
Your way won't heal the nation, Mike. If it could, Russia and China would have been well a long time ago.
My comment:
Mike,
You are being very nasty. You are an ill-informed, Biblically illiterate, unregenerate sinner. You deny the true Person of Jesus Christ and His Word, the Bible. You continually display your misunderstanding of what it means to be a true Christian. We are not perfect, just forgiven by a God who is perfect.
The documented evidence of Obama that has been posted at this blog is the truth. You do not wish to see it or acknowledge it. So be it. You choose to wear your blinders...right into spiritual, intellectual, physical and emotional oblivion.
YOU will have to answer to God one day for your rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In the end, THAT is the only thing that will matter in eternity.
One day, this temporary world of existence - that you cling to for your own brand of "hope" and "change" - will fall to dust and blow away.
Our only hope rests in Jesus Christ alone!The Cross of Christ for salvation from our sins and the empty tomb of His resurrection to life shows us many things.
1. The huge and ultimate cost for our sin.
2. The mercy, forgiveness and grace of God to give us THE WAY (Jesus Christ) back to reconciliation with Holy God.
3. The ultimate hope rests in God alone - and in Jesus Whom He has sent to rescue us from ourselves.
4. The fact that Jesus is preparing a place for us - so that as the Scriptures inform "where He is, there we will be also."
5. The two questions God asks us while we are still in this world -
(a.) Who do you say that I (Jesus) am?
(b.) What have you done in your life to tell others about the gospel of salvation? (Jesus' last commandment - The Great Commission.)
(c.) Jesus said to us, "If you love Me, keep my commandments." This requires obedience.
Just whom do you obey, Mike?When people put their trust in other people (I don't care who it is!), then they are bound to be disappointed. Those who put their trust in Jesus Christ will be victorious - no matter what happens here on this earth.
Just whom do you trust, Mike?We are to love each other - as imperfect as we all are - because God has commanded us to do so. However, He doesn't say to NOT fight against evil, corruption, and sin. Using the truth of God's Word, I call it as I see God's revelation of it. And Obama is filled with (and actively using) all three vices.
Our Lord wants us to proclaim truth and dispel deception. He has already warned us that the truth will offend.
When I get discouraged or worried about this election (and, there is A LOT to be concerned about) I turn to Scripture for comfort during the storm.
Psalm 1 speaks of being absorbed in God's Word and to be in prayer for what concerns us. Paul's prayer for the Philippian church reiterates this:
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:9-11)
Scripture also tells us to approve that which is excellent and holy, and to reprove that which is ungodly.
Favorite verses to live by:
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.How apropos is the next verse regarding your postings here, Mike (yeah..the truth hurts sometimes)
2Ti 2:16 But shun profane [and] vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.Sorry Mike - your true nature is being exposed here at this blog. Real Christians can recognize what you are all about.
Of course, we will continue to pray for you. However, it does not mean that we won't expose you for what you believe and how it often counters the truth of God's Word.
James has good advice for all believers when encountering non-believers/skeptics/agnostics/atheists:
Jam 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Jam 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Jam 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
Jam 1:8 A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways.You see Mike, we are alert to your schemes:
1Pe 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and [be] ready always to [give] an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
1Pe 3:16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.I care deeply about Christ - and I care immensely about America. I am willing to stick my neck out to expose the lies that have been drummed into the consciousness of our culture over the past 30 to 40 years. This may invoke ridicule (and often does) but God's Word tells me to use my gifts and talents that He has given me. On this blog, I have dedicated myself to dismantling the lies - precisely because my confidence is found in Christ alone.
You see, I understand the lies that are being thrown around in our culture and through God's grace and the leading of the Holy Spirit, I have obtained a good enough command of the truth that dispels such lies. The absolute truth is found nowhere else but in God's Word!
Jhn 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;
Jhn 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.When one is set free, he/she is free indeed!
No longer does a saved believer
ever desire to go back to the bondage of the lie.
Why?
Because Jesus' promise is worth EVERYTHING!
Jhn 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.