It is amazing what technology can do to.  The old bible has been pieced together using computers. It has now been made new and can be viewed online here.

For the past 2 days I have been going through withdrawals. No political web. No political news programs. Like many of you I have been a “political junkie” this election season. The pastor preached a message at church on Sunday that spoke to my spirit and led me  to this “fasting” from something that had “flesh” had been yearning. My vow is to break my “fast” at 6.00 pm on election night. It has been difficult.  This election is in God’s hands.

I am not sure if there is going to be a political season like this again in our lifetime (never say never). It is pitting families and friends against each other. What was shocking was recently I had a family member basically tell me that because I am a Christian I must take my ballot and mark “Republican” straight down the line. If I did not they would seriously question my Christianity.

For the past few months Obama’s church has been in the news. I agree with the pundits that it was bad judgment to stay in this church for 20 years with this type of message. I am speaking from personal experience where I attended a church that was preaching “bad doctrine” based on biblical truths.

I did not leave immediately because my wife did not see the “bad doctrine”. I could not “bring” myself to go inside the church because of what was being said on the pulpit. I found an excuse each week to either help out with Sunday school or in the church lobby. It took a year before we actually left.

This leads me to my original point of discussion. Each time I hear the pundits discuss his judgment on being in this church for 20 years they mention “How could he subject his children to this?”. This is where I cringe. All large churches have a children’s ministry or children’s church. Why would Obama’s church be any different. These pundits give the impression that he brought his children to this church to be indoctrinated. Chances are these children were never in church for the preaching.

I think this and the reaction of the parishioners the Father Pfleger attack on Hillary shows how little is known about the black church. Yes the people in the church were cheering and “egging” him on. I think to some it was a “stand up” comedy act. This not new in a black church. I have seen it. In fact I vaguely recall a John Hagee sermon where Hillary Clinton was called (or compared to) “Jezebel”. People where cheering. The white church for the most part is a place for spirituality (unless it is charismatic). The Black church is a place of spirituality, entertainment, empowerment and sometimes comedy relief.

Last week I read an interesting article (I can’t find it now) on how many Christians has honed in on the issues of abortion and gay marriage to support the Republican party. They have minimized the issues of social justice and helping the poor. Those issues are perceived as agenda items for Democrats. Basically the article stated that Christians are in danger of making the Republican party their god as they cherry social pick issues.  I  was reminded of this article this week at church…

I teach Sunday school (4th and 5th grade) at my church. This weekend’s topic was worrying. At the end of the class I asked the children for prayer requests for things they are worried about. I got some of the typical requests. They were worried about bullies, dying, sick relatives, pets, exams, schools, sports etc. The final request I got caught me off guard and reminded me of the article I just mentioned above. A shy looking young 4th grader stuck his hand up and says “I am worried that the next President will be a Democrat”.

Like many of you I will never forget where I was the morning of 9/11. Each year on that day I vividly remember listening to the news live on the radio when the first plane hit. I called my wife to tell her a plane hit the tower. She recalls my exclamation