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"The purpose of a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?...The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it where he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." -Proverbs 20:5-6; 21:1-3, ESV

Too often when Christians talk about voting, we talk about having to vote for the lesser of two evils. This usually forces us to vote based on our fears (financial security, health, etc.) and affinities (worldly comforts), rather than simply and confidently voting our faith, in accordance with the Word and precepts of God.

Throughout biblical history, when God’s people have waned from wholeheartedly following His Word, He lifted up pagan leaders (e.g., Pharaoh of Joseph’s time, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, King Cyrus of Persia, etc.) to care for and discipline His wandering flock, so that they might turn back to Him and flee from all wickedness. Since January 20, 2009, we've had a type of King Nebuchadnezzar rule over our great country because too many of God's people have become comfortable and lazy; compromising with the ways of this world that satisfy our fleshly desires to be healthy, wealthy and safe. And just like the Israelites experienced, the saints of America foolishly trusted the feign promises of our current president, rather than trust the LORD God Almighty for what is best for us—whether in plenty or in want.

It would benefit all of us to commit Proverbs 30:8-9 to memory; and learn to pray it continuously.

"Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God."
-Proverbs 30:8-9, ESV

Let us vote based on our consciences that God has so graciously cleansed with the blood of Christ our Savior. Let us not succumb to the lies of this world, and vote for those who tickle our ears (or prey on our fears), but let us vote for the presidential candidate who most honors the Lord and will do the following:
  • Protect and provide God’s people with the freedom to worship the Almighty as He has commanded in every aspect of our lives;
  • Uphold God’s commandments to honor the marriage union (which is essential because it's the earthly paradigm of Christ’s relationship with His Bride—the Church);
  • Protect and defend the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves (unborn babies in their mother’s womb);
God commands us to do good, to love, to bless and pray for our enemies, and to be good citizens of the country in which He placed us. So let us behave like united saints of America and together, with one voice (Ex 24:3; 1 Cor 1:10) vote our faith; vote with a clear conscience before God and all people (Acts 24:16); to help promote, protect and defend what little morality is left in our country.

With the presidential primaries quickly approaching, I want to do all I can to help prepare you spiritually (with what I've already shared) and practically. And since there are so many issues and so many candidates making promises and statements that sound good, but perhaps aren't good (or true), I highly recommend this 20-30 minute (depending on fast you read and how familiar you are with the issues) quiz found on iSideWith.com.

Prior to taking this quiz, I thought I most sided with Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio or Carly Fiorino who really seemed to know her stuff in the last debate (which after I doing some research, I found that much of her solutions were not feasible, numbers were inaccurate, and her tenure and accomplishments at HP weren't exactly what she purports). To my surprise, I most side with Senator Ted Cruz. After taking this quiz, I did some research on Ted Cruz, and found that yes, I indeed side with him on most issues. I'm grateful to the Lord for this resource, because my conscience is now clear in casting my vote for Senator Ted Cruz in the upcoming primaries and prayerfully, the presidential election on November 8, 2016.

There were some political issues I wasn't very familiar with, and therefore was delighted to find that iSideWith.com provides you with all the information you need to make a decision. There were of course, some issues, I was still undecided on, so I skipped those.

When taking this quiz, please make sure you rate how important or unimportant each issue is to you. This helps to determine which candidate(s) hold similar values to yours.

iSideWith com is a non-partisan site run by Taylor Peck (a political analyst and tech marketing consultant) and Nick Boutelier (who manages the technology, user experience, data and analytics for the site). They were established in March of 2012 and state that they "are not affiliated with any investors, shareholders, political party or interest group."

Upon completing the quiz, you can save your results and share them with your family and friends via email, social media or even with photos (like I did in this article). They also provide you with up-to-date information on popular political issues and data, and allow you to view a map of other people in the country who side with your political views.

When considering who to vote for, first go to Scripture to guide you, as the Word of the Lord is truly a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps 119:105). Then after much studying and meditating on God's Word, pray for the Lord to help you vote for the candidate that most honors Him. Then go to iSideWith.com and take the quiz, carefully, prayerfully and thoughtfully, remembering, "The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving." (Proverbs 14:8, ESV)

Part of my daily Bible Reading today was Proverbs 18. As I read this chapter, I stopped at verse two and began to earnestly pray for the Lord to keep me from being a fool in His sight. Whether I am a fool in the sight of people is of no grave consequence to me. Being a Christian doesn't mean I don't care what people think about me (who doesn't want to be liked?). It means I care more what Christ thinks about me (Gal 1:10).

Knowing the days are evil (Eph 5:16), I strive to live every day in view of That Day...when I will see Christ my Savior in His full glory. I long to hear Him say that I have done well in His sight and that my life was a beautiful offering (Mt 25:21, Mk 14:6). I pray this article is well pleasing to my Lord, and that He will use it as an instrument to sow peace and wisdom within the Body of Christ, while proclaiming the undefiled Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost.

Like many of you, I've seen the video (below) of Dr. Robert Jeffress, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Dallas and Dr. David Jeremiah, Senior Pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church join false teachers like Paula White, Kenneth Copeland, Jentezen Franklin, etc., in prayer for 2016 GOP presidential candidate, Donald Trump.

But before I share what I learned regarding Dr. Jeffress' participation in this meeting that took place in New York, at Trump Tower on Monday, September 28, 2015, I want to share these words from our Father God so that our hearts and minds are well-established on His precepts and not on our opinions or personal affinities.

"The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving...A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion."
-Proverbs 14:8; 18:2, ESV

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
-Romans 12:1-2, ESV

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."
-James 3:17-18, ESV

Now that our hearts and minds are firmly established in God's Word and His perfect precepts, let me share why I reached out to Dr. Robert Jeffress and not to Dr. David Jeremiah. Dr. Jeremiah has already proven to be an unorthodox and untrustworthy preacher/teacher of the Word of God by aligning himself with many false teachers including New-Age, Roman Catholic Roma Downey (with his participation in the making and promoting of A.D. The Bible Continues), and heretical Word of Faith preachers (pictured below). However, Dr. Jeffress hasn't been known to do the same, so I wanted to extend him grace (Matt 7:12) and provide him the opportunity to review and share his thoughts regarding his participation in last week's meeting with Donald Trump.




How did this prayer meeting come about? Who invited you?



I'm not exactly sure how/why I was included on the invitation list. I was with Mr. Trump several weeks earlier at his rally in Dallas because I was asked to pray at the event. As I said to The Christian Post, I am willing to pray for any presidential candidate who asks.

Does your participation in this two-hour meeting and prayer alongside well-known heretics like Paula White, Kenneth Copeland, etc., mean you're now in agreement with their false teachings and abominable practices?

No, it does not. I had no idea who was attending this meeting and my participation isn't an automatic approval of the theological viewpoint of every person in the room.


Are you concerned that your involvement with this group of false teachers might inadvertently mislead the flock you're called to shepherd at First Baptist Dallas to begin following/listening to these false teachers, if they don't already?

No, I'm not concerned at all. My congregation knows me and they know my commitment to biblical accuracy.


Can you say with a 100% assurance that your entire congregation has the spiritual discernment to know these are false teachers without you telling them, and in hindsight, if you could do this all over again, would you; or do you regret your involvement?


I think my congregation would know. I have no regrets about any aspect of my participation in the meeting last week with Mr. Trump.


I'm not wavering on my convictions that light should not partner with darkness (2 Cor 6:15). But that doesn't mean I'm going to drag Dr. Jeffress, who I believe to be a brother in Christ, through the hot coals of "Live out your Christian life, exactly the way I live mine...at the moment." None of us has perfect theology, therefore, none of our convictions are perfect and none can claim that at every point in our lives, that any of us, has worshiped Christ as we should. I don't want to judge my brother Dr. Jeffress based on what I would or wouldn't do (Pharisaical judgment), but I want to judge him based on God's perfect Word and precepts because that's the measure I want to be judged by.

And God's Word tells me to be gracious, patient and understanding. God says that His wisdom is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, good fruits, and is impartial and sincere. That is what I'm working to demonstrate here.

I lovingly and unequivocally disagree with Dr. Jeffress that his participation in this meeting with false teachers was wise or that it would not endanger his flock. And therefore, I pray for, rather than rally against my brother, that God would move His heart to do what's most pleasing to Him, no matter how uncomfortable or humbling that experience may be. I also pray that all of us would deal with Dr. Jeffress in the loving and understanding way we would want to be dealt with if we were found to be in error (Prov 15:1, 21:1, 22:11).





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