Perhaps relevant to the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary but from the Christian worldview is the question of should the Gospel be used to promote a social or political agenda?

During the campaign of Democrat frontrunner, Barack Obama it came out that Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright had been preaching not so much the Christian Gospel as much as he had been preaching an Afro-centric “Liberation Theology”. 

Liberation Theology manifests itself in many forms such as; Afro-centric/Black Theology, Feminist Theology, Homosexual Theology, down to basic postmodernism & “Social Gospel“ but the basic premise underlying all various Liberation Theologies is simply to use Christianity as a vehicle to advance some social or political agenda.

In this day in age we are told to be “moderates”, “bi-partisans”, “independents”, “open-minded”, “tolerant” among other synonyms that all boil down to being a compromiser. Ideas become nothing but mere opinions to be accepted or rejected with no more validity than the next.

If you adhere strongly to an ideology you will quickly be labeled “extreme”, “partisan”, “rigid”, “close-minded”, “intolerant”, perhaps even “mean-spirited”. Ideology becomes irrelevant & inconsequential in the face of so many ecumenicists. Sure, people will wear their ideals like a boyscout patch but hardly will they ever push their propositions beyond the comfort zone. Be it political or theological ideology it seems the days when ideals meant something is gone. We are left with vague concepts that speak from the “heart” -- as if the heart & mind are disconnected.

THE WHITEFIELD & WESLEY EXAMPLE

One of the most often used examples of why we Christians should be ecumenical in our dealings with other people who advocate & support false doctrine while calling on the name of Christ is the relationship of George Whitefield & John Wesley.

For a little background, Whitefield & Wesley were Methodist preachers in the mid-1700s. While Whitefield followed in the Protestant & Reformed theology which advocated God's predestination of believers & grace, Wesley adopted the Arminian concept of man's freewill & only God's foreknowledge but not fore-ordination of believers. Perhaps this would not have caused such a problem except that as Whitefield went to America to preach, he left his ministry in England to Wesley & Wesley's brother Charles.

To make matters worse Wesley planned to publish a sermon against predestination. Whitefield wrote Wesley privately saying:

According to the Associated Press, "Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul's supporters raised over $6 million Sunday to boost the 10-term congressman's campaign for the White House."

The AP report also said, "The [Paul] campaign's previous fundraiser brought in $4.2 million."

According to the Paul campaign website, "In a 24-hour period on December 16, the campaign raised $6.026 million dollars, surpassing the one-day record of $5.7 million held by John Kerry.

"During the day, over 58,000 people contributed to Dr. Paul's campaign, including 24,940 first-time donors. Over 118,000 Americans have donated to the campaign in the fourth quarter.

"The $6 million one-day total means the campaign has raised over $18 million this quarter, far exceeding its goal of $12 million."

Now, if one listens to most of the political pundits in the major media, Ron Paul is some kind of "kook," and his supporters are also a bunch of "kooks." So, the question must be asked, Just who are these kooks that are supporting him, and why are they giving Ron Paul all this money?

As this site is NOT a 501C3 entity I can openly endorse any political candidate I desire, however this is a theological website & not a political website so I am going to refrain from delving too far into politics. I do want to touch on the state of the current Republican Presidential candidates. I'm only going to focus on the Republicans because for the life of me I cannot figure out how a Christan can square their Christianity with the Democrat Party. Oh, I've seen some try, typically by claiming Jesus' mission was to the poor & so is the Democrat Party. Riiiiiight! Charity is much different than extortion. We'll say no more about the Democrat Party.

When Christians look at the field of Republican candidates they must be disillusioned. The field includes no one that would resemble Christian principles. I'm not saying the person has to have the exact same beliefs before I'll vote for them but come on –