Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has apologized for her widely condemned tweet suggesting that money drives politicians’ support for Israel. Her apology came shortly after several Democratic leaders spoke out against her tweet.
Let’s give the “benefit of a doubt” to her apology until shown otherwise*.
And if we do that, should we not also give the “benefit of a doubt” to other politicians who now renounce foolish (though legal) things they did or said in the past, maybe even in the distant past? Many apologies should be taken with some skepticism, but giving the “benefit of a doubt” could move us to more civility, which our country greatly needs.

* And indeed her anti-Semitism appears to be a pattern as more information emerges.

Bible Insight – Contemporary Moral Arrogance

“Hypocrites! …you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’” – Jesus (Matthew 23:29-30 NIV)

Jesus challenged the religious leaders about their boasting. They thought themselves to be morally superior. If they had lived “back then” they would not have done the wrongs people did “back then.”

So today, we have “morally superior people” who look down on the conduct of earlier Americans and want to deconstruct them all they can.

The U.S. Constitution allowed slavery. George Washington had slaves. Thomas Jefferson had slaves. Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis led a rebellion. There was injustice, exploitation and bigotry toward immigrants. We know better. But if we had lived “back then” are we sure we would not have thought as they thought and did what they did or worse? The arrogant know for sure that they would NOT have!

Had slavery been banned in our original Constitution, we would not have had a country. And slavery would have lasted much longer than it did.

Washington wasn’t perfect. But he refused to separate families and did free his slaves when he died. And he provided for the children and for those in their non-productive years (Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency, 160-67).

Jefferson hated slavery. But his idealism was ahead of his conduct. I can’t justify his ownership of slaves that so contradicted his convictions. In my visits to Monticello I saw the patch of land where his slaves lived and I grieved as I imagined what it was like, in contrast to life in the mansion.

Yet his words still speak to us from the Jefferson Memorial: “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free.”
America names schools and highways after Confederate leaders. Some want to erase this, but isn’t it consistent with President Lincoln’s words, “With malice toward none, with charity for all”? Did his vision die with him? The Civil War, between “brethren”, was different from all others.

My parents were against inter-racial marriage, as was my church when I was a teen. Therefore so was I. None had malice. It was the spirit of the times and wrong. What counts is what I do today with the moral reasoning I possess.

Evangelical churches largely sat on their hands during the civil rights struggles of the mid-20th Century. They didn’t support segregation and Jim Crow, but they didn’t think churches should “get involved.” Besides, this evil shows how bad the world is, and all we can do is pray for Jesus to return and make things right. That was half-truth thinking. This silent complicity has been confessed by many Evangelicals. What really counts today is what Christian denominations do with the moral reasoning available to them now.

Jesus’ words speak clearly to today’s arrogant moral superiority:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” – Matthew 6:1-5

If generations to come are more morally astute than our own, what will they say about our blind spots? Late-term abortions, infanticide, racial stereotyping and preferences and re-segregation, euthanasia for those deemed not wanting to live (if they could make the choice themselves), curtailing of religious liberty, illiberal speech codes, the secular genocides of the 20th Century, and more?

Let’s learn from the moral successes and failures of the past. Let’s strive to do better and be better. But let us not be arrogant about our generation’s moral superiority. Because it really “ain’t all there” and we are prone to being blind about our own sins. “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

How Religion Makes a Positive Difference

“Long Beach 908” is a quarterly magazine that lands on the porches of residents in Long Beach. It’s largely ads and coupons I notice as I flip through the pages on my way to the recycle basket.

But the latest issue caught my eye: “Unsung Heroes—30 Stories of Those Making a Positive Difference in Long Beach Through Faith.” On the cover were Rebecca Younger and some whose lives she touched through her ministry to women, “New Life Beginnings.” I’ve known Rebecca for decades and I’m thankful for my early role in helping her local pro-life ministries get underway.

Of the 30 stories, 12 were of people connected to Evangelical Protestant churches and 13 more were connected to other Christian faith communities.

And this is all so thoroughly biblical!
“Seek the peace (shalom) of the city…” (Jeremiah 29:7).
“As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people” (Galatians 6:10).
“Remind the people…to be ready to do whatever is good” (Titus 3:1).
“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39).

We dare not underestimate the impact of people of faith in our communities. Our society is blest with faith-based schools, medical services, counseling centers, social agencies and so much more, including the churches themselves.

In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court (Walz v. Tax Commission of City of New York, 1970) noted that religious communities “contribute to the well-being of the community in a variety of nonreligious ways, and thereby bear burdens that would otherwise either have to be met by general taxation, or be left undone, to the detriment of the community.”

Churches contribute to the community by teaching us our social duty (love for neighbor) as well as our duty directly to God, and then by encouraging and supporting members as they go forth into their communities and build charitable ministries on their own. Thus, my own church encourages and supports many such ministries. Please consider taking up this challenge!

First Amendment Vigilance –

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must…undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” – Thomas Paine

Update on
The “Not Good for Nonprofits Tax”

“At stake is a provision in the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that directed not-for-profits of all kinds — houses of worship but also, for example, universities, museums and orchestras — to pay a 21 percent tax on certain fringe benefits for their employees, such as parking and meals.” (Washington Post, Dec. 6, 2018)

Further information indicates that this new provision affecting churches is not as ominous as first thought. However, this is a matter for watchful concern! What situation might trigger a tax on churches? This information is from Stewardship Services Foundation—an excellent resource:

“Qualified parking is employer provided parking for employees at, or near, the place of employment. For most churches this is a free parking lot used by the congregation and staff; this parking lot is usually surrounded by areas of free parking. In this situation the new law does not apply. However, if a church charges users to park in its lots, or the parking in the surrounding areas is generally paid parking then a church has provided a valued benefit to its employee(s). This is taxable to the church.”

CALIFORNIA BILL (SB-360) VIOLATES CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION

Catholic doctrine teaches that the “Sacrament of Reconciliation” (commonly called “Confession”) has an absolute seal of confidentiality. California law has recognized this, making it an exception to the requirement that clergy report suspected child abuse that comes to their attention. Protestants are similarly protected in that such a “penitential confession” remains confidential. SB-360 would violate this seal of confidentiality by requiring certain penitential confessions to be reported. I am a Protestant minister, but I fully understand the importance of confidential penitence. The State has no business, regardless its good intentions, violating this religious requirement.

Donald S. Smith (1924-2019)
A Personal Tribute

I knew Don since 1973, when he enlisted me into the ministry of Crusade for Life, a Christian Pro-Life ministry. At that time he operated a marketing, fundraising and public relations firm, and I learned a lot about these tasks from him. He produced significant pro-life material, including the powerful film “The Silent Scream” with the collaboration of former abortion proponent Dr. Bernard Nathanson—a film acclaimed by President Reagan. He received a Doctor of Laws degree from Biola University, for which I was honored to nominate him. Intense, passionate, savvy, devout and gracious, he made a lasting mark on the causes he believed in and on me.

“Forgiveness” is one thing; “Office-holding” (religious or governmental) is another.

“Anyone — including any politician — can be completely forgiven by God for anything. That does not make them worthy of holding an office that depends on the respect of the governed.” – Michael Gerson

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

February 28, 2019 – Speak on “Evangelicalism” as part of the “Religion 101” series sponsored by the South Coast Interfaith Council (7:00 p.m. at the LDS Institute of Religion, 6360 E. State University Drive in Long Beach).

April 14, 2019 – Speak in morning worship services at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach.

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Appendix: A Good Word from Elsewhere—
“When Anti-Semitism Is Not Anti-Semitism” by Michael L. Brown

Michael L. Brown (Ph.D., New York University) is president and professor of practical theology at FIRE School of Ministry in Concord, N.C. He has also been a visiting professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Fuller Theological Seminary.
(Used by permission)

I once had a conversation with a Pakistani cab driver in New York City. As he drove me to my destination, the subject of anti-Semitism came up, at which point I mentioned, “Some people claim that the Jews themselves are responsible for anti-Semitism, since they are the worst of all people.”

The driver, not realizing that I was Jewish, replied, “Yes, that’s true. Jews are the worst.”
So, anti-Semitism is not really anti-Semitism because the Jewish people deserve to be hated.

In the aftermath of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic tweets, in which she accused AIPAC of paying off members of Congress to stand with Israel, David Duke tweeted, “So, let us get this straight. It is ‘Anti-Semitism’ to point out that the most powerful political moneybags in American politics are Zionists who put another nation’s interest (Israel’s) over that of America ??????”

So, Omar wasn’t being anti-Semitic because she was telling the truth.

Duke, himself a proud anti-Semite (as well as former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan), also rued Omar’s subsequent apology, stating, “I’m not surprised but it’s a pity, those tweets exposing the influence of AIPAC where her only positive achievements.”
As expected, Duke’s twitter feed repeats the standard anti-Semitic tropes, including: the Jews control the money. The Jews control the media. Israel is a genocidal, apartheid state. The Holocaust is a myth. And more. (The title of his 2003 book says it plainly: Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening to the Jewish Question.)

The point of it all is simple.

It is not anti-Semitic to say nasty things about the Jews because the nasty things are true.
And if people do bad things to these evil Jews? Well, the Jews deserve it.

I just finished revising and updating my 1992 book Our Hands Are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the “Church” and the Jewish People. It tells the story of anti-Semitism in Christian history, also documenting libelous attacks on Israel and the Jewish people until this day, be it from the world of radical Islam or from White Supremacists.

…The names may change. The dates may vary. But the theme does not change: The Jews are especially evil. The Jews are responsible for most of the world’s problems. The Jews are guilty and must be blamed.

…I have been told (with all seriousness) that Jews were responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

I have read claims that Jews were responsible for the spread of AIDS and that Jews control the Vatican.

Those evil, ubiquitous Jews!

In the first edition of Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, I documented how White Supremacists and Black Supremacists shared an admiration for Hitler and a hatred of the Jews.

Then, within two weeks’ time last year, Black Supremacist Louis Farrakhan referred to Jews as termites and a White Supremacist slaughtered 11 Jews in a Saturday morning synagogue attack, shouting, “All Jews must die!”

As I said, the song remains the same, quite tragically.

That’s why it is no surprise to see this headline on Ynet News: “Global anti-Semitism report: 2018 saw most deadly attacks on Jews in 25 years. Diaspora Ministry finds 70% of attacks tied to anti-Israel sentiment, singles out UK where phenomenon has reached ‘all-time recorded high’; [Naftali] Bennett urges governments around world to take action.”

Not only so, but last April, in Germany, Jews were urged not to wear kippahs (yarmulkes) in light of recent attacks. “Don’t look too Jewish or you might be attacked as well!”
This is happening in Germany, of all places, where serious efforts have been made to reverse the evil of the Holocaust.

But anti-Semitism is hard to suppress.

That’s because the Jews, above all people, are evil. And so, it’s not anti-Semitic to call them out and despise them.

So say the anti-Semites.