You better know Jesus for yourself.
If I didn’t know Jesus for myself I don’t know what I’d be doing with all that’s going on in the world right now. For the past hour, I tried to sit and listen to CNN News. It was hard. Then I changed the channel over to FOX News. It was even harder, actually it was almost unbearable. I’ve concluded that: It’s all FAKE NEWS!!!
I am a moralist. (A person who teaches and promotes morality.) I don’t let politics influence or dictate my preaching and teaching. As a citizen of this nation, I do vote. The way I vote and the agenda I support is based on the most moral and the most principled platform that a party presents. It’s called Moral Politics and I am a moralist. It comes down to the agenda and not the person. Unless the person is Jesus Himself I vote agenda.
I believe we would all agree that conservatives and liberals hold two different conceptual models of morality. I taught the people that I pastor during the last presidential election that it’s not (who) you vote for, it’s (how) you vote. It was a tough task and I’m sure I lost a few along the way who didn’t understand what I was trying to do. As a Christian with conservative moral views, it’s just hard for me and others like me to support a liberal agenda or a person even. (Regardless of who the person is.)
As I view the news, I see that the diverse agendas of the far left and the far right are played out all day, everyday. People are inundated with confusing, senseless rhetoric, while in the privacy of their own homes. What hurts me the most is that there are home-bound, television junkie Americans who are basing their perspective on how things are going in the nation and around the world by what they see and hear via television.
They based their views by means of politically influenced, ratings driven reporting that is skewed by the personal views and prejudices of those reporting from their liberal, moderate and conservative perspectives. In other words what newscast they watch determines their outlook on life and how they view the state of the union.
It doesn’t help that the President of the United States (Donald Trump by name) is out of touch with reality and needs to be silenced through a congressional issued gag order to keep him from speaking on matters well beyond his cognitive abilities. SMH
So, you have the high minded and privileged Fox News commentators who are out of touch with reality as well. It doesn’t take a Rhodes scholar to figure out that injustices still prevail in this nation. Racism is alive and well. God help them and CBN to see that kneeling on the sideline of a football game is not intended to disrespect the flag or this great nation.
CNN is out of touch with reality as well. Liberals are operating without objective truth. Truthiness is the basis of their belief and reporting. Truthiness means it doesn’t have to be true, it just needs to feel like it’s true. So, if you think it’s true than just say it is. As a moralist I find something ethically wrong with both perspectives.
What about the people like me bombarding social media with their thoughts and opinions. Much of it is motivated by the slanted news reports, sensationalized to provoke rating and response. Folk who post extreme views shouldn’t be blamed for their outcries and disagreements with the way news in presented from the left and the right. A lot of what people share about everything from Obamacare, to the boycotting of the NFL all has merit. A lot of it is misdirected jargon to try and denounce and debunk things that are not even true. People can only respond to issues that have been presented to them via the news outlets. Namely CNN and Fox.
I haven’t scratched the surface of the real systemic issues that plague this great nation. Poverty, race, abortion, criminality, penal systems, modern day slavery, just to name a few. I’ll just conclude by saying, I’m glad I know Jesus for myself.
So, whether it was Hillary or Donald who would become president it didn’t matter. If your hope is in a man or woman you’re in trouble already. I believe that God has everything in control. I believe that He still turns the hearts of kings. It is imperative that you need to know Jesus for yourself. The news that we need to be trusting is the Good News of Jesus Christ. That good news is even “gooder” when you have a bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.
Bump Fox News, Bump CNN, I’m glad I know Jesus for myself. He’s the way the truth and the life. Trust Jesus.
—Vaughn McLaughlin