We’re drinking a cocktail that’s a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel.  And we’ve intertwined them so completely that we can’t tell them apart anymore.  Our gospel has become a gospel of following your dreams and being good so God will make your dreams come true.  It’s the Oprah god.

Last year, the Dallas Cowgirls (I mean Cowboys, excuse me) revealed a jumbotron to top all jumbotrons in their new stadium.  Its dimensions are staggering: 72 feet tall and 160 feet wide.  If you’ve seen it on TV, you know that the screen is just massive.  It hangs in the middle of the new stadium and has been known to block punts.  No one could have ever fathomed a screen that large, and the thought of yet a bigger screen was simply unheard of…until now.

The Charlotte Motor Speedway decided to one-up the screen in Dallas with a screen that will measure 80-feet tall by 200-feet wide – nearly 30 percent larger.  The screen will be made up of 158 panels consisting of 9 million LED bulbs, and the entire structure — which will weigh 650,000 pounds when complete, will reach more than 110 feet in the air.  Always bigger.  Always better.  After reading about all of this, I’m just not sure my 42-inch screen is adequate.  I’m praying that God will give me the money to buy a larger screen soon.  Will you join me in praying?  I think He’s all for the American way of bigger and better.

Isn’t He?

“Judge (condemn) not, that you be not judged (condemned). ² For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5

Judging and condemning one another is standard operating procedure for most.  It’s an American pastime.  So, if followers of Christ are supposed to refrain from judging and condemning one another, then we need to be told how to stop.  From Jesus’ words above, I believe He gives us three very good and practical ideas on how we can stop condemning one another.

1. Recognize that to the extent we do (or don’t do) something, it will be done (or not done) to us by the Lord.

This is what I like to call the Reciprocal Principle of the Kingdom. Jesus makes it very clear in Matthew 6 that if we forgive one another, then we will be forgiven by the Lord.  If we don’t, we won’t be forgiven by Him.  In Luke 6, Jesus again shows how this principle works.  He says, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”  Recognizing that we will be condemned by the Lord if we condemn others ought to give us good reason to stop.

2. Recognize that we are often guilty of that which we condemn others for.

Theologian John Stott profoundly says, “Human beings unhappily possess an inbred proclivity to mix ignorance of themselves with arrogance toward others.  We have a fatal tendency to exaggerate the faults of others and minimize the gravity of our own.  We seem to find it impossible, when comparing ourselves with others, to be strictly impartial and objective.”  Jesus may have been being a bit light-hearted when he used the log/speck analogy, but there’s nothing light about it.  How can we condemn others when our sin is often so much more heinous than the sin of the one we are condemning.  Recognizing this truth will go a long way in helping us to stop.

3. Recognize that our self-examination must result in mercy toward others.

Jesus says in Luke 6 that citizens of God’s Kingdom are to “be merciful even as your Father is merciful.”  How can we not be merciful to others when we begin to fathom the unfathomable amount of mercy that the Lord has poured out on us?  As we realize that the Lord loves and forgives us even in light of the huge log of sin we possess, then the speck of sin possessed by our brother or sister in the Lord suddenly doesn’t look so bad.  We may need to address his or her sin in order to bring about their restoration before the Lord, but it should be done in a spirit of gentleness and mercy.  The Apostle Paul reminds us that “if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”  Understanding the mercy we have received from the Lord ought to kill any inclination to condemn others for their sin.

So…enough with the condemnation.  Bring on November 3rd!

The Bible cannot be any clearer: They who know the Lord are called to love the stranger who sojourns in our midst. Yes, they may be here illegally. Yes, they may be selfishly drawing down the public treasury by taking advantage of medical and educational facilities. And yes, they may be guilty of crimes and repeated incursions across our borders. None of these disqualifies them as objects of the love of the Christian community.

Whatever approach we might recommend to resolving the immigration crisis in America, therefore, must be seen to be motivated by and infused with love for those who sojourn in our midst, as well as for all parties in the debate. Rancor, blanket condemnations, stereotyping, or self-righteousness are completely out of the question. So also is taking the law into our own hands. The Christian community must not conclude, for example, that the “law of love” entitles us to disregard the laws of the land and make our churches or homes sanctuaries for those who are in this country in a manner contrary to those laws. Sometimes the loving thing to do is to work for change in the laws regulating immigration. While such change is possible through peaceable and legal means, this must be the Christian’s course.

The Charlotte Atheists and Agnostics placed billboards in six North Carolina cities, including one along the Billy Graham Parkway in Charlotte.  That sign, according to The Charlotte Observer, pictures an American flag and the words “One Nation Indivisible” — omitting the words “Under God,” which were added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.

William Warren of Charlotte Atheists and Agnostics says placing the billboard along the parkway is not a criticism of the evangelist. He says the Billy Graham Parkway was simply the most visible location the North Carolina Secular Association could afford in Charlotte.  The billboards are a July Fourth project to show that atheists and agnostics can be patriotic.

As you can see, however, vandals corrected the sign in an overnight sting!

According to a poll from the Pew Research Center For The People and The Press/Smithsonian Magazine, the next 40 years are looking bright to most Americans.  By 2050, 71% believe that cancer will be cured, 66% say artificial limbs will work better than real ones, and 81% believe computers will be able to have conversations like humans.

2,320 adults were surveyed online between March 1 and 8, 2010 by Harris Interactive.  24% of Republicans polled believe that Obama may be the Anti-Christ and 22% believe he wants the terrorists to win.  Again, I’m not a big fan of politicians, and I’m certainly skeptical of anyone who is elected president, but this is over-the-top.

Call President Obama what you will, but I highly doubt that he wants the terrorists to win, and I just don’t think he’s sinister enough to be the Anti-Christ.  If Adolf Hitler wasn’t the Anti-Christ, then I just don’t think Barack Obama is either…although 38% of Republicans polled think he’s doing many things Hitler did.  Really?!

Sad.

At last count there were 9,943 faith-based organizations with ministries in Haiti. For years, with good intentions and with great dedication, they have tried to give economic assistance and spiritual help to the Haitian people. This does not take into account the thousands of church groups that have taken “mission teams” to Haiti to build schools and churches in Haitian villages across that little country. Yet Haiti has continued in a downward spiral into greater and greater poverty and social disorganization, not in spite of all these “good works,” but in great part because of them. So much of what has been done in Haiti has disempowered Haitians and diminished their dignity by doing for them what they could have done for themselves.

Does it ever occur to those leaders who take bright, enthusiastic American young people to Haiti to build hundreds and hundreds of church buildings and schools that Haitians are capable of building them? Do they even consider how many jobs they take away from Haitians because of their well-intentioned construction enterprises? Does it occur to them that when Haitians see an American youth group put up a cinder block school building in just ten days that this could contribute to a sense of inferiority as these Americans do in ten days what seems to Haitians like a miracle?

Altruistic Americans have done to the Haitians what an out-of-control welfare system has done to so many poor people here in the United States. It has made them into people who are socially and psychologically dependent on others to solve their problems and who have lost confidence in their own capabilities.

Out of the necessities created by the recent earthquake, we Americans have no choice but to respond with a gigantic handout. Children are starving. Medical care is desperately needed and new housing must be constructed. In the short run, we Americans must respond to meet these needs. We have to fear, however, that when the dust from the earthquake clears the Haitians will have fallen into a deeper condition of dependency and will be even less inclined to see themselves as the best hope for their future.

I am not suggesting that all those missionary organizations working in Haiti should pack up and go home, but I am urging them to understand that Haiti does not need clever Americans with newly contrived schemes for saving their country. Haitians do not need development programs imposed on them by expatriates. Instead, they need help in developing as self-assured persons.

May we heed these words, and may we equip and empower the Haitian people to rebuild their country, giving them the confidence that they can do it.  May we assist them and help them in Jesus’ name, but may we allow them to do it.

By many accounts, President Reagan is listed among the greatest presidents of the 20th century.  During his two terms, the Cold War ended and the economy began an upswing that set the table for the incredible prosperity of the 1990s.  Reagan was truly a leader among leaders.

In his book, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership Nixon to Clinton,  David Gergen says, “Reagan wasn’t just comfortable in his own skin.  He was serene.  And he had a clear sense of what he was trying to accomplish.  Those were among his greatest strengths as a leader.”  Here are some of the other leadership lessons Gergen learned while serving on President Reagan’s staff:

Communication is key.

Even Reagan’s harshest critics agree that – at the very least – Reagan was a great communicator.  He knew how to put his listeners at ease enabling them to stop worrying about the man they were hearing and pay attention to what he was saying.  He was also a master at using humor at just the right moment to break the tension and lighten the mood.  During the 1984 campaign against Walter Mondale, Reagan appeared in the first debate looking horribly old.  Afterward, the press had a field day with the photos and began asking if Reagan was too old to serve as president for a second term.  At the next debate, Reagan was asked point blank if he was too old to be president, and he was ready to answer.  “I will not make age an issue in this campaign.  I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience!”

Gergen also reports that when it came to giving speeches, Reagan knew – and practiced – every trick of the trade.  They are: prepare carefully, keep it short and brisk, use the language of the living room, look for a catchy fact, use the occasional prop, be positive, anticipate the critics, and have a good closer.  If you watch the footage of of any of the many speeches Reagan gave while in office, you’ll see many of these “tricks” in play.

Leadership requires great courage.

Even though Reagan was the oldest man elected president (69 years old), his broad shoulders, thick chest, and square jaw gave him the look of a rugged and courageous leader – one that you felt comfortable following. He personified the rugged, American tough guy – the real “Marlboro Man.”  Reagan not only looked like a courageous man, but he led with courage, and he even responded to great adversity with courage.

On March 30, 1981, Reagan experienced the defining moment of his presidency and of his life.  On that day, he was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin.  From the video footage, it was not clear that Reagan had been shot.  In the chaos, he had been forcefully shoved into his limo by secret service agents.  Cameras were waiting when Reagan’s limo pulled up to the hospital doors.  Climbing out of the car, he waved off help.  Instinctively, he buttoned his suit jacket (which was a small but telling gesture about his sense of the presidency), smiled and waved at the cameras, and walked through the emergency room doors.  Just inside the doors and out of the view of the cameras, he collapsed.  A bullet was lodged within an inch of his heart.

During the hours that followed, the president hovered close to death, and it was only later – after he had recovered – that the country found out how close to death he really was.  This was his defining moment as a courageous leader in the eyes of many Americans.  To a great many, especially working people, Reagan was now the courageous president who had taken a bullet – and smiled!

A great leader is one who is steady in his or her core beliefs.

One of the marks of a great leader is whether he or she has a sense of conviction and can hold to it.  The leader can be flexible in the means of getting there but must be firm about direction and outcomes.  Reagan held to a set of core beliefs that were not popular in the 60′s and 70′s, but by the end of those turbulent decades, Americans were ready to embrace them.

Agree or disagree, these were Reagan’s core beliefs…and he stuck to them over the eight years in office: America is a chosen nation with a special mission, America should be number one not number two, strength matters, freedom matters, and values matter.

In an age where our public leaders seem to waffle on their convictions and beliefs in order to appease the masses, Reagan’s steadiness related to his beliefs is refreshing, even if one doesn’t agree with all of them.  Gergen also reports that he witnessed occasions where some of Reagan’s staff members lied, but never did he see or hear of Reagan intentionally misleading anyone during his tenure on Reagan’s staff.  Reagan proved that a great leader is one who leads with integrity and conviction.

I was very young when Ford served as president, and I have little memory of him as well.  Growing up, my brother and I had a metal trash can in our room that had on it a caricature of him swinging a golf club and yelling “Fore!”  In 1976, I do remember voting for him in the election held in my first grade class.  Ironically, I remember the results of that election were the same as the results of the national election:  Ford lost to Jimmy Carter.    That’s about all I remember about him.

I’m reading a fascinating book  by David Gergen called, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership Nixon to Clinton.  Gergen served as an adviser to four presidents: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton, and in the book, he shares leadership lessons he has learned from each one.  Here are some of the lessons on leadership he learned while serving President Ford.

1. He loved his wife dearly and this endeared him to his followers.

One morning, the press watched him making breakfast for his wife, Betty, and not only were they impressed, but so was the rest of the country.  Columnists promoted the idea that any man good enough to make English muffins for his wife in the morning must be good enough to run the country.

Shortly after the inauguration, doctors found that Betty had breast cancer and immediately performed a radical mastectomy.  Hearing the news, Ford sat at his desk in the Oval Office and cried, later describing it as “the lowest and loneliest moment” of his White House days.

With Kennedy before him and Clinton after him, Ford’s love and devotion to his wife (which was not always easy as she struggled with devastating addictions) was a breath of fresh air.  His love and dedication to her spoke volumes about his character and endeared him to many who knew him.

2. He was a man known for telling the truth.

In our relativistic and cynical society, we have come to expect politicians to lie, but this was not the case with President Ford.  He believed that truth is the glue that not only holds government together but civilization as well.  His old nemesis, former President Johnson, after many disparaging remarks behind closed doors told Ford, “You and I have had a lot of head-to-head confrontations, but I never doubted your integrity.”

Gergen states that in his experience of over 30 years in the White House, every administration – save one – has on occasion willfully misled or lied to the press.  He claims that the exception to the rule was the Ford White House, claiming that many modern presidents have been congenital liars, but Ford was a congenital truth-teller.

3. He didn’t need to be president to be happy with his life.

Gergen claims that former presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton needed to win so much so that their unhealthy hunger drove them to extremes that sucked the dignity out of their presidencies.  Ford, on the other hand, entered the presidency content with his life and was not enamored by the position.  Because he was comfortable with himself, he was comfortable having men and women around him who were brighter and more talented in their area of expertise than him, but that didn’t matter to him as long as they could perform well.  He was not intimidated by their success.

President Ford was a man of integrity, and no matter how hard people tried, they could not poke holes in his character.  Maybe this is why he was so unmemorable.  According to many people, his biggest guffaw was pardoning President Nixon for his crimes while in office.  However, Ford had – in his opinion – a very noble reason for doing it.  His conviction was that post-Vietnam America could not handle a long-drawn out trial of a former president.  It would be too damaging and too taxing to a country already reeling from the negative outcomes of the Vietnam War, and so he did what he thought was best for the country.

Tip O’Neill, the former Democratic Speaker of the House, put it well about his friend in his memoirs: “God has been good to America, especially during difficult times.  At the time of the Civil War, he gave us Abraham Lincoln.  And at the time of Watergate, he gave us Gerald Ford – the right man at the right time who was able to put our country back together again.”