So THAT is who Mark Burns is

In my prior post I mentioned I had no idea who Mark Burns, excuse me, Pastor Mark Burns was. As an aside, there are few things I find more revolting and indicative of someone who is probably not called to be an elder than constantly referring to yourself as "Pastor So and So". Anyway, Mr. Burns gave the benediction last night at the opening night of the GOP convention....



Beg your pardon "pastor". Hillary Clinton is not the enemy of the church. She is an unbeliever and her policy proposals are consistently, 100% the exact opposite of what we should be doing as a nation but she is not our enemy. The Bible tells us over and over that Satan is the enemy of the church. Certainly Hillary Clinton may be influenced by our enemy when she advocates so enthusiastically for infanticide but even if she is, she is but a tool. She might be the political enemy of the Republican Party but this guy who gets up and crows about his title as "pastor" and talks about Donald Trump believing in Jesus Christ in spite of all of the evidence to the contrary seems to think that enemies of the Republican Party are of course also enemies of the church. If you are speaking with the presumed authority of being an elder in the church and people can't be sure if you are speaking as a Christian or as a Republican, something is wrong.

As Paul writes, we have a real enemy to fight:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12)

The mission of the church is not to make more Republicans or to win secular elections. Our mission is to preach the Gospel and proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are in far more danger from those within the church who are false teachers and wolves among the sheep than we are from unbelieving politicians, even unbelieving politicians like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The outcome of this election does matter because it will have a huge impact on the everyday lives of regular people but let's not turn this into a holy war because there isn't anyone running from the two major parties that is a Christian or represents Christian values.