Doing the Right Thing: Even when it Seems to be of Little Effect

          Have you ever done the right thing and seemingly been penalized for doing it?  Probably you are thinking – many times.  We do not always see immediate success or rewards for our efforts.  Rewards may come later, but often they do not come at all.  You can be a fine employee who arrives early and stays late and works hard and makes few mistakes and yet the person whose work ethic is the total opposite of yours gets the promotion ahead of you or, in some cases, gets to keep their job while you lose yours!  I have known people who smoked all their lives who never got cancer and others who did not smoke who did get cancer.  I have seen obese persons without diabetes and heart disease and thin people who exercised regularly with both.  I have seen some unscrupulous people prosper and some saintly and honest people suffer.  Doing the right thing often does not translate into joyful bliss or measurable reward in this present world.

          As believers in Christ, we have to ask ourselves a very important question.  The question is, ‘How committed am I to doing the right thing(s)?’  Will you do what is right even if no one else notices; if they notice but do not care; if you are punished for standing for or doing what is right?  The Lord said that even when we are reviled, persecuted, and all sorts of evil is spoken against us we still are to “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is our reward in heaven.” (Mat. 5:12)  He even goes on to remind them that even God’s Prophets suffered persecution and immense pain for doing exactly what God purposed for them to do.  The idea that somehow life will be easy, painless, and glamorous if we do what is right and follow God is foreign to the New Testament.  Jesus told his disciples that “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake.” (Mat. 10:22)  It may not seem to us a pretty picture, however beauty is subjective.  Someone has said “Pain and suffering are inevitable, but misery is optional.” (unknown)  The Apostles, we are told, departed from the presence of the counsel “Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name sake.”  (Acts 5:41)  When Paul and Silas were imprisoned and before a great earthquake occurred which freed them, they were not moaning and groaning and complaining but instead were “praying and singing hymns of praise to God.” (Acts 16:25)  It has been observed “The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything, but they make the best of what they have.” (unknown)

          One of my favorite songs by country great Martina McBride is a song called “Anyway.”  The song reminds me to keep it all in perspective. (Listen here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCPw05MkabA )

               You can spend your whole life buildin’ Somethin’ from nothin’

               One storm can come and blow it all away; build it anyway.

               You can chase a dream that seems so out of reach;

               and you know it might not ever come your way; dream it anyway.

                  Chorus

                  God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good;

                  When I pray it doesn’t always turn out like I think it should;

                  But I do it anyway; I do it anyway.

                  This world’s gone crazy and it’s hard to believe;

                  That tomorrow will be better than today; Believe it anyway.

                  You can love someone with all your heart; for all the right reasons

                  And in a moment they can choose to walk away; love ‘em anyway.

                  Chorus

                  You can pour your soul out singing a song you believe in;

                  That tomorrow they’ll forget you ever sang; sing it anyway; yeah, sing it anyway.

                  I sing, I dream, I love, anyway.

 

                  Chorus

          Sometimes it seems like nothing we are doing is accomplishing any good at all.  Sometimes we even feel as though prayer is an empty exercise with our words just bouncing off the walls and ceiling, but we must do it anyway.  There must be an internal compulsion that drives us to do what is right simply because it is right.  The rewards of this life, even if we are to receive any, are perishing.  The vast majority of awards I have ever received in my life have either been broken, thrown away, lost in a move, or given to a charitable organization.  But the one reward I am not taking lightly is the one that I will receive from my Lord.  That one has meaning!  That is the one that makes everything else I have gone through, am going through, and will go through worth it!

 

In Christ,

Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor

Mainstream Media Hypocrisy - The New Normal

          On a number of occasions, over the years, I have pointed to the rank hypocrisy and bias of the media when it comes to how they cover politically related news.  This phenomenon is nothing particularly new, but it has steadily grown worse over time.  Back during the Vietnam/Watergate era the media began taking a noticeable turn toward the left in their reporting.  In part this was due to an overall mistrust of government, best understood by feelings of betrayal by the Nixon administration and an increasing weariness about the Vietnam War lingering on and on.  Slowly over time it became worse and worse.  Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the media tended to be somewhat left of center in their reporting but examples of gross negligence were fairly sporadic, albeit slowly growing to the point of being quite noticeable to most folks by the time the 1980s drew to a close.  By the 1992 election cycle, most everyone was able to detect fairly strong and noticeable bias in the media’s reporting, especially when it came to the Presidential election cycle that year in which Bill Clinton ultimately was victorious.                                                                      

           Over the years, I have written several weblogs in regards to media bias, which is now literally off the charts, and has long-since ceased to even resemble fairness.  Over the last 15 years or so it has reached to the point of unmistakable corruption.  It would be comical to observe these media antics if it were not having such a detrimental effect on our nation and the direction it is going.  It has been pointed out that it is absolutely necessary for in a democracy there to be a fair and honest press.  In many totalitarian regimes of the past and present, all news/information was/is skewed in favor of the one in power.  Below is a recent article by Bernard Goldberg, former CBS news correspondent and author of the ground-breaking book Bias, and the follow-up companion book Arrogance which I have highly recommended everyone obtain and read at times in the past.  Goldberg’s recent column is provided below as he comments concerning one recent, and  particularly nasty, situation where the media pounces on one story while other times, they look the other way on other, much bigger, stories.  Goldberg writes on January 10, 2014:                                                                           

It’s good to know that President Obama’s most loyal followers – the so-called mainstream media – have their priorities straight.  As reported by the (conservative) Media Research Center:

“In less than 24 hours, the big three networks have devoted 17 times more coverage to a traffic scandal involving Chris Christie than they’ve allowed in the last six months to Barack Obama’s Internal Revenue Service controversy. Since the story broke on Wednesday that aides to the New Jersey governor punished a local mayor’s lack of endorsement with a massive traffic jam, ABC, CBS and NBC have responded with 34 minutes and 28 seconds of coverage. Since July 1, these same networks managed a scant two minutes and eight seconds for the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups.”

This makes sense, right?  All the IRS did was target political opponents of President Obama.  A top aide to Governor Christie, on the other hand, caused a traffic jam.  Sure it was a massive traffic jam.  And sure the aide was both petty and stupid.  She put the evidence in emails.  But as the Wall Street Journal put it, “ … compared to using the IRS against political opponents during an election campaign, closing traffic lanes for four days is jaywalking.”

But this hasn’t stopped an epidemic of supposed “analysis” speculating about whether Chris Christie is a dead man walking, with some on the left suggesting that no matter what he knew or didn’t know, he was the one who created a culture of corruption which gave his aides the green light to pull their stupid stunt.

This is front page of the New York Daily News:  

 

 

 

But that’s only a tabloid.  What did the venerable New York Times, the Bible of American liberalism (but mostly the primer for the swells on the Upper West Side of Manhattan) have to say about Bridge-gate?

The Times concluded its post-news conference editorial with this:  “At this point, the governor has zero credibility. His office has abused its power, and only a full and conclusive investigation can restore public trust in his administration.”  Zero credibility?  Wow, that would be good news for Hillary Clinton who might have to run against Christie.  But I’m sure that’s not what the Times meant.  Right?

Anyway, it sounds like a federal investigation is in order.  And it may be. It took about 10 seconds for Team Obama to leak a tidbit to the media that the United States attorney is investigating the traffic jam as a criminal matter.  Good to know that Eric Holder would never do anything political.  He’s the Attorney General, after all.

A college pal who lives in New Jersey kept it pithy and got it right.  He emailed me this:

“The contrast with Obama is striking.  Christie fired the senior person on his staff this morning.  Has Obama fired anyone?  Has he accepted responsibility for anything at all?  Of course not.  Everything, everything is someone else’s fault.  We are continuously told that ‘we’re looking into it’ on any issue.  Nothing happens on Benghazi, on the IRS scandal, on Obamacare, etc., etc., ad infinitum.”

As President Obama might say:  Period!

          The double-standard is well beneath the integrity of the journalistic profession.  But no change seems to be in sight.  It is very difficult to hold the media accountable for its bias.  While some simply look the other way, most people still value honesty and integrity, two character qualities that are increasingly in short supply these days.  Scripture teaches us to be honest in all our dealing – do not cheat, steal, bear false witness, and certainly to let our yes be yes and our no be no.”  “Double-standards” are really no standards at all.  There are a few individual reporters and a few news outlets that are still holding to strict journalistic standards but they are fewer and fewer.

          What then can we do?  1) Get your news from more than 1 source (3 or 4 is best) and compare the way the same stories are reported by each news outlet.  2) Listen/watch for key words that indicate or expose biased reporting.  3) Pay particular attention to what is made to be a major news story at one outlet but hardly gets a mention at another outlet.  Ask the question of “Why?”   Why is this seemingly “important” or why is this seemingly “unimportant?”

          Believers and citizens should not be easily fooled.  We are to trust God and His Word, but most everything else is of man’s contrivance and should not be trusted very far.  Become better informed.  Don’t accept news merely at face value.  We all need to know why we believe what we believe.  We have long since passed the day we can simply accept, at face value, what the media reports.  We have got to learn the skill of analysis.  We need to approach “news” like the Bereans of the Book of Acts who searched the Scripture to see if the things spoken were true. (Acts 17:11)

In Christ,

Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor

From Beliefs to Convictions

Recently there was a huge uproar when Phil Robertson, one of the stars of The Arts and Entertainment (A&E) Network’s mega-hit shows Duck Dynasty made some negative comments about homosexuality in an interview with GQ Magazine. Pressure from The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) pressured the A&E network to take action. The network suspended Robertson from the show. In a related story, the restaurant and county store, Cracker Barrel announced they were removing Duck Dynasty items from their stores as a show of outrage for Robertson’s comments. Then, only 2 days later, reversed their decision. Robertson himself had his suspension from Duck Dynasty lifted after only 9 days following an outpouring of support for both him personally, and for the concept of free speech. During this time, the network aired a marathon of episodes all including Phil Robertson which garnered them a tremendous windfall.

Not many people have the courage of their convictions anymore. Not many are willing to stand alone, purely on principle. Not many can look beyond the “bottom line.” Not many will stand against the tide of political correctness. Not many will stand for the truth they “believe” unless it is relatively simple, easy, and convenient to do so. In other words, they show signs of lacking true “conviction.” All people should regularly ask themselves “What is important to me, and what price am I willing to pay for it?”
Regardless of the specifics of the situation with Phil Robertson, the responses of both A&E and Cracker Barrel demonstrate a lack of conviction. In times past a person who had the “courage of his/her convictions” was applauded and revered. But now networks and corporations, etc. are trying to maneuver their way through the treacherous waters of political correctness. Don’t be fooled by the neat and tidy sounding term either – political correctness is anything but neat and far from tidy. It is a muddled and mangled mess of confusion, contradictions, and rank hypocrisy.
The Cracker Barrel brand has come to represent something of a throwback to yesteryear. The food served in their restaurants is wholesome home cooking. Their country store is full of old-time candy, music, toys, and other nostalgic paraphernalia. They have not shied away from capitalizing on the concept of “America as it once was.” When the story broke last month they quickly took decisive action that was unnecessary then realized their mistake when their customer complaints skyrocketed. Sadly, an “exposure” took place at Cracker Barrel. What was exposed was their list of concerns. It turns out they are money, political correctness, and their customers – in that order. As one who has often eaten at Cracker Barrel and often browsed their stores, I felt kind of like I had been used.
No one expects A&E to stand against homosexuality. But I do think everyone still expects people to be true to their word and hold to their convictions. If A&E wants to take a stand, they should take a stand. In fact, they did take a stand. Their stand was taken for money. They did not want to offend GLAAD and were, no doubt, sympathetic to GLAAD’s outrage. However they were not principled enough to fire Robertson, cancel the show, or even cancel plans for the marathon weekend of shows! Furthermore, Robertson’s views on homosexuality were anything but a secret (and those of the rest of the family also for that matter). Robertson had been very vocal in the past denouncing homosexuality and I don’t think anyone believes the executives at A&E were unaware of this fact. All that was proven in this was what most of us already knew; that is that money talks. In fact, it speaks more loudly than just about anything else to a large number of people. Quite honestly, it controls many lives.
Scripture teaches us “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Tim. 6:10) When people surrender to the screeching sounds of the “squeaky wheel” needing to be greased we are in a bad place. When the lust for money overrides the moral decisions we make, we have a huge problem on our hands. We may believe a lot of things, but the more important question for us as Christians, and as citizens, becomes – “What are my convictions?”

In Christ,

Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor