Blinded by Might

Rating:
Summary: An important book which needed to be written.
Review: This is a book which needed to be written. I don't agree with everything Ed Dobson and Cal Thomas say, either politically or religiously, but their message is vitally important.

As a minister of the Gospel, as a clergyman, and as an outspoken conservative, I have long been dismayed when my collegues (on both sides of the aisle) attempt to equate the Gospel message with a political agenda. I firmly believe that a clergyman has the responsibility and duty to speak out on issues which affect his beliefs and the beliefs of his church. However, many, many members of the Religious Right (and Left, for that matter) have gone far beyond such issues, insisting that political philosophy is just as important, and just as divinely inspired as the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. There are issues on which Christians should be completely united. There are other issues, as C. S. Lewis suggested, in which honest men may reasonably disagree.

Dobson and Thomas have eloquently suggested that many of the troubles of the Religious Right have been based in not knowing the difference.

Again, I don't blindly accept many of the things that Dobson and Thomas say -- but I agree with much of the spirit in which they were written.

Every politically active member of the clergy should read this book carefully, and with much prayer.

Rating:
Summary: An important book which needed to be written.
Review: This is a book which needed to be written. I don't agree with everything Ed Dobson and Cal Thomas say, either politically or religiously, but their message is vitally important.

As a minister of the Gospel, as a clergyman, and as an outspoken conservative, I have long been dismayed when my collegues (on both sides of the aisle) attempt to equate the Gospel message with a political agenda. I firmly believe that a clergyman has the responsibility and duty to speak out on issues which affect his beliefs and the beliefs of his church. However, many, many members of the Religious Right (and Left, for that matter) have gone far beyond such issues, insisting that political philosophy is just as important, and just as divinely inspired as the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. There are issues on which Christians should be completely united. There are other issues, as C. S. Lewis suggested, in which honest men may reasonably disagree.

Dobson and Thomas have eloquently suggested that many of the troubles of the Religious Right have been based in not knowing the difference.

Again, I don't blindly accept many of the things that Dobson and Thomas say -- but I agree with much of the spirit in which they were written.

Every politically active member of the clergy should read this book carefully, and with much prayer.

Rating:
Summary: Trusting the Right Power Instead of the Power of the Right
Review: What a GREAT book! I wish every evangelical Christian would read this book. If only Amazon had a 10 star rating!

Though people constantly tried to get him to do otherwise, Jesus never allow himself to be co-opted into the politics of this world. He rather testified to the truth that he was about an entirely different kingdom by letting himself be killed by the politics of this world! Never once did he enter into the politically charged atmosphere of his day by even commenting on the relative merits or vices of the Roman leaders. His mission was about something unrelated to what these leaders did or did not do.

Along similar lines, Paul reminds Christians to be followers of their heavenly Lord and not "to be occupied with civilian affairs" (2 Tim 2:4). And the author of Hebrews reminds Christians they are "aliens" in this world because they are "citizens of heaven." When we follow the example of Jesus and live THIS calling out, we have a power to change lives and affect the world that is not of this world. We win the world back for God, one soul at a time.

Many, if not most, contemporary evangelicals have completely missed this. They sincerely believe that the battle is to be fought and won in the arena of earthly politics. Here is where Thomas and Dobson make their contribution. They "hit it out of the park"! These authorsl point out that evangelicals have come to do what Jesus never did, and what the Bible forbids us to do. We have waged war with "flesh and blood," forgetting that our real battle is "against principalities and powers" (Eph 6). We have spent our time and energy futily trying to tweak the world's hopelessly corrupt system -- and feeling very proud with little (temporary) gains -- instead of living our call to be ambassadors of an entirely different, counter-cultural, kingdom. In the process, we have damaged our reputation to the unbelieving world and diluted our kingdom authority. We have been corrupted by the desire for political might.

With the wisdom of experience and the skill of seasoned writers, Thomas and Dobson expose this for the deception that it is. In so doing, they remind us that "though we are IN the world, we are not OF the world." "We do not wage war as the world does." Our weapons are person-to-person love, prayer, fasting, self-sacrifice and faith.