Pompeo and Circumspectness

We demonstrate to the world that Christ is in us as we build our lives on His strong foundation,
relying on His grace and truth. Ephesians 3 states that Paul is expressing his prayer...
(16) that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

We are called to possess conviction - knowing what we believe and acting accordingly.  We have to make sure that what we believe and act upon are principles that are consistent with the Scriptures.  Many have conviction these days, and we have to guard against errant beliefs, which can lead us into incorrect responses.  So, we have conviction that is based on God's Word, and we can learn, through the power of the Spirit, to communicate those convictions - by word and deed - with grace.

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There is a passage in Colossians 2 that encourages us to walk in conviction:
6 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

You could call it a litmus test - some lawmakers, in committee hearings, have questioned and even denigrated the religious beliefs of nominees for governmental positions.  It had happened previously in the case of Russell Vought, now the Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget, who had been chastised by Sen. Bernie Sanders about a situation involving his alma mater, Wheaton College - CBN News reported: "In a blog, Vought had defended Wheaton College for their decision to force out a professor who said Christians and Muslims worship the same God...Sanders said Vought was unfit for public service due to his Christian beliefs."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein had spoken the famous words, "the dogma lives ," with respect to Federal appeals court nominee Amy Barrett.  CBN News stated that the senator said: "When you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you and that's of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for years."

Recently, the President's nominee for Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who is serving as CIA Director, was goaded by Sen. Cory Booker about his views on homosexuality.   Pompeo's response was that he supported traditional marriage while showing respect to people, regardless of sexual orientation, according to a CNS News article.  The senator referred to a now-famous prayer from over 20 years ago that Pompeo had cited when speaking at an evangelical church in 2015 - the prayer was from the church's pastor Joe Wright.  CNS News said:

In June 2015, Pompeo gave an address at an evangelical church in Wichita, during which the then-congressman from Kansas quoted from a prayer delivered by the church’s senior pastor, Joe Wright, almost 20 years earlier, at the opening of the state’s legislature.

Quoted by Pompeo, Wright’s prayer included the lines: “We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle …”

Pompeo, who was speaking in Wichita shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring that same-sex marriage is a right – said he thought Wright’s prayer was “so fitting for where we find ourselves today.”

Family Research Council took those who hold similar views to these senators to task, presumably including those who would want to impose a so-called "litmus test," stating:

They don't want to admit that it's possible for people of faith to have respect for everyone, while also believing in the biblical definition of marriage and sexuality. Instead, they want to marginalize an entire half of the country for sharing the same view that every secretary of state except John Kerry held when they were confirmed. In fact, most of us would argue that Pompeo's beliefs are more aligned with other countries' than Booker's!

Under Barack Obama, world leaders were furious with the way the president used the State Department to export his LGBT agenda globally. Trump's predecessor not only sent openly gay ambassadors into countries that are culturally opposed to homosexuality, they used foreign aid to bully other nations into accepting Obama's twisted agenda. He flew rainbow flags over our embassies in Muslim countries and appointed a special taxpayer-funded LGBT envoy whose sole purpose was forcing the president's radical social agenda on reluctant countries. Under both Kerry and Hillary Clinton, DOS changed the rules for same-sex diplomats and openly demonized other countries that refused to recognize homosexuality as an international "human right."

These are the times in which we live, in which traditional Christian beliefs are under fire and there are those people in high position who would not want those convictions, shared by many of our nation's founders, to be held by people who are making policy.

In light of this exchange, I think some questions for us would be: when or if we are intimidated for matters of faith, how will we respond?   Do we stand up for the Biblical view of marriage?  And, can we do that while still showing respect for those involved in a lifestyle that is abhorrent to God?  Pompeo stressed his respect for individuals with whom he disagreed; a respect that was not being shown to him in the Congressional hearing.  We can become skilled in expressing convictions with the compassion of Christ.

And, that's a good word among Christians, as well.  When you spend a lot of time on the Internet, including social media, you see a stunning lack of grace.  There are disagreements all over the place between believers - we have to be careful that we are not portraying to the world a viewpoint of Christians that is inconsistent with the character of Christ.  I saw a tweet the other day in which a pastor essentially said that he would no longer engage with fellow believers who have a different viewpoint than him on a certain matter, an issue that is most certainly creates debate among believers - is that where we have come to as a Church?   This does not build unity in the body.  Now, there will be times when fellowship has to be broken, but we have to be so careful to rely on the Holy Spirit to direct us - and Matthew 18 prescribes 4 steps in order for that to occur.

We can be challenged to possess conviction, rooted in the Scriptures, and communicate it with grace.