The Alliance Defense Fund is urging churches to violate tax exemption laws Sunday by participating in “The Pulpit Initiative” or “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” They would like participating churches to endorse a political candidate as a stunt to overturn tax laws stating that non-profits can lose their tax-exempt status by making political endorsements.

Funny, isn’t it? I recall Jesus setting up a Heavenly Kingdom and not trying to take control of an earthly one. I recall Him paying taxes and urging His followers to do the same, instead of trying to find ways to avoid taxation. The Jesus I know was more concerned with religious hypocrisy than He was political power.

Jesus was neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Christ’s primary concern wasn’t political or moral issues it was loving hurting people and rescuing them from sin they could not escape on their own. It would do the Alliance Defense Fund and the churches they have sucked into their web of self-righteousness to follow Christ’s lead and start being more concerned with Heaven than with becoming and creating sons of Hell.

True followers of Christ should see right through this and realize that the “ministers” involved in this act of lawlessness are not representing Christ, rather they are attempting to draw attention to themselves in an effort to gain power they should never have.

“Who will save me from this body of death?”

I understand Paul’s lament. As sad travelers on this dizzying rock we call home, we occupy bodies that are bound for death. Our destiny is decay and our lot in life is sickness and pain. I’m overstating it a bit, but it’s my blog, and therefore – my privilege.

I would like to take a moment though, to dwell on this body of death I and all the rest of humanity is trapped in, and rundown briefly for the 12 of you who might be reading, the record of illnesses between my wife and I this year. Every December we sit down and review our year together. I can already tell that this year is marked by sickness. I keep reminding myself that in the world that is to come, there won’t be anymore sickness, and for this I am most grateful.

The year started off with sinus infections around February, if I’m remembering correctly. We shared those, and I don’t think either of us missed work. That was rather light and fine, but it went downhill from there.

She caught a cold shortly thereafter, and I resisted it through mountains of vitamin C, in as many forms as I could manage to shovel down my throat. Then there were the flus. I caught it first, it completely diminished my white blood count and kept me out of work for the better part of a week. Right when I started feeling mildly better, I passed the dreaded illness on to my wife, who was able to get to the doctor in enough time to get some newfangled medicine that cured her within 2 days.

In March, I found myself in the emergency room with chest pains and respiratory problems. I was also having an anxiety attack because of the two previously noted conditions, as I feared I was going to die before causing enough trouble on this earth to really be remembered. Turns out it was merely a flare up of some condition I can’t pronounce that is activated by extreme stress. I will likely have it the rest of my life, but I’ve decided not to allow myself enough stress to cause another flare up.

In April, shortly after her birthday, my wife landed herself a nice cushy room on the fourth floor of the hospital. She thought it was gas, I thought it was appendicitis, and the doctors determined it was Crohn’s disease. This has occupied a significant portion of our time, money and sanity over the remainder of the year. Our new chronic friend has brought us multiple CT scans, frequent visits to the GI doctor and a few particularly brutal illustrations of the treacheries of steroids on the human body.

Last night, we found ourselves in the emergency room again. This time, my lovely wife is having an allergic reaction to God-knows-what. Her eyes were puffy and red, and we thought it was pink eye at first, until she started having trouble breathing at 2 a.m. Incidentally, we exercise, eat healthy and don’t drink or smoke. Technically, we should not be this prone to illness. Unless of course, as the Bible is quite fond of pointing out, we live on a decaying planet in a body of death.

ARROGANT AFFLUENTS: I am so tired of small people with big wallets and good connections who think just because they view themselves as more valuable than others, they can complain loudly to the right people and put other people’s livelihood at risk. I cannot count the number of close calls I have had with this crowd, and – to be quite honest – it’s pathetic. Half of the time, it is an issue so inconsequential that it would appear these pompous people simply need an excuse to flex their muscles.

INSURANCE COMPANIES: I have a toothache. I do not have enough money to see a dentist and my experience with dental insurance is that it’s a sham. Why can’t my medical insurance cover it? If something happens to my spleen, my heart or my lungs they will cover it. Would it be asking too much to cover my teeth and my eyes as well? Why do I have to pay separately depending on which part of my body ails me?

PARTISANSHIP: I would like to go to sleep and wake up after election season is over. I have friends on both sides and I’m tired of hearing the venom espoused by both major parties. Every four years we go through this and in four more years we will be doing it again. The fact that each time campaign ads run, candidates skew the truth, promises get broken and people are disappointed in the president they have elected, seems lost on us.

UNCERTAINTY: I don’t know how the bills will get paid each month. I don’t know what my wife’s health will be like each day. The whole thing has caused me to be a bit depressed of late. I have deep control issues and questions like this are too big for me to handle right now. It’s driving me up the wall.

LACK OF MOTIVATION: Due to the aforementioned slight depression, I haven’t been terribly motivated to do anything this week. This also has driven me up the wall. I feel I could be much more productive than I seem to feel like being this week.

Sometimes, my dog makes a good teacher. He’s a very cute, very mischievous Shih-Tzu. When he’s not about the task of destroying my living room, he can be quite adorable. Despite his constant shenanigans, I’m still fond of him.

Earlier this evening, my wife and I were sitting on the couch together watching our favorite television program and he was behind the couch trying to devour as much of the upholstery as his little jaws could hold. My wife called him over, and invited him up on the couch in the hopes that this move might keep him out of trouble.

Shockingly, he obeyed – for eight seconds. He jumped up on the couch, laid down, stood, jumped off the couch and went along to play with a toy that distracted him. This was amusing, but typical. But, this time it struck me. Aren’t we often the same way with God?

Don’t we often obey simply out of obligation, following the law but forgetting the reason for the law? Isn’t it the story of our lives that we chase after some random nothing we think will bring us joy when we could be sitting in the lap of the One who rescues us from trouble, receiving the love that we desperately long for?

This blog is not intended to be political. While, I must admit, election year is like football season to me, I will not delve into politics in this blog. However, I will link to people who do on occasion, when I see a fresh perspective. Based on our current political climate, that won’t be too often. At any rate, here is a great blog post I found on Gex-X-Rising that poses the question What (or who) is driving history?

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A look at Christianity from the Christian family's crazy uncle