Why Christian Americans ( and all other citizens who value morality) belong in the Democratic Party

Thank God for Liberal Democrats !     Pages :   1,     2,     [ 3 ],     4,     5,

"With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own." – President John F. Kennedy         J.F.K. , his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy continued to promote programs that reflected the Liberal teaching of Jesus and the great prophets of the Bible, as did President Johnson and his Vice President Hubert Humphrey :
Under the leadership of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 - 1963 the cries of many needy people were heard :	Peace Corps Aid to Dependent Children program Small Business Investment Act Establishment of Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Consumer drug protection laws Equal Pay Act Manpower Development and Retraining Act Clean Air Act Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act
{ Isaiah 58:1-10 }:           " Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast; tell my people of their sins!  Yet they act so pious!   They come to the Temple every day and are so delighted to hear the reading of my laws – just as though they would obey them – just as though they don't despise the commandments of their God!  How anxious they are to worship correctly; oh, how they love the Temple services! ;  ' We have fasted before you,' they say.  ' Why aren't you impressed?  Why don't you see our sacrifices?  Why don't you hear our prayers?   We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it! '         I'll tell you why!   Because you are living in evil pleasure even while you are fasting, and you keep right on oppressing your workers.  Look, what good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling?  This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.  Is this what I want – this doing of penance and bowing like reeds in the wind, putting on sackcloth and covering yourselves with ashes?  Is this what you call fasting?   The kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn.  I want you to share your food with the hungry and destitute.  Clothe those who are cold, and don't hide from relatives who need your help.         If you do these things, God will shed his own glorious light upon you.  He will heal you.  Your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.  Then, when you call, the Lord will answer.  'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply.  All you need to do is to stop oppressing the weak and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors!  "Feed the hungry!  Help those in trouble!  Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you shall be as bright as day."         Isaiah was certainly one of Jesus' favorite prophets.  One of Jesus' most important sermons expresses the very same theme as the passage above: { Matthew 25 }          "When I, the Messiah, shall come in glory, and all the angels with me, then I shall sit upon my throne of glory.  And all the nations shall be gathered before me.  And I will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and place the sheep at my right hand, and the goats at my left.       Then I, the King, shall say to those at my right, "Come, blessed of my Father, into the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world.   For I was hungry and you fed me;  I was thirsty and you gave me water;   I was a stranger and you invited me into your homes;   naked and you clothed me;   sick and in prison, and you visited me."       Then these righteous ones will reply,  "Sir, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?  Or thirsty and give you anything to drink?  Or a stranger, and help you?  Or naked, and clothe you?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?"  And I, the King, will tell them,  "When you did it to these my brothers you were doing it to me!"       Then I will turn to those on my left and say,   "Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.  For I was hungry and you wouldn't feed me;   thirsty, and you wouldn't give me anything to drink;   a stranger, and you refused me hospitality;   naked, and you wouldn't clothe me;   sick, and in prison,  and you didn't visit me."       Then they will reply,  "Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison,  and not help you?"       And I will answer,  "When you refused to help the least of these my brothers, you were refusing help to me."  And they shall go away into eternal punishment;   but the righteous into everlasting life."         And when Jesus first went public with his revolutionary message, he chose the words of this great prophet to introduce himself : {Luke 4:18} : "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that the blind shall see, that captives shall be released and the downtrodden shall be freed (i.e. liberated) from their oppressors."         Here are more prophetic passages that may well have inspired policies promoted by America's Democratic Party when it was at its best and most liberal stage: { Isaiah 1:17 }         " Learn to do good, to be fair and to help the poor, the fatherless, and widows." { Proverbs 14:31 }         " Anyone who oppresses the poor is insulting God who made them.   To help the poor is to honor God." { Proverbs 19:17 }         " When you help the poor you are lending to the Lord – and he pays wonderful interest on your loan!" [continued below]

Under the leadership of President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963 - 1968 the cries of many needy people were heard :

College and Vocational Education Act Civil Rights Act Voting Rights Act Mass Transportation Act Omnibus Poverty Act: { Office of Economic Opportunity, VISTA, Job Corps, and Public Assistance programs } War on Poverty  Head Start (for pre-school children) Land Conservation Fund Permanent Food Stamp Program Appalachia Regional Development Act Elementary and Secondary Education Act Higher Education Act Older Americans Act  { Medicare & Medicaid } Law Enforcement Assistance Act Immigration Reform Act Freedom of Information Law Fair Housing Act Housing and Urban Development { low-income housing } Clean Water Restoration Act

Achievements of the ninety-first Congress, 1969-1970

Coal Mine Health and Safety Act Child Protection and Toy Safety Acts

{ Isaiah 3:14-16 }          "First to feel his wrath will be the elders and the princes, for they have defrauded the poor.  They have filled their barns with grain extorted from the helpless peasants."         Maybe stockholders whose profits are the result of oppressive labor practices in far away countries will escape God's attention, the way they escape the attention of most preachers; but maybe not!  . . .  "How dare you grind my people in the dust like that?" the Lord Almighty will demand of them.  Next he will judge the haughty women, who mince along, noses in the air, tinkling bracelets on their ankles, with wanton eyes that rove among the crowds to catch the glances of the men."         "In those days the ungodly, the atheists, will not be heroes!  Wealthy cheaters will not be spoken of as generous, outstanding men!   Everyone will recognize an evil man when he sees him,  and hypocrites will fool no one at all.  Their lies about God and their cheating of the hungry will be plain for all to see.  The smooth tricks of evil men will be exposed, as will all the lies they use to oppress the poor in the courts.  But good men will be generous to others and will be blessed of God for all they do."         What a contrast there is between the "Christian Coalition" of today and the Bible!  This Coalition promulgates the view of their coalition partner, the Republican Party, that the well-to-do friends and supporters of this politico-religious coalition have only honest labor to thank for their wealth, while the poor have only themselves to blame for their misery.  But the Bible constantly blames the woes of the poor on those merchants, landlords, judges, legislators, princes,and even on clerics and "haughty women", for depriving the poor and the weak of that to which they are entitled!   And it expects the well-to-do oppressors of the poor, not their helpless victims to stop and to repair these injustices. { Zechariah 7:10 }          "Tell them to stop oppressing widows and orphans, foreigners and poor people, and to stop plotting evil against each other."         Once preachers have translated the Bible from the ancient languages into modern ones, their job isn't over.  Good preachers owe it to us to show the relevance of the Bible to our own time and today's world, by applying what was said of ancient circumstances to the here and now.  If Zechariah were preaching in America today, I believe he would he would be saying         "Stop oppressing welfare mothers and children; stop oppressing minorities, immigrants, the unemployed, the uninsured and the underpaid (poor)"? { 1 John 3:17-29 }        "If someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need and won't help him – how can God's love be within him?  Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions.  Then we will know for sure, by our actions, that we are on God's side, and our consciences will be clear, even when we stand before the Lord.        But if we have bad consciences and feel that we have done wrong, the Lord will surely feel it even more, for he knows everything we do.  But, dearly loved friends, if our consciences are clear, we can come to the Lord with perfect assurance and trust, and get whatever we ask for because we are obeying him and doing the things that please him.  And this is what God says we must do: Believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another.  Those who do what God says – they are living with God and he with them.  We know this is true because the Holy Spirit he has given us tells us so."

The connection between the "New Deal" and the "New Testament":         Many people may have heard of "the Social Gospel" and / or "the Social Creed", but few are aware of its relationship to the policies promoted by the Democratic Party throughout most of the 20th century.  To get an idea of that impact, simply read the manifesto proclaimed in 1908 by one the 33 Christian denominations which came together to form "The Federal Council of Churches in the early 20th century. "The Social Creed" The Methodist Episcopal Church stands -- For equal rights and complete justice for all men in all stations of life. For the principles of conciliation and arbitration in industrial dissensions. For the protection of the worker from dangerous machinery, occupational diseases, injuries, and mortality. For the abolition of child labor. For such regulation of the conditions of labor for women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the community. For the suppression of the "sweating system." [sweat shops] For the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practical point, with work for all; and for that degree of leisure for all which is the condition of the highest human life. For a release from employment one day in seven. For a living wage in every industry. For the highest wage that each industry can afford, and for the most equitable division of the products of industry that can ultimately be devised. For the recognition of the Golden Rule and the mind of Christ as the supreme law of society and the sure remedy for all social ills."         Your homework assignment now is to determine where F.D.R. got the idea to call his vision for the future of America "The New Deal".  Could it have anything to do with the fact that the word "testament", as in "New Testament" means "pact", "agreement", or "deal"?  F.D.R.'s fascist enemies surely didn't have Jesus in mind when they refered to it as "the Jew Deal", but perhaps there was more truth in that name than they knew. See much more at LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/SocialGospel.htm and/or LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/SocialCreed.htm         In 2005, the following letter from President F. D. R. to a prominent clergyman of his day was discovered: September 24, 1935 Reverend A.F. Whitehurst Kingfisher, Oklahoma Reverend and dear Sir,     Your high calling brings you into intimate daily contact not only with your own parishioners, but with people generally in your community.  I am sure you see the problems of your people with wise and sympathetic understanding.     Because of the grave responsibilities of my office, I am turning to representative Clergymen for counsel and advice, feeling confident that no group can give more accurate or unbiased views.     I am particularly anxious that the new Social Security Legislation just enacted, for which we have worked so long, providing for old age pensions, aid for crippled children and unemployment insurance, shall be carried out in keeping with the high purposes with which this law was enacted.  It is also vitally important that the Works Program shall be administered to provide employment at useful work, and that our unemployed as well as the nation as a whole may derive the greatest possible benefits.  I shall deem it a favor if you will write me about conditions in your community.  Tell me where you feel our government can better serve our people.     We can solve our many problems, but no one man or single group can do it,-we shall have to work together for the common end of better spiritual and material conditions for the American people.     May I have your counsel and your help?  . . .  I will deeply appreciate your writing me.     Very sincerely yours,             Franklin D. Roosevelt "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs"         The following observations are NOT from a liberal, but from the ultra-conservative radio talk show host, Neal Boortz :                 "Though there is good evidence that Marx actually lifted this little ditty from the Torah (an important part of the Old Testament), it has become recognized as perhaps the pre-eminent motto of Communism.         I bring this up today because it is becoming increasingly clear that the international Communist movement needs to get one of its lawyer pals to hurry out there and trademark its precious motto.         If it doesn't act fast, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs" is going to become the de facto motto of the Democratic Party – quickly becoming known as the Social Democratic Party." http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/2/5/154600.shtml published on the conservative Newsmax blog on Feb. 5, 2002.         Everyone has heard of "guilt by association". In this case conservatives reject the teaching of the bible because they associate that teaching in their minds with Karl Marx, while ignoring the fact that Boortz himself recognizes in the passage above that Marx stole the very core principle of his philosophy from the Bible!

Under the leadership of President Jimmy Carter, 1977 - 1981 the cries of many needy people were heard :

Federal Ethics Code Civil Service Reform Creation of Superfund { for cleanup of toxic waste } Secretary of Health Joseph Califano { fights tobacco health threat }

Here is what Jimmy Carter's New Testament namesake said about the importance of what we do about our beliefs, as opposed to what we profess to believe: {James 1:22-27 & 2:14-17 }           "But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.  For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.  But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act __they will be blessed in their doing.  If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world". . .         " What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?  Can faith save you?  If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?  So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." and a little later in the same letter: { James 2:12-21 & 26}          "You will be judged on whether or not you are doing what Christ wants you to.  So watch what you do and what you think; for there will be no mercy to those who have shown no mercy.   But if you have been merciful, then God's mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you.  Dear brothers, what's the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren't proving it by helping others?   Will that kind of faith save anyone?       If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing, and you say to him,  "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty," and then don't give him clothes or food, what good does that do?  So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith.  You must also do good to prove that you have it.       Faith that doesn't show itself by good works is no faith at all  --  it is dead and useless.  But someone may well argue, "You say the way to God is by faith alone, plus nothing;   well, I say that good works are important too, for without works you can't prove whether you have faith or not; but anyone can see that I have faith by the way I act."   Are there still some among you who hold that "only believing" is enough?   Believing in one God?   Well, remember that the demons believe this too – so strongly that they tremble in terror!   Fool!   When will you ever learn that "believing" is useless without doing what God wants you to?   Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.  Just as the body is dead when there is no spirit in it, so faith is dead if it is not the kind that results in good deeds." { James 5:1-7 }          "Look here, you rich men, now is the time to cry and groan with anguished grief because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.  Your wealth is even now rotting away, and your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten rags.  The value of your gold and silver is dropping fast, yet it will stand as evidence against you and eat your flesh like fire.  That is what you have stored up for yourselves to receive on that coming day of judgment.  For listen!  Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay.  Their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.  You have spent your years here on earth having fun, satisfying your every whim, and now your fat hearts are ready for the slaughter.  You have condemned and killed good men who had no power to defend themselves against you."

Achievements of the 97th through the 101st Congresses {1984 through 1992}

Voting Rights Act extension Highway and Mass Transit Funding bill Civil Rights Restoration Act Head Start expanded Americans with Disabilities Act

{ Isaiah 10:1-3 }          "Woe to unjust judges and legislators," says the Lord, "so that there is no justice for the poor, the widows, and orphans.  Yes, it is true that they even rob the widows and fatherless children.  "Oh, what will you do when I visit you in that day when I send desolation upon you from a distant land?  To whom will you turn then for your help?  Where will your treasures be safe?   I will not help you; you will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the slain."         Maybe these scriptures have nothing to do with the many decisions which mayors, governors, presidents, judges, and legislators make which pile even more misery on the already difficult lives of people on welfare through no fault of their own.  Maybe "welfare mothers" aren't the same as the bible "widows", because the men who are not supporting them are still alive.  And maybe the children of these welfare mothers are not the same as "fatherless children" of the bible, since their fathers are still alive.  But maybe they are the same in God's eyes, in which case the warnings of the great prophets like Isaiah and Zechariah do apply in our day   – and not only to those in power who mistreat these poor women and children,   – but even to those who support such public officials by voting them into office!         When justice is concerned, that is the community's business.  For society as a whole has the duty to redress wrongs, to make various parties do their jobs correctly, and to redistribute wealth back to those from whom it was unjustly taken, whether the rich and the powerful cooperate willingly out of charity, or unwillingly for justice sake.  This being the case, caring about the needy is not just the church's business, not the concern of people as individuals.  It is wonderful for individuals to be paragons of charity.  But it is the community's business to establish and to protect justice. { Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 }          " He who loves money shall never have enough.  The foolishness of thinking that wealth brings happiness!   The more you have, the more you spend, right up to the limits of your income.  So what is the advantage of wealth – except perhaps to watch it as it runs through your fingers!   The man who works hard sleeps well whether he eats little or much, but the rich must worry and suffer insomnia."

Thank God for Liberal Democrats !     Pages :   1,     2,     [ 3 ],     4,     5,