All of life, for a Christian, is a ministry. We are all called to different types of ministry, yet everything we do is to be done for God’s glory as we spread His truth. My ministry is teaching. I love to teach straight from Scripture, I love to teach things derived from Scripture (such as my C. S. Lewis classes), and I also love to teach in my particular field of expertise, which is American history and government. That last one is as much a ministry as the others.
I started this blog in 2008 with a goal to direct readers to God’s principles—thus the name, Pondering Principles. I intended that it cover all aspects of the ministry the Lord has given me, including how His truth should apply to our perception of politics and government, as well as how that perception should lead to proper responses. In all of these years, I’ve never shied away from offering my views. It was easy to do so when most of my readers agreed with me during those years of the Obama administration. It was easy to decry his policies and the attempt to force Christians organizations into his way of thinking about morality and culture. I had a lot of support for voicing my views at that time.
Then came Donald Trump.
Because I have critiqued Trump and have written of my support for his removal from office through the constitutional process of impeachment, that support, shall we say, has diminished considerably. Yet I have not changed my approach at all; I still use the same Biblical principles as the basis of my analysis of his words, actions, and suitability for the office he holds.
The temptation has been to stop writing about Trump. Why is that temptation so strong? Two reasons, I think. First, I deplore disunity in the Body of Christ (and among political conservatives in general); second, I truly despise personal confrontations with people I genuinely admire for their other views on critical issues like abortion, marriage, and the cultural decay we see around us.
I don’t like being the odd man out.
Yet I find I cannot hold back on my views simply because of the ministry God has given me. I’ve spent more than four decades studying history, government, and principles from God’s Word that are applicable to them. I’ve taught at the university level now for thirty-one years, and there is a fire within me for communicating truth to my students. That same fire carries over to this blog. I’m not claiming the mantle of prophet, but I do understand these words from Jeremiah:
Whenever I speak, I cry out
Jeremiah 20:8-9
proclaiming violence and destruction.
So the word of the Lord has brought me
insult and reproach all day long.
But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.
Soon I will be writing a blog post outlining the reasons why I believe Donald Trump is unfit to continue as president. I have written this post today as preparatory to that one because I want to appeal to my readers to understand where I’m coming from and why it is important to me that I write the upcoming post. My goal is always the same: giving primacy to the Word of Truth in all areas of life.