I hate to have to say this but from my experience when Christians are assessing the likely spiritual status of politicians it seems easier for conservative to get into Heaven than liberals! Now as I use that term I have to bear in mind that you in the USA probably use them differently from the way we use them in Australia. In Australia our conservative party is actually called the Liberal Party! Moral issues hardly rate much in our politics these days because both parties usually have what they call a conscience vote. For instance in the vote over stem cell research there were those on both side who voted both ways, something which may be common in USA but rare in our country of firm party discipline. So my view is that Christians can be conservative in some areas such as morality but in other areas such as health care it is okay to be other. I for one regard myself as conservative in morality, i.e. abortion, homosexuality, etc. but in the area of health I believe that the government should ensure that *all* have access to proper medical treatment. Perhaps that makes me a liberal! But back to the original issue: I don't think we can ever know for sure another person's spiritual status. Pastorally I think that you have to deal with people as you meet them. Any my point about politicians is that Christians should avoid the temptation to see our favorites spiritually in any special way. We may shake our heads re Chinese Christians being not allowed to even suggest that Mao might not be in Heaven but we can be guilty of similar attitudes. In any case it is a good idea to be careful in making any political pronouncement at church. That is what I like about the Baptist notion of separation of church and state. Surely we don't want our churches full of people of just the one party!! God bless, Jeff >-----Original Message----- >From: Moe Bergeron [mailto:moe.bergeron@...] >Sent: Sunday, 13 June 2004 9:53 PM >To: soundofgrace@... >Subject: Re: [soundofgrace] President Reagan's Homegoing > > >Steve, > > That's encouraging to hear. I'm sure you've heard it said we will be >amazed when we see who is in heaven and who is not. > > Much Grace! > Moe > > >Steve Camp wrote: > >>Dear Forum: >> >>In light of former President Ronald Reagan's passing this past week, I was >>wondering if he truly was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? I received >>my answer the next day. This past Sunday I was ministering at Dr. >Falwell's >>church and had a chance to ask him briefly about President Reagan's >>spiritual state...did he really know Christ? Dr. Falwell completely >>affirmed that he was a true believer in Christ and that they had several >>conversations and times of intimate fellowship together to confirm that. >> >>I thought that was wonderful news in light of his home-going this past >week. >>We should remember to pray for the entire Reagan family these days that >not >>only they would be comforted in their hour of need, but also that the Lord >>would sovereignly grant any of them who don't know Christ, saving faith, >for >>repentance for salvation through the gospel of grace. >> >>Grace and peace to you all, >>Steve Camp >>2 Cor. 4:1-7 >>www.a1m.org >> >>PS - In an election year, may we always remember that the cross waives >>higher than the flag! >> >> > >-- >Read the Sound of Grace pages at >http://www.soundofgrace.com > >To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: soundofgrace-unsubscribe@... > >To view our online archive go to our web page at >http://www.associate.com/groups/soundofgrace >