Manhattan Declaration

I signed the Manhattan Declaration in December but received a letter from them this week. The authors are hoping to collect a million signatures. Here are portions of the letter they have sent out, alerting Christians to this opportunity:

Dear colleague,

Thank you for your support of the Manhattan Declaration.

It is off to an amazing start - over 370,000 signers and growing. And it is indeed historic: Evangelicals, Catholics, Anglicans, and Eastern Orthodox Christians uniting to give common witness to the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage, and religious liberty for all persons.

But we need your help: our goal is one million signatures.

The marketing pros tell us we will never get to a million signatures without expensive advertising. But we want to prove them wrong. And we can: just think if each person who has signed the Declaration were to get just two others to sign. That would be one million people standing arm in arm in defense of the most vital moral truths in our society.

Remember, too, we are not just collecting signatures; we seek a movement of people defending the truth in the public square. We are already witnessing signs of this: Christians in Mobile, Alabama called us 13 days before Christmas to tell us they were planning a large ecumenical gathering for the 23rd of December. I (Chuck Colson) agreed to speak. At 6:00 AM on December 23, 2,000 citizens, led by clergy from all over the city, gathered in a packed hall in the Convention Center for a rousing rally. Seldom have I seen so much excitement in one room - and all of this was accomplished just by word of mouth with only 11 days to organize!

Just ten days ago, Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, Archbishop Wuerl of Washington, DC, Archbishop Dolan of New York and Archbishop Kurtz of Louisville reached out to all of their brother Catholic bishops asking them to spread this document throughout their dioceses and encourage their clergy and faithful to study it and join as signatories.

The Archbishop of Detroit has planned a grassroots effort throughout his archdiocese. The Bishop of Phoenix has already organized a grassroots effort there.

We are also receiving many reports of evangelical gatherings in a number of areas - and many evangelical pastors referring to the Manhattan Declaration in their sermons.

As with any grassroots movement, the strength and energy has to come from the people. We have no staff and limited budget. We're people who care passionately and deeply about life, marriage, and liberty. So here's what we are asking you to do.

1. Pray fervently. Great movements of faith have always spread on the wings of prayer.
2. Know the issues. If you study this Declaration - and a study guide is available on our website - then you can winsomely explain and defend it to your neighbors and friends. The document itself makes a great apologetic defense for these moral truths.
3. Look for resources on this website as we're able to post them, and search the websites of the Christian organizations that offer resources in these three areas. You can see the names of the various leaders who have signed the Declaration and then visit their websites.
4. Of utmost importance, get your own church involved. As pastors preach, the movement will spread. Prayer meetings and Bible studies on the Declaration are being conducted in many churches, which is a great step.

Just think what might happen in our land if one million courageous Christians declared their uncompromising allegiance to Jesus Christ and to biblical faithfulness on some of the most urgent moral issues of our day.

May God give us the strength to do what He is so clearly calling us to do. From our perspective, this is a cause worth giving every last ounce of effort and energy we have.

Dr. Robert George
Dr. Timothy George
Chuck Colson

ManhattanDeclaration.org

Two stories

Gary didn't come to this country to be treated for brain cancer. He came to teach his people here about the love of Jesus but now he's battling cancer. He's walked with Jesus his entire life, leaving grandchildren in his home country to work in the Lord's kingdom here. He and his wife put up with the oddities of our culture for the sake of the lost.

Mike was born in this country but just lost his job and jobs are scarce right now. He's sat at home for two months now, waiting for something to open up. He's depressed and now has refused to join his wife at church. "I'll go back when God gets me a job," he told his wife.

In crisis, we choose our rock.

Gary's had a life of inconveniences but he's clinging to God in this ultimate challenge. Gary's facing death by cancer and he's praying for the nurses who care for him.

Mike blames God for the loss of a job and clings to his own solutions. Somebody will bail him out. If not God, then a boss or a co-worker or maybe a government official.

I want to be angry with Mike and demand that he step up. But Gary has made an impression in my life.

Gary would share the love of Jesus with Mike, would listen to his complaints, would check on him frequently.

I'm going to try to do the same. Because in crisis, we choose our Rock.

Walking

When the image slams me yet again, it's always like a nightmare in roaring intensity and heart-pounding emotions.

The path lies before me, the way scrubbed neatly down to smooth dirt and gently winding through the meadow. But this meadow has been overgrown by weeds. Black jagged leaves hang along the path and determined vines creep along the edges.

As I walk, I hear toothy growls from the thick chaos along the edges, throaty snarls that threaten. I get a flash of a yellow eye, a white fang.

This path seems frightening. I'm like David, who wrote, "Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking; my whole being is shaken with terror." (Psalms 6:2-3)

But I remember, as he remembered, that there are no weeds on the path. No monsters have pierced its walls. When I stay on the path, I feel the warmth of the sun and the sweet scent of blossoms.

David sorted this out, too. He wrote: "The Lord has heard my plea for help; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and shake with terror; they will turn back and suddenly be disgraced." (Psalms 6:9-10)

Our enemies can't enter God's path. We are safe in his presence.

The obvious conclusion: stay on the path.

In difficulty

It was like sweeping water to direct the shy young children onto the platform but the young mother was trying, holding a pre-schooler’s hand while pressing her hand gently against the back of a hesitant little girl.

Once before the crowd, little Julia covered her mouth with her hands while Esther waved at her grandmother. Two little boys bounced shoulder to shoulder as they surveyed the audience. They'd be glad when this difficulty was over.

As the music burst from the little blue CD player on the front pew, the leaders began singing softly, hoping to lure the children into following.

Off to the side, almost hidden by the pew itself, sat the pastor. He was leaning forward, his short square body keeping rhythm with the music.

In spite of a disability, Eduardo found a way to travel 15 miles to this village every Friday where he spent the weekend with his people. Because he couldn’t work, his family lived on his wife’s income. That didn’t include money for transportation.

He, his wife, and two daughters lived in a tiny apartment with little furniture.They slept in hammocks that, during the day hung from large hooks on one wall. At least making the bed was fast.

God provided ways for Eduardo to travel. Eduardo was in town every weekend to counsel, encourage, visit, pray, and conduct two services on Sundays.

Eduardo’s difficulties were only cobwebs to be pushed aside as he poured out what was in his heart: the love and grace of his Lord. He was no victim of circumstance, but an ambassador.

As the children stumbled over the songs that Sunday evening, nervous before the crowd, Eduardo didn’t scowl because they faltered. He understood difficulties. Instead, from the wellspring of his heart, he leaned forward in love and sang to them.

Beggars all

I was looking for gifts for my family back home but I had to walk a gauntlet of beggars first. Lining the sidewalk, they held out bent rusty cups or sometimes a small tray of gum or mashed dolls.

One old woman, shriveled into a tiny mass of wrinkles and dirt, caught my eye. Only the stubs of teeth lined her mouth and she was in rags. In desperation, she shoved a handful of trinkets in front of me. I gave her money.

Beggars are persistent. We’ve had them for centuries, desperate for their next meal and willing to do what it takes to get some help.

When Jesus walked through Jericho on his way to his encounter with Pilate in Jerusalem, he was hailed by a blind beggar. Although the crowd hushed him, the beggar could not be silenced. He was desperate and would not be stopped. He knew his need and he knew where to get help.

Oswald Chambers said, “A pauper does not ask from any other reason than the abject panging condition of his poverty; he is not ashamed to beg.”

Do I ask God for that which eases my life and fills my lusts? Or do I recognize that I am a beggar, desperate for his help?

“We will never receive if we ask with an end in view; if we ask, not out of our poverty but out of our lust,” said Chambers.

The blind beggar asked Jesus for mercy. Jesus gave him sight.

Do I recognize my own spiritual poverty?

Am I desperate for God’s handout?

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

(Matt 5:3)

Stripping off the weight

The question came up not long after I’d bypassed the carrots and broccoli in favor of a fudge brownie and chocolate-dripped donut.

“How do we shut out bad influences so we can stay close to God?” asked a woman seated in the discussion circle.

The group agreed: God can be pushed out of our lives by the day-to-day stuff. We get distracted so that worship and presence are something we treasure on Sundays but can’t seem to grab during the week.

As it generally does, the ideas drifted to media. Wasn’t it disgusting, one woman said, how Oprah has designed her own religion? Wasn’t it awful, said another, what was shown in movies these days?

“This is such a ‘me first’ culture we live in,” said another. “Do we spend as much time with God as we spend relaxing?”

That takes a lot of discipline, the group decided. It’s not so easy.

As I fingered the brownie on my plate, I thought about Solomon, who started well in God’s wisdom and then tailed off. I remembered an ancient writer who said, “let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.” (Heb 12:1)

When I laid off common sugar for awhile, I had new energy. Life looked brighter while I felt healthy and strong.

Solomon chose common wisdom, tailspinning into depression and idolatry.

He could have stripped off every weight that slowed him down. He could have chosen God’s wisdom over alliances and wives.

How do we shut out the bad influences so that we can stay close to God?

For me, I exchanged the chocolate on my plate for fresh veggies. How about you?

Common wisdom

He could still hear the shout of the people and the snap of the colorful banners in the breeze. Although there had been a soft rustle of a crowd, all noise had stopped when he stepped to the altar and made the first burnt offering.

Then the music launched with timbrels and harps. Dancers twirled joyously as the priests brought out their trumpets.

But now, he slept - a deep cushioned rest that nurtured his heart and renewed his body.

And then the Lord spoke: “Ask what you want from me.”

With the emotions of his coronation still pulsing, Solomon asked for wisdom to rule the people God had given him.

God gave him wisdom. And then heaped on riches and power.

Although Solomon made many wise choices, and ratcheted Israel into a powerful nation, he was wooed by common wisdom. He married – out of love for women and love for the influence those wives brought. He negotiated through alliances rather than the sword as his father had. He became one of the wealthiest men the world has ever known.

Common wisdom would say that he was indeed blessed by God.

But common wisdom wooed him like a foreign wife from God’s wisdom.

Solomon started so well. But if he were a racehorse, we could see him on the finish line, distracted by the crowd or the scent of other horses. He did not finish well.

Paul said, “Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win.(1 Cor 9:24)

We are like Solomon, with generous riches ladled over us like a rich chocolate sauce. We walk in God’s kindness moment by moment.

How are we running the race?

Tomorrow: stripping off the weight.

Running the race

Even though Lisa was Miss Clean, the bracelet had to stay. It wasn’t time yet to cut it loose.

The memories still brought tears to her eyes. “It was like heaven,” she said. “The path went up a little hill to the finish line. There were big pillars there.”

The people were cheering and somebody had a foghorn. “You can do this! Keep going! You’re almost there!”

Lisa had finished a two-day fundraising walk, covering a 26-mile course one day and another 13 the next. She collapsed across the finish line in tears of joy for completing a strenuous spring of training before the big event.

“I didn’t think I could do it, really,” Lisa admitted. “All the cheering reminded me of angels. Lots of people waving their hands and cheering as we came across the finish line.”

She held up her wrist with the plastic entry bracelet. “I’m not ready to forget yet.”

Taking a long drink of water, she reflected. “The blisters are about healed up. Did I tell you that I got a heat rash? It’s about gone, too.” She paused for a moment. “What did I learn from this? I think we’re able to do much more than we think we can and we’re better for it. I wasn’t sure I could do this but I still tear up thinking about it.”

Paul talked a lot about races, too. At the end of his life, thinking, he wrote:

“I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.”[1]

For Lisa, the prize was crossing the finish line to the cheers of hundreds. Paul found that prize and even more:

“And now the prize awaits me: the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that great day of his return.”[2]

A race is hard work, but the finish line makes it worthwhile. Keep running.

---

[1] 2 Tim 4:7-8

[2] 2 Tim 4:8

Rock reality

Well-trained with clear eyes, the soldiers from the South surveyed the hillside. They would kill an intruder if they located one – and the little puff of dust had aroused their steely view. What had slid down the hill? They searched intently.

They ignored the boulder at their feet, standing close enough to see there was nothing hiding behind it.

This scene from the movie The Two Towers prickles with suspense for we know what the soldiers do not. The boulder is an illusion. We know that the heroes, Frodo and Sam, are huddled beneath an elvish cape, which is only a cape from the inside. But from the outside, where the soldiers stand, it is a solid rock.

We sit nervously, wondering if the soldiers will spot the deception. Will Frodo and Sam trust the cape or their own legs? Might they give up on the cape’s protection and make a run for it?

They stay and the soldiers shrug their shoulders. Probably a small animal tumbled down the hill. The men return to their battalion and we, along with Frodo and Sam, sigh in relief.

How easy it would have been for Frodo and Sam to trust their own eyes rather than trust the cape. How easy to craft a scheme of escape based on what they could see.

We’re under that cape, too. We see what others see and yet we trust what seems to be impossible. We can’t see from the other side, where the enemy stands.

I am reconciled to God through Christ. It all seems ridiculous. I live in a world where my own plans and schemes are thought to be the only solution. I see the inside of the cape just like those around me.

Are you ever tempted to throw aside the cape and make a run for it? Do you ever shudder as enemy boots stand solidly inches from your toes, ready to kill at a slight flutter? Do you trust the Cape?

From our side, the cape looks like ordinary cloth – unable to protect anything. But from the other side, it’s a rock.

It’s a Rock.

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Eph 6:13

Keep walking

Jamie hugged her books against her chest and threw back her head with determination. She had two minutes to get to Biology class, two minutes to maneuver Jock Alley. She’d tried a lot of different strategies.

Sometimes it worked well to keep her eyes on the floor as she walked. Other times, she followed so closely behind the cheerleaders that she almost blended into their group. But on football game day, they had all been in uniform and her mousy everyday clothes were a sore thumb that drew jeers.

She turned the corner in the locker-lined hallway to see tall, dark-haired, handsome Tommy Fletcher. “Ooooh,” he said in a low coaxing voice. “Here comes the Princess! What elegant clothes today. And that hair!” He howled with a practiced coyote voice. “Sexy! Hot Mama today!”

She got that she was plain. She wasn’t drawn to the high fashions and the latest hairstyle. On she walked.

The howling continued for a few seconds before the boys grabbed their books and walked off with a group laugh.

At least after Biology class was freedom. Jamie could leave this crazy world that squeezed her heart every day and step out into the place where she could breathe, smile, laugh……

She knew it wasn’t just the athletes. At her cousin’s school, the athletes had all gotten saved and were nice. There, it was the drama kids who formed the gauntlet line. Sometimes it was the guys in building trades or the girls in art class.

It wasn’t what they were doing but what they were inside.

The Biology classroom had the faint smell of formaldehyde and Lysol as she settled in. Not much longer and she’d be out of here.

"If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19

Ever feel like a junior high student? Keep walking.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Eph 6:12

Waiting til the fruit is ripe

The baby’s first cry gave fullness of joy but did I forget the pain of pushing? Crossing the finish line brought joy of the victory but did I forget the ache of my lungs and the leaden muscles in my legs?

There were tears of joy as I watched a friend bow before the Lord but did I forget the angry words and broken promises?

Joy is the peach ripe on the tree, rich with flavor and juice. Why would I be content with plucking it green? Silver is pitted and stained if taken too soon.

“What leaves you broken - in the end it makes you better.” Plumb, no stranger to the agony of the heart, told us in her song Better.

A joy-laden tree beckons me closer. I want to grab the fruit and run. But I overlook the race and the pain and the fear. Or I see only the sorrow and the ache and wish to stay in this valley.

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." G. K. Chesterton understood the bitter-sweet tang of perseverance. Do we take the next step even when the pain pushes us back like a stiff wave in the tide?

When the time is ripe, the fruit is sweet and full. No longer does the hurt matter. I reach; I take. All sting is erased as the juice runs down my chin.

Jesus said it so well, as he warned his disciples of his fast-approaching death: there was a resurrection to follow.

“The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you'll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you.”

John 16:22

Cleaning out

I knew things were going to get a little sticky when I uncovered a CD for a printer that I don’t recall owning. Then there was the CD with a black Sharpie question mark label.

What in the world?

It was finals time so to speak. I had popped off the lid to my trusted plastic CD box. I had to deliver the goods just like a test at the end of the semester.

If you recall, my laptop computer crashed last week. After a stubborn time of trying to restore files, I finally moved on. (Did I say stubborn? I meant persistent, of course.)

The hard drive was re-formatted and it was time to re-install my programs. Although nobody accuses me of being well-organized (well, someone did once but that was before they saw my desk), I took some pride on my box as a shred of planning.

Every program CD went into that box. Well, except for the MS Office CD but that’s a whole ‘nother story that I can’t explain. It is somewhere in my office.

I am proud to say that there were no 5 ½ inch floppies in there. Using my system, that’s a miracle.

(Remind me to tell you the story of the Apple IIc that is stored in my son’s room.)

I found programs that won’t run on anything newer than Windows 98. I found programs for pre-schoolers. (Our youngest is 11.) I found a CD from our classical music days.

I haven’t had the time to check out the question-mark CD yet, although there’s the fleeting issue of why I’d save a CD inscribed that way. I’d like to blame this on the kids but they never open the box. I am the computer technician at our house. They just run the programs and don’t mess with the details.

Wonder where they learned that?

There’s a principle swirling in that plastic box. Crisis tends to reveal. What was once hidden becomes public in calamity. It became obvious that I don’t maintain my plastic box. I just toss things in there without seeing what is no longer relevant (or maybe never relevant.)

The past should have been worked through, not allowed to take up space. We grow, just as our computers change. Remember when Windows 95 was the big deal? Remember when our approach to problems was to eat or shop or party?

We need to keep our lives cleaned out. I’m wondering how many question-mark CDs I allow in my heart. And how many irrelevant CDs are taking up space I could be using.

A CD box isn’t the focus of my life, but my walk with the Lord had better not look like my box. I need to be in his presence daily, cleaning out the old and extraneous. I need my walk with my King to be free of garbage.

Paul put it so well:

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

Phil 3:8

I’m cleaning out my box!

Crashing

It was a blow that would have laid me out a few years ago. The anger would have gripped my day like a baby kitten latching onto a pant leg.

My laptop crashed on vacation.

Leisurely days of writing and of Bible study had beckoned on the horizon of our holiday. But it didn’t happened.

Now I face days of rebuilding. I have to re-install programs, locate passwords, download new patches.

My biggest grief was the loss of three years of journaling, my love letters to my Lord.

But I am not David, mourning the loss of a son. I am not Abraham, moving to a land I do not know. I am not Esther, facing possible death depending on king’s mood or Paul sitting in jail depending on the political winds.

God has been good to me. Virtually all my documents were on an external hard drive so I haven’t lost those. And I discovered a back-up of my journals from about 6 months ago, so I haven’t lost all of them. We have another computer at home for internet connections.

While we were gone last week, I opened a notebook and felt drawn to the book of John (more on that later).

I began a new love letter to my Lord and we’ll move forward. His presence, not a laptop, is all I need.

Considering a weed

When it comes to tenacity, it’s hard to beat a weed.

I was pulling the wild things this week, amazed at the depth of their roots and the thickness of the stalk. It’s as if they know winter is coming and time is short.

Their goal is simple: provide for next year. They utilize their resources carefully because no little weeds will be coming in the spring unless they produce seeds.

The harvest is their reason for living.

Usually we consider the weed as an analogy for the persistence of evil, but consider it today as our pattern.

Remember God’s first words to Adam: “Be fruitful and increase in number.” (Gen 1:28)

Are we as determined as that weed? This isn’t just about children but about spiritual increase.

Time is short for those weeds trying to conquer my flowers. They will cling by a tendril of root to life if I let them. They sniff out the pockets of rain and push their way upward to the sun.

The opinion of the flowers doesn’t deter them. (Or for that matter, my opinion!) They aren’t sidetracked by their favorite TV show or a shopping trip. They don’t spend their spare time at the lake or shouting at a baseball team.

They are focused on fruit. Their summer work is the link to the next generation.

I’m not opposed to rest and relaxation. But we’ve made entertainment and personal fulfillment the gods of our generation. What is our goal? Are we concerned for the coming spring or for our own summer? How can we weave fruitfulness into our daily plan?

I know you think this is silly because weeds endure. We fight them but we can’t get them beaten back. They’ll be back next year despite our best efforts. They are frustrating in their resolve, amazing in their concentration.

Isn’t that the point?

“I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.”

Gen. 48:4

The always of joy

Her eyes sparked with anger and we were all too young and wide-eyed to have a response. “God can’t expect us to be joyful all the time. That’s not possible. Do you think a girl who has been raped and beaten is joyful? NO! This can’t be true.”

We were studying Philippians, and had zeroed in on the fourth verse of chapter 4: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Having no answer for her, we slunk home and wondered just what Paul meant, anyway.

Today, I might point her to James. He talked about joy, too, and he coupled it to difficulties: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. (James 1:2)

Why? To develop perseverance. To develop character. To become mature and complete. (See James 1:3-4)

God tests us but he never tempts us. James assures us of that a few verses later (1:13). On the front side, an event can look like either a test or temptation. But God always uses tests to make us better. Temptation comes to tear us down, to pull us into destruction. Our response will either draw us closer to God, or we will push him away.

My goal in following Jesus is to look more and more like him, to become more molded to his character. Any test that helps me grow closer to him and toward maturity is a good thing.

God births maturity in us, often through tests. The pain of childbirth evaporates with that first newborn cry. I can welcome a test, knowing what will emerge at the end: maturity.

Joy is not a happy-happy lack of difficulty. Joy is the awareness of God’s grace maturing me in the midst of difficulties. It is the resting in his presence, knowing his hand is molding me and sculpting me like soft clay. I am always changed by tests. Rejoice always that God intends it for my good.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 12:2