Grace happens around us everyday.  Most of the time it goes unnoticed; a student is allowed an extra day to turn in an assignment, a policeman lets a speeding motorist off with just a warning, a judge gives a criminal one more chance to change his ways.

The new “Superman Returns” movie is filled with messianic imagery.  Superman is frequently referred to as “the Son” and his father takes on a godlike stature.  There is a theme of Superman being sent back to earth by “the Father” to save the planet after earth decided it didn’t need a savior.

Watching the movie with my family, I went through a series of thoughts and emotions.  At first I wondered if I should be offended that Superman was trying to pretend to be Christ.  Then I thought of other movies such as “ET” that have followed messianic themes.  For that matter, most movies have heroes who save us from some kind of danger or problem.

Then I remembered Don Richardson’s classic missions book “The Peace Child.”  Richardson was a missionary to cannibalistic tribes in New Guinea.  When he first began sharing the story of Christ and salvation he was discouraged because the values system of the natives was violence and revenge.  They cheered when he told them of Judas.  To the cannibals, Judas was the hero of Christ’s crucifixion.
Then Don Richardson witnessed a conflict between two warring tribes.  In order to stop the bloodshed, one tribe sent the other a baby to be killed.  The opposing tribe sacrificed the baby, called a peace child, and his life saved the lives of many others because the warring stopped. Missionary Richardson immediately began to preach Jesus Christ as the peace child from God.  When the natives understood that Christ had died so they did not have to, they accepted the gospel and were converted.   The eventual result was a transformation of their culture from death and violence to love and forgiveness.

In a subsequent book, “Eternity In Their Hearts,” Richardson documented several dozen other people groups around the world who had similar customs or beliefs.  Many had a messianic story of a savior who would one day appear to their people.  Richardson estimated that over 90% of the people in the world have some kind of redemption story as part of their belief system.
Since his books were published a generation ago, missionaries have penetrated thousands of remote tribes and villages and successfully found and used the redemption story of the people to introduce them to Christ, the Redeemer.

“Superman Returns” is, I believe, only the latest in a long line of redemption stories in American culture.  Whether it’s Superman, Spiderman, or the latest politician promising everything, we each have an intuitive yearning for a savior. 
So I decided I’m not offended by Superman or Hollywood.  God created us with eternity in our hearts.  We access that eternity through Jesus Christ the Redeemer.

The Church at Pierce Creek, in upstate New York , teaches that abortion is wrong. The pastor and many of the church’s members have worked to stop the killing of the unborn. The church felt so strongly that abortion was wrong, it placed an ad in the newspaper urging Christians not to vote for Bill Clinton in the 1992 election because he favored abortion.

The Internal Revenue Service prosecuted the church and the pastor. Eventually the church’s tax exempt status was revoked for a time and the church was forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend itself.

America is known throughout the world as a country where its citizens are free to speak their beliefs. How is that churches are restricted in their freedom of speech? This restriction includes sermons by pastors.

Just before the 2004 election, Pastor George Regas of the All Saints Church in Pasadena , CA gave a sermon in which he staged a mock debate between Jesus and the two presidential candidates, George W. Bush and John Kerry. His insinuation was that Jesus would agree with Kerry’s stand on the Iraq war and disagree with Bush’s position. The IRS is investigating the church and the pastor.

While I may disagree with the pastor’s conclusions, I strongly believe he has the right to preach whatever he wants from his pulpit. The government should not be able to eavesdrop and censor the speech of churches in the United States of America . To his credit, Pastor Regas has refused to turn over his notes and tapes from the Sunday address.

It all started in 1954 when the then-Senator Lyndon Johnson offered a floor amendment placing a ban on political speech by tax exempt organizations. Since that time, churches and other tax exempt entities have been forbidden to participate in political campaigns. The problem with that prohibition is that most political campaigns contain moral issues. In the two instances just cited, war and abortion are moral as well as political issues. We, as the church, have a biblical obligation to speak out on these topics.

U.S. Senator James Inhofe has introduced a bill to stop this government intrusion into freedom of speech and freedom of religion. It’s called the Religious Freedom Act of 2006 (S.3957) and it would effectively repeal the Johnson Amendment. I have sent emails to Senators Inhofe and Coburn as well as our U.S. Congressman Dan Boren supporting this legislation.

Having traveled and preached in communist countries, I have seen first hand the oppression and intimidation toward churches that can come when the state exercises censorship over the church. This legislation is an important step in keeping the pulpits in America from becoming like the pulpits in China and Cuba .

If you’d like to join me in urging passage of the Religious Freedom Act of 2006, here’s the contact information; Senator James M. Inhofe – inhofe.senate.gov, Senator Tom Coburn – coburn.senate.gov, Congressman Dan Boren – house.gov/boren.

Hope the IRS isn’t reading this column.

I don’t believe it. Congressman Mark Foley was caught sending pornographic emails to a 16 year old male page. Foley resigned. Then he said he was an alcoholic and checked himself into rehab, though no one apparently has seen him drink.

Then he said he was molested by a Catholic priest when he was a teenager. The first day the excuse came out the news sources reported it as “the congressman claims.” By the second day of the news cycle, ABC reported it as fact; “Foley was molested by a Catholic priest.”

I’m sorry, I don’t believe it. Perhaps I should believe it because, as a pastor, I have counseled with dozens of victims of abuse. I know the intense pain caused by sexual predators. It’s real and it’s evil. But in this case, the whole thing stinks of just another case of passing the blame.

We Americans have taken victimization to new heights. Even the most heinous criminals are excused because of a troubled childhood. Understanding the environmental factors that influence behavior is a legitimate area of scientific research. Using those findings to excuse sin is both unbiblical and unwise.

The Biblical Principle is clearly stated in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned.” The Apostle John adds that anyone who claims he has not sinned is deceived (1 John 1:8).

But the larger issue is again lost in the salacious details. Our nation has embraced pornography as a normal part of life. The statistics are truly staggering. There are now over four million pornographic websites. The porn industry rakes in $14 billion a year. 15% of those who view porn on the internet will develop sexually deviant problems. The largest group of internet porn viewers is 12-17 years of age.

For years we’ve been told that pornography is a victimless crime. So when a victim, like this 16 year old congressional page appears, the pro-porn media simply ignore the obvious.

Our country must do something about this epidemic. Congress outlawed internet pornography in 1996. President Clinton signed the bill. The Supreme Court at that time ruled it unconstitutional.

We now have some new justices on the court and Congress needs to revisit this issue. It will be much harder to address now because $14 billion can buy a lot of lobbyists and make a lot of campaign contributions. If we don’t stop this epidemic, it will continue to get worse. How many children have to be victimized before we finally put a stop to this “victimless” crime?

Congressman Foley doesn’t blame pornography, or his own sin nature. Instead he blames the Catholic Church. I’m sorry, I just don’t believe it.