I haven't seen any evidence to smear his character either, or his motives behind the pulpit.
1 Thessalonians 4:6 (KJV)
That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
Right. I did say that. I said it again in the post you quoted. He is running for office. Why is he in South Carolina? We all have logical brains to make the connection. As a preacher running for office, he has to be very careful to be above reproach.
Again, we are not smearing him. We are expressing our opinion in a public forum. I think it was unwise of him to preach while on the political stump. He is campaigning for the Republican nomination of President of the United States. He has made his intent clear.
So where was your drum when people were talking about Hillary and her crying?
(I believe that was staged) but I didn't see you post anything about that...
No matter what kind of invite he had, he shouldn't have preached in a state where he is stumping for POTUS.
Unless his words behind the pulpit reveal a motive other than what he was called there to do he should have done exactly what God called him to do. Unless you can establish that God did absolutely did not call him there to preach on that Sunday. Where I come from when a man preaches a godly message we recognize that as God's doing.
The whole attitude is unwise.
Would he have been in South Carolina preaching the Gospel if he was not running for a political office?
No one is smearing Huckabee's character.
In fact, chances are very good I will vote for him.
You totally miss the point.
You being a pastor, should see it quite clearly.
You do not mix the Holy and unholy.
Again, I'm not looking at motives - only actions and since Huckabee is a candidate for President, we do get to examine his actions.
He is in SC for the purposes of campaigning for political office. I just think it would have been better if he'd left it at that and met the church members at some other venue.
Why is it always assumed his motives are bad?
Why is it hard to assume that just MAYBE he is using his presidential campaign to focus attention on Christ, and THAT is the reason for preaching Sunday?
Would this apply if a Pastor was seen coming out of a crack house every day?
Would think that he was just trying to reach the people in that house, or would you think he might have a problem?
When you're a Pastor you have to be above reproach.
If you're a Pastor running for the office of POTUS, then you have even more to think about.
If I implied that he did this on purpose as a stunt, then I will retract that, but I stand by my statement thaty this shouldn't be done.
Preaching in the State your currently stumping in.
If he had not been running for POTUS would he be in SC preaching?
No one really knows, but that answer would be more than likely no.
I understand this issue of a close one for some people.
Because he is a Pastor doesn't give him a pass when it comes to preceived right and wrong when running for POTUS.
It's just like Hillary's cry.
There are Pastor's on this board that was laughing at the idea of that be real, and yet we're suppose to just turn a blinded eye to this?
No.
Not me..
Tell me why the man cannot be using his celebrity in the state he is campaigning in to bring others to Christ? Why should this be forbidden? Should athletes not use their celebrity in sporting venues to win some to Christ?
You are assuming he preached to garner votes. I'm also putting out there the plausibility that his intentions were to put the focus on Christ USING his campaign in SC. There is a huge difference, IMO.
I find it odd that any Christian would think preaching the Gospel to be "wrong" just because it's done by a presidential candidate.
Praise God that he is obedient no matter the circumstances...
I don't like Huckabee as a candidate and wouldn't vote for him even if he was the last and only candidate in the world, but I was taken aback by the message.
This is going to shock everyone, probably me most of all, but I'm glad Huckabee reminded America of the importance of Christ and irrelevance of our righteousness.
He caused me to think back to the time when I was six years old and crying out to God for salvation in a pew in Clays Mill Road Baptist Church in Lexington.