VIDEO: Bernie Sanders rips into OMB nominee for being a Christian

"This nominee is not what this country is supposed to be about," declares the man who came a rigged primary season away from being the Democrat nominee for president in 2016. Well. Must be quite a horrible nominee. What is the problem with him? Is he a murderer? A thief? A rapist? No. The problem with Russell Vought is that he's a Christian. This is Bernie Sanders's whole problem with him. Now surely, you're thinking, that can't be the whole problem. He must have said or done something horrific in addition to merely being a Christian.

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No. He didn't. He's a Christian and he actually believes the central teaching of Christianity. For this reason, according to Bernie Sanders, he is unfit for the office of deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. That's. The. Whole. Problem. Watch (Below): Now it may be true that Sanders wouldn't have had such a handy line of attack if not for Vought's authorship of this article in The Resurgent. In it, Vought defended the honor of his alma mater, the Christian school Wheaton College, in part by refuting the notion that Christians and Muslims "worship the same God." I've said the same thing many times: I worship the God who sent His Son Jesus Christ to walk amongst us and die for us. If you worship a god who didn't do that, then you don't worship the same God as I do.

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That is a simple matter of theological clarity, and by asserting it, Vought laying out the most central and mainstream of Christian beliefs. If Sanders thinks this belief disqualifies Vought from the office to which President Trump nominated him, then he is saying anyone who actually believes the Christian faith is disqualified from public service. I realize that is a proposition many within the secular left would absolutely embrace, because culturally they think we've arrived at a point where they can impose such a religious test and receive acceptance in the news media (they're probably correct about that) and from the public at large (I don't think so.) Democrats are in the minority on the committee, and within the Senate at large, so assuming Vought is actually qualified for the job he will probably be confirmed. But you can see where this is going. Whenever a person who has expressed belief in the Christian faith is nominated for an office, Democrats will zero in on central tenets of the Christian faith and demand to know if the person in question actually believes this heinous things. Do you really think Muslims are condemned for rejecting Jesus Christ? Do you really think homosexuality is a sin? And if you merely affirm that you believe the same things Christians have believed for nearly 2,000 years, you will be declared a bigot and a hater, and if those who think like Bernie Sanders have sufficient numbers, you will be summarily rejected.

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I will say this: Maybe Vought was advised not to get into it with Sanders, but I would have answered the question somewhat differently. I would have answered it more like this:

Senator, no one is saved or rejected because of the group they belong to, or even because of the sins they've committed. That's not how the grace of Christ works. Jesus Christ died on the cross to cover the sins of everyone who would accept His grace, and offers that grace to every person. There is no one to whom it is unavailable. So if a person chooses to reject that grace and the salvation comes with it, it is not because the person was Muslim or Jewish or whatever else. It is because he or she made that choice freely. And for as long as that person is alive, he or she can still change their hearts and accept the grace of Christ. I pray that all will do so.

That would have been an effective way to turn the question around on Sanders. He seems to think you get accepted or rejected because of the religious group of which you happen to be a part. That is not true. A self-proclaimed Baptist who does not have Christ in his heart will not go to Heaven. And any person who does have Christ in his heart will go to Heaven, regardless of his denominational affiliation or lack thereof. God doesn't condemn anyone for being a Muslim, any more so than He condemns anyone for a singular act of disobedience. Democrats always want to make this about special identity groups, but to God, the only questionn is whether you are willing to repent and live by the grace of Christ. He doesn't care who you are. He cares if you want Jesus. That would have been a more effective defense of the faith. I wish Vought had answered more like that. But having said that, he should never have been in a position to defend his faith in the first place. Sanders and other secular leftists want to establish the idea that you can't serve in the federal government if you believe in biblical Christianity. That notion deserves to be rejected out of hand.

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