It is simple: good people don’t commit murder. Murderers do!  Multiple mass shootings over the last few years, and especially recently, have caused a great sense of frustration among citizens, yet the only message coming from some politicians is about reducing the number of guns in society. They never address the fundamental issue which is that guns in the hands of good people never cause a problem, and in fact often save lives. Yet law abiding citizens are always the target of Leftists’ gun control laws.

Americans have always had an abundance of firearms. Guns are not the problem. People willing to commit violent crimes is! The problem of mass shootings in America will not be corrected with changes in the laws, but rather with changes in hearts.

The multiple shootings of young people which have occurred over the last few years are worse than tragic. But sadly, they are the logical consequence of a society in denial regarding mankind’s sinfulness and in rejection of God’s authority. From the first murder recorded in Genesis 4 to the recent rampage on the campus of Michigan State University, every one of these killings is a direct assault upon God the Creator and a rejection of His command not to commit murder.

It is irrational to think that we can pick and choose which of God’s commandments we obey and which we flout.  Why would we expect young people to selectively obey God’s 6th commandment when we collectively scorn them all?  Why should young people listen to anything our leaders say when those leaders lie, cheat, steal, and advocate for the killing of the unborn and euthanasia for the elderly? The left has ridiculed America’s founders, the Bible, God, and everyone who promotes historic Judeo-Christian virtues. They then wring their hands in faux dismay when people violate those same virtues. C.S. Lewis got it right when he wrote, “We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”

We could expand on his point: We deny truth exists yet get angry when people lie. We mock integrity and are overwhelmed by crime. We say “follow your heart” but are then appalled by people’s selfishness. We scorn God and are surprised by the violence and chaos of a godless society.

Do the Leftists who promote expanded drug use, defunding the police, removing God and the Bible from culture, who trash America’s history and replace science with woke nonsense, not understand what they are doing? Are they well-intentioned but mistaken? Sadly, no!  They know exactly what they are doing and why! Their goal is not a better culture with healthier, happier citizens but rather a godless society that becomes so chaotic the citizens plead with them to take control and bring order even if it means totalitarianism.

But we know better because we know God, we love the truth, and we understand how it all ends! Psalm 2 addresses leaders and citizens who think they can free themselves from God’s principles and cast off his sovereign lordship, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: The Lord shall have them in derision. . . .” And ultimately, He will “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

We who love God do not fight this battle with the weapons of men, but with truth. While battles rage on, the ultimate victory has already been won. Jesus Christ won it over 2000 years ago with his death on the cross, and His resurrection!

It would be quite humorous, if it weren’t so ironic, to witness Leftists, who hold such power in American culture, pose as martyrs claiming to “speak truth to power!”  No, at the moment it is Christians, who are the butt of comedians’ late-night jokes, who are mocked and scorned on every hand, who are sued for living their convictions, who are speaking “truth to power.”  Every forum of public discourse and power is dominated by the left.  Government, education, the Media, Arts, Hollywood, Big Tech, business associations and more are firmly controlled by Leftists.  It is a testimony to the power of truth that these Leftist powerbrokers are doing everything they can to silence the few dissenting voices that remain, even as those voices have virtually no cultural power!  It may also be evidence that these Leftists know, in spite of their protestations otherwise, that truth is not on their side!

What are we who love and proclaim truth to do?  We must not yield an inch.  We must make no apology for the truth.  We must shun the methods of the Left.  We must live and act with grace. Scriptures are not merely poetic when they proclaim, “the righteous are bold as a lion,” but “the wicked flee when no one pursues,” (Prov. 28:1).

Jesus Christ told His disciples that they are “the salt of the earth.”  Salt has many beneficial uses, one of which is to inhibit decay.  No one can deny that America is in the state of moral decay pushed by the Left.  However, because of our resistance to this decay, we are hated.  Our presence, words, and actions are irritants and even obstacles to the decadence being promoted by influential God-hating Americans.  In contrast to the “men without chests” being created by the Left, Christians reflect the eternal principles and authority of the God who has redeemed us.  So, if we are to inhibit the decay of our culture, in practical terms, how are we to do that?  We cannot change people’s hearts.  God, alone, does that work.  But we can and must proclaim the message of the Gospel and live so as to represent Christ well.  The Apostle Paul told his young protégé, Timothy, to “. . .reprove, rebuke and exhort. . . .” all who would hear him.  These things do not make a person popular, but they do make him faithful and most effective in confronting the decay that is the ongoing result of Adam’s sin.

If you are a born-again Christian, you, too are “the salt of the earth” and have the grave responsibility to oppose the direction of our culture.  You cannot shrug it off as belonging to someone else.  The immorality, violence, and victimization of children we are witnessing is not an accident but the intentional repudiation of God, the Bible, and righteousness, and God has called no one to be spectators of the conflict!  We all have a high calling on our life!  You can’t afford to sit this out.

The confused and addicted all around us do not need “support” or agreement from us to be happy. They will only be happy when they come to agreement with God, repent of their sin, and trust His grace and forgiveness.

This is truly the message of hope every person on earth needs!

Reports on the internet and social media of infertility problems and changes in women’s menstruation abound. Popstar Nicki Minaj has recently stated her hesitancy with the vaccine due to an anecdotal story about a friend of her cousin who suffered impotency following the vaccine. Leftists who usually celebrate Minaj’s debauchery now view her as a social pariah as she questions the vaccine’s safety. However, her acquaintance is not the only individual reporting reproductive issues, making her questions valid.

Reports from women experiencing menstruation changes following receiving the vaccine are growing. In the United Kingdom, there have now been over 30,000 women reporting changes to their menstrual cycles. These changes include extreme bleeding, pain, and skipping cycles. As reports spread through the U.K. and the U.S., some young women are concerned that the vaccines could affect their reproductive ability.

Despite these reasonable concerns, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and their mainstream media sycophants have dismissed any possibility of reproductive or menstruation problems occurring following the vaccines. However, as the CDC publicly dismisses claims, the National Institute of Health (NIH) awarded $1.67 million to five institutions to research links between the coronavirus vaccines and changes in women’s menstruation. The NIH announced on August 30th that researchers with Michigan State University, Boston University, Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, and Oregon Health and Science University, in coordination with NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health, would research reported menstruation problems in vaccinated women.

Reports of vaccine side effects are made to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a reporting site co-managed by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, numerous problems exist within the system. Healthcare providers are only required to report side effects if they are listed by the manufacturer or appear on the VAERS Table of Reportable Events Following Vaccinations.

Unfortunately, there is no list on the Table that refers directly to any of the COVID vaccinations. Nor are menstruation or reproductive issues recognized as a side effect by manufacturers.

There is a list for “New Vaccines,” which specifies required adverse reactions to report. Those reactions include: shoulder injuries following the vaccine, vasovagal syncope (fainting) within seven days of inoculation, any acute complication including death, or any side effect listed in the manufacturer’s insert information. There is no indication that healthcare workers are required to report possible links to changes in menstruation or reproductive health.

The CDC claims that “VAERS is not designed to determine if a vaccine caused a health problem,” asserting that a determination of that sort is not the purpose of the site. Rather, they claim their main objective is to “assess the safety of newly licensed vaccines.”

How can the CDC claim a vaccine is not causing women’s reproductive issues if VAERS cannot determine health problems? If they cannot determine if a vaccine has caused a health issue, how can they assess the safety of vaccines? Women should demand answers to these serious questions.

Another issue with VAERS is that many physicians say it is a complex reporting process that is time-consuming. Doctors have objected to filling out the report in the past, and even the CDC has recognized its limitations. In the CDC’s Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases, the authors state that:

“A survey was conducted in 2005 to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices among healthcare providers about reporting to VAERS. Data indicated that although 71% of respondents were familiar with VAERS, only 17% said they were very familiar with it. Approximately 37% of healthcare providers had identified at least one adverse event after immunization, but only 17% stated that they had ever reported to VAERS.”  

Drastic underreporting limits our knowledge of the type of side effects the COVID vaccine is causing. Taking these factors into consideration, it is highly likely that few doctors actually report the impact of the vaccine on menstruation and reproduction.

Although the NIH is investigating the possibility of problems with women’s menstruation following the vaccine, other medical agencies are charging ahead with vaccine approval. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is urging FDA approval of vaccines for children under the age of 12. Not only are they recommending approval, but Pfizer has now claimed that the vaccines are safe for ages 5-11 when reduced to one-third the standard adult dosage. If adults are potentially experiencing reproductive and menstruation issues due to the vaccine, the question remains: how will it affect children’s reproductive development?

This ramrod, rushed dispersion of the COVID vaccines without resources to report adverse effects is complete lunacy. Reported side effects are essentially ignored. When confirmed, manufacturers quietly add side effects to the manufactures’ list without any public notification. Pfizer recently added myocarditis risks to their growing list of side effects. Will manufacturers do the same if it is determined that menstruation and reproductive problems are linked to their product? If given to young children, could side effects lead to sterility in these children? There are more questions than answers currently, and the federal government prefers avoiding any scrutiny.

However, it may be possible that the CDC, FDA, NIH, and vaccine manufacturers will have to answer questions. Project Veritas recently released a video from Jodi O’Malley, a registered nurse employed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Arizona. O’Malley recorded herself speaking with fellow employees, including an emergency room doctor, who felt the federal government was not adequately tracking side effects from the COVID vaccines. The medical staff lamented that they had seen numerous people suffering from side effects. O’Malley forwarded the video to Project Veritas and has become a whistleblower to report on the federal government’s failures related to the vaccines’ adverse reactions. The failure of the government to report on side effects may mean vaccine related-problems with reproductive health and menstruation could be widespread. Perhaps if more whistleblowers come forward, the public will finally be made aware of existing adverse reactions.

If you are concerned about the lack of data collected and the lack of informed consent regarding the side effects of the COVID vaccine, please contact your U.S. Representative and ask him/her to force the CDC and the FDA to collect and publicly report all side effects of vaccines. If you feel you have suffered any type of side effect from the COVID vaccine, you can report the issue to the CDC HERE.

Written by Walter E. Williams

The Michigan State University administration pressured professor Stephen Hsu to resign from his position as vice president of research and innovation because he touted research that found police are not more likely to shoot black Americans. The study found: “The race of a police officer did not predict the race of the citizen shot. In other words, black officers were just as likely to shoot black citizens as white officers were.” For political reasons, the authors of the study sought its retraction.

The U.S. Department of Education warned UCLA that it may impose fines for improperly and abusively targeting white professor Lt. Col. W. Ajax Peris for disciplinary action over his use of the n-word while reading to his class Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that contained the expressions “when your first name becomes “n——r,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are). Referring to white civil rights activists King wrote, “They have languished in filthy, roach-infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as ‘dirty n——r-lovers.'”

Boston University is considering changing the name of its mascot Rhett because of his link to “Gone with the Wind.” Almost 4,000 Rutgers University students signed a petition to rename campus buildings Hardenbergh Hall, Frelinghuysen Hall and Milledoler Hall because these men were slave owners. University of Arkansas students petitioned to remove a statue of J. William Fulbright because he was a segregationist who opposed the Brown v. Board of Education that ruled against school segregation.

The suppression of free speech and ideas by the elite is nothing new. It has a long ugly history. Galileo Galilei was a 17th-century Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes called “father of modern physics.” The Catholic Church and other scientists of his day believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. Galileo offered evidence that the Earth traveled around the sun — heliocentrism. That made him “vehemently suspect of heresy” and was forced to recant and sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition and was later commuted to house arrest for the rest of his life.

Much of today’s totalitarianism, promotion of hate and not to mention outright stupidity, has its roots on college campuses. Sources that report on some of the more egregious forms of the abandonment of free inquiry, hate and stupidity at our colleges are: College Reform and College Fix.

Prof. William S. Penn, who was a Distinguished Faculty Award recipient at Michigan State University in 2003, and a two-time winner of the prestigious Stephen Crane Prize for Fiction, explained to his students, “This country still is full of closet racists.” He said: “Republicans are not a majority in this country anymore. They are a bunch of dead white people. Or dying white people.”

The public has recently been treated to the term — white privilege. Colleges have long held courses and seminars on “whiteness.” One college even has a course titled “Abolition of Whiteness.” According to some academic intellectuals, whites enjoy advantages that nonwhites do not. They earn higher income and reside in better housing, and their children go to better schools and achieve more. Based on that idea, Asian Americans have more white privilege than white people. And, on a personal note, my daughter has more white privilege than probably 95% of white Americans.

As George Orwell said, “Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.” If the stupid ideas of academic intellectuals remained on college campuses and did not infect the rest of society, they might be a source of entertainment — much like a circus.

Never in our lifetimes has America been so divided, and we are in danger of tearing ourselves at the seams. What’s more, it looks like things will only get worse — much worse — in the days ahead.

An article on the Study Finds website states that, “It may not be so hard to believe during this murky political landscape, but a new study finds the divide between Democrats and Republicans is the worst it’s ever been, more so than many people may even think.

“The research, conducted by Zachary Neal, an associate professor of psychology and global urban studies at Michigan State University, is among the first to measure polarization not only by examining the frequency of parties working together, but also by demonstrating how they’ve grown more distant than any other time in modern history.”

With the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh, followed by the midterm elections, that polarization will only increase in the days ahead. That, in turn, will lead to the stiffening of each opposition position, as the left attacks the right and the right attacks the left, confirming each side’s worst suspicions about the other: “You are even worse than I thought you were!”

The pro-life movement will be freshly energized with another conservative jurist on the Supreme Court and with a pro-life president at the helm. The pro-abortion movement will be freshly energized as well — not to mention utterly outraged — launching an all-out assault on conservatives and pro-lifers. And this is just one aspect of today’s massive cultural and political divide.

Politically Polarized

According to Prof. Neal, “What I’ve found is that polarization has been steadily getting worse since the early 1970s. Today, we’ve hit the ceiling on polarization.”

The early 1970s reflected the turbulence of the counterculture revolution, a time of massive division between the young and the old in America.

The older generation was shouting, “America, love it or leave it!” The younger generation responded by raising two fingers for the peace sign, saying, “Make love, not war!”

Since then, those divisions have worked themselves out along sociological lines more than generational lines. And over the decades, the lines have been drawn more clearly.

More recently, President Obama had a chance to be a unifying leader as our nation’s first black president. Unfortunately, he often chose the way of identity politics, thereby enflaming a spirit of division in our midst.

President Trump, by appealing to the dissatisfied state of many Americans, has rallied tens of millions. But in so doing, he has poured salt in our festering wounds, deepening rather than bridging those divides.

As for Congress, it is totally split along party lines. This is the least likely group in America to bring unity, at least for the moment.

As for the media, there’s hardly anything even close to the middle. Left has gone farther left and right has gone farther right.

As for the Church, we seem as divided as the rest of the society and hardly more civil.

Who, then, can bring healing to our nation’s wounds? Who can be peacemakers rather than troublemakers?

Christians, Let’s Lead the Way

I’ve argued in the past that followers of Jesus are uniquely equipped to lead the way, given our emphasis on the message of redemption (see here and here).

But let’s be real. Most Bible-based followers of Jesus hold to strongly conservative moral and social views.

By and large, we are strongly pro-life. We are strongly pro-family (starting with marriage as God intended it, namely one man and one woman). We oppose LGBT activism. And we are not about to change, since these beliefs are sacred to us.

How, then, can we bring healing when we are part of the division?

I, for one, don’t plan to compromise a single one of my convictions, nor am I expecting LGBT activists or pro-abortionists to simply abandon their cause.

And I do not believe that the solution for our country is for everyone to meet in the middle, where we’ll live happily ever after.

But what I am saying is this. Very few people thrive on hostility and anger. Most of us would prefer to get along with our co-workers and neighbors and family members. So, why don’t we take the initiative to be peacemakers and bridge builders and reach out to our ideological opponents?

You could start a conversation by saying, “Look, we’re poles apart politically and culturally, but we don’t have to fight and be nasty. Would you mind telling me a little bit about yourself? About your family? I’d like to get to you know as a fellow human being and not just as a supporter of Hillary Clinton (or Donald Trump) or an opponent of Brett Kavanaugh.

“Maybe we could be friendly co-workers (or neighbors) despite our differences. After all, just because we have such strong differences doesn’t mean we have to hate each other. And if I can help you in any way, I’m here.”

Let’s Build Bridges

Not everyone will accept our offer. Some will hate us simply because we hold passionately to our views. Others will reject us all the more. The better they get to know us, the more they will despise us.

But bridges can be built, like the bridge built between myself and the gay rabbi who performed my mother’s funeral.

There was also a bridge built between leaders in my home congregation and the gay man (and his partner) who led a protest against us.

What we have to remember is that behind the position there is a person, and we might have much more in common with the person than with their position. Along with that, the heart of the gospel is the message of reconciliation. That includes both the reconciliation of people to God along with the reconciliation of people to people.

So, while we pray for a massive national awakening and while we ask God to have mercy on our land, let’s build some bridges along the way. When the fissures are this deep, every little bit helps.

This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.com