In 1 Corinthians 13—the famous Love Chapter—the Apostle Paul tells us many things about what love is, what it does, and what it doesn’t do.

Most of us love our families deeply. We would do virtually anything for our spouse and children. Yet, when I compare the love I have for my family to Paul’s description of perfect love in 1 Corinthians 13, I’m reminded of how faulty my love is on a day-to-day basis.

I’m sure you can relate.

We want to love our families well, but we’re fallen, sinful creatures. Our sin nature gets in the way of loving others the way we should.

During a recent reading of that passage, my attention was drawn to one of the many positive adjectives Paul uses to describe love—one that I sometimes find myself struggling with. (Never mind which one; if you don’t struggle with this one, I know you struggle with one of your own!)

Since then, it’s come back to mind several times. I want to live up to the standard Paul describes, but the truth is, I often don’t. I fail. We all do. We’re fallen human beings and we fall short of the mark every single day.

Whenever we respond to our families with impatience, envy, pride, selfishness, unkindness, or a quick temper, we’re not acting in love. We’re missing the mark.

I was thinking about these issues recently, and it occurred to me that our families occupy a unique position in our lives. Because we love them so much, they receive the best of us. No other people in my life get the love, attention, and sacrifice my family receives.

That’s wonderful, isn’t it?

But on the flip side, because our families are so close to us and see so much of us, they also witness the worst of who we are. No one sees me in my weakest, most unloving moments the way my family does.

That hurts.

If you’re like me, you hate the downside of that equation. I hate it that I’ve ever said an unkind word to my wife. I hate it that I’ve ever been quick-tempered with my children.

I wish I could love my family perfectly. But the truth is, I’ll never be able to love them with the faultless love described in 1 Corinthians 13.

That, after all, is what the Love Chapter is: a portrayal of the pinnacle of godly love. As such, it’s unattainable by those of us corrupted by sin. Try as we might, we’ll never reach the summit while we’re on this earth. Only God can love that perfectly, that completely.

What I can do, however, is ask God to help me love my family (and others) better. I can look at the areas I fail to measure up and ask for His forgiveness. Then I can ask for His help, grace, and strength to love better in the future.

How about you? What areas do you struggle the most in meeting the Biblical definition of love as found in 1 Corinthians 13? Is it acting with selfishness? Are you impatient? Do you have a quick temper? One of the helpful things about this chapter is the way it can serve as a diagnostic tool in identifying our problem areas. If Paul says love is one thing and you find yourself acting with something else, you know you have room to grow!

Take those problem areas to God. Repent where needed. Sincerely ask for His help. The God who identifies so closely with love that He says He is love is waiting to help us love others more perfectly, more completely, more selflessly.

In fact, I suspect that’s a prayer He loves to answer.

Last year, the Secretary of State’s office at the Illinois Capitol in Springfield allowed the Satanic Temple in Chicago to display a monument, which was placed next to the Christmas Nativity scene and the Jewish Menorah to mark Hanukkah. With approval from the Secretary of State again this year, the Satanic Temple has erected their offensive monument. The monument depicts the forearm of Eve holding an apple, with a snake coiled around it.

As a Christian pastor, I can’t help but think this is another ploy from the enemy to get the attention off of Jesus and onto himself. Satan has always wanted to be “like God.” It was this prideful arrogance that cost him to be thrown out of heaven, awaiting his demise. If there’s a display in the Illinois State Rotunda that points to Jesus, of course Satan would  counter it because he is the Great Counterfeiter.  Satan’s aim is to draw away our devotion to Jesus. For every good thing God has, Satan has a counterfeit.

This isn’t the first time Satan has tried to counterfeit God. When God brought plagues upon Egypt, Pharaoh’s sorcerers tried to duplicate what God did. Exodus 7:10 says, “So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.”

While the Bible talks about having sound doctrine (2 Timothy 1:13), Satan has a doctrine of his own to confuse and distort us (1 Timothy 4:1). Jesus resurrected from the dead (Matthew 28:6), Satan will confuse many by “raising” the anti-Christ from the “dead” (Revelation 13:3). Jesus is called the Light of the World (John 8:12), and Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

When Elijah was facing off the prophets of Baal, they tried to come up against the God of Israel, but completely failed. In fact, 1 King 18:26 says, “And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.”

His days are short and he knows it.

So, how are we to respond to this deception in our Capitol? First, we need to pray for those who are deceived and whose eyes have been blinded.

As the prophets of Baal heard nothing from their “god”, the hope of those who follow the god of this age is deeply rooted in lies and deception. As the prophets of Baal heard no voice with no one answering them, today’s followers too have no hope, no peace and certainly no future. They desperately need the Prince of Peace. They need the greatest Hope this world has ever known: Jesus. Let’s commit to praying this week for those who are incredibly deceived from the greatest counterfeiter, Satan.

Secondly, we need to let our elected officials know that the celebration of Satan, the author of wickedness, death and destruction, is unacceptable. Honoring the adversary of humanity with a platform in our Capitol Rotunda is absolutely repugnant.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to contact your state lawmakers and Secretary of State Jesse White’s office to let them know how offensive this vile display is.  You can also call the Secretary White’s office at (217) 782-2201.

Make a decision to stand for Jesus.

IFI depends on the support of Christians like you. Donate now

-and, please-

Next time you hear some arch-defender of the a-constitutional “wall” of separation between the church and state whose knickers are in a twist because a school allows ten seconds of silence during which students may pray, remember this story, reported last summer by the Chicago Tribune:

Students at a Chicago high school were led into a room with shades drawn and door windows papered over, lit only with candles and scented by incense. They were handed flowers and told to pay attention to instructors, according to one student’s account.

Jade Thomas, an incoming sophomore at Bogan Computer Technical High School, said instructors “chanted in a foreign language” and “threw rice, seasonings and oranges in a pan in front of a picture of a man.” She described the ritual, which she said involved a “secret mantra,” to a rapt audience at a Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday.

At one point, Jade said, “they tell us to place the flowers in the pan with everything else, and they ended the song. I felt uncomfortable because I didn’t know what they were saying or who the man was in the picture.”

Jade Thomas’ discomfort was entirely warranted. The program to which she was objecting is called Quiet Time, a euphemistic name that conceals from parents that it’s the practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM), which is Hinduism repackaged (and trademarked) for Western audiences.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, disciple of Guru Dev (aka Swami Brahmananda Saraswati), repackaged Hinduism—which emerged from the ancient religious Vedic tradition—in a form more acceptable to western minds and brought it to American hippies in the 1960s and 1970s. While disciples of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi publicly (and deceitfully) claim that TM is solely a scientific method of relieving stress, they conveniently omit the religious dimensions of the program and practice.

The Chicago Board of Education is colluding with the University of Chicago Urban Labs, which is, in turn, partnering with Hollywood director and long-time Transcendental Meditator David Lynch to experiment on Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students.  They hope to determine whether introducing students secretly to Hindu religious practices can “help youth reduce their toxic stress, succeed in school and stay safe.”

The Quiet Time website includes this claim:

Transcendental Meditation, the core intervention of the Quiet Time Program. … does not involve any religion [or] philosophy.”

“Does not involve any religion”? Lol. You be the judge of that claim. As a former TMer married to a former TM teacher, I’ve already judged that claim.

Decades ago when I became a TMer and my husband a TM teacher, mantras—the secret word repeated soundlessly during meditation—were assigned during the “initiation” ceremony that Jade Bogan described, which is called a puja. Initiates were asked to bring a piece of fruit, a new handkerchief, and flowers to the ceremony which was conducted in a darkened, incense-filled room in front of a de facto altar. The TM teacher would then begin the ceremony which was conducted in Sanskrit, so the initiate had no idea what was being spoken. Much later after studying in Spain with Maharishi and becoming a TM teacher, my husband learned the Sanskrit words spoken during the ceremony:

To LORD NARAYANA, to lotus-born BRAHMA the Creator to…GOVINDA, ruler among the yogis…to SHANKARACHARYA the redeemer, hailed as KRISHNA and BADARAYANA, to the commentator of the BRAHMA SUTRAS I bow down. To the glory of the LORD I bow down again and again, at whose door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night…GURU [Dev] in the glory of BRAHMA, GURU in the glory of the great LORD SHIVA, GURU in the glory of the personified transcendental fullness of BRAHMAN, to Him, to SHRI GURU DEV adorned with glory, I bow down…with Brahman ever dwelling in the lotus of my heart…to That [Brahman], in the form of Guru Dev, I bow down.

At various points during the ceremony, the teacher would pause and ask the initiate for one of the gifts they were asked to bring which the teacher would then place on the altar, thus making the initiate an unwitting participant in a distinctly religious ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, initiates were given their mantras, which, as it turns out, are the names of Hindu gods.

Initiates were prohibited from telling anyone their secret mantras, which I eventually learned were chosen according to the initiate’s age. My mantra was pronounced “ah-ing” and is intended to honor the Hindu goddess of Saraswati.

So, does that sound like it “does not involve any religion”?

As to the claim that TM involves no philosophy, ask any long-time meditator about transcendental consciousness, cosmic consciousness, unity consciousness, god consciousness, and sidhis. If you have the patience to slog through Maharishi’s thicket of religious/philosophical dogma, click here.

David Lynch created the David Lynch Foundation, which then created the Center for Wellness and Education in order to promote TM by renaming it Quiet Time. Unfortunately, CPS is not the only school district introducing children to the ancient Vedic practice of TM.

TMers continually cite positive effects. They even take credit for civil conflict ending, claiming that any place where at least 1 percent of the population is meditating, peace ensues. Maharishi claimed that,

the nature of life is to grow. Ninety-nine people can violate their own nature to grow and maybe weave around non-growth. One man, having a desire to evolve, having a desire to progress, having a desire to grow, by nature, he’ll take up Transcendental Meditation. On that basis, he will start producing a harmonious influence around him. Without knowing how he does it, without knowing the mechanics of how the radiations go from a more orderly mind to influence the less orderly minds around him, without knowing it, invariably he’ll be producing a harmonious influence in the whole society. Then the whole society will find a trend in the direction of evolution.

Here are two questions that Chicago Board of Education members should be asked:

1.) If it is legal and appropriate for public schools to promote and teach ancient Vedic/Hindu meditative prayer practices, is it legal and appropriate for schools to promote and teach Muslim prayer practices, Kabbalistic meditative practices, and Christian prayer practices?

2.) If the possibility of a reduction of problematic behaviors justifies the formal implementation of Hindu religious practice in public schools, will public schools now permit the implementation of other religious practices in order to determine their efficacy in positively affecting school climate?

For years, the TM organization has been plagued by myriad criticisms for deception like its failure to acknowledge its religious nature or promises of superpowers (sidhis) like Yogic flying. Over 40 years ago, Maharishi told his disciples that by attending longer residential courses during which attendees would meditate for extended periods of time and receive additional magic words (i.e., sutras), they would start levitating and shortly thereafter flying. Of course, the TM organization profited from these longer courses.

Well, here we are decades later and to my knowledge, no TMer is flying. You can find amusing videos online of TMers still “hopping.” Well, you can find videos of hale and hearty men “hopping” whilst huffing and puffing. I’ve yet to see a video of a frail elderly woman “hopping.”

There are also criticisms of the studies the TM organization touts regarding its efficacy as well as more serious concerns about potential risks to mental health. For more information about TM from a former meditator, click HERE.

In the interest of parental rights and transparency, I hope CPS administrators in schools that are teaching ancient Vedic meditative techniques will reveal to every parent the criticisms of Transcendental Meditation leveled by many.

In the interest of intellectual consistency, I hope those virulent opponents of 10 seconds of silence in public schools during which students may pray (but are not taught prayer practices) will direct their virulence to schools that teach repackaged Hinduism to students.

And in the interest of fiscal transparency and accountability, I hope some public watch dogs will find out if any local, state, and/or federal money is lining the pockets of the David Lynch Foundation.

Here’s more on TM:

Transcendental Meditation in the New Millennium (Part One)

Transcendental Meditation in the New Millennium (Part Two)

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Transcendental-Meditation-and-CPS.mp3

Subscribe to the IFI YouTube channel
and never miss a video report or special feature!

Written by Jerry Newcombe

There are valuable lessons to be learned from the first Thanksgiving but the first grade class of Stone Bank Elementary School in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin won’t be learning them. Even though no one had complained, school administrators sent the following message to disappointed parents, “Out of respect for Native Americans, and the sensitivity of this time in our history, we are not going to reenact the first Thanksgiving story.”

The ingratitude of political correctness strikes again. They could learn a thing or two about the importance of Thanksgiving, not only in our nation’s history but in our daily lives.

The first Thanksgiving was actually a beautiful three-day celebration by the Pilgrims with their new friends, the Native-Americans—with whom they made a long-lasting treaty of peace. At harvest time 1621, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, this festival was a wonderful example of people of different cultures sitting down together and breaking bread. And they gave thanks to God, who made it all possible.

Rev. Billy Falling, author of My Cherokee Roots, is grateful for people like the Pilgrims. In an interview for Christian television, he told me, “As a Native-American, I thank God for the Europeans that brought us the Gospel and brought us Western Civilization.”

Falling observes, “Native-Americans were just as pagan as the rest of the world. They practiced cannibalism, they practiced devil worship, they practiced slavery, they practiced polygamy, they practiced all the sins of the flesh that the rest of the world practiced….they needed God just like the rest of the world.”

He adds, “It’s hard today to find a sweat [lodge] where you can go as a Native-American and go inside and smoke out your sins, but it’s easy to find Native-Americans in any congregation in the United States, worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ because of the Europeans. And I thank God for that.”

Granted, much later, terrible things happened to Native-Americans at the hands of Europeans and Americans. Very unChristian things. But it does not make sense to blame the Pilgrims for that.

That would be like blaming the Wright Brothers for all the airplane accidents in history.

Meanwhile, the Pilgrims were onto something by their practice of gratitude. Gratitude is good for us. Even modern psychologists are discovering this.

While ingratitude comes natural to us, and often it is the norm, it’s also true that some people can find ways to be grateful—even in difficult circumstances (like the Pilgrims)—while others might be in paradise, yet they find all sort so of nitpicky things to complain about.

Gratitude does not come naturally. “Give a man everything he wants,” declared Immanuel Kant, “and at that moment, everything will not be everything.”

When something bad happens, what is your immediate reaction? “Oh great.” I must confess how often that has been my instinctive reaction—a complaining one.

Two psychologists, Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami, said: “Gratitude is the ‘forgotten factor’ in happiness research.”

Their research found: “Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism and lower levels of depression and stress. The disposition toward gratitude appears to enhance pleasant feeling states more than it diminishes unpleasant emotions. Grateful people do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.” In short, the grateful focus more on what they have, not what they lack.

Too often we focus on the negative—even if, overall, we have many reasons to be positive. I remember years ago hearing Jerry Lewis being interviewed on the radio, and he described a scene in Europe, where he was being warmly received by this huge crowd. People were standing and wildly cheering him. But he noticed “that one guy.” That one guy in this sea of humanity that was giving him this great reception. That one guy wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t standing. He had his arms crossed. And Jerry Lewis said that he should have felt great. Here were all these people cheering him on. But his mind focused instead on the one guy who wasn’t clapping (for whatever reason).

My wife and I have often observed to each other (jokingly): “I’m not complaining. I’m just stating facts.”

The Bible tells us that we should give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus. What is God’s will for your life? To be thankful.

D. James Kennedy once observed that gratitude is “the Christian’s magic wand.” It transforms everything.

I am grateful for the tradition of Thanksgiving in this country. The Pilgrims chose gratitude over bitterness. Half their number had died several months before the harvest. Rather than grousing, they chose to give thanks. And now somehow this beautiful American holiday is becoming politically incorrect.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Written by Abigail Ruth

I don’t write very often because, frankly, I find it difficult. As a witness to the events of our day, I am often overwhelmed by their significance and stymied by my own inability to put into words any analysis that seems to do justice to the magnitude of moral, spiritual and intellectual disintegration taking place all around us.

The Township High School District 211 school board meeting last Thursday night at Fremd High School was an example of just such an event. Although the results were expected (the school board voted 5-2 to grant special rights to “trans”-identifying students) it was still a surreal experience to witness. The approved policy will allow biological male students unrestricted access to girls’ locker rooms (and vice versa)—meaning that they will not be required to undress behind a privacy curtain. During swim class, everyone out in the locker room will be able to see each other’s genitalia. The new policy also opens the door to male and female students sharing hotel rooms on field trips.  In case you’re wondering, girls’ sports are an apparent non-issue. Male students who identify as female have been playing on the girls’ teams for years.

At the meeting, 25 randomly chosen members of the public were allowed 3 minutes each to address the board.  Many who spoke were in favor of the policy change. It was their comments that most arrested my attention. If insanity can be defined as a disconnect from reality, then surely insanity was on parade Thursday night at Fremd High School.

First and foremost, it must be understood that supporters of the purported “rights” of “trans”-identifying students do not claim that we must affirm such students’ erroneous perception of themselves as the opposite sex. No–and read this next part carefully: These people claim that a male student who perceives himself to be a girl actually is a girl. Chromosomes and genitalia count as nothing. Oh, and by the way, you are not to think of this as a “mental problem.” This is all perfectly “normal.”

Take a deep breath and let that sink in.

Those of us who aren’t quite educated enough to actually believe that males who believe they are females really are females are apparently expected to pretend we do. False gender affirmation was presented over and over again as a moral imperative. In fact, we were told essentially that if our schools fail to affirm gender dysphoric (GD) students as the opposite sex, we will all have blood on our hands. Why? Because, we are told, GD students will commit suicide if their delusion of being the opposite sex is not encouraged and supported. We’re told this in spite of the fact that the link between suicide and social treatment has yet to be scientifically established. Is it just me or does this strike anyone else as a conveniently warped version of emotional blackmail?

Now that we have apparently accepted this dubious claim and capitulated, is there any limit to what “LGBT” activists can demand of us? That is no longer a rhetorical question.

Do I dare point out the obvious? A mentally healthy person doesn’t commit suicide because other people refuse to pretend that he/she is something they are not–especially something as obvious and foundational as male or female. While all students–including students with GD–should be treated with kindness, anyone in their right mind understands that when it comes to biological sex, we are what we are. The best possible outcome for GD kids is to make peace with reality and learn to love and appreciate the healthy, beautiful bodies God gave them. How will they do that if everyone, including their schools are encouraging them in continued delusion?

Demanding that the whole world suspend reality because some people are either unwilling or unable to accept it does not begin to approach a reasonable solution. The whole issue illustrates a degree of intellectual and moral lunacy I had heretofore assumed humanly impossible except among the clinically insane.

And once again, where were the pastors and elders–those who are supposed to be the protectors and bearers of truth? There are over 90 churches in D211, and this was the last of four meetings where extensive public comment was heard on this policy. Apart from three notable exceptions our spiritual leaders were missing in action. If a pastor doesn’t stand up for truth on behalf of children in his own community will he ever?  Unfortunately I think we know the answer.

So, where do we go from here? When the Left eventually gains enough power in Washington D.C., the gloves will come off and “LGBT” activists will wage war against biblical Christianity under the guise of civil rights. This is a certainty. For the most part, it is only God’s people who offer any real resistance to their plans for our dystopian future. They know this. That is why they and their allies at the ACLU criss-cross the country looking for Christian business owners to sue. These actions stand as a warning to any who might dare cross them in the future.

The famous quote attributed to George Orwell seems to have been written for our day: “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” Are we prepared to be revolutionaries? I am not sure that we are. But ready or not, we must be. God’s people are people of the truth. God help us.

IFI depends on the support of concerned-citizens like you. Donate now

-and, please-

In a stunning act of betrayal, Chick-fil-A’s charitable foundation, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, has announced it will no longer donate to the Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), or Paul Anderson Youth Home (PAYH). Though Chick-fil-A has not publicly acknowledged the reason for its betrayal, everyone knows what it is. Chick-fil-A is attempting to curry favor with the “LGBTQ+” community that is shredding our social fabric. This policy shift constitutes a cowardly betrayal of Chick-fil-A’s Christian ethos and its Christian customers who have stood by Chick-fil-A through all its trials at the hands of legions of supporters of sexual deviance. #LoveofMoney

Broods of vipers identifying as apostles of justice, equality, tolerance, diversity, inclusivity, and compassion have been protesting and maligning Chick-fil-A since 2012 when Dan Truett Cathy, chairman and chief executive officer, made some public statements in an interview with the Baptist Press supporting true marriage and opposing the legal recognition of homosexual unions as marriages. After homosexuals got wind of Cathy’s theologically orthodox and unremarkable statements, some part of hell broke loose and raged against Chick-fil-A. Fortunately for Cathy and Chick-fil-A, Christians turned out en masse all across the country to show their support with their time and money for Cathy’s stand for truth.

And this is how Cathy and Chick-fil-A repay them.

Chick-fil-A is the wildly popular fast-food franchise started by devout Southern Baptist Truett Cathy in 1967 and known for being closed on Sundays “so that … employees” can “set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose.” Dan Cathy once said that Chick-fil-a’s “corporate purpose” was “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.”

Some feared a crack in Chick-fil-A’s Christian edifice would spread when a year after the 2012 attack by homosexuals, Cathy expressed his regret for his public statements about marriage:

Every leader goes through different phases of maturity, growth and development and it helps by (recognizing) the mistakes that you make. … And you learn from those mistakes. If not, you’re just a fool. I’m thankful that I lived through it and I learned a lot from it.

Does Cathy today believe that ceasing to support fine organizations like the Salvation Army, FCA, and PAYH signifies “maturity” and “growth”? Does he believe the reason for this decision signifies maturity and growth? If so, in what specific ways? What criteria does he use to determine maturity and growth?

A press statement released by Chick-fil-A includes this mealy-mouthed corporate-speak:

Starting in 2020, the Chick-fil-A is introducing a more focused giving approach to provide additional clarity and impact with the causes it supports.

In an interview with Bisnow, Tim Tassopoulos, Chick-fil-A president and chief operation officer doubled down on clarity:

“There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear about who we are. … There are lots of articles and newscasts about Chick-fil-A, and we thought we needed to be clear about our message.”

With a degree of irony only a hipster could fully appreciate, Chick-fil-A cloaks the reason for abandoning the Salvation Army, FCA, and PAYH in the rhetoric of “clarity.”

When wealthy and powerful men and women—who should be role models—demonstrate the kind of dishonesty and cowardice Cathy and his board just demonstrated, not only do the little people feel betrayed but also some lose hope. Some will wonder why they—with scant resources—should stand unequivocally for Christ and his kingdom when millionaires who are safe and secure with their buckets of ducats are unwilling to do so.

The betrayal must have been particularly painful for the staff and board of trustees of PAYH, a ministry that strives “to provide a Christ-centered, holistic, and therapeutic approach towards transforming the lives of young men ages 16-21” believing that “There is no single aspect of a young man’s development as important as his spiritual life.”

PAYH, which was started by famous weightlifter Paul Anderson and Dan Cathy’s father Truett Cathy in 1961, “exists to help transform the lives of troubled young men and their families” by 1. Planting God’s word in their lives and discipling them through mentoring and modeling, 2. Providing therapeutic counseling and substance abuse treatment, 3. Supplying a fully-accredited college preparatory high school and vocational training, and 4. Supporting our graduates long-term through our transition program.”

Cathy and the company his father founded have abandoned their nearly six decades-long support of PAYH that strives to raise up young men in the way they should go, and they are doing so in deference to the unholy desires of homosexuals whose ideology is destroying the lives of young men.

In just one hour on Monday, conservatives Rod Dreher, Mike Huckabee, Dana Loesch, Allie Stuckey, and Matt Walsh, all tweeted condemnations of Chick-fil-A’s decision. You know who liked it? Zach Stafford, editor-in-chief of the homosexual magazine The Advocate who tweeted, “THE GAYS HAVE WON.” That should tell us everything we need to know.

Add this to the growing list of ways Christians are affected by the “LGBT” ideology—you know, the ideology we were promised repeatedly would affect no one, no how, no way. #LyingLiarsLie.

“LGBTQ+” ideologues and their sycophants are going to see to it that owning a business—including even a teeny tiny business—or having a job will be conditioned on affirming homosexual acts and faux-marriage as good. Wake up, Christians, the persecution is getting real.

Meanwhile as corporations and individuals cave to prideful, despotic homosexuals, cross-sex pretenders, and other assorted “queers,” money going to pernicious pagan ministries like the Human Rights Campaign; the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network; and GLAAD flows like water in the Ganges River.

Take ACTION: If you would like to express your views on Chick-fil-A’s decision, you can contact them at (866) 232-2040 or leave your feedback on website comment section HERE.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Chick-fil-A-Betrays-Principles-and-Faithful-Customers.mp3

IFI depends on the support of concerned-citizens like you. Donate now

-and, please-

Written by Dr. Everett Piper

Cambridge Professor C.F.D. Moule once said, “The gospel is more than a declaration … It is something which we do not merely know but experience.” He continued, “The action of Christ in our world is not a dead and static thing,” but on the contrary, “a great flowing stream, not a separate draught of water; the apex of a pyramid, not an unattached point in mid-air.”

According to Moule, there will “never be an end” to the pursuit of justice and righteousness, for there is “a living God at work … through that which we call the Church, the Body of Christ.”

St. Athanasius, whom many have called the author of the Nicene Creed, once wrote, “Seeing the exceeding wickedness of men, and how little by little they had increased it to an intolerable pitch against themselves … [Christ] took pity on our race, and had mercy on our infirmity.”

He went on to conclude: “Lest the creature should perish, and the Father’s handiwork in men be spent for naught,” God “took unto Himself a Body,” a body that not only endures, lives and breathes in His resurrection but also in His church. “A blind man cannot see the sun,” said the bishop, “but he knows that it is above the earth from the warmth which it affords. Similarly, let those who are still in the blindness of unbelief recognize [what] He has brought about through His manifest powers in others,” i.e., the church.

Even those who openly place themselves somewhere along the atheist-agnostic continuum are now speaking honestly about the redemptive power of the church as described by Moule and Athanasius. For example, Fox News contributor Greg Gutfeld, who describes himself as “non-religious,” says, “I haven’t been to church in years. But there is one thing I know: The church is a positive influence in communities, in terms of encouraging charity and neighborly concern.”

Then there is Matthew Parris, writer for the London Times, who extols the virtues of Christian missionary work in Africa: “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God … Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone, and the machete.”

Indeed, the church is the salt and light of human history. It has preserved culture in the midst of disease, debauchery and despair. It has been a beacon of hope in the darkest days of violence and oppression. Wilberforce led the British to abolish the slave trade. Mueller rescued orphans from the poverty of the industrial revolution. Bonheoffer defied Hitler. William Booth served the poor. Orange Scott, Luther Lee and B.T. Roberts fought for abolition, and Chuck Colson befriended prisoners.

Yes, the church has stemmed the tide of evil time and time again. From the killing fields of Cambodia to the prison cells of Cuba, it has been the “flowing stream” of justice. Amid plague and contagion, it has been the “apex” of care and compassion. In times of terror and war, it has been God’s “mercy on our infirmity” and His “pity on our race.”

Jesus tells us — indeed, he promises us — that the “gates of hell will not prevail” against His church. Not the Orwellian hubris of the European Union. Not the unprincipled materialism of billionaire elites. Not the moral nihilism of the West or the Muslim extremism in the Middle East. Not the “exceeding wickedness” of Planned Parenthood or the pure evil of NAMBLA. Not the child abuse of trans-activism or the comic delusions of drag queen story hours.

Not the selfish focus of “intersectionality” or the disingenuous sanctimony of the SPLC. Not the blatant arrogance of the progressive left or the transparent pandering of those who seek political power. Not the “increased intolerable pitch” of my sin or yours. Nothing can stop the “manifest power” of “a living God at work.” He is not a “dead or static thing,” but alive and well.

“Nothing in all the vast universe can come to pass otherwise than God has eternally purposed. Here is a foundation of faith. Here is a resting place for the intellect. Here is an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast. It is not blind fate, unbridled evil, man or Devil, but the Lord Almighty who is ruling the world, ruling it according to His own good pleasure and for His own eternal glory.” ~Arthur W. Pink

Thank God for the church.

This article was originally published at The Washington Times.

Professor Anthony Esolen is one of America’s cultural treasures. He writes about moral decline in America with insight, boldness, and eloquence—no timid, hesitant, evasive speech from Professor Esolen. Professor Esolen writes and speaks about the pernicious lies with which leftists sexual revolutionaries have poisoned America.

In 2015, Dr. Esolen wrote,

The latest apologists for the Sexual Revolution—that great swamp of sewage backup, human misery, family breakdown, squalid entertainment, and lawyers—have been saying that the most radical anthropological breach ever known to man, the detachment of marriage from childbirth and the plain facts of nature, will have no effect (none at all, not to worry) on marriage and childbirth and family and community life. To which I reply, “Haven’t you said that before?” About what exactly have the sexual revolutionaries been right?

In the four years since Dr. Esolen wrote those words, the fetid swamp has spread, human misery has increased, squalid entertainment entraps more and younger people, and lies are celebrated as truth. Please watch Dr. Esolen describe the cultural darkness in which we are now immersed and articulate a counter-cultural vision for America and America’s children that is built on a firm foundation.

IFI depends on the support of concerned-citizens like you. Donate now

-and, please-

Sarah Salviander grew up watching Star Wars, Star Trek, and Carl Sagan, and by age nine, she knew she would be a space scientist. She also grew up on atheism. When she was young, her atheist parents moved the family from Oregon to British Columbia to live under socialism, and she recalls having met no more than three people who identified as Christian there.

As an undergrad at Eastern Oregon University, though, she encountered more Christians and was astonished to find they were nothing like the caricature she’d always held. They were joyous and content. And they were smart. Moreover, she had physics professors, whom she admired, who were Christian.

Midway through her undergrad years, a research internship with the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at UC-San Diego awakened her to some remarkable coincidences about the structure of our universe. She writes:

I remember being astounded by this, blown away, completely and utterly awed. It seemed incredible to me that there was a way to find the answer to [questions] we had about the universe. In fact, it seems that every question we have about the universe is answerable. There’s no reason it has to be this way, and it made me think of Einstein’s observation that the most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it’s comprehensible. I started to sense an underlying order to the universe.

That same summer, she read The Count of Monte Cristo in her off hours. Film and TV adaptations she’d seen had focused on revenge, but upon reading the original, she was surprised to find:

a philosophically deep examination of forgiveness and God’s role in giving justice. I was surprised by this, and was starting to realize that the concept of God and religion was not as philosophically trivial as I had thought.

Sarah converted to Christianity as a grad student, and not long afterward, a younger student timidly approached her. The student was troubled because one of her professors had said she couldn’t be religious and believe in science. Sarah reassured her that the professor was wrong, and the incident motivated her to help others who may struggle with questions about science and faith.

In The Story of the Cosmos: How the Heavens Declare the Glory of God, she draws some intriguing analogies between belief in black holes and belief in God. The science of black holes began in the early twentieth century, but it wasn’t until 2019 that scientists actually captured an image of one. Over the intervening years, various researchers exhibited either optimism or doubt about the reality of the as-yet-unseen object until, by the 1990s, the evidence had mounted sufficiently that the existence of black holes was generally accepted, albeit begrudgingly in some cases.

What does belief in black holes have to do with God? She writes:

The black hole epic shows that people have an especially difficult time with anything that is vast, strange, and invisible. It’s normal to want the emotional comfort of dealing with what is touchable, visible, familiar, and safe. But this need leads to an attitude that is a significant part of atheistic thinking and has caused science a lot of trouble: “If I can’t see it or touch it, it doesn’t exist, and I don’t have to think about it.”

Scientists had indirect evidence for the reality of black holes long before they had direct, visible evidence. They could see a black hole’s effects on the behavior of light in its vicinity. Plus they had the math. But some fell prey to barriers to understanding that we all can be susceptible to. She lists four: limited perspective, misleading emotions, intellectual inertia, and excessive pride. Noted physicists Arthur Eddington and J. Robert Oppenheimer, for example, each for his own reasons, couldn’t accept the reality of what the evidence to date clearly indicated and gave up on the endeavor.

In a similar way, we all have indirect evidence for God. We have an exquisitely beautiful and complex universe that, as scientists also begrudgingly had to accept in the twentieth century, is not self-existing and eternal but rather had a beginning, which implies a Beginner. We have other realities that we can’t see or touch, such as conscience and conscious awareness of a moral law, both of which imply a moral lawgiver. There’s more, but you probably get the picture.

It doesn’t follow that “if I can’t see it or touch it, it doesn’t exist,” but it might follow that “If I pretend it doesn’t exist, I don’t have to think about it.”  She draws a final analogy:

Those who don’t want to believe in God are skeptical for many of the same reasons scientists didn’t want to believe in black holes – the idea is just too big and unnerving to deal with.

They can ignore the indirect evidence if they chose, but they are not rational when they do so. Instead, she says, they end up corrupting science itself. And using it as a means to find evidence for what they already believe.

Keep that in mind the next time you hear someone say, “Science says …”

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

Written by Pastor Myles Holmes

Prayer is how God works in His world. Jesus told us we must pray for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done. Therefore, if we do not pray, God’s Kingdom is not established and His will is not accomplished. All the mighty works of the Spirit we see in the Bible, all the wonderful revivals in 2000 years of church history, have all been birthed through intercession and prayer.

Take note that the disciples did not ask Jesus to teach them how to preach or teach or sing, they did not beg Him for better leadership principles or to teach them how to manage. They did not ask Jesus to make them more effective communicators or better writers.

They watched the power and authority that Jesus ministered in. They saw His effectiveness casting out demons and healing the sick. They were so very close to His love and tenderness and compassion. But they watched him leave crowds to spend nights alone with His Heavenly Father. The disciples saw him up early before breakfast alone in the mountains in intercession. The disciples asked…  “Lord, teach us to PRAY.” Luke 11:1

We must pray in faith

Jesus said, “Whatever you ask when you pray, believe that you received it and you will have it.” Mark 11:24.  The only way to really determine if you are praying in faith, is whether you are surprised when God answers!  We can be delighted, and we can be happy, but if we are truly praying in faith we should not be surprised. We expect. We anticipate. We believe. Because that’s Who God is. That’s what He does. He works miracles. It’s His character. We fully expect Him to do what He does. We pray in faith. All our problems are answered in prayer. All the power we need to move God’s mighty hand is found in prayer. All the relationship we so desperately need with God is found in prayer.

We must pray in the Name of Jesus

That means using His Name in faith as His legal authority and legal representative. We are the Bride of Christ. We have His Name. We write a check in faith and we can sign His Name to it. The Bank of Heaven will cash it. Just like my wife can use my name because of our relationship, we can use the Name of Jesus with power and authority. “Whatever you ask in My Name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:13.

Samuel Chadwick wisely reported, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees.”

Join with us in prayer as God’s ambassadors on earth, praying in faith and praying in the Name of Jesus.

• Decree in faith a mighty move of the Holy Spirit across America in a great Spiritual Awakening, birthed out of a fresh tsunami of repentance and righteousness.

• Cry out for the Spirit of God to wake up His church to their place of authority and their calling to prayer, intercession and a life of consecration and personal holiness.

• Decide now that you will personally answer that call to engage the culture, to fill your place, to stand at the wall with sword and shield and be faithful regardless of the cost.

• Pray against the recently opened Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois. May it not prosper.

• Prophesy against deception, lies and falsehood in media, education and culture.

• Pray for our President and his family and cabinet especially as Washington D.C. runs hot with impeachment fever.

• Pray for churches and preachers in America to wake up to their responsibility to preach and teach the whole counsel of God without fear or favor.

• Pray for marriages and families in America to take their place as leaders, not consumers or followers of a broken, dark, lost culture.

• Pray for God’s blessing on the Illinois Family Institute’s Annual Faith, Family and Freedom Banquet with Rev. Franklin Graham tonight in Tinley Park. Prophesy that God will cause this gathering to spark a fresh Spiritual Awakening in Chicago and all throughout this great state.

• Pray that God will strengthen, encourage and bless the courageous, Biblical, moral leaders we have in this hour with His presence, power and anointing. Pray for their health and strength and energy and that God would continue to supernaturally bless their marriages and their families.

• Pray for God’s mercy and grace in America. Pray that the Remnant would arise. Pray that the Name of Jesus Christ would reign supreme!

We live in what are prophetically strategic days, amid the most awesome time in history. The battle is so much deeper and higher than simple politics.  We are on the edge of Eternity. The battle   goes beyond media or culture.  It is much more intense and critical than opinions or feelings or ideas. We now live in the cosmic conflict between light and darkness, between truth and satanic deception, between Heaven and hell.

And you, my friend, are perfectly placed, Divinely centered in time and history, “You have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this.”

Myles has traveled in ministry throughout the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, China, Israel, and South America. He and his family immigrated to the USA in 2006 and became citizens in 2016.

Television ministries have given him an audience around the world for more than 20 years. He has authored four books and is unashamedly politically incorrect and Biblically truthful. Myles believes that since 90% of every political issue is actually a moral and therefore a Biblical issue, for preachers to ignore politics is to lose their prophetic voice.

He is happily married to his wife of 36 years, with five married children and four wonderful grandchildren. Myles and his wife Valerie co-lead Revive Church in Collinsville, Illinois, and he works to put a smile on the Face of God & give the devil a migraine every day!

Myles serves on the Illinois Family Institute Board of Directors.

Sanity as Insurrection is the title of the final session of the 2019 Illinois Family Institute Worldview Conference on the “trans” ideology. In this presentation, Pastor Doug Wilson stressed the importance of asking sane questions, ones that strike at the heart of the matter, when we engage in debate with our adversaries because “deliberate and premeditated sanity is a challenge to the powers that be.”

Pastor Wilson also detailed seven theological/intellectual life hacks–non-negotiables regarding orthodox theology, faith, and truth–that will illuminate what’s going on in the world around us. We cannot recommend this session highly enough to you. Please, share this with your friends and church leaders, or better yet, invite them over to watch and discuss it together. You will be edified, enlightened, emboldened, and inspired.

Doug Wilson is the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. He is also an author, speaker, and Senior Fellow of Theology at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

In the latest Gallup survey, only 46 percent of Americans think that religion can answer today’s problems, but the reality is that religion provides answers for one of today’s biggest problems—addiction.   This finding should not be a surprise.  With fewer Americans, particularly the young, affiliated with religion today, there is less experience with faith and its positive impacts.

Various research shows that youth who are spiritually active, participate in a faith community, and invest in a prayerful relationship with their God, are less likely to use or abuse drugs and alcohol. By contrast, teens who do not consider religious belief important are almost three times more likely to smoke, five times more likely to binge on alcohol, and almost eight times more likely to use marijuana.    Teens who never attended religious services at least weekly, compared with teens who regularly attended services, were two time more likely to drink, two times more likely to smoke, and more than three times more likely to use marijuana or binge on alcohol, and four times more likely to use illicit drugs.

Adolescents who frequently attend religious services, who are involved in faith-based activities, and who place a high value on spirituality exhibit greater resilience when facing the stressors that can lead to the use of drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism.

The decline in religious activity, particularly among the young, is a remedy to those who are at the highest risk for a substance disorder.

Read more about this HERE.

This article was originally published by our friends at AFA of Indiana.

In good news for church going families, a recent study by Harvard University’s School of Public Health found kids raised going to church are happier adults. The study explored the association of the religious involvement of children and teens with their mental health and physical well-being as young adults. The study was published by the American Journal of Epidemiology in December 2018.

Dr. Joey Krol, a Decatur, Ill. pastor and radio host, called the study, “Encouraging, but certainly not surprising. When we gather weekly as the people of God, we hear the truth of His Word. We hear reminders to persevere in our marriage. We hear reminders of how God is still a God of the impossible. We hear reminders that we have a living hope. Naturally, we will have a joy-filled hope that will transform the way we live.”

Among the study’s findings: those who reported attending religious services at least once a week in their youth were 18 percent more likely to say they were happier in their 20s than those who did not attend services. The now-adults were 33 percent were less likely to use drugs and less likely to smoke tobacco or use marijuana. The church goers were also more civic minded with 30 percent more likely to do volunteer work and they showed an increased likelihood of voting.

A Pew Research study published in February 2019 backs up Harvard’s findings about churchgoers. It also found people who regularly attend church services were 36 percent happier than those who don’t.  They smoke less and were more likely to volunteer and be active in community groups.

But it’s not the community activity that brings happiness. Krol stressed the importance of putting Christ at the center of the family. He noted, “You can go to all the ballgames, have the finest cars and live the biggest home and all be well on the outside, but inwardly there is no purpose and there is no genuine joy outside of Jesus Christ.”

Still the community is important and Christian influence is badly needed there. Krol believes it is the Gospel that will bring transformation to the community. “There is no government program that will fix the brokenness in the family and within the community,” he said. “If it could, it would have worked by now. The biblical church has the greatest story ever told. When those who attend church and follow the teachings of Christ go out and serve their community, they do so with having Gospel-centered conversations with those they are serving.”

A Night With Rev. Franklin Graham!
At this year’s annual IFI banquet, our keynote speaker will be none other than Rev. Franklin Graham, President & CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christian evangelist & missionary. This year’s event will be at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Nov. 1st. You don’t want to miss this special evening!

Learn more HERE.

It’s no secret that vast numbers of America’s evangelical teenagers are anemic in their faith. There are undoubtedly many factors involved, but one that shouldn’t be overlooked is education.

Too often as Christians in America we overlook the significance of education. It’s not that we believe education is unimportant. On the contrary, we all know it is important, and we encourage our children to get the best education possible.

Our problem isn’t that we think education is unnecessary, but that we typically overlook how transformational it can be and is meant to be. We view it as purely intellectual, detached from all other aspects of our children’s being.

This comes, I believe, as a result of buying into some dangerous myths that have already done tremendous harm to Christian families, the church, and our culture at large. Left unchecked, they will continue their destructive work.

I call these false beliefs the Neutrality Myths.

Myth #1: Neutrality Is Possible

The first of these three myths says that neutrality in education is possible—that children can be taught without any agenda, bias, or worldview getting in the way of a plain presentation of raw academic facts.

But is this true? Is it really possible to provide our children with an education that’s rigorously factual and simultaneously devoid of personal or institutional bias? In a word, no.

That’s not to say that certain subjects—math being the most obvious example—are necessarily worldview-heavy. But when we take K-12 education as a whole, bias can’t be eliminated. Neutrality isn’t possible.

To suggest otherwise is to overlook how pervasive worldviews are and how they impact our entire lives. At the very least, an acknowledgment or lack of acknowledgment of God will communicate a message to the students and place the lesson outside the realm of neutrality.

Twentieth-century theologian Gordon Clark made the following statement:

Public schools are not, never were, can never be, neutral. Neutrality is impossible. Let one ask what neutrality can possibly mean when God is involved. How does God judge the school system, which says to him, “O God, we neither deny nor assert thy existence; and O God, we neither obey nor disobey thy commandments; we are strictly neutral.” Let no one fail to see the point: The school system that ignores God teaches its pupils to ignore God; and this is not neutrality. It is the worst form of antagonism, for it judges God to be unimportant and irrelevant in human affairs. This is atheism.

Christ Himself left no room for neutrality, telling us plainly in Matthew 12:30 that we are either for Him or against Him. The existence of God and the reality of Christ’s lordship demand a response: we either acknowledge it, deny it, or ignore it. None of these options is a neutral choice.

But beyond this, the public schools of America have taken overt stances against neutrality. Whether it’s the theory of evolution taught as fact during science class, or “health” classes that embrace unbiblical views of morality, or questionable reading selections in Language Arts, the schools have gone beyond simply ignoring God’s existence and are instead actively teaching concepts that are contrary to God’s truth.

Simply put, neutrality isn’t possible.

Myth #2: Neutrality Is Acceptable

A second myth believed by Christian parents is that neutrality is acceptable. Ignoring for a moment that neutrality is possible, would it even be desirable to Christian parents concerned about how God says we should raise our children? Again, the answer is a simple no.

As Christians, Scripture is to be our guide. Search the Bible and find one verse commanding—or even recommending—neutrality in any aspect of training our children. I have yet to find one. God’s model banishes any hint of neutrality and instead mandates that education be unashamedly, unreservedly centered on Him and His truth. Period.

In other words, neutrality isn’t desirable even if it were possible.

Consider the very concept of neutrality. If an education could be truly neutral, it would have no position, no conviction beyond raw facts. It would offer no worldview, no perspective on reality beyond what is indisputably verifiable. It is convictionless.

Why would we want to embrace such an empty, vapid approach to teaching our children?

Take history as an example.

We could attempt to teach this subject in a completely neutral way, which would require us to reduce the study to absolutely no more than a collection of names and dates—the fodder of notoriously boring historical study.

Or we could teach from a distinctively biblical worldview. The scriptural perspective is not that history is simply the unfolding of random events, nor that it’s the story of economic factors and class warfare or the outworking of other geopolitical or socioeconomic factors. It’s the story of God working out His eternal purposes in His creation. It’s the story of human agents promoting goodness, justice, and righteousness while others promote wickedness, malice, and hate. It’s the ongoing account of a great conflict centered around an eternal standard of right and wrong that is rooted in the holiness of God Himself.

Which is more exciting? The lifeless collection of names and dates parading under the banner of attempted neutrality, or an epic story of right versus wrong in which the student himself is an active participant?

Beyond the excitement factor is the issue of reality. We can try to separate God from history, but we won’t get a true picture when we do. In other words, our view of reality will be skewed.

This brings us to a third myth we must debunk, which we’ll look at in Part 2.

A Night With Rev. Franklin Graham!
At this year’s annual IFI banquet, our keynote speaker will be none other than Rev. Franklin Graham, President & CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christian evangelist & missionary. This year’s event will be at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Nov. 1st. You don’t want to miss this special evening!

Learn more HERE.

Last Sunday in an on-air, post-game interview and subsequent tweet, Chicago Bears kicker Eddy Piñeiro Jr. said, “If you don’t believe in God you better start believing he’s REAL.” Anyone watching the moment with eyes unclouded by hatred of and rebellion against God, could see the joy of a man who wants to share his joy with others. But what Chicago Tribune opinion columnist Eric Zorn saw was this:

Piñeiro’s post-game remarks—including a follow-up tweet—were a taunt, not an expression of humility. They implicitly derided nonbelievers and deployed his success as evidence of the superiority of his theological outlook.

Zorn mistook a wish for a taunt, joy for arrogance.

Zorn then meanspiritedly mocks and mistranslates (or transmogrifies) Piñeiro’s statements, twisting them beyond recognition:

I made a field goal, therefore Jesus is real and atheists and agnostics should get on board!

Serious, theologically orthodox Christians don’t believe Jesus is real because of the successes they experience or gifts they are given. In fact, the Bible teaches that Christ-followers like every other human in this fallen world will suffer: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”

Maybe Piñeiro, who evidently loves Jesus and desires that all would come to know and love Him, wanted to take this opportunity to share some really good news—news about Christ. Maybe Piñeiro wants atheists and agnostics to one day see the kingdom of Heaven. Is that wish a taunt or an expression of love for the lost?

While Zorn may know a thing or two about writing, he’s as bad at theology as is his ideologue-in-arms Rex Huppke, so here’s a primer in theology (trigger warning for Zorn who may find Jesus’ belief “in the superiority of his theological outlook” off-putting):

• Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

• Jesus says, “For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

• Jesus commands his followers to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

• Jesus says, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

• Jesus says, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

• Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

• Peter says to followers of Christ, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Zorn’s beef is really with God.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

IFI depends on the support of concerned-citizens like you. Donate now

-and, please-