Written by Grady Hauser

Light, in all of its meanings and manifestations, is directly associated with Jehovah God and with Jesus the Christ.  In fact, a study of light in the Bible can tell us much about God and his intended relationship to Man.  When a concept is mentioned over 50 times in Scripture, we would do well to see why this is so.

Let’s begin with Gen. 1: 2,3.  “Let there be light.”  It is the first action of God in creation, and, I believe this is not an accident.  It is God putting his fingerprints—his very essence—on his creation first.  And we should note that according to John 1: 3-5, Jesus was the agent of this creation.  “He was in the beginning” and “All things were made by him.”

The examples of light being associated with theophanies in the Bible are too numerous to mention.  The burning bush, Moses’ face glowing as a result of having been in the presence of God, Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and the resurrected Jesus’ encounter with Saul on the road to Damascus—these are only a few among many well known examples.  In particular, I like the story of the Exodus where Jehovah appears as a pillar of fire to both lead his people and, in one case, to form a rear-guard of protection, preventing the Egyptian army from overcoming the Israelites.  See Ex. 13.

In the Luke 2, we read the story of the announcement of Jesus’ birth to the lowly shepherds.  They were out in the fields near Bethlehem, keeping watch over their flocks by night.  But why did God choose the night shift to make this grand announcement?  Perhaps it was to further dramatize his presence and the message of Who was coming.  Recall, as the angels appear by the thousands, “the glory of the Lord shown round about them” and understandably, the shepherds were terrified.  I believe it is instructive for us to not only listen to God’s message but also to observe the whole package.  How, where and to whom does God communicate.  I Timothy 6:16 tell us that “God dwells in unapproachable light”.  Some of that light came to Bethlehem that night.  Isaiah 9:2 characterizes this event 700 years in advance by saying: “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light.”  Did Isaiah have any idea of the significance of what he was saying?  Probably not, but God did.

In John 8, we find one of the greatest theological entries on this subject in all of Scripture.  Jesus says “I am the light of the world.”  A powerful connection to the doctrine begun in Genesis to be sure, but it is further illuminated by the fact that Jesus was teaching during the Feast of Tabernacles.  On the final night of this feast in Jerusalem, the Temple Court was lit up with large menorahs signifying the pillar of fire to memorialize that great moment in Jewish history when God came in power and light to save His people with the Exodus.  For Jesus, in this context, to say “I am the light of the world”, was a clear claim to deity—to being “one with the Father.”  And as if to set the nail, the following chapter tells the heartwarming story of Jesus healing the blind man.  Jesus turned the lights on for this man who had never seen light in his life, but he concludes his own miracle by teaching that those who reject him remain in spiritual darkness.

The Psalms beautifully add to the theology of Light.  In Ps. 119:105, we read “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  With this as a backdrop, Ps. 27:1 says:  “You are my light and my salvation”.  He is our “light” to help us navigate the present, but he is also our “salvation”, to assure our eternal condition.

I John 1:7 addresses personal relationships saying:  “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.”  The theology of light in contrast to sin is also made clear in the New Testament.  John 3:19 tells us that “men loved darkness instead of light.”  This is to say:  darkness in all its manifestations—-sin, confusion, lies, language perversion—instead of light—clarity and truth.  Jesus himself teaches in Matt. 5:14 that “we are the light of the world.”  Of course, we have no light source of our own, but only reflect His light.  He encourages good deeds—why, so that “men will see your good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven”—the source of all light.

IFI Fall Banquet with Franklin Graham!
We are excited to announce that at this year’s 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.

Learn more HERE.

A new book coauthored by David Kinneman, president of Barna Group, reveals the church dropout rate among young people who profess Christianity has increased in the last decade. But research also found a bright spot which became the focus of the book Faith for Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon.

In 2011, 59 percent of 18-29-year-olds with a church background reported they had quit attending church. In 2019, that number had risen to 64 percent. Using additional Barna research, Kinneman, along with coauthor Mark Matlock, former executive director of Youth Specialties, found that 1 in 10 of the Christians who remained faithful in their church involvement were what they termed, “resilient disciples.”

According to Kinneman, “From a numbers point of view 10% of young Christians amounts to just under four million 18–29-year-olds in the U.S. who follow Jesus and are resiliently faithful. In spite of the tensions they feel between church and everyday life, they keep showing up.”

Kinneman said they chose to call the 10 percent “exiles” because he and Matlock are, “convinced that the biblical concept of exile is the right way to think about Christians’ relationship to the current culture,” which they refer to as “digital Babylon.” Kinneman continues, “When we talk with young adults they resonate deeply with the concept of exile—they feel like exiles, being torn between the expectations of the Church and challenges of the world.”

In the book, they define these resilient disciples as those who, “have made a commitment to Jesus, who they believe was crucified and raised to conquer sin and death; are involved in a faith community beyond attendance at worship services; and strongly affirm that the Bible is inspired by God and contains truth about the world.”

Kinneman calls Faith in Exile the story of “the 10 percent of young Jesus followers whose faith is thriving in exile conditions… the good news about what churches are doing right to form resilient young disciples.”

The book presents research that shows resilient disciples prioritize “life of faith inside and outside their place of worship.” It categorizes them as experiencing Jesus, discerning culture, having meaningful relationships, engaging in a countercultural mission, and being involved in vocational discipleship. Kinneman believes that “By getting to know the resilient disciples, we can find out what formation experiences and relationships are most effective for growing resilient faith in exile.”

Further describing the book in a video trailer, Matlock said. “It’s really easy to focus on what the church is doing wrong. There’s an endless list of those things. But what is the church doing right? We want to focus on those things. How does that lead to faith creation?”

Many in today’s churches express concern and even dismay over Millennial and Generation Z Christians and the future of the church. But Kinneman and Matlock are hopeful  because of the resilient disciples they’ve met.

In a recent interview about the book with the Church Leaders podcast, Kinneman said, “I’ve been looking at research about this emerging generation for a long time, and it’s hard not to be a little discouraged about the people that walk away from faith or that lose their confidence in the Bible… but what about these young, resilient disciples who are themselves offering an effective critique of their generation and of our generation, and of what we have become as a church on their watch?

“I’m just so encouraged by the faith of this generation.”

IFI Fall Banquet with Franklin Graham!
We are excited to announce that at this year’s 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.

Learn more HERE.

A recent report reveals that nearly 9 out of 10 young adults aged 16-29 in the United Kingdom say their life lacks purpose or meaning. The average across all ages is only slightly lower at 80 percent.

Digging further into the numbers, it’s easy to find some clues about why this might be the case.

According to a report about the survey on the website of the British newspaper The Sun, “When it comes to the bigger questions, such as the meaning of life, over half of Brits (51 percent) believe we were put on the earth to be as happy as we can be, while 37 percent say we should make people around us happy.”¹

The Sun also reports that “according to the study of 1,500 Brits, conducted by Yakult UK, the biggest barrier to finding purpose and achieving greater happiness is a lack of finances (45 percent).”

While there’s certainly nothing wrong with being happy, and although it’s also true that a lack of financial resources can cause stress and hardship, it appears that our friends across the Atlantic are looking in the wrong places for purpose and meaning.

That’s not really surprising. Christianity has been on the decline in British culture for many years. When a society removes God from its worldview and daily life, consequences are sure to follow.

In the case of this recent survey, the results seem to suggest—again, unsurprisingly—that many of the respondents are adopting a materialistic, me-first approach to finding purpose, meaning, satisfaction, and happiness. And needless to say, that’s not the right approach.

The key to satisfaction and meaning, I would suggest, is found in following God’s two greatest commandments: loving Him wholly, and loving our neighbors. (Loving God properly, of course, includes exercising saving faith in His son, Jesus Christ.)

A secular worldview is unable to fulfill the first qualification. God is either denied, or at best doubted—certainly not loved, obeyed, and followed. And in denying or doubting God, secularists don’t know a real relationship with God through Christ.

What about the second qualification—loving our neighbor? Unbelievers are certainly capable of acts of service. But let’s drill down into that a little further.

A selfish person is an unhappy person. But without God—or, at the very least, a broadly Christian worldview that emphasizes service to others—we have very little reason to put the needs of others ahead of our own.

Christianity makes the best case for loving our neighbor. Other worldviews may stumble onto the idea that serving others leads to greater happiness compared to simply living for ourselves, but Christianity offers the best rationale for doing so: by living for the good of others we’re following the example of our Savior and making investments that will pay off in eternity.

People may discover the blessings of service as a matter of practical truth, but this is because God has constituted the world in such a way that truth is universal, and living according to truth will bring a degree of benefit even if we don’t have (or follow) all the truth. In other words, human life is more satisfying when we serve others because God made it that way—and that’s true regardless of your other beliefs or worldview.

The disintegration of a Biblical perspective in our modern culture, however, has removed the philosophical or moral groundwork for living a satisfying life. In its place stands the allure of sinful, selfish pleasures that will never ultimately satisfy—an allure that, frankly, can be powerful even when we have the right worldview and beliefs. How much more so when the basis for resisting these temptations is removed?

And yet, what else can a secular worldview offer? It provides no basis for satisfaction or happiness beyond the temporal. To the extent that some unbelievers discover the reality that serving others leads to greater happiness, they’re simply living according to borrowed truth (and, sadly, missing, overlooking, or rejecting the basis of the truth).

Of course, all of this leads to a challenge for those of us who are Christians. Are we following God’s formula for a meaningful life? Are we loving Him above all else? Are we loving others? These are questions I need to ask myself as well. It’s one thing to know the truth; it’s another to live it.

How are we doing?

¹“MILLENNIAL MELANCHOLY Nine in ten young Brits believe their life lacks purpose, according to shocking new study,” The Sun, accessed online on 8-29-19.

Early Bird Special Expires MONDAY!
We are looking forward to welcoming Rev. Franklin Graham to our annual fall banquet on November 1st to share his faith, concerns about the secular culture and his vision for our country. Don’t delay in getting your tickets, as our early bird special expires on Sept. 2nd!

Learn more HERE.

A few weeks ago, I introduced IFI readers to Science Uprising, a project of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture that aims to (among other things) help people living in a secular culture learn to separate out legitimate claims of science from philosophical claims made under the guise of science. For a quick recap, philosophical materialism is the belief that matter and energy is all that exists. Best captured in Carl Sagan’s famous pronouncement that “The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be,” it is a belief about the nature of reality.

But materialism is not a scientific belief. It is a philosophical presupposition that many people associate with the practice of science. In some circles it’s actually called scientific materialism, as if the two are inextricably connected. But there is nothing that says they necessarily go together (except perhaps for certain atheist-materialists who insist that they do).

To be sure, there are some very smart practical materialists who work in the natural sciences, but we are under no obligation to submit to their materialistic impositions on our thinking about the natural world. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. to spot materialistic claims being put forth in the guise of science, and here’s an example of how you can start to train your children in worldview thinking and inoculate them against such philosophical sleights of hand.

You Are Stardust is a whimsical children’s book that encourages children to feel good about themselves because they and we are all part of nature. The title refers to the scientific belief that the atoms that make up our bodies were forged in the stars. Now, it is true that most scientists believe the elements that comprise the earth and our bodies were, indeed, originally forged in stars, so I wouldn’t take issue with that. The point I would draw out of You Are Stardust is that author Elin Kelsey has nothing more to offer us as grounds for feeling good about ourselves.

Nature is a wonder, yes, and the fact that we are a part of it is a marvel as well. But is that it? Is that all we have to latch onto as a reason to feel good about ourselves? Well, if materialism is true, then yes, it is.

Here’s what I would recommend. Get a copy of You Are Stardust and also get a copy of You Are Special, by Max Lucado. Both of these books are written for children ages four and up. Get You Are Stardust from your library if you don’t want to buy it, but I would suggest buying You Are Special. It’s worth reading over and over again, and in fact is not just for children but has a powerful message for adults as well.

In a nutshell, You Are Special is the story of Punchinello, a misfit wooden person who feels like an outsider and a loser until he learns he can find his worth by going to visit Eli every day. Eli is the maker of all the wooden people who lives up on the hill overlooking the village. Before Punchinello leaves Eli’s workshop after his first visit, Eli lifts him up so they’re looking eye to eye and says, “What I think [about you] is more important than what [the other wooden people] think. … you are special because I made you. And I don’t make mistakes.”

How’s that for a reason to feel special?

Read both of these books to your child, preferably in one sitting (if you don’t have children at home, read them for yourself), and let the contrast of worldviews serve as a backdrop for follow-up conversations. Of course, you know your children and how best to engage them, but here are some questions to spark your thinking:

• Who is Eli?

• Why is Punchinello sad?

• What makes Punchinello special?

• If you and I are stardust, what makes the stars special?

• Nature is beautiful, but does nature love us? Does it know us? Can we have a relationship with it? Does it love us?

The main point I hope you’ll take from this is that we can engage with the works of materialists head on. Rather than avoid them, we can learn to spot materialist assumptions lying behind their claims about the world, draw them out, and interrogate them. From there, we can engage in a kind of compare and contrast analysis between a picture of the world from the perspective of philosophical materialism, on the one hand, and one from the perspective of Judeo-Christian theism, on the other. Which one is more satisfying? Which one resonates with certain things we know to be true about the world? Which one better “fits” reality as we know it and live it? Hopefully, questions like these will spark ongoing, meaningful conversations with your children about the ideas that are already competing for their allegiance in the culture.

Being stardust may be cool but being stardust and being known and loved by your maker is profound. Even a four-year-old can grasp the difference between being just “a part of nature” and being known and loved by the maker of nature and the stars.

Early Bird Special Expires Soon!
We are looking forward to welcoming Rev. Franklin Graham to our annual fall banquet on November 1st to share his faith, concerns about the secular culture and his vision for our country. Don’t delay in getting your tickets, as our early bird special expires on Sept. 2nd!

Learn more HERE.

As John Stonestreet taught in his sessions at the IFI Worldview Conference, it is important for Christians to engage with culture, for culture-making is something God created us to do; to avoid culture is to avoid the world that God has given us. But how should we go about engaging culture? What about the situations we’ve all heard about, and are unsure of how to handle?

In this Q&A session for his four lectures on culture at the 2019 IFI Worldview Conference, John Stonestreet answers questions on Kanye West, social media bullying, identity politics, and gay wedding cakes, among others.

How are we to respond to the cultural darkness of this perverse and foolish generation? We cannot stress enough the importance and primacy of leading our families in Biblical worldview training. These Stonestreet worldview video sessions are just some of the great resources we provide to help equip you and your family to navigate life in an increasingly pagan culture.

Equipping ourselves, our children and grandchildren becomes increasing important with each passing day. The schemes and snares of the Evil One are multiplying quickly and hostility for the things of God are increasing at a rapid pace.

You can watch this presentation on the IFI YouTube channel, and find the other worldview sessions here.

Background

John Stonestreet serves as president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He’s a sought-after author and speaker on areas of faith and culture, theology, worldview, education and apologetics. John is the daily voice of BreakPoint, the nationally syndicated commentary on  the culture founded by the late Chuck Colson.

Before coming to the Colson Center in 2010, John served in various leadership capacities with Summit Ministries and was on the biblical studies faculty at Bryan College (TN). John has co-authored four books: A Practical Guide to Culture, Restoring All Things, Same-Sex Marriage, and Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN). He and his wife, Sarah, have four children and live in Colorado Springs, CO.

You can follow him on Twitter @jbstonestreet.

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I’m learning an important lesson about raising children

It’s taken me several years of fatherhood to learn an important lesson, but I think it’s finally sinking in.

Are you ready for this nugget of wisdom?

Okay, here we go.

Kids need to be taught everything.

That’s everything as in everything.

I know, I know. You probably had that figured out a long time ago. Maybe I’m a slow learner. I just didn’t realize before we had kids exactly how much teaching my wife and I would need to do.

Take table manners, for example. Apparently, children are born as total barbarians with no sense of etiquette. They’ll play with their food, talk with their mouths full, hit their brother, or interrupt adult conversation without giving it a second thought. It’s up to their mother and me to teach them some civilized habits.

Or take vocabulary as another example. Children need to be taught the meanings of even simple words that I use without thinking. And when I try to define a tricky word for them, I end up using synonyms they also don’t understand. It’s hard to boil some ideas down into words a five-year-old can grasp.

We also have practical skills, like bike riding, tooth brushing, hand shaking, clothes folding, and so many more. Kids aren’t born knowing how to do any of those things. They might learn some of them by watching us, but most we’ll need to teach.

And don’t forget general knowledge about the world around us! That provides the fodder for countless questions and conversations. Why do we stop at red lights? Does it cost money to run the water? It does? Why? Does everything cost money? (Yes.) What happens if we don’t brush our teeth? What’s poison ivy? Every day, from one topic to another, we’re teaching, teaching, teaching.

Then we come to the most important issues of all: character, virtue, and spiritual truths. Again, everything must be taught: why honesty matters, what obedience is and why it’s important, the importance of thinking of others and not just ourselves, why you shouldn’t hit your brother, how God expects us to live, why we need a Savior. Again, the list of topics goes on and on.

Because kids need to be taught everything.

Everything. 

And if that sounds like a huge job—one that will take an enormous amount of time, energy, creativity, patience, perseverance, wisdom, commitment, and divine help—well, that’s because it is and will.

Think about it. Raising our children isn’t the same as teaching an animal how to behave or do clever tricks. We’re teaching and training little people who have hearts and souls—little people who will grow up and replace us some day; little people who will impact others for good or bad; little people who will eventually spend eternity somewhere.

Shame on us if we don’t do our best to equip them for all God has for them to do. Shame on us if we neglect their education and don’t train them in the ways they should go.

With all of the above in mind, here are a few simple takeaways:

• Take responsibility! If we want our kids to know something, we need to take the lead. After all, God gave your children to you, and He also gave you the responsibility to teach them. Others might play supporting roles, but you carry the greatest burden.

• Teaching needs to happen again and again. We can’t expect our kids to “get it” after just one lesson on a given topic. As Tedd and Margy Tripp point out in their book Instructing a Child’s Heart, training is a process, not an event.

• We must focus on our children’s hearts, not just their behavior. (For more on that, check out Tedd and Margy Tripp’s book mentioned above, plus Tedd’s book Shepherding Your Child’s Heart.) Our goal isn’t simply to modify or manipulate behavior, but to shape and mold our children’s hearts (with God’s help, of course).

• This is a long-term process. Lessons learned at age five aren’t the same lessons that will need to be learned at age 15. The practical skills, general knowledge, and spiritual lessons will all be different. We have to be in this for the long haul.

Kids are born with virtually no knowledge, but a nearly limitless ability to learn and grow. They have curiosity. They have qualities to be shaped and honed. It’s up to us to take them as they are and teach them.

Everything.

IFI Fall Banquet with Franklin Graham!
The early bird deadline is right around the corner. You do not want to miss this opportunity to get tickets to the IFI annual banquet as this year’s featured keynote speaker will be none other than Rev. Franklin Graham. This year’s event will be at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Nov. 1st.

Learn more HERE.

I suppose the title might take some explaining, but if the post can’t explain a title like that, then what are we all doing here?

Let me say at the outset that this is not a post about overt effeminacy—effeminacy of the lisping mincing kind. If that kind of thing were a virus, then the men who had it would be the carriers. What I want to talk about here is a far less visible form of effeminacy—by which I mean the effeminacy that refuses to respond appropriately to the overt kind. I am talking about the doctors who are afraid to address the virus. Doctors who are afraid to address the virus simply have a different form of the virus, and that is our great problem.

Not only is this second kind of effeminacy far less visible, it is also far more widespread. And it is the actual cause of all our troubles. It is the premier hazard in all of this.

The Effeminacy of Silence

We have had multiple stories we could use to illustrate how this works, three a day on average, but let me just pick one of the gaudier ones—drag queens in the kids’ section of our libraries. There are three basic kinds of characters in these stories. First, we have the drag queens grooming the little kids, and the lesbian librarians who set it all up. Second, we have a goodly number of Joe Six-packs, watching the news about this latest travesty as it comes on the 48 television sets at their favorite sports bar, with all of them saying, “What the hell?!” or the rough equivalent. And then third, we have the effeminacy of silence everywhere else.

You don’t need to be light in your loafers to be effeminate. You don’t need to teach a queer treasure workshop at Revoice. You don’t need to put on your face paint and wig, and go leer over the top of the book you are reading to prepubescent boys at the library. You don’t need to trail around clouds of epicene rainbow ambiguity.

All you really need is the effeminacy of silence. Head down, mouth shut. Every eye closed—no, wait. That’s a different drill, but not unrelated. Back to the point.

Our real problem, therefore, is not all the effeminacy we can see—and we are seeing quite a bit more of it, are we not? The problem is the vast multitude of effeminates who could stop it but who are letting this happen.

Masculine Love Fights

Suppose a man is walking downtown with his wife, and they are accosted by some thugs. The thugs take the wife’s purse, rifle through it, make rude comments to her, mess with her hair, and generally act like they are thinking of doing a whole lot worse than that. Suppose also that her husband is standing off to the side, saying things like, “Gentlemen, this is genuinely distressing. There is no need for this. I must register a protest in the strongest possible terms.” What we should do, confronted with a spectacle like that, is to say—in the strongest possible terms—that such a man doesn’t love his wife, no matter how emotionally distressed he might be over her unhappy circumstances.

And we can say this because love fights to defend what it loves.

…

Love doesn’t fight over everything, for example. If a man cuts ahead of a woman in line at CostCo, she doesn’t need to text her husband, who is out in the car, so that he might come in and fight for her honor. So, no, love doesn’t fight over trifles.

When it comes to pitched battles over the color of the paint for the church nursery, I am prepared to join with John Frame in lamenting some of the darker impulses of Machen’s warrior children. But with all these extra warriors running around, it would seem (at least to me), that we would have had some reinforcements who would be able to join us here on the wall at Helm’s Deep. So maybe they weren’t warrior children after all. Maybe they were just soteriological Calvinists with bad attitudes and nerf bats.

So, the sexual revolution has now worked its way into absolutely everything. Is that a trifle?

There is a line (between shouldn’t fight/should fight) that can be crossed, and real love instinctively understands where that line is. When that line is crossed, love stands up, love speaks up, and love does whatever is necessary. A studious and academic chin stroke of concern does not know very much about that line at all, except for the basic operational axiom that we “are not across it yet.” And that is because, for those trapped by the effeminacy of silence, we are never across it, by definition.

In the meantime, do not confound spiritual apathy with pastoral wisdom and concern. Being across that line might require action, and action entails risk.

Quoting Bierce Again

I have had occasion to quote Ambrose Bierce from The Devil’s Dictionary on this general subject before, and look at me now. I am going to do it again.

VALOR, n. A soldierly compound of vanity, duty and the gambler’s hope.

“Why have you halted?” roared the commander of a division at Chickamauga, who had ordered a charge; “move forward, sir, at once.”

“General,” said the commander of the delinquent brigade, “I am persuaded that any further display of valor by my troops will bring them into collision with the enemy.”

While at It, Let’s Quote Thornwell

While I am on the subject of fighting, this brings to my mind a comment made about Robert Breckenridge by the great Southern Presbyterian theologian, J.H. Thornwell.

“What he does, he does with his might. Where he loves, he loves with his whole soul; when he hates, he hates with equal cordiality; and when he fights, he wants a clear field and nothing to do but fight.”

So I can spare some of my adversaries some time googling, let me just acknowledge that Thornwell and Breckenridge were both Southern Presbyterians who supported the Confederacy, being from South Carolina and Kentucky respectively, and I would like to top off this free information by saying that I don’t feel any twinge in my conscience about referring to either one.

And so who around here wants a clear field, and nothing to do but fight?

It is fairly safe to exclude Machen’s modern warrior children, who are all down in the church nursery, arguing over the paint swatches.

Reasons

Are there reasons for such silence? There are always reasons for such silence. The one thing we can say about such reasons is that they at least are plainly heterosexual, because they multiply like crazy.

Let me speak in the person of those who will be enticed to offer such reasons.

I don’t want to be associated with nutcases . . .

The people we are up against are not slow with assigning epithets. Racist, bigot, misogynist, chauvinist, sexist, extremist, and more, and because there are genuine exemplars out there who do in fact answer to all those epithets, we in our sweet reasonableness want to make sure to telegraph to the bad guys our deathly fear of being lumped in with those right wing wastrels. “Please, sir! Whatever you do, don’t lump us in with the alt-right!” To which they reply (and this honestly comes as a big surprise to our Captains of Strategy), “Ha, ha! Look at these new alt-righters!”

I don’t want to be associated with those who have been successfully slandered as extremist . . .

There are others out there who are not extremists at all, and we know (down in the recesses of our hearts we know) that they are nothing of the kind. We know that they are innocent of the charge. They only have the reputation of extremism because they are merely living in faithful accordance with what was taught in every evangelical Sunday School in the country just three decades ago. The country has moved triumphantly toward the Abyss, and these troublers of Israel have refused to move with the times. “But if people as innocent as that can have their reputations ruined, then I too could have my reputation ruined if it ever came about that I—heaven forfend!—were to be seen on the same platform with any one of those faithful persons.”

Before it would be possible to share a platform with that Antipas character, he would have to demonstrate a little more flexibility.

Someday, when all this is over, and we are telling our war stories (around the oil stoves at our Free Speech Reeducation Sensitivity Camp), I might tell you the stories about how many people had been pressured by Big Eva (or in consideration of likely pressure from same) to drop their associations with us. It is quite a tacky business. Speakers for our conferences canceling because of pressure, speakers canceling on a conference because I was going to be there, someone backing out of writing a foreword, someone pressured into apologizing for quoting me, and the like. Couple this with the stories we have heard from people who associate with us anyway, with their tales about how they got “the treatment.”

Let’s just say that we are at the point where some up and comer is likely to catch far more grief for agreeing to speak at our Grace Agenda than he would if he spoke at Revoice. It is not the case that Big Eva doesn’t discipline. Of course they discipline. Not whether but which. It is just that they instinctively discipline men who are moving in a biblical direction, and they instinctively shelter men who are moving in an egalihomo direction. This is because—as should be obvious by now—it is far more desirable to them to have men in the ministry who sexually yearn to be in the sack with other men than it is to have men in the ministry who use hurtful neologisms like egalihomo.

If I were to take a stand now it would vindicate those people out there who have been urging me to take this stand for the last ten years . . .

Imagine a fellow who has been a senior statesman in the evangelical movement. He has fought many battles, and has won more than a few of them. But like many a decorated general before him, he has thought too much about the battles of the last war, and didn’t think fittingly about the battles of the next war. But he was warned about all of this, he was warned for years about it. To take a stand now would be to acknowledge that he should have listened to all those warnings from the nickel seats.

I would like to take a stand, but I have to say that outside observers don’t know the first thing about all the internal politics involved . . .

Granted, we don’t know the details. But some of us have an approximate idea, having been through some situations of our own. You have the adversaries who somehow got in, you have the compromised friends, you have the clueless friends, you have the compromised trustees, and you have the clueless trustees. And let’s not forget the donors who have to be led to believe that you are fighting more courageously than anybody actually is.

I know they fight dirty . . .

And there are some aspects of the old private life that could be taken wrong if placed in an unflattering light. Imagine if Peter were afraid that if he stood up to Annas and Caiaphas, they might tell how he denied the Lord. But Peter told everybody instead.

I have a hard time believing that my beloved institution could go hard left within the space of a few years . . .

So look around. What would you call it then?

My wife has reminded me of our mortgage, our connections, and my reputation, in that order . . .

It is better not to say this one out loud because it sounds too much like what it is.

Shrinking from the Fight

In short, whatever the reason, we have millions of Christian men who have become like the men of Babylon that Jeremiah once described.

“The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken” (Jeremiah 51:30, ESV).

It is all there. Ceased fighting. Holded up. Failed strength. Become like women. Dwellings on fire. Bars broken down. What about that does not apply to the PCA and to the SBC?

I remember the good old days when Presbyterians and Baptists used to vie with one another about who had a more biblical view of water baptism. Now they are vying with each other over whether Presbyterians can capitulate on same-sexualism faster than Baptists can capitulate on racial identities. Not that it matters in the long run. The hordes of identity politics are pouring through the Baptist gates, and the hordes of sexual compromises are pouring through the Presbyterian gates, but the end result seems to be that the neo-pagans will have taken all the Holy City. They will all feast tonight in the citadel.

You might say that your eschatology doesn’t permit that outcome, or that at least mine doesn’t. That’s as may be, but that is just another way of saying that our eschatology doesn’t permit us the luxury of refusing to fight.

And my point is not that our ostensible conservatives are fighting like a girl. The point is that our enemies are avowedly fighting like girls, with makeup and everything, and are doing so in a way that is kicking our butt.

In those memorable words of Burke, words that ring down through the centuries, “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to be wusses.”

This article was originally published at DougWils.com.

In the preceding lectures from the 2019 IFI Worldview Conference, John Stonestreet addressed what culture really is, along with its role in God’s creation and what we as Christians have to do with it. In this final session, “Restoring All Things: Joining God’s Redemptive Plan,” he tells us how we can truly change culture, with the reminder that if you don’t go about doing so in an intentional way, you won’t do it; or worse, the culture will change you.

With questions under the categories of “how is culture shaping you” and “how are you shaping culture,” Stonestreet shows us how to reflect on the workings of our own lives as well as begin to work in our own local communities, all under the greater picture of the redemption that our Lord Jesus Christ has bought for us.

You can watch this presentation on the IFI YouTube channel, and find the other worldview sessions here.

Background

John Stonestreet serves as president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He’s a sought-after author and speaker on areas of faith and culture, theology, worldview, education and apologetics. John is the daily voice of BreakPoint, the nationally syndicated commentary on  the culture founded by the late Chuck Colson.

Before coming to the Colson Center in 2010, John served in various leadership capacities with Summit Ministries and was on the biblical studies faculty at Bryan College (TN). John has co-authored four books: A Practical Guide to Culture, Restoring All Things, Same-Sex Marriage, and Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN). He and his wife, Sarah, have four children and live in Colorado Springs, CO.

You can follow him on Twitter @jbstonestreet.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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

Written by Jerry Newcombe

Everyone is scratching their heads trying to figure out what has gone wrong when disturbing stories break of more attacks by young men killing strangers at random. We are reeling as a nation in the wake of these mass shootings and wondering what has gone wrong.

Our cultural elites have led us down a path of unbelief, and now we are reaping the consequences.

I’m reminded of the story about Voltaire, the famous French skeptic, who helped grease the skids for the bloody French Revolution. When one of his skeptical guests was talking loudly at his home, Voltaire asked him to lower his voice. He didn’t want the servants to hear their godless philosophy, lest they steal the silverware.

It’s the morality, stupid. Of course, this phrase piggybacks on the unofficial campaign slogan of Bill Clinton in 1992: “It’s the economy, stupid!” This simple phrase kept them focused, eventually on to victory.

In today’s crisis, which is not something brand new, it’s been brewing for decades in America: It’s the morality, stupid And what’s the cause of this morality? We have driven God out of the public arena.

Unbelief assumes there is no divine accountability. When there is no fear of God in the land, then people do whatever they feel like doing—even if it inflicts mayhem on others. As an atheist character in Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov put it: “…since there is no infinite God, there’s no such thing as virtue either and there’s no need for it at all.”

America is ultimately an experiment in self-government. After the founding fathers hammered out the Constitution in the convention in 1787 in Philadelphia, a Mrs. Powell of that city asked Benjamin Franklin what kind of government they gave us. His answer was classic: “A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”

The founders knew that the only way we could sustain this self-government was by the people being virtuous, acting in a moral way. And how would that morality be sustained? Answer: through voluntary religion.

The man who spoke more than any other at the Constitutional Convention was Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania. He is credited with writing some of the Constitution, including the preamble (“We the people”). He noted that religion is necessary for morality:

“Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man toward God.”

George Washington said in his Farewell Address that it is religion that sustains morality. If you undermine religion, you’ll undermine morality.

That is precisely what has happened to America. Beginning with a whole series of misguided U.S. Supreme Court decisions, religious influence—frankly Christian influence—in society was restricted more and more. By the 1960s, God was effectively kicked out of the public schools.

When he was 14 years old, William J. Murray was the plaintiff in one of the key anti-school prayer cases on behalf of his atheist mother, Madalyn Murray O’Hair. Today, Murray is a born- again Christian, ruing the terrible decision and its consequences.

He once told me, “I would like people to take a look at the Baltimore public schools today versus what they were when I went to those schools in 1963 and my mother took prayer out of the schools. We didn’t have armed guards in the hallways then when we had God in the classroom. But I’ll guarantee you there are armed guards [now]. In fact, the city school system of Baltimore now has its own armed police force.”

We lack a fear of God in our land. Young people have no idea that after they die, they will have to give an account to Jesus, whom the founders called in the Declaration of Independence, “the Supreme Judge of the World.”

In the mid-19^th century, one of the Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives was Robert Charles Winthrop, a descendant of John (“a City on a Hill”) Winthrop, the Puritan founder of Boston.

Robert Winthrop gave an address in 1849 at the Massachusetts Bible Society, in which he noted, in effect, our choice is clear: Christianity or violence?

Here’s what Winthrop said:

 “All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint.

“Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.”

Would that we choose the Bible today, as the settlers and the founders of our nation chose to do.

This article was originally published at JerryNewcombe.com.

What grounds human dignity? Without the answers that the Christian ideas of inherent dignity and equality provide, the culture turns to sex.

In the first session at the 2019 IFI Worldview Conference, John Stonestreet spoke on what it means to be human. In his second lecture, available here, he speaks on the sexual revolution and how culture has completely sexualized their answer to what it means to be human. After identifying the three major ideas of the sexual revolution, Stonestreet presents the redeemed reality of these ideas in light of the human dignity God has given us.

Please watch and share this video (1 of 5) with your family. This presentation is a great opportunity for group study and discussion.

You can watch this presentation on the IFI YouTube channel, and find the other worldview sessions here.

Background

John Stonestreet serves as president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He’s a sought-after author and speaker on areas of faith and culture, theology, worldview, education and apologetics. John is the daily voice of BreakPoint, the nationally syndicated commentary on  the culture founded by the late Chuck Colson.

Before coming to the Colson Center in 2010, John served in various leadership capacities with Summit Ministries and was on the biblical studies faculty at Bryan College (TN). John has co-authored four books: A Practical Guide to Culture, Restoring All Things, Same-Sex Marriage, and Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN). He and his wife, Sarah, have four children and live in Colorado Springs, CO.

You can follow him on Twitter @jbstonestreet.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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

The great preacher of yesteryear, Charles Spurgeon, once said, “I do not think he [the devil] cares how many Baptist chapels you build, nor how many churches you open, if you have only lukewarm preachers and people in them.” 

Lukewarm Christians are believers who may attend Church, but aren’t completely sold out for Jesus.  They may say all the right “Christian buzzwords,” but aren’t fully committed to the Lordship of Christ.  They have one foot in the Church and the other in the world. They are “lukewarm.”

In the book of Haggai, God confronts the misplaced priorities of the Israelites, who had drifted into a way of life where their belief in God was not reflected in their living. The temple was in the process of being rebuilt after the first one was destroyed; however, they stopped after the first phase and didn’t do anything else for several years. God says in Haggai 1:4-5,

“Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.’”

They were so concerned with their way of living that they had forgotten what God had called them to do; instead, they were “caught up” with their own wants, needs and desires. The Israelites were content to put the “Kingdom agenda” on the back-burner, while they enjoyed the things of this world.

When a believer chooses to be neither hot nor cold, the things and concerns of God are not a priority for him. When we are half-hearted, fence-straddling believers, we worship at the altar of passivity. When that happens, we forfeit our “saltiness” for the temporary delights of the world.

In 1912, the Titanic made its maiden voyage. It was the biggest ship around, and many called it “the unsinkable.” But after colliding with an iceberg, water began flooding the ship and it began to sink. Rather than the ship being on the water, the water was pouring into the ship. The Church of Jesus Christ is called to influence the world with the Gospel, but for some, the world has influenced the Church.

The lukewarm Christian sits idly by as the world sees an increase of unrighteousness.

Jesus one day saw a fig tree. It was the season for figs but there were no figs on the tree. It was barren, and Jesus cursed it. Why did He curse it? Was it because it was poisonous? No. He cursed it because it bore no fruit. It wasn’t doing anything.

In the parable of the talents, a master went away and gave to his servants various talents. Some invested their talent and received a return, but one took his talent and buried it. When his master returned, he called him a wicked and slothful servant. Had he wasted the money? Had he squandered the money? No. He simply did nothing with it.

Friend, when we choose to be lukewarm, we not only bear no fruit; we also give up the territory to Satan. God has given us a task to be salt and light and to be His witnesses across the street, across the states and across the sea. The late preacher Adrian Rogers once said, “Life is too short, eternity is too long, souls are too precious, the Gospel is too wonderful— for us to sleep through it all.”

May we wake up, repent and take back what is rightfully God’s.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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

Many readers here may know the name Joshua Harris, the former pastor of Covenant Life Church in Maryland, and author of the popular 1997 book, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” which has sold over 1.2 million copies.

Christians throughout America were shocked this week to learn that Harris has divorced his wife and renounced his faith in Jesus Christ. “I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus,” Harris wrote in an Instagram post over the weekend.  “By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian. . . I am not a Christian.”   Harris “apologized” for his views on sexual purity making sure to place emphasis on his regret for supporting natural marriage with an apology to the LGBTQ community.

As it turned out, the night before I read about Harris, I had just watched a PBS documentary called “Jeremiah” about war hero and Viet Nam POW, Jeremiah Denton. His book was, “When Hell Was in Session” which was made into a 1979 TV movie.  It led to Denton’s election to the U.S. Senate in 1980.

In his nearly eight years in a Hanoi prison camp, Denton was brutally tortured. He was also mocked as he was marched through the streets of Hanoi and pummeled with rocks. Admiral Denton was held in solitary confinement in a three-foot cell for over 2,500 days. After his release, Denton noted that there was one thing he held to which the Viet Cong could not take away – his Christian beliefs. His faith inspired other POW’s in his camp and kept them holding on during some of their darkest hours.

You may recall that Denton was interviewed by members of the Japanese press as a PR stunt by the Communist forces. He was beaten afterwards for expressing his support for America, which he knew would happen. Incredibly, the emaciated, almost unrecognizable, Denton also answered questions while repeatedly blinking the word “torture” in Morse Code as a message to our military leaders and human rights advocates.

It is striking how our pro-gay, anti-Christian culture seems to have so easily taken away from a prosperous, successful Josh Harris, what beatings, starvation, emotional abuse and deprivation could never take from Admiral Denton. Harris has chosen to conform to his captors. Jeremiah Denton never did.

This article was originally published by AFA of Indiana.

“All men are created equal” and “man is created in the image of God”—these two statements are arguably some of the most important concepts in American history and in Christianity, respectively. But what do they have to do with each other, and more importantly, what do they really mean?

John Stonestreet, President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, addresses these questions and more in his lecture on the Imago Dei, delivered at the 2019 Illinois Family Institute Worldview Conference. Expounding on such themes as “what does it mean to be human?” and “how do we become good people?,” Stonestreet demonstrates how those questions inform our culture today, before answering them in an overview of the grand, sweeping narrative of Scripture and ending in the beautiful hope of our redemption in Jesus Christ.

Please watch and share this video (1 of 5) with your family. This presentation is a great opportunity for group study and discussion.

You can watch this presentation on the IFI YouTube channel, and find the other worldview sessions here.

Background

John Stonestreet serves as president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He’s a sought-after author and speaker on areas of faith and culture, theology, worldview, education and apologetics. John is the daily voice of BreakPoint, the nationally syndicated commentary on  the culture founded by the late Chuck Colson.

Before coming to the Colson Center in 2010, John served in various leadership capacities with Summit Ministries and was on the biblical studies faculty at Bryan College (TN). John has co-authored four books: A Practical Guide to Culture, Restoring All Things, Same-Sex Marriage, and Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN). He and his wife, Sarah, have four children and live in Colorado Springs, CO.

You can follow him on Twitter @jbstonestreet.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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

In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul gives an important instruction to us as God’s people: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” (ESV)

Why is this important? Paul answers that question as the verse continues: “For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

In other words, the reason we shouldn’t be unequally yoked is that we don’t have anything in common—from a faith and worldview perspective—with unbelievers.

Paul continues that line of reasoning in verses 15 and 16:

What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Is this a prohibition against having any dealings at all with unbelievers? I don’t believe so. Instead, I believe it’s referring primarily to areas of life where our beliefs, values, and convictions will come into conflict with the beliefs, values, and convictions of unbelievers.

In other words, working alongside unbelievers (i.e., being yoked together with them) to accomplish something inherently tied up with our Christian beliefs and worldview is going to be not only unfruitful but also unwise and contrary to God’s calling on our lives. (As Paul continues in verse 17, “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you….”)

Let’s consider a couple of examples to gain some clarity.

Participating in a neighborhood clean-up day at a local park wouldn’t be a violation of this command. The relationship is temporary and informal, and the task at hand isn’t dependent on your faith, worldview, values, or convictions. Yes, you might be motivated to participate because of your faith and your desire to be active in your community, but the tasks involved in cleaning up the park will be performed the same regardless of your faith and worldview. In other words, there’s no fundamental conflict with unbelievers.

On the other hand, teaming up with members of non-Christian religions to host a community day of prayer would be a different matter. In this case, the objective is inherently spiritual and the differences between the various perspectives would be entirely relevant to the planned activity. This would be a case of trying to achieve something spiritual alongside people who hold completely different beliefs about God, His revelation to man, and our relationship with Him. This would be an instance of being unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

In the first example, our Christian worldview may be what gives us the reason and motivation to seek the good of our community, but the tasks involved will be performed the same regardless of the religious beliefs of the person carrying them out. In the second case, the religious considerations are front and center and can’t possibly be separated from the planned activity.

With those examples in mind, let’s consider a common scenario Christians face today, and ask ourselves whether or not it’s a case where this command would apply: Does it violate Paul’s admonition against being unequally yoked together with unbelievers to entrust our children’s education to a secular institution?

To answer that question, let’s begin by asking ourselves a few additional questions:

1.) Does an education that encompasses all subject areas—e.g., math, language, literature, health, history, government and political science, biology—intersect with spiritual and moral issues, or is it morally neutral?

2.) Does the worldview of a teacher or curriculum impact what is taught and how it is taught?

3.) If so, is the worldview in our secular schools different from your worldview as a Christian? Will your beliefs and convictions be reinforced or undermined?

Here’s how I would answer those questions. First, raising, training, and educating children is a necessarily and unavoidably spiritual endeavor.

Second, the worldview of the curricula and often the teacher matters, and the worldview taught in our schools is far different than that of theologically orthodox Christians. Whether it’s the theory of evolution taught as fact or the promotion of “alternative lifestyles” (or the simple fact that teaching is the most liberal job in America), secular schools have an ideological perspective, and it’s not a Christian one.

That Illinois recently passed legislation mandating that all students in K-12 public schools be taught about the “roles and contributions” of homosexuals and opposite-sex impersonators should alone tell Christians to exit public schools. This is a direct assault on traditional Christian teaching about sexual morality. The simple fact that government schools leave God out indicates their view that He’s either nonexistent or irrelevant to education. That’s far from a neutral position.

If those are your answers to the above questions as well (and if they’re not, I would suggest that you haven’t been paying enough attention to what’s happening in our schools today), then I hope some clarity is beginning to develop around the question of whether or not sending our children to a secular school is a case of being unequally yoked. If sending our children to government schools doesn’t violate this command, then about the only thing the command does mean is that we shouldn’t go to church at the local pagan temple.

Raising and training our children is one of our most important priorities as Christian parents. Properly understood, it’s a deeply spiritual process, and one that is heavily rooted in our worldview and convictions. Can we really partner (i.e., yoke together) with a system that completely leaves God out and think we’re not violating Paul’s command?

Please note that Paul doesn’t say we shouldn’t yoke together with unbelievers unless we think we can counteract the harm, in which case it’s fine. He also doesn’t say it’s fine if we think we can accomplish some good while being unequally yoked. He simply tells us not to be unequally yoked in the first place.

As we saw earlier, the reason he gives is simple: From a faith and worldview perspective, we don’t have anything in common with unbelievers. Our faith and values are completely different, so why would we try to accomplish something inherently related to that faith and those values alongside someone who is going to be pulling in the opposite direction?

Paul’s words echo those of God Himself in Amos 3:3: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (KJV)

The answer, of course, is no. And in that case, we would do well to heed the admonition of 2 Corinthians 6:17: “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord….”

IFI Fall Banquet with Franklin Graham!
We are excited to announce that at this year’s 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.

Learn more HERE.

Illinois Family Institute is urging our readers to watch and share this critically important conversation between Pastor Doug Wilson and Pastor Derek Buikema on the science-denying, anti-Christian “trans”-ideology. Doug Wilson is the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho; theologian; prolific author; and blogger extraordinaire. Derek Buikema is the lead pastor at Orland Park Christian Reformed Church in Orland Park, Illinois who has master’s degrees from Wheaton College, Westminster Seminary, and Calvin Seminary.

Their discussion includes the issues of Christian worldview, church discipline, the biblical view of a welcoming church, and the increasing persecution of the church in America.

Both pastors are theologically orthodox, wise, winsome, courageous, and whipsmart—a combination of characteristics increasingly rare among Christians—including Christian leaders.

As the “trans”-ideology takes root in the toxic soil of American anti-culture, we desperately need Pastor Wilson’s insights and example. We’re rapidly heading to a cultural place in which all public recognition and valuation of sex differences will be eradicated. There will remain no sex-segregated spaces or activities. Our children and grandchildren will be taught that they are ignorant, hateful bigots if they refuse to share restrooms, locker rooms, dorm rooms, or semi-private hospital rooms with persons of the opposite sex.

There will remain no single-sex high schools or colleges, no women’s athletics, no sex-segregated prisons or shelters. Women will no longer be able to count on mammograms being administered by women. Small mom and pop businesses—including businesses that cater to children—will not be free to refuse to hire cross-dressing men. Child welfare agencies will place children in the care of adults who pretend to be the sex they are not and never can be. Christians who refuse to use incorrect pronouns when referring to those who seek to pass as the opposite sex will lose their jobs and be fined or jailed.

Parents, watch and discuss this with your middle school and older children. IFI subscribers, 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.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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