On July 4, 2022, more than 80 rounds of ammunition were fired into the crowds watching the Highland Park July 4^th Parade. Seven were killed and dozens were injured in this perverse attack. Predictably, many on the left were again calling for increased gun control. What is a Christian response to the violence that plagues our nation?

No single article can address all the issues, but I want to provide some perspective to the issue of violence and crime in our nation and across the world.

First, the rifle used by the wicked man on July 4 did not cause the crime. The wicked man who used the rifle is to blame. It is the primary job of civil rulers to punish the wicked and protect the innocent as we see clearly in Romans 13:4,

“For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”

Sadly, the one who carried out the great evil on July 4 will not suffer the wrath that he should experience in this life. Part of the problem in our nation and around the world is that true justice is not meted out to murderers and others who commit violent crimes which inevitably leads to more violent crime. Very likely the Highland Park shooter will spend the rest of his life in prison, but that is not the truly Biblical form of justice he deserves.

We would all love to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals. This is easier said than done. However, it is wicked when elected officials treat law-abiding citizens as criminals simply because they own a weapon of the same model that a criminal used to murder people.

Second, violent crime is epidemic across America. However, gun ownership does not correlate with a country’s violent crime rate.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United States in 2020 ranked 20th for total murder rate. The U.S. Murder Rate in 2020 was 6.3 per 100,000 people. Switzerland, a country noted as having a fairly high rate of gun ownership, ranked 68th on the list with a murder rate of 0.5 per 100,000 people. Australia, a country often praised by liberals for restricting gun ownership, in 2020 ranked 52nd with a murder rate of 0.9 per 100,000. (It should be noted that Australia does have a much higher rate for sexual assault; it is more than twice that of the U.S.)

Third, there is a massive discrepancy in U.S. cities when it comes to murder rates which have nothing to do with access to guns. Both Chicago and Rockford have higher murder rates than Dallas and Houston. Are guns easier to get in Chicago (which bans them) than in Houston (which does not)?

In 2020, El Paso (population 678,815) saw a 71 percent decrease in gun homicides. The murder rate in El Paso declined from 5.2 to 1.5 from 2019 to 2020. Part of the reason for the high murder rate in El Paso in 2019 was a horrible mass shooting where twenty-three people were killed. In stark contrast, Des Moines saw an increase in gun homicides of 175 percent from 2019 to 2020 and Chicago had an increase of 54 percent.

Fourth, wicked politicians through promotion of violence and foolish COVID policies caused much harm to our nation. As a result, homicides were up 33 percent in cities across America. This is not the fault of guns but wicked men and women along with politicians who failed in their duties according to Romans 13.

Finally, throughout Illinois we may be just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to crime thanks to the recently passed the 764-page SAFE-T “crime-bill” that will go into effect on January 1, 2023. Even Democrat politicians have been sounding the alarm on the dangers that are in store because of this bill. James Glasgow, Will County State’s Attorney, recently was warning about the criminal that will be set free from the Will Country jail connected with these “reforms.”

May the Lord have mercy. May God’s people be bold in their witness and wise in their voting.

Because the Republican platforms over the years have been much closer to my values than the Democratic platforms, I have voted Republican for as long as I can remember. But when it comes to bringing about moral and cultural change in America, I do not look to a political party. Not a chance. There is moral compromise in both major parties, and the battle we are fighting for the soul of the nation is a spiritual battle long before it is a political battle. The recent U.S. House vote to codify same-sex “marriage” was yet another reminder for us.

As reported by Fox News on July 19, “A vote to codify same-sex marriage into federal law split U.S. House Republicans on Tuesday, with roughly a third of the GOP conference voting with Democrats in favor and the rest opposing.

“In a 267-157 vote, the House passed legislation repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and enshrining protections for gay marriage into federal law. Overall, 47 House Republicans voted with nearly every single Democrat to back the measure, dubbed the Respect for Marriage Act.”

Let that sink in for a moment.

It is bad enough that this bill is called the “Respect for Marriage Act,” seeing that the “marriage” of which it speaks represents a radical and fundamental redefining of the institution of marriage.

And it is to the shame of the Democratic Party that “nearly every single Democrat” voted in favor of the measure.

But it is no surprise that the Democrats voted this way, seeing that they are overtly and proudly pro-LGBTQ+. Perhaps the only surprise is that there were any who did not toe the line.

But for 47 Republicans to vote this way, representing almost 25 percent of all Republicans in the House, is both surprising and shameful.

That’s because the Republican Party is supposed to be the pro-life, pro-family party, the party that upholds traditional Judeo-Christian values. Why else do so many conservative Christians vote Republican if not for these core moral and social values?

The fact is that the redefining of marriage by the Supreme Court in 2015 represents one of the most radical social developments in our nation’s history, fundamentally changing the meaning and purpose of marriage.

In fact, the same Barack Obama who lit up the White House in rainbow colors to celebrate the 2015 ruling is the same person who said while campaigning in 2008 that, as a Christian, he believed marriage was the union of one man and one woman.

Not only so, but Proposition 8, which was on the ballot in 2008 in California and which upheld the historic definition of marriage, was passed with the help of the large turnout of African American voters. They voted for Barack Obama, but in keeping with their largely conservative family values, they voted for Proposition 8. In their mind, the man they were voting for shared their views.

That’s how dramatically and quickly the tide changed in our nation, from candidate Obama affirming male-female marriage to President Obama shifting his views already in his first term.

That’s part of the reason we find ourselves in the midst of such cultural madness today, where the very meaning of “woman” is hotly debated, where medical websites use acronyms such as AFAB and AMAB (meaning, assigned female at birth and assigned male at birth) rather than “female” and “male,” and where even the Merriam-Webster dictionary has expanded its definition of “female.”

The normalizing of same-sex “marriage” simply represented the proverbial camel’s nose entering the tent, to be followed by: 1) the amping up of radical trans activism in the schools, in the workplace, on TV and social media, and in sports; 2) the rise of drag queens, to the point that the American Library Association endorses drag queens reading stories to little children in libraries; 3) the increasing marginalization of those holding to conservative Christian values on both grass roots and legal levels.

In fact, if I provided links just to my relevant articles on these subjects over the last 7 years (since Obergefell), this entire page (literally) would be filled with “see here and here and here . . . .” The list is almost endless. (For the moment, if you want devastating proof of #3 in the list, above, go here.)

Really now, redefining marriage was not even on the radar for leading gay activists just a few decades ago, since under no circumstances was a cultural shift of this enormity even envisioned. Yet here we stand today, when 47 Republicans voted to codify this radical redefinition of our most fundamental social institution.

Again, as I have said many times, by saying this, I do not mean that gay couples do not love each other deeply. And I do not deny that many of them are incredibly devoted parents. I simply mean that marriage throughout history, with the rarest and slightest exceptions (like Nero marrying a man who took on female characteristics), has always been the union of a male and female. And from a biblical perspective, the idea of two men or two women marrying would be utterly abhorrent.

For 47 House Republicans to vote to protect this new version of “marriage” is deplorable (in the worst sense of the word), regardless of what Republican Senators decide to do.

And it is another reminder that, while I continue to prefer Republican policies to Democrat policies, by and large, I absolutely do not look to either party to be major agents of righteous moral and cultural change. That remains the calling of the Church and the role of the gospel.

As I argue in my forthcoming book, The Political Seduction of the Church, to confuse the role of politics with the role of the gospel is a fatal mistake. We cannot afford to make it again.

Read more:

Two Lame Duck Republicans from Illinois Vote Against Marriage (Illinois Family Action)

This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.

Pastors were crucial in the founding of America and its biblical principles, and they need to once again take their rightful place as leaders who teach the “whole counsel” of God for every area of life including politics, Liberty Pastors Network founder Pastor Paul Blair* of Oklahoma tells us in this interview. The reason America is unique is because it was the result of a biblical worldview among the population, he said. The ideas came straight from the Bible, and early colonists looked to the early Hebrew republic under God’s laws for guidance and inspiration.

There will be no way to rescue America and liberty without understanding this, Blair said. Already, members of the Liberty Pastors Network are running for office, getting elected, and making a difference. There are four more summits coming up this year.

*Pastor Paul Blair was an offensive tack for the Chicago Bears between 1986-1990.

A question that’s been roiling the Catholic Church for years is whether Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin and other Catholic politicians should be denied Communion since they support the legalized killing of children in the womb.

In 2004, then-Fr. Kevin Vann (now Bishop Vann of Orange, CA) publicly advised U.S. Senator Durbin not to present himself for Communion at his home church in Springfield due to his stance on abortion. But mostly the Church has wrestled with this question through the decades. Many wonder why there is any reluctance to deny Communion to Catholics who endorse views contrary to those of the Church.

Opponents of the denial of Communion argue that since we’re all sinners, if we deny Communion to some politicians on this issue, then we must deny Communion to others in the pews who are engaged in serious sin. That, in turn, would mean that few would be receiving Communion, which is at the heart of Mass for Catholics.

But now action has been taken by Nancy Pelosi’s archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone, in San Francisco to deny her Communion, and the floodgates of opinion have opened. The action was immediately praised by other bishops and panned by celebrities.

First, let’s get the easy stuff out of the way. Celebrity Whoopi Goldberg, who identifies as Catholic, proclaims on TV to the archbishop: “It’s not your job!” Except that it is Archbishop Cordileone’s job. In fact, it’s at the very heart of the “job description” for a bishop or priest. They are called to tend their flock and help people live righteously, part of which is administering or withholding the Eucharist.

Second, politicians and leaders have a special responsibility that most of us don’t have.[1] As leaders of civil government, they regularly determine life-and-death issues, chief among which is abortion—the direct killing of innocent unborn children.

Now on to the nitty-gritty of Catholic Church teaching.

The way it’s supposed to work is that the priest of the church that Nancy Pelosi attends is in charge of ministering to her. Just like any other parishioner, the local priest is her shepherd. He talks to her, hears her confessions, counsels her, and administers the sacraments to her. He gets to know the real Nancy, who is created in the image and likeness of Almighty God, all for the purpose of helping her grow in holiness.

For decades, her priest (and his boss, the archbishop) have undoubtedly held many private conversations with Pelosi. Many attempts to get her to renounce killing the unborn were surely made. Indeed, Nancy says so herself. But she says she “disagrees” with the Church on this and other key issues.

So, what is an archbishop to do? He is to do exactly what Archbishop Cordileone did. Privately counsel one of his flock on a major sin. Counsel her to confess and ask for forgiveness. And urge her not to sin again. If she refuses, the priest cannot in good conscience administer the sacrament of Communion.

Catholic leaders like Pelosi and Durbin will often say that Catholic teaching provides that one’s “right of conscience” is sacred. That is true. But using that as an excuse to support abortion or gay “marriage” or any other serious sin makes a mockery of the teaching. The teaching does not give carte blanche to reject Catholic doctrine.

Catholic teaching says that a “well-formed conscience is upright and truthful” and also that a well-formed conscience can never contradict the objective moral truth contained in Sacred Scripture or taught by the Magisterium of the Church.

Public discussions of the Catholic Church’s respect for conscience often include a grave misunderstanding of how the Catholic Church views conscience. Conscience is “the sense of right and wrong, but also the obligations that follow from our understanding of what is right and wrong.”

Further, conscience must be properly formed by Scripture and the historical teachings of the Catholic Church. Catholic apologist Tom Nash writes,

[A] Catholic is obligated to form his conscience particularly with the teachings of the Church (CCC 1785) and including these basic moral rules:

• One may never do evil so that good may result from it
• The Golden Rule: “Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.”
• Charity always proceeds by way of respect for one’s neighbor and his conscience: “Thus sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience . . . you sin against Christ.” Therefore “it is right not to . . . do anything that makes your brother stumble”

Choosing abortion clearly violates all three rules. Thus, one can never have a truly certain conscience and choose abortion. … In addition, as Vatican II makes clear, conscience does not give individual Catholics arbitrary veto power over any and all Church teachings they don’t like. Rather, in evaluating decisions in their conscience, Catholics are faced with an objective, divinely given law (see Romans 2:14-16) they must obey, not one they can override or rewrite.

The archbishop obviously doesn’t believe Nancy is submitting to God. As Nancy Pelosi said, “They say to me, ‘Nancy Pelosi thinks she knows more about having babies than the pope.’ Yes I do. Are you stupid?”

The Catholic Church believes that its priests, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals, are established on Earth for the purpose of guiding and helping people grow in holiness. Like most clergy, Archbishop Cordileone is keenly aware of his role in trying to get Nancy Pelosi, and others in his care, to accept God’s Word. Let us pray for them all.

January 22, 1973 – This is a horrible date that we should all know — the day the horrific decision, Roe v. Wade, was issued and announced. Almost 50 years later and over 63 million lives taken, this drastic decision could finally be overturned.

On May 2, 2022 Politico obtained a leaked draft written by Justice Samuel Alito that contained the majority opinion that would overturn both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).

We anticipate that the leaked draft indicating the decision will not change and that very soon we will hear the final decision announced.

Here are some matters for prayer both now and after the decision is made:

1] Let us pray especially for Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. We pray for their physical protection. We pray that all the adversity that they have faced will encourage them to stand more and more with truth against death and deceit.

2] We should pray that Chief Justice John Roberts will stand for the truth. We should also pray for the repentance of those expected to stand against this decision – Justices Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor.

3] After the draft decision was leaked there were a number of cases where churches and pro-life pregnancy centers were attacked. Andy Ngô reported at least 15 cases where either churches or pro-life centers were targeted.

We should pray especially against the efforts of a radical, violent group called Jane’s Revenge that has carried out attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers with impunity. On June 15, they released a statement in which they stated the following:

“We have demonstrated in the past month how easy and fun it is to attack. We are versatile, we are mercurial, and we answer to no one but ourselves,” and then they stated their threats.

“We promised to take increasingly drastic measures against oppressive infrastructures. Rest assured that we will, and those measures may not come in the form of something so easily cleaned up as fire and graffiti. Sometimes you will see what we do, and you will know that it is us.

“Sometimes you will think you merely are unlucky, because you cannot see the ways which we interfere in your affairs. But your pointless attempts to control others, and make life more difficult, will not be met passively. Eventually your insurance companies and your financial backers will realize you are a bad investment.”

Jane’s Revenge claims to be responsible for sixteen different attacks.

We know very well that much of our justice system and many elected officials have not taken these attacks seriously. Pray for our government. Pray for your local pregnancy centers. (And perhaps you could help in other ways.) This is a serious time of spiritual warfare spilling over into threats and violence.

4] We pray that many states will take quick action to outlaw legal abortions or at a minimum seek to curtail abortions.

What about states like Illinois that have seen a 25 percent increase in abortions ? We must prayerfully consider how much work remains. We pray and work to see laws changed as well as hearts changed.

5] We pray that the Lord will have mercy on a nation that has been so blessed and yet has so rebelled against God’s truth. One of the most frightening things to consider is what we deserve.

Here are some additional prayer bullet points to petition our God, Yahweh-Nissi, through the name of Jesus in the days ahead:

Thank God

• Praise and thank God for religious and civil liberty that we still enjoy today in the United States. Pray that parents and grandparents teach their children and grandchildren what an amazing gift God has given us in self-government. Pray that future generations would not take these freedoms for granted. May we utilize these freedoms for the spread of the Gospel and for His glory and honor.

• While more and more of our neighbors are choosing to live secular lives, we thank God for Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.

• Thank God for the exceptionalism of our nation.

• Thank God for His countless blessings in our lives, in our families, communities and nation. Thank Him for the trials and challenges that draw us closer to Him. Thank God for the patience, strength and faith to wait out the storm.

• PRAY for revival.

Please Pray

• FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY: For the next several weeks, please pray for the political leaders listed below. Of course, this includes praying for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and those who serve in their administration.
  • U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico)
  • U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas)
  • U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
  • U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar (D-Texas)
  • U.S. Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
  • State Senator Meg Loughran Cappel (D-Plainfield)
  • State Senator Chapin Rose (R-Champaign)
  • State Representative Janet Yang Rohr (D-Naperville)
  • State Representative Dan Ugaste (R-St. Charles)
  • YOUR local County Board Members

Pray for the Sanctity of Life:

• PRC’s: Lift up all pregnancy resource centers and those diligently reaching out to vulnerable mothers who feel as if abortion is their only option. Please pray for God’s hand of protection on those who work at these ministries, and that any planned attacks would be thwarted.

• ABORTION: Scripture teaches us that the image of God dwells equally in ALL people [Gen. 9:6], yet far too many in our culture believe that killing pre-born human beings is a legitimate choice. Many so-called “progressives” advocate for this under the banner of “Reproductive Rights” for women. Yet these narratives deny God’s truth about the sanctity of life and when it begins. Moreover, we know that God hates the shedding of innocent blood. (Proverbs 6:16-19)  God forgive us!

• Please pray for God’s forgiveness for our culture’s wickedness and complicity in the destruction of human life. Though God commands, “You Shall Not Murder,” we have instead legalized it and subsidized it with our tax dollars, and have failed to treat all human life as sacred to the Lord. We deserve God’s judgment, but please cry out to God for his MERCY on our state and nation. We are without excuse, yet call upon our loving God to cause the fear of the Lord to fall upon our state and nation so that we would no longer turn a blind eye to our sin or our nation’s sin.

• Pray for a softening of hearts and minds. May God give us opportunities to minister to those who are hurting and may our conversations be filled with His grace and love.

• THE CHURCH:  The Christian Church must step up to teach and defend God’s truth regarding the sanctity of life. We will see an increase in abortion trafficking into our state, as people come to abortion facilities in Illinois. The opportunities to be salt and light at prayer vigils, as sidewalk counselors, as friends and neighbors will certainly increase. Pray that we recognize these opportunities and ask God to work through you to help would be mothers and fathers avoid the sin of abortion. Because of our trust and hope in Jesus, we can boldly approach the throne and beg Him to have mercy upon us and use us to save lives and souls.

Pray for Families:

• PARENTS: Pray that God will give us wisdom and the strength to raise godly children. Help us see the challenges we face as opportunities to train our children toward right thinking and right actions. May God help us to focus on teaching our children the Christian faith, to love the Word of God and to seek to do Thy will. Help us to disciple our children.

• GRANDPARENTS: That God would use grandparents to fearlessly proclaim the Word of God regarding sin and God’s love. Pray for their role in the training of their grandchildren and wisdom on how to instill a Biblical worldview.

• FAMILIES AS SALT AND LIGHT: Pray that God would help your family to be faithful in family worship, foster sweet unity and cooperation, and then use your family to spread the truth and light of the Gospel.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him,
bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered;
and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they
are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will aske
what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified...
~Jesus Christ (John 15:5-8)

As the Church continues to grow, and youth ministries flourish, you would expect this generation of children to be closer to God more than ever. You would expect plenty of children to become and continue being Christians, and in return, Christianity would prosper. But as most of us know, this is sadly not the case. Christianity is on the decline and many children who grew up as Christians are tragically leaving the faith as they grow older. Why is this happening despite churches being plentiful and youth ministries nearly at every church? Why would Christianity be in dire trouble if churches seem to be stronger than ever? Dr. Rob Rienow doesn’t think that the Church is to blame; he thinks it is a problem with the family and the home.

Dr. Rob Rienow, an author and missionary, tells us in his informative and entertaining worldview presentation how important family is when it comes to spreading the Gospel, especially for children. It is said numerous times in the Bible that Jesus loves children and that children are important to faith. Jesus even says that we are all to accept the Gospel like little children. This great importance that is placed upon children is not simply just because children are innocent and sweet, but it also shows us God’s bigger plan for Christians.

Please watch/listen and share this video segment of the 2022 Worldview Conference:

God commands us to have children and fill the earth, but for what reason? Dr. Rienow argues that the reason is that God wants us to spread the Gospel by first discipling our children, then others. These children would then disciple their children and others. The “baton of faith” would be passed down generationally and prosper as the family obeys God in filling the earth with our children/grandchildren/great grandchildren, etc. “You, your kids and the world” is the Biblical formula says Dr. Rienow.

If we want to start reaching others with the Good News, what better place to start spreading the Word of God than in our own homes with our own children? Join Dr. Rienow and explore with him the reason that children are deviating from the path at an alarmingly high rate, and more importantly, how we can help fix this problem.

American culture has changed dramatically in the last thirty years. Before that time, Christianity was generally respected by the society while homosexuality was disdained. Today, the tables have turned to the point that almost anything LGBTQ+ is celebrated while the Church is largely denigrated. In short, if gay is good, the Church is bad. This is another reason why many have left the Church, especially among the younger generation.

Consider American views on same-sex “marriage.”

Gallup first began polling American views on this in 1996, at which point 27 percent of the public supported legalizing same-sex unions. In 2022, the number rose to 72 percent.

This is an unprecedented shift in public opinion. But it is not surprising in light of the fact that: 1) so many Americans have friends, relatives, or loved ones who identify as gay; 2) President Obama endorsed gay “marriage” in 2012; 3) the Supreme Court redefined marriage in 2015; 4) the media has been bombarding us with gay-positive stories for the last few decades.

Had the Gallup poll been conducted in 1986, let alone in 1976 or 1966, support for same-sex “marriage” would have been a fraction of what it is today. But even dating back to 1996, the shift in opinion has been absolutely dramatic, from 27 percent support to 72 percent.

And what, according to Gallup, is the one group of people still opposing same-sex “marriage”? It is “Americans who report that they attend church weekly” who “remain the primary demographic holdout against gay marriage, with 40% in favor and 58% opposed.”

We are now the bad guys, the opposition, the ones standing in the way of progress, the small-minded, Bible-thumping bigots, the people who say Yes to religion and No to love.

That is how much of the world perceives us today, especially the younger generation which has grown up in a very different world than did previous generations.

In the not-too-distant past, Americans were proud to identify as Christians and ashamed to identify as gays or lesbians. How the tables have turned!

Today, Christians and Christian beliefs are openly mocked and ridiculed, while day in and day out, we hear about gay and lesbian and bi and trans pride, sometimes for weeks on end, almost wherever we turn – especially in June!

Back in 1997, there was lots of controversy when Ellen Degeneres, playing a TV character named Ellen, came out as lesbian, first as the character and then in real life. Ellen? Really? Today, you would be hard pressed to find a major TV show that doesn’t have an LGBTQ+ character, while Ellen herself reigned for years as queen of daytime TV.

Even cartoons and children’s shows feature LGBTQ+ characters and themes, while the number of gay or bi or trans superheroes grows every year. Talk about a massive cultural shift. America has never seen anything like it before.

In the past, being pro-Christian and pro-natural marriage meant swimming with the tide. Today, it is the exact opposite.

And make no mistake about it: this is an intensely personal issue, not just a theoretical issue.

After all, we’re talking about someone’s child. Or their best friend at school. Or their favorite media personality. “You’re telling me that they’re going to hell because of who they love? You’re telling me they can’t serve in your church? If so, I want nothing to do with your religion or your God.”

Writing for Religion News August 6, 2021, Yonat Shimron noted that, “Amid widespread acceptance of LGBTQ people, evangelical church attitudes toward the group have not budged, and the consequences have been dire.

“A study last month by the Public Religion Research Institute found the number of Americans who identify as white evangelicals has declined dramatically, from 23% in 2006 to 14.5% in 2020. Those leaving in the greatest numbers are younger evangelicals whose attitudes toward sexual minorities are starkly at odds with their elders. Take same-sex marriage: While only one-third (34%) of white evangelicals age 50 and over favor same-sex marriage, 51% of younger white evangelicals ages 18-49 now favor it — a majority, another PRRI study found.” (My emphasis)

But this is nothing new.

Writing on the MSNBC website on February 26, 2014, Jane Timm stated that “One third of young people who left organized religion did so because of anti-gay teachings or treatment within their churches, according to a new study.” Yes, “A full 31% of young people (ages 18 to 33) who left organized religion said ‘negative teachings’ or ‘negative treatment’ of gay people was a ‘somewhat important’ or ‘very important’ factor in their departure, as surveyed by the Public Religion Research Institute.”

The problem for true followers of Jesus is that the Bible hasn’t changed, which means that God is still against homosexual practice and identity. And so, if we want to be in solidarity with the Lord, we will find ourselves at odds with the prevailing culture.

At the same time, we do not want to drive people away from the Lord by making opposition to LGBTQ+ activism our primary cause (as opposed to the Great Commission being our primary cause). Nor do we ever want to appear (or be) mean-spirited, judgmental, or hypocritical.

What, then, do we do?

First, we ask God to fill our hearts with His love for those who identify as LGBTQ+, then we seek to share that love with them face to face.

Second, we make clear in our messages that all of us are fundamentally flawed, which is why all of us need a Redeemer.

Third, we make a distinction between an aggressive agenda and individual people.

Fourth, we determine to hold to biblical standards regardless of public opinion (and regardless of how much these standards challenge our own lives too).

Fifth, we give ourselves to prayer, also believing that those with anti-biblical values will continue to overplay their hand, further exposing the wrongness of their position.

Sixth, we share the testimonies of those who have been transformed through the gospel, making clear that our message is filled with hope and life.

Seventh, we let the chips fall where they may, determined to preach Jesus and live for Jesus no matter what, always remembering that this world is not our eternal home.

It is true, that, for many reasons, people are leaving the church. It is also true that many others are meeting Jesus powerful.

That’s because, what the world so desperately needs, we have in the fullness of the gospel.

Let us not be ashamed to live it and proclaim it.

This article was originally published by AskDrBrown.org.

Maybe you haven’t missed it yet, but you should have. I am referring to what we once referred to as America’s common culture, a generally accepted understanding of how things should be which was largely based upon, believe it or not, the Bible. Our Constitution and laws reflect a thorough knowledge of the Bible on the part of those who wrote them, and until recently Biblical phrases and principles showed up everywhere, in movies, music, political rhetoric and beyond. Whatever happened to the idea that it is wise, even essential, to understand the source of our culture, what words mean and where mores originated and their intended purpose, and so on.  Lately, such thinking has vaporized. Many people have no such understanding, they do not care to understand, and worse than that, they hate and silence anyone who desires to understand.

American culture has become like a drug induced hallucination. The intentional disconnect from reality that the Left has perpetrated upon the nation is so fantastic that no one would have believed it possible just ten years ago. “Follow the science” is the mantra of the moment, but it is as vapid as popular entertainment. The expression suggests knowledge of certain verifiable facts, but upon examination everything hangs suspended by nothing.  Dogma, unproven, unprovable, and self-contradictory is crammed down our throats. The nation, which once had the semblance of a common creed, now resembles a factory filled with robots, animated but undirected, mindlessly thrashing about destroying and being destroyed.

So, how did we get here? By “here,” I mean this place where we are killing unborn babies in the womb and letting born babies die. Where children are told they may be a boy, but on the other hand, they may be a girl? Where mothers and motherhood are scorned, and marriage is avoided, and where it seems virtually nothing you witness in the public sphere makes any sense. How did we arrive “behind the looking glass?”

We will have to go back a long way to find the origins of this trek into la-la land. Ultimately, it harks back to the Garden with Adam and Eve listening to the Serpent. The Bible tells us in Romans 1:18 that people “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” But this contemporary iteration of irrationality began in earnest with the promotion of the theory of evolution. If there ever were an example of nonsense it is the notion that everything in the universe came into being from nothing with no outside help. The pseudo scientists who came up with this idea and all those who perpetuate it must twist facts and reality into knots to support such transparent silliness. Interestingly, for virtually all of human history the idea that some Being or beings (ancient gods) created all things, (“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”) caused no a logical conflict. This is significant when you consider that ancient peoples were brilliant, creating things and accomplished tasks we cannot duplicate today!

Most everything we use, live in, or eat comes to us through some person’s actions. It is not much of a stretch to believe that the same principle applies to the universe itself, that Someone created it all. True science is cause-effect driven, thus a Cause behind it all poses no real intellectual or scientific problem. This is not to say that people did not chaff under the knowledge that we were responsible to this “Someone.” However, the “theory” of evolution could only gain traction by its proponents scorning and silencing the Truth; and that they have done with relative but not complete success. They had to eliminate the straight line in order that their crooked lines not be noticed.

There is no question that evolution has its appeal. It has no quantifiable scientific substance to it but it feeds our perverse craving for autonomy. We hate having to give an account for ourselves to a Deity, and with so many seemingly credible people willing to endorse the theory, evolution became the fig leaf to hide mankind’s moral and rational nakedness. Eliminating God and the Bible was necessary for the development of the sovereign “self,” the imperial “I.” But we are supposed to take no notice of the inherent and insurmountable contradictions within the theory and the fact that such sovereigns necessarily clash with the other sovereigns. Violence and conflict are a given in human experience. It is possible that there have been very few days in human history when there were not multiple wars raging on earth. People do very badly as sovereigns.

As I have already stated, evolution, as a viable theory, could not make real progress without first seriously undermining peoples’ ability and willingness to discern truth from error. In other words, so long as there was an objective standard of truth, lies and errors would be a hard sell. So, the journey down the rabbit hole began. One-by-one the purveyors of the deception have been chipping away at the rock foundation, the Bible, which has organized and stabilized this great nation from its inception, and have replaced it with irrational, atheistic dogma. Tragically, the culture American young people find themselves in today is impossibly self-contradicting and confusing. And worse than that, it is a malignant confusion. America’s most valuable treasure, its children, are falling prey to every huckster, user, and pervert, and few in power seem to care.  Children are dying in numbers and from causes never before imagined by Americans!

Such atrocities can only exist in an environment where they are not considered atrocities! What the Left has done in America is to turn the universe upside-down, where good is evil, right is wrong, and light is darkness. We are now ever so close to the place Nazi Germany was as they rationalized the extermination of certain people groups. When everything around you is upside-down, it is easier for manipulative people to convince you that maybe it is you who is upside-down!

Yet, in our hearts we all know that there is such a thing as Truth and that no one can change reality by wishful thinking or at the point of a gun. Everyone knows that a man is a man, and a woman is a woman, and that unborn babies are not mere blobs of tissue. No one is fooled, but millions have been intimidated into silence or cooperation. And, while we may still be in the early stages of the malignant harvest of this evil manipulation, every thinking American can see that we are already in deep trouble as a culture and nation.

Therefore, what is to be done? First, we must return to the “Gold Standard” of Truth, the Bible.  It has stood the test of time and the onslaught of hateful and unbelieving critics, yet remains unchangeable and unchanging. As one Christian exclaimed, “hammer away ye hostile bands! Your hammers break, God’s anvil stands!” The proponents of evolution and atheism understand that their dogma fuels the natural appetite of young people to be autonomous and rebellious, so they hide behind masks of “caring,” and present themselves as intellectual and sophisticated, encouraging the young to “follow their hearts,” a poisonous and disastrous recipe if there ever was one, and to distain the Bible as “fairy tales,” and “fiction.” The Bible notes that “he who trusts in his own heart is a fool,” (Prov. 28:26).

Recent surveys suggest that Bible reading is at an all-time low in America, and only a small minority of citizens allow it to guide their lives and decisions. While the country was never a “Christian Nation” in the true sense of the word, the Bible certainly played a major role in our history. It may be that America was “Christianized” in the same way the ancient world was Hellenized. Our laws, customs, and culture owe a great debt to the Bible.

Any country would be wise to consult the Bible and base its laws and customs upon scriptural precepts. How much more ought America, whose foundation was derived from the Bible, return to it to find our way out of the troubles we now face! Just as engines designed to run on gasoline cannot run on other fuels, so also America, designed to run on biblical principles cannot run on any other “philosophy” or religious tenets. John Adams, our second president, noted this fact when he stated that our “Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

We are sobered by the Scripture’s warning that, “the wicked will be turned into Hell and all the nations that forget God.” As America forgets God and His Word, one could say that our streets and cities come more and more to resemble what we understand Hell to be. There are consequences for the choices we make, and they do not change because someone says they will. We cannot scorn God, flout His Words, reject His commands, hate what He loves and think we can avoid the natural consequences.

America!  Repent, turn to God, read, and trust His Word!  There is no hope for the Nation apart from the Bible being central to who we are and what we do!

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, the well-known 108-year-old Christian publishing company, continues its slide into heterodoxy by celebrating June “pride” month. On June 3, 2022, in a post on Eerdmans’ blog, the company recommended not one, not two, but six books for Christians to read in honor of “Pride Month” (rainbow colors seen here are Eerdmans/Satan’s—not God’s or mine). Eerdmans/Satan wrote,

Nothing says doctrinal soundness quite like celebrating pride, homoeroticism, and cross-dressing.

C’mon on, you people of faith, cease all your disunifying and unresting on the topic of men lying with men. Listen to men who are lying with men and cross-dressing. And while you’re at it, please seek to understand polyamorists, consanguinamorists, zoophiles, and minor-attracted persons, all of whom are simply fighting to be seen, heard, cared for, and loved.

Oh, almost forgot—they also want the church to affirm, pridefully celebrate, and promote as good their sinful desires and sinful volitional acts.

The desire of homosexuals and cross-dressers to have their sin “trans”-formed into righteousness takes precedence over the Old and New Testament’s condemnations of homoeroticism, cross-dressing, and pride. If men can become women by wishing it so, then by golly sinners can become sinless by virtue of their desire to be seen, heard, cared for, and loved. No need for confession or repentance.

All sinners—that is to say, all humans—desire to be cared for and loved. Not all sinners, however, pressure the church and the entire world to celebrate their sins and call them righteousness. Most Christians who experience, for example, unwanted, unchosen desires to drink excessively, gossip, steal, and covet are not demanding that drunkenness, gossip, theft, and covetousness be pridefully celebrated as righteous.

Theologian, professor, and author of the book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Carl Trueman, recently wrote an essay about pride month in which he exposes the meaning of adopting an “LGBTQ+” identity:

For anyone not completely hoodwinked by the erotic obsessions of our day, taking pride in one’s sexual identity—indeed, even considering sexual desire to be an identity—would seem at best pitiful and at worst a deep perversion of what it means to be human. Yet, here we are. And we should not underestimate the power of what it signifies.

Clearly, Eerdmans has been hoodwinked.

Trueman continued, making clear the significance for Christians of the demonic appropriation of the rainbow, something that seems to escape the theologically befogged minds of Eerdmans’ leaders:

The use of the rainbow symbol should be particularly egregious to Christians. It is the primary instrument by which the LGBTQ+ movement asserts its ownership of the culture. And it is the means of telling those of us who dare to dissent that we should have no place in the public square anymore. It tears at God’s creation order and design for family relations and social stability. And it is also a blasphemous desecration of a sacred symbol, taking that which was intended as a sign of God’s love and faithfulness and of our dependence upon Him and turning it into an aggressive symbol of human autonomy and sexual decadence.

After the Eerdmans’ blog post went viral, the company received widespread and impassioned criticism to which they responded with unrighteous umbrage, digging in their prideful heels and tweeting,

The revilers say we have changed our position and begun to teach heresy. There are several problems with that accusation. We do not think it is for us as a publisher to define doctrine for the church. We are not the pope, or an ecumenical council, or even a pastor. Our role is to publish books, representing both settled and experimental positions, that serve the church in its ongoing deliberations.

We therefore routinely publish books that contradict each other on many contested doctrinal points. We publish conservative and liberal books; we publish Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant books. We are not confused. We are a publisher that serves the ecumenical church.

With regard to Christian understandings of LGBTQ+ people, Eerdmans has been publishing books for quite a few years by authors who have come to an affirming conclusion on biblical and theological grounds. This is not new for us. …

We reject the tendency to promote division and discord by categorizing Christians into two camps, considering “us” to be right about everything and “them” to be wrong. We decline to swear loyalty to one faction’s “us” and join their hostilities against all corresponding “thems.”

So, we reiterate our invitation, especially to our conservative friends, whom we value and respect: use #PrideMonth to read a book by LGBTQ+ Christians and their allies.

What an ironic use of the epithet “reviler.” Eerdmans is calling critics of the company’s affirmation of the sins of homosexuality and cross-sex identification “revilers,” and yet Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians,

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9-10)

Was Paul a “reviler” in his clear condemnation of homosexuality?

Once upon a time, Eerdmans was connected to doctrine–sound doctrine. While it may not have “defined doctrine,” it reflected doctrine. At one point in its history, Eerdmans would have rejected heretical positions—er, I mean, “experimental positions.”

The fact that Eerdmans has been publishing books “for years” by authors who affirm homoeroticism and cross-dressing as biblically defensible “identities” is neither doubted nor assuring. By continuing to do so passionately and unapologetically, Eerdmans is promoting “division and discord.” When the company refuses to “swear loyalty” to the “faction” also known as theologically orthodox Christians, Eerdmans has necessarily joined the faction known as heretics.

Don’t support Eerdmans. The company has been bought out by Satan.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Bought-by-Satan.mp3

Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, recently had a warning for the Christian church: be cautious of the infiltration of the false doctrine of the progressive Christian movement. “Progressive Christianity denies the divinely inspired, authoritative truth of the Bible as it intersects every facet of living,” Graham states in his article, “The Eternal Peril of Christianity.” Graham says that the distortion of the gospel is potentially causing confusion and ultimately sending people to Hell.

Some may wonder what comprises progressive Christianity. The teaching of progressive Christianity encompasses a few different ideas that are in complete opposition to the Bible’s teaching. According to Progressive Christianity.org, there are eight main tenets held by the group. They are:

1.) Belief that following the path and teachings of Jesus can lead to an awareness and experience of the Sacred and the Oneness and Unity of all life;

2.) Affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide but one of many ways to experience the Sacredness and Oneness of life, and that we can draw from diverse sources of wisdom in our spiritual journey;

3.) Seek community that is inclusive of ALL people, including but not limited to:

1. 1. Conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,
   2. Believers and agnostics,
   3. Women and men,
   4. Those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,
   5. Those of all classes and abilities

4.) Know that the way we behave towards one another is the fullest expression of what we believe;

5.) Find grace in the search for understanding and believe there is more value in questioning than in absolutes;

6.) Strive for peace and justice among all people;

7.) Strive to protect and restore the integrity of our Earth; and

8.) Commit to a path of life-long learning, compassion, and selfless love.

Although progressives attempt to make these tenets their “gospel,” Graham notes that “progressive Christianity is not a Gospel at all.” He is correct in his assertion. The eight tenets are an unequivocal rejection of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

When examining the tenets against the true Word of God, it is easy to see their errors. In the first point, the progressives state the willingness to explore the teaching of Jesus, but they believe that knowing the Word is enough to create the New Age idea of sacredness and unity. However, Jesus said in the book of John 5:38-40:

“But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

In other words, they willingly search out the scripture, thinking it is enough to connect to God, but they are unwilling to give their lives to Jesus.

We are told in John 3:3, “‘Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Progressives believe they can connect to God without giving their lives to Christ.

The group goes on in the second tenet to argue that Jesus isn’t the only way to God and that a person can use other sources of knowledge. Of course, this is in direct opposition to the Word of God and is a fallacy. In John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” As noted by Franklin Graham, many in this movement have what is described as having “itching ears.” (2 Timothy 4:3)

In their third tenet, progressives claim to be “inclusive.” Indeed, we are all sinners, and as such, all are invited to be included in the Church. But it is so we can accept Christ’s forgiveness of our sins and get help to stop sinning, never in having our sin affirmed. In calling for the acceptance of skeptics, agnostics, and those who identify as LGBTQ, progressives affirm the sins from which the sinners need Christ’s divine help.

Progressive Churches have started gay choirs and fly the LGBT rainbow flag, announcing that they are inclusive. It is the antithesis of Christianity to celebrate the sexual immorality and unbelief that the Bible clearly condemns. “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) Progressives’ weak theology is sending people to Hell!

The rest of the points continue to use the language of social justice and equity but deny that true justice comes from God. Only through the redemptive blood of Jesus can we ever have the hope of redemption and peace.

The scariest part of this false gospel is that it is beginning to infiltrate the mainstream church at an alarming pace. Many churches have adopted one or several of these points in their attempt to have an inclusive church. They water down the true gospel and fail to call their congregation to repentance. The congregants are not called to repent and accept Christ’s substitutionary punishment for their sins, but rather are rocked into a false sense of security by the lies of inclusion and a twisted form of grace.

It is true that every church should welcome anyone through its doors, and no church should reject someone who is trapped in sexual immorality, unbelief, or any other sin. However, the church’s mission is to share the true Gospel with the goal of leading the person to repentance. The true gospel must be preached from the pulpit boldly.

Take ACTION: We should heed the warning from Franklin Graham and use extreme caution in correctly handling the Word. Twisting it to suit your lifestyle has eternal consequences. Pray for your pastor and the leaders in your church – that they would remain steadfast in preaching the true Gospel and not compromise. Pray that these false teachers that Jesus warned about would not deceive your family and friends. Without a doubt, the best thing we can all do is read the Bible for ourselves and make sure we know the Word of God. That way we can easily recognize falsehood and expose it.

“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
~2 Timothy 4:2-5

Watch More:

[VIDEO] Dr. Rob Rienow: The Sufficiency of Scripture

[VIDEO] Dr. Voddie Baucham: Why You Can Believe the Bible

[VIDEO] Dr. Jorrdan Peterson: The Bible is True

“Information is power” and the Medical Freedom vs. Medical Tyranny Forum hosted by Illinois Family Institute was clearly an evening of empowerment! Attended by an estimated 500 people–young and old alike–the audience, rapt with attention, benefitted from the insights of Dr. Mark Zumhagen, MD and Dr. Simone Gold, MD,FD, founder of America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS).

Dr. Zumhagen started off the forum with an analysis of the war between science that acknowledges God and science that denies God. Illustrating this fact were the two chairs on the stage–one containing a Bible and one empty–a poignant example of the degradation that has ensued since God was removed from science dating back to 1859. Previous to this, scientists operated in an open system, a system where not only the natural realm but also the spiritual realm was taken into consideration. According to Zumhagen’s sources, Isaac Newton spent half his life studying the scriptures! His scientific study was conducted through the lens of the Creator’s truth–”in the beginning were the particles” (Gen. 1:1).

Watch his presentation here:

Dr. Zumhagen explains that without Scriptural truth, scientists are viewing science through the limited lens of Darwinian “truth” are left unable to answer these essential questions.

• How do we get something from nothing?
• How do we get life from non-life?
• How do we get consciousness from non-consciousness ?
• Why is there information in every cell and more importantly – where did it come from?

Having clearly and succinctly taken his audience through the process of “digging down to the roots,” Dr. Zumhagen left the audience with these points for action as one pursues a medical treatment plan and provider:

• Which chair is the provider you are considering sitting in?
• Always hang on tightly to the truth “you are made in the image of God”
• Remember: science is corrupt because it has no moral framework

And finally and most pertinent to the forum, truth is the ONLY thing that will keep us safe and free!

Dr. Simone Gold

Carrying on the idea of “information is power,” Dr. Gold provided energy-packed insight around this idea penned by Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, ironically on January 6, 1816:

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

Watch her amazing presentation here:

Dr. Gold is dedicating her time and energy to ensure Americans are not ignorant so they can remain free. Likening the current situation to the year 1777 in the War for Independence, Dr. Gold noted the battles ahead will most effectively be fought and won as we as individuals increase our understanding and effectively use our limited time and resources. One of the points that needs to be won is to get judges to rule in favor of the Constitutional right to body autonomy. Thanks to the efforts of AFLDS, this was accomplished in part through the victory of keeping vaccine mandates from becoming law.

This is key because one of the most effective ways for a government to take over a people is through medical tyranny– a weapon of government warned against as far back as 1961 by Ronald Reagan:

“One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism has been by way of medicine….If you don’t do this, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was like in America when men were free.”

Clearly, the next threat we will face to our liberty will be a “public safety issue;” and with the Biden administration on the brink of turning over our medical sovereignty as a nation to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to Gold, an organization controlled by China. This control dates back to 2003 when China was humiliated by the WHO. China vowed to never face that humiliation again, and they apparently have succeeded. As it stands at present, they are being praised by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for their “containment” of the virus. This containment includes welding apartment building doors shut to keep people inside.

Also horrific to the concept of the United States’ handing over its sovereignty when the WHO deems there to be a “health emergency” is the WHO’s own definition of what constitutes a crisis. The WHO sees health as the mental, physical, or social well-being of a community. Under this definition, everything belongs to public health.

Having laid a foundation for removing some of our ignorance about the battle we are up against, Dr. Gold went on to assure the audience there IS a way forward. That way is for each individual to stop looking for a politician to come in and rescue us. That way is for each individual to become an ambassador for truth. AFLDS is providing the following resources to equip truth ambassadors:

• Gold Care Health and Wellness Centers
  -Mission – to bring ethical doctors to communities.
  -awareness that we can’t feed the beast (medical insurance)
• Breaking news – a 120-second news clip every day
• Citizen Corps – local leadership bringing like-minded people together
• League of Lions – youth organization dedicated to (counter the current culture that is against healthy masculinity)

Dr. Gold left the audience with these admonitions:

• Become a subscriber to aflds.org
• Examine how you are spending your money and who you are supporting with it.

Choose places to spend your money with those that are protecting your interests.

• Be mindful of the truth God is preeminent
• As you seek to win others with truth, do not make individual issues the focus (experimental shots, masks, etc.). Rather, make Constitutionally protected liberties the focus.

Her final charge:

“I call you to action. I call you to truth. I call you to joy and the love of life, liberty, God, and Country. This is a revolution of love as much as a revolution of science. The facts are on our side. We just need you to stand up and fight for what is right.”

Any time we stand next to the casket of a loved one we may find ourselves asking why death exists in the first place.  Even those of us who know that God is love and reigns supreme see death as a very dark experience.  Could He not have devised an easier way for us to depart this life into eternity?  Must there be such pain?  I am quite sure that God, in His sovereignty, could have done things differently, but He chose not to.  Officiating at the funeral of a good friend recently reminded me of the suffering surrounding death.  But the passage to our eternal state is difficult for a reason and I would like to address some reasons for that suffering.

We generally avoid the hard stuff in life as much as we can.  Questions such as where we will spend eternity, as important as they are, are put off as long as possible, but the death of a loved one forces us, for at least a few days, to deal with reality.  The fact that we all die tells us that there is something wrong with the human condition.  Sin, which is the failure to obey God, is a real problem!  The chaos, confusion, violence, and conflict on every hand does not happen in a vacuum.  It is the fruit of mankind’s sinfulness.  God, on the other hand, is flawlessly perfect, and that presents a real problem for us!

At the same time, eternity is a very long time, and it is the wrong time to discover that we have made a mistake!  Therefore, we need to address the hard questions while we can.  I suggest you ask yourself two questions, “Am I ready to meet God?” and “will I meet Him on good terms?”

Related to these questions, I have three others: First, if we can get to Heaven by simply doing our best, why did Jesus go through the all the trouble of coming to earth as an infant, living with fallen people, face the rejection by the religious and political leadership, undergo the excruciating agony of the cross and the infinitely greater suffering of separation from His Father?  It is important to understand that the greatest price Jesus paid on the cross was the spiritual agony of being rejected by His Father.  “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,” was the heart-rending cry of the Eternal Son being in some unfathomable way torn from fellowship with His Eternal Father.  It was His greatest fear as He prayed in the garden the day before His execution, and the reason for His asking if there were not some other way.

Christ was separated in an infinite way from His Father (which is what death is) so that we would not have to be.  His death provided so that we would not have to die.  Therefore, we cannot gain heaven by anything we do.  It has been provided for all who repent and believe as a free gift paid for by Christ on the cross.

Second, if you would not get on board a plane without knowing its destination, why would you risk entering eternity without knowing your destination?  Again, eternity is a long time in which to discover you have made a mistake!  You may have been told that no one can know for sure they are going to Heaven, but you have been told wrong.  The Apostle John, in his first epistle wrote, “these things I have written to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. . . .”

Third, what kind of God would leave such an important question unknowable?  I don’t believe that a loving parent would tell his children, “I may leave you an inheritance, or I may not.  You will have to wait until I die to find out.”  And I do not believe for a minute that a loving God (and He is loving) would leave the most critical question of our eternal existence with an uncertain or unknowable answer.  We can know whether we are going to Heaven if we truly want to know!

Therefore, what I am about to say is the most important message you will ever hear if you have not already heard it.

I will return to the first question: Why do we die?  In other words, why is physical death our certain reality?  It is because we are already spiritually dead!  We all died in Adam, and as I mentioned earlier, death is separation.  When Adam rebelled against God, he became alienated from God and as a result we became alienated from God as well.  Death is not cessation of being for we know we will exist somewhere forever.  Rather, it is our spiritual separation from God that ultimately produces a physical separation, which we think of as death.

The Apostle Paul, in Romans 3:23 wrote that, “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,“ and in Romans 6:23 he added, “the wages of sin is death. . . .”  It is, therefore, just as Scripture states elsewhere, “the soul that sins shall die.” Ezekiel 18:20. Our sins have separated us from God because we are sinners by birth and by choice.

Therefore, being sinners, we are in conflict with God because, as I mentioned earlier, He is flawlessly perfect in every way.  Sin of any kind is repugnant to Him, and He can only temporarily allow its existence.  On-the-other-hand, we are quite comfortable with sin.  Oh, sure, we have learned to hate some forms of sin and we tend to reject the sins our culture rejects, but in general we excuse and rationalize sin as “it’s just a little white lie,” or “everyone does it,” or “they did it to me first,” and so on.

Amos 3:3 asks the question, “Can two walk together unless they be agreed?”  This is, or course, the question.  How can God and men have a harmonious relationship when we disagree about the fundamental issues of sin and righteousness?  The answer is that we cannot.  It is this moral chasm that separates us so that we cannot see God, talk to Him face to face, or hear His voice.  The best we have, and it is vitally important, is the Scriptures.  But anyone who says they have seen God with their own eyes is lying.  “No man can see God and live.” Exodus 33:20, for “Our God is a consuming fire.” Heb. 12:29.

The solution to this disastrous reality is that we must die as sinners and be “born again” as righteous!  Is this possible?  Scriptures state that it is precisely what God prescribes for our salvation!  Jesus, meeting with the religious ruler, Nicodemus, in John chapter three, informed him that the only way he or anyone can enter the Kingdom is by being born again!  This truth is stunning in its implications.

So, how am I to be born again?  I cannot get into the details of this profound theological truth for they are beyond our ability to comprehend, and understanding the details is not necessary for us to receive its benefits.  Let us simply take God at His word!  He states that those who acknowledge their sinful state, turn from the sin, trust that the blood of Christ shed on the cross pays for those sins are forgiven and born again!  Paul, in Galatians chapter two notes that those who come by faith are considered “crucified with Christ,” meaning that Christ’s perfect, sacrificial death becomes theirs, and the record declares that they have “died with Him.”  And it goes on to say that Christ now lives in them, bringing life, new life, His life!

Therefore, if we have been born-again, we are now alive in and with Christ and we will never die.  I remind you that death is separation, and if we have been reconciled to God by our death with Christ, we are no longer at any risk of being separated from Him.  Romans chapter eight states in unequivocal terms that nothing can separate those who have been born again from God.  We are His and will be in a personal face-to-face relationship with Him forever.

Physical death, which seems so real, is not really death.  Jesus called it “sleep” when referring to His good friend Lazarus, who had physically died, but would never actually die.  Jesus told Lazarus’s sisters, “he who lives and believes in Me shall never die!”

That stone marker in the cemetery at the end of our physical existence seems rather intimidating, but it means very little if we have been born again.  It merely underscores our transition from this world to our eternal home in the presence of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We move from the “front porch” (our earthly home) into our real home, Heaven.  Paul informs us in the glorious text of I Corinthians 15 that our mortal bodies are not fit for Heaven and must be transformed into immortal bodies.  That which decays must be replaced with that which cannot decay.  At the point we are removed from here to God’s presence the sting of death will be forever gone.  We will be perfected in Christ’s righteousness!

Interestingly, King David’s sublime Shepherd’s Psalm speaks to this very point.  It says, “yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.”  Now, I cannot walk through a brick wall, but I can walk through its shadow!  I quake to walk through real death, for it would be my eternal destruction!  But I need not walk there because Christ did in my place!  He walked through death so that I could escape it.  He took on my sin and died in my place; and He put His righteousness on my account that I might live in God’s presence.

Finally, we return to the point of our beginning: Why do we die and what is to follow?  We die because of our sin; but to those who have been born again, we die physically to be transported into the presence of the God who created us, loves us, and paid in full the cost of our sin so that we could be forgiven and made His children!

That is the message of the Gospel, God’s “Good News” for sinful mankind!  If you have not yet accepted God’s offer of forgiveness and salvation, then today is the best day to do so.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  John 1:9.

For many years, I have stated that a major reason America is so messed up is that much of the American Church is also messed up. And a major reason that so much of the American Church is messed up is that so many Christian leaders are also messed up. The domino effect is quite real.

Church leaders greatly influence their followers, for better or for worse. And since Christian believers are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, if we are not fulfilling our moral and spiritual duties, this will have a deleterious effect on the nation.

And how, exactly, do Church leaders influence their followers? They do it by their message and by their example. If they are preaching rightly and living rightly, they will produce healthy congregants. If their preaching is unbiblical and their lifestyle is compromised, they will produce unhealthy congregants.

To be sure, America is not as influenced by the pulpit as it was in 1873, when Charles Finney preached that, “If the public press lacks moral discrimination… If the church is degenerate and worldly… If the world loses its interest in religion… If Satan rules in our halls of legislation… If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.”

Yet with 70 percent of Americans still professing Christianity and with evangelical Christians alone making up roughly 25 percent of the population, the Christian leaders of the nation remain influential, for better or worse.

In that light, a recent Barna survey gives lots of cause for concern, especially when it comes to the message being preached by Christian leaders.

As reported by Decision magazine, “A new study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University (ACU), guided by popular pollster George Barna, has found that just 37% of Christian pastors in the United States have a Biblical worldview.”

Seriously? Just thirty-seven percent?

It would be bad enough if less than 4 in 10 believers held to a biblical worldview. But less than 4 in 10 pastors? How can this be?

In the words of Barna, “This is another strong piece of evidence that the culture is influencing the American church more than Christian churches are influencing the culture.”

Or, viewed from another angle, rather than Christian leaders equipping their people to swim against the tide of the culture, they too are being carried by the current of the age. And that, in turn, means that the light is not shining and the salt is not being salty.

It is a vicious cycle of moral and spiritual deterioration.

In short, when the doctors are spreading disease rather than curing disease, the populace is in big trouble.

Decision reports that, “The survey looked at eight different categories of belief and behavior, including family and the value of life; God, creation and history; personal faith practices; and sin, salvation and one’s relationship with God.”

Predictably, the heart of the problem can be traced back to beliefs about the Bible: “The survey found that the category with the lowest percentage of pastors holding a Biblical worldview is the one related to beliefs and behaviors about the Bible, truth and morality.”

No surprise here!

And what do we make of the finding that just 4 percent of executive pastors (this is not a typo) hold to a biblical worldview? Just 4 percent? And how much influence do executive pastors have in the staffing of churches and in many of the practical decisions the church makes?

As for the larger population (not just professing Christians), the survey found that “just 2% of the parents of preteens” held to a biblical worldview, along with “men (2%), women (4%), whites (4%), blacks (2%), Hispanics (less than one-half of one percent), and less than one-half of 1% among those who identify as LGBTQ.”

But this, too, should not surprise us, seeing that, in 2009, Barna reported that, “Even among born again adults, the statistics [concerning Americans with a biblical worldview] have remained flat: 18% in 1995, 22% in 2000, 21% in 2005, and 19% today.”

As I wrote in 2017, “We have believed that we should blend in and not rock the boat, showing the non-believers around us that we’re no different than they are. But while it’s important to be contributing members of the society, and while we’re called to be peacemakers not troublemakers, we are also called to swim against the tide and go against the grain. We are called to show the world a better way

“Sadly, many Christian leaders have put more emphasis on discovering what’s trending in society than learning what’s on God’s heart. In their quest to become relevant, they have become irrelevant.”

To be sure, there are many healthy leaders and healthy congregations in America. And there are always questions about the precise accuracy of polls and the nature of the questions that are asked.

But without a doubt, when we see so much moral and spiritual confusion in the larger society, it reflects the moral and spiritual confusion found in many churches. And that, in turn, reflects the confused and compromised message emanating from “Christian” leaders around America.

May God bring a true revival to His people, starting with Christian leaders across the land. May the awakening begin with us!

This article was originally published by AskDrBrown.org.

Many people question if the Bible is truly sufficient for all things, especially in our modern world that repeatedly throws new innovations, ideas, and beliefs at us. While many people have set the Bible to the side, claiming it’s “irrelevant” or “outdated,” Dr. Rob Rienow emphatically points out that the Bible is just as relevant today as when it was first written. The Bible not only acts as a guide to religion, but also in our day-to-day lives through its wisdom and truth.

Dr. Rienow, the founder and leader of Visionary Family Ministries, explains that although our hearts naturally tend towards wickedness because of our sinful nature, we are still able to be righteous and followers of Christ because of the directions that Scripture gives us. In his inspiring and informative speech,  Dr. Rienow shows how we should use the Bible as a guiding force throughout our entire lives, not just when dealing with things relating to religion. Despite our changing world, the Bible’s authority and ideas still hold true to this day. While our own ideas, prejudices, and beliefs will lead us astray from God, the Word of God is the bond between us and Him that will enable and empower us to walk the narrow path.

Whether it be questions about religion and science, or government and marriage, Dr. Rienow explains us clearly and powerfully that all of these questions are answered by the Bible. We must understand, he says, that the Bible is useful for all of the decisions and problems that come into our lives. We have seen the devastating consequences of a society that ignores Scripture, Dr. Rienow says, and we must make sure this trend doesn’t continue.

In one of the most famous passages in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to His disciples (and, by extension, to His followers today), “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Matthew 5:13; He followed this by saying that we were the light of the world.)

But what, exactly, does it mean to be the salt of the earth? And what does it mean to lose our saltiness?

Many New Testament scholars explain that one of the main functions of salt in the ancient world, where refrigeration did not exist, was preservation against corruption.

Applying this to the Lord’s words, one commentary explains that, “Jesus’ followers are the saving element of the human race. . . . They have a power of preservation which counteracts corruption and decay . . . . As salt prevents food from spoiling, so the disciples are to prevent the corruption of morals. The presence of the disciples delays the corruption of the world and its consequent judgment.”

Others emphasize that “salt improves the taste of food,” and so “the disciples are to improve the quality of the society in which they live.”

Still others point to “both preservation and flavoring. . . . The disciples make a purer earth and make it a better place to live.” (SIL: An Exegetical Summary of The Sermon on the Mount; I have removed the commentary references from this quote.)

Suffice it to say that our calling to be the salt of the earth is anything but trivial. We are called “to prevent the corruption of morals. . . to improve the quality of the society in which they live . . . [to] make a purer earth and make it a better place to live.” The stakes are very high!

Take us out of the world, and the corruption and rot and decadence and madness will only increase. Take us out of the world, and everything falls apart.

But that only applies if we ourselves really are salt, really are living differently than the world (in moral and spiritual terms), really are functioning as the moral conscience of the society.

As D. A. Carson noted in his EBC Matthew commentary, “The point is that, if Jesus’ disciples are to act as a preservative in the world by conforming to kingdom norms, if they are ‘called to be a moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low, constantly changing, or non-existent … they can discharge this function only if they themselves retain their virtue’.” (Citing R. V. Tasker).

And that is really the crux of the matter. We can’t fix something else if we ourselves are broken. We can’t prevent the spread of corruption if we ourselves are corrupt. We can’t function as salt if we ourselves have lost our saltiness.

Ironically, salt still looks the same, whether it is salty or not, which means that we can deceive ourselves by outward appearance. Outwardly, we may look fine. But what is the state of our souls? What is the quality of our lives? What is the health of our marriages and families? Whom do we resemble more, the world or the Lord?

The truth is that, for more than a generation now, rather than us changing the world by shining the light into dark places, by overcoming evil with good, by winning the lost and making disciples, by separating ourselves from the sin and pollution of the society, the world has largely changed us.

Thank God for those who are burning bright and retaining their saltiness. But all too many are not, which helps explains the current state of our nation. And so, just as “politics is downstream from culture,” in a country where the Christian faith is supposed to be dominant, culture is downstream from the church.

That means that, if you trace back the moral and spiritual decline of the society, you will find that much of it began among us, the professing followers of Jesus.

That’s also why we are so often ridiculed, mocked, denigrated, and even ignored. It is not so much because we are being persecuted for our faith as much as we are being “trampled underfoot” (the words of Jesus) because we have lost our saltiness.

Of course, Jesus is simply making a spiritual point here rather than discussing the qualities of salt. (The SIL commentary notes that, “The impure and highly adulterated salt of ancient times could lose its saltiness because the sodium chloride could leach out or dissolve in humid weather and leave only tasteless crystals which no longer tasted like salt.” Otherwise, generally speaking, salt does not lose its taste.)

But if salt can lose its saltiness (certainly this is true spiritually speaking), what do we make of the Lord’s question, “how can it be made salty again?”

In natural terms, there is nothing that can be done. Salt that lost its saltiness has no useful purpose at all.

Thankfully, the whole Bible calls straying believers to turn back to God in repentance, and as we do, the Lord Himself forgives, restores, and renews.

“God, make us salty again!” The fate of America depends on it.

This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.