We are all familiar with the expressions, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” or, “A stitch in time saves nine,” meaning it is wise to catch a problem early, while it is small and manageable, rather than to wait until it has grown and become a serious threat. We understand this with things like weeds in our garden or cancer.  But somehow, we neglect it in the arenas of politics and culture.

James Madison lamented that Americans waited until a situation became a crisis before they acted. Politics are so wide ranging, and solutions seemingly beyond the reach of the individual, so most people simply throw up their hands and hope for the best. This must change if America is to survive the Socialist onslaught it is now facing!  “Now is the time,” as Patrick Henry admonished, “for all good men to come to the aid of their country!”

If you are at all aware of what is going on in America, you know radical changes are occurring. This nation was founded on the novel idea that if people are adequately taught in Christian virtues and are self-disciplined, they can govern themselves. Is it not transparently clear that if people govern themselves, they need nobody else to govern them? America is the only, or at least best, example in human history of a self-governing nation!

Abraham Lincoln noted in his famous “Gettysburg Address” that we have a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” The point being that, as the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution states, “We the People” are the government and those we send to our state and national capitals are our servants, not our masters. With the events of the last several years it appears that many of those we have sent to do our will now see themselves as rulers, not servants. President Joe Biden exposed his own personal ambition when he commented publicly regarding Georgia gubernatorial candidate, Stacy Abrams, that if the Democrat Party had more like her, “We could rule the world!”

No, Mr. Biden, the U.S. Constitution does not make politicians rulers! It makes them servants! Any American politician who establishes himself as the “ruler” is guilty of insurrection!

Good and wise leaders do not exacerbate public fears or exploit them to increase their own personal power, but rather seek to calm the public in times of crisis. Yet day after day our political and cultural leaders ignite new fires and then throw gasoline on them to arouse as much fear as possible. Sweep aside the rhetoric and anyone can see that while the pandemic has tragically taken many lives, it has not done nearly as much damage to America as the rhetoric and fearmongering have.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died in wars to enable us to be free to live according to our own consciences, desires, and abilities, but we are now being led down a path toward submission, even tyranny, ironically in the name of “saving lives!” However, virtually everything we have heard from the media and government over the last two years has proven to be either inaccurate or outright lies!  One mandate after another is conditioning Americans to the idea that our elected leaders are our masters, and we must obey them! This must be resisted!

Individually we do not have much power, and neither do our political leaders, which is as it should be. It is only as we come together, listen to one-another, find common ground, and make decisions as a nation that changes are made.

Should we be concerned that tyrants might lurk in the halls of Congress or other institutions of power in the United States masquerading as beneficent saviors?  Well, consider that Joseph Stalin studied religion as a young man, and Adolf Hitler wanted to be an artist. Basher al-Assad, the butcher of Syria, studied for a career in medicine. From these examples we understand that tyrants’ personal ambitions and brutality are generally not known until it is too late to stop them.

The adage, “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” reminds us that under no circumstance can we allow individuals or small groups to gain too much power. Do we have a Hitler or Stalin walking in our midst? Do we really wish to find out? By the time we figure it out it will be too late  At times like this we should look back to patriot Patrick Henry who notably asked,

“is life so dear and peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  Forbid it, Almighty God!” 

He also noted that

“the Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government-lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” 

How prescient he was!

For that reason, we must act now to prevent any person or any group from amassing such political powers.  If multiplied thousands of Americans went to their deaths on the battle fields of Europe and the South Pacific to ensure our liberties, then we must not shirk our responsibility to stand for freedom, regardless of the personal or national cost.

We were told in panicked tones that COVID-19 would take millions of lives in America, but if we wore masks for two weeks it would flatten the curve and put us on a course to defeat it. Here we are, over two years later and neither of those predictions were accurate. Such proclamations were, in fact, merely a pretext for amassing power in Washington. Sadly, a precise accounting of deaths appears impossible as anecdotal evidence suggests the government incentivized listing any death where Covid-19 was present a COVID death, even if the virus was not the actual cause of death.

And we have myriad reports of people dying who were not infected at all yet were reported as COVID related deaths. What actually happened? We don’t really know, do we? It is said that “the first victim of war is truth.” And, if you are not seeing it, understand that we are in, as some have pointed out, a “cold civil war.” Americans are terribly divided, and our leadership is largely to blame.

Actor Michael Douglas in a video made not long ago noted that our political system has been “hijacked” to “ensure that those with power keep it.” Truer words have not been spoken. Our Constitution yields very limited power to elected officials and only for a brief time. It is diametrically opposed to anyone having great power for even a moment.

The answer to the power-grab by the Leftists is not to accrue power to conservatives, but to educate all Americans regarding the necessity of diffusing power across the electorate, and the importance of informed voting. Loyalty to God and country must eclipse Party and even friends. Too much is at stake!

First and foremost, the answer for America is to bow at the feet of Jesus Christ in repentance and submission to His lordship over every nation and people!

If noble and patriotic citizens do not stand up, speak up and act, it may soon be too late.

Should followers of Jesus have a positive impact on every area of society?

Absolutely.

The light of our lives and the light of our message should illuminate our surroundings. Our good deeds and our biblically based values should disseminate love and truth. At the same time, we are not called to take over society and impose our faith on the nation.

There is a vast difference between making a positive impact and imposing a theocracy.

Of course, whatever we do together as followers of Jesus will likely be misjudged by our critics.

As a colleague pointed out in a group text discussion, “In the 1970s it was ‘culture religion’ or ‘civil religion’ that we were accused of. Then in the 1990s we were accused of being ‘theocrats.’ Then it was ‘dominionists’ (though I think most who accused us could not have properly defined the term . . . .). But behold! They have a NEW word for us now: ‘Christian Nationalism.’ And the purpose of this word? It is to bludgeon, bully, intimidate and keep us OUT of the public square. It is to shame us from being activists.”

That’s why, in the days ahead, we will hear dire warnings from the left about a nefarious plot by Christian conservatives to take over the nation. The warnings will be so shrill that they will border on hysteria. “They’re trying to impose a theocracy! They are trying to create an America in their own image! And they are not afraid to call for the shedding of blood!”

Unfortunately, there are some Christian groups calling for this very thing (although, to be clear, when they talk about the possibility of bloodshed, they mean that their blood might be shed as martyrs for the cause). They are espousing an unhealthy Christian nationalism that merges Christian identity with national identity and wraps the gospel in the American flag. And the most extreme among them would even welcome a theocratic kingdom on earth where religious leaders dictate how the society is governed.

Some are political leaders, some are media leaders, and some are ministry leaders. In all cases, I reject their goals, I reject their methods, and I reject their rhetoric. In fact, this is one reason why I have distanced myself from the term “Christian nationalism.” (For an in-depth treatment of this in my latest book, see here.)

To give some specific examples, some of the rhetoric at the DC Jericho March December 2020 was dangerous. Some of the rhetoric of GAB’s CEO Andrew Torba, referring explicitly to Christian nationalism, is dangerous. And when a major speaker at a recent MAGA rally calls on pastors to preach from the Constitution as much as from the Bible, we know things have gotten way off course.

That’s why I continue to distance myself from “Christian nationalism.” We can be Jesus loving patriots without embracing the “Christian nationalist” moniker.

At the same time, we must remember that every effort that we make to bring positive change to our communities will be labeled dominionism.

Every vote we cast will be seen as part of the alleged takeover plot.

Every step that we take to fulfill our calling as the salt of the earth and the light of the world will be branded as part of a theocracy. “You Christians are just trying to take over! Next you’ll be forcing us to read the Bible and go to church, under penalty of imprisonment or death!”

Maybe I’m exaggerating here, but only a little.

In fact, in the same text discussion I referenced above, another colleague pointed out that a left-leaning intellectual was now associating large families with Christian nationalism. To paraphrase (again, in somewhat exaggerated terms), “Beware those evil breeders! They’re probably hoarding weapons too. More babies and more guns! That’s their secret plan. A militia in every home!”

So, I recognize that our best intentions will be maligned. I understand that we will be misunderstood and, even worse, intentionally misrepresented. So be it.

But let’s not give our critics fuel for their fire by our foolish behavior and undisciplined rhetoric. And let’s not confuse the watching masses by playing into their worst fears.

We can be world changers without being world dominators. We can preach the Scriptures without advocating for a theocracy. We can vote and lobby and stand and speak without calling for Christian dominionism.

In short, we should do what Jesus told us to do: “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:16).

We should heed the exhortation of Peter: “Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world” (1 Peter 2:12, NLT).

We should carry out this mandate from Proverbs: “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8–9)

That is how we change the world.

This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.

The U.S. Constitution is one of the most important documents in American history, yet it receives little attention in today’s academia. As the securer of our freedom, the U.S. Constitution deserves our attention and respect. Leading up to the November election, we will walk through this invaluable document and its meaning to us all.

Some states refused to ratify the original U.S. Constitution without it specifically protecting individual rights such as freedom of speech, religion, and press. There was a compromise reached in which the majority of states agreed to ratify the document with the assurance that U.S. Congress would add individual protections during their first session. U.S. Congress kept its word and now we have the Bill of Rights, the moniker given by the Founding Fathers to the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Those amendments mean little until they are put in some historical context.

The Founders had just fled Great Britain, where the Church of England was the state-sponsored religion. Protestants and Catholics had both experienced severe persecution across Europe throughout the years causing many to flee to North America. The original thirteen colonies were made of immigrants, children of immigrants, or perhaps grandchildren of immigrants who came to America to escape such persecution. The result of a state having an official religion was real to them. That led to the states adopting the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which reads,

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

During the Revolutionary War, the colonists’ main weapon was the musket. Men from across the independent nation developed militias to fight against the King’s army. The Founding Fathers knew that, in order to keep the government from tyrannical power, the people had to keep and bear arms. Thus we have the Second Amendment, which reads,

“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The Revolutionary War brought thousands of British troops into the thirteen colonies. Those troops forced their way into the colonist’s homes in order to have food and shelter during the war. Many homeowners were forced to house people they considered their enemies. For this reason, Congress added the Third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which states:

“No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”

As you can tell, there is a trend here: nearly all of the Bill of Rights stemmed from the Founding Fathers’ experience in Great Britain. At times their individual liberties were pushed to the wayside.

The Fourth Amendment stems from the third. It reads,

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The Founders witnessed the British army raid colonists’ homes in search of evidence that the homeowner or family members were rebelling against the King.

A more complex amendment is the fifth. It reads,

“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

During the Revolutionary War, the king’s army captured rebels and seized their property without due process. This amendment ensures those suspected of a crime have a trial by a jury of their peers. It also makes sure a suspect cannot be charged twice for the same crime. Lastly, the Fifth Amendment prevents anyone from having to testify against him/herself. All of this combined makes for arguably the greatest justice system in the world.

Similar to the Fifth Amendment, the sixth assures a speedy and public trial. It also assures jury members are from the state and district in which the crime took place. Lastly, the witnesses may be present and the accused must have legal counsel for his defense, which the state may provide if necessary. The Sixth Amendment reads,

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”

The Seventh Amendment is one of the more elementary amendments. It assures that no case tried by jury can be tried again in any other court of the United States. It reads,

“In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”

The Eighth Amendment is self-explanatory and reads,

“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

One important aspect that the authors of the Constitution wanted to make clear is that it doesn’t cover every possible individual right or liberty. The Founding Fathers didn’t want the people to only be protected by what is explicitly laid out in the Bill of Rights. In essence, while the Constitution is an invaluable document, it isn’t the end-all-be-all when it comes to liberty and rights. The Founders knew it was highly likely that they failed to mention certain rights deserving protection. The Ninth Amendment reads,

“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

The Tenth Amendment is the most important when it comes to the states’ authority. This final amendment in the Bill of Rights gives each state the authority to regulate the affairs of what the Constitution fails to address. Specifically, it says,

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

This being the final amendment in the Bill of Rights, it grants power to the states and to the people. This amendment is necessary for the people to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The next time the U.S. Constitution is brought to your attention or a specific amendment, remember the Bill of Rights and the history behind it. Our Founding Fathers wanted to ensure those after them would have individual liberty. We must not take this for granted.

This article was originally published by AFA’s The Stand.

Leftists, practiced at the art of deception, do not care about anyone who lives in America. They care about one thing: acquiring and maintaining power at all costs. And they think catering to criminals will achieve that goal.

Case in point the in-credibly—as in not credibly–named Safe-T Act (Safety Accountability Fairness and Equity-Today), which passed Illinois’ irresponsible, far-leftist General Assembly and was signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker on Feb. 22, 2021. The most controversial provision of this 763-word behemoth that was passed under cover of darkness, takes effect on Jan. 1, 2023 and is just now receiving its justly deserved, overdue public outcry.

The controversial provision makes Illinois the first state in the country to abolish cash bail for a number of crimes that put at risk Illinoisans’ safety and public order. In the service of “equity”—which in the leftist Upside Down has nothing to do with fairness—leftists are again making the streets more dangerous. Let’s call the law the Safety for Criminals Act.

Calling the law an “abomination,” Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau outlines the features of the law that make it a criminal’s dream:

It abolishes cash bail for almost every offense. This includes but isn’t limited to kidnapping, armed robbery, second-degree murder, drug-induced homicide, aggravated DUI, threatening a public official, and aggravated fleeing and eluding.

Offenders released on electronic monitoring have to be in violation for 48 hours before law enforcement can act.

…

And keep this in mind businesses and homeowners, officers will no longer be able to remove trespassers from your residence or your businesses.

While leftists claim to care about the safety and well-being of citizens, the manifest failures of their policies and laws prove again and again that something else is afoot.

Their unspoken reasoning about the Safety for Criminals Act goes something like this:

1.) If communities are more dangerous, then voters living in those dangerous communities will vote for government leaders who represent colossal government to take care of them.

2.) (And here’s where the real racism can be found): Voters in the most crime-ridden neighborhoods are often persons of color who typically vote Democrat and whose votes leftists desperately need, so they pass laws that will make those neighborhoods more dangerous in order to impel those voters to elect—again—leftist colossal-government leaders.

3.) Since most of the criminals in these crime-ridden neighborhoods are also persons of color, making them safe–that is exempt–from laws intended to protect the public will endear leftist leaders to voters of color—or so leftists presume.

Of course, leftists don’t speak the quiet parts out loud. Those cunning vipers have forked tongues and know how to use them.

So instead, they tell victims of crime that “equity” demands they abolish cash bail for arrestees suspected of kidnapping, armed robbery, second-degree murder, drug-induced homicide, and aggravated DUI. It’s inequitable, unjust, and unfair for impoverished suspected criminals to languish in jail while other suspected criminals are able to roam free. Equity demands that all suspected criminals roam free while awaiting trial and sentencing—or so the vipers hiss.

And when these suspected criminals are free, where do the vipers suspect they’ll go to wreak mayhem? It’s likely not Hinsdale, Inverness, or Lake Forest that will be victimized.

According to Capitol News, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow, a Democrat, “argued that the SAFE-T Act requires a higher burden of proof to detain accused violent criminals until trial”:

The SAFE-T Act states that all defendants “shall be presumed eligible” for pretrial release [no bail] unless prosecutors present “clear and convincing” evidence to deny the suspect pretrial release, such as proof that the suspect committed the crime and poses a threat to the physical safety of a “specific, identifiable” person.

The cynical Democrat jig is up or almost up. Voters in dangerous communities increasingly recognize that it is leftist policies and laws that have made their neighborhoods dangerous and unlivable. They know that it was Democrats who made their neighborhoods far more dangerous when they called for defunding the police. They no longer want leaders who will make government even bigger and who will pass policies and laws that make their neighborhoods more dangerous.

What’s worse for leftists is that increasing numbers of voters of color in crime-ridden neighborhoods understand that they are pawns and victims of power-ravenous leftist fear- and race-mongers. Voters of color realize they are being exploited and harmed for their votes. They can see the racist hearts beating in the chests of leftist leaders like J.B. Pritzker.

Illinois State Representative  Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) laughably accuses Republicans of having a “bad stench of racism” for opposing a bill that will harm communities of color, as most Democrat policies do.

Slaughter also laughably claims that Democrats “want to have an understanding of the root causes of crime and violence.” Really? If so, why do so few—if any—Democrats talk about broken dysfunctional and fatherless families—a social plague incentivized and promoted by leftist policies and principles and which, in turn causes criminality and violence that ruins schools and neighborhoods causing untold suffering.

It is the systemic racism, ethically vacuous quest for power, and ignorance at the heart of the Democrat Party that leads them to believe that protecting criminals of color will lead terrorized voters of color in unlivable communities to continue to elect them.

On paper, the United States is a democratic republic. But one could argue that we have become a tyranny of thugs where people are afraid to speak their minds, and media giants shut down voices with which they disagree. In a republic the majority rules while the minority has significant protections. Amazingly, it is now an angry, vocal minority that rules. The majority is, by law, supposed to get its way, but many significant changes are being made in America against the will of the majority, the Constitution, and the laws of the land. We live in perilous times.

Democracies, and especially democratic republics, are by nature slow to change; so, the speed by which changes are now being made in America is evidence that we are not operating as a republic. Violent Leftists are demanding immediate changes and spineless leaders are acquiescing. Radicals flank the Constitution, laws, and majority rule, and institute tyranny behind a façade of doing good for the “oppressed.” While it may be unfortunate that good changes take time, often a long time in a republic, so also do bad changes; therefore, the trade-off is in the protection republics provide against rapid changes which may lead to seriously bad, and sometimes irreparable outcomes. Wise people understand this.

The radical Left has been calling for “fundamental change” to America for a long time. They demand an end to capitalism and the instituting of socialism in its place. They loath the super-rich to the point that some of them have called for the deaths of the economic elite! (This, in spite of the fact that these same super rich fund their programs!) They complain that the few, the “One-Percent” run the country for their own benefit, inferring that such a small minority should not have such power.

But the Leftists who are now calling for radical change make up no more than one percent of the population as well! Apparently, they are not so concerned about the number of people in power, only that it is not themselves! It should be noted that the super wealthy can at least boast that they have produced billions in revenue and millions of jobs. The Left can only boast of having taken wealth others have created to spend as they wished!

The promises tyrants make often sound fine, and sometimes are, in themselves good. But, giving thugs the ability to institute change is to make a deal with the devil. History is filled with despots exploiting fears and problems to gain control over nations. Rome lost its republic to tyranny partially under the pretense of putting down slave revolts. (Note to Senator Kane: The USA did not create slavery). Hitler gained his power under the guise of liberating Germans from the oppressive restrictions placed on them by WW I victors. And so go the histories of China, Cuba, Russia, and a myriad other socialist countries. But make no mistake: no good person is ever a tyrant, period. Anyone willing to use force or brutality to achieve his personal aims must never be allowed a position of power in America.

Fifty years ago, I became aware of the Marxist’s goal to overthrow America. I wondered how free people would ever exchange the blessings that America provides for the bondage of a tyrant. It seemed an impossible mission, yet, in front of our eyes we are witnessing just such a scenario.

How have the Leftists been so successful? The answer is too complicated to address in detail here, but several key facts should be understood by all Americans. I would suggest that even as America was founded with a strong religious and spiritual flavor, much of its internal conflicts today originate in failing to maintain those spiritual convictions.

First: God superintends in human affairs, and either establishes or disestablishes governments according to His infinite wisdom. Whether the United States will survive intact for another century is dependent upon His sovereign will; but if we desire to continue, we must turn to Him in humility, repentance, and trust.

Second: While the Left is exploiting numerous social issues to divide the Nation, racism is probably the most significant one. They are doing so indirectly by playing on Americans’ guilt. That many Americans appear to have a guilt problem is hardly in doubt. However, I would suggest that its source is not rooted in slavery or Jim Crow. American’s “guilt complex,” if I may so call it, will find its explanation through an understanding of Scriptures rather than Leftist propaganda. America must return to its Founders’ perspectives, one point of which was mankind’s sinfulness, a concept nearly lost on Americans today.

Due to our sin, we all have a sense of guilt. This guilt can only be expiated by Christ but is being exploited by wicked people who, instead of pointing the guilty ones to Christ, attach it to the color of their skin. Multitudes across the nation have been misled into believing that their guilt is due to racism or an “unconscious bias” against minorities, and they are being led to believe they must make atonement through contrition and bowing before the idols of “Wokeism” or CRT.

But no matter how much a person bends the knee before the altars of BLM or any other man-made cause, the guilt will remain. Christ alone, by His work on the cross, can eliminate this guilt for all who trust in Him.

Third: While institutional racism is no longer tolerated in America, there are and will always be some individuals who are prejudiced against others, which, unfortunately, feeds the Leftists’ narrative that the country is racist. The headlines that the rare but real racist acts receive adds fuel to the fire, amplifies the demands for change, and gives more power to those who exploit the racism that does remain for their own personal objectives and power. It is illuminating that while some racist acts have occurred in recent years, they must be rare, or the propogandists would not feel compelled to create fake events.

Fourth: America faces a tremendous character shortage among our leadership class. Courage was once an essential virtue and was a prerequisite for leadership in a great republic like America. It is now seriously lacking. And worse, would-be tyrants among our leaders are seeking ways to insinuate themselves into positions of even greater power. Such are manifesting themselves before our very eyes!

There was a time when no one with character would allow “liar” or “coward” to be attached to their name. Today, such flaws have become a hallmark of leadership! Therefore, at a time when the nation desperately needs leaders of integrity, strength, and courage, few can be found. Do our leaders expect to be killed if they stand against the Leftist tyrants? Not likely, but they apparently fear something else even more than death: to be called names such as “bigot” or “hater!”  Oh my! Thus, while real American heroes, like those in the military and police, are willing to die for the nation they love, our political leaders capitulate at the mere threat of being called names! What a sorry lot they are!  Most Americans expect leaders to stand for what is good and right. Apparently, we expect too much!

So, what is to be done? Ultimately, substantial change will come only by God’s grace. People of good will can be reasoned with, and some change may happen. But the many who benefit from the present conflict will not only not help, they will actively resist. Thus, it is an up-hill battle.

That being said, however, the consequences of doing nothing are unacceptable. And, God demands faithfulness to His will, not necessarily success in it.

Therefore:

1.) Pray, repent as appropriate, and obey God’s word.

2.) Expose and resist evil as you are able. Be courageous!

3.) Turn a deaf ear to all who would, through name calling or even violence, force your submission. Yield not an inch to terrorists!

4.) Listen carefully and thoughtfully to all who ask your attention to their pain. Do what you can within the parameters of God’s word to relieve the suffering of others.

5.) Demand the same of your leaders and pray for them. They, too, must turn deaf ears to thugs and terrorists, but hear and respond to all who appear to have a legitimate grievance.  When leaders bow before the violent there is no end to their demands, and all will fall under their heels.

On September 6, the Human Services Committee of Evanston City Council voted unanimously to send Alderman Devon Reid’s proposed ordinance to allow women to go topless in “all public places (forward to 51:25)” to the “Equity and Empowerment Committee.” Reid wants his proposed ordinance reviewed over concerns that “it excluded the transgender community.” How might it have done that, you may wonder. Well, apparently, someone objected to the ordinance’s “gender binary” language. Sex-deniers cannot tolerate any public acknowledgment that the human species is a sex-binary species.

Reid, is a “queer, 29-year-old” activist and former city clerk who was arrested in 2018 for driving on a license that had been suspended since 2013 and ticketed for “possession of under 10 grams of marijuana.” This was two years before Illinois legalized recreational marijuana. It seems Reid has little respect for either public decency or the law.

Here is what Alderman Devon Reid’s ideal transgressive world would look like: Women would be free to go topless in all public places. Men who identify as women and have received breast implants as part of their skin costume would be free to go topless in all public places. And women who identify as men but have chosen not to have their breasts excised would be free to go topless in all public places.

The committee meeting is well worth watching, especially from 3:15-8:14 during which time attorney and president of Evanston’s Parks and Recreation Board, Robert Bush, shared his opposition to the proposed ordinance as well as his concern about the lack of public input on it. Later in the meeting, “political consultant,” community organizer, and Human Services Committee member Bobby Burns unprofessionally described his colleague Mr. Bush as “irresponsible” for spreading “misinformation.” Ah yes, the “misinformation” ploy–the last refuge of a political scoundrel.

Reid believes that “equity” demands that if men may go topless in all public places, so too should women be allowed to go topless in all public places. The wokester opposes any ordinance that “regulates women’s bodies in a way that we do not regulate men’s bodies.”

According to WBBM, Reid says “he wants to treat men and women equally and eliminate ambiguity for trans people.” Perhaps Reid doesn’t understand that “equality” demands we treat like things alike. One would think the “queer” Reid would know that men and women are not alike in critically important ways. One important way they are unlike is in their sexed bodies.

While Reid’s ordinance will harm men, women, boys, and girls, the harm done to girls and women will be far greater.

This is the rotten fruit of both the ideology of “equity” and the ideology of the “trans” cult. And it serves both the anarchistic impulses of radical leftists who seek to destroy America by a thousand cuts and the prurient desires of men and women unmoored from morality.

Equity used to mean to treat something or someone fairly, justly, or impartially. The left now uses it to mean either to treat unlike things alike or to ensure identical outcomes for dissimilar people, acts, or other phenomena. To treat men’s bodies different from women’s is not unfair, unjust, or a manifestation of partiality. Treating men’s bodies different from women’s bodies grows out of the recognition that men and women are different. They are different in their bodies, emotions, desires, and their sexual responses to one another’s bodies.

Men’s chests are wholly different from women’s breasts. This commonsense statement shouldn’t need to be spoken, but in this time when society is awash in or in thrall to foolish doctrinaire ideologies, commonsense has no purchase and no home.

“Trans” cultism is assaulting commonsense, children, and families at every turn, preaching the poisonous (Gnostic) lie that sexed bodies have no intrinsic meaning and that male and female bodies are interchangeable. So, ignorant (or wicked) Evanston leaders say that female-sexed bodies have no intrinsic meaning and are interchangeable with male-sexed bodies.

Not coincidentally, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss—who is a member of the city council—is a “trans” cult collaborator. In June 2021, just a month after he became mayor of Evanston, he was asked, “What is your favorite charitable cause or causes.” Biss responded,

At the end of each year we sit with our kids and discuss what we want to focus on. We often donate to causes focusing on issues of racial justice or justice for the LGBT community especially transgender and non-binary people.

So, what do business owners and the Evanston Chamber of Commerce think about this ordinance? Will families stop taking their children to downtown Evanston, choosing instead to shop and go to restaurants in neighboring Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, and Lake Forest, all of which have charming, family-friendly downtowns and plazas?

Will decent families want to move to Evanston? Will decent Evanston families consider moving out of Evanston?

What will happen to Evanston’s annual Art & Big Fork Festival held for three days every August? Will attendance by families decrease? Maybe the increase in attendance by anarchists and perverts will financially compensate for the loss of funds from decent people.

Where are Evanston church leaders on this issue? Do pastors and elders feel an obligation to lead on an issue of this magnitude?

What about Evanston Christians? Will they step up to oppose this assault on public decency?

Leftists don’t seem to understand that the structures of government have a purpose beyond facilitating the sexual desires of the deviant and transgressive among us. A good government protects the most vulnerable, promotes the public good, and maintains public order, in part by establishing boundaries that restrain the perverse impulses of fallen humans. Abandoning this function will make cities like Evanston unfit for human flourishing.

Question: What was God’s first command to mankind?
Answer: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion…” ~Genesis 1:28; 9:7

In an alarming new trend and in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the contrived “right” to abortion, more men and women are choosing permanent sterilization.

According to an article published by the LA Times, if women were already planning not to have kids, they decided to get sterilized sooner, or they were thinking more intensely about sterilization after the Dobbs decision was leaked.

The chief healthcare officer of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Diana N. Contreras, said that the abortion chain has seen a massive increase in people coming to its websites, seeking information on how to get sterilized or get a vasectomy after the ruling was released.

According to the CDC, between 2015 and 2017, about 65 percent of women ages 15 to 49 in the U.S. were using contraception. And of those, the most common form used was sterilization. About 18.6 percent of women in that age group had undergone the procedure. The second most common form of contraception was the pill at 12.6 percent.

As a result of this trend, it’s no surprise that California is considering legislation to make vasectomies free. If passed into law, The Contraceptive Equity Act of 2022 will enable irresponsible sexual activities for those who want to take extreme measures to ensure they don’t become a parent. (Perhaps many of these people are horrified at the prospect of having to care for someone other than themselves?)

This anti-child selfish attitude is growing more prevalent in our culture, even among those who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. “Jesus loves the little children” isn’t merely a nice Sunday School song. It is a central truth of the faith. God desires that His crown jewel of creation, human beings created in His image, fill the earth. Our purpose is to glorify God through our dominion on earth.

On the other hand, our adversary is working overtime to destroy, distract, and disable as many of us as possible. While God wants the earth filled with His crown jewel of creation, Satan is working to oppose God’s will at every opportunity every day.

Satan is busy selling lies and promoting abortion, wars, murder, and suicide in his frontal attack on the image-bearers of God. Yet he is also attacking the flanks by fostering selfish thinking, worldly amusements, various addictions, sexual confusion (LGBTQIA+), and sexual promiscuity that leads to sexually transmitted infections, and the increased desire for sterilization. These are just some of the tactics used to keep us from doing God’s will of filling the earth.

So too are the lies and deceptions that tell us that the world is “overpopulated,” or that mankind is the cause of global warming, or that children are a burden, or that having a big family is onerous.

What the godless Left doesn’t understand is that human beings are the greatest resource God has given to us. Through our intelligence and ingenuity, we are able to create solutions to the problems confronting us. The Left will claim that earth’s resources cannot keep up with global growth. They ignore the fact that we are yielding more crops per acre than ever before. According to a report,

Since 1960, yields in sugar beet have more than doubled, rising from 30 tonnes* to more than  80 tonnes per hectare.** Potato yields have also almost doubled, increasing from just over 20 tonnes in 1960 to more than 40 tonnes per hectare in 2014.
[*UK spelling of metric tons: **2.47 acres.]

Declining Birth Rate in the U.S.

While an average of 2.1 births per women of childbearing age is considered the replacement rate that would keep the population stable, our nation is and has been below that at an average of 1.6 births per women of childbearing age. To make matters worse, narcissistic attitudes seems to be a growing trend. According to research published by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS):

Close to a quarter of adults (23%) are currently childless and say they do not hope or desire to have a child someday. Men, younger adults, and adults without a college education are more likely to be in this group, so are Democrats and non-religious Americans.

It is also interesting to note that this IFS found that,

Men are more likely than women to be in this group. Some 26% of men ages 18-55 are childless and do not desire a child someday, compared with 20% of women.

And,

The differences by religion and party ID are large. Fully 30% of non-religious Americans reject parenthood, compared with 14% of their peers who attend religious services regularly, and a similar share among those who attend religious services a few times a year. Meanwhile, childless Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say they do not plan to have children (28% vs. 15%).

We should not be surprised to learn that having a stronger biblical worldview makes a difference in our attitudes about obeying God’s command to procreate, love, train, and disciple future generations of Christian men and women. Jesus warned us in Matthew 24:12, that “[b]ecause lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.” It isn’t hard to see how the love of God, His Word, and precepts and indifference toward His church has been “growing cold” over the past several decades in our culture.

There is also the lie that the national economy will thrive with a shrinking population base. The opposite is true. Well-raised children are tomorrow’s productive members of society. They are the ones who will be fueling the economy by purchasing homes and cars and starting new businesses. Without young people to enter the workforce, the Social Security system will not be able to support the number of retirees. Many industries, from fast food restaurants to toy stores, rely upon patronage from and for children to stay in business. The larger population base of productive human beings, the larger the economic pie. So, ultimately the whole economy depends on families having more than 2.1 children per household.

Bible-believing Christians must work diligently to promote a pro-life/pro-marriage/pro-children attitude in our culture. Pastor Doug Wilson is spot on about teaching our children and grandchildren:

Now someone might object and say that a child can be brought into this world quite apart from marriage, and that many are. But this is like saying that private property doesn’t exist because thieves do exist. It is like saying that because vandals wreck something valuable, then that value wasn’t really there. We should never evaluate the worth of anything by the measurements of those who understand nothing. Our sole question should be “what does God say about it?” This biblical view must be taught to our children and grandchildren. 

We shouldn’t allow what the world says about children to be our source of wisdom and guidance. We already have clear instruction from the Word of God, and it says that children are a blessing from the Lord, not a burden to avoid bearing. And we certainly should not ignore the fact that the very first command given to mankind is to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and sub due it.”

Contrary to Satan’s lies and fake news, we are not even close to filling the earth. While we are closing in on 8 billion human beings in the world, we have to understand that the population of the world could easily fit inside the state of Texas, and each of us would still have approximately one thousand square feet of personal space.

The Apostle Paul repeatedly exhorts us to “stand strong” and keep a laser beam focus on the prize. He exhorts us to “work out our faith” and finish the race strong. These are vital keys to making sure that our  love for Christ will never grow cold. As we grow in the faith, we should make every effort to increase in our knowledge, wisdom and love:

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. ~Philippians 1:9–11

It is my prayer that God will find a large remnant of American Christians faithful and obedient.

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.
~2 John 1:6

“For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me” (2 Tim. 4:10a).

Over the years I have observed hundreds of Christian families who seemingly did all the right things in raising their children, yet one or more still walked away from the faith of their parents once they were old enough to make their own decisions. No parent wants to go through all the trouble of training his or her children in the way they should go, only to find them turning around to head in the opposite direction.

It seems that the response to this on the part of the parents is to either blame themselves entirely or claim they did absolutely nothing wrong as a parent. I remember one father saying to me, “My wife and I did everything right, and our four children still want nothing to do with us.”

Really? You did nothing wrong as a parent?! Ever?! I think that attitude may speak volumes about why your children aren’t interested in seeing you. But to give the man the benefit of the doubt, I hope what we meant to say was that he did the best he knew. That would probably be a fair and accurate statement, not just for him, but for most of us as parents.

Some people rather glibly say in response to prodigal children, “God is the best parent in the universe, and His children went astray!” That is certainly true, but I’m not sure that gives comfort to the heart of a grieving parent or helps them to understand what they may have done differently to prevent such an outcome.

We all make choices—good and bad—which alter the course of our lives. Knowing that adult children make decisions over which we have little to no control may leave us feeling hopeless and helpless in this parenting process. How do we know our labor will not all be in vain?

I cannot make promises to you or present you with formulas that offer sure-fire outcomes of success. There is not always a one-to-one correlation between the actions of a child, and the actions or reactions of their adult children. I’ve talked to make young adults who wandered away, and then cycled back to the faith in their mid-thirties. Many of them have told me their decisions had nothing to do with their parents. They admit they didn’t have bad parents, they just wanted to sin. So, I do not believe that sin and rebellion on the part of the child is always caused by bad parenting. That would be a terrible fallacy to assume that.

However, I do want to share some fatal mistakes that I believe often contribute greatly to the breakdown in relationships and in a child’s desire to follow God. As a parent myself, I humbly appeal to you to consider these stumbling blocks.

They Refused to Say “Yes” to God

As we begin traveling on the path of the righteous, God progressively asks us to submit every area of our lives to His Lordship. For many families, they recognize God’s call for them to be fully engaged parents. They begin to die to themselves and submit their will to His. Soon they begin to experience the freedom that comes from surrender and are happy they made the choice. Then God asks them to give up something else or asks them to join Him in a certain work. Sometimes, the cost of that sacrifice is more than the parents are willing to pay. In such cases, it almost always leads to their children rebelling against God and parents. “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). Children follow the example of their parents, and if we want our children to be obedient to God in all things, we must teach them by our lives.

They Allowed Their Children to Have Fools as Companions

Do you remember when we discussed the two most powerful factors in influence? Young people crave acceptance and usually find it in a peer group or clique (or gang). If a child is allowed to spend large segments of time around bad influences, they travel the path of disobedience and rebellion. I don’t believe I have ever seen an exception to this rule. “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed” (Prov. 13:20; NKJV).

“Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals’” (1 Cor. 15:33).

It is not wise to allow your children to spend large segments of time, unsupervised, with other young people. “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child” (Prov. 22:15a; KJV). When you put three children who all have foolishness bound up in their hearts together, they make a very strong bond and often will engage in destructive behavior they would never consider alone.

“And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Eccles. 4:10).

It is very hard for young people to resist negative peer pressure. You should know who your child’s friends are and, ideally, spend time with your children and their friends (rather than sending them away from you for “socialization”).

They Refused to Discipline Their Children

Even after their children have run away from home and are living on the streets, I’ve heard parents say, “I loved my children too much to discipline them.” Often, because of bad experiences they had as children with abuse or improper discipline, they choose to ignore God’s Word and believe a lie that it is loving to avoid disciplining their children. Refusing to discipline a child is one of the surest ways to send him or her to Hell.

They Disciplined Their Children Inconsistently or in Anger

Many parents were not raised in Godly homes themselves where loving, consistent, predictable discipline was implemented. Far too many parents struggle with understanding the right way to apply correction to their children. When discipline is done in anger, in excess, or simply to execute wrath on the child, it leads to a heart of rebellion in the child.

They Refused to Demonstrate Love or They Belittled and Verbally Berated Their Children

Very few parents understand the awesome power of their words. “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:36-37). Part of the dominion mandate God gave to Adam in Genesis was to name the animals. Adam even named his wife. In the Old Testament, parents seemed to have an almost prophetic ability to predict or determine the child’s behavior and lifestyle by the name he was given. Examples are Abram, Jacob, Jabez, etc. Children tended to become what they were named.

I believe this is still the case today. I don’t mean that if you are named “Bill” or “Suzy” you will become what your birth name means. However, as parents, we “name” our children every day. We tell them who they are. “You are such a pain! Why are you so lazy? Why can’t you do anything right? I’m sick and tired of dealing with you!”

These comments are lodged deep into the heart of a child and shape who they become. A refusal to speak and demonstrate love and affection leads to a distant, cold, and often resentful relationship. That is why it is so vital to speak words of truth and healing into your child’s life. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10).

I constantly tell our children things such as, “You are a blessing! We love you. Jesus loves you. You are special to us. I am very pleased with you.” It is wonderful to watch them become the true things my wife and I speak into their lives.

They Love the World

Some people claim to be Christians and yet are enamored by the world and things of the world. They are fed by a secular pop culture—a steady diet of worldly movies, worldly music, worldly games and activities, worldly reading material, worldly heroes and idols, etc. Children who are engrossed in the things of the world will not love God. You can’t love the Creator and the commercial pop culture at the same time.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

Secular Education

There is no way you can underestimate the power of 10,000-15,000 hours of anti-Christian indoctrination that students receive in godless government schools from K-12. My education-focused books go into extensive research and theology on why Christian children need an explicitly Christian education. I strongly encourage you to read my other titles on this topic.

They Gave Their Children Freedom Too Early

There comes a time when parents need to let their children stand on their own two feet. However, this is not at the ripe old age of 14. Often when teens are allowed to work outside the home, spend a lot of time away from home, or make too many important decisions before they are truly prepared, it instills in them an independent spirit that wants to be away from the family all the time. They begin to think of themselves as adults, or as equal with their parents, and they reject parental authority. Obviously we are all working towards this goal, but don’t let go too early! The exact age will vary for each family since every child is different. Determining when your child is ready to be launched requires a lot of prayer, wisdom, and counsel from godly influences in your life.

They Were Hypocrites—Holding Up a Standard They Refused to Live By

Some parents care only about their image and reputation. They lack proper character, so they try to compensate for that by having a good veneer of religiosity. Children see this as it truly is—repulsive and disgusting. They reject the faith that their parents supposedly embrace because they see that the life of Christ isn’t real in the private lives of Mom and Dad. If you are a hypocrite, the best you can hope for is for your children to emulate your hypocrisy. More likely, though, they will be more honest than you and will be blatantly and openly rebellious. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).

They Were Legalistic (Strictly Adhering to Laws That Aren’t Biblical Laws)

We must obey every word that proceeds from God’s mouth. We must do everything He commands. However, some parents have created a litany of pharisaical rules, guidelines, and principles that are not Biblically based. We want our children to understand what God is like and to walk in the Spirit, emulating God’s nature and character. But we must be careful that we don’t cross a line into judging others or thinking of ourselves highly because we follow a bunch of self-made rules.

For example, a man once told me that his little boy blurted out in a restaurant, “Daddy, those people over there don’t love Jesus!” When asked how he could be so sure, he confidently replied, “They are eating white bread, not whole wheat.” Admittedly, wheat is healthier than white when it comes to bread, but children can grow up confused about what is essential to the faith and what isn’t. Parents need to clearly outline to their children the choice they make that are based on personal preference, and which ones are based on Scriptural commands.

We all have what I call “house rules.” We have to make decisions about what foods we will allow our children to eat, what media they can access, what clothing styles they can wear, etc. In our home, for example, we don’t allow our children to drink caffeine. We explain to our children that this decision has nothing to do with God’s commands; we just think it is best for their overall health (and our overall sanity!).

We explain to them that it doesn’t make us better or worse Christians because they don’t drink caffeine. We teach them not to look down on other families that allow their children to do so. It’s a preference. But we teach them that bearing false witness against their neighbor is wrong for all people, in all places, at all times. That is God’s command. If children recognize the difference, you can still have conservative standards without being legalistic or creating little Pharisees.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matt. 23:23-24).

They Had Other Priorities Above Their Family

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). Children know what their parents value. When we spend our time and energy pursuing our career, our golf game, our friends, or our own comfort and pleasure to the exclusion of our children, they are pained by the rejection. Even if we are home every day, our hearts can be far from our children. We can be busy chatting with friends online, reading a book, or simply caught up in our own plans or routine. “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). Yes, we need to provide for the physical needs of our family, but it is even more important that we provide for their spiritual needs.

They Never Repented of Dishonoring Their Own Parents

I have been noticing lately what appears to be a kind of law of the universe. In every case where I have seen a man or woman rebel against their parents when they were young, unless they repent and try to reconcile with their parents, their children rebel and repeat the cycle. The only thing that seems to deter this process is a parent who grieves over the sins of his youth and intercedes in prayer on behalf of his own children so they will not repeat the same sins. Obviously, there are many cases where parents have died and reconciliation cannot be made, but in those cases the parents can still express their remorse to their own children, and let them know how shameful it was that they did not honor, respect and obey their parents when they were growing up. “The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures” (Prov. 30:17).

They Neglected to Model a Godly Marriage

I’ve seen dozens of situations where a family looked picture perfect until the children went off to college (or thereabouts). Then the parents split up. Upstanding church families often have constant fighting and upheaval behind closed doors. I’m not talking about an occasional argument or disagreement. That is part of any household. But constant tension and stress between a husband and a wife takes a definitive toll on the emotional stability of a child or youth. In such homes, the youth often reject the faith and many times struggle in their single years with relationships of their own.

One of the greatest gifts you can give to your children is to work on your marriage. Most children would rather their parents be okay with each other than with them. They know that if Mom and Dad can work things out, that provides stability for their future. But if Mom and Dad are constantly on the brink of divorce (even if only in the child’s mind) the lack of peace and harmony disrupts their sense of well-being. When parents model disunity, anger, bitterness, and frustration, children often look at such a scenario and think, “I’m not sure why this Christian faith is supposed to be so great. I have friends whose parents don’t profess to believe anything, and they like each other and get along.” Our witness for Christ in our own home is the most powerful sermon they will ever hear.

“And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, ‘Why does he not?’ Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. ‘For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless’” (Mal. 2:13-16)

They Failed to Equip Their Children with a Biblical Worldview

Children don’t acquire a fear of the Lord or a proper understanding of life by osmosis. “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Ps. 34:11). Do you know that you can teach your children the fear of the Lord? You do this by the example of your life. Parents must emphasize Godly character and teach their children to put on the mind of Christ. We must learn to think as He does. If a child has a secular philosophy of life, he will eventually live out the beliefs he holds in his heart.

Sometimes it is hard to know what your children really believe, especially if they are complacent, compliant types. They may not be outwardly rebelling or rejecting your instructions, but inside they may be quietly denouncing everything you believe in. You need a catalyst or a tool to pry the sealed lid off of the container of beliefs your child is keeping bottled up. You can and should institute systematic teaching and training, but you need to get feedback. Keep open, relational dialogues going with your children.

Look for opportunities to draw out your children. Do they express the same opinions and beliefs when talking with their friends as they do in discussions with you? Are they consistent in their views, or do they merely say what they think you want to hear?

You want to really get to know the heart of your child. Study the art of asking good questions. I learned a lot about the importance of questions as a means of teaching when I was studying the material for my books Questions God Asks and Questions Jesus Asks.

If you discover unexpected rebellion in your child, by all means take it seriously. Thank God that He was kind enough to let you see it so that you can pray and begin to deal with the problem. My book Education: Does God Have an Opinion? is a great resource for knowing how to apply a Biblical worldview to all areas of life.

Higher Education

I mentioned earlier that 70% of all students who go to secular colleges or universities bail on their faith by the end of their freshman year. What many Christian parents don’t consider is that not all so-called Christian colleges promote a Biblical worldview. I can’t tell you how many stories I hear from Christian parents who invested years of their lives in their children only to watch it get dismantled by Humanistic professors in private Christian colleges. Before you send your child to college, make sure you read Ken Ham’s essential book, Already Compromised. It exposes the Humanism that has deeply infiltrated even Christian colleges and universities.

Is It Too Late?

For the parent who has a wayward child who has left home and has wandered from the faith, you may wonder, “Is there any hope at this point? What can be done to change her heart?” I need to confess that I am woefully unequipped to speak authoritatively to the issue of the prodigal at this point in my life. I do know that God has it in His heart to forgive wayward sons and daughters when they come to themselves and return in repentance. I know that we must pray that God will do what it takes to break their stubborn will. Praying that prayer may result in incredible pain and suffering for them in this life, but in eternity it could be the difference between Heaven and Hell.

There are many other writers who have produced materials better than I can write on dealing with rebellion in children. I would recommend investing in these teaching resources and carefully considering anything the Lord would speak to your heart related to this matter. We don’t have unconditional guarantees of success as parents. We can’t assume that our children will automatically choose the right path. But we should not be fatalistic either and assume that the enemy is stronger than our Savior. We have great and precious promises in God’s Word, and we should cling to them with everything we have in us. By the grace of God, we will be united with all our children in God’s Heavenly Kingdom.

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 1:4).

This is a chapter excerpt from Israel’s new book: “Raising Them Up” and speaks to the concern expressed by many regarding the breakdown of the Christian family culture in world, but especially within the church… Please buy this book and support his important ministry!

Brittney Griner is the gun-toting, hashish-vaping WNBA player with a temper who seduced, assaulted, and abandoned her pregnant former “wife.” She’s now in a Russian prison for violating their drug laws. Despite Griner’s support for the Second Amendment, her abusive treatment of women, and her arrogant disrespect for another culture demonstrated by breaking their laws, the left will celebrate her. Why? Because Griner is a lesbian and hates America’s national anthem.

It’s curious that Griner, who happily profited from playing basketball in Russia for “6 1/2 years,” has never publicly condemned the Russian government or Russia’s national anthem even though Russia is far more oppressive than America.

It’s curious too that Griner’s possession of a drug illegal for both recreational and medicinal purposes in a country where she lived for 6 1/2 years could be “unintentional.”

No wonder celebrities love Griner. Like them, she stands steadfastly and courageously in defense of her leftist principles unless they get in the way of making money.

Quote ‘o’ the Day comes from two homosexuals writing about the Monkeypox scourge for GQ Magazine, one of the writers of whom is a doctor:

[C]alling for abstinence is not effective. It’s also, we would argue, not moral to tell queer people, who have been told time and again by the world not to fulfill what is a basic human need, to simply do so again.

First, there exists no “basic human need” for men to engage in homoerotic sodomy or oral-anal acts—none.

Second, if engaging in homoerotic sodomy and oral-anal acts were “basic human needs,” then surely being with loved ones, including dying relatives, is a basic human need. And it’s a need that the government denied thousands of people during the Communist Chinese Covidpox. People die from loneliness. People don’t die from abstaining from homoerotic acts.

As of this writing, 85 national and state organizations—including the Illinois Family Institute (IFI)—have signed a letter written by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and sent to U. S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell denouncing the ironically named “Respect for Marriage Act” (H.R. 8404)” and urging him and U.S. Senate colleagues to reject it.

H.R. 8404, which repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, is an attack on the religious liberty of people of faith and will inevitably lead to a further degradation of marriage and the nuclear family. America will not be able to survive further degradation of liberty, marriage, and the nuclear family.

The bill has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives aided and abetted by 47 GOP turncoats who are either too cowardly or too ignorant to oppose the Dis-Respect for Marriage Act. Those U.S. House turncoats include Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, Rodney Davis, Tom Emmer (chair of National Republican Congressional Committee), Darrell Issa, Elise Stefanik (U.S. House Republican Conference chair), and Lee Zeldin (New York gubernatorial candidate).

In the U.S. Senate, H.R. 8404 will need 10 GOP turncoats, and U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)—always a reliable turncoat—has said, “I think we’re very close.”

As IFI has historically warned, citizens must pay more attention to how the language of a proposed law could be interpreted and applied than how the bill’s sponsors claim it will be applied. For example, H. R. 8404’s supporters claim that the Dis-Respect for Marriage Act will merely codify federal protections for existing same-sex marriages in the event that the right to define marriage (rightfully) returns to the states.

Turncoat Collins deceitfully claims that “this bill is very straightforward. … All it does is put into federal law the protection for the million same-sex marriages that are out there today.”

Well, that is decidedly not all that the Dis-Respect for Marriage Act will do if it becomes law.

As I recently wrote,

[T]he Disrespect for Marriage Act recognizes in federal law “any marriage that is valid under state law.”

This means that once Utah, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, or any other nutty state recognizes plural unions as marriages, the federal government will be forced to recognize plural unions as marriages.

While there is a provision requiring states to recognize marriages from other states, that provision specifically limits the type of marriages that must be recognized to those composed of two people. No such limit is placed on the federal government in the Disrespect for Marriage Act.

The Dis-Respect for Marriage Act requires the federal government to recognize any type of union legally recognized as a “marriage” in any state, and if leftists can redefine “woman” to include men, imagine the bizarre ways they will redefine “marriage.”

If one state were to recognize plural relationships, incestuous relationships, platonic friendships, or adult-minor relationships as legal “marriages,” the federal government would be required to do so also.

Further, the Dis-Respect for Marriage Act states the following:

No person acting under color of State law may deny full faith and credit to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State pertaining to a marriage between 2 individuals, on the basis of the sex … of those individuals; or a right or claim arising from such a marriage on the basis that such marriage would not be recognized under the law of that State on the basis of the sex … of those individuals.

ADF explains that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the term “under color of State law” “might apply where an organization participates in a joint activity with a state, is performing a function traditionally performed by the government, or when its operations are entwined with government policies.”

ADF clarifies how leftists will use the Dis-Respect for Marriage Act to erode the liberty of people of faith and faith-based organizations:

• “Faith-based foster care providers who are alleged to be performing a state function through child placement services” could be sued if they adhere to their belief that marriage is only the union of one man and one woman.

• “Religious social service organizations that are heavily funded by and work jointly with the government to serve their communities” could be sued if they adhere to their belief that marriage is only the union of one man and one woman.

• “[R]eligious organizations and businesses that provide services under contract with the government” could be sued if they adhere to their belief that marriage is only the union of one man and one woman.

• “The Internal Revenue Service could rely on this congressional declaration requiring full recognition of same-sex marriage to strip 501(c)(3) organizations [like IFI] of their tax-exempt status if they continue to adhere to their belief that marriage is only between one man and one woman.”

The passage of the corrosive H.R. 8404 would be a disaster for children, families, religious liberty, and the nation. The arc of the moral universe in America is being bent backwards toward evil, and the only political party that has been standing for truth is bending too.

Take ACTION: H.R. 8404 may be taken up in the U.S. Senate soon**. Please take a moment to speak out to our two U.S. Senators to urge them to vote to protect the Defense of Marriage Act and vote NO to H.R. 8404. Remind them, “The government has no interest in inherently non-reproductive types of relationships. The government has no more interest in inherently non-reproductive erotic relationships than it does in platonic friendships.”

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin
https://www.durbin.senate.gov/contact/email
Phone: (202) 224-2152

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth
https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/connect/email-tammy
Phone: (202) 224-2854

Please send a message and then follow up with a phone.

**UPDATE: According to various news sources, the U.S. Senate vote on H.R. 8404 has been pushed back to September.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Letter-to-Leader-McConnell-on-marriage.mp3

Read More:

Disney Signs Open Letter Supporting Respect for Marriage Act (Yahoo News)

Same-Sex Marriage Bill Aims ‘to Crush Anyone Who Opposes Belief in Gay Marriage’ (The Washington Stand)

Susan Collins Signals Manchin-Schumer Deal Could Thwart Gay Marriage Bill (MSN)

Respect for Marriage Act Will Usher In ‘New Era of Oppression’ for Christians (The Washington Stand)

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.

Since the unconstitutional Roe was overturned, leftists have been roiling in rage at the thought that states are now free to enact the will of the people with regard to killing humans in the womb. In his concurrence, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas argued that three other Supreme Court cases should be revisited in that they too lacked constitutional grounding—an argument made also by the esteemed Antonin Scalia and Robert Bork.

One of the decisions Thomas believes should be revisited is the Obergefell decision that imposed same-sex “marriage” on the entire country, robbing states—that is, the people—of their right to decide if intrinsically non-marital relationships should be legally recognized as marriages. And so, leftists livid at the prospect of diverse states one day being free to enact marriage laws in accordance with the will of the people, are trying to take that right away preemptively through federal legislation.

This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed the laughably named “Respect for Marriage Act” (H.R. 8404)—a bill that doesn’t merely disrespect marriage; it is hostile to marriage. The bill, which would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, now goes to the U.S. Senate.

Forty-seven Republicans voted for it, including Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, Rodney Davis, Tom Emmer (chair of National Republican Congressional Committee), Darrell Issa, Elise Stefanik (U.S. House Republican Conference chair), and Lee Zeldin. Any Republican who doesn’t understand the essential role of the nuclear family—that is, mother, father, and children—to the health and future of any society doesn’t deserve to serve in government.

The Defense of Marriage Act—which all U.S. House Democrats and 47 “Republicans” detest—defines marriage in federal law “as between a man and a woman and spouse as a person of the opposite sex.” In contrast, the Disrespect for Marriage Act recognizes in federal law “any marriage that is valid under state law.”

Note that this means that once Utah, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, or any other nutty state recognizes plural unions as marriages, the federal government will be forced to recognize plural unions as marriages.

While there is a provision requiring states to recognize marriages from other states, that provision specifically limits the type of marriages that must be recognized to those composed of two people. No such limit is placed on the federal government in the Disrespect for Marriage Act.

While some naïfs among us may view this as an oversight, others see it as intentional—an interim step to the legal recognition of plural unions from sea to darkening sea.

Marriage is something. It has a nature. And words have meanings.

As I wrote four years ago, let’s try a little thought experiment. Let’s imagine that now, after legally recognizing intrinsically non-marital same-sex unions as “marriages,” society notices that there remains a unique type of relationship that is identified by the following features: it is composed of two people of major age who are not closely related by blood, are of opposite sexes, and engage in the only kind of sexual act that is naturally procreative. We decide that as language-users there must be a term to identify this particular, commonplace, and cross-cultural type of relationship. Let’s call it “huwelijk.”

In this thought experiment in which the term “marriage” would denote the union of two people of the same sex and “huwelijk” would denote the union of two people of opposite sexes—both of which provide the same legal protections, benefits, and obligations—does anyone believe that homosexuals would accept such a distinction?

Homosexuals would not accept such a linguistic distinction. They would not accept it even if they enjoyed all the practical benefits society historically accorded to sexually complementary couples and even if their unions were legally recognized as marriages.

Homosexuals would not tolerate such a legal distinction because their tyrannical quest for universal approval of homoerotic relationships cannot be achieved unless they obliterate all distinctions—including linguistic distinctions—between homosexual unions and heterosexual unions. Homosexuals—whose unions are naturally sterile—would not tolerate any term that signifies the naturally procreative union between one man and one woman.

Severing marriage from both biological sex and reproductive potential renders marriage irrelevant as a public institution. The most salient aspects of marriage as an institution sanctioned by the government are not subjective feelings of affection and sexual attraction. The government has no vested interest in the private subjective feelings of marriage partners.

The government has a vested interest in the public good. What serves the public good is the welfare of future generations. And what best serves future generations is providing for the needs and protecting the rights of children, which includes their right to be raised by a mother and father, preferably their own biological parents.

If marriage were solely a private institution concerned only with emotional attachments and sexual desire, as homosexuals claim it is, then there would be no reason for the government to be involved. There would be no more justification for government regulation of marriage than there is for government regulation of platonic friendships. And there would be no legitimate reason to prohibit plural marriages.

If the claim of homosexuals that marriage has no intrinsic, necessary, and rational connection to the biological sex of partners or to reproductive potential are true, then there remains no rational basis for the belief that marriage has anything to do with romantic or erotic feelings.

Why is marriage any longer conceived of as a romantic and erotic union? If marriage is severed from biological sex and from reproductive potential and if love is love, then why can’t a loving platonic relationship between three BFF’s be recognized as a marriage? Why can’t the platonic relationship between a 40-year-old soccer coach and his 13-year-old soccer star be deemed a marriage? If “progressives” can jettison the single most enduring and cross-cultural feature of marriage—sexual differentiation—then on what basis can they conceptually retain any other feature, including the notion that marriage is a romantic/erotic union? While eroticism may be important to intimate partners, of what relevance is naturally sterile erotic activity to the government’s interest in marriage as now construed?

When Leftists assert that “love is love,” they really mean that the moral status of erotic activity between two men or two women is no different from the moral status of sexual activity between a man and a woman. If the claim that “love is love,” is true, then there is no rational basis for thinking that there exist types of relationships in which eroticism has no legitimate place. If that’s the case, then why isn’t it morally permissible for all types of relationships to include erotic activity? If all loving relationships are identical (i.e., “love is love”), then why can’t all loving relationships include erotic activity? And if love is love, and marriage has no intrinsic nature, then it’s anything. And if it’s anything, it’s nothing.

If, however, there are different forms of love, some of which ought not include erotic activity, how do leftists determine when love ought not be eroticized?

Marriage is in tatters, but leftists want those tatters torched. Next up from “progressive” pyros: “eliminating the binary”—of marriage. Polyamorists are on the move. “Progressives” just love the smell of napalm all day long.

Take ACTION: H.R. 8404 may be taken up in the U.S. Senate soon**. Please take a moment to speak out to our two U.S. Senators to ask them to vote to protect the Defense of Marriage Act and vote NO to H.R. 8404. Remind them, “The government has no interest in inherently non-reproductive types of relationships. The government has no more interest in inherently non-reproductive erotic relationships than it does in platonic friendships.”

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin
https://www.durbin.senate.gov/contact/email
Phone: (202) 224-2152

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth
https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/connect/email-tammy
Phone: (202) 224-2854

Please send a message and then follow up with a phone call early next week.

**UPDATE: According to various news sources, the U.S. Senate vote on H.R. 8404 has been pushed back to September.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Unprincipled-Republicans-Vote-for-the-Disrespect-for-Marriage-Act.mp3

It’s no secret that social liberals have been winning the publicity battle in recent years. Whether on the issue of marriage or the lives of the pre-born, conservatives have been routinely out-spent, out-marketed, and out-publicized. Why? A substantial part of the reason is being out-funded—miserably out-funded.

For example, the Humans Rights Campaign, the powerful force advancing LGBT issues, has an annual budget of over forty-five million dollars, an amount that pro-family groups such as IFI only dream about.

The more alarming aspect, however, is that a significant portion of the monster budgets of Leftist organizations comes from our own pockets. I am not referring just to government funding of half a billion taxpayer dollars to abortion providers annually. I’m also referring to the money we voluntarily give.

I’m referring to businesses that we regularly patronize and which contribute their big corporate dollars to issues contrary to our beliefs. Starbucks for example has been funding Planned Parenthood for years. American Airlines is a platinum sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign. Also consider the numerous corporations that signed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to unilaterally redefine marriage in the Obergefell decision. Do they deserve your hard-earned money?

This is not to say we are all sentenced to a life of eating only Chick-fil-A sandwiches and entertaining ourselves with Hobby Lobby crafts. There are many well-known businesses that have remained neutral on the culture wars and in some cases have even contributed to conservative causes.

So, how do we distinguish between the good and the bad? Let us again remind you about this fantastic website and app…

2ndVote.com, a non-profit organizations allows users to view which brands align with their values.

2ndVote tracks contributions from corporations on issues you care about, such as life, marriage, gun rights, and even environmental issues. Their goal is to help you make better decisions when you cast your 2nd Vote every day by letting you know where your money really goes when you’re buying a product, eating at a restaurant, or supporting an organization.

Admittedly, it can be discouraging to uncover the contributions of your favorite brands. However, it is not necessary to purge our shopping lists to the point of absolute purity. If there are two competitors that provide similar products or services with only one supporting causes that violate your beliefs, embrace the opportunity to support family values.

Our motive is not vengeance against those businesses that support foolishness and evil. Our motive is to support those who have refused to cave in to pressure from the Left, instead choosing to remain neutral. By downloading the app and using the website, we have yet another means by which to affect positively our the culture.

Download the 2ndVote App HERE

Your voice for pro-family values in Illinois! 

Once upon a time, most Americans understood that fathers are essential in the nurturance of children, which, in turn, is essential for flourishing families and safe and healthy communities. Once upon a time, society understood that fathers—like mothers—are indispensable. Hear the words of a past president, urging Americans to better understand the singular blessings and obligations of fatherhood:

The journey of fatherhood provides unique and lasting joys. Cradling a baby in his arms, a father experiences the miracle of life and an unbreakable bond. Fathers imagine a world of possibilities awaiting their children and contemplate the privilege of helping them reach that expanse of opportunity. As kids grow and mature, they look to their dad for a special kind of love and support. Providing these necessities can bring great happiness.

Fatherhood also brings great responsibilities. Fathers have an obligation to help rear the children they bring into the world. Children deserve this care, and families need each father’s active participation.

Fathers must help teach right from wrong and instill in their kids the values that sustain them for a lifetime. As they encounter new and challenging experiences, children need guidance and counsel. Fathers need to talk with their kids to help them through difficult times. Parents must also help their children make the right choices by serving as strong role models. Honest and hard-working fathers are an irreplaceable influence upon their children.

Communities must do more to counsel fathers. Family and friends, and faith-based and community organizations, can speak directly with men about the sacrifices and rewards of having a child. These groups can support men as they take on the great challenges of child-rearing. Through honest and open dialogue, more men can choose to become model parents and know the wonders of fatherhood.

On Father’s Day, we pay tribute to the loving and caring fathers who are strengthening their families and country. We also honor those surrogate fathers who raise, mentor, or care for someone else’s child. Thousands of young children benefit from the influence of great men, and we salute their willingness to give and continue giving.

Those are the words of former President Barack Obama in 2009, just three years before he incoherently endorsed same-sex pseudo-marriage—a form of marriage that necessarily embodies the false belief that fathers (or mothers) are expendable.

But then came the sex-stupid era in which we remain mired.

The sexual revolution continues to mutate and spread like a virus unleashed from a Chinese lab. But the lab that experiments with this virus to increase its pernicious ability to harm children, poison communities, and destroy a once-great country is not a lab in communist China. It is the academy right here in America, aided and abetted by a tangled web of insulated government bureaucrats, an insidious entertainment industry, social media behemoths that conceal their puppetry behind algorithms and dopamine hits, and the medical and mental health communities run by the father of lies.

But there is light in the darkness, and that light knows truth. That light is truth—and the way and life. That light is called Abba! Father!

Those who are blessed with God-fearing fathers who discipline while never removing their gracious love, should offer thanks to God and their earthly fathers for this blessing.

Those who every day feel longing, sorrow, confusion, or anger because of the absence of their fathers can turn to God and His bride, the church, where God will be their father.

G.K. Chesterton understood what Barack Obama does not:

The triangle of truisms, of father, mother, and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.

There has never been and will never be a time in history when fathers are expendable.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Fathers-Day-in-a-Sex-Stupid-Era.mp3

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!