Potential 2020 Democratic hopeful Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, delivered a pointed message for Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday, telling him to raise his objections with the gay community with God.
Buttigieg, in a speech at LGBTQ Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch in Washington, D.C., referenced the vice president’s less-than-welcoming attitude toward members of the LGBTQ community when discussing his marriage to his husband Chasten. He called marriage equality a moral issue, saying his marriage of two years has made him a “better human being.”
“My marriage to Chasten has made me a better man and yes, Mr. Vice President, it has moved me closer to God,” said Buttigieg, a devout Episcopalian.
“I can tell you, that if me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade,” he added, to a room full of loud cheers. “And that’s the thing I wish the Mike Pence’s of the world could understand, that if you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”
Pence, a conservative Christian, has opposed same-sex marriage throughout his political career. He received harsh criticism from social activists for pursuing anti-LGBTQ policies during his time as governor of Indiana.
During his remarks Sunday, Buttigieg detailed how so much has changed for the gay community in his young lifetime. He acknowledged the historic implications of his candidacy and what it could mean for the LGBTQ community at large, including the possibility of the very first same-sex couple in the White House.
“You could either be openly gay or run for office, but not both,” Buttigieg recalled of his early days in politics. But he said he was uncomfortable with the idea of coming to terms with his sexuality as a young man, saying he “would have done anything to not be gay, when I started to half way realize what it meant that I felt the way I did,” comparing it to a war inside himself.
“If you had offered me a pill to make me straight, I would have swallowed it before I could get a sip of water,” he said.
Buttigieg said he ultimately decided to come out as gay after his seven-month deployment to Afghanistan in 2014, which he said forced him “to realize that you only get one life.” He said he finally addressed his sexuality during his reelection campaign as mayor in 2015, when Pence was governor. He said his coming out wasn’t for political purposes, but for the simple reason of wanting to start dating.
The 37-year-old credited a dating app for meeting his future spouse.
“I looked through this little screen on my phone and I saw this smile. This guy and I clicked the button the right because I had to meet him. And one of the best things about this past couple of months is watching America meet him too and fall for Chasten, just like I did,” he explained, crediting Chasten with helping him get through some of the tougher times in his life, including the loss of his father.
In previewing his plans for a potential presidency, the mayor said he would push for a Federal Equality Act immediately upon entering office.
Mayor Buttigieg must be desperate for recognition.
Why else would he attack a sitting Vice President who openly practices the faith of 75% of Americans?
Now, I realize that Buttigieg also proclaims to be a Christian.
However, regardless of how he feels about himself, homosexuality is listed as a sin in the Bible, along with adultery, theft, etc.
Buttigieg, like other Modern American Liberals, seeks to rewrite the Bible in order to feel comfortable about his own sin.
We are all sinners, saved by God’s Grace.
Moving on…
Vice-President Mike Pence’s Christianity makes him a common target of the Modern American Liberals in the Democratic Party.
Basically, because within the pages of the Bible, you will not find a lot of things which the Modern Democratic Party stands for.
And, the Traditional American Faith and Values which we were taught as children, usually came from the Family Bible found on a shelf or table in the homes of families from coast to coast.
However, with the last few generations,, as public education has changed into public indoctrination, children have been taught that traditional American views on faith and family are narrow-minded and wrong.
Karl Marx said basically the same thing when he opined that
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”.
With the shift in the Democratic Party from Classic American Liberalism to the embracing of Marxist Theory under the misnomer “Democratic Socialism” the Democrats have moved away from Traditional American Faith and Values toward the worship of “the State” and the practice of relative morality and situational ethics.
This movement, led by “the smartest people in the room”, has produced an arrogance among the Democrats, reinforced by Democrat-heavy polling, to where they believe that their values are held by the majority of American Voters.
This same belief led to Mayor Buttigieg’s attacking of Vice-President Pence.
And, with the Mayor being a potential Dark Horse Candidate, what did he have to lose?
As was proven in 2016, wild-eyed “Democratic Socialists” are not going to get the Heartland’s votes, anyway.
And, considering the way all of them are currently behaving, they are not going to receive those votes in 2020, either.
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. – Matthew 24:4-5
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has reportedly led a chant of “death to America” and recently called for a separate state for black Americans, has made more controversial comments, claiming to be Jesus and clarifying his “anti-termite” statement.
Farrakhan made many shocking claims during NOI’s Saviours’ Day keynote address in February at the United Center arena in Chicago. He told Rep. Ilhan Omar “you have nothing to apologize for,” and he praised her fellow colleague freshman, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The preacher of Islam then appeared to mock one of the most famous passages from the Bible, John 3:16:
“God does not love this world. God never sent Jesus to die for this world. Jesus died because he was 2,000 years too soon to bring about the end of the civilization of the Jews. He never was on a cross, there was no Calvary for that Jesus,” Farrakhan said.
Instead, he said, Jesus’s name would live until the one that came that he was prefigured for.
“The real story is what I tried to tell you from the beginning. It didn’t happen back there. It’s happening right while you’re alive looking at it,” Farrakhan told the audience. “I represent the Messiah. I represent the Jesus and I am that Jesus. If I am not, take my life.”
Farrakhan said he makes the deaf hear and dumb speak, and he added: “when I made the call in 1995 to Black people, with the Million Man March, that was like Jesus calling Lazarus and Lazarus came forth.”
He said the cross is for him.
“Some of you do today reject because the white man told you I’m an evil man, I’m a hater, I’m an anti-Semite. I hate Jewish people, I hate gay people. Here I am in front of you. I represent the Jesus that saves. I don’t represent somebody that came to judge you and me for our errors and mistakes…Everywhere I went I found myself rejected. My black people, they accepted me. But now white people are frightening the hell out of black people. College presidents are punished for allowing me or anyone that represents me to come on the college campus because they fear what’s in my mouth from my teacher the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.”
Farrakhan said the “anti-termite” reference was not to all Jews but “the richest 10 percent of Americans” who own “84 percent of all stocks.”
Farrakhan has a long history of anti-Semitic comments. Last year, he lost his verified status on Twitter after posting a video in which he asked: “I wonder, will you see the Satanic Jew and the Synagogue of Satan, which has many races in it because Satan has deceived the whole world?” Farrakhan has also said that he is not an anti-Semite, but rather “anti-termite,” and led a “Death to Israel” chant during a visit to Iran in November.
In January, Farrakhan posted a clip from a 2015 interview to Instagram in which he called for a separate nation-state for black Americans, saying: “Most of our people don’t want it here … God has something else for us.”
So, where did Farrakhan and his followers’ beliefs come from?
In the summer of 1930, a peddler made his appearance in the black ghetto of Detroit. He gave the name of Wallace D. Fard. He is believed to have been of Arab descent, but this has not been documented. He went from door to door selling clothing and accessories, as well as artifacts. These, he claimed, were like those the ancestors of the blacks wore and used. As he peddled his goods, he told tales about the blacks of Africa that entranced his customers. This led to informal gatherings in homes in which he told the blacks about their land of origin.
At first, his talks focused on black history, culture and diet. He did not say much about politics or religion, but as time progressed, his focus became more and more politically and religiously oriented. Eventually, his disciples were introduced to the Qur’an. Later, his talks became bitter denunciations of the white race. His audiences became so large that they could no longer meet in homes. A hall was rented and named “The Temple of Islam.” This is how the movement which calls itself “The Nation of Islam” and is called by detractors, “Black Muslims,” came into being.
Fard soon built his following into a tightly knit cult that looked to him as “Ruler of the Universe.” He established a university that was in reality a secondary school which emphasized the teaching of math and astronomy. It also focused on his teaching about “the ending of the spook civilization”.
Fard began a Muslim Girls Training Class that continues to today and still teaches the principles of home economics and how to be proper wives and mothers. He instituted a para-military unit called “Fruit of Islam” (FOI) to teach military tactics and the handling of firearms against the predicted day that whites would not tolerate their growth and prosperity.
He also set up the office of The Minister of Islam which, with the aid of a well trained staff, ultimately ran the whole organization. In three short years Fard has acquired some 8,000 followers. Under the direction of The Minister of Islam and his staff, the Nation of Islam continued to prosper. Fard retired from an openly active role in the direction of The Nation of Islam.
One of Fard’s early disciples, Elijah Poole, was given the Muslim name Elijah Muhammad. He became one of Fard’s favorites, and was ultimately named as the chief Minister of Islam. In June of 1934, only four years after he made his first appearance in Detroit, and shortly after Elijah Muhammad was named Minister of Islam, W. D. Fard completely and mysteriously disappeared.
Farrakhan took over for “The Honorable” Elijah Muhammad, who, according to accounts, “got rid” of Malcolm X, as well.
So, we know who and what “Minister” Farrakhan” is.
Who is Jesus Christ?
I was going to attempt to explain His Grace, His Forgiveness, and His soul-healing peace.
However, my thought and words would be inadequate.
In 1912, C.P.J. Mooney worked as the editor for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN. He wrote an editorial that has stood the test of time and describes God’s Greatest Gift to us in a way in which everyone can understand.
There is no other character in history like that of Jesus.
As a preacher, as a doer of things, and as a philosopher, no man ever had the sweep and the vision of Jesus.
A human analysis of the human actions of Jesus brings to view a rule of life that is amazing in its perfect detail.
The system of ethics Jesus taught during His earthly sojourn 2,000 years ago was true then, has been true in every century since and will be true forever.
Plato was a great thinker and learned in his age, but his teachings did not stand the test of time. In big things and in little things time and human experience have shown that he erred.
Marcus Aurelius touched the reflective mind of the world, but he was as cold and austere as brown marble. …
Thomas a Kempis’ ”Imitation of Christ” is a thing of rare beauty and sympathy, but it is, as its name indicates, only an imitation.
Sir Thomas More’s ”Utopia” is yet a dream that cannot be realized.
Lord Bacon writing on chemistry and medicine under the glasses of the man working in a 20th century laboratory is puerile.
The world’s most learned doctors until 150 years ago gave dragon’s blood and ground tails of lizards and shells of eggs for certain ailments. The great surgeons a hundred years ago bled a man if he were wounded.
Napoleon had the world at his feet for four years, and when he died the world was going on its way as if he had never lived.
JESUS TAUGHT little as to property because He knew there were things of more importance than property. He measured property and life, the body and soul, at their exact relative value. He taught much more as to character, because character is of more importance than dollars.
Other men taught us to develop systems of government. Jesus taught so as to perfect the minds of men. Jesus looked to the soul, while other men dwelled on material things.
After the experience of 2,000 years no man can find a flaw in the governmental system outlined by Jesus.
Czar and kaiser, president and Socialist, give to its complete merit their admiration.
No man today, no matter whether he follows the doctrine of Mill, Marx or George as to property, can find a false principle in Jesus’ theory of property.
In the duty of a man to his fellow no sociologist has ever approximated the perfection of the doctrine laid down by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount.
Not all the investigations of chemists, not all the discoveries of explorers, not all the experiences of rulers, not all the historical facts that go to make up the sum of human knowledge on this day in 1912 are in contradiction to one word uttered or one principle laid down by Jesus.
The human experiences of 2,000 years show that Jesus never made a mistake. Jesus never uttered a doctrine that was true at that time and then became obsolete.
Jesus spoke the truth, and the truth is eternal.
History has no record of any other man leading a perfect life or doing everything in logical order. Jesus is the only person whose every action and whose every utterance strike a true note in the heart and mind of every man born of woman. He never said a foolish thing, never did a foolish act and never dissembled.
No poet, no dreamer, no philosopher loved humanity with all the love that Jesus bore toward all men.
WHO, THEN, was Jesus?
He could not have been merely a man, for there never was a man who had two consecutive thoughts absolute in truthful perfection.
Jesus must have been what Christendom proclaims Him to be — a divine being — or He could not have been what He was. No mind but an infinite mind could have left behind those things which Jesus gave the world as a heritage.
“Minister” Farrakhan, I, quite frankly, do not give a rat’s rear whom you think that you are.
Like the late, great Dr. S.M. Lockridge, I know Jesus Christ and I know who He is.
President Donald Trump was just doing what he could to raise spirits when he signed Bibles at an Alabama church for survivors of a deadly tornado outbreak, many religious leaders say, though some are offended and others say he could have handled it differently.
Hershael York, dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary School of Theology in Louisville, Ky., said he didn’t have a problem with Trump signing Bibles, like former presidents have, because he was asked and because it was important to the people who were asking.
“Though we don’t have a national faith, there is faith in our nation, and so it’s not at all surprising that people would have politicians sign their Bibles,” he said. “Those Bibles are meaningful to them and apparently these politicians are, too.”
But the Rev. Donnie Anderson, executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, said she was offended by the way Trump scrawled his signature Friday as he autographed Bibles and other things, including hats, and posed for photos. She viewed it, she said, as a “calculated political move” by the Republican president to court his evangelical voting base.
Presidents have a long history of signing Bibles, though earlier presidents typically signed them as gifts to send with a spiritual message. President Ronald Reagan signed a Bible that was sent secretly to Iranian officials in 1986. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the family Bible his attorney general used to take the oath of office in 1939.
It would have been different, Anderson said, if Trump had signed a Bible out of the limelight for someone with whom he had a close connection.
“For me, the Bible is a very important part of my faith, and I don’t think it should be used as a political ploy,” she said. “I saw it being used just as something out there to symbolize his support for the evangelical community, and it shouldn’t be used in that way. People should have more respect for Scripture.”
York said that he, personally, would not ask a politician to sign a Bible, but that he has been asked to sign Bibles after he preaches. It feels awkward, he said, but he doesn’t refuse.
“If it’s meaningful to them to have signatures in their Bible, I’m willing to do that,” he said.
Trump visited Alabama on Friday to survey the devastation and pay respects to tornado victims. The tornado carved a path of destruction nearly a mile wide, killing 23 people, including four children and a couple in their 80s, with 10 victims belonging to a single extended family.
At the Providence Baptist Church in Smiths Station, Ala., the Rev. Rusty Sowell said, the president’s visit was uplifting and will help bring attention to a community that will need a long time to recover.
Before leaving the church, Trump posed for a photograph with a fifth-grade volunteer and signed the child’s Bible, said Ada Ingram, a local volunteer. The president also signed her sister’s Bible, Ingram said. In photos from the visit, Trump is shown signing the cover of a Bible.
Trump should have at least signed inside in a less ostentatious way, said the Rev. Dr. Kevin Cassiday-Maloney.
“It just felt like hubris,” said Cassiday-Maloney, pastor at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Fargo, North Dakota. “It almost felt like a desecration of the holy book to put his signature on the front writ large, literally.”
He doesn’t think politicians should sign Bibles, he said, because it could be seen as a blurring of church and state and an endorsement of Christianity over other religions.
It would have been out of line if Trump had brought Bibles and given them out, but that wasn’t the case, said James Coffin, executive director of the Interfaith Council of Central Florida.
“Too much is being made out of something that doesn’t deserve that kind of attention,” he said.
Bill Leonard, the founding dean and professor of divinity emeritus at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity in Winston-Salem, N.C., woke up to Facebook posts Saturday morning by former students who were upset about Trump signing the Bibles because they don’t view him as an appropriate example of spiritual guidance.
But, Leonard said, it’s important to remember that signing Bibles is an old tradition, particularly in southern churches.
Leonard said he would have viewed it as more problematic if the signings were done at a political rally. He doesn’t see how Trump could have refused at the church.
“It would’ve been worse if he had said no because it would’ve seemed unkind, and this was at least one way he could show his concern along with his visit,” he said. “In this setting, where tragedy has occurred and where he comes for this brief visit, we need to have some grace about that for these folks.”
Amen.
Gentle Readers, did you notice in the above article that those who objected were representatives of Liberal Churches?
First,, there is NO SUCH THING as “Separation of Church and State” in the Constitution of the United States of America.
Second, President Trump was honoring God by signing children’s Bibles in that small Alabama town.
Christianity has played a predominant role in the building of our nation. In fact, the Capitol building itself was used for church services, even before Congress moved into the building, and continued to be used for Sunday Church Services until well after the Civil War.
The approval of the Capitol for church was given by both the House and the Senate on December 4, 1800, with House approval being given by Speaker of the House, Theodore Sedgwick, and Senate approval being given by the President of the Senate, Thomas Jefferson, whose approval came while he was still officially the Vice- President but after he had just been elected President.
Jefferson attended church at the Capitol while he was Vice President 5 and also throughout his presidency. The first Capitol church service that Jefferson attended as President was a service preached by Jefferson’s friend, the Rev. John Leland, on January 3, 1802. 6 Significantly, Jefferson attended that Capitol church service just two days after he penned his famous letter containing the “wall of separation between church and state” metaphor.
U. S. Rep. Manasseh Cutler, who also attended church at the Capitol, recorded in his own diary that “He [Jefferson] and his family have constantly attended public worship in the Hall.” Mary Bayard Smith, another attendee at the Capitol services, confirmed: “Mr. Jefferson, during his whole administration, was a most regular attendant.” She noted that Jefferson even had a designated seat at the Capitol church: “The seat he chose the first Sabbath, and the adjoining one (which his private secretary occupied), were ever afterwards by the courtesy of the congregation, left for him and his secretary.” Jefferson was so committed to those services that he would not even allow inclement weather to dissuade him; as Rep. Cutler noted: “It was very rainy, but his [Jefferson’s] ardent zeal brought him through the rain and on horseback to the Hall.” Other diary entries confirm Jefferson’s attendance in spite of bad weather.
…Jefferson was not the only President to attend church at the Capitol. His successor, James Madison, also attended church at the Capitol. 14 However, there was a difference in the way the two arrived for services. Observers noted that Jefferson arrived at church on horseback 15 (it was 1.6 miles from the White House to the Capitol). However, Madison arrived for church in a coach and four. In fact, British diplomat Augustus Foster, who attended services at the Capitol, gave an eloquent description of President Madison arriving at the Capitol for church in a carriage drawn by four white horses.
The series of cacophonous thuds you just heard were the “I’m-smarter than-you” Modern American Marxists…err…Liberals falling off of their chairs. You see, they will argue until they are blue in the face that Jefferson and Madison were not Christians, and our founding documents were not based on a Judeo-Christian system of beliefs.
Then, they go out to feed the unicorn in their backyard.
Jefferson told his friend, William Bradford (who served as Attorney General under President Washington), to make sure of his own spiritual salvation:
[A] watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.
The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of man.
The practice of morality being necessary for the well being of society, He [God] has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral principles of Jesus and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses.
I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others.
I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.
But, what about Jefferson’s re-writing of the Bible, leaving out Jesus’ miracles, you ask? David Barton answered that question in 2001, in a letter to a newspaper, in response to a reader:
The reader, as do many others, claimed that Jefferson omitted all miraculous events of Jesus from his “Bible.” Rarely do those who make this claim let Jefferson speak for himself. Jefferson’s own words explain that his intent for that book was not for it to be a “Bible,” but rather for it to be a primer for the Indians on the teachings of Christ (which is why Jefferson titled that work, “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth”). What Jefferson did was to take the “red letter” portions of the New Testament and publish these teachings in order to introduce the Indians to Christian morality. And as President of the United States, Jefferson signed a treaty with the Kaskaskia tribe wherein he provided—at the government’s expense—Christian missionaries to the Indians. In fact, Jefferson himself declared, “I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.” While many might question this claim, the fact remains that Jefferson called himself a Christian, not a deist.
The other Founding Father whom today’s Liberals claim was an Atheist is James Madison.
Per David Barton:
James Madison trained for ministry with the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, and Madison’s writings are replete with declarations of his faith in God and in Christ. In fact, for proof of this, one only need read his letter to Attorney General Bradford wherein Madison laments that public officials are not bold enough about their Christian faith in public and that public officials should be “fervent advocates in the cause of Christ.” And while Madison did allude to a “wall of separation,” contemporary writers frequently refuse to allow Madison to provide his own definition of that “wall.” According to Madison, the purpose of that “wall” was only to prevent Congress from passing a national law to establish a national religion.
Also, as this writing shows, Madison wanted all public officials – including Bradford – to be unashamed concerning their Christian beliefs and testimony:
I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and [who] are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare their unsatisfactoriness by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; and I wish you may give in your evidence in this way.
Did you know that Madison was a member of the committee that authored the 1776 Virginia Bill of Rights and approved of its clause declaring that:
It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other. ?
And, per Barton, Madison’s proposed wording for the First Amendment demonstrates that he opposed only the establishment of a federal denomination, not public religious activities. The proposal reads:
The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established.
But, wait. There’s more:
In 1789, Madison served on the Congressional committee which authorized, approved, and selected paid Congressional chaplains.
In 1812, President Madison signed a federal bill which economically aided a Bible Society in its goal of the mass distribution of the Bible.
Finally, throughout his Presidency (1809-1816), Madison endorsed public and official religious expressions by issuing several proclamations for national days of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving.
So, if you run into one of those individuals who, when it comes to accepting the Faith of our Founding Fathers and that fact that President Trump was doing exactly what those noble men would have done in that same situation in that church in Alabama, proves that denial is not just a river in Egypt, you can respond with one or all of three things:
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! – Isaiah 5:20
Consider, if you will, a country in which its president is being sued for keeping his promise to protect his country’s citizens.
…a country where a black actor hires 2 extras from his television show to dress up like supporters of a sitting president, put a noose around his neck and rough him up, simply because the president happens to be from the opposite political party as the actor, and the actor is still upset over his candidate having been defeated in the last election.
…a country in which the Speaker of the House of Representatives proclaims that her political party is “doing the Lord’s Work”, while supporting killing babies after they are born.
“You are traveling through a previously unknown country, a country whose population has politically been torn asunder, a country whose Democratic Leadership have forsworn its traditional faith and values to embrace those of its enemies. A country whose great promise is once again being realized, despite the best efforts of its enemies within. There’s a signpost up ahead. Next stop, America 2019.”
This country has been pulling apart at the seams since the night of November 8, 2016, which Donald J. Trump was elected as our 45th President.
And the thing is, it is not his fault.
The direction which the Modern Democratic Party has taken to the Far Left of the Political Spectrum has put them at odds with the majority of Americans who still hold dear the Traditional Faith and Values System upon which our Sovereign Nation was founded.
In an article written for Decision Magazine dated February 12, 2012, America’s Pastor, Rev. Billy Graham, wrote on the subject of “Confusing Evil With Good”. Here are some excerpts…
Humanity has always been dexterous at confusing evil with good. That was Adam and Eve’s problem, and it is our problem today. If evil were not made to appear good, there would be no such thing as temptation. It is in their close similarity that the danger lies.
Modern social righteousness often differs from the righteousness of the Bible. Someone has said: “A wrong deed is right if the majority of people declare it not to be wrong.” By this principle we can see our standards shifting from year to year according to the popular vote! Divorce was once frowned upon by society, and laws against fornication and adultery were strictly enforced. But now divorce is accepted by society, and fornication is glorified in our literature and films.
The Bible says: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.” God has not changed. His standards have not been lowered. God still calls immorality a sin, and the Bible says God is going to judge it.
Honesty was once the hallmark of character. But it has been set aside with an “It’s all right if you don’t get caught” philosophy. Only when we are in court are we required to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
…How do we get our values so mixed up? How do we fall into this trap of Satan? For one thing, we’re shortsighted. We look for shortcuts to happiness. Our lust for immediate pleasure prompts us to think of evil as good.
In one of novelist John Steinbeck’s books he has a character saying: “If it succeeds, they will be thought not crooked but clever.” In our desire to achieve success quickly, it is easy to get our values mixed up and call evil good and good evil.
Another way to call evil good is to say that morals are relative. Someone has said: “As the occasion, so the behavior.” We have changed our moral code to fit our behavior instead of changing our behavior to harmonize with our moral code. Nothing is firm today. We are not on solid ground. Young people are shifting from one side to the other. Morally, they are drifting aimlessly without compass or guide.
Still another way that evil is called good is for the conscience to be perverted, and certainly our consciences today are perverted. But right is right even if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong. God does not change the moral law to suit our behavior.
…The modern conscience has been twisted and distorted so badly that it is difficult to tell what is genuine and what is false.
Self-centeredness is another reason we are so inclined to call evil good. When something brings profit or pleasure to us we are inclined to call evil good, even though we know it is dead wrong. “But it’s what I’ve always wanted,” or, “It’s good for me, although I know it’s wrong” are the alibis we have manufactured to justify evil and call it good.
It is very apparent that there is something that is literally tearing apart the fabric of our country.
The only conclusion that I, as a Christian American can reach, is the fact that our Sovereign Nation is in the midst of SPIRITUAL WARFARE for its very soul.
Make no mistake about it, boys and girls, EVIL EXISTS.
My friends, I believe that we are fighting a war against “princes and principalities”. Evil is still alive and well and flourishing in a world in which relative morality and situational ethics are increasingly being accepted as normal behavior.
We see it everyday around us.
It inundates the cable news channels, 24 hours a day. Heck, you can even see it on Facebook.
Since Cain slew Able with a rock, mankind, because we are all fallen creatures, has had to deal with the presence of evil in our lives.
From the legendary massacres, perpetrated by Vlad the Impaler, to the horrific scenes of Hitler’s Concentration Camps, to the killing fields of Pol Pot, to the massacre of innocent Middle Eastern Christians by Islamic State, to the murders by Chicago Street Gangs every night, the Forces of Evil continue to flourish across the globe.
Who we as a nation are struggling with are those forces who want to turn our country into not just an immoral society, but, an amoral one, whose concept of right and wrong is “Whatever Gets You Through the Night (It’s Alright. It’s Alright.)”, and whose ultimate authority is not the God of Abraham, but a Godless All-Powerful Central Government, whose credo is
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. (Karl Marx)
Just as Marxism has failed wherever it has been tried before, so, if allowed to do so, it would lead to America’s downfall.
The galling thing is the fact that, even though American Christians remain 75% of the population, we are propagandized and suppressed by the Liberals in both the Old and New Media, to make it seem as if WE are the Minority, when, in fact, WE are the overwhelming Majority.
It is this New Generation of Amoral Socialists, who have taken over the Democratic Party, who are in fact, just a tiny, albeit vocal, Minority of America’s population.
So, what can an average Christian American, like you and me, do about this “Tyranny of the Minority”?
Christians have to make a choice in these tough times whether to allow those who are attempting to “radically change” our Sovereign Nation, given to us by God into a Democratic Socialist Paradise or…
As the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians, we can STAND.
However, you cannot stand without “the full armor of God”. I have found, as have my family and friends, that the better that you are doing, in terms of your Christian Walk, the harder that you will be attacked.
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.…- Ephesians 6:10-12
Our Christianity as Americans does not and can not end at Noon on Sunday, as we shake the Preacher’s hand and walk out of the sanctuary.
“It’s really quite a sad thing when you know that we’ll be talking about something that applies to the health and life — health and ability to have other children of women. I hope that in his family, he never has to face that crisis and apply his attitude toward it.” – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
President Trump, speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. Thursday, assured his audience that his administration will protect religious liberties.
“I will never let you down,” the president told his audience — which included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “I can say that. Never.”
The president has relied on religious conservatives, particularly evangelical Christians, for much of his base. His speech came after he devoted some of his State of the Union address to the issue of late-term abortion, a key issue for many conservative Christians — especially after bills in New York and Virginia aiming to ease late-term abortion restrictions. The president reiterated his commitment to the pro-life movement Thursday.
“All children born and unborn are made in the holy image of God,” Mr. Trump told the prayer breakfast.
Mr. Trump also brought up religious persecution abroad, human trafficking and other issues he says his administration is committed to addressing.
…”Since the founding of our nation, many of our greatest strides, from gaining our independence to abolition of civil rights, to extending the vote for women, have been led by people of faith and started in prayer,” Mr. Trump said.
Every president since President Dwight D. Eisenhower has attended that annual breakfast, which typically includes members of Congress and foreign dignitaries.
I wonder if San Fran Nan was grinding her dentures again like she did on Tuesday Night?
As a Christian American Conservative, I have been watching the last couple of weeks with great interest.
In yet another example of moral narcissism and the liberal inability to understand conservative positions on faith, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi declared that her party, the Democratic Party, does the will of God while Republicans dishonor their Creator.
Of Republicans, the Democrat congresswoman from California declared, “They pray in church on Sunday and they prey on people the rest of the week. And while we’re doing the Lord’s work, ministering to the needs of God’s creation, they are ignoring those needs which is to dishonor the God who made them.”
The very day that PJ Media was posting their report, Ney York Governor Mario Cuomo signed into law the horrendous Third Trimester Abortion Bill, followed shortly afterward by the effort in Virginia to pass a similar bill, justified by their Democratic Governor, Ralph Northam.
Those two moments started an avalanche of “setbacks” for Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic Party, which continues even as I write this post.
Between the scandals among the Virginia Government Hierarchy involving the wearing of blackface and a claimed sexual assault, President Trump’s outstanding SOTU Address and resulting 49% approval rate , and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s unintentionally hilarious “New Green Deal” which Democrats are signing off on like lemmings jumping off a cliff in a Walt Disney True Life Adventure, the Dems’ hopes for victory in the 2020 Presidential Election have begun a long and entertaining (for everyone but them) swirl down the ol’ porcelain receptacle.
Now, I cannot and will not speak for the Triune God, the Author and Finisher of my Christian Faith. Neither am I going to say that the recent unveiling of the face of true evil that is today’s Democratic Party was God teaching them a lesson.
However…
For House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on behalf of the Far Left Democratic Party, who denied God years ago in their National Convention, to now attempt to use the God of Abraham as a supporter for murdering babies in the womb and to justify their overall treasonous behavior by proclaiming Him to be the Spokesperson and Arbiter against the actions and policies of President Trump, after turning their back on God for years, is a display of hypocrisy that would had made even the ancient Pharisees blush.
In fact, their desperation reminds me of a passage found in the New Testament,
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ – Matthew 7:22-23
The unraveling of the Democratic Party, which I have been watching these last couple of weeks, reminds me of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson which I had on a poster in my bedroom as a teenager, which read,
All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
1But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. – 2 Timothy 3: 1-4 (ESV)
Sound familiar?
This is a spot on assessment of America’s popular culture, especially on the Left Coast and up in the Northeastern “Beltway” running through New York City and Washington, DC.
I am not sitting here in my man-cave, looking up at my poster of all the Biblical names for Jesus Christ, telling you that He is coming back soon. However, we are closer to hearing the “trumpet sound” than previous generations.
The Day of the Lord will indeed come like a thief in the night.
But, I digress.
I was in Walmart a while back, when I saw a group of middle schoolers roaming the store as if it was their personal playground. They were touching everything and generally causing mayhem, when an employee asked them to stop.
They responded by smarting off to that employee as if they were a peer.
That moment made me wonder about their parents.
Time went by and I found myself in that same Walmart. A group of around a dozen or so teenage girls came in the store with a well-dressed woman whom I presumed was one of their mothers.
I watched them as the woman gave lists to the girls for what was apparently a scavenger hunt being held in that Walmart as an activity for one of the girls’ birthday party.
Included in the activities was going up to the employees as if they were animals in a zoo and getting their pictures taken with them, or asking them stupid questions, as if these Americans, working hard at Walmart, were somehow inferior and objects for ridicule.
This behavior really struck a nerve with me as my late step-sister (15 years older), my sister (9 years older), and myself (“”Baby Brother” or just “Brother” as my Daddy called me all of his life) would never have been allowed to treat anyone that way.
You see, we were taught to respect everyone and to treat everyone the same way, whether they were a janitor or an executive.
And, we were raised to love God and attended church on a regular basis.
I feel sorry for those young people and their parents, also.
What I witnessed at that Walmart was a microcosm of what is going on right now in this Sovereign Nation which God has given to us.
From the attacks on the Covington Christian High School kids to the signing of the NY Abortion Law to the blazing hypocrisy and downright treasonous words and deeds of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Ralph Northam, and the rest of the “Democratic Socialists” of the Far Left Democratic Party, we are watching the prophetic warning found in 2 Timothy 3: 1-4 being played out right before us.
However, there is always hope and joy in the morning.
Americans, by the Grace of God, as Press Secretary Sarah Sanders reminded us, elected a strong leader in Donald J. Trump, who loves God, America, and her people.
However, even though approximately 75% of Americans profess themselves to be Christians, there still needs to be “revival in the land”.
Average Christian Americans must come together and remain as united as we were on the night of November 8, 2016 in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
We MUST continue to fight the good fight.
Don’t believe what you see and hear from the Fake News Outlets.
Believe that “still small voice” inside you.
It belongs to the Solid Rock upon which our Sovereign Nation was formed…
And the same Solid Rock upon which it will endure.
“My wife and I have been in the public eye for quite a while but I have to tell you, to see major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive. We have a rich tradition in America of Christian education and, frankly, religious education broadly defined. We celebrate it. The freedom of religion is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution prohibits a religious test for holding public office, so we’ll let the critics roll off our back. But this criticism of Christian education in America should stop.” – Vice-President Mike Pence
Lady Gaga took time out of one of her performances in Las Vegas over the weekend to sound off on the Trump administration, specifically Vice President Mike Pence for his wife’s decision to work at a school with anti-LGBTQ policies.
The “Born This Way” singer broke during a performance of the song “Million Reasons” to speak about the president and vice president before jumping right back into her set.
“If the f—ing president of the United States could please put our government back in business,” she said during the break.
The star continued by discussing the federal workers who are living paycheck-to-paycheck needing their money amid the ongoing government shutdown. From there, she launched into the real crux of her tirade, the Pence family.
“To Mike Pence, who thinks it’s acceptable that his wife work at a school that bans LGBTQ,” she said. “You are wrong.”
Pence previously spoke out against the backlash his wife was receiving for her new job, tweeting ”We’ll let the critics roll off our back. But the criticism of Christian education in America must stop.”
Gaga, who recently won a Golden Globe for best original song for her work on “A Star is Born,” continued her onstage musings by denouncing Pence’s defense of his wife and the school.
“’You say we should not discriminate against Christianity — you are the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian,” she said. “I am a Christian woman and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice and everybody is welcome.”
She concluded saying: “So you can take all that disgrace Mr. Pence and you can look yourself in the mirror and you’ll find it right there.”
From there, the star made a quick comment on how far off track the setlist had gone and jumped right back into her performance while the crowd cheered her on.
Between this unprovoked attack by “That’s no lady. That’s a man, baby!” Gaga and the attack by Nathan Phillips and the Main Stream and Social Media against the students from #CovingtonCatholic, you have probably noticed that the New Bolsheviks of the Far Left Democratic Party absolutely HATE Christian Americans.
This is nothing new.
During the Obama Administration, I wrote an ongoing series of articles highlighting “The War on Christianity” being waged on an almost daily basis by that President and his Administration, along with the Democratic Party’s minions in the Main Stream Media.
Now, we have a President and Vice-President, who, gasp, actually support Christianity in America and are not shy about invoking the Name of God Almighty in their public speeches.
However, the self-appointed Pharisees of the Far Left certainly want to.
The thought of an omnipresent God interferes with Modern Liberals’ belief that they are the most important thing in the universe.
You see, as long as they are the master of their own destiny, which in fact they are, because God gives us free will, their selfish behavior and their sinful lifestyle, present no personal consequences to them, and therefore, do not keep them awake at night. And yet, when you enter into a conversation with a member of this hedonistic generation, you soon find out that they aren’t as personally happy with their lifestyle choices, as they want you to believe that they are. Consequently, this whole effort by Political and Social Liberals alike, to push a new set of morals, values, and ethics on average Christian Americans, stems from the fact that they are all miserable, selfish, little cretins, who want their poor lifestyle choices validated and deemed as normal.
As I have stated before, America remains 75% Christian. And, this fact drives the Far left, including the current “Selfish Generation”, absolutely crazy….and desperate.
The Pharisitical reaction of these Liberals to Vice-President Pence’s wife working at a Christian School which actually teaches the Bible along with Readin’, Writin’, and ‘Rithmetic, boggles the mind…but, it shouldn’t.
The disconnect shown by the self-appointed tribunal of all that is Liberally deemed to be acceptable Christianity is the same exact disconnect shown by the East and Left Coasts in the 2016 Presidential Election.
Unlike Modern Liberalism, Christianity as practiced by Americans is not just one “flavor”, or a “Hive-mind”, if you will.
And, while Lady Gaga and the rest of them are having a great time sitting in judgment of Vice-President Pence and his wife and their relationship with Our Lord and Savior, the overwhelming majority of Americans who proclaim Him to be their Savior, as well, have become offended by the intolerance of those who bill themselves as being the most tolerant people in any room that they walk into.
For you see, gentle readers, Christianity has never been about who can talk the talk.
It’s about walking The Walk.
Mike Pence and his wife walk The Walk.
And, like the Liberal Woman whom they supported in the 2016 Presidential Election, it is very apparent that the Modern Day Pharisees of the Democratic Party and their propaganda Arm the Main Stream Media, only talk the talk.
And, in the end, as history is their witness, they will appear to have overestimated their collective intelligence, also.
Earlier this month, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called President Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the Southern Border of the United States of America “a waste of money” and “an immorality.”
Being a Christian American, my thoughts immediately went to the story of Nehemiah as found in the Old Testament and his rebuilding of the Wall around Jerusalem after the Babylon captivity of the Jewish people.
Upon re-reading the scripture, found in the book of Nehemiah, of course, I was struck by the parallels to what we are witnessing in this battle for the continued existence of America as we know it and our Sovereign Nation’s very soul.
After the Jews had returned to their homeland from their captivity, they started to rebuild. Even though Nehemiah had not yet returned to Jerusalem, he was concerned that with the wall around the city still being in shambles, the citizens were in danger from their enemies.
He prayed and asked God to help them rebuild the wall. (Nehemiah 1)
When Donald J. Trump announced his Presidential Campaign on June 6, 2015, he said,
“I will build a great wall ― and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me ―and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, he brought much needed resources including building materials, horsemen, and troops, courtesy of King Artexerxes, whom he had served as his cupbearer.
When he returned to Jerusalem, he shared his plan with the people. (Nehemiah 2)
secure the southern border of the United States through the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border, monitored and supported by adequate personnel so as to prevent illegal immigration, drug and human trafficking, and acts of terrorism;
The rebuilding of the wall went really well until it was about halfway completed. Then, their enemies tried to advance on them in the middle of the night. After praying to God, they began working with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other, with half of them working and half of them standing guard. This served to make their enemies think twice about attacking them. (Nehemiah 4)
On April 4, 2018, President Donald J. Trump sent National Guard Troops to America’s Southern Border as a precaution against hostile actions by the oncoming “migrant caravan”.
Those who were in charge of Jerusalem while the Jews were in captivity allowed the city to fall in disrepair. When the people started coming back, these bureaucrats made them buy their own possessions which they previously owned before their captivity.
In other words they were paying outrageous taxes on things which were theirs in the first place. Nehemiah put a stop to it and, in gratitude, the citizens of Jerusalem appointed him Governor of the city, a position which he held for 12 years. (Chapter 5)
American Businessman and Entrepreneur Donald J. Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States of America after promising during his campaign to “Make America Great Again” after years of over-taxation and burdensome restrictions placed on American Business during the 8-year Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama.
The enemies of Israel asked to meet with Nehemiah. However, he refused to, knowing that they wanted to distract him from finishing the work of securing the safety of his people. After several attempts to arrange a meeting, Israel’s enemies got so frustrated that they told Nehemiah that he was only building the wall for the purpose of making himself look good and furthering his “career”.
He ignored Israel’s enemies and the Israelites finished the wall in 52 days. (Chapter 6)
The Congressional Leaders of the Democratic Party, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, continue to insist that President Trump go ahead and end the 25% Government Shutdown without the funding to build a wall on America’s Southern Border, assuring the president that “we’ll get to it in Congress”, the same lie which the Democratic Leaders of Congress at the time told President Ronald Reagan when he granted amnesty to thousands of illegal aliens in the Immigration and Border Control Act of 1986.
After the wall was built, there were still very few people living in the city. In order to keep the city safe so that they could build houses and bring in more families, Nehemiah told them not to open the gates until the sun was high in the sky and when they did that there should be guards posted at all times. (Nehemiah 7)
Per President Trump, other aspects of Border Security will be enhanced along with the building of the wall.
Now, I am not saying that President Trump is on “a mission from God”.
However, five days ago in an Address to the Nation on National Security, he said,
For those who refuse to compromise in the name of in the name of border security, I would ask, imagine if it was your child, your husband or your wife whose life was so cruelly shattered and totally broken. To every member of Congress, pass a bill that ends this crisis. To every citizen, call Congress and tell them to finally, after all of these decades, secure our border. This is a choice between right and wrong, justice and injustice. This is about whether we fulfill our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve. When I took the oath of office, I swore to protect our country. And that is what I will always do so help me God.
Facebook is apologizing to evangelist Franklin Graham for banning him from posting on the site for 24 hours last week, a Facebook spokesperson told The Charlotte Observer on Saturday.
It was a mistake to ban Graham over a 2016 post he made on the site, and a mistake to have taken down the post, the spokesperson said.
Facebook has restored the 2016 post and will apologize in a note to the administrator of Graham’s Facebook page, according to the Facebook spokesperson, who agreed to speak only on background, meaning without the spokesperson’s name.
A member of Facebook’s content review team — the team has 15,000 members — had mistakenly decided the post violated Facebook’s policy that bans “dehumanizing language” and excluding people based on sexual orientation, race and other factors, according to the spokesperson and Facebook’s written policy.
“Why?” Graham asked in a Facebook post on Friday after he said he was banned from posting anything on the site for 24 hours last week. “Because of a post from back in 2016 about North Carolina’s House Bill 2 (the bathroom bill). Facebook said the post went against their ‘community standards on hate speech.’ Facebook is trying to define truth.”
In his post, Graham said the social media giant is “making the rules and changing the rules. Truth is truth. God made the rules and His Word is truth. Actually, Facebook is censoring free speech. The free exchange of ideas is part of our country’s DNA.”
Graham’s Friday post included his 2016 post that he said Facebook “took down” last week. “Do you see any hate speech here?” Graham asked.
Graham’s 2016 post focused on singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen canceling a North Carolina concert because of House Bill 2.
“He says the NC law #HB2 to prevent men from being able to use women’s restrooms and locker rooms is going ‘backwards instead of forwards,’” Graham said in his 2016 post, referring to Springsteen. “Well, to be honest, we need to go back! Back to God. Back to respecting and honoring His commands.”
In March 2016, the General Assembly passed HB2, also known as the “bathroom bill.” HB2 reversed a Charlotte ordinance that extended some rights to people who are gay or transgender, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time. Then-Gov. Pat McCrory signed the measure into law the same night.
As anyone who has been on Social Media Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has noticed, writers who espouse Conservative Political Viewpoints have been given “time-outs” or have even been “shadowbanned” in increasing since Donald J. Trump was elected President.
Now, whether these “Time-outs”, like Rev. Graham experienced, or the outright bannings, such as Alex Jones’ and others are some form of retaliation for the election of Donald J. Trump as President by the Liberal Owners and Management of these Social Media Platforms, we can only guess.
However, since the election of President Donald J. Trump, the effort to silence Conservatives has gotten so extreme that Liberals have harassed Republican Politicians in restaurants and even elevators, in an effort to intimidate them into remaining silent of issues which the Liberals want their way in.
Why are Modern American Liberals so afraid of Conservative Thought and Free Speech?
Is it possible that this head-on rush by the Far Left Democratic Party to immerse themselves and our Sovereign Nation in the Marxist Theory-inspired Political Philosophy of Democratic Socialism has caused them to emulate those who were responsible for the original Russian Revolution, some 100 years ago?
Just like their predecessors a century ago in a land far away, these “New Bolsheviks” are using any means necessary to shut down any and all opposition to their effort to “radically change” America into something that it was never meant to be.
And, the classification of a Christian’s right to quote the Bible as “Hate Speech” certainly is an example of what I am taking about.
As Americans, it is our Constitutional Duty to oppose the “dying of the light” of individual liberty, including our Freedom of Speech.
Ray Bradbury, legendary Science Fiction Writer, penned a book in 1953 about the dangers of censorship, titled Fahrenheit 451, in which you can read this pertinent thought…
We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?
The very real Political War being waged against our basic rights as Americans must not go unopposed.
It is time for average Americans to take our places along the wall of this fortress of individual liberty and freedom known as the United States of America.
As we did on the night of November 6, 2018, it is time once again for “The Elite” as President Trump has called us, to make our voices known.
From the Hallmark romance movies to Bill Murray’s “Scrooged” to “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”, there are movies to be found on television for everyone’s taste. However, there is none quite like Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”, the Holiday Classic starring Jimmy Stewart.
In the movie, Stewart plays the role of George Bailey, an average man whom, through a series of circumstances, finds himself living a life which he had never really envisioned himself leading. When dire circumstances arise, he contemplates killing himself, only to be stopped by an angel named Clarence, who shows him what his hometown would be like if he had never been born.
After viewing the difference which he had made in his sphere of influence, Stewart prays to the Lord to return him back to his family and his life.
The movie ends happily, with all the people whom he had helped over the years coming to his aid in his moment of crisis.
The last time I watched this movie, I had not seen it in quite a while and I found myself with tears in my eyes at the end of it.
It was then that I realized that God puts us where He wants us to be.
It is up to us to navigate around the pitfalls of life caused by our own Free Will by using the Gift of Discernment which we have been blessed with and by listening to that Still Small Voice which resides within each and every one of us.
Each and every one of us can make a difference within our own sphere of influence.
However, there remains only One who walked this Earth in human form who is still making a difference and whose birth we celebrate today.
Many stories have been written about Him.
On this Christmas Day, please allow me to present to you two of the best and the gentlemen who wrote them.
Dr. James Allan Francis was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. He became a pastor at age twenty-one and served in ministry for the remainder of his life. His first pastorate was in New York City at the Riverside Baptist Church, and after serving in other varied pastorates in the East, he came to Los Angeles in 1914.
Though he had a busy life as a pastor, Francis was able to publish a handful of books: Drops from a Living Fountain (1895), Christ’s Mould of Prayer (1924), and Christ is All And Other Sermons (1928). His publications are full of passionate encouragement for Christians to know their Lord, to rely on him, and to follow his example.
Francis’ most famous words, now known as “One Solitary Life,” originated as part of a sermon that he delivered on July 11, 1926 to the Baptist Young People’s Union at a Los Angeles Convention. A friend transcribed the message titled “Arise, Sir Knight,” and Dr. Francis published it that same year in a collection called The Real Jesus and Other Sermons.
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village as the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another obscure village.
He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty and then for three years was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never owned a home.
He never had a family.
He never went to college.
He never put his foot inside a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born.
He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.
He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of his divine manhood.
While still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him.
His friends ran away.
One of them denied him.
Another betrayed him.
He was turned over to his enemies.
He went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed upon the cross between two thieves.
His executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth while he was dying, and that was his coat.
When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today he is the center of the human race and the leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon the earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life.
In 1912, C.P.J. Mooney worked as the editor for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN. He wrote an editorial that has become a yearly tradition, not only in Memphis, but around the world. Here it is, as my Christmas Gift to you, my much appreciated readers.
There is no other character in history like that of Jesus.
As a preacher, as a doer of things, and as a philosopher, no man ever had the sweep and the vision of Jesus.
A human analysis of the human actions of Jesus brings to view a rule of life that is amazing in its perfect detail.
The system of ethics Jesus taught during His earthly sojourn 2,000 years ago was true then, has been true in every century since and will be true forever.
Plato was a great thinker and learned in his age, but his teachings did not stand the test of time. In big things and in little things time and human experience have shown that he erred.
Marcus Aurelius touched the reflective mind of the world, but he was as cold and austere as brown marble. …
Thomas a Kempis’ ”Imitation of Christ” is a thing of rare beauty and sympathy, but it is, as its name indicates, only an imitation.
Sir Thomas More’s ”Utopia” is yet a dream that cannot be realized.
Lord Bacon writing on chemistry and medicine under the glasses of the man working in a 20th century laboratory is puerile.
The world’s most learned doctors until 150 years ago gave dragon’s blood and ground tails of lizards and shells of eggs for certain ailments. The great surgeons a hundred years ago bled a man if he were wounded.
Napoleon had the world at his feet for four years, and when he died the world was going on its way as if he had never lived.
JESUS TAUGHT little as to property because He knew there were things of more importance than property. He measured property and life, the body and soul, at their exact relative value. He taught much more as to character, because character is of more importance than dollars.
Other men taught us to develop systems of government. Jesus taught so as to perfect the minds of men. Jesus looked to the soul, while other men dwelled on material things.
After the experience of 2,000 years no man can find a flaw in the governmental system outlined by Jesus.
Czar and kaiser, president and Socialist, give to its complete merit their admiration.
No man today, no matter whether he follows the doctrine of Mill, Marx or George as to property, can find a false principle in Jesus’ theory of property.
In the duty of a man to his fellow no sociologist has ever approximated the perfection of the doctrine laid down by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount.
Not all the investigations of chemists, not all the discoveries of explorers, not all the experiences of rulers, not all the historical facts that go to make up the sum of human knowledge on this day in 1912 are in contradiction to one word uttered or one principle laid down by Jesus.
The human experiences of 2,000 years show that Jesus never made a mistake. Jesus never uttered a doctrine that was true at that time and then became obsolete.
Jesus spoke the truth, and the truth is eternal.
History has no record of any other man leading a perfect life or doing everything in logical order. Jesus is the only person whose every action and whose every utterance strike a true note in the heart and mind of every man born of woman. He never said a foolish thing, never did a foolish act and never dissembled.
No poet, no dreamer, no philosopher loved humanity with all the love that Jesus bore toward all men.
WHO, THEN, was Jesus?
He could not have been merely a man, for there never was a man who had two consecutive thoughts absolute in truthful perfection.
Jesus must have been what Christendom proclaims Him to be — a divine being — or He could not have been what He was. No mind but an infinite mind could have left behind those things which Jesus gave the world as a heritage.
Today, we celebrate the birth of Our Savior Jesus Christ.
As you spend today with your family and friends, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our nation and those who are away from home, protecting you and me.
Please allow me to close with one of my favorite Christmas songs.
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