Category: Christianity

What percentage of Americans identify themselves as Christians?

Thanksgiving 2018: A Time for Americans to Count Our Many Blessings

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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Thanksgiving Day.

Simply saying the words to myself brings back a flood of precious memories…memories of Thanksgivings past, as a child, surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins, my sisters, and my Mother and Daddy…smells of sage dressing and oven-roasted turkey…followed by the feeling of having an over-stuffed stomach…all topped by the sounds of laughter and the sight of my aunts and uncles, all members of America’s Greatest Generation, being led in a penny-ante poker game after the Thanksgiving meal by my Daddy, the finest man I have ever known…all of them enjoying each other’s company as they reveled in the wonderful completeness of being a family.

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American Holiday…as unique as the nation which celebrates it.

In 1621, a small group of Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared a feast celebrating the autumn harvest. This is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.

However, Thanksgiving is much more than this.

Thanksgiving is a day when Americans thank their Creator for the blessings they have received during the year, while holding hope and expectation in their hearts for the blessings yet to come.

The Father of Our Country expressed his thankfulness concerning God and America, when he announced this holiday in 1789:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor – and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be – That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks – for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation – for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war –for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed – for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions – to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually – to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed – to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord – To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us – and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789. – United States President George Washington.

On November 15, 1985, in the first year of his second term, President Ronald Reagan issued the following proclamation…

Although the time and date of the first American thanksgiving observance may be uncertain, there is no question but that this treasured custom derives from our Judeo-Christian heritage. “Unto Three, O God, do we give thanks,” the Psalmist sang, praising God not only for the “wondrous works” of His creation, but for loving guidance and deliverance from dangers.

A band of settlers arriving in Maine in 1607 held a service of thanks for their safe journey, and twelve years later settlers in Virginia set aside a day of thanksgiving for their survival. In 1621 Governor William Bradford created the most famous of all such observances at Plymouth Colony when a bounteous harvest prompted him to proclaim a special day “to render thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings.” The Spaniards in California and the Dutch in New Amsterdam also held services to give public thanks to God.

In 1777, during our War of Independence, the Continental Congress set aside a day for thanksgiving and praise for our victory at the battle of Saratoga. It was the first time all the colonies took part in such an event on the same day. The following year, upon news that France was coming to our aid, George Washington at Valley Forge prescribed a special day of thanksgiving. Later, as our first President, he responded to a Congressional petition by declaring Thursday, November 26, 1789, the first Thanksgiving Day of the United States of America.

Although there were many state and national thanksgiving days proclaimed in the ensuing years, it was the tireless crusade of one woman, Sarah Josepha Hale, that finally led to the establishment of this beautiful feast as an annual nationwide observance. Her editorials so touched the heart of Abraham Lincoln that in 1863 – even in the midst of the civil War – he enjoined his countrymen to be mindful of their many blessings, cautioning them not to forget “the source from which they come,” that they are “the gracious gifts of the Most High God…” Who ought to be thanked “with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.”

It is in that spirit that I now invite all Americans to take part again in this beautiful tradition with its roots deep in our history and deeper still in our hearts. We manifest our gratitude to God for the many blessings he has showered upon our land and upon its people.

In this season of Thanksgiving we are grateful for our abundant harvests and the productivity of our industries; for the discoveries of our laboratories; for the researches of our scientists and scholars; for the achievements of our artists, musicians, writers, clergy, teachers, physicians, businessmen, engineers, public servants, farmers, mechanics, artisans, and workers of every sort whose honest toil of mind and body in a free land rewards them and their families and enriches our entire Nation.

Let us thank God for our families, friends, and neighbors, and for the joy of this very festival we celebrate in His name. Let every house of worship in the land and every home and every heart be filled with the spirit of gratitude and praise and love on this Thanksgiving Day.

In accordance with this tradition, on Tuesday, November 20th, President Donald J. Trump, issued his own Thanksgiving Proclamation to the American people, in which he said…

This Thanksgiving, as we gather in places of worship and around tables surrounded by loved ones, in humble gratitude for the bountiful gifts we have received, let us keep in close memory our fellow Americans who have faced hardship and tragedy this year. In the spirit of generosity and compassion, let us joyfully reach out in word and deed, and share our time and resources throughout our communities. Let us also find ways to give to the less fortunate whether it be in the form of sharing a hearty meal, extending a helping hand, or providing words of encouragement.

We are especially reminded on Thanksgiving of how the virtue of gratitude enables us to recognize, even in adverse situations, the love of God in every person, every creature, and throughout nature. Let us be mindful of the reasons we are grateful for our lives, for those around us, and for our communities. We also commit to treating all with charity and mutual respect, spreading the spirit of Thanksgiving throughout our country and across the world.

Today, we particularly acknowledge the sacrifices of our service members, law enforcement personnel, and first responders who selflessly serve and protect our Nation. This Thanksgiving, more than 200,000 brave American patriots will spend the holiday overseas, away from their loved ones. Because of the men and women in uniform who volunteer to defend our liberty, we are able to enjoy the splendor of the American life. We pray for their safety, and for the families who await their return.

The intestinal fortitude that is our heritage as Americans…along with that still, small voice which still resides in each and every one of us, will continue, I pray, to guide our nation, and spur us on, to stay vigilant and protect our American Freedom, just as my Parents’ Generation did, against the enemies of that freedom, foreign and domestic.

This Thanksgiving Day 2018, I’m thankful for Americans who are still making a difference.  “Average Americans” who still love God and country, and stand on principle with their feet planted on a Solid Rock, and not on shifting sands.

The “Average American”, the 9 to 5′er, working himself into the grave to try to provide for his family.

It was this same “Average American”, who fired the shot heard around the world and began the War for American Independence, who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in World War II, who waded through rice paddies in Vietnam, and who swallowed sand in Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

The same “Average American” who, as a New York City Policeman or Fireman, ran up the stairs of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01, instead of running down them.

The same “Average American”, who simply wants things to be easier in this life for his children and grandchildren, than he had it.

It is this same “Average American”, who takes family and friends in, when they are in the midst of a life-altering tragedy.

The same “Average American”, who volunteers on a soup line or at a Senior Citizens Home, or, who begins a successful business in his basement.

And, it is this same “Average American” who, being fed up with the Democratic Party’s Far Left Crusade against anything and everything traditionally American, went to the voting booth and elected Donald J. Trump, a Citizen Statesman, as our 45th President.

They are the reason we remain, in spite of all that has befallen us as a nation, the Greatest Country on the Face of the Earth, despite what a certain Former President said this week.

They are also the reason that we will Make America Great Again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Until He Comes,

KJ

In an Era of “Celebrity Pastors” and Megachurches, Perhaps It’s Time to Return to “The Little Brown Church in the Vale”

On By kingsjesterIn ChristianityLeave a comment

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Those outside the church expect followers of Christ to live differently, yet today many in church are chasing after the world – not to win them, but to be like them. – Reverend Billy Graham

ChristianPost.com reports that

In recent years, a number of high-profile evangelical church leaders have fallen from their pedestals — and the landing has been anything but soft. Often, the story goes like this: A “celebrity pastor” with a wide sphere of influence falls prey to sin, leaving in his wake a trail of chaos and disillusionment.

From sexual impropriety to alcoholism, these moral failures are met with shock and disbelief from many in the Christian community. What exactly went wrong?

Jimmy Evans, senior pastor of Gateway Church, a multi-campus church in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, told The Christian Post that the problem often begins when pastors isolate themselves — from others, from accountability, and ultimately, from the truth.

“We’re all human beings, and I believe pastors who fall put themselves in a position of secrecy,” he explained. “I’ve never met a pastor that didn’t have the same basic temptations as the other guy. The difference is how we deal with it.”

Isolation, Evans contended, is one of Satan’s greatest weapons.

“The devil works in the darkness,” he said. “As pastors, we need to not put ourselves in a position of living a private life away from the eyes of others. That’s why pastors fall, and it can happen to any pastor. It’s the way we carry ourselves, the way we relate to people around us, whether we’re honest or dishonest.”

Scott Sauls, senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and author of From Weakness to Strength: 8 Vulnerabilities That Can Bring Out the Best in Your Leadership, told CP that pastors become more susceptible to isolation as their ministry grows.

“The bigger your church becomes, you begin to have more fans and admirers than you do actual friends,” he said. “It’s really important to be surrounded by people who are close enough to you, that they can express concern with you and your character and help steer you toward toward Christ. Pastors need to welcome this kind of friendship, community, and accountability.”

Thanks in part to the rise of social media, the “celebrity pastor” phenomen is relatively new. And while the Gospel is able to reach formerly uncharted territory, so, unfortunately, are scandals within the body of Christ. What once remained within the four walls of the church are now able to creep into a watching, scornful world.

Ronnie Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church of Northwest Arkansas, explained that humans are made to worship. It’s no surprise then, that in a celebrity-obsessed culture, worship is often directed toward an influential pastor or charismatic church leader. But when congregants put their pastors on pedestals, he warned, the results are disastrous.

“There is always the danger to idolize a pastor,” he said. “But they are men. And that’s what the country and church is being reminded of — pastors are just men. We live a very fast life today, and when we’re not careful, we become careless in the way we live. We can’t let our guard down. That’s why God says, ‘Guard your heart.'”

Sauls clarified that the problem doesn’t necessarily lie with the “celebrity” aspect. There are, he said, healthy “celebrity pastors,” adding, “That’s why we have the Francis Chans and Tim Kellers and others of the world.”

But sometimes, people who attend well-known churches aren’t committed to Christ or His Church; rather, their allegiance lies with the engaging, influential pastor. Unfortunately, he said, these leaders may have extraordinary gifts — but questionable character.

“And that’s why we see a lack of humility and sometimes even a moral collapse, even among well-known pastors,” Sauls explained. “Staying anchored in the truth and the simple ordinary aspects of daily faithfulness, I think, is much more important than chasing spectacular sermons and spectacular worship events.”

I have been a church member for as long as I can remember.

Whether it was attending Sunday School as a child, being a part of a youth group when I got older, or teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and singing in church choirs as an adult, I have had the pleasure of being friends with Christians from all walks of life, including pastors.

One of my family’s best friends was “Brother George”, a warm, wonderful man who worked as Sears during the holidays to help make sure that his family had a Merry Christmas.

I can remember as a child holding hands with my family around my grandmother’s deathbed in our home as Brother George led us in prayer.

The pastors I have known throughout my life were all strong in the faith and were men “after God’s own heart”. Like David himself, they were far from perfect. However, when you were around them you knew that they loved God, His Holy Word, and His people.

The growth over the last couple of decades of these so-called Megachurches with their “Celebrity Pastors” has not only puzzled me but concerned me as well.

While Megachurches, such as Bellevue Baptist in Memphis, Tennessee, can accomplish great and wonderful things in the name of the Lord, I’ve just never found attending one to be my cup of tea.

The reason being, I want the Man of God presiding over my funeral to actually KNOW me.

Not only that, but I want him to shake my hand on Sunday morning and ask me how things are going in my life. And, if I, my wife, or one of my family are in the hospital , I want him to come by to visit.

If I was attending a Megachurch, the Pastor would not know me anymore than President Trump knew that I was sitting in the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi for his MAGA Rally in October.

Sure, I may get to know some of the people in the church and that is fine. I love being in the company of fellow Christians.

And, come to think of it, I could accomplish that by staying at home with my wife in our matching recliners watching a church service on television.

I may be old-fashioned but I believe in the concept of a “Church Family”, not a “Celebrity Pastor” being adored by thousands in a church the size of a concert venue.

The size and notoriety of a church and its pastor are not as important as their heart for God.

After all, one Good Shepherd and 12 disciples changed the entire world.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Veterans Day and the “No Greater Love” of Our Brightest and Best

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

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Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. – John 15:13

D-Day, also called the Battle of Normandy, was fought on June 6, 1944, between the Allied nations and German forces occupying Western Europe. To this day, 74 years later, it  still remains the largest seaborne invasion in history. Almost three million troops crossed the English Channel from England to Normandy to be used as human cannon fodder in an invasion of occupied France.

Among the young men who stepped off those boats, in a hail of gunfire, was a fellow named Edward, whom everyone called Ned, from the small town of Helena, Arkansas.  Already in his young life, Ned had been forced to drop out of school in the sixth grade, in order to work at the local movie theatre to help support his mother, brother, and sister, faced with the ravages of the Great Depression.

He was a gentle man who loved to laugh and sing, having recorded several 78 rpm records in the do-it-yourself booths of the day. And now, he found himself, a Master Sergeant in an Army Engineering Unit, stepping off a boat into the unknown, watching his comrades being mercilessly gunned down around him.

Ned, along with the rest of his unit who survived the initial assault, would go on to assist in the cleaning out of the Concentration Camps, bearing witness to man’s inhumanity to man.

The horrors he saw had a profound effect on Ned.  One which he would keep to himself for the remainder of his life.  While his children knew that he served with an Engineering Unit in World War II, they did not know the full extent of his service, until they found his medal, honoring his participation in the Invasion of Normandy, going through his belongings, after he passed away on December 29, 1997.

That brave American Hero was my Daddy.

On a night in 1966, I was 7 years old, laying on my family’s den couch in Memphis, TN, watching my favorite TV Series “Batman” with a fever of 105, brought about by a severe bronchial infection. Tending to me were 3 veterans of World War II: my Daddy, my Uncle “R” (Robert), US Air Force, and my Uncle Perriman, a full-blooded Indian from Albuquerque, who was an Army Corpsman.

Those three veterans, now all gone, took turns putting cold wash cloths under my arms and on my forehead, until my fever finally broke, sometime during the night.

Today being Veterans Day , I find myself thinking about my Daddy,

While watching TV and perusing through Facebook Political Pages a while back, I stumbled upon a meme that, as a Christian American, having been led to Christ by my Daddy, almost made me lose my witness.

This special individual had a posted a painting of Adolph Hitler in full Nazi Uniform, with the graphic

HOW MANY LIKES CAN THIS WWII VETERAN GET?

Needless to say, I let young “Skillet” know how I felt about his attempt to be “conversational”.

He suggested that I was “triggered”.

I replied that “This isn’t about being triggered. It’s about the difference between right and wrong.”

Please allow me to elaborate…

There has been a question gnawing at me for quite a while now. Ever since all of the Astroturf National Protests featuring the Women’s Marches, the School Wakouts for Gun Control, illegal aliens, and millennials in desperate need of a “safe space” dressed in black hood calling themselves “Antifa” started greeting average Americans like you and me when we turned on the television to watch the news.

If America was led by the likes of Modern American Liberals during the frightening days when Hitler rose to power after the Beer Hall Putsch and that faithful day of December 7, 1941, “a day which will live in infamy”, while at the same time the young Americans of that era were the millennials of today, would America have stood up the Axis of Evil?

Would the millennials that we are watching throwing hissy fits and railing against the President and traditional American Faith and Values on the Evening News and the Social Media have the guts to do what the Greatest Generation did?

Would Modern American Liberals be willing to make the sacrifices that my Daddy and Mother and the rest of their generation did?

I seriously doubt it.

There wouldn’t be long lines at the Armed Forces Recruitment Office trying to sign up to serve their country.

Heck, these days it is hard to get them to move out of their parents’ house, much less be willing to fight and die for their country.

There are those millennials out there who would rather defecate on our flag than to die for it.

And, while they talk a good game about being “Stronger Together”, when the rubber meets the road, it’s every man (or woman) for themselves.

Instead of the Greatest Generation, we are presently having to deal with the selfish “Generation Snowflake”.

It’s like watching an angry child in their Mom’s shopping cart at Walmart.

There are no absolutes with them.

A lot of them simply have no “attitude of gratitude” and no sense of the blessings which they have received simply by being born in America.

Nor do they seem to understand where this freedom which they flaunt comes from and how much American Blood was spilled so that they might act like ungrateful, ill-mannered brats on Social Media.

And, when I think about it, that it why it was such a shock to them that the rest of us voted against their vision of America on November 8th, 2016. In fact, it was such a shock to these culturally hip Americans that they have been throwing a National Temper Tantrum over the election of Donald J. Trump as our 45th President ever since and taking it out on all of us average Americans on Social Media every chance that they get.

Proverbs 22:6 advises us to

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

What the disrespectful members of this generation continue to demonstrate on a daily basis is the fact that they did not have a “Board of Education” applied to their “seat of Knowledge” when the situation called for it.

“Triggered”? I guess I was.

Because my Daddy and Mother raised me in the way I should go.

Today and every day, may God bless our Veterans and may we, as grateful Americans, always honor them for their service.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Being a Majority Christian Nation Does Not Mean Having Open Borders

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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As caravans of unvetted and reportedly armed Central Americans make their way to our Southern Border to enter our Sovereign Nation by any means necessary, Daniel Darling, a Vice-President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention has written the following admonition in an Opinion Piece for the Liberal Newspaper, The Washington Post…

As thousands of migrants from Central America travel in a large caravan by foot through Honduras and across Mexico’s southern border, many Americans are citing the words at the base of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

But for American Christians, another text — Genesis 1:26, in the first book of the Bible — should shape this often vitriolic debate. We should remember that all human beings, including immigrants, were created in God’s image. Followers of Jesus should lead the conversation by recognizing the humanity of those who seek to enter our country and should reject language that assaults their dignity. And we should be the first to speak up for the stranger. After all, our story is a story of people on the move, from Genesis to Revelation. And we are, in a spiritual sense, not yet home.

In the first book of Peter, we are told we are “foreigners and exiles” on our way to that city “whose builder and maker is God,” from Hebrews 11.

Admittedly, the United States cannot take in all the world’s most vulnerable, and our elected officials have a responsibility, according to Romans 13, to keep us safe and to set reasonable limits. But surely the wealthiest and freest nation in the history of the world can, in a time of economic prosperity, take in more than we do?

Let’s remember that this debate is not, after all, happening in a vacuum, but during a time of such massive displacement of people, due to civil war, unrest and religious persecution. According to the United Nations, 65.8 million people were displaced at the end of 2017. Will those who have lost everything find, in American Christians, an open hand or a closed fist?

Ultimately public policy will be decided by our elected officials, but politicians respond to what they hear from their constituents.

What is required, at this moment, are leaders with the courage to reject the politics of fear and division, who are willing to work together to fix an immigration system everybody agrees is broken.

Young children are separated from their families and, at times, are tragically unaccounted for. Christian brothers and sisters fleeing persecution and terror are turned away. And our process for giving asylum seekers the chance to make the case that the United States should grant asylum is deeply flawed. Not only does this mean our nation fails to live up to its best ideals, but also that our nation is less safe. We should urge Congress to pass meaningful reform that balances security and compassion.

What gives me hope is that offline, out of the headlines, and in communities across the country, ordinary Christians are caring for refugees and immigrants in big and small ways. In my own community in Nashville, churches are reaching across denominational lines to provide job training, English classes and financial assistance to help ease assimilation into a new country.

Deciding immigration policy demands courage and wisdom from our leaders. But more importantly, it is an opportunity for the people of God to live out the gospel by seeing the face of God in the faces of the vulnerable.

Americans are the most compassionate people in the world.

Attached to the church I attend, is an independently-run Food Bank which feeds 2,000 people per month while assisting them in finding the state services that they need. It is manned by a volunteer staff of members from my church and other denominations in the community.

That being said, while we are told to be compassionate, we are also told to be “wise as serpents”.

While we are instructed in the Old Testament to “treat foreigners nicely”, there is no scripture in the Old or New Testament which instructs us to automatically make strangers citizens of our country. It is quite a stretch to use the Bible to make a case to “abolish all borders”. Although, I do not think that this is what Mr. Darling was saying.

However, getting back to the “wise as serpents” quote from earlier, I believe as a Christian that my faith in the Triune God does not require me to be naïve.

One would have to be a fool to intentionally bring in thousands of people into our “home” when there have already been dangerous criminals, including those with weapons meant to be used against us, found within their ranks.

The scripture from Romans 13 alluded to in Mr. Darling’s article instructs

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.”

Wouldn’t the maintaining of our nation’s borders and the following of our nation’s immigration laws fall under that admonition?

Of course, when a government has become morally illegitimate, then Romans 13 no longer applies.

Anne Frank found herself in this situation with Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich.

President Trump is NOT disobeying God by enforcing our immigration laws and protecting our Sovereignty and our citizenry. Those who are attempting to cross our borders illegally are the ones who are in the wrong here.

President Trump actually agrees with you, Mr. Darling. We have terrible immigration laws and we must change them.

…After we secure our Southern Border.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Perhaps the Upcoming Elections are Not So Much About Politics as They are About “Princes and Principalities”

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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Yesterday, an anti-Semitic Trump-hating animal walked into a Pittsburgh Synagogue and opened fire, killing 11 innocent Americans and wounding 6 others.

That horrific violence was, I hope, the pinnacle of a rising mountain of violence, unrest, and hatred which has been escalating as our country’s Midterm Elections grow near.

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.

Looking back on yesterday’s massacre, the phony “bombs” sent to Democratic Leaders and CNN, the out-of-control attacks on Associate Justice Kavanaugh during his Confirmation Hearings and on Republican Politicians and average Americans by Antifa and the rest of the New Bolsheviks, 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 would it fail here.

Just as amorality and licentiousness led to the destruction of the Roman Empire, so, if allowed to do so, would it lead to America’s.

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 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”?

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.

As every Christian knows, the Triune God dwells within each of us, in the form of that “still, small voice”, the Holy Spirit.

And, we must allow that “still, small voice” to accompany us to the voting booth on November 6th.

Christians have to make a choice in these tough times.

The choice we each have to make is whether to “give to Caesar” that which is not his, our Christian Faith, or to listen to that “still, small voice” and decide which candidates will best serve and protect our Sovereign Nation and its citizenry from our enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC.

This is not just a “Political Choice” which we as Christian Americans are facing right now.

As I wrote earlier, America is in the midst of a battle of “Princes and Principalities”.

By now. you’re probably asking, “So what’s the point of all this, KJ?”

We are given free will by our Creator…will to make choices and decisions on the direction of our lives. Being human, we often don’t make the right decisions and being human, those decisions have the potential to lead us down a dark path.

Whether it is in reality or strictly in the close quarters of our own consciousness, the path we choose to follow is up to us. However, our parents, family, and friends can make a difference in our journey and I thank God that through His Grace I was given a Father who made sure that I received loving instruction in The Way in which I should go.

We still live in the greatest country on the face of the earth and we still have a responsibility to one another and to those who have gone before us, risking their very lives to secure our freedom.

The Light or the Darkness. The choice is up to each and every one of us.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:14 (ESV)

And, I stand with the King of Kings.

You see, gentle readers, I’ve read the back of The Book.

The Good Guys win.

Between now and November 6th, be thinking and praying about the direction which you would have America take in the future.

Do you want us to be “One Nation under God” or “The Tower of Babel”?

Also, as you go about your day today, remember, that we have an Advocate, in Jesus Christ the Righteous, and, He is in our corner.

So, take that “little light” of yours, and let it shine.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Middle School Bans Songs Mentioning “Jesus” From Christmas Concert

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

 

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“The Christmas Story begins 2,000 years ago with a mother, a father, their baby son, and the most extraordinary gift of all — the gift of God’s love for all of humanity. Whatever our beliefs, we know that the birth of Jesus Christ and the story of this incredible life forever changed the course of human history. Each and every year at Christmas time we recognize that the real spirit of Christmas is not what we have, it’s about who we are, each one of us is a child of God. That is a true source of joy this time of year. That is what makes every Christmas merry.” – President Donald J. Trump

ChristianPost.com reports that

A middle school in Virginia has banned songs mentioning “Jesus” from its annual Christmas concert as part of an effort to be “more sensitive” toward the increasingly “diverse population” of its student body. 

“We had a few students who weren’t comfortable singing a piece I have done many times in the past, but it is of a sacred nature and does mention Jesus,” the choir teacher at Robious Middle School in Chesterfield said in an email to a parent who was concerned about the changes to the winter concert program, NBC News affiliate WWBT has reported. 

Parent David Allen said the public school’s efforts to encourage diversity while at the same time being exclusionary doesn’t seem rational. 

“It just seems like … everywhere you look everyone’s afraid of stepping on someone’s toes or everything is being so sensitive,” Allen told NBC News affiliate WWBT. “They were unable to [sing this song] because the word Jesus was in there and apparently someone assumed it was of a sacred nature.”

News of the censorship of Jesus songs at Robious Middle School has garnered attention at multiple conservative websites.

Public schools in the United States have often seen their share of controversy over the extent to which they can reference Christmas in general and the Gospel story of Jesus’ birth in particular.

For example, in December 2016, a judge in Texas ordered a school district to restore “A Charlie Brown Christmas” display after it had been taken down by administrators because it featured a Bible verse.

Bell County State District Judge Jack Jones had issued a temporary injunction against the Killeen Independent School District from enforcing its decision to prohibit the Christmas decoration.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office backed the display, released a statement at the time expressing support for the injunction.

“I am glad to see that the court broke through the Left’s rhetorical fog and recognized that a commitment to diversity means protecting everyone’s individual religious expression,” Paxton said at the time.

As America has witnessed during the almost two years of Donald J. Trump’s tenure as the 45th President of the United States of America, now, more than ever before in the history of America, there is a great divide between our two major Political Parties.

Well. I know y’all will be shocked, but, this Christian American Conservative has a different take on the schism between America’s two main Political Parties than the Secular Liberals in the Main Stream Media do.

And, it all comes down to keepin’ The Main Thing, The Main Thing.

How Americans think of Christmas is a prime example.

A Marist poll, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, says only 37 percent of Americans prefer “Happy Holidays,” compared to 57 percent who say they prefer “Merry Christmas.”

Further, 79% of Americans strongly or very strongly identify the birth of Jesus with the meaning of Christmas, added the survey of 1,005 adults residing in the continental United States.

John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States of America. He said the following about our Country’s relationship to Christianity:

My hopes of a future life are all founded upon the Gospel of Christ and I cannot cavil or quibble away [evade or object to]. . . . the whole tenor of His conduct by which He sometimes positively asserted and at others countenances [permits] His disciples in asserting that He was God.6

The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the Divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made “bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” [Isaiah 52:10].7

In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

From adherents.com

There were 95 Senators and Representatives in the First Federal Congress. If one combines the total number of signatures on the Declaration, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution with the non-signing Constitutional Convention delegates, and then adds to that sum the number of congressmen in the First Federal Congress, one obtains a total of 238 “slots” or “positions” in these groups which one can classify as “Founding Fathers” of the United States. Because 40 individuals had multiple roles (they signed multiple documents and/or also served in the First Federal Congress), there are 204 unique individuals in this group of “Founding Fathers.” These are the people who did one or more of the following:

– signed the Declaration of Independence
– signed the Articles of Confederation
– attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787
– signed the Constitution of the United States of America
– served as Senators in the First Federal Congress (1789-1791)
– served as U.S. Representatives in the First Federal Congress

The religious affiliations of these individuals are summarized below. Obviously this is a very restrictive set of names, and does not include everyone who could be considered an “American Founding Father.” But most of the major figures that people generally think of in this context are included using these criteria, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and more.

Religious Affiliation of U.S. Founding Fathers

# of Founding Fathers

% of Founding Fathers

Episcopalian/Anglican

88

54.7%

Presbyterian

30

18.6%

Congregationalist

27

16.8%

Quaker

7

4.3%

Dutch Reformed/German Reformed

6

3.7%

Lutheran

5

3.1%

Catholic

3

1.9%

Huguenot

3

1.9%

Unitarian

3

1.9%

Methodist

2

1.2%

Calvinist

1

0.6%

unknown

43

 %

TOTAL

204

Christmas and Christianity have been a part of our national fabric since our Sovereign Nation was born. Here is what a couple of our more Modern Presidents said about Christmas in America:

Since returning home, I have been reading again in our family Bible some of the passages which foretold this night. . . . We miss the spirit of Christmas if we consider the Incarnation as an indistinct and doubtful, far-off event unrelated to our present problems. We miss the purport of Christ’s birth if we do not accept it as a living link which joins us together in spirit as children of the ever-living and true God. In love alone – the love of God and the love of man – will be found the solution of all the ills which afflict the world today. – President Harry S. Truman, Christmas Eve Address to the Nation, 1949

“Christmas is also a time to remember the treasures of our own history. We remember one Christmas in particular, 1776, our first year as a nation. The Revolutionary War had been going badly. But George Washington’s faith, courage, and leadership would turn the tide of history our way. On Christmas night he led a band of ragged soldiers across the Delaware River through driving snow to a victory that saved the cause of independence. It’s said that their route of march was stained by bloody footprints, but their spirit never faltered and their will could not be crushed. The image of George Washington kneeling in prayer in the snow is one of the most famous in American history. He personified a people who knew it was not enough to depend on their own courage and goodness; they must also seek help from God, their Father and Preserver.” (1983)

“For the past few years in this great house, I’ve thought of our first real Christmas as a nation. It was the dark and freezing Christmas of 1776, when General Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware. They and Providence gave our nation its first Christmas gift—a victory that brought us closer to liberty, the condition in which God meant man to flourish.” (1984) President Ronald Wilson Reagan

So, why do we celebrate Christmas? Is it the hustle and bustle? Is it the greed and avarice of the commercialization of a Secular Holiday?

It is to honor and celebrate

ONE SOLITARY LIFE

He was born in an obscure village, the son of a peasant woman.

He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter’s shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he became a wandering preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn’t go to college. He never visited a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of those things one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through a mockery of a trial. He was executed by the state. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind’s progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that One Solitary Life.

***The preceding essay was part of a sermon by Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” © 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!”).

The Father of our Country, our First President, George Washington, once delivered the following mighty words to a fledgling nation:

You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.

While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.

The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.

I now make it my earnest prayer that God would… most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of the mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion.

Generations of American school children were not harmed in any physical or psychological way by singing about the birth of Jesus Christ during their school Christmas Programs.

Those who made the decision to leave Him out of their school’s Christmas Program have made a foolish mistake brought about because of the scourge known as “political correctness”

The fact is, following the advice of President Washington, we need Him in our schools now more than ever.

Until He Comes,

KJ 

Why We Should Pray for Judge Kavanaugh and America

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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As I was trying to get ideas for what to write about on this Sunday morning, I started thinking about Judge Brett Kavanaugh and what he must be going through.

I knew that his faith plays a huge role in his life, as exhibited by the fact that one of his daughters, as he testified to on Thursday, told her sister at evening prayer time that “We should pray for the woman (Dr. Christine Blasey Ford)”.

So, I did some research last night and found these “Five Faith Facts about Brett Kavanaugh”, courtesy of redletterchristians.org…

  1. Kavanaugh is Catholic. The judge is a regular lector at his church, the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Washington, D.C., near his Maryland home. He also volunteers for the St. Maria’s Meals program at Catholic Charities, according to his biography on the court website and has tutored at the Washington Jesuit Academy.

  2. He has ruled on issues important to religious conservatives, including abortion rights. Nominated by President George W. Bush, whom he served as a White House lawyer, Kavanaugh has spent 12 years as a judge on the D.C. Circuit and has a long history of judicial decisions behind him. Among them: Kavanaugh dissented last year on a controversial decision that allowed an undocumented teenager who had crossed from Mexico into Texas as an unaccompanied minor to get an abortion while living in a government-funded shelter. The decision, he wrote, was “ultimately based on a constitutional principle as novel as it is wrong: a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in U.S. government detention to obtain immediate abortion on demand.”

  3. He also opposed the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate. In 2015, he wrote a dissent opposing an accommodation to the birth control mandate. A panel had upheld the accommodation requiring religious organizations to sign a form facilitating contraceptive coverage for their employees. He wrote those regulations “substantially burden the religious organizations’ exercise of religion because the regulations require the organizations to take an action contrary to their sincere religious beliefs (submitting the form) or else pay significant monetary penalties.”

  4. Some conservatives are worried he’s not conservative enough. His ruling on that abortion case involving the unaccompanied minor was less restrictive than other judges, giving some cause to worry that he is too pragmatic. Similarly, these voters favor his dissent opposing the birth control mandate, but worry it conceded that the government has an interest in providing coverage for contraceptives, but that “the government can achieve it in other ways,” according to SCOTUSblog. Meantime, LGBTQ groups have expressed concern about his promotion by the conservative Family Research Council in 2005 when he initially was nominated for the D.C. circuit. Family Research Council is a Christian lobbying group that believes “homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large, and can never be affirmed.

  5. He preserves the current religious ratio on the court. He replaces his fellow Catholic, Kennedy, for whom he clerked. That means, if his nomination is approved, the religious makeup of the court would remain the same. That currently includes five Catholic justices, three Jewish justices and Trump’s previous pick, Neil Gorsuch, who was raised Catholic but now attends an Episcopal church.

Have you ever heard the old expression “One lies and the other swears to it.”?

Whoever came up with it must have had today’s Democratic Party and Main Stream Media in mind.

In the case of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, as exhibited by the article above, he has hardly lead the life of a serial adulterer abuser, or moral reprobate.

Does a man who remained a virgin until his marriage sound like an individual who would have the morals of an alley cat?

The Judge has been well-known to be a man of impeccable character and Traditional American Values and Ethics for a long time.

So far that has been no evidence produced that he has ever been anything but what he claims to have been all of his life, despite the emotional testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and 6, soon to be 7, FBI Investigations into his character.

On the other hand, the Modern American Liberals and the political party which they control, the Democrats, appear to be imploding like vampires exposed to sunlight with new accusations of sexual harassment by the Judge coming forth every day and unfounded accusations as to how dangerous this good man is.

Just as the vainglorious Pharisees in Christ’s time, these new Pharisees have their noses so far up into the air that they fail to recognize their own sin while accusing others of sinful behavior.

And, now that Americans are reminding them of their political party’s own “discretions”, like Senator Richard Blumenthal’s lying about serving in Vietnam, Ted Kennedy leaving Mary Jo Kopechne to drown, and Barack Hussein Obama’s fondness for marijuana and cocaine as a young man, they have doubled down on cluelessness in their attempt to keep Judge Brett Kavanaugh from becoming a Supreme Court Justice.

The Democrats have lost all their credibility through their unproven, insane attacks against Kavanaugh, including their pharasitical statement that he was “Guilty Until Proven Innocent”.

Given their Liberal belief system, which includes approval of ripping babies out of their mother’s womb, a barbaric act which they are afraid that Judge Kavanaugh will somehow take away their “right” to perform, and turning the sacred ceremony of marriage into a justification ritual for the same behavior that got Sodom and Gomorrah wiped off the map, that’s one heck of a Glass House that they’re throwing stones from.

I am glad for their sakes that the Libs in the Democratic Party and the Main Stream Media can reach back and “snatch a little purity” as Paul Simon wrote and sang in his song “Loves Me Like a Rock”.

However, they are fooling no one with their claims to possess the Moral High Ground.

For as Christ said in James 2:19…

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.

And, as regards their Liberal Hypocrisy, Matthew 7:5 gives the Democratic Party and their Propaganda Arm, the Main Stream Media, some great advice…

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Today , I am asking you to join me in prayer for Judge Kavanaugh and his family.

And, not just for them, but, also for those who are calling good, evil and evil, good, for as God’s Word tells us, we should pray for our enemies, even if they probably wouldn’t for us.

Finally, we should pray for our nation, that the “Faith of Our Fathers” will empower us to “fight the good fight” against those who would seek to take away the inalienable rights which Our Creator, in His infallible wisdom has so generously given us, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Chelsea Clinton Says That Banning Abortions Would Be “UnChristian”…Say What?

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

 

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“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

“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)

[Where am I? This is September…not January. What are all these bright lights? What’s that smell? I don’t understand. I was inside my mother, sucking my thumb, all nice and safe and warm. The next thing I know, I feel this pressure on either side of my head, and I was ripped out of my mother.

Why is this happening to me? I have a whole life ahead of me.

I deserve a Mother and a Father. I will never have those. Grandparents, either. Heck, I won’t even get to know my cousins.

I want to know what milk tastes like. I want to hold a Cheerio in my hand and put it in my mouth. I want to know what it’s like to get my first tooth…to take my first step….to hear music for the first time. I want to hold a puppy. I want to have a first day in school. I want to have a best friend. I want to ride a bike. I want to have a best friend and go out to play with them. I want to know what Christmas is all about. I want to eat a turkey leg at Thanksgiving…and to see a fireworks display on the 4th of July. I want to wear costumes on Halloween. I want to go to ballgames with my Father.

I want to watch cartoons. I want to love and be loved.

I want to fall in love. I want to experience my first kiss. I want to have my parents drop me and my date off at the movie and then pick us up. I want to play sports in school…or be an artist…or be a musician…or, just be a kid.

I want to go to a pep rally. I want to dance at a prom. I want to get a report card. Heck, I want to taste a school lunch.

I want to graduate and go to college. I want to start work…and have a family.

I want to live!

Wait! What are you doing with those scissors! Don’t…]

I was born three days before my mother’s 40th birthday. To say I was a surprise is an understatement. As I recently wrote, I truly believe that they were going to name me “Oops”. That being said, I am grateful that God convicted them, regarding the sanctity of the life that my mother was carrying within her.

Now, 43 years after the passing of Roe Vs. Wade, the idiot offspring of a Former President and A Former Presidential-Wannabe has proclaimed that the premature ending of a precious human life is somehow a “Christian” act which should remain protected by law.

ChristianPost.com reports that

Chelsea Clinton has said that, as a “deeply religious person,” the idea of America going back to a pre-Roe v. Wade society where abortions were banned is “unChristian.”

In an interview with SiriusXM’s “Signal Boost,”  on Thursday, Clinton said every day she makes the “moral choice” to be optimistic for her children when it comes to what she says is the battle for women’s rights.

“That my efforts and my energies, particularly when I’m fortunate enough to be in partnership with fellow travelers, hopefully will make a difference,” the activist and former first daughter said.

“And when I think about all of the statistics that are painful of what women are confronting today in our country, and what even more women confronted pre-Roe and how many women died and how many more women were maimed because of unsafe abortion practices, we just can’t go back to that,” Clinton said, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the country.

“Like that’s unconscionable to me, and also, I’m sure that this will unleash another wave of hate in my direction, but as a deeply religious person, it’s also unChristian to me,” she added, referring to her Methodist faith.

Clinton added that she has been receiving “a lot of hate” over the issue, and has been compared to slave-owners and Nazis.

Several conservative figures, including evangelist Franklin Graham, have recently taken objection to Clinton’s continued comments on abortion. Back in August, she spoke at a pro-abortion event “Rise Up for Roe” in New York City against Judge Bret Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.

At the event, she seemed to suggest that the ability to have legal abortions has led to economic growth in the U.S.

Graham wrote on Facebook that such notions are a “lie,” however.

“Hitler probably also claimed that killing the Jews would be good for their economy. Legalizing abortion hasn’t added anything to our country, it has only taken away. It has cost this nation more than 60 million lives — lives precious to God,” Graham said.

“Just think of the contribution these people would have made. There will be another high cost. I believe God will judge America for allowing the heinous murder of our own children in the womb,” he added.

Clinton added in a subsequent statement that what she is saying is not that having an abortion is good for the economy, but that women were more likely to enter the workforce due to the legalization of abortion.

“From 1973–1985, American women’s deaths from abortion declined 5-fold. Reproductive rights are also about women’s economic rights and agency,” Clinton tweeted.

Susan B. Anthony List, a nonprofit that seeks to advance pro-life women in politics, responded to Clinton’s original comments on the economy and abortion by asking her to consider “the 60 million aborted babies who won’t enter the labor force or pay into Social Security.”

“Their parents won’t purchase diapers, clothing, toys, cars or houses to accommodate them. … Yes, abortion’s had a huge impact on America’s economy and it hasn’t been good. Not only are we hurting economically, we’re missing 60 million blessings from God and the good they would have contributed,” Brad Mattes of the institute said.

Christian Americans are not in a struggle of just Christianity vs. Secularism.

We are involved in a struggle of Good vs. Evil.

In March, 2008, during a Townhall Meeting in Western Pennsylvania, Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) said,

Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at age 16, so it doesn’t make sense to not give them information.

Of course, Barack Hussein Obama was elected President of the United States. While he was “radically changing” everything about our sacred land, blood was being spilled across the fruited plains. Especially, in that same state of Pennsylvania:

On February 18, 2010, the FBI raided the “Women’s Medical Society,” run by Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a butcher, euphemistically killing babies under the title of “Abortion Doctor”.

The FBI entered the office about 8:30 p.m. expecting to find to find evidence that it was illegally selling prescription drugs. What they found was America’s Auschwitz:

There was blood on the floor. A stench of urine filled the air. A flea-infested cat was wandering through the facility, and there were cat feces on the stairs. Semi-conscious women scheduled for abortions were moaning in the waiting room or the recovery room, where they sat on dirty recliners covered with blood-stained blankets. All the women had been sedated by unlicensed staff. They also found out that a patient had died there several months earlier.

Until 2009, Gosnell reportedly performed mostly first and second trimester abortions. But his clinic had come to develop a bad reputation, and could attract only women who couldn’t get an abortion elsewhere, former employees have said. “Steven Massof estimated that in 40 percent of the second-trimester abortions performed by Gosnell, the fetuses were beyond 24 weeks gestational age,” the grand jury states. “Latosha Lewis testified that Gosnell performed procedures over 24 weeks ‘too much to count,’ and ones up to 26 weeks ‘very often.’ …in the last few years, she testified, Gosnell increasingly saw out-of-state referrals, which were all second-trimester, or beyond. By these estimates, Gosnell performed at least four or five illegal abortions every week.”

On January 22, 2013, Obama said,

On the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we reaffirm its historic commitment to protect the health and reproductive freedom of women across this country and stand by its guiding principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters, and women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care.

The Liberal mind is fascinating.  Sick and twisted…but, fascinating. On the one hand, just like Chelsea Clinton in the above article, Obama was saying that children are to be cherished and protected. I agree.

At, the same time, just like Chelsea Clinton, Obama stood by a woman’s right to kill her baby. I can hear the Liberals screeching right now.

That’s not a baby. It’s a fetus! It’s not the same thing! You chauvinist pig!

(Fetus is Latin for BABY)

If cherishing God’s gift of life makes me a “chauvinist pig”, you’re darned skippy I am! Yay, pigs! Sooey! That’s not a puppy growing in there, y’all.

The blatant hypocrisy that was shown by Obama, his loyal minions in Congress, and the MSM, the Liberal pundits on TV and Radio, and ignorant “seminar” callers and posters on Conservative websites, in defense of  “their rights “not to be punished with a baby” and their resounding silence regarding the American Auschwitz known as the Gosnell Case, was reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s…and positively chilling.

Remember a while back, when MSNBC Host, and resident Communist, Melissa Harris-Perry proclaimed,

…we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents, or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities. Once it’s everybody’s responsibility, and not just the household’s, then we start making better investments. (?)

Evidently, for Modern American Liberals, that only applies when the child is no longer a “punishment”.

Some good news regarding Americans’ Views on abortion can be found in a post from TheHill.com,  published less than one month before 2016’s President Election…

The most recent Marist Poll from this summer shows that a 53% majority of Americans support a strong pro-life policy of limiting abortions only to cases of rape, incest, or medical emergencies. An overwhelming 78% supermajority support, at a minimum, limiting abortion only to the first three months of pregnancy. Sixty-two of Americans oppose forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for abortions.

In the case of “Abortion On Demand”, I believe that the overwhelming majority of average Americans have recognized the obvious.

As President Ronald Reagan observed, all those decades ago,

I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Socialism and Social Justice…Why Christian Americans Should Oppose Them

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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“We have to say yes to socialism — to the word and everything. We have to stop apologizing.” – Jim Carrey to Bill Maher on HBO’s “Real Time with BIll Maher”, Friday, September 7, 2018

ChristianPost.com reports that

More than 3,000 evangelical Christians and organizations have joined well-known theologian and pastor, John MacArthur, in endorsing a statement on social justice and the purported dangers the concept poses to the Gospel.

The statement comes in the wake of MacArthur’s recent controversial series that brands social justice as a real threat to the Gospel.

“Clarity on these issues will fortify believers and churches to withstand an onslaught of dangerous and false teachings that threaten the gospel, misrepresent Scripture, and lead people away from the grace of God in Jesus Christ,” the statement explains in an introduction.

“Specifically, we are deeply concerned that values borrowed from secular culture are currently undermining Scripture in the areas of race and ethnicity, manhood and womanhood, and human sexuality. The Bible’s teaching on each of these subjects is being challenged under the broad and somewhat nebulous rubric of concern for ‘social justice,'” it continued. “If the doctrines of God’s Word are not uncompromisingly reasserted and defended at these points, there is every reason to anticipate that these dangerous ideas and corrupted moral values will spread their influence into other realms of biblical doctrines and principles.”

And with that introduction, the statement then goes on to address 14 points of contention in the Gospel the signers agree need to be clarified, including what constitutes justice.

“WE DENY that true justice can be culturally defined or that standards of justice that are merely socially constructed can be imposed with the same authority as those that are derived from Scripture. We further deny that Christians can live justly in the world under any principles other than the biblical standard of righteousness,” the statement says. “Relativism, socially-constructed standards of truth or morality, and notions of virtue and vice that are constantly in flux cannot result in authentic justice.”

I do not believe that Jesus would be a part of the Social Justice Movement, advocated by the Modern American Liberals of the Democratic Party. His was and is a soul-saving movement. One that still brings hundreds of thousand of people to individual salvation on this terrestrial ball every day. A movement that, in fact, was embraced by the founders of this cherished land.

The Social Justice Movement is an offshoot of Marxist Theory, named for the radical who conceived it, Karl Marx. It’s basic tenet states,

From each according to his ability to each according to his need.

The modern translation, provided for us by Former President Barack Hussein Obama, during his 2008 Presidential Campaign, is that working Americans need to “share the wealth”.

That, boys and girls, is “Socialism” and, in Marxist Theory, Socialism is the step before Communism.

A simple definition of Socialism describes it as

a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

In a opinion piece posted a couple of years ago on ChristianPost.com, Christian Talk Show Host Julie Roys gave the following Five Reasons that Socialism itself is not based on  the teachings of Jesus Christ.

1. Socialism is Based on a Materialistic Worldview

According to socialists like Bernie Sanders, the greatest problem in the world is the unequal distribution of wealth.

His website declares: “The issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time, and it is the great political issue of our time.”

This betrays a fundamentally materialistic worldview, which is the basis of socialism.

To socialists, all that really exists is the material world.

2. Socialism Punishes Virtue

Socialists want to distribute wealth to individuals according to their need, regardless of virtue.

As Karl Marx, famously said, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

However, whenever any institution provides aid, it runs the risk of removing God-designed rewards and consequences. It can punish those who are industrious by making them pay for those who are not. And, it can reward those who aren’t industrious by giving them the fruits of another man’s labor. This is precisely what socialism does.

Interestingly, Marx mooched off others his whole life, and failed to provide for his wife and children.

As Aristotle once noted, “Men start revolutionary changes for reasons connected with their private lives.”

The Bible teaches that aid should be tied to responsibility. First, anyone who refuses to work should be refused aid.

3. Socialism Endorses Stealing

Barack Obama once defended his socialist policies to a little girl by saying, “We’ve got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money. If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?”

That sounds pretty Christian, right? What Christian wouldn’t endorse sharing your abundance with someone who has nothing? However, Obama wasn’t endorsing people voluntarily sharing their wealth with others; he was endorsing the government forcibly taking a piece of the pie from one person and giving it to someone else. Put another way, that’s saying that if you have three cars and your neighbor has none, the government has a right to take your car and give it to your neighbor. That’s not Christian; that’s stealing!

But, socialists don’t believe in private property. And, some Christian socialists actually assert that the Bible doesn’t either. That’s preposterous.

Both the Old Testament and New Testament unequivocally affirm private property. We can’t even obey the eighth commandment to not steal, unless we accept the notion of private ownership. Nor, can we steward our money as the Bible commands if the state owns our money, not us.

4. Socialism Encourages Envy and Class Warfare

Socialists demonize the rich, blaming all of society’s problems on them.

Bernie Sanders once posted to his Facebook Page: “Let us wage a moral and political war against the billionaires and corporate leaders on Wall Street and elsewhere, whose policies and greed are destroying the middle class of America.”

Here, Sanders is mimicking Karl Marx, who viewed history as a series of class struggles between the rich and the poor — and advocated overthrowing the ruling class.

Scripture strongly warns the rich and powerful not to oppress the poor.

In fact, Proverbs 14:31 says, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for his maker . . .”

But, Sanders — and other Leftists, including Hillary Clinton — go far beyond decrying specific acts of injustice. They basically condemn an entire class of people simply for possessing wealth. And, they encourage those who are poor to overthrow them. In fact, Clinton once said the U.S. economy required a “toppling” of the wealthiest 1%.

The rich are not causing all the problems in American society. People like Bill Gates are not acquiring wealth by stealing from the masses. They’re creating great products, which produce wealth, and actually provide jobs for many people. But, even if they were exploiting the poor, nowhere does Scripture support the have-nots demanding money from the haves. Instead, it teaches that we should not covet (Exodus 20:17) and should be content in all circumstances (Phil. 4:11-13). 

5. Socialism Seeks to Destroy Marriage & Family

A little known fact about socialism is that, from its beginning, it has sought to destroy marriage and family. Grove City Professor Paul Kengor explains this in detail in his book, Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left Has Sabotaged Marriage and Family. Essentially, what socialism seeks is for the state to replace the family. That way, it can indoctrinate children in its Leftist way of thinking, and remove from them any notions of God and religion.

Friedrich Engels, co-author with Marx of the “The Communist Manifesto,” once wrote that the society he envisioned would be one where “the single family ceases to be the economic unit of society. Private housekeeping is transformed into a social industry. The care and education of the children becomes a public affair.”

Similarly today, Bernie Sanders calls for a “revolution” in childcare and for the government to provide early childhood education beginning with children as young as six-weeks-old. And, he’s a proud supporter of gay marriage — what Kengor calls “communism’s Trojan Horse” to secure the final takedown of traditional marriage.

To socialists, what Bernie describes is a utopia. But, to Christians, it’s a dystopia. That’s because there’s nothing Christian about socialism — and there’s absolutely no way Jesus would ever support it.

America was not founded to be a Socialist Nation, no matter what attention-seeking clowns like Jim Carrey wish to believe.

I have noticed in the last few decades, a propensity among those in the Entertainment and Political Spotlight who have not been raised in a Christian home, to be intolerant toward those who have.

Americans’ Christian Faith, of which approximately 3/4ths of us, according to Gallup, still anchor our lives around, has been the Solid Rock upon which our nation was built. To deny that, is to deny reality, to re-write history, and, to, quite frankly, endanger “the Shining City on a Hill”.

As President Ronald Reagan said,

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under. 

Isn’t it interesting that those among us who claim to be the most tolerant are actually the least tolerant of all?

And, those who claim to be champions of “personal freedom” are enemies of the religious freedom secured for us in the United States Constitution?

You can separate the wheat from the chaff by paying attention to who talks about Freedom and Responsibility and who talks about the right of “citizens”, both legal and illegal, to “free stuff”.

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. – Matthew 7:20

To summarize…

A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. – Ecclesiastes 10:2

Just sayin’…

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Devil Went Down to Little Rock…He was Looking for a Nation to “Radically Change”

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. – Ephesians 6:12

FoxNews.com reported Friday that

The Satanic Temple temporarily placed a bronze statue of a goat-headed, winged creature called Baphomet at the Arkansas State Capitol during a rally to call for the removal of a Ten Commandments monument already mounted on Capitol grounds. 

About 150 Satanists, atheists and Christians attended the First Amendment rally Thursday. The Satanic Temple says the Ten Commandments monument violates constitutional freedom of religion rights and that the installation of their 7 ½-foot-tall (2.3-meter-tall) statue showing the 14th century idol seated and accompanied by smiling children would demonstrate religious tolerance.

“If you’re going to have one religious monument up then it should be open to others, and if you don’t agree with that then let’s just not have any at all,” said Satanic Arkansas cofounder Ivy Forrester, a rally organizer.

The statue of Baphomet can’t be installed under a 2017 state law that requires legislative sponsorship for consideration of any monument. The Satanist group removed the statue later Thursday.

The Ten Commandments monument at the Arkansas Capitol was sponsored by Republican Sen. Jason Rapert and installed quietly in 2017. Less than 24 hours after its installation, a man drove his car into the monument, smashing it to pieces . The same man also destroyed a Ten Commandments monument outside Oklahoma’s state Capitol.

The Satanic Temple ended its campaign to install Baphomet there, after Oklahoma’s Supreme Court ruled the Ten Commandments monument was unconstitutional and it was taken down.

Rapert said in an online statement that he respects the protesters’ First Amendment rights, but also called them “extremists” and said “it will be a very cold day in hell before an offensive statue will be forced upon us to be permanently erected on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol.”

There was a significant police presence at the peaceful rally. A small group of counter-protesters holding signs with Bible verses stood quietly nearby, occasionally singing Christian songs.

One speaker — a Christian minister — was interrupted by a yelling counter-protester, but police escorted the man who was holding a large wooden stick away from the stage.

The Satanic Temple wants to join a religious discrimination lawsuit against Arkansas brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. A judge has to yet rule on whether the Satanists can join the case.

Is it just me, or have you noticed an increase in the boldness of those who worship the Darkness in the last couple of decades?

This group of Satan worshipers, as the article alludes to, tried the same thing in Oklahoma in 2014.

If this wasn’t such a display of naiveté and meddling with forces that these ignorant Liberals do not understand, it would be the subject of ridicule.

As it is, it is downright sick and twisted.

This should not be surprising , though.

Look at what is happening to the Democratic Party.

What kind of people raise their kids to be a bunch of hate-filled Marxist Fascists, despising the very country in which they were raised?

It is like something straight out of Nazi Germany, which makes sense, I suppose, as Nazi is another name for the National Socialist Party.

The garbage which began during the 8 long years of the Obama Administration, even now, after average Americans stood up on our hind legs and elected Donald J. Trump as President, still threatens to tear our Sovereign Nation asunder.

America is in the midst of SPIRITUAL WARFARE.

Make no mistake about it, boys and girls, EVIL EXISTS.

Yes, my friends. We are still 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 considered “normal”.

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.

What we seem to be heading for here in “The Shining City Upon the Hill” is not simply 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 mob rule such as that which brought Vladimir Lenin to power in Russia, with the political philosophy of

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 will it fail here.

Just as amorality and licentiousness led to the destruction of the Roman Empire and the fall of the Czars, so, if unchecked, will it 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 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, as demonstrated in the Presidential Election.

It is this New Generation of Amoral Socialists and other “Fellow Travelers” who are in fact, just a tiny, albeit vocal, Minority of America’s population.

In their desperation to somehow erase the lost of Hillary Clinton to Donald J. Trump, and in their zeal to “radically change” America, they are willing to do anything, including embracing the Darkness.

So, what can an average Christian American, like you and me, do about this “Tyranny of the Minority”?

Exactly what we have been doing.

Stand up to it.

Seek Alternative News Sources. Stay informed.

Stand up for what is right.

Pray for our country, Congress, and President Trump and his Administration.

And, continue to work together to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.

Until He Comes.

KJ