Category: Christianity

“Shall We Gather at the Starbucks?”: Hurricane Benefit Concert Features Lib Celebrities Preaching of Behalf of a Politically-Correct, Convenient “God”

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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Average Americans have all known for sometime that this is not our fathers’ Democrat Party. Conservatives have been driven out and “Moderates” are an endangered species.

Today’s Democrats embrace a Far Left Political Ideology, in which there is no room for a Supreme Being…until they need to reference Him for political leverage and justification.

Don’t believe me?

Remember what happened at the 2012 Democratic National Convention?

Delegates and members of the Democratic party booed after former Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH) discussed God and moved to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Convention chairman Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of Los Angeles, had to ask for the Yea and Nay vote several times before declaring the motion passed.

C-SPAN cameras captured the dissatisfaction among members after the motion passed.

More information from the Associated Press:
Democrats have changed their convention platform to add a mention of God and declare that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

The move came after criticism from Republicans.

Many in the audience booed after the convention chairman, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, ruled that the amendments had been approved despite the fact that a large group of delegates objected.

He called for a vote three times before ruling.

The party reinstated language from the 2008 platform that said “we need a government that stands up for the hopes, values and interests of working people and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.”

The platform also now includes what advisers said was Obama’s personal views on Jerusalem.

Now that we’ve established that, there seems to be a misconception among “the Smartest People in the Room”, American Liberals, about us Christian American Conservatives living in America’s Heartland, who elected Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America.

American Liberals seem to believe that because we are strong in the Faith of Our Fathers, that we are somehow gullible or less intelligent than they are.

And, those who work in Hollywood and the Music Industry are not the exception to the rule.

Grabien.com reports that

Mere seconds into the celebrity-filled benefit concert for victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma did these stars turn the ostensible charitable event into a platform for left-wing sermonizing.

Stevie Wonder, who kicked off the show, began with call for unity, but then turned to mock anyone who questioned the global warming theory. 

“When love goes into action, it preferences no color of skin, no ethnicity, no religious beliefs, no sexual preferences, and no political persuasions,” Mr. Wonder began. “It just loves. As we should begin to love and value our planet.”

But after calling for love, he singled out skeptics of man-made climate change for derision.

“Anyone who believes that there is no such thing as global warming must be blind or unintelligent,” Mr. Wonder said. “Lord, please save us all.”

Beyoncé followed soon after, again using the national telethon to promote climate change activism, warning that we must prepare for “what comes next.” 

“The effects of climate change are playing out around the world every day,” she stated. “Just this past week we have seen devastation from the monsoon in India, an 8.1 earthquake in Mexico, and multiple catastrophic hurricanes. Irma alone has left a trail of death and destruction from the Caribbean to Florida to the southern United States. We have to be prepared for what comes next. So tonight, we come together in a collective effort to raise our voices, to help our communities, to lift our spirits and heal.”

NBC’s Matt Lauer, following Beyoncé, intoned “Hurricane Irma was the most powerful Atlantic storm ever recorded, cutting a path of destruction across the Caribbean, the U.S. Virgin Islands and then setting its sights on the U.S. mainland.”

According to Colorado Statue University meteologist, Philip Klotzbach, Hurricane Irma is actually tied for the 7th strongest hurricane ever recorded:

Justin Bieber, who is reportedly pursuing a more religious lifestyle, introduced “my man,” an unnamed spiritual adviser, as well as a rabbi, Ari Lucas, and the director of the Islamic Center of Southern California, Jihad Turk, to pray.

The prayer, making reference to the “great division in our nation,” eschewed an “amen” at its conclusion in favor of a non-denominational “Hallelujah”: 

“God, we the faith community come asking for wisdom, discernment, and compassion, as we walk along side those who have lost so much: loved ones, homes, businesses, and hope. Cause us to be the hands and feet of compassion, to all who are in need, no matter their background. At a time of great division in our nation, may we lay down our differences, pick up our common humanity for the sole purpose of serving our fellow man until hearts are healed and lives restored. And though we don’t yet understand the purpose of the storms, we know you will guide us through the storms. So we close this prayer, not with an amen, but with a praise rooted in an eternal hope, hallelujah.” 

Other celebrites who participated in the event included Leonardo DiCaprio, George Strait, George Clooney, Jamie Foxx, Karlie Kloss, Matt Lauer, Rob Lowe, Matthew McConaughey, Cher, Norah O’Donnell, Dennis Quaid, Julia Roberts, Kelly Rowland, Adam Sandler, Ryan Seacrest, Michael Strahan, Blake Shelton, Barbra Streisand, Oprah Winfrey, and Reese Witherspoon. 

Donations go to Comic Relief USA’s Hand in Hand Hurricane Relief Fund. 

After President Barack Hussein Obama took office, he made a point of stating several times that America was not just a Christian nation anymore.

And, while that remains true to a certain extent, it is also true that the overwhelming majority, 75% of Americans, still proclaim themselves to be followers of Jesus Christ. And even beyond that, 92% of Americans still believe in God.

What is amazing to me, though, is how,  American Christianity is constantly attacked on all fronts:  militarily, culturally, and even within organized religion, itself.

From illegal immigration to abortion to homosexual “rights”, Americans who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ on these issues have been under fire by Liberals, who insist that they know more about what is in the Bible and what Christ says, or would say, about these topics, then those of us who actually read God’s Word.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools. – Romans 1:22

When you enter into a Facebook “discussion” with these “new Pharisees”, and you counter their arguments on these topics with Scripture, Liberals are initially slow to respond.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, – 2 Timothy 3:16 ESV 

Most Liberals will start “Googling” these topics, looking for any Scriptures that will substantiate their position.

There’s been many a time they have come back at me with Old Testament Scripture. It is then that I explain to them about the sacrifice that Christ made for us sinners, freeing Christians from Jewish Law and taking the punishment for our sins , creating a New Covenant by covering Christians through the shedding of His blood.

At that point in the “discussion”, there is a long pause, as they are trying to figure out a comeback.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.- 1 Corinthians 2:14

This misconception, which I have been trying to explain, involves Liberals’ belief that American Christians will not fight back against them and the things they want to say and do in our society.

If there’s one thing during all of the years of anti-Christian bias, which we have experienced during the Obama administration, and now, after Christian Americans helped elect American Businessman and Entrepreneur Donald J. Trump as the 45th President, that the Liberals should have learned, is the fact that Christian American Conservatives will fight back.

It is funny though…that when we begin fighting back, the Liberals have a tendency to label us as uncaring, mean , divisive, and intolerant as alluded to in the “Hand to Hand” Hurricane Relief Program last night.

Liberals react that way because internally, they are having a kicking and screaming temper tantrum, because they cannot get their way…as the days since November 8th, 2016 have plainly showed.

For Liberal Democrats to now attempt to use the God of Abraham as a 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

One must always be careful…because when you point a finger at someone, there are always four pointing back at you.

By the way, if you wish to give to help relief efforts for the victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, please allow me to suggest two wonderful ones whicH I have linked to below:

THE SALVATION ARMY – HURRICANE RELIEF FUND

SAMARITANS PURSE – HURRICANE HARVEY RELIEF FUND

HURRICANE IRMA RELIEF FUND

Until He Comes,

KJ

  

 

Trump Administration to Support Christian Baker’s 1st Amendment Rights in Supreme Court Case

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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In recent times, especially under the Previous President, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), a concerted effort was to marginalize Christian Americans, putting us in a box if you will.

A lot of Liberals and “libertarians” seem to believe that Christian Americans should only practice our faith on Sunday Mornings from 9 – 12, and be seen and not heard the rest of week.

To which I personally answer, with two quotes from the Bible,

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. – Matthew 27:5 (NIV)

…”Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:37 (NIV)

And, boys and girls, that is MY right as an American.

President Donald J. Trump was exactly right in what he told a meeting of Evangelical Christians over a year ago:

They took away the voice of people that want to see good things happen. It’s not like they took away a bad voice, an evil voice. They took away a voice.

President Trump is working to keep his promise to give Christian Americans our voice back.

ChristianPost.com reports that

The Trump administration has outlined its support for Christian baker Jack Phillips, who declined to make a cake for a gay wedding, and his Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado in a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Forcing Phillips to create expression for and participate in a ceremony that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs invades his First Amendment rights,” Acting Solicitor General Jeff Wall wrote for the Justice Department, according to CNN.

“The government may not enact content-based laws commanding a speaker to engage in protected expression: An artist cannot be forced to paint, a musician cannot be forced to play, and a poet cannot be forced to write.” 

The brief was filed Thursday, following several other friend-of-the-court briefs, including one from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission is a major religious liberty case that is being closely watched by both sides of the same-sex marriage debate.

Phillips is challenging lower court decisions that found him guilty of discriminating against same-sex couple Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig in 2012, when he refused to make a cake for their wedding.

The Supreme Court announced in June that it will hear the Christian baker’s appeal. Alliance Defending Freedom lawyers filed their opening brief on behalf of Phillips last week.

Justice Department spokesperson Lauren Ehrsam said in relation to the filing that the “First Amendment protects the right of free expression for all Americans.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the same-sex couple, slammed the decision to file the brief.

“This Justice Department has already made its hostility to the rights of LGBT people and so many others crystal clear,” said Louise Melling, ACLU’s deputy legal director.

“But this brief was shocking, even for this administration. What the Trump Administration is advocating for is nothing short of a constitutional right to discriminate.”

Attorney General Ken Paxton also led a 20-state coalition in filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of Phillips, highlighting the artist’s “constitutionally-protected right to religious liberty.”

“The Supreme Court has the opportunity to affirm that the First Amendment contains robust protections for people who choose to operate their businesses consistent with their faith,” Paxton said.

“The owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop should be allowed to choose what he will or won’t create without fear of being unjustly punished by the government.”

Texas joined in the amicus brief along with the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, and Governor LePage of Maine.

The ADF brief last week noted that Phillips has relied on his Christian faith to guide his work for decades.

“Those beliefs inspire him to love and serve people from all walks of life, but he can only create cakes that are consistent with the tenets of his faith. His decisions on whether to design a specific custom cake have never focused on who the customer is, but on what the custom cake will express or celebrate,” ADF said. 

Over the last two decades as a baker in Colorado, Phillips has also declined to make Halloween cakes, anti-American cakes, adult-themed cakes, and cakes containing alcohol, among others.

Anyone who has read my blog for any length of time knows exactly what my feelings are on the subject of gay marriage.

I agree with the Reverend Mitchell, former pastor of the old landmark church in Chicago Illinois who said, and I quote,

The Good Lord made Adam and Eve. He did not make Adam and Steve. Can I get a witness?

And, may I add, if he did make Adam and Steve, none of us would be here because, try as they might, homosexuals cannot procreate.

The Homosexual Lobby and their supporters, affectionately known as the “Gay Mafia”, have been stepping it up a notch for quite a while now, suing Americans and getting them fired over their Christian faith.

Even the real Mafia does not attack people’s faith. In fact, the legendary Mafioso, Al Capone, gave tons of money to Chicago’s Catholic Charities. And, when the Mafia has to terminate the employment of one of their soldiers, emphasis on the word terminate, they make sure that their family is taken care of.

Not so with the Gay Mafia. If you do not support their agenda, they will sue you, see that you are fired, make you lose everything that you have in this world, and will not care one bit, if you and your family are put out on the street.

Just as the decadent leaders of ancient Rome fed the early Christians to the Lions, so is the unconscionable Gay Mafia tossing aside Christians in their quest for their deviant sexual behavior to be classified as normal.

In fact, I’ll go you one better: these idiots’ fanatical insensitivity to the welfare of believers who have the moral courage to oppose their hedonistic lifestyle, is reminiscent of those Radical Muslims we know as the Taliban.

Which is the height of irony if you think about it, because Radical Muslims not only behead Christians, they remove the heads of homosexual Muslims as well.

You have seen me saying time and time again, that it is funny how those among us who claim to be the most tolerant, are actually the least of all.

The Gay Mafia or, more appropriately, The Gay Taliban, are prime examples.

As with any liberal, as long as you believe what they believe, you’re one of the smartest people in the room. However, as soon as you cross them, and stand up for your own Christian Heritage of Faith, you are labeled a stupid “Christianist” and/or an “intolerant”, inbred hillbilly.

Additionally, when the voters of a state get together to express their opposition to homosexual marriage through their right to vote, the Gay Mafia finds a sympathetic judge to rule that marriage is a “Civil Right”, instead of a Holy Sacrament…a bond between a man and a woman, ordained by God.

The problem that Christians and Conservatives alike face is the fact that being Pro-homosexual marriage is the “cool” thing to be now.

Even if it is at the expense of the First Amendment.

Those who are in the Pro-Homosexual Marriage Liberal Lobbying Group, or “Gay Mafia”, firmly believe that their right to force us to accept their belief system trumps our First Amendment Rights as Christian Americans to practice our faith in the workplace.

They’re WRONG.

The concerted effort by the Gay Mafia and the Liberal Activists in America’s Legal System, which quite frankly appears to be fascist in nature,  to force Christian Businessmen and Businesswomen to forgo their faith, in order to service gay marriages, has been meeting a backlash from average Americans living in the Heartland for quite a while now, which is being desperately covered up by the Main Stream Media and the shrieking Progressives.

These same average Americans elected Donald J. Trump as our 45th President.

These average Americans with common sense are asking…

Why can’t these gay couples simply go to other businesses, who will bake their wedding cakes for them, instead of trying to force Christian Americans to do something which is against their faith?

It appears the President feels the same way.

I find these couples’ who are intentionally targeting Christian Bakers though obviously politically motivated actions to be intolerant, insensitive, demanding, and downright rude.

Our Constitution gives us Religious Freedom in its very First Amendment.

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

Please note that this amendment does not say “in some circumstances”.

Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, once said that

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.

This continuing Liberal War against Christian American Small Business Owners, based on the lie that these business owners will not serve gay people, ever, proves that Goebbels was actually right about the intolerant gullibility of some people.

Even, in a country founded by Christian Men.

Until He Comes,

KJ

A KJ Sunday Morning Reflection: Hurricane Harvey and the REAL Strength of America

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

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…I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 3, 2017, as a National Day of Prayer for the Victims of Hurricane Harvey and for our National Response and Recovery Efforts.  We give thanks for the generosity and goodness of all those who have responded to the needs of their fellow Americans.  I urge Americans of all faiths and religious traditions and backgrounds to offer prayers today for all those harmed by Hurricane Harvey, including people who have lost family members or been injured, those who have lost homes or other property, and our first responders, law enforcement officers, military personnel, and medical professionals leading the response and recovery efforts.  Each of us, in our own way, may call upon our God for strength and comfort during this difficult time.  I call on all Americans and houses of worship throughout the Nation to join in one voice of prayer, as we seek to uplift one another and assist those suffering from the consequences of this terrible storm. – September 1, 2017

Foxnews.com reports that

President Trump spent Saturday touring areas heavily damaged by Hurricane Harvey, saying he’s witnessed “a lot of love” from residents recovering from the devastation while warning it will likely take the affected communities years to rebuild.

Trump begun his day in Houston, where flooding has devastated Texas’ most populous city.

The president, along with first lady Melania Trump and other officials, then traveled to Lake Charles, Louisiana, which was also hit by the storm.

“We have a long way to go, but the water is disappearing,” Trump told a crowd at a church in the Houston area.

The president, joined by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, acknowledged recovery efforts could take “two years, three years.”

But he then quipped: “I think because this is Texas you’ll probably do it in six months.”
The president on Saturday also visited NRG Stadium, the home of the Houston Texans, that has served as a recovery center for hurricane victims.

Trump, speaking to reporters, said he has been satisfied with the recovery efforts so far.

“Really, I think people appreciate what’s been done,” he said. “It’s been done very efficiently, very well, and that’s what we want. We’re very happy with the way everything is going.”

He added: “A lot of love. There’s a lot of love.”

In Houston, the president handed out lunches of hot dogs, chips and apple sauce to people at the shelter. He was also seen giving hugs and playing with kids.

“What are you building?” the president asked one child at a table full of toys.

As the president toured the destruction, the White House said Trump had made additional disaster assistance available to Texas by authorizing an increase in federal funding for certain eligible costs.

 Trump authorized a 90 percent federal cost share for debris removal and a 100 percent federal cost share for emergency protective measures. The original disaster said the federal government would fund 75 percent of certain costs.

Before leaving Texas, the president stopped in a Houston neighborhood, where debris were piled outside ranch-style homes.

“These are people that have done a fantastic job holding it together,” he said.

At Ellington Field, where Air Force One awaited Trump to take him to Louisiana, the president greeted and praised members of the Coast Guard and Texas National Guard.

He was also seen briefly speaking on the tarmac with members of Texas’ congressional delegation, including Democratic Reps. Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee, two Texas lawmakers who have previously called for Trump’s removal from office.

In Lake Charles, the president was briefed on the storm response at a National Guard Armory and met with Democratic Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards.

This is the president’s second trip to the storm affected area. Earlier in the week, the president met with local officials and emergency responders on Tuesday in Corpus Christi and Austin.

At the time, the White House suggested the president was keeping his distance from Houston so he wouldn’t interrupt local recovery efforts.

As for federal aid, the president has urged Congress for roughly $7.9 billion, in the immediate aftermath of the storm, which hit the Texas Gulf Coast on Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane. However, he now plans to ask for as much as $14.5 billion, according to the New York Times.

Congress returns Tuesday from August recess, with assurances from Republican leaders of the GOP-controlled House and Senate that they will promptly start work on the president’s request.

 

…Congress didn’t approve funding for Hurricane Sandy until several months after the storm slammed the East Coast in October 2012, a delay that has been repeatedly revisited in the days after Harvey and one that Congress, particularly GOP members, appear eager to avoid this time.

At least 47 people have died from the storm, and an estimated 72,000 have been rescued, according to reports.

Trump’s initial funding request will be only a small part of the total amount likely needed from the federal government. Estimates of the amount needed exceed $50 billion, with flood evacuations continuing and cleanup expected to take years.

The destruction from Harvey could rival or exceed the damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which cost taxpayers $110 billion.

 

There, boys and girls, but for the Grace of God, goes you and I.

On this special Sabbath Morning, declared by the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, to be a National Day of Prayer for the victims of Hurricane Harvey, I was thinking about my Christian Faith, one shared by the overwhelming majority of Americans, including President Trump and Vice-President Pence, and the role that it has played in shaping our nation’s past and the role that it will play in shaping our nation’s future.

I then started remembering all the efforts during recent years by self-proclaimed political pundits and “cultural leaders” to place American Christianity in a box.

Did President Trump have the right to declare today a “National Day of Prayer”?

Do American Political Leaders have the right to invoke the Name of the God of Abraham in their public speeches?

Do political bloggers, such as myself, still have the right to express our concerns about the direction that America is taking, by framing it in the context of traditional Christian American Faith and Values?

Or, should Christian Americans keep our faith out of the Public Arena of Ideas, like the “Smartest People in the Room” keep  insisting?

Over two years ago, The Washington Post reported that

METAIRIE, La. — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Saturday the idea of religious neutrality is not grounded in the country’s constitutional traditions and that God has been good to the U.S. exactly because Americans honor him.

Scalia was speaking at a Catholic high school in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, Louisiana. Scalia, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 is the court’s longest serving justice. He has consistently been one of the court’s more conservative members.

He told the audience at Archbishop Rummel High School that there is “no place” in the country’s constitutional traditions for the idea that the state must be neutral between religion and its absence.

“To tell you the truth there is no place for that in our constitutional tradition. Where did that come from?” he said. “To be sure, you can’t favor one denomination over another but can’t favor religion over non-religion?”

He also said there is “nothing wrong” with the idea of presidents and others invoking God in speeches. He said God has been good to America because Americans have honored him. 

Scalia said during the Sept. 11 attacks he was in Rome at a conference. The next morning, after a speech by President George W. Bush in which he invoked God and asked for his blessing, Scalia said many of the other judges approached him and said they wished their presidents or prime ministers would do the same.

“God has been very good to us. That we won the revolution was extraordinary. The Battle of Midway was extraordinary. I think one of the reasons God has been good to us is that we have done him honor. Unlike the other countries of the world that do not even invoke his name we do him honor. In presidential addresses, in Thanksgiving proclamations and in many other ways,” Scalia said.

“There is nothing wrong with that and do not let anybody tell you that there is anything wrong with that,” he added.

Scalia’s comments Saturday come as the court prepares to hear arguments later this year in a case that challenges part of President Barack Obama’s health care law and whether it adequately shields faith-based hospitals, colleges and charities from having to offer contraceptive coverage to their employees.

For what now seems like an eternity, those on the Left side (along with some of those who claim to be on the Right Side) of the Political Aisle, led by Former President Barack Hussein Obama and not physically continued by Far Left Hate Groups, such as Antifa, have focused their attention on “radically changing” America.

They soon realized that they simply could not do it through popular culture and educational indoctrination, inundating America’s children with both overt and subliminal imaging designed to countermand the Traditional American Values that they were being raised with, in normal American Households, out here in “Flyover Country”, otherwise known as America’s Heartland…or “the Red States”.

Modern Liberals soon figured out that the way to program Americans into believing that “all paths lead to God” and that cradle-to-grave Nanny-State Government were the new American Standards for living our daily lives, was to turn Christian American Houses of Worship away from being instructors of the Word of God and a sanctuary in which to worship Our Creator, to, instead, being purveyors of the joys of Popular Culture. Wednesday Night Bible Studies were soon replaced by Yoga Classes and Encounter Groups. Religious Leaders were soon quoting philosophy, instead of the Bible in their Sunday Morning Sermons.

And, instead of taking a stand against those things of the world which were directly opposed to what is found in God’s Word, these “new, enlightened” churches started standing up for the “right” of a woman to have her baby prematurely yanked out of her womb with a set of tongs, standing up for the right of Adam to “marry” Steve, when the Bible states that marriage is between a man and a woman, and standing up for the equality of all faiths, when the Son of God firmly states, in John 14:6, that

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So, when is all this Christianity in America going to “fade away” as predicted by “the Smartest People in the Room”?

As polls…and Americans’ outpouring of love and support for the victims of Hurricane Harvey have shown…not any time soon.

America remains a nation whose population consists of 70-75% who proclaim Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior and 92%, who believe in God.

However, if you read some of the comments posted on Conservative Websites and Facebook Political Pages, by self-appointed “pundits”, you would think that Christian Americans are the minority in this nation.

I can testify from personal experience, having caught flack for sticking to my Christian American Conservative Principles, since beginning my daily posts on this blog in April of 2010.

My posts, concerning American Christianity, seem to “touch a nerve” in both Liberals and Atheists, alike. (But, in at least some cases, I repeat myself.)

Their reaction has hardly been unexpected.

Of course, one of the Hot Button Issues, which those Liberals and Atheists who responded, over the years, immediately denied, was that our Founding Fathers were Christians and that our country was founded on a Judeo-Christian Belief System.

Evidently, they had never read anything, except what their like-minded, non-believing soothsayers, allowed them to.  Or else, they would have read historical documents like President George Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, written on November 1, 1777, and found at wallbuilders.com:

The committee appointed to prepare a recommendation to the several states, to set apart a day of public thanksgiving, brought in a report; which was taken into consideration, and agreed to as follows:

Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received, and to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need of; and it having pleased him in his abundant mercy not only to continue to us the innumerable bounties of his common providence, but also smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the defense and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased in so great a measure to prosper the means used for the support of our troops and to crown our arms with most signal success:

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the 18th day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise; that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor; and that together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor, and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may please him graciously to afford his blessings on the governments of these states respectively, and prosper the public council of the whole; to inspire our commanders both by land and sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and fortitude which may render them fit instruments, under the providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States the greatest of all blessings, independence and peace; that it may please him to prosper the trade and manufactures of the people and the labor of the husbandman, that our land may yield its increase; to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety, under his nurturing hand, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

And it is further recommended, that servile labor, and such recreation as, though at other times innocent, may be unbecoming the purpose of this appointment, be omitted on so solemn an occasion.

Of course, the Poster Boy for the claim by Liberal/Atheist responders, concerning the Founders’ lack of  Christianity, is Thomas Jefferson.

Atheists like to bring up the fact that he wrote a version of the Bible which left out Christ’s miracles.  What they are reluctant to do, though, is explain why he wrote his book that way.  David Barton explains on wallbuilders.com:

The reader [of a newspaper article which Barton is replying to], 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.

Atheist Activists and young and/or misinformed Liberals and self-proclaimed “Libertarians” (but, in a lot of cases, I repeat myself), who reply to my posts, insist that Crosses and other Christian symbols have no place in the Public Square.

Relying on Far Left Ideologues or their own opinion as their “highest authority”, they continue their push to eliminate the practice of American Christianity and the Traditional American Morality and Ethics which go with it from Everyday American Life, attempting to regulate Christians’ role in American Society as remaining unseen and unheard from, worshiping in private, on Sunday mornings, only.

Or, as Actor and Professional Wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would say, this Vanguard of Modern American Liberals want American Christians to

Sit down, shut up, and know your role!

Unfortunately for them, and as our Current President Donald J. Trump reinforced with his declaration of a National Day of Prayer to be held today, the First Amendment to the Constitution still holds.

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

Being filled with human beings, America’s churches have made a lot of mistakes, However, they have also done a lot of good in the Name of the Lord.

For example, the church I attend, houses a Food Pantry, operated in co-operation with other churches in our area, which feeds 2,000 people per month, counseling them, and getting them the assistance that they need.

And, even as I type this post, there are Christian Organizations assisting in the recovery efforts in Texas.

Churches today have to walk a fine line.

The spiritual battle raging between the influence of American Popular Culture and those seeking the Will of God in their lives, takes all the strength…and prayer, that Christians can muster.

Modern Liberals seem to have great difficulty comprehending the role which Our Creator, the God of Abraham, played and plays in this Grand Experiment, known as the United States of America.

Why have Liberals ratcheted up their anti-Christian Vitriol and Negativity since January 21, 2009?

Why are they so focused on removing America’s Christian Heritage?

Well, as is usually my wont, I have been doing some “reckoning” about this.

It seems to this ol’ Southern Boy, living here in the Heartland, that America’s Christian Heritage and the very real fact of His influence in building and shaping America’s growth into the greatest country on the face of God’s Green Earth, not only stifles and interferes with Modern Liberals’ “anything goes”, “share the wealth”, “hive-mind”, “man is his own god” Political Ideology, but the reality of God’s very existence, somewhere deep in their miserable, bitter psyches, scares the mess out of them.

Why else would they be trying so hard to fight against the influence of Someone Whom they really don’t believe in?

I see them every single day on the television, on the Internet, on Facebook Political Pages, posting stupid meme (a picture with words on it) after stupid meme, attempting to make fun of The Great I Am and those of us who have given our lives to Him.

They are so hateful, and filled with such bitterness, that it is difficult to engage them in “conversation”.

Perhaps, somewhere in their back of their minds, all of these Modern American Liberals, realize that they are fighting a losing battle.

Christianity continues to thrive in America, despite their best efforts.

For, as the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia stated so eloquently,

God has been very good to us

America was built upon a Solid Rock.

To ignore our nation’s Faith-Based Founding and Heritage is to live in purposeful ignorance.

As President Ronald Reagan said,

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

And, as Hebrews 13:8 tells us,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Regardless of the Political Machinations of Modern American Liberals, God will have the final word, as to our country’s future.

He always does.

May God bless those who were affected by Hurricane Harvey and may He hold them in the hollow of His hand.

And, God bless those who are down there helping with the recovery.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

Southern Poverty Law Center Names Well-Known Christian Organization an “Active Hate Group”. Say What??? (A KJ Analysis)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

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“In our polarized times, radicals use the SPLC’s hate-group designations to justify violence. Politicians and corporations use the designation to marginalize and punish good men and women. Not long ago the Family Research Council narrowly avoided mass murder when a man tried to attack its headquarters. He was inspired in part by the SPLC’s hate-group designation, and his plan was to shoot FRC employees and stuff Chick-fil-A sandwiches into their dead, bleeding mouths.” – David French, Senior Writer, National Review, July 13, 2017

Foxnews.com reports that

A prominent evangelical ministry has filed a federal lawsuit against the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), saying it defamed the Christian organization as an “active hate group” because it endorses the biblical view of homosexuality.

The clash marks the latest chapter in a growing feud between those who embrace historic monotheistic beliefs, whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim, and progressive activists who have begun targeting mainstream Christian groups that hold traditional beliefs about sex and other issues. 

Officials of the D. James Kennedy Ministries, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., accuse the SPLC of deceptive practices, saying that it wrongly asserts that some organizations breed or fuel hate because of their religious positions on such things as same-sex marriage and other social issues.

“It’s completely disingenuous to tag D. James Kennedy Ministries as a hate group alongside the KKK and neo-Nazis,” Kennedy Ministries spokesman John Rabe said to Fox News. “We desire all people, with no exceptions, to receive the love of Christ and his forgiveness and healing. We unequivocally condemn violence, and we hate no one.”

“It’s ridiculous for the SPLC to falsely tag evangelical Christian ministries as ‘hate groups’ simply for upholding the 2,000-year-old Christian consensus on marriage and sexuality,” Rabe said. “It’s nothing more than an attempt to bulldoze over those who disagree with them, and it has a chilling effect on the free exercise of religion in a nation built on that. We decided not to let their falsehoods stand.”

Kennedy Ministries filed the lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Ala., where the SPLC is headquartered.

The SPLC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

SPLC critics say its original mission was a commendable one, setting out in 1971 to fight the Ku Klux Klan. The SPLC went after several Klan leaders, driving them into bankruptcy after court losses.

But increasingly, especially since Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, both liberals and conservatives say that SPLC has grown overzealous – bringing down its huge and very high-profile “hate-group” hammer on not just people and organizations that actually encourage hate and violence against certain groups, but also on those who simply don’t fall in line with liberal positions on hot-button social issues.

“They deserve praise because they used the law to hurt the Klan — a lot,” said Scott Walter, president of Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank that monitors nonprofits. “But as often happens in the charity world, it concocts new ways to keep donations flowing.”

“Hate is the issue here,” Walter said. “When you talk about hate groups, you’re talking about a group that is a threat because of its violent tendencies and racism. If you go up to somebody on the street and ask ‘What is a hate group?’ that is what they would take it to mean.”

“It’s an outrageous lie that some mainstream Christian group is a threat in terms of violence and racism,” Walter said.

In a statement after the lawsuit was filed, the Kennedy Ministries president wrote: “These false and illegal characterizations have a chilling effect on the free exercise of religion and on religious free speech for all people of faith. After having given the SPLC an opportunity to retract, we have undertaken this legal action, seeking a trial by a jury of our peers, to preserve our own rights under the law and to defend the religious free speech rights of all Americans.”

So, just who is this bunch of foaming-at-the-mouth, snot-nosed Liberals known as the SPLC?

Per discoverthenetworks.org…

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was founded in 1971 by two young Alabama lawyers, 35-year-old Morris Dees and 28-year-old Joseph Levin, Jr. The latter served as the Center’s legal director from 1971-76, but it was Dees who would emerge as the long-term “face” of the organization. A leftist who views the U.S. as an irredeemably racist nation, Dees, upon launching SPLC, joined forces with an African American who would serve as a perfect complement to him ideologically—the civil-rights activist Julian Bond.

Identifying itself as a “nonprofit civil rights organization” committed to “fighting hate and bigotry” while “seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society,” SPLC describes the United States as a country “seething” with “racial violence” and “intolerance against those who are different.” “Hate in America is a dreadful, daily constant,” says the Center, and violent crimes against members of minority groups like blacks, Hispanics, homosexuals, and Arabs/Muslims “are not isolated incidents,” but rather, “eruptions of a nation’s intolerance.” To combat this epidemic of “bigotry,” SPLC dedicates itself to “tracking and exposing” the activities of “hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States.” Specifically, the Center’s “Hate & Extremism” initiative publishes its findings in SPLC’s Hatewatch blog and in its quarterly journal, the Intelligence Report, which claims to be “the nation’s preeminent periodical monitoring the radical right in the U.S.”

SPLC first gained widespread national recognition in 1987, its seventeenth year of activity, by winning a $7 million verdict in a civil lawsuit against the United Klans of America (UKA) for the role that organization had played in the death of a black Alabama teenager. By the time that lawsuit was filed, UKA was already a destitute, impotent, disintegrating entity that virtually all white Americans had emphatically rejected; the SPLC suit merely drove the final nail into the UKA coffin. SPLC boasts that it has likewise won “crushing jury verdicts” that effectively shut down groups like the White Aryan Resistance (with a $12 million judgment in 1991), the White Patriot Party militia, and the Aryan Nations (with a $6.5 million judgment in 2001).

This has been SPLC’s modus operandi since its inception: to initiate “innovative lawsuits” against prominent hate groups for crimes that their individual members commit. In these suits, declares Morris Dees proudly, “We absolutely take no prisoners. When we get into a legal fight we go all the way.” The leftist writer Ken Silverstein, who in 2000 wrote a penetrating exposé of SPLC for Harper’s magazine, notes that the targets of these suits tend to be “mediagenic villains” who are “eager to show off their swastikas for the news cameras.” As Dees and SPLC well understand, such figures stand the best chance of triggering an emotional public response that translates, in turn, into financial contributions from donors eager to combat the perceived threat.

Inflating the Numbers on “Hate”

As of 2016, SPLC identified 892 active “hate groups” in the United States. Asserting that the vast majority of such organizations are “right wing,” the Center says they include “the Ku Klux Klan,” “the neo-Nazi movement,” “neo-Confederates,” “racist skinheads,” “antigovernment militias,” “Christian Identity adherents,” and a variety of “anti-immigrant,” “anti-LGBT,” “anti-Muslim,” and “alternative Right” organizations. While also identifying a tiny smattering of black separatist entities as hate groups, SPLC takes pains to point out that black organizations must be judged by a different standard than their white counterparts, because “much black racism in America is, at least in part, a response to centuries of white racism.” SPLC contends that from 2000 to 2012, the number of hate groups in the U.S. increased by 67%—a surge allegedly “fueled by anger and fear over the nation’s ailing economy, an influx of non-white immigrants, and the diminishing white majority, as symbolized by the election of the nation’s first African-American president”—i.e., Barack Obama. In other words, white Americans’ reflexive bigotry allegedly triggered a host of hate-filled responses to the increased political and cultural influence wielded by nonwhites. And America’s racists, by SPLC’s calculus, are almost unanimously conservatives—as evidenced by the caption featured in the “Hatewatch” section of SPLC’s website: “Hatewatch monitors and exposes the activities of the American radical right.” The radical left gets no mention at all.

 

Before I get started with my analysis, please allow me this disclaimer:

I am a member of a Contemporary Evangelical Church, which I attend regularly, before I go to work on Sunday.

My faith is not marginal. I stand on The Solid Rock, not shifting sands.

America is a Constitutional Republic, not a Theocracy. And, as such, Americans, including the 75% of us who declare that Jesus Christ is our Personal Savior, must each make our own individual choice as to whom would best represent us as the Leader of the Free World, based upon both logic and the Spiritual Gift of Discernment.

Logic dictated that I vote on November 8, 2016 for someone who would keep my family, my friends, and my country safe from the murderous barbarians that are at our gates. It also drove me to choose someone who actually had a chance to defeat the Democrat Candidate, the representative of the political party whose sitting President at the time had driven this Sovereign Nation straight down the Highway to Hell, over the last seven years.

Judging from the Republican Primaries’ outcome, and the overflowing crowds at his Campaign Rallies that the MSM, to this day, refuses to acknowledge, the overwhelming majority of voters Between the coasts believed that candidate to be Donald J. Trump.

During the Republican Primary Season, I was called everything but “a Child of God”, simply because I wrote factual posts about Donald J. Trump and stated that I would pencil in the bubble beside his name as my choice to fill the Office of President of the United States of America.

According to Modern American Liberals, like the SPLC, who are still in the those of a National Temper Tantrum over Hillary Clinton’s loss, Bible-believing Christians are a “Hate Group”

I beg to differ.

Christianity is the faith of the overwhelming majority of Americans.

That being said, Christianity, the faith of the overwhelming majority of Americans has played a part not only in the birth of our nation, but also the shaping of its Domestic and Foreign Policies.

There was a time when Family Historical Records, such as births and deaths, were recorded in the Family Bible

In fact, SPLC, our Legal System was built on Judeo-Christian Principles.

To deny that fact is to attempt to rewrite history.

There is no such codicil in the Constitution of the United States of America as “The Separation of Church and State”.

Per the website, usconsitution.net,

One of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, is directly responsible for giving us this phrase. In his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, then-President Jefferson used the phrase — it was probably not the first time, but it is the most memorable one. He said:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god, [the people, in the 1st Amendment,] declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.

Jefferson did not have a hand in the authoring of the Constitution, nor of the 1st Amendment, but he was an outspoken proponent of the separation of church and state, going back to his time as a legislator in Virginia. In 1785, Jefferson drafted a bill that was designed to quash an attempt by some to provide taxes for the purpose of furthering religious education. He wrote that such support for religion was counter to a natural right of man:

… no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

Jefferson’s act was passed, though not without some difficulty, in Virginia. Eyler Robert Coates wrote that the act was copied in the acts or constitutions of several states, either in words or in concepts. Jefferson himself was in France by the time word of the act reached Europe, and he wrote back to America that his act was well-thought of and admired.

However, unlike the tyranny in England that our Founding Fathers escaped from, no one in this present free nation has ever been forced to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And, that fact is extremely evident in some of the comments one sees on Facebook Political Pages and Political Websites.

But, I digress…

In recent times, especially under Former President, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), a concerted effort was made to marginalize Christian Americans, putting us in a box if you will. in fact, a lot of Liberals and “libertarians” continue to believe that Christianity Americans should only practice our faith on Sunday Mornings from 9 – 12, and be seen and not heard the rest of week.

To which I personally answer, with two quotes from the Bible,

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. – Matthew 27:5 (NIV)

…”Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:37 (NIV)

And, boys and girls, that is MY right as an American.

For decades, American churches, like the black congregations in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, have invited local politicians to speak from their pulpits. While Modern American Liberals have had conniption fits over white churches around the country doing the same thing, they have not said a mumblin’ word about the actions of a constituency which historically votes Democratic.

Imagine that.

The Johnson Amendment was a violation of Christian Americans’ Constitutional Rights to begin with, whose selective enforcement has been an intentional act of self-serving hypocrisy by the Democratic Party.

The 45th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, was exactly right in what he told a meeting of Evangelical Christians during the Presidential Campaign that:

They took away the voice of people that want to see good things happen. It’s not like they took away a bad voice, an evil voice. They took away a voice.

Last November that voice was heard loud and clear.

And now, just like the rest of their desperate Liberal Brethren and Sisters, the Southern Poverty Law Center is trying to bring down President Trump and his Base, including Evangelicals like myself, by accusing us of ‘HATRED, VIOLENCE, AND RAAACISM” because “Identity Politics” worked so well (/sarc) when they used it during the Presidential Campaign of Hillary Clinton.

One would have thought that the “Smartest People in the Room” would have learned from their defeat.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Cleaning Up the Socialist Disaster in Venezuela: Trump “Not Going to Rule Out a Military Option”

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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I’ll say one thing for our President, he is certainly not the least bit afraid to do whatever it takes to get somebody’s attention.

The Wall Street Journal reports that

President Donald Trump warned of possible military action in Venezuela on Friday, even as he amplified threats of an armed response to North Korea missile buildup.

Mr. Trump said a military option is possible in Venezuela, though he provided few details, while the president also stepped up his warnings to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as he spoke at a press conference at his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., on Friday.

“I’m not going to rule out a military option,” Mr. Trump told reporters when asked about the situation in the South American country. “Venezuela is a mess.”

“We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary,” he said.

The remarks came a day after President Nicolás Maduro said in a speech to the newly formed constituent assembly that he wanted to speak with Mr. Trump by phone or meet him when he visits the U.S. next month for the United Nations General Assembly. “If he is so interested in Venezuela, here I am,” Mr. Maduro said Thursday. “Mr. Donald Trump, here is my hand.”

But Mr. Maduro also reiterated his criticism of Mr. Trump as the leader of an “imperial power,” calling him a threat to the global order. “With Donald Trump, a dangerous class of lobbyists, multimillionaires and extreme right-wingers reached the presidency, capturing all of the positions of power in the government,” Mr. Maduro said. “Today, they are threatening world peace.”

On Friday, Venezuela’s Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said in a Twitter message that Mr. Trump’s comments are “the gravest and most insolent threat ever made against the fatherland of Bolivar,” referring to the country’s independence hero.

A Pentagon spokesman said Friday that the Department of Defense had received no orders from the White House regarding Venezuela and referred all questions on the matter to the White House.

The White House later said that Mr. Maduro on Friday, before Mr. Trump made his remarks, had requested a call with the U.S. president. Mr. Trump refused the request, citing Mr. Maduro’s steps that the U.S. has characterized as “the path of dictatorship,” the White House said.

“The United States stands with the people of Venezuela in the face of their continued oppression by the Maduro regime. President Trump will gladly speak with the leader of Venezuela as soon as democracy is restored in that country,” the White House said.

Venezuela has been gripped by antigovernment protest and unrest, with some 120 people killed over the past four months, according to Luisa Ortega, the country’s attorney general who was ousted from office for her activism against Mr. Maduro.

Mr. Maduro has been consolidating power in Caracas in ways deemed dictatorial by American officials and which have led to tightened sanctions against his regime.

Venezuelan opposition supporters had mixed reaction to Mr. Trump’s announcement.

“I’m worried by these remarks because they could deepen the political, social and economic crisis of the country,” said Caracas advertisement agent Carmen Gonzalez.

But more radical government opponents said military intervention is the only way to get rid of the authoritarian government.

“This government has ruined us, has destroyed this country. I don’t see this [military] option as bad as long as this government goes,” said Angelica Azuaje, an architect from a Caracas suburb of Los Teques.

Political analysts said Mr. Trump’s comments might inadvertently bolster the Venezuelan president by seeming to affirm what the late Hugo Chávez and Mr. Maduro have been saying for years: That the U.S. is out to get the country’s Socialist government.

“This is made to order for Maduro,” said David Smilde, a specialist on Latin America and Venezuela at Tulane University. “Domestically, this will lead to 24/7 state media coverage. It could lead to heightened state of alert in the military and perhaps more repression of the opposition. All of these things are under way, but it provides an even more conducive environment for it.”

Opposition leaders Friday moved to distance themselves from Mr. Trump’s comments.

“Insolent Trump!” Henri Falcon, opposition governor of Lara state, said in a Twitter message. “This mess is ours! Sort out your own, of which you have plenty.”

Polls in the country show less than 10% of Venezuelans support a military solution to the country’s crisis.

In speeches, Mr. Maduro often defends his administration’s policies and crackdown on critics by saying the country’s political and economic crises have been caused by opponents and foreign powers meddling in Venezuela’s affairs. He has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. wants to invade the oil-rich nation and has called Mr. Trump an “emperor.”

“Maduro is going to play this like a fiddle,” said Frank Mora, the former undersecretary of defense for the Western Hemisphere at the Pentagon during the Obama administration. “For much less, he has accused the U.S. of imperialism. And now he’s got the president of the U.S. talking about military action. I mean, this just plays right in to [his] whole narrative.”

One possible rationale for Mr. Trump’s comments could be to try to ratchet up pressure on Venezuela to persuade Congress and other countries to levy stronger economic sanctions against the nation, said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, a nonprofit that focuses on the region.

“Compared to military action, stronger economic sanctions may not seem so bad in response, so it may open up that option more,” Mr. Farnsworth said.

The comments could have a negative effect on neighboring countries, which have become outspoken about Venezuela’s authoritarianism. On Friday, Peru said it was expelling Venezuela’s ambassador, giving him five days to leave the country.

In a region with a long history of U.S. military intervention, many governments will be wary of seeming to support any U.S. action.

“At a time when—finally—Venezuela’s neighbors are coming together to criticize and isolate and delegitimize Maduro, the president makes a statement that I think can have a chilling effect on that process, because no one wants to be associated with an effort that might seem to support any possible U.S. effort to invade a Latin American country,” Mr. Mora said.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will travel to the region next week, in a trip aimed at reinforcing regional opposition to the Venezuelan regime, boosting the Colombian peace process, reversing a tide of coca cultivation, and laying the groundwork for potential bilateral trade deals.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Treasury Department placed sanctions on eight members of the Venezuelan legislature, due in part to their close ties to Mr. Maduro.

Despite being ousted from her post, Ms. Ortega is continuing her investigations into corruption. Her probes, though certain to be ignored at home, could lead to more sanctions and greater financial isolation for Mr. Maduro’s government, according to lawyers and human-rights activists.

I can remember a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far away) when I was in elementary school. We put on a presentation for our parents about South America. I played Simon Bolivar, the “Founding Father” of Venezuela. I can remember learning about how beautiful and modern a country that Venezuela was.

Now, a half-century later, that once verdant land resembles Hiroshima after the Enola Gay dropped the Atomic Bomb.

What happened?

Allow me to explain, boys and girls…

On a Sunday, in October of 2008, outside of Toledo, Ohio, Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Hussein Obama met a plumber named Joe Wurzelbacher. Joe, who owned his own plumbing company, dared to ask Obama about his proposed tax hikes. In fact, he told Obama that he did not want to pay higher taxes, he was already paying enough. Obama told him,

Now, I respect the disagreement. I just want you to be clear – it’s not that I want to punish your success – I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you – that they’ve got a chance at success too.”

…I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.

Obama was talking about the part of Marxist Theory known as “Socialism”.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Socialism is

  1. any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

  2.   a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

  3. a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

If you listen to Modern American Liberals, “Socialism” is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

The problem is Socialism has never worked in any country which has installed it as a form of government.

The failed application of the Marxist Theory of Socialism is responsible for the desolate, impoverished wasteland that is the country of Venezuela, a country which has been “sharing the wealth” for decades.

WSJ.com posted the following story on their website a few months ago…

Jean Pierre Planchart, a year old, has the drawn face of an old man and a cry that is little more than a whimper. His ribs show through his skin. He weighs just 11 pounds.His mother, Maria Planchart, tried to feed him what she could find combing through the trash—scraps of chicken or potato. She finally took him to a hospital in Caracas, where she prays a rice-milk concoction keeps her son alive.

“I watched him sleep and sleep, getting weaker, all the time losing weight,” said Ms. Planchart, 34 years old. “I never thought I’d see Venezuela like this.”

Her country was once Latin America’s richest, producing food for export. Venezuela now can’t grow enough to feed its own people in an economy hobbled by the nationalization of private farms, and price and currency controls.

Venezuela has the world’s highest inflation—estimated by the International Monetary Fund to reach 720% this year—making it nearly impossible for families to make ends meet. Since 2013, the economy has shrunk 27%, according to local investment bank Torino Capital; imports of food have plunged 70%.

Hordes of people, many with children in tow, rummage through garbage, an uncommon sight a year ago. People in the countryside pick farms clean at night, stealing everything from fruits hanging on trees to pumpkins on the ground, adding to the misery of farmers hurt by shortages of seed and fertilizer. Looters target food stores. Families padlock their refrigerators.

Three in four Venezuelans said they had lost weight last year, an average of 19 pounds, according to the National Poll of Living Conditions, an annual study by social scientists. People here, in a mix of rage and humor, call it the Maduro diet after President Nicolás Maduro.

For more than a month, Venezuelans have protested against the increasingly authoritarian government of Mr. Maduro; by Friday, more than 35 people had been reported killed in the unrest. The country’s Food Ministry, the president’s office, the Communications Ministry and the Foreign Ministry didn’t return calls or emails requesting comment for this article.

Of course they didn’t. You don’t expect them to admit that Socialism is has destroyed  their county, do you?

If it were up to Modern American Liberals, the minority political ideology in America, our Sovereign Nation would be traveling down the same ill-fated path that brought Venezuela to ruin.

Over the past couple of years, Modern American Liberals have been so desperate to “radically change” our country that they have been making the outlandish claim that Jesus Christ was a Socialist, during their arguments on the Internet defending their attempts to install Socialism as America’s Form of Government.

In an opinion piece for 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.

We are a Constitutional Republic.

I was sitting at my computer last night after work, trying to think of some pithy words and elegant phrases, with which to summarize average Americans’ continuing battle against America’s wannabe Socialists, when I remembered what the late great American Movie Star and Outspoken Patriot, John Wayne, said about the subject, back in 1975. It could have just as easily have been yesterday.

…I always thought I was a liberal but I came up terribly surprised when I found I was a right wing conservative extremist…I have always listened to every human being I’ve ever met about how I should feel.  But this so-called new liberal group… they never listen to your point of view and they make a decision as to what you think and they’re articulate enough and in control of enough of the press to force that image out for the average person.  For some reason, maybe it’s these pictures, they have not been able to do that with me…it hasn’t affected my career in popularity in spite of the fact that they’ve tried to make them do it.  There isn’t a hell of a lot we can do to change human behavior.  We keep making laws to try to change human behavior but we can’t do it…You’re being conned into Keynesianism and socialism now but it isn’t going to stop the selfishness of human behavior.  It isn’t going to stop the greed.  If you take $20 and give a dollar to every son of a b!tch in the room, you come back a year later one of the b@st@rds will have most of the money.  It’s just human nature.  We’re never gonna whip it with a lot of laws. 

As communication gets better and you make people conscious of somebody in trouble, starving or something like that, the average person will help…I think there are people who try to affect a thinking where they know more than some other son of a b!tch and try to pull a false impression on what human nature is.  We’ve proven we go back to hope at the first opportunity…and bam they’re out there ready to grab it.  So we are optimistic; we have to be optimistic.  What else would we be if you lose optimism?”

The Duke was a prophet.

I believe that one of the main reasons that Liberals are continuing to show their collective as…err…backsides is they fact that they know, in their cold dark hearts, that Trump is going to succeed, as the newly released job numbers are showing, in bringing back jobs and, in turn, reviving America’s near-extinct Middle Class.

Because if capitalism is working the way it is supposed to, under the watchful eye of an AMERICAN President, who actually has some business acumen gained through Real World Expereience, the Left’s cry for “Socialism” is going to fall on deaf ears.

And, that is a good thing.

Because as Lady Margaret Thatcher once so famously quipped,

The trouble with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.

…and, you end up like Venezuela.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Christianity, Socialism, and the Future of the USA (A KJ Sunday Morning Reflection)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

Washington-Praying

I began writing my daily articles in April of 2010.

Over seven years later, the struggle to prevent Liberals from rewriting our nation’s history continues.

As does the fight to keep the greed and avarice of those promoting the installment of Marxist Theory in our political, medical, and religious institutions from consuming our nation in a fire of self-destruction, as it has those before us.

Friends have asked me if I believe that Christ would be in favor of the “Social Justice” movement that has infiltrated some churches in America, replacing Christian Doctrine with a Modern Liberal Political Agenda.

In order for you to understand how I and the overwhelming majority of Americans living here in the Heartland feel about that question, I believe you first need a working knowledge as to whom Jesus was.

As some of you know, I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. The following piece was written in 1912 by the editor of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tennessee, C.P.J. Mooney. Since then, it has remained so popular, that the newspaper has published it on their Op Ed page every year at Christmas.

JESUS, THE PERFECT MAN

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’s 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.

No, I do not believe that Jesus would be a part of the social justice movement. 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.

In a opinion piece for 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.

The following is courtesy of adherents.com:

There were 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. There were 48 signers of the Articles of Confederation. All 55 delegates who participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 are regarded as Founding Fathers, in fact, they are often regarded as the Founding Fathers because it is this group that actually debated, drafted and signed the U.S. Constitution, which is the basis for the country’s political and legal system. Only 39 delegates actually signed the document, however, meaning there were 16 non-signing delegates – individuals who were Constitutional Convention delegates but were not signers of the Constitution.

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.

Courtesy adherents.com

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%
TOTAL 204

The Founding Fathers were, I do not doubt, aware of the following passage:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. – 2 Corinthians 3:17

The Liberals and Atheists who reply to my blogs on Facebook and other Internet Sites insist that Crosses and other Christian symbols have no place in the Public Square.  They wish for Christians to remain unseen and unheard from, worshiping in private, and for Christian Americans to  “compromise” our Faith…i.e., shut up about Homosexual Marriage and other sins,  being used as political expediencies to further an agenda to “radically change” America into something that it was never meant to be.

Well,  y’all can wish for a unicorn to magically appear in your backyard…but that ain’t gonna happen, either.

As a free nation, all you who are non-believers have every right to exercise your faith.

However, as Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin of the Jewish Policy Center clearly explains:

[I] understand that I live . . . in a Christian nation, albeit one where I can follow my faith as long as it doesn’t conflict with the nation’s principles. The same option is open to all Americans and will be available only as long as this nation’s Christian roots are acknowledged and honored.

…Without a vibrant and vital Christianity, America is doomed, and without America, the west is doomed. Which is why I, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, devoted to Jewish survival, the Torah, and Israel am so terrified of American Christianity caving in. God help Jews if America ever becomes a post-Christian society! Just think of Europe!

Is the Rabbi prophetic? I pray that he isn’t.

I have, however, noticed in the last few years, a propensity among those who have not been raised in a Christian home, to be intolerant toward those who have…as witnessed in public forms, ranging from Collegiate Classrooms to Facebook Political Pages.

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?

Watch the political maneuvering up on Capitol Hill and see who talks about Freedom and Responsibility and who talks about the right of “citizens”, both legal and illegal, to “free stuff” like “socialized medicine”.

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

Until He Comes,

KJ

A KJ Sunday Morning Reflection: With Our Country Being Intentionally Politically Torn Apart, Who Are We Actually Fighting?

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics, UncategorizedLeave a comment

bible-american-flag1

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. – Edmund Burke

If you, like myself , are a Political Junkie, and spend any time at all on Internet Political Website comments sections and political chat boards, you might think that American Christians are an endangered species.
Far from it.
According to a Gallup Poll taken in 2015, 3/4ths of our country believe that Jesus Christ is their Personal Savior and proudly proclaim themselves to be Christians.
So, if Americans believe in the Son of God, does that mean that they believe in the Fallen Angel, formerly known as Lucifer, also?
You betcha.
 In September of 2013, YouGov.com conducted a poll which showed that almost six in ten Americans believe that Satan is real, and more than half of Americans believe that people can be possessed by demons.

Is all this upheaval our nation is feverishly attempting to recover from, with no help from “The Resistances”, “Antifa”, , or whatever you want to call the Anti-American immature idiots, due to some sort of Satanic Influence attempting to tip the scales in the fight between Good and Evil, across our land?

A man, who would be considered a cornball by the standards of today’s Socially-Liberal Fiscally Conservative Liberals, Moderates, and “Libertarians”, wrote a prophetic analysis of today’s current events.

This speech was broadcast by legendary ABC Radio commentator Paul Harvey on April 3, 1965:

If I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States. I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. In the ears of the young marrieds, I would whisper that work is debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to say after me: “Our Father, which art in Washington” . . .

If I were the devil, I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull an uninteresting. I’d threaten T.V. with dirtier movies and vice versa. And then, if I were the devil, I’d get organized. I’d infiltrate unions and urge more loafing and less work, because idle hands usually work for me. I’d peddle narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. And I’d tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions . . . let those run wild. I would designate an atheist to front for me before the highest courts in the land and I would get preachers to say “she’s right.” With flattery and promises of power, I could get the courts to rule what I construe as against God and in favor of pornography, and thus, I would evict God from the courthouse, and then from the school house, and then from the houses of Congress and then, in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and I would deify science because that way men would become smart enough to create super weapons but not wise enough to control them.

If I were Satan, I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of Christmas, a bottle. If I were the devil, I would take from those who have and I would give to those who wanted, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And then, my police state would force everybody back to work. Then, I could separate families, putting children in uniform, women in coal mines, and objectors in slave camps. In other words, if I were Satan, I’d just keep on doing what he’s doing.

Paul Harvey, Good Day.

John Adams, the second President of these United States, delivered the following message to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts on October 11, 1798:

Gentleman,

While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays I have received from Major-General Hull and Brigadier, General Walker your unanimous address from Lexington, animated with a martial spirit, and expressed with a military dignity becoming your character and the memorable plains on which it was adopted. In the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the World; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Noah Webster: (EVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER; JUDGE; LEGISLATOR; EDUCATOR; “SCHOOLMASTER TO AMERICA”), wrote

[T]he religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles… This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.129

The moral principles and precepts found in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws.

All the… evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.131

[O]ur citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion.

[T]he Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.

The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society – the best book for regulating the temporal concerns of men.

[T]he Christian religion… is the basis, or rather the source, of all genuine freedom in government… I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of Christianity have not a controlling influence.

Are the Powers of Darkness winning?

For example. if  you look at Horror Movies nowadays, all of them seem to seek to glorify the Powers of Darkness….and they seem to be very popular with young Americans.

Why is the Occult, including Satan and his Demons so fascinating to impressionable Americans?

People who take the existence of  Satan lightly, eventually wind up in some sort of trouble, and those who worship Satan wind up in even greater trouble.

Back in the 1960s, the late, beautiful actress Jayne Mansfield posed for a series of publicity pictures with the Head Priest of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey. The pictures showing her with LaVey, included several shots of taking their version of Communion, simulating drinking blood from a goblet, offered by the priest. She even wore a pink and black medallion of Satan and the goat-headed Baphomet to the 1966 San Francisco Film Festival. Later, the beautiful actress died in a freak car accident in which she was decapitated.

Now, far be it from me to link one to the other. That is up for you to decide for yourself.

Is all this upheaval our nation is currently facing, caused by the Democrats, the Propaganda Arm, the MSM, and their young minions, due to some sort of Satanic Influence attempting to tip the scales in the fight between Good and Evil, across our land?

The reason that our nation is facing the difficulties we are is the belief by those who proclaim themselves to be the “smartest people in the room”, that they are above the old-fashioned, passe notions of morality and ethics, good and evil, and the Sovereignty of God.

They have made a grave mistake.

Evil exists and these fools opened the door to Satan in our society a long time ago.

When it all comes crashing down around them, what are they going to say?

The Devil made me do it?

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

Until He Comes,

KJ

A KJ Sunday Morning Reflection: Political Pope Preaches Political Philosophy Instead of Psalms. Source: Secular Socialism.

On By kingsjesterIn ChristianityLeave a comment

shutterstock_357934955_edit

2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say? 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

11 She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” – John 8: 2-11

The well-known admonition,

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

derives from this scripture.

As a Believer who had read God’s Holy Word from cover-to-cover in the past, 6 years in a row, I can tell you that you get something new out of the Bible every time you read it.

…if you are paying attention and not just reading the words.

CNSNews.com reports that

Pope Francis told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Thursday that the United States of America—and Russia, China, North Korea and Bashar al Assad’s Syria—have “a distorted vision of the world”–(“una visione distorta del mondo,” as reportetd in Italian by La Repubblica). 
The pope made the observation in an interview with La Repubblica reporter Eugenio Scalfari.

“Last Thursday, I got a call from Pope Francis,” Scalfari reported. “It was about noon, and I was at the newspaper when my phone rang.”

He said the pope wanted to see him at four that afternoon, according to a Google translation of the Italian report.

“Pope Francis told me to be very concerned about the meeting of the G20,” Scalfari wrote.

“I am afraid there are very dangerous alliances between powers who have a distorted view of the world: America and Russia, China and North Korea, Russia and Assad in the war in Syria,” the pope said.

As printed in Italian in La Repubblica, the pope said: “Temo che ci siano alleanze assai pericolose tra Potenze che hanno una visione distorta del mondo: America e Russia, Cina e Corea del Nord, Russia e Assad nella guerra di Siria.”

As transclated into English by Agence France Presse, which picked up the story, Pope Francis told La Repubblica: “I worry about very dangerous alliances between powers which have a distorted vision of the world: America and Russia, China and North Korea, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Syria’s Bashar al-) Assad over the war in Syria.”

“The danger concerns immigration,” the pope continued to La Repubblica, as translated by AFP. “Our main and unfortunately growing problem in the world today is that of the poor, the weak, the excluded, which includes migrants.”

“This is why the G20 worries me: It mainly hits immigrants,” Pope Francis said, according to AFP.

In the same interview, according to La Repubblica, Pope Francis said that Europe must take on a “federal structure.”

“I also thought many times to this problem and came to the conclusion that, not only but also for this reason, Europe must take as soon as possible a federal structure,” the pope said, according to the Google translation of the La Repubblica article.

Speaking of “distorted visions of the world”…

Nice glass Vatican you live in, your eminence.

Newsmax.com reported recently that

Vatican police raided a gay orgy at the apartment of a Cardinal’s aide and Pope Francis was described by Italian media as “enraged.”

The apartment, where Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio’s secretary lives, belongs to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the arm charged with investigating clerical sex abuse, noted the New York Post, citing the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Coccopalmerio is a key aide to Pope Francis.

Police arrested the secretary, who is a priest, after taking him to a clinic for detox from the drugs he ingested, noted the Post.

Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that Pope Francis was “enraged” by the incident and that it happened on property owned by the church.

The newspaper stated that police raided the apartment in late June after receiving complaints from neighbors, said the Post. Authorities found men using drugs and engaging in homosexual activity when they arrived, reported the Italian press.

London’s Daily Mail said Coccopalmerio leads the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and was said to have once recommended his secretary for a promotion to bishop.

The Daily Mail said the raid was just the latest black eye for the Vatican, which was dealing a two-year investigation that connected its finance chief Cardinal George Pell with historical sexual offenses.

Pell charged that he is not guilty of the charges, which police have yet to reveal publicly. The cardinal said he is looking forward to defending himself after “leaks to the media” about the case and “relentless character assassination,” said the Daily Mail.

This is not the first time that “Il Papa” has made his feelings known about America’s Political System.

According to the website, churchauthority.org, the Pope has three main duties:

He is the Supreme Pastor.

That means that he represents Christ’s love and concern for every single individual. That is why the Pope’s priority lies in getting to know people, understanding how they live, listening to their interests and sharing their sufferings and their joys. On no account should the Pope allow his contact with ordinary people to be obstructed by a multitude of administrative duties.

He is the Unifier of the People of God.

Because of the international character of the Church, this will create many demands. The good of the world-wide Church and the autonomy of local Churches need to be balanced. That is why the Pope should guide and inspire the Central Synod of Bishops so that it can efficiently work out agreements and general Church policies.

He is the Prime Witness to Faith.

This includes both preaching [= announcing the message to non-Christians] and teaching [= explaining an element of Christ’s message in today’s context]. On very rare occasions the Pope is the main exponent of the infallible understanding of faith [=inerrancy] that is carried by the whole people of God. The Pope can only do so after listening to the People of God and discerning the faith they carry in their hearts.

 

In February of 2016, while returning from Mexico, the pope was asked if U.S. Catholics could vote for someone with Trump’s views on immigration, particularly on the candidate’s promise to build a wall at the border with Mexico. He said a person with such views was “not Christian.”

Trump struck back, calling the pope’s comments “disgraceful.”

By now, those of you Liberals who are reading this post are probably participating in a synchronized wave, while chanting “Go, Pope, go!” with a joint in one hand and Mao’s “Little Red Book” in the other while saying to yourselves,

The Pope was right. You’re attempting a false equivalency. Modern America has no “Papal Treasure Vault” to protect.

That’s where you’re wrong, Skippy…and…err…Skippette.

Stop munching your Cheetos sitting there nekkid in a beanbag chair in Mom’s Basement for just a minute and I will tell you why.

Now, about your “Glass House”, Your Eminence, and the traditional Papal Attitude toward “immigrants” and “migrants”…

The wall around Vatican City  was built in 846, after Muslim raiders known as the Saracens looted Old St. Peter’s Basilica and the Papal Basilica of St. Paul outside the walls. The pirates took priceless treasures from the shrines.

In retaliation for the sack of some of the most sacred sites in Christendom, Pope Leo IV created the Leonine Wall, which completely surrounds the Vatican Hill. Additional defenses were added in the 15th and 16th centuries.

So, Liberals and Socialists (but, I repeat myself) ARE hypocrites.

Even if they wear a Papal Robe and Ring.

Now, Snowflakes…listen up.

America’s “Papal Treasure” is our people, especially our young people, who are so often the targets of those who have illegally entered our Sovereign Country through our porous Southern Border.

If Pope Francis has the right to protect his Papal Treasure behind an impenetrable wall, shouldn’t America have the right to do the same?

Nowhere in his Job Description, does it say that the Pontiff gets to interfere in the Political Affairs of any nation, much less, those of the Greatest Country on the Face of the Earth.

Pope Francis is the first Pope who represents the Far Left Political Viewpoint, which encompasses Modern Liberalism and the failed Marxist Political Ideology of Socialism.

He also comes from Latin America. It is not a coincidence that the recent invasion of underage illegal “immigrants” comes from that area, as well.

I had a poster on a Facebook Political Page scold me a while back for pointing out Il Papa’s Political Ideology. I informed them that the Pope, while being “Christ’s Representative” on Earth, is not himself, the Son of God, and, is therefore, an imperfect man, like the rest of us.

I do not believe that Jesus would be a part of the Social Justice Movement, which is so popular among Liberal Churches, today. 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 Pope is the Leader of the Catholic Church.

No disrespect meant, but shouldn’t he be more concerned about winning individual souls for God, than “saving the Collective” and advancing the Political Ideology of Marx?

Until He Comes,

KJ

A KJ Sunday Morning Reflection: Why Trump’s Saturday Night Independence Day Address Was Important

On By kingsjesterIn ChristianityLeave a comment

 

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God has been very good to us. – Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

Foxnews.com reports that

President Donald Trump delivered an Independence Day address honoring American veterans — hundreds of whom came from the Washington, D.C. area to attend the “Celebrate Freedom Rally” at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

“America is a land rich with heroes,” said Trump at the event, which included wounded warriors who are patients at the Walter Reed Medical Center.

During his speech, the president personally saluted World War II veteran Harry Miller for his lifelong service and wounded warrior Luis Avila. Miller enlisted in the reserves at 15, even though he was not old enough to serve. He fought in Europe and in The Battle of the Bulge. Avila, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was on a fifth deployment when he was wounded, losing his leg, during an intelligence reconnaissance mission.

“We all bleed the same red blood,” said Trump, promising an adoring crowd that America would “win again.” 

Choirs performed “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and other hymns and debuted a song with the lyrics “make America great again” — Trump’s campaign slogan.

“Since the signing of the Declaration of Independence 241 years ago, America always affirmed that liberty comes from our creator. Our rights are given to us by God, and no earthly force can ever take those rights away. That is why my administration is transferring power out of Washington and returning that power back where it belongs to the people,” Trump said.

“Our religious liberty is enshrined in the very first amendment in the Bill of Rights. The American founders invoked our creator four times in the Declaration of Independence,” said Trump. “Benjamin Franklin reminded his colleagues at the Constitutional Convention to begin by bowing their heads in prayer. Inscribed on our currency are the words: ‘In God We Trust.’”

Evangelical megachurch First Baptist Dallas sponsored the event. First Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress, who was a strong backer of Trump, said in a statement: “We have in President Donald J. Trump one of the great patriots of our modern era and a president who cherishes the sacrifice and service of those in our armed forces.”

Overwhelming support from evangelical voters helped propel Trump to victory in 2016. ”The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, but I’m president and they’re not,” he said.

Before I read the above article, I was reading a thread on a Facebook Political Page which I frequent. Its author, a raging Liberal, was bemoaning the fact that prayer is said both before and after football games.

My reply to that blithering idiot was as follows, and I quote,

If you have a problem with the faith of 75% of Americans, either get over it, don’t attend sporting events, or move elsewhere.

That got me to thinking: How did we get to where we are?

We have a loud, but very vocal and demanding minority trying to exert their will and dictate how the overwhelming majority of Americans practice our faith and live our lives.

I started First Grade in 1963. Also in 1963, a very important case was brought before the Supreme Court by a bitter, old atheist named Madalyn Murray O’Hair:

School prayer was the focus of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, a militant left wing atheist with close ties to the American Communist Party, when she filed a lawsuit against the school board of Baltimore. The local court judge, J. Gilbert Pendergast, dismissed the petition stating, “It is abundantly clear that petitioners’ real objective is to drive every concept of religion out of the public school system.” The case went to the Maryland Court of Appeals, and the court ruled, “Neither the First nor the Fourteenth Amendment was intended to stifle all rapport between religion and government.”

The “School Prayer” case then made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Leonard Kerpelman addressed the court saying prayer in the public schools had been tolerated for so long that it had become traditional and that anything that is unconstitutional does not become constitutional through tradition. He went on to say the Constitution had erected a “wall of separation” between church and state, at which point Justice Potter Steward interrupted, asking where this wording appears. Kerpelman was stumped and an embarrassing silence followed. When he regained his composure, he stated that the text was not explicit on the point but that it had been interpreted to mean so.

Remarkably, the National Council of Churches and several Jewish organizations favored Madalyn O’Hair’s case! Not a single Christian organization filed a brief in support of school prayer. The Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in favor of abolishing school prayer and Bible reading in the public schools. Justice Tom Clark wrote, “Religious freedom, it has long been recognized that government must be neutral and, while protecting all, must prefer none and disparage none.” The federal government considers atheism to be a religion, and this Supreme Court ruling favored atheism, at the expense of the Christian majority.

Down here in Dixie, we still pray at school functions…and that fact drives that idiotic bunch of atheists up in the Great White North, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, absolutely nuts. So much so, that they have made it their mission in life, to sue every school that dares have any sort of prayer at any event, on campus or off.

The FFRF has achieved a modicum of success in our court system. However, at least in the South, school organizations such as the Fellowship of Christian Students and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes are still flourishing.

On a side note, I am proud to have helped raise a step-son, who was the head of both of these organizations at his high school, and has attended seminary.

I remember back in elementary school, every morning we began school by singing “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” and then, reciting The Pledge of Allegiance. Even remembering that ritual today, I find comfort in it.

In the South, at least in the Mississippi County in which I live, the school day still begins with the recitation of the Pledge, which is led by a group of students, standing around a microphone in the Principal’s Office.

Unfortunately, that is no longer the case in many schools around our blessed land.

Nowadays, good old-fashioned American Patriotism is not considered Politically Correct.

And, I am certain that there will be all sorts of backlash from Liberals, both in the MSM and on Social Media, over the President’s ignoring the mythical “Separation of Church and State”, a phrase which does not appear in our Constitution, or any other legal and binding document for that matter.

But, I digress…

So, what is the cause of this 180 degree turn from where we were, as a mostly cohesive society, based on love of God and Country, which I remember so fondly from my childhood, to where we are now as a country comprised, to a certain extent,  of individuals, who believe in relative morality, situational ethics, and a malleable Constitution.

Learned individuals have been trying to discern exactly what has caused this Societal and Cultural Decline, and in the process, they have blamed it on everything from poor schools to poverty to malnutrition.

Being a simple man, (Hey, that would make a great title for a rock song. Oh, wait. It was. Never mind.) I believe that because Americans have wanted, for at least 3 generations now, to give their children everything materialistically possible, they have to a great extent, ignored their children’s spirituality.

God’s Word tells us that we, as parents, should

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)

The Obama Administration tried to step in and fulfill the role of “parent”, making the situation that I’ve been describing even worse.

Now, as President Trump begins his seventh month in office, we witness him reaching out to and acknowledging a group of Americans who played a very important role in his election: Evangelical Christians.

Christianity, the faith of the overwhelming majority of Americans has played a part not only in the birth of our nation, but also the shaping of its Domestic and Foreign Policies.

To deny that fact is to attempt to rewrite history.

However, unlike the tyranny in England that our Founding Fathers escaped from, no one in this present free nation has ever been forced to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And, that fact, as I noted earlier,  is extremely evident in some of the comments one sees on Facebook Political Pages and Political Websites.

But,  again, I digress…

In recent times, especially under the Former Democrat President, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), a concerted effort has been made to marginalize Christian Americans, putting us in a box if you will. A lot of Liberals and “libertarians” seem to believe that Christian Americans should only practice our faith on Sunday Mornings from 9 – 12, and be seen and not heard the rest of week.

The reason that last night’s address was important is that it signaled that Christian Americans will not be marginalized by THIS Administration and President Trump has no qualms about referencing God’s Role in the history of our Sovereign Nation.

As I mentioned earlier, I am sure that there will be some major league whining and moaning from these same groups about the President’s Saturday Evening Speech, sponsored by First Baptist Church Dallas.

To which I personally answer, with two quotes from the Bible,

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. – Matthew 27:5 (NIV)

…”Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:37 (NIV)

For as President Ronald Wilson Reagan said,

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

Until He Comes,

KJ

A Country Forged By Faith: Jefferson, Madison, and Church in the Capitol Building (A KJ Sunday Morning Special)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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PROLOGUE: I originally wrote this post on September 18, 2011. I picked today to re-post it, as we wait on the Supreme Court to make decisions that will affect the very fabric of our society.  Because you see, boys and girls, despite what Liberals and Atheists will tell you, (but, I repeat myself) America was founded by Christians, who escaped religious persecution to come to this sacred land, in order to freely practice their faith.

Please be in prayer for the Supreme Court, our Brightest and Best serving in the Armed Forces, President Trump, Vice-President Pence, our Congressional Leaders, and our country, that this nation, founded under God, might continue to be “the Shining City on a Hill”.

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.

According to David Barton at wallbuilders.com:

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” Atheists from both sides of the aisle, falling off their chairs.  You see, they (all 8% of them) 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.

Concerning Christianity, Jefferson said:

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 Atheists claim was one of them 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, proves that denial is not just a river in Egypt, you can respond with one or all of three things:

1.  Quote from this article.

2.  Give him/her this link to wallbuilders.com.

3.  Show them this excellent video, in which David Barton conducts a historical tour of the Capitol Building.

God Bless America!

Until He Comes,

KJ