Category: Christianity

The War Against Christianity: From Walmart to the Classroom

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American Christianity 2For the last couple of weeks, I have been attempting to find a particular Christian Poster, to place in my study/music room/man cave, which my bride has given me in our new house.

In my search, I found out that Walmart no longer carries Christian Posters. So, I had a friend who runs a local sign company to make me one from an image on the Internet.

Between my personal experience and the story recently about a High School Band getting in trouble for playing a Christian Hymn at half-time of a football game, it brought to my attention, once again, that there is a concerted effort to minimize America’s Christian Heritage in our day-to-day lives.

This effort is getting more overt every day…

As a Christian American Grandfather, I worry about what my 7-year old grandson is exposed to, while attending a public school.

Given the nature of Modern American Society, and a Liberal-run Federal Department of Education, with Modern American Liberals interspersed among America’s hard-working, underpaid professional teachers, from time to time, outrageous things can be presented to our young people as “factual information”.

For example…

This past week, The Christian Post reported that

Middle school parents in Tennessee are voicing concern with the Maury County School District after they discovered that their students were instructed to write “Allah is the only god” in order to translate the Islamic pillar of creed for a world history project.

After Brandee Porterfield’s seventh-grade daughter brought home her Five Pillars of Islam project that she completed for her history class, which included the translation of the pillar of “Shahada” as being “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” Porterfield complained to officials at Spring Hill Middle School.

Although Porterfield does not object to her child being taught details on the Islamic religion, she does oppose the fact that her daughter’s history unit has not yet taught her about theological components of Christianity or Judaism. Porterfield believes that the state mandated history curriculum’s overexposure to Islam is tantamount to state sponsorship of Islam.

“It really did bother me that they skipped the whole chapter on the rise of Christianity and they spent three weeks just studying Islam,” Porterfield told Fox News.

“But what really did bother me, because I understand that Islam needs to be discussed in history, was that they did this assignment where they wrote out the Five Pillars of Islam, including having the children learn and write the Shahada, which is the Islamic conversion creed.”

“I don’t know if I would consider it an attack on Christianity, but they don’t study any other religion to this extent,” Porterfield continued. “I spoke with the teacher and the principal. They are not going to learn any other religion, doctrines or creeds and they are not going back over this chapter. Even though they discuss Christianity a little bit during the Middle Ages, they are not ever going to have this basis for Judaism or Christianity later.”

After Porterfield’s daughter told her teacher that she did not want to recite the Shahada or anything resembling “Allah is the only god,” Porterfield told the Spring Hill Home Page that the teacher told her daughter that she would no longer have to recite or write the phrase.

Although Porterfield claims that the history unit spent all of three weeks going over Islam, Jan Hanvey, Maury County Public Schools’ middle school supervisor, told the Columbia Daily Herald that most of the three-week unit discussed things like government, culture, geography and economics, not theology. Hanvey also stated that the chapters on Christianity and Judaism are scheduled to be taught at the end of the year with the “Age of Exploration” unit. They were not “skipped” over like Porterfield claimed.

Porterfield and other concerned Springhill parents will have the opportunity to voice their concerns about the state’s history curriculum as a meeting with teachers and administrators is set for Sept. 17.

Joy Ellis, another parent of a seventh grader at Spring Hill, asserts that Christian children should not be instructed to write the Shahada.

“This is a seventh grade state standard, and will be on the TCAP,” Ellis told the Spring Hill Home Page. “I didn’t have a problem with the history of Islam being taught, but to go so far as to make my child write the Shahada, is unacceptable.”

Maury County Director of Schools, Chris Marczak, defended the curriculum in a statement, saying that the school system is in no way endorsing Islam over other religions or trying to “indoctrinate” students.

“Our teachers work together to make sure that our students are learning what is expected through the Tennessee academic standards. For this last section on the Islamic world this past week, our educators had students complete an assignment that had an emphasis on Islamic faith,” Marczak said.

“The assignment covered some sensitive topics that are of importance to Islamic religion and caused some confusion around whether we are asking students to believe in or simply understand the religion. It is our job as a public school system to educate our students on world history in order to be ready to compete in a global society, not to endorse one religion over another or indoctrinate.”

Despite Marczak’s assertion that the curriculum is not endorsing Islam, Porterfield is still not convinced.

“I do think that because they are not doing any other religion studies. I do think it is the state sponsoring religion in schools. They are not going over anything else. So for the students to have to memorize this prayer, it does seem like it is indoctrination,” Porterfield said. “Later on, I reviewed the state standards and the pacing guide for this class. They do have some studies on Hinduism, Buddhism and things like that, but they are not learning any other doctrines or creeds and that is what my concern was.”

First off…while I have met some very nice American Muslims, I have also been inside a mosque where I was looked at as if they wanted to take a scimitar to my neck.

If Moderate Muslims are not behind their radical brethren’s eternal jihad against us infidels, they need to get their mugs in front of the cable news networks’ TV cameras and say so…because all I see representing them when I turn on the news, are the abrasive members of CAIR, blaming America for all the world’s troubles.

Now, I am not saying that every Muslim is on a jihad against “the infidels”.

However…

When Christians become “radicalized”, we want to share the testimony of what God has done for us through His love, with everyone we meet. We get involved in our local church and we become better fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and American Citizens.

When Muslims become “radicalized”, they want to “kill the Infidels” in the name of “Allah the Merciful”.

In the case of the Chechen Muslim brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon, their immersion into Radical Islam led them to “kill the infidels” that horrendous day.

In the case of the barbarians of ISIS, it has turned them into doppelgangers of the Nazi Butchers of Dachau.

Islam and Christianity present two very different Deities, who may share some similarities, but who have different identities and ultimately different standards. To pretend they are the same is not only to be clueless of the faith of 76% of the citizens of this nation, but, to be ignorant of an integral part of our American Heritage, the legacy of Christian Faith, which our Founding Fathers bequeathed us.

For Liberals to deny that, is disingenuous at best, and just plain out-and-out lying at worst.

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

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

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

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

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

Please notice that the words, “ACCEPT CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR OR DIE” were nowhere in this transcript.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Pope Francis’ Far Left Politics Causing Controversy and Intrigue Among Church Hierarchy

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

thHE8RRXS2It appears that a number of the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church are less than pleased with Pope Francis’ performance of his duties as “Il Papa“.

Here is an excerpt from this morning’s story in the Washington Post:

A measure of the church’s long history of intrigue has spilled into the Francis papacy, particularly as the pope has ordered radical overhauls of murky Vatican finances. Under Francis, the top leadership of the Vatican Bank was ousted, as was the all-Italian board of its financial watchdog agency.

One method of pushback has been to give damaging leaks to the Italian news media. Vatican officials are now convinced that the biggest leak to date — of the papal encyclical on the environment in June — was driven by greed (it was sold to the media) rather than vengeance. But other disclosures have targeted key figures in the papal cleanup — including the conservative chosen to lead the pope’s financial reforms, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, who in March was the subject of a leak about his allegedly lavish personal tastes.

More often, dissent unfolds on ideological grounds. Criticism of a sitting pope is hardly unusual — liberal bishops on occasion challenged Benedict. But in an institution cloaked in traditional fealty to the pope, what shocks many is just how public the criticism of Francis has become.

In an open letter to his diocese, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I., wrote: “In trying to accommodate the needs of the age, as Pope Francis suggests, the Church risks the danger of losing its courageous, countercultural, prophetic voice, one that the world needs to hear.” For his part, Burke, the cardinal from Wisconsin, has called the church under Francis “a ship without a rudder.”

Even Pell appeared to undermine him on theological grounds. Commenting on the pope’s call for dramatic action on climate change, Pell told the Financial Times in July, “The church has got no mandate from the Lord to pronounce on scientific matters.”

In conservative circles, the word “confusion” also has become a euphemism for censuring the papacy without mentioning the pope. In one instance, 500 Catholic priests in Britain drafted an open letter this year that cited “much confusion” in “Catholic moral teaching” following the bishops’ conference on the family last year in which Francis threw open the floodgates of debate, resulting in proposed language offering an embraceable, new stance for divorced or gay Catholics.

That language ultimately was watered down in a vote that showed the still-ample power of conservatives. It set up another showdown for next month, when senior church leaders will meet in a follow-up conference that observers predict will turn into another theological slugfest. The pope himself will have the final word on any changes next year.

Conservatives have launched a campaign against a possible policy change that would grant divorced and remarried Catholics the right to take Communion at Mass. Last year, five senior leaders including Burke and the conservative Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna, Italy, drafted what has become known as “the manifesto” against such a change. In July, a DVD distributed to hundreds of dioceses in Europe and Australia, and backed by conservative Catholic clergy members, made the same point. In it, Burke, who has made similar arguments at a string of Catholic conferences, issued dire warnings of a world in which traditional teachings are ignored.

But this is still the Catholic Church, where hierarchical respect is as much tradition as anything else. Rather than targeting the pope, conservative bishops and cardinals more often take aim at their liberal peers. They include the German Cardinal Walter Kasper, who has suggested that he has become a proxy for clergy members who are not brave enough to criticize the pope directly.

Yet conservatives counter that liberals are overstepping their bounds, putting their own spin on the pronouncements of a pope who has been more ambiguous than Kasper and his allies are willing to admit.

“I was born a papist, I have lived as a papist, and I will die a papist,” Caffarra said. “The pope has never said that divorced and remarried Catholics should be able to take Holy Communion, and yet, his words are being twisted to give them false meaning.”

Some of the pope’s allies insist that debate is precisely what Francis wants.

“I think that people are speaking their mind because they feel very strongly and passionately in their position, and I don’t think the Holy Father sees it as a personal attack on him,” said Chicago Archbishop Blase J. Cupich, considered a close ally of the pope. “The Holy Father has opened the possibility for these matters to be discussed openly; he has not predetermined where this is going.”

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.

Pope Francis is the first Pope who represents the Far Left Political Viewpoint.

Pope Francis seems more comfortable reaching out to Communist and Socialist countries, then he does to the Vatican’s Traditional Allies, those countries who enjoy strong economies, built upon freedom and a competitive marketplace.

I know that I may sound like an old cracker, but my generation was blessed with three very remarkable leaders: United States President Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II.

These three stood for everything that was good about freedom.

All three knew the dangers and corruption of the implementation of Marxist Theory through the governments of man.

Here is what the wonderful and gracious Pope John Paul II said about an out-of-control Nanny-State (Socialist) Government:

By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending, In fact, it would appear that needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them who act as neighbors to those in need. It should be added that certain kinds of demands often call for a response which is not simply material but which is capable of perceiving the deeper human need.

And, while this present Pontiff is romancing the Palestinians, Pope John Paul II reached out to God’s Chosen People.

In 1994, John Paul II established full diplomatic ties between the Vatican and Israel. He said,

For the Jewish people who live in the State of Israel and who preserve in that land such precious testimonies to their history and their faith, we must ask for the desired security and the due tranquillity that are the prerogative of every nation . . .

Pope John Paul II also said…

The historical experience of socialist countries has sadly demonstrated that collectivism does not do away with alienation but rather increases it, adding to it a lack of basic necessities and economic inefficiency.

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.

Dr. Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, once said:

Regrettably, there is no shortage of preachers who have traded the Gospel for a platform of political and economic change, most often packaged as a call for social justice…

The church is not to adopt a social reform platform as its message, but the faithful church, wherever it is found, is itself a social reform movement precisely because it is populated by redeemed sinners who are called to faithfulness in following Christ. The Gospel is not a message of social (collective) salvation, but it does have social implications.

Pope Francis is presently doing the World’s Catholics a great disservice.

The current Pope’s embracing of certain aspects of Socialism, “Climate Change”, and the other erroneous, secular philosophies of the Far Left, dilutes his effectiveness as an Emmissary of God and the Head of the Catholic Church.

The world hungers for the Word of God.

Mankind needs to hear of God’s Love for them as individuals, not the machinations and limitations of man, as detailed in Marxist Theory.

 Until He Comes,

KJ

America in Crisis: A Battle of “Princes and Principalities” (A KJ Op Ed)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American Christianity 2Last night, my bride and I attended a once-a month get-together with Christian Friends , with whom we used to meet weekly in a church-sponsored small group, in someone’s home on a weeknight.

Being Southern Baptists, rest assured that there was plenty of food and fellowship.

After the meal, we began to talk about what it going on around us, in this nation, once referred to as “The Shining City Upon the Hill”.

The topics of Racial Division and the murders of 9 American Law Enforcement Offices in 9 days, the rapidly deteriorating American Work Force, The potentially-catastrophic Iran Deal, the arrest of American Christian, Kim Davis, while others in power, such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama, laugh in the face of our laws, and the vulgarity, and oblivious self-centered nature of Americans Pop Culture.

The conclusion that that the 11 of us came to, was the fact that America is in the midst of SPIRITUAL WARFARE.

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

Yes, my friends. We are still fighting a war against “princes and principalities”. Evil is still alive and well and flourishing in a world in which relative morality and situational ethics.

We see it everyday around us.

It inundates the cable news channels, 24 hours a day. Heck, you can even see it on Facebook.

Since Cain slew Able with a rock, mankind, because we are all fallen creatures, has had to deal with the presence of evil in our lives.

From the legendary massacres, perpetrated by Vlad the Impaler, to the horrific scenes of Hitler’s Concentration Camps, to the killing fields of Pol Pot, to the massacre of innocent Middle Eastern Christians by Islamic State, to the murders by Chicago Street Gangs every night, the Forces of Evil continue to flourish across the globe.

What we seem to be heading for is not simply an immoral society, but, an amoral one, whose concept of right and wrong is “Whatever Gets You Through the Night (It’s Alright. It’s Alright.)”, and whose ultimate authority is not the God of Abraham, but a Godless Central Government, whose credo is

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. (Karl Marx)

Just as Marxism has failed wherever it has been tried before, so will it fail here.

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

The galling thing is the fact that, even though American Christians remain 76% of the population, we are propagandized and suppressed in both the Old and New Media, to make it seem as if WE are the Minority, when, in fact, WE are the overwhelming Majority.

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

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

As the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians, we can STAND.

However, you cannot stand without “the full armor of God”. I have found, as have my family and friends, that the better that you are doing, in terms of your Christian Walk, the harder that you will be attacked.

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.…- Ephesians 6:10-12

Our Christianity as Americans does not and can not end at Noon on Sunday, as we shake the Preacher’s hand and walk out of the sanctuary.

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

Christians have to make a choice in these tough times.

The choice we each have to make is whether to “give to Caesar” that which is not his, our Christian Faith, or to listen to that “still, small voice” and love the homosexual enough to lead them to forgiveness of their sins and salvation through the Grace of Jesus Christ.

This is not a “Political Crisis” which we as Christian Americas are facing right now.

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

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

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

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

We still live in the greatest country on the face of the earth and we still have a responsibility to one another.

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

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

And, I stand with the King of Kings.

Y’see, I have read the back of The Book.

The Good Guys win.

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

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

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

Christian American Kim Davis is Jailed. What’s Next? A Date With Lions in the Nearest Coliseum?

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

th1DXO5NI310Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.…- Ephesians 6:10-12

Yesterday, something happened that,  at one time,  I never thought I would see in the United States of America.

A Christian was arrested for standing on principle and the Word of God.

The New York Times reported that

ASHLAND, Ky. — A defiant county clerk rejected a proposal that would have allowed her deputies to grant same-sex marriage licenses, hours after she was sent to jail by a federal judge for disobeying a court order.

Through her lawyer, the clerk, Kim Davis of Rowan County, said she would not agree to allow the licenses to be issued under her authority as county clerk. Had she consented, the judge would have considered releasing her from custody.

Five of the six deputies told Judge David L. Bunning of Federal District Court that they would issue the licenses, though some of them said they would do so reluctantly. The lone holdout was Ms. Davis’s son, Nathan.

Ms. Davis had argued that the Supreme Court order that she issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples infringed upon her religious beliefs and liberties. But after a hearing, Judge Bunning said that “her good faith belief is simply not a viable defense,” and ordered Ms. Davis to jail.

Mike Huckabee, currently campaigning for the Republican Party’s Presidential Candidate Nomination, who happens to be an ordained Minister, made a very cogent point on Facebook, yesterday…

I spoke with Kim Davis this morning to offer my prayers and support. I let her know how proud I am of her for not abandoning her religious convictions and standing strong for religious liberty. She is showing more courage and humility than just about any federal office holder in Washington.

Kim is asking the perfect question: “Under what law am I authorized to issue homosexual couples a marriage license?” That simple question is giving many in Congress a civics lesson that they never got in grade school.

The Supreme Court cannot and did not make a law. They only made a ruling on a law. Congress makes the laws. Because Congress has made no law allowing for same sex marriage, Kim does not have the Constitutional authority to issue a marriage license to homosexual couples.

Kim is a person of great conviction. When people of conviction fight for what’s right they often pay a price, but if they don’t and we surrender, we will pay a far greater price for bowing to the false God of judicial supremacy. Government is not God. No man – and certainly no unelected lawyer – has the right to redefine the laws of nature or of nature’s God. Five unelected lawyers have abused their power by ruling in favor of a national right to same-sex marriage with no legal precedent and with nothing in our Constitution to back it up. They have violated American’s most fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution – religious liberty.

I stand with Kim Davis and every American of faith under attack by Washington elites who have nothing but disdain for us, our faith and the Constitution.

Another Republican running for that party’s Presidential Candidate Nomination, Senator Ted Cruz, put it this way…

Today, judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny. Today, for the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong. This is not America.

I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally. I stand with every American that the Obama Administration is trying to force to choose between honoring his or her faith or complying with a lawless court decision.

In dissent, Chief Justice Roberts rightly observed that the Court’s marriage decision has nothing to do with the Constitution. Justice Scalia observed that the Court’s decision was so contrary to law that state and local officials would choose to defy it.

For every politician — Democrat and Republican — who is tut-tutting that Davis must resign, they are defending a hypocritical standard. Where is the call for the mayor of San Francisco to resign for creating a sanctuary city — resulting in the murder of American citizens by criminal illegal aliens welcomed by his lawlessness?

Where is the call for President Obama to resign for ignoring and defying our immigration laws, our welfare reform laws, and even his own Obamacare?

When the mayor of San Francisco and President Obama resign, then we can talk about Kim Davis.

Those who are persecuting Kim Davis believe that Christians should not serve in public office. That is the consequence of their position. Or, if Christians do serve in public office, they must disregard their religious faith–or be sent to jail.

Kim Davis should not be in jail. We are a country founded on Judeo-Christian values, founded by those fleeing religious oppression and seeking a land where we could worship God and live according to our faith, without being imprisoned for doing so.

I call upon every Believer, every Constitutionalist, every lover of liberty to stand with Kim Davis. Stop the persecution now.

On the Facebook Political Pages which I frequent, this has been a very hot topic for discussion.

Liberals and Moderates, but I repeat myself, all believe that Mrs. Davis must step down or resign.

My question is, why are her rights less important than the rights of this gay couple who, purposefully, with cameras following them, pressed this issue, knowing full well that Mrs Davis is a Christian Woman?

Are Christian Americans’ rights, as over 70% of the population, now less worthy than homosexual rights, who only comprise 2% of our population?

As Senator Cruz pointed out, aren’t the Liberals calling for her incarceration and resignation, being very selective in the laws which they wish to persecute and prosecute somebody over?

And, why are these gay couples not also challenging American Muslims?

Democratic Presidential Hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton recently stated that religion would have to “change” in order to allow the American Genocide known as Abortion.

Today’s American Liberals, from Barack Hussein Obama on down to the Internet Troll, sitting at his computer in his Mom’s Basement, munching Cheetos, want Christians, like myself, to “change” our view on homosexuality, in order to proclaim Adam and Steve as husband and…err…husband.

What they do not understand, nor wish to, is the fact that man did not label it as deviant behavior and a “sin”.

GOD DID.

His Word, as revealed in the Old and New Testaments, with the Holy Bible, states that fact, over and over again.

Christianity is not something that can be boxed in, from 9 a.m. to 12 Noon on Sundays, as the President and the rest of the Gay Mafia seem to want it to be.

Nor can it be changed and modified to fit a culture which is currently embracing relative morality and situational ethics.

God’s Word, as is its Author, is eternal and unchanging.

And, no Supreme Court full of Activist Judges can do anything about it.

It’s above their pay grade.

Until He Comes,

KJ

My 2,000th Blog: Speak or Go Mad

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics5 Comments

American Christianity 2A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,…

Well, actually, it just seems that way…

It was April of 2010. I had been writing Guest Commentaries on the blog of an Internet Friend of mine, named Gene Hoyas, otherwise known as Colonel Manly Rash (I’m not kiddin’).

I decided, at that time, to go ahead and start my own blog, as a way to vent my frustrations regarding the direction that those who are supposed to be serving US, were taking the Greatest Country on the Face of the Earth. Little did I know, that, under the “leadership” of President Barack Hussein Obama, I ain’t seen nothing, yet.

The Internet is a fascinating, powerful tool.

Through it, one is connected with the world, being able to research any subject which one might call to mind, in the wink of an eye, or the upload of a byte of information.

It can be used to illumine or to obfuscate, to clarify or to confuse, to enlighten or to subjugate, or to build up or to tear down.

It can span the globe, bringing you beautiful images of God’s Creation or images of man’s inhumanity to man.

It connects people to one another, in a way never before seen in the history of mankind.

As demonstrated by the current political scandals, involving the Internet and the use of e-mails, this connectivity can be used for nefarious purposes.

I have never taken the use of this tool lightly.

In posting these 2,000 blogs, I have tried my hardest to stay true to what I believe, and in doing so, to inform and to entertain those of you who take some of your precious time during the day, to read the musings of this old Son of Dixie.

To those who worship at the Altar of Political Correctness:

Yes, I said “DIXIE”.  Get over it.

So, what do I believe?

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord. (The Apostles Creed)

I believe that America is still the GREATEST COUNTRY ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH…in spite of the efforts of our present Political Leadership to turn us into “just another country”.

I believe that America was founded by Christian men and women, who came here to worship their Creator, as they saw fit, eventually breaking away from an oppressive government, and writing documents to provide guidance for a new government, born out of, and heavily influenced by, their Judeo-Christian Beliefs.

I believe that, to this day, American is still the Land of Opportunity, where, if you are willing to work hard enough, you can succeed…through the Grace of God.

I also believe that this is a country in the midst of a Cultural/Political Crisis, purposefully brought about by those, who like Machiavellian Politicians, in previous generations, wish to divide America’s Citizenry, for the purpose of Political Expediency.

The popularity of non-politicians among the Republican Party Presidential Candidates, is a direct reaction from Americans to the self-serving nature of those whom they sent to Washington, DC, to represent THEIR wishes for the future of America, not the politicians’ own greed and avarice.

I believe in the Silent Majority, average Americans, like myself, living in America’s Heartland, who simply want to be left alone by Government, so that we may raise our children and grandchildren to love God and Country, as we were raised, in accordance with our Constitutional Rights, as detailed through the writings of our Founding Fathers, not as interpreted by a politically-active Judiciary.

I believe that the majority of young white Americans, do not act like Miley Cyrus, and the majority of black Americans, do not act like the human refuse whom we saw burn down Baltimore.

I believe that, while Man is a fallen creature, we are capable of acts of extraordinary kindness and heroism.

I also believe that, the only limits we have as human beings, are those which we place upon ourselves.

God gave us this life. He guides us through it. He presents with opportunities and gives us free will to make choices, right or wrong.

There are so many times I’ve seen Him move in my life … so many times that he has made a way for me… so many times that He has shown His Gracious Love for me.

I know that I’m not the only person that feels this way. If you look back now and you’re around my age, you realize what I am trying to say this morning.

God wants us to be happy. God wants us to live and enjoy the life which is given to us

He wants the best for us. He also wants us to take advantage of the opportunities which He presents to us throughout our life, so that when we stand before Him, we can hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

But what does that mean? Does it mean we have to live a life locked away in a monastery somewhere away from the temptations of the modern culture around us? Of course not.

However, we have to keep the main thing the main thing. We cannot sacrifice our Christianity, as Americans, for the sake of political expediency. Heaven is a far bigger tent than any political party could ever be.

I would rather find favor with God than favor with man.

Am I an extremist? You betcha.

God said it. I believe it. That settles it.

So, where do I go from here? Do I run away, with my tail between my legs, and live out the rest of my days in quiet desperation?

To any of you who repled, “yes”…you don’t know me very well.

Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.

My Creator, while endowing me with certain inalienable rights, also endowed me with an indomitable will. Then, somewhere along my journey, He gave me the gift of being able to express my thoughts and feelings on this computer keyboard.

I will not give up. I will not surrender my Christianity, my love of the greatest nation on God’s green Earth, or my Conservatism, to appease those who wish everybody would just get in line and acquiesce to the prevailing “societal norms”.  I follow another set of guidelines, written a long time ago, but which remain as relevant as the moment in which the Hand of God guided those who wrote them down.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, – Colossians 3:23 (ESV)

In conclusion, there are people I wish to thank, who have invested a lot of time in me and my blogging.

First, I wish to thank my dear friend, Gene Hoyas, aka Col. Manly Rash/The Bulldog Pundit, who allowed me to be a regular contributor to any Blog in which he was involved, and whose guidance and writing tips were such a help.

I thank my lovely bride (I married up), who, since we got married in July of 2011, has put up with losing me to this endeavor every evening at 9:00 p.m.

I thank the rest of my family, my extended family of friends and faithful readers, and those of you who just drop in from time to time to check out what my latest rant is.

I thank my Earthly Father, who made me all that I am, and led me, in The Way in which I should go.

Finally, but most importantly, I thank my Heavenly Father, from Whom all blessings flow. Without Him, I would be nothing at all.

May God Bless you all.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: The FFRF Vs. Football Team Prayer

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics5 Comments

highschoolfootball1As I sit here, sniffling and coughing from Sinus Problems, I realize that the weather is changing. It is about to be fall and means one thing: It’s Football Time!!!

I like to watch College Football.

Especially, now that my Alma Mater, the University of Memphis, has a great couch, in Justin Fuente, and a solid team, which won the American Athletic Conference, last year.

But, I digress…

Part of American Football, on all levels, has always been the Team Prayer.

It has never, in American Culture, been though of as offensive, but rather, a sign of character and camaraderie.

However, there is an organization of bitter individuals, who are somehow offended by Football Players praying as a team to The One Who Made Them.

According to the Christian Post,

Earlier in August, the FFRF condemned more than 25 public universities for allowing football colleges to impose personal religion on players.

“Only 54 percent of college-aged Americans are Christian and many of the teams investigated have non-Christian players, but 100 percent of the chaplains investigated are promoting Christianity, usually with an Evangelical bent. These chaplains preach religious doctrine, including apparently Creationism, to the athletes,” FFRF said in its statement.

“Chaplains regularly lead the teams in prayer, conduct chapel services, and more. These religious activities are not voluntary, as the universities claim, because, as the report notes, ‘student athletes are uniquely susceptible to coercion from coaches,'” the atheist group adds, noting that its 25-page report took over a year of investigation to put together.

The FFRF has further accused Christian coaches and chaplains of “converting football fields into mission fields,” and said that public universities must adopt policies that protect athletes from “unlawful religious coercion.”

The ACLJ argued, however, that the “radical atheists” of the FFRF are “anything but freethinkers.”

“They do not support freethinking. Instead, they attack things they don’t like, such as chaplains for football teams where adults voluntarily agree to participate in faith-based events and meetings,” the conservative law group continued.

“What does FFRF’s so-called ‘model policy’ recommend? Hiring a counselor who can provide secular advice and life guidance. Just as they’ve done before, the FFRF attacks traditional faiths and wants to replace them with their radical, leftist, secular orthodoxy,” it added.

The FFRF has been active in sending letters to public educational institutions across the country, urging them to respect the church and state separation.

Earlier this summer, the atheist organization forced two different middle schools, one in Kansas and one in Ohio, to take down a painting of Jesus Christ displayed publicly before students.

Kansas’ Royster Middle School Superintendent Richard Proffitt said that he had no choice but to take down the painting after receiving the FFRF complaint.

“I conferred with legal counsel and both of them told me to be in compliance with state and federal law that we had to have it removed,” Proffitt said.

Who is the Freedom of Religious Foundation (FFRF) and why should they be concerned about Collegiate Football Teams participating in prayer?

According to their website:

The purposes of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

Incorporated in 1978 in Wisconsin, the Foundation is a national membership association of more than 17,000 freethinkers: atheists, agnostics and skeptics of any pedigree. The Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt, educational organization under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3). All dues and contributions are deductible for income tax purpose.

What Does the Foundation Do?

• Publishes the only freethought newspaper in the United States, Freethought Today

• Sponsors annual high school, college and grad student essay competitions with cash awards

• Conducts lively, annual national conventions, honoring state/church, student, and freethought activism

• Sponsors an online forum for members

• Bestows “The Emperor Has No Clothes” Award to public figures for “plain-speaking on religion”

• Promotes freedom from religion with educational books, literature, music CDs

• Provides speakers for events and debates

• Maintains a Web site at http://www.ffrf.org

• Broadcasts Freethought Radio

• Places freethought billboards and bus signs

…First Amendment violations are accelerating. The religious right is campaigning to raid the public till and advance religion at taxpayer expense, attacking our secular public schools, the rights of nonbelievers, and the Establishment Clause.

The Foundation recognizes that the United States was first among nations to adopt a secular Constitution. The founders who wrote the U.S. Constitution wanted citizens to be free to support the church of their choice, or no religion at all. Our Constitution was very purposefully written as a godless document, whose only references to religion are exclusionary.

It is vital to buttress the Jeffersonian “wall of separation between church and state” which has served our nation so well.

Funny.  Jefferson was a faithful attendant of Sunday Church that was held at the Capitol Building.  He once explained to a friend while they were walking to church together:

No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example.

He also proclaimed

I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make us better citizens.

But, I digress…

Back in August of 2011, this same bitter bunch of Atheists sent a letter to the Schools Superintendent of Desoto County, Mississippi, insisting that the pre-game prayer, spoken over the stadiums’ loudspeakers, a tradition held in DeSoto County as long as anyone can remember,  be silenced.

DeSoto County Schools went along with the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s request, despite the disappointment of many students and parents.

And that’s when Americans started organizing.

Y’see, teammates traditionally would take a knee after the game to thank the Lord for a good game and His blessings and to pray for those injured during the game.  And their parents were bound and determined that their young men were not going to have that freedom taken away from them.

So, the next Friday night, instead of the coach telling the team to take a knee, the quarterback did.

Earlier, on Friday morning, students and parents held a prayer walk outside DeSoto County Schools.

As the bright, blessed day gave way to the dark, sacred night in DeSoto County, parents and students began to pray.

According to student Paige Lewis:

If they’re saying that we can’t pray over a loudspeaker, then we’re going to pray alone.

Earlier in the week, The Freedom From Religion Foundation had sent a second letter to School Superintendent Milton Kuykendall.  They not only asked the district to stop praying before school events, but also demanded an apology for the comments the superintendent made in a letter sent out earlier this week.

Cheeky, huh?

These bitter whiners were upset that Kuykendall wrote:

In my opinion, most people do not realize that this organization out of Wisconsin doesn’t really care if we have prayer in our schools. They see an opportunity to try and accuse us of breaking the law and therefore give them a chance to sue our district and win a lawsuit and take millions of our funds. This is money that is needed to pay teachers and educate our students.

In March of 2013, the Governor of Mississippi signed into law, State House Bill 683

What this law does is to allow students to initiate prayers in school and at student activities, to reference their religious beliefs in their schoolwork, both their assignments completed at school and their homework, as well. The bill also allows Mississippi’s students to speak to their classmates about their faith, to “give their witness” as we believers refer to our own personal testimony as to what God has done in our lives.

I make no bones about it. I am a Christian American Conservative. I pray daily. As I write this, I have just returned from a Church-Sponsored “Small Group Meeting” in someone’s home on a Tuesday night.

If it were up to Barack Hussein Obama and the rest of Modern “Liberals”, I would be forced to leave my faith every Sunday morning at the church door. What they don’t understand, is, the Author and Finisher of my faith is not Obama or anyone else up there on Capitol Hill, the Main Stream Media, or any self-proclaimed Liberal Political Pundit and newly-minted “Biblical Expert”.

I answer to Someone waaay about their pay grade.

Liberals, or “Progressives”, do not understand Christians at all. They believe that our faith is something that can be taken off and put back on again, as one would a shirt.

Groups like the FFDF believe that using the Obama Administration’s IRS and friling frivolous lawsuits against Christian Americans is somehow going to impede the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by American Believers.

They don’t have a clue.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Ohio Bill to Ban Abortions For Down Syndrome

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

babyreachingforhandfromwomb2Is it alright to end the life of a baby in their mother’s womb, simply because that baby will be born “genetically imperfect”?

I cannot even believe that I have to ask that question.

THE ANSWER IS NO.

The state of Ohio now has to answer that question for themselves.

Foxnews.com reports that

Ohio lawmakers are considering a controversial bill that would ban abortions sought because the baby has Down syndrome, placing the swing state at the center of a new battle for anti-abortion advocates. 

The measure also has implications for the 2016 presidential race, as Ohio Gov. John Kasich seeks the Republican nomination and tries to walk a fine line between burnishing his pro-life credentials and positioning himself as a moderate member of the GOP field. He has not taken a position on the legislation. 

“The governor is pro-life and believes strongly in the sanctity of human life, but we don’t take a public position on every bill introduced into the Ohio General Assembly,” Rob Nichols, a Kasich spokesman, told FoxNews.com. 

The Ohio bill would ban a physician from performing an abortion if they know the woman is seeking the procedure solely because of a test indicating Down syndrome in the unborn child.

The bill would hold the doctor, not the mother, responsible for violating the proposed law, which carries a penalty of six-to-18 months in jail.

The legislation is unique, though not unprecedented. North Dakota passed a similar measure in 2013 that banned abortions motivated by the sex of the baby; a diagnosis for a genetic abnormality such as Down syndrome; or the potential for a genetic abnormality. 

The proposal in politically purple Ohio, though, could have widespread implications, particularly if it spurs even more states to act. According to a 2012 study in the medical journal “Prenatal Diagnosis,” U.S. women who receive a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome choose to have an abortion between 50 and 80 percent of the time, down from 90 percent in 1999 from a study in the same journal. 

The legislation is thought to have a good chance of passing. The bill recently passed out of committee in the state House of Representatives on a 9-3 bipartisan vote. Ohio Right to Life, which helped draft the bill, is hoping it will be voted on in a few weeks, when lawmakers return from recess, and reach Kasich’s desk by Christmas.

“What does that say of us as a society if we make decisions about who lives or who dies dependent on if they are going to be an inconvenience, or they are [costing] too much money for health care costs?” Ohio Right to Life President Michael Gonidakis told FoxNews.com. “Someday we are going to find a genetic marker for autism. Are we going to have a 90 percent abortion rate for people with autism? I hope not.”

Gonidakis says he thinks the legislation will pass and Kasich will ultimately sign it. 

“We have a track record of being strategic and putting forth an incremental approach to all our initiatives,” Gonidakis said, adding that they have worked with Kasich on roughly a dozen pro-life measures, including a late-term abortion ban. 

Republican state Rep. Sarah LaTourette, a co-sponsor of the bill, also told FoxNews.com she is confident the bill will pass. 

“While I make no effort to conceal my pro-life convictions, I firmly believe this bill is about discrimination, not abortion. Choosing to end an individual’s life simply because they are different, or might have Down syndrome, is discrimination,” she said in an email. “There is simply no other way to look at it.” 

However, if Kasich chooses to back the bill, he is sure to face stiff opposition from pro-choice groups.

“We believe we should all work to ensure people with disabilities are treated with equality and dignity. However, we oppose this ban because it interferes with the medical decisions of Ohioans and does nothing to help people with disabilities or their families,” Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, told FoxNews.com.

Copeland said she believes it will be an “uphill battle” to oppose the legislation, but people have flooded her group’s phone lines with calls offering donations to fight it.

“We have to make it clear to Gov. Kasich that this is not good health care, this is not what the people of Ohio want,” Copeland said. “This ban would encourage patients to keep information from their doctors and that is bad medicine.”

Gonidakis said he is “100 percent” confident the governor will sign the bill. “He is the most pro-life governor in our state’s history,” he said. 

Copeland seemed to agree with Gonidakis: “He’s signed everything they slapped on his desk so far so I don’t see why this would be anything different.”

I have some strong feelings about this bill.

You see, I am the father of a wonderful 28 year old daughter, who happens to be developmentally delayed.

She has brought unparalleled joy to my life, and I cannot imagine it without her.

I have always said that, it what seems to be a majority of the cases, abortion is a selfish act. It ends the life of an innocent human being, before they have even had the chance to live it.

Life is not, and never will be, a bicycle ride in the park.

Life is a series of challenges, which every person has to meet head on, and make the choice between right and wrong for themselves.

We have been given Free Will by Our Creator because WE ARE LOVED.

In fact, He loves us so much, that he gave us that still small voice, which resides in each one of us, which is referred to, in secular terms, as the conscience, and, is known to Christians as the Holy Spirit.

It is this still, small voice that helps us make the important decisions which we face in this life, in order to overcome the challenges which we are faced with.

It’s also undoubtedly why the overwhelming majority of Americans are so upset about the ghoulish resurrection of the practices of, and imitation of, the Third Reich by Planned Parenthood, through their monstrous marketing of the body parts of aborted babies.

Regardless of what you see in the Main Stream Media, the majority of Americans still know the difference between right and wrong.

Even those among us who claim to be the most tolerant, but, who would argue to their last breath their “right” to end the life of a Down Syndrome baby in their mother’s womb.

This potential law isn’t about protecting the life of a lion in a preserve in Africa.

This law will protect those who will be born to have dominion over that lion.

They are special.

And, they are loved.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

 

 

The War Against Christianity: Denver City Council Vs. Chick-Fil-A

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

philrobertsoncartoonIsn’t it ironic that those among us, who claim to be the most tolerant of Americans, are actually the least?

According to ChristianPost.com,

Several members of the Denver City Council have stalled a lease for a Chick-fil-A restaurant at the city’s international airport due to the fast-food chain’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

The Denver City Council’s Business Development Committee has paused the seven-year deal for two weeks, according to The Denver Post, which said none of the 10 members who attended this week’s meeting rose to defend Chick-fil-A.

If the committee, which is scheduled to meet again on Sept. 1, chooses to reject the lease, any member can introduce it in the full council.

Robin Kniech, the council’s first openly gay member, was quoted as saying she didn’t want a local franchise generating “corporate profits used to fund and fuel discrimination.”

The Atlanta-based company, which is known for its commitment to employing biblical beliefs in its business practices and has a very loyal following in the South, has restaurants in approximately 1,775 locations.

The company’s founder, S. Truett Cathy, died at 93 in September 2014.

The fast-food chain received criticism and calls for boycott after the founder’s son and Chick-fil-A CEO Dan T. Cathy, in a 2012 interview on “The Ken Coleman Show,” said of the company: “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

Though Dan Cathy later pledged the company would not champion any political agendas surrounding marriage or family, the Cathys stood firm on its Christian values.

According to the company’s website, “Truett Cathy, made the decision to close on Sundays in 1946 when he opened his first restaurant in Hapeville, Georgia. He has often shared that his decision was as much practical as spiritual. He believes that all franchised Chick-fil-A Operators and Restaurant employees should have an opportunity to rest, spend time with family and friends, and worship if they choose to do so. That’s why all Chick-fil-A Restaurants are closed on Sundays. It’s part of our recipe for success.”

After the founder Cathy’s death, megachurch Pastor Perry Noble described the-late restaurateur on Twitter as “a great man who built a great business, has a great family and kept your eyes on Jesus, you will be missed!”

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association CEO Franklin Graham posted on Facebook, “I knew Mr. Cathy for many years and had the privilege of riding motorcycles with him. He was a fine Christian gentleman that carried his Christian business principles throughout life. His restaurants were never open on Sunday out of respect for the Lord’s day. He was kind and extremely generous and used the profits from his business to help others. He will be greatly missed.”

So, what are these Liberals on the Denver City Council, so afraid of?

A well-run Christian Business?

Great-tasting chicken at a reasonable price?

Or, do they just want to punish this successful Christian Business for standing for the Faith of the overwhelming  majority of Americans?

Growing up, I always noticed that the worst bullies were actually intolerant little nobodies who wanted you to feel as miserable as they did.

That is what is behind this push by intolerant Liberals, such as the Denver City Council, to attempt to force Christians to only practice the Faith of Our Fathers from 9 a.m. To 12 p.m. on Sunday mornings.

Just as other fascists before them, the thought of an omnipresent God interferes with their belief that they are the most important thing in the universe.

You see, as long as they are the master of their own destiny, which in fact they are, because God gives us free will, their selfish behavior and their sinful lifestyle, present no personal consequences to them, and therefore, do not keep them awake at night. And yet, when you enter into a conversation with a member of this hedonistic generation, you soon find out that they aren’t as personally happy with their lifestyle choices, as they want you to believe that they are. Consequently, this whole effort by political and social liberals alike, to push this new set of morals values and ethics on average Christian Americans, stems from the fact that they are all miserable, selfish, little cretins, who want their poor lifestyle choices validated and deemed as normal.

America remains 74% Christian. And, this fact drives the Far left, including the “Selfish Generation”, absolutely crazy….and desperate.

Desperate times lead to desperate measures. Hence, this full-bore push, from the White House to Liberal-run City Councils, to minimize the roles which Christian Americans play in Popular Culture, and American Society, as a whole.

That is the reason that schoolchildren are being told that they cannot mention Jesus in their schoolwork and our Best and Brightest are being told that they cannot tell others about Him during the performance of their duties.

Unfortunately, for the Gay Mafia and the other members of the Far Left, including those in Denver and DC, Christians won’t be listening to them.

We answer to Someone above their pay grade.

…way above.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Christian Americans Protest Outside Planned Parenthood Clinics Across the Nation

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

th85XTKBQMThis is a debate about our understanding of human dignity, what it means to be a member of the human family, even though tiny, powerless and unwanted. – Henry Hyde

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I want to live!

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

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

Now, 42 years after the passing of Roe Vs. Wade, Planned Parenthood is not just content with ending unborn lives, they are selling their body parts to the highest bidder.

THIS IS A FIGHT FOR THE SOUL OF OUR NATION.

Here is some news that will probably not be featured in the Main Stream Media, today.

The Christian Post reports that

Thousands of Americans protested outside Planned Parenthood clinics throughout the United States Saturday morning to speak out against the abortion giant that receives more than $500 million in taxpayer funding every year for its 700 clinics across the nation.

Organized by several pro-life organizations, the nationwide protest, known as the “National Day of Protest Against Planned Parenthood,” was held outside over 300 clinics in all 50 states and Washington D.C.

The protests follow the release of seven undercover Planned Parenthood videos by the pro-life Center for Medical Progress, which show Planned Parenthood employees discussing the sell of aborted babies’ body parts. The eighth video, set to release next week, reportedly shows the abortion provider selling babies born alive in their abortion clinics.

Leslie Blackwell, regional co-coordinator with the Silent No More Awareness Campaign who emceed the Richmond protest, told The Christian Post: “We had over 500 people here and that’s great. Usually you’re lucky to get 10. At Forty Days for Life sometimes you might get 20, but never the crowds like this. Its been exciting, just nonstop response.”

Blackwell was compairing Saturday’s protest to past vigils at the clinic long before the release of CMP’s investigation of Planned Parenthood that reveals how it profits off the selling of babies aborted during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

Since July, the California-based pro-life group has released seven of 12 videos that purportedly show Planned Parenthood officials engaging in the illegal sell of aborted babies’ body parts — and maybe even born alive infants — for profit.

“Our primary message is the shocking revelation that Planned Parenthood sells baby parts. While this story has dominated the pro-life and Christian press over the past month, many regular Americans have still never heard about it,” explained Scheidler.

“They deserve to know the truth about Planned Parenthood, an organization that receives over half a billion dollars every year from taxpayers. It is time for this corrupt organization to be deprived of all taxpayer funding and investigated by the U.S. Justice Department.”

At the abortion clinic off North Hamilton Street, protesters gradually trickled in, some carrying signs that read: “Defund Planned Parenthood,” “Abortion Kills Children,” “2,290 Babies Died Here in 2014,” and “The Smallest Lives Matter Defund PP.”

Eventually, the number of demonstrators grew to the point that scores of them ended up going across the two-lane street and standing on the sidewalk in front of the clinic.

As local pro-life activists delivered remarks, the occasional passing vehicle honked, usually though not always in support of the protest.

The protest carefully followed regulations for their demonstration, including not standing on Planned Parenthood’s property and staying clear of their parking lot entrance.

A pair of individuals wearing vests that read “Pro-Choice Clinic Escort” helped guide cars in and out of the clinic as the demonstration continued.

When asked by CP what message she and her allies wanted to send with the demonstration, Blackwell replied that “there’s hope.”

“This is a pivotal moment for all of us in the fight against abortion. Because I think these videos really touched a nerve,” said Blackwell.

“People are so devastated at these barbaric videos and they know the truth. So, I mean, that’s why you’ve seen this incredible outpouring of people to support these protests nationwide.”

From the scientific perspective, Dr. Carlo Bellieni, in his book “Dawn of the I: Pain, Memory, Desire, Dream of the Fetus,” writes:

As soon as it is born, the child shows in a scientifically demonstrable way that it recognizes its mother’s voice and distinguishes it from that of a stranger. Where has he learned that voice other than in the maternal womb?

There are also direct proofs. For example, we register how the movements and cardiac frequency of the fetus vary if we transmit unexpected sounds through the uterine wall. And we see that at first the fetus is startled, then it gets used to it, just like we do when we hear something that does not interest us.

In fact, the scientific evidence is immense. We cannot understand how it can be thought that it becomes a person at a certain point, perhaps when coming out of the uterus.

From the physical point of view, at the birth very little really changes: Air enters the lungs, the arrival of blood from the placenta is interrupted, the type of circulation of blood in the heart changes, and not much more.

As I often say, only blind faith in magic arts or some strange divinity can lead one to think that there is a “human” quality leap at a given moment — certainly not science.

I know that there are some of you that read my blog that are non-believers.  For you and for my Christian brothers and sisters, I offer the following closing thoughts:

There is a curious unique enzyme found in the human body.   Laminin is defined by the Webster Medical Dictionary as a “glycoprotein that is a component of connective tissue basement membrane and that promotes cell adhesion.”  In other words, a glue within the body.

Colossians 1:15-17 tells us:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

I believe that our nation and our leaders should realize that you cannot mock God. With actions come consequences. You know, that “cause and effect” thingy that “the Smartest people in the Room” are so found of bringing up.

Each and every life is precious to The Creator. That baby growing in her womb, is not the property of the mother. Each and every one of us belong to the One who made us. He is our Sovereign Lord.

All those who believe that “it is a woman’s right to choose”…think too highly of themselves.

For every life is a Gift from The Creator to be loved and cherished, as He first loved us.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Keeping the Faith: Lighting a Candle in the Darkness (A KJ Op Ed)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

WashingtonPrayingThere are times that I feel like  an anachronism.

I have been told that, in no uncertain terms, over and over again, by  self-identified “Libertarians”, and Modern American Liberals, both groups who worship at the altar of Popular Culture and Political Correctness, which these individuals so vociferously “evangelize” for on Political Facebook Pages on the internet…all day and all night long.

My crime?

I refuse to sublimate my American Heritage of Christianity to situational ethics and relative morality, which they have embraced with a Jim Jones-like cultish fervor, while sacrificing their individuality to become a part of the “Hive Mind”.

Dictionary.com defines an anachronism as

something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time.

I suppose that’s me.

I started this Blog as a way to vent my frustrations with the ever-evolving “societal norms” and political mayhem around me. A lot of things just grated on my nerves. They still do.

I was “reared” (as we say in Dixie, a term that is now under attack by the “Hive Mind”) by a Mother and Daddy (Southern colloquialism for a Male Parental Unit) who were members of the Greatest Generation. In fact, I was born 3 days before my mother’s 40th brithday. To this day, I believe that they were going to name me “Oops”.

My view of the world around me was shaped and nurtured by my Daddy, a Christian American, and the finest man I’ve ever known, who served with an Army Engineering Unit, as a Master Sergeant, in World War II, and who jumped off of a perfectly good boat into a hail of gunfire to join his American Brothers in the tide-turning American Victory known as “D-Day”.

Between him and my Mother, they taught me what it was to be a hard-working, Middle Class Christian American Conservative….and, to be proud of it.

But now, at 56 years old, living in a nation whose president, an anti-American, Muslim-sympathizing, political-pandering, class warfare-preaching, card-carrying Communist, got re-hired for a job in which, if he were in the private section, his butt would have gotten canned  within the first 7 months, I feel as if I’m beating my dadgum head against the wall until it’s bloody, and for no cotton-pickin’ reason at all.

Why am I feeling that way?

Well, there are several reasons.

1. This country re-elected an idiot. Now, I realize that’s been done before. But, they all paled in comparison to this guy. I believe that “Scooter”, my pet name for Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm), burnt up the vast majority of his gray matter during his “Choom Gang” days in Hawaii, and now, as an old friend, a former Meth-head, who, sadly, later committed suicide, used to tell me, he has “2 brain cells left and they’re fighting to the death”. I pray we survive until the end of his tenure, which, praise God, is coming quickly.

2.  Evidently, Americans, at least the majority of the ones that actually got up off the couch (Pookie, included) to vote on that November 6th, wanted the Federal Government to take care of them, cradle to grave. Rush Limbaugh labelled this symptom, “The Baracky Claus Effect”.  I pray, that, just as the Proletariat eventually figured out in the old Soviet Union, Americans are going to wake up one day, to find that mega-dependence on The State to run your life, leads to the loss of personal freedom. And those, who believe that they are “the most enlightened people in the room”, will be the first ones hollering, when they discover that their freedom has been taken away.

3. America seems to be devolving into a collection of Libertines. Notice, I did not say “Libertarians”, although, both descriptive words come from the same root word. A Libertine is, per Merriam-Webster.com,

a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality: one leading a dissolute (lacking moral restraint) life

Being a Libertarian used to mean you wanted less Government in your life and less restrictions on your personal happiness. Notice I said used to mean. Now, Libertine and Libertarian both seem to mean the same thing to the majority of posters self-identifying as members of the latter group on Internet chat boards.

Caligula’s Horse approves.

I suppose I could pontificate on the fallen nature of Man at this point, but, that’s fairly self-evident…and, as the late Freddie Prinze used to say, “Ees not my yob, man.”

4. Finally, but not the least important observation, by any means, I have watched The Faith upon which our nation was built, come under attack, by this president and his Administration, and by the “smartest people in the room”, who seem to empathaze more with those who wish to tear this country asunder, our enemies, both internally and externally.

A while back, I was asked to define what it means to be a Christian American Conservative.  After all, that’s how I identify myself and that is what it says on the top of this blog, since I began this exercise in ranting and raving in April of 2010.

Let’s perform a dissection, shall we?

First word:  Christian – A follower of Jesus Christ.

I was raised as a Christian by my parents and accepted Christ as my personal Savior many years ago.

Here are some interesting things about Christianity to consider, written by Dr. Ray Pritchard and posted on christianity.com:

1) The name “Christian” was not invented by early Christians. It was a name given to them by others.
2) Christians called themselves by different names—disciples, believers, brethren, saints, the elect, etc.
3) The term apparently had a negative meaning in the beginning: “those belonging to the Christ party.”
4) It was a term of contempt or derision.
5) We can get a flavor for it if we take the word “Christ” and keep that pronunciation. You “Christ-ians.”
6) It literally means “Christ-followers.”
7) Over time a derogatory term became a positive designation.
8) Occasionally you will hear someone spit the term out in the same way it was used in the beginning. “You Christians think you’re the only ones going to heaven.”
9) There was a sense of suffering and reproach attached to the word in the New Testament.

In working my way toward an answer to “What is a Christian?” I decided to check out the dictionary. I found these two definitions:

1. One who professes belief in Jesus as Christ or follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus. 2. One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.”

That’s actually quite helpful because it gives some content to the word. To be a Christian means that you . . .

Believe Something
Follow Something
Live Something
A Fully Devoted Follower To borrow a contemporary phrase, we could simply say that a Christian is a “fully devoted follower of Jesus.” As I think about that, two insights come to mind.

1) It doesn’t happen by accident. You are not “born” a Christian nor are you a Christian because of your family heritage. Being a Christian is not like being Irish. You aren’t a Christian simply because you were born into a Christian family.
2) It requires conversion of the heart. By using the term “conversion,” I simply mean what Jesus meant when he said that to be his disciple meant to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). The heart itself must be changed so that you become a follower of the Lord.

Second word: American – A citizen of the United States of America.

Stephen M. Warchawsky, wrote the following in an article for americanthinker.org:

So what, then, does it mean to be an American? I suspect that most of us believe, like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in describing pornography, that we “know it when we see it.” For example, John Wayne, Amelia Earhart, and Bill Cosby definitely are Americans. The day laborers standing on the street corner probably are not. But how do we put this inner understanding into words? It’s not easy. Unlike most other nations on Earth, the American nation is not strictly defined in terms of race or ethnicity or ancestry or religion. George Washington may be the Father of Our Country (in my opinion, the greatest American who ever lived), but there have been in the past, and are today, many millions of patriotic, hardworking, upstanding Americans who are not Caucasian, or Christian, or of Western European ancestry. Yet they are undeniably as American as you or I (by the way, I am Jewish of predominantly Eastern European ancestry). Any definition of “American” that excludes such folks — let alone one that excludes me! — cannot be right.

Consequently, it is just not good enough to say, as some immigration restrictionists do, that this is a “white-majority, Western country.” Yes, it is. But so are, for example, Ireland and Sweden and Portugal. Clearly, this level of abstraction does not take us very far towards understanding what it means to be “an American.” Nor is it all that helpful to say that this is an English-speaking, predominately Christian country. While I think these features get us closer to the answer, there are millions of English-speaking (and non-English-speaking) Christians in the world who are not Americans, and millions of non-Christians who are. Certainly, these fundamental historical characteristics are important elements in determining who we are as a nation. Like other restrictionists, I am opposed to public policies that seek, by design or by default, to significantly alter the nation’s “demographic profile.” Still, it must be recognized that demography alone does not, and cannot, explain what it means to be an American.

So where does that leave us? I think the answer to our question, ultimately, must be found in the realms of ideology and culture. What distinguishes the United States from other nations, and what unites the disparate peoples who make up our country, are our unique political, economic, and social values, beliefs, and institutions. Not race, or religion, or ancestry.

Third word: Conservative -A person who holds to traditional values and attitudes.

J. Matt Barber wrote in the Washington Times that

Ronald Reagan often spoke of a “three-legged stool” that undergirds true conservatism. The legs are represented by a strong defense, strong free-market economic policies and strong social values. For the stool to remain upright, it must be supported by all three legs. If you snap off even one leg, the stool collapses under its own weight.

A Republican, for instance, who is conservative on social and national defense issues but liberal on fiscal issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative socialist.

A Republican who is conservative on fiscal and social issues but liberal on national defense issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative dove.

By the same token, a Republican who is conservative on fiscal and national defense issues but liberal on social issues – such as abortion, so-called gay rights or the Second Amendment – is not a Reagan conservative. He is a socio-liberal libertarian.

Put another way: A Republican who is one part William F. Buckley Jr., one part Oliver North and one part Rachel Maddow is no true conservative. He is – well, I’m not exactly sure what he is, but it ain’t pretty.

Even the Brits understand what American Conservatism is.

Per blogs.telegraph.co.uk:

Conservatism is thriving in America today because liberty, freedom and individual responsibility are at the heart of its ideology, one that rejects the foolish notion that government knows best. And its strength owes a great debt to the conviction and ideals of Ronald Reagan, who always believed that America’s best days are ahead of her, and for whom the notion of decline was unacceptable. As the Gipper famously put it, in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in 1988:

Those who underestimate the conservative movement are the same people who always underestimate the American people.

In conclusion, I, a Christian American Conservative, am a follower of Jesus Christ and a citizen of the United States of America (by the Grace of God), who holds to traditional values and attitudes.

So, where do I go from here? Do I run away, with my tail between my legs, and live out the rest of my days in quiet desperation?

To any of you who repled, “yes”…you don’t know me very well.

Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.

My Creator, while endowing me with certain inalienable rights, also endowed me with an indomitable will. Then, somewhere along my journey, He gave me the gift of being able to express my thoughts and feelings on this computer keyboard.

I will not give up. I will not surrender my Christianity, my love of the greatest nation on God’s green Earth, or my Conservatism, to appease those who wish everybody would just get in line and acquiesce to the prevailing “societal norms”.  I follow another set of guidelines, written a long time ago, but which remain as relevant as the moment in which the Hand of God guided those who wrote them down.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, – Colossians 3:23 (ESV)

I pray that you, the reader, are able to glean that from my blogs.  Because, as Matthew 6:21 tells us:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

May God bless you and yours,

KJ