Gay Marriage and American Christianity: Intended Consequences

On June 28, 2015June 28, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics5 Comments

Friday, President Barack Hussein Obama did a Victory Lap around the Rose Garden, in celebration of the 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, legalizing “Gay Marriage”.

Here is the speech, courtesy of whitehouse.gov:

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Our nation was founded on a bedrock principle that we are all created equal. The project of each generation is to bridge the meaning of those founding words with the realities of changing times — a never-ending quest to ensure those words ring true for every single American.

Progress on this journey often comes in small increments, sometimes two steps forward, one step back, propelled by the persistent effort of dedicated citizens. And then sometimes, there are days like this when that slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.

This morning, the Supreme Court recognized that the Constitution guarantees marriage equality. In doing so, they’ve reaffirmed that all Americans are entitled to the equal protection of the law. That all people should be treated equally, regardless of who they are or who they love. This decision will end the patchwork system we currently have. It will end the uncertainty hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples face from not knowing whether their marriage, legitimate in the eyes of one state, will remain if they decide to move [to] or even visit another. This ruling will strengthen all of our communities by offering to all loving same-sex couples the dignity of marriage across this great land.

In my second inaugural address, I said that if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. It is gratifying to see that principle enshrined into law by this decision.

This ruling is a victory for Jim Obergefell and the other plaintiffs in the case. It’s a victory for gay and lesbian couples who have fought so long for their basic civil rights. It’s a victory for their children, whose families will now be recognized as equal to any other. It’s a victory for the allies and friends and supporters who spent years, even decades, working and praying for change to come.

And this ruling is a victory for America. This decision affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts: When all Americans are treated as equal we are all more free.

My administration has been guided by that idea. It’s why we stopped defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and why we were pleased when the Court finally struck down a central provision of that discriminatory law. It’s why we ended “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” From extending full marital benefits to federal employees and their spouses, to expanding hospital visitation rights for LGBT patients and their loved ones, we’ve made real progress in advancing equality for LGBT Americans in ways that were unimaginable not too long ago.

I know change for many of our LGBT brothers and sisters must have seemed so slow for so long. But compared to so many other issues, America’s shift has been so quick. I know that Americans of goodwill continue to hold a wide range of views on this issue. Opposition in some cases has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs. All of us who welcome today’s news should be mindful of that fact; recognize different viewpoints; revere our deep commitment to religious freedom.

But today should also give us hope that on the many issues with which we grapple, often painfully, real change is possible. Shifts in hearts and minds is possible. And those who have come so far on their journey to equality have a responsibility to reach back and help others join them. Because for all our differences, we are one people, stronger together than we could ever be alone. That’s always been our story.

We are big and vast and diverse; a nation of people with different backgrounds and beliefs, different experiences and stories, but bound by our shared ideal that no matter who you are or what you look like, how you started off, or how and who you love, America is a place where you can write your own destiny.
We are a people who believe that every single child is entitled to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

There’s so much more work to be done to extend the full promise of America to every American. But today, we can say in no uncertain terms that we’ve made our union a little more perfect.

That’s the consequence of a decision from the Supreme Court, but, more importantly, it is a consequence of the countless small acts of courage of millions of people across decades who stood up, who came out, who talked to parents — parents who loved their children no matter what. Folks who were willing to endure bullying and taunts, and stayed strong, and came to believe in themselves and who they were, and slowly made an entire country realize that love is love.

What an extraordinary achievement. What a vindication of the belief that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. What a reminder of what Bobby Kennedy once said about how small actions can be like pebbles being thrown into a still lake, and ripples of hope cascade outwards and change the world.

Those countless, often anonymous heroes — they deserve our thanks. They should be very proud. America should be very proud.

Thank you. (Applause.)

Guess what, Scooter. We’re not.

Recently, a Gallup Poll showed that a little less than 3/4 of Americans proclaim Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior and half of Americans attend Religious Services on a regular basis.

The Christian Post reported a couple of weeks ago, that Ronnie Floyd, President of the Southern Baptist Convention and Pastor of Cross Church in Arkansas, spoke during AVANCE 2015 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio, June 14, 2015.

Referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry or whether state bans against same-sex marriage can remain in place, Floyd took a firm stance in his religious conviction that marriage is strictly between one man and one woman.

“We do not need to redefine what God himself has defined already,” he said.

Floyd explained to the audience that they will be asked to approve a resolution that affirms Southern Baptist beliefs on marriage. The resolution also reminds Christians to love our neighbors and extend respect to all people, even those who disagree with them.

“While we affirm our love for all people, including those struggling with same-sex attractions, we cannot and will not affirm any behavior that deviates from God’s design for marriage,” said Floyd. “Our first commitment is to God and nothing else and no one else. I humbly remind everyone today the Supreme Court of the United States is not the final authority, nor is the culture itself, but the Bible is God’s final authority about marriage and on this book we stand.”

In his final comment on same-sex marriage, Floyd took an oath to never sanct
ify gay marriage.

“I declare to everyone today as a minister of the Gospel, I will not officiate over any same-sex unions or same-sex marriage ceremonies, I completely refuse,” said the pastor.

While the five wannabe “legislators” on the Supreme Court of the United States of America” “promised” that their decision would not interfere with the Religious Freedom which our Constitution guarantees us as Americans, we, as practical people, must also realize that, if an inanimate Confederate Flag can be vilified and removed as “Hate Speech”, so can a Pastor’s Sermon be censored by a Federal Government, who has left behind the “Faith of Our Fathers”, to worship at the Altar of Political Correctness.

Not only that, but like a Christian Baker, a Christian Pastor can be sued for “not providing services”, i.e., performing a “Gay Marriage”.

While Modern American Liberals, under the rights granted to us by our Constitution, have every right to speak their mind, blackmail and intimidation of the Majority, is not a guaranteed right.

Our nation may be witnessing the Hand of God being taken off of us.

…since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. – Romans 1:28

Without being anchored on the Solid Rock, America would have been a failed experiment, assigned to the dustbin of history, years ago.

That still, small voice which resides within each one of us, has led Americans to do great things, in service to their country and the concept of American Freedom, as personified by Lady Liberty, standing so majestically in New York Harbor.

God gave us this nation, ensconced in the concept of “Liberty and Justice for all”.

By His Grace, we will keep it.

Without it, we will surely find out why America is not mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

Until He Comes,

“So This is How Liberty Dies…With Thunderous Applause”…and a SCOTUS Ruling

On June 26, 2015June 27, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics7 Comments

Well, it happened. The overwhelming majority of American voters have been spat squarely in the face by five representatives of the Judicial Branch of our government, who decided, instead, that they wanted to be the Legislative Branch, and add a new “right” to our Constitution.

In other words, our votes in State Referendums, in which the overwhelming majority of states, voted against “gay marriage”, did not mean squat to the five self-righteous Liberals on the Supreme Court.

The following excerpts, from the dissenting Supreme Coast Justices, are courtesy of nationaljournal.com

Chief Justice John Roberts:

Roberts’s argument centered around the need to preserve states’ rights over what he viewed as following the turn of public opinion. In ruling in favor of gay marriage, he said, “Five lawyers have closed the debate and enacted their own vision of marriage as a matter of constitutional law.”

Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas joined him in his dissent.

While Roberts said he did not “begrudge” any of the celebrations that would follow the Court ruling, he had serious concerns that the Court had extended its role from constitutional enforcer to activist.

Roberts: “Understand well what this dissent is about: It is not about whether, in my judgment, the institution of marriage should be changed to include same-sex couples.”

Judge Antonin Scalia:

According to Scalia, the five justices in the majority are using the 14th Amendment in a way that was never intended by its writers. “When the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, every State limited marriage to one man and one woman, and no one doubted the constitutionality of doing so,” he wrote.

“They [the majority] have discovered in the Fourteenth Amendment a ‘fundamental right’ overlooked by every person alive at the time of ratification, and almost everyone else in the time since.”

Scalia called out the majority for acting like activists, not judges. (He was similarly critical in Thursday’s ruling on health care.) “States are free to adopt whatever laws they like, even those that offend the esteemed Justices’ ‘reasoned judgment,'” he wrote.

Scalia’s scorn went beyond picking apart the majority’s legal judgement. He also made fun of their language.

The majority began its opinion with the line: “The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity.”

Scalia wrote that if he ever were to join an opinion that began with that sentence he “would hide my head in a bag,” saying such language was more like the “mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie” than, say, legendary Chief Justice John Marshall.

Elsewhere, the majority wrote “The nature of marriage is that, through its enduring bond, two persons together can find other freedoms, such as expression, intimacy, and spirituality.”

Scalia scoffed at this assertion, saying that even “the nearest hippie” would know that marriage hinders the freedom of intimacy. Here are his words:

Really? Who ever thought that intimacy and spirituality [whatever that means] were freedoms? And if intimacy is, one would think Freedom of Intimacy is abridged rather than expanded by marriage. Ask the nearest hippie.

Judge Clarence Thomas:

In his own separate dissent, which Scalia also joined, Justice Clarence Thomas pilloried the majority opinion as “at odds not only with the Constitution, but with the principles upon which our nation were built.”

Kennedy and the Court’s liberal wing are invoking a definition of “liberty” that the Constitution’s framers “would not have recognized, to the detriment of the liberty they sought to protect.”

“Along the way, it rejects the idea—captured in our Declaration of Independence—that human dignity is innate and suggests instead that it comes from the Government,” Thomas said. “This distortion of our Constitution not only ignores the text, it inverts the relationship between the individual and the state in our Republic. I cannot agree with it.”

Judge Samuel Alito:

In his dissent, Alito argues that gay marriage is not protected in the Constitution under the Due Process Clause because “liberty” only applies to those principles that are rooted in U.S. tradition. His argument is that the concept of gay marriage is new and therefore not included.

“For today’s majority, it does not matter that the right to same-sex marriage lacks deep roots or even that it is contrary to long-established tradition. The Justices in the majority claim the authority to confer constitutional protection upon that right simply because they believe that it is fundamental,” Alito writes.

Alito also reaffirms his position that there is no way to confirm what the outcome of gay marriage may be on the institution of traditional marriage and therefore the Court is and should not be in a position to take on the topic.

Philosophers, and historians—can predict with any certainty what the long-term ramifications of widespread acceptance of same-sex marriage will be. And judges are certainly not equipped to make such an assessment,” Alito wrote.

Alito’s belief is also that traditional marriage has existed between a man and woman for one key reason: children. His argument is:

For millennia, marriage was inextricably linked to the one thing that only an opposite-sex couple can do: procreate. Adherents to different schools of philosophy use different terms to explain why society should formalize marriage and attach special benefits and obligations to persons who marry. Their basic argument is that States formalize and promote marriage, unlike other fulfilling human relationships, in order to encourage potentially procreative conduct to take place within a lasting unit that has long been thought to provide the best atmosphere for raising children.

Now that the majority has ruled in favor of gay marriage, Alito offers a stark warning about future conflict between religious liberty and progressive ideas.

“By imposing its own views on the entire country, the majority facilitates the marginalization of the many Americans who have traditional ideas. Recalling the harsh treatment of gays and lesbians in the past, some may think that turnabout is fair play. But if that sentiment prevails, the Nation will experience bitter and lasting wounds,” he writes.

If you try to talk to a Liberal about this New Fascism, they will deny that there is any Fascism going on at all. In fact, they will tell you that this is “the will of the people” and they will site Democratically-stacked push polls in order to back their opinion up.

When you ask Liberals if , for example, “homosexual marriage” is the “will of the people”, why did voters in the overwhelming majority of states, including California, vote against it? And, if there is “no Fascism”, what do you call the fact that 2% of the population is having activist judges overturn the actual will of the people in order to get their way, in their attempt to redefine a word that has meant the same thing since time immemorial?

In response, you will usually see their eyes glaze over, like a deer in the headlights, or experience a dramatic pause in posting, if you are on the Internet.

Liberals can not legitimately defend the suppression of the First Amendment Rights of Christian Americans.

Fascism, in any form, remains indefensible, even, when a spineless Supreme Court narrowly sides in favor of popular culture and against God’s Law.

Have you ever heard the story of the frog in the pot of water?

You put a frog in the pot of tap water. You place that pot of tap water on the stove. You slowly increase the heat on that burner in increments, allowing the frog to get adjusted to the rising heat, so that he is content with staying in the pot of water, until he boils.

That is what has happened to America. Gradually, like the frog in the pot of water, we’ve allowed things that we intrinsically know are wrong, to become a part of our popular culture and everyday lives, burning away what were the Traditional American Values, upon which this country was founded, and upon which we were raised.

And now, the country which we have known and loved, all of our lives, is sitting here boiling in a facist stew of our own making.

God, be merciful.

Until He Comes,

Fathers Day 2015: My Wish For Fathers Day

On June 21, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, EntertainmentLeave a comment

D-Day, also called the Battle of Normandy, was fought on June 6, 1944, between the Allied nations and German forces occupying Western Europe. To this day, 70 years later, it still remains the largest seaborne invasion in history. Almost three million troops crossed the English Channel from England to Normandy to be used as human cannon fodder in an invasion of occupied France.

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

He later went on to help build the US Highway 49 Helena Bridge across the Mississippi River.

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

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

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

He was my Daddy.

Today, all across the world, Fathers will be honored by their children, natural, adopted, foster, and those that they took in as one of their own.

Did you ever wonder how this Global Remembrance got started?

There are two stories which are attributed as being the origin of Father’s Day.

According to the first tale, it all began in 1910, when Sonora Smart-Dodd of Spokane, Washington, tried to figure out a way in which to honor her dad, a remarkable man, who had single-handedly raised six children. Sonora, naturally, loved her dad with all her heart, and wanted everyone to recognize him for what he had done for her entire family. She made the decision to declare day of tribute, a Father’s Day, if you will, on her father’s birthday – June 19.

The next year, Sonora contacted the local churches in an attempt to get them to throw their support behind the celebration, but they simply laughed her off. After that setback, it took a while before Sonora’s proposal once again started gaining attention.

A bill in support of a national remembrance of Father’s Day was introduced in 1913. The bill was approved by US President Woodrow Wilson three years later. The bill received further support from President Calvin Coolidge in 1924.

This brought about the formation of a National Father’s Day Committee in New York within the next two years. However, our Federal Government, not exactly being strong in the pursuit alacrity, took another 30 years before a Joint Resolution of Congress officially recognized Father’s Day. Then, implementation of the bill was postponed another 16 years until President Richard Nixon declared third Sunday of June as Father’s Day in 1972.

The second story of the origin of Father’s Day involves Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia. According to this version, the first Father’s Day service was conducted by Webb at the Central Church of Fairmont in 1908.

Around my house, we always thought that Hallmark and Walmart invented it.

Like you other fathers out there, I was asked what I want for my Father’s Day Gift, today.

The one present I want…I can’t have.

I wish that I had one more day with my Daddy.

My Daddy was the most important man in my life, and remains so to this day.

He taught me how to love others, through his actions, every day of his life. He was a wonderful Christian man, who led me to Christ.

He was also the bravest man I have ever known, landing at Normandy Beach on D-Day.

My Daddy worked hard all of his life. He worked for Sears for 20 years. He taught me what hard work was, and yet, he always had time for me.

I wish that I had one more day to walk through Court Square Park in Memphis, Tennessee feeding the pigeons and the squirrels with my Daddy.

I wish that I had another opportunity to sit on the living room floor at Christmas and play Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots with him.

I wish that I had another chance to stand over to the side on Thanksgiving Afternoon and watch him, as he played Penny-ante Poker, “cutting up” with my mother and my aunts and uncles.

I wish that I could hear him singing “The Old Rugged Cross” in the kitchen again, with his beautiful tenor voice.

I wish that I could watch him again, sitting at the breakfast table simultaneously looking through his old Cokesbury Hymnbook and his Book on Hymnology, researching those great old hymns and making notes, so that he could tell his 150 member Sunday School Class about the hymn, which he was going to lead them in singing that Sunday Morning.

I wish that I could watch my Daddy playing with my little daughter again, sticking out the lower plate of his dentures, as she tries to grab it.

I wish that I could see them again out in the driveway, sitting in his 1978 Chevrolet Caprice Classic, with her in the driver’s seat, as they waited for the school bus to pick her up for pre-school.

I wish that I could spend another Christmas Morning with him, to watch the fun, as he gave my sister her yearly “gag gift”, just to watch her jump and squeal as the “snake” or “mouse” jumped out of the box.

I wish that I could sit and watch Saturday Morning Memphis Wrestling and then, another Johnny Weissmuller “Tarzan” movie with him on a Saturday afternoon…or, maybe a Three Stooges Short, just to hear him laugh.

It’s funny, y’know.

I look in the mirror at 56 years old…and, I see him.

I look back over the years at the things that I did with the children that God brought into my life to care for, and then, I see the things I’m doing now with my 7-year-old grandson, and I see my Daddy in myself.

Right now, in America, it is harder than ever to be a Dad. Any male, who is not impotent, can sire a child…as is being proven daily across our country.

However, it takes a man to be a Daddy, a Papa, a Pop, a Pops, somebody’s Old Man, or, simply, a Father.

I’ve had the privilege of having a hand in raising three step-sons, one nephew, and one very special daughter. I would not give back one moment of those experiences for anything that this world can offer.

I was not a perfect role model. I made mistakes…a lot of them. But, looking back, I know, in my heart, that I’ve made a difference in their lives. And, I thank the One Who Made Me for that opportunity.

I pray that I was able to pass along at least some of my Daddy’s Legacy of Christian Love to those I have had a hand in raising.

Dads…it costs nothing to pay attention….and give love.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6

Daddy, I wish you were here so I could tell you how much I love you and miss you.

I hope you’re proud of me.

Every good thing that I am, came from the life lessons which I learned from you, and the Love and Amazing Grace of my Heavenly Father.

Today, while you’re up in Heaven, I hope you hug Mother and tell her,

That’s “Baby Brother”!

I love you very much, Daddy.

Happy Fathers Day.

Love,

“Brother”

Until He Comes,

The Death of American Christianity Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

On June 18, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

Is America losing the “Faith of Our Fathers”?

In an article titled “Confidence in Religion at New Low, but Not Among Catholics”, gallup.com posted that

PRINCETON, N.J. — Americans’ confidence in the church and organized religion has fallen dramatically over the past four decades, hitting an all-time low this year of 42%. Confidence in religion began faltering in the 1980s, while the sharpest decline occurred between 2001 and 2002 as the Roman Catholic Church grappled with a major sexual abuse scandal. Since then, periodic improvements have proved temporary, and it has continued to ratchet lower.

At first glance, this article should be upsetting to the 74% of Americans, including myself, who, as seems to be the “cool” word this week, self-identify as Christian Americans.

“Organized Religion”, a term usually spoken in derision by those seeking to somehow impugn the generations-old practice of Christian Americans to be a member of and attend the weekly worship service of the denomination and church building of their choice, is being used here by the Liberals up in Princeton, NJ, to further degrade the spiritual backbone of the “Shining City Upon a Hill”, as President Ronald Reagan referred to our country.

For what now seems like an eternity, those on the left side of Political Aisle, 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 Biblem 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, is Christianity in America going to “fade away”?

Not any time soon.

Being filled with human beings, 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.

Churches today have to walk a fine line.

The spiritual battle 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.

Articles, such as the one which I quoted earlier, are usually written by Liberals, especially those found in a Liberal Publication like USA Today.

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.

As I mentioned before, 74% of Americans, per that same source, gallup.com, continue to self-identify as Christians.

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.

He always does.

Until He Comes,

Flag Day 2015: Dealing With an Intolerant, Disrespectful, and Egocentric Generation

On June 14, 2015June 14, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Miley Cyrus was in the news this week, once again, seeking attention through outrageous behavior, like reminiscent of an immature person trolling Political Facebook Pages.

Cyrus rose to fame on The Disney Channel as a fresh-faced, innocent pre-teen named Hanna Montana.

The show, which co-starred her dad, singer/songwriter Billy Ray Cyrus of “Achy Breaky Heart” fame, was a mega-hit among our nation’s youth. The plot concerned a ordinary girl named Miley (what a stretch, huh?) who donned a wig to become pop music sensation, Hanna Montana. The series followed all the goofy adventures which she, her brother, and her best friend, constantly found themselves getting into.

Fox News reported last week that

In Miley Cyrus’ super revealing Paper magazine cover story, the actress, who appears nude inside the mag, says she is the least judgmental person ever, yet she has some harsh words for Christian fundamentalists and her parents.

The magazine’s story on Cyrus notes that though she was raised Christian, the singer “maintains a particular contempt for fundamentalist lawmakers who rally against this sort of progressive, potentially life-saving changes [for the LGBT] community.”

The pop star told the mag, “Those people [shouldn’t] get to make our laws.”

The article touches on what Cyrus thinks of people who believe Noah’s Ark was a real vessel, “That’s f–king insane,” she told the magazine. “We’ve outgrown that fairy tale, like we’ve outgrown f–king Santa and the tooth fairy.”

She praises her parents throughout the interview, yet Cyrus slams their politics calling them “conservative-ass mother–kers.”

Last Year, she became the topic of Water Cooler Conversation across the nation for appearing on a national music awards program in a skin-tight “nude” outfit. performing a simulated sex act with 36 year old, Robin Thicke, who was married with a 3 year old child, We later found out that it was supposed to be a “dance” called “twerking”.

Think about this: a young fresh-faced, pre-teen girl, who was once marketed as the role model for young teens, with her likeness on clothes, lunch boxes, notebooks, and backpacks, in the center aisle in Walmarts around the world, has become a 20 year old, with her rear up in the air, on all fours, like she was a canine in heat, on a live television program, seen around the world,

The shock value, and outrageousness of her “performance” made her the talk of the nation and got her the attention that she craved.

Back in 2007, Radio Talk Show Host Glenn Beck, in his television show on Headline News, interviewed Billy Ray Cyrus about his daughter’s enormous popularity…and about their relationship.

“Are you at all concerned?” Beck asked the young star’s father, Billy Ray Cyrus, at the time. “I mean, the odds of Miley turning into Ron Howard — meaning sane — pretty low. Living in Los Angeles, being a child star — hello? Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, name a million others…”

Cyrus was confident that his daughter had a “great head on her shoulders” and a “great heart.” He also explained that he tries to be her “best friend,” while letting his wife act as the disciplinarian.

“I taught them how to build a good snowman, how to ride a motorcycle, how to ride a horse, how to roast a wiener properly over a fire, and a good marshmallow,” Cyrus explained. “…But discipline I always left up to the mama. She was really, really good at that. That never was — I never was really good at that.”

“This is driving me crazy…What is that from you then?” Beck interrupted. “…I don’t mean to be crass here — are you a cowardly guy?”

Looking back to that interview, after witnessing what Miley has turned into, I do believe the majority opinion is “yes”.

Billy Ray often has referred to the style of parenting which he used with Miley as laissez faire parenting.

I would just call it lazy.

Billy Ray’s, and his estranged wife’s lack of parental guidance has produced a train wreck of a young woman, along the lines of a Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan.

So, Miley…once again, you’ve gotten your wish. You are the talk of America. However, folks are not talking about you in the same manner as they used to, when you were that angelic-looking child with the beautiful voice, winning smile, and perky personality.

Now, what Americans are trying to figure out, Miley, is how you’ve degenerated into what you have become: a young woman with loose morals, rubbing her rear against an older man, while appearing in a nude-colored two piece underwear-looking outfit, in front of God and everybody.

And, now, appearing naked with a pig.

Frankly, I’m embarrassed for the pig.

But, I digress…

So, anyway, here you are…telling all of us normal Americans, living out here in the Heartland, how stupid and intolerant we are, for actually holding to Traditional American Values.

I have heard this garbage before.

This being Flag Day, please allow me to relate the following story…

Back in 2011, I got into a discussion on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website with some cheeto-munching, Mom’s basement-dwelling Lib with no home training, who proceeded to tell me that he would be proud to defecate on the American Flag.

If I could have reached through my computer monitor and throttled that useless, ungrateful spoiled brat, I would have.

That “dude” was yet another example of the useful idiots of this present generation, such as Miley, that seem to be garnering a lot of national attention for their outrageous, disrespectful…and, yes, intolerant, behavior.

Just as we have been bearing witness for the last year, through the glorification of thugs and the vilifying of our local police departments by the Obama Administration and the local “communities” which they lay their lives on the line for, every day they put on their uniforms, the effects of LBJ’s “Great Society” on American Culture and the Black Family Unit, so are we witnessing, through the egocentric behavior of this present generation, what happens when children are left to “their own devices”, instead of being raised “in the way in which they should go”.

On this special day, in which we honor the symbol of our country, a symbol which has been defended and fought for, by the self-sacrifice of generations before us, it is time for Americans to take stock of what is happening around us.

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 74% 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.

And, it is their intolerance, in the name of self-centered “diversity”, which reveals their true heart…every time.

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

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.

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)

Until He Comes,

KJ’s Sunday Morning Thought: A Selfish Generation

On May 31, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Christianity2 Comments

During every generation, there comes a point, where the previous generation becomes frustrated in their attempts to communicate with the current generation.

The era we are living in now is no different.

However, as far as the effect that this failure to communicate may have on the future of America as a strong and vibrant nation, it is definitely more frightening.

The Christian Post reports that

A San Diego State University study published earlier this month has found that millennials appear to be the least religious generation ever recorded. SDSU psychology professor Jean M. Twenge suggested that one main reason for millennials abandoning religion is rising individualism in American culture, which is less prone to showing commitment to institutions.

“These trends are part of a larger cultural context, a context that is often missing in polls about religion,” Twenge said in an article published by Eureka Alert.

“One context is rising individualism in U.S. culture. Individualism puts the self first, which doesn’t always fit well with the commitment to the institution and other people that religion often requires. As Americans become more individualistic, it makes sense that fewer would commit to religion.”

The detailed study, which published its findings in the journal PLOS One, looked at data from 11.2 million respondents from four nationally representative surveys of U.S. adolescents ages 13 to 18 taken between 1966 and 2014.

The study defined millennials as “American adolescents and emerging adults in the 2010s,” and said that they were “significantly less religious than previous generations (Boomers, Generation X) at the same age.”

The analysis, led by researchers Ramya Sastry from SDSU, along with Julie J. Exline and Joshua B. Grubbs from Case Western Reserve University and W. Keith Campbell from the University of Georgia, presented that twice as many 12th graders and college students today never attend religious services.

Additionally, twice as many 12th graders and entering college students in the 2010s give their religious affiliation as “none,” compared to those in the 1960s-’70s.

“Recent birth cohorts report less approval of religious organizations, are less likely to say that religion is important in their lives, report being less spiritual, and spend less time praying or meditating. Thus, declines in religious orientation reach beyond affiliation to religious participation and religiosity, suggesting a movement toward secularism among a growing minority,” the study said.

The findings noted that millennials are the least religious generation of the last six decades, and possibly in the nation’s history.

Earlier in May, a major Pew Study found that Christianity continues declining in the U.S. as a whole, while the religiously unaffiliated keep rising.

Pew said that Christians as a whole fell from 78.4 to 70 percent of the population between 2007 to 2014, while the religiously unaffiliated group rose to 22.8 percent share of the population. The “nones” now outnumber American Catholics, Pew said, who fell to 20.8 percent.

Some Evangelicals, such as Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, commented on the study by saying that the “increasing strangeness” of Christianity is “good news” for the church.

“Christianity isn’t normal anymore. It never should have been. The increasing strangeness of Christianity might be bad news for America, but it’s good news for the church. The major newspapers are telling us today that Christianity is dying, according to this new study, but what is clear from this study is exactly the opposite: while mainline traditions plummet, evangelical churches are remaining remarkably steady,” Moore said in a statement.

He is exactly right.

The church I attend, which happens to be Southern Baptist, is in the process of growing weekly, with Baptisms being witnessed every Sunday morning.

San Diego State psychology professor Jean M. Twenge’s theory is 180 degrees off.

It is not an act of ‘individualism” which is causing these young people to turn away from the “Faith of Our Fathers”.

It is selfishness and an innate conceit, imbued in them by those, whose familial nurturing and raising, with or without exposure to Christianity, could not compete with the Siren Song of American Popular Culture and secular socialization.

While the Scriptures of our Christian Faith tell us that “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37), America’s Popular Culture, reinforced by the current President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, and his fellow “Progressives”, tells those who have achieved, through the Grace of God,

You didn’t build that.

Popular Culture, under the guise of “making the individual feel better about themselves”, actually constrains individual achievement.

These “millennials”, by believing that they are “their own god”, are limiting themselves.

History has shown us, time and again, what happens to a society, when man starts worshiping himself.

As Proverbs 16:18 tells us

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Right now, you’re probably saying to yourself,

Hold on, KJ, you just said that the individual CAN achieve.

Yes, I did.

Those who have gone before us, such as our Founding Fathers, our military leaders, our civic leaders, and our spiritual and familial leaders, all had one thing in common:

They all possessed a spirit of self-sacrifice.

Not sacrificing their will to achieve for the “good of the State”, but, rather, unselfishly sacrificing their time and talents for the betterment of those around them.

And, that is where the “Progressives” (i.e., Liberals), such as Professor Twenge, get it wrong.

It is not “the State”, nor the community-at-large, that drives, or allows, Individual Americans to succeed.

It is that “still, small voice” that resides within each one of us that has endowed us with our “certain inalienable rights” as Americans, of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”, that gives us the strength and discernment to succeed.

Without God, nothing is possible.

Until He Comes,

Draw Mohammed Contests, Freedom of Speech, and Liberal Hypocrisy

On May 30, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

Every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face—that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight and surrender. – A Time for Choosing, An Address by Ronald Reagan on behalf of Senator Barry Goldwater, Rendezvous with Destiny, October 27, 1964

CNN.com reported yesterday that

Protesters at Friday’s “Freedom of Speech” rally outside a Phoenix mosque were met by counterprotesters.The two groups lined both sides of the street in front of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix and yelled at each other, with a line of police officers standing in the middle of the street to keep them separated, CNN affiliate KNXV reported.

Jon Ritzheimer, organizer of the rally, is a former Marine, and he has no middle ground when it comes to Islam.

His T-shirt pretty much says it all: “F— Islam.” Some of the counterprotesters wore shirts that said, “Love Thy Neighbor.”

The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix is the mosque that Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi attended for a time. They’re the men who drove from Arizona to a Dallas suburb to shoot up a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest there. Both were killed by police early this month.

Many Muslims consider demeaning depictions of Mohammed to be blasphemous and banned by Islamic law.

…”This is in response to the recent attack in Texas where 2 armed terrorist(s), with ties to ISIS, attempted Jihad,” the event’s Facebook page said.

Some 600 people said they would attend.

Yesterday morning, while driving to work, as is my habit as an All-American Adult Male, I was channel-jockeying on Sirius XM between the 60s, 70s, 80s, Christian Contemporary, and Southern Gospel music channels, when I landed on the audio simulcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends”.

Since it was Friday, the 70-something year old topless selfie-taker himself (I apologize for the image), Geraldo Rivera (Jerry Rivers) was pontificating concerning how awful the ex-military guy was to hold a “Draw Mohammed” Contest in Phoenix. According to the Finder of Al Capone’s (empty) Vault (look it up, kids),

“We’re” better than that.

Really, O Mustached One?

In 1987, a wannabe “artist and full-time whackjob named Andres Serrano photographed a crucifix in a bottle of his own urine, and titled it “Piss Christ.” It caused a public uproar, first because of the insulting treatment of a the Son of God’s Atonement for OUR Sins, and second, it was revealed Serrano received a $15,000 prize, partly from the taxpayer-funded National Endowment of the Arts.

In 1999, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani cut funding to the Brooklyn Museum after it displayed a painting by another whackjob named Chris Ofili. The painting depicted the Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ surrounded by pornographic images and covered in elephant dung. A judge later reinstated the funding.

I spent a great deal of time this morning, using my mysterious powers of Google Fu, in a vain attempt to find any quotes from Geraldo, in which he protested these two blasphemous pieces of cr…err…”works of art”.

There were none.

I wasn’t surprised.

Like the overwhelming majority of Modern American Liberals, ol’ “Jerry Rivers” is very selective in his condemnation of “affronts to religion”.

If you are a Liberal or a Squishy Moderate (but, I repeat myself), who believes that the “Draw Mohammed” Events are an “affront” to Islam and should be prohibited, and yet, you have no problem with “Piss Christ” and “Elephant Dung Mary”, or any of the truly stupid and awful “memes” posted in blogs and on Facebook attacking Christianity, the faith of 74% of Americans…

YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE.

And, you don’t have a cotton-pickin’ clue.

The historic, documented truth is that Islam is a political ideology masquerading as a faith.

These figures are a rough estimate of the death of non-Muslims by the political act of jihad.

Africa
Thomas Sowell [Thomas Sowell, Race and Culture, BasicBooks, 1994, p. 188] estimates that 11 million slaves were shipped across the Atlantic and 14 million were sent to the Islamic nations of North Africa and the Middle East. For every slave captured many others died. Estimates of this collateral damage vary. The renowned missionary David Livingstone estimated that for every slave who reached a plantation, five others were killed in the initial raid or died of illness and privation on the forced march.[Woman’s Presbyterian Board of Missions, David Livingstone, p. 62, 1888] Those who were left behind were the very young, the weak, the sick and the old. These soon died since the main providers had been killed or enslaved. So, for 25 million slaves delivered to the market, we have an estimated death of about 120 million people. Islam ran the wholesale slave trade in Africa.
…120 million Africans

Christians
The number of Christians martyred by Islam is 9 million [David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends AD 30-AD 2200, William Carey Library, 2001, p. 230, table 4-10] . A rough estimate by Raphael Moore in History of Asia Minor is that another 50 million died in wars by jihad. So counting the million African Christians killed in the 20th century we have:
60 million Christians

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 doppelgängers 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 74% (per gallup.com) 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.

If organizations, such as CAIR, have the FREEDOM OF SPEECH to denounce America and hypocritical Liberals, such a Geraldo Rivera, have the right to denounce events such as the “Draw Mohammed” Contests, then don’t those Americans, who believe that Radical Islam, whose adherents have stated over and over again, that they want to kill each and every American, is Evil Incarnate, have the right to denounce this political ideology masquerading as a religion?

For those of you Liberals who still don’t get it, the answer is “YES”.

Until He Comes,

The War Against Christianity: Marine Court-Martialed For Displaying a Bible Verse???!!!

On May 27, 2015May 28, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

What if I told you that a young United States Marine, a Lance Corporal, who just happens to be black, was court-martialed for having a Bible Verse displayed on her computer?

You would probably accuse me of being a couple of fries short of a government-regulated McDonald’s Happy Meal.

Unbelievably, as Bill Murray and his squad shouted at the General, in the movie, “Stripes”,

That’s a FACT, Jack!

The Christian Post reports that

A United States Marine who was convicted at a court-martial of putting a Bible verse declaring “no weapon formed against me shall prosper” on her computer because it was “contrary to good order and discipline,” is now looking to have that decision appealed under the protection of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Lance Cpl. Monifa Sterling, who was convicted while stationed at Camp Lejune in North Carolina, was prosecuted for displaying a version of Isaiah 54;17 that reads: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”

In 2014, Sterling was court-martialed for refusing to obey orders to remove the scripture from her desk, according to Fox News. After representing herself in court, she was found guilty of disrespecting a superior officer, failing to go to an appointed place of duty, and four charges of disobeying the lawful order of a non-commissioned officer. She was discharged from the Marines for bad conduct and was demoted from lance corporal to private.

Liberty Institute and volunteer attorney, Paul Clement, have asked the Court of Appeals for the U.S. Armed Forces to review Sterling’s case. The government found that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act did not apply to Sterling because simply displaying a Bible verse does not constitute religious practice, which Sterling and Liberty Institute argue is untrue.

“If the government can order a Marine not to display a Bible verse, they could try and order her not to get a religious tattoo, or go to church on Sunday. Restricting a Marine’s free exercise of religion is blatantly unconstitutional,” Mike Berry, Liberty Institute director of military affairs and senior counsel, said on Liberty Institute’s blog.

“If a service member has a right to display a secular poster, put an atheist bumper sticker on their car, or get a Star of David tattoo, then Lance Cpl. Sterling has the right to display a small Bible verse on her computer monitor,” Berry added.

The military argued that Sterling’s choice of scripture “could easily [have] been seen as contrary to good order and discipline. Maintaining discipline and morale in the military work center could very well require that the work center remain relatively free of divisive or contentious issues such as personal beliefs, religion, politics, etc.,” court documents obtained by Fox News stated.

Unfortunately, because of the bad conduct discharge, Sterling is reportedly having trouble finding a job. She remains unemployed but hopeful that Liberty Institute and Clement can get the charges reversed; Clement has had great fortune in the court, helping arts and crafts giant Hobby Lobby secure the company’s successful defense of religious freedom in the landmark Hobby Lobby v. Burwell case before the Supreme Court last June.

The Liberty Institute’s lawyers plan to argue that Sterling’s case should have qualified for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act despite the government’s decision.

Rev, Franklin Graham posted the following comment on his Facebook Page, yesterday…

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” This is the Bible verse (Isaiah 54:17) that Marine Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling was court martialed over. Unbelievably, she was criminally prosecuted by the U.S. government for displaying this encouraging Scripture on her computer in her workspace. Give me a break—really? Can our society be at a point where a supervisor can order a young Marine to remove a Bible verse from her computer? Others are able to display secular message…s without any opposition, but Sterling was targeted by her supervisor. Today there’s a tolerance in our culture for everything—except the things of God and His Word. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has been asked to review LCpl Sterling’s case—let’s pray that this kind of targeting and persecution of Christians by our government will be stopped.

This past Monday, I wrote about my Daddy (Southern colloquialism for male parental unit) and my Uncles, and their service in World War II. I have also had friends that served over the years, and one who is still serving in the Air National Guard.

All of these men were/are Patriots. They enlisted out of a duty to God and Country.

“God and Country”. Now, there’s a phrase that you may not hear much anymore.

You see, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, (our Lord and Savior, as Jamie Foxx referred to him) is on a Crusade to remove Christianity and any reference to the God of Abraham and Isaac, from our Armed Forces.

In 2014, the Pentagon was caught teaching soldiers that the Christian Evangelical “American Family Association”, was a “Terrorist” Organization, needless to say, after Americans gave them “H – e – double hockey sticks” about that stupidity, they had to stop that training class.

After that, the Obama Administration, through their operatives at the Pentagon, decided to remove the phrase “So help me God” for the oath that Americans take, when they enlist in the United States Air Force. It is now “optional”.

The Obama Administration’s quest to remove the God of Abraham from America’s Armed Forces is the result of the influence of Mikey Weinstein.

Who is this clown, you ask?(You probably did not use the word “clown”, but I did. And, I’m holding my temper.)

Weinstein is the head of an organization, known as the “Military Religious Freedom Foundation”.

Per discoverthenetworks.org:

Established in 2006, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) describes itself as “a watchdog group” that is “dedicated to ensuring that all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom to which they and all Americans are entitled …” The organization’s primary objective is to eradicate the religious bias and “coercion” that it deems prevalent among high-ranking Christian members of the U.S. military. Toward that end, MRFF functions as “a clearinghouse for violations reported by military and civilian personnel,” offering “complete anonymity” to all complainants.

Headed by retired Air Force lawyer Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, MRFF declares: “At a time when the United States is encouraging greater religious freedom in Muslim nations, it is imperative [sic] upon America to show by example that religious pluralism is a viable and preferred option. Any sign of hypocrisy in United States policy … toward the free exercise of religion within the military makes it more difficult to convince others to follow our nation’s chosen path.”

In December 2006, MRFF issued a “Compliance Report on the Pervasive Violations of the United States Constitutional Religious Freedoms of Military Personnel.” “Military and civilian personnel,” says this document, “are subjected to blatant and unlawful displays of religiosity at mandatory formations, religious bias, and illegal proselytizing by their peers and superiors alike.” The report identifies “pervasive violations of United States Constitutional religious freedoms of military personnel” in five major areas:

(a) Blatant displays of religious symbolism on military garb.

(b) Placement of a biblical quotation above the door of the Air and Space Basic Course classroom.

(c) Illegal use of official military e-mail accounts to send e-mails containing religious rhetoric.

(d) Attempts by missionary organizations to train active-duty military personnel to evangelize their subordinates and peers.

(e) Military leadership openly discussing their commitment to bring religion into the military.

Notwithstanding the disclaimer, MRFF states: “[S]erious violations were committed by prominent figures featured on the organization’s ten-minute promotional video. … [S]everal members of military leadership appear in the video, dressed in full uniform openly discussing their personal connection to Jesus and how they make this connection part of the work they do in their professional capacity each day. {They] state that, among other things, with the help of Christian Embassy, they hold bible studies while on duty in the workplace, many times in their offices.”

Ohhhh….how horrible. Why…morality and ethical behavior may break out at any moment!!!

And, Lord knows, this Administration does not want that to happen.

It is no coincidence that the Marine Corps Motto, Semper Fidelis, is Latin for “Always Faithful”.

Lance Cpl. (now Private) Sterling remains always faithful.

She did not deserve her mistreatment.

America’s population remains 74% Christian, no matter what the latest politically-driven poll says.

Our Religious freedom is Constitutionally Protected.

It is not subject to the whims of Popular Culture or a Petulant President.

Those who were responsible need to remember one thing:

God always has the last word.

Until He Comes,

Memorial Day Weekend: America’s Chaplain Corp…”Fighting the Good Fight”

On May 24, 2015May 24, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

As Memorial Day Weekend 2015 continues on this Sunday Morning, across the world, brave men and women, in service to our country, gather to worship the One Who made them.

They are led by a devoted team of men and women, known as “Chaplains”.

Now, these Men and Women of God are under attack, by the very Administration, who is supposed to be supporting them.

Fox News Insider reported in an article, posed on April 26th, that

Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) recently went to bat for an Army chaplain who he claims was wrongly punished for using religion in counseling services.Chaplain Joseph Lawhorn was issued a Letter of Concern that accused him of advocating for Christianity during a suicide prevention training session at the University of North Georgia last November.

Collins, an Air Force reserve chaplain who served in Iraq and who represents Georgia’s 9th congressional district, joined Anna Kooiman on “Fox and Friends Weekend” to share insight on what he sees as a larger movement against religion in the U.S. military.

Collins asserted that the Army’s refusal to remove the Letter of Concern from Lawhorn’s file is indicative of the military’s efforts to intimidate chaplains into not expressing their faith and doing the job they’re supposed to be doing.

“I think right now what we’re dealing with is people who claim to be tolerant are actually the most intolerant, especially when they have beliefs they truly don’t believe in,” Collins said. “Chaplains are there for everyone, whether they have faith or no faith, and the chaplains need to be able to operate under their own faith background and also operate within the military. And right now they seem to be under attack for doing just that.”

“We’re in an environment where our military needs to always be at the top of readiness, and readiness means not only physical well-being but also mental and spiritual well-being. And so that’s why it is important that chaplains are able to continue their role in the guidelines that have already been set forth,” Collins said.

“What you have now is basically a minority group that says this shouldn’t be part of the military.”

The Tyranny of the Minority, Indeed.

As I have written numerous times, especially during the last two years of the Obama Administration, the Faith of Christian Americans has been relentlessly attacked, with Christians basically being considered an “Enemy of the State”

Eric Metaxas nailed the matter in the following article, posted at ChristianPost.com:

In the first century, Jesus was asked whether the Jewish people, who were under pagan, Roman occupation, should pay taxes to Caesar. The Lord, of course, said we are to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s. But in 21st century America, Caesar is angling for a better deal—and he’s getting it.

Our old friend Chuck Colson sounded the alarm several years ago when certain political figures on the Left—including former secretary of state Hillary Clinton—began downsizing the First Amendment’s guarantee of our God-given right to freedom of religion into a more manageable “freedom of worship.”

Chuck feared—rightly, it turns out—that opponents of religious liberty were seeking to keep religion within the four walls of our churches, synagogues, and mosques—as if religious belief were no more than a purely private opinion with no practical implications for the real world. In other words, “Feel free to worship, if you like, but keep your religiously informed opinions and actions to yourself.”

It’s a totalitarian impulse, and you can see it in the intensifying efforts to force faith groups to pay for abortions, to shut down Christian businesses that don’t want to participate in so-called “gay weddings,” and so on.

And the totalitarians are getting bolder about it. In Victoria, Australia, doctors are required by law to perform abortions when asked, or refer the patient to a colleague who will. In Canada, meanwhile, the Ontario and Saskatchewan Colleges of Doctors and Surgeons want physicians forced to perform euthanasia—which is now a fundamental national “right”—if no one else is available to do it.

And the totalitarians—being totalitarians—will brook no compromise. According to Canadian bioethicist Udo Schuklenk, “The very idea that we ought to countenance conscientious objection in any profession is objectionable.”

Really? And alas, this totalitarian streak is not confined to the Great White North. Mrs. Clinton, who once said that abortion can be “a sad, even tragic choice,” now asserts that a so-called “right to reproductive health care” trumps religious freedom. “Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will,” she said at a recent meeting of the Women in the World Summit. “And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.” Religious beliefs have to be changed?

Now Caesar seeks to regulate not just our actions, but our thoughts as well!

New York Times columnist and gay-rights advocate Frank Bruni thinks we need to change our religious beliefs about marriage, too—since, he says, interpreting the Bible is filled with subjectivity and uncertainty. Therefore believers shouldn’t take it too literally on matters of sexuality. “So our debate about religious freedom,” Bruni says, “should include a conversation about freeing religions and religious people from prejudices that they needn’t cling to and can indeed jettison, much as they’ve jettisoned other aspects of their faith’s history, rightly bowing to the enlightenments of modernity.”

How nice that Mr. Bruni and other sexual totalitarians stand ready to “free us” from our prejudices. What’s next, re-education camps? If you think I’m exaggerating the totalitarian threat, in the same newspaper, David Brooks writes, “If orthodox Christians are suddenly written out of polite society as modern-day Bull Connors, this would only halt progress, polarize the debate and lead to a bloody war of all against all.”

My Earthly Father, whom I shall write more about, tomorrow, was the greatest, most wonderful man, I have ever known.

It was not just because he served in World War II, nor was it the fact that he brought home to me malted milk balls, warm cashews, or chocolate-covered raisins every Friday Night from the Sears Store where he worked.

He led me to Jesus Christ.

It was not just by his words, or the fact that he made sure that I was in Sunday School, every Sunday Morning. And, it wasn’t just the fact that some of my earliest memories of him revolve around listening to his beautiful Tenor Voice, echo through the kitchen, while he sang “The Old Rugged Cross”, as he made my breakfast.

He raised me, my sister, and my step-sister, in “the way in which we should go”.

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

On this Memorial Day Weekend, as we remember the sacrifices made by our Brightest and Best, we need to remember those who stand by their side, in the Field of Battle, armed with the Word of God, and a message of Love, Hope, and Fidelity.

America’s Chaplain Corps are out there making a daily difference in the lives of or brave Fighting Men and Women.

Their “Charge to Keep” transcends the cultural shackles imposed upon them by an Administration bowing at the altar of Political Correctness and Political Expediency.

Whether is in the heat of combat on foreign shores, in the oppressive reality of our humdrum civilian lives, or strictly in the close quarters of our own consciousness, the path we choose to follow is up to us.

However, others, like the Chaplain Corps, our parents, family, and friends, can make a difference in our journey.

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.

America’s Chaplain Corps remain an integral part of the battle for America’s Soul.

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)

Until He Comes,

Kenya Tells Obama to Keep Gay Marriage Lecture to Himself…America Agrees

On May 21, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

One thing is for sure, America has changed under the **cough** leadership of President Barack Hussein Obama.

And, not for the better.

Obama and his intolerant Liberal Minions are presently, as they have been for a while, engaging in a political movement designed to change the meaning of a word that has meant the same thing for thousands of years. They have been feverishly attempting to equate the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1960s, in which black Americans were murdered, incarcerated, attacked by dogs loosed on them by Southern Democrats, and knocked down and almost drowned by fire hoses, with the fact that homosexuals could not “marry” their own gender, and the majority of citizens in the majority of states did not want them to and voted accordingly.

This “righteous outrage” of the select few, led to Liberal, and in some cases, homosexual activist judges, overturning the results of fairly-held state elections, which had banned gay marriage in the overwhelming majority of American States.

And now, as I write this post, the Supreme Court is considering whether or not to make “Gay Marriage” the law of the land.

The fact that this attempt by Obama, his Administration, and their Liberal Minions to marginalize the 74% of Americans who proclaim Christ as their Personal Savior, while at the same time tearing apart the fabric of our society, has not escaped the notice of the rest of the world.,,not even in the country of Obama’s birth…err…I mean his father’s birth.

Yeah…that’s the ticket.

Both of the following articles are from The Christian Post.

Article #1 –

President Barack Obama has been urged by the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, comprised of 700 pastors, not to “preach” and impose his views in support of same-sex marriage on the Kenyan people when he visits the African country in July.

“We would like to send a strong message to the U.S. president that the homosexuality debate should not become part of his agenda, as it has been his tendency whenever he comes to Africa,” Bishop Mark Kariuki of the Evangelical Alliance, told the Kenyan Daily Nation newspaper on Monday.

“[Obama] should respect the faith, culture and people of Kenya when he comes in July,” he added. “He should not put [homosexuality] as one of his main agenda[s] in the country.”

The pastors said in a separate statement that “President Barack Obama is welcome to visit Kenya this summer — but please, leave the preaching to us.”

And Nairobi Cardinal John Njue, who serves as president of the Kenyan Episcopal Conference, said that Obama has “ruined” American society with his support for gay marriage.

“Those people who have already ruined their society … let them not become our teachers to tell us where to go,” Njue said. “I think we need to act according to our own traditions and our faiths.”

Obama’s state visit to Kenya, the country where he traces back part of his heritage, will be his first return trip to the country since he became president, the LA Times noted.

America has shared a strained relationship with Kenya in recent years, stemming from the U.S.
government’s opposition to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was elected in 2013 despite being charged with crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court.

July’s state visit is aimed at rebuilding that relationship, with Secretary of State John F. Kerry already meeting with Kenyatta earlier in May to discuss counter-terrorism efforts and security cooperation.

Obama has urged the African government to decriminalize homosexuality, and in 2013 said during a speech alongside Senegalese President Macky Sall that gay people should not be discriminated against.

“When it comes to people’s personal views and their religious faith, I think we have to respect the diversity of views that are there,” Obama said at the time.

“But when it comes to how the state treats people, how the law treats people, I believe that everybody has to be treated equally. I don’t believe in discrimination of any sort,” he added.

The comments prompted Kenyan officials to urge Obama to respect culture and religious beliefs.

“No one should have any worry about Kenya’s stand as a God-fearing nation. President Obama is a powerful man but we trust in God as it is written in the Bible that cursed is the man who puts trust in another man,” Kenya Deputy President William Ruto said back then.

Kenya, a majority Christian country, does not allow gay marriage and criminalizes same-sex acts, as is the case in a number of other African states.

The Inter-Religious Council of Kenya has also said that it is wary of Obama’s upcoming visit.

“We are not prepared to accept, hear or listen to anyone lecturing us on how our culture is good or bad,” said IRCK Chairman Adan Wachu.

And, continuing with this subject, under the heading of “Not Trusting Man”…

Article #2-

A United Methodist body approved proposed legislation that would, among other things, allow clergy to perform gay marriage ceremonies and local conferences to ordain non-celibate homosexuals.

The Connectional Table voted 26 to 10 in favor of proposed legislation that would allow clergy to perform gay weddings without concern of facing church discipline or to be “openly self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”

The Christian Post reached out to the Connectional Table, but due to scheduled meetings a representative could not return comment by press time.

John Lomperis, director of the United Methodist program at The Institute on Religion and Democracy, told The Christian Post that the Connectional Table proposal was a bad idea.

“This legislation would essentially replace the UMC’s current biblical policies on marriage and sexuality with the same sort of liberalized policies of denominations like the Episcopal Church, with similarly disastrous results,” said Lomperis.

“Thus, with this move, the Connectional Table has further committed itself to an agenda that would split apart our denominational connectional. But the majority of members have made clear that they simply care about ‘winning’ at any cost, no matter whose voices they exclude from the table …”

According to the UMC’s governing document the Book of Discipline, homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

The Discipline also says that clergy can neither bless gay weddings nor can non-celibate homosexuals be ordained.

At the UMC’s most recent general conference, held in 2012 in Tampa, Florida, a resolution introduced to change the Discipline’s language on these positions was voted down. But the controversy over the Mainline Protestant denomination’s position on homosexuality continued.

Last month, the UMC Commission on General Conference, which plans the general conference meetings, proposed a way to specifically handle proposed legislation, like that which was voted on in 2012.

Called a “Group Discernment Process,” if approved, the new method will involve sexual ethics petitions going through small group review before entering the usual committees.

Regarding the possible success of the Connectional Table proposal, Lomperis of the IRD told CP that “I do not at all expect this to pass General Conference.”

“People who expect General Conference to pass this either don’t understand our system well or else simply don’t get out much from their left-wing echo chambers,” said Lomperis.

Christian Americans have been under constant attack since January 21, 2009, by Liberals, or “Progressives” (a misnomer) from both within and without the American Christian Church.

Liberal Denominations, such as the Presbyterian and the Episcopalianm Churches have seen their congregations shrink dramatically, teetering on extinction, as a result of following the current Popular Culture of Man, instead of the Eternal Word of God.

Now, the United Methodist Church, where I spent the first 40 years of my life, serving on my home church’s Council of Ministries as Choir President, is starting to strain at its edges, as the “Smartest People in the Room” are attempting to place man’s culture above God.

As these Liberal Denominations are finding out the hard way, that never works out.

God always has the last word.

Until He Comes,

Kingsjester's Blog

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Kenya Tells Obama to Keep Gay Marriage Lecture to Himself…America Agrees