Tag: Christianity

What percentage of Americans identify themselves as Christians?

The War Against Christianity: Debauchery in the Beltway, Visigoths At Our Southern Gates

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

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

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

When Today’s Liberals refer to “Christianity”, the religion they are referring to is a modified “Christianity”, which preaches the salvation of the “Collective” and “Social Justice” for all.

Working hand-in-hand with “The State”, i.e. the Obama Administration, Liberal/Progressive Churches preach this watered-down version of the Gospel to their unwitting congregations, “tickling their ears” and telling them that whatever gets them through the night, is alright.

In these Progressive Churches, the glorification of social programs and modern culture has taken the place of the Glorification of God and the hunger for His Word.

I mean, Gay Marriages are being performed in America’s National Cathedral in Washington, DC!

And, in churches around the country, Bible Studies, Youth Meetings, and Choir Practices, have been replaced with Studies on Philosophy, Voter Registration, sponsored by Organizing For America (Obama), and Yoga Classes.

The very Progressives in Power who have been whining for years about the Separation of Church and State, are the ones responsible for the corruption of our culture and the removal of religion from American’s Everyday Life.

And, the worst part about it…Americans let them.

Speaking of the beautiful National Cathedral, in Washington, D.C..

An openly transgender Episcopal priest is set to preach at Washington National Cathedral.

The Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge, the Episcopal chaplain at Boston University, will be a guest preacher on Sunday. He’ll be the first openly transgender priest to preach from Canterbury Pulpit at the cathedral.

The Right Rev. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, will preside at the service. It’s part of the cathedral’s celebration of LGBT pride month.

The service will also include readings and prayers from members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the cathedral, says he hopes Partridge’s appearance “will send a symbolic message in support of greater equality for the transgender community.”

Greater equality…even in death…to the degradation of Our Fallen…by Executive Order of Barack Hussein Obama…mm…mmm…mmmm.

A year after the Supreme Court struck down a law barring federal recognition of gay marriages, the Obama administration granted an array of new benefits Friday to same-sex couples, including those who live in states where gay marriage is against the law.

The new measures range from Social Security and veterans benefits to work leave for caring for sick spouses. They are part of President Barack Obama’s efforts to expand whatever protections he can offer to gays and lesbians even though more than half of the states don’t recognize gay marriage. That effort has been confounded by laws that say some benefits should be conferred only to couples whose marriages are recognized by the states where they live, rather than the states where they were married.

Aiming to circumvent that issue, the Veterans Affairs Department will start letting gay people who tell the government they are married to a veteran to be buried alongside them in a national cemetery, drawing on the VA’s authority to waive the usual marriage requirement.

In a similar move, the Social Security Administration will start processing some survivor and death benefits for those in same-sex relationships who live in states that don’t recognize gay marriage. Nineteen states plus the District of Columbia currently recognize gay marriage, although court challenges to gay marriage bans are pending in many states.

Meanwhile, the Visigoths are at our Southern Gates…and, they’re starting young.

Hundreds of infants and toddlers ages 2 years or younger have allegedly been apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol while crossing the border illegally without a parent or guardian in the past year.

From October 1, 2013 to June 11, Border Patrol detained 378 unaccompanied children ages two or younger, according to data obtained by Fusion from the office of a high-ranking Democratic senator. Of those children, 95 were infants under 1 year old.

Fusion tried multiple times by phone and in writing to confirm the reports with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security, but no official would comment specifically, and instead referred to a previous statement. The Department of Health and Human Services, charged with the care of unaccompanied minors caught at the border, did not respond to a request for comment.

Omar Zamora, a spokesperson for the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector, limited his comment to: “We are receiving children of all ages.”

Official data from last year shows that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement logged 27 deportations of children under the age of two, suggesting the federal government has processed infants in the past.

Emily Butera, a senior program officer at the Women’s Refugee Commission, said she has seen unaccompanied babies in the shelter system in past years, but that the problem is getting worse. She said the youngest kids are sometimes sent across the border with older siblings, or with paid smugglers.

Butera said the average age of an unaccompanied child migrant is now 14 years old, younger than in previous years. “And we’re seeing more babies and toddlers than we had in the past,” she said.

The phenomenon puts an exclamation point on the greater immigration crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border. Roughly 52,000 unaccompanied minors have been apprehended at the border since October 2013, an increase fueled largely by people fleeing Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

In response to what the White House has called an “urgent humanitarian situation,” the Obama administration on Friday announced major policy changes to step up enforcement of existing immigration laws.

Just as the Ancient Greeks and the Roman Empire, through their acceptance and acquiescence to the trappings of a morally bankrupt society, allowed their enemies, foreign and domestic to overrun them and destroy their civilizations, so is our nation, carved out of the blood and sacrifice of those who have gone before, in danger of allowing the Tyranny of the Minority to subjugate the 76% of us who claim Jesus Christ as our Personal Savior.

As I have gotten older (55), I have noticed that, concerning the two generations that have come after me, have consciously moved away from organized religion. Their movement is a result of Christ not being taught in their homes, and parents and other adult role models not providing a Godly example in their young lives, as they were growing up. Without someone providing that example in their young lives, as my Daddy did for me, they have no Anchor to hold them steady through the Storms of Life and no Solid Rock upon which to stand.

And, unfortunately, that lack of Moral Compass, not only affects these two newest generations of adults, but all of those in their lives, and, eventually, society, as well.

The thing about a slippery slope is: once you start down it, its hard to climb back up.

Which is why we are now living in an America, which is well on its way to embracing a nanny-State Mentality, complete with its Situational Ethics and “50 Shades of Gray” Morality.

As I mentioned earlier, 76% of Americans proclaim Christ as their Personal Savior.

Well, Americans, its time to return to Him.

For our sake, our children’s sake, our grandchildren’s sake, and our country’s sake.

The Good News?

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. – John 12:46 (ESV)

Jesus Christ is over all…and, He loves us.

Stay strong, Americans…and PRAY FOR OUR NATION.

We are never defeated unless we give up on God. – Ronald Reagan

Until He Comes,

KJ

Fathers Day 2014: A Wish For Fathers Day

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Entertainment2 Comments

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 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 ye always had time for me.

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

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

I wish I had another chance to stand over to the side and watch him play Penny-ante Poker with my mom 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 I could watch him again sitting at the breakfast table looking through the old Cokesbury Hymnbook, researching them and making notes.

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

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

I wish 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 “snakes” or “mouse” jumped out of the box.

I wish I could sit and watch Saturday Morning 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 55 years old…and, I see him.

I look back over the years at the things I did with the children that God brought into my life to care for, and I see the things I’m doing now with my 6-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, Dad.

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.  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 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 there, 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,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: “Having Done All, to Stand”

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American Christianity 2Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. –  Ephesians 6:13 (KJV)

As I was sitting back yesterday, thinking about the events of the week, international, national, and personal, I started thinking about the Plan that the God of Abraham has for all of us, Believers and non-Believers, alike.

Internationally, as I write this, a Marine sits, neglected by our Administration, in a Mexican Jail, guilty of the horrendous crime of committing some sort of traffic violation.

Halfway around the world, in the Radical Muslim Rogue Nation of Iran, an American Pastor, jailed for preaching the Word of God, and refusing to worship a pedophile, sits languishing in horrible conditions, while his wife and children petition our leaders to get up off their duffs and bring him home.

In North Korea, an American is being held for the crime of reading a Bible in a Hotel Room.

And, finally, this week has seen the President of the United States, the Leader of the Free World, trade 5 Top leaders among Muslim Terrorists for an Army Deserter, who has reportedly converted to Islam, as has his nutjob Father.

Nationally, America’s economy remains rotten, with more and more Americans choosing to drop out of the work force, in disgust and humiliation. 37.2% of America’s Work Force, to be exact.

A lot of these “drop-outs” are Americans over 50, like myself, who are being intentionally ignored, because of our age, which seems to matter more than our business acumen and wealth of experience.

Meanwhile, the very fabric of our society is being torn asunder, through the dissipation of morality and the glorification of evil.

Vampires, Witches, and Zombies…oh, my!

And, of course, legalizing marijuana has no consequences. So what if elementary school kids are being caught selling their parents stash? And, DUI accidents are up?

Yep. No consequences at all.

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.

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 armour 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.

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

The more we stand up for the Triune God, the harder the Enemy attacks…in all areas of our lives…including our political beliefs.

I have been attacked time and again, over the past 4 years, by non-Believers who replied to my blogs insisting that Crosses and other Christian symbols have no place in the Public Square.  They wish for Christians to remain unseen and unheard from, worshiping in private.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have, however, noticed in the last few years, a propensity among those who have not been raised in a Christian home, to be intolerant toward those who have….starting with the individual who sits at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC.

Americans’ Christian Faith, of which 76% of us, according to Gallup, still anchor our lives around,has been the Solid Rock upon which our nation was built. To deny that, is to deny reality, to re-write history, and, to, quite frankly, endanger “the Shining City on a Hill”.

As President Ronald Reagan said, 

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

I leave you with a prayer written by America’s Pastor, the Reverend Billy Graham. May God Bless you all.

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable… We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from sin and Set us free. Amen!’

With the Lord’s help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we once again can be called ‘One nation under God!’ AMEN

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

Phil Robertson, America, and Me (A KJ Sunday Morning Message)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

PhilRobertsonCartoon

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)

This past week, the Patriarch of the Mega-hit Television Program, Duck Dynasty, Phil Robertson sat down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, and, as usual, Brother Phil told it like it is…

…HANNITY: So we got to win those political battles, too. I think they’re just as important.

ROBERTSON: Yes. I just feel a little more comfortable dealing in the spiritual realm, even with the persecution of whatever comes with it, I’m just — I have a task to do and I go forth across America. I’ve been doing this, most people don’t realize, I’ve been doing this for 35 years.

HANNITY: Yeah.

ROBERTSON: I’ve been all over the United States backwards and forwards, and my message is always the same, god loves you, sent Jesus to die for you.

HANNITY: When the controversy arose were you surprised?

ROBERTSON: Surprised, not at all. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you, when they insult you and reject your name as evil, Jesus said, because of the son of man. Leap for joy because great is your reward in heaven. It goes with the territory, spiritual warfare. There is a Satan out there, an evil one, and if anyone that looks at our culture doesn’t believe it, I would simply say, what, are you blind? It’s pretty rough out there.

HANNITY: I wrote a whole book “Deliver Us from Evil.”

ROBERTSON: Yep.

HANNITY: How do you explain Pol Pot and the killing fields, Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany, fascism, communism, imperial.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTSON: Evil.

HANNITY: And then how do you explain murder, and pedophilia, and rape – – evil.

ROBERTSON: Yes, yes.

HANNITY: See, when you use these spiritual terms some people get, you can’t say that.

ROBERTSON: We took the 10 commandments now and removing them from the courthouse and we’re getting them out of our psyche. We took God out of our schools. Well, if you started with young people and you taught them, you rebuke them, you corrected them, you trained them, you instructed them to obey their father and mother, honor their father and mother, don’t murder, don’t lie, don’t steal from a young age, is anyone trying to tell me that we wouldn’t have a better society? I mean, it’s nuts.

What causes somebody to “wig out”, or to have what psychiatrists call “a break with reality”? Is it caused by some genetic abnormality? Is it caused by socialization? Or, it Brother Phil right? Does the Devil make them do it?

As I was resting at home last Monday, on a day we set aside to honor our selfless veterans who gave all to preserve our liberty, I started thinking about the young man who killed those people out in Santa Barbara, California I wonder what would cause somebody to brutally murder innocent human beings.

According to the murderer, he was ignored by women and had problems getting a date. Now, as someone who was a nerd who hung out with the jocks in high school, I can tell you that approaching girls as a nerd when you’re young man is a hard thing to do. You start to fear their rejection so badly, that it becomes a huge brick wall that keeps you from happiness. However, never in my wildest imaginations would I have ever thought of hurting others because I couldn’t get a date.  I mean, its stupid if you think about it and very sad at the same time. The horror of it all is that he ended innocent lives because he was jealous of the lives of others.

Brother Phil is right about how widespread evil is in our society.

This past week, while I was pursuing one of my favorite activities, perusing Facebook to see what was going on, I was on one of my favorite political pages, of which I happen to be an moderator, when I noticed that an anonymous poster had posted an anti- American Armed Forces message, just to get some attention. In fact, this guy was so far around the bend, that he posted that our military deserve to die because of the interventionism and nation-building foreign policy of the United States. When he became cornered and was asked to account factually for his comments on Facebook, this loon even suggested that the Japanese attacked the US Military at Pearl Harbor, because of things they had already done, and bore no ill will toward the American people.  When I asked him whose sons and daughters did he think that the US military consisted of, he went strangely silent.

Of course, this guy wound up getting banned from that Facebook Page. Then he came back under a phony profile, and got banned again.

We later found out that this troubled soul had been banned from several Facebook Pages for posting under phony names, posting incessantly, and threatening female posters.

By now. you’re probably asking, “So what do these two examples have to do with each other and with what Phil Robertson said to Sean Hannity?”

There is a reason that we don’t all go out killing another and there is also a reason why we’re not all fruitcakes who go around looking for attention, threatening people on Facebook.

Now you can call it genetics, you can call it socialization, you can call it the proper alignment of the moon and stars…I choose to call it the Grace of God.

It is a comforting old saying which states

There but for the grace of God go I.

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)

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

The War Against Christianity: Obama and America’s Armed Forces

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

praying soldierI remember my ex-brother-in-law, Dave. My late step-sister met him at the USO in Memphis during the Vietnam War. David was a Polish Catholic from outside of Detroit, a Navy guy who received his training in the computers of the day, while in service to our country. When he got out, they got married and moved to Dearborn (now Dearbornistan), Michigan, where he got a job with Burroughs. I remember Dave, because he was always good to me, even though I was just a runt kid, 15 years younger than him. I remember him cleaning his service rifle, sitting on the living room floor of our house, and, making sure it was empty, allowing me to to hold it. At the time, I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever done.

I also remember John. John was a friend of my sister’s, who stayed with us, because of problems at home. As I have related before, my folks were the ones who all my sister’s friends would talk to when they had trouble at home. John was great guy, as well, who wound up enlisting and serving in that “crazy Asian War”, as Kenny Rogers and Mel Tillis once referred to it in song.

I have related before about my own Daddy 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.

Within the past year, 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”.

Additionally, there have been instances of Air Force Personnel getting in trouble for sharing their faith.

The non-military Liberal Bureaucrats, who are in charge of our fighting men and women, issued a policy called “Air Force Culture, Air Force Standards,” published on Aug. 7, 2012.

Section 2.11 of the policy requires “government neutrality regarding religion.”

“Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for an individual’s free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion,” the regulation states.

Military leaders were admonished not to use their position to “promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion.”

This policy and the removal of God from the Air Force Oath are the result of meetings with 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!!! 

I have some news for Obama, Weinstein, and the rest of “the smartest people in the room”:

GOD IS NOT AN “OPTION”. HE IS A NECESSITY.

A General by the name of George Washington thought so, too.

General Washington took the oath as our first President in New York City on April 30, 1789. When Chancellor Livingston swore Washington in as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, Washington added four words to the Constitutionally prescribed oath:

So Help Me God

If it was good enough for Washington and every United States President thereafter, why does Obama was to do away with those four words?

Is this Administration threatened by the Sovereignty of God?

Until He Comes,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: Would I Be Willing to Die For Christ?

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American FreedomI have written in the past that American Christians are fighting a war against an effort to undercut our faith, severely limiting our practice of it in everyday life.

With the present Administration spearheading the effort, Christian Americans are being marginalized , and our faith ridiculed and attacked as being against “diversity”, as the First Lady alluded to in her speech at a Topeka, Kansas Graduation Ceremony, which I wrote about yesterday.

As bad as things are getting in our country, Christians are not facing the choice of whether to renounce Jesus Christ as our Savior or die a martyr…yet.

On May 15th, in front of a judge in a Sudanese court, Meriam Yahia Ibrahim forthrightly declared that she was still, and always will be, a follower of Jesus Christ. The judge at the Public Order Court in El Haj Yousif Khartoum then confirmed her sentence of 100 lashes for adultery and death by hanging for apostasy.

Ibrahim told the judge after a Muslim scholar spent 40 minutes persuading her to recant,

I am a Christian, and I have never been a Muslim.

In response, the judge told her,

The court has sentenced you to be hanged till you are dead.

The sentence is to be carried out two years after her second child’s birth later this month.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported that the death sentence in the case, which is drawing international attention, and called the ruling a “violation of the Sudanese Constitution and of international conventions to which Sudan is party.”

According to Middle East Concern, Ibrahim’s lawyer is appealing the ruling. Ibrahim’s American husband was also not permitted to witness the hearing, and has been denied visitation rights to see his wife and son while they are detained in prison.

Ahead of the hearing on the 15th, Amnesty International condemned Ibrahim’s death sentence and called for her immediate release. According to Manar Idriss, Amnesty International’s Sudan researcher:

The fact that a woman could be sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion is abhorrent and should never be even considered. ‘Adultery’ and ‘apostasy’ are acts which should not be considered crimes at all, let alone meet the international standard of “most serious crimes” in relation to the death penalty. It is flagrant breach of international human rights law.

In July 2012, Saeed Abedini, an American pastor who is a dual Iranian-American citizen, went back to Iran to visit family and continue his work on a government approved orphanage. While in that  Radical Islamic county, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps placed Saeed under house arrest without charge. He was then sent to Evin Prison in September 2012.

In January, Saeed was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was charged with preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Saeed is not guilty of breaking any Iranian law. However, he was convicted of endangering national security because of gathering with other believers in private homes.

While in prison, Saeed has suffered internal bleeding from beatings and endured solitary confinement in an effort to make him recant his faith.

Although he has been denied medical attention, Saeed’s faith remains as strong as ever, as he has led 30 people to Christ while in prison.

Saeed’s family in Iran gets to visit him once a week at Evin Prison. His beloved wife, Naghmeh, and their children have not seen Saeed in over a year. During his most recent time in solitary confinement, Saeed said he felt many people praying and the time in solitary was a time of intimacy with God. When he came out, the other prisoners said he was glowing. In fact, Saeed said he was filled with more joy and peace after solitary than going in.

In a letter to Naghmeh, Saeed shared how he has hope despite the daily beatings he endures.

I heard that the persecution, my arrest and imprisonment has united churches from different denominations, from different cities and countries that would never come together because of their differences. That the churches have united together in prayer to put one request (my freedom) on one day (Pentecost) before God. You don’t know how happy I was in the Lord and rejoiced knowing that in my chains the body of Christ has chained together and is brought to action and prayer.

Would I be willing to die for my Savior?

Believe it or not, I have actually been asked that question by other Americans before by non-believers, both young and old, who could not fathom a faith comprised of unconditional love, supplied by a Triune God, who accepts his imperfect children, just as we are, without one plea. Bring a Love that will not let me go, no matter how many times I stumble, no matter how many times I fall, He always picks me back up, and helps me to continue to walk in faith, hope, and love. But, the greatest of these is love.

There is a “libertarian” (actually, a Liberal) who makes fun of believers on a Conservative Facebook Page I post on, by posting the words, “Onward Christian Soldiers”, attempting to point out Christian Hypocrisy…or something.

This “self-proclaimed genius” evidently has neglected to read the lyrics of this great old hymn…

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
forward into battle see his banners go!
Refrain:
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus going on before.

2. At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee;
on then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.
(Refrain)

3. Like a mighty army moves the church of God;
brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod.
We are not divided, all one body we,
one in hope and doctrine, one in charity.
(Refrain)

4. Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane,
but the church of Jesus constant will remain.
Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail;
we have Christ’s own promise, and that cannot fail.
(Refrain)

5. Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng,
blend with ours your voices in the triumph song.
Glory, laud, and honor unto Christ the King,
this through countless ages men and angels sing.
(Refrain)

I pray that God will open this unbeliever’s eyes one day. However, until He does, this unbeliever and his fellow travelers will be oblivious to the fact that the war Christians fight is not against flesh and blood, but instead against “Princes and Principalities”.

And, to answer the question I raised earlier….

Yes. 

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

May God continue to the strengthen these two brave Christians and may He continue to hold them and  their loved ones in the Hollow of His Hand.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Liberals Pushing “Moral Equivalency” Between American Christianity and Radical Islam

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

Islam cartoonRecently, I have heard and read from some of this “Me, First Generation” that there is not any difference between American Christianity and Radical Islam. Quite frankly, that’s like saying that there’s no difference between an in-ground swimming pool and a garden hose.

In Islam, the way to “walk with God and escape his judgement on that final day of judgment” is through ‘falah’, which means self-effort or positive achievement. The faithful must submit to God and follow all of his laws as found in the Koran. Judgment day in Islam involves some sort of measurement of what the believer has done wrong and what they have done right. And, even then, you might not be let into heaven if Allah decides you’re not good enough.

This is the direct opposite of Christianity.

According to the Bible, no man can ever be good enough to deserve God’s favor, to win God’s heaven, because from birth we have Free Will. This Free Will may cause us to reject God and live our lives our own way. That’s why it was necessary for Jesus Christ to die for our sins, covering us in His blood of the New Covenant.

God’s Word tells us that what we need is not ‘falah,’ but faith. To have faith in, to trust, to rely on Jesus and his death as as “the expiation for our sins”. Those who have been Saved by Jesus Christ can be sure that in the future God will welcome them into heaven with wide open arms, because they have been washed by His blood.

Obama,having attended school at an Indonesian Madrassa as a child, has been supportive of Muslims in America since his Presidency began.  In a speech he delivered to the Muslim world on June 4, 2009 at Cairo University, Obama said:

I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America’s story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, “The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.”

Time out, Scooter.  US President John Adams  also said:

The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.

Now, back to the Cairo Speech.

And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at our Universities, excelled in our sports arenas, won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library.

However, what the Liberal Main Stream Media never reported, and Obama chose to ignore, was the fact that Thomas Jefferson kept a Koran in his library in order to gain a better insight into the way Muslims think, because of the War with the Barbary Pirates.

Obama and his minions are trying desperately to rewrite history , by trying to somehow subliminally imply that Muslims go all the way back in our nation to the Founding Fathers.  That is not the case.

From adherents.com:

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

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

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

<!–

–>

Religious Affiliation
of U.S. Founding Fathers		 # of
Founding
Fathers		 % of
Founding
Fathers
Episcopalian/Anglican 88 54.7%
Presbyterian 30 18.6%
Congregationalist 27 16.8%
Quaker 7 4.3%
Dutch Reformed/German Reformed 6 3.7%
Lutheran 5 3.1%
Catholic 3 1.9%
Huguenot 3 1.9%
Unitarian 3 1.9%
Methodist 2 1.2%
Calvinist 1 0.6%
unknown 43  %
TOTAL 204

Here are some quotes about God and Christianity from 3 Presidents of the United States whom you might recognize:

John Quincy Adams

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

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

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

Thomas Jefferson

The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of man.

The practice of morality being necessary for the well being of society, He [God] has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral principles of Jesus and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses.

I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others.

I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.

George Washington

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.

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 78% 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.

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.

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

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

American Atheists to Launch Their Own Television Channel

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

atheismDo you remember a woman named Madalyn Murray O’Hair?

Born in 1919 to a poor family in Pittsburgh, she was raised by church-going parents but claimed she became an atheist after reading the complete Bible in her early teen years. Madalyn Murray O’Hair became a household name when she contested the required moment of prayer and Bible reading in her son William’s Baltimore-area public school in 1960. The Supreme Court, then under Chief Justice Earl Warren, delivered its 8-1 verdict in favor of O’Hair on June 17, 1963, expanding an earlier school prayer decision in the 1962 Engel v. Vitale case. Murray v. Curlett, along with Abington v. Schempp, eliminated not only obligatory school prayer but also mandatory Bible readings in public schools.

Though the Schempp case got top billing, O’Hair quickly became a hero among secular Americans. “The Schempps did not want to be in the limelight,” O’Hair biographer and University of Missouri-Kansas City dean Bryan LeBeau told Beliefnet in a 2004 interview. “Madalyn walked right out to the front of the Supreme Court building, her son by her side, and grabbed the microphone from the press and insisted that this was a major case and she was responsible for it. She took credit and then went on to say that she wasn’t done, that she was going to go on and challenge all kinds of other church-state matters.”

Undeterred by the backlash (O’Hair received death threats and was the victim of vandalism long after the 1963 decision), O’Hair continued to insert herself into church and state legal battles as the country’s atheist-in-chief. “I am an Atheist,” she wrote in the “Why I Am an Atheist” pamphlet. “I am a bit more than that–an Atheist. I am, in fact, the Atheist. The Atheist who made Americans stop to take a little stock of their accepted values.”

Later in 1963, O’Hair founded American Atheists, which remains one of the most activist atheist groups in the U.S. today.

Back in the 1980s, when I was working for a national Cable Television Provider, one of my jobs was to run the syndicated show of the American Atheists, hosted by Madalyn Murray O’Hair. I found her to be a bitter old woman, who spent her life fighting against Someone whom she believed did not exist.

Now, the group she founded plans on taking things a step further.

The New York Daily News reports that

Believe it.

A New Jersey-based atheist group is starting the first on-demand TV channel dedicated to godlessness.

AtheistTV will be launching this summer with big plans to reach out to atheists, humanists, freethinkers, and folks who are looking for a way out of faith.

Members of American Atheists, the organization behind the endeavor, think it’s about time.

“There’s a glut of religious TV programming out there, from televangelists to Christmas specials,” spokesman Dave Muscato told The News. “But there’s no atheist channel. We wanted to fill that void.”

The American Atheists plan to launch their new TV channel this summer.

American Atheists already has a production studio at their national headquarters in Cranford, N.J., where they film their public access cable show “Atheist Viewpoint.” The show is in its 20th season and is distributed to 50 markets across the country.

AtheistTV will make use of content from their homegrown show, as well as their archive of footage from the past 50 years of its activist history. But they’re also seeking to join forces with other content providers—non-profit secular organizations such as the Richard Dawkins Foundation and atheist YouTube stars with big fan bases.

So, will this venture be successful, or will it be as unpopular as Air America and Al-Jazeera America?

According to a Pew Forum Survey, more than 13 million Americans are self-described atheists and agnostics, comprising less than 6% of the U.S. public.

I have never understood Atheists, especially the so-called activists among them.

Our Constitution provides for Freedom of Religion.

According to the Supreme Court, in their Ruling abolishing School Prayer, Atheism is a religion, which the Americans who embrace this nihilism are free to practice.

So, why are Atheist Activists continuously launching a full-blown attack on the Faith which our Founding Fathers wrote so eloquently about, and which has sustained this “shining city on a hill” through times of internal and external strife?

In other words, why are activist Atheists (and Progressives) so intent to either limit or completely eliminate Christianity’s influence on everyday American Life?

Why can’t they be content with their freedom to practice their own Religion?

Why don’t they attack the political/religious ideology of Islam with the same fervor?

The answer to this question is simple:  Cowards will always tell you whom they are afraid of. They will avoid them, like one avoids a child with Chicken Pox.

Additionally, they expect Christians to allow them to take control by “turning the other cheek.” Evidently, they never read the scriptures which describe Jesus running the “money lenders” out of the temple, overturning tables, and expressing his righteous indignation in a way in which no one could mistake it for anything else.

Or, perhaps, it’s the overwhelming overestimation in their own intelligence, which results from ignoring the influence of the God of Abraham in their life.

So, what drives them in this “Unholy Crusade”?

Bitterness, emptiness, and an unfulfilled hungering in their soul which they cannot put a finger on, is the only explanation.

Otherwise, why would you fight so hard against the influence of and worship of Someone you claim not to believe in?

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

My 1,500th Blog: To God Be the Glory. To Liberals, the Shame

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

Christian America Fish LogoI began writing my own Blog in April of 2010, after being a contributor on other Conservative Blogs and Facebook Pages.

I started writing as a way to share my Faith, my love for my country, and to vent ( because after all, punching holes in the wall is expensive…and painful).

Every now and then, I am asked what I believe.  So, on the occasion of this milestone, I’m asking you to gather ’round ol’ Uncle KJ, boys and girls, as I lay it on the line, and write from my heart…as usual.

FIRST THINGS FIRST…

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead… – The Apostles Creed

I believe that there is no way to the Father, except through His Son, and the most important possession you can have in this life, is a Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Our Redeemer.

Grace, Forgiveness, and Redemption are available to everyone. However, it is up to you to ask for them.

I BELIEVE THAT AMERICA IS  STILL THAT “SHINING CITY ON A HILL”.

When our Founding Fathers made their treacherous journey to an unknown land full of danger, they sacrificed their homes, their wealth, and their prestige, in order to be able to worship God in the way they chose.

And, when the King of England decided to tax these brave men and women, who had sacrificed all to build a better life for themselves, in a punitive and unbearable manner, to the point of poverty, they decided that it was time to fight this tyranny, no matter what the cost.

So, to each other, they pledged “their lives, their fortunes, and their Sacred Honor”.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…

And, thus began the Greatest Country on the Face of the Earth.

Yes, there have been mistakes made. Yes, there have been “growing pains”.  However, what makes the difference between us and other countries, is the fact that we remain a nation of exceptional people.

What is it that makes Americans exceptional? Is it simply a matter of the blessing of an American Birth?

No, if that were the case, you could consider the Communist Slackers of the OWS movement or other self-centered Mom’s Basement Dwellers, “exceptional”.  No, it’s way more than the privilege of being born a nephew of our Uncle Sam.

What has separated our nation from all others is THE AMERICAN SPIRIT…a spirit comprised of FAITH, COURAGE, SACRIFICE, CHARITY, AND INGENUITY.

While others have RUN AWAY, Americans have always RUN TO.

Why is that?

As my Brother-in-Christ Johnny McDonald once wrote, “Liberty is Freedom…with Responsibility”.

Ronald Reagan said,

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Was Ronaldus Magnus speaking about our Freedom as a nation? Or, the freedom of the individual?

The answer is “Yes. Both.”

President Reagan knew how fragile this precious thing called Freedom is. So did Dr. Benjamin Franklin.

Dr. Franklin, along with our other Founding Fathers, pledged his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor in pursuit of it.

When he made that now-famous quote to Mrs. Powel, he was expressing his worry that seceding generations, having attained their freedom so easily, might grow lackadaisical and so spoiled by it, that they would squander it through self-indulgence. Franklin was, in fact, so leery of losing this new republic, that he said,

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

He was afraid that Americans would rely and trust those in power over them to the extent that they would surrender their freedom to them.

And, that brings me to my third belief:

I BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. – Phillippians 14:3 – NKJV

Our American Freedom allows us to be whatever we want to be, in this life. All it takes it perspiration, strength of will, and God’s Blessings.

And, that is why Liberalism/Progressiveness/Marxism fails.

Like any tyranny, they sublimate the power of the individual for the good (i.e., avarice and political ambitions) of the Collective (mindless sheep, kept in economic and ideological slavery, by an all-powerful Central Government).

The strength and vitality of America does not come from the benevolence of a Nanny-state Federal Government.

As the greatest American President of our lifetime, Ronald Reagan said:

The nine words you never want to hear are:  I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.

Being enslaved to the Government Dole steals one’s ambition.  It takes away any impetus or desire to create a better life for yourself and your family, to challenge yourself to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and pursue the American Dream.  It makes you reliant on a politically-motivated spider’s web full of government bureaucrats who view you and your family as job security.

While working at the County Jobs Center, I watched American citizens trapped in this web of government bureaucracy,  so numbed of any initiative that they once had, that they seemed offended that they actually had to prove that they inquired about three jobs that week in order to keep their “benefits”.  Others seemed puzzled that they had to search through the state data base and pick out a job that they wanted to talk to an interviewer about receiving a referral to, and weren’t just simply handed a job when they walked through the door.

Reliance on an out-of-control, ever-expanding Central Government, who controls every moment of a citizen’s everyday life, limits the potential of the individual.

And, for that reason, especially, Liberals should be ashamed.

I look at my own life, and I thank God that I was blessed by Him to be born an American.

If you would have told me as a child/teenager, during one of the many times that I was laying under an Oxygen Tent in St. Joseph Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, that God would give me the opportunity to sing to His Glory for 30 years, from Centenary United Methodist Church on McLemore Avenue in Downtown Memphis to a Baptist Church in Stratford-on-Avon, England, in between wheezing, I would have told you that you were a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal.

If you would have told me that, in my professional life, I would have had the to work with Americans from all walks of life, from the Surgeon General of the United States, to world-renowned physicians, to cotton farmers on the Mississippi Delta, I would have said, “Who…me?”

And, if you would have told me that I would write 1,500 Blogs, which have been read by people in countries all over the world, and that something I wrote would be read daily via e-mail by approximately 300 Americans , including United States Senators and Congresspeople, I would have told you, “NO WAY!”.

However, Gentle Readers,

WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

May God Bless each and every one of you.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

He is Risen!

On By kingsjesterIn ChristianityLeave a comment

Wow. It’s really been amazing around here since they crucified Jesus. Did you feel that earthquake? The veil of the temple was torn in half! And did you hear? A bunch of people that had died years ago, were seen walking around the city! But that’s not all. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard?

Listen to this: He has risen! He arose from the dead and was seen by several people. It’s true! I know it sounds unbelievable. I can scarcely take it in myself. Mary Magdalene and Mary, James and Salome’s mother, went to the tomb to perform the anointing of His body and it wasn’t there! On top of that, there was this young guy there, dressed in a white robe. They said he must have been 9 feet tall. He said, “You are seeking Jesus of Nazareth. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. See the place where you laid him.” So they went and told the disciples. But you know how Peter is. He just had to go run up there and see for himself.

Jesus even approached two of them on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t recognize him. He even broke bread with them that night. They realized who He was and He disappeared! They ran to tell the disciples and as they were telling them, Jesus appeared right in front of them! They were all starting to panic. Jesus said, “Peace to you.” But they couldn’t believe it was him, especially Thomas. So he had him touch him in the hole in his hand where they drove the nail and where the spear pierced his side.

Jesus ate with them and performed other signs and miracles in front of them and they understood scripture as never before. He also came to them at the Sea of Tiberius. Peter took the disciples fishing and they weren’t catching anything. Jesus told them from the bank to cast the net down on the right side. They did, and they could hardly bring it in the boat! When they got back to land, Jesus already had a fire going and some fish and bread ready to eat. He asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and each time He told him “Feed my sheep’. Hey, isn’t that the same number of times Peter Denied Him?

Anyway, He taught them many things before He left. They watched as He was taken straight up into heaven. Can you imagine?

The disciples are making plans now to go out and starting spreading the Good News about Jesus’ Resurrection. They are talking about going out in pairs. Man. Nothing is ever going to be the same again.

For God so loved the word, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. – John 3:16

As you read this post today:

33% of the world’s population are  Christian.

The top 3 countries with the largest national Christian populations are :

USA – 224,457,000 (85%)

Brazil – 139,000,000 (93%)

Mexico – 86,120,000 (99%)

There are approximately 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. This statistic takes into consideration cultural distinctions of denominations in different countries.

Today, in the United States of America, about 78% (244, 140,000) of adults identify themselves as Christian. In comparison, the next largest religions in America are Islam and Judaism. Combined they represent only about one to two percent of the United States population.

There are more than 1500 different Christian faith groups in America.

All this and more, because of the sacrifice of the Son of God.
Within the editorial, Jesus, the Perfect Man, published on Christmas Day 1912, C.P.J. Mooney, Editor of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, wrote the following excerpt:

After the experience of 2,000 years no man can find a flaw in the governmental system outlined by Jesus.

Czar and kaiser, president and Socialist, give to its complete merit their admiration.

No man today, no matter whether he follows the doctrine of Mill, Marx or George as to property, can find a false principle in Jesus’ theory of property.

In the duty of a man to his fellow no sociologist has ever approximated the perfection of the doctrine laid down by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount.

Not all the investigations of chemists, not all the discoveries of explorers, not all the experiences of rulers, not all the historical facts that go to make up the sum of human knowledge on this day in 1912 are in contradiction to one word uttered or one principle laid down by Jesus.

The human experiences of 2,000 years show that Jesus never made a mistake. Jesus never uttered a doctrine that was true at that time and then became obsolete.

Jesus spoke the truth, and the truth is eternal.

History has no record of any other man leading a perfect life or doing everything in logical order. Jesus is the only person whose every action and whose every utterance strike a true note in the heart and mind of every man born of woman. He never said a foolish thing, never did a foolish act and never dissembled.

No poet, no dreamer, no philosopher loved humanity with all the love that Jesus bore toward all men.

WHO, THEN, was Jesus?

He could not have been merely a man, for there never was a man who had two consecutive thoughts absolute in truthful perfection.

Jesus must have been what Christendom proclaims Him to be — a divine being — or He could not have been what He was. No mind but an infinite mind could have left behind those things which Jesus gave the world as a heritage.

In this time in this nation, our faith as Christian Americans has been under attack as never before. Remember, that our fight is against “princes and principalities”.  And…

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

He is risen indeed!

Until He Comes,

KJ