Tag: Christianity

What percentage of Americans identify themselves as Christians?

Duck Dynasty, Pajama Boy, and America’s Self-Righteous Liberal Elite: The New Pharisees

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

PhilandpajamaboyYesterday, America’s Cultural War, which the Liberals walking the Halls of Power in DC, have been insisting does not exist, burst forth in brilliant Technicolor and stark reality as the Arts & Entertainment Channel “indefinitely suspended” Commander Phil Robertson, the Patriarch of their biggest program, Duck Dynasty, a favorite of 14 million American viewers.

To say that something hit the rotary oscillator would be putting it mildly. Facebook literally exploded, with pages in support of Commander receiving hundreds of thousands of likes.

Radio and Television News Talk Shows led with the story, with Liberal Pundits feverishly trying to come up with ways to demean and insult Commander Phil, who dared to disagree with their Cult of Ambivalent Morality and Situational Ethics, standing up instead for his Christian Faith.

The Liberals appeared positively apoplectic because he paraphrased the Holy Bible, recalling scripture from 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10.

If A &E was pompous enough to believe that they could keep the rest of the Robertson Clan in line and under their thumb, after “suspending” Commander Phil, they received a reality check, as Thursday was drawing to a close.

Last night, the Robertson Family released the following statement:

We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. The family has spent much time in prayer since learning of A&E’s decision. We want you to know that first and foremost we are a family rooted in our faith in God and our belief that the Bible is His word. While some of Phil’s unfiltered comments to the reporter were coarse, his beliefs are grounded in the teachings of the Bible. Phil is a Godly man who follows what the Bible says are the greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Phil would never incite or encourage hate.We are disappointed that Phil has been placed on hiatus for expressing his faith, which is his constitutionally protected right.We have had a successful working relationship with A&E but, as a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm. We are in discussions with A&E to see what that means for the future of Duck Dynasty. Again, thank you for your continued support of our family.

A & E now faces a choice: realize that they jumped the shark and plead with the Robertsons to stay, or lose their highest-rated program because they were too pompous to think beyond their own narrow Liberal Belief System and recognize their over-estimation of their own piousness and intelligence.

For example…

By now, everyone in America has heard of “Pajama Boy”, an apparent 20-something Liberal wuss, clad in his pajama “onesies”, cradling what can only be a cup of Hot Cocoa his Mommy made for him, in an ad, created by Organizing For America, designed to convince the young and dumb to purchase overpriced Health Insurance through the Obamacare Exchanges.

Well, we found out yesterday that this metrosexual is named Ethan Krupp, and, of course, he is a member of Obama’s Propaganda Arm, the before-mentioned Organizing For America.

The Ad, which the Liberal Brain Trust thought was so “cool” and “with it” has turned out to be a laughingstock…water cooler fodder…and the object of unprecedented Twitter ridicule, by the same target audience Obama and his supporters were trying to reach.

During his program yesterday, Rush Limbaugh made the following observation, regarding “Pajama Boy” and Liberal thought processes in general. What he said, applies to the Duck Dynasty Story as well:

This ad, the Julia cartoon ad, and the Pajama Boy ad, you have to understand, that is who the Regime is. This administration is filled with guys who used to be Pajama Boy. They think they are America. Snerdley, not one of them has worked in the private sector, not one of them. They’re all academicians, theorists, professors. They’re all people that congregated at the academy. They sit around and theorize, and they’re filled with resentment for everybody that actually does something.

They’re smarter than everybody else. If only they had a chance to run it, they would show everybody. They could do health care better than the people doing it. They can run the car companies better than the people doing it, run energy better than the people in the oil business. They could run drugs better. They could do everything better! They’re smarter than everybody, but nobody would ever hire ’em ’cause they’ve never done anything.

So they congregate in universities and the faculty lounge and they end up getting to know each other, and they have all these networks where they congregate and become like-minded people. I guarantee you they run that ad, and they think they are mass marketing. They are arrogant enough to believe that they are America. I mean, there should be no question about it. When somebody in the media goes to Texas or anywhere in flyover country, they look out of place. They don’t understand.

By now, you are probably wondering why I would call America’s Liberal Elite “Pharisees”. 

Any American who attended Sunday School or Vacation Bible School as a child, knows who the Pharisees were. During the days when Jesus Christ walked the Earth as one of us, the Pharisees, a party of self-proclaimed, pious “religious leaders”, showed themselves to be bitter and persistent enemies of Christ. They could not bear his doctrines, and they sought by every means to destroy his influence among the people.

Their belief in themselves as “the smartest people in the room” and the belief in their own infallible righteousness, blinded them to the Son of God’s message of Perfect Peace and Unconditional Love through personal repentance of sin  and individual salvation, received through the Grace of God.

Sound familiar?

Until He Comes,

KJ

Charitable Giving in America: Liberals Talk the Talk. Christian Conservatives Walk the Walk.

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

American Freedom

This time of year, Americans’ thoughts and hearts turn toward helping those who are less fortunate.

We are reminded of the plight of others every time we pass by a volunteer at a Salvation Army Kettle,

And, that got me to thinking, Who actual gives more to charity, the Vocal Minority, America’s Liberals…or the Silent Majority, Christiam American Conservatives?

I have noticed over the years, that when a Christian American Conservative, such a myself, writes a Blog concerning Christianity in America, Liberals jump up on their hind legs and start complaining that Conservatives ARE the problem with Christianity in America, and, that Christian Conservatives are the least charitable, least caring of Americans.

A pretty silly statement, when you think about it. One that is so blatantly false, it’s laughable.

Realclearpolitics.com posted the following article by George Wills on March 27, 2008,  featuring information gathered by Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, who published “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism”…

— Although liberal families’ incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).

— Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.

— Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George Bush.

— Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average.

— In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.

— People who reject the idea that “government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality” give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.

Brooks demonstrates a correlation between charitable behavior and “the values that lie beneath” liberal and conservative labels. Two influences on charitable behavior are religion and attitudes about the proper role of government.

The single biggest predictor of someone’s altruism, Willett says, is religion. It increasingly correlates with conservative political affiliations because, as Brooks’ book says, “the percentage of self-described Democrats who say they have ‘no religion’ has more than quadrupled since the early 1970s.” America is largely divided between religious givers and secular nongivers, and the former are disproportionately conservative. One demonstration that religion is a strong determinant of charitable behavior is that the least charitable cohort is a relatively small one — secular conservatives.

Reviewing Brooks’ book in the Texas Review of Law & Politics, Justice Willett notes that Austin — it voted 56 percent for Kerry while he was getting just 38 percent statewide — is ranked by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as 48th out of America’s 50 largest cities in per capita charitable giving. Brooks’ data about disparities between liberals’ and conservatives’ charitable giving fit these facts: Democrats represent a majority of the wealthiest congressional districts, and half of America’s richest households live in states where both senators are Democrats.

While conservatives tend to regard giving as a personal rather than governmental responsibility, some liberals consider private charity a retrograde phenomenon — a poor palliative for an inadequate welfare state, and a distraction from achieving adequacy by force, by increasing taxes. Ralph Nader, running for president in 2000, said: “A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.” Brooks, however, warns: “If support for a policy that does not exist … substitutes for private charity, the needy are left worse off than before. It is one of the bitterest ironies of liberal politics today that political opinions are apparently taking the place of help for others.”

In 2000, brows were furrowed in perplexity because Vice President Al Gore’s charitable contributions, as a percentage of his income, were below the national average: He gave 0.2 percent of his family income, one-seventh of the average for donating households. But Gore “gave at the office.” By using public office to give other peoples’ money to government programs, he was being charitable, as liberals increasingly, and conveniently, understand that word.

Last Friday, The Christian Post published the following article about a very familiar Christian American Conservative, a man who is carrying on his father’s legacy of touching people all over the world in the name of Jesus Christ and who, coincidentally, has been banned by President Obama and His Administration from speaking to our Armed Forces at Christmas.

Franklin Graham, president of nonprofit Samaritan’s Purse, joined project organizers, local families and survivors of Hurricane Sandy at one of New York City’s major airports this week to personally send off more than 60,000 gifts to some of Typhoon Haiyan’s most vulnerable victims in the Philippines.

“Do you know what these gifts are going to mean to these kids? It means that somebody loves them, it means they haven’t been forgotten. It will mean everything in the world. It will give these little kids hope,” Graham told more than 300 attendees at Thursday’s event.

The evangelist and son of the Rev. Billy Graham was flanked by young singers of the Christian Heritage Academy and a loaded Boeing 747 over his shoulder as he thanked participants during the send-off ceremony at Hangar 19 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

“It’s about letting the children of the world to know that God loves them and God hasn’t forgotten them,” Graham added in his interview with The Christian Post. His Samaritan’s Purse international relief organization has been delivering emergency aid to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan forced more than 3.9 million residents to flee their homes. The powerful Nov. 8 typhoon has killed at least 6,000 people and injured more than 27,000 others.

The organization’s annual Operation Christmas Child outreach will be delivering shoe boxes stuffed with goodies and essentials to thousands of Filipino children to let them know that Christians on the other side of the world are praying for them and contributing to their needs.

The other day, at Mandela’s Funeral, I noticed that, when former President George W. Bush got up to speak, Mandela’s faithful booed, and gave him a poor reception, after greeting President Obama as “a true son of Africa”. Very curious. 

Per CNN, in the four years following the unprecedented creation in 2004 of the funding mechanism known as PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), Bush sent some $19 billion to Africa and other hard-hit parts of the world.

On the other hand,last year,the Obama Administration unveiled a budget that reduces AIDS funding globally by roughly $214 million, the first time an American president has reduced the U.S. commitment to fighting the epidemic since it broke out in the 1980s during the Reagan administration.

Illuminating, isn’t it?

Until He Comes,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: Why This “Unholy Crusade” Against Christianity in American and Why Don’t Atheists Attack Muslims?

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

charlie brown ChristmasAs we approach the celebration of the Nativity, you have probably been seeing on television and the Internet, and hearing on the radio, about all the attacks by the Progressives and Atheists (But, I repeat myself…) in our country against the 78% of our population who still identify themselves as followers of Jesus Christ.

Within the last several months, we’ve seen those in charge of our nation’s Brightest and best, start taking references to Christianity on uniforms, taking out any reference to “God” from the solemn Oath that Air Force Cadets pledge upon joining, and even disciplining those who fight and die for us, for sharing their Christian Faith.

And, on top of that, there is a movement to install Atheist “Chaplains” in the United States Armed Forces!

So much for Atheists insisting that their belief system is not a religion.

And, if that’s not enough…check out this assault against Christianity, as reported by breitbart.com:

After 24 years of litigation, a federal court revealed in an emotional hearing that it has ordered the famous Mount Soledad Cross removed from a veterans memorial, holding it is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Since 1913, a cross has stood as the centerpiece of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego, surrounded by nearly 3,000 granite plaques, individually honoring war heroes from every American war, from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The structure is a 29-foot Latin cross, which was erected in 1954. For much of this time, it was in a city park in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. Then, in 1989, the ACLU filed a lawsuit, arguing that allowing a cross on government land violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. This memorial has been embroiled in litigation ever since.

In 2004, Congress passed a law making this city-owned display a “national memorial honoring veterans of the United States Armed Forces,” dedicated as a tribute to those service members “who sacrificed their lives in the defense of the United States.” Congress officially found that the “patriotic and inspirational symbolism of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial provides solace to the families and comrades of the veterans it memorializes.” Although the Latin cross is identifiably a Christian symbol, Congress noted that the memorial is also “replete with secular symbols” and symbols of other faiths, such as 18 Stars of David. In this pluralistic context, the cross plays the role of commemorating veterans’ service and death.

That law sparked the latest round of litigation in federal court. In 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its prior decision on this display, holding that because of the cross, the memorial “primarily conveys a message of endorsement of religion.” Specifically, it “projects a government endorsement of Christianity.”

The United States Supreme Court denied review in 2012 but sent a written message noting that the lower courts were still considering whether the memorial could be modified in a way that preserves its character. In a statement by Justice Samuel Alito, the Court signaled that it would seriously consider taking the case if these additional efforts did not produce a positive outcome.

After almost two years of additional proceedings, on Dec. 12 the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California reluctantly held that under controlling precedent from the Ninth Circuit, the district judge still had no choice but to declare the cross an endorsement of Christianity. He has ordered it removed within 90 days.

Judge Larry Alan Burns read the order from the bench in court and appeared to choke up as he ordered the memorial’s destruction, observers told Breitbart News. Burns then issued a stay of his decision to give the memorial cross’s lawyers time to appeal back to the Ninth Circuit and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court.

Originally, the U.S. Justice Department defended the cross memorial. However, when President Barack Obama was elected, the government’s defense of the memorial under Attorney General Eric Holder seemed to become lackluster, and the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial Association stepped in to bolster the defense.

So, it’s not just the Military who are being attacked. It is Christianity in Everyday American Life. Otherwise, why would you attack a cross at a war memorial on a mountaintop, which has stood there since 1913?

School Administrators  have been attempting to block Christmas Songs which reference Christianity and the Triune God in any way from school programs.

Retail stores, who, in years past, joyfully wished customer a “Merry Christmas”, now instead, air commercials, which sing “That’s my kind of holiday.” and greet you in their stores with “Happy Holidays!”

So, why this 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 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 con 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 don’t personally believe in?

Until He Comes,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: The National Christmas Tree Lighting 2013…Diffusing the Message of Jesus Christ

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

charliebrownchristmasLast night, was the annual lighting of the National Christmas Tree. Michelle Obama read “”Twas the Night Before Christmas…and the 44th President of the United States of America came up with his own definition of Christmas, in which he spoke of Our Savior Jesus Christ, as if he was just a nice boy from Nazareth who went into his Father’s Business.

Here is a White House transcript of the president’s remarks courtesy of Todd Starnes column at FoxNews.com:

“For 91 years, the National Christmas Tree has stood as a beacon of light and a promise during the holiday season.  During times of peace and prosperity, challenge and change, Americans have gathered around our national tree to kick off the holiday season and give thanks for everything that makes this time of year so magical — spending time with friends and family, and spreading tidings of peace and goodwill here at home and around the world.

And this year, we give a special measure of gratitude for Nelson Mandela, a man who championed that generosity of spirit.  (Applause.)  In his life, he blessed us with tremendous grace and unbelievable courage.  And we are all privileged to live in a world touched by his goodness.

Each Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a child who came into the world with only a stable’s roof to shelter Him.  But through a life of humility and the ultimate sacrifice, a life guided by faith and kindness towards others, Christ assumed a mighty voice, teaching us lessons of compassion and charity that have lasted more than two millennia.  He ministered to the poor. He embraced the outcast.  He healed the sick.  And in Him we see a living example of scripture that we ought to love others not only through our words, but also through our deeds.

It’s a message both timeless and universal — no matter what God you pray to, or if you pray to none at all — we all have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to make a difference that is real and lasting.  We are our brother’s keeper.  We are our sister’s keeper.

And so in this season of generosity, let’s reach out to those who need help the most.  In this season of reflection, let’s make sure that our incredibly brave servicemembers and their families know how much we appreciate their sacrifice.  And there are several military families and servicemen and women here tonight.  We are so grateful to you for all that you do.  (Applause.)

In this season of hope, let us come together as one people, one family to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to keep America the land of endless opportunity and boundless optimism for which we’re so thankful.

So on behalf of Malia, Sasha, Marian, the First Lady Michelle, plus Bo and Sunny, I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a joyful holiday season.  God bless you.  God bless our troops.  God bless the United States of America.”

Did you notice?

Nowhere did President Barack Hussein Obama mention that Jesus Christ was THE SON OF GOD. Not only that, but he  not-so-subtly compared Nelson Mandela, who was, at least in his youth, a Communist-inspired Revolutionary Leader, who used to have his enemies killed with a flaming tire around their necks…to Jesus Christ.

You know, Muslims believe that Jesus Christ was just another prophet. And, Black Liiberation Theologists, such as Obama’s “Former” Pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, himself a former America Muslim, teaches, that Jesus was a Revolutionary, like Che…or Mandela.

Yes. The message which Christ brought to us, is one of unconditional love. However, he allow preached repentance, in order that each individual person might be saved.

He did not preach Collective Salvation, nor did he preach State-Run Charity based on Marxist Principles.

So, who was Jesus of Nazareth?

In 1912, C.P.J. Mooney worked as  the editor for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN.  He wrote an editorial that has become a yearly tradition, not only in Memphis, but around the world.   

Jesus, The Perfect Man

There is no other character in history like that of Jesus.

As a preacher, as a doer of things, and as a philosopher, no man ever had the sweep and the vision of Jesus.

A human analysis of the human actions of Jesus brings to view a rule of life that is amazing in its perfect detail.

The system of ethics Jesus taught during His earthly sojourn 2,000 years ago was true then, has been true in every century since and will be true forever.

Plato was a great thinker and learned in his age, but his teachings did not stand the test of time. In big things and in little things time and human experience have shown that he erred.

Marcus Aurelius touched the reflective mind of the world, but he was as cold and austere as brown marble. …

Thomas a Kempis’ ”Imitation of Christ” is a thing of rare beauty and sympathy, but it is, as its name indicates, only an imitation.

Sir Thomas More’s ”Utopia” is yet a dream that cannot be realized.

Lord Bacon writing on chemistry and medicine under the glasses of the man working in a 20th century laboratory is puerile.

The world’s most learned doctors until 150 years ago gave dragon’s blood and ground tails of lizards and shells of eggs for certain ailments. The great surgeons a hundred years ago bled a man if he were wounded.

Napoleon had the world at his feet for four years, and when he died the world was going on its way as if he had never lived.

JESUS TAUGHT little as to property because He knew there were things of more importance than property. He measured property and life, the body and soul, at their exact relative value. He taught much more as to character, because character is of more importance than dollars.

Other men taught us to develop systems of government. Jesus taught so as to perfect the minds of men. Jesus looked to the soul, while other men dwelled on material things.

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

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

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

If you have doubts as to what Christians believe, please read the Gospel of John, found in the New Testament of the Holy Bible.

If you still have questions…read it again. 

And then…Have a Conversation with the One Who Created You.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Thanksgiving 2013: The Anchor Holds.

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

Thanksgiving2013Thanksgiving Day.

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

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

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

However, Thanksgiving is much more than this.

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

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

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

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

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

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

On October 3, 1863, in the middle of the darkness and strife of a Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the following…

By the President of the United States

A Proclamation

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. 

Abraham Lincoln

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

This Thanksgiving Day 2013, I’m thankful for Americans who are still making a difference.  Americans who still love God and country, and stand on principle with their feet planted on a Solid Rock, and not on shifting sands.

They are the reason we remain, in spite of all that has befallen us in the last 5 years, the greatest country on Earth.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Obama and Obamacare: Americans are Hurting. To Whom Can We Turn?

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

americaneagleflagTo say that America is facing a pivotal moment in history is an understatement. Obamacare is wiping out Americans’ health insurance coverage all over the country, causing despair and discouragement.

Add an American President, who seems to care more about supporting our enemies and improving his golf game, than protecting and serving the country he is supposed to be leading, and you see a country in the middle of a National Crisis.

Yesterday, in an interview with CBN’s Chief Poltical Correspondent, David Brody,  to promote he new Christmas Book, “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas,” the following discussion took place,

David Brody: “Look, you don’t pull any punches, what a shock. In this book, when it comes to Jesus, you talk about him, you talk about God, Jesus, right there and you talk about how that name that if it wasn’t called Christmas, if it wasn’t about Jesus, then it may be a whole different story, but that name seems to offend and I’m curious about your views on that.”

Sarah Palin: “That’s a great point that you’re bringing up because that’s exactly the point. People who would be offended that we celebrate the Prince of Peace because it is called Christmas, it’s because the name Christ is in the title that they would be offended. So that tells you this war on Christmas is really the tip of the spear when it comes to a greater battle that’s brewing and that battle that’s brewing is those who would want to take God out of our society, out of our culture which will lead to ruin as history has proven. Any country, any government society that has kicked God out of the public square completely, it leads to ruin. Why would we go down that path when we know what would happen?”

So far, most of the ads, on television, Internet, Radio, and print, which I have seen, refuse to refer to the day on which we celebrate the birth of the Savior as “Christmas”. Instead, they refer to the time using the nebulous words, “The Holidays”.

Frankly, this ignorance in the name of Political Correctness is just a symptom of our rapidly-decaying American Culture, which has accelerated even greater in the last 5 years, under President Barack Hussein Obama.

This has been the most Christian-stifling Administration in the History of America.

As I have written in previous posts, the entire military is under the advisement of leaders who are following the advice of Mikey Weinstein, Founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an Atheist Organization. Weinstein’s mission is to remove God from our military.

Obama seeks the elimination of Christianity from the military and, eventually, from our daily lives, as well. Obama favors another religion over the Faith of Our Fathers.

Now, I know some of you will claim that he is just being sensitive to other religions. However, Jewish Americans have worked and served side by side with Christian Americans since the birth of our nation. They are respectful of our faith, as we are respectful of theirs.

What is it about Christianity that this Administration is so opposed to?

The American clergyman and author, Phillip Brooks, once said:

Christianity helps us face the music even when we don’t like the tune.

And, without America’s Moral Compass of Christianity in the way, Obama has free reign to “radically change” the “shining city on a hill”.

I’m sure that you have seen, or heard of, by now, the “Bro-surance” and “Ho-surance” commercials designed to lure healthy young Americans into buying Health Insurance through the Obamacare Exchanges.

The commercials portray young Americans as Hedonists, on a par with Sandra Fluke. You remember that chick…the 30 year old professional student, who insisted that we have to pay her $3,000 each month for her birth control.

Here’s an aspirin, precious. Place it between your knees and squeeze tightly.

But I digress…

Staying on the subject of Obamacare, what sort of “Christian” President (as he has claimed to be) would lie to the American People 29 times that “if you want your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance” and “if you want your doctor, you can keep your doctor”?

Additionally, what sort of “Christian” President would treat our sworn enemies, Muslim Extremists, better than he treats our greatest ally, the home of God’s Chosen People, Israel?

During my soon-to-be 55 years, I have noticed that our country’s culture tends to model itself after the character of the man sitting in the Oval Office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

If you have a leader who loves God and Country, Americans tend to follow his example, becoming more conscious of their role is shaping this nation, by working hard, and taking pride in providing for their families, through personal responsibility, perseverance, and faith in the God of Our Fathers.

However, if you have an American President who embraces the teachings of Marx and Alinsky, and who seems to be more enamored by the Muslim Call to Prayer, “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset”, than he is “Rock of Ages” or  “Amazing Grace” (old or new version), then you will have Americans following what their President believes in, causing a crack in the fabric of American Society and Culture.

That is where we stand today. As Americans continue to lose their health insurance, and the realization of their betrayal by their fallen messiah sets in, there will be a lot of misled, hurting Americans, seeking some sort of assurance that their lives are still worth-living and that they will “get by”.

Last week, as he has done all his adult life, America’s Pastor, the Reverend Billy Graham, celebrating his 95th birthday, provided the answer. He advised Americans to RETURN TO THE CROSS.

As a kid in high school, my English Literature teacher, Mr. Rainey, had us all memorize famous speeches, and stand and deliver them in class. I picked the famous Call to Arms by American Founding Father and Christian, Patrick Henry:

Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here, idle? I know not what course others may take, but as for me, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!

This American Patriot also said,

Being a Christian… is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast.

The Bible… is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed.

Righteousness alone can exalt America as a nation. Whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others.

The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.

Raise your eyes to the hills, Americans, from which cometh our help.

For greater is He who is in us…than he who is in the world.

Until He Comes,

KJ

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

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics8 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.

Recently, 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.

Now, just within the last couple of days, 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”.

Recently, 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

Massacre in Kenya: Americans Involved, Americans in Danger

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics9 Comments

KenyanmallmassacreA couple of years ago, as I was sitting in church on a Sunday morning, our Preacher introduced a member of our church, who was a teacher at one of our local schools. “Gari Marie” had heard God’s call upon her life and had decided to take a position at  a Christian School in Nairobi, Kenya.

West Nairobi School is part of the Network of International Christian Schools (NICS). NICS operates 21 international schools in 16 countries around the world, including one online school.

Each NICS teacher attends a two-week training in-service designed specifically for educators working with international students. Teachers can share information, advice, and expertise with hundreds of professional teachers in similar schools. Being part of a large network of international schools benefits West Nairobi School students by:

  • aiding in the recruiting highly qualified professional educators — the NICS Home Office aids in the recruitment of WNS faculty,
  • providing the opportunity for WNS teachers to network with other educators around the world — teachers share information, advice, and expertise with hundreds of professional teachers in similar schools,
  • helping prepare WNS teachers for working in an international school — new teachers attend a two-week training in-service designed specifically for educators working with international students.

The mission of NICS is to establish a worldwide network of international Christian schools staffed by qualified Christian educators, instilling in each student a Biblical world-view in an environment of academic excellence and respect for people of all cultures and religions.

Each potential teacher has to raise their own funds, in order to teach there. Gari Marie came back home this summer to raise money for her second two year contract there. Her commitment to the mission that God has laid on her heart, has made her a shining example of God’s Love and Grace in action., and a wonderful example for all of us.

Our church was concerned for her safety this week.

This past week, Muslim Terrorists from the Kenyan Chapter of al Qaeda attacked a shopping mall in Nairobi. These barbarians

have killed at least 68 people, injured 175, and were believed to be holding about 30 people hostage.

“All efforts are underway to bring this matter to a speedy conclusion,” the Kenyan military announced on Twitter.

It said that “most of the hostages have been rescued and security forces have taken control of most parts of the building.”

Earlier, police had tweeted that a “MAJOR assault” by security forces was ongoing.

The developments come some two days after Al-Shabaab militants first stormed the shopping center, spraying bullets and unleashing chaos.

There are believed to be between 10-15 gunmen involved in the attack, officials said.

Sources within Al-Shabaab told CNN that nine names listed on a Twitter site — now suspended — were people who were among the alleged hostage-takers.

Three of the alleged attackers are from the United States, two are from Somalia and there is one each from Canada, Finland, Kenya and the United Kingdom, according to the list.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed Sunday to hold those responsible for the violence, accountable.

The tragedy is personal for the president; one of his nephews and his fiancée were among the dead.

“They shall not get away with their despicable, beastly acts. Like the cowardly perpetrators now cornered in the building, we will punish the masterminds swiftly and indeed very painfully,” Kenyatta said.

The Kenyan Faction of al Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, has a long history of violence in Kenya, per qz.com:

  • 2003—Al-Shabaab emerges as a militant youth wing (shabaab means “youth” in Arabic) of al-Ittihad al-Islami, one of the many Somali extremist groups that formed in the 1980s and 1990s. Al-Shabaab remains relatively inactive and doesn’t control any territory in Somalia until 2007-08.
  • 2006—Ethiopia invades Somalia, removing an Islamic group known as the Islamic Courts Union from Mogadishu, the Somali capital, where it had established a modicum of central authority in June of that year. Al-Shabaab—which had served as a military wing of the courts union—begins to rise in prominence as a member of the resistance to Ethiopian invasion.
  • 2007—Al-Shabaab’s influence grows thanks in part to material assistance from the government of Eritrea, which uses the group as a proxy against its longtime enemy Ethiopia. The group retreats to the swampy south of Somalia conducting a largely conventional guerrilla campaign that bogs down the advance of Ethiopian forces.
  • 2008—Driven, in part, by an increasing association with al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab signals a new approach to fighting with a coordinated series of suicide attacks hitting government offices, UN agencies and the Ethiopian consulate. The US State Department identifies al-Shabaab as a foreign terrorist organization in February.
  • 2009—Ethiopia pulls back from the Somali capital. Its forces are replaced by an influx of Ugandan and Burundian soldiers serving as part of the African Union’s peacekeeping mission, which is largely confined to Mogadishu.
  • 2010—Multiple suicide bombers attack at a rugby club and Ethiopian restaurant in Kampala, Uganda. The death toll rises to 76 people. Al-Shabaab takes responsibility. It’s al-Shabaab’s first transnational attack, suggesting the group can add to regional destabilization.
  • 2011—Kenya commences military operations in southern Somalia, accusing al-Shabaab of a series of attacks in southern Kenya. Its forces easily push back al-Shabaab fighters.
  • 2012—Kenyan forces dislodge al-Shabaab forces from the strategically important port city of Kismayo, one of the group’s few remaining strongholds and a key source of revenue.

Al-Shabaab has called the mass murder “retaliation” for Kenya’s 2011 incursion into Somalia.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, al Qaeda now makes up the majority of the “brave Syrian Rebels”, to whom President Barack Hussein Obama has sent not just money, but advanced weaponry, as well, and has been lobbying so hard for our nation to lob missiles at Syrian President Assad, on their behalf.

In an article for The New York Times, Titled “Obama: man of the World”, posted on March 6, 2007, Nicholas D. Kristof wrote that

Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

Over 200 years ago, another President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, wrote the following…

In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent God; he connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE (Adams’s capital letters)… Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant… While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and goodwill towards men.”

And, so it is today.

I believe (and the polls back me up) that the majority of Americans stand with Americans like Gari Marie (who let us know that she’s alright, praise God) and President Adams.

And, that is why Obama will never get our support for his allies, the Muslim Brotherhood and their off-shoot, al Qaeda.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Simmons/Tebow: A “Demon” Defends a Christian

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

Gene SimmonsBack in the middle 1970’s, when I was in high school, I had a buddy named Derral. Derral was a 6’3″. 280 lbs, tackle who could run a 4.3 440 and broke the Tennessee State Record by throwing a shot put 63 feet. My big mouth caused it. I bet him a Wendy’s Triple Meal that he couldn’t do it.

Anyway. when we were in class, Derral could usually be found doodling in his notebook. The usual subject of Derral’s artistic efforts was the rock group KISS. And, despite the catcher-mitt size of my big buddy’s hands, he was a surprisingly good artist.

Derral went to be with God 4 years ago. His big ol’ heart just gave out. I still think of our adventures together in high school to this day.

Somewhere up in Heaven today, my big buddy must be smiling, because sincere or not, KISS member Gene “The Demon” Simmons has come to the defense of a professional football player, who just happens to be a Christian…professional quarterback, Tim Tebow.

“He’s got a religious passion, as well he should, we’re in America,” the KISS frontman told Radio.com earlier this week. ”He’s proud to be a Christian, what’s wrong with that? And yet, with sports media and pop culture media, they make fun of his religion. Really? In America? If he was wearing a burqa, they wouldn’t dare say anything [editor’s note: only Muslim women wear burqas]. But if you’re a Christian, you get to be picked on? What the hell? The guy’s got family values. I never saw the media picking on Michael Vick for torturing dogs. Or this other football player, who’s alleged to have killed, committed murder. That’s ‘cool.’ But a guy who’s religious and has got family values isn’t ‘cool?’ He’s cool to me.”

As has been widely reported, Simmons and his KISS bandmate Paul Stanley are now co-owners of a new Arena Football League team, to be called LA KISS. And Simmons wasted no time drawing attention to the expansion team (which will begin playing in 2014), extending a very public offer to quarterback Tim Tebow, who after a brief up-and-down career in the NFL, was released by the New England Patriots a few weeks ago.

In an interview focusing on the new oral history of KISS, Nothing To Lose (more on that to come), Simmons addressed the situation with the man who he hopes will be the KISS QB.

“We haven’t heard back from Tim,” Simmons said. “He’s considering this seriously; he’s in Los Angeles. Right after this, I’m gonna fly back with our guys and try to sit down with him and tell him that we’re serious about this. He’ll get the respect here that he didn’t get at the NFL.”

Simmons may relate to Tebow on that level: he has always taken issue with the music media (notably Rolling Stone) for not treating KISS seriously, which he addresses in Nothing To Lose. But the treatment that he feels Tebow has received makes him particularly incensed: “They’re a**holes. And they should be called to task, and they should lose their license, because in a very real way, as far as I’m concerned, it’s slander and defamation. You’re making fun of somebody’s religion.”

“I think religion is good for mankind. Without the Ten Commandments,” he pauses to note, “Jews gave you that,” and continues, “Without that, there’d be chaos. Somebody had to say, ‘Here are some good ideas: don’t steal, and don’t kill.’ Those are good ideas. That’s called ‘civilization.’ There was once a time where those things weren’t written down. You had chaos! We still have chaos, but there’s a reference point. But those are good ideas. Honor thy father and thy mother. That’s a good idea!

The Internet has been buzzing since the news of Gene’s defense of Tebow was made public. In the last few years, KISS’ long-tongued Demon has had a surge of renewed popularity through his series on the A&E Network, “Gene Simmons’ Family Jewels”, a series which followed his and his now-legal wife and former Playboy Bunny, Shannon Tweed’s, efforts in raising their two teenage children, while trying to handle the own careers and notoriety.

Opinions from all sides are coming in . Some are praising Gene’s forthrightness, while others are saying he is being disingenuous, and is only praising Tebow’s Christianity in order to sign him as a marketable asset for his new Indoor Football Team.

My thought’s are these…

I realize that years ago, Gene made very some ugly remarks about religion and the Christian Faith.

However, as viewers of his TV series know, Gene has done a lot of growing up in recent years. He is actually a Fiscal Conservative, who loves his family, and works hard to provide for them.

When I first heard about his statement, the cynic in me thought,

Okay, “Mr Show Business”, Gene Simmons, is trying to draw attention to his new endeavor, and is simply using Tebow to draw more attention to his team.

I mean, after all, he has supposedly had sex with 5,000 women, and, according to our parents, back in the 1970s, KISS stands for “Knights in Satan’s Service”.

But then, I remembered a very salient and important fact: On that blessed night, so many years ago, God used a jackass to help deliver the Good News!

Why can’t he use “The Demon”, as well?

Until He Comes,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: The “Gay Mafia” Vs. Elaine Photography

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics6 Comments

gay marriageSuppose that you are a small business owner, who just happens to be a Christian, and you own a doughnut shop. Through your door walks a young man, positively reeking of marijuana usage, cursing at the top of his voice to someone on the other end of his cell phone, with his pants “saggin'” half-way down his rear,showing his boxers to everyone who sees him..

Do you have the right to to refuse service and ask him to leave?

Most Americans would say that you do.

In fact, according to RasmussenReports.com, the overwhelming majority of Americans believe that free exercise of religion extends to how you run your business.

For example, if a Christian wedding photographer who has deeply held religious beliefs opposing same-sex marriage is asked to work a same-sex wedding ceremony, 85% of American Adults believe he has the right to say no. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only eight percent (8%) disagree even as the courts are hearing such challenges.

That being said, have you heard about what happened in New Mexico?

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court of New Mexico decided that a small business, Elaine Photography,  violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA).

The judge ruled that their refusal to phtograph the “gay wedding” of  Vanessa Willockand her “partner”, violated the act, which “prohibits a public accommodation from refusing to offer its services to a person based on that person’s sexual orientation”.

According to Justice Richard C. Bosson, the case “provokes reflection on what this nation is all about, its promise of fairness, liberty, equality of opportunity, and justice.” He also said that the case “teaches that at some point in our lives all of us must compromise, if only a little, to accommodate the contrasting values of others. A multicultural, pluralistic society, one of our nation’s strengths, demands no less.”

Bosson wrote in his ruling that the owners of Elane Photography, Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin, “are free to think, to say, to believe, as they wish” Nevertheless, in the “world of the marketplace, of commerce, of public accommodation, the Huguenins have to channel their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different.”

Doing so, Bosson wrote, is “the price of citizenship.”

The ruling upholds a grant of summary judgment for Willock against Elane Photography by New Mexico’s Second Judicial District Court and holds that Elane Photography’s free speech rights were not violated. The case was first decided by the New Mexico Human Rights Council, which ordered Elane Photography to pay Willock $6,637.94 in attorneys fees and costs. Elane Photography appealed to the Second Judicial District Court based on the court’s original and appellate jurisdiction.

The Hugueins were made an example of because they stood strong in their Christian Faith. They believe that a marriage consists of one man and one woman.

Guess what? New Mexico law agrees: it has no legal same-sex civil unions or same-sex marriages.

And, you know the kicker? There were other photographers in the Albuquerque area who could have photographed the ceremony.

The Free Exercise Clause,found in the First Amendment to the Constitution, protects our absolute freedom of belief. According to our Founding Fathers, religious liberty is a natural right.

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

The First Amendment ensures that all people have an equality of rights to practice their faith. Although it was originally written to apply to actions of the federal government, it was incorporated into state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment by the Supreme Court in the case Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940).

The Free Exercise Clause was a direct descendant of the English Bill of Rights, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. The English Bill of Rights expanded religious freedom for Protestants who did not attend the Church of England, but not for Catholics or non-Christians. The Virginia Declaration of Rights held that “all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion.” The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom asserts that “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion.

The First Amendment also guarantees all Americans the right to Freedom of Association.

All Americans, including us Christians, may peacefully assemble with whomever we choose, whether it’s in a church building on a Sunday morning, or a church-sponsored small group in someone’s home on a Tuesday night.

As Americans, we have the right to practice our faith 7 days a week, at home, in our community, and in our business.

This activist judge, as in the case of the homosexual activist judge in California overruling the vote of the people, who had voted against allowing gay marriage in that state, overstepped his bounds, trumping the Free Exercise Clause for the sake of Popular Culture and his own Political Ideology.

Remember when the whole gay marriage brouhaha started being the cause celebre for Gay Activists and their Liberal supporters? They went around assuring us that they would not force anyone, whether small businesses or churches, to be involved in the organization or performance of their phony “marriage” rituals.

They lied.

As I, and others have insisted all along, this is a political movement, spearheaded by a political ideology, whose express purpose is the remake the fabric of our society. They wish to make what was once considered deviant behavior by both popular culture and academia, by the use of the word “marriage”, “normal”.

Ask the Roman Empire how that worked out for them.

Heck, ask Modern European Nations, who have put God in a box in their “enlightened” societies, how things are working out for them, as a Modern version of the Barbarian Hordes who destroyed Rome, radical Muslims, install Sharia Law in their countries,

American churches and their leadership will be sued, next, and forced to perform gay marriage rituals or pay an exorbitant fine. 

Don’t be surprised if a ruling comes down from the Halls of Power that preaching against Homosexuality as a sin, becomes a “Hate Crime”.

America’s free-fall down the oft-referenced “Slippery Slope” of Relative Morality and Situation Ethics has kicked into high gear.

Caligula’s Horse approves.

Until He Comes,

KJ