The Nuclear Option

April 6, 2017

It appears that on Friday the Republican controlled Senate will exercise what is being called the “nuclear option” and confirm the nomination of judge Neal Gorsuch as a justice of the Supreme Court.  An amazing amount of handwringing and wailing is being heard from the progressive Left over this “heavy handed” confirmation.  How dare the majority party take away the right of the minority to filibuster this nomination!  Such tactics serve only to further exacerbate the divide between the two parties!  Why can’t there be some kind of compromise in this matter?

The answer is simple.  There can’t.

More than ever, the Gorsuch nomination underlines the chasm that now exists in this country between our two political parties.  The Democratic party absolutely and resolutely supports the “right” of a woman to kill her baby in the womb.  Period.  The Republican party argues that a child in the womb is a child, not “fetal contents,” and should enjoy the same “right to life” within the womb that he or she has outside of the womb.  Those are not complementary positions.  They are absolutely opposite to each other.  And both parties are very well aware that a politicized Supreme Court will render decisions that favor one side or the other in this matter.

Our politicized judicial system now regularly legislates from the bench – at state and federal levels.  For years now, the agenda of the progressive Left in this country has been furthered, not by legislation, but by judicial decision.  Again and again, courts have overturned the votes of the people to further abortion “rights” and gay “rights.”  The progressive Left has been able to further its agenda, not because it has the support of the majority of the people, but because it controls the courts.  Should that control begin to slip away, it is a game changer of major proportions.

Six months ago the Democratic party was smugly secure in the knowledge that they would be able to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Scalia with a judge whose values and decisions would further their agenda.  They were also very aware that dozens of judgeships across the country would also be filled by appointing judges who values reflected those of the progressive Left.  This would mean decades of decisions favoring and furthering their agenda.  It would solidify their hold on power.

All that blew up in November.  They are now in a panic.  The very real possibility of not holding a majority in the Supreme Court, of having appeals court justices appointed who are not necessarily of a liberal bent, is the stuff of nightmares to them.  A possibility they couldn’t even envision a year ago is moving closer and closer to a harsh reality.

I don’t know about you, but I am sick to death of listening to politicians from both parties talk about the need for compromise and working together.  I am all for compromise and working together on trade legislation or infrastructure spending.  Let them compromise and cut deals all they want.  But there are some bottom line moral issues for which there can be no compromise.  Either its right to kill a baby in the womb or it’s murder.  I really don’t see a compromise position that doesn’t entail dead babies.  Either marriage is to be between a man and a woman or anything goes.  Once again, I fail to see a compromise position that doesn’t entail the destruction of marriage as designed by our Creator.  There are issues that you simply can’t solve by making a “deal.”

We are in a culture war.  We are in a war that will determine the values that will guide the future of this country.  When you’re in a war you’d better fight to win.  War is never kind to the losers.

Don’t kid yourself, religious freedom is under vicious and determined attack in this country.  The arena in which these attacks have taken place have been court rooms.  If we allow the progressive Left to continue to take over the judiciary our religious freedom will be systematically stripped from us.  Please consider the catastrophic implications of this for your children and grandchildren.  I don’t want to even contemplate my grandkids being threatened with prison time because they hold to Biblical values that have been outlawed and condemned by a twisted and sick society.  In this ongoing political and judicial war over whose values will control decision making we simply must win.

So, if that means on Friday the Republicans in the Senate invoke the nuclear option and approve Judge Gorsuch, so be it.  I will guarantee you, if the shoe was on the other foot, the Democrats would not hesitate to use that same option to approve their candidate for the court.  This is increasingly a winner take all matter with huge implications for the future direction of this country.  Both sides understand that.

We’d better as well.    

Ultrasound Insanity

January 25, 2017

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/ultrasound-woman-pregnancy/514109

            If you have the heart, or the stomach, to be exposed to the barbaric insanity that now characterizes the Progressive Left’s defense of abortion, I would invite you to endure the above article.  This screed attacking the use of ultrasound technology as some kind of weapon of misinformation beggars belief!  Pro death apologists are now reduced to attacking the ability to see a baby in the womb as a weapon of the pro-life Right to misrepresent and mislead the mothers of those babies. It illustrates just how desperate the defenders and providers of abortion have become as they see their denial of the humanity of the unborn  dismantled by science.

            One thing I find truly distressing in all of this is the inhumanity revealed by portions of our society who view themselves as enlightened and elite.  They position themselves as defenders of women, yet appear to be absolutely blind to the frightening callousness and hypocrisy that characterizes their position.  As they moan and groan over their fear that “women’s health” is about to be sacrificed on the altar of pro-life conservatism, what they are really bemoaning is their fear that the ability of a woman to kill her unborn child at any time during her pregnancy is being reined in.  By the way, have you noticed how the whole “women’s health” mantra has merely become the Left’s code talk for abortion on demand?  They’re really not concerned about women’s health in general.  When’s the last time you saw feminists marching in protest over obesity or drug use or alcoholism or the myriad sexual diseases associated with rampant promiscuity?  The marches last week in Washington D.C. and elsewhere had an undeniable central theme – Women must have the unfettered right to kill their unborn child whenever they choose – period.  

            President Trump’s action this week in directing that no federal funds be used overseas to fund or further abortion was met with screams of fury from the pro death crowd.  How dare he do such a thing!  They are accusing him of sentencing women to death by coat hanger or to lives of poverty and destitution!  If you read, or listen to, some of these attacks, I would ask you to take note of something.  Notice what is not mentioned.  There is absolutely no recognition of the fact that thousands upon thousands of unborn children have just been given a reprieve from execution by President Trump’s executive action.  That is not mentioned because to the pro-abortion crowd that doesn’t matter.  Understand - those babies lives don’t matter.  They are being executed on the holy altar of pragmatism and sexual license.  If their humanity must be denied, if their defenselessness must be disregarded, so be it.  In the demented value system of the left, an unborn baby is only of value, only a human being, if its mother deems it so. 

            I have four children and six grandchildren.  One of the most thrilling moments in my life was the first time I was able to see one of my children in her mother’s womb.  I will never forget it.  To see the technology that allowed that blessing denigrated and criticized because it gets in the way of denying the humanity of a child is almost beyond my comprehension.

            In the next few days one of the most important decisions President Trump will make is to be announced.  He will be presenting his nominee to fill the vacant position on our nation’s highest court.  The pro-abortion forces are already lining up to do everything they can to prevent a pro-life candidate from being nominated and approved.  Please be in prayer that God will grant us the blessing of a judge who will vote to protect the lives of our most vulnerable human beings – the unborn.

Again, I have to say, it breaks my heart that in this country we harbor, and many honor, those who openly and vociferously argue for the slaughter of the unborn.  Such implacable disregard for the sanctity of human life should send shudders up all our backs.  It is but a very short walk, logically, from the slaughter of the unborn to the selective extinction of the elderly.  The same arguments used to support one will also support the other.  We are, ethically and morally, arguing positions with, quite literally, millions of innocent lives on the line.

I believe God has granted us a brief opportunity to change the course this country has been on for the past eight years.  May men and women of courage and faith speak up for the sanctity of all human life, particularly that of the unborn.   

Happy Birthday, Daddy

January 11, 2016

My Dad, Everett Eugene Rouse, turned 92 on the 7^th of this month.

Daddy grew up in the midst of the Depression.  Most of his early years were spent on a small farm in eastern Kansas.  His father, Elbert Rouse, operated a gas station, worked odd jobs, and did what he could to feed his family.  Daddy remembers eating potatoes every meal and how happy everyone would be when there was squirrel or rabbit on the menu.  He wore hand-me-downs from his two older brothers and put cardboard in the soles of his shoes when they wore through.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor Daddy was sixteen.  He remembers listening to the radio address by President Roosevelt, and how the attack galvanized the whole nation.  When he graduated from Fredonia High School, he tried to join the army.  They rejected him because he was deaf in one ear – probably from a childhood illness.

Papa worked for the Post Office for a while, then as a mechanic in a small shop.  He started to work for Beech Aircraft in Wichita, Kansas in the late 1940’s, and would work there for the next 37 years, until he retired.  He had a strong work ethic.  I don’t know how many times I heard as a kid growing up, “If you’re willing to work, you’ll always have a job.”

Daddy would marry my mother, Beatrice Marie Rouse, in 1948.  They met on a blind date around Valentine’s Day, then married in July of that same year.  They would go on to share more than sixty three years together.  Daddy had previously been engaged to another woman, but he broke it off with her when she told him she would quit smoking, then he caught her still lighting up. 

I’m the oldest of four children.  We never had much money as I grew up.  Mom was a stay-at-home Mom, and Papa didn’t make a lot of money at Beech.  However, we always had enough.  We moved out to a farm near Benton, Kansas in the early sixties, and food was never an issue.  Daddy made sure we planted a huge garden, and we always kept chickens and raised cattle and hogs.  Mom would can hundreds of quarts of green beans, corn, peas, tomatoes, pears, peaches, and apples.  We kept milk cows and so milk, cream, butter, and cheese were never an issue.

Papa was baptized for the remission of his sins in the late 1940’s – in major part won to the Lord because of my Mom’s faith and faithfulness.  He would serve as a deacon in the church of Christ for years, then eventually as an elder for more than thirty years.  As a child growing up, if the doors of the building were open, we were there for services.  Dad took his faith very seriously.  One of the memories of him I’ll always carry with me is him sitting in his chair in the living room with his Bible in his lap, studying for a class he would be teaching at Sunday School.

Mom died in 2011.  Daddy, who had always been an active and vigorous man, despite hip and knee surgeries and a bout with colon cancer, really went downhill after she passed away.  It was like half of him died when she did.  Within a year, we had to put him in a nursing home, and he has been there ever since.  His hearing and eyesight are pretty well gone, and his mind is finding it easier and easier to forget, but he still has a sense of humor and the Rouse appetite for food is as strong as ever.

Please indulge me in a few observations about a good man who’s lived 92 years so far.

Folks who grew up in the Depression are marked by that experience.  Daddy never threw anything away if he even remotely thought it could be used again.  He pulled nails out of boards, straightened them out, and put them in jars for future use.  On the farm we had lots of old tire tubes around because they could be patched if necessary;  buckets of screws and washers; used auto parts and spark plugs; he kept every tool he ever had, no matter what shape it might be in.  He wasn’t a hoarder, just the ultimate recycler.  In a day and time of throw away everything, I think about a man who really valued what he had.

Papa is a highly moral man.  He held himself to a high standard, and he did the same with others.  Some would probably call him judgmental, and with some justification.  But it is also undeniable that my father was an honorable man.  I have never known of my father to lie, ever.  His word was always his bond.  Always.  I never knew him to welch on a debt or obligation of any kind.  His speech was always pure – free of the cursing you hear so much today.  Daddy was once accused by a man he supervised at work of discriminating against him.  Part of the accusation was that Dad cursed him on the job.  All the charges were dropped when those investigating heard from Daddy’s fellow employee’s “If that man claims Big E (that’s what they called him at work) cursed him out, he’s lying.  Big E don’t cuss.”

My father has taught, by his life, the value of faithfulness.  He was absolutely faithful to my Mother.  I never saw him conduct himself in any way other than honorable toward any woman.  He has lived a life of faithfulness to His Lord.  If you spent any time with or around him, there would never be a question of his devotion to the Lord and His will.

Daddy recently asked me why he was still around; why God hasn’t taken him home.  He’s frustrated with his physical limitations and his inability to work and serve.  That’s what he spent his whole life doing.  I told him God numbers our days and he obviously wasn’t done with Papa yet.  I said maybe he’s left him here still to remind the rest of us about the importance of living your life right.

Happy birthday, Daddy.  I love you.    

When You Remove God from the Picture

December 28, 2016

Carol and I really enjoy many of British television’s Masterpiece Theatre productions.  They are usually cleverly scripted and well-acted.  They also give interesting insight into how the British view life.  For instance, a recurring theme in many productions is the resentment felt by the lower and middle classes toward the “upper crust.”  Repeated pokes are taken at an upper class that is presented as narcissistic and out of touch with reality.

Over the last couple of months we have been caught up in viewing two BBC Masterpiece Theatre detective mystery series.  One is entitled “Inspector Lewis,” and the other “Grantchester.”  What has captured my attention in both series, and the reason I am mentioning them at all, is because of the way Christianity and Christian morality is being portrayed from a British point of view.  That perspective is both enlightening and a little frightening.

“Inspector Lewis” is set in contemporary Oxford, England.  The two main characters are Inspector Robert Lewis and his sidekick Sergeant James Hathaway.  Oxford University is an intrinsic part of the story.  Characters in the mysteries are often faculty or students at the University. 

Grantchester’s setting is a small English town in the early 1950’s.  The two main characters are an Anglican vicar by the name of Sidney Chambers and a local Detective Inspector Geordie Keating.  They form an unlikely alliance as they work together to solve various crimes.

As you view Christianity through the lens of “Inspector Lewis,” Oxford, both town and university, is proudly and almost uniformly atheist.  This is a point that is repeatedly made.  Intellectualism and atheism are seen as going hand in hand. Sergeant Hathaway is portrayed as having once studied for the priesthood, but he is the only remotely Christian figure on the show.  The sergeant is extremely intelligent, and obviously very well educated, but as his  character is revealed from one episode to the next, no one would accuse Hathaway of being a happy man.  He is emotionally remote and lonely, and finds frequent solace in a bottle. There is little evidence his faith in God makes any significant difference in his life.  When a clergyman does make an occasional appearance, he is either cold and judgmental or hapless. The main character, Inspector Lewis, has no use for the Christian faith and makes no bones about it.  If anything, he seems to carry a chip on his should toward God.  By the way, an interesting visual side note is that a number of nightclubs and taverns in Oxford visited by the main characters in the course of the programs were beyond doubt at one time, from their architecture and stained glass beauty, churches.  In post Christian Britain, the inference is clear: church buildings as houses of worship are a thing of the past.  They are being repurposed for much more popular usages such as drinking and carousing.

In “Grantchester” Christianity receives similar treatment.  The young vicar is handsome and smart – and a borderline alcoholic who smokes like a train and has an eye for women.  One of his favorite places to hang out is a tavern. It appears the writers for the show have little to no idea what a vicar actually does.  He is rarely, if ever, shown studying or praying or ministering in any fashion. When he is portrayed as preaching, the message is insipid and trite and delivered to a handful of bored parishoners.  Sidney’s associate is a man struggling with homosexuality who clearly has a much greater knowledge of contemporary philosophers than he does of Scripture. Sidney’s bishop is a cold, calculating monster, one of those characters you love to hate.  His best friend in seminary shows up as a sexual predator.   

The message of both shows concerning Christianity is very clear: it is an unnecessary historical relic.  It has no relevance to modern life.  Christianity in Britain today is seen as convictionless, Bible less, and soulless.  It is an interesting and sometimes frustrating anachronism – nothing more.

I believe British television can give us valuable insight into what the not too distant future may look like here in the U.S.  American culture has been aping European culture for decades when it comes to morals and faith.  The British attitude toward Christianity should be seen as a harbinger of what is to come in our own country if we continue to follow a similar path.

It breaks my heart, but the battle for the soul of much of Europe has been clearly lost to the forces of humanism, socialism, and atheism.  What is left behind is a people without faith and, it would appear, without hope.  There is a kind of resigned pessimism that seems to permeate these shows.  They are cleverly written and well-acted, but the main characters would never be accused of being happy.  Nearly all of them consume alcohol in prodigious quantities, and when not seeking to solve a crime, spend a great deal of time moping around.  I think it would be safe to say life in godless England is portrayed as being pretty bleak.

The British are now free of the trappings of Christianity.  But they are paying a horrific price for that freedom.  These shows portray plenty of sexual acting out in all forms, but few healthy relationships or happy marriages.  The British may no longer recognize the ten commandments as coming from a transcendent God, but ignoring them certainly hasn’t added to the quality of life there.  Existing in an environment where “agape” is unknown, but greed, lust, envy, and anger are commonplace is pretty dreadful. Whether within the confines of intellectual fortresses like Oxford or small towns like Grantchester, life lived without God appears to be more of a slog than a blessing.  Removing God from the picture hardly produces an earthly Paradise.  In fact, I would argue it appears to be quite the opposite.

Humanists and Progressives would have us believe in this brave new world there is no place for Christianity.  What is truly sad is that in that same world there is also no place for grace or mercy or peace. 

Post Christian England has a message for us if we’ll just pay heed.  Recent statistics indicate that less than four percent of the population of Britain now attend any type of worship service on a Sunday. England is filled with huge, beautiful, empty cathedrals.  The British may have successfully shut God out of their country, but they have also closed the door to the blessings His presence brings.    

      

Some Frightening Trends

December 20, 2016

Allow me to share with you three incredibly important stories that aren’t being covered by the major media… These are going to shape our future in ways that are hard to imagine.

One

We are moving toward a world in which relationships with human-like robots will increasingly be substituted for a relationship with a male or female.  No, this is not science fiction.  It is already beginning to occur and gaining steam.  Why bother with a wife or husband, boyfriend or girlfriend when you can have a substitute relationship with an A.I. (artificial intelligence) that never is moody or argues with you or questions what you’re doing?  Check out this story – and in particular pay attention to the video at the end.  It is a creepy indication of what will become the norm.  Japan is already facing what amounts to a crisis as a higher and higher percentage of young males are indicating they have no desire to have a relationship with a woman.  Pornography and electronic substitutes for relationships are reshaping their culture. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/12/19/rise-sex-robots-will-make-people-appreciate-real-thing/   

Two

We are all aware of how ipads, smart phones, tablets, and other electronic devices are reshaping everything from how our children learn to how we interact and communicate.  Increasingly verbal communication is being replaced by texting and twittering.  I watched two young people sitting side by side the other day in a restaurant.  They were not looking at each other, but rather at their cell phones.  It was obvious they were texting.  What was bizarre was they were texting each other!  That was made clear when the young woman suddenly looked up, obviously responding to what she was reading, and placed a kiss on the cheek of her date – then went right back to busily texting.

A troubling article recently appeared in the New York Post concerning young people and their addiction to electronic devices.  Unintentionally, we are creating a problem that only now is really beginning to be recognized.  This article, by a medical doctor, is warning parents to not allow their children the usage of smart phones, tablets, video games and such until the age of ten.  Our brave new world is filled with unintentional consequences associated with our exposure to devices and situations unique in human history.  Allowing these devices to babysit our children for hours at a time may well come back to haunt us.

http://nypost.com/2016/12/17/kids-turn-violent-as-parents-battle-digital-heroin-addiction/

Three

The Islamic takeover of England, France and other European countries has been virtually ignored by the mainstream media (MSM).  The recent Brexit vote in Britain was driven by a populace tired of seeing their country and culture being undermined by Islamic immigrants who have no desire to assimilate.  Membership in the European union was forcing Britain to accept whatever immigrants came their way from other countries.  Voting to disassociate themselves from the European union meant they could restrict who crossed their borders – a right many believed was critical if Britain is to survive.  Are you aware that London now has a Muslim mayor?  That the most popular name for a baby boy in Britain is Mohammed?  That there are large areas of London that are “no go” zones unless you are Muslim?

Unlimited Muslim migration has been a disaster in Europe.  The terrorist attacks we read about are horrifying, but they are nothing compared to the quiet takeover by Muslims of larger and larger swathes of the cities they inhabit.  How many people in the United States are aware that large areas of Paris are also now “no go” zones for anyone who is not Muslim?

Europe’s secular/humanist culture, with little or no religious beliefs or convictions, is being taken over by a religion that militantly advances its beliefs and will defend them, literally, to the death. The countries of the European Union are now basically defenseless against an enemy that despises their unbelief and its resultant hedonistic culture.   Europe has thrown away as worthless a heritage of hundreds of years of Christian belief.  Now the Muslims are militantly filling a moral and ethical void left by Europe’s betrayal of its Christian heritage. 

We had better pay attention here in the United States.  Regardless of whether militant Islam becomes an increasing cultural and religious force in this country (and it is), its impact on Europe and our relationship with European countries is going to be enormous.  The day will come, if things don’t rapidly change, when we’ll be negotiating with Caliphates in Europe as well as the Middle East.  Think of all the implications, culturally and economically, that will have.  We’d better learn, and learn right now, from Europe’s mistakes, or we’re going to face the same disastrous consequences they are facing.

Here’s just one article of many illustrative of the Muslim takeover in Europe.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7151/britain-islamization  

THINGS YOU PROBABLY WON'T SEE IN 2017

December 1, 2016

I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I am an interested observer.  Mr. Trump’s ascendancy to the presidency has given heart to many moral and fiscal conservatives.  However, I would urge you to curb your excitement about what is to come, particularly as that applies to moral issues.  Mr. Trump’s economic agenda is much clearer than his social one.  I see no indication that his focus is going to be on so-called “values” issues.  We may well be on our way to an economic renaissance.  I pray that’s the case.  For millions of working Americans, that will be a blessing.  But a major change in the way moral issues, such as homosexuality and abortion, are viewed is another matter.  Here are some things you may wish for, but probably won’t see, in 2017…

I don’t believe we’ll see any change in the government’s stance on abortion.  The holocaust that should cause us all deep shame will continue.  Individual state’s efforts to regulate this horror will remain ongoing, but federal judges will do all they can to undermine these legislative efforts.  Remember, these federal judges are appointed, not elected.  The judicial system and its obvious prejudice against Judeo-Christian ethics in regard to value of the life of the unborn has not been affected. The war being fought in the courts over abortion “rights” will continue.

 While the selection of the next Supreme Court justice will be hugely important because of its ramifications for the future in matters such as the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade, until we see who fills the vacant slot, I anticipate little meaningful change.  (By the way, this appointment needs to be a matter brought daily before our heavenly Father because the lives of millions of the yet unborn literally rest in the hands of the one who will be chosen.  I anticipate a rancorous battle if a true conservative is nominated.  The abortion industry has a great deal to lose if a pro-life Justice is seated.  Who Mr. Trump nominates will tell us a great deal about his true convictions).

In the matter of gay marriage and LGBTQ rights, I also envision little change.  There may be some slowing of what has been a breathtakingly aggressive push by the government at all levels over the past few years.  However, Mr. Trump, as President Trump, has given no indication of a willingness or interest in reconsidering or retracting these issues.  Cities and states who have aggressively pursued prosecution of those whose moral values would preclude them from approving gay marriage and transsexual bathroom nonsense will probably continue to do so.  In fact, militant progressives, particularly on a local level, may be more aggressive than ever in this regard out of resentment and fear after the recent election.

I know few, if any, who expect media coverage of a Trump presidency to be any fairer than coverage was of a Trump candidacy.  The progressive leftists in this country hate the man and his supporters.  The negative coverage of President-elect Trump’s cabinet is a clear indication that the MSM war against him and his “deplorables” will continue unabated.  What you will not see in 2017 is a “fair and balanced” picture of anything that smacks of conservatism.  For instance, isn’t it interesting that the prediction of a stock market disaster should Trump be elected has proven to be not just wrong, but incredibly wrong.  However, have you heard any of the MSM link Mr. Trump’s election to the market rally?  The silence in that regard has been deafening.  I listened this morning as one liberal pundit snidely dismissed Carrier Corporation not moving a thousand jobs to Mexico as merely “symbolic” and meaningless in the larger scheme of things.  That negative spin on any success of a Trump administration is not going to go away.

We are in a culture war.  The recent election was a battle in that war.  The outcome of the battle surprised everyone.  It heartened some and enraged others.  What you will not see in 2017 is that war cooling off.  More than ever, through prayer and seeking to be light, we must share with others the only thing that will save this country – a recognition of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  

TROUBLESOME TIMES ARE HERE

October 28, 2016

     For Christians, our times of sailing with the wind at our backs is over.  Difficult times lie ahead.  While we enjoyed decades of being culturally venerated, then accepted, then tolerated, those days are over.  War has been declared against us, and there is no sense in hiding our heads in the sand or making happy talk about how things aren’t as bad as they seem.  Yes, they are.  And they’re only going to grow worse.  The enemy has spent decades getting us to this point.  The control of the media, the judiciary, the educational system, did not happen overnight.  Nor, did it happen accidentally.  It came about because of the systematic efforts of true believers whose belief system is pretty much the opposite of Christians.  The enemy has now achieved the power and positioning to make life miserable for those who oppose their agenda (us).  Many of them make no bones about how it is time for “payback” to Christians who, rightly or wrongly, they see as having persecuted and held them back.  They are out for revenge.  They want their pound of flesh.  And we better prepare for what’s coming.

     The government is not going to protect us.  Our federal, and many state, governments have made it clear that their agenda is now owned by the moral progressives in this country.  That means that governments will continue to do everything they can to eliminate God and his influence.  They will persecute and prosecute His people at every opportunity.  From federal mandates seeking to enforce “rights” for the sexually deviant, to states prosecuting those who are seen as discriminating on the basis of moral values, to cities seeking to silence churches and preachers who would oppose their leadership’s immoral agenda, government has become our enemy, not our friend.

     All forms of media are actively striving on a daily basis to make our belief system not just unacceptable socially, but viewed as vile and obscene.  It’s not just that we’re increasingly becoming the butt of jokes on nightly television, consistently portrayed as narrow-minded bigots who are determined to make life miserable for everyone else, but we’re being portrayed as harmful, cruel, heartless fanatics who enjoy destroying the lives of others whose values don’t match ours.  A “fair and balanced” view of Christianity is out the window.  Honestly.  Check out Google, Yahoo, MSN and other websites and tell me they are anything other than blatantly, openly, hostilely, anti-Christian.  Watch a few of the “family” shows on cable and then argue that the traditional family is not under full blown attack and the object of absolute ridicule. Understand that as Christians we now wear the black hats.  We’re the villains, the bad guys, the enemy. 

     The courts are now among the most active persecuters of God’s people.  After years of effort on the part of the left, judges with an agenda are the rule, not the exception.  And that agenda is anti-God and anti-Christian.  Increasingly the courts are legislating from the bench against Bible believers.  And if a case comes before the court in which opposing moral values play a role, as in matters sexual, just look at the consistency of the decisions that are being handed down.  They are consistently on the side of the immoral.

     The upcoming presidential election does have huge implications for the future.  And I am going to hold my nose and vote for Donald Trump for president.  But regardless of who is elected, please understand that does not change a system that has become deeply and thoroughly corrupted.  As Christians, we are facing an enemy who now holds the reins of power and will not hesitate to ruthlessly apply that power.  One man, or woman, cannot change a judiciary, an educational system, a media, that is now clearly in the hands of those who would erase our God, our message, us…

     However, now please allow me to share what lets me sleep at night and gives me hope for tomorrow.  While I am arguing strenuously we should not ignore the reality of the challenge we face, as formidable as that is, that does not mean the battle is over.  In fact, I believe in many ways it has only begun.  Let me share a couple of observations I believe are apropos that come from the dark days of Israel.

     In 1 Kings 19, after Elijah’s great victory on Mount Carmel, he is chased into the wilderness by Jezebel.  Exhausted, he is ready to thrown in the towel, to give up.  He believes he is the only one left who is faithful.  What does God tell him?  That there are seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal.  The remnant is faithful.  The unsung heroes like Obadiah, who is sheltering and caring for a hundred prophets at great risk to himself (see 1 Kings 18:4), are still there, still faithful.  He is not alone.

     There are still tens of millions of people in this country who believe in God and seek to follow His inspired word.  They have not given up.  They are not going to quit.  I believe we can look forward to a time when people of faith will unite in ways they have never before to take a stand for God and following His will.  There is still, in this country, a powerful force and voice for what is good and what is right.  I do not believe that voice will remain silent. 

     Above all, our God is an awesome God.  He rules and he reigns even as the Ahabs and Jezebels that pollute this earth arrogantly sit on their thrones and disdain Him and persecute His people.  God’s mighty hand guided an arrow to the chink in Ahab’s armor and turned Jezebel into dog food.  When judgment time came it was swift and absolute.  Those who blaspheme and oppose our God have no idea of the calamitous mistake they have made.  As with the arrogant Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel 4), they will be brought low. 

     As with Elijah, we are called simply to be faithful.  Through thick and thin, victory and defeat, good times and bad, we must be faithful.  God’s victory over the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth came because Elijah was willing to put himself on that altar.  He risked it all because of His trust in God.  We are called to do exactly the same (Romans 12:1,2). If we, like Elijah, are willing to present ourselves as living sacrifices, we shall see amazing things in the days to come.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9,10).

MARANATHA!!!