To My Son - Upon His High School Graduation

The following article appeared in my monthly column in The Clinton Chronicle on Wednesday, May 22, 2019.

This month you graduate from high school. Where have the years gone? I remember feeling like the proudest daddy on the planet the week you were born. That special five days Mary Black Hospital – your mother, me, and our newborn baby. We were so happy that God had given you to us. The nurse put you in my arms that first night and tears streamed down my face. The first few days I felt like you were my fragile gift – afraid I might hurt you some way. I can still feel my excitement as we walked into the front door of our house holding you and taking you to your nursery.  Donnie Thompson (Number 1 Sign Designs) put a huge sign over our front door, welcoming you home.

I had so many hopes, so many dreams, and so many determinations. Recently, I wrestled with the reality that I can’t control our destiny, can’t make life perfect, and I can’t fulfill every dream I had as an idealistic 28-year old new dad. I learned I can’t make everything happen like a fairy tale. I can’t keep away disappointments. I don’t have the wealth and affluence I sometimes wished for our family. Life is not always easy and problem free. Wise people learn that acceptance brings peace, and that through it all God is good and faithful. 

We shared wonderful graces along the way – Buddy Breakfasts sitting on stools over Hardee’s Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits, bike rides around Thornwell and Presbyterian College, hours spent in swimming pools and creeks, rides on the Mystery Mine and roller coasters at Dollywood, family devotions before going to bed, lots of talks about superheroes, late-night conversations lying next to each other in the dark. I’ve knelt by your bedside or stood over you many a night in prayer – sometimes with throbs of joy in my throat – other times with tears streaming down my face. And I’ve watched you develop into an honorable, fine young man.

The accomplishment that matters most on this earth is the investment of giving my children a godly father and a peaceful, happy home. I have experienced one of the greatest rewards known to man – being a father. That endeavor will outlive me.

I have hoped through the years to raise a godly man, a Southern gentleman with good manners, and one who will engage the world with his skills, talents, and passions. And for the cherry on top, one with a love for music, history and politics!

A few years ago, I realized that I hit early middle-age.  I no longer have babies and preschoolers. College is two decades past.  My children are much cooler than me.  For fun, I still listen to music I enjoyed as a teenager – back in the 1980’s.  

However, laying the dreams of youth aside, I see evidences of the Providence of God through the years. Timely relationships, provisions, and opportunities remind me of God’s activity in my fairly average life.  Reviewing my journals through the years offers confirmations of the hand of the Lord guarding and guiding. And if you follow Him, He will do the same for you.

When Joshua in the Old Testament began his leadership journey, the Lord reminded him that a key to success was anchoring his life in the Word of God, meditating on and obeying its truths. I pray you look squarely at the Lord.  He makes our steps firm.  He appoints our days.  He establishes our ways.  And we can trust Him.

Remember, the Bible is God’s Word. Keep it close to your heart. The Bible and God’s Spirit can help keep your paths straight, your mind sharp, and your life clean.

So here a few short bits of counsel:

Practice a daily spiritual habit of spending time with the Lord, meditating in God’s Word, praying and listening to Him, and enjoying His presence. Nothing is more important to your long-time walk with God than that daily habit.

You are entering a crazy world that has lost its moorings. I hope you remember in life to value people over pleasures, relationships over materials, truth over feelings, and family and friends over fame and fortune.

Discover what you enjoy doing, encompassing how God has hard-wired you as His unique creation. When there is an alignment of our skills, abilities, talents, personality traits and passions we will recognize God’s call. Then spend your life doing those things. 

And remember that very little worthwhile happens in life apart from discipline. Embrace discipline, and you will enjoy her fruit.

Now our relationship begins a slow shift from intensive parenting to becoming a counselor, encourager, and eventually friend.

Raising a family has been your parents' favorite endeavor in life. We will always love you, and our door will always be open to you.

Why the Left Mocks the Bible

"The Bible and the left (not liberalism; leftism) are as opposed as any two worldviews can be. While there are people who claim to hold both a Bible-based worldview and left-wing views, these people are few in number. Moreover, what they do is take left-wing positions and wrap them in a few verses from the Bible. But on virtually every important value in life, the left and the Bible are diametrically opposed.

Here are a few examples:

The biblical view is that people are not basically good. Evil therefore comes from within human nature. For the left, human nature is not the source of evil. Capitalism, patriarchy, poverty, religion, nationalism, or some other external cause is the source of evil.

The biblical view is that nature was created for man. The left-wing view is that man is just another part of nature."

Read Dennis Prager's entire column here.


Picture used by permission from Pixabay.

How to Pray During Life’s Darkest Moments

Here is a good word from Sue Schlesman:

"Have you ever complained to God? Have you ever cried out to Him in anger? Grief? Frustration? Have you ever felt that desperate?

It might seem unspiritual, but it’s a thoroughly biblical way to pray. It’s called a lament. It’s a prayer from the gut, not the head. Laments escape during the darkest moments of life—after betrayal, loss or grief. Laments require boxes of tissues. They don’t need words.

I’ve lamented a good bit—sometimes months at a time—just processing grief and heartache with the One who understands me best. When I lament, I find someplace quiet to sit in God’s presence, to cry and groan. (Paul says that the Holy Spirit interprets wordless prayers to the Father; see Romans 8:26.) Sometimes I grumble or rage at Him. (Job and Moses did that; see Job 7:7-21 and Exodus 17:4.)"

Read the entire article here at Guideposts.

Reject the Bible and Wreck America

"As I show in my commentary on Genesis, what the first book of the Bible depicts is not only God’s creation of the world but, equally important, God’s shaping primordial chaos (Genesis 1:2) into order. The divine order consists of distinctions; prominent examples include man and God, man and animal, male and female, good and evil, holy and profane, parent and child. The left is a war against order; in its essence, leftism creates chaos. It has worked to destroy all those biblical distinctions. The present giveaway is the nihilist project of the left to erase the male-female distinction, the only innate human distinction God cares about: 'God created mankind in his own image …male and female he created them' (Genesis 1:27); 'He created them male and female and blessed them' (Genesis 5:2). No ethnic or racial distinction matters in Genesis; only the male-female distinction.

The God-centered West produced Bach and Michelangelo. The left, which dominates music and art, has produced mostly junk; there is nothing higher to aspire to, as excellence is not a left-wing value and the left uses art to shock, not inspire. Hence the huge amount of scatological art, for example.

Belief in God and the Bible were instrumental to the creation of America, the last, best hope of mankind. The rejection of that God and that Bible are instrumental to wrecking America (and the rest of the West). That alone tells me how important that God and that Bible are. The left knows it, too.

Read the entire article by Dennis Prager here."

He Maketh No Mistake

My Father's way may twist and turn, my heart may throb and ache
But in my soul I'm glad I know, He maketh no mistake
My cherished plan may go astray, my hopes may fade away
But still I'll trust in my Lord to lead for He does know the way

There's so much now I cannot see, my eyesight far too dim
But come what may, I'll simply trust and leave it all to Him
For by and by the mist will lift and plain it all He'll make
Through all the way, tho' dark to me, He made not one mistake

My tears may fall as winter rain, His nearness yet I'll gain
He knows my need, He knows my name, He leads my heart to e're proclaim
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on the Earth, as it is above
The water wanes, returns the dove, what guides His hand is perfect love

Tho' night be dark and it may seem
That day will never break,
I'll pin my faith, my all in Him
He maketh no mistake, He maketh no mistake

- A. M. Overton

Warning: Christians Will Be 'Forced to Violate Their Beliefs' if Equality Act Passes

Be informed - and be warned . . .

"This is the beginning of the criminalization of Christianity in America. This is going to be voted on in Congress this week. Call your congressman and senators and tell them to vote no on the 'equality' act. If you don’t get in the fight, one day you will have to explain to your grandchildren why you let Freedom in America die."

Read the entire article here at CBN.

Resting in God's Timing

For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing.”  Isaiah 30:15

I kept fretting.  At the end of my wife’s first pregnancy, she labored hard for two hours.  Every few minutes she pushed and pushed to no avail.  Our baby’s head surfaced but would not emerge.  As the minutes passed, I knew my wife was exhausted.  Nervous and anxious, I would leave the room and go into the bathroom across the hall.  Kneeling on the cold, tile floor I prayed, “God, please make this baby come out now.”  I was fretted and worried.

The labor eventually ended in a Caesarean section.  Weeks later at a routine check-up, my wife’s doctor said, “You be thankful for that C-section.  Because of the size of your son’s head, if he had effaced, it would have been fatal for one of you.  I could not have saved you both.”

Many times we fret instead of trust.  Faced with difficulties, needs, or confusing circumstances, we naturally worry.  As men, we want to find the quickest solution to get from point A to B.  However, we don’t have a birds-eye-view.  Like me in the hospital, I wanted the type of delivery that would cause my wife the least amount of difficulty.  I wanted a quick, easy delivery.  But what I did not know could have been deadly. 

The Bible tells us to not fret.  When we face situations that create fear and distress, we are wise to remember the exhortation in Isaiah 30:15.  We can choose to turn our minds to the Lord, place ourselves in His care, and rest in Him.  Even when we can’t see our way through, quietness and confidence can mark our lives.

“Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.”  ― Elisabeth Elliot

Pictures used by permission from Pixabay

Are You Sure You Want to Play Russian Roulette With Your Child’s Values?

"Most Americans are not aware how morally and intellectually destructive American colleges — and, increasingly, high schools and even elementary schools — have become. So, they spend tens of thousands after-tax dollars to send their sons and daughters to college.

But today, to send your child to college is to play Russian roulette with their values. There is a good chance your child will return from college alienated from you, from America, from Western civilization and from whatever expression of any Bible-based religion in which you raised your child.

If you think this is in any way an exaggeration, here is some of what has happened on campuses in recent months . . ."

Read the entire article by Dennis Prager here.


Picture used by permission from Pixabay.

Harmful Consequences: Misguided Legislation

The U.S. House of Representatives approved Friday (May 17) an expansive gay and transgender rights bill that opponents warn would devastatingly undermine freedom of religion, conscience and speech, as well as protections for women, girls and unborn children.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 236-173 for the Equality Act, H.R. 5, marking the first time a bill to bar discrimination against people who identify as gay or transgender has gained approval in a congressional chamber.

The bill would add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the classifications protected in federal civil rights law. "Sexual orientation" includes homosexuality and bisexuality, while "gender identity" refers to the way a person perceives himself regardless of his biology at birth.

Read the entire article by Tom Strode at Baptist Press here.

House Passes Deplorable 'Equality Act'

"It directs religious K-12 schools and daycare centers to force children to obey adults who show up at work one day as a man and the next day as a woman. These children are at a highly impressionable age. When kindergarteners have seen such events in the past, many have gone home shaking and crying, worried that they could wake up with a different gender!

And this bill gags counselors from giving professional help to those facing unwanted same-sex desires or actions. It even criminalizes those who share their own story of finding freedom in Christ from homosexuality in a book or speaking engagement. This bill literally sets the stage for banning the Bible, which offers the power to free those wanting to turn away from homosexual conduct.

And there is no religious exemption to this bill!'

Read the entire article here at Charisma News.

The New Thought Police? Facebook's Evicted Seven And The Future of Free Speech

"[T]hose who hold to a biblical worldview will increasingly find themselves in a precarious position with their use of social media platforms. Those in Silicon Valley have drawn a line in the sand. They are sold out to the LGBTQ revolution and promote unfettered access to abortions. Christians may soon find themselves joining the ranks of the evicted for simply holding to a biblically minded worldview and expressing those views on their own social media accounts.

Lord Acton famously said, 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

From a biblical worldview, however, we understand that human sinfulnesscorrupts power. The centralization and concentration of power—in this case, the power of social media and information—will have disastrous outcomes within free societies."

Read the entire article by Al Mohler here.

Watch the Father's Eyes

"I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with My eye on you, I will give counsel." - Psalm 32:8

A man and his two young sons entered the shop where I was getting a haircut.  The father sat in a brber chair while his children waited.  In a few moments the boys began misbehaving.  The father looked at them sternly without saying a word.  The boys quickly responded by settling down.  Several minutes later those children were playing with each other pleasantly.  The father glanced affectionately at them as if to say, “I love you.”  The children smiled back.

That afternoon, the father did not have to use words to communicate with his boys.  The watchful care of his eyes spoke volumes.  The father in the barber shop reminded me of the way God desires to relate with His family.  He does not shout or scream.  He will not write messages in the clouds.  At times His overtones of love come quietly.  The Lord Jesus wants us to walk closely with Him.  He desires to guide us with His eyes.  

The psalmist reminds us that God will direct us in the paths of life.  However, He cannot lead us with His eyes if our eyes are not looking at Him, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  Each day we can turn aside from distractions to focus on Jesus.  It might be taking a walk to be quiet and pray, singing songs and hymns, or meditating on Scripture.  Jesus Christ loves us and wants to share Himself with us.

The Holy Spirit never shoves; He guides and leads.  The Holy Spirit is gentle.  We are led by the Spirit of God.  He guides; He doesn’t shout.  Remember the still, small voice.  – Adrian Rogers

Picture used by permission from Pixabay.

The Big Picture: Why Evangelicals Support President Trump

A man sat in a park playing checkers with a monkey. A crowd assembled to watch as the two played game after game. People stared, dumbfounded at this remarkable monkey that played checkers. When they finally stopped playing, the exasperated man exclaimed, “I don’t know what the big deal is. I beat him seven out of ten times!”

Sometimes we miss the big picture when focusing on the obvious details.

Donald Trump was my last choice during the Republican primary.  I groaned and grieved when the Donald received the nomination.

However, voting for Hillary would have continued Obama’s disastrous economic and foreign policies.  She would continue his dismissal of the Constitution and rule of law and extend his massive overreach of government. Eric Metaxsas illustrated at the time (see his excellent article,"Should Christians Vote for Trump?"), Hillary as President would push America over the cliff to disaster and ruin. Trump would not be the country's messiah, but he could pull America five feet back from the cliff's edge. 

In 2016, I wrote a blog article entitled Why a Southern Baptist Pastor Will Vote for the Unvirtuous Donald Trump. People quickly shared the post, and during the first week the article received over 17,000 hits. Not an eye-raiser for the big leagues, but for my small-scale blogging, it made waves. What mattered more to me than the numbers were the Christians who stopped me the next several weeks and shared I was really struggling as a Christian whether or not I could support Trump. Your article helped me see that voting for him did not mean sacrificing my integrity.

One interviewer asked former Secretary of Education William Bennett, well-known for his books on virtue, how the “virtue man” could support the unvirtuous Trump.  Bennett answered, “I understand how you feel about some of the things he said, but it may be better to lower your standards on things the guy says temporarily than to lose your country permanently.”

Evangelicals and President Trump

Evangelical Christians represented a large portion of Trump’s support in 2016. After enduring eight years of a President who not only was not one of us but did not even appear to be a friend of evangelical Christianity, how relieved and excited were many Christians to have a friend of Bible-believers – even if he did not seem like “one of us.”

Prominent evangelical leaders like Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Franklin Graham embraced President Trump, eventually considering him the greatest friend to fighting for legislation that reflects a biblical worldview than any President in recent history. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas, and James Dobson of Family Talk exhorted Christians to vote for Donald Trump because the platform adopted by the Republican Party consistently reflected values in keeping with the Bible.

The Democratic Party, on the other hand, consistently adopts a platform inconsistent with biblical Christianity. 

However, among serious Christians there remains a group dubbed the “Never-Trumpers.” Appalled by the immoral background of The Donald, these people could not – and some still cannot – throw their support behind this man. Another evidence from that camp emerged this week in David French’s National Review article called Franklin Graham and the High Cost of the Lost Evangelical Witness.

French’s argument goes something like this: It is wrong to enthusiastically support as a leader someone with an immoral past. Evangelical leaders like Graham play too much to partisan politics. These leaders have “seared the consciences of the culture and the church, and granted their secular opponents all the ammunition necessary to question our sincerity as believers.” Resultingly, evangelical Christianity is experiencing what French calls losing “the collapsing Evangelical public witness.”

French's main example seems to be that while Franklin spoke against Bill Clinton's sexual sins, he has not done so about Trump's.  Yes, without question, both men were wrong for their sinful behavior. However, there is a huge difference. Clinton's sinned sexually while President of the United States, his sexual sins occurred in the Oval Office, and he lied under oath to cover his sexual sins. President's Trumps sexual sins occurred in the past before he became President. That is a significant difference that French overlooks.

I would fully expect, if Trump were caught having sex with an intern in the Oval Office, Franklin Graham and other preachers would put on their prophetic pants and call out those sins. However, it is not Graham's nor any other preacher's job to begin rebuking every sitting President for all of their past sins. 

Graham's ministry Samaritan's Purse continues to do incredible humanitarian work, and he continues preaching the gospel of Christ around the world, like his father did. It excites me that some Christian leaders like Graham have added to that mix another prophetic role - speaking into the political and moral climate.

I think in reality, it's the Never-Trumpers who have lost faith in the pro-Trump evangelical leaders.

His warnings are not new. He has been writing these warnings for four years, ever since it appeared Trump would win the Republican nomination. 

Like many Christians, during the last Presidential election cycle, I experienced a frustrating time of getting behind a candidate. With sixteen potential Republican choices, I hoped to see Mike Huckabee or Ted Cruz win the nomination. With the success of Donald Trump, I had to majorly reevaluate the game. The ideal was not going to happen.

Like many evangelicals, I had to think of the big picture, realize the greater good, and make voting choices in the real world vs. the ideal one. I had to see there was a monkey winning games of checkers – even only 3 out of 10.

Christian Leaders Sound their Warnings

At the time our choice was Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said, "She would be horrifyingly corrupt as President. And she would be a disaster in public policy. Remember, this is not about politics. The cost of Hillary's dishonesty could be the loss of America as we know it."

Pastor Dutch Sheets correctly states,"The damage [under the Obama administration] has been so great that America is now one president away from a complete transformation to secularism, a loss of our Judeo-Christian foundation, the loss of our position as the stabilizing force for good in the earth, and the leading voice of the gospel to all the world. If elected, Hillary Clinton will be the president who finishes the job. She stands almost entirely against everything we, the church, are for, and for everything we are against. Hillary is pro-abortion, including partial-birth abortion, the most insidious evil of the last century; will raise taxes while continuing out-of-control spending; will further weaken our military; is for completely open borders; is pro-gay marriage; supports Obamacare; has no respect for our Judeo-Christian heritage; sells influence; and is a proven liar. Do not be fooled—she will completely finish what Obama started."

Governor Mike Huckabee said, "If Hillary is elected, we have a real good shot at losing religious liberty, the Second Amendment, the Fourth and the Fifth, having open borders . . . .  This country is going to take a very, very negative direction." 

Dennis Prager writes,"The left is successfully undoing every one of those founding principles [of our nation]. . . . [W]e are at the most perilous tipping point of American history."

A Morally Good Choice

Wayne Grudem, my favorite modern theologian for twenty years, penned an excellent article, which can be googled, entitled Why Voting for Donald Trump is a Morally Good Choice.  Grudem shared the angst of a Christ-following, Bible-believer choosing to vote for Donald Trump – a very flawed candidate.  

Grudem challenged us to see the big picture – what a different nation would result from a Hillary Clinton presidency and her far-left radical agenda.  The worst consequence of all of voting for Clinton: “you will be contributing to a permanent loss of the American system of government due to a final victory of unaccountable judicial tyranny.”

House on Fire

When the house is on fire, it would be nice for the firemen who come to be God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians.  But I will take the most qualified firefighter who gets to my house.  

Right now the house of our country is on fire.  

If I suffer a heart attack and the EMS carries me to the ER, my wife does not walk in the door and exclaim, “If you are not an upstanding, morally pure, God-fearing, born again believer, you can’t work on my husband.  If you have had a sordid past, then just leave him alone. I’d rather stick to my principles and not having anyone touch him than let someone beneath  my standards help him.  Just leave him alone if you don’t match my criteria.”

That would be nonsense.

If my child falls of the monkey bars and suffers a head injury, it would be great if the ambulance driver can quote Scripture and listens to Charles Stanley, but I’ll take a cultist who worships crystal angels if she can drive my son safely and quickly to the hospital.

Ronnie Floyd, former President of the Southern Baptist Convention, wrote, "The problem with this election is that we have lost sight of what’s really on the ballot. We don’t vote for personality but for policy. Vote not for a man or a woman, but for the future of our children."


Churchills and Chamberlains

Stephen Strang, President of Strang Communications, follows the trail of the evangelical community’s relationship with Donald Trump in his books God and Donald Trump and Trump Aftershock:  The President's Seismic Impact on Culture and Faith in America. Strang tackles head-on the reality of Trump being an unlikely candidate to win the support of Christians. One of the most telling parts of the book is Strang’s comparison of Donald Trump to a George Patton, Abraham Lincoln, or Winston Churchill:

None of these men were conventional Christians, and they had many detractors in the clergy, yet each played a pivotal role in history. They stood strong against the enemies of freedom and helped safeguard our way of life and our Christian heritage.

Patton was no choirboy, but he was a strong-willed and powerful man who trusted in the authority and compassion of a powerful God. Donald Trump, with his swagger, cocky self-assurance, and ruthless determination, may well be the George Patton of our age and the one man who could stand up to the leftist insurgents who have done so much damage to the republic over the last fifty years. His language and behavior may be disagreeable, but he possesses an undeniable passion to make America great again, and the people have responded to his message.   

Jezebel and Samson

The Bible character of Samson was an unlikely choice for God to use as His tool. The unethical, sensual brute delivered the Israelites from the Philistines. Many evangelicals believe Donald Trump was a Samson-like tool to protect our nation from falling off the cliff in the disaster of a Hillary Clinton presidency who resembles Queen Jezebel in the Old Testament. 

Samson was a dishonorable, narcissistic, immoral man characterized by frivolity and sexual conquests. Samson, however, was able to rise above his personal failures in order to do good for the nation.  The queen could never rise above her culture of deceit and corruption.  She died doing what she did best - trying to protect herself.  Samson, however, died sacrificing himself to destroy the enemy.  Samson as leader was the most likely to do good for the people.

Surprisingly, Old Testament Samson is recorded in Hebrews 11, The Hall of Faith, asa faith-hero.  It seems the grace of God has a way of covering our past failures and shortcomings.

As Dennis Prager said, "I’m not defending Trump.  I’m voting for him.  I’m defending America from Hillary Clinton who will fundamentally do much more damage to our beloved country."

And later he writes, "There is no defense for Donald Trump’s comments or alleged sexual misbehavior. But in terms of damage to America, there is no comparison between what he has said and allegedly done and what she has done and advocates for the future."

Today and Beyond

Trump’s 2016 victory was stunning.

As I share in my article, Once in a Century: Reflections on the 2016 Election, Trump overcame the media establishment, the political establishment, and the globalist establishment.  The Trump voters reacted against the mainstream media, the Hollywood and Miley Cyrus self-proclaimed pundits, the out-of-touch establishment of both parties, and the arrogant elitism of the last eight years. 

Since then, the vitriol vomited from the Left and the. Democratic Party toward Donald Trump and conservatives motivate me all the more to throw my support behind him. Last fall in Decision Magazine, Franklin Graham aptly wrote,

Today, the direction of the Supreme Court is still the single most crucial issue facing our nation . . . .

The spectacle surrounding the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh is just a foreshadowing of what we can expect if progressive-liberal socialists rule our country. And believe me, they are doing whatever they can—no matter how devious and disgusting—to see their own godless agenda forced upon us.

The entire rationale behind the controversy in these hearings, seen around the world, wasn’t about what Judge Kavanaugh did or didn’t do as a teenager. It was really about the ideological advance of progressive socialists who were intent on stopping a judicial conservative from being appointed to the Supreme Court.

For several decades, the highest court in the land has grown decidedly liberal. Worse, the court has rendered ruling after ruling that rejected the Biblical foundation for our laws, allowing hostility toward Christians to grow. . . .

When the American electorate put Donald Trump in our nation’s highest office, he did exactly what he promised to do in his campaign, and exactly what our nation needed. He appointed a conservative judge to the Supreme Court to fill the seat vacated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Already, Justice Neil Gorsuch has proven to be a friend of religious liberty, and no doubt will be for many decades to come!

It’s no surprise, then, that the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace the retired Anthony Kennedy was marked by vitriol from progressive leftists who were scared to death the confirmation will constrain the court to rulings that faithfully reflect the wise underpinnings of our founders. Socialist progressives know what is at stake—including the possible overturn of Roe v. Wade—and they have been willing to employ any scheme conceivable.

The further our nation moves away from God, the quicker our descent into greater moral depravity and chaos. I fear for what is in store for our children and grandchildren.

I am afraid that what we saw during the recent televised hearings has embarrassed our nation before the world. We’ve sunken civility and reasonable dialogue in the political arena to stunning new depths. As Judge Kavanaugh remarked during the hearing, we have “sown the wind” and will “reap the whirlwind,” a familiar Biblical phrase from the Book of Hosea.

Since President Trump was elected, he has appointed more than 120 judges—virtually all judicial conservatives with respect for the Constitution as originally written, including the First Amendment right of free exercise of religion.

Kavanaugh’s eventual confirmation by the Senate on a 50-48 vote will certainly be advantageous in a host of key upcoming decisions coming before the Supreme Court. But make no mistake, the progressive left is not giving up.

Social Hysteria

In just this year, we are witnessing social madness as the left continues its socialist march across America, uprooting our values and trying to change the very fabric of our society. George Orwell’s 1984 seems more and more at home among us as progressives try to purge us of anything they deem offensive.

The Left (as opposed to classic conservatism and classic liberalism) poses the greatest threat to America, freedom, and religion. Today the Left has taken over many of our colleges and universities, and it is doing a good job taking over the Democratic Party.

Michael Brown writes, “Our moral framework is collapsing, and our kids and grandkids and great-grandkids will pay dearly. How can I hold my tongue from speaking or restrain my pen from writing?  . . . Wherever we turn, there is confusion. Deception. Darkness.”

Donald Trump is a voice for the unborn. He is a voice for religious liberty. Again, Franklin Graham writes, 

In just two years, his administration has accomplished more than any other president in decades to defend religious freedom, turn the tide of the Supreme Court and protect ordinary Americans who have been under siege for practicing our Christian beliefs.

When you think about what has happened over the past two years, it’s incredible how the entire federal landscape has changed from a previous administration that was openly hostile to people of faith, to the one today that not only welcomes evangelicals but aggressively fights to protect our religious liberty.

“In recent years, the government tried to undermine religious freedom,” the president told us. “But the attacks on communities of faith are over. We’ve ended it.”

I’m thankful for leaders like Jerry Falwell, Jr., James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Franklin Graham, and others who are able to see the big picture.


Worth Celebrating

As Dennis Prager says, it’s time for conservatives to celebrate this President.

In his article, Why Conservatives Still Attack Trump, Prager shares the following:

Had any Never-Trump conservative been told, say in the summer of 2015, that a Republican would win the 2016 election and, within his first few months in office, appoint a conservative to the Supreme Court; begin the process of replacing Obamacare; bomb Russia’s ally, Assad, after he again used chemical weapons; appoint the most conservative cabinet in modern American history; begin undoing hysteria-based, economy-choking EPA regulations; label the Iranian regime “evil” in front of 50 Muslim heads of state; wear a yarmulke at the Western Wall; appoint a U.N. ambassador who regularly condemns the U.N. for its moral hypocrisy; restore the military budget; and work on lowering corporate tax rates, among other conservative achievements — that Never-Trump conservative would have been jumping for joy.

So, why aren’t anti-Trump conservatives jumping for joy?

I have come to believe that many conservatives possess what I once thought was a left-wing monopoly — a utopian streak. Trump is too far from their ideal leader to be able to support him.

There is also a cultural divide. Anti-Trump conservatives are a very refined group of people. Trump doesn’t talk like them. Moreover, the cultural milieu in which the vast majority of anti-Trump conservatives live and/or work means that to support Trump is to render oneself contemptible at all elite dinner parties.

In addition, anti-Trump conservatives see themselves as highly moral people (which they often are) who are duty-bound not to compromise themselves by strongly supporting Trump, whom they largely view as morally defective.

Finally, these people are only human: After investing so much energy in opposing Trump’s election, and after predicting his nomination would lead to electoral disaster, it’s hard to for them to admit they were wrong. To see him fulfill many of his conservative election promises, again in defiance of predictions, is a bitter pill. But if they hang on to their Never-Trumpism and the president falls on his face, they can say they were right all along.

That means that only if he fails can their reputations be redeemed. And they, of course, know that.

But there is another way.

They can join the fight. They can accept an imperfect reality and acknowledge that we are in a civil war, and that Trump, with all his flaws, is our general. If this general is going to win, he needs the best fighters. But too many of them, some of the best minds of the conservative movement, are AWOL.

I beg them: Please report for duty.

We cannot always make ideal choices.  Sometimes rugged realism is needed.  

At times we can't say, "What is the pure choice?"  Instead, we have to ask, "What choice will likely do the most good, or, what choice will likely do the least amount of damage?" That is part of living in the real world. Maturity involves embracing some ambiguity. 

At the end of the game, let’s be excited that a monkey won 3 games!

See my article Christians: Engage Politics and the Public Square here.


Also, Bryan Fisher responded to David French's article. See it here.

And John Nolte responded to French. View it here.

See these excellent articles about the greatest threat to America, freedom, and religion: The Left . . .

How the Left Keeps Me Religious

Notre Dame: An Omen

The Left: The Greatest Threat to Freedom and America

Assume the Left Lies and You Will Discover the Truth

Pictures used by permission from Pixabay.