Apparently fewer Americans are reading the Bible daily. A Barna study on behalf of the American Bible Society came out a few months ago (during the time of COVID-19) that showed a drop in the number of Americans who claim to read the Bible every day—from 14 percent to 9 percent. That seems strange since you would think that during the pandemic, when we have been forced to spend more time indoors, more of us would have found time to read the Scriptures.
In C. S. Lewis’s book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, he describes a beautiful place (Narnia) under the spell of an evil character (the White Witch)—who symbolizes the Devil. Lewis writes of her that it was she who has made it “always winter, but never Christmas.” “Always winter, but never Christmas”—what a great phrase to describe this world, without the loving, powerful, and positive influence of Jesus Christ.
400 years ago this month, a weary band of Christians from England came ashore in New England after a grueling 66-day voyage aboard the Mayflower. The Pilgrims came for one purpose, which they spelled out in writing: “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.” It was all about religious freedom. They wanted to worship Jesus in the purity of the Gospel. 150 years after the Pilgrims came, the founders of this nation enshrined religious freedom in our national charter, the Constitution.
The issue of abortion has barely come up in the debates of Election 2020. But for many of us, it is still the issue that matters most. I am a one issue voter, without apology, and that issue is abortion. I’m against it. If a politician thinks it is acceptable—whatever the rhetoric—to deliberately kill a living, developing human being in the womb, that politician is wrong. And he or she will never have my vote.
One of the most substantial issues of Election 2020 is the Left’s pledge to pack the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) if they win—a scheme neither Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris will disavow. Most people don’t realize how seriously this could undermine our entire democratic republic. In one fell swoop, they could undermine the United States, which President Lincoln labeled the “the last best hope of mankind.” The founders gave us checks and balances in the government so that no one group would have too much power.
It’s a cliché to say that this is the most important election in our lifetime. But I feel strongly that this is the most important election in our lifetime. There is so much at stake. Above all is the question of whether we will continue as one nation under God. Will we embrace America as founded or will we completely jettison all pretense of our national motto—In God we Trust?
California, Oregon, and Washington State are burning—and it’s all the fault of “white Christians.” So says a professor at Oregon State University because “white Christians” are “science-deniers” who don’t believe in catastrophic man-made global warming. CampusReform.com reports (10/2/20) that Susan Shaw, professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies at Oregon State University claims (as do many on the left), “the intensity and scope of these fires are a result of climate change.
Should being an active Christian bar you from public service? Yes, say many pundits today. It would seem that the left wants to impose a religious test to bar anyone who truly believes in Jesus from serving in government. The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg left a vacancy on the Supreme Court. In the days following her death, all of the candidates on President Trump’s shortlist to replace her were dedicated Christians, and the left once again bared their anti-Christian bigotry.
When I was a kid, I loved summer and dreaded the fall, returning to school with playtime over. But this year I am glad to see summer is over. Phew. There are some parts of this country that I don’t even recognize anymore—that changed this summer. Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Kenosha, New York City. The Marxists in the streets have turned some parts of America into the wild, wild West. There are reported to be at least 30 dead in violence—14 of them cops.
Because of the virus, there is a current debate between opening up the schools or only using online instruction. Online instruction allows parents to hear what is being taught to their children. But that has some liberals up at arms because they want to teach a more radical curriculum than most parents would wish. Perhaps the largest bone of contention in this respect is in the realm of sex education, which in our day has become more radicalized.
If the Bible had been followed, we never would have had chattel slavery in the United States: “He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death” (Ex. 21:16; also 1 Tim. 1:19; Rev. 18:13). Bible-burning on the streets of Portland may be old news by now, but there is an irony lost to many in burning the Scriptures.
With violence in the streets of many of our most prominent cities, there is an underlying subtheme that is also troubling. Christophobia, which attacks anything Christian, is surely on the march. Perhaps the latest example is the burning of Bibles in recent Portland protests. On 8/2/20, Washington Examiner noted, “Portland protesters were filmed burning Bibles and the American flag as protests continue in the city for more than two months. Republican Texas Sen.
During these days of COVID-19, when many churches remain closed by government mandate to keep the virus from spreading, a new religion has arisen in the country…and it’s all based on a myth. Citizens Free Press (7/25/20) posts a video in Portland, Oregon, where you can see worshipers of the “Church of the Woke,” participating in an outdoor religious service. This consists of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of souls, shining their lights and chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot me.
During one of the darkest periods of World War II, Winston Churchill asked aloud, “Will Britain surrender too?” Never. At the time, in the summer and fall of 1940, the great leader of the U.K. declared, “I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.” Churchill, the great lion of the 20th century, understood that if the Nazis won, they would usher in a period of unparalleled darkness.
Each week brings more bad news on “cancel culture”—primarily individuals losing their jobs for one alleged offensive statement. Cancel culture is about shutting people down based on passing, momentary ideological fads. The communications director of Boeing was forced to abruptly resign because someone complained about an article he wrote in 1988 arguing against women serving in combat. J.K. Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, is being attacked by cancel culture for her pointing out the obvious—men do not menstruate.
America is undergoing its cultural revolution right now, obliterating as much of the past as possible. We saw over the weekend, “social justice warriors” in Rochester, NY, tearing down a statue of Frederick Douglas—even though he was black, an escaped slave, and an ardent abolitionist. ((Maybe the statue was toppled because Douglas was not radical enough: “When radical abolitionists, under the motto ‘No Union with Slaveholders,’ criticized Douglass' willingness to engage in dialogue with slave owners, he replied: ‘I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.
The barbarians are at the gates. Actually, the barbarians are inside the gates and on the streets. They are tearing down statues left and right. As we celebrate our national birthday this week, the Fourth of July, it doesn’t feel like a celebration. Harvard professor Dr. Cornel West says that America is basically a failure. After the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman, West noted, “I think we are witnessing America as a failed social experiment… What I mean by that is that the history of black people for over 200 and some years in America has been looking at America’s failure, its capitalist economy could not generate and deliver in such a way people can live lives of decency.
Much of the mayhem we see today is linked to fatherlessness. Around this time we celebrate Father’s Day. But fathers in our culture have not recently appeared very important—at least according to Hollywood and other culture-shapers. We used to have programs like “Father Knows Best” or “Leave It to Beaver” with a respectable father figure. Then we devolved to Archie Bunker on “All in the Family.” He was the stereotypical bigoted, benighted patriarch who was not worthy of emulation.
Last week, during some of the race-related protests, President Trump famously held up a Bible in one hand outside of an historic D.C. church that rioters had set afire. Actress Debra Messing (Will and Grace) then sent out a tweet, in which she showed Trump with the Bible and next to it she juxtaposed a picture of Hitler supposedly holding a Bible. She had the caption: “A dog whistle to white nationalists and Nazis.
Colleges like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were once bastions of Christian orthodoxy. Consider the following: Harvard’s earliest motto was In Christi Gloriam, “For the Glory of Christ.” One of Harvard’s early seals (1692) contained the Latin phrase Veritas (Truth) Christo (for Christ) Et Ecclesiae (and the Church). A group of ministers, who viewed Harvard as increasingly liberal, founded Yale in 1701 to train ministers. One of Yale’s early guidelines stated: “All Scholars Shall Live Blameless Lives, according to the Rules of God’s Word, diligently Reading the holy Scriptures the Fountain of Light and Truth; and constantly attend upon all the Duties of Religion both in Publick and Secret.
