Note by Gary DeMar: My grandparents immigrated to the United States early in the 20th century. When my father was born in 1918, my grandfather was not a United States citizen. My grandparents on my father and mother’s side followed the law regarding immigration. They had to be screened for possible contagious diseases. There’s a scene in The Godfather Part II (1974) where the fictional young Vito [...]

Some Christians are asking when is it right to fight against the existing civil power structure. Consider the following: The new George Washington University poll conducted by YouGov between June 4 and June 23 [2021] asked 1,753 registered voters if a time will come when “patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands.” The poll found that 47% of Republicans agreed that there would [...]

For years, prominent Christians have been critical of applying Old Testament law to the New Testament era even though Jesus (Mark 7:1–9) and the Apostle did (Rom. 13:8–10; 1 Cor 5:1–2; 9:9; 1 Tim. 1:6–10; 5:18). It’s not always clear how the OT law might apply in the New Testament, but there is no justification to say that NT writers don’t often apply it (2 Tim. 3:16–17). Charles Colson, who serve [...]

Watch out whenever a politician says, “I’m a devout Catholic, but…” Whatever follows the “but” shows where their true allegiance lies. So it is with President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who are out of step with their Church’s teaching. Both have expressed a desire to see abortion rights extended, even up to the moment of birth—which is infanticide. Now they even want to repeal the H [...]

“Atheists in Mississippi are suing the state over its new license plates — which display the phrase, ‘In God We Trust’ — arguing that their First Amendment rights are being violated. One group is even arguing that the phrase is rooted in ‘deep hostility’ toward atheists. “Wherever I use my trailer, I am forced to profess a religious idea that I do not believe," said plaintiff Jason Alan Grigg [...]

A Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski, the head of Calgary’s Street Church in Alberta, and his brother, Dawid Pawlowski, were arrested and charged with “organizing an illegal in-person gathering,” according to a statement by the Calgary Police Service. A video capturing the arrests showed police vehicles parked on the street as officers carried the handcuffed brothers, who appeared to refuse to walk o [...]

When my oldest son was about four, we were at the check-out line at a Blockbuster video store when he noticed a display promoting a new video release of The Godfather. “Dad, are these movies about God?” he asked. A reasonable question for a four-year-old given the title and his always curious nature. Knowing that he would not care to hear a long retelling of the plot, I summed up the storyline by [...]

Criticisms of theonomy are in vogue once again. I see this as a good turn of events. It shows an interest in social ethics and attempts to offer a viable methodology. I’ve noticed, however, that the criticisms of theonomy are not new. They’ve been dealt with in numerous publications since the 1970s. It’s rather remarkable that anyone would publish a critique of theonomy without first reading the m [...]

This is Part Six of a six-part series titled “THE BIBLE, THE CONSTITUTION, AND THE JURISDICTIONAL SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.” If you would like a full illustrated transcript of this series, send an email to Support@AmericanVision.org “Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions” is Part One in this series, “The Biblical Model of Church and State” is Part Two, Part Three is “Can Secularism [...]

This is Part Five of a Six-Part series titled “THE BIBLE, THE CONSTITUTION, AND THE JURISDICTIONAL SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.” If you would like a full illustrated transcript of this series, send an email to Support@AmericanVision.org “Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions” is Part One in this series, “The Biblical Model of Church and State” is Part Two, Part Three is “Can Secularis [...]

“Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions” is Part One in this series, “The Biblical Model of Church and State” is Part Two, and Part Three is “Can Secularism Account for Morality in Government?” To understand the relationship between Church and State we need to go to the source, and that source is not the United States Constitution. Modern-day social theory is based on an evolutionary mode [...]

“Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions” is Part One of this series and “The Biblical Model of Church and State” is Part Two. This third installment asks, What is civil government’s basis for morality? Stanley Fish, writing in the New York Times,[1] describes the way various philosophical traditions understand the “role of religion and public life.” He begins by pointing out that under “C [...]

For a discussion of jurisdictions, see Part 1 of this series “Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions.” One way to keep Christians out of the public arena, especially in the realm of politics, is to claim that there is a separation between Church and State which when interpreted and applied by courts and organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separat [...]

I was listening to an interview with Ken Starr on his new book Religious Liberty in Crisis: Exercising Your Faith in an Age of Uncertainty. I have not read the book, but I did agree with Starr’s assessment that most Americans lack a basic knowledge of the First Amendment. Most likely Mr. Starr does not deal with the First Amendment and how it relates to civil government in terms of biblical law. [...]

The first two laws of economics (notice the use of nomos—law—in the word “economics”) is “You shall not steal” and “Let’s make a deal.” You can only deal with what you own. Civil governments believe they can subvert these laws (and others) for the good of the people and the nation. It can’t be done. Every attempt to subvert God’s economic laws results in poverty at one end and unlimited control at [...]

Mark Galli, an editor at Christianity Today, wrote the following about Pres. Trump in an article that took the internet by storm and received hundreds of responses from evangelical writers, including me: That [Trump] should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of Ten Commandments. According to Galli, there is a God, and the Ten Commandments are a [...]

Ronald Reagan once observed, “Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.” I thought of that quote when I read some of the details of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that is touted as “COVID relief.” Critics, like Congressman Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), say that it’s a “liberal wish list.” Scalise is not alone. Many Re [...]

In the Foreword to Tony Campolo’s book Red Letter Christians, Jim Wallis tells a story about a secular Jewish country-music songwriter and disk jockey who told him that a new social movement was being birthed as a result of Wallis’ God’s Politics and other “social-conscience” books. Here’s how Wallis tells it: “I love your stuff and have been following your book tour.” Then he told me he believed [...]

Christians often claim that there is something called factual neutrality where some subjects—science, geography, politics, mathematics—can be taught without any regard to religion since “facts speak for themselves.” This is most evident in education where a self-conscious sacred-secular divide is maintained and supported by Christians. Ninety percent of Christian parents send their children to gov [...]

Within his first two weeks in office, President Biden has signed an unprecedented number of executive orders—47. Writing for Quartz, Amanda Shendruk notes, “ Joe Biden has been US president for less than two weeks and has already issued nearly as many executive actions as Trump and Obama did in the same period, combined.” [Emphasis hers] These include: • “Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at [...]