While driving to Charlotte, North Carolina, I heard Pastor John MacArthur encourage Christians to vote. It wasn’t that long ago that he left the impression in his book Why Government Can’t Save You ((John MacArthur, Why Government Can’t Save You: An Alternative to Political Activism (Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 2000).)) that Christians should resist putting too much emphasis on politics. I was [...]

“We Are What Democracy Looks Like!” is a popular slogan and sign used by the Occupiers. If mob rule is the definition of democracy, then they are right. The thing of it is, America is not a democracy. Sure, there are democratic elements in our system of government, but Article IV, section 4 of the Constitution of the United States “guarantee[s] to every State in this Union a Republican form of Gov [...]

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) has been celebrated as a feminist icon by the modern feminist movement because of her tireless work in bringing women into the political mainstream. Feminists pushed hard to get her image on the almost-never-used Susan B. Anthony coin. Anthony got involved in the women’s rights movement when she joined a temperance society but was denied the right to speak at meetings [...]

Commissioners from Forsyth County in North Carolina appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to appeal a District Court’s decision to bar commissioners from opening public meetings with prayers prayed in Jesus’ name. The ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State argued (naturally) that sectarian prayers to any deity violate the First Amendment. The First Ame [...]

MSNBC’s Martin Bashir hooked up with “pro-abortion Rep. Diana DeGette to bash pro-life conservatives as ‘misogynists [women haters]’, during a seven-and-a-half minute long segment. Bashir claimed that it’s ‘hardly surprising’ that the proposed Protect Life Act, which would protect the conscience rights of health care workers, ‘has earned the moniker the “let women die act.”’” Here are some of Bash [...]

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AC) “is calling on the Internal Revenue Service to look into allegations that Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., is violating restrictions for posting a link to a pro-family organization on its website.” What restrictions? The First Amendment does not prohibit churches from speaking out on any issue. The amendment is so clear that the pe [...]

Rob Sherman is an atheist. Any time he sees a reference to religion, mostly the Christian religion, he springs into action. This time his action is directed against the city of Zion, Ill., for using a banned version of the city seal that displays the design Zion’s evangelical founder selected more than a century ago, a banner with the words “God Reigns” surrounded by images of a dove, a cross, a s [...]

After an initial court victory, a high school math teacher lost his battle to keep his “God” banners displayed in his classroom. A federal appeals court ruled on September 13, 2011 that Bradley Johnson’s First Amendment rights were not violated when he was asked by the school district to take down a series of religious banners. Mr. Johnson had banners hanging in his classroom at Westview High Scho [...]

Social Security is in the news as presidential candidates jockey for political position. What you don’t know about Social Security may surprise you. Gary DeMar takes a look at the socialist history of this government pyramid scheme in this edition of Vantage Point! [...]

“Three Christian crosses that stood on state property next to a scenic overlook in north San Diego County for decades were removed by California Department of Transportation workers earlier this week.” Do you see the irony? The County of San Diego, that is, the County of Saint James? We keep hearing how some of the Republican candidates are Dominionists, that is, they want to impose their religion [...]

Two news items about religion and civil government caught my attention over the weekend. First, in a 2–1 decision, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., has ruled in favor of two county residents who complained that they were offended at hearing “in Jesus’ name” in a public prayer. The federal decision upholds a lower court ruling. “Legislative prayer must strive to be nondenomin [...]

Anders Behring Breivik, the radical responsible for the recent murders in Norway, will be tried for his crimes. His lawyer is constructing an insanity defense, but is Breivik insane? In this edition of Vantage Point, Gary compares Breivik’s actions and the atrocities of the French Revolution, showing that left wing revolutionaries are very similar. [...]

Many Americans are unaware of the Christian history of the Mount Rushmore carvings. At its inception, the massive monument was to include an explicitly Christian inscription to ensure future generations would understand the reason for its existence. Watch this episode of Vantage Point to find out more of this fascinating history! [...]

[caption id=“attachment_4836” align=“alignleft” width=“220” caption=“William Blackstone”][/caption] When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas appealed to Natural Law theory in some of his legal opinions and writings, there were those on the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings in September 1991 who took exception. The most voc [...]

When I was a student at Reformed Theological Seminary (1974-1979), I was taught that certain cultural applications flowed from a consistent application of Calvinism. Calvinism is synonymous with a comprehensive biblical world-and-life view. It’s not just about TULIP (Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints). Simply put, we were tol [...]

After the defeat of Hitler’s Third Reich, war crime tribunals were set up in Nuremberg, Germany. The purpose, of course, was to judge those who had participated in the grossest of atrocities, the planned extermination of the Jewish race. John Warwick Montgomery explains the problem the tribunal faced: When the Charter of the Tribunal, which had been drawn up by the victors, was used by the prosecu [...]

Atheist Michael Newdow has been pestering the courts to rule that the phrase “under God,” found in the Pledge of Allegiance, and “In God We Trust,” imprinted and stamped on our currency, are unconstitutional. In 2010, even the usually liberal San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Newdow’s legal challenges that the references to God are unconstitutional and infringe on his [...]

Before Harold Camping, there were Chuck Smith and Hal Lindsey. Lindsey is the author of widely and wildly popular The Late Great Planet Earth (1970). Smith has been the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, since 1965. He is a popular and well-respected Bible teacher. What many people don’t know or remember is that he set some very specific dates of his own in the 1970s. I wonder wha [...]

Commissioners from Forsyth County in North Carolina appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to appeal a District Court’s decision to bar commissioners from opening public meetings with prayers prayed in Jesus’ name. The ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State argued (naturally) that sectarian prayers to any deity violate the First Amendment. The Fir [...]

[caption id=“attachment_4285” align=“alignleft” width=“300” caption=““Defeat of the Turks at the Gates of Vienna””][/caption] Joel Richardson believes the Bible teaches “that the biblical Antichrist is one and the same as the Quran’s Muslim Mahdi.” ((“Get ready for an Islamic Antichrist, warns new book,” World Net Daily (August 3, 2009)) [...]