Those nurtured on the radicalism of the 1960s have been described as the “destructive generation.” The advance of drugs into middle-class culture made its entry through the doorway of the progressive 1960s. Doses of “free love” and “free sex” were passed around as easily as a shared marijuana cigarette. “If you can’t be with the one you love, then love the one you’re with”[1] is a line from a 1960 [...]
Our Sunday school class is studying Ecclesiastes. Last Sunday’s lesson was on a portion of chapter 7. Verse 16 got my attention: “Do not be excessively righteous, and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?” How can a person be “excessively righteous”? Can a person ever be too good for Jesus? Of course not, if he is following what is indeed righteous. What often happens is that Christ [...]
Is the antichrist alive somewhere in the world today? Cardinal Biffi, emeritus bishop of the archdiocese of Bologna, Italy, thinks so.[1] In addition to wanting to ban Mozart’s music because the composer was a Mason,[2] Cardinal Biffi also believes Italy should stop the flood of Muslim immigrants and protect Italy’s “national identity.” These are just some of his politically incorrect comments abo [...]
Editorial writers have an advantage over journalists. Journalists, at least in the days when fact checking was an honored part of the profession, had to get their stories straight. Writing an opinion column that reads like a news story has become fashionable. Opinion trumps facts. The latest entry into fantasy land is an article by Leonard Pitts who writes for the Miami Herald. He takes on the so- [...]
Periodically American Vision gets some interesting correspondence from people who don’t like what we do. Most of the really bad stuff comes in the form of anonymous emails. In the early days, people would leave profanity-laced voice messages on our answering machine. There were times when we got some death threats. Sometimes we would get a real treasure. On April 11, 2005, a caller left a rambling [...]
On September 17, 1787 the Constitutional Convention officially ended. Copies of the Constitution were sent to the state legislatures. Delegates anticipated tough battles in the states over whether or not the Constitution ought to be ratified. There was much that both proponents and opponents of the Constitution agreed upon. Power, whether in a monarchy or a republic, tended to corrupt whoever yiel [...]
Beginning this Wednesday evening (April 13, 2005), NBC will air the first installment of its “Revelations” series.[1] Like so many evangelicals, the series operates by asking this question: “Could the end be near? To get a jump on the commentary that will follow the series, I’ve decided to jump start the discussion by dealing with questions that Christians often have about the book of Revelation. [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a judge to hold a Louisiana school board in contempt because someone said a prayer over the PA system before a high-school baseball game.[1] During the critical days with tempers flaring in the July heat, Benjamin Franklin asked to be recognized and presented this memorable speech. Directing his words to George Washington, Franklin made the following pl [...]
Writing a daily column offers some advantages. I get to write about issues that interest me and hopefully interest my readers. But there are always people out there who are downright nasty in the way they express their opinions about my opinions. You’re bound to upset people when you write on controversial topics, but some of the emails I get are over the top. Here’s one example by a guy who calls [...]
Pope John Paul II was impacted by the 1917 Fatima prophecies. The most famous vision is said to have occurred on May 13, 1917. There it was reported that three children, Lucia dos Santos (ten years old at the time) and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco de Jesus Marto (seven and nine), in a field near Fatima, Portugal, saw “a beautiful lady from Heaven,” while others saw what appeared to them to be [...]
Lee Salisbury believes that fundamentalists “must be challenged to defend their religion and tactics.” He writes this in an article titled “The Fundamentalist Christian Mind-Set and the Problem it Presents for America.”[1] Mr. Salisbury believes he has found the soft underbelly of the Bible by uncovering a number of “contradictions.” There’s nothing new in his approach to undermine the Christian f [...]
One of our readers wondered why we are offering Alien Intrusion, a book on UFOs. He asked it this way: “How in the world can this be a part of ‘Equipping and Empowering Christians to Restore America’s Biblical Foundation.’?” This is a very good question. Not only are UFOs in the news, but there is a worldview behind their interest that sees their existence as a competitor to the Christian worldvie [...]
In March 2000, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the death sentence in a murder case because an assistant district attorney urged jurors to follow certain biblical mandates related to the death penalty. “During closing arguments in the penalty phase of the trial, D. Brandon Hornsby, the assistant district attorney, cited passages from the books of Romans, Genesis, and Matthew, telling jur [...]
Question: The other day, in a discussion about God’s covenant promises and their application to the United States, a guy told me that 2 Chronicles 7:14 had no application. This didn’t sound right to me and I was wondering what your thoughts were. Answer: How could this verse not apply today? Are not Christians God’s people? The Bible also says “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LO [...]
Twenty times the New Testament tells us that Jesus will be raised on “the third day,” six times in Matthew’s gospel alone (Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; 26:61; 27:40; 27:64). This is confirmed outside the gospels (Acts 10:40; 1 Cor. 15:4). Only once do we read the following: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of [...]
In case you’ve forgotten or you’ve never heard the story, Mary Jo Kopechne was a “friend” of Senator Ted Kennedy. Coming back from a cook-out for campaign workers on Chappaquiddick Island, Kennedy was accompanied by Mary Jo Kopechne who had worked for Robert Kennedy. Things went terribly wrong as they crossed a narrow bridge close to midnight. The car left the bridge and plunged into the deep pond [...]
The title for this article is taken from Os Guinness’s underrated and underread book The Gravedigger File.[1] There are numerous Christians who believe that a personal, private faith is all the gospel requires. Guinness described this as “The Private-Zoo Factor.” Much of “1925–1975 Evangelicalism”[2] was based on the idea that Christians could make peace with the world by doing the church thing an [...]
I can remember when there were only three television networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC and their local affiliates. Reception was so bad in our area that we had a tough time pulling in the NBC signal at night. This meant that I never saw an episode of Bonanza or Star Trek until I went off to college. But during the day, the NBC signal (channel 11 in Pittsburgh) came in as clearly as the other two. [...]
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, speaking at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on March 15, 2005, weighed in on the latest Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty. If you recall, a majority of the justices (5–4) ruled that the death penalty could not be applied to anyone under the age of 18. The March 1 ruling was based on “evolving notions of decency.” The logic of the r [...]
The libertarian humorist P. J. O’Rourke says, “When you think of the good old days, think ‘dentistry.’” The greatest invention of the modern world is anesthetics. Prior to 1844, in preparation for an operation, you drank booze until you passed out–hopefully. Then the physician – “sawbones,” he was called –got started hacking away.[1] Michael Crichton, best known for The Andromeda Strain, Congo, Th [...]
