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The Power of One Person to Make a Difference

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How often have you, as have I, said, “I’m only one person. What difference could I make?” The Bible and history is full of brave ordinary people who stepped out of their comfort zone to make a difference.

As men and women of faith, we know if God calls us to take a stand, we can rest assured He will stand with us. I learned this truth when answering His call to start Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry almost thirty years ago, and it’s still a vibrant ministry in churches today.

In past blogs, you’ve read how I also inadvertently became the spokesperson for championing others to join me in protecting children from obscene and pornographic material in our public library. That meant not only writing letters and emails, but also physically appearing at library board meetings, meeting with the librarian, and voicing my concerns not just once, but for as long as it takes.

Initially, I just wanted to post on a community Facebook page from the comfort of my office and fill out the library forms to have obscene material removed. But if I was really going to make a difference, I had to appear in person. Inconvenience my schedule and take the slings and slanders of those opposing removal of the books. Currently, a law is pending in Idaho Legislature that backs my position. I’m sure it will require me going back to the board to be sure they enforce it.

In today’s blog, I want to share the story of Trent Saxton, who I only met a week ago thanks to my cousin Karen in California who is a member of an American Conservative Facebook group that Trent started. When Karen sent me Trent’s post, she prefaced it with, “A new law to be passed in your state by a Californian who moved to Idaho.” That sparked my interest since we live in Idaho!

Here’s Trent’s story of discovering the need to change an existing law in his new home state of Idaho and doing something about it.

Dear Idahoans,

I recently purchased a new 2024 GMC so my old Toyota plates will be placed on my new truck. In Idaho, you must purchase another set of new plates (silly) in order to sell your used automobile. Understandably, a prospective buyer can’t test drive your used vehicle without metal plates on the car.

I wanted to change this law to paper permits with a 30–60-day grace period. This allows time to sell your car without having to re-register the car and buy new metal plates. I contacted customer service specialist Mary Miller, a 21-year veteran at the DMV, on January 18th and told her I wanted to change the law…LOL. She was a little hesitant to pass me on to her supervisor, motor vehicle supervisor, Kimbra Asqueta.

Again, I told her what I wanted to do. So, Kimbra sent me to the County Assessor, Brian Stender. All of this took a matter of ten minutes. Brian agreed with me that this law should be changed to a 30-60 day “grace period,” without having to purchase new plates. After you sell your car, those plates end up in a landfill. To change the law, would require going through the legislative process in the Capitol. The next day, I contacted my State Senator, Tammy Nichols. She helped me receive a “purple slip” (to write a Bill) and Sen. Chris Trakel carried the Bill to the Senate. They both helped sponsor the Bill S-1282.

Brian Stender and I walked the halls of the Capitol looking for support. All this took place in a matter of six weeks! It’s a NO BRAINER BILL! Most of all, it’s non-partisan. It helps everyone in the state equally.

The Bill passed at the Senate committee level, 34-0-1, one Senator was absent from the committee. Next, it moved to the House of Representatives for their committee hearings. Representative Clay Handy carried the “Bill” in the House on March 12 and it passed 69-0-1. Another absentee! Governor Little signed the bill into law, which goes into effect July 1, 2024!

This law will save YOU money and save DMV time and effort in the entire state. Most, if not all, forty-four County Assessors throughout the state are in support of my Bill. They see the common-sense issue and it’s a win-win. I have spent hours walking the halls of the Capitol meeting with your representatives to change this into an easier, more efficient law for all Idahoans.

Who says the little guy can’t make a difference when you are determined and have the support of your elected officials.

___________________

My Follow-Up Interview with Trent about His Political Success Story

When I read Trent’s story, I was immediately impressed with one man’s determination to right a wrong. He saw a problem and took it upon himself to do something about it by investing his time and energy. I contacted Trent to see if I could share his inspirational story and asked him a few more questions.

  • What prompted you to go through this political process?

Trent: I wanted to change that law in the State of Idaho. It amends section 49-523 of Idaho DMV Code to revise a provision regarding temporary vehicle registration permits for owners. Makes a whole lot of sense, saves time and money, and stops the metal plates from being thrown into landfills. It’s a no brainer Bill…LOL  should’ve been written this way years ago. The County Assessors love it and so do DMV workers.

I started this process Jan 18, 2024, and it was over by March 7, 2024.  On that same day, I had a stent placed in my heart…nice gift for a 74-year-old. Ha!  All Glory to God and determination.

  • Where did you live in California and how long have you lived in Idaho?

Trent: Placerville for 30 years (former Mayor) and then Portola, CA. north of Lake Tahoe 60 miles. I moved here two and a half years ago.

  • Why did you move from California?

Trent: Taxes, politics, regulations, laws, all the reasons most Californians move out of California.

  • How did you pick Middleton to live in Idaho?

Trent: Purely by accident. Never been here before. I liked the rural atmosphere (which is now changing).

  •  When you say you walked the halls of the Capitol, who were you talking to and what was that process like? Were the people you talked to receptive?

Trent: Everyone was receptive because “many” were unaware that they either had broken that law or were about to break it. They never thought it was an issue to drive and show someone else their used car just to sell it!

 You have a beautiful Capitol building in Idaho. The Senate is to the West and the House is to the East. I simply met Senators in their offices and gave my 3-minute sales pitch. I started by saying, “Did you know you had to buy plates for a car you were going to sell?” I would get a blank look followed by a, “No, you don’t?!” answer and then I had them in the palm of my hand. The rest was easy after that!  It was not a hard sell and many just said, “I’ll support you.” I said thanks and left them immediately. 

  • What is your profession?

Trent: DC, Doctor of Chiropractic in private practice and formerly an Instructor at the Southern California University of Health Sciences (LACC) and Occupational Health, C.E.

  • What prompted you to start the American Conservative Facebook page?

I started American Conservatives five years ago in response to politics in my California county and the Trump campaign in 2020.

  • Can I ask, are you a Christian, Trent?

Trent: I would like to think that I am. I fall short, I am sure, so I ask for His forgiveness all the time. I attend a nondenominational church. I do not like “religion” as a whole. I have studied many religions, but there is only one God. I believe that Jesus Christ was sent to earth as the Son of God, that He died for all mankind’s sins, He arose into Heaven, and will return (not soon enough) one day like a thief in the night.

Trent and his wife have been married thirty-four years.

Where Does the Bible Say Christians Shouldn’t Get Involved In Politics?

The Bible actually tells us to occupy every area of the culture and gives us numerous examples of biblical men and women stepping into the political arena to make a difference and in many cases, to save lives physically and spiritually. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. Luke 19:13 KJV

In my book, Everyday Brave: Living Courageously As a Woman of Faith, I feature 50—yes you read that right—50 brave biblical women and 28 current day women who took a stand in the public square to make a difference in their world.

  • You’re probably familiar with the story of Esther in the Book of Esther, who with prayer and fasting agreed to step out of her comfortable plush life as queen into the cunning world of politics to save her people, the Jews. What if Esther had let the Jews, including herself, be annihilated? Who can forget her brave declaration, “If I perish, I perish!” Most of us aren’t going to have to die to make a difference. But like Trent, myself, and many of you, we will have to make sacrifices of energy and time to venture into the unknown to make a difference.
  • Deborah left her comfortable meeting place under the shade of the “Palm of Deborah,” where she settled the people’s disputes, to go into battle as a co-commander with Barack. She literally explained God’s battle plan to the military leader. (Judges 4-5)
  • There were 48 other lesser-known women in the Bible too who took a brave stand to make a difference in their culture.

The list of men in the Bible who went into the political arena is also long. Just to name a few . . .

  • Joseph was promoted to the highest political position in the country, only second to Pharaoh, and saved his own family and the entire community from famine. Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain around his neck. 43 Then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his second-in-command. And wherever Joseph went, the command was shouted, “Kneel down!” So Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all Egypt. 44 And Pharaoh said to him, “I am Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval.” Gen. 41:41-44 NLT
  • Daniel stayed true to his faith as he too accepted a high position in government. Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men. Dan. 2:48
  • David was a king, the highest political position in the land.
  • Paul was always confronting and contesting the political powers.
  • The temple guard and Sadducees tried to stop Peter and John from preaching about Jesus. But when “they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” They told them to stop preaching, “But Peter and John replied, ‘Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.’” (Acts 4:13, 17, 19-20)
  • Jesus never shied away from confronting unjust political leaders and laws.

I’m sure you can think of even more examples in the Bible of men and women engaging in politics and the culture. Today, Politics has become its own religion, while we sit in our pews and let babies be killed, children mutilated, or trans ideology inoculate the brains of children and adults. Where in the Bible does God call us to sit by and do nothing?

The church is letting this happen on our watch, but like Esther (Esther 4:14), we were born for such a time as this! Believers are alive right NOW in this crazy world to bring God back into our culture, our families, our churches, even politics. The other side will take as much ground as we submit to them.

“God calls us to fight until He returns . . . God made us to stand with courage . . . Bring your faith into every area of the public square and those who are telling you not to . . . are wrong!”—Eric Metaxas

We need more people in our churches like Trent who saw an obvious problem and went through the political process of correcting it because he could! And so can we.

“Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature …. If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”—President James Garfield

“The people who know their God will be strong and take action.” Daniel 11:32

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deut. 31:8

Join me and other believers around the nation on Monday mornings to pray together via zoom. A powerful way to start the week praying with like-minded believers! My Faith Votes keeps action partners updated on what’s happening in the nation that effects religious freedom, sanctity of life, strengthening and protection of the family, and care for the needy. Go to MyFaithVotes to sign up.

Many states like Idaho have our own MyFaithVotes weekly morning pray time via zoom, and you can check that out on the MyFaithVotes website. If you’re in Idaho, email Olivia Veldhuis @ [email protected] to join us on Tuesday mornings.

If you haven’t seen the movie Letter to the American Church, you can watch it for free on Friday, April 12th. For details and to register go to www.myfaithvotes.org/LTAC. To bring the movie to your church www.Lettertotheamericanchurch.com.

If you didn’t read last week’s blog, we all must be prepared to give an answer. How to Respond When Labeled a ‘Christian Nationalist’!

Please leave a comment here. I always reply!

March 25, 2024
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Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Nurturing Lifelong Faith in a Turbulent World

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As you’ve read in my previous blogs and newsletters, I have a heavy burden for protecting our children and grandchildren from the wiles of the evil one. Satan is no longer sneaky and sly in his tactics. He’s open, blatant, and ruthless in going after our children in the schools, libraries, entertainment, games, sports, sexualization, gender confusion, and child-sex trafficking, while liberal “progressive” politicians on the left and media are complicit with the devil’s evil demonic ways. As a grandparent, I find it horrifying to watch the legal system working as accomplices to the breakdown of the family and taking away the rights of loving parents.

Satan had a minor setback with the overturn of Roe v Wade, so he’s now targeting his evil attacks on the children given precious life.

Children Are A Gift From God

Children shine with exceptional and extraordinary worth that exceeds all other God-given blessings. These priceless souls arrive in our arms as eternal treasures bearing the very image of God. As stewards of these divine gifts, we have a duty to equip ourselves for their proper care. It sounds like such a daunting task, and at times, it can seem overwhelming. We need tools and insights steeped in Scripture and spiritual wisdom that will empower us when we feel inadequate to guide our children towards a lifelong commitment to Christ.

The Bible does tell us that parents bear a sacred responsibility when it comes to nurturing children in the ways of the Lord. Joel 1:3 instructs parents to impart the truths of their faith to their children, who in turn, will pass on this sacred legacy to future generations. The Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry and platform God entrusted me with almost 30 years ago is exemplified in this verse.

Tell your children about it in the years to come,
    and let your children tell their children.
    Pass the story down from generation to generation. Joel 1:3 NLT

This cyclical transmission of faith serves as the bedrock upon which the continuity of Christianity rests, echoing the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19–20. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Lee Ann Mancini Wants to Help Parents!

A book from an author friend of mine has come along at the perfect time to help parents and grandparents raise and nurture children for Christ and not the culture. Today’s Monday Morning blog is featuring author Lee Ann Mancini’s new release Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God. (No relation to my daughter Kimberly Mancini) Let me share with you some thoughts about Lee Ann’s book because we all have children in our family and community. We all should care about their souls.

Our culture’s current trend toward moral relativism amplifies the urgency of instilling a steadfast faith in our children. Lee Ann Mancini provides the solutions we need in her new parenting guide. Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God offers invaluable insights drawn from both scripture and cutting-edge research in childhood spiritual development. As the CEO of Raising Christian Kids and a distinguished professor, Mancini emphasizes the vital role of parental guidance rooted in love and joy, safeguarding children from the perils of faithlessness.

I often ask audiences when I’m speaking on mentoring, “Are you the men and women you want your children to become?” “Do you have the marriage you want your children to have?” “Do you have the faith you want your children to live out?”

Lee Ann also recognizes parents are the primary educators and spiritual mentors in the lives of their children. She stresses that the way we live proves the most significant character lesson we teach. Lee Ann says that our actions and attitudes serve as the blueprint upon which our children model their own beliefs and behaviors. Her book shares insights on how to exemplify a life centered on the Word of God so we can provide a living testimony of Christ’s transformative power. Faithfully measured, our personal steps will lead our children and grandchildren towards a deep and abiding relationship with their Savior.

Lee Ann emphasizes the cornerstone of parental efforts must rest upon the unwavering truth of God’s Word. Just as Jesus is the living Stone chosen by God, so too must His teachings form the solid foundation upon which our children’s, and grandchildren’s, faith is built. Amidst the storms of life, anchored in Christ, they can stand firm unwavering in their devotion to Jesus and unyielding in their faith convictions.

As many of us know so well, the journey of raising children in the faith comes with a myriad of challenges. In a world hostile to Christian values, we must remain vigilant in equipping our children and grandchildren with the spiritual armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) necessary to withstand the onslaught of worldly temptations. Through prayer, guidance, and unwavering commitment, we can nurture within them a love for God and His Word thus empowering them to become beacons of light in a world shrouded in darkness.

Lee Ann esteems the calling to raise godly children as sacred, but she also shares her parenting advice with the hope of grace. It is never too early, nor too late, to inspire our children to love Jesus and develop a passion for His Kingdom. With fresh insights and transformative strategies, she welcomes us to embark on a journey of faith, nurturing the next generation of believers and disciples.

Raising Kids to Follow Christ serves as a wise and powerful companion as we navigate parenthood or as grandparents. The crises and shadows of life in this world will threaten to shake its youngest souls. Our children need the hope only Christ can offer. With a strong foundation, this generation can transform the future.

As we embrace our role as stewards of His precious gifts of our children, may we rise to the challenge with unwavering faith and steadfast resolve. We can depend on experts like Lee Ann Mancini to come alongside us in raising kids to follow Christ. Together, we can fulfill our true purpose and enjoy our greatest reward of raising a generation to love and follow Christ Jesus as their personal Savior.

An Overview of the Treasures Found in Raising Kids to Follow Christ.

In Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God, Lee Ann Mancini inspires parents, grandparents, teachers, and others to teach their children essential Christian principles to enable them to navigate the world with grace, integrity, and an unbreakable bond with their heavenly Father.

This book goes beyond surface-level advice, delving into the intricate matters of children’s hearts and minds and offering a blueprint for nurturing a deep and unwavering faith in Christ.

Raising Kids to Follow Christ offers:
• Decades of personal experience and training based on key essential principles in Scripture
• Practical strategies for addressing doubts, fears, and questions that arise in today’s culture
• Ways to help children control their emotions and actions in various situations
• Suggestions from some of today’s brightest Christian minds in children’s spirituality
• Empowerment for parents to become their child’s spiritual champion
• Easy-to-understand apologetics for children and adults
• Fun ways to connect your child’s heart to Christ

Raising Kids to Follow Christ is a collaborative journey inviting parents to learn, grow, and flourish alongside their children as they become bold in their witness and committed to their faith rather than the secular culture.

About Lee Ann Mancini

Lee Ann Mancini is the award-winning author and executive producer of the Sea Kids series, which can be viewed on Answers.TV, Pure Flix, Right Now Media, and Minno. Lee Ann earned Master’s degrees in Theological Studies, Christian and Classic Studies, and Biblical and Theological Studies. She serves as an adjunct professor at South Florida Bible College and Theological Seminary and hosts the award-winning podcast, Raising Christian Kids.

Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God would make a great Easter or Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or any day gift for the parents in your life. The children of today are the future of tomorrow. Let’s be sure they’re spiritually prepared to win the battle for their souls and for our world.

Please leave a comment here. I always reply.

March 4, 2024
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A Child Is Not a Problem to be Solved, But a Person to be Loved!

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There once was a young boy whose mother had seven husbands. In a one-night-stand between husbands, she got pregnant. She chose to have her baby and a future husband chose to adopt her son and give him his last name. Do you know who that was? If you saw the movie Jesus Revolution, it was Pastor Greg Laurie!

In last week’s blog, No More Recreational Christianity, I talked about Pastor Jack Hibbs’ testimony of being a survivor of his mother’s botched attempt at aborting him with a coat hanger.

Steve Jobs, Apple founder, was adopted shortly after birth. Jobs’ biological parents weren’t married. He said, “I wanted to meet my biological mother mostly to see if she was OK and to thank her, because I’m glad I didn’t end up as an abortion.”

Some of you know the testimony my daughter and I share in my book Dear God, Why Can’t I Have a Baby?  It’s the story of my amazing grandson Brandon’s 15-year-old birth mother choosing to give him life so that my daughter and her husband could adopt him at two-weeks, and we could become his forever loving family. This teenage girl actually hid her pregnancy until the 7th month so she could keep her baby even though he was her second child! Somehow at her young age, she understood the value of life and didn’t impose her poor sexual choices on denying life to the children she conceived.

Many of you might have similar stories in your family. Our testimonies are powerful, and God can use each one to encourage mothers to choose life for their babies.

If you’ve had an abortion, you can ask Jesus for forgiveness and seek Christian counseling to help you with any regrets. You’re also a perfect person to encourage other women to avoid making the same choice. God can use all our experiences for His glory if we let Him.

March for Life 2024!

January is Sanctity of Life month. The 51st March for Life at the National Mall in Washington DC was on January 19 this year and the snow and cold temperatures didn’t deter thousands from marching for life. I’m not sure how they originally determined January to be the month to honor human life, but maybe it was to start the New Year with everyone remembering how important the gift of life is from God our Creator. A perfect segue from Christmas.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.” Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! (Genesis 1:1, 26, 31 NLT).

Why then are so many choosing to destroy this amazing gift of life and how has it become so political? Sadly, many things have become political rather than moral. For example, two moral bills supporting pregnancy centers and pregnant college students passed on January 18 by a Republican majority Congress, while every Democrat present voted immorally against them.

How could anyone with a conscience or heart vote against helping pregnant women and innocent babies? But Democrats vote in unison against the sanctity of life consistently. Could it be because one of their largest donors is Planned Parenthood, the biggest industry dedicated to murdering babies?!

The Pregnant Students’ Rights Act passed by Congress ensures that universities and colleges must provide information to pregnant students about rights, accommodations, and resources available. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-IA), who authored the bill, said, “It’s unacceptable that pregnant women on college campuses are often pressured to have an abortion. My bill ensures young women are empowered to choose life and create the best future for themselves and their child.”

“Pregnant college students should never feel like abortion is their only option,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). “The Republican-led House took a huge step in empowering women to choose life by passing this legislation. I encourage my Senate colleagues to follow suit and work to ensure young women are aware of all the resources available to them and their babies while pursuing their education.”

“This vote should have been an easy one for every politician who claims to care about women’s rights, and those in the Democratic Party who voted to keep women in the dark about their legal rights should be ashamed,” said Students for Life Action (SFLAction) President Kristan Hawkins. “Still, this is a great day for the Pro-Life Generation as years of campus advocacy has led to this historic moment – the first SFLAction-inspired federal bill passing the House,” she added.

The Parenting Women and Families Act prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing a Biden Administration proposed change in regulations that would essentially cut funding for pregnancy centers.

“We applaud House pro-life leaders for their work in ensuring resources and funding are made available for women, children, and families in need,” stated Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “In a post-Roe America, it is vitally important that resources are made available to support mothers and their babies both before and after birth.”  

Tobias continued, “In longstanding narrow-mindedness, every Democrat present voted wrong and failed to support these reasonable measures because the bills do not promote abortion. Once again, leaders in the Democratic Party have shown their allegiance to the abortion industry and its extremism.”

I wanted to watch the National March for Life on TV, but the only channel Dave found it on was a Catholic channel. CBN carried it too, but he found the Catholic channel first and as I listened to their discussion after the march, it was so encouraging to hear the commentators and guests, even young children and college students, talk about what they’re doing on their school campuses to promote life for every baby.

Biden who professes to be a “good Catholic,” is the most pro-death President in my lifetime. So why would a Catholic President fight against every attempt to protect the unborn, even trying to pass bills that remove the tax status and funding from Pregnancy Care Centers? Pro-Abortion Biden has weaponized the legislature to try to codify abortion up to birth. Barbarianism. What Catholic or Christian even thinks of such an atrocity? Only someone who has sold their soul to the devil for power and money. The abortion industry, aka killing babies, is lucrative to everyone involved.

Herod in Matthew 2:13-18 had all the boys two-years-old or younger slaughtered trying to kill the newborn king he had heard was born. Baby Jesus’ life was spared.

Pharaoh thought the Egyptians were multiplying too fast and he might lose power, so he had all the baby boys murdered at birth. When that wasn’t working, he had the babies drowned in the Nile, but baby Moses survived that genocide attempt and was adopted.  

Also, in the Old Testament pagan child sacrifices were made to Molek.  “‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.” Lev. 18:21

We falsely think we’re such a civilized culture today that we would never let something like the above scenarios happen. Yet millions of baby sacrifices have occurred in their mother’s womb as the babies are horrifically poisoned, chemically burned, crushed, suctioned, injected, or impaled, and often pulled out piece by piece. Even with the end of Roe v Wade, some states like New Jersey allow the infanticide sacrifice of babies through all nine months. Barbarism in the 21st century.

The next major battle is the abortion pill as the Supreme Court reviews a case involving access to mifepristone, which the FDA has approved. Justices are set to review a ruling by a federal appeals court to allow distribution of this abortion pill indiscriminately by mail, essentially performing home abortions. Many say the abortion pill is four times more dangerous than surgical abortion and girls and women end up in emergency rooms. The drug blocks nutrients and starves the baby to death.

Our secular culture and ruling government continue to spread the lie that babies are expendable if they’re inconvenient or unwanted. Kamala Harris is visiting school campuses touting the lie that abortion is a woman’s Constitutional right. She shows her ignorance of the Constitution.

After telling his own abortion-sparing life story when his unmarried parents chose to give him life for which he thanked them, House Speaker Mike Johnson pointed out in his March for Life speech that the Constitution and Bill of Rights says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Johnson continued, “All men are created equal, not born equal.” Equality originates in the womb, not at birth. Then he affirmed, “Our rights come from God, not the government. Your value is given to you by your Creator.”

Christians Must Change a Culture of Murder to a Culture of Life

One of the March for Life speakers said, “Abortion is like hiring a hitman. It’s murder of a human life. There’s no other way to consider it.”

Speaker Johnson reminded us of others before us, like President Lincoln and Susan B Anthony, who changed public opinion and encouraged us that we can do the same.

Abortion is the only weapon the Democrats have in the 2024 election because they don’t have any accomplishments to brag about since they’ve done nothing in the past three years except try to turn our free country into a Marxist dictatorship.

Pro-lifers, conservatives, Republicans, Christians need to change our approach in discussing abortion because what we’re doing right now isn’t reaching the majority of people, especially women. We’re characterized as not caring about women’s “rights.” I think the March for Life has realized that as their theme this year is “With Every Woman, for Every Child.”

Pastor Greg Laurie shared his testimony and gave the closing prayer at the March for Life before the marchers took off walking. He also wrote an article Why Pro-Life Is the Only Biblical Position. I hope you’ll take a moment to read it now. He speaks with conviction as a Bible-preaching pastor and a life spared for a purpose. He said it took a while to realize his life was planned by God, as is every life, even those who were not given a chance to breathe.

In the article, Pastor Laurie said, “Our culture tries to dehumanize these babies with rewordings and euphemisms. They call murder ‘terminating a pregnancy’ and they label unborn babies as ‘fetuses,’ ’embryos,’ ‘globs of cells,’ ‘uterine contents,’ or ‘products of conception.’ But the reality is that they are innocent children, made in the image of God, and they have every right to live. If you don’t agree with that then, frankly, you disagree with the Bible.”

Sadly, many churches are moving away from the Bible and that never ends well.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. —Psalm 139:13–16 NLT

I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations. —Jeremiah 1:5 NLT

Pastor Greg points out God says, “I formed you in your mother’s womb.” God doesn’t say, ‘I waited until you were born to have a plan for you, because you were not yet really a human, but only a mass of tissue.’”

God has a plan for every child, even before birth, but He lets us make our own choices. Sadly, many people today are choosing pro-death instead of pro-life. This isn’t helping women who most certainly will be emotionally, mentally, or physically damaged from taking the life of their child. Silently enabling this choice instead of sharing the truth with love and grace is not biblical.

We as a church must never stop encouraging people to choose God because God changes everything in a person’s life. Before that, they’re not going to listen to Scripture because they either don’t believe in God or don’t care what the Bible says. They’re going to live life their own way. That’s really the root cause of abortion and all evil.

Churches Must Get Involved to Save Human Lives

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a sermon on the sanctity of life. January 21, 2024, Sanctity of Life Sunday, would’ve been a perfect day to give one. But here’s what we can do . . .

  • We can use our vote. Pastor Laurie writes, “To refrain from voting is irresponsible and bad stewardship. Scripture tells us, ‘To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin’ (James 4:17 NKJV). We should vote for the candidates and policies that best reflect the values we find in Scripture, and that includes voting pro-life.”
  • MyFaithVotes.org provides voter guides for how to vote as Christians biblically in upcoming elections.
  • The church was always supposed to be the place where those in need could go to get help and praise God there are Christian operated pregnancy resource centers across the United States that help the mother and child before and after birth for free. We can find one and offer to volunteer or donate.
  • Start pro-life prayer groups at your church.
  • Attend local prayer rallies for life.
  • If you have a testimony, share it.
  • In my book Mentoring for All Seasons, I have chapters on how to mentor young women considering abortion and those who have had abortions.
  • Don’t apologize for being Pro-Life. Remind everyone you’re in a discussion with on this topic that they were given life. Ask if they’re glad their mother chose life? No one has the right to deny another person the same opportunity.

This truly is our generation’s human rights movement. We’re making progress with Roe v Wade being overturned, but the battle isn’t over in the states. The battle won’t end until abortion, the killing of unborn babies, is unthinkable. A civilization is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable.

“Let’s all pray and ask God to send a spiritual awakening to our nation—we really need it.”—Pastor Greg Laurie

Please leave a comment here. I appreciate hearing your thoughts and I always reply.

January 22, 2024
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Is Giving Thanks a Lost Tradition?

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This week is Thanksgiving when many of us will gather with family and friends to eat a big delicious traditional meal. Maybe watch football, play games, fellowship, and hopefully say a prayer thanking God for the many blessings we enjoy in our life. Often, the only time we really focus on the true meaning of Thanksgiving is during that prayer before the meal we’re all anxiously awaiting with anticipation and appetites! If you’re looking for some ideas of how to offer a Thanksgiving prayer for various circumstances, I wrote a Crosswalk article on that topic—4 Prayers to Say At the Thanksgiving Table.

Last week, I learned a term that was new to me. As Dave and I were shopping at Trader Joe’s a full week prior to Thanksgiving, the aisles at this store and Costco were jam packed with shoppers. I commented to the Trader Joe’s checker that I was surprised people were shopping so early for the big meal a week away. Both she and the bagger simultaneously said, “Friendsgiving.” I didn’t hear what they said, so they repeated it several times. When I had a questioning look on my face, the checker said many people get together for a meal with their friends the weekend prior to having a family Thanksgiving celebration later in the week.

I love that idea. We’ve done that in the past too, as well as invited friends to the family dinner. But I’d never heard it called “Friendsgiving” before. When I posted about Friendsgiving on Facebook, I received many comments from people, including my daughter, who said it wasn’t a new term. Just new to me, I guess.

Thinking about Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving brought to mind a thought I’ve had for quite a while. Are we raising generations that have forgotten the courtesy of expressing gratitude not only to God, but also to others? Let me explain. I’m a boomer. My generation was born between 1946-1964. As soon as I could print, or even scribble, the expectation was that when I received a gift from someone, especially for birthdays or Christmas, I sent a thank you note to the gift giver whether it was family or friends.

When I was married, part of the shower and wedding preparation was ordering thank you notes to send out for the gifts we received. And when I was pregnant and received shower and baby gifts, as crazy as it was being a new working mom, it was a given I would make the time to send thank you notes.

I’m finding this thank-you etiquette courtesy is now a lost tradition. Yes, today it might be an email or text instead of a mailed thank you card, but often those aren’t sent either. Somewhere along the generational sequence, one generation didn’t pass down to the next generation the importance of showing gratitude for the gifts they receive. And we wonder why we’re watching generations of entitled children and adults today who expect someone else to pay for college loans they willingly took out and then complain about having to work 9-5 jobs!

Author Carol Roth says Gen Z’s (1997-2012) woes with fulltime work stem from “their parents failing them.” Here’s a quote from her article. “While it’s easy to dunk on these young people, I really blame the parents. This hurts, because Gen Z is being raised in large part by Gen X [1965-1980], which should make the kids awesome and self-sufficient.” She goes on to say that “young people consuming Marxist propaganda online and even in school it’s not surprising they want to do as little works as possible while still expecting food, clothing, shelter, entertainment and more will just fall from the sky for them.” I was happy to see she suggested mentorship as a solution.

But an even sadder consequence of not feeling compelled to be grateful to those who sacrifice their money and time on a gift or providing a college education or offering them a job, is we now also have a generation that has forgotten to say thank you for the sacrifice Jesus made to give them the gift of salvation.

It only takes one generation failing to pass down their faith, traditions, work ethic, or even the courtesy of showing tangible gratitude for a gift, for these things to be forgotten or eliminated from a culture, as we’re watching today with the void of Christian beliefs in government and in families.

Make This Thanksgiving a Wake-up Call in Our Life and Families

Even more important than thanking each other is to give thanks to God who is the provider of every good thing in our life.  I like how Dr. David Jeremiah presents the importance of experiencing continuous daily thanksgiving in his November 18-19, 2023, Turning Points Magazine weekend devotion titled “Thank Goodness!”

“Thanksgiving is understanding that blessings are hiding all around us, and we must find and focus on them. It’s the attitude of knowing we have a God in charge of all. It’s the habit of pausing to whisper, ‘Thank you Lord,’ throughout the day. It’s finding good times even in bad times and rejoicing even in sorrow. It’s noticing the color of flowers, the shape of clouds, the smell of fresh bread, and the comfort of a soft pillow at night.”

“Gratitude leads to ‘glad-itude.’ Counting our blessings is a positive step toward erasing our heartaches. The psychology of thanksgiving comes from the very mind and heart of the God who told us to be vigilant in thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2) and ‘in everything give thanks; for this the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18).”

With the birth of Christ, there were no longer Old Testament feast days of thanksgiving. All the ceremonial celebrations of Israel were fulfilled in the Messiah.  Instead, we’re told to give thanks in and for everything—the good and the bad times. As we gather together to celebrate our American holiday of Thanksgiving rooted in the harvest celebration of the Plymouth Pilgrims in 1621, let’s be reminded to give thanks in everything and to everyone—today and every day.

I personally want to thank each of you who take the time to read my weekly blogs and monthly newsletters. I appreciate your comments on the blogs and also for those who share on social media or forward them on email. We really are blessed to live in a time when we can freely communicate with each other across the miles and expand our friendships even to those we’ve never met personally. It’s a blessing I don’t take for granted and a ministry I take very seriously.

As the apostle Paul would say, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Cor. 16:23-24 NLT

Have a blessed and grateful Thanksgiving from Dave and me.

PS There won’t be a Monday Morning Blog on November 27, but I’ll be back December 4. Can you believe it’s almost December?

Please leave a comment here and I will reply.

November 20, 2023
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Why Aren’t More People Speaking Out to Defend Women?

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Maybe you cringed with me on International Women’s Day when a man pretending to be a woman was given the International Women’s Day Courage Award by Jill Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Couldn’t they tell the difference between a man and a woman? They both stood smiling with this obvious imposter as if it was normal when he gave them both a peck on the cheek! Blinken flinched, but he took it like a true woke liberal.

It looked like a Saturday Night Live skit, but tragically, it was real life today.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, R-Ark., responded on twitter, “It’s International Women’s Day – a good time to remember that Democrats can’t even tell you what a woman is.”

Gov. Sanders said in her rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union speech, “The choice is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal and crazy.”

Other Twitter comments on the International Women’s Courage award given to a man:

“Nice of FLOTUS to encourage the diminishment of women on ‘international women’s day.’ Erasing women is abusive,” Dana Loesch, host of “The Dana Show,” tweeted.

“International Women’s Day: Not just for women anymore,” conservative Twitter personality Andrea Katherine wrote in reply.

“Why are the Democrats working overtime to push the trans agenda?” news commentator and former congressional nominee Karoline Leavitt asked. 

Legitimate question. Why are Democrats pushing the trans agenda when they pretend to be protecting women’s rights while simultaneously trampling on women’s rights?

When it comes to the left’s attack on women, which Biden essentially declared in his inaugural speech about furthering trans rights, they’ve gone crazy. He appointed an obvious man masquerading as a woman, Richard [aka Rachel] Levine as assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, which USA Today named as one of their “Women of the Year!” USA Today has gone crazy too!

We have a Supreme Court Judge appointed by Biden who can’t define a woman!

This liberal woke craziness is causing harm to and dismissal of real women. What do I mean by real women? A female human being who God created biologically and anatomically as a woman at birth.

Only a woman menstruates.

Only a woman has ovaries and ovulates.

Only a woman has a uterus and fallopian tubes.

Only a woman can carry a baby in her womb.

Only a woman has a natural female anatomy.

Only a woman has two XX chromosomes.

A woman cannot be a man and a man cannot be a woman. No matter how many surgeries or hormones, you cannot change DNA, create new DNA, or change biological sex. This was never disputed until a few mentally and sexually disturbed people decided to go on a war against women. The Democrat party championed and rewarded this ludicrous propaganda campaign to the detriment and harm of real women and real men.

Sadly, fewer and fewer people are willing to speak the truth for fear of “offending” the few who think they can be whatever gender and pronoun they choose. This socially deceptive, offensive, and harmful political manipulation and mutilation of genders is normalizing insanity. It’s harming mentally disturbed adults who obviously need counseling and subjecting our innocent children to this evil distortion of truth.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Is. 5:20

It’s demonic.

Who is speaking out against this evil?

Not the schools that let boys invade the privacy of girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.

Not the sports industry allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports!

Not woke businesses encouraging equity instead of equality. Equity instead of quality and competence.

Not the politicians more influenced by a small perverted community than the sane majority they were elected to represent.

Not the media, except for a few brave souls like Tucker Carlson willing to say this is insane. I encourage you to listen to his monologue “Women’s Awards are Now Going to Men.”

Nothing is More Misogynistic than Erasing Women from Womanhood!

Why are the feminists not protesting in the streets? Because they’re steadfast liberals! Even though liberals are trouncing on women, feminists show true loyalty to woke ideology, not to women!

Until recently, everyone would’ve laughed at the idea of men wanting to be women. What man in his right mind would want to dress and pretend to be a woman?

What’s changed?

Who’s behind the infringement on women’s dignity, rights, and safety?

Who’s behind the war on women?

The answers started back in the Garden of Eden when the serpent, the Devil, chose to tempt Eve with the forbidden fruit. Paul worried about this in the Corinthian church, But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 2 Cor. 11:3 NLT

Eve succumbed to Satan by asking the question often used to justify sin today, “Did God really say?” The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” Gen. 3:1 NLT

The disgraced Satan has always been at war with God. He wanted equality with God and when that failed, he tries anything and everything to stop God’s people from multiplying and filling the earth.

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Gen. 1:28 NLT

Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. Gen. 1:6 NLT

Since God only gave women reproductive anatomy, the Devil is the commander, plotter, and originator of the war on women and misgendering. Organizations like Planned Parenthood, the pharmaceutical industry, and even some in the medical profession are enlisting in Satan’s army.

Just as Eve learned, there are consequences for anyone manipulated by Satan and his emissaries. One of Satan’s most effective tactical weapons is using lies to create confusion. If he can create enough doubt and confusion, his evil battle successfully rages on.

43 Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! John 8:43-45 NLT

What Are Satan’s Strategies in the War on Women!

  • The Battleground of Abortion

Women believe the lie that they’re not carrying a baby; it’s just tissue and cells. Even with the advent of sonograms, hearing the heartbeat, and knowing that each cell contains the baby’s DNA . . . millions of women still choose to kill their babies. Satan uses semantics to confuse them that it isn’t really murder. Just “ending or terminating a pregnancy.” “A woman’s choice.” “Women’s healthcare.” “My body, my choice.” “Reproductive rights.”

Women are deceived into believing their life will be better without the life of their baby. Millions of women have a hole in their heart grieving the children they didn’t allow to be born. Only Jesus can help mend that hole and He will if asked.

Imagine how fanatically devoted to politics and power to deny and prevent a woman’s most life-affirming experience.

Female babies killed every second. Satan laughs.

  • The Battleground of Genders

God was very specific when He created only two, genders: Male and female.

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Gen. 1:27 NLT

God explained their roles. Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” Gen. 2:8

God’s Word says that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman who will populate the earth. But ‘God made them male and female’[a] from the beginning of creation. 7 ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife,[b] 8 and the two are united into one.’ Mark 10:6-8

Even with animals, God instructed Noah, “Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood.” Gen. 7:3 NLT

Only Satan could try to subvert God’s plan for the continuation of humanity by causing what we now call “gender confusion.” Again, confusion does not come from God.

Some “confused” men are demanding legal rights to pretend they’re women. Logically and anatomically, this is ludicrous and lewd, but instead of rationale people standing up to protect women, the government is bending to social pressure from a fringe element and allowing “transgender” biological men to invade all the private spaces of biological women, even competing in sports against real women!

In 2021, a biological man was named “Miss Nevada!”

A biological 43-year-old male who “identifies as a woman” from New Zealand will compete in women’s weightlifting at the Olympics and this atrocity is now invading all women’s sports, including weightlifting in the United States.

We’re told it’s discrimination to not let confused men “identify” as women with all the privileges, but what about the rights of real women? Why isn’t this male gender invasion considered discrimination against women?

Every human understands there are basic physiological differences between men and women. In the 21st century, liberals have decided ideology trumps biology.

Women Must Speak the Truth Before Our Rights Become Extinct!

A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this. Deut. 22:5

I love Lisa Bevere’s Facebook post, “God would have never granted women a voice if He intended for them to remain silent.”

One woman said on Twitter that women are so polite it hurts to speak up. But speak up we must even when it hurts!

In the movie Jesus Revolution, my favorite line was from Kay Smith, “The lies are always loud; truth is quiet. And simple.”

50 years later, we’re watching lies screaming from the White House into every house and those who know the truth remaining silent. Some erroneously think if we don’t say anything about the insanity and immorality, it will stop. Just the opposite is true.

We don’t need to scream, but we do need to share the truth every time we hear or see a lie. We’ll never solve a spiritual problem with a political answer.

We must stand up for our young girls being infiltrated and indoctrinated with lies normalized by a government and culture with a sinister motive.

We must stay educated on the issues facing women and consider them from God’s perspective. Educate and mentor our children and grandchildren in the home and in our churches.

If you know someone influenced by false teachings or ideologies, take time to talk and pray for and with them. Share God’s purpose and plans for men and women and why He made us different and unique with specific life roles.

Don’t be afraid to stand up against wrong. Like the woman who protested when a male came into the women and children’s area of a spa in California and exposed himself. She was shocked that other women were afraid to come forward and confront the spa owners for allowing such an atrocity. She wasn’t afraid, and good for her!

Silence in the face of wrong is wrong itself!

Our tendency is to avoid adversity, but Jesus never avoided sharing the truth even when it wasn’t welcomed.

The spiritual battle isn’t between Democrats vs Republicans or liberals vs conservatives. It’s between wrong vs right, evil vs good. It’s easy to say we know who wins in the end so let’s not get involved, but other people are hurt when we don’t engage.

The Christian life isn’t standing quietly on the sidelines; it’s standing boldly on the Lord’s side of the spiritual battle.

What Satan means for evil, God will use for good! He’ll use those of us willing to join Him in the fight for truth. I hope you’re in the Lord’s army. I am.

Our battle isn’t against flesh and blood, aka the liberals, progressives, Democrats, atheists, imposters trying to be women. No, the battle is against the spiritual principalities of evil. 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Eph. 6:10-13

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March 13, 2023
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Revival Is Necessary for Survival of the Church!

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Sorry, there was no blog last week. Hubby and I both had Covid again. I had brain fog along with all the other symptoms. I couldn’t even read so writing just wasn’t going to happen.

There are so many topics I’ve been praying about it’s hard to narrow down to just one. I agree with Anne Graham Lotz who opened her newsletter recently, with these words:

“As 2023 begins, the news headlines remind us that we are living at a time of spiritual darkness and oppression. Traditional values of integrity, morality, and common decency have been discarded, while faith in the one, true, living God is derided and even despised. As a nation, when we desperately need stability and unity in the midst of a world that is careening out of control, we are left without a foundation. As followers of Jesus, we are a remnant. A minority. But the Light in our lives shines even brighter in contrast to our surroundings.”

We certainly don’t have a firm worldly foundation to steady the downward spiral of our crumbling cultural foundation. And sadly, true Bible-believing and Gospel-living Christians are slipping into the minority. Many Christians try to precariously balance following Jesus while still keeping one foot in the world. Wanting to be accepted by a world gone woke, they sacrifice faith to the idol of going along to get along.

That’s an impossibly uncomfortable and immoral line to walk and one that leads to a life of confusion, compromise, and separation from the Lord. Jesus clearly told us that we must leave our old life behind to take up our cross and fully follow Him. No reservations, no turning back. We’re in the world but not of the world.

There’s no question that Jesus specifically says life won’t be easy here on earth for Christians, but this earth is not our permanent home. We’re just passing through to spread His Light.

Committed Christians do have a solid foundation built on biblical Truth and belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That foundation will never let us down or disappoint. But we must choose.

There is no such thing as:

 A “woke Christian” only a fallen Christian.

A “woke church” is a false teaching church.

Why? Because the woke agenda is tolerant and accepting of murder, evil, and sin and has been hijacked by all those who want to live a life opposite of what God teaches in the Bible.

For example, the recent Grammy Awards not only featured evil devil worship, but awarded the performance with a Grammy and a standing ovation to the first man impersonating a woman to receive the idol!

I know there were nominated Christian musicians in the audience. I hope they kept their seats and hands in their lap, or better yet walked out, during that horrific display of debauchery. Or did they feel pressure to rise with the crowd and reward Satan? Did anyone watching on television turn it off or keep watching to see how bad it could get? I’ve actually seen some Christians on social media justifying the performance and you can be sure Satan is clapping.

The culture and our government are trying to commercialize, sexualize, and normalize Satan.

The Battle Belongs to the Lord, but We’re His Mighty Warriors!

I read something recently that made me ponder and put the world’s happenings into perspective. The author was saying the moral demise in our government and the world must happen according to prophesy before Jesus’s return. Many refer to what we’re experiencing as birth pangs that we can’t actually stop because they will usher in the rapture of God’s people. But we aren’t to sit by silently and wait either. Instead, we work diligently and urgently to share the Gospel so more unbelievers will be saved before Jesus returns.

8 He [Jesus] replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’[a] and saying, ‘The time has come!’ But don’t believe them. 9 And when you hear of wars and insurrections, don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place first, but the end won’t follow immediately.” 10 Then he added, “Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and there will be famines and plagues in many lands, and there will be terrifying things and great miraculous signs from heaven.

12 “But before all this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and governors because you are my followers. Luke 21: 8-12 NLT

We’re watching this Scripture passage come to fruition today.

Covid was certainly a worldwide plague. While we haven’t experienced famine in America, we’ve seen food shortages and empty shelves, even of essentials like baby formula.

NEWSMAX, one of the few Conservative media stations, was dropped by Direct TV and AT&T, cutting transmission to eleven million homes. While the secular CBS network tweeted before the devil’s Grammy presentation, “Let us worship.”

The devastating Turkey-Syria earthquake occurred the day after the Grammys, February 6th!

Thursday, February 9th, an FBI whistleblower leaked a memo that the FBI is targeting Catholics as criminals. Here’s a quote from the former FBI agent who unveiled this information on Tucker Carlson.

An internal document from the bureau’s Richmond, Virginia, field office allegedly vowed to spy on “radical traditionalist Catholics and their ideology.” “They have found a gateway in what they think is fringe Catholicism in order to move into Christians in general and declare them to be the actual criminals in this country or the potential terrorists,” federal whistleblower and former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin said. 

Seraphin continued that the whistleblower who brought the information to him is not a Catholic, but knew it was problematic. “He or she stated the very simple statement, which is that if they’re going to go after radical, traditional Catholics, then radical traditional Baptists are next and radical, traditional evangelicalism and anybody else that espouses essentially what is radical, which is just a Christian faith and that is dangerous apparently in this country.”

Fortunately, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and 19 GOP state attorneys general are demanding answers from the FBI and Justice Department and threatening legal action after this leaked internal FBI memo revealed that the agency had efforts underway to identify and treat Catholics as “potential terrorists.”  Miyares and his colleagues, told the FBI and DOJ to “desist from investigating and surveilling Americans who have done nothing more than exercise their natural and constitutional right to practice their religion in a manner of their choosing” and asked that they “reveal to the American public the extent to which they have engaged in such activities.”

“Anti-Catholic bigotry appears to be festering in the FBI, and the Bureau is treating Catholics as potential terrorists because of their beliefs,” the AGs wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. “The targeting of Catholics for treatment as ‘violent extremists’ because of the language in which they pray or because of the beliefs to which they subscribe is unacceptable, unconstitutional, and deeply un-American,” they said.

So we’re watching Luke 21:12 lived out in an attempt to persecute the church.

Do you find it odd that the FBI would go after Catholics when the President and Pelosi claim to be “faithful Catholics”? I’m going to speculate that you won’t hear Biden speak out against this FBI travesty against the Catholic Church, as he rightly should.

Biden has touted his Catholic faith for most of his political life and opposed abortion until the Democrat party decided to support it. Now with this overreach and politicization of the FBI, he and Pelosi could justify supporting abortion by claiming they’re not “traditional radical Catholics,” which have criticized both of them! Now, they can justify selectively choosing the parts of their faith they politically agree with and attacking the rest. Sick. Twisted. Demented.

I also believe the FBI started with the Catholic Church because they are the largest denomination, with few exceptions, to devoutly remain opposed to the travesty of abortion and same-sex marriage. Sadly, that can’t be said about all Protestant Christian denominations. Some are either silent, as when Roe v Wade was overturned, or refuse to universally unite against murdering babies or unequivocally profess the sanctity of marriage as solely between a man and a woman. Too many churches and Christians are afraid to take a public stand against evil.

What does that say? Protestants aren’t as big a threat to the evil invading our culture as the Catholic Church? Unfortunate and unforgiveable. We need to be boldly firm about the Bible’s teaching or don’t call yourself a Christian church because you’ll be misrepresenting Jesus and His Word.

True Christians follow Jesus even when it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, and not popular . . . especially then! We’re not obnoxious, we’re bold. Sometimes all we need to do is ask questions to make our point.

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh silenced a Tennessee lawmaker this week with one simple question about transgender surgery for minors.

“Do you think a 16-year-old can meaningfully consent to having their body parts removed?” Walsh asked. “Do you? No?”

What followed was more than 10 seconds of silence. Hemmer never answered the question. Instead, he appeared to protest to committee chairman Cameron Sexton (R) that Walsh, a witness at the hearing, asked a question.

You can watch this encounter and more of Walsh’s defense of exposing Vanderbilt Hospital for promoting transgender surgery on minors at this link Matt Walsh sends Dem lawmaker into verbal paralysis with one simple question about gender surgeries on minors – TheBlaze

Revival before Rapture

I want to leave you with hope and encouragement that even though the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, a spiritual revival has been going on for days at Asbury University in Kentucky. Interestingly, it started last Wednesday, February 8!

To recap, the devil worshipping Grammy’s aired on Feb. 5. An earthquake in Turkey-Iraq on Feb 6th. A leaked FBI assault on the Catholic Church on Feb. 9th and in the middle of all that, the Holy Spirit poured out a revival on college students on Feb. 8, and as I write on Feb. 12, the Holy Spirit is still leading the revival!!

Here’s a quote from an article written by Clayton Bullion in Outreach Magazine about this amazing spontaneous youth revival that is now attracting all ages. I encourage you to read the entire article.

 “I got to the auditorium late last night and the stage and carpet were still damp from tears…”

“These were the words of a campus minister in Kentucky describing Hughes Auditorium at Asbury University the evening of February 8, 2023. Revival has come to Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. On February 8, 2023, during a routine Wednesday morning chapel, the Holy Spirit fell, resulting in continuous worship, praise, and confession over the past days.

On January 24, 2023, Dave and I heard Dutch Sheets share on Flashpoint and amazing vision he had while speaking in Boise, Idaho right after 911 of revival coming to the youth on college campuses. God’s timing is always so perfect. Even though that vision was over twenty years ago, Dutch felt led to share the vision shortly before the revival broke out at Asbury University. Let’s pray that Dutch’s vision of this college revival spreading across the nation is for such a time as this. I encourage you to listen at this link.

I’ve been saying that revival will happen in the next generation and God is fulfilling that word He gave me. I recently did a podcast interview with Meredith Schoeller where I tell my testimony of God calling me into the ministry of one generation teaching and training the next. Here’s the link if you would like to listen to it.

The following quote is referring to the revival at Cambridge with D.L. Moody in 1885: “The heart of the older generation turned towards the younger generation and the younger generation went on to change the world.”

May this be said of us in 2023 too! The survival of the church could depend on it.

Psalm 145:4 NLT “Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power.”

The opening picture is from the Asbury Revival with credit to the photographer Sarah Thomas Baldwin.

PS. See Pastor Greg Laurie’s movie Jesus Revolution opening in theaters February 24 for a limited time. It’s about the hippie Jesus movement of the 70’s when Pastor Greg was saved and Pastor Chuck Smith opened up Calvary Chapel to the movement of God. This film is so timely! I can’t wait to watch it.

PSS. I apologize for the length of this blog. I’m just making up for last week lol.

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February 13, 2023
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Will America Survive the Next Generation’s Choices?!

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Every Christian surrendering your life to Christ knows it’s a choice. A choice between continuing to live our old carnal life or a new godly life. God designed the world with options to choose Him or the world. Last Tuesday, November 8, Americans were given the same choice and it’s heartbreaking how many chose to let the current secular socialist Administration continue destroying America and obliterating righteousness in our country.

Many will say that analogy doesn’t work and Christians should stay out of politics. Well you cannot substantiate that myth in the Bible. God created politics man didn’t originate it. Politics is attacking Christianity and everything we hold dear like sanctity of life, marriage between a man and a woman, family, innocence of children, and God made only two genders. We’re in a spiritual and political war to overcome evil. When pastors and parents fail to take on the mantel of educating their flock or family in the contrast between wrong and right, evil and good, corruption and sanctification, Satan and God . . . our civil society crumbles as we’re watching happen today.

The world’s laws are sanctifying same sex marriage, murder of babies up until the day of birth, casual sex, arrest of Christians, closure of churches, mutilation of children, denying the freedom of speech, which morphs into not allowing us to profess the Bible. We’re experiencing the results of that decay in our once great America.

We could’ve changed much of that on Tuesday. If every evangelical Christian went to the polls and voted for the many candidates who were Bible-believing Christian conservatives, not even politicians, vowing to bring God and His ways back into our government, we wouldn’t see the angst, or maybe even apathy, we’re watching today.

We put our hope, support, and prayers into believing the conservative candidates, would win and clean up the corruption and evil we’ve watched coming out of this White House. Maybe they couldn’t stop it, but they could hinder it even though the current President said, ‘That’s what pens are for, veto.”

The media deceived us into believing there would be a “red wave” which never materialized. We should’ve known that anything the mainstream media says is a lie to mislead. They wanted us to believe something they knew would never happen because the wheels of corruption now run too deep in our voting system. The Democrats, just like the Communists, will do anything and everything to win and stay in control and the Republican leadership seems to be either in denial or in agreement with the corruption.

When 57% of women in Pennsylvania voted for a man who can barely talk and cannot communicate without a stenographer and wide screen, is further left than Bernie Sanders, and wants to let hardcore criminals out of jail, kill babies up until the moment of birth, and stop all fracking, the heart of Pennsylvania workers, something went wrong. Not only that, the state voted in a Democrat who died a month ago and was still on the ballot. They elected a dead person! That tells you voters didn’t do their homework or research, they believed the left’s lies and voted to keep their state poor, crime infested, and corrupt.

Sadly, the main point that drove many independents and even some Republicans to vote Democrat in spite of the dismal approval ratings and destruction of America by Biden was to vote against any candidate with a firm position on eliminating abortion. Killing babies was democracy to those voting Democrat.

We won at eliminating Roe v Wade as a federal victory, but five states had abortion protection on the ballot, and it passed in all five states, Michigan, Kentucky, Vermont, Montana and California. In California, they will codify abortion up until the day of birth and pay with taxpayers’ money for all expenses of travel, hotel, and “surgery,” aka murder. Montana rejected efforts for medical care for a baby born alive after an attempted abortion. Infanticide!

Even as I write this, tears fill my eyes, which they have often this week. Killing babies was the most important issue for those voters! Pastor Che Ahn, the pastor in California that took Newsom to court over the right to keep his church open during Covid and won, said that California now has a curse on it because God hates the spilling of innocent blood.

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:
17         haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
18         a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19         a false witness who pours out lies
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. Pr. 6:16-19

Hal Lindsey points out in his blog this week that “One of the problems with idolatry is that it does not sit still. It grows. Satan always wants more. Eventually, he even demands the children. Deuteronomy 12:31 explains where idol worship leads: You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

Those ancient idol-worshipers burned their own babies alive! In this enlightened 21st century, we would never do anything like that, right? Wrong. We kill children by burning and dismembering them only we do it while babies are still in the womb.

Lindsey brings up the point I have often said, abortion isn’t a legal argument, it’s moral!

As Dave and I listened to the candidates who promised during their campaign to go against the corrupt establishment and elite swamp “idol-worshipers,” we cheered them on, but in my heart, I knew they were putting a target on their back. Sure enough, McConnell removed all support from any candidate, even in key states like AZ, NV, and PA, who said they wouldn’t vote for his reelection in the Senate. McConnell in the Senate and McCarthy in the House brought this election down to the wire, nail-biting maybe a red ripple. They let down their party and their country. I’ve always been suspicious of McConnell, but sorely disappointed in McCarthy who aspires to be the next Speaker of the House.

There’s Another Dynamic Not Being Addressed

Robert Spencer wrote an article There WOULD Have Been a Red Wave, But….. | Frontpage Mag. But for who? The group we let fall out of most churches. When kids age out of Children’s Ministry, some churches have Middle School and High School ministries, but then the church turns them out into the world without mentors or Christian peer groups and the leftist culture gobbles them up with devilish joy. Charlie Kirk, a young man who saw this debacle and started Turning Point USA is one of the few caring about the college age young adults. But he’s one man and one ministry and the conservative Christians who should biblically care for this age group for the most part throw them to the wolves.

In Robert Spencer’s article he quoted, “John Della Volpe, a hard-Left pollster and author of a deathless tome entitled FIGHT: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear & Passion to Save America, is claiming that his favorite age group saved the midterm elections for those who love skyrocketing inflation, open borders, rising crime, international ridicule and brinksmanship, and accelerating authoritarianism. In a tweet, he [Volpe] wrote: “One thing I know already. If not for voters under 30 … tonight WOULD have been a Red Wave. CNN National House Exit Polls
 R+ 13 65+

R+ 11 45-64

D +2 30-44

D +28 18-29

#GenZ did their job.” He added, “& young #millennials :)”

Robert Spencer responded: “If Della Volpe’s numbers are correct, and 64% of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 really voted for Democrats, then one thing is clear: the corruption and politicization of our educational system has worked.”

“What he [Volpe] is crowing about is the apparent fact that the voting group with the least life experience and the most recent subjection to the Leftist indoctrination that dominates America’s educational system ended up voting as it was brainwashed to do. Gee, that’s terrific, if you like evidence of the success of the relentless propagandizing of a vulnerable and impressionable captive audience, but neither John Della Volpe nor anyone else should be proud of it.

What it shows is not that the Leftist case is compelling or persuasive; it shows that patriotic Americans have been far too complacent in allowing public schools to become centers of Leftist indoctrination and hatred of our own nation and heritage.”

“Many, if not most, of the Gen Z-ers who voted overwhelmingly for the Left will, as they get older, come to realize how foolish and wrongheaded they were to support socialist internationalism and the managed decline of the United States. But others will never wake up and will applaud that decline as retribution for centuries of alleged racism and colonialism. Even as their own cities and towns become ever more squalid, poor, dirty, and dangerous, they will continue to think of themselves as righteous for having chosen all that. That pride will be all they have left.”

Pastor Ahn, who I mentioned earlier, said this is exactly why they homeschooled all of their children and I think he said two have become pastors. Ahn’s own father was imprisoned during the Communist takeover in China and by God’s grace was able to escape. Ahn said that’s the only reason he himself is alive so he knows what can happen to a country headed for demise like America and his own state California is right now.

On a positive note, I just read that the youngest Republican woman ever elected to serve in the State House flipped a blue House seat in Texas. 28-year-old Caroline Harris primarily ran a campaign focused on property taxes, border security, the pro-life movement, and parental rights in education. Her opponent, Echegaray, ran on immigration reform, gun control, the pro-choice movement, and improving infrastructure.

Harris was supported by a group called Run Gen Z whose mission is “Empowering and mentoring conservative trailblazers from Generation Z to pursue election to public office and win, leading state and local chambers and councils toward a more constitutionally-focused government.”

My Reaction

Mario Murillo wrote in a blog, “Christianity will survive without America, but America will not survive without Christianity. “The gloves are off and all pretenses of ‘the greater good’ are gone. This, to them, is a street fight. They [the left] want all morality removed and all pleasure legalized. They want to forcefully take what belongs to those who worked hard and squander it. Their boasts are predicted in the Bible.”

“Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth” (Psalm 73: 7-9).

I’ve been saddened personally and cried a lot for the Christian conservative candidates who were willing to stand up for God, family, and patriotism who lost and I pray the few that did win will bring righteous values to Congress.

My heart breaks and my spirit cries out for the babies being killed even as I sit here writing in my red state of Idaho. As you read this blog wherever you are, think right now a baby is being dismembered, poisoned, or having his or her neck broken! I hope you stop and cry a moment with me.

I’m reminded of the story of Joseph who eventually could say that God meant all his pain, agony, fear, and unjust treatment for good, yet it was still painful, agonizing, fearful, unjust, and his own family turned on him. His father Jacob suffered with grief for years at the seemingly loss of his precious son and then to find out it was his other sons who inflicted the horrendous years of distress on their family.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. Gen. 50:20

There is no guarantee that God is not going to let America go through the same painful, agonizing, fearful, unjust consequences of people destroying our beloved America before He brings out the good. There’s still a glimmer of hope as I write on Sunday, that we will not continue to be traumatized by the left and there will be enough people with integrity in government federal and local to keep our beloved country adrift.

Our friend Norm who studies Bible prophecy wrote: The enemy that we are up against is so big and so pervasive that it will take a lot to bring them down. I believe that the first step is to help people see the beast. This is not just a physical war, but a spiritual war as well. Unfortunately, many people will remain under a delusion, because they refuse to love, or believe the ‘Truth’. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 & John 14:6) If people have not awakened as a result of Tuesday’s activities, then they probably won’t awaken. In my humble opinion, I believe that what we are seeing is God’s way of awakening His church. (See Rev 3:2,3 & Matt. 25:1-13)

Always I Want to Leave You With Hope

Our hope doesn’t come from the government, our hope comes from God, and if you know Jesus as your Savior, you know you will one day leave this world to spend eternity with Him. But I know you have people in your life who do not have that hope of salvation.

The government will always fail us. We know from the hard times in the Books of Judges and 1 Kings and 2 Kings, God’s people suffered greatly under evil judges and kings, but often because the people would not take a stand for their God. They didn’t get to vote for the next judge or even the kings; they were at the mercy of the lineal hierarchy. God chose David, who was fallible and struggled with hardship throughout the Book of Psalms. God tried to warn the people through the prophets of their eminent demise if they continued to worship other gods and idols.

There was silence from God for 400 years, then Jesus. Life wasn’t easy for Jesus and His followers or the churches Paul founded and counseled either, but they all knew this world was not their home, and those who didn’t choose Jesus chose Satan to follow.

So we’re back to where I started: life is full of choices. Your political party choice may affect your life here on earth, but your eternal choice and who you take with you to heaven is the only choice that really counts.

If you have a young person in your life, your church, your neighborhood love on them, mentor them, give them reason to want to make the choice you made to choose Jesus because there is no doubt the Lord is on His way back soon for His people. Don’t let anyone you love be left behind.

When believers get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory!

 No politics, only Jesus.

For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 1 Peter 15-16

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November 14, 2022
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Are We Going to Surrender to Christ or the Culture?

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If you watched Tucker Carlson’s interview last week with Kanye West, you heard a man who has become a Christian yet is still struggling with the lures of fame and fortune. Professing to be a believer in the liberal world of his music and fashion businesses is courageous but the atheists consider him “crazy” and a threat. He’s viciously pelted with criticism, lost his family, and is a target for the political left who find it offensive that a black man would wear a tee shirt proclaiming, “White Lives Matter.” The left will try to cancel and censor anyone who says, “All Lives Matter,” which they do to God and should to everyone. Both slogans are an affront to the BLM scam and how dare a black man be bold enough to point that out.

I’m not a fan of West or rapper music, but I do see a brother-in-Christ struggling to live in two worlds. The Bible tells us we must live logistically in the world, but we’re not to succumb to the world’s ways spiritually, ethically, or morally. (John 15:18-19; 17:14-15)

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” Matt. 6:24 NLT

Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money! Ps. 119:36 NLT

I especially appreciated Jason Whitlock’s commentary right after Tucker’s interview. Whitlock is a born-again Jesus follower and always laces his comments on any topic from a Christian perspective. The next day, he wrote in his column in The Blaze, Kanye West remains dangerous, disgusting, and harmful to demonic leftists. “Kanye West is not as confusing as he often sounds. His outlook on life stems from a defined set of values spelled out in the Bible. His actions and words often conflict with his outlook . . . He produces an album titled “Jesus Is King” and then collaborates with Lil Nas X on the song and video “Industry Baby,” which depicts gay prison sex.”

“He’s normal. Every human being struggles to align their values and deeds. The difference between West and most human beings is the transparency of his failures . . . We’re in a battle of good vs. evil. Kanye is one of the good guys. He’s trying to be on the right side of God rather than the history left-wing atheists plan to write.”

It’s Not Easy Letting ‘Jesus Take the Wheel’ In Our Lives!

In the Tucker Carlson interview, West said he performs for an audience of One, God. I truly believe that is his sincere desire and goal, but like all of us, he often falls short by trying to remain relevant rather than reverent.

The popular adage, ‘Jesus take the wheel,’ originated with a song written by Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson recorded by Carrie Underwood. The ballad tells of a mother deep in thought about her difficult year while driving too fast on a snowy Christmas Eve when the car spins out on black ice. Unable to control the car, she throws her hands in the air and cries out for Jesus to take the wheel and help her and her baby in the backseat. When the car finally rests on the side of the rode, she ultimately realizes she needs to restore her faith and let Jesus take control of all her life.

The song Jesus Take the Wheel resonated with many who have tried to live their life on their own terms, often with devastating results. Maybe they had never given their heart to Jesus, or at one time knew the comfort of surrendering to Jesus then snatched back control to navigate life themselves. Traveling through life on our own terms will always end in a crash either emotionally, physically, or mentally, but always spiritually.

The true Christian life is one of constant submission of our ways to the Lord’s ways. It’s often a tug-of-war between letting Jesus take the wheel and wrestling it away from Him thinking we know better than He does what’s best for us. We know there can only be one person in the driver’s seat, but we’re not always willing to let that person be Jesus. We’re often backseat drivers trying to argue with Jesus or we push Him completely out of our life and take over the wheel on our terms.

The struggle for my husband during his two knee replacement surgery recoveries was letting me drive without repeatedly giving his opinion and directions from the passenger seat. We had many discussions that he had to relax and just let me drive. I was the only one who could safely get us to our destination. I needed his confidence, encouragement, and prayers. He literally had to surrender the wheel and trust me with his life.

 It’s just as hard for us to trust Jesus to safely get us to our destinations in life, as Kanye West and many others find when they’re not quite ready to surrender every area of life to Christ. Yet, that’s the only true place of peace and security in this world, regardless of what the world tells you.

How Do We Surrender to Christ in a Culture That Calls Us the Enemy?

Just like my husband continually struggled with giving up control to me every time we got in the car, giving up control to Jesus is a lifetime daily struggle. It doesn’t come easy and it’s not instant the moment we become Christians. Being a Christian and living by biblical principles is a continuous evolving process as our faith matures and we learn to trust that God wants the best for us, even when we can’t visibly see or even sense it and the culture is working against us.

Jesus knew our humanness would make it difficult to surrender our lives completely to Him when we couldn’t see Him visibly and faced opposition, so He made sure we had ways to communicate with Him in our Spirit.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Heb. 11:1 NLT

  • Establishing a Daily Prayer Life is Essential

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jer. 29:11-13 [emphasis added]

Jeremiah 29:11-13 outlines exactly how to know what God’s plans are for us so we can trust that He’s looking out for our best interests when He’s at the wheel navigating us through a world that doesn’t want or understand Him as Savior or us as His followers. God says call on me, come and pray to me then you’ll find me. But He also adds that we must be sincerely searching for Him with all our heart, not holding anything back, even fortune, fame, and success as West is still learning.

A daily time with Jesus is essential to Christian life. That means setting everything aside like phones, computers, TV, and noise. Even getting away from people to a quiet place where you can commune with Jesus with no distractions so you can hear His answers to your prayers. I create a special Jesus spot in our home. I’m distracted easily, so I have my quiet time out on our deck in nice weather or in the winter, my prayer closet is the loft outside my office. I also love to talk with the Lord on a morning walk or even in the shower!

Maybe for you it means getting up earlier than the family or before you get ready for the day. Establish a place and time where you can be alone with your Lord and prayerfully ask Him questions and be still to listen while He answers.

  • Studying the Bible

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

Jesus speaks to us through His Word, the Bible. It’s impossible to be a faithful Christian and not read your Bible. If we clocked the hours we spend browsing social media or the internet, we would probably be astounded and alarmed at how much time we devote to taking in the world’s words instead of the Lord’s Words.

Do we want the world or Jesus to take the wheel? We would probably say we want Jesus, but does our life reflect that answer? It will if we soak in His wisdom and guidance by reading His Love Letter and following His Road Map every day.

  • Mentoring

 You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. 2 Tim. 2:2 NLT

Sometimes we’re sidelined in our spiritual life by thinking we don’t need anyone else. We can handle everything life throws at us by ourselves. But we’re made for community. God said in the first Book in the Bible that it’s not good for man to be alone. (Gen. 2:18)

When we need help with our car or around the house, we seek expert advice or at least we should. We need to do the same with our spiritual life. We can’t go it alone and expect to grow and mature spiritually. We need to talk with others who have gone before us in the faith and have experienced life. A mentor with wisdom and spiritual maturity can guide and direct us and someday we can be a mentor to others.

Every Christian is in a continual process of learning and growing in the knowledge of Christ. But until that day we meet Him face-to-face, we who are further along in our walk with the Lord or have navigated a curvy and bumpy road through a life season, must be willing to intentionally share with others what we do know and what the Lord has done in our lives when we let Him take the wheel.

I sign my book Mentoring for All Seasons with ‘Be a mentor, find a mentor.’

Let Go and Let God!

We hear this saying often in sermons and read in blogs and articles and it seems so easy in theory, but we all know how difficult it is when life happens. We want to do something, anything, to feel like we’re making a difference. Do what we want to do. Yet, we stand in church on Sunday morning singing, “Jesus, I surrender all!”

It’s exhausting trying to always be in control. Jesus wants us to rest in the assurance that He has everything under control. God is our hope and promise. He is concerned about our daily needs, as well as our problems and the condition of our culture today. He sees the big picture and the road ahead and knows what’s best for us in our daily lives, but also how we can contribute to changing our culture. We need to rest in Him, obey Him, and seek His will daily. We need to give up our tight grip and let Jesus take the wheel.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matt. 11:28

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Phil. 3:20-21

In closing, I want to share with you three encouraging stories that show we the people can make a difference when we take a stand and pushback against the evil so prevalent in our culture today. They all have hyperlinks. I hope you’ll read the full articles.

Story #1 A state refuses to abide by evil federal mandates, even under the threat of losing federal funding. Attorney General of Alabama, Steve Marshall writes, Biden administration demands Alabama embrace genderless schools or else, but we aren’t giving in. Alabama’s federal funding could be stripped away by Biden administration over trans bathroom demands. I encourage you to read and pray for their success in this legal battle between good and evil for the protection of our children.

Here’s a quote. “Undeterred by repeated losses, the Biden administration’s war on red states and our “Neanderthal thinking” rages on. This month, my colleagues and I are fighting Biden and his comrades at the United States Department of Agriculture in court to protect the right of states to run their public schools as they see fit. This time, the fight isn’t over curriculum or masking — it’s whether states still possess the paltry authority to require boys to use the boys’ bathroom at school. The United States Constitution leaves no doubt as to the states’ broad authority over their own public schools, but the Biden administration supposes that everything — even schoolchildren — has a price. 

The Biden administration’s actions seeking to impose the left’s gender identity agenda on schoolchildren are illegal and unconstitutional. But even if they were not, and federal funding was at risk, the duty of state leaders is not to dollars. We are meant to serve the interests of the people of our states — and the people of Alabama have clearly spoken, through their elected representatives, that they do not wish for sexual politics to be thrust on their children by the far-left in Washington. While I hope to preserve every penny of federal funding being threatened by this administration, Alabama’s sovereignty is not for sale.“

Story #2 Parents and communities take a stand for a Christian biology teacher who refused to succumb to evil mandates, even at the threat of losing his job!

Pennsylvania biology teacher suspended for refusing to follow pronoun policy, reinstated after backlash. Last month, Virginia parents and teachers sued their school district over its mandatory pronoun policy. Pennsylvania teacher Daren Cusato of the South Side Area School District was suspended last week after he reportedly told school officials that he would not follow a new district mandate requiring teachers address students by their preferred pronouns, because it violated his religious beliefs. A Pittsburgh-area school district reversed course after receiving backlash from the community and students for suspending the high school biology and anatomy teacher who refused to comply with the school’s preferred pronoun policy. 

Story #3 BREAKING: Oklahoma Gov. Just Signed Bill And It’s BLOWING UP

Governor Kevin Stitt signed SB 3XX which blocks funding to prevent gender transition services for minors at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital at OU Health. The bill went into effect immediately upon the governor’s signature.

Pray for the boldness and courage of more Governors to protect the children of their state from this child abuse and mutilation.

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I apologize last week’s blog had a glitch getting to everyone on Monday. I had to resend it on Tuesday and some may have received it twice! Praying everything works this week correctly. There will NOT be a blog Monday October 17, but I’ll be back God willing October 24.

October 9, 2022
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What Can the Church Learn from Rush Limbaugh?

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Last week, America lost an iconic grass-roots, conservative, bold, and brave patriotic voice. As I listened to the glowing tributes for Rush Limbaugh, I learned many things about him I didn’t know, even though he and I were in the same generation. Hubby and I play Christian music in the car, and I need quiet to write, so I don’t listen to talk radio. I wasn’t a Rush follower, but I wish now that I had been.

I didn’t realize that he helped save AM radio with his widely successful talk-radio program that reached 20 million weekday listeners for over thirty years! People listened for three hours a day to Rush in their cars, work place, and homes.

His open and popular discussion of conservatism helped launch the concept of conservative TV news programs, which like Rush provided conservatives a recourse as mainstream media became increasingly liberal and partisan left leaning.

Rush was definitely controversial and sometimes brash and sarcastic and said some things he later needed to apologize for, but haven’t we all. In his later years, especially after his cancer diagnosis, he spoke more openly about his faith, attributed his gifts and talents to a “loan from God,” and thanked God for the blessings in his life: “God is a profound factor; Jesus Christ a profound factor. I have a personal relationship. I’ve not talked about it much publicly because I don’t proselytize these things,” he said.

Best-selling author and Evangelical leader Joel C. Rosenberg worked for Rush at one time and knew him personally. Rosenberg wrote a heartfelt tribute, “Rush Limbaugh gave his life to Jesus Christ a few years ago and it gave him tremendous hope as he faced his toughest fight.”

I haven’t read or listened to any of the vicious liberal attacks on Rush, but you know they’re always going to throw out “racist,” so I appreciated this article, “Bo Snerdley recalls Rush Limbaugh as a ‘second-generation Founding Father’ who ‘returned his talent to God.’” Bo’s real name is James Golden. He was the long-time friend and producer for the Rush Limbaugh Show, and just happens to be black. Bo said on the Hannity show, which I heard, “It burns me to my soul when people sully his reputation with falsehoods, calling him a racist. This man was just an incredible phenomenon — and we love you, Rush.”

“Rush Babies”

Whether or not you agreed with Rush Limbaugh or even liked him, as I listened to the tributes I noticed how Rush spoke to the generations like we strive so hard to do in the church. Limbaugh referred to his younger followers as “Rush Babies.” I was curious how he managed to bridge across the generations.

Several years ago, I noticed my daughter was becoming increasingly conservative in her opinions and conversation and to my surprise, she often quoted Rush Limbaugh. Kim has a Sign Making and Sign Party business and she spends a great deal of time working in her “She Shop.” While cutting wood, painting, and stenciling, she listens to talk radio programs and Rush was a daily favorite, especially this past year.

With Covid and the election, she wanted to keep informed and she found Rush a “very caring voice who loves the country and talked through the questions of the day.” When she listened to Rush on the radio in the car, her sixteen-year-old son asked, “Who is this? I like him and the way he talks.” Her fifteen-year-old daughter listened too.

And that’s how millions of “Rush Babies” came about! Parents played Rush’s radio program in the house or in the car while taking the kids to soccer practice, vacations, running errands, road trips. Thirty-four-year old Benny Johnson said on his NEWSMAX show The Benny Report that he was a Rush Baby as he interviewed his parents, avid Rush fans. Benny concluded, “Rush raised my generation. Maybe you were one he raised too!”

Thirty-seven-year old Rob Schmitt recalled on his NEWSMAX program, “As a kid, I remember riding around in the car listening to Rush with my dad. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I liked his voice and listening to him.”

Schmitt had country music star John Rich (47) as a guest who talked about also riding in the car with his dad and asked what a bumper sticker “Rush is Right” meant. Rich’s dad replied, “A lot of stuff he says is right on the money.”

The headline that really got my attention was from thirty-two year old Kayleigh McEnany: Rush Limbaugh inspired a generation of young conservatives! It was an article by President Trump’s former White House Press Secretary. Here are a few quotes:

“My journey to becoming White House press secretary began in a pickup truck, alongside my Dad, who played Rush Limbaugh religiously. Though I was in elementary school, there was something magnetic, alluring and just so passionate about the conservative radio host who had such conviction and assuredness. 

My rides in my dad’s trucks through Plant City, Fla., later turned into drives in my own car to my all-girls Catholic high school. My friends knew if they chose to ride with me, they would be listening to “Maha Rushie,” as he affectionately dubbed himself. 

Rush was a giant in the conservative movement for a reason: he exhibited unrelenting boldness for the truth. He never backed down. You knew where he stood. And he was never, ever afraid to speak truth to power and challenge the mainstream media. 

Rush had a word for people like me: a “Rush Baby.” 

You see, Rush inspired tens of thousands of young men and women all across the conservative movement. Though Rush has departed this life for the next, he leaves behind a generation that will catapult forward the movement he created.” 

Kayleigh’s dad said Rush was the best friend he never met.

Rush was a mentor to all ages of listeners he might never meet. But some he did meet like Charlie Kirk the founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization that educates students about the importance of conservative values: fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government. Charlie started listening to Rush in high school and was introduced to him several years ago. Rush took the time to befriend and mentor young Charlie (now 28) and spoke several times at Turning Point conferences. Charlie says of Rush, “He was a great mentor focused on building up the next generation of conservatives.”

I began to see a theme: Rush influenced conservative values and ideals to his generation who passed that down to their children who undoubtedly will pass it on to their children, and like my daughter, he was still reaching new audiences! Isn’t that what we want to do in the Church with Christianity?!

What Can the Church Learn from Rush?

1. Like Rush, The Church Should Never Back Down to Cultural Pressure or Ignore the Issues of the Day!

Too many churches today are more concerned with being culturally correct or canceled than with sharing the unabashed Truth of God’s Word to the culture. They’re letting Christ be canceled!

2021 years ago, the culture tried to silence and cancel Jesus, but we know how that turned out. Jesus arose from the grave so that He could live within the heart of every man and woman who believed in Him at any age.

Yes, the culture has been trying to cancel Jesus since before the Cross, but His influence only grows wider and stronger. Jesus passed the torch to His 12 disciples and that torch of truth will continue to pass on until His return as long as believers like you and me continue to carry His torch of light and Truth.

In the Woman to Woman Mentor Handbook, I challenge mentors: What if you mentored 12 women in your lifetime just as Jesus mentored 12 men? Then those 12 women mentor 12 more women. That would be 144 women in mentoring relationships If you take that out five more levels, do you have any idea what the number of women in mentoring relationships would be just from you starting it out? 2,985,984! You have no idea how many other lives will be touched besides those of you and your mentee.

The Church is about saving lives, not saving face.

2. Like Rush, The Church Should not become a Relic but Remain Relevant!

The Bible is timeless and doesn’t change with the changing world; it brings peace, hope, and calm in the midst of the change. Its purpose is to be the consistent guide for people’s lives. Believers can count on it. A pastor’s message should help people respond to the challenges they’re facing by familiarizing them with the Book and the One with all the answers.

Sermons are not motivational speeches based on the latest trend; they’re motivational Truths to live a life ready for the Lord’s return at any moment. Urgent. Bold. Real. Challenging.

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 1 Thess. 5:1-2

3. The Church Could Learn How and Why Rush Reached the Generations!

Someone is always watching how the church responds to the times. Children are watching their parents. The next generation wants to see us live out what we say we believe without reservation. They don’t want us to waver. They need us to share the Truth with passion, caring, and love for Jesus and love for them.

A 70 year-old man still could capture and influence the audience of younger generations. He created a bond of trust. He was still relevant. He had no biological children, but he passed on a legacy to generations of patriots to pick up the torch and carry on.

I sign every Woman to Woman Training Leader’s Guide, “Teach what you’ve been taught.” So those they teach will go on and teach what you taught them. “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” Heb. 13:7

Like Rush had “Rush Babies,” we want to have Jesus Babies. Followers of Jesus long after we’re gone who go on to share Jesus with others because we shared Jesus with them.

Our charge is to pass on the Torch of Truth of Jesus Christ to all generations! How focused is your church on reaching all generations?

Parents, teachers, mentors, the church, or anyone with a platform, must boldly, bravely, and with conviction speak up and stand up for living a life pleasing to Jesus and explaining what that means today. Never back down but always defend good vs evil, right vs wrong, moral vs immoral, even when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient or unpopular.

Live your faith. Share your faith.

If your listeners choose to ignore you, that’s their fault. If you never tell them, that’s your fault!

15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way.[a] Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. 1 Peter 3:15-16 NLT

Picture used by permission Legal Insurrection at https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/02/branco-cartoon-on-loan-from-god/

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February 22, 2021
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Why Watching Church Online is NOT a Substitute for Attending in Person

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“15 Days to Slow the Spread” seemed doable when the Coronavirus Task Force first asked everyone to shelter-at-home. Churches complied by shutting their doors to protect their parishioners. Those who already had online services expanded access and those like ours who didn’t already video messages started videoing.

Then 15 days morphed into 30 days, which segued into 45 days and churches are still told today that they’re not essential and mandated to stay closed or open with tyrannical restrictions.

A number of pastors across the United States are rightfully questioning this discrimination against the church when liquor stores and casinos are considered essential. So they’ve begun finding creative ways for their churches to meet, even under penalty of fines and threats of imprisonment. Hard to imagine that would happen in America!

Other churches remain closed today. One mega church announced they plan on staying closed until 2021?!

The purpose of this blog is not to discuss why churches need to open NOW because I’ve covered that extensively in previous blogs. I’ll list a couple at the end of this article.

But I do want to talk about why it’s important for believers to not become accustomed to sitting at home in their recliners in pj’s with a cup of coffee watching a sermon online and calling it church.

Why We Go To Church

One winter Sunday morning, hubby was sick! If our steep driveway wasn’t covered in ice, that wouldn’t be a big deal. I’d hop in the car and head off to church by myself. But I hadn’t driven our new car in snow and ice and didn’t want my first off-roading attempt to be without him.

I could stay home and watch church online or on television. I’d done that for more Sundays than I’d care to remember when a concussion, kidney surgery, three eye surgeries, and a broken wrist had kept me home. I was desperate to go to church.

Whew, friends with a jeep rescued me that Sunday.

Why was it so important to go to church? While homebound, I’d watched a number of excellent church services online and on TV . . . but it’s not the same as worshipping together with my church family.

When our Governor in Idaho announced that churches could open in COVID Phase One of reopening Idaho, our church literally opened the doors May 1 with all the recommended precautions.

As I walked through the church doors that first Sunday, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. I immediately realized what had been missing watching services at home.

People were missing. My brothers and sisters in Christ were missing.

Singing, worshipping, and praying together were missing.

Seeing each other’s smiles and yes, sometimes, tears were missing.

Church is not just the sermon. Church is the gathering together of God’s people!

Yes, believers have our personal relationship with Jesus which we experience wherever we are, but we don’t experience the Christian life alone. That’s why God said it’s not good to be alone and there are so many Scriptures reminding us to encourage and support each other.

Online church absolutely is a tremendous benefit for people who can’t attend church because of physical or transportation issues, out of town, working, or need to stay home with a sick child or family member. It’s a wonderful tool in an emergency like Covid was in the beginning or for anyone who is high-risk.

Online church also is an outreach opportunity for those who are hesitant to walk into a church.

But for those with no restrictive issues, here are five reasons I feel God wants us to worship together in His house and follow the example of the first church.

“On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place” (Acts 2:1).

5 Reasons to Meet in Church Together

1. Fellowship and Relationships

“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals . . . with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42, 46-47)

The early church, a template for today’s church, understood that the meeting together of believers creates community. We need each other to uplift our spirit when we’re sad and rejoice together when we’re glad.

You can find good teaching and truth online, but you need to be in church to experience the fellowship of fellow believers and develop relationships within the church body.

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” (1 Thess. 5:11)

2. Celebrating Communion, Worshipping, and Praying Together

“All the believers devoted themselves to . . . sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. They worshiped together at the Temple each day . . . all the while praising God . . . . (Acts 2:42, 46-47)

You share communion, the Lord’s Supper, together in church. Our church also has a time of Prayer, Praise, and Share every Sunday where the congregation can ask for prayer and share praises.

Many churches list in the bulletin or announce those in need of prayer so the church can pray for each other and celebrate praises together. “But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him” (Acts 12:15).

God instructed the congregation to sing in church because it is a unifying expression of worship. What a joy to worship and sing praise songs to the Lord in unison.

“Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts” (Col. 3:16).

“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” (Psalm 100:1-4)

3. We Are the Family of God

And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. (Acts 2:44-45)

Watching church is like being an observer instead of a participant.

We need each other. We are one body, the Bride of Christ.

The church needs us to serve. Church isn’t taking in selfishly; it’s giving out selflessly. We don’t attend church solely for our own benefit. We’re also there to serve the body of Christ, our spiritual family. Christ wants us to care more about others than our own convenience or inconvenience.

We are to use the spiritual gifts and talents the Lord has given us to benefit the church. (1 Cor. 12:12-22).

“Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body” (Col. 1:18).

“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (1 Cor. 12:27).

4. Accountability and Mentoring

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.” Colossians 3:16

There’s always going to be a time when we can’t make it to church, but it should be the exception, not the rule. The tendency today is to isolate ourselves in front of electronics where we interact with a screen instead of each other. A clicker or mouse replaces friendly face-to-face interaction.

I’ve heard testimonies of people saved by watching a preacher on television or online, which is wonderful. But one of the surest ways to stay true to your faith as a believer is joining a church to spiritually grow and mature with other believers who encourage us and keep us accountable.

Church is more than listening to a sermon; it’s an experience and an exchange with other believers. It’s where you help others grow, partake in ministries, serve, give of your talents and spiritual gifts, mentor, and receive mentoring.

“2 Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.

3 Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers.[a] Instead, they should teach others what is good. 4 These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, 5 to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes,[b] to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.” (Titus 2:2-5)

5. Setting the Example for Children

Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. Psalm 145:4

It takes more effort to get dressed and drive to church than to flip on the computer or television screen. Your children and grandchildren are learning by your actions what takes priority in your life: God’s house or your house?

Teach by example that church is a privilege we should never take for granted and we should never let it be taken away from us. If we can go to Costco, shopping, Walmart, Home Depot, and even “peacefully protest” in the streets, we can go to church!

So yes, you can watch a service online anonymously and probably get something out of it, but what are you putting first in your life that seeks out convenience instead of commitment?

If your church hasn’t opened back up for services after COVID closure, I encourage you to remind your pastor that church is an essential part of every believer’s life and worth fighting for your 1st Amendment right to meet.

It wasn’t easy for the early church either and often the disciples and apostles were thrown into jail for gathering people together to share the Gospel, but we’re reminded of what Peter said when he met opposition from the authorities.

24 When the captain of the Temple guard and the leading priests heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would all end. 25 Then someone arrived with startling news: “The men you put in jail are standing in the Temple, teaching the people!”

26 The captain went with his Temple guards and arrested the apostles, but without violence, for they were afraid the people would stone them. 27 Then they brought the apostles before the high council, where the high priest confronted them. 28 “We gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man’s name!” he said. “Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”

29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. Acts 5:24-29 (I would encourage you to read the entire passage Acts 5:12-41)

Sadly, many governing officials act from an ungodly worldview. If the government contradicts God, we answer to God alone.

As a child, I remember in Sunday school intertwining our fingers on the outside of our hands, putting our forefingers together, and opening our hands, saying the jingle: Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the door, and where’s all the people? But intertwining fingers inside our hand and opening: Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the door and there’s all the people!

 “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25

*All Scriptures are from the New Living Translation, with emphasis added.

Note: A true story of what can happen when the church stays silent! From the Facebook of Worship Leader Sean Feucht

Pastor Joseph Bondarenko (the KGB’s most wanted) was jailed for 10 years, tortured & told every day his entire family would die because of their faith. He refused to deny Jesus. Many of his friends were martyred but God spared his life. His story of boldness has now circled the globe.

For the American Church he warns:

“Don’t they realize what is happening now in America is exactly what happened to us in communist Russia?? It started with ‘Don’t gather. Don’t sing. Spread apart. Listen to the government.’ Then it quickly turned into full on persecution and the church did not wake up in time.

I am here to beg you to call the church to WAKE UP, STAND FIRM, CONQUER!”

The Rant, a Rave, and a Primal Scream

How is Home Depot More “Essential” than God’s Home?!

If God is Pulling Back the Veil on Evil, How Should the Church Respond?

August 24, 2020
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