The following excerpt is well worth consideration in light of the issues at stake in the United States:
“Why is authoritarianism not resisted more vigorously in India? …The first reason has to do with the fact that populists-turned authoritarians do nothing illegal at the start, and they adopt an incremental modus operandi. As Levitsky and Ziblatt have shown, ‘This is how democracies now die…Since the end of the Cold War, most democratic breakdowns have been caused not by generals a...

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While the Trump campaign is announcing his re-election as the result of “the greatest political movement of all time,” the popular vote tells an unusual story that, if anything, undermines this narrative. I am not here to squeeze sour grapes into wine, rather I am deeply intrigued by how the recent election unfolded. In 2020 Trump lost the election after receiving 74.2 million votes. This year, he won the election with about 73 million votes. In 2020, a little over 155 million people vot...

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The presidency of Donald Trump divided my family the way it has many others.[1] The day before the 2020 election, when we were still able to have candid conversations about Trump, I mentioned what I would be thinking and what I would have wanted Trump to do (or, not to do) to conduct a successful campaign and win the presidency. For some reason, this came off as critical of Trump. Indeed, I was being critical in that it seemed Trump had made plain and obvious missteps which could (and did) l...

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An overwhelming 75% majority of Evangelical Christians supported Donald Trump’s 2020 bid for reelection. As high as that number is, it is actually down from 81% in 2016. That 6% decline may have been the difference in his loss to Joe Biden for the presidency. Be that as it may, the point is that many Christians are disappointed with the results of this year’s historic election. Combine this with the rampant misinformation on social media regarding alleged fraud and one is left with a powd...

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Today is certainly an historic one in our country. In two separate but similar rulings, ...
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Hey Christian, do you have Election Blues?

I know many do for Facebook testifies of it. I could hardly get to sleep last night because my wife's phone was blowing up with notifications of various posts! It was sad to see. I don't like to see people frustrated and upset any more than the next person. Then I thought, maybe we as Christians are holding this a little too close to the vest.

Take a spiritual walk with me; let’s re-group. Perhaps, I can encourage you in your Faith, if not your count...
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There was a time in this country when political affiliation had no correlation with Church attendance. (See “Welcome To Pergamos”) Those in the pew were diverse in their politics, and the church one attended was statistically insignificant as a measure of voting habits. But such is not the case today, as church attendance has become a major factor in predicting whether one will vote republican or conservative; so in this political climate I am indeed an enigma to some. I have loved ones w...
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     "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write,
'These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: ...I have a few things against you'.”
Revelation 2:12-14

Thomas Jefferson understood the value of a government which was limited from reaching into the religious realm, which is why he, in his own words, “refrained from prescribing even those occasional performances of devotion”, such as days of fasting or thanksgiving, though his presidential predecessors did this regularly....

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Today we remember one of the greatest tragedies in our country's history, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Our country has changed since that day. Our lives are different because of that day. From inconvenient security parameters to a constant state of high alert and even wars on two fronts. Many American families have mourned the loss of loved ones, whether from the initial horror of 9/11, or from the drawn out wars we have waged since. It seems we all know someone in the militar...
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“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:5-6

First there was the commotion about President Obama canceling the Na...

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In an interview on Monday with Sean Hannity on his daily Fox News Channel show, Sarah Palin was asked about her reaction to the recently passed House bill on health insurance reform. Their ten-minute exchange was a resounding right-wing rant decrying the supposed travesty of “Obama-care”; but I would like to key-in on a comment Palin made about a Pro-life Democrat, Rep. Bart Stupak, and the President’s compromise with him to gain his support for the bill.

Rep. Stupak and other Pro-l...

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Today my sons began their new school year to the resounding and encouraging voice of the President of the United Sates of America! Wow, how cool to have the President speak right to you as a kid! However, such was not the enthusiasm of many of the far, and lately ridiculous, Right. Some have said that President Obama means to indoctrinate our children; while others have feared that the President was using our kids to gain political advantage over his foes. People were protesting the President...
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The Apostle Peter lived to see a time when it became increasingly dangerous to profess one’s self a Christian. In his latter years, public opinion in the Roman empire shifted against Christians on a wide scale. Christians were held in contempt by the populace because of their convictions against the pervading pagan religion of Roman society. This caused many in that day to view Christians with suspicion and animosity; a sentiment that Emperor Nero used to his advantage in AD 64, when eleven...

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In Mark 8:15, Jesus warned His disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod!” The leaven of the Pharisees is directly described as religious hypocrisy, but what is the leaven of Herod? In the Gospels we read of a sect called the Herodians who joined forces with the Pharisees to destroy Jesus (Mark 3:6). They seem to have been a political party, named for its support of Herod’s dynasty which reined over Judea as Roman vassals. In speaking of leaven, no doubt ...

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Can you believe the audacity of our President to say that our country was founded not only upon Judeo-Christian principles, but also on the words of the Muslim Koran?! In his nationally televised speech, the President declared that “[American] character is... sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people.” As if unilaterally revising our country's history wasn't enough, he went on to identify the...

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