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Hillsdale Daily News
Pastor Everett Henes
September 3, 2022·4 min read

Many have a misunderstanding when it comes to Christianity. Some see Christianity as permissive, allowing someone to do whatever they want so long as they tell God they’re sorry. They can lie, cheat, steal, or even do worse, and if they say the magic words then everything is forgotten. Others think of Christianity as too restrictive as though it’s nothing more than a list of don’ts to make sure you don’t anger God. Both of these views are wrong, though, because the Christian faith is about being free to serve God joyfully from the heart.

One way to see how this can play out is in Luke 6:1-12 and the question of the Sabbath. The Sabbath begins in creation (Genesis 2:4) and was given to God’s people as a day of rest and worship (Exodus 16:22-23; Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15). It formed the center of faith and practice as they sought to honor and worship the Lord. Too often, though, they approached it the wrong way. Sometimes they asked, “how little must I do; what is the minimum required of me?” Or, on the other side, they often asked “what can’t I do?” The truth is that both views are wrong. They both ask the wrong sorts of questions and so end up with wrong answers.

We have two separate instances, or confrontations, regarding the Sabbath in Luke 6. In both we have the Pharisees challenging Jesus in belief and practice. On the surface, they seem to be dealing with very separate questions – picking grain versus healing a man’s hand. But the Pharisees had defined things such that Jesus breaks their law in both instances. In the first, the disciples were walking through a field on a Sabbath and simply plucking little heads of grain, mindlessly rolling them in their hands and eating them.

The Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” They had set it up so that you knew what was unlawful on the Sabbath, for them it was a legal question and so the answer could be found by following the strict codes. According to their detailed and specific list, the disciples were farming: reaping, threshing, winnowing and preparing food on the Sabbath, a quadruple violation! Jesus’ answer would have shocked them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” Jesus had the authority to interpret Scripture properly because he was the Son of Man who ruled over all, and that included the Sabbath.

Jesus had the authority to interpret Scripture properly because he was the Son of Man who ruled over all, and that included the Sabbath.

The second incident recorded occurs on another Sabbath. It was a normal Sabbath where Jesus taught in the synagogue. There was a crowd, the Pharisees were there to watch him, but the difference is the presence of the man with a withered hand as well. We are told that they were not there to listen to Jesus’ teaching; rather, they have come to spy on him. They came to watch. The word used is a graphic and emotive term; it means to spy on or watch out of the corner of one’s eyes. They are being sneaky and clearly trying to catch Jesus in the act of doing good on the Sabbath.

There was a man with a withered hand. Someone in need of help should not have to wait until another day when the Sabbath is a great day for salvation. This is how Jesus sees the situation. He calls the man to stand before him – in front of the whole congregation and then he addresses them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or
to destroy it?” The Pharisees want a strictly legal discussion, but Jesus does not see a difference between the legal and the salvation question. Jesus even frames the question in such a way that the Pharisees would have to agree. They would have assented to saving someone on the Sabbath. Seeing no objection to his proposal, Jesus tells the man to stretch his hand and it is healed instantly.

Too often we can be more like the Pharisees than we care to admit. We want to know how little we must do or we want a list of the dos and don’ts while missing the opportunity to help others. When we ask, “What can I not do on the Lord’s Day?” we show that we misunderstand the love and acceptance we have in Christ. We also misunderstand the purpose of the day of rest and worship.

— Pastor Everett Henes, the pastor of the Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church,

Pastor's Corner: The Sabbath Day (yahoo.com)

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Chambersburg Public Opinion
Bill Gindlesperger
September 21, 2022·5 min read

Some members of the Republican party, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and those within the Donald Trump cult, are now wrapping themselves in T-shirts proclaiming to be “proud Christian Nationalists.” This is an insult to those who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

In case you have forgotten, true Christians put faith and trust, not in how big and mean and strong they are, but in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, his torture and death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. Christian behavior reflects Jesus Christ by being gracious and merciful to others, forgiving, loving and praying for enemies, welcoming and serving the marginalized among us, caring for the sick, needy, underprivileged, widowed, orphaned, poor, abused and vulnerable, and by striving for justice. This is what is meant by being a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ.

II Corinthians 5:17 cuts to the chase. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" This means that selfish and worldly pursuits are exchanged for desire to honor God.

Christian people see the world through the lens of "others first." Christians are called to love the orphan and widow and care for those less fortunate. James 1:27 makes it clear. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

John 13:34-35 quotes Jesus, "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

How soon we forget. How easy it is for those who wave power and self-interest in front of us to override our deepest-held beliefs.

Take Greene, for example. She says that the Republican Party needs “to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists.” In fact, she hawks T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Proud Christian Nationalist.” That would not be so bad if people were not buying them.

The idea is that Christian nationalists must stand against those who are out to destroy America and to cut ties with God. You know, those ugly Americans who are lefties, non-white, non-Christian, and godless immigrants. While Christian nationalists are on team Jesus, everyone else is on team Satan.

Christian nationalists hide their hatred for others who are unlike themselves behind their false beliefs about the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. The fact is that religious liberty is enshrined in the Constitution. Believing America is a Christian country founded by and for Christians is a deeply misguided, wrong and dangerous view.

The Declaration of Independence says, “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.” The First Amendment to the Constitution goes further and establishes the right of religious freedom, ensuring that “Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof … .”

Greene, Boebert, Trump and those aligned with them choose to ignore the very documents that are the basis of our great country. They drive toward Christian nationalism. Yet Christian nationalism is an oxymoron. It is neither Christian nor patriotic.

Jesus Christ had something to say about this. In Matthew 22:21, Jesus is recorded as saying, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” This points out a clear division between the religious establishment and the government.

Yet Green claims that democracy does not matter, because America is a place where only conservative Christian nationalists count as true Americans.

Cutting to the bottom line, wrapping hateful words on a T-shirt is not unlike a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Appearing righteous, carrying a cross and wrapping up in a flag, is a clear sign of hypocrisy. Spewing hate-filled ideology, dividing families and undermining democracy is not Christianity.

Jesus Christ warned us in Matthew 7:15-20: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

Listening to Green, Boebert, Trump and their ilk, it sounds like Democrats and liberal leaning voters hate God and America. Honestly, liberal people neither hate God nor their country.

There is no “Team Satan.” And there is no “Godless left.” Liberals are just like anyone else. They have their own views on the government and how best we govern ourselves.

White Christian nationalists make up only a small percent of the total population, but are noisy and make up a goodly number of the ultra-right base. They are likely to believe that the election was stolen from Trump, the lies told among QAnon followers, and a coming violence to rescue our country. I believe it’s time for people of good will to speak up and support the values of love, caring, equity, equality, responsible freedom, and justice. All of us need to speak out against Greene, Boebert, and those within the Trump cult, who are working overtime to hijack Christianity and to ignore the teachings of Jesus Christ for their own self-serving purposes.

Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System Of Higher Education (PASSHE)

Religion and the founding documents: Christian nationalism is not Christian or American (yahoo.com)

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Kelsey Vlamis
September 4, 2022·4 min read

Proponents of Christian nationalism have suggested those expressing concerns about the ideology are simply the "godless left," but tens of thousands of Christians maintain the concept directly defies the teachings of their faith.

Christian groups launched a campaign in 2019 aimed at denouncing Christian nationalism — the belief that the US and Christianity are intrinsically linked and therefore the religion should have a privileged position in American society and government.

Christians Against Christian Nationalism has since had more than 27,000 Christians of different denominations and political philosophies sign their statement of principles rejecting the concept. The principles include assertions like "one's religious affiliation, or lack thereof, should be irrelevant to one's standing in the civic community" and "government should not prefer one religion over another or religion over nonreligion."

"Many of our signers believe that pushing against Christian nationalism is essential not just for our democracy but also for the preservation of our faith," Amanda Tyler, the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the lead organizer of the campaign, told Insider.

She said the effort was the result of growing concern over Christian nationalism becoming more violent, citing the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and the 2019 mosque shootings in New Zealand. In both cases, the suspects espoused Christian nationalist ideas.

Despite dismissive claims made by supporters of the ideology, opponents of Christian nationalism say it violates core American and Christian values.

Violating two core Christian beliefs

There are numerous ways in which Christian nationalism defies Christianity, according to Tyler, but the most overt involves two of Jesus's most fundamental teachings: first, to love God above everything else, and second, to love your neighbor as yourself.

"Christian nationalism creates this false idol of power and leads us to confuse political authority with religious authority," Tyler said. "And in that way causes us to put our patriotism, our allegiance to America, above our allegiance to God."

Christian nationalists believe the US has a special relationship with God. This overlap of patriotism, politics, and Christianity was on full display at the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Supporters of former President Donald Trump carried flags with messages like "Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president" and "Make America Godly Again."

Tyler said Christian nationalism "leads people to idolatry of the country over worship of God."

"One can be a patriot as I am. We can love God and we can love country at the same time, but if our patriotism causes us to sacrifice our theological conviction then it ceases to be patriotism. It becomes nationalism," she said.

Christian nationalists also believe that the government should declare the US a Christian nation, advocate for Christian values, and return prayer to public schools.

But these ideals "create this second-class status for our neighbors who aren't Christian," Tyler said — and sends the message that in order to be a true American you have to be a Christian.

"That causes harm to our neighbors who are not Christians, and also causes us to violate our call to love our neighbor," she said.

She added Christianity is also a global religion, so the Christian nationalist belief that God has a special plan for the US dismisses members of the faith around the world.

'Troubling' embrace of Christian nationalism

As for American values, the separation of church and state has long been considered a defining characteristic of religious freedom in the US. But recently some on the right, such as Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have suggested that separation has been taken too far. Boebert went as far as to say "the church should be controlling the government."

Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has openly identified as a Christian nationalist and said the Republican party should be the party of Christian nationalism.

Though the concept is not new, Tyler said she was concerned with the way it's been increasingly embraced in recent months, noting she saw numerous instances of Christian nationalism at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.

"It was always present but the fact that they're openly embracing the label is different and troubling," she said, adding: "Unfortunately I'm seeing this almost one-up game in some circles, who can be the bigger Christian nationalist."

Tyler said the overt support for the ideology makes it especially important for Christians to speak out against it to show that people of faith also view it as dangerous.

"We're at risk of normalizing Christian nationalism," she said. "It's even more incumbent on us to explain why that is un-American and a departure from Christian values as well."

Christians against Christian nationalism say the ideology distorts both American and Christian values (yahoo.com)

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TheGrio Staff
September 19, 2022·4 min read

The migrants in Martha’s Vineyard mirror “Reverse Freedom Riders,” Blacks allegedly duped by White segregationists in 1962 as retaliation for the Freedom Rides.

For some Black families used as pawns in a political ruse by White segregationists many decades ago, the act of Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis sending migrants to Martha’s Vineyard brings back memories of a familiar, ugly past.

According to The Washington Post, the migrants in Martha’s Vineyard were reportedly transported to the same military facility on Cape Cod as the “Reverse Freedom Riders,” Blacks who were allegedly duped by White segregationists in 1962 as retaliation for the Freedom Rides of the previous summer, when volunteers rode buses through the South in support of desegregation.

The plan back then was orchestrated by the white supremacist Citizens’ Councils in Arkansas, who purchased radio ads and created fliers advertising the “opportunity” to African Americans. They marketed to men with criminal records and single mothers with a lot of children, assuming White liberals would welcome them the least.

Alabama mother of eight Eliza Davis, 36, an agricultural laborer who had been promised employment and lodging in exchange for taking a free trip to another state, was among those uprooting their families. In 1962, Davis and her kids were bussed to Hyannis, Massachusetts — not far from then-President John F. Kennedy’s vacation home — and left there.

Lela Mae Williams, an Arkansas mom also dropped off in Hyannis with her nine youngest children, arrived wearing her best clothes because she was told that Kennedy himself would welcome them. One of Williams’ daughters told NPR’s “CodeSwitch” in 2020 that the family eventually moved into a Boston housing complex, where they suffered without any relatives nearby and were harassed by racist white neighbors, who disapproved of them attending public schools.

President Kennedy dodged the subject, referring to the Reverse Freedom Rides as “a fairly cheap exercise.” His administration turned down the governor of Massachusetts’ request for federal assistance.

In a 2004 dissertation on the Reverse Freedom Rides, American history professor Clive Webb of the University of Sussex stated that Southern segregationist organizations blatantly misled Black families using strategies parodying the Freedom Rides.

There were recruitment posters that read, “President Kennedy’s brother assures you a grand reception to Massachusetts. Good jobs, housing etc. are promised,” The Post reported. The Greater New Orleans Citizens’ Council advertised in newspapers that it would provide free transportation plus $5 for any Black individual or families looking to “migrate to the Nation’s Capital or any place in the north of their choice.”

Webb said there were also notices placed in jails offering free transportation to inmates whose sentences were about to end.

Some of the Southerners transported to Hyannis found employment as chefs, chambermaids or in candle-making factories. Jobs in Hyannis eventually ended, and all but one relocated family — that of volunteer nurse Victoria Bell — departed.

According to Webb, “moderate” segregationists were turned off by the manipulation of low-income African Americans, which is part of what led to the Reverse Freedom Rides’ political failure. The Arkansas Gazette reported that the strategy was never supported by its “better thinking folks,” and it was criticized by New Orleans radio and television station WDSU as “sick sensationalism bordering on the moronic,” The Post reported.

The buses were paid for in the 1960s by unidentified donors to private segregationist organizations. While DeSantis has not disclosed how the flights he organized to Martha’s Vineyard were financed, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — also a Republican — utilized state funds and donations for the buses.

In the end, in the early ’60s, fewer than 200 persons were dispatched up north on Reverse Freedom Rides. That’s a stark contrast to the thousands of migrants who have recently been sent to Massachusetts, New York, Washington, D.C. and other locations.

Racists bused Black mothers with many children to Cape Cod decades ago. Sound familiar? (yahoo.com)

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BY MICHAEL SNYDER/ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG AUGUST 30, 2022

Have you ever wondered why we just keep getting hit by one thing after another? I grew up during a time when it seemed like America was endlessly blessed, but now everything around us seems the opposite of blessed.

Our economy is imploding, inflation is out of control, the housing market is starting to crash, our weather patterns have gone completely nuts, the western half of the nation is enduring the worst drought in 1,200 years, we are dealing with three major pandemics simultaneously, we are losing our proxy war with Russia in Ukraine and it looks like war with China is just around the corner, and on top of everything else our political system is failing because liberals and conservatives deeply, deeply hate one another. And if you think that there is hope on the horizon, you are going to be severely disappointed.

The current crop of politicians in Washington is the worst that we have had in our entire history, and all of the "solutions" they give us just seem to make matters even worse.

This weekend, I came across a very intriguing article in the Jerusalem Post entitled "Is God punishing the United States of America?" It was authored by a prominent businessman named Sherwin Pomerantz, and it really got me thinking.

Could it be possible that there is a common thread that connects all of the bad things that are constantly happening to us?

In his article, one of the points that Pomerantz makes is that America's political system is coming apart at the seams right in front of our eyes...

Politically, whether people want to admit it or not, the country is in the midst of a civil war, though for the moment, not one where both sides have taken up arms, one against the other (although that, too, could eventuate). Sadly, he is right on target.

There is so much politically-motivated hatred in our country today. Liberals deeply hate conservatives and conservatives deeply hate liberals. It would seem that it is only a matter of time before the entire system shatters.

On another note, Pomerantz believes that it is no coincidence that our weather patterns have gone totally haywire and that our nation is being constantly hit by natural disaster after natural disaster...

Then there is the weather. On average, the US experiences fewer than 1,500 tornadoes a year. Through June, there have already been 940 reported tornadoes there, which means the country is on track to see 2,000 or more, a 33% increase year-on-year.

The nightly news out of the US for the past few months shows tens of millions of people under extreme weather risk every day, often in three different areas of the country simultaneously (upper Midwest, East coast and the Southeast region).

In the west, a long period of drought has been drying up reservoirs and spawning massive forest fires. National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) statistics show that as of July 5, 34,478 fires have already burned 4,582,301 acres. This is above the 10-year average of 27,346 fires, and twice the average of 2,026,917 acres burned. The odd thing is that very little of this occurs just north of the US in Canada, or just south in Mexico. It all seems to be centered in the US.

I did find it odd that Pomerantz only briefly mentioned the drought, because it is actually a really big deal.

At this moment, the western half of the nation is in the midst of the worst multi-year megadrought that the region has experienced in 1,200 years, and this is having an absolutely devastating impact on agricultural production. For example, we are now being warned that a very serious shortage of tomatoes could soon be coming...

As endless supply chain-related food shortages force people to adjust their grocery lists, another essential ingredient is becoming scarce. Along with avocados, cream cheese, chickpeas, and olive oil, the supply of tomatoes has started to dwindle. But this time it's
California's catastrophic drought conditions denying farmers the water needed to grow the versatile vegetable that's to blame. Due to the shortage, the price of byproducts like ketchup, salsa, and spaghetti sauce has started to surge.

Speaking about the tomato shortage, Head of the California Tomato Growers Association Mike Montana said the golden state desperately needs rain. "We are getting to a point where we don't have inventory left to keep fulfilling the market demand," he told Bloomberg News.

California, which grows a quarter of the world's tomatoes, is in the middle of a historic drought that has stoked massive wildfires while drying up reservoirs. It has also become a major threat to the agriculture industry.

When I was growing up, I never once imagined that there could ever be a shortage of tomatoes in this country. But things have changed, and life in the U.S. will never again be like it was when I was a little boy. Although to be honest I am having flashbacks to the 1970s with all of the inflation we are witnessing right now.

In fact, if the inflation rate was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, it would be higher than anything that we experienced during the Jimmy Carter era.

Over the past couple of years, our politicians in Washington have gone on the most dramatic borrowing and spending binge in human history, and the "experts" at the Federal Reserve pumped trillions of fresh dollars into the financial system. Of course that was going to cause inflation, and now we have a colossal mess on our hands. The Federal Reserve is recklessly hiking interest rates in a desperate attempt to battle inflation, but everyone knew that this would inevitably cause a housing crash.

And as I pointed out last week, a housing crash has already begun. This July, new home sales were about 30 percent lower than they were last July... The plunge in home sales is just stunning. Sales of new single-family houses collapsed by 12.6% in July from the already beaten-down levels in June, and by nearly 30% from July last year, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000 houses, the lowest since January 2016, and well below the lockdown lows, according to data from the Census Bureau today.

Sadly, this is just the beginning. If the Fed keeps raising rates, things will get far worse. Meanwhile, we find ourselves battling three major pandemics all at once. Despite everything that our health authorities have done, COVID is still with us and will be with us for many years to come. If that wasn't bad enough, a bird flu pandemic has erupted this year which has resulted in tens of millions of our chickens and turkeys being wiped out. On top of that, a new monkeypox outbreak continues to spread at an exponential rate all over the planet.

Is it just some sort of a bizarre coincidence that we are now facing three major pestilences simultaneously? Of course this article would not be complete unless I talked about the war. We are now deeply involved in a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, and it is not going very well. And if both sides continue to escalate matters, we could eventually find ourselves in a nuclear conflict with Russia which would have the potential to ultimately kill billions of people.

In addition, the warmongers in the Biden administration have also brought us to the brink of a war with China. More U.S. politicians keep flying over to Taiwan, and at some point the Chinese are going to decide that they simply cannot take any more provocations. Also, it is just a matter of time before Iran and Israel go to war. And once that happens, the U.S. will inevitably decide to intervene.

In this article, I have covered war, plagues, economic collapse and natural disasters among other things. Could it be possible that all of these things are happening at this specific moment in human history for a reason? And could it be possible that we were warned in advance that all of these things would be coming? (Bible Prophecy) My hope is that this article will get people thinking.

All of human history has been building up to a grand crescendo, and we get to be here for it. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the population has no idea what is ahead, and so most of them are going to be absolutely blind-sided by the cataclysmic events that are rapidly coming our way.

Why Are So Many Bad Things Happening To America In 2022? (prophecynewswatch.com)

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| Editorial
the Miami Herald Editorial Board
September 24, 2022·5 min read

Is America a Christian nation?

The United States is a secular nation with no official religion, so the answer is No. But to Republicans such as Florida Gov. DeSantis, simplifying the answer to a Yes is a powerful tool. They’ve found a political gold mine in pitting Christians against the so-called evils of the left, gay and transgender people and teachers accused of pushing a “woke” agenda.

DeSantis’ flirting with Christian nationalism — the belief that America is in God’s plan and was intended to be a Christian nation — as the Herald recently reported, is not new in GOP politics. But it shows where the governor’s mind is. Elected in 2018 by a razor-thin margin in a state long considered purple — Florida has become redder, but it isn’t Mississippi, yet — he appears more concerned with 2024 GOP presidential primary voters. He’s not losing any sleep over alienating middle-of-the-road voters in his state.

But there’s something else to which the other side of the aisle should pay attention.

No coincidence

It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that, at the same time the GOP ramps up its rhetoric on religious and culture wars, the party makes gains with Hispanic and non-white voters in places like Miami-Dade.

That seems like a contradiction given that Donald Trump based his campaign on anti-immigrant and anti-”other” sentiment. But many of those groups share traditional values espoused by the GOP, religious values being one of them. When religious voters say they feel shamed for talking about God, they should not be derisively dismissed as Bible-thumpers. Democrats have yet to come up with with an effective counter-narrative to DeSantis’ use of war imagery to talk about religion.

“Put on the full armor of God. Stand firm against the left’s schemes,” DeSantis told an audience at Michigan-based Christian Hillsdale College.

Yes, Democrats appear in some church pulpits to rally their base during election season, and high-profile politicians like President Biden, who’s Catholic, have been open about their faith. But given the onslaught of religious talk in Florida — and the use of government to promote one conservative religious view — Democrats must find a better way to acknowledge the importance of religion and spirituality in people’s lives without crossing the line into proselytizing.

If DeSantis is telling his followers to go fight to shape the nation to their religious liking, the counter-narrative should be that this rhetoric could not only incite violence, but it also undermines Christianity itself. For most Christians, religion doesn’t mean hostility toward your fellowmen and those who share different beliefs, as DeSantis makes it seem.

Religion has always been a sticky subject for the left. The Democratic Party has served as a big tent for Catholics, Protestants, religiously unaffiliated people, Jews, Muslims, voters of other religions, atheists and agnostics. While the GOP has been the party of mostly white Christians, Democrats “have been the party of everyone else,” and they can’t “hit the same
note time and time again,” said Ryan Burge, an Eastern Illinois University professor who studies the intersection between religion and political behavior.

The appeal

The secularization of America presents challenges to DeSantis’ strategy in the long run. But, as Burge explained, Christian nationalism isn’t appealing only because of religion. To some, it’s nostalgia for the days when traditional values weren’t questioned, when “a woman was a woman and a man was a man,” to quote a common conservative grievance. It’s resistance in the face of the excesses of identity politics, which DeSantis skillfully mislabeled “woke” culture.

There’s a big difference between a leader turning to faith to guide their decisions and turning the state into the vehicle to advance one religious point of view. When the latter happens, the result is often to exclude people who don’t fit the mold. We cannot overlook the overlap between Christian nationalism — and its nostalgia for our “Anglo-Protestant” past — and white supremacy. Many devout Christians enslaved Black people in centuries past. This brings us to present-day data, cited in The New Yorker magazine, that, according to Robert P. Jones, head of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan polling and research group, “The more racist attitudes a person holds, the more likely he or she is to identify as a white Christian.”

DeSantis and other conservative leaders are trying to erode the separation of church and state, a concept Thomas Jefferson wrote of in an 1802 letter and cited in landmark court rulings. Florida taxpayers are now paying for training sessions for public school teachers that deny the Founding Fathers wanted that separation. The Founding Fathers had very nuanced views about religion, as the Herald Editorial Board previously explained.

DeSantis is not alone in this. The majority-conservative U.S. Supreme Court chipped away at that wall of separation with a series of recent rulings. With Evangelicals proving to be such an important and faithful voting bloc for Trump, there’s incentive for our ambitious and savvy governor to continue to court them.

Whereas the governor’s Christian nationalist shtick only separates us, the Democrats need to counter it more boldly and bring back into their tent voters who feel that, on the issues of religion and faith, the party has nothing to say to them.

As Florida’s DeSantis roars ‘Onward, Christian soldiers!’ Democrats must get real about religion | Editorial (yahoo.com)

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Stella Rouse and Shibley Telhami
September 21, 2022·5 min read

Christian nationalism, a belief that the United States was founded as a white, Christian nation and that there is no separation between church and state, is gaining steam on the right.

Prominent Republican politicians have made the themes critical to their message to voters in the run up to the 2022 midterm elections. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, has argued that America is a Christian nation and that the separation of church and state is a “myth.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia hard-liner, declared: “We need to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian Nationalists.” Amid a backlash, she doubled down and announced she would start selling “Christian Nationalist” shirts. Now Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seems to be flirting with Christian nationalist rhetoric, as well.

Appeals to Christian nationalism have a long tradition in American history, though they have usually operated on the fringes. But the increasingly mainstream appearance of this belief in GOP circles makes sense if you look at new public opinion surveys. Our new University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll suggests that declaring the United States a Christian nation is a message that could be broadly embraced by Republicans in the midterms and 2024 presidential race. But our findings also see limits to its appeal — and over the long-term, Christian nationalism could be a political loser.

Most Republicans Say Christian Nationalism Is Unconstitutional — But Still Support It

Our national poll included 2,091 participants, carried out May 6-16, 2022, with a margin of error of +/- 2.14 percent.

We started by asking participants if they believed the Constitution would even allow the United States government to declare the U.S. a “Christian Nation.” We found that 70 percent of Americans — including 57 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of Democrats — said that the Constitution would not allow such a declaration. (Indeed, the First Amendment says Congress can neither establish nor prohibit the practice of a religion.)

We followed up by asking: “Would You Favor or Oppose the United States Officially Declaring the United States to be a Christian Nation?” The findings were striking.

Overall, 62 percent of respondents said they opposed such a declaration, including 83 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of Republicans. Fully 61 percent of Republicans supported declaring the United States a Christian nation. In other words, even though over half of Republicans previously said such a move would be unconstitutional, a majority of GOP voters would still support this declaration.

Not surprisingly, much of the support for declaring the U.S. a Christian nation comes from Republicans who identify themselves as Evangelical or born-again Christians: Seventy-eight percent of this group support the move compared to 48 percent of other Republicans. Among Democrats, a slight majority of those identifying themselves as Evangelical or born-again Christians also backed such a declaration (52 percent), compared to just 8 percent of other Democrats.

Younger Generations, Including Younger Republicans, Are Less Supportive of Christian Nationalism

Previous research has shown that the youngest generations — millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) and Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) — are less likely to be religiously affiliated and to trust religious institutions. That’s also consistent with the results from our Critical Issues Poll.

We found that members of younger generations are less likely than those of older generations to support declaring the U.S. a Christian nation. Only about a quarter of Millennial respondents (25 percent) and a third of Generation Z respondents (34 percent) favor this declaration. By contrast, a majority of respondents from the two oldest generations — Silent Generation (those born between 1928 and 1945) and baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) support the U.S. being declared a Christian nation (54 percent and 50 percent, respectively).

Within the generations, partisanship also plays a role in shaping attitudes about Christian nationalism.

Most Republicans in every age group favor designating the U.S. a Christian nation, but even more so in older generations. Fully 71 percent of Silent Generation Republicans and 72 percent of Republican baby boomers would like to see the U.S. officially declared a Christian nation, compared to 33 percent of Silent Generation Democrats and 20 percent of Democratic baby boomers. Among the youngest generations, we see that 51 percent of Millennial Republicans and 51 percent of Generation Z Republicans want the U.S. to be declared a Christian nation, compared to 10 percent of Millennial Democrats and 7 percent of Generation Z Democrats.

Along with age, race can also play a factor when it comes to sympathizing with Christian nationalism.

Our polling found that white grievance is highly correlated with support for a Christian nation. White respondents who say that members of their race have faced more discrimination than others are most likely to embrace a Christian America. Roughly 59 percent of all Americans who say white people have been discriminated against a lot more in the past five years favor declaring the U.S. a Christian nation, compared to 38 percent of all Americans. White Republicans who said white people have been more discriminated against also favored a Christian nation (65 percent) by a slightly larger percentage than all Republicans (63 percent).

The rising threat to American democracy was made quite clear during the Jan. 6 insurrection, which featured, not incidentally, significant Christian nationalist imagery. Indeed, as our polling shows, a non-trivial number of Americans want to see the U.S. become a Christian nation— even if they acknowledge that the Constitution prohibits such a designation. Prominent Republican politicians have seized on this sentiment and are openly campaigning on a message of Christian nationalism.

Our poll results demonstrate why this message may be resonating, at least among the most ardent, religious and older base of the Republican Party. However, this strategy may be short-sighted. As our findings demonstrate, there is strong opposition to declaring the U.S. a Christian nation among younger Americans, and even younger Republicans. For that reason, the GOP may want to tread carefully or risk alienating rising generations.

Most Republicans Support Declaring the United States a Christian Nation (yahoo.com)

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CP VOICES | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2022
By Michael Youssef, Voices Contributor

The culmination of history is approaching. The end of the world may be at hand. Yet Jesus tells us we should not be alarmed. Why? Because we are engraved in the palms of His hands. Because we are carried in His arms. Because we are the apple of His eye.

The time is coming when the world will fall under the spell of the ultimate power-drunk ruler. The Bible calls this ruler the Antichrist. The world will fear him; the West will welcome him. America is currently preparing his way. However, followers of Jesus must remember the Lord’s words: “See to it that you are not alarmed.” We must live faithfully and boldly, knowing that the rise of the Antichrist is coming.

In the book of Revelation, John writes of his vision of the End Times. In Revelation 13, John gives us a detailed description of the Antichrist. In the first 18 verses, John describes two beasts, one arising from the sea, the other from the land. The first beast represents the Antichrist, the final world ruler, [sic] who will be destroyed at the second coming of Christ. The second beast is probably a satanically inspired religious leader who supports the political reign of the first beast. [sic].

Clearly, both “beasts” are possessed by the “spirit of antichrist,” a spirit that denies that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior of the world.

But there will come a point in history when the Antichrist with a capital A will be revealed. He will arise just prior to the return of Christ. He will literally take control of the entire planet, of all the nations on earth. He will arise at a time of great confusion and chaos in the world. He will arise during conditions of global fear and unrest. He will arise when the world is in political and financial upheaval.

Just as the entire world is desperate for order and security, one man will step forth with a message of hope and peace. Daniel 7:8 describes this leader as possessing “a mouth that spoke boastfully.” I believe this describes a person who is a powerfully charismatic orator, who exudes a winsome charm, and who seems superhumanly brilliant. He will be everything people want a world leader to be. His speeches will strike a chord within the human heart. People will be drawn to him and he will unite the world under his rule.

For a time, he will deliver exactly what he has promised: Peace. Prosperity. Security. Hope. But once he has the world in his grip, he will remove the mask of the Messiah-like peacemaker — and reveal himself as a ruthless dictator. Above all, he will deny that Jesus is the only One worthy to be worshiped. Instead, he will demand that the world worships him.

Our world is already being prepared for the Antichrist. There are countless forces today that would normally oppose each other — yet they have joined forces in their opposition to Jesus Christ. They are united in their denial that Jesus is the only way of salvation.

Yet these opposing groups have one belief in common. They are all united in their total rejection of Jesus’s claim to be the divine Son of God and the only way to God the Father.

Even the Christian world is not even united about Jesus’s claim to be the only way of salvation. A 2018 survey conducted by Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research found that many Americans who claim to hold “evangelical beliefs” have shockingly unbiblical notions about Jesus and salvation.

The Bible tells us, “There is no one righteous, not even one . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:10,23). Yet 52% of self-described “evangelicals” 52% agree with the statement, “Most people are basically good.”

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And Peter declared, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Yet 51% of self-described “evangelicals” believe “God accepts the worship of all religions.”

I won’t sugarcoat the truth. I will tell you plainly that being a Christian in the End Times will be incredibly difficult. It will mean being hated and persecuted for your faith.

But I guarantee that even if you are hunted down, abused, and killed for your faith in Jesus, it will be worth it. You will have eternal life with Jesus in Heaven. When He returns, you will be full of joy at His appearing while others despair. Only Jesus offers true security in a collapsing world.

Michael Youssef is the founder and president of Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, a worldwide ministry that leads the way for people living in spiritual darkness to discover the light of Christ through the creative use of media and on-the-ground ministry teams (LTW.org).

Is America preparing the way for a one-world ruler? | Voice (christianpost.com)

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The Register-Mail
Thomas Mosher
Tue, October 11, 2022 at 12:19 PM·2 min read

Editor, Register-Mail: There are churches throughout America that ignore or accept immorality in society. They are becoming more like the godless secular society around them. These churches will not escape God's judgment. Their lamps have been hidden, their salt is tasteless. They are of no use to our God. They have compromised with the culture's perversities. They are "aborting" their Christian faith. They are no longer the light or the salt of the earth.

Churches that compromise with the gay lifestyle and abortion are rapidly in decay. Churches are on their way to destroying themselves as they compromise in these areas. They are full of contradictions of God's word. If Christian denominations continue to compromise they will not be in existence very long. Our creator wants us to not only profess our faith but to live it as well. We cannot compromise with immorality. Scripture relates that lukewarm Christians will be spewed out of our God's mouth.

We are to be the body of Christ and are encouraged scripturally to meet together for spiritual and biblical uplifting, not secular compromising. Our nation was indeed founded on biblical values. It was not founded on socialism, Marxism, communism, atheism, or humanism, although that is the direction the ungodly are taking us. Biblical salt enhances the thirst for God's word and is a preservative that holds back the decay of the culture's immorality and evil. We are to abide with secular society's mores only when they are in agreement with the Gospel message.

Side note: Our hypocritical president, who professes to be a devout Catholic, uses the "F" bomb quite often, supports abortion, and compromises with those whose votes he wants to garner for himself and his cohorts. Many people who profess to be Christian support what the Bible tells us are abominations to our God. That is called hypocrisy, but that is what hypocrites and compromisers do. — Thomas Mosher, Victoria

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: LETTER: Churches must not compromise their Biblical faith

LETTER: Churches must not compromise their Biblical faith (yahoo.com)