The 401st Prophet Blog

Al Gore Turns Science Into Religion

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 21:18:32 GMT

The Green cult is a destructive religion and has nothing to do with science.

That thud you just heard is Earth Day doing a face plant. Earth Day is to the Greens what Christmas is to Christians. It’s their central religious holiday. And while Christianity continues to thrive around the world—2.6 billion and growing, environmentalism is a religion in decline.

Make no mistake. It’s a religion. Recently the Free Press ran an article by Roger Pielke, Jr., probably the world’s leading expert on extreme weather events. Pielke referenced Al Gore’s speech from about twenty years ago, given to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Pielke said the speech was important because it turned global warming from a scientific issue into a political issue. I would modestly correct Pielke; it turned it into a religious issue. Pielke said, “An Inconvenient Truth was not really about science: It was a sermon—complete with a moral arc (with those who are evil and those who are righteous), a clear account of sin (fossil fuel emissions), a warning of coming judgment (floods, storms, tipping points), and a path to redemption (political will, renewable energy, personal responsibility). The film ends with a call to conversion.”

For years I have referred to the environmental movement as the Green cult. It is a substitute religion for the true Christian faith. And it is a false religion as Pielke shows.

It has failed. We are now ten years past the Paris Accords when the world’s elite sought to organize human society into a weapon to fight climate change. Did the Paris Agreement…actually achieve anything? The record is damning. Global fossil CO2 emissions are roughly 5% higher today than at the moment Paris was signed. The 2024 rate of increase in atmospheric CO2 was the largest ever recorded.

Bjorn Lomborg said the developed world has spent 20 trillion dollars on renewable energy and achieved absolutely nothing. 20 trillion that could have been spent alleviating poverty in the developing world where 700 million people still live on less than two dollars a day.

The Green cult is one of the most destructive ideologies in human history. The world’s poor condemned to continued suffering. People foregoing children in order to save the planet. Young people struggling with depression because of impending doom. Increased spending that hurts America’s working families. The chief enemy of the third world poor is environmentalism. The West got rich burning fossil fuels. Now we are denying poor people in Africa the right to do the same thing. All in the name of a Green religion which is about as anti-scientific as you can get. It’s so appropriate that Earth Day is celebrated on Lenin’s birthday.

If the Green cultists are destructive and appallingly stupid why do they hold on to it?

What’s their motivation?

It’s where the money is. When my daughter was attending college her biology class had a special session on writing requests for grant money. The lecturer said without apparent irony, to be sure and include a comment on fighting global warming in your application. It greatly increased your chances of getting funded. I remember a Harvard researcher saying that in the science community grad students basically said, you give me the money and I will prove whatever you want. We see that today with the scandal of fraudulent research. Up to half of research results cannot be replicated. In other words, they are based on bogus research. The greatest scientific scam in history is global warming.

The Green cult is motivated by a hunger for political power. Their message is basically; the world is going to end unless you give us money and power to stop it. Have you ever wondered why every single political leftist believes in catastrophic climate change? There is not a single exception I have ever read or even heard of. Conservatives are all over the map on this issue with some believing in global warming and others calling it a scam. But on the Left belief in the climate cult is unanimous. There is not a single dissenting voice. Why? Jeremiads about climate catastrophe give them power and power is what they live for. The only solution they ever offer is planetary governance. A supranational organization that tells everyone what to do. This is what Marxism has always wanted, so the Green cult fits its preferences perfectly.

The most important reason Green cultists believe their own nonsense is religious. The Greens have rejected the true God of the Bible. And when you reject the true God you have to place your trust in something else. So the Greens worship nature—and government. They call for a worldwide controlling political structure that fights the climate bogeyman. A political structure that is controlled, of course, by them.

The Green cult is a terrifying religion. I am sure the average member of a tribe in Mexico was terrified of the Aztecs. They intended to cut your heart out for theological reasons. Green cultists are not only anti-Christian, they are anti-human.

In 1990, the late Alexander King, cofounder of the Club of Rome in 1968, argued against the use of DDT to control malaria: “My own doubts came when DDT was introduced for civilian use. In Guyana, within two years it had almost eliminated malaria, but at the same time, the birth rate had doubled. … My chief quarrel with DDT in hindsight is that it has greatly added to the population problem.” Oh. It allowed children to live instead of die. During their reign of terror the Aztecs sacrificed about two million souls on their altars. Since the ban on DDT malaria has killed upwards of 60 million Africans. Who is worse? The Aztecs or Alexander King? Then there was the observation made in 1971 by Michael McClosky, the former executive director of the Sierra Club, during an Ethiopian famine: “The worst thing we could do is give aid…. the best thing would be to just let nature seek its own balance and to let the people there just starve.”

That’s the kind of religion we are dealing with. That’s what happens when people depart from the true God to worship idols.

The death of the Green cult is great news for humanity. May God hasten the day.

More: Christianity vs. the Green Religion; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHdkYg9MeXg

Roger Pielke, Jr., on the religious nature of the environmental movement; https://www.thefp.com/p/how-al-gore-politicized-climate-science?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The Failure of the Paris Accords: https://unherd.com/2026/04/the-paris-agreement-was-a-fantasy/?set_edition=us&tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=4f8edb802c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_04_22_10_47&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-4f8edb802c-35277013

Earth Day goes splat; https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2026/04/21/earth_day_2026_our_power_our_planettm_our_propaganda_redux_1177849.html

Apart from the fact that none of this has anything to do with “climate facts,” one would think that this horror parade would have made life on earth ever more sickly, disease-ridden, and short. And one would be wrong: human life expectancy at birth now is 73.49 years, an increase of over 61% from the life expectancy of 45.51 years in 1950. For more on the absurdities of the crusade against plastics, see my 2024 Earth Day column .

The Passover-Easter Connection

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:30:40 GMT

The important connection between the two.

Did you know that …

the Jewish feast of Passover was instituted 3,400 years ago?
what we now call Easter was originally celebrated by Christians on Passover?
the Last Supper was a Passover seder?
Jesus established the sacrament of Communion at the Last Supper using elements of the Passover seder?
the New Testament refers to Jesus as the Passover lamb?
the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt is symbolic of redemption from self, or
sin?

It is not uncommon to hear someone say, “Isn’t it cool how Passover and Easter overlap this

year?” That is the case this year, 2026, when the first day of Passover (which lasts eight

days) falls on April 2 and Easter is celebrated on April 5. But it is not always so.

Originally, Jesus followers commemorated his death and resurrection on the first day of

Passover, which falls on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nissan.

Larry Stamm, a Jewish believer in Jesus who serves as the local outreach pastor at Grace

Fellowship Church in Johnson City, Tenn., explains:

“In early Church history, particularly the first two centuries, followers of Jesus

commemorated the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the same day as

Passover. Back then, Easter was known as pascha (Greek for Passover). During the second

century, some Christians began celebrating it on the Sunday following Passover. This caused

a rift between Christians who wished to commemorate Passover and pascha together and

those who wished to distinguish the two holidays. Victor, Bishop of Rome, even went so far

as to excommunicate anyone who observed pascha on Passover.

“After Emperor Constantine stopped the persecution of Christians in the fourth century, he

convened the Council of Nicea in 325 AD to determine, among other things, when Jesus'

Resurrection should be celebrated. The Council decided that it would be observed on the first

Sunday after the full moon on or after the vernal equinox.

“It is worth noting that Constantine, who held anti-Semitic views, changed the date of the

observance to make sure the Resurrection was not celebrated on Passover according to the

Jewish calendar. He wrote, ‘First of all, it seemed most unworthy that in celebrating this

most holy festival we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled

their hands with enormous sin and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with spiritual

blindness.’”

Passover commemorates the night of the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt around

3,400 years ago. According to the Hebrew Scriptures, the angel of death destroyed all the

firstborn of Egypt but passed over all the Israelite homes protected by the blood of the lamb,

which God told the Jewish people to apply to the doorposts and lintels (crossbars) of their

homes that night.

The word Passover comes from the Hebrew Pesach, which means to pass over.

Passover is celebrated in the Jewish home with the seder meal and the telling of the story of

the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt from a book called the Haggadah (which means

telling). The Haggadah sets forth the order (seder) of the celebration.

When Jesus observed the Last Supper with his disciples, it was a Passover seder. Jesus used

elements of the seder—the unleavened bread (matzah) and wine—to commemorate his

impending death (the bread represents his body, the wine his blood). That is why Christians

take Communion today.

Jesus is portrayed as the Passover lamb in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul wrote, “For

Christ (Messiah), our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (I Corinthians 5:7).

For the Christian, the Passover is symbolic of Jesus delivering those who trust in him from

the slavery and penalty of sin.

Rabbi Chaim Zaklos of Chabad Solano County (California) sees a similar kind of

symbolism.

“Egypt is not just a geographical location,” he said. “It is also a state of mind. When

somebody is in a state of mind of Egypt, they are automatically in exile. They are slaves. The

person that we get enslaved to the most is ourself, our ego. We are being held captive by our

animalistic self. However, the human being also has a godly divine self where it can

completely let go of its animalistic urges and completely cleave to God. So that is liberating

yourself from captivity.”

Zaklos said that the seder, which has 15 sections, is a prescription for liberation.

“Seder means order,” he said. “It’s an order of 15 steps that are the steps of redeeming

yourself from yourself. Before there was a 12-step program the Jewish people had a 15-step

program There’s no original sin, but we are all originally created with a dual personality. We

all suffer from a multiple personality disorder—our animalistic and our godly.”

While most Christian theologians would disagree that there is no original sin, they would

agree that God desires to liberate us from our selfish desires.

Pastor Greg Davidson of Trinity Baptist Church in Vacaville, California, is Jewish and sees a

very strong bond between the two holidays.

“There is a very deep connection,” he said. “The Jewish people were in horrible bondage.

They were in slavery to Egypt. It was just a very dark time for the nation of Israel.

“God sent Moses as the great liberator of the Jewish people. But Pharaoh refused to listen to

his demands, so God sent plagues as judgment to the Egyptians to convince them to liberate

this persecuted people. Pharaoh continued to resist, so God sent his final plague. The

protection the Jewish people could count on against this judgment was that each household

had to take a lamb and slit its throat, take its blood and put it on the lintel of the door and the

doorposts. And that night when the death angel came to kill the firstborn in the land, when it

saw the blood on the doorposts, it passed over the Jewish house.

“Jesus was called in the Scriptures our Passover Lamb. So Passover was actually a picture of

a Savior, a Messiah, that all the Jewish people longed for and looked for. It was a picture that

the Messiah would come, die on a cross, and his shed blood would cover their sins When we,

by faith, apply the blood of the lamb to the lintel and the doorposts of our hearts, then one

day when the death Angel comes, he will see the blood and he will pass over us and we will

go to heaven at our death.”

This article, which was contemporized, originally appeared in The Vacaville Reporter on

April 11, 2020.

Matt Sieger, now retired, is a former sports reporter and columnist for The Cortland (New

York) Standard and The Vacaville (California) Reporter. He is the author of The God Squad:

The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978.

Baptist Do Best as the Persecuted Church

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 22:12:34 GMT

They are not hung up by the need for a hierarchy

I recently spent two months in China and noticed the power of the Christian church. I noticed something else. Most Chinese Christians organize their ministries and churches in a Baptist sort of way. By that I mean they have no hierarchy. They do not want or need several layers of church bureaucracy sitting over them. And each individual Christian is expected to study the Bible for himself and let it alone be his guide in living the Christian life.

And I noticed one more thing. The Baptist way of governing the church is perfect for those areas that are under persecution. A hostile government decapitates a hierarchical church. But with the Baptist way of organizing church there is no head to chop off. Each congregation is self-governed. And so is each Christian. He is expected to read the Bible, interpret it for himself, and do what it says.

The communist government of China can control a lot of things—the economy, the internet, banking and finance, and a host of other activities. But it cannot control the individual conscience. That stands alone before God and is out of the reach of Beijing.

The Baptistification of World Christianity

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 20:52:57 GMT

Baptist Distinctives are spreading everywhere

The Power of the Baptists

A Baptist church I attended for many years took the name “Baptist” off its church sign. They said it was a negative in trying to recruit new people. Secularist America is apparently put off by the Baptists. But it didn’t bother me. Take the name away if you want but don’t eschew the Baptist values which have made us one of the most powerful groups in world history.

Many years ago the eminent Lutheran historian, Martin Marty, said that what we are seeing today is the “baptistification” of world Christianity. He said it without sympathy. What did he mean? He meant that the spread of Christianity around the world was through groups that are Baptist in their way of doing things. Pentecostals are Baptists who speak in tongues and there are now 500 million of them to go along with all the other Baptists. A friend of mine said that a non-denominational church is simply a Baptist congregation with a cool website.

What makes a church baptistic? Well, obviously, they practice baptism by immersion and they only baptize adult converts. But there are two other Baptist distinctives that make it a powerful religious force. Each Baptist church is run by the congregation itself—there is no hierarchy telling it what to do. And Baptists believe that each individual Christian is, in effect, his own Pope. He is responsible for reading the Bible as his final authority and doing what it says. There is no giant bureaucracy telling him what to believe or how to act.

And that’s the kind of Christianity you see growing around the world. If Martin Marty were alive today he would be even more unhappy.

Why the Left Hates Israel

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 20:48:08 GMT

The Jews are "too Christian."

In the last few years we have seen an outbreak of Left-wing hatred of Israel joined by its twin, antisemitism. Hostility toward the Jews has been around since Abraham but why so much in recent days in the West? When I was teaching at a large secular university in the 1980s hostility toward Israel was common then, but now it’s almost universal. Marches attacking the Jews and defending their enemies is the norm on campus and it gets worse the more elite the school. Claiming the Holocaust was a hoax circulates freely among Israel’s enemies. One called it the “holohoax.”

But why? The Jews have always been hated because of their successes as the modern world defines success. They seem to rise to the top in every occupation be it medicine, law, music, science, business, and finance. So the unsuccessful Left—and the Left is collective failure by definition—hates Israel and by proxy the Jews. Israel is hated for its military successes—since 1947 they have won every war with their neighboring enemies.

But the great irony is that Israel is by far the Middle East’s most successful outlet of Western, Christian culture. It is a working democracy that practices the rule of law, human rights, the sanctity of life, personal freedom, and the other values we associate with the West. How strange. Israel is hated for, well, being Christian.

The Real Reason the Left Hates Israel

https://spectator.com/article/the-real-reason-the-left-hates-israel/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Editorial&utm_campaign=WEEK++20260326++AL++EXPRESS+VPN+CID_2fc6186b73335eb122cd8c4c27c265d6&edition=us#comments-container

The Significance of the Lamb

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:24:04 GMT

An Easter Meditation from Matt Sieger

“The Significance of the Lamb in Genesis 22”

In the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets, it is traditional to recite the Akedah, the story in Genesis 22 of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.

God told Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you” (v. 2). “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife” (v. 6).

As the two of them went together, Isaac asked his father, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” And Abraham responded, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (vv. 7–8).

Then, just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, God called out for him to stop. Abraham saw a ram with his horns caught in a thicket. He sacrificed the ram instead of Isaac. Then we read:

“So Abraham called that place, The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided’” (v. 14).

On Rosh Hashanah, the shofar is sounded to waken the soul to the need of repentance. The shofar is a ram’s horn, reminding us of the ram Abraham sacrificed on Mount Moriah.

Abraham told Isaac that God would provide a lamb. But God provided a ram. Did Abraham get it wrong? Maybe not.

The prophet Isaiah wrote about someone who, like Isaac, would not resist the sentence of death: “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” ( Isaiah 53:7 ).

Who was this lamb? Some 700 years later, another prophet, John the Baptizer, said of Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” ( John 1:29 ).

Could this be the lamb that Abraham had envisioned when he told Isaac that God would provide the lamb? Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad” ( John 8:56 ).

Did Abraham foresee that Jesus would be crucified near Mount Moriah, where Abraham had sacrificed the ram in Isaac’s place?

God provided a ram to rescue Isaac from physical death. But He provided Jesus the Lamb to rescue us from spiritual death—eternal separation from God.

The book of Hebrews in the New Testament says:

“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” ( Hebrews 11:17-19 )

According to the New Testament, Jesus, God’s one and only son, literally came back from death after three days in the grave. That gives all who believe in Him the hope of resurrection after this life.

This article originally appeared on the Jews for Jesus website on March 27, 2013.

Matt Sieger, now retired, is a former sports reporter and columnist for The Cortland (New York) Standard and The Vacaville (California) Reporter. He is the author of The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978.

Giants of the Faith

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 18:16:15 GMT

If you are a baseball fan you will love this column.

I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1978 when the baseball team, the San Franciso Giants, had an outstanding season. But what was especially noticeable was the team’s spiritual journey. Many of them became outspoken Christians. Matt Sieger was a local sportswriter covering the Giants and has written an excellent book on the team’s spiritual awakening. Following is a column by Matt with a link at the end for purchasing his book. Enjoy!

Depending on your spiritual bent, you may have been either thrilled or turned off by

University of Connecticut women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers talking about her Christian

faith in post-game interviews on her way to the semi-finals of the 2024 NCAA tournament.

“I’m a living testimony. I give all glory to God, “she told ESPN. “He works in mysterious

ways. Last year [after injury], I was praying to be back at this stage. He sent me trials and

tribulations, but it was to build my character. It was to test my faith to see if I was a believer. But

I just kept on believing. I did all I could, so God could do all I can’t.”

Some probably feel, as Beneatha Younger put it in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in

the Sun, “I'm just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything? .

. . I just get so tired of Him getting the credit for things the human race achieves through its own

effort. Now, there simply is no God. There's only man. And it's he who makes miracles.”

The media and the public are now accustomed to hearing athletes thank God for the

abilities he has given them. But that wasn’t always the case. In baseball in the 1950 and 1960s it

was extremely rare to hear such pronouncements from athletes. Then in the 1970s in San

Francisco, one of the great culture clashes between religious athletes, the media and the fan base

erupted over a group of born-again ballplayers on the Giants who became known as the God

Squad.

Giants’ relief pitcher Gary Lavelle became a born-again Christian in the winter of 1976.

When he returned to the club the next year, he gradually and quietly began to share his faith with

his teammates when they showed an interest. Several, including Bob Knepper, Jack Clark, Rob

Andrews, and Randy Moffitt (brother of tennis great Billie Jean King) came to faith, and by the

1978 season there were eight or nine professing Christians on the team.

The Giants, who had suffered through several losing seasons, came to life that year and

led the National League West for much of the season, only to fade in a September swoon and

finish third. In post-game interviews, the players frequently thanked God for the ability he gave

them, and the press raised no objection.

But when the Giants’ fortunes faded on the field in 1979, the media was quick to blame

the born-again players, claiming their newfound faith had made them passive. The press

derisively referred to them as the God Squad.

The cornerstone of that accusation was a quote attributed to pitcher Knepper, who

supposedly told manager Dave Bristol it was “God’s will” when he yielded a home run that lost a

game. Knepper and his Christian teammates have always denied the quote, as did Bristol. But the

false story continued to hound them for years.

The media was merciless at times. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Glenn Dickey

wrote, “It may be that the Giants will have to trade one or two of the most obvious born-agains

on the club, to break up the clique. At the very least, their lockers should be separated in the

clubhouse.”

Another prominent Chronicle sports columnist, Lowell Cohn, told me recently that he

disagrees with Dickey on that score. However, Cohn, known for his biting satire, penned one of

his most provocative pieces, “Can Satan Save the Giants?” in which he recommended that one of

the Giants sell his soul to the devil since God didn’t seem to be helping the team too much!

Not only did the media blame the God Squad for losing, it also alleged that the Christian

athletes caused division in the clubhouse and got two managers fired. These false claims spread

to the national media, where prestigious columnists Peter Gammons of The Boston Globe and

Dick Young of the New York Daily News repeated them. One of the more ridiculous accusations

was that the Giants had two team buses to take players to the field, one for the God Squad and

another for the others,

Mike Ivie, one of the God Squadders, returned to the club from a stint of mental

exhaustion and sounded much like Paige Bueckers, who had made a comeback from physical

injury.

“He’ll put you through trials and tribulations and He’ll use every resource to help you

find happiness in your heart,” said Ivie. “It would have been twice as hard for me to come back if

I hadn’t believed in the Lord.”

Ivie and his teammates commonly made such pronouncements in a liberal San Francisco

atmosphere and era that was not conducive to talk about faith. Cohn felt the tension and in his

memoirs made this fascinating statement, “Until that day, I believed I was covering a baseball

team. I was wrong. I had wandered into the middle of a deep religious debate, one that defined

the Giants at that time.”

The God Squadders were spiritual pioneers who bore the brunt of attacks by the media.

They paved the way for Paige Bueckers and other Christian athletes to speak boldly about their

faith.

Matt Sieger has a B.A. from Cornell University and a master’s degree in magazine journalism

from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. Now retired, he was a sportswriter and columnist

for The Cortland (New York) Standard and The Vacaville (Calif.) Reporter, where this column

first appeared.

Here's a link to Matt's book: https://www.amazon.com/God-Squad-Born-Again-Francisco-Giants/dp/1631322184/

Paul Ehrlich False Prophet of Doom

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 23:16:05 GMT

One of history's great monsters just died.

The Monstrous evil of Paul Ehrlich

One of history’s great monsters died recently. Paul Ehrlich was a professor at Stanford who devoted his entire life to destroying members of the human race. He rose to fame in 1968 with the publication of, “The Population Bomb,” his epistle claiming population growth was about to produce mass starvation, and unless millions of people were either killed or prevented from existing the human race was doomed.

His terrible ideas did untold damage and yet to the end—when it was demonstrably clear he was wrong about everything—he never recanted. He told “60 Minutes” in 2023 that “humanity is not sustainable,” because we consume too many resources for our current lifestyle on the planet to bear. Even though in the years since the publication of Ehrlich’s book, earth’s population had increased by 5 billion people and we had all become immeasurably richer.

He had no regrets about having played a part in fueling concerns around population growth that were used to justify human rights abuses around the world.

He found human life itself repulsive, and the lives of the poor, especially, as unworthy to live.

He was an atheist. He rejected the existence of God and it led him down a dark, demonic path.

What did Paul Ehrlich propose we do about so-called over-population?

In 1970 he said, “We must have population control…by compulsion if voluntary methods fail.”

He suggested that the Federal Communications Commission “see to it that large families are always treated in a negative light on television.”

He proposed offering “responsibility prizes” to men who had vasectomies.

He approved of of involuntary sterilization—and pondered the possiblity of adding “sterilants” to basic foods and drinking water—as well as cultural and even financial pressure on parents and would-be parents not to reproduce.

Paul Ehrlich managed to be wrong about everything.

In the Wall Street Journal Jason Riley said, “Ehrlich was always wrong but never in doubt…Making spectacularly wrong predictions of imminent catastrophe became something of a habit for Ehrlich over the decades.”

The opening lines of “The Population Bomb” start with a spectacularly wrong prophesy: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death.”

He predicted that 65 million Americans would die from famine and that “England will not exist in the year 2000.”

In that 2023 interview on 60 Minutes he said that the civilization we are used to is about to disappear.

Michael Fumento wryly said: “The butterfly specialist became both rich and famous by scaring the pants and skirts off the public despite being correct less often than the proverbial stopped clock.”

What are the consequences of Paul Ehrlich’s ideas?

Some of them became brutal government edicts. China instituted a one-child policy, restricting families to one child or facing forced abortion. It may the worst human rights violation of all time. India launched a campaign of compulsory sterilization.

A few years ago the Smithsonian magazine published an article on Ehrlich’s influence: “In Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, South Korea and Taiwan, health workers’ salaries were… dictated by the number of IUDs they inserted into women. In the Philippines, birth-control pills were literally pitched out of helicopters hovering over remote villages. Millions of people were sterilized, often coercively, sometimes illegally, frequently in unsafe conditions, in Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

In the 1970s and ’80s, India…embraced policies that in many states required sterilization for men and women to obtain water, electricity, ration cards, medical care and pay raises. Teachers could expel students from school if their parents weren’t sterilized. More than eight million men and women were sterilized in 1975 alone…For its part, China adopted a “one-child” policy that led to huge numbers—possibly 100 million—of coerced abortions, often in poor conditions contributing to infection, sterility and even death. Millions of forced sterilizations occurred.”

If a false prophet had, in Aztec fashion, called for a human sacrifice every morning he could not have done more harm.

Paul Ehrlich should have stayed away from gambling.

In 1980 the economist Julian Simon, annoyed by the “phony bad news” being fed to the public, wagered that Paul Ehrlich couldn’t name a single natural resource that would become more expensive over the next decade. Ehrlich accepted the bet and chose copper, chromium, tin, nickel and tungsten. He lost on all five.

It was really a wager about human ingenuity and free market capitalism. If Ehrlich was right, and people were devouring the Earth’s resources, then the price of those resources would go up. If Simon was right, human beings would respond to shortages with ingenuity, and prices would, in the long term, go down. In 1990 Simon won the bet and Ehrlich paid up.

Simon challenged Ehrlich to bet again on commodity prices over the next ten years. Ehrlich wisely declined that bet.

Why did people believe Ehrlich even after he was catastrophically wrong?

Paul Ehrlich’s ideas were popular. He was a media darling. He was on Johny Carson more than twenty times. One time Carson gave him a whole hour to spew his nonsense. The prestige press loved his narrative. The New York Times called him a scientist “who deeply loves our planet.”

It’s the characteristic of all cults. You trust the cult leader against all facts. People create a narrative that they cling to no matter what.

Catastrophism gives politicians power. So many politicians loved Ehrlich and the kind of leverage he gave him over people.

Facts did not matter to Ehrlich and neither do they matter to the Greens.

In Deuteronomy God says false prophecy is punishable by death. Paul Ehrlich is a demonstration of the wisdom of that warning. False prophecy, as well as false doctrine, gets people killed. By the millions. That’s why God hates it and we should hate it too.

More: The Great Deceptions: #1, The Overpopulation Hysteria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJgr4wQBss

WSJ, Jack Butler: Ehrlich was destructive: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/free-expression/paul-ehrlichs-population-bomb-was-worse-than-a-dud-a2eb4f05?mod=FreeExpressionNewsletter

The media was behind Ehrlich: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/how-the-media-pushed-the-population-bomb-sham-for-decades-and-misled-generations/

The Professor who hated babies: https://unherd.com/2026/03/the-paul-ehrlich-bomb/?set_edition=us&tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=8796a3db2b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_03_18_12_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-8796a3db2b-35277013

Jason Riley, WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/paul-ehrlich-was-always-wrong-never-in-doubt-e2c27933?mod=itp_wsj,djemITP_h

Someone who almost wasn’t born because of Ehrlich: https://www.thefp.com/p/i-almost-didnt-survive-the-population?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The bet: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/paul-ehrlich-julian-simon-bet-population-930f3560?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h

Michael Fumento--Paul Ehrlich Was Wicked: https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2026/03/18/paul_ehrlich_wasnt_premature_he_was_wicked_1171033.html

The Bet: https://fee.org/articles/how-julian-simon-won-1-000-bet-with-population-bomb-author-paul-ehrlich/

The human rights abuses set off by Ehrlich: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/book-incited-worldwide-fear-overpopulation-180967499/

Paul Ehrlich, false prophet: https://firstthings.com/paul-ehrlich-false-prophet/

Marxism's Deadly Legacy: Why People Still Believe

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 20:09:10 GMT

What the Marxist Progressive Left has such Wide Appeal

The Marxist Progressive left is one of the single most destructive ideologies in history. It’s destructive power is clear—the nightmare of the Soviet Union, the mass murder in Maoist China and Pol Pot’s Cambodia, the spiritual disintegration of eastern Europe, and the various African Marxist experiments that killed millions. And then we add today’s Progressive/Socialist tyrannies—North Korea, Cuba, and until recently, Venezuela. Every single Marxist, Progressive left-wing government has been a parade of horrors.

So that logically brings up the question, why are millions in America and Europe so enamored with it? What is the appeal of Progressivism? The Marxist cult has a number of deceptions that make it attractive to people who are easily deceived, or worse, people who want to be deceived. What are those deceptions?

People are naturally religious, or, as one writer put it, man is incurably religious. The Christian faith has been the most powerful in history but what happens if you reject it? Surely Chesterton was right: when men stop believing in the God of the Bible they do not then believe nothing; they then believe anything. Marxist Progressivism serves as a substitute religion for those who have rejected God.

Marxist Progressivism promises a society in which all men are treated justly and fairly. The hunger for social justice emerges from the Christian doctrine of the sanctity of life. In Genesis 1:27 God says He created all men and women in His image; thus, all have infinite value and dignity. The Left has seized on this glorious doctrine and try to create a society of coerced, state-enforced equality. They assert that human beings can become morally perfect, given the right circumstances. Circumstances created through Left-wing power, of course. In the Bible God promises a heaven in the afterlife through Jesus Christ. Progressivism offers heaven on earth through a state generated utopia. Every injustice will disappear and justice and prosperity will reign over all. Everyone will be equal and no one will wield power and authority over anyone else.

The Progressive Left is a violent ideology and one reason for its powerful appeal is the promise of violence against those you hate. If a person feels they have gotten a raw deal in life it offers an outlet for vengeance. You get even with those who have oppressed you. You may have noticed that the Left is far more animated by hatred for the rich than love for the poor. The Progressive Left does nothing for the poor except make their lives worse. But the rich—they have killed those they deemed rich by the millions. Marxist ideology has created the worst gang of murderers in history but this violent propensity has great appeal to many angry people. When I was a professor at large secular university I had a Marxist teaching assistant. I had a lecture on the “Attractions of Marxism” and I decided to let him deliver it. Teaching assistants always love the opportunity to get in front of the class. He delivered my lecture, using my notes, almost word for word. But then at the end he added this: “Professor Mitchell has left out one thing in his lecture. As a Marxist I look forward to the day when I get kill all the oppressors.” A chill came over my class, me included. But at least we got a clear look of why Leftist ideology appealed to this young man.

Why does the Progressive Left have such an appeal when it has been such a failure in practice? Mary Eberstadt has observed that many left-wing rioters and demonstrators come from broken family backgrounds. If your family has failed you the sense of community you get with other Leftists fills a deep need in your soul. You become part of a community and that’s something every human being wants. It meets your need for human connection, and as I have said before, it meets your religious needs. Every human being has a religion. If you have abandoned historic Christianity you have to have something to take its place. That’s what Progressivism does for you—it becomes your substitute religion. It gives you a way of demonstrating your own righteousness. A number of years ago the theologian Joseph Bottum observed that Left-wing politics gives it’s liberal practitioners a way of alleviating their guilt. One does not save his soul through faith and repentance but by the way you vote. By voting for left-wing politicians you are saving your own soul. And it provides an easy way of proving you are more righteous than other people. This is known as virtue signaling. You alert others to your own righteousness. This is why rich white people put “Black Lives Matter” signs on their lawns even though their communities are 100% white.

One time my wife asked me why I thought I was right and so many of my Leftist colleagues were wrong. Where had they gone astray. I told her that Paul answers that question in 2 Cor. 4:4. They have been deceived by the God of this world. Satan has blinded men into thinking they can become righteous through Leftist politics. We must pray for these people to come to know the truth and enter into His glorious light.

More: Yoram Hazony’s brilliant essay on Marxism: https://quillette.com/2020/08/16/the-challenge-of-marxism/

The Horrific Cost of Green Religion

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 23:50:52 GMT

16 trillion dollars have been wasted.

The greatest financial scandal in history is unraveling. Governments are backing away from the Green insanity. Bjorn Lomborg says the nations of the world have spent 16 trillion dollars on the so-called green energy transition and what have we gotten for our money? Nothing. Fossil CO2 emissions set another record last year. So for 16 trillion dollars we haven’t lowered emissions one wit. We have spent 113 times more money on the green illusion than we have on poverty. Think how many third world villagers lives could have been saved if we had spent that money on cheap energy for people in Africa, India and elsewhere. Indoor air pollution from burning wood and dung to cook and keep warm kills more than 3 million people per year. Those lives would have been saved with cheap electricity.

Believing that there is no God and His providential intervention leads people to make terrible public policy decisions. It gets millions of people killed whose lives would have been saved by wise doctrine.

Wokeism is a Christian Heresy

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 23:42:16 GMT

The Prophets of "woke" have Christian underpinnings but have departed terribly.

I have argued repeatedly in my videos and blogs that Progressive Leftist politics is a religious cult, specifically a Christian cult. It’s basic ideas arise from Christian doctrine. In a recent essay Nigel Biggar, a British academic, agrees with me. He says woke advocates believe in the Christian doctrine of uplifting the poor, caring for the downtrodden. But they deviate from Christianity in that they believe themselves morally superior creatures in no need of correction or restraint. They are confident of their own moral virtue and their right to tear down and destroy everyone who disagrees with them. He adds, “Instead of behaving as if they were subject to God and his moral requirements, ‘woke’ prophets conduct themselves like little gods, subject to none but themselves, tyrannical and merciless.” They are able to criticize the sins of Western culture without thanking God for the blessings that culture has provided. The very culture that has given them the rich lives they enjoy. They epitomize Romans 1:21. Although they knew God they did not thank or honor Him.

That’s why they have become fools and have no chance of building a culture of their own. They can only foul their own nest.

The War in Iran is a Religous War

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 23:37:55 GMT

The death of the Ayatollah is a huge theological crisis.

Recently the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The two allies don’t see it this way but for Iran this is a religious war. A.S. Ibrahim of World magazine says, “Shiite Islam’s entire framework of leadership makes Khamenei’s death not merely a political event but a profound doctrinal crisis.” An ancient schism has created two groups of Muslims—Sunni and Shi’a. Ibrahim observes, the dominant strand of Shi’a Islam believes “that following Muhammad’s death, twelve infallible Imams served as his rightful successors, wielding both spiritual and political authority over the Muslim community. The twelfth of these, known as al-Mahdi.”

Al-Mahdi is hidden from the world but still alive, still guiding the faithful through qualified intermediaries until his eventual return or reappearance.

Khamenei was not merely a political leader. He was … the living representative of the Hidden Imam, the speaking mouth of divine will, shielded by Allah against his enemies. The [Iranian] regime built its legitimacy on the claim of divine guardianship—and that claim has now been exposed, visibly and violently, as a lie.

https://wng.org/opinions/allah-did-not-shield-him-1772447633

The Powerful Truth of Christian Adoption

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 20:13:42 GMT

It's how all of us enter God's family.

Lots of people are interested in adoption and you might be surprised to know it is one of the most powerful words in the Bible, it is one of the most important words in a Christian’s vocabulary, and it has been routinely practiced all through the history of Christianity.

The New Testament uses the word five times and it speaks volume about us and God each time. In Ephesians 1:5 it says that God, “adopted us to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ.” One of the biggest reasons Jesus came to earth was to adopt children. In Galatians 4:5 the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ came to earth to redeem us so that we might be adopted. In Romans 8:15 it says that we are no longer slaves to our old sinful life but we have the spirit of adoption as sons. I have told my adopted children that I was adopted. They looked a bit surprised then I told them: you have been adopted twice but I have been adopted once. No one is a natural born member of the family of God. You get in by adoption.

Adoption has been a huge part of Christian history from the very beginning. It was common for people of the ancient world to get rid of unwanted children by taking them out into the wilderness and abandoning them. Christians would wander the hills around their communities, find these abandoned children, and adopt them. One historian said this contributed greatly to the growth of Christianity. Most of the abandoned children were girls. When pagan families had sons of marriageable age many of the available young women were in Christian families. They had no choice but to marry into these families because Christians had most of the girls. And wives have a lot of religious influence over their husbands.

All through the Middle Ages entire Christian organizations were devoted to adoption. Children would be kidnapped by barbarian tribes during the many wars of the period. These organizations would go to these tribes and ransom the children. If they did not have families to return to they would be adopted by a monastic house.

This happens today. You may have read about the Korean pastor who ran an orphanage. He installed a drop box at the door of the orphanage. If someone did not want a child they could put it in the drop box. The pastor would then take the child into his orphanage and raise it. He had adopted 19 of the children as his own and was raising hundreds more. This is what Christians have done all over the world and in every culture. Adoption is a huge part of what we are.

My own experience with adoption has been wonderful and full of adventure. My wife and I have six birth children and three adopted children. We are on the three-three-three plan. We have three birth daughters, three birth sons, and three adopted sons. Our adopted children happen to be children of color—they have dark skin.

Raising a large interracial family is not easy. Raising children is not easy. But my goodness is it ever worth it! I am happy to say that my adult children love each other and have tremendous times together. I think my birth children have been blessed beyond words to have adopted siblings. It has given them experiences you cannot have any other way. And now I have the joy of watching the cousins mingle together—I have 18 grandchildren so far. I feel enormously blessed by our generous and gracious God.

There are lots of different Christian denominations: Is that bad?

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 22:12:42 GMT

I believe God has ordained variety.

Would it be better if all Christians were in one universal, worldwide church?

The desire to have all Christians in one, large human organization has been around for a long time. The Roman Catholics have always desired it and strongly desire it to this day. They view the schism of Christianity into numerous denominations as a great tragedy which they are praying to rectify.

But they are not the only ones with this passion. I remember as a college student the major Protestant denominations met with each other to form one worldwide church. They called this the ecumenical movement. Many of them saw an eventual merger of Protestants and Catholics to form a monolithic organization that would be called Christian. They were willing to sacrifice doctrinal beliefs to make this happen. The old joke was more and more Christians would band together believing less and less and eventually we would all be together believing nothing. The ecumenical movement foundered and failed.

Why are there so many different Christian groups? Because of human freedom. When people have freedom of choice in religion they choose to form lots of different groups. I used to tell my students at the university that there are lots of different religious groups for the same reason the parking lot has lots of different cars. People have choices.

Are the many denominations of Christianity a bad thing? Not in my opinion. The variety of Christian organizations gives Christianity a cultural diversity that dramatically increases its power. No matter who you are there is a Christian church where you will fit in. If you are a well-educated suburbanite, a homeless person living on the streets, a recovering drug addict, a person with brown skin, a person who likes loud emotional worship, or quiet contemplation, and a thousand other potential characteristics there’s a church for you. And that’s a good thing.

Are we headed to a one world church? Are my brethren who want a unified human organization of Christians going to get their way? No. We are headed the other way. To more and more variety and more and more choices.

In Ephesians 4 the Apostle Paul says that for Christians there is:

One body

One Spirit

One hope

One Lord

One faith

One baptism

One God

Is that true today? Absolutely. The worldwide church of Jesus Christ dwells as a unified whole. It is a spiritual unity composed of every person who knows Jesus Christ as personal Savior. It is the unity of the twice-born children of God and we do not need any other kind. We do not need some human organization that claims the allegiance of every Christian. I think God is pleased with the current state of things. Some say God is grieved by the vast number of Christian groups. No He’s not. He ordained their existence. Each of those groups—and there are thousands of different denominations—is able to reach a unique group of people that the others are not reaching.

I recently saw this in the flesh. I worshipped at the Guangzhou International Christian Fellowship in Communist China. There were 400 worshippers from 50 different countries. Can you imagine how many denominations were represented? And there we were singing from our hearts in complete harmony of spirit, rejoicing together in the goodness of God and His redeeming power. That’s the kind of unity God wants. That’s what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 4. It’s unity of the Spirit. I rejoice in every person on earth who knows and loves Jesus Christ. I feel a great sense of unity with them. We do not need any other kind. It’s the unity produced by the power of Almighty God in the heart of every person who loves Him. It is the unity that will go forth and continue to bring down strongholds and spread the Gospel to every creature. It’s the unity we see in Revelation 5 when people from every tongue and tribe and nation gather around the throne and sing “Worthy is the Lamb.” And it will glorify the God who made us forever and ever. Amen.

Epstein and the Power of Christ

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 18:31:26 GMT

This scandal show the immense power of Christian culture.

I had resolved not to publish any videos on the Jeffrey Epstein scandals. Every news outlet I subscribe to has had endless articles on Epstein, his shenanigans, and the people caught up in his web of evil. But I am breaking my silence on this tawdry tale because at one very important point it overlaps with Christian culture and reveals, once again, the far reaching influence of Jesus Christ on people who do not worship Him, glorify Him, or thank Him. They are utterly unaware of His impact on their lives.

So, where is the overlap? This is a crisis for one reason and one reason only. Epstein conspired to have sex with underage girls—pedophilia. And the concept of “underage” is totally a product of Christian sexual ethics. We have demanded the protection of—primarily—girls under the age of 18 although the age of consent varies. But almost every nation in the world has one and this is due to the far reaching power of Christ. Do you think Roman emperors or Greek aristocrats thought relations with underage girls was scandalous?

This is one more example of Christian power reigning over people who have no Christian faith.

More: Where Non-Christians Agree with Christians About Sex; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRo6hFk7WXU

Mandelson humiliated: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/epstein-peter-mandelson-and-the-labour-party-fd5f5bc2?mod=Searchresults&pos=5&page=1

Prince Andrew: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/epstein-peter-mandelson-and-the-labour-party-fd5f5bc2?mod=Searchresults&pos=5&page=1

Rocks Britain: https://www.wsj.com/world/uk/epstein-scandal-sends-shockwaves-through-the-british-establishment-fd83a16d?mod=Searchresults&pos=12&page=1

The Business world: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/flirty-emails-and-chummy-photos-show-how-far-epstein-reached-into-business-world-5e150c7c?mod=Searchresults&pos=8&page=1

A powerful lawyer is forced to resign: https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/a-revolt-inside-paul-weiss-over-the-epstein-files-took-down-brad-karp-955fdfe6?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1

The scandal even affects the British pound: https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/a-revolt-inside-paul-weiss-over-the-epstein-files-took-down-brad-karp-955fdfe6?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1

The Spectator: https://spectator.com/article/epstein-the-clintons-and-the-death-of-trust/?edition=us

A Toxic Day in Public School

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 16:54:03 GMT

The content in killing the kids.

Kids are not depressed by excessive cell phone use. They are depressed because of the destructive garbage they are taught in public school classrooms.

Recently an educator went over a typical day in a public school.

First period is English, where the class is reading a young adult novel about a teenage girl who self-harms, spirals into depression, and eventually attempts suicide. The teacher praises the book for its honesty.

Second period is social studies. Students fill out a worksheet asking them to reflect on how racism is “baked into the structure of American life.”

Third period is science, and the study of, of course, climate change. The teacher plays a documentary that includes images of wildfires, melting glaciers, and disappearing coastal towns. The student learns that humanity will face catastrophic collapse if global carbon emissions do not reach “net zero.”

In fourth period civics the students are told to write letters to congressmen demanding gun control. The students are told to identify systemic injustice.

The teacher has just come from a professional-development workshops on “trauma-informed pedagogy,” where they’ll learn to spot signs of anxiety, disengagement, and despair in students — and to treat these as evidence of trauma.

Almost no one will consider the possibility that the teachers are the ones causing the trauma.

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2025/10/theres-too-much-doom-and-gloom-in-the-classroom/

The Attempt to Destroy Christian Marriage

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 22:29:14 GMT

Polyamory is the latest fad.

The people who hate Christian culture descend into behaviors that destroy everything good in life. We see this in the culture of death promoted by the Left; violence, mass murder, destruction of free speech, abortion, euthanasia, transgenderism; the list is a long one.

Marx expressed hostility to the traditional family in the Communist Manifesto and predicted its destruction. And if Marx’s assault was not enough we see it from the Progressive pagans of the modern west.

The latest iteration is polyamory—marriage between three people. The dictionary definition is the practice of engaging in multiple romantic relationships simultaneously with the consent of all the parties involved.

In parts of Canada, it’s been taken up by the court system as judges in Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia, and Quebec have recognized the existence of “couples” composed of more than two parents.

The advocates of polyamory base their arguments on claims about human evolution. Since the great apes are not monogamous we don’t need to be either.

What’s wrong with polyamory?

Since CNM—consensual nonmonogamy is rare--there are not a lot of studies on it. And there are already wild variations on how it is practiced. Each “throuple” comes up with its own agreements and standards and defines the relationship the way they want to. Let me make a prediction: breakups and cheating are going to be routine features of this form of planned paganism.

The basic assumptions of polyamory and its academic advocates are wrong. We are not chimpanzees; we are not gorillas. We are human beings created in the image of God and as such our family functioning is very, very different.

Most importantly, alternative family forms are a disaster for children—a group no one seems to really care about.

One time a sociologist at UC, Boulder, invited me to speak in his Human Sexuality class. I was to defend the Christian view of sexual morality before his 100 or so students. His class generally rejected my view and many were angered by it. It was instructive that two girls came up after the class and told me they were grateful for my presentation—they were being pressured to have sex by their male companions but believed it to be morally wrong.

The professor said that in the next class after mine he had presenters who were into the swinger scene—multiple sexual partners and a general environment of infidelity. He said that one of the students asked them where children fit in in all this; the answer was simple. They don’t.

In Christianity the primary purpose of marriage is to create, nurture, train, and raise the next generation. In the pagan view of marriage children just get in the way.

We already know the consequences of a polygamous society, which polyamory aims to repeat. A writer in National Review said, “Members of the offshoot sect of Mormonism that continues to practice polygamy are just a handful — probably not more than 50,000. But they’re the opposite of our stereotypes of law-abiding, industrious Mormons. In order to sustain the system of polygamy, the faithful are kept from going to college or even finishing high school. When they become rivals to their fathers, boys are forced to leave the area where they have grown up, and girls as young as twelve are pressured into marrying older relatives. The leaders of the sect are more apt to be known for their criminal convictions than for corporate start-ups, and nearly all the members of the community are desperately poor.”

The author goes on to say, “There is no advanced society anywhere in the world based on anything except monogamy.” My guess is the same is true for polyamory.

Take for example the statistics on child molestation as they are affected by these creative marriage arrangements. “One famous [study], published in 1984, revealed that stepfathers were eight times more likely than biological fathers to molest the stepdaughters they were raising. The researchers found that one in six women brought up by a stepfather was molested.” In my recent research those numbers hold up today. Once you mess with the traditional marriage bond bad things happen.

The polyamory fad is a natural extension of the decision of the Supreme Court in 2015 to legalize gay marriage. There is a movement now to challenge that decision. Justice Clarence Thomas said of the original decision that it was a legal fiction with no basis in the constitution. The movement has called itself “Greater Than” and is built around the idea that the needs of children are greater than the preferences of adults. The 2015 decision attacked the most child-friendly institution in world history—monogamous marriage. That needs to be undone for the sake of the family in the future.

Consider the logic: If gay marriage is acceptable then every other form of marriage has to be. Polyamory, polygamy, throupling, giant families produced through surrogacy, etc., all have to be accepted. And all are beyond question socially disastrous.

The answer is to return to the traditional family, the one described in Genesis 2, and the one that has been consistently the basic unit of Western culture.

Katy Faust observed in The Federalist, “The problem is that biology itself draws discriminatory distinctions. Children are most likely to thrive when raised by their married, biological mother and father.” Family law should reflect that sexual difference is essential to child development. In other words, kids need both a Mom and a Dad. She concludes, “Children are the overlooked casualties of a legal regime that has elevated adult desire over biological and developmental reality.”

The Bible has given us very clear instructions on how the family is to operate. For two thousand years Western culture followed those prescriptions. It brought about enormous prosperity and well-being. We need to return to those prescriptions and reject the Left-wing paganism that would destroy our culture that has brought us so much blessing.

More: Mormons have good family practices—thanks to Christians; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ-IQZNZWpQ

The Polyamory Delusion—the Attempt to destroy Christian marriage

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2026/02/the-polyamory-delusion/

Katy Faust in The Federalist speaking of the “Greater Than” movement: https://thefederalist.com/2026/01/29/obergefell-has-harmed-children-for-far-too-long/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=obergefell-has-harmed-children-for-far-too-long&utm_term=2026-01-29

Overthrowing Obergfell https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-movement-to-topple-obergefell-is-no-longer-fringe?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=4ad32ece1b-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-4ad32ece1b-28475396&mc_cid=4ad32ece1b&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

The Great Transgender Bust

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:49:45 GMT

The issue tends to be waning.

The Great Trans-Gender Bust

The tide appears to be turning in the transgender debate. As I have argued elsewhere the Marxist Progressive Left—the dominant religion of Western elites—needed a new victim to give religious meaning to their lives. They settled on those claiming gender dysphoria. The left championed the transgender cause, calling it the human rights issue of our time. The Biden administration tied transgenderism to Title IX and made opposing it against the law.

The Left vilified anyone who disagreed with them. It cost Charlie Kirk his life. In 2020 Colin Wright, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State University said the surge in transgenderism was not based in biological reality but was a “social contagion”; that is, a bandwagon created by social media. Then, according to Wright, “Within hours, colleagues denounced me as a “transphobic” bigot. Anonymous activists emailed universities to poison my job prospects. A professional job board even published mock job listings warning others not to hire me. My academic career never recovered.”

There are many, many other examples of cancellations and assaults on the reputations of people who questioned the dominant Left-wing narrative.

But the Left bet on the wrong horse. It is clear that transgenderism is at the very least, complicated. Now there is a spate of articles out criticizing and even condemning the trans movement.

The Spectator ran an article last October that put forth some of the latest data. The medical specialists who treat gender dysphoria estimate that about 5 in 100,000 people truly suffer from it. Yet, by 2022 100 of every 100,000 people were being given puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. In other words, 20 times more people were receiving medical interventions then would normally be called for. The article—cited below—said that a study in the U.K. found 50 times more people were being treated than showed true clinical signs of gender dysphoria. Then the article says, “Yet even among the minority of children who do fall within the clinical population, puberty blockers and hormones aren’t the answer. Multiple systematic reviews reveal no reliable evidence of benefit. The harms, however, are significant, including diminished bone density, cardiovascular disease and infertility – to name just a few. Simply put, subjecting children to dangerous medical interventions in the name of “gender-affirming care” is never justified.”

So, why, in the past ten years, did we see dramatic growth in so-called gender dysphoria? The Wall Street Journal had the answer: Lisa Littman was a physician and researcher who coined the term “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” in a 2018 paper to describe a newly emerging cohort of adolescents—overwhelmingly girls with no childhood history of gender dysphoria or even sex nonconformity. “These girls suddenly began describing themselves as transgender, often after friends in their peer groups did the same. Dr. Littman proposed that this pattern was best explained by social contagion, meaning the spread of ideas or behaviors through peer influence.” In other words, these young girls were just going along with the crowd. It is outrageous to turn this herd mentality into a civil rights issue. But a backlash has set in.

What evidence do we see of the decline of the trans movement?

Social contagions, or going along with the crowd, can cut both ways. “Andover Phillips Academy in suburban Boston surveys over three-quarters of its students annually. In 2023 , 9.2% identified as neither male nor female. This year, that number has crashed to just 3%. A similar story emerges at Brown University: 5% of students identified as non-binary in 2022 and 2023 , but by 2025 that share had dropped to 2.6% .”

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s annual survey of U.S. college students, the percentage of students identifying as transgender halved from 6.8 percent in 2022 to 3.6 percent in 2025. In other words, all of a sudden a condition treated by the left as the “civil rights issue of our time” was about to disappear.

From a social scientific viewpoint “gender affirming care” is never justified. From a medical viewpoint it is never justified. And in the view of biblical theology it is never justified.

It appears to be a passing fad that has created a firestorm of hostility toward its enemies and has ruined countless lives.

Why did transgenderism become such a big issue in the first place?

I have explained this in other videos but let me summarize. For the Left all of history is conflict between groups. Oppressors and victims. Fighting for justice for victims gives people on the Left religious meaning. Defending the victim is an integral part of their religion. In this little melodrama what is always required? Victims. A number of years ago I said that the left was winning their battle for gay rights. I predicted then that they would find another victim to assist. I never dreamed it would be the transgendered but that’s who they settled on. And after this issue goes away the Left will find another victim to defend. They have to. It is a religious necessity.

The Marxist, Progressive Left is the cult that has replaced Christianity as the religion of the elites in the West. Removing Christianity as the driving force of our culture always ends in disaster. The transgender craze is just one more example. The answer is simple. Return to faith in Jesus Christ and He will give you rest for your souls. And He will protect you from insane doctrinal beliefs.

More: Why the Left has gone insane over Transgenderism; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nabPZYePXI4

Transgenderism and Identity: A Christian Perspective on What Truly Matters; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOgKpxQLe4

January Littlejohn; Spectator: https://thespectator.com/topic/gender-affirming-care-almost-never-justified/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=807682ee78-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_10_30_07_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-807682ee78-154787678

It would be unthinkable to have put children through all this for nothing, and for American medics to have gone along with it all. But the awful truth is that there is no evidence that allowing children to transition actually works in any meaningful sense.

Even according to the standards of those who would help children to transition, there is simply no justification for the mass medicalization of healthy children under the guise of “gender-affirming care.”

These WPATH-aligned professionals estimate the prevalence of the clinical population to be around 4.6 to 7.5 per 100,000 individuals.

Next, the authors compare these numbers with recent data on how many adolescents are actually being diagnosed and treated. They cite a study from this year in the journal JAMA Pediatrics which found that approximately 100 out of every 100,000 American adolescents received puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones between 2018 and 2022.

But Littman was on to something. Her early observations pointed to a powerful influence: the role of social contagion and online communities.

Another study from this year found a 50-fold increase in gender dysphoria diagnoses in UK primary care for children and young people between 2011 and 2021.

From the Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/evidence-backs-the-transgender-social-contagion-hypothesis-40937876?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqepAlVNCDrQhY2a7rHxupd68YBKR8LljL3YRX6EHukjWSrs4G4TgINZCFHt8NU%3D&gaa_ts=6903788b&gaa_sig=901uGUBFiy4BBtH3ETMlICwc7_PwUq6At8iRyuLyeb4vVB44v7ebvFewYfA1N_ORYqkAo_OAA52Ex1HL6hB_zg%3D%3D&vcrmeid=ni974hQxxUaRJFyu3d0dGQ&vcrmiid=86QfeMrW2Eyl8NB4Nx4M3A

Colin Wright: Suggesting that social factors might cause or contribute to transgender identification violated fashionable left-wing dogma: that “gender identity” is an innate and immutable trait, and that some people are born with one that conflicts with their sex.

I was an academic scientist at Penn State in February 2020, when I became the target of an online mob for tweeting about transgender identity. I shared a link to an article from the Guardian with the accompanying quote: “Sweden’s Board of Health and Welfare confirmed a 1,500% rise between 2008 and 2018 in gender dysphoria diagnoses among 13- to 17-year-olds born as girls.” My commentary was brief: “Two words: social contagion.”

From Spiked: https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/11/11/the-trans-reckoning-has-arrived/

The varying justifications used by journalists is a testament to their commitment to dishonesty. They moved from ‘this isn’t happening’ to ‘it’s happening but the numbers are tiny – why do you care?’ to ‘I find this offensive’. Then, after the irrefutable evidence of the Cass Review: ‘You’re right, we are where we are, I did my best during a difficult time.’

First Things weighs in: https://firstthings.com/the-collapse-of-trans-identification/

Newsweek reports on HHS findings and the dishonesty of the Left: https://www.newsweek.com/liberals-should-read-the-hhs-review-of-pediatric-gender-affirming-care-opinion-11273400

The Monstrous Evil of the Progressive Left

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:32:23 GMT

Bad doctrine produces wicked, ungodly consequences.

The Progressive Left functions as the dominant cultural and ideological force of America’s elite. It is a religion in every sense of the word. In a previous video I described the fundamental religious beliefs of the Left. In this video I examine the characteristics that result.

A reminder: The Left can be best understood as a sect with all the characteristics of a religion. Its primary prophet is Karl Marx. As Paul Johnson described it, it is a “secular superstition”—a faith that guides its adherents without reliance on God.

The Left is parasitic, living off the productivity and innovation of others. Typically, it is comprised of highly educated, wealthy individuals who often receive substantial funding from government sources. Few make their living through traditional business ventures or wealth-creating activities; many are attorneys or bureaucrats.

This ideology dominates education—especially in higher education—and extends its reach into Hollywood, media, publishing, foundations, and government bureaucracies.

The Left’s worldview champions various “liberation” movements, such as gender feminism, LGBTQ rights, and civil rights. It is anti-Christian saying that individuals are primarily defined by their group—whether by race, class, or gender—while individual traits are minimized or dismissed altogether.

The Left murders Christians and other enemies in large numbers. In fact, Marxist governments are the greatest mass murderers in history having killed more than a 100 million of their own citizens as a matter of state policy in the last hundred years.

Patriotism and national pride are also regarded as threats, as the Left promotes an internationalist perspective that dismisses allegiance to one’s country. That’s why the Left promotes open borders and no immigration restrictions.

They believe they can invent social reality. They argue that men can be women, that women are the same as men, that the raising of children can be done in any number of ways without negative outcomes.

Many Leftists are what could be called “watermelons”—green on the outside but red on the inside. They invoke environmental issues to undermine free-market capitalism and exploit manufactured environment crises in order to expand their power.

The Left is always angry and violent because its goals are not achievable without coercion. You can’t produce equal incomes without commandeering the economy and forcing the same income on everyone. This produces constant frustration; their vision cannot be realized in the real world. This persistent disappointment fuels their tendency toward blaming conspiracies—portraying opposition as malevolent saboteurs rather than acknowledging practical limitations.

The Left is far more animated by hatred of the rich than love for the poor.

The Left is perpetually adolescent. They are not thankful for their blessings but angry that their ideals are never realized. As Thomas Sowell observed, most young people favor the Left because their worldview is untested by experience. The only reason for their rejection of the Left’s vision is that the real world—and its inevitable imperfections—is very different from their ideals. Experience, which often involves costly mistakes, is essential in understanding reality. However, many are insulated from hardship—whether through wealth, welfare, academic tenure, or judicial immunity. They remain in a state of perpetual immaturity, incapable of fully understanding life’s complexities.

Bad doctrine produces tragic results. The characteristics of the Left are demonic, which stands to reason—Leftist ideology originated in hell. Jesus told us to pray to be delivered from evil. This is one of the greatest evils in history. Lord, deliver us.

The Industrial Manufacture of Children

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 16:16:16 GMT

The massive abuse of surrogacy.

Technology can be a blessing and a curse and nowhere is this more evident than in the creation of new life. Surrogacy—the mechanical implantation of a man’s sperm in the donated womb of a woman—is now a chosen method for creating babies. This video is not about the ethics of surrogacy per se but the abuse of it by men with evil intent. All over the world men are using the practice for what is nothing less than the industrial manufacture of children.

How are rich men using surrogacy? The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article on the schemes of wealthy men to produce offspring. The article begins, “Clerks working for family court Judge Amy Pellman were reviewing routine surrogacy petitions when they spotted an unusual pattern: the same name, again and again.” Billionaires, especially from China, were seeking to create gigantic families through surrogacy. They chose America because surrogacy is illegal in China and virtually unregulated here. One of the billionaires is Bo Xu. “Xu calls himself ‘China’s first father’ and is known in China as a vocal critic of feminism. On social media, his company said he has more than 100 children born through surrogacy in the U.S.” Xu said that through this process he hoped to have 50 high-quality sons. When Judge Pellman called Xu Bo in for a confidential hearing in the summer of 2023, he never entered the courtroom. The maker of fantasy videogames lived in China and appeared via video, speaking through an interpreter. He said he hoped to have 20 or so U.S.-born children through surrogacy—boys, because they’re superior to girls—to one day take over his business.

Again, from the Journal: “Another wealthy Chinese executive, Wang Huiwu, hired U.S. models and others as egg donors to have 10 girls, with the aim of one day marrying them off to powerful men.” Amanda Troxler, a Los Angeles-based surrogacy lawyer, said her firm consulted with a hopeful Chinese parent who said she wanted eight or 10 surrogacies and asked for a discount. Troxler said, “No, we’re not Costco.” An increasing number of “crazy rich” clients are commissioning dozens, or even hundreds, of U.S.-born babies with the goal of forging an unstoppable family dynasty.

The market has been streamlined. At times Chinese parents have had U.S.-born children without stepping foot in the country. A thriving mini-industry of American surrogacy agencies, law firms, clinics, delivery agencies and nanny services—even to pick up the newborns from hospitals—has risen to accommodate the demand, permitting parents to ship their genetic material abroad and get a baby delivered back, at a cost of up to $200,000 per child. The article goes on to cite many other instances of mass baby production using surrogacy.

What is their reason for having lots of biological offspring? The reasons vary but underlying it all is materialistic atheism. Children are nothing more than biological cogs in a machine. They can be manufactured and then programmed to do whatever their human creator wants them to do. They want children to run their businesses or to marry into other rich families, expanding their influence. Whatever the reason the assumption is that babies are not spiritual beings but can be cranked out on an assembly line to serve their human creators.

So What’s wrong with the mass manufacture babies? Anyone see a problem here? Do you have any ethical or spiritual concerns with this process?

It hollows out the meaning of family and human dignity. When a child figures out they were conceived this way there are going to be serious psychological and spiritual repercussions. We already deal with this with adoption. Imagine the identity crisis in a young child when they realize surrogacy was their origin. Despite the wealth and resources at their disposal, these billionaires reveal a profound misunderstanding of parenting. They often approach child-rearing as a mechanism of control rather than a nurturing endeavor. Experiencing parenthood teaches many that children possess their own thoughts, feelings, and wills—an aspect that cannot be dictated or programmed.

The billionaires I read about are misogynist in the extreme. They are convinced of the inferiority of women. Of course, this has been common in most cultures from the beginning. As I have said repeatedly, it is only Christian culture that believes in the equal worth of women and it’s all because of Genesis 1:27: God created women in His image as well as men. And I have news for the billionaires. It’s a big mistake to think you can program children into automatons who will do your bidding. Every parent has made this mistake in some degree. When I first had children I assumed I could get them to do what I wanted but that’s not exactly how it worked out. Have any of you noticed that kids have minds of their own? Let me make a prophetic utterance to Bo Xu and Wang Huiwu and other billionaires trying to mass manufacture a family. It won’t work. A generation from now you will have all kinds of movies and books about surrogate kids who grow up to be something very different from what their biological fathers intended. They will rebel. Some will turn into monsters. Some will become Christians. But there will be all kinds of outcomes the billionaires didn’t intend.

Another problem. This process is void of love. It’s all done for money. It is human selfishness run wild. No one loves these kids. They are human robots. In the United States, it is estimated that only 2 percent of surrogacy contracts are altruistic, that is, 3 unpaid, suggesting that lower-income women are attracted to surrogacy for financial reasons. Across the U.S., laws prohibit the sale of organs and criminalize prostitution precisely because there are some things that should be safeguarded from market influence. Renting reproductive capacity belongs in that category.

What is God’s family plan for mankind? God’s design for families stands in stark contrast to this transactional approach to procreation. The Bible outlines a divine blueprint for family life in Genesis 2:24, emphasizing that a man shall leave his parents and unite with his wife, forming a new family unit. These are the first instructions on how the fundamental unit of the human race is to operate. God organizes societies into families. Kids need a father and a mother. Children are spiritual beings. They must be discipled by mom and dad. Proverbs 22:6 says, Train up a child in the way he should go. That’s the job of parents. The Bible assumes children will have a mom and dad who will raise them to be what God wants them to be. Titus 1:6 says the Christian leader is responsible for the spiritual lives of his children.

This whole process needs the guiding hand of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. We must begin with the biblical view of human nature. Men and women are spiritual beings, created in the image of God and invested with free will. Their great need is to embrace the God who created them. There are billionaires in this world who are committed to procreating biological offspring. Christians are committed to producing spiritual offspring. Beings who will worship God forever.

More: First Things on surrogacy: https://firstthings.com/the-surrogacy-exploitation-crisis/

[one thing overlooked in all this: often the purpose of surrogacy is the sexual exploitation of child] It was a welcome development, then, when Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, released a report warning that “the practice of surrogacy is characterized by exploitation and violence” and urged governments to begin “tak[ing] steps towards eradicating surrogacy in all its forms.”

Surrogacy contracts are written by and for adults, yet the one most affected has no voice. Indeed, the only distinction between a legal commercial surrogacy agreement and an illegal baby-selling arrangement is the timing of the contract. It’s a difference of degree, not kind, and doesn’t change the underlying reality: Money is exchanged, and a child is transferred.

At age seven—often when children learn of their origins—surrogate-born and donor-conceived children did worse than naturally-conceived peers, echoing adoption literature’s age of realization.

The Beauty of Bedford Falls: https://wng.org/opinions/the-moral-beauty-of-bedford-falls-1766287671?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGe6aNqLXA-haVvl7qjA9ig6T1gLCG_DBqbhsOV-gOwfwr30I7FoI751LrMRJGWG3NBOZGym_yK3kCOnCHvZtvGorD8YKyrD4Q6rRCfCu7ZcKrL4g

Capra correctly assumes that the audience will immediately and instinctively understand that Bedford Falls is morally superior to Pottersville: One city feels human, while the other feels predatory, hollow, and cruel. The film’s confidence rests on the conviction that practical reason—the ordinary human capacity to judge what makes for a good life—allows human beings, regardless of religious belief, to perceive certain undeniable moral truths about the created order.

The basic goods of marriage and family supply the film’s most poignant argument. In Bedford Falls, George and Mary enter into a marriage marked by sacrifice, joy, and shared purpose. Their home is an old, drafty “fixer-upper,” yet it is unmistakably alive, filled with children, noise, laughter, and song. In Pottersville, Mary’s life unfolds along a different path. Deprived of the marriage she would have shared with George, her world is marked by the quiet absence of intimacy and shared life. The devastation becomes unmistakable in the absence of Zuzu’s petals from George’s pocket. We see that a world without children is not merely less populated but less beautiful. The loss registers as a genuine deprivation rather than a neutral difference.

The Surrogacy business: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/chinese-billionaires-surrogacy-pregnancy-7fdfc0c3?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1

Chinese elites and billionaires who are going outside of China, where domestic surrogacy is illegal, to quietly have large numbers of U.S.-born babies.

Another, earlier Weibo account verified as being operated by

Last month, Xu’s ex-girlfriend, Tang Jing, alleged in a post on Weibo that he had 300 children, living across numerous properties in multiple countries. Xu has previously accused Tang of theft and the two have ongoing lawsuits. Tang didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In a statement on Weibo at the time, Duoyi Network said the 300 figure was wrong but confirmed a stunning fact: “After many years of effort” through surrogacy in the U.S., Xu has “only a little over 100” children.

More recently, a new clientele has emerged. “Elon Musk is becoming a role model now,” said [Nathan]Zhang.

One wealthy businessman in China, who like Wang is also in the education business, wanted more than 200 children at once using surrogates, envisioning a family enterprise,

Other surrogacy professionals described similarly head-spinning numbers. The owner of one agency in California said he had helped fill an order for a Chinese parent seeking 100 children in the past few years, a request spread over several agencies.

Agencies typically receive $40,000 to $50,000 per surrogacy, separately from payments made to the surrogate carriers.

It’s not just the Chinese; a Russian billionaire with a hundred surrogate children: https://www.wsj.com/world/pavel-durov-children-fertility-sperm-donation-3d6d5231?mod=djem10point

Attractive women started showing up in summer 2024 at a fertility clinic in southern Moscow in response to an unusual marketing campaign: free sperm.

The sperm belonged to Pavel Durov, billionaire founder of the messaging app Telegram.

At conferences, on social media and on news sites, the clinic described Durov as having “high genetic compatibility” and noted he would pay for in vitro fertilization for women under 37 who wanted to use his “in-demand” sperm.

A couple in Los Angeles warehousing 22 children produced by surrogates; https://www.wsj.com/us-news/los-angeles-california-surrogate-mansion-db28c8ab?mod=series_surrogacy

In early May, after a baby was hospitalized with possible signs of child abuse, police showed up at a nine-bedroom mansion in this Los Angeles suburb known for lavish homes and residents with roots in China. Inside, they found 15 more children, none older than 3, living under the care of nannies.

The investigative trail led them to six more children at other homes in the Los Angeles area. A Chinese-born man and woman living in the mansion said they were the parents of all 22 children. Birth certificates list them as such. What mystified police was that the children appeared to have been born all over the U.S., and in rapid succession.

Surrogates often bear the costs and the problems with their pregnancies: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/surrogacy-unregulated-debts-profits-b9fdd987?mod=djem10point

Are All Sins Equally Wrong?

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 21:14:47 GMT

New Title

A student recently asked me if all sins are equally wrong. The answer is an unequivocal yes and no.

The Roman Catholic Church divides sins into two categories—mortal and venial. To summarize, venial sin is bad; mortal sin is really bad. Mortal sin takes away sanctifying grace—in other words, if you don’t repent of it you go to hell. Venial sin is bad but not as bad. It seems that what makes a sin venial is motive. You didn’t intend to harm your relationship with God. I read the Catholic Catechism to find the list of mortal sins. Since it’s so bad you would think there would be one. But there isn’t. It’s just vaguely defined. I don’t see how a Roman Catholic could ever enjoy assurance of salvation. But I’m not a Catholic. Maybe some of them do.

To defend their view of sin the Catholics cite 1 John 5:16,17. “ If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. ¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.”

This passage says there is a sin that ends your earthly life and John talks about how you deal with this. I think using this passage to get to mortal and venial sins is a reach.

The Bible does not specifically use this language but let me distinguish between horizontal and vertical sin. Horizontal sin affects your relationship with the people of this world. Vertical sin affects your relationship with God. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warns the people that in terms of your guilt before God hating your brother is just as bad as killing your brother. The horizontal—actually killing your brother—is something courts can punish and I would rather someone simply hated me instead of actually murder me. The vertical aspect of sin is actually much worse. It affects your relationship with God. Jesus is telling us that all of us are just as sinful as everyone else. That committing a sin in your heart is just as evil as committing it in your flesh in terms of how it affects your relationship with God.

I remember many years ago hearing Jay Kessler, a VP with Youth for Christ, addressing this issue. He took up Jesus’ teaching about sexual sin. The class was all male and someone asked if committing a sexual sin in the flesh was worse than in your heart. He said, “It is when it’s my daughter.” Everyone laughed and then he pointed out that he wasn’t disagreeing with Jesus’ teaching the Sermon on the Mount. He was only talking about the horizontal aspect of sin.

James 2:10 says if you break the law at one point you’ve broken the whole thing. God does not grade on percentages. You are not 60% a sinner or 40% a sinner. You are 100% a sinner even if you haven’t in your flesh committed every sin.

In Romans 5:12 Paul says: Adam’s sin has come upon all men; everyone sins; the consequences are the same; if you sin you are condemned to eternity without God. Doesn’t seem to matter which sin. Or the volume of sin you commit.

So my response to this student is this: the most important thing about sin is how it has affected our relationship with God. Isaiah 59:1,2 says it has separated us from Him. The great task of life is to get back to God. That can only be done through the blood of Christ.

So are all sins equal? Yeah, at the end of the day every sin is equally bad.

More: My mixed feelings about the Catholic church: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9QHx4zr9io

Catholic Answers weighs in on mortal and venial, citing the Catholic Catechism to distinquish the two; https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/mortal-and-venial-sin

The Mass Production of Intellectuals

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 16:37:38 GMT

Our Education system is cranking out little robots.

Higher Education in the West has been in free-fall for a long time. Several years ago Michael Strong wrote an essay calling higher ed the greatest enemy of mankind. He said the wretched ideas emanating from the academy had gotten more people killed in the last hundred years than any government or army. Charlie Kirk challenged universities head-on, setting up on campus and inviting all—student or professor—to debate him. The effort got him killed. An Oxford don recently wrote that the plague of wokeism on campus is caused, ultimately, by the faculty.

Recently Chilton Williamson, an engaging conservative writer published in the Spectator—a secular British publication—wrote an essay entitled “The Tyranny of the Mass-Intellectual.”

Throughout the ages philosophers and theologians have wondered, from whence does virtue come? How does right thinking and right living emerge in the individual? Williamson says the great thinkers in history never arrived at a definitive answer. Now, however, our university faculties have arrived at the answer. They, themselves, know what virtue is and it is their job to pound it into the brains of their students. “A high-school diploma is confirmation that one’s progress toward virtue and the virtuous life has begun; a Bachelor of Arts degree is the equivalent of a certificate of virtue acquired; and a PhD is confirmation that the holder is adept in virtue, entitled to go forth into the world to rule, transform and perfect it.”

What education has become is an engine for mass-producing virtue as the liberal elite define virtue. It’s why Hillary Clinton, a graduate of Yale Law, called people outside her orb, “deplorables.” In the view of the elite that is what the rest of us are. We have not imbibed at the fountain of virtue produced for us by our intellectual betters in the major universities. Especially the elite universities.

Again, Williamson: “Modern liberals, and now progressives, understand it as their inalienable right to power, conferred by an ideological education that guarantees the promotion of the sole correct way of thinking about politics and society, man and nature, man and his human destiny, that is… the one and only true virtue.”

What the Progressives have done, in their own minds, is produce the only source of legitimate moral authority. That would be of course themselves. They have established their own church, The Church of God without God. In my 25 years within secular higher education I was astonished at how confident my colleagues and students were of their own virtue. They were totally confident they know how to run other people’s lives. That they knew what was good and virtuous for everyone. How what we now call “wokeness” was the good and perfect religion. And that they had the responsibility to teach it to everyone and impose it on everyone. The fact they were failures in their own personal lives bothered them not at all.

Williamson says higher ed is now an engine for mass producing woke intellectuals. Anyone who challenges their authority is a heretic of terrible proportion.

Christianity still stands athwart the pretension of this mass-producing monster. Williamson says the final triumph of Christianity is found in how we respond to Descartes’ famous dictum, “I think, therefore, I am.” Christians instead say virtue is found in this dictum: I love, therefore I am.”

Nothing provides a greater contrast to the woke industrial complex than the love of Jesus Christ. It can’t be mass produced. But the Holy Spirit plants it in every heart that bows before Him.

Wokeism at universities is the product of the faculty: https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/academics-are-to-blame-for-the-woke-wreckage-at-universities-27ht2xdjc

The Greatest Enemy of Civilization: The Academic Community; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79zJJDe6LeM

What is the Greatest Miracle

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 19:53:19 GMT

C.S. Lewis says it is the incarnation.

What is The Greatest Miracle?

C.S. Lewis says it’s Christmas

C.S. Lewis, in his book “Miracles,” defends the Christian doctrine of God’s supernatural intervention into history. Given the Christian assumptions about God Lewis says miracles are not only possible they should be expected.

It’s his usual brilliant defense of the Christian faith and I recommend the book to everyone. But in the middle of the book he does an interesting thing—he ranks the miracles in terms of importance. Or should I say, he ranks one of them. According to Lewis the Incarnation is the greatest miracle.

“The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.”

A couple of years ago Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the heroic public intellectual and spokeswoman for the new atheist movement, announced she had become a Christian. Through a contemplation of Christianity’s historical power and meeting Christ in the midst of a personal crisis, Ayaan had turned to God. Shortly thereafter she debated her old friend, the famous atheist Richard Dawkins. I admit I was quite concerned about a young Christian entering into a debate with a veteran infidel who had been in many, many debates. But she did quite well. She scored her greatest points when she answered Dawson’s challenge—how can you believe in things like the virgin birth? Her response was, I think, given to her by the Holy Spirit. She said, “Richard, there is really only one issue here. Either there is something out there or there isn’t. If there isn’t then, no, things like the Virgin birth are not possible. If there is something out there anything is possible.” A great answer and the end of the debate.

Lewis does this with his argument on the Incarnation. If Christmas really happened, if God really became a man, then all other miracles are possible. It’s as simple as that. Lewis adds that the Incarnation is the best explanation for who Jesus Christ is and what He did. “The historical difficulty of giving for the life, sayings and influence of Jesus any explanation that is not harder than the Christian explanation, is very great.” In other words, when you consider the power of Jesus Christ on culture, history, and individual lives, it certainly seems like He is God incarnate. Attempts to explain Him any other way are pathetic failures.

Jesus is Immanuel—God with us. He entered the world in human form 2,000 years ago in a stable in Palestine. He has gone on to be the greatest man who ever lived, but more important, He went on to die on the cross for our sins and save us from eternal hell. He lives today in the hearts of everyone who trusts Him.

Merry Christmas everyone!

More: The Most Important Doctrine in the History of Religion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOeE61uEU50

The Ten Fundamental Doctrines of the Marxist Left

Sat, 20 Dec 2025 16:31:06 GMT

Progressivism is a religions with basic doctrines.

The greatest threat to Western Christian culture is not a major world religion but rather the influential ideological movement of Progressivism. Often perceived merely as political, it is, in truth, a faith-based system—an ideological religion. I sometimes refer to it as the Marxist Progressive cult. It is frequently called simply "the Left."

To understand it, we must examine its foundational doctrines.

1. The Denial of God:
The primary religious tenet of the Progressive Left is that there is no God. This isn’t accidental but a fundamental, official stance—an atheism rooted in Marxist ideology. Karl Marx was explicit about his materialistic atheism, and Progressives continue through life with the assumption that God does not exist. This fundamental assumption ruins everything else in the Leftist worldview. In the end, they still have to have a god, so they end up making government their god.

2. History is Class Struggle:
History is a continual battle between opposing groups. There are always oppressors and oppressed. Marx saw this as a conflict between classes—the middle class versus the working class. Today, the struggle is framed around race, gender, or sexual preferences. For the Left, history is a melodrama featuring villains, innocent victims in need of rescue, and heroes. Leftists always see themselves in the heroic role. It gives meaning to their lives; hence, they always need a victim to rescue. If none are handy they have to be invented.

3. Identity by Group Membership:
An individual’s defining characteristic is his group identity—race, class, gender, or sexuality. The most important aspect of a person, in the Progressive view, is the group to which they belong. Echoing Marx, they believe that all aspects of life are dictated by one’s group membership.

4. Equal Outcomes as Society’s Goal:
The supreme goal of society, according to Progressives, is to achieve equal outcomes for all groups. This is best seen in economics. All groups should have the same income. Income differences are proof of a conspiracy of the oppressor against the oppressed.

5. Opposition to Free Market Capitalism:
Free-market capitalism is inherently evil because it produces income inequality. Economic freedom is consistently opposed, and private property rights are viewed with suspicion. Capitalist success is a result of oppressing others; thus merit and achievement are suspect. Leftists don’t believe people get rich legitimately. This judgement does not, of course, apply to rich leftists.

6. Hatred of Christianity:
Christianity, with its emphasis on individual moral responsibility, patriarchal structures, and belief in God, is actively hated and persecuted by the Left.

7. Reality is not objective but created:
Society is responsible for creating its own reality. For instance, differences between men and women are considered societal constructs rather than biological facts.

8. A Flawed View of Human Nature:
Theologically, the Left believes human beings are naturally good but stupid. They cannot be trusted to think independently, which is why they must be guided by a Leftist elite. Democracy will never work. You cannot give stupid people a choice. They will inevitably choose the wrong thing.

9. Morality is Political:
Your heart condition is irrelevant. All that matters is your political posture. Do you vote the right way? Do you support the right policies? Do you hate the right people? Personal morality does not exist, only political morality. A person is judged on the basis of his political positions not personal moral character in direct contradiction to the Judeo-Christian ethic.

10. Progressivism is A Top-Down Religion:
Change must be brought about by an elite sitting the commanding heights of a society imposing their will on the reluctant masses. This is why the Left inevitably veers toward totalitarianism wherever it is in power—in government, education, trade unions, or religious institutions. Ultimately the goal of the Left is to change every aspect of society not just economics. Traditional institutions such as organized religion and the family must be eradicated.

As C.S. Lewis insightfully remarked:
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

Left-wing Progressivism is a religion without God. It holds to its doctrinal assumptions tenaciously and violently. It is the preeminent enemy of Christianity and Western civilization.

Colorado’s campaign against Christians: https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/08/colorados-campaign-against-christians-continues/

The Doctrines of Progressives:

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/progressive-christian-christianity-doctrine-deniers.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

China Reflections

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 20:42:49 GMT

God is at work.

My wife and I have returned from China. We got back at 2 a.m. December 6. I always find international travel intriguing. We left Guangzhou at 10 p.m. December 5, and got to LA December 5 at 6 p.m. So we landed four hours before we left. I remember hearing about a basketball player who refused to get on a team flight. It left Cincinnati and landed in St. Louis twenty minutes for it left. The player demurred saying, “I ain’t gettin’ in no time machine.” I know how he feels.

This was a hard trip for me in a number of ways mostly because I’m old. At 78 I probably shouldn’t be moving across the world for two and half months. Then there was the work my daughter engaged me in. For seven weeks I taught three classes of middle school and high school students, four days a week. I thought I put all that behind me but here I was getting up and going to work every day. It was a bit tiring. But it was also one of the most rewarding trips of my life. I taught Bible and Western Civ(Bible in a different form) every day and I relish watching the power of the Word of God as it enters young minds. At the end of my time many of my young students thanked me with tears in their eyes for coming across the world to teach them biblical truth.

In addition to the regular teaching I met with several other groups in educational co-ops around the city. I spoke on the general theme I have been on for the past several years—how Jesus Christ has changed the world and continues to change it.

Now that the trip is over and I am back in my recliner in America let me make a few observations about China.

This is one of the most crowded places on earth and you have to be here to feel it. Guangzhou is a city of about 20 million people with a population density of 5,000 people per square mile. By comparison the U.S. has a population density of around 100 people per square mile. I grew up in Wyoming with a density of 6 per square mile. I noticed the difference. China is about the same size as the U.S. with four times the population and Jesus Christ cares about every single one of them.

This is an aging society. When I was out and about I saw children and young adults but what I saw mostly was the elderly. I felt quite at home. China’s median age is 40. The world average is 31. What makes it important in China is they have no social security system. The elderly depend on their children to care for them and it’s a crisis in Chinese society. Many of the younger generation are not doing their job. The problem is only going to get worse with the plunging Chinese birth rate.

It's very common to see grandparents taking care of children while both parents work. A huge percentage of families have only one child and that’s by choice. China abandoned their horrific and idiotic one-child policy a number of years ago. They bought into it in 1981 because a bunch of American population Nazis said they needed to in order to have a prosperous future. It was one of the many lies told by American Greens and it has cost China tens of millions of lives it badly needs now.

There are millions of cars on the road and they are all new. I asked my daughter about this and she said it’s because only in the past few years have the Chinese been rich enough to buy cars. So all the cars are recently purchased. At least in Guangzhou the numbers of cars are matched by the number of motos. These are the electric motor scooters owned by millions and they dart in and out and across traffic with little thought for life ending collisions. Driving in China is like being a live participant in a video game.

The Christian community in China is large and dynamic. When I talked to my students about the definition of a nominal Christian—a person who calls himself a Christian but really isn’t one—they had trouble grasping the concept. In China there is no advantage to calling yourself a Christian if you aren’t serious about it. There is no social advantage to being thought a Christian when you have no real faith.

There is a legal church in China—one that is registered and controlled by the Marxist government—but the unregistered church is by all accounts much, much larger. I asked numerous Chinese Christians the statistical difference and no one knew. They simply said the difference is great. In other words, the vast majority of Christians in China choose to worship in churches that are technically illegal. One of my students had been attending a church that was recently closed by local authorities.

The Christian youth I encountered were like Christian youth everywhere—some pressured by parents to attend church, some with a low level of commitment. But many were dynamic and aggressive young Christians determined to further the Kingdom. I met a lot of adults who had been recently baptized. There are lots of young Chinese who have grown up in Christian homes but there are a lot who haven’t. They are adult converts to the faith and first generation Christians. That creates unique pastoral challenges.

Speaking of pastors they are quite a group. As you know one of my jobs in America is to minister to pastors so I know quite a bit about them. Chinese pastors are a normal group in ways with the usual infighting and squabbling I expect from pastors. But they are a courageous lot. A number of prominent house church pastors have recently been arrested. I asked one pastor how this made him feel. He said, “It’s what you sign up for.” You know that at any time you could be sent to jail and separated from your family. I asked this pastor’s wife what she thought. She said, “It’s what you sign up for.” She did not want one iota of compromise in her husband.

My pastors in America face a lot of problems, many of them serious, but none face the danger of arrest for simply being a pastor.

One final thought, the Christians in China seem to be overwhelmingly Protestant. When lecturing about the Reformation I was going to talk at length about the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism but not one of my students knew any Catholics. Not one. They simply are not here. Neither are the cults so far as I could tell. To be sure there are a tiny number of Mormons but they never do well in persecuted areas. Nobody I encountered knew any. Same with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are large homegrown cults but I heard little about them.

If you were able to travel in time back to first century Christianity in the Roman empire I think the current situation in China is a lot like what you would experience. A persecuted but powerful church that the government would like to destroy but simply can’t. They are a reminder that the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is real and at work in our world. The Christians in China are an encouragement to Christians everywhere. May God increase their numbers. I’m sure He will.

Thanks for listening. May the Lord bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: China Update; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7xvz1BRaXQ

“I am in China”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlLGje66aaU

China Update

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 05:49:10 GMT

Life of the Spirit in the People's Republic

China Update

Greetings everyone from the People’s Republic of China. As to what extent it belongs to the people is a debate for another time.

I want to share some of what is going on here with the understanding that I have to choose my words carefully. There is an enormous amount of government interference in the normal channels of communication. China has about 2 million censors who comb emails and websites looking for disloyalty to the current regime. They block over 300,000 websites they don’t approve of. I have to choose words to protect people as much as I can and still give you an accurate picture of what is going on.

Let me begin with something that has been widely published in many news sources. A Washington Times article this week began, “Chinese security agents swept through cities from Beijing to the coast this month, raiding the Zion Church network and detaining its founder, pastor Jin “Ezra” Mingri. The point was plain: In Xi Jinping’s China, devotion that isn’t Communist Party-approved is treated as a political problem for police to solve. The article goes on to report that the government licenses clergy, edits Scripture, censors online worship, bars minors from religious life and restricts contact with fellow believers abroad. Officials enforce these rules by raiding services, charging pastors with “fraud” or “illegal business” and blocking them from leaving the country.

Jin and a number of his fellow church members are currently being detained by the police. The procedure for prosecuting Jin is currently unknown.

So do the Chinese Marxists have Christianity contained? Hardly. The Roman Empire was unable to contain the early church and Beijing is having no better luck. Operation World puts the number of Christians in China at over 100 million. That’s 100 times more than there were 50 years ago.

I spoke at a legal gathering of Christian college students. My topic was the cultural power of Christianity. Most of the group understood English but there was an interpreter just in case. I have now spoken over 20 times to groups of students.

I attended a dinner party hosted by a family my daughter knows. It was attended by about 15 people and was in a downtown hotel. We sat at a large round table with a turntable in the middle that was loaded with exotic Chinese cuisine. We had no more gotten seated than the host asked me a question, “Why should I be a Christian and not some other religion?” That started a conversation that lasted nearly two hours. There were a number of non-Christians in attendance, including the host, and it was a marvelous opportunity to share the Gospel.

I met with the pastor of an unregistered church. I asked him what it was like to live under the constant threat of arrest. He said that when he became a pastor he knew what he was signing up for. He is an adult convert to Christianity. His own father bitterly opposed his decision to go into the ministry. So he faces the hostility of both family and government. But he soldiers on. I was astonished at the number of people he has baptized in the past year.

I have now interacted with about 50 Chinese nationals. It is amazing how many have become believers in the past year or two. They come from every age bracket. Youth, adult, and the elderly. The life of the Spirit is vibrant in China. We praise God for this.

I will try to check in again in a couple of weeks. Please pray for me as I seek to serve our Lord in this place. May the Lord richly bless you all.

More: I Am In China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlLGje66aaU

The Crackdown on Christians in China: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/oct/27/chinas-war-religion-matters-us/

Operation World’s entry on China: https://operationworld.org/locations/china-peoples-republic/

The Assassination of Christians

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 08:33:28 GMT

It is a lot more common than you think.

Assassination and martyrdom are regular Christian experiences in history and around the world. In every century and in every part of the world where there are Christians. And the number of martyrs haven’t lessened as the world has modernized. When David Barrett first came out with his World Christian Encyclopedia—a massive work trying to number the Christians in the world—he said that the 20 ^th century had seen more martyrs than any other century. In fact, he said, more Christians died for Christ in the 20 ^th century than all other centuries in history combined.

All of this is in the news again because of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Kirk was killed by a leftist pro-transgender 22-year old because of his constant insistence on the biblical view of men and women. I have seen at least two articles recently comparing Kirk to the first martyr, Stephen, in Acts chapter 8. One writer said, As was Stephen in the early church, Kirk was slandered by his opponents who were unable to answer his arguments. He was called a racist and a fascist. Today, a racist is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal. And a fascist means someone who can be justifiably murdered for his political views.

Charlie joins a long line of Christians who have been murdered because of their faith. Currently there are two films out about Christian martyrs. Maximillian Kolbe is a well-known figure who gave his life for others in a Nazi concentration camp. The film is still in theaters and is called Triumph of the heart. And another film is entitled Last Days and is about John Allen Chau who died trying to reach a tribal group on an island in the Indian Ocean.

I remember as a boy sitting in my little Baptist church and hearing the announcement that five of our missionaries had been murdered in Ecuador.

Last year I produced a video about Davy and Natalie Lloyd, two American missionaries murdered by a Haitian gang.

Moody Bible Institute keeps a record of their graduates who have been martyred for the Christian faith. The most recent that I know of is a young woman killed by Islamists in Jordan for ministering to the urban poor.

Then, of course, there is Nigeria, the worst place in the world for Christians. Even the infidel Bill Maher has taken notice. On a recent show he said, “I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed over 100,000 since 2009. They’ve burned 18,000 churches. These are the Islamists, Boko Haram…This is so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza. They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country.”

Writing for World magazine A.S. Ibrahim said, The global outrage machine is selective, and one of its favorite targets is Israel. When it comes to the relentless slaughter of Nigerian Christians by Islamist terrorists, the silence is deafening.

According to Open Doors, a leading NGO tracking persecution, more Christians are currently being killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined. Open Doors calls Nigeria the epicenter of targeted violence against Christians.

I recommend you go to Open Doors’ website. They rank the worst 50 countries in the world for anti-Christian persecution.

1800 years ago the great early church father, Tertullian, looked across the landscape of the Roman Empire, saw the Christians dying for their faith, and uttered the famous words, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” God used the death of Christians to produce more Christians.

Nothing has changed. Go online and listen to hundreds of testimonies of people who have given themselves to Christ because of Charlie Kirk’s death. In Psalm 116 we read, “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints.” They were precious 3,000 years ago and they are precious today. Now is the time to renew our commitment to devoting every breath we take to the cause of Christ.

More: The martyrdom of Davy and Natalie Lloyd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6BCw-JQxX4

From Joe Rigney in World, a modern American Stephen:

https://wng.org/opinions/an-american-stephen-1757813619?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGc65ZaH6It7m8i_9djJDvh9Lq4o-EbIfJDJx1ler96MY4Hh4wdV8LA5g2xpqbdYNYfNvSiNdcP1r8TcIgx_vw-07-0Je8NF7wLMRACDA0nh0vWtg

The Federalist on the new film about Maximilian Kolbe: https://thefederalist.com/2025/09/22/a-new-film-pays-fitting-tribute-to-the-christian-martyr-of-auschwitz/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-new-film-pays-fitting-tribute-to-the-christian-martyr-of-auschwitz&utm_term=2025-09-22

The life of St. Maximilian Kolbe is the world’s foil. His triumph is not of worldly conquest or acclaim, but of surrender to God. It is precisely this paradox of victory through sacrifice that the Triumph of the Heart brings to the screen beginning with Kolbe’s final chapter in a starvation cell in Auschwitz.

Even Bill Maher has noticed the assassinations in Nigeria: https://www.christianpost.com/news/bill-maher-rebukes-media-silence-genocide-christians-nigeria.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

And A.S. Ibrahim weighs in in World: https://wng.org/opinions/the-silent-genocide-1760072058?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGdbFWwMnQonV9ee6ZGxuaeXzDTzdN5gVjFgHuH1o62g1Owk4J1eGY-YifY9mn-DLdKIiG7IKbmW4S5slMS0YrH6jj3mwiRJ52hO9mJk6dp-u-TGQ

Open Doors website: https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/

The Religion that killed Charlie Kirk

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 19:51:19 GMT

The Ten Commandments of Left-wing Religion

There Is No God: The Fundamental Beliefs of Progressives

The Ten Commandments of Left-wing Religion

To understand it, we must examine its foundational doctrines.

6. Hatred of Christianity:
Christianity, with its emphasis on individual moral responsibility, patriarchal structures, and belief in God, is actively hated and persecuted by the Left.

Left-wing Progressivism is a religion without God. It holds to its doctrinal assumptions tenaciously and violently. It is the preeminent enemy of Christianity and Western civilization.

Who is more Violent? The Left or the Right?

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:35:21 GMT

The Answer is Clear

The assassination of Charlie Kirk has raised the question again of who is more violent? Right or Left? Left-wing commentators are rationalizing the murder of Charlie by saying, “You do it, too.” You-do-it-tooism is a pathetic excuse for left-wing violence. This is a longtime tactic of the Left. It’s called moral equivalency. They say violence on the right is equivalent to violence on the left.

No it isn’t. There is no question the Left is more violent.

In an impassioned speech on Charlie Kirk’s podcast on Monday, Vice President JD Vance argued that the American left has a much stronger propensity than the right to justify or celebrate political violence.

In City Journal Heather MacDonald, one of the most astute observers of the American crime scene says: “This sense of entitlement to commit violence in the name of tolerance and social justice has become a primary characteristic of the Left. To be sure, the Right has its thugs who ambush and attack politicians, but their numbers are dwarfed by the routine violence of members of the Left… That leftist sense of entitlement unites Antifa, the Ferguson, Missouri, and George Floyd race rioters, the Los Angeles anti-ICE rioters, the destroyers of statues, the arsonists who torch cars and police precincts, the mass looters, the stalkers of judges, the assailants of conservative college speakers. It bred the assassination of a health-care executive, presumably the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump, and now apparently the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

Roger Kimball, writing in the Spectator, said: The leading characteristic of the left it is bloodthirstiness. Behind all the emollient rhetoric about brotherhood and equality, bloodthirstiness is the left’s most reliable calling card. I used to ask my Marxist colleagues about left-wing violence. One of them admitted that a billion people may have to die but that was a price worth paying to bring in the worker’s paradise. Of course, he didn’t include himself in the one billion.

John Davidson in the Federalist on organizations that promote violence: “Those institutions are all on the left. They are well-funded, they are part of the liberal mainstream, and they are unrepentant. Until they are destroyed utterly, those are the only monsters in our midst worth talking about.”

Public opinion polling reveals the penchant for violence on the Left. The Federalist report last spring on a recent polling result: 55% of Leftists said that assassinating President Trump would be at least somewhat justifiable. The Wall Street Journal polling showed that of people 50 and older 90% said violence was never acceptable in settling politic debates. Tragically, nearly 60% of those under 30 deemed it acceptable. People who self-report as politically left of center are three to four times more likely to approve of violence than those who are on the right.

Then there is the rhetoric. Left-wing politicians, bloggers, media figures, and other Leftist regularly use language that invites violence. Charlie Kirk himself recently said: “The left is being whipped into a violent frenzy. Any setback, whether losing an election or losing a court case, justifies a maximally violent response…This is the natural outgrowth of left-wing protest culture tolerating violence and mayhem for years on end. The cowardice of local prosecutors and school officials have turned the left into a ticking time bomb.” A time bomb that too the life of Charlie Kirk.

Left-wing rhetoric constantly calls the other side names that lead to violence. Nazi, fascist, racist, et al. You can’t use that kind of language and not expect a violent result. It was the slur, “transphobic” that got Kirk killed.

Elon Musk recently said at a rally in London: The left is the party of murder and celebrating murder. I mean, let that sink in for a minute. That's who we're dealing with here.

One of Fox News’ host Greg Gutfeld’s regular personalities is Tyrus, a former pro wrestler, but an entertaining and insightful social commentator. His response to Charlie Kirk’s death was quite moving. He began by saying he did not like what Charlie Kirk did, trying to persuade people to become Christians. He said, “I feel bad because I did not like what Charlie was doing. I am not a religious person.” But he added that, “Charlie in his death…his faith was unbelievable.” Then Tyrus mad an extremely important observation. “How many buildings burned last night? How many people were dragged in the street…? Not one. How many police officers were spit on…? Not one.” Tyrus ended his monologue by telling the Left, “You just created a million Charlie Kirks.”

So yes. The Left is more violent. Both-sides-ism does not work here.

But why is the Left so violent?

The reason is, of course, religious. Or to be more precise, religious doctrine. People are basically good but stupid. They need to be whipped into shape. Utopia can only be achieved through coercion. The enemies of utopia must be exterminated. History is all violence—oppressed versus oppressor. And oppressors—their identity determined by the Left-wing elite—must be destroyed. When I was in Cambodia I got to observe the results of leftist religion. In the early 70s, a Marxist name Pol Pot took power and decided to implement a leftist utopia. He decided to kill the middle class. And he mostly succeeded. He killed 20% of the Cambodia people, about 2 million in all. But Pol Pot’s theology infects every left-wing brain. For society to be perfected violence is required.

What can be done?

First and foremost, the most potent weapon against the Left is Christianity. And Christian revival would roll back the Left even if it did not eliminate it entirely. Don’t underestimate the power of Christ. I am watching videos and reading testimonies of many, many young men and women who have turned to Christ because of the witness of Charlie Kirk. One write for World magazine called him the “Stephen of our time,” referring to the first martyr for the Christian faith, Stephen in Acts 8. After his assassination by the angry religious establishment a revival broke out that began Christianity’s spread around the world.

A second step would be to dismantle the universities. Corrupt, violent, Left-wing religion begins here. I saw it plain as day as a young student in the 60s. I taught at a large, secular university for 25 years and saw firsthand the corruption of the Marxist cult. This won’t be easy. But first steps are under way starting with defunding these corrupt institutions. But until their influence is subdued the Left will be a powerful force in our society. A government-funded source.

Third, provide alternatives. Charlie Kirk, a victim of terrible violence, was still on the right track. Engage the enemy graciously and with love and compassion. That will help turn the temperature down.

The problem we face is spiritual and therefore the solution is spiritual. Pray for the supremacy of Jesus Christ in our society. The result will be the defeat of His enemies.

More: Tyrus on Gutfeld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVJr98HaL5A

John Davidson in the Federalist states unequivocally that the violence is overwhelmingly on the Left: https://thefederalist.com/2025/09/16/there-can-be-no-peace-or-unity-with-a-violent-unrepentant-left/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=there-can-be-no-peace-or-unity-with-a-violent-unrepentant-left&utm_term=2025-09-16

Heather MacDonald, Left-wing violence dwarfs the right: https://www.city-journal.org/article/charlie-kirk-murder-speech-violence?utm_source=virtuous&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cjdaily&vcrmeid=1GQdFt9aG0eSOqBirtg3Hw&vcrmiid=86QfeMrW2Eyl8NB4Nx4M3A

The Federalist—Charlie warned us: https://thefederalist.com/2025/09/10/a-ticking-time-bomb-charlie-kirk-warned-us-of-the-growing-violence-of-the-left/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-ticking-time-bomb-charlie-kirk-warned-us-of-the-growing-violence-of-the-left&utm_term=2025-09-11

Roger Kimball: https://thespectator.com/topic/the-bloodthirstiness-of-the-left-is-not-new/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=6505d03e00-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_09_05_12_12_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-2ceef9a309-154787678

The Wall Street Journal poll on the acceptability of violence: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/why-do-so-many-young-americans-justify-political-violence-ee8d2e2d?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h

Elon Musk: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/09/14/elon_musk_at_london_rally_the_left_is_the_party_of_murder_and_celebrating_murder_if_this_continues_violence_is_coming.html

The Assassination of Charlie Kirk

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 21:10:57 GMT

The latest Christian martyr.

On Wednesday, September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed by an assassin while holding his usual campus Q and A at Utah Valley State University. Most of you have heard of Charlie Kirk but if you haven’t he was a devout 31- year old Christian who was one of the best known activists on college campuses across America. For both educational and entertainment value go on YouTube and watch any of the hundreds of videos and shorts of Charlie on campus.

I became acquainted with him just a couple of years ago. I was drawn to his brilliant ripostes to questions by liberal students and professors, but even more I was drawn to his fervent and intelligent answers to questions about his Christian faith. He would answer questions about God and abortion and everything else but he routinely pleaded with students to give their lives to Christ and trust Him as Savior. I loved watching those Charlie Kirk videos and I mourn and grieve the tragedy of his passing.

Tributes have come from everywhere. President Trump called Kirk a “wonderful American” who embodied the values of faith, freedom, and courage. Trump’s wife, Melania, said "Charlie Kirk’s life should serve as a reminder that compassionate awareness elevates family, love, and country.” Tim Tebow said, "I’m shocked and devastated to learn about the passing of Charlie Kirk. Above all else, Charlie was a follower of Jesus, a husband, and a dad. He was a man of passion, courage, and devotion to making an eternal impact.” Tebow added that Kirk’s death should remind us all that “evil is real.” Franklin Graham called him a “Christian martyr.”

Al Mohler wrote about Kirk in World magazine: “I first met Charlie Kirk several years ago…I was impressed by his gifts but turned off by his demeanor. That was during Charlie’s years of bare-fisted libertarianism. Back then, he saw Christianity as a huge drag on conservative progress…Not long thereafter, Charlie embraced two things that had been missing from his earlier approach. He openly and boldly claimed the gospel of Christ and courageously identified himself as a Christian believer. He also began to argue with consistency that a recovery of Christian truth was essential for a lasting conservatism. He was right.”

Many political writers are trying to discern the impact of this tragedy. Matthew Continetti in the Free Press said, “At the time of writing, we don’t know who shot Charlie Kirk, or why. But we do know anarchy has been loosed [by] the American left. In the throes of socialist ideology, climate apocalypticism, and anti-Zionist fervor, radicals have become untethered from reality and the rule of law. What their nineteenth-century ancestors called “ propaganda of the deed ”—riots, vandalism, harassment, assault, and worse—has returned to America’s campuses and city streets, with deadly consequences. Stopping its growth is no easy task.”

R.R. Reno in First Things: I mourn for Kirk and his family and friends. The death of a loved one is a heavy blow, especially under circumstances so evil. But I take some small consolation in this fact: Assassinations are sometimes more than symptoms; they can become catalysts. Innocent blood is a powerful reality. It turns the wheel of history. I believe Kirk’s murder will have this effect… The evil deed of September 10, 2025, will expose the desperation of the old and failed consensus that Kirk opposed. The consensus he hoped to turn us toward, one that restores faith, family, and flag, will triumph.

Kylee Griswold in the Federalist: “Watch any of Kirk’s videos from the past several years. Read his articles. Listen to his speeches and debates. Peruse his tweets. Kirk talked frequently about abortion and euthanasia. He schooled Gen Z on the founding of our great country. He reiterated often that boys are boys, and girls are girls. He opposed the institutional racism of “equity” politics and the violent Black Lives Matter movement…

But the policy battles Charlie Kirk fought were second-tier issues, and he knew that…He was under no delusion that Donald Trump or the GOP was his savior.

No, the core of Kirk’s beliefs, his work, and his identity was and is his unwavering faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of his soul from the eternal death his sin had wrought. Kirk wasn’t ultimately killed for his second-order political beliefs but for his first-order belief in Jesus, out of which his other beliefs flowed.”

I cannot begin to describe the grief I feel at Charlie Kirk’s passing. When I heard of his death I thought, this must be the way many African-Americans felt when they heard of the assassination of Martin Luther King.

But this is the strangest thing of all about the Christian faith that Charlie Kirk embraced. As of right now the police have identified a college-age male as Kirk’s assassin. If that is true then that man will probably be captured and imprisoned. While in prison he could embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and upon his own death would be welcomed into heaven. And Charlie Kirk would be one of the first go greet him. I can see why our faith must seem crazy to the unbeliever.

On the cross, Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Today we need to do the same thing. To the assassin and all the Leftists who are pouring out hatred for Charlie Kirk and our faith, we must say, “Father forgive them.” After all, Jesus forgave us.

Matthew Continetti: https://www.thefp.com/p/who-will-stop-americas-slide-into-abyss-charlie-kirk-violence?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

America’s universities are petri dishes of the new nihilism. Speech codes, bullying, and the heckler’s veto foreclose debate. Students marinate in postmodern relativism, racial essentialism, gender ideology, atheism, and antisemitism. They’ve been instructed in the sins of their civilization and urged to take “direct action” against white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and the Zionist entity.

Mohler: https://wng.org/opinions/a-most-tragic-turning-point-1757563042?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGc1wDRoJOKqMpf_a25ERF-3143AidipzRvbsZ3wSWJ-Qz6bc5xg73uAk873tZB5xjYxzyVA2TxZigMNw9gjGACEHzvb_7M8D0RRhSyimhwW5HtVg

Christian Post: https://www.christianpost.com/news/pastors-evangelical-leaders-react-to-charlie-kirks-death.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

David Marcus blames Progressives: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-progressive-madness-killed-charlie-kirk-once-in-a-generation-leader?lid=zxpqq35mxobl

Charlie is a martyr: https://thefederalist.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-wasnt-just-assassinated-he-was-martyred/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=charlie-kirk-wasnt-just-assassinated-he-was-martyred&utm_term=2025-09-11

The Left’s demonic reactions: https://thefederalist.com/2025/09/10/hope-the-bullets-okay-here-are-the-demonic-reactions-from-leftists-to-charlie-kirk-assassination/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hope-the-bullets-okay-here-are-the-demonic-reactions-from-leftists-to-charlie-kirk-assassination&utm_term=2025-09-11

Should a Pastor Endorse a Political Candidate?

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 18:07:09 GMT

The IRS has opened the door.

A few weeks ago the IRS said that religious leaders could endorse political candidates in churches and other religious institutions without losing their tax-exempt status. They were carving out an exemption from a decades-old tax code provision prohibiting nonprofits and churches from direct political engagement.

The Johnson Amendment, named after Lyndon B. Johnson, was passed in 1954. It had prohibited all tax exempt organizations (including churches), to whom contributions are tax deductible, from participating in political campaigns.

I am glad for the government’s new position.

The government has no business telling pastors or congregations what they can and cannot do. This is a proper step in the direction of greater religious freedom.

The political class has been hostile to our faith. First Obama and then the Biden administration sued the Little Sisters of the Poor because they didn’t include birth control in their medical coverage. For goodness sake, who sues the Little Sisters of the Poor, a charity that cares for elderly needy? That’s just one of many examples of the state’s hostility toward Christianity.

Also, I think pastors can and should speak out on moral issues. For example, opposing abortion from the pulpit.

We need to be salt and light in a decaying world.

However, at the end of the day I think it is a mistake for a pastor to endorse a particular candidate from the pulpit, or even to take sides on most political issues.

We should never give the impression that politics can solve our deepest problems. Three thousand years ago the Psalmist said, “Put not thy trust in princes…in whom there is no salvation.” No politician or political party is going to address the deepest needs of the human heart.

Pastors who stridently treat political issues from the pulpit run the risk of alienating half their potential converts. It just isn’t worth it. Preach the gospel to everyone and don’t drive away people who might disagree with you on lesser issues.

Pastors need to stay above the political fray. I try to do that in my videos. I would not want a political endorsement, or even a comment, to alienate a potential convert to Christ. Besides, nearly 80% of Americans oppose pastors getting involved in politics. (98% of Evangelical pastors agree.). Almost all of us oppose taking political stances in the pulpit and I am grateful for that.

For a half century the mainline denominations have been endorsing political positions and candidates. Look where it’s gotten them. Their attendance is in free fall. They have become for all intents and purposes irrelevant.

We need to make the main thing the main thing. And politics is certainly not the main thing. It is among those earthly things destined to perish. Let’s stick with the things that last for eternity.

More: Richard Land argues against endorsing candidates: https://www.christianpost.com/voices/even-if-irs-oks-churches-to-endorse-politicians-should-they.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

Pew Research—should pastors endorse a candidate? https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/10/in-a-2022-survey-most-americans-opposed-churches-endorsing-political-candidates/

NAE position: https://ministrywatch.com/should-pastors-endorse-politicians-from-the-pulpit/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21236090829&gbraid=0AAAAA9nqtdMWHa8iewAzRuACZqlh9pnVB&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2IDFBhDCARIsABDKOJ6VMD1nVXZb_VgYOvaB6AnUdEekulN_u87VQa5ISThuiOLl3SKbDRwaAmP3EALw_wcB

Even the New York Times agrees with the IRS decision: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/opinion/irs-church-free-speech.html?searchResultPosition=3

Mr. Trump: Here's How You Get to Heaven

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 21:58:13 GMT

You have the right goal, but the wrong means.

The media was quite aflutter last week when Pres. Trump, commenting on ending the death and destruction in the Ukraine war said, “I wanna try and get to heaven if possible. I'm hearing I'm not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons."

With all due respects sir, no it won’t. Ending every war on earth would not get you one inch toward heaven. But the president did make one statement that shows he’s on the right track. He said, “I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole.” That kind of thinking is the first step to getting to heaven.

One good thing about his statement: It opened an enthusiastic online debate about how you get into the presence of God.

Elle Purnell in the Federalist told the president: “None of your own works, not even an act as virtuous as saving lives, can earn you a spot in paradise… Christ saved us not from mere physical death but from a spiritual one. It is this lifesaving work of His — and only His — that can deliver us into Heaven.” Good theology from a good publication.

Crisis, the Catholic magazine, offered him their way of salvation. The church is the vehicle: “This Church[the Roman Catholic Church] is not a mere human institution or voluntary association. It is the Bride of Christ and the Mystical Body of Christ, divinely instituted and guided by the Holy Spirit…while Trump’s efforts for peace are to be commended, they will not in themselves determine his eternal destiny. A good reminder for him, and for all of us, is to remain close to Jesus, to His Catholic Church, and to the sacraments that nourish us with grace.”

So Crisis offers the rituals of the Catholic church as the path to heaven.

Of all the publications, the New York Times suggested to Mr. Trump he had nothing to worry about. “Who, exactly, has been informing the president that he is ‘not doing well’ with regard to Kingdom come? Did Michael the Archangel somehow get Mr. Trump’s cellphone number?”

The Bible could not be clearer on the way to heaven. Ephesians 2:8,9: For by grace we have been saved through faith and that not of ourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, whereby we must be saved. There are a dozen other passages that say the exact same thing.

Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” The thief had not ended any wars; he had not done a single good deed that we know of. And he said that he was so bad he was deserving of crucifixion. He went to heaven anyway because of his faith in Jesus.

I am encouraged by Mr. Trump’s declaration that he is near the bottom of the totem pole. Even that’s an overstatement. He is at the bottom. So are the rest of us. We are all tied for last in the righteousness sweepstakes.

Do you want to go to heaven? Ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins; receive Him into your heart; believe in His resurrection. According to the Bible that saves you. That and nothing else. So Mr. Trump, you may not be doing so well but there is great hope for you. Hope to see you in heaven.

More: How Do I become a Christian? https://studio.youtube.com/video/k6Bn0trA1mI/edit

The Federalist weighs in: https://thefederalist.com/2025/08/19/trump-ending-wars-is-wonderful-but-only-one-thing-can-get-him-into-heaven/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=trump-ending-wars-is-wonderful-but-only-one-thing-can-get-him-into-heaven&utm_term=2025-08-20christianpost.com/news/trumps-comments-over-heaven-spark-debate-over-salvation-works.html

Ryan Foley in the Christian Post: https://www.christianpost.com/news/trump-says-ending-ukraine-russia-war-may-help-him-get-to-heaven.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

Babylon Bee: https://babylonbee.com/news/god-agrees-to-let-trump-into-heaven-if-he-repents-of-his-sin-and-trusts-in-jesus-christ-alone-for-salvation?utm_source=The%20Babylon%20Bee%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email

The Catholic view: Salvation is by faith and works: https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/can-world-peace-get-donald-trump-into-heaven?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=4cff5264dd-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-4cff5264dd-28475396&mc_cid=4cff5264dd&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

Denny Burk in World: https://wng.org/opinions/dear-mr-president-about-going-to-heaven-1755814075?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGcb_3QJUuVS95PAvdqGw5Hpu_L8Jtka2xpD5NDCOnav9yyZpsjCIwtVa7mKAPj5kuXZ14Pnk476sL7XbuLkgrniJix4Ge-t_Zlvc7tpx3cTeMMGA

Jim Daly in Christian Post: https://www.christianpost.com/voices/president-trump-cant-climb-up-to-heaven.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

Rebelling Against God's Design for the Family

Sat, 16 Aug 2025 14:42:16 GMT

Gay Marriage has negative outcomes compared to traditional marriage.

The idea that gay marriage and parenting have no impact on children is a myth. It is a misguided notion promoted by individuals who overlook basic common sense and reject the evidence supported by social science research. Jesus Himself demonstrated a special love for children, welcoming them and saying, “Permit the little children to come to me, for such is the Kingdom of heaven.” Since God cares deeply for children, it is particularly troubling that our society is waging war on their well-being.

It is fundamentally obvious—and confirmed by extensive research—that children do best when raised by their biological mother and father. The next best scenario is for children to be raised by adoptive parents. Yet, many institutions and academic voices—influenced by destructive ideologies—disregard this truth. Instead, they attack the traditional family structure, driven by a distorted view of social justice and a rejection of Christian values.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice labeled parents wishing to raise their children without government interference as domestic terrorists. This is how scrambled are the brains of our elite.

The modern rejection of Christian culture and acknowledgment of God’s design has caused this chaos. Numerous studies show what many intuitively know: children thrive in traditional, two-parent families.

Why is gay marriage harmful to children?

From the outset, assessing the impact of gay parenting is difficult due to its smal numbers; only about 1 in 650 American families is a same-sex couple raising children. Nevertheless, the evidence that does exist shows that gay marriage ultimately has negative consequences.

First, children raised in same-sex households generally experience worse outcomes compared to those raised in traditional families with a mother and father. As Hunter Baker notes in World, social science has consistently shown that children from intact, traditional marriages tend to perform better academically, are less likely to engage in criminal activity, achieve better career prospects, and are more likely to marry and remain married.

Katy Faust, president of Them Before Us, emphasizes that children in same-sex households are missing at least one biological parent—a key factor that increases the risk of abuse and neglect. The unique influence of having both a mother and a father cannot be replicated by same-sex parents, since they cannot both be biological parents of the same child. As researcher Paul Sullins points out, adolescents raised by same-sex parents exhibit significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression, and lower autonomy. Alarmingly, while no children of opposite-sex parents reported parent-perpetrated sexual abuse, 38% of children with married same-sex parents did.

Second, redefining marriage to prioritize adult feelings over children’s needs undermines its original purpose and leads to societal problems. John Bursch, who argued against gay marriage before the Supreme Court, highlights that this shift has contributed to decreasing marriage and birth rates, and increasing confusion among young people about their identity. Data from 2014 to 2023 shows a 422% increase in Americans aged 18-24 identifying as transgender. Such trends underscore the importance of a society that asks not only what adults want, but what children truly need for healthy development.

The gay lobby resists these conclusions vehemently. When studies like Mark Regnerus’ 2012 research—showing that children in gay families face worse outcomes than those in traditional families—waspublished, advocates sought to discredit or silence him. Despite rigorous methodology and corroborating findings from subsequent research, the truth remains inconvenient for those committed to redefining family structures contrary to bioethical reality.

In summary, rejecting God’s design for the family and promoting gay marriage as equivalent to traditional marriage is not only a moral error but also a practical failure that harms children. Society must prioritize what is best for children and uphold the institution of the family as designed by our Creator.

A CEO Is Forced to Resign Because of Adultery

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 21:30:38 GMT

The Power of Christ is Culture is Seen Yet Again

Christianity has produced the most powerful culture of all time. How powerful? Andy Byron, CEO of the AI company Astronomer, was forced by his board to resign for alleged adultery. Byron was at a Coldplay concert when a webcam caught him snuggling with the company’s HR director, who it so happens, is not the wife of the married Byron.

Even though much of modern America has been paganized the Christian view of relationships has remained strong. Even when people are living together without benefit of marriage they are still expected to be faithful. Their word for violating that trust is “cheating.” Even those who claim no faith believe you should not cheat on your partner. That’s a thoroughly Christian concept.

After my hip replacement surgery I was required to undergo a specified amount of physical therapy. I was ushered into a room where a young woman had me lay on a table and then moved my legs into all kinds of different positions turning me into something of a pretzel. This was supposed to help me and I suppose it did. During the session she began asking me questions and found out I was retired college professor. She then asked the question we love to hear; “What was your specialty?” I told her that my focus for a number of years was on how Christianity impacted culture. She said, “I’m not really that religious.” And I told her, “Yes you are.” I asked her, “are you married?” She said yes. I then asked, “Do you expect your husband to be faithful to you?” she had a rather shocked look. Hey, she asked about my specialty. Finally she said, “Of course.” I told her, “That’s a religious belief. Christianity has produced the first culture in the history of the world that restrains male sexual behavior. It’s a religious value you hold, probably rather passionately.” The power of Christian culture is such that both she and her partner believed in fidelity in marriage. I assured her no one in the Roman Empire believed that. It took Christianity impacting culture to produce that belief.

In Dominion Tom Holland recounts Christianity’s sexual revolution: “Never before had an attempt to recalibrate sexual morality been attempted on such a scale. Never before had one enjoyed such total success.” Christianity changed the way an entire culture thought about sexual morality.

In my book, Seven Ideas that Changed the World, chapter six is devoted to sexual ethics. The Christian view on sexual morality comes straight from Almighty God. He tells us how to conduct ourselves. You can read countless articles online these days that talk about how the failure to follow that morality leads to disaster. The sexual liberation movement of the 60s has produced catastrophe in people’s lives. Once again, God continues His winning streak of always being right.

Which brings us back to Andy Byron and the board of Astronomer. They felt the scandal was too great and he was fired. Fired for breaking a cultural norm that had been produced by Christianity. Today Mr. Byron is unemployed because of the power of that culture.

We are witnessing a slow drift from Christian values in the West today but it is still present and must be accounted for. I am reading these days of the comeback of Christianity and its culture. Let’s pray that it is so. In the meantime we need to continually remind ourselves of how powerful Jesus Christ is. When the Father promised Him the nations he meant it. Ask Andy Byron.

More: “Where non-Christians Agree with Christian about Sex”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRo6hFk7WXU

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/why-did-astronomers-ceo-have-to-resign-over-his-affair.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

My Five Minutes with John MacArthur

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 16:51:08 GMT

And the lessons we can learn from this great man.

Fifty years ago I was a fiery seminary student, lobbying for the right of single men to serve as pastors in local churches. I was the leader of the BUTTR club—bachelors until the rapture. I even spoke at seminary chapel defending celibacy and the value of single men in the ministry. At a Youth Specialties conference a year previous, John McArthur had argued that First Timothy 3 forbade single men in the pastorate. After all the text said an elder must be “the husband of one wife.” I thought McArthur was wrong in his interpretation. It calls for the elder to be moral—not necessarily married. McArthur came to my seminary to speak in chapel and I caught him afterwards, confronting him on the passage in question. “Pastor McArthur,” I said, “You have stated that single men cannot be pastors based on I Timothy 3 but I think you are mistaken.” He paused for a moment, and said, “You know how those youth conferences are. You say a lot of things that just come into your head. I believe single men can be pastors.” And that was the end of that.

McArthur had strong opinions, but he was also a genuinely humble man who could change his mind and admit it. The Babylon Bee had a headline, “John McArthur has nightmare in which he was wrong about something.” That’s funny and a fair tweak of McArthur’s strong-mindedness, but he was a man who could be taught by the Holy Spirit.

We have so much to learn from his life.

He believed in the innate power of the Word of God. McArthur did not use gimmicks to build his ministry. Several times a week he would stand in front of his congregation and deliver expository sermons lasting up to an hour. The pontiffs of preaching in that day said it would never work but it did. He studied hard and went into the pulpit thoroughly prepared and people loved it. His tapes and recordings have made their way around the entire world.

He was committed to training future generations of preachers. He established Master’s University and Master’s Seminary whose students have gone all over the globe faithfully teaching the Bible. The Pastor of the church I attend is a Master’s grad and he is carrying on in the great tradition of his mentor.

JMac was fearless in confronting our decadent, secular culture, and the decadent Christianity that is meandering around in it. He cared not a bit to be an applauded celebrity but a faithful servant of Christ preaching truth to a dying generation.

And he did not fear men. When the governor of California told churches to shut down their services he refused to do so, continuing to hold public meetings in the face of hostility from both politicians and clergymen. Looking back, it is clear he was right. But the important point should not be lost. He believed in doing the will of God no matter what the cost.

On another occasion, Governor Gavin Newsome came out strong for abortion. McArthur publicly denounced him then wrote him a letter. He told Newsome: "You will stand in the presence of the Holy God who created you, who is your Judge, and He will demand that you give an account for how you have flouted His authority in your governing, and how you have twisted His own Holy Word to rationalize it…As you look over the precipice of eternity, what will your answer be?"

Many of the most famous names in the Christian world have lauded JMac in the last few days. Let me end with the benediction by Al Mohler, a friend of McArthur’s and a great preacher himself. “Wherever I may be around the world, when I see a preacher carrying a MacArthur Study Bible , now translated into multiple languages, I know immediately that this is a man committed to integrity in expository preaching. He may preach in a building of any size, or no building at all, but he knows how to stand before God’s people, read a text of Holy Scripture, and preach a straight line. John MacArthur was a preacher to the end. What a legacy.”

Amen.

https://firstthings.com/a-straight-line-to-the-pulpit-the-legacy-of-john-macarthur/

He preached (and wrote best-selling books) against superficial gospels and charismatic distortions. He became more seasoned in connecting the themes of the Bible and the great doctrines of the faith.

https://thefederalist.com/2025/07/18/in-a-world-of-chip-and-joanna-gaineses-be-a-john-macarthur/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-a-world-of-chip-and-joanna-gaineses-be-a-john-macarthur&utm_term=2025-07-19

MacArthur became well known, not because he was a celebrity, but because he boldly spoke the truth about Christ in whatever venue he found himself. News of his passing was bittersweet to many Christians who count his preaching and writing as instrumental to their coming to faith and growing in the knowledge of Scripture.

He also spoke publicly about secularism, atheism, LGBT indoctrination, abortion, and much more. He never wavered on these matters and always directed people to the clear teachings of Scripture.

MacArthur endured much slander and attacks on his name and his church because he viewed the cause of Christ to be of higher value than any status he might gain through compromise.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/lion-of-the-pulpit-7-reactions-to-john-macarthurs-death.html?utm_source=ICYMI&utm_campaign=ICYMI&utm_medium=newsletter

Allie Beth Stuckey: "No one challenged Gavin Newsom's evil and stupidity as persistently or effectively as John MacArthur. And no one prayed harder for Newsom's repentance," Stuckey tweeted.

Want Kids? Don't Wait

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 17:11:17 GMT

Why earlier is better than later.

I have officiated at over 200 marriages throughout my ministry and have counseled thousands of young men and women on married life. One common topic we always discuss is children—how many to have and when to have them. Many young couples share various reasons for delaying parenthood. They often feel they need more time to get to know each other, or they want to save money to provide a suitable house or car for their children. Some also question whether it’s the right time to bring children into the world given the current state of society or the climate.

I have argued before that having children is a divine imperative. In this video I want to argue that you should start your family very soon after you get married. Americans are getting older and older when they have their first child and I think that’s a mistake. The reasons for starting early outweigh the reasons for waiting. Why? Let me share ten reasons. (A tip of the hat here to John Shelton of World magazine for his very fine essay on this topic.)

1. God has so constructed the human race biologically so that if a young couple doesn’t interfere artificially in childbearing they will have their first child around their first anniversary. This is the design put forth by Almighty God when he created us. I think we need to give this more serious consideration than we do. If God thought you needed more time to get to know each other he would have made the gestation period last longer.

2. The purpose of marriage is children. In every culture in the history of the world the purpose of marriage is to raise the next generation. So my advice? Get on with it.

3. Practically speaking, you never know if you will even be able to have kids. If you try early and are unable to conceive then you will have more time to consider other options like adoption.

4. If you put off children too long you may not be able to have any at all. Look at any fertility chart. The peak age for a woman is between 20 and 25. It falls off thereafter and declines rapidly in her thirties.

5. The longer you wait, the fewer children you will be able to have. Biologically older women are more limited. There are wonderful exceptions but they are few and far between. Sarah may have been 80 when she got pregnant with Isaac but I wouldn’t recommend waiting that long.

6. The odds are that you will never feel financially ready—and for good reason. Children cost money to raise. As an economic historian I know that we are richer than we have ever been so, no, it is not more expensive to have kids that it was in the past. But you do make financial sacrifices for your children. Don’t be afraid of this. It is good for you to sacrifice for others.

7. The younger you are the more energy you are going to have to raise kids. And believe me. Childrearing is energy intensive. You need a lot of it to get the job done right.

8. if you start having children earlier in your marriage then when you have x number of children you will still be at the age when you can still decide to have more. People who start having children in their late 30s won’t have that option.

9. If you start your family early you will be grandparents at a much younger age. And that comes in really handy. Grandparents can provide a lot more help if they are younger and have a higher energy level.

10. It’s good for your soul. Having kids draws you closer to God. Mary Eberstadt’s research has established that fact. People who have children are more religious than those who don’t. And the sooner you have kids the sooner they help you to become more like Christ. Children are forced unselfishness and that’s a huge spiritual benefit.

I realize that the above approach does not work for everyone. I did not meet God’s woman for my life until I was 27 and got married at 28. We were open to children almost immediately but our first child came along when I was 34(my wife was 24). That was God’s plan for our lives. We got down to business after that and had eight more, including three wonderful, adopted boys. That was the plan God authored for us and it varies some from the plan above. The Lord works it out differently for different couples. But if you are young be open to getting married and starting your family early in your marriage.

More: The Blessings of Raising a Large Family: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rmq8_LEBps

John Shelton in World magazine

Take a look at the U.S. Census Bureau’s fertility chart, especially table 2: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/04/fertility-rates-declined-for-younger-women-increased-for-older-women.html

Why Does Liberalism Lead to Poor Mental Health?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 17:05:05 GMT

Conservatives report being much happier.

Some of you may have seen in the news recently that liberals have worse mental health than conservatives. By a lot. The Cooperative Election Study, as reported by Nate Silver—no conservative-- reveals that, among voters who said their mental health was poor, 45% identified as politically liberal and just 19% were conservative. The study uses a giant sample of 60,000 respondents. Granted this is the result of self-reporting. It’s what liberal and conservatives say about themselves. Nevertheless, the survey selection is huge and so are the reported differences.

So what’s the cause? Social observers weigh in with a number of explanations.

Conservatives stress self-reliance while liberals are far more dependent on government. I have argued repeatedly that liberals have replaced their belief in God with a trust in government. I lectured forty years ago that the left is in for permanent disappointment as government can never produce the kind of society they want. As a conservative Christian I am not trusting in government in the slightest for my happiness in life. Granted, I like it better when conservatives are in power but I don’t have a meltdown when they aren’t. Not so liberals. Government is god and when government fails—meaning it doesn’t do what they want—then for them it is not just a political crisis. It’s religious crisis. So the current government causes a cratering of liberal mental health.

There are other factors as well.

Conservatives traditionally promote family values, and it’s long been known that people who have other people who rely on them, like spouses and children, fare better than people who only worry about themselves. People on the Left are less likely to have families in the first place. Their marriage and child-bearing rates are considerably lower than that for conservatives.

Liberal messaging is counter-productive to mental health. Their constant drumbeat is that the world is facing a catastrophic end due to climate change. I read about a woman at Stanford University who said, “every morning I am so depressed about the future I can hardly get out of bed.” Here’s one of the richest, best educated, and most blessed women who has ever lived. And she is paralyzed by depression because of the bogeyman of global warming. A crisis that has not happened and is not going to happen. She religious beliefs steer her into unhappiness.

Another self-message is belief in systemic racism and the general evils of America. The Left has talked itself into the narrative that the United States—surely the best country in history to live in—is rife with evil and oppression that must somehow be stamped out. This Marxist narrative would depress anyone.

Then there is the usual Darwinist fairy tale that your life is simply a meaningless accident in the history of the cosmos. Think that worldview is a bit depressing?

Recently you have seen the surveys that show that young liberal women are the most unhappy people in our society. I have linked a video below on this topic. Some observers are blaming this on social media and smart phones. This might be a factor but liberal messaging is far more significant.

The liberal worldview stresses victimhood. You are a product of hostile forces beyond your control. Again, a recipe for poor mental health.

Ultimately the problem is religious. From the New York Post: “Some 86% of conservatives identify with a religion, according to Pew . And religious people are more likely to self-describe as “very happy” in the United States, likely because they have a connection to a higher purpose beyond the earthly world.” People have departed from the joy of knowing the true God of the Bible and now find themselves worshiping idols of destruction and misery.

Nothing brings more joy than knowing Christ, being filled with His love, luxuriating in His promises. The Psalmist was surely right when he said, “Lord, at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.” I would invite people of any political persuasion to come to Him and find rest for their souls.

More: The Mental Health Crisis of Young Liberal Women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW-KnVQPdDs

The Cooperative Election Study: https://nypost.com/2025/06/03/us-news/is-it-any-wonder-liberals-are-having-a-mental-health-crisis/

Homeschoolers have higher mental health scores: https://thefederalist.com/2025/06/06/data-shows-college-degrees-and-income-arent-the-only-measures-of-educational-success/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=data-shows-college-degrees-and-income-arent-the-only-measures-of-educational-success&utm_term=2025-06-06

This is Nate Silver’s take: https://www.natesilver.net/p/what-explains-the-liberal-conservative?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The Decline of Gay Pride

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 17:37:13 GMT

Enthusiasm for Pride Month was down consideraby this year

We just finished up another pride month here in America—and elsewhere. Why does the gay community need a whole month? Presidents Washington and Lincoln have to share one day. Why do we need 30 days to celebrate homosexuality?

At any rate, by all accounts enthusiasm was down this year. A number of reasons are given.

Why the decline?

We need to be reminded that corporate Pride Month activism was never as popular as media coverage suggested. Surveys show 72% of consumers and 71% of employees expect political neutrality in the workplace.

The pride movement has been badly damaged by its segway into transgenderism. For example, 80% of Americans oppose men in women’s sports.

An article in Chronicle, the magazine of culture, revealed a fatal weakness in the pride movement. “Identifying with gay pride is a money loser. Anheuser-Busch lost a total of $1.4 billion in sales due to the backlash it received over its partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer.” Target found much the same thing.

For LGBTQAI2S+ activists, the reason for all this is simple: It’s Trump’s fault. He is causing the vibe shift to a more conservative culture.

But the New York Post gives a better explanation: “What’s..likely is that everyone just has gay fatigue — a collective eye roll at the oversaturation of LGBT themes in culture, combined with all the negative connotations now associated with Pride. Once a niche event of subculture fun and revelry, it’s devolved into a mainstream, month-long orgy of far-leftism that looks more like a tent revival…”

Many companies — including Pepsi, Citi, MasterCard, Nissan, et.al.— have dropped or greatly scaled back their financial contributions to annual Pride events nationwide.

The Supreme Court just added to the general rejection of the Pride agenda. It ruled that parents can hold their kids out of things like “drag queen story hour” in their public school. The tragedy is, of course, that the schools were using our tax money to support such debauchery in the first place.

The truth is gay pride has never been a popular outpouring from the grassroots up. Just the opposite. Adam Ellwanger in Chronicle says: “The larger truth is that it was the political left, particularly the Obama and Biden administrations, that pioneered the campaign of state intimidation aimed at forcing public demonstrations of fealty to the state’s ideology…the unavoidable worship of every leftist cause across the public sphere—was engineered by state power.” It was a top down, not a grassroots movement.

What is the Christian response?

Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family: “The Rainbow Religion—now into its high holy month of Pride where we’re all expected to solemnly genuflect—is an artificial, incoherent construct… Its very reason for being is to upend the biological fact of humanity as male and female…Male and female are about the image of God in creation, creating families, and giving each new generation of humanity essential maternal and paternal love. LGBTQ ideology is fundamentally set against this, and thus, is anti-human and incoherent.”

Americans have lost a lot of their commitment to Christian sexual morality but are not ready to go the whole way and defend it. They want what Nathanael Blake calls a “mushy middle.” A sort of compromise between Christian morality and the insane debauchery of sexual paganism. “They like the idea of LGBT rights but reject transitioning kids and letting dudes into the girls’ locker room. They support same-sex marriage but dislike the censorious wokeness that persecutes dissenters.”

Blake further observes that the Sexual Revolution has constantly blown past successive limits, and why slippery slope predictions have been prophetic. Even as the Sexual Revolution has inflicted more harms and delivered less pleasure than promised, it has continued its march through American culture and institutions because, without Christian sexual morality, nothing solid could stop it. Each step set the stage for the next, even as its advocates insisted it would never happen.”

Christians have to consistently stand for the biblical teaching on sex and God’s decrees as to what a human being is. When people inside evangelicalism—or Catholicism for that matter—cave to the wider culture on sexual morality, we must denounce them in the strongest terms.

People say we can never have a society built on Christian morality. That it is unrealistic. Please. Christianity was born into a world of debauched pagan sexuality and over time we radically changed the sexual mores of the West. We are used to being in the crosshairs of pagans who hate our teaching on sexuality. They hate our God.

Robert George, the Princeton professor, is on the right track: in June 2023, he launched “Fidelity Month” — which emphasizes “God, family, country.” It has grown considerably, even though it isn’t a formal organization … Greg Schaller, director of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, says, “We have become unmoored as a society. The most basic and fundamental connections which stabilize our culture have been under attack for several years, and the divisiveness and animosity dominating political discourse is a direct symptom of this larger problem.” Robert George’s Fidelity Month is a vital step in reclaiming the culture to promote a stable and prosperous society.

We have to stand for God’s truth. We have to work church by church, family by family, individual by individual. It’s not easy but we have fought and won this battle before. There are many ways in which even modern pagans are still infused with Christian morality. See my video below on the ongoing triumph of Christian sexual ethics.

God’s way of working in the world is a grassroots movement. It’s bottom up, not top down. God does not use government or cultural power centers to further His Kingdom. He works one by one in the hearts of men to change them into His followers. You never get a revival of Christian faith by government coercion. We need renewed confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform culture. He has done it before and He will do it again.

More: Where Non-Christians Agree with Christians on Sexual Morality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRo6hFk7WXU

Why the Bible is Right About Sex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn4z1Y4JqFQ

Corporate sponsors are backing away from Pride events: https://nypost.com/2025/06/07/opinion/why-theres-no-shame-in-corporate-america-boycotting-lgbt-pride-month/

Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family: https://wng.org/opinions/erasing-fundamental-reality-1749603748?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGa_TVbCIJMCWPjNCae0cyIptWz7SO3GP32sgnCbmai7uNpk_XCrsHHF8Vq2zihPyu9woMI1lbc_Sx4qckKi2ulOW9fij0lvvJfmpv2KvLD1OgX_g

This year’s Pride Month is the perfect time for all people of reason—those who hold to the objective beauty and mystery of male and female—to demand Rainbow People stop expecting all of us to pretend their worldview is coherent, reasonable, and loving. It is not.

Christian Post on corporate second thoughts: https://www.christianpost.com/voices/here-is-why-companies-are-backing-away-from-pride-month.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

Adam Ellwanter in Chronicles: https://chroniclesmagazine.org/web/what-really-happened-to-pride-month/

It is as if they actually believe there was a decision one day, in every corporate boardroom in America, to converge around the idea that they must align with LGBT advocacy and demonstrate that alignment publicly—as though the supersonic institutionalization of Pride was a genuine grassroots phenomenon. It wasn’t something conjured by the state—it was just the natural result of being on “the right side of history.”

Nathanael Blake: “We need to propose an alternative sexual ethic: https://thefederalist.com/2025/06/19/pride-month-is-in-retreat-but-we-need-more-consistent-sexual-ethics/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pride-month-is-in-retreat-but-we-need-more-consistent-sexual-ethics&utm_term=2025-06-19

“Fidelity Month”; https://www.nationalreview.com/news/as-pride-month-enthusiasm-wanes-fidelity-month-gains-traction/

The End of the Rainbow? https://wng.org/opinions/the-end-of-the-rainbow-1751170475?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGbXw5qjoDnStwkhZ62etlwoyomSl5OUvgZxYBEp1VAwBdCQmwlX535I7VM-8cHtnRtT_OSigfCBWSL_1JAOg2kVBMCZJ-ifCivgxZylusqQeqQqw

The Man with the World's Highest I.Q. Says He is a Christian

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 17:22:19 GMT

Younghoon Kim Says Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life

World Memory Championships and World Memory Sports Council, partners with Guinness World Records, declared last year that YoungHoon Kim has the highest IQ in the world at 274.

In addition to his status as the man with the world’s highest IQ, Kim is the founder and board chair of the United Sigma Intelligence Association…a nonprofit for “the world’s brightest minds.”

Kim has founded the Intellectual Hall of Fame. Prominent inductees include Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Stephen Hawking.

Since October, Kim has served as founder and CEO of NeuroStory, which has been recognized by a South Korea government ministry as “a one-of-a-kind brain digital healthcare innovator” that seeks to provide “cutting-edge solutions to diagnose and manage brain health using deep-tech-based technologies…along with advanced data analytics and neurotechnologies.”

I am sure many of my listeners will rush right out and apply for work at NeuroStory.

So Kim is a smart guy. The reason I bring him to your attention is a few of his recent statements. Last week on X he said, ““As the world’s highest IQ record holder, I believe that Jesus Christ is God, the way and the truth and the life.”

Kim has vowed to use his notoriety to “lead many souls to God and declared , “Christ is my logic.” “One of the best things I have ever done in my life is earning a BA degree in Christian Theology… theology is “the ultimate discipline of all fields of study.”

God does not need high IQ people to further His kingdom. After all, His IQ is a bit higher than Kim’s. But remember YoungHoon the next time someone tells you they are too smart to be a Christian. Ask them what their view is on neurotechnology.

The Kim report on Christian Post: https://www.christianpost.com/news/man-with-the-worlds-highest-iq-jesus-christ-is-god.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

What's Behind the LA Riots?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 17:41:06 GMT

The reason might surprise you.

Progressives have no god. Or at least one they believe in. So their quest for meaning takes them strange places. Defending trans men in sports or fighting for environmental goals that can never be achieved. It’s all part of the Progressive religion—a religion that has come into existence because of the abandonment of the true God of the Bible.

I met a friend at Starbucks and as we were leaving we were approached by a young man. He said, “I heard you talking inside. Are you guys Christians?” We told him we were and asked him what he was doing. He said, “I have been a Christian for two years. I came from California with a group that is starting a church that focuses on discipleship.” We rejoiced with him and he reminded me of what happens when someone meets Jesus Christ. They don’t burn cars and throw rocks at police. They go about building up the most blessed Kingdom that has ever existed.

America has been engulfed in protests and riots during the past week. The press tells us the mob is angry about this or that grievance but I don’t think so. I think they are marching for a different reason.

First, Who are they? Glenn Reynolds observed: “The core of anti-Trump activism, as many of Saturday’s “No Kings” crowds demonstrated, is geezers — people old enough to still get most of their news from a television set.” In City Journal Christopher Rufo said much the same thing: “The crowd was populated mostly by Baby Boomers, who appeared to be living out a political fantasy, in which they could “stop fascism” by reenacting the protest movements of their youth.”

Others observed that there weren’t that many immigrants in the crowds. The bulk of the rioters were older white people.

Many of the rioters are hired by professional riot providers. Yes, there are organizations that fund protests and organize marchers. The American Civil Liberties Union, the Sierra Club, Amnesty International, Black Lives Matter, and others have a rolodex of ready-made protestors they fund and send out to a riot site.

The Federalist reported that, “Saturday’s protests were organized by close to 200 groups, “all of which are aligned with the Democratic Party and many of which claim tax-exempt ‘nonpartisan’ non-profit status,” with over $2 billion in annual revenue.” The Federalist argued that this was hardly a spontaneous outpouring of political emotion, but rather an organized partisan event to score political points.

Second, the bigger question, Why do they riot?

They accomplish nothing. In the Wall Street Journal Kim Strassel writes: “Americans this Saturday will be treated to “No Kings Day.” Organizers brand it a “nationwide day of defiance” featuring protests in more than 2,000 cities against President Trump’s “authoritarianism.”” Kim then argues that a more honest tag line would be, Join our latest futile gesture, one even more likely to benefit Mr. Trump than those in the past.

So if the protests accomplish nothing or even help the enemy, why do people join them?

Mary Eberstadt, the demographer, gives one very good explanation. The rioters are looking for family. Writing in 2020 about the George Floyd riots she says, “The explosive events of 2020 are but the latest eruption along a fault line running through our already unstable lives. That eruption exposes the…crisis of filial attachment that has beset the Western world for more than half a century. Deprived of fathers…a critical mass of humanity has become socially dysfunctional on a scale not seen before.” She adds, “Six decades of social science have established that the most efficient way to increase dysfunction is to increase fatherlessness.” Joining a protest group is a form of father substitute.

But ultimately we do not have to look far for the explanation of the protests. They meet a deep religious need. They give purpose to life. Progressivism is a works religion—you are saving your own soul through political activity. Even if it fails it gives you a sense of self-righteousness; Joseph Bottum said Progressives save their souls by the way they vote. You could add to that, they save their souls by joining a protest. And of course marching with others provides sense of community. You feel a kinship with your fellow protestors.

Back in the early 1950s the great A.W. Tozer preached a sermon on Ecclesiastes 3:11, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart…”. God has put the desire for meaning into our hearts. Tozer argued that Joseph Stalin—then in the process of killing 30 million of his own citizens, was motivated by religious desire; to somehow fill that void that atheism had created in his heart. He still had a desire to find meaning in life and he did it by trying to create heaven on earth. A goal that required mass murder.

Whatever the reason, joining a protest will not meet the deepest needs of your heart. Only Christ will do that. We need to invite people to join His forever family. That’s something worth marching about.

Kim Strassel:

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/diminishing-protest-returns-los-angeles-no-kings-day-newsom-trump-immigration-deport-98c9888c?mod=opinion_lead_pos10&mod=djemMER_h

A brief walk down protest lane: In the opening months of Mr. Trump’s first presidency, the “resistance” staged the Women’s March, airport protests against his travel ban, demonstrations against pipeline projects, a Day Without Latinos, a Day Without Immigrants, Not My President’s Day, Resist Trump Tuesday, protests for transgender rights, a Day Without a Woman, a Tax March (April 15), a March for Science and May Day protests. Aside from a few images of ladies in funny pink hats howling at the sky, do you remember any of it? [All they succeeded in doing was winning Donald Trump a second term.]

Who funds the rioters?

https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/california-funds-736m-to-anti-deportation-groups-sparking-gop-audit-demand-human-rights-immigration-raids-protests-los-angeles-trump-administration

Government transparency group Open The Books reported the state of California provided anti-deportation groups with $73.6 million in 2023 and 2024, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, which received $35 million.

Lefty non-profits:

https://nypost.com/2025/06/10/us-news/lefty-nonprofits-are-openly-fueling-la-riots-by-handing-out-f-k-ice-protective-gear/

Mary Eberstadt:

https://firstthings.com/the-fury-of-the-fatherless/

But what about the “supply” side—the ready and apparently inexhaustible ranks of demonstrators themselves? What explains them?

Fatherlessness leads to a search for father substitutes. And some of these daddy placeholders turn out to be toxic.

Before it was removed in late September, one section of the BLM website declared: “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”

https://babylonbee.com/news/illegals-help-film-republican-presidential-campaign-commercial

https://thefederalist.com/2025/06/18/financial-data-reveals-no-kings-protests-are-hypocritical-astroturfing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=financial-data-reveals-no-kings-protests-are-hypocritical-astroturfing&utm_term=2025-06-18

“These are the kings and queens of the Democratic political machine summoning their minions to take to the streets to feign a fake people’s revolution.”

After all, if the definition of kingship in this context is executive branch overreach, then where were they all between 2021 and 2024? They meekly bent the knee when the Biden White House imposed unscientific mask and vaccine mandates and allowed the educational establishment to damage an entire generation of students. They looked the other way when Biden’s DOJ targeted parents who complained at school board meetings, traditional Catholics , and the peaceful pro-life movement . And they applauded Democrats’ efforts to use bizarre interpretations of the law in an attempt to throw Biden’s chief political rival in prison.

Christopher Rufo in City Journal:

https://www.city-journal.org/article/no-kings-protest-anti-trump?utm_source=virtuous&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cjdaily&vcrmeid=MmSfvCxuWECOD3DyaTwfsw&vcrmiid=86QfeMrW2Eyl8NB4Nx4M3A

It’s a religious cause: https://wng.org/opinions/protest-against-what-1750355700?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGbK44qRkzj5HEwL8yiip1I2F2Uinz59X8a89ITfDHvsk_QaLwgvMtuEOR4Z7BAl1rJDBLmNZGGwk4wWPpPeWNYXm3Op7ni4FduoZqHjLQ46Ho1bg

There is a large irony to the protests. Donald Trump is an elected and term-limited president. Despite the political left’s insistence that Trump is a would-be dictator, tyrant, or king, he has only about one thousand three hundred days left in his presidential term. Concurrently, he is being regularly stymied and slowed by unelected judges who possess life tenure. Who is more kingly there?

Why Does Israel Keep Winning?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 16:43:05 GMT

Israel and the Providence of God

In the last couple of days Israel has attacked Iran on several fronts seeking to knock out the latter’s nuclear capability, as well as her long range missile capability and military leadership. Modern Israel came into being in 1948 and has fought several major wars in the last 75 years and has been under constant threat. Yet she keeps winning. Why?

From a commonsense standpoint she should not be; Israel is a tiny country; she has 9.5 million people; fewer than North Carolina. Her immediate and mostly hostile neighbors have more than 300 million.

Many nations are officially opposed to Israel and almost all opposed her early existence. Iran, with over 90 million people, is officially committed to genocide as are several other Middle eastern actors.

I remember reading a number of years ago of a travel invitation by a Saudi Arabia tourist bureau. It included the warning—no Jews may apply.

Modern Israel came into existence through the efforts of the Christian west with the Baptist, Harry Truman, playing a central role. They are an outpost of Western civilization so they are hated by the Left and, thus, much of the academic community. It’s one of the great ironies of history that the Progressives hate Israel because of her connection to Christian civilization.

Her history has grim moments but overall it is a triumph.

Israel is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. In his book, Knowledge and Power, George Gilder says Israel is one of the most powerful countries in software development.

That goes hand in hand, of course, with her powerful military which has used computer hacks to disable her enemies repeatedly, from Operation Stuxnet, which corrupted Iranian computers and set back her nuclear ambitions several years, to the most recent, Operation Grim Beepers that exploded pagers used by Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing and maiming many of Israel’s bitterest enemies.

The Israeli Defense Force is the envy of the world. Quite dependent on civilian reservists, it repeatedly destroys enemy forces, recently routing Hamas in Gaza.

Her intelligence apparatus, Mossad, is world-class. I remember reading an article many years ago in the LA Times. It asked the question, what do all the terrorists who kidnapped and killed Israeli athletes in the Munich Olympics have in common? They are all dead. Mossad hunted them down all over the world and liquidated them.

They are a nation with more resolve than any in the world. They have a commitment to preventing another holocaust; “never again” is their eternal rallying cry.

But I have saved the best for last. One time the great theologian, Karl Barth, was asked if he could prove the existence of God. He said, “Oh, that’s easy. I can prove the existence of God in a single word: Israel.” The ongoing existence of the Jews and now a Jewish homeland was proof enough for Barth that God existed and had a chosen people. I would add the astonishing success of the Jews in every area of human endeavor. Charles Murray’s brilliant essay, Jewish Genius, ends poignantly. After calling up many different reasons for Jewish success, none of them adequate, he finally throws up his hands and says, “Maybe they are the chosen people after all.”

So the American Progressive Left can beat their brains in challenging Israel’s existence. They can shout “from the river to the sea” until they are hoarse. They can wear Hamas gear proudly, but it will not change the fact that they are fighting against God and are doomed to failure.

I believe the current state of Israel is a creation of Almighty God. Bible students disagree on whether or not modern Israel is the reconstitution of biblical Israel but there is no question that the current Jewish state is clearly under God’s protection for His own providential reasons.

When I was a little boy I remember my mother quoting to me the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12. She said, “Son, God has blessed America because we have blessed the Jews.” I think my Baptist mother had a profound insight. Praise God for Israel.

More: Why I Love the Jewish People: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkWLeNc5Nww

Mormons Have Great Family Life - Thanks to Christians

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 23:43:04 GMT

I tell Mormons they can thank me for their healthy families.

I have often invited Mormon missionaries or Mormon friends into my home. They boast that the Mormon commitment to the family is one of their greatest virtues. And I tell them, “Yes it is, and you can thank me for it.” They give me a startled look and then I say, “let me explain.” In the 19 ^th century when Mormonism was created and began to form its unique religious culture they practiced polygamy. Mormon prophet and founder Joseph Smith went so far as to say that polygamy was the family model God expected. In fact, God commanded Mormon men to practice it. He called it a “new and everlasting covenant” and, “if ye abide not that covenant ye are damned.” Pretty strong language. But very clear. Polygamous relationships were command by God the Father. Smith died in 1844 but the Mormons continued the practice. Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, had over fifty wives who gave him more than fifty children. The Mormons began to colonize Utah arriving in the 1840s. By the 1880s they had a thriving community and wanted to become a state. But there was one problem. Protestant Evangelicals dominated American culture and politics and they abhorred polygamy.

The federal government passed laws targeting plural marriage. They criminalized the practice, disqualified polygamists from voting or holding office, and allowed the government to seize church property. Many Mormon leaders were prosecuted, imprisoned, and pressured to abandon polygamous practices.

Lo and behold, Mormon church leaders received a divine revelation. They issued the 1890 Manifesto by President Wilford Woodruff. This declaration advised church members to "abstain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land," effectively banning new plural marriages. While some members continued practicing polygamy privately, the Manifesto marked the beginning of the church’s public rejection of the practice.

Church leaders and members commonly describe this declaration as being inspired by God, arguing it was a divine commandment received by revelation.

So when I tell Mormon friends I made their family culture possible what I mean is my Protestant Evangelical forefathers forced the Mormons to abandon polygamy at the point of a gun. If they had not what would Mormon family life be like today? What if Mormons were still polygamous? A few years ago, HBO aired a series called Big Love, which depicts radical LDS groups that still practice polygamy. It shows how destructive and chaotic such arrangements can be for families.

I am glad we imposed our view of family on the Mormons. They are infinitely better off because we did.

We are in an era when the Christian view of family is under attack. We must not hesitate to again impose our view of family on the wider society for that society’s good.

We oppose polygamy. We oppose cohabitation—living together like you are married but without the commitment Christian marriage demands. We oppose gay marriage as a slander on the meaning of marriage and harmful in so many ways. See my video on the topic linked below. We oppose “throuples”—three people getting legally married to each other. We oppose the various pagan arrangements that are called marriage. Marriage as defined by the Bible is an enormous blessing. To both husband and wife, their children, and the wider society as a whole.

Thank God for revealing His truth about marriage. We must follow it. Many Mormons have embraced this truth, and it has blessed their lives. It will bless everyone who obeys the God of the Bible in their marriage as well.

More: “The Negative Effects of Gay Marriage”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M3iGiKKvs0

A new book on the polygamy of Joseph Smith:

https://religionnews.com/2025/05/28/yes-joseph-smith-practiced-polygamy/

Smith’s “revelation” regarding polygamy is found in the most important book of Mormon doctrine, “The Doctrines and Covenants.” The teaching on polygamy is in Section 132

Why Do Evangelicals Vote Republican?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 17:29:46 GMT

It's a Common Sense Choice Given the Alternative

The political preferences of Evangelical Christians are an important topic to the secular press for the simple reason that there are a lot of Evangelicals. They make up approximately 25% of the voting public. So they are an extremely important voting bloc. Without their support the Republicans would not have won the last presidential election. As a result, we are hated by the Progressive Left, the Mainstream media, and the academic community. They suggest our motives are racism, white nationalism, misogyny, and a host of other sins. Letters to the New York Times routinely suggest we are knuckle-dragging Neanderthals holding back polite society and an impediment to social improvement.

What are we to make of this? First and foremost, it is true that in the last several elections we have voted overwhelmingly Republican. Looking at Ryan Burge’s numbers we see that in 2024 83% of white Evangelicals voted for Trump. But even if you include non-white Evangelicals the support was 75%. If you dig deeper you find that the more an Evangelical attends church—an indication of stronger commitment—the more Republican they become. If you attend an Evangelical church that is predominantly white, 90% of your fellow congregants voted for Donald Trump. But if you attend a black or Hispanic Evangelical church over half of the people you go to church with voted the same way.

There are Evangelical leaders who criticize the Republican-leaning tendencies of their brethren, arguing that we should stand above the fray in order to win others to our cause. This is ridiculous. We won’t win the left by capitulating to its anti-God and anti-Christian posture. Anyway, we aren’t called by God to try to cozy up to the world. We are called to proclaim the Gospel without compromise and stand on the truths of the Word of God. If that sometimes spills over into partisan politics so be it.

Why? The Republican party does not hold our values completely or consistently but it comes closer than the Democratic party. Remember, political parties fluctuate over time. A hundred years ago the Democratic party ran an outspoken Evangelical for President three times. But at this point in history Evangelicals are more comfortable with the Republican party’s platform. The issues are well known to everyone. We are pro-life, we favor traditional marriage, we are strong on law and order, we are strong advocates of religious freedom—a freedom that is constantly under siege from the Left. We favor educational freedom of choice, we oppose state-sponsored euthanasia. We favor the rights of the individual over DEI imposed quota systems. For the Progressive Left, politics is their religion and they vote accordingly. Evangelicals already have a religion—we follow Jesus Christ. We do not depend on politics to give meaning to our lives. Given these convictions there is little wonder Evangelicals favor the Republicans and view the Democrats with suspicion.

Andrew Walker sums it up nicely: “The Republican Party—though imperfect, flawed, and full of shortcomings fully deserving of criticism—supports and maintains an openness towards the values of Christians that the modern Democrat party simply does not.”

Walker goes on to point out that the modern Democratic Party has become aligned with a secular progressive framework that is incompatible with a biblical moral vision.

Burge’s analysis also helps explain why certain self-styled “evangelical” thought leaders at mainstream outlets who scold evangelicals for voting Republican either lack discernment, wish to impugn a politically acceptable scapegoat, nurse grudges, or deliberately ignore reality.

I have argued previously that a few Evangelicals have been captured by right-wing politics but their numbers pale in comparison to mainline church leadership which has capitulated overwhelmingly to the Progressive Left. The leadership structure of entire denominations is little more than a wing of the Democratic party.

When I counsel pastors I caution them against preaching politics in any form. I do not favor political partisanship in our pulpits or our churches. But the fact that our people vote overwhelmingly for the Republican party is nothing to apologize for. It is no sign that we have been captured by politics. It’s merely a common-sense response to the choices we have been given.

More: The Myth of the Republican Church: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX92rIqizIg

Andrew Walker in World magazine: Here, and here

RyanBurge and his statistical analysis: https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/2024-election-post-mortem-evangelicals?utm_source=publication-search

Surprise! Americans want more kids

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Thu, 29 May 2025 18:32:10 GMT

A Gallup poll has a surprising result

When I told colleagues at the University of Colorado that I had nine children, they looked at me like I was crazy. Their responses ranged from, “You’re kidding, right?” to “You realize you’re a threat to the planet?” and even, “When did you first realize you were mentally ill?”

I suppose this is the typical reaction from secular skeptics. When I started teaching at Colorado Christian University, I proudly shared the joys of being a father of nine. I told my students how blessed I felt and encouraged them to consider marriage and family as one of life's greatest gifts. I often challenged them, saying, “Get out there and raise little warriors for Jesus.” Understandably, this stance caused some controversy, but social science research supports my view: family life is a key indicator of happiness and longevity.

Though I’ve since retired from university teaching, I was recently driving with a former colleague who made an interesting observation. He said, “You were five years ahead of the curve. More young women at our school are now interested in getting married and raising families—they want to be trad wives.” For clarity, a “trad wife” is a traditional woman who stays at home with her children and manages the household.

The culture within families is one of the most influential drivers of social change in America. In the coming generations, a larger percentage of children will grow up in homes with a father as provider and a traditional mother. Don’t underestimate the impact this will have—family life operates at the grassroots level, not through government mandates or media influence. It’s shaped by millions of individual decisions made quietly within homes across the country.

My advice to college students has always been to build their lives around their family plans. Choose a major that supports a future family. Select a location to live where homeownership is achievable.

I was intrigued by a recent Gallup poll indicating that the average American desires a larger family. The survey revealed that 45% of Americans believe three or more children constitute an ideal family size—the highest percentage in 50 years, up from 33% twenty years ago. That's nearly half of the population wanting more than two children. It’s a remarkable shift. While many articles highlight women delaying or forgoing marriage and children, these remain the minority. Most peers still want children—and many want more than would be expected.

Gallup also reported that 16% of Americans want more than three children, compared to only 2% who prefer no children—surprising considering the number of women who end up childless. Among those desiring fewer than three kids, most prefer two, with three or more being the favored choice over fewer.

From my research, one clear pattern emerges: people who are pro-family and have large families tend to be religious, mostly Christians. Catherine Pakaluk, in her book Hannah’s Children, studied 57 large families and found that 56 were “religious.” Therefore, a crucial step toward having a larger family is to embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

This isn’t about giving women more incentives to have children; it’s about acknowledging that the desire is already there. Society and politics should foster a culture that is more supportive of children.

If American women could have as many children as they wish, we would far surpass the replacement rate. As Peachy Keenan, a witty writer on Substack, recently said, “You want to make America great again? Make more Americans.” She’s right—healthy pro-family attitudes are essential for a promising future.

Our God commanded us in the first few pages of the Bible to multiply and replenish the earth. We need to obey Him. Millions of American families want more children. That’s one instinct you should follow. The Lord will bless you if you do.

More: The Blessings of a Large Family; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rmq8_LEBps

The Institute for Family Studies on the Gallup poll:

https://ifstudies.org/blog/americans-desire-for-large-families-hits-50-year-high

Peachy Keenan: https://www.peachykeenan.com/p/want-to-make-america-great-make-more

Is more babies a right-wing thing? https://www.thefp.com/p/how-did-having-babies-become-right?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

“It was basically inevitable that natalism would be seen as right-wing,” said father-of-four Bryan Caplan, the author of Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids and a speaker at this year’s NatalCon. Why? “Because it’s disagreeing with two left-wing things”—environmentalism, which, in its dominant form, posits that the population is too high already, and feminism. “By being a natalist you are, in effect, raising the status of traditional women and saying, at minimum: If there’s a trade-off between being maximally successful in your job and being a mom, it’s not clear that you should go with maximum success in your career.”

Who is the Head of the Church?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 21 May 2025 17:24:55 GMT

It is Jesus Christ

There has been a lot of noise recently with the death of the old Pope and the selection of a new Pope. There have been a lot of online articles about the papacy but let me answer one question in particular. Who is the head of the church? It is Jesus Christ.

Roman Catholics believe the pope is the head of the church. They claim he stands in the place of Christ on the earth.

They cite biblical passages like Matthew 16:18-19, where they claim that Jesus appoints Peter as the leader of the church and gives him the "keys of the kingdom." They believe this establishes Peter's special role and leadership, which is passed down through a succession of Peters. This hierarchical view says the papacy and the hierarchy are necessary to preserve doctrinal unity and guide the church.

There are more than a few problems with this view. Let me make ten observations:

1. Writing recently in RealClearReligion Robb Brunansky says, “There’s only one supreme pastor of the church, and it isn’t some guy living at the Vatican. It’s the God-man enthroned at the right hand of God the Father who lives forever and ever to make intercession for us! …The Reformers said Rome made the Pope more than Christ’s representative on earth. The Reformers understood that when the Roman church said that the Pope was the head or supreme pastor of the church, they replaced Christ with the Pope.”

2. There is nothing about the Pope in the Bible. You could read the Bible a thousand times and never believe the church needed a pope or become a Catholic for that matter. Maybe that’s why the bulk of Bible translation work has been carried on by Protestants. There is no reference to the papacy in the entire New Testament. After Matthew 16 we see no evidence that Peter is the head of the church. And most Protestant interpreters argue that Matthew 16 does not mean Peter is the head of the church. The disciples were present when Jesus gave Simon his new name, Peter, the rock, and there is no indication anywhere in the text that they thought Jesus was making Peter the Pope, or that the church would be founded upon his person. Peter later wrote two epistles and makes no mention of Jesus’ declaration. In 1 Peter 5 he refers to Christ as the head of the church and to himself as a “fellow elder.” Paul sure didn’t recognize Peter as the Pope. In Galatians 2 Paul says Peter came to Antioch and sat with the Judaizers—the legalists who thought works played a role in your salvation. Paul says, “I withstood him to his face.” Not much papal infallibility here.

3. When we look at the history of the church the papacy does not emerge until 400 years after Christ. Most historians who aren’t committed Catholics consider Leo 1 to be the first Pope beginning in the mid-400s.

4. Popes are fallen, sinful men. Some are a lot worse than others. Read Carl Trueman’s article linked below about Pope Francis; “My Worst Protestant Nightmare.” Trueman gives a long list of the doctrinal errors of Francis. Catholics somehow want to separate the office from the man. I don’t think God works that way. All Christian groups have flawed leaders. But Protestants don’t expect their leaders to be Christ on earth.

5. Many Roman Catholic’s have an air of superiority. They tell non-Catholics that our spiritual lives are inferior to theirs. When I asked online why I should be a Catholic I was told that my Christianity was second-rate. That I couldn’t be fully Christian without joining their organization. It’s like the Mormons telling me I can’t go to the top level of heaven unless I join their group. The Bible does not teach institutional salvation through a human organization. It teaches individual salvation through Christ.

6. Roman Catholics have a wrong view of the church. They view it as this large, human institution with a vast bureaucracy and a CEO at the top. Protestants argue that the church is a collection of people, people who are their own priests without the need to go through some human agency to get to God. And every person who trust Christ as Savior is a member of that church.

7. Roman Catholics now admit that non-Catholics can go to heaven. Through faith in Christ and Christian baptism I can be saved. So I have asked Catholics, “What’s the point?” If I can go to heaven through simple faith in Christ I really don’t see the need to be part of your giant organization or participate in your many rituals or pray your repetitive prayers.

8. They argue that you cannot know the mind of God unless the church hierarchy tells you what it is. They are saying that a humble Protestant with an open Bible cannot know God the way a Catholic participating in church ritual can. They underrate the role of the Holy Spirit. He can give the simplest Christian insight into God’s truth through the Bible. Catholics will admit that many of their own number—including clergy—believe things that the Bible denies. The teaching hierarchy of the church does not appear to do them much good.

9. If the Roman Catholic church is God’s one true church on earth and the Pope the vicar of Christ then why aren’t the results better? Why doesn’t the Roman church produce a larger number of serious Christians? There are many profoundly Christian Catholics but no more than in Protestant or Orthodox communions. Protestants who live exemplary Christian lives don’t have the fullness that Joe Biden has? If the Catholic church possesses all these unique, godly features, why doesn’t it show up more in everyday practice? Is a Catholic on his way to hell better off than a Protestant on his way to heaven?

10. The world’s 800 million Protestants move ahead with God’s will for their lives without giving the tiniest thought about the RC church or the latest iteration of the Pope. It’s the same with eastern Orthodox Christians.

In my video on the Roman Catholic church, linked below, I cite a number of positives. The Roman church has done great and mighty things for God. They have been a vitally important part of the work of God in Christian history. But God has worked mightily in people who have no connection to the Roman church or the Pope. Thank God for all He has done through everybody.

Ultimately, everyone needs to focus on Jesus Christ and the mighty works He has done through His followers whatever church structure they’ve operated in. Christ wields His power across our planet in an infinite number of ways. Praise be to His holy name.

More: My Mixed Feelings About the Catholic Church; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9QHx4zr9io

Robb Brunansky: https://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2025/05/16/christ_is_the_head_of_the_church_1110693.html

No pastor is the head of the church. The Pope is not the head of the church. Christ alone is head of the church. He purchased the church with His own blood, so the church is His church. The church submits solely to Christ, living in obedient reverence to this truth.

Why Protestants Care About the Pope: https://wng.org/opinions/why-protestants-care-about-the-pope-1746492739

So yes, Protestants care who the next pope is. Not because we’re returning to Rome but because the West—our shared civilization—desperately needs a moral compass with courage and clarity. We pray, then, not for a pope who flatters the world, but for one who will stand against it in the name of truth. For the good of the shared moral witness. And for the good of the world.

Is the Papacy biblical? https://www.christianpost.com/voices/is-the-papacy-biblical.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

Carl Trueman: “Francis was my worst Protestant nightmare”: https://firstthings.com/pope-francis-my-worst-protestant-nightmare/

I regularly read a strongly Catholic, traditional publication, Crisis. Here is their take on Francis the recently deceased, “Vicar of Christ.” Does Francis Deserve the Benefit of the Doubt?

Why Do the Alternatives to Christianity Fail?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 14 May 2025 21:11:36 GMT

Modern religions are no substitute for the Christian Faith

The mainstream media has been gleefully predicting the death of Christianity for a long time. When I was a freshman in college Time magazine—then read by most Americans—had a cover which said, “Is God Dead?” A theology professor, of all things, had decided God no longer existed and we had to proceed without Him. 140 years ago Friedrich Nietzsche asserted the same thing. So atheism and unbelief have existed for quite a while. In fact, it was addressed 3000 years ago in the book of Psalms which opens with, “The fool has said in his heart, there is no god.” The Bible doesn’t deal much more with atheism in its 31,000 verses.

So it’s not surprising that there is a current attempt to rid the world of God, which will, of course, fail. Andrew Sullivan, a secular writer, made this astute observation: “Everyone has a religion. It is, in fact, impossible not to have a religion if you are a human being. [It] has expressed itself in every culture, in every age, including our own secularized husk of a society. By religion, I mean something quite specific: a practice not a theory; a way of life that gives meaning, a meaning that cannot really be defended without recourse to some transcendent value, undying “Truth” or God... Which is to say, even today’s atheists are expressing a…form of religion.”

Recently a religion and culture writer for the New York Times, Lauren Jackson, wrote a lengthy article entitled simply, Why are the alternatives to religion failing? Primarily she is wondering why the alternatives to Christianity are failing.

What are the alternatives?

One is materialism. People are trying to satisfy their spiritual and emotional needs by buying stuff. And we have never had more stuff or the means to purchase it. But all the gadgets and bobbles don’t work at the deepest level of our souls. After we have everything our money can buy there is still an emptiness. So the materialist alternative fails.

Close to materialism is hedonism. From the Greek word for pleasure it seeks to fill up our life with synthetic joys—alcohol, drugs, immorality, travel, houses, and everything else the Psalmist says would “gladden the heart of man.” But they fail. Living for pleasure produces everything but pleasure.

Some have tried worshipping nature. I have spoken often about the Environmental cult which is a modern rendering of this ancient religion. But nature is impersonal. You may love it but it doesn’t love you back. It ends up being another failed religion.

The most common and best-known alternative is the political religion of the Progressive Left. The modern version of the old Marxist cult. Twenty years ago the Catholic theologian, Joseph. Bottum, wrote, “An Anxious Age” about the Progressive attempt to find a religious replacement for Christianity. You cling to the right political beliefs. The way you vote saves your soul. But it doesn’t. And the Left ends up perpetually angry because their religion never delivers the heaven on earth they are hoping for. In an article on this topic our current Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, weighs in with a good observation. Americans are not abandoning religion. They are exchanging one set of beliefs for another. They are trying to replace religious faith with political ideology.

Lauren Jackson catalogues the alternatives many of which she has tried herself: “In 2015, researchers at Harvard began studying where Americans were turning to express their spirituality…The answers included: yoga , CrossFit , SoulCycle , supper clubs and meditation . Oprah tried sound baths . Gwyneth Paltrow advertised energy healing . More than a third of American women under 30 have downloaded the personal astrology app Co-Star.”

In her piece for the Times Ms. Jackson says she grew up in a traditional religion but abandoned it for the modern life she and Times’ readers prefer. What is the result? She says people are more unhappy than they have ever been and we are experiencing an epidemic of loneliness. Then she says, “those without religious affiliation in particular rank lower on key metrics of well-being. They feel less connected to others, less spiritually at peace and they experience less awe and gratitude regularly.”

Ms. Jackson provides a summary for all this: “Many of the demographers, psychologists, sociologists and statisticians I spoke to offered the same explanation: Americans simply haven’t found a satisfying alternative to religion.”

Why do all these religions fail? They are false. They worship gods that do not exist just like the ancient nations surrounding Israel and Christianity. And they fail to answer the big question, “What is the meaning of life?”

They result in wretchedness. They leave people unhappy.

If you have heard and embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then go on your way rejoicing. It is indeed the good news. In fact, it’s the best news ever to enter human ears. Spread it around generously to the spiritually hungry but empty generation stretched out before us. Jesus was, of course, right. “The fields are white unto harvest.”

More: Can an Atheist be a Happy Person? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmGHG_MLk2U

Lauren Jackson in the New York Times: people are returning to religion because they haven’t found a satisfying alternative; https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/style/religion-america.html

On Sundays, I used to stand in front of my Mormon congregation and declare that it all was true.

My story maps onto America’s relationship to religion over the last 30 years. I was born in the mid-1990s, the moment that researchers say the country began a mass exodus from Christianity.

In Silicon Valley, tech bros have found God . Downtown hipsters have embraced Catholicism . And the singer Grimes recently said “I think killing God was a mistake.”

Secular organizations tried to provide the same benefits of religion, but without any theology.

A few years ago, I biked on a warm summer morning to the meeting of one such organization, Sunday Assembly . I sat in the back and watched people sing pop songs by Miley Cyrus and Adele instead of hymns and give talks about morality. Afterward, I ate cookies and chatted with other attendees. They had all left religion in some form and were looking for another community, a new space to access and express their spirituality. I kept in touch with a few of them. None of us became regulars.

Religion provides what sociologists call the “three B’s”: belief, belonging and behaviors.

The Age of Incomplete Religions: https://firstthings.com/the-age-of-incomplete-religions/

Marco Rubio criticizes the “pseudo-religions” of modern men: https://www.compactmag.com/article/against-progressive-pseudo-religion/

According to the Post, “spiritual collectives” are defined—and distinguished from churches—by their resistance to dogma.

But are they really? A closer read makes it abundantly clear that these communities are united by articles of faith. They just happen to be articles of progressive politics, rather than of traditional religion.

But it seems more accurate to say that Americans are exchanging one set of beliefs for another––religion for political ideology.

Andrew Sullivan talks about the new religions of the West, particularly “woke” religion: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/andrew-sullivan-americas-new-religions.html?utm_source=tw

But none of this material progress beckons humans to a way of life beyond mere satisfaction of our wants and needs. And this matters. We are a meaning-seeking species.

The need for meaning hasn’t gone away, but without Christianity, this yearning looks to politics for satisfaction.

The Anti-Christian Bigotry in Higher Education

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 10 May 2025 16:35:36 GMT

My letter to a university governing board

A number of years ago the governing board of the University of Colorado asked me to meet with them to discuss religious discrimination in the hiring practices of the university. I was going to be out of the country at the time so I wrote a letter that was read at the meeting.

June 4, 2013

Dear University of Colorado Board of Regents:

I have been informed of your concern about the lack of intellectual diversity at CU and am responding with insights gained from my own experiences.

For twenty-three and a half years I was a Professor of History, Instructor Level, at CU, Boulder. I began my Ph.D. studies at the same institution in 1982. My experience on the whole was positive. From the start I was a known conservative Christian and political conservative. I began my graduate studies at CU at the age of thirty-five after a number of years in parish ministry at Protestant Evangelical churches. From the beginning I encountered hostility toward my conservative views, but my teaching record and the defense of liberal colleagues kept me employed. I had a number of colleagues who were genuinely “liberal” who supported my presence at the university. They often defended me at cost to their own careers.

In 2005 a termination process was begun that ended with my being fired in spring, 2007. That the motive was my conservative political and religious views is beyond doubt. The local chapter of the AAUP did exhaustive research and came to that conclusion. I was terminated even though I was “arguably the most honored teacher in the history of the university.” AAUP Executive Summary on the Dismissal of Phil Mitchell, p. 4. (I have a copy of the entire report.)

The hostility toward political and religious conservatives in higher education should no longer be a matter of debate but accepted as fact. Considerable research has been done. What interests me is the lack of concern over this bias in the educational community.

If a college administrator examined his social sciences and humanities departments and found that out of three hundred tenured and instructor-level professors only two were women he would conclude that sexism was at work. Or if there were only three African American or Hispanic professors he would deduce a pattern of racial discrimination. But when department after department at university after university reveals a tiny percentage of conservative, let alone Christian conservative scholars, it is concluded that they lack intelligence, or are more motivated by money and thus choose higher-paying jobs, or are uncomfortable with the scientific method. I have read and heard all three explanations countless times.

Imagine if you will a department without a single African American professor arguing that blacks aren’t intelligent enough to be college professors. Or a department with few women saying that the latter simply do not do science well. The outrage would be heard world-wide. But the same things can and are said of people like myself—who represent approximately 30% of America--and administrators and faculty simply shrug.

The consequences are immense. A gigantic sector of American culture is left unrepresented in most universities. I agree with my liberal colleagues that having black professors is a great encouragement to black students. Role models matter. Yet Evangelical Protestant Christian students—a much larger demographic than the black or Hispanic subsets—are left with professors who are either totally ignorant of their culture or overtly hostile.

Consider the intellectual life of the university. For me—when I wasn’t being fired or attacked—the university was wonderful. A life of lively interaction with intelligent people who did not agree with me. On the other hand I found that when everyone agrees on the great issues of our times then we end up squabbling about nothing more than the budget. Our students end up being indoctrinated and not educated.

I must say that I despair that anything can be done. The tenure system means that the current faculty culture will not change. (And make no mistake about it, tenured faculty are the chief power brokers at universities. They are in the position of determining new hires, and they can discriminate without penalty.)

In the social sciences and humanities the lack of intellectual diversity is the preeminent problem. It seems that a system that is so hostile to its own mission of providing a marketplace of ideas would eventually collapse. However, I want to encourage you in your attempt to make CU a better university.

Respectfully,

Phil Mitchell

I was asked by the Board of Regents to speak to the issue of religious discrimination because I had been fired from my teaching position because of my Christian faith. After my case became public I appeared on the O’Reilly factor on Fox News. The transcript of the interview is linked below.

I thank God for the opportunity to glorify His name. May His praise be continually on our lips.

https://www.foxnews.com/story/will-the-univ-of-colo-fire-an-evangelical-christian-professor

One of the local media outlets did a good job of covering my case. (It includes a link to the AAUP report.) Their article is here: https://www.westword.com/news/cus-treatment-of-ward-churchill-phil-mitchell-makes-it-questionable-employer-report-finds-5899889

Read Brian Allen’s slapdown of Harvard and other universities for being bastions of bigotry: https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/04/what-to-do-with-the-rot-on-our-countrys-campuses/

Is God Speaking to You?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 03 May 2025 13:28:44 GMT

Ten Ways God Speaks

One of the single most important facts in the history of the universe is that God has spoken and still speaks to human beings. How might God speak to me?

In Genesis 12:1 the Bible says, God spoke to Abraham. We have a speaking God. And what He has to say is the most important message we will ever hear. I have argued in my book, Seven Ideas that Changed the World, that God revealed seven truths in the Bible without which there would be no modern world. There would be no scientific revolution. There would be no technological progress. There would be no such thing as economic growth or human rights. Every blessing we enjoy is because our God spoke.

So a logical follow-up question is how, exactly, does God speak? How did Abraham know it was God? In Genesis 41 Joseph stands before Pharaoh, one of the greatest sovereigns in the world of that day. He accurately interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and it changed the world. But how did Joseph know the correct interpretation? The information had to come from God—Joseph said it did—but how? The text doesn’t say.

In Scripture we learn that God speaks in at least ten ways.

One, God speaks through dreams. When Joseph was a teenager God spoke to him in a dream and even though it didn’t seem like it was going to happen it came true. God still speaks through dreams today. I had a woman in my church who grew up in a missionary home in a Muslim area of Africa. She said it was not unusual for a Muslim to show up at their door, saying he had dreamed of a man in white and was told to come to this house. The man in white is Jesus and many Muslims have come to Christ because of a dream of the man in white.

A second way God speaks is through visions. The scripture distinguishes between dreams and visions. In Isaiah 6 the prophet has a vision in which he sees the Lord. It results in his call to ministry. In Acts 16 Paul receives a vision of a man from Greece asking him to come help those people and Paul does so through the preaching of the Gospel. It is a turning point in history as Christianity moves on to the European continent.

A third way God speaks is through an angel and this happens many times in the Bible. In Judges 7 God sends an angel to visit Gideon and tells him to organize an army for Israel’s deliverance. In Luke 1 a young virgin named Mary is visited by an angel and told she is to bear the Messiah. In Luke 2 a group of shepherds are visited by an angel who tells them where to find the Christ child. Many people today are convinced that God has spoken to them through an angelic visitation.

A fourth way God speaks is through a direct, audible voice. In 1 Samuel 3 God speaks directly and personally to Samuel telling him of judgment on Eli’s house. The great Presbyterian apologist, Francis Schaeffer, said that on at least two occasions he felt God spoke to him in an audible voice.

Fifth, God speaks through nature. That is exactly what Psalm 19 says:

“The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.”

How many people have sensed the presence of God simply by seeing His mighty works in the natural world?

Sixth, God speaks to us through miracles, signs, and wonders. Jesus convinced many of the truth of His message this way. In fact, in John 14 he told his disciples to believe His words, but if that wasn’t enough they were to trust Him because of the works He had done. Countless times in the Bible we see God speaking this way and today, all over the world, God continues to declare Himself through miracles.

Seventh, God speaks to us through other people; namely, His prophets. How many times have you listened to a message and sensed God speaking to you? Often God gives pastors a prophetic voice to speak His truth into your life. I know there can be false teaching from the pulpit but right now I am thinking about those millions of times God has spoken his truth through a pastor’s sermon, or a helpful book, or video, or podcast.

Eighth, God speaks through circumstances. In 1813 the British missionary Adoniram Judson was forced to leave India. He went to Burma where he became a legend. To this day he is revered by the tribal people of that country. God used circumstances to place Judson in the center of His will.

Ninth, the preeminent way God has always spoken is through His word, the Bible. In Psalm 119 we read, Your Word O Lord is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my way. 99% of the guidance you need you will get from the Bible. It is God’s loudest speaking voice.

Tenth, God speaks to our hearts. I know there are dangers here. Many, many times people have claimed God was speaking to them when clearly He was not. Even today, when someone says God is leading them to do such and such I view that statement with suspicion. Nonetheless, God does speak into our hearts and gives us a sanctified intuition regarding His will. How do I protect myself from going astray? Check to see if your intuition, your internal guidance, lines up with the other ways God speaks. What kind of council have you received from godly people? What does the Bible have to say about your decision? Trust me, there is not an issue you are dealing with the Bible does not address. What kind of circumstances has God placed before you? If these line up then I think we are free to go forward with the way we feel God is leading us.

Remember, the most important factor: God speaks. Is He speaking to you right now? Yes He is. Listen carefully for His voice.

More Resources: The Day the West Was Born: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-riZy9k7CRE

Eric Metaxas’ excellent book on miracles: https://www.amazon.com/Miracles-What-They-Happen-Change-ebook/dp/B00INIXMGA/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E8JXP4A0LBUK&keywords=metaxas+miracles&qid=1653066173&sprefix=metaxas+miracle%2Caps%2C424&sr=8-1

What is DEI and Why is it the Enemy of the Christian Faith?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 18:10:54 GMT

It is thoroughly Marxist and built around a false doctrine

A major purpose of my videos is to reveal how rejection of God and His Word leads to the corruption of our culture. DEI is a prime example. It rejects God’s truth and replaces it with the teachings of the cult leader, Karl Marx.

What is DEI in theory?

If you are not familiar with DEI it is basically a program established in a university or corporation that seeks to bring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity to the workplace.

When advocates of DEI want to implement the first of these, Diversity, they mean the inclusion of groups that they feel are underrepresented in certain venues of our society. For example, if a university faculty has a lower percentage of Hispanic professors than the percentage of Hispanics in our society, they seek to raise the number of Latino professors in that department. There are certain minorities they view as oppressed; African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, women, and the LGBTQ alphabet of victims.

When they use the word equity they do not mean equality of opportunity. They mean equality of outcomes. This is almost always measured by income. So, if one of the eligible victim groups has a lower income than others the priests and priestesses of DEI conclude those groups are victims of oppression and seek to raise the incomes of the victim groups.

The I in DEI stands for inclusion, which means including the stated victims into participation in areas of society where they seem underrepresented.

Practically every major university has or has had a DEI office and many major corporations have or have had diversity officers. The same is true of many governmental bureaucracies.

A Harvard study concluded that American institutions spend eight billion dollars a year on DEI.

We have looked at DEI in theory.

What is DEI in reality?

National Review had a good summary: “The ideology behind DEI teaches that American society is a rigged system in which the “oppressors” — mainly white people, particularly men, … — use law, culture, and institutions to subjugate the “oppressed”…Pursuing “social justice” requires ceaseless struggle against these unjust structures. So the highest calling one can pursue is that of an activist who seeks to tear down the oppressive order.”

According to Christopher Rufo in City Journal: “At first glance, a commitment to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” might seem laudable. But DEI employs a propagandistic language to conceal its real intentions. It is, in fact, the opposite of what it appears to be.”

It is in theory, Marxist. The world is divided up into oppressed and oppressor classes.

It ends up being reverse racism. If you are a white male you are by definition an evil person, part of the oppressor class, and you should be ashamed of yourself. It is divisive—it pits social groups against each other. It is a weapon the Left uses to punish those it disagrees with.

I would argue in summary that DEI is the failed attempt to impose a cultic religious belief on a university and the rest of America.

In its pursuit of its own idea of social justice DEI programs have developed a long list of so-called oppressors who do not qualify for DEI assistance. Among those are Christians, white males, white people in general, but also Asians, Jews; all of our successful minority groups. Successful in American terms which inevitably means higher incomes.

Now we come to the most important consideration.

Why is DEI the bitter enemy of the Christian faith?

It is fundamentally anti-Christian because it holds a false doctrine that runs counter to the teaching of the Bible. It judges people by their group and not as God does—as individuals. It offers the standard Marxist argument that your group is the most important thing about you. God says the most important thing about you is your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It decides which groups should be favored and which should be punished. As a consequence it denies opportunities to qualified people and hands them to less qualified individuals who happen to be in a favored group. The Bible strongly and relentlessly attacks this false doctrine. God judges us as individuals. The group you are in means nothing to God. One of the most revealing things about the Old Testament is that God judged individual Jews by the same standards He judges everyone else. You cannot stand before God in judgment and argue that you are in a certain group and therefore should be favored by God.

In recent years DEI has been damaged and this is a triumph of the Christian view of the world.

We are witnessing today the unraveling of the DEI industrial complex. In the last election the voters rejected it. They did not vote according to their group but according to individual preferences. This is a triumph of the Christian worldview and a defeat for Marxist Progressives.

And the new president of the United States issued an executive order abolishing DEI programs in the government and in every educational institution that receives money from the federal government. In other words, all of them.

Even the New York Times is having doubts. It recently ran an opinion column entitled “DEI is not working. We need a new approach.”

Lots of companies are rolling back or ending DEI. John Deere, Harley Davidson, Tractor Supply, Ford Motor Co., Facebook, and many others have abandoned their DEI programs.

Same for many universities. Michigan, Florida, Ohio State, and many others have abolished DEI.

A word of caution: DEI is a powerful religious ideal. It is a means by which Marxist Progressives give meaning to their lives. It will be difficult to stamp out just as pagan superstitions hung on in medieval Europe for centuries and are still around today. For example many universities have already renamed their DEI offices and call them something else. But they still hold the same religious convictions.

The Christian faith will always have powerful competitors. In the West its greatest competition comes, not from other world religions, but from Marxist Progressivism. It is a powerful religion. But Christianity continues to triumph over its enemies. That is, of course, because it is driven by the Holy Spirit of the true God. We must continually be aware of our enemies’ schemes but always mindful of the ultimate victory we have in Christ.

More: The Characteristics of a Cult: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL9RA2QgSf8

The Spectator argues that DEI programs produced unqualified personnel:

One of the key critiques of DEI — the identity-based preference system better known as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion — is that it places workers in professional positions they’re clearly unqualified for. Often with devastating outcomes.

Boeing, for instance, has been accused of favoring race and gender when hiring for its factory floor — factories that have turned out airplanes that have literally fallen from the skies . Disney, too, has seen its quest for race- and gender- and sexuality-based inclusiveness come at a cost — a steep slide in its stock price.

Owen Anderson, ASU prof suing his university claiming DEI is unlawful: https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/my-university-required-dei-training-im-suing/

One part of the training frames “whiteness” itself as inherently bad, then conflates it with “white supremacy”: “[I]t scares people to talk about white supremacy or to be called a white supremacist. But if we start thinking about it in terms of whiteness as something that is culturally neutral and we’re moving it from that neutral space into a critical space.” Another part of the training it even less subtle: “[W]e also have to open the space to critique whiteness.”

That’s the essence of racism.

The New York Times column on the failure of DEI

The University of Michigan gives up on DEI:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/10/the-university-of-michigan-went-all-in-on-dei-the-results-were-disastrous/

Perhaps no university in the entire country implemented DEI as extensively as Michigan. Since 2016, Michigan has spent around a quarter of a billion dollars on DEI. According to a 2021 report from the Heritage Foundation, Michigan employed 163 staff members in DEI positions,

But the DEI crusade literally led to the opposite of its promises, resulting in a climate of distrust, fear, and discrimination.

Universities simply rename their DEI offices in order to avoid the law: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/dozens-of-universities-rebranded-dei-offices-after-trump-administration-crackdown/

Listening to an Energy Expert I Remembered the Blessings of God

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 22:36:00 GMT

God Has Blessed us with Super Abundance

Listening to an energy expert I remembered the Blessings of God

Mark Mills is my favorite technology writer. He is a fellow at a think tank—the Manhattan Institute. He is never shrill, sarcastic, or bitter. He simply gives common sense explanations of what is going on in the economy, the field of energy, and the latest claims of the climate cult.

Recently the Wall Street Journal had an article by some of the chief priests of the climate religion on the progress of the so-called “energy transition.” Their argument is basically a hallelujah--we are abandoning fossil fuels and moving to renewables. Green pulpits all over America are preaching from the same green text.

Mills responded with an article: “Why there will never be an energy transition.” Mills argues that not only is it never going to happen but, in fact, it’s never happened in the history of the human race.

It was not the basic intent of his article but Mills reminds us of the greatness of God. In the first chapter of the Bible God tells man that he will have dominion over the earth in order to bring him material blessing. Psalm 8 repeats that promise, speaking of man’s use of nature to bring him great prosperity. And there are a hundred other verses that repeat these promises. God giving man abundance and blessing. In talking about how mankind uses energy Mills confirms the biblical teaching on material abundance.

Here are some of the facts. Human beings have used the same sources of energy for thousands of years and there is no reason to believe we will stop using any of them before the Lord returns. We use grains—to power the work of human beings and animals; we use wood to cook food and keep us warm; historically we have used water to power watermills that grind grain and today we use water to provide electricity through the many dams we have built. We have used wind to power windmills that have performed many functions and today provide electricity. And we use fossil fuels to run machines and provide electricity.

God has given human beings dominion over the earth and the intelligence to use what’s in the earth for our benefit. And the benefits have been so enormous we can’t even begin to calculate them. And we are not transitioning away from any of them in spite of the false prophecies of the Green cult.

For example, did you know that we produce more grain—and food in general—today than we have ever produced in history? And we don’t just eat grain; we use it to power our cars and trucks in the form of ethanol.

At no point in the history of mankind have we burned as much wood as we burn today. Wood supplies the world with twice as much energy than all the solar panels and windmills combined. Mills says, “Even in the U.S., use of wood for fuel is greater now than a century ago. A wood transition? Not yet.”

What about waterpower? Mills again: “The use of watermills for industrial grinding of grains dates back to ancient Greece. It soared during the Middle Ages, when 500,000 watermills operated in Europe. But that was hardly peak waterpower. Global hydro dams today produce…500 times more energy than watermills in the Middle Ages.”

What about wind power? “Windmills…didn’t peak in the past, though there were…200,000 of them in the Middle Ages, as well as tens of thousands of wind-powered vessels, that is, sailing ships, by the nineteenth century. Global wind turbines harvest at least fifty-fold more wind energy than at any time in history.”

Finally, what about those evil fossil fuels? They are the greatest source of energy in the history of the human race. Are we transitioning away from them? Hardly. They provide 80% of the world’s energy. Are they declining? No; we use more oil, natural gas, and coal than we ever have in history and each year we increase their use. No energy transition here.

All this should cause us to give glory to God for His abundant provision. We enjoy a material lifestyle better than any human beings have ever had because the gifts he gives us in nature and the intellectual gifts he has given to those created in His image. I believe our greatest sin is a lack of gratitude. Let us bow our heads today and thank the Lord our God our maker for His abundant blessings.

The Mills article:

https://www.city-journal.org/article/energy-transition-green-new-deal?mod=djemMER_h

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 18:09:23 GMT

The Evidences for the Resurrection are a powerful argument for the Christian faith

Did Jesus Christ Rise from the Dead?

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Luke 24:1-12

In Luke 24 we read about Mary Magdalene and the other women going to Jesus’ tomb on the Sunday after the crucifixion full expecting to find Jesus’ dead body. But the tomb was empty. They ran back and told the disciples. The text says Peter ran to the tomb and found nothing but the linen used to wrap Jesus’ body. Peter was amazed and wondered what had happened. So has everyone else in history. The empty tomb has been one of the best arguments in history for the truth of Jesus Christ. Many have committed their lives to Christ based on the evidence for the resurrection; many consider Sir William Ramsey to be the greatest archaeologist of the nineteenth centry. Ramsey was a devout Christian but he had set out originally to disprove the resurrection. But after examining the evidence he concluded that Jesus Christ really did rise bodily from the grave. When I was a college student I read a book by a lawyer, Frank Morrison, who also set out to disprove the resurrection but ended up believing it. His book was entitled, “Who Moved the Stone?” and it is still one of the most important questions to ask humanity. In our day many of you know the name Lee Stroebel who had the same experience as the others. He was an atheist who after investigating it decided the resurrection really happened. The list goes on and on.

Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon and was buried before sundown. The following Sunday the tomb was empty. What happened to Jesus? Historian Paul Maier argued that a supernatural resurrection is a theological event, the truth of which is determined by one’s beliefs. But not the empty tomb. That can be established by historical evidence. And all the historical sources agreed—the tomb was empty. So we can now turn to the question—why was it empty?

Down through the centuries there have been three broad explanations:

First, the disciples stole the body .

This theory actually appears in the New Testament itself in Matthew 28:13. It was the accusation the Pharisees made. Sometime after Jesus’ death Peter, James, and John, et al, snuck over and took Jesus’ body out of the tomb, hid it, and then came forward declaring He had risen.

This theory has a number of fatal problems:

· The disciples were a demoralized group incapable of pulling this off; they were hightailing it out of dodge, not carefully crafting a conspiracy.

· The tomb was well guarded. It would be embarrassing for your prisoner to escape especially if he was dead.

· Paul says in 1 Corinthian 15 that upwards of 500 people saw Jesus after His death. So if you are going to steal the body and start a religion you are going to need an impostor to deceive these people.

· The disciples lived as though convinced Jesus had risen; they died for this truth. People will lay down their lives for false causes. They do not die for a cause they know is false.

· Not one of them ever alluded to the possibility of a stolen body; it is not possible to keep conspiracies secret. Chuck Colson uses this argument in his book, Loving God. Colson was one of the Watergate conspirators. As soon as the slightest bit of pressure was applied to those covering up the bungled burglary they caved in and told all they knew. Colson said this convinced him that the disciples were not conspiring to start a religion by stealing the body.

The second way of explaining away the resurrection is to deny that Jesus really died on the cross. This is known as the “swoon” theory.

Instead of dying, Jesus “swooned.” He lost consciousness while on the cross. He was then taken down and in the damp, cool grave He regained consciousness and came forth trumpeting His resurrection. I first read this theory in “Passover Plot” by Hugh Schonfield, but it was first advanced more than 200 years ago. So, it appears to be a recently invented conspiracy theory. It, too, suffers fatal problems:

· Jesus would have to have help to pull this off and the most likely group would be the disciples; thus, we now have all the problems of Theory #1.

· All the physical evidence is against it; the spear drawing blood and water, the physical beating, how do you walk to Emmaus with nail-pierced feet?

· It’s greatest weaknes is it makes Jesus the author of history’s greatest conspiracy. Even the strongest critics of Christianity tend to look on Jesus favorably. But this theory makes Him a con man of the first order.

· Another problem: Jesus then has to fake his ascension. It wouldn’t help the new religion if Jesus allegedly rose from the dead only to die again.

· One last question: Why did Paul become a Christian? He said it was because he saw Jesus Christ. If Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead then Paul is badly mistaken thinking he had seen Jesus. And he lived a heroic, sacrificial life based on a lie. I think that’s absurd.

Third, and finally, the best explanation: Jesus was supernaturally raised from the dead by the power of God.

This theory fits the evidence better than the others. It is rejected primarily because it requires one to fall on his knees before the Lord and most people don’t want to do that. The evidence against it is an ingrained hostility toward the supernatural and the Christian faith. The strengths of this theory:

· It accounts for Sunday worship;

· It accounts for our own changed lives; we are transformed by the resurrected Christ, not the memory of a person now dead.

· Most importantly, it accounts for the growth and power of the Christian Church, which is the most important event in the history of the human race.

At the end of the book, Why I Am Not An Atheist, by Anthony Flew, there is an interview with N.T. Wright, a British New Testament scholar. His approach to the resurrection is quite creative in my point of view. Here are a few highlights:

1. The ancient world had a wide range of views on life after death but “resurrection” wasn’t one of them. The Jews believed in a “resurrection” at the end of time. The Christians were arguing that this resurrection had happened to one person in advance.

2. The Christians argued that the resurrection involved a transformation of the physical body; a new form of physicality. This was new and unique.

3. The Christians believed this had happened to the Messiah. No orthodox Jew believed this because the Messiah was never going to be killed.

4. The doctrine of the Resurrection was central to early Christianity, not one belief among many like it was in Judaism. Is Easter considered an important day in the Christian faith?

5. In early Christianity there was no spectrum of belief in what happens after death. Resurrection is it. There’s nothing else.

6. Why did all the early Christians have this very new and unanimous view of the resurrection? It must be because they believed it.

7. The resurrection story departs from Judaism in many ways. One of the most interesting is to have women be the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. In the ancient world, including Judaism, women were not credible witnesses. If the resurrection stories were made up you would never have a Mary Magdalene in a starring role.

8. From all this we reach certain conclusions: “In order to explain the rise of early Christianity, in order to explain the existence of those four resurrection accounts plus the bits and pieces in Acts and in Paul, we have to say that the very early church really did believe that Jesus had been bodily raise from the dead. We have no evidence of any very early Christians who believed anything else. But how can we as historians explain that?” (page 209)

9. “The resurrection of Jesus does in fact provide a sufficient explanation for the empty tomb and the meetings with Jesus. Having examined all the other possible hypotheses I’ve read about anywhere in the literature, I think it’s also a necessary explanation.” (page 213, italics his)

Yes it is. He is risen. He is risen indeed! Happy easter everyone!

What's Right With Fundamentalism

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 17:36:54 GMT

Fundamentalist Have Been a Great Force for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ

If you want to say something negative about a group you call them fundamentalists. It generally means people that are narrow and judgmental and not the kind of people you want to be around. They are viewed as generally harmful and destructive and their influence should be limited if not eliminated entirely. It’s very common for the mainstream press to refer to all Christians as fundamentalists if they believe in orthodox Christian doctrine. The word has spilled over into many other uses. If you want to say something negative about Islam you talk about Muslim fundamentalists. The same with Hindus. People of Mormon heritage who still practice polygamy call themselves Fundamentalist LDS. So the word is widespread and always has negative connotations.

But that’s not how the word was used originally. In 1915 a group of Christians gathered and decided on what were non-negotiable “Fundamentals of the Faith.” They were:

1. The virgin birth and deity of Jesus.

2. The substitutionary death of Jesus.

3. The resurrection of Jesus Christ.

4. The infallibility and inerrancy of the Scriptures.
5. The second coming of Christ.

In time the people who believed in these five fundamentals were predictably called “fundamentalists.” It’s a name they gave themselves. But also in time it began to carry the negative connotations it has today.

I grew up in a fundamentalist church and wrote my doctoral dissertation on Fundamentalism for the University of Colorado. In my study of the group I learned that though the criticisms carried some weight it was far from the whole story. In fact, I think Christian Fundamentalists are a powerful group doing great work in furthering the Kingdom of God. And I think they have four major strengths.

First, Fundamentalists are sold out to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They believe in His supremacy over all things, especially the individual Christian and the church. On this Fundamentalists are like all Christians should be: uncompromising.

Second, Fundamentalists are intensely evangelistic. They share the Gospel often and in every imaginable way. They hold services in jails and prisons, they preach in rest homes and rehab centers. They preach on street corners and distribute tracts and Christian literature. They put millions of Bibles into circulation. They go door to door seeking witnessing opportunities and share Christ with friends and neighbors at every opportunity. They believe the Gospel saves people from a certain eternity in hell. This predictably carries over into missions. Fundamentalists have numerous outstanding missionary organizations that reach people all over the world.

Third, Fundamentalists believe in the inerrancy of Scripture and submit to its authority in every venue of life. They are committed to the translation of Scripture into every language on earth in the hopes that the Bible’s message will reach everyone. They fight for the Bible’s authority and battle against any of the modern liberals who seek to water down or contradict its message.

Fourth and finally, they believe the Christian should be separated from the world as is taught in 2 Corinthians 6. This is a separation of lifestyle, beliefs, and values not a physical separation such as you see in monasticism. As a prime example of this Fundamentalists started developing their own educational institutions a couple of generations ago and today they fund thousands of primary and secondary Christian schools as well as many colleges and seminaries.

Fundamentalism has brought untold millions into contact with Christ and into eternity in his presence. I am an expert of what’s wrong with Fundamentalism. But at the end of the day it is a powerful movement that has glorified God and His Son Jesus Christ. Before we criticize them we need to thank God for them.

Christianity Today offers a grudging defense of Fundamentalism

The introduction to my book on Fundamentalism: https://www.the401stprophet.com/the-introduction-to-my-book-on-fundamentalism

The Christian View of the Family has made Western Culture Possible

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 18:24:56 GMT

Part 4 in the Values that Created the West

In this video I conclude my examination of the values that built Western culture. I have listed twelve in previous videos which are linked below. Now for the final four.

First, Christianity teaches and demands the sanctity of marriage and the family. Our doctrine of the family comes straight out of Genesis 2:24: A man should leave his father and cleave to his wife. This is an important verse for what it says and what it denies. Children are not to be raised in extended families or tribes. It does not take a village to raise a child; it takes parents. For many years I pastored a church that had large families. I never worried that after church was over a number of these kids would be left behind. Somehow parents always knew who their own kids were and gathered them up and took them home. The people most committed to a kids’ life are his parents. God ordained it that way, Christian faith and practice demands the family function this way, and it has been a major factor in the health and success of Western culture. The online publication, the Federalist, recently argued that the decline of marriage will destroy our democracy.

Second, Christianity introduced to the world the idea of Progress. Forty years ago when I was a graduate student I was assigned a secular text entitled, The Super Historians. It chronicled the lives of the most influential historians who ever lived. At the top of the list was Augustine, the North African Christian who I have argued is the most important figure in history after Jesus Christ. This text argued that Augustine’s most influential idea was that of Progress. The ancient world believed history moved in cycles. Birth, progress, decline, and death. It was an inescapable cycle a culture could not escape. So there was no ultimate hope in the future. Decline was inevitable. Augustine changed all that. In his magisterial work, The City of God, he argued that the city of man did indeed move cyclically. But alongside the city of man was The City of God. It was linear. It moved in a straight, upward line. That city was always progressing toward an ultimate glorious end. Mankind was progressing, individuals could progress, your choices made a difference. That idea transformed the culture of the West. It believed that human advancement was possible. We can make things better. And it is one of the most powerful ideas of all time.

Third, Christianity argues that Utopia is not achievable in this life but lies after life in the glorious realm of God’s heaven. This idea taught Western men not to expect or aim for a heaven on earth. The passion for an earthly utopia has been one of the single most destructive beliefs of the Marxist Progressives. They do not believe in God or in an afterlife but they still believe in a heaven. They set out to create it on earth and instead have created one horrific nightmare after another that has killed tens of millions. Christianity teaches men to be realistic about life on earth and what politics can achieve. The belief that a political system can create heaven on earth is destructive. It means that Progressives are always unhappy with the world no matter how blessed it is. They constantly try to destroy the present order to replace it with a perfect world. And in the process they destroy everything good. The Christian view of government has been realistic and therefore effective.

Fourth, the nations of Western culture have consistently given gratitude and worship to God. We need to be reminded that Paul says in Romans 1:21 that a lack of gratitude toward God is the beginning of a downward spiral to moral and social destruction. In 1789 America’s first president, George Washington declared a day of Thanksgiving: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God.”

America began by giving thanks to God and we have been blessed beyond all measure. Continued thanksgiving to God is a necessary condition for blessing in the future.

Western culture was created by Christianity. It is part of the heritage of Jesus Christ that David talks about in Psalms 2. If Jesus Christ had not walked the earth Western culture would no more exist than you would exist if your mother did not. I give praise to our God for revealing His truth and the immeasurable blessing He has produced in our lives.

More: Why Christianity Change the World: the Power of the Individual; The values of the West, part 3; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkaHI2CKTUg

How Christianity Invented Science: The values that built the West, Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXTXYXaXyCI

What was the world like before Christians changed it: The values that built the West, Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXTXYXaXyCI

The Federalist on how the current assault on marriage will destroy democracy:

https://thefederalist.com/2024/10/25/how-americas-war-on-marriage-threatens-democracy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-americas-war-on-marriage-threatens-democracy&utm_term=2024-10-25

George Washington’s Thanksgiving proclamation: https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-source-collections/primary-source-collections/article/thanksgiving-proclamation-of-1789

The Introduction to my book on Fundamentalism

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 18:07:20 GMT

Fundamentalism is a powerful force for the Kingdom

INTRODUCTION

Modern Fundamentalism has resurfaced after two generations of obscurity. Popular media report that the Religious Right is now a factor in American politics, social policy, and cultural direction. Spokesmen such as Jerry Falwell and organizations like the Moral Majority have visibility that Fundamentalists have not experienced in over fifty years.

To the general public and even the scholarly community Fundamentalism is a vague collection of people and ideas. Little is known about it except the certainty that it is to be feared and that it is a threat to the mainstream of American life. These feelings are understandable given the history and image of Fundamentalism. But, as with most historical subjects, the reality is far more complex than the myth.

The problems begin with definition. Who are the Fundamentalists? First, we must state categorically who they are not. Fundamentalists are not Pentecostals or Charismatics. In fact, they have always been very critical of these movements. Well known Charismatics such as Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, and Jimmy Swaggart have been misidentified as Fundamentalists. They are not. They are part of an important, but distinct, American religious tradition, with different roots and different emphasis.

Second, Fundamentalists are not Evangelicals. The two terms began to be used commonly after the Second World War. Evangelicals generally agree with Fundamentalists on major doctrinal issues--the infallibility of Scripture, the literal return of Christ, the literal resurrection of Christ, etc.--but disagree on how the Christian should relate to culture. Evangelicals believe in "infiltration." The orthodox Christian is to have values that are distinct from society but should involve himself or herself in society's institutions, e.g., public education. Public universities will have hundreds, even thousands of Evangelical students and a significant number of Evangelical professors.

Fundamentalists are committed to "separation." The orthodox Christian should not involve himself or herself in society's institutions. They should, instead, be committed to distinctively Fundamentalist institutions. As a result, one rarely finds Fundamentalist students at a public university and Fundamentalist professors are virtually nonexistent.

Third, they are not a predominantly rural, lower class movement. H. Richard Niebuhr referred to them as having "little strength in the urban and industrial sections of the country," but "active in many rural states." Modernism was "bourgeois" and Fundamentalism lower class.Fundamentalist leaders actually bore no resemblance to this stereotype. "Their base of support was indistinguishable from that of the Modernists."

Fourth, they are not found primarily in the South. Fundamentalism began in the North before the Civil War. "Until the 1920s...Southern revivalist conservatism and Northern fundamentalism developed more or less independently."Currently Fundamentalism is well represented in southern states but is common throughout North America.

Fifth, Fundamentalism is not a "psychological" profile determined by a reaction to change. It is primarily an intellectual movement, albeit with social implications. "It might be supposed that fundamentalism was primarily a response to social and political conditions. It was not." Instead, "it was what its proponents most often said it was--a response to the spread of what was perceived as false doctrine."Fundamentalism began and has continued to be a movement that centers on intellectual issues.

But though we can state who the Fundamentalists are not, can we define who they are? They are almost always people who call themselves by that name. They cherish the word and understand its historical and social significance. They are committed to the doctrines of historic Christian orthodoxy. But they have a strong view of "separation" from society. "The movement has been characterized by an emphasis on the doctrine and practice of holiness....The word holiness, or sanctification, carries the basic idea of separation."They also believe in "militantly" defending the historic Christian faith. "The only true Fundamentalist is a fighting Fundamentalist."

Fundamentalism as a distinct movement began in the nineteenth century. Prominent clergymen and laymen from the major Protestant denominations began holding their own Bible conferences, stressing historic Christian doctrines they felt were being neglected.They saw theirs as a fight against "Modernism," that is, the new ideas becoming prominent during this period--Darwinism, higher criticism of the Bible, etc. Toward the end of the century they began to form their own Bible colleges that included in their curriculum distinctive Fundamentalist concerns.

In the 1920s Fundamentalism found itself in serious conflict with the currents of two major denominations--Baptist and Presbyterian. The Fundamentalists battled for control of these organizations but lost. In the 1930s they began to withdraw from the mainline denominations, forming their own organizations. In a real sense they disappeared from public and historical view, and ceased to be a factor in the public arena of American life.

For two generations Fundamentalists kept to themselves. They enjoyed a thriving institutional life with their own churches, denominations, colleges, volunteer societies, and publishing houses. Instead of trying to infiltrate larger social organizations they chose instead to separate themselves from wider involvement.

In the mid-1970s, however, Fundamentalists again became a factor in public life. Scholars debate the reasons for this and part of the focus of my research will attempt to answer this question. But it is generally agreed that Fundamentalism is a component of contemporary social life that needs reexamination.

Much of the fear of Fundamentalism stems from ignorance. One can read from a wide range of sources about the political power of the religious right and its threat to American society. But these fears are not grounded in a clear understanding of Fundamentalism. A further objective of my research is to give deeper insight into the movement and explain why many of the fears are groundless.

Fundamentalism is hardly monolithic. One can identify up to one hundred different Fundamentalist groups, each with its own agenda, and with virtually no inter-group coordination. The Falwell wing of the Religious Right does not enjoy anything close to exclusive loyalty from Fundamentalists. It is quite possible he is not supported by a majority of them.

Fundamentalism is divided into two distinct camps when it comes to political and social involvement. First, there is the Falwell wing, a strongly interventionist group of "neo-Fundamentalists" who see their mission as saving America. The Liberty Foundation (formerly Moral Majority) seeks to influence public policy on issues such as abortion, pornography, religious freedom, and defense of America against Communism. It registers voters, encourages letters to Congress, and takes positions on numerous political issues.

But another wing of Fundamentalism excoriates Falwell for betraying the historic distinctive of the movement--separation from "the world." One leader of the militant, far right called separation "the burning issue of our time." To him this means withdrawing oneself from all activities, organizations, and relationships that would taint one's theological and ethical purity. These are the "militant" Fundamentalists, who claim with pride to occupy the most extreme right-wing position in American Protestantism. An examination of this group will add considerable insight into the nature of Fundamentalism. It could alter the way the Religious Right is perceived by the academic community and it should help more clearly define a group that exists mostly as a caricature.

The militant, far right of Fundamentalism shuns political involvement, believes the true church separates completely from society, and is fragmented politically. Rather than hoping to take over American society, this group flees society, and only involves itself politically when its ability to remain separate is threatened. This demonstrates that a large element in Fundamentalism has no interest in political involvement and has little interest in the American mainstream.

Even the far right of Fundamentalism is composed of thousands of organizations and independent churches. Naturally, a study of all of them would not be possible within the parameters of my research. However, there is one group that is probably the largest organization of the militant right and is one of the most influential--the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship. Composed of thousands of pastors from all parts of North America it is a loud and representative voice of militant Fundamentalism.

The central focus of this study is the FBF. They are representative of Fundamentalism both in terms of history and present practices. The thesis of this research is that many Fundamentalists, instead of attempting to "take control" of American society are doing the exact opposite. They are separating themselves from American society, fleeing its institutions and influences. The history and present posture of the FBF is evidence of this trend. It shows a decreasing involvement in American society rather than an attempt to wield greater influence. This research will examine and chronicle the FBF departure from the American mainstream, from involvement in a major American Protestant denomination to complete separation from all American ecclesiastical and education institutions.

Fundamentalists suffer from a negative public profile which, at least in part, they have brought upon themselves. But Fundamentalism also suffers because of the ignorance of the general public and the academic community. The historical community is responsible for addressing this problem and this research takes a small step in that direction.

Predictably, there is considerable debate over the definition of these religious traditions. Pentecostal churches are those Protestant churches that emphasize a special work of the Holy Spirit as an experience different from conversion and evidenced by speaking in tongues. The modern Pentecostal movement began in 1901 and now includes denominations such as the Assemblies of God, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and the United Church of God in Christ. The Charismatic movement has many of the characteristics of the Pentecostals but is to be found within major Protestant denominations and Roman Catholic churches as well as independent churches. The emphasis on tongues speaking and special religious experience is present here as well. For our purposes the most important consideration is that those who call themselves Fundamentalists emphatically deny any connection with or legitimacy of the Pentecostals or Charismatics.

For an extended discussion of Niebuhr see Ernest R. Sandeen, The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism, 1800-1930 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970), p. xi.

Ibid., p. xii.

George Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925; (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 103.

Marsden, p. 159, emphasis his.

David O. Beale, In Pursuit of Purity: American Fundamentalism Since 1850; (Greenville, S. Car.: Unusual Publications, 1986), p. 6.

7Beale, p. 357.

Those major doctrines would include the infallibility of the Bible, the divine nature of Christ, his Virgin birth, his bodily resurrection, literal second coming, and atoning death on the cross.

Chuck Cofty, then General Director of the FBF, in a personal interview.

I have read numerous quotations in both popular and academic writing that gives a number for Fundamentalists but these are nothing but educated guesses, and, I think, poorly educated at that. I have acquiredpublications from about ten different Fundamentalist organizations. Add to this the number of Fundamentalist colleges and seminaries that advertise in these publications--the number is around fifty--and one begins to see that this is a fairly large but indistinct subculture. The president of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship (FBF), Dr. Rod Bell, claims several thousand pastors are connected with his organization. By any account there are many Fundamentalists and the FBF, the focus of this research, is a large organization.

Why Christianity changed the world—the supremacy of the individual

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 14:05:41 GMT

Biblical Values the Built the West - Part 3

The main emphasis of my ministry is the power of Jesus Christ to shape the world and the people in it. My writing, my videos, and my speaking all put front and center the supremacy of Christ.

Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Bible built Western culture. Christians believe that both the Old and New Testaments are the written word of God. But Judaism is a small religion. It took Christianity to spread Old Testament ideas around the world and Christianity is the greatest missionary and cultural force that has ever existed. If it had not been for Christianity Old Testament ideas would be nearly unknown. But the spread of Christianity has caused them to become the most important ideas in world history.

In two recent videos I shared eight unique biblical ideas that have transformed culture. In this video I want to share four more.

First, Christianity spread the biblical doctrine of free will. Each individual has the ability to choose good or evil and make a host of other choices in his life. This leads naturally to the Christian belief in individual accountability before God. It also leads to the death of tribalism. In Matthew 3 Jewish leaders are bragging about being children of Abraham. John the Baptist tells them, “God can turn rocks into sons of Abraham.” John wasn’t very impressed with their Jewish lineage. And neither is God. I am a Baptist. I used to tell my students jokingly that Baptists have replaced Jews as God’s chosen people. And I am sure there are Baptists who think that way. That they have a special in with God. But when a man stands before the judgment seat of the Almighty he can’t boast about being a Baptist, a Jew, or a member of any other group. He will be judged on the basis of his own decisions.

This Christian doctrine has been bitterly opposed by the Marxist Progressive cult. Marx argued that everything in your life was determined by your group, your class, your tribe; that your individual identity and choices played no role in who you are as a person. It’s the opposite of what Christianity teaches. As a result, Christian societies have rewarded individual excellence no matter the tribe of that individual. Achievements in Western culture have come from every imaginable group. What would our society be like if Jews had been denied the opportunity to succeed in it? Or America’s richest minority group—people of Indian heritage? Or people from east Asia; Japanese or Korean immigrants? 31 years ago a Chinese immigrant who attended a Baptist high school in Kentucky founded Nvidia. Today it is one of the most valuable corporations in the world worth several trillion dollars. In Christian culture every individual possesses infinite value and free will. People have used that freedom to build the richest and best culture in world history. It would not have happened without the Christian view of the individual.

Second, Christianity teaches that men are basically evil. Yes, they have free will but they use it for wickedness. I am not arguing that people never make good choices or do good things. But Jeremiah 17:9 sums up man’s basic constitution: “The heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. Who can know it?” This affects every sector of society—education, law enforcement, parenting, and everything else. I have argued in other videos that social order in many of America’s cities is collapsing because Progressive liberals deny this doctrine. A correct view of the sinfulness of man leads to correct public policy.

Third, the rule of law. Intellectuals like Thomas Sowell argue this is the West’s most important contribution to the world. What is it? The rule of law insists that all individuals be treated equally and fairly by a nation’s law enforcement apparatus. The laws must be written down. You can’t obey the law unless you know what it is. Each individual in a society has equal access to justice and has fundamental human rights that are legally protected by the society. I once visited a college classroom in China. I was speaking with a young lady afterwards and asked her what she was studying. She said, “law.” She wanted to be a lawyer. I said, “There is no rule of law without God.” It is dependent on an independent lawgiver who hands down universal principles of justice.

A writer in World magazine said: “For an ordinance of reason to be established and applied for the good of man, lawmakers…first know what man is and what good is. All law is a manifestation of morality in this sense. It is concerning, then, when judges cannot or will not define the basics of human nature, the distinction between male and female or the humanity of the unborn, for example.”

Fourth, truth is objective; people don’t get to make up things and call them true. When a man says he has decided to be a woman no he hasn’t. He’s still a man to matter what gender he claims. Our intellectual elite have taken human freedom to absurd lengths claiming to make up anything they want and call it true. I have an entire video series on the lies I have been told by so-called intellectuals and it is stuff they made up and called true. The entire scientific enterprise depends on the objectivity of truth. Truth needs to be discovered. It cannot be invented. When all the nonsense of modern man is blown away what you are left with is reality. And God is the creator of what is real and the judge of what is real and what is right and what is wrong.

In my last video in this series I will give four more Christian values that built Western culture. I want to praise the God of Scripture, the only true God, for revealing His truth to us.

More: My videos on the Great Deceptions of my lifetime: https://studio.youtube.com/playlist/PLkHlTST983SpNT5Z37B6qlPsTjYMAm_qP/edit

First video on the values that built the West: What was the world like before Christianity changed it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF-RaBj_Kwg

How Christianity invented science(second video on the values that built the West): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF-RaBj_Kwg

Why America’s big cities are a mess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nl67Ig5hI4

Law requires theology:

https://wng.org/opinions/law-needs-theology-1682680542?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGLfZBI_rJyhnAXqASwLVf-rMBPCtu6a-aK5gOOt0kmPdd7UmQpmS_dl7DWZ1yDBG5aPrFjmyfQeg9kDwtg99vkg15N2TZDL7M3an_vTX4JRfqc

DEI is the enemy of this; Marxist egalitarianism hates this; free markets depend on it; Charles Murray on the importance of genius—allowing the most brilliant STEM students freedom and opportunity; https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-roots-of-stem-excellence-higher-education-cognitive-ability-over-dei-df09f6c7?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h

The Insanity of Liberal Religion

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 17:07:18 GMT

My own journey through the world of the liberal church

Why is liberal religion so crazy?

When the God of the Bible is rejected insanity ensues

In 1923 J. Gresham Machen, the legendary New Testament scholar, wrote Christianity and Liberalism. He declared theological liberalism to be a different religion from the religion of Jesus Christ and the enemy of the religion of Jesus Christ. Machen was spot on.

I encountered Machen when I was a college freshman. It was a time in my life when students and professors were confronting me with theological liberalism and trying to persuade me to join their quest to modernize Christianity which, in their view, had become outmoded and irrelevant. I knew there was something wrong in their arguments but I didn’t know what. Then one day when wondering through the University of Wyoming bookstore, lo and behold, there on the shelf was a copy of Machen’s book. I read it nearly in one setting and was loaded for bear. I was ready to refute the liberal, anti-Christian arguments of my fellow students.

That wasn’t my first exposure to liberalism, however. A couple of years before when I was a high school student I attended the youth group in a local Methodist church. We took turns leading the devotional portion of the meeting. When my turn came I led a study of John 3:16, stating that to enter heaven you had to believe in Jesus Christ and be born again. The liberal pastor of the church, who sat in on our meetings, strongly criticized my study and accused me of “proof texting.” At the time I had no idea of what he was talking about. I later learned that proof texting is taking a verse out of context to prove a preconceived idea. I don’t think that using John 3:16 to prove the need to be born again is proof texting. But the liberal pastor felt the need to attack a high school kid who was sharing that with his peers.

The same pastor had strongly opposed a Bible study led by my dad. The study included a number of members of the pastor’s church. Dad led three of those couples to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I have kept track of them for the past sixty years and they have faithfully followed Christ ever since. But it was over the bitter opposition of the liberal pastor. By the time I was out of high school I had come to recognize the evils of theological liberalism and I hated it.

In my first year of teaching after graduating from college I was asked to speak at a Thanksgiving celebration attended jointly by several churches. Before I spoke I had dinner with the young liberal pastor of one of the churches. I made some mention of heaven and he immediately reproved me. I was startled and asked him why. He said he didn’t believe in heaven because it had never been “located geographically.” In the years since I have wondered if that young pastor wouldn’t go on to locate hell geographically.

When I was a professor at the University of Colorado I had my students read a book by Thomas Reeves called, “The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Christianity.” Reeves said the big question liberal clergy could not answer was, “What’s the point?” If liberalism is true what’s the point of Christianity? What’s the point of a liberal church? What’s the point in being a liberal clergyman? Reeves said they couldn’t answer those questions and were on their way to oblivion.

While I was a professor at CU, Boulder, I attended a men’s group. One morning our speaker was the pastor from First Methodist. He began his message by saying he was a theological liberal who did not believe the Bible was accurate. He then said he did not believe Jesus died for our sins. He also said he was offended by people who didn’t think he was a Christian. I was offended by the fact that he thought he was. Can you deny Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and be a Christian?

In recent years the statistical expert on religion in America, Ryan Burge, has chronicled the collapse of the liberal denominations who have lost more than 80% of their membership and continue to decline. All I can say is, may God hasten the day.

I was drawn back to this issue recently when I read about a Lutheran church that had added a witch to their church staff. The church is led by a “pastor and priestess of ritual” and includes over a half dozen “priestesses.” The denomination’s bishop is an openly trans-identified female. The resident witch is seen in a photo on the church website wearing a traditional witch’s hat. On the church’s website it calls itself “an emerging, liberating feminist congregation” which is “hoping to be a part of the prophetic voice of the divine feminine that will deconstruct Christianity and other patriarchal religions.”

How does this happen? It’s very simple. When a group or individual rejects the God of Scripture they spiral down into the insanity like the above. Paul predicts and describes this perfectly in Romans 1. He says in v. 21 that after rejecting God, “they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools instead.” Paul then goes on to describe their descent into debauchery and moral insanity.

The implosion of liberal religion teaches a harsh lesson. The judgment of Almighty God falls on those who reject Him and His Son. Fidelity to Jesus Christ is the only antidote to the craziness mankind is capable of. Let’s renew today our efforts to glorify and spread His Holy name.

More: What is behind the sad decline of our major denominations? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_M4R-88JOw

Machen’s great book is found here

A Lutheran church adds a witch to their staff:

https://www.christianpost.com/news/elca-herchurch-promotes-goddess-worship-resident-witch.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

Ryan Burge on the decline of the UMC: https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-aftermath-of-the-schism-in-the/comments#comment-54819528

Ryan Burge on the decline of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-state-of-the-evangelical-lutheran

United Methodists on electing gay bishops:

https://religionnews.com/2024/07/16/united-methodists-elect-a-third-openly-gay-married-bishop/

A female Anglican pastor drapes an LGBTQ flag over the communion table:

https://www.christianpost.com/news/female-pastor-drapes-lgbt-flag-over-communion-table.html?seyid=51676?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

A lesbian pastor of the United Church of Christ blasphemes Jesus as a “drag queen”;

https://www.christianpost.com/news/lesbian-pastor-blasphemes-jesus-as-drag-queen-at-council-meeting.html?seyid=51884?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

America's Best Actor Comes to Christ

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 23:16:33 GMT

Denzel Washington Declares He Has Been Put on this Planet to Preach

My favorite actor is Denzel Washington. He has won every imaginable award and is featured in some of the best and most successful films of all time. So you can imagine my surprise when he announced last week that he had given his life to Christ.

Washington grew up in church. In fact his dad was a pastor. But there came a time in his youth when he rejected it all. There came a time he said when, “I rejected God. I hated God.” All this even though when he was a kid a woman in his mother’s beauty parlor said: “Young man, you're going to travel the world and preach to millions of people.”

But Denzel didn’t start out preaching. He began living a dissipated ungodly life. A number of his friends went to prison. But then slowly, patiently, God began to reel him in. He said, "I've had no patience with God, and God has had nothing but patience with me. That's why they call it grace."

In time he was able to say, “It’s my job to lift God up, to give Him praise, to make sure that anyone and everyone I speak to the rest of my life understands that He is responsible for me.”

Just before Christmas Washington was baptized then licensed to preach by the Church of God in Christ. At his baptism he said, “"To God be the glory. Hallelujah!...Anything I can do, I will do for…the Almighty. I just want to be in that number when the saints go marching in."

This past week he was speaking to the University of Colorado football team. (A privilege I have had on a number of occasions.) He told the players, “God found me long before I found him…In all that I say, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in God's sight." Then he added, “"God did not put me on this planet to act; God put me on this planet to preach."

There seem to be quite a few highly visible people these days who are coming to Christ. It has pleased our God to do this. Please understand, God does not “need” this. God doesn’t need anything. The early church became the most powerful force in the history of the human race without one, single celebrity in its ranks. God is no respecter of persons but he does draw to himself a number of people who are well known around the world. We praise Him for this. Just like we praise him for saving a little child, our neighbor down the street, the man in prison. We praise Him for saving us. On this day let’s all give praise to our God for His glorious grace and to His Son, Jesus Christ, whose death made it all possible.

More: England’s most notorious pagan becomes a Christian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0DDDkqcdNE

Denzel Washington: I was put on this planet to preach: https://www.christianpost.com/news/denzel-washington-says-his-purpose-is-to-preach.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

Denzel Washington’s baptism and call to ministry: https://www.christianpost.com/news/denzel-washington-gets-baptized-receives-ministry-license.html

"Why Does Academia Shun Certain Subjects? What’s on the forbidden list?"

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 19:29:32 GMT

Twelve Subjects Universities Do Not Study

When an institution rejects God it quickly rejects truth. And that’s exactly what has happened in the academic community. There are a host of subjects you are simply forbidden from studying.

You cannot talk about Jesus Christ in our major university classrooms. You cannot talk about the superiority of the Christian faith even though the very existence of the university proves it. You cannot discuss His impact on civilization. You cannot discuss the power He displays all over the earth. You cannot talk about the triumphs of His followers even though there are tens of millions of them all around you. In fact, at the secular university where I taught there were many thousands of students—and some faculty and lots of staff—who were serious Christians. You just cannot bring up their existence. But Christ is not alone in being rejected by the modern academy. Truth is hated as well.

I have said repeatedly in my videos that the academic community in the West hates the God of the Bible, hates His people, and is generally anti-Christian. There are many college professors and researchers who do good work and make a positive contribution to humanity. But usually when they deal with Christian related themes they are hostile.

Take the case of Mark Regnerus, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas, Austin. Regnerus recounts his ordeal in a recent article in First Things. In 2012 he published research suggesting children in traditional heterosexual homes had better outcomes than children of homosexual couples. The firestorm was instantaneous. Harassment began immediately. His colleagues and administrators were group emailed asking how they could tolerate his presence on the faculty. His wife was stalked on Facebook. Gutless administrators caved to the pressure. Regnerus said, he was required to turn over his university computers, hard drives, and memory sticks, and to make his email available for scrutiny—even his personal email.

Regnerus was called before an academic inquisition. He was asked to defend his work. The journal that had published his research ordered an audit of it even though they had had no problems when they published it.

Three years later in a post-tenure review he had to go through the same process again. His promotion to full professor was delayed by five years.

Professors whose research confirms the dominant narrative are lauded and rewarded—even if their conclusions are patently false.

I read Regnerus’ study when it first came out and have followed this case. It is typical of the academic community to hate truth. Augustine said all truth is God’s truth. When you hate God you hate truth. The academic community has been at war with God for more than a hundred years.

As a read Regnerus’ article I thought about a host of issues I wish university researchers would study but never will because the answers to the questions terrify the unbelievers who control our universities. Here are a dozen of them:

1. Is the gay lifestyle destructive? What are the social science conclusions on gay suicide, gay disease?

2. What is gay life expectancy? Does an active homosexual lifestyle reduce a man’s life on earth? If so, by how much?

3. Are women different from men? In what ways are they different and why is it important? There have actually been some studies on this but they come to the conclusion that, yes, men and women are different and this violates the Progressive narrative that men and women are essentially identical. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows is absurd.

4. Does race have any bearing on IQ? I would love to see studies done on why men of West African descent are the fastest athletes in the history of the world. But to study this you would also need to study racial differences on other issues—like I.Q. And that is absolutely forbidden. So there are no studies on any racial differences.

5. Can we cope with the future challenges of climate change without damaging our current economy? All we hear from most academic departments is how destructive climate change is. There is no discussion on how the proposed solutions might be even more destructive.

6. What ideas has Christianity given to our modern culture? Modern academics have brains filled with Christian ideas. They just won’t admit they are Christian.

7. In what ways do we enjoy the blessings of Jesus Christ? It is impossible for people who hate God to give glory to His Son.

8. Are there any ways that we oppress the culture of America’s Christians? How is this bigotry present in American society? In the university itself guilty of bias?

9. What are the negative consequences of the sexual revolution? Are human relationships better than they were 75 years ago? If not, why not?

10. What are the negative consequences of feminism? Has the pressure for women’s equality had fallout that harms women, families, and even men?

11. Is the traditional family the superior way to raise children? This was Regnerus’ study. And you saw what it got him.

12. To what extent is black failure due to family structure and not racism? The Progressive Left still touts racism as the explanation of inner-city collapse. But what if it’s not? What if it is the collapse of the family instead?

I am sure the list could go on for quite a while. But we are reminded of Paul’s words in Romans 1:21, “thinking themselves to be wise they became fools instead.” This is a perfect description of entire university departments and disciplines. We need to return to the truth of God, His Son, and His Word.

More: The Greatest Enemy of Civilization—the Academic Community; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79zJJDe6LeM

Mark Regnerus on his ordeal:

https://firstthings.com/the-dirty-science/

Ten Ideas Psychologists are not allowed to talk about:

https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2024/06/08/ten_taboo_topics_dividing_psychologists_1036501.html

How Bad is Christian Persecution in America?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 21:35:35 GMT

It is worse other places but Christian persecution exists in America

How bad is religious persecution in the America?

Aaron Renn is a social commentator from Carmel, Indiana, and has come up with interesting labels for three eras in the last sixty years of American history. Of all places, Mr. Renn was profiled in the New York Times. According to the Times Renn divides the recent past into three epochs when it comes to the status of Christianity. In “positive world,” between 1964 and 1994, being a Christian in America generally enhanced one’s social status. It was a good thing to be known as a churchgoer, and “Christian moral norms” were the basic norms of the broader American culture. Then, in “neutral world,” which lasted roughly until 2014…Christianity no longer had a privileged status, but it was seen as one of many valid options in a pluralist public square. But in 2014 Christians found themselves in “negative world” with the culture—especially at the elite level—hostile toward their values and their participation in public life.

Renn, an evangelical Christian, says we have to learn how to be Christian in a world that is negative regarding our faith. Of course the dates are imprecise and it depends on where you are. The academic community has been hostile to Christianity all that time and now is extremely hostile. If you live in the rural south the hostility is a lot less.

The question I want to answer in this video is how great is the persecution Renn speaks of?

True Christians will always suffer persecution according to Scripture. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12 that everyone who lives a real Christian life is going to be persecuted. John says in 1 John 3:13, “Marvel not my brothers, if the world hates you.” And Jesus Himself warned in John 16:2 that the time was coming when a person killing a Christian thought he was doing God a service. There are many other passages as well, predicting suffering for people trying to follow Christ. So persecution is to be expected and there’s a lot of it especially on the personal level. Many of you listening to this video suffered rejection by many of your friends when you decided to follow Christ. Worse yet, many of you were rejected and shunned by family members. Some by parents, children, or even a spouse. That persecution is very real.

It is not uncommon to harassed at work because of your Christian faith. We read lots of stories these days of people suing their employers because they have been fired for being a Christian. I, myself, experienced this. After a series of interviews Mike and Kitty Burke were judged to be ideal foster parents but the state of Massachusetts rejected them. Why? Because they were Christians who rejected the LBGTQ agenda. We have all read of numerous occasions where this kind of bigotry is expressed by Leftist governments against Christians.

Then there is the infamous case of Jack Phillips the Colorado baker who wouldn’t make a cake celebrating a gay wedding. The Colorado so-called Civil Rights Commission judged him a bigot, fined him, and required him to go to reeducation meetings. He sued and his case made it all the way to the Supreme court where he won. He was immediately in court again because he would not make a cake celebrating a transgender coming out. He won again. But he spent nearly ten years defending himself against the LBGQT assault on his Christian faith.

There are certain sectors in our society where it is almost impossible to get a job if you are a known Christian. The academic community is the first thing that comes to mind and is probably the most anti-Christian venue in American society. It is virtually impossible for a known Bible-believing Christian to get hired by a public university or college—and most private institutions. This is especially true in the social sciences and humanities.

Christians come off poorly in movies and TV programs produced by Hollywood. We are almost always hypocrites and bigots. We all have southern accents. Our clergy are almost always old and out of touch. The entertainment industry betrays very little understanding of who we are and what we are like.

The FBI keeps statistics on “hate crimes.” Christians in America rank second. Jews are first.

So there is real persecution of Christians in America. However, we should remember that it is quite modest compared to the rest of the world. I have a daughter who lives in the third world and laughs at our whining. We don’t know what real persecution is.

One time when I was contemplating being fired for being a Christian I said to myself, “I’ll bet my brothers and sisters in North Korea are real impressed by my level of suffering.” There are people all over the world dying for Jesus. I am not one of them. I am an American and I enjoy some of the greatest religion freedom in world history. But that does not mean Christians in my country never see persecution.

If you are in a tough spot today I pray you will persevere. May the God who helps those suffer for His name be with you today.

More: My letter to the University of Colorado Board of Regents on discrimination in higher education: https://www.the401stprophet.com/my-letter-on-discrimination-in-higher-education

Open Doors has a religious persecution ranking system. It gives the 50 most persecuted countries in the world.

The Christian Post weighs in.

The Christian Post on world-wide persecution.

Nigeria is an example of serious Christian persecution: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/261571/nigeria-tops-report-for-number-of-christians-killed-kidnapped-in-2024

Foster parents discriminated against:

Aaron Renn: We live in an age hostile to Christianity; https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/aaron-renn-christianity-conservative-negative-world.html

My Letter on Discrimination in Higher Education

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 19:08:25 GMT

The governing board of the University of Colorado asked me to write this letter

The following is a letter I sent to the governing board of the University of Colorado—at their request.

June 4, 2013

Dear Mr. Geddes and the University of Colorado Board of Regents:

I have been informed of your concern about the lack of intellectual diversity at CU and am responding with insights gained from my own experiences.

For twenty-three and a half years I was a Professor of History, Instructor Level, at CU, Boulder. I began my Ph.D. studies at the same institution in 1982. My experience on the whole was positive. From the start I was a known conservative Christian and political conservative. I began my graduate studies at CU at the age of thirty-five after a number of years in parish ministry at Protestant Evangelical churches. From the beginning I encountered hostility toward my conservative views, but my teaching record and the defense of liberal colleagues kept me employed. I had a number of colleagues who were genuinely “liberal” who supported my presence at the university. They often defended me at cost to their own careers.

In 2005 a termination process was begun that ended with my being fired in spring, 2007. That the motive was my conservative political and religious views is beyond doubt. The local chapter of the AAUP did exhaustive research and came to that conclusion. I was terminated even though I was “arguably the most honored teacher in the history of the university.” AAUP Executive Summary on the Dismissal of Phil Mitchell, p. 4. (I have a copy of the entire report.)

The hostility toward political and religious conservatives in higher education should no longer be a matter of debate but accepted as fact. Considerable research has been done. What interests me is the lack of concern over this bias in the educational community.

If a college administrator examined his social sciences and humanities departments, and found that out of three hundred tenured and instructor-level professors only two were women he would conclude that sexism was at work. Or if there were only three African-American or Hispanic professors he would deduce a pattern of racial discrimination. But when department after department at university after university reveals a tiny percentage of conservative, let alone Christian conservative scholars, it is concluded that they lack intelligence, or are more motivated by money and thus choose higher-paying jobs, or are uncomfortable with the scientific method. I have read and heard all three explanations countless times.

Imagine if you will a department without a single African-American professor arguing that blacks aren’t intelligent enough to be college professors. Or a department with few women saying that the latter simply do not do science well. The outrage would be heard world-wide. But the same things can and are said of people like myself—who represent approximately 30% of America--and administrators and faculty simply shrug.

The consequences are immense. A gigantic sector of American culture is left unrepresented in most universities. I agree with my liberal colleagues that having black professors is a great encouragement to black students. Role models matter. Yet Evangelical Protestant Christian students—a much larger demographic than the black or Hispanic subsets—are left with professors who are either totally ignorant of their culture or overtly hostile.

Consider the intellectual life of the university. For me—when I wasn’t being fired or attacked—the university was wonderful. A life of lively interaction with intelligent people who did not agree with me. On the other hand I found that when everyone agrees on the great issues of our times then we end up squabbling about nothing more than the budget. Our students end up being indoctrinated and not educated.

I must say that I despair that anything can be done. The tenure system means that the current faculty culture will not change. (And make no mistake about it, tenured faculty are the chief power brokers at universities. They are in the position of determining new hires, and they can discriminate without penalty.)

In the social sciences and humanities the lack of intellectual diversity is the preeminent problem. It seems that a system that is so hostile to its own mission of providing a marketplace of ideas would eventually collapse. However, I want to encourage you in your attempt to make CU a better university.

Respectfully,

Phil Mitchell

Seven Proofs God is in Control of the World

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 20:26:03 GMT

In Psalm 2 the Father promises the nations to the Son. That's exactly what's happened.

Seven Proofs that God is in charge of the world:

Ps. 2: I have set my Son on my holy hill

In Psalm 2 the Word of God says that men reject God’s truth and plot ways to thwart Him. God responds with derisive laughter then makes a couple of declarations. He says that Jesus Christ will possess the whole earth and that He will crush His enemies with a rod of iron.

Lots of conservative commentators find the fulfillment of Ps. 2 in the millennial kingdom at the end of history. But there is lots of fulfillment right now.

What is the proof? It is the year 2025 and the power of Jesus Christ is undiminished. In fact, it is greater than it ever has been. In Psalm 2:8 the Father says he is giving the nations to His Son. In this video I provide Seven proofs that that is exactly what He’s doing:

1. Look at the number of Christians in the world. Let’s begin with the raw number of people who are in some sense Christians. 2.4 billion people are listed as Christian by religious demographers. We know that not all of these are devout, born-again believers but in terms of raw numbers Jesus Christ is in the process of possessing the nations. The second largest religion in the world is a Christian cult—Islam at 1.8 billion. The Muslims acknowledge Jesus as a true prophet of God and predict His second coming. So though Islam is a competitor, even an enemy of Christianity, it was also spawned by Christian teachings. That’s over half the world’s population acknowledging the majesty of Jesus Christ.

2. A better proof of Christ’s sovereignty over the nations is the power of Western, Christian culture. The religion authored by Jesus Christ is by far the most powerful cultural force that has ever existed. As historian Tom Holland and many others have pointed out there are millions of “secularists” in the world whose brains have been formed by Christ even if they don’t know it. And when the Scripture says that every knee shall bow before Jesus and every tongue declare Him Lord, you better believe it. It is happening before your very eyes.

3. A third proof is the power of the Christian church. It is the largest religious body on earth or in the history of the earth and is by far the most powerful institution that has ever existed. Infidels in the West fight hammer and tongue against it but with limited success. Why are American secularists so hostile toward Christianity? Because they know it is more powerful than they are. As Vance Havner once said attacking the Christian church is like attacking Gibraltar with a pop gun.

4. A fourth proof are the missions of mercy carried out by followers of Jesus all over the world. Jesus’ compassion for the poor has been bitterly criticized even in the modern world by philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche and the followers of Adolf Hitler. But Christ’s love for the orphan, the poor, the suffering, and the disadvantaged has triumphed all over the world and dominates countless organizations and even governments, and people who do not count Christ as Savior. They are still determined to carry out His will on behalf of the wounded of our world.

5. A fifth proof is the astonishing material blessing he has bestowed on billions who have risen out of poverty due to the spread of His message. Jesus Christ and His followers are the authors of free market economics, the only system in history to produce sustained economic growth. And grow we have. In America we are approximately 100 times richer than the people of Jesus’ day. And people all over the world have seen their wealth increase because of His influence on economic systems.

6. A sixth proof that the Father has given the nations to the son is the power of Christian missions. The Protestant missionary movement of the past 200 years has been the most successful cross-cultural mission in the history of the world. We can use Africa as a simple example. In 1900 there were approximately 15 million African Christians. Today there are 700 million. Matthew Parris is a British atheist who grew up in Africa. He wrote a column some time ago taking about the superiority of Christianity in Africa. “Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.” What Parris observed in Africa is true all over the world. Christ makes people triumphant. Christian missions has spread that triumph everywhere.

7. Finally, the fulfillment of Psalm 2 is seen in the destruction of evil.. One of the great historians of our era is Paul Johnson, who is British. His book, Modern Times, is a wonderful overview of the twentieth century and I have used it a number of times in my university classes. The front piece of the book is a quote from Psalms 2: “ You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, o ye kings; be instructed o ye judges of the earth.” Johnson’s thousand-page book chronicles the destruction of evil regimes during the 20 ^th century—Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Mao, and many others. God has destroyed them and committed them to hell. Vance Havner has a great observation about the attempt to rid the world of the Bible. “They have tried to bury the old book over and over but the deceased pops out of the casket during the interment to outlive all the pall bearers.”

Jesus Christ reigns triumphant over His enemies just like Psalm 2 says He will.

More: Matthew Parris on the power of the Christian faith: http://www.rootedinjesus.net/docs/Parris.pdf

For evidence of Jesus impact on economics see Rodney Stark’s book, Victory of Reason, especially his section on “Inventing Capitalism.”

What is your favorite Reason for Believing in God?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:30:08 GMT

Ross Douthat gives his reason and I give mine

What is your favorite reason for believing in God?

Ross Douthat states his reason—and I have mine

I admit upfront that I borrowed the title for this video from Ross Douthat a columnist for the New York Times. Douthat is one of the Times’ token conservative voices in the midst of a large gaggle of Leftwing Progressives. But give the Times credit for having anyone remotely conservative at all.

Douthat writes often about religion and how it affects public policy. He is a believing Roman Catholic. He is thoughtful, insightful, and most of the time I agree with him.

Before I get to his argument let me make a couple of introductory comments:

The Bible does not spend a lot of time defending the existence of God. There are a few passages that do. Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:18-20. The Bible has no patience with atheism. Psalm 53:1: “The fool has said in his heart there is no God.” I love Spurgeon’s comment on this verse: “If the Bible calls such a man a fool we dare call him no less.” In Romans 1:21 Paul says the man who rejects God thinks of himself as wise, but he’s a fool. The Bible does not mince words in denouncing atheism.

Interestingly, in the history of the world there have been very few atheists and there are very few today. Statistically, they are small in number and there has never been a society or a culture built by atheists as I argue in a recent video. However, in America and the West today atheists occupy a disproportional influence in our cultural institutions.

Now, let’s look at Douthat’s favorite reason for believing in God. He begins by looking at three traditional reasons for belief: First, “The evidence for cosmic design in the fundamental laws and structure of the universe; Second, the unusual place of human consciousness within the larger whole; third, people’s religious and supernatural experiences .

“Each of these realities alone offers good reasons to take religious arguments seriously…But it’s the fact that a religious perspective makes sense out of all of them…that makes the strongest case for some form of belief.” That’s a good argument; God makes better sense of these things than if there’s no god.

Then he arrives at what—I surmise—is his favorite reason: human intelligibility. It is clear that the universe is fine-tuned to produce life in general and human beings in particular. But more important, human beings have the ability to know all this. “We aren’t just in a universe that we can observe; we’re in a universe that’s deeply intelligible to us, a cosmos whose rules and systems we can penetrate, whose invisible architecture we can map and plumb, whose biological codes we can decipher and rewrite and whose fundamental physical building blocks we can isolate and, with Promethean power, break apart.” In other words, the power and abilities of the human mind can only be explained by the existence of God.

C.S. Lewis once said the place in the universe where matter and spirit most closely intersect is in the human brain. This is what Douthat is arguing and it is a powerful argument.

It got me to thinking about other arguments for the existence of God. When I was a college student the most famous atheist in the world was Anthony Flew, a professor from England. I remember in a philosophy class reading his clever arguments for atheism. Then in 2004 Flew shocked the world by announcing he had come to believe in God and was renouncing atheism. He said he was persuaded by three basic reasons: First, nature obeys laws that are mathematically precise and universal. These laws must come from a lawgiver. Second, the universe is fine tuned for a purpose—the reproduction of life. Third, why is there something instead of nothing? The universe had a beginning. The best explanation is that there is a God who brought it into existence. With regard to the beginning of the universe let me bring in a very clever quote from the brilliant young apologist, Wesley Huff. In discussing the virgin birth with Joe Rogan Huff said, “many scientists who deny the possibility of the virgin birth of Jesus believe in the virgin birth of the universe.” Scientists now believe that the universe was born out of nothing. It had no father. Very good.

In Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis argues for God’s existence from the presence of moral thinking in human beings. “Quarrelling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are.” Lewis goes on to argue that this universal awareness of the moral law argues for the existence of God.

Aristotle had a fairly simple argument. If everything we observe has to have a cause then there must be something that does not have a cause. An uncaused cause if you will. This argument has been reworked many times but is still powerful. C.S. Lewis once said that when he was an atheist he was made very uncomfortable by the fact that his two favorite thinkers—Aristotle and Plato—both believed in God.

For a long time if you took an Intro to Philosophy class in college you studied St. Thomas Aquinas and his five proofs for the existence of God and they are to this day well worth considering.

Let me conclude with my personal favorite. I believe in God because there is no other way to explain Jesus Christ. He believed in God—whom He called his heavenly Father—and I trust Jesus to tell me the truth. If He believed in God, I had better believe in God. History proves the truth of His message. It is by far the most powerful in the history of the world.

It's your turn. Put your favorite reason for believing in God in the comments below. If you are an atheist give your best reason for denying the existence of God. Douthat actually followed up the above essay with a column on that question and I have linked it below.

Thank you for listening. May the God who is there bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: “Is there a God?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhMrySSH34Y

Douthat’s original column on his favorite reason for believing in God:

Douthat on faith:

Pascal famously chose to wager: “I should be much more afraid of being mistaken and then finding out that Christianity is true than of being mistaken in believing it to be true.”

That’s why Douthat opts to “start with religion’s intellectual advantage: the ways in which nonbelief requires ignoring what our reasoning faculties tell us, while the religious perspective grapples more fully with the evidence before us.”

Douthat, How I lost my faith in atheism:

World magazine reviews Douthat’s book on why people should be religious

Mere Christianity is probably—after the Bible—my all-time favorite book. Get it at Amazon

Douthat on the best reason for denying God’s existence

A work of the Spirit? Why are more intellectuals turning to God?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 18:31:00 GMT

The spiritual journey of some of the world’s most influential thinkers.

A work of the Spirit? Why are more intellectuals turning to God?

The spiritual journey of some of the world’s most influential thinkers.

Last week I talked about the Christian revival we are witnessing in the West. Of course, Africa, Latin America, and Asia are also experiencing spectacular Christian growth, but the West is an interesting case.

One argument for revival is the number of public figures who are coming to Christ or praising Christianity. In this video I want to elaborate on their voices and talk about how we see a powerful work of the Holy Spirit in many surprising places—the hearts of people in the technological and intellectual worlds.

A number of secular publications are giving a voice to people who are newly discovering the Christian faith. Even the New York Times is publishing articles on intellectuals and celebrities who are turning to Christ.

Peter Savodnik of the Free Press had a lengthy and excellent article which he entitled, “How Intellectuals Found God.” He interviews people from various walks of life and gathers a lot of interesting comments:

From Niall Ferguson, the great British historian, whom I have featured in previous videos: “You can’t organize a society on the basis of atheism…It’s fine for a small group of people to say, ‘We’re atheist, we’re opting out…but, in effect, that depends on everyone else carrying on.” In other words atheists and other unbelievers are parasites, living of the bounty of a cultural created through the sacrifices of Jesus Christ and His followers.

Ferguson talks about the spiritual journey of his famous wife, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. “I thought we were done…. I thought she was going to die. I’d almost completely despaired of finding a way out of all the accumulated traumas of her life.” But then she put her faith in Christ. Hirsi Ali told Savodnik:

“It’s been a year, 15 months—and I still feel almost miraculous…

I’m actually very grateful for whatever it was that was ailing me,” Why? because it led her to God. “My life now is much richer, more fulfilling, than before.”

In February 2024, Joe Rogan, host of the most popular podcast in the world, was discussing the sorry state of America’s youth with New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, he said simply: “We need Jesus.” He is surely right but what is remarkable is that an unbeliever like Rogan is coming to that conclusion.

I cited Peter Thiel is my last video. Thiel, the billionaire creator of Paypal, has become quite the evangelist. The New York Times had an article describing Thiel speaking at a birthday gathering of over 200 of the very rich from the technological community. The Times said, “Mr. Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire and right-wing kingmaker, delivered a talk about miracles, forgiveness and Jesus Christ. The guests were enthralled.” In an event last May in San Francisco Thiel “talked about how Christian theology informs his politics and which of the Ten Commandments he finds most meaningful. [he cited] The first and last: Worship God, and don’t covet what others have.”

Savodnik interviewed Paul Kingsnorth, a leading writer and intellectual from the United Kingdom. Kingsnorth was for many years an atheist. Then he became a Buddhist. Then he became a witch—he entered into the religion of Wicca. Then after all this he became a follower of Jesus Christ and is now an avid spokesman for his new faith. Savodnik writes that in January 2021, Kingsnorth was baptised at a monastery, in the River Shannon. According to Savodnik since then, he has become one of the most important and thoughtful voices of the newly converted—the new theists, if you will.

Savodnik interviews Jordan Peterson, quite possibly the best-known public intellectual in the world. Peterson had always avoided saying whether he believed in a higher power. Now, sporting a jacket emblazoned with the Calvary cross, he was pushing back against the new atheists. “I would say God is hyper-real… God is the reality upon which all reality depends.”

Peterson says his wife has become a devout Christian. He, himself, has not become a believer but it seems like it’s only a matter of time.

My favorite left-wing writer is Matt Taibbi, formerly of Rolling Stone magazine, who now possesses his own Substack column and has tens of thousands of followers. He is wrestling with what all this means. He writes, “Lacking the vocabulary to consider issues of good or evil, or conscience, or one’s eternal soul, secular audiences have been easy prey for academics and media opportunists seeking to shovel nonsense into those inner chasms.”

In his year-end column on 2024 he writes, “It’s a lot to keep track of, particularly if your inner happiness depends on making sense of it all. Not normally one for predictions, my guess is 2025 will see a non-ironic return to the spiritual, on the part of demographics that haven’t visited that territory since the sixties or seventies. People need…inner peace, and having discovered politics holds no answers, they’ll move on…Anything…would be an improvement over the way we’ve been living.”

These are a few of the more fascinating stories from our wider culture, a culture in which our God is at work in a mighty way. He proves over and over again, in every culture and in every era, that He is quite capable of bringing anyone to Himself. It’s almost as though God saves some people just to show us He can do it.

I think we need to be cautioned by Justin Brierly’s statement: “Christianity is not just a useful lifeboat for stranded intellectuals. If it isn’t literally true, it isn’t valuable. Whether Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead matters. It sure mattered to St. Paul. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

However, Brierly says,” God moves in mysterious ways…I see signs that he is moving in the minds and hearts of secular intellectuals. Many of them are recognizing that secular humanism has failed and, against all their expectations, seem to be on the verge of embracing faith instead.”

Praise be to God. Of the increase of His Kingdom there is no end. May that God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Why will Western Christian culture triumph? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIoFlyBfz8Q

Peter Savodnik of the Free Press interviewed a number of public figures, asking them why they have turned back to God. https://www.thefp.com/p/how-intellectuals-found-god-ayaan-hirsi-ali-peter-thiel-jordan-peterson?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Matthew Crawford: “A lot of very thoughtful people who once believed reason and science could explain everything—why we’re here, what comes after we’re gone, what it all means—are now feeling a genuine hunger for something more,” he said.

He said the story we’ve been telling ourselves for the last 100 years or so, of endless progress and secularism and the triumph of reason, is now “at some kind of tipping point.” Our great “religious reawakening” is just people “finding their way back to something that they never expected to find their way back to.”

Justin Brierly; Is a Christian revival underway? https://thespectator.com/topic/christian-revival-underway/

The women’s rights campaigner Louise Perry has been advocating for a return to traditional Christian morality since writing her book The Case Against The Sexual Revolution .

Holland, Peterson, Musk; all coming toward Christ: https://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2025/01/17/cultural_christianity_could_decide_the_fate_of_a_nation_not_of_souls_1085509.html

“But what I think Christianity has clearly very successfully done is to articulate ways of understanding the world that go with the grain of something very deep within human nature,” Holland said.

That grain, so deep within human nature, expresses humanity’s longing for objective truth, for meaning, for purpose, for a hierarchy that orders the world — for God.

Holland’s personal grappling with Christian truths reflects a potential cultural shift back to Christian values. This summer, the June pride month seemed quieter. In July, a previous president credited God for sparing his life from an assassination attempt.

“It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “We will FEAR NOT but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali argues that a Christian revival is underway and she is part of it:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-christian-revival-is-under-way/

I hope I have imparted to my sons a love of my adopted spiritual home so that they are spared my wandering through the wilderness. But what is encouraging is that religious revival has taken root among the young.

A critical article about Elon Musk actually reveals some very interesting revelations: https://futurism.com/elon-musk-teachings-christ

"Jesus taught love, kindness and forgiveness," he wrote in a late 2022 tweet . "I used to think that turning the other cheek was weak and foolish, but I was the fool for not appreciating its profound wisdom."

The remarks highlight Musk's rapidly changing political and social alignment. Following his acquisition of Twitter, the billionaire has repeatedly made it clear that his ideology has shifted to the far right. He's also spent much of the last two years evangelizing the teachings of Christianity.

Matt Taibbi:

https://www.racket.news/p/goodbye-to-2024-americas-craziest/comments

James Wood in First Things: https://firstthings.com/a-new-evangelical-harvest/

Rogan, along with many other high-profile atheists, has slid into the category of “ cultural Christian .” Many of these figures express a new openness to Christianity, oftentimes for its civilizational resources, recognizing the Christian roots of the values that built the West.

It seems that God’s providence is at work because and not in spite of the leftist overreach of the past few years. The most unlikely people are waking up to the civilizational madness and spiritual emptiness unleashed by opposing nature and God.

Some of Christianity’s biggest critics are becoming Christians: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/09/christianity-biggest-skeptics-becoming-vocal-converts/

Nearly a decade later came Tom Holland, an award-winning British author and ancient Greek and Roman historian. At some point in his studies, Holland recognized the difference in values held by the ancient world compared to those he held instinctively. He realized Christianity is the reason we take for granted that it is better to bear suffering than to cause it—and why we assume all human life is equal in value.

As an avowed atheist throughout his adult life, Holland shocked fellow academics in 2016 when he too penned an article in the New Statesman titled “Why I was wrong about Christianity.”

Larry Sanger, a founder of Wikipedia, on his journey to Christ: https://wng.org/sift/tech-guru-larry-sanger-discusses-converting-to-christianity-1739218653?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGYlJS1WcMLKOkimY-K7owT_7ha4xPXIhdJ_8M3fvBta0Swb3GO9VypsiQwZRN9_fB0BKINnGytJJz84GG31Aw7-r1kzZDc_wfpv2bhaRZX-p-k8Q

From the New York Times, an amazing article on a ministry reaching San Francisco’s technological elite: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/business/silicon-valley-christianity.html?searchResultPosition=1

Paul Kingsnorth’s testimony in the Free Press: https://www.thefp.com/p/paul-kingsnorth-christianity-faith

Are We Seeing a Revival of Christianity in the West?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 19:20:44 GMT

There is Evidence that God is Moving in a Powerful Way

Are we seeing a major Christian revival in the West?

Are we on the cusp of a revival of the Christian faith in America and the West? Greg Laurie thinks so. “I haven’t seen anything like this in decades. The last time I felt such cultural stirring was during the Jesus Movement when an entire generation found hope and transformation through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” The Jesus Movement was a phenomenon in the late 60s and early 70s which saw tens of thousands of conversion to Christ—including my wife’s. Laurie is featured in the outstanding film about the era—the Jesus Revolution.

In my American history classes at both secular and Christian universities I have lectured on the First Great Awakening in American history that started about 1735 and lasted a decade or more. It was spectacular. 80% of Americans heard the gospel form a single preacher—George Whitefield. Hundreds and hundreds of churches were planted, tens of thousands were converted to Christ. Many historians argue that without the First Great Awakening there would have been no American revolution.

God does things like this on a routine basis. There have been many other revivals and awakenings in Western history. Are we about to see another? Is there evidence that it is happening? I am addressing this issue because it is mostly secular publications who are raising the question.

What voices would those be?

My first notice of this came from a WSJ article on the increase in Bible sales. They are up 22% in the U.S. through the end of October, compared with the same a year before. By contrast, total U.S. print book sales were up less than 1% in that period.

The Christian Post followed this up with an article stating, “first-time buyers are driving many of the sales, with a lot of Generation Z and younger Americans showing increased interest in the Bible. Plus, it’s not just Christian stores that are selling more Bibles, but also mainstream retailers, including Amazon. This is all consistent with a 2023 American Bible Society survey which found that nearly three in four Americans are curious about the Bible.”

What evidence is there for an awakening?

We now have many secular, public intellectuals predicting a comeback of the Christian faith. If they aren’t just predicting it, they are pleading for it. We see well-known public intellectuals and celebrities converting to Christ or becoming much more sympathetic to religion. [Chris Queen in Pajamas Media]: “Notable thinkers and media personalities like Jordan Peterson, Douglas Murray, Joe Rogan, and Tom Holland have talked about the value of Christianity to Western culture. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, once heavily under the influence of the New Atheists, has embraced faith in Jesus, and Russell Brand has reportedly become a Christian as well. Even Richard Dawkins , one of the New Atheist heroes, has praised the positive effects of Christianity.”

There is a change in the titans of tech: Peter Thiel was the inventor of Paypal and is a tech billionaire. In the past he had espoused a vague spirituality but recently came down unequivocally on the side of God. “God has some kind of a plan for history… Maybe it’s a hidden plan; [but] He has a plan for your life.”

Young men are returning to church. In World magazine Albert Mohler wrote for the first time in living memory, young men are more likely than young women to attend church. He cited a New York Times article which said, “For the first time in modern American history, young men are now more religious than their female peers. They attend services more often and are more likely to identify as religious.”

The Christian faith has been denied a voice in the entirety of academia, in most of Hollywood and the entertainment industry, and in much of government and the corporate world. But it has a powerful online presence. Through a remarkable series of coincidences young Christian apologist Wesley Huff was interviewed by Joe Rogan on the most popular podcast in the world. It was amazing and powerful. Take time to watch at least some of it—I have linked it below. James Wood in First Things said of the interview: “Many have already speculated that this will be the most heard presentation of the gospel in world history. The conversation has 5.3 million views on YouTube, and untold millions of listens on Spotify and other podcast platforms—likely north of his 11 million listener average.”

Ryan Burge the guru on religious statistics says, “The religious nones have plateaued.” We are not seeing an increase in people who say they have no religious affiliation.

Then there’s the election: Statistically it was close. The difference in the popular vote was only 1.5%. But as Ezra Klein pointed out in the New York Times, the vibe change has been gigantic. The general feeling people have about America and religious faith has changed dramatically in just a few weeks.

There are long term trends that are beginning to bear fruit. Demography is destiny and Christians have more children than their secular counterparts—by quite a large margin. As time goes by these Christian children grow up and make a huge difference.

Then there is the revolution that I personally think will affect America socially, politically, and religiously more than anything else: The education revolution. America is going through the biggest upheaval in its history on how we train the next generation. 22 states now have educational voucher systems. That means parents, even those who are very limited financially, can send their children to schools that reflect their values. The Marxist, Progressive Left hate this development more than any other. Since they don’t have children their future power depends on brainwashing other people’s children. And they are losing their grip on that.

There are other interesting developments that suggest a surge in Christian faith. Consider the popularity of The Chosen, the story of Jesus’s life and His disciples. It has been watched by more than 200 million people and is extremely popular in the U.S. and many other countries around the world. It is the #1 show streamed by Amazon Prime and Netflix. This suggests that it is reaching many people who know little about Christianity. It also shows there are a lot of Christians who love well done re-creations of shows about the origins of their faith.

Why would this happen?

There is one more question we need to answer. Why would this happen?

I love Al Mohler’s take on it: “There is a powerful hunger for what we used to call the normal life: What’s going on here? [Young men] want to be husbands, they want to be fathers, they want to work, they want to go to church, they want to commit themselves to a bold theology, they want to fulfill a courageous male role and they want to reinforce each other as brothers.” In other words, the Christian message touches the deepest needs of the human heart.

The Christian Post argues: “The more intently we look, the more we see that faith and religious expression are being restored across America. We think this has a lot to do with a seismic shift in the law favoring religious liberty—a change that’s reflecting in the broader culture. We’ve witnessed incredible momentum for religious freedom at the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years. These victories ushered in a new era of religious freedom unlike anything we’ve witnessed in our lifetime.”

On the other side of the coin is the failure of political solutions. Which is another way of saying the failure of alternative religions. Justin Brierly is an English podcaster who has broadcast much of the changes we are seeing: “All that our post-Christian society has delivered so far is confusion, a mental health crisis in the young, and the culture wars…It’s not surprising then that a movement of New Theists has sprung up.”

Finally, do not overlook the power of prayer. Millions of people in the West are serious Christians and they go before the God of the universe on a daily basis and plead with Him for revival. He will in time answer their prayers. Maybe it’s today.

Conclusion:

I love Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary: “At my advanced age… I get to be surrounded by thousands of young men every day. They make me incredibly happy. As president of a conservative seminary and college, I get to teach them, work with them, send them out into the world, and go to church with them. I get to see so many of them growing up as young husbands and new fathers. They amaze me. I thank God for them. They may be a perplexity to the world (and even to some of their own parents) but to me they are a sign of God’s favor. It’s our task to teach and encourage them for a life of faithfulness as men of God.”

The most important factor about the future is what God intends to do. He can bring a revival of Christian faith at the most astonishing times and in the most amazing ways. Remember, the Gospel is the most powerful message in the history of mankind, the Bible the most influential book, Christianity the most culturally powerful.

Let Justin Brierly have the last word: “As a Christian I believe things that are dead can come back to life…That’s the point of the story after all.” That’s why we should keep praying for people to come to faith in Jesus in Europe, in the U.S., and throughout the world.

More: “Why Christianity is the only hope for the future of Western civilization.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxSvawjZmo

Why are young men returning to church? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M_uTN-LylA

The Jesus Revolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9WSJJvAks

Wall Street Journal on the upsurge in Bible sales: https://www.wsj.com/business/media/sales-of-bibles-are-booming-fueled-by-first-time-buyers-and-new-versions-d402460e

The Christian Post making the same observation as the Wall Street Journal: The boom in Bible sales:

https://www.christianpost.com/sponsored/bible-sales-are-booming-is-revival-coming-to-america.html

Justin Brierly podcast on Christian revival:

https://unherd.com/watch-listen/christian-revival-fantasy-or-reality/?ai-debug=0&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=cee507416a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_05_17_04_39&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-cee507416a-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Could Christian revival be on its way in the West?

https://pjmedia.com/chris-queen/2024/04/04/is-the-uk-ripe-for-christian-revival-one-author-and-podcaster-thinks-so-n4927889#google_vignette

Spencer Klavan believes the revival is underway and he is trying to understand it:

https://unherd.com/newsroom/americas-christian-revival-is-a-response-to-fractured-politics/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=b6a7692421-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_09_09_42&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-b6a7692421-35277013

The rise of interest in faith-based universities: https://firstliberty.org/news/rise-of-religious-nones-hits-a-plateau/

Contrary to what we commonly hear, the data shows that younger generations are surprisingly religious. One area where that’s being reflected is in the enrollment numbers of religious colleges.

“Religious schools are growing,” said Clark G. Gilbert, a co-chair for the commission. “This is counter to the narrative a lot of people have. From 1980 through today… the national average in university enrollments grew at 57% and religious schools have grown at 82%.”

Joe Rogan hears the Gospel: https://wng.org/opinions/christian-apologetics-on-rogan-1736939331?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGYCSJvN5WabYdrHGDRuY-AJ_E8Be1Ssgp-sXPNjs-C38Ocm-IVBRvfklvlT-67syOBRXHKwzPWFVH1twGCETw3OzEyKAUGXuN6Ey42D6K6xdPGpw

Niall Ferguson has become a Christian: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1870391930317639956.html

Wesley Huff on Joe Rogan: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/01/wesley-huff-joe-rogan-podcast-debate-apologist/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Bible%20Sales%20Boom%2C%20Joe%20Rogan%2C%20and%20More&utm_campaign=The%20Weekend%20-%202-1-25%20%28CT%20Daily%29&vgo_ee=QXsEFhgESS1eaqsCu8upfsiS2XIC%2FlCN69t5SLRnodYF%2FmtNPbmcUsg%3D%3AIuVfAbsqdQ3F9LkL5F1UjBP8Z2krG5QS

Albert Mohler in World on the disappointment of liberal parents raising conservative sons:

https://wng.org/opinions/liberal-parents-conservative-sons-1738564781?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGYan-C43Q7chrPlJv3FxTF0hl8o_RdsmPCrWoRzDj7bZYog6NMy83lYcacl9Y6z0GhifOn69ffi663QC0M_Uushyfbj5s4AEZskFY03ZuLE1dtJA

They didn’t see this coming. Liberals in America are scratching their heads trying to explain what happened in November’s election and the closer they look, the stranger it seems. There was a decided shift to the right among young men in America, crossing ethnic lines and shocking the political class.

Greg Laurie: https://www.christianpost.com/voices/is-america-on-the-brink-of-another-jesus-revolution.html?utm_source=Daily&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_medium=newsletter

For far too long, we’ve endured constant negativity from pundits and the cultural wrecking ball of woke ideology. Academia, media, and entertainment have worked tirelessly to dismantle the values that built this great nation. This ideology has become a runaway train, barreling through our institutions and preying on our most vulnerable — our children.

But here’s the good news: things are changing in America, and they’re changing for the better. It’s time to rebuild. Like Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, we must rise to the challenge and restore the spiritual foundation that has been eroded. Nehemiah faced opposition, ridicule, and even threats, but he pressed on. Why? Because he knew the task was worth it. And so must we.

An Unexpected Conversion: An Atheist Comes to Christ

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 19:39:11 GMT

One of the world's greatest historians announces his conversion

"Unexpected Conversion: An Atheist’s Journey to Christ"

One of the world’s great intellectuals becomes a Christian

Some time ago I posted a video entitled, “Atheists for Jesus,” which is linked below. It featured several prominent unbelievers who called on Christians and the Christian church to stand their ground, stand up for what they believed, take their religion seriously, and spread it as widely as they could. Their reasoning was simple: Only Christianity could save Western civilization. Marxists, and Muslims, and other enemies of our culture would destroy it if given the chance. But Christianity had the power to resist and they were, in their own manner, praying for Christianity’s success.

One of the three is one of the most prominent academic historians in the world, Niall Ferguson. He hails from the U.K., and has a PhD in history from Oxford. He has taught at Harvard and other universities and is currently a fellow with Stanford’s Hoover Institution and an equivalent position at Harvard. He has written many books and is generally considered one of the most influential historians in the world. I remember professors at CCU using his books as regular texts in their classes.

Ferguson has been a well-known atheist. He is married to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who announced a little more than a year ago that she had become a Christian. In September, Ferguson, Ali, and their two boys were baptized into the Christian faith. When I read this a few days ago I was astonished. This is like C.S. Lewis’ conversion. It comes straight out of left field—or heaven as it were—and took me completely by surprise.

Recently Ferguson was interviewed about his conversion by an Australian journalist. He called himself a “lapsed atheist.” He made it clear that his was not primarily a political conversion. It was a deeply personal and deliberate turn to faith.

He said, "I have embraced Christianity…We were all baptised, Ayaan and our two sons, together in September ... It was the culmination of a quite protracted process… I grew up in a household of science-minded religious sceptics. I didn't go to church and felt quite sure of the wisdom of that when I was young. However, in two phases, I lost my faith in atheism."

In the first phase Ferguson was persuaded by an argument I made in a recent video. I asked, “Where are the atheist civilizations?” Ferguson asked the same thing. "The first phase was that as a historian I realised no society had been successfully organised on the basis of atheism. All attempts to do that have been catastrophic.”

But then came the second stage. Ferguson came to realize, “no individual can in fact be fully formed or ethically secure without religious faith. That insight has come more recently and has been born of our experience as a family."

For a long time he felt that being a citizen of England meant one should go to church even if you don’t believe anything. But he said, “Now it’s different: Now I attend church in a spirit of faith. Also I'm a learner. I learn about Christianity every week…

When I read the Bible… My attitude is that this extraordinary document is describing the life of a unique individual whose power to transform the world has never been equaled.”

Does he believe the Bible? “It’s hard to feel bound by the teachings if they’re lies… One can't reason one's way to God, at least I don't think one can. The nature of faith is that one accepts that these apparently farfetched claims are true."

Does Ferguson pray? "Yeah, I pray… prayer is meaningful, on the basis of faith in Christ. I don't think of it that I'm on the phone to God but I am trying to convey to that which is beyond reason.

I've spent 60 years on this planet and I'm convinced that we can't be spiritually naked, we can't be spiritually void, it's too miserable."

Ferguson then turns to a topic he has engaged in for a long time: the impact of Christianity on culture.

“I agree with Tom Holland (author of Dominion) that a lot of Christianity is still there in the operating system but people are in denial about it. They don't even recognise the Christian roots of much that they believe.”

What are some of the specific ways the abandonment of Christian belief has impacted the culture of the West?

"We've given up on religious observance. This is a mistake – the empty churches on Sundays, people not saying grace at dinner. We've lost observance and in doing that we've lost something very powerful and very healing…we've just stopped being Christians.”

What are some ways Ferguson’s newfound faith have affected him?

"What strikes me, as a regular churchgoer now, not having been one before, is how much one learns every Sunday morning. Every hymn contains some new clue as to the relationship between us and God. I think the educational benefit of going to church almost equals the moral benefit.”

And finally Ferguson gives his analysis of what is going on in our wider culture, an analysis with which I strongly agree:

"[Christian faith] matters hugely and as a society we've turned away from it. That explains, much more than the rise of social media, the mental health problems that characterise our societies today. We're all sort of running this experiment, without God and without religious observance. And it's not going well. But we blame it on the smartphone or on Twitter. I think the real explanation for the mental health epidemic is that we've thrown away those wonderful support mechanisms that evolved over centuries to get us through.”

I have felt that for a long time the secular analysis of current problems—blaming technology--is completely blind to the real problem. We have forsaken God. And what has happened was predicted perfectly by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1, beginning with v. 18.

Thinking ourselves wise we have become fools instead.

Niall Ferguson has figured it out. Not just for the culture at large but for him personally. For his marriage and his children. He needs Jesus Christ. And so does everyone else.

His is an example of how our God can intervene at any time. When you are predicting the future of Christianity in the West and everywhere else the most important factor is unknown: What is God going to do?

I rejoice for Dr. Ferguson and his family. I rejoice for all of you who have embraced Jesus Christ and know Him as your personal Savior. May He bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: “Atheists for Jesus”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX5Mi-pVgGY

The testimony of Niall Ferguson’s wife: “Why I am no longer an atheist;” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039-0HjWzso

Where are the atheist civilizations? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyRjazjrAJ0

Ferguson’s testimony in his own words:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1870391930317639956.html

How I Pay Tithes to the Green Religion

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 16:15:24 GMT

Why am I being forced to pay tithes to a religion I detest?

Why am I being forced to pay a tithe to a religion I detest?

A number of years ago I created some controversy at Colorado Christian University by calling electricity generating windmills “idols to a false religion.” I had gotten the idea while traveling in Thailand where the government builds large gold statues of Buddha all over the country to aid the Thai people in their worship. Windmills serve no purpose other than as a religious “feel-good” measure for devotees of the green religion. As a Christian I am forced through my taxes and increased living costs to pay a tithe to a religion I despise.

I began to think of other ways I am penalized financially by the green cult.

First, right now a significant portion in LA county is burning up. It’s the worst disaster in the city’s history. California is prone to fires and in a lot of ways this is a natural disaster. But as I said in a recent video it is made worse because of green religion. Forest abatement programs were prohibited by the Greens as an assault on nature and dams went unbuilt and unrepaired because of the Green cult. California enviros have discovered that water comes in real handy when you are fighting fires. How does this cost me? Home insurance in California will skyrocket and it will affect rates in the rest of the nation. If you rent or own you are going to pay your tithe to the Green religion.

Second, yesterday I paid eleven dollars for 18 eggs. A few years ago it would have been three or four dollars. Different factors affect the price of eggs, things like general inflation and even bird flu. But the biggest factor is a decision by the Colorado legislature to require all eggs sold in the state be from free range chickens. Chickens who are allowed to roam around the barnyard instead of living in cages. This law was passed because of the commitment of leftist legislatures to the Green religion which is tenderhearted toward chickens. This from a group of people who are universally pro-abortion. So when I buy eggs I pay double the price as a tithe to the Green cult.

Third, speaking of the legislature last year they abolished plastic bags because they end up in landfills and this is allegedly harmful to the environment. So now when I shop at Walmart I can’t put my groceries in a free plastic bag. I have to pay 64 cents for a reusable bag. Each time I buy one I am paying a tithe to the Green religion.

Fourth, my utility bill is significantly higher because of doctrines believed passionately by the Greens. See my citation of Robert Bryce below. He says that my electricity bill is three times higher than it should be because I am required to subsidize renewables—windmills and solar panels. It gets cold in Colorado in the winter time and I heat my apartment with natural gas. If were forced to heat living space with electricity—as our legislature has proposed beginning five years from now—the cost would double. Even for my small apartment that’s a tithe of around $50 a month.

Fifth, the Greens are calling for our entire transportation sector to be electrical. All of you realize how much more expensive an EV is than a standard gas-powered car. That would be a huge tithe to the Green religion. But even now your taxes are being used to build EVs. The government subsidizes their manufacture to the tune of about $30,000 each. I read a recent study that said the cars are overwhelmingly being drive by rich Progressives. So once again I am forced to pay for someone else’s religion.

Sixth, the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress in 2021, is nothing more than an implementation of the Green New Deal. And it is the primary cause of the inflation that has plagued America. You are paying 21% more for everything than you were four years ago. And, yes, this is a tithe to the Green religion.

I could go on and on. The abolition of gas stoves and other appliances, the abolition of meat, and the many other ways the Enviros are forcing their religion upon us. But you get the picture.

The great irony of all of this is that none of it addresses what the Greens call “the greatest existential problem” of our time—climate change. I have challenged their basic presumption that we are headed toward catastrophic climate change but even if we are, none of the above will address it. The level of carbon emissions is growing all over the world. In China and India they are building coal plants as fast as they can. They offset Green gains in the West by a factor of hundreds. So all of the above imposed sacrifices are meaningless except as religious gestures.

This is what happens when you abandoned belief in the God of Scripture. You become victim to a host of outrageously false doctrines. Christianity puts an end to cultural insanity. The only gladiatorial contest you can see today is at your local movie theater. What was big business in Rome was abolished by the Christian church. The great need of our age is a commitment to Jesus Christ. Faith in Him will save your soul. It would also save everyone a lot of money.

More: The Green Cult: Why It’s Dangerous; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuHrMp6J-Wo

How Does the Green Religion Reject the Christian Faith? https://studio.youtube.com/video/qHdkYg9MeXg/edit

Robert Bryce is one of the best writers on energy issues. Here’s his home site: https://robertbryce.substack.com/

Electrifying everything is really expensive:

https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/electrifying-everything-means-higher?utm_source=publication-search

The real hockey stick? The rise in renewable subsidies: https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/heres-the-real-hockey-stick

The religious war on natural gas:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-doubles-down-war-gas-appliances-opposition-unions

Environmental regulations in the U.K. will severely hurt the poor:

https://unherd.com/newsroom/uk-net-zero-plans-push-40-transition-poverty-report-warns/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3

Research published by the Young Foundation shows that the Net Zero plan requires wholesale participation across society, failing to account for the unique needs and vulnerabilities of different communities. Thus the poorest 40% of UK households are at risk of falling into “transition poverty” under these policies — meaning they’ll struggle to meet basic needs and see a decline in quality of life under rising costs.

Low-income households are less likely to be able to afford carbon-cutting measures, such as new cars and updates to their homes, making these families more likely to face tariffs and fines. The poor will also be hit harder by the shrinking of the job market in high-carbon sectors such as mining. Meanwhile, the earliest adopters of low-emissions updates are concentrated in higher-earning, higher-cost areas.

Joel Kotkin: Environmental regulations will bankrupt America

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2024/02/12/joe-biden-climate-change-america-reparations-california/

On a global scale, the implications are massive. Proposed climate reparations target Europe, UK and North America. Green doomerists are now projecting costs of up to $171 trillion from the “rich” European and American economies but not the countries – most notably India and China – now ramping up their greenhouse gas production.

High energy cost drive up the price of everything:

https://empoweringamerica.org/your-vote-directly-affects-your-wallet/

And, those spiking energy costs have driven inflation on other goods and services. Since this time in 2020, the average cost of groceries has increased by 21 percent . That means that $150 worth of groceries now costs American families $182.

Colorado plans to completely eliminate coal as an energy source

Steven Koonin in the Free Press: And the world has spent more than $10 trillion in the last two decades trying to replace fossil fuels with renewables. But among the many problems with wind and solar is that they are simply too unreliable as sources of energy. Wind and solar can be an ornament to the system but can never be the backbone of the energy system.

The impact on insurance premiums: https://spectator.org/california-incinerated-its-insurance-market/

Why are the California Wildfires so Destructive?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 21:38:52 GMT

Bad Theology Leads to Bad Policy which Leads to Bad Outcomes

The horrific fires that are engulfing California are a part of the natural weather pattern in that state. I lived there for six years and remember winters with varying rates of rain and summers with unvarying rates of sunshine. By October everything was dry as powder and ready to burn.

The LA Times, naturally, attributed everything to climate change: “Los Angeles is burning. Fossil fuel companies laid the kindling…a global economy built on fossil fuels — and a U.S. political establishment funded in great part by fossil fuel corporations and their allies — brought us to this point. After two wet winters fueled the growth of grasses and brush — ideal kindling for fires — across SoCal mountains and hillsides, the last few months saw an abrupt shift to record-dry conditions. This kind of weather whiplash is a hallmark of global warming.”

Stephen Koonin, a climate expert who taught at Cal Tech for 30 years, called this “nonsense.” Rather than the absurd accusation that this is the work of Exxon he says the cause was the conditions allowed by the government to fester in the bushlands of southern California.

This year in the area around Los Angeles the rain held off all fall. So in some sense this is a natural catastrophe like a hurricane or earthquake. But in another very real sense it is a religious catastrophe. My response to the LA Times: This tragedy was made infinitely worse because of California’s by-in to the doctrines of the Green environmental cult not the fossil fuel companies. Bad theology led to bad policy and resulted in bad outcomes.

Referring to environmentalism as the Green religion is now quite common with online pundits. Typical is this phrase from Robert Bryce: [A recent L.A. policy manual] “is a 59-page paean to the gods of sustainability, solar energy…diversity, equity, and, of course, the clean energy transition.”

I have chronicled elsewhere how the abandonment of Christian truth has led to social pathologies. See my video on why cities are a trainwreck of crime and homelessness. Now devastating fires are more devastating for the same reason. What are those bad policies that come from the Green religion?

First, wildfire abatement policies were halted due to adherence to the doctrines of the Green cult. LA tried to replace flammable wooden power poles with steel poles but were stopped by the Greens because it would threaten an endangered shrub. Greens hold the theological position that nature is pure and holy and that every intervention by mankind is evil and destructive.

Noah Rothman in National Review observed: “A 2018 study …found that “overcrowded forests” contributed to an abundance of combustible materials on California’s forest floors — a condition exacerbated by the state’s “permitting requirements” and “constraints” on vegetation removal.”

Second, water storage failure: Again, Rothman: “And why was it that the first responders who attempted to contain the blaze quickly ran out of water?”

Because the state has failed to prepare water storage facilities…in deference to environmentalists groups that blocked the expansion of reservoirs, aqueducts, and pumping plants over the risk posed to endangered species.

Charles Lipson in the Spectator: “As for the green agenda, it is responsible for dumping billions of gallons of desperately needed fresh water into the Pacific each week instead of sending it to Southern California. The goal was to protect a small fish…Much-needed reservoirs were never built in the Southland or filled for emergency needs.”

Governments made a religious decision, making Left-wing, Progressive policies the priority, not disaster preparation..

Bryce talks about the city of Los Angeles’ Water and Power Department report that devotes page after page to electrifying their fleet and their commitment to diversity and other Green and Progressive shibboleths. Then he observes, “The report contains precisely one paragraph on wildfire mitigation.” So the report devotes 58 plus pages to Green doctrinal priorities.

Firefighters were selected for every reason except competence. The Greens overlap with left-wing Progressivism nearly 100%. They support diversity initiatives which select firefighters based on how oppressed their group is, not on the basis of their ability to fight fires. They spent money on diversity rather than repairing broken down fire trucks and had 40 useless vehicles sitting in their yard during the fire.

Rothman said : “The deadly wildfires that have leveled whole neighborhoods in L.A. this week have made [Mayor Karen] Bass’s decision to cut the city’s Fire Department budget by $17.6 million seem pretty short-sighted. That was, in fact, a compromise on her part; she had sought $23 million in cuts.”

And Lipson again: “Equally important but far less well-known is the impact of “green policies” on dangerous, above-ground power lines. Many are antiquated fire hazards. Their malfunctions and sparks start forest fires, but the state had priorities far more pressing…than upgrading those lines. They forced the state’s largest electric utility, PG&E, to divert its resources into building solar- and wind-power instead of upgrading its transmission lines.

Governments under the thumb of the Green agenda are trying to achieve broad theological goals rather than provide sound government. “That delusion has produced intolerable dysfunction.”

The situation in southern California is a terrible tragedy. The tragedy might well have occurred even if the area was not hamstrung by bad Green theology. But Christian doctrinal assumptions should guide public policy, not the false doctrines of the environmental movement. Rather than let nature run wild the Bible calls for men to have dominion over nature and keep it under control. God created the natural world to serve us not kill us.

Nothing would help more than a return to Jesus Christ and the doctrinal assumptions of the Christian faith. Those doctrines built the fabulous wealth of Western culture and would go a long way to helping preserve it.

More: What have liberals done to the West coast? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HslL8dnfas

Robert Bryce calls California fire policy a “paean to the gods” of environmentalism: https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/asleep-at-the-switch

The New York Times cries out for somebody to do something: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/opinion/los-angeles-fires.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20250115&instance_id=144776&nl=opinion-today&regi_id=192098175&segment_id=188293&user_id=312428a6983db1713c2ed5abc5829f49

The mismanagement of Los Angeles: https://thefederalist.com/2025/01/15/los-angeles-isnt-uniquely-dangerous-its-uniquely-mismanaged/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=los-angeles-isnt-uniquely-dangerous-its-uniquely-mismanaged&utm_term=2025-01-15

The priority of saving an endangered shrub: https://nypost.com/2025/01/14/us-news/california-bureaucrats-halted-pacific-palisades-fire-safety-project-to-save-endangered-shrub/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Noah Rothman in National Review:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/01/the-crisis-of-democratic-overconfidence/

Charles Lipson in The Spectator:

https://thespectator.com/topic/fire-earthquake-los-angeles-california-gavin-newsom/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=408b03fa91-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_15_08_44&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-408b03fa91-154787678

Climate Change Did Not Cause the Fires: https://www.thefp.com/p/climate-change-did-not-cause-the-la-fires-steve-koonin

Steven Koonin is a theoretical physicist and a leading voice calling for what he describes as “climate realism.” Koonin was on the faculty of the California Institute of Technology for almost three decades. For five years he was the chief scientist at BP , exploring renewable sources of energy. From there he served in the Obama administration as under secretary for science at the Department of Energy.

Emily Yoffe : Los Angeles is burning. President Joe Biden has said that climate change, which he just called the “ single greatest existential threat to humanity ,” is the cause. Many climate scientists agree with him. What do you say?

Steve Koonin : Nonsense. While climate might be playing a minor role, by far the greatest factor affecting how much damage results from a fire is the fuel available to it. Have you cleared the brush and other vegetation or not? Also, there’s the infrastructure that you’ve built. Are the houses fireproof? How close are they together? If we want to avoid the kind of disasters we’ve just seen in the Los Angeles basin, there are so many things we could be doing much more directly and easily than trying to reduce CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions.

The LA Times blames Climate Change: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2025-01-14/column-los-angeles-is-a-climate-disaster-the-fires-will-change-nothing-boiling-point

Charles Lipson on policy failures: https://thespectator.com/topic/fire-earthquake-los-angeles-california-gavin-newsom/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=408b03fa91-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_15_08_44&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-408b03fa91-154787678

Where are the atheist civilizations?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:58:47 GMT

Why can't atheists build a culture?

Where are the great atheist civilizations?

I have had numerous online discussions with atheists who take issue with my arguments about Christian civilization. They always criticize me for crediting Christianity for its many accomplishments. But one thing they never do—argue the superiority of atheist civilizations.

It’s hard to compare Christian civilization with atheist civilizations since there has never been an atheist civilization. Great or otherwise. I guess the closest you get would be the Marxist attempts of the past 100 years. There are more than you think. Twenty or so in Eastern Europe, another twenty or so in Africa, and several in Asia and Latin America. History is sprinkled with a few short-lived communist governments. None lasted more than a hundred years, most less than fifty. There are only a handful left—China( sort of), North Korea, Cuba(barely hanging on), maybe Laos, Vietnam, and Venezuela.

It's perfectly fair to judge atheism on this question because it was Marx’s intention to build a civilization. Not just a great one, a perfect one—a utopian state. It would not be local—it would be universal. He foretold the whole world as communist and atheist and some Marxists still believe this radical eschatology. He argued that its formation was inevitable—a scientific certainty.

But the next Marxist civilization will be the first. Instead of utopia you get a dystopian house of horrors, the worst governments in the history of the world.

With Christianity you get the best culture in the history of the world. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best.

Why can’t atheists build a civilization?

First, they start with the problem that there aren’t very many atheists. According to Ryan Burge the number of atheists, including agnostics, in the U.S. is around 10% and has been that way for a long time. Pew Research numbers show that other Western nations are similar although some European countries have a slightly larger number of atheists than the U.S. But nowhere near a majority. And these atheists all live in countries where the blessings they enjoy were created by Christian civilization. There is no example in history in which a group of atheists went to a pioneer area and built a culture.

Second, they have no ability to positively affect individual behavior. The British atheist, Matthew Parris, said: “Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good….The Christians are always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appears to have liberated and relaxed them. There is a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life.” In other words, Jesus Christ transforms your life in a wonderful, glorious way. Atheism does not do this.

Third, to build a civilization you have to have some moral glue to enable its citizens to get along with each other. The atheists they have no basis for morality. Frank DeVito writing in First Things says: “The problems that plague our society are at heart religious problems. If man does not know what he is, why he exists, what he is made for, or what he is doing on this earth, then he has little chance of getting any of the other questions right…. Without putting God and religion at the heart of the discussion, how can man be good? How can he even articulate what it means to be good?”

Atheists don’t believe in the image of God in man—the sanctity of life. Therefore they have no rationale for human rights, equality, social justice, or ministries of compassion. Tom Holland has a fascinating story about Julian the Apostate, the fourth-century Roman ruler who wanted to eradicate Christianity and restore paganism as the religion of the empire. But in order to do that Julian had to replicate Christianity’s compassion for the poor. How do you get pagans to do that? Holland says Julian discovered that to replace Christianity you basically had to replace it with…Christianity. Christian social teaching is so powerful it is virtually impossible to get rid of. People like Nietzsche and the Nazis tried but failed. Even unbelieving American liberals and conservatives admit that Christian compassion is a good thing.

Fourth, atheists do not sacrifice for their beliefs. In other words, they have a very low commitment to their ideals. I have gotten into fierce online debates over my observation that when I travel in Asia I never see any Marxist orphanages. I never see any Charles Darwin Memorial hospitals. No Vladimir Lenin or Joseph Stalin schools. Atheists have responded by telling me that they aren’t helping Asians because they are so committed to helping people at home. But I don’t see any helping institutions at home run by atheists. Other atheists have said they are just as compassionate as Christians but they don’t brag about it. They keep it a secret. Right. Really secret.

Fifth, Atheists are simply more self-serving than Christians and it takes a certain degree of unselfishness to build a civilization. It’s interesting to read Ryan Burge’s stats on religion and children. Christians have about twice as many kids as atheists. Having a child in this day and age takes a certain degree of unselfishness and religious commitment. Jonathan Last said that when you see a family with three or more children they are making a theological statement. They are showing their Christian commitment. Atheists simply don’t have that level of commitment and you can’t build a civilization without it. The Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic in 1620 primarily for one reason. They wanted the freedom to homeschool their children. They paid a terrible price for their commitment. Half of them died the first winter. But they persevered. And they built the richest, freest, and most powerful civilization in world history.

I have given five reasons atheists don’t build a civilization and I am sure there are more. I want to give glory to the God of Scripture and His Son, Jesus Christ, who have raised up millions of believers to build the glorious culture we live in. Praise be to His holy name.

More: Atheism is a Christian heresy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmncDaOQ7OQ

An atheist admits the necessity of Christian missions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQEDBrykPo

Frank Devito:

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/12/taking-god-seriously

Ryan Burge on atheists and children:

https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/atheists-just-dont-have-many-kids

Pew research findings on atheism:

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/07/8-facts-about-atheists/

Carl Trueman:

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/07/in-our-chaotic-age-some-atheists-are-rethinking-secularism

Non-religious people, too, are starting to have doubts about the ability of the Western secular mind to sustain civilization, as a recent essay by Konstantin Kisin indicates. Kisin, host of the popular dissident podcast Triggernometry, describes how enamored he was with the New Atheism of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens in the decade after 9/11. Now, however, he has come to identify as a “lapsed atheist,” wondering if answers to the most basic questions that societies need to operate—fundamentally, I would suggest, what it means to be human—are possible within an atheist framework.

“Is it possible to build a moral society on the basis of atheism?” [Trueman’s answer]: it was certainly a lot, lot harder than building a moral society on the basis of religion. [I would add, how would you know? It’s never been done.]

The question of God’s existence and moral order is famously raised by Ivan Karamazov in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov . For Ivan, if God does not exist, then everything is permissible.

Konstantin Kisin: The reason new atheism has lost its mojo is that it has no answers to the lack of meaning and purpose that our post-Christian societies are suffering from. What will fill that void? Religious people have their answer. Do the rest of us?

Matthew Parris:

http://www.rootedinjesus.net/docs/Parris.pdf

How Christianity Invented Science

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 22:43:08 GMT

Four more Christian doctrines that built the modern world

Last week I shared four fundamental, biblical values that are essential to the formation of Western culture. First, the sanctity of life, second, the infinite worth and value of women, third the revolution in sexual morality, and fourth, human rights. Today I want to share four more Christian values that built Western culture and changed the whole world.

Fifth, Western culture is committed to the well-being of the poor, the needy, the disabled, the prisoner, and all other suffering groups. This is another uniquely biblical value and is found in no other culture other than those influenced by Christianity. In Dominion Tom Holland speaks at length of the opposition to this concept from people like the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the Nazis, and other social Darwinists. They all argue that helping the weak drains strength from the rest of us. Of course, Jesus Christ said the opposite and His view has dominated—and still dominates—Western culture.

Sixth, the created order is separate from God. Or to put it differently, nature and God are not the same thing, or nature does not contain God. He sits outside it. Genesis 1:1 is the verse in the Bible that made science possible because from its beginning the Bible separates nature and God and without that theological assumption science is not possible. When the scientist looks at the natural world he sees one that operates on consistent, orderly laws. It is not inhabited by some capricious deity that keeps changing the rules. A legitimate scientific discovery is true now and has been true from the beginning. It is true in Bismark, North Dakota and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Seventh, consistent with the previous point we have an orderly universe because it is created and governed by God. In 1925 the world’s greatest philosopher was Alfred North Whitehead. He told an audience at Harvard that Christian theology was essential for the rise of science in the West. “The greatest contribution of medievalism to the formation of the scientific movement [was] the inexpugnable belief…in the rationality of God.” This led to a belief in the rationality or orderliness of nature. Whitehead goes on to say, “every detail [of the universe] was supervised and ordered: the search into nature could only result in the vindication of the faith in rationality.”

The Scientific Revolution occurred only once. It occurred within Christian culture. 100% of the men who put it forward were Christians. 100% That is not a coincidence. It was built on a foundation of Christian doctrinal assumptions.

Eighth, science was made possible by the biblical doctrine of dominion found in Genesis 1:26. Man was to have dominion over nature and use it for his own benefit. When I was a college student I read one of the most famous environmental essays of all time. It was written by a UC, Berkely professor named Lynn White and was entitled, “The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis.” White argued that we were in the process of destroying the earth. Even then I realized this was nonsense—and still is. What fascinated me was that White argued that the scientific and technological revolutions arose because of Christian culture. He blamed Christians for it; I gave Christians credit for it. Every material blessing he and I and everyone else enjoyed was due to the influence of the Bible and Christian culture on the technological development of the West. He was grieving over this and I was rejoicing over it. But make no mistake, he and I both agreed that Christianity was the cause of it.

The four ideas above and the four I gave in my last video are exclusive to the Judeo-Christian heritage. Without the Bible we wouldn’t even know these ideas much less believe them. They were originally revealed to the Jews then taken by Christianity and spread throughout the world. These doctrines have blessed the world more than any other beliefs.

There are eight more values that have been championed by Western, Christian culture, and are in agreement with but not necessarily exclusive to Scripture. I will deal with those in future videos.

I want to give praise to our God for revealing these truths to us. The Psalmist is so right: More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.

More: Rodney Stark, Victory of Reason, see especially location 406 in chapter one for Stark’s discussion of Whitehead.

This is what the world is like without the spread of Christianity: https://europeanconservative.com/articles/essay/civilization-is-from-the-jews/

What was the world like before Christians changed it?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:11:39 GMT

Four unique Christian doctrines that changed the world.

A number of years ago a British missions publication, Operation World, said the United States was the nation most influenced by the Bible in world history. That may be true, but Western culture in its entirety is a product of the Bible. Every resident of Western culture has benefitted from the Word of God whether they know it or not. Lots of well-known people, including men with towering intellectual reputations, have recently concluded that Western culture is the best that has ever existed and must be preserved. Many of these truths that built the West come exclusively from the Bible and would be believed by no one if God had not revealed them in His Word. So when you have an acquaintance tell you they don’t believe the Bible or any of that religion stuff you tell them, “Nonsense! Your brain is full of ideas that come from the Bible, the Bible only, and you believe them passionately.”

It's worth taking a moment and thinking about what the world would be like if God had not revealed His truth in Scripture. In a recent essay Andrew Doran summarized the world before it was impacted by biblical truth. “Human sacrifice was a near-universal practice in primitive pagan societies, even among sophisticated pagans.

The Greeks had elaborate religious rituals for killing their pharmokoi (scapegoats). Romans buried sacrificial victims alive in religious rituals to spare Rome from its enemies…and though human sacrifice was later banned, crucifixion, mass executions, and murderous entertainment continued until banished in the Christian era. The Carthaginians, like their Phoenician and Canaanite ancestors, sacrificed their own children, as did many Mediterranean peoples. Aztec, Maya, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian civilizations all had rituals for human sacrifice.

Ritualistic violence among low pagans was less well documented but often more horrific. Christians from the medieval to modern eras…personally witnessed ritualized torture, murder, and cannibalism, from North America to Northern Europe and Asia. Celtic and Baltic, Germanic and Angle, Comanche and Guanche—more peoples partook than can be numbered because most have gone extinct. Ritualistic barbarity was universal.”

But then came Christianity and the biblical truths that changed all this and built Western culture. What are those truths? Today I begin a series of videos spelling out sixteen truths that Christianity brought to culture and on which Western culture is based.

First and foremost is the sanctity of life an idea that comes exclusively from Genesis 1:27; “So God created man in his image…”; the Bible teaches very human being is created in the image of God and therefore is of infinite worth and value. The idea has been found in no other culture outside of Christian influence. Numerous cultural values spring from this one theological concept and I will elaborate on them below. I have dealt with this doctrine in the video, “The Most Powerful Idea in History,” which I link below.

The second powerful cultural idea comes from the second half of the same verse—Genesis 1:27. “Male and female created he them.” Women are created in the image of God and therefore also have infinite worth and value. It is no accident that Western culture has been the best in history for women. Once one of my students at Colorado Christian told me of a friendship she had developed with a young woman at a secular university. The secular student had looked up some verses on the internet and decided the Bible was the enemy of women. I told my CCU student, “I will answer this young woman’s specific questions in a moment. But first let me make a general observation. The Bible has been a greater blessing to women than all the other books in the history of mankind combined.” Women in western, Christian culture live the best lives any women have ever lived and it is because of truth God revealed in His Word.

The third truth that built Western culture is the counterpart to the second; The Christian doctrine of male sexual restraint. A number of years ago Dennis Prager, an orthodox Jew, wrote a brilliant essay entitled, “Judaism’s Sexual Revolution.” He lays out the biblical teaching on sex which both orthodox Jews and Christians follow. It was Christianity that spread this teaching around the world and infused Western culture with it. Prager argues that without the biblical teaching on sex, Western culture would not exist. In Dominion Tom Holland points out that Christianity produced the only culture in world history to restrain male sexual behavior. This is an important and often overlooked Christian doctrine that is essential for the existence of the West. It is also the one on this list most under attack.

Fourth, human rights. The U.N. Declaration on human rights says in its first paragraph that it recognizes “the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.” It then goes on to say that this is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. In other words, all the other rights. I asked a Jewish law professor at CU one time if this wasn’t a religious statement and he said absolutely. I would add, it’s not just a religious statement, it is a biblical religious statement drawn wholly from Genesis 1:27. Thus, all your social justice movements for which Western, Christian culture is so well known, originate in Scripture.

In future videos I will add to this list. Thank you God for revealing your truth to us. How rich it has made our lives.

More: My video on the sanctity of life, “The Most Powerful Idea in History”;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iDInhQdqbQ

The Birth of Childhood: Christianity's Revolutionary Impact

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 17:53:01 GMT

Consider the world of children without Christianity

It is astonishing the number of values we inherit from Western Christian culture but are oblivious to their origins. Progressive/Leftists decry the mistreatment of women apparently unaware that the equality of women is a western, Christian value, taught in the Bible but originally nowhere else. Or the equality of every member of the human family in Genesis 1.

in his remarkable essay, “How Christianity Invented Children,”

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry reminds us of this.

“We have forgotten just how deep a cultural revolution Christianity wrought. In fact, we forget about it precisely because of how deep it was: There are many ideas that we simply take for granted as natural and obvious, when in fact they didn't exist until the arrival of Christianity changed things completely.”

Gobry asks us to consider the lives of children in the pre-Christian world. They were “non-persons.” A mother’s love for her children was considered a sign of “weakness and vulgarity.” Children were more like plants than human beings. The power of an adult male was absolute. In Rome a father had the right to kill his child until he came of age. A very, very late term abortion.

Like a number of Asian countries today ancient Rome had a lopsided gender ration—far more boys than girls. This was due to the practice of expositio—the abandonment of unwanted infants. Girls were far more likely to be abandoned than boys. Today we call this the “ultrasound undertaker;” determining the sex of a child through an ultrasound and terminating it on the basis of its gender.

The pagan world’s acceptance of homosexuality is often viewed as enlightenment but such progressive ideas were of no help to children. Most exposed children died but those who were “rescued” were often sold into slavery. And the best way for a child to generate revenue was in a brothel. Some brothels specialized in child sex, with boys being particularly sought after.

The Christian commitment to the well being of children is a consequence of a deeper, greater value: “The radical equality, the infinite value of every human being as a beloved child of God.” A stupendous and revolutionary idea says Gobry.

Christianity is governed by the biblical doctrine of the sanctity of life. I have argued elsewhere that this idea has existed only in cultures influenced by the Bible. It comes originally from Genesis 1:27: Every person on earth is created in the image of God and is of infinite worth and value. It is the most powerful social idea of all time. From it comes most of the ideas we hold dear—that the Progressive/Elite hold dear: human rights, the equality of all human beings, women’s rights, the political, religious, and economic freedom of the individual.

When Christianity arrived on the scene it applied this doctrine to children. Statements by Jesus we simply pass over without much thought were revolutionary. One was, “Permit the little children to come unto me. For of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 19:14) We live in an age when Christianity’s teaching on moral issues is increasingly under fire. But it’s critics have no clue as to what they are destroying. They are committing cultural suicide. Just ask the children.

Isaiah 57:4,5: Whom are you mocking?
Against whom do you open your mouth wide
and stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
the offspring of deceit, you… who slaughter your children in the valleys,
under the clefts of the rocks?

When cultures begin to paganize the first victims are often children. They start with abortion, but that leads to more child abuse. Then they normalize divorce which hurts children more than anything else. Now there is the current rage of dismembering children in the name of gender transition. And at this point we must mention the general hostility to children throughout Western culture—I am speaking of the birth dirth. The decision of millions of adults simply to not have children. What could be more hostile to a child than to deny him the opportunity to exist. The Christian church stands against these outrages and is determined to protect children—the weakest amongst us.

We thank our God and give Him glory for telling us the value of children.

More: “The Overpopulation Hysteria”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJgr4wQBss

Pascal Emmanuel-Gobry: How the West invented childhood:

http://theweek.com/articles/551027/how-christianity-invented-children

Anthony Esolen on the Left’s war on children:

https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/turning-on-children?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=577f9329e3-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-577f9329e3-28475396&mc_cid=577f9329e3&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

The Progressive Left and the removal of children from cities: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-urban-family-exodus-is-a-warning-for-progressives/ar-AA1ofLOv

The hostility of modern culture toward children:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2024/04/free-the-children

Changing the Destiny of a Nation: Why Thanksgiving Matters

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 15:25:03 GMT

Lack of Gratitude Begins a Nation's Destruction

Is Thanksgiving the most important factor in the future of America?

For a cultural historian Romans 1:21 is one of the most important verses in the Bible. In Romans 1:18-20 Paul says that people know God exists but they suppress that knowledge in their unrighteousness. Then what do they do? In v 21 he says they do not honor God nor do they thank Him. And this leads to their downfall. Paul says next their foolish hearts are darkened and then they begin the downward spiral into total debauchery and that’s what the rest of chapter 1 chronicles.

Man’s downfall begins when he fails to thank God. Today in the U.S. we are officially celebrating our thanksgiving holiday. But millions are not thanking God. Millions don’t even believe in God. And our cultural establishments are hostile toward Him. One time at the University of Colorado, just before Thanksgiving break, I jokingly said that lots of people think Thanksgiving commemorated the Puritans thanking the Indians. My students stared at me and then one of them said, “Isn’t that what’s it about?” That is what they had been taught in high school by the education establishment. The Puritans established a holiday thanking the Indians for their assistance. Now certainly the Indians were helpful to the Puritans when they first came to America but that is decidedly not who the Puritans were thanking. They were praising Almighty God for His providence and goodness in allowing them to survive and then thrive in America.

When you read the second half of Romans 1 remember that all that debauchery and the collapse of a moral culture begins with a lack of gratitude. When thanks to God is lacking the culture crumbles into destructive chaos.

On this Thanksgiving let’s remember to give thanks to our God for all He’s done. Let’s begin by praising Him for sending the Lord Jesus Christ to save us.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

More: For an excellent meditation on Thanksgiving see this: https://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2024/11/20/give_thanks_to_jesus_holy_name_1073457.html

What are the Greatest Challenges Facing America?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 20:36:13 GMT

Five Issues Threatening America's Future

What is America’s biggest challenge in 2024?

Last week I posted a video arguing that America is the best country in the world. I used polling data and immigration statistics to defend my argument. Not surprisingly, I have received a lot of blowback—from people in other countries and from people who live here but are mad at America.

This week I want to take a look at what’s wrong with America. What are its greatest problems and challenges? I offer five.

The first problem that plagues America is the decline of the family. Reading and understanding divorce rates can be a challenge but everyone agrees that the rate of marriage failure has risen dramatically in the past three generations. As a result, a vastly higher number of children are being raised in single parent homes. 40% of America’s children live in a single parent home. That number was under 10% in 1950. Every commentator agrees that this is a catastrophe. Every social pathology goes up when children don’t have two parents—decline in educational achievement, crime and other anti-social behaviors, poverty, increased use of recreational drugs, and a host of other behavioral and social problems. There are some great and successful single parents—see Ben Carson for example—but the stats are against them.

Second, the birth dirth. Quite simply Americans are not having enough children to replace our population. This is not a uniquely American problem. It is world-wide. By now you have heard that a woman needs to bear, on average, 2.1 children to replace her and her husband if population is to remain stable. Only one country in the developed world is at or above that rate—Israel. The latest numbers put the U.S. rate at 1.6. There are dozens of countries that are lower. In other words, without immigration our country would begin losing population. And even with immigration our population is aging. Our entitlements like Social Security cannot survive for long without a change in population patterns. It is interesting to read the many reasons given by pundits for the decline in the birth rate and it is equally interesting to read their remedies. But nothing seems to be working. Lots of nations offer bonuses to women if they will have children but it does not seem to help. In my opinion, only religious revival will change this pattern. For example, Christians have far more children than atheists.

Speaking of atheists, a third major problem facing America is the large number of nones; that is, people who tell pollsters when asked about their religion reply, “none.” One of the great questions of our age is can Western, Christian, culture survive without Christians who believe and practice their faith? We don’t know yet but my guess is the answer is “No.” The absence of religious belief leads to a host of other problems—family decline, amoral behavior, and susceptibility to Leftist propaganda.

Fourth, a major problem facing America is the mindless faith in the climate cult. Many Greens make apocalyptic predictions—extreme weather events, species extinction, an unlivable planet. It leads to numerous social pathologies. Anxiety—the younger generation is terrified of the future. Poor allocation of resources—trillions have been spent on renewable energy projects without making a dent in carbon emissions. Many young people claim that because of a terrifying climate future they have decided not to have children, a dreadful decision that many will come to regret. And investment in renewables harms the electric grid, threatening many places with destructive blackouts. All of this is based on absurd claims of climate destruction that will occur many decades from now. But like all the other apocalyptic predictions—overpopulation, global cooling, depletion of the ozone layer, etc., none of this will come to pass.

Fifth, and worst, the capitulation of our cultural elite to Marxian, Progressive, Left-wing paganism. The Marxist Left has taken over many major American institutions. Higher education in the social sciences and humanities is completely under their control. Even the STEMs are threatened. They are at war with the family—see gay marriage and transgender rights, and more broadly, a feminism that is at war with the traditional family. They have replaced faith in God with belief in government. Upon losing the last election they became hysterical in their ravings. Why? Because it was not just a political loss. It was a loss for their religion. It undermined their theology. The Marxist Left also controls our government bureaucracies, secondary education, most of our big tech platforms, and our entertainment complex. Name a Hollywood studio committed to crafting entertainment that reflects the Christian perspective. The Progressives hate Western culture, hate America, and are conducting a full-scale assault on our culture and all its blessings. Blessing they enjoy. In my view, they are America’s biggest problem.

In other videos I will elaborate on the above but this is a general list of five major problems facing our country. There are others—the immigration crisis, drug addiction, crime, our gigantic and growing national debt. Lots of viewers last week argued that America’s healthcare system is inferior to other developed nations but that is a controversy with both sides weighing in. I can’t resolve it other than to say that the nations of Western culture enjoy the best healthcare in the history of the world.

America has problems and challenges but do not despair. I think the problems will be defeated by the positives I mentioned in my last video. Most importantly, the God of the universe is in charge and He will govern the future of America and direct it toward His ends. That alone, should fill us with hope and confidence.

Taking Stock of America: What's Right

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 19:19:36 GMT

Seven Things that are Great About America

We just had an election last week in the United States and this is a good time to take stock of our country. The famous hymn, America the Beautiful, includes this prayer, “America, may God shed His grace on thee.” He sure has.

In past decades Gallup has been conducting polls around the world. One question they ask: If you could move anywhere in the world where would it be? Last year, of the people they polled, 170 million said the United States of America. The Wall Street Journal analyzed data a few years ago and found that 20 million black Africans had applied for visas to the United States in the previous year. Why do tens of millions of people around the world want to move to the U.S.? Because America is a great place.

What’s great about America? Let me count the ways. Incidentally, almost everything I say below about America could be said of any nation in the Western world.

First, let’s not overlook something we take for granted. By almost every measure we are the richest nation in the history of the world. We provide an astonishingly rich material life for almost all our citizens. Someone will ask, what about the homeless? About one tenth of 1 percent of Americans are homeless. And this is not due to poverty but rather for spiritual and psychological reasons. American governments have spent billions on the homeless. When defectors from the old Soviet Union were given a tour of America they were often taken to an ordinary grocery store. For the Russians the offerings at your local Safeway were so lavish they thought they were being deceived. This grocery store was set up just to trick them. They didn’t realize that every American community has a grocery store like the one they were in.

What about the hungry children we see on billboards? Last year the federal children’s assistant program alone spent $112 billion dollars to feed children, to say nothing of billions more in state and local spending. If a child is hungry it is not because there is a lack of willingness or ability on the part of our society to feed them.

We must give thanks for the technological innovations we enjoy. Many of us love the most recent gadgetry—iPhones, X-boxes and the like. But I am not talking fundamentally about them. I am talking about more important innovations. For example, electricity. The technology writer Robert Bryce says that in terms of human well-being we should divide the world into two eras. Before electricity and after electricity, because the electric grid has so radically altered the material quality of our lives. My mother was born in 1922. Her house in rural West Virginia was not wired for electricity until 1942 when she was a college student. I asked her once what were the major changes she noticed. She first mentioned an obvious one—the refrigerator. Food spoilation was nearly totally eliminated saving countless lives. But she mentioned something else I never would have thought of—the electric iron. Ironing clothes was made so much easier. Instead of swapping out flatirons on a hot stove the housewife had a continual source of heat for ironing her clothes. The biggest change in her life came from her Saturday morning chore. For years she would trim the wicks and clean the globes on all the kerosene lamps in the house, a job that took hours. Now all she had to do was flip a switch.

Have any of you had the opportunity to enjoy air conditioning? It was invented by an upstate New Yorker named Willis Carrier a little over a hundred years ago. 100% of the world’s AC is generated by electricity. Thanks be to God and Willis Carrier for this innovation.

And of course I could list a thousand other things that bless our lives as a result of technological innovation.

Second, I realize we are under attack but we have a high degree of religious freedom in America and in the West. I know a missionary in a foreign land who has had her school closed three times this year by the government because it opposes Christian schooling. So she keeps moving so she can operate before the government forces her to move again. 6 million American children are homeschooled and millions more attend private and Christian schools. We have an incredibly high degree of freedom to educate our children and that is one freedom that is expanding in spite of every effort of the Marxist Progressive elite to curtail it.

In addition, we have a high degree of intellectual freedom including the freedom to innovate. Walter Russell Mead has pointed out that in the last 300 years virtually every new invention has come, first, from the U.S., and second, from England. Essentially all the rest come from the culturally Christian nations of Western Europe. I sat in the airport in Bangkok, Thailand, thinking about everything around me that had been invented by an American. The airplanes landing and taking off—the Wright brothers in 1903. The air conditioning—Willis Carrier, 1906. The escalator—Jesse Reno, 1892. Food safely refrigerated—Fred Wolf, 1913. And electricity itself had a number of developers from the famous like Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison. But the most important person was the man who made it available to the masses, Samuel Insull, a little over a hundred years ago. All these developments came out of the free society of America, created by Christian culture, and blessing the entire world.

A third thing that is right about the U.S.: the deep Christian commitment of millions of Americans. I know there are a lot of fake and shallow Christians. But to the glory of God there are many who really love Christ and every day deepen their relationship with Him. A number of years ago Barna research did a survey of Christian practices. As I recall they had ten questions, things like do you read your Bible every day, do you attend church regularly, do you give to charity, do you serve your church and community? Questions like these. Barna bemoaned the fact that only seven percent of Americans could answer yes to all these questions. I saw it the other way around. 25 million Americans practice basic Christian disciplines. 25 million. What an incredible number. And I can tell you from my study of history that a tiny percentage of real Christians in a population are salt and light transforming the rest of country. We have lots of believers who are salt and light and they have an enormous impact on the rest of society.

Fourth, there is the immense power of the Christian church. The church is the only major institution in America not under the control of the Marxist, Progressive Left but it wields power greater than all the institutions arrayed against it. It is still largely influenced by real Christians; there is very little top-down control; most power is held at the congregational level; in a world that is hostile toward men the clergy is largely male. It is no wonder that young men are returning to church. The Marxist Progressive Left should have more power than they do, but Christian Americans, in their churches, families, and schools resist the Marxist takeover.

Fifth, we have a great deal of political freedom. We live under the rule of law; that is, American law is written, applies to all, and is enforced by our judicial system. We enjoy equal justice under the law more than any people who ever existed. For example, Black Americans have enormous legal protections that few other black or minority communities in the world—or the history of the world—enjoy. We just had a major election. The New York Times warned that a vote for Trump would be the end of democracy, but that’s just a foolish false prophecy that the Times specializes in. I’ll bet we have an election in 2026. And we will get a new president in 2028. I was in China after the 2016 election and the Chinese were astonished by it. Not that Trump won, they had no idea who Trump was. They couldn’t believe that you could actually have an election that would change the rulers at the top—something that none of them had ever experienced.

Sixth, we must be positive about the future of America because Christians are having children. We have a lot more than our secular counterparts. In fact, atheists and agnostics have the fewest kids. That means a generation from now the proportion of Christians will increase substantially. You will see this everywhere including the election booth. It is my speculation that the Left is currently at its high-water mark and its influence will shrink in coming years.

Seventh, the most positive development in the realm of public policy is education reform. Half the states in the U.S. have voucher programs. That is, parents can take the tax money spent on their kids and apply it to the school of their choice. Not all states include all children in their voucher program but about ten do. And the number is only going to grow. This will undermine the Left’s program of public-school indoctrination. Higher education is a vast wasteland in the humanities and social sciences but it is beginning to change. Reform is possible even here.

I have given you seven bright points of light; reasons to be hopeful about the future of America. Our greatest hope, of course, lies in the sovereignty of our God who has in the past made ours such a great country. Millions of believers are asking Him to continue to do so. I believe He will.

May our God bless you this day in a mighty way.

Robert Bryce, Why I’m Bullish on America: https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/five-reasons-to-be-bullish-on-the-united-states?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Millions want to move to America: https://news.gallup.com/poll/652748/desire-migrate-remains-record-high.aspx

Walter Russell Mead: America is a Beacon of Light; https://www.wsj.com/opinion/politicians-arent-what-make-america-great-e05c0083?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h

Coming to America was like winning the lottery: https://www.thefp.com/p/rigged-elections-putin-russia-tanya-lukyanova-trump-kamala?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

What are the biblical implications of the election?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 22:19:38 GMT

Six Lessons to be learned from the election

We have just had a presidential election in America and whether you realize it or not elections have doctrinal implications. I would like to weigh in on those. To put it differently, what might God think of the election? Now I claim no ability to answer that question but there is a lot of Scripture that applies here.

First, let’s begin with the response of the losers. They are hysterical. MSNBC talking heads can’t stop jabbering about how stupid Americans are. Or what racist, sexist, misogynist bigots they are. Their anger and bitterness are off the charts. Why? Because they do not believe in God. For the American Progressive Left government has taken the place of God. And when you lose the government it is as though your god has forsaken you. The Bible warns of this repeatedly. The most famous verse is the one quoted by Martin Luther. In Psalm 146 we are told, “Put not thy trust in princes…in whom there is no salvation.” Government will inevitably let you down. Better to trust in the true and sovereign God who rules the universe.

Second, the election shows the continuing power of Christian culture even in a nation where many have abandoned formal commitment to the Christian faith. A Fox News network talking head said this election proves people want to be treated as individuals not as members of an identity group. This is very Christian. Christianity—as opposed to Marxist Progressivism--stresses each individual’s unique relationship with God. Most voters view themselves as God does—as individuals. God doesn’t look at us through the lens of tribal or group identity. I used to have my students at the University of Colorado read the Gospel of Luke and I would quiz them on it. One of my true-false questions was, “The parable of the Good Samaritan is intended by Jesus to teach diversity.” And that is absolutely true. His Jewish audience hated the Samaritans but God is saying to them that He views each person individually. A Samaritan can be in the Kingdom of God while many Jews are not. This is the opposite of the Marxist view of human beings which says the most important thing about you is your group. And the majority of American votes agree with the biblical doctrine.

Third, we saw the triumph of another biblical truth. In Genesis we read that God made men to be men and women to be women and this was affirmed in the election. The Trump campaign ran hundreds of ads challenging transgender ideology. They argued that men should not compete in women’s sports or be in women’s bathrooms. The American people agree. A number of commentators noted that this was a more important issue for women than abortion.

Fourth, along the same line the voters affirmed the biblical view of masculinity. Being a man is not an evil thing, patriarchy can be a great blessing, men were made to be men by Almighty God. He wants us to assume the role of Leader, Provider, and protector. Men can misuse their masculinity just like sinful humans—men and women—misuse everything else. But masculinity itself is a good thing, created by God, who chose for Himself the masculine pronoun, Father, to communicate with us who He is.

Fifth, the voters affirmed the biblical teaching that truth is objective. The post-modern argument that reality—like sexuality—is a social construct took a severe beating Tuesday. Christians argue for the objectivity of truth because of the existence of God. He is light and in Him is no darkness at all. And that light exists no matter how much media try to deny it. The attempt on the part of the traditional media to invent narratives that simply did not exist was a big part of their undoing on Tuesday.

Sixth, I am reminded that whoever becomes president is not remotely the most important thing going on in my life or even the life of the nation. God is at work in myriad ways most of which we cannot even see. That’s what matters in America and everywhere else. What is God doing, not what is the government doing. Scripture is respectful of government but not worshipful.

Let me make a couple of concluding remarks. Will the Left change? Not likely. Because being a Marxist Progressive is not a political position that can be changed when circumstances change. It’s a religion. I am an Evangelical follower of Jesus Christ. If my candidate loses I do not then become an atheist. I don’t switch religions. I double down on my faith and move on. That’s what I predict the Left will do.

America has two dominant religions. Christianity in its many forms and Marxist Progressivism. This battle will continue. It will continue until the Marxists are finally vanquished by the power of God.

If your candidate lost Tuesday do not despair. God is still in control and He has purposes for the incoming administration we know not of. If your candidate won don’t get carried away. No human government is capable of bringing in a heavenly, millennial kingdom. For that we await the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

More: Why Are Young Men Returning to Church? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M_uTN-LylA

Mormons try to come to grips with their racist history

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 18:49:01 GMT

A new history has shaken the Mormon world

Recent Developments and their background

While I was growing up Mormonism was an officially racist religion. Black people were not permitted to become full members of the church. What the Mormons called their priesthood was the central part of being Mormon and blacks were not allowed into the priesthood. The reason for the ban was black behavior in pre-existence. Mormons believe you actually begin your existence as a spirit child on a planet far from earth and then you get a body from an earthly mother and begin your earthly existence. There was a war in this pre-existent world. People who chose to fight on Jesus’ side were then born on earth in white bodies. People who fought against Jesus were condemned to never have bodies. People who took no side in the conflict were born in black bodies. Thus the priesthood restriction on people with black skin. Richard Ostling has a pretty good summary: “Many Americans — both secular and religious — have harbored racial views that are abhorrent in the 21st century. But The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its leaders have been unique in proclaiming racial discrimination to be the will of God and thoroughly incorporating that belief into all aspects of church life for well over a century.”

Needless to say, this belief came under a lot of criticism in America in the 1960s. Then in 1978 Spencer Kimball, the president of the Mormon church, claimed to receive a revelation from God lifting the ban on blacks in the priesthood. They could now become full members of the church. The week the ban was lifted I went to a Mormon church to a worship service and encountered a missionary I knew and asked him how the change was possible. Had all of a sudden blacks no longer sat out the pre-existent war? He couldn’t answer my question. He finally took me to the top Mormon missionary trainer in the area and I asked him my question. He looked at me and said, “Young man, if you will just pray and ask the Lord if these things be true the Holy Spirit will reveal them to you.” In other words, no answer.

How did the Mormons arrive at the decision to change their historic view?

How did Mormonism, officially, theologically racist for more than a hundred years, arrive at the decision to abandon racism? Here enters a new book that has caused quite a stir. “Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality,” , by historian Matthew L. Harris. He analyzes the restrictions that the Mormon church imposed upon members of Black African ancestry, and all the bureaucratic machinations that went on behind the scenes to change it.

Jana Riess is a faithful Mormon and one that I read regularly. She interviewed Harris and she says one of the main themes of the book was how much the hierarchy of the church argued about the church’s racial posture and what to do about it.

I have linked her interview below and you can read it for yourself but let me summarize his comments. For many years there was intense debate within the inner sanctum of church leadership over the priesthood ban on blacks. Some in the top council of the church were adamant in keeping it but others battled mightily for many years to change it. Finally, the president of the church, Spencer Kimball, made the decision to change it. Harris says: “When Spencer Kimball was praying in the temple in 1977 and 1978, he wasn’t asking God, “Do I need to lift the ban?” Rather, he asked, “God, help me get my colleagues to see the wisdom in this… Kimball went to great lengths to convince the apostles that lifting the ban was in the best interests of the church, especially as leaders tried to spread the gospel globally.”

And that was that. Kimball came forth, announced a new revelation, and the Mormons changed their historic view on race.

What does this tell us about the Mormon view of revelation?

As a Bible-believing Christian I find this process curious, even ridiculous. We are told by Mormons that one of the chief advantages of their religion is having a living prophet, one who claims authority to speak for God and bring new revelation. Apparently the newer revelations can contradict the older revelations. So theology is not fixed by the character of God but is ever changing. The Mormons could very easily get a revelation legalizing gay marriage or any other action that now is considered a moral outrage.

It is clear to me that the Mormon god does not exist. He was manufactured out of whole cloth by Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders. He does not remotely resemble the God of the Bible and is different in a hundred ways. Please see my article on Mormon doctrine linked below. This is not to disparage the many fine Mormons who live exemplary lives and are a credit to their religion. You ask, how can their theology be so heterodox yet individually they live morally upstanding lives? The answer to this question is easy. It shows the power of Christian culture. Jesus Christ is so powerful He shapes the behavior of those who believe wrong things about Him or nothing about Him. Consider how many Americans have no religious faith whatsoever yet live lives we would call morally “Christian.” That’s the power of Christ to work even in the lives of those who deny Him.

The Mormons have been through this before. Originally Mormonism was polygamous. Joseph Smith declared taking plural wives an obligation for Mormon men. Disobedience to this commandment merited damnation. Then in the 1880s when the Mormons had settled in Utah and wanted to become a state the law in Protestant America was monogamy. In fact, a military invasion had been threatened as long as the Mormons followed their laws on marriage. The Mormon god decided that they were finished with polygamy and in 1890, Wilson Woodruff, then president and prophet of the church, got a revelation in which God said to abandon the practice. So, in time, they did. And they became the 45 ^th state in the union.

This won’t be the last time the Mormons face this issue. As I stated above, the Mormons abolished it because Protestant America required it for statehood so the motivation for the new revelation was the law of the land. It was a Christian law. But the abolition against polygamy is going away in modern America with the advent of gay marriage, throuples—three people being legally married to each other—and other combinations. Will the Mormons feel pressure or the need to once again allow polygamy in this new environment? Will the Mormon god once again change his mind on marriage?

More: Are Mormons Christians? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPQ1rrEDEas

I have written a detailed examination of Mormon doctrine which is found here: https://www.the401stprophet.com/our-mormon-friends

Richard Ostling on a new book on Mormonism’s racist past:

https://religionunplugged.com/news/2024/8/26/latter-day-saints-come-to-terms-with-the-126-year-racial-barrier

An interview with Matthew Harris, author of, “Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality; https://religionnews.com/2024/08/13/the-behind-the-scenes-battles-to-lift-mormonisms-racial-priesthood-temple-ban/

The best website countering Mormon beliefs is Mormon Research Ministry. Here is there take on the priesthood ban:

https://www.mrm.org/sharing-with-mormons-priesthood-ban

An entertaining summary of Mormon beliefs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgw-C_DTVo8

Citations from Mormon Scripture affirming discrimination against blacks: https://www.mrm.org/quotes-on-blacks-priesthood

Can a Christian Support Capital Punishment?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 17:17:39 GMT

Christians come down on both sides of this issue

When I was a campus pastor I was sitting with a group of other campus pastors and one of them very passionately raised this question: “How can you oppose abortion but still support the death penalty?” The other campus ministers nodded in agreement accusing us pro-lifers of a glaring moral inconsistency. So I responded, “How about this for a defense: I believe in punishing the guilty and sparing the innocent. It’s not a complicated moral position.”

Those campus ministers had come down on one side of a controversial moral issue: capital punishment. More precisely, can a Christian favor the death penalty?

Before we go any further we have to ask what is the current status of the death penalty in America? We basically don’t have one. Last year there were 24,000 murders in America and 24 executions. So about 1 execution for every thousand murders. If you murder someone the odds are 1,000 to 1 against you having to pay for that murder with your life.

Americans are still in favor of the death penalty but its support has weakened over the years. It is opposed by a small band of zealots who are politically powerful. One thing I have noticed is that people opposed to capital punishment tend not personally affected by their views. They tend to be wealthier, better educated, and rarely the victims of a capital crime. The victims tend to be drawn overwhelmingly from our lower classes.

What are the arguments against capital punishment?

First, you might execute an innocent person. I think this is by far the best argument for the opponents of capital punishment. We read often of people who have been exonerated after many years in prison. This, of course, is an argument against all punishment of crime. But at least if a person is not executed the wrong can in theory be rectified at some point. With modern forensics the chance of executing an innocent person is small but possible nonetheless.

The famous author, evangelical Christian, and attorney, John Grisham, strongly opposes the death penalty and he often places arguments against it in his novels: Grisham’s argument is not the guilt or innocence of the perpetrator. He argues against giving the state, with its flaws, prejudices, and ability to screw things up, the right to kill.

Some Christians have argued that the Bible says “Thou shalt not kill,” and Jesus says turn the other cheek.

What are the arguments in favor of capital punishment?

In spite of the above arguments the majority of Christians still favor capital punishment. There are several points we can raise here.

How many criminals commit murders at least in part because they know they will not be executed? There is no way to know the answer to this with certainty but I suspect the number is high.

Then, of course, how many men have committed murders, avoided execution, then escaped, and murdered again? The most famous of these is serial killer Ted Bundy, but there have been others.

But there are deeper, theological and philosophical reasons. Allie Beth Stuckey in World Magazine was reporting on the killer in the Parkland school shootings in Florida, and how he avoided the death penalty and received life imprisonment. Her argument was, “Those angered by the verdict are justified in their indignation. A life sentence in this case is not just. It devalues human life and potentially incentivizes similar murders in the future. The death penalty is the only righteous punishment for proven premeditated murder and protecting killers from such a fate favors criminals at the expense of victims.”

So she argues that it’s a simple matter of justice. It’s not fair for murderers to get off without paying for their crimes.

But I think the best argument is that God is in favor of capital punishment. Genesis 9 reads: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” The Bible offers a pro-life argument for capital punishment. Man was created in God’s image and if you take his life then you must forfeit yours. But what about the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill? Bible students have nearly unanimously argued that this verse means, Thou shalt not commit murder. There are numerous occasions when the Bible justifies the taking of human life. For example, in war. What about Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek when you experience evil? This is clearly council for individual Christians, not a maxim for state policy.

I think Romans 13 should be considered here. In verse 4 Paul says of the policeman/soldier, “He does not bear the sword in vain.” In other words, God allows him to invoke violence in combatting evil. I think this passage is a good argument for capital punishment.

I realize this is a controversial issue and I would never break fellowship with a brother over it. We need to leave room for disagreement. But I hope this short discussion has been helpful.

May the Lord bless you mightily today.

More: A conservative Catholic view:

https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-wrath-of-god-and-the-death-penalty-on-blessings-and-prudence?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=3f4097a6ac-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-3f4097a6ac-28475396&mc_cid=3f4097a6ac&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

From World Magazine, an endorsement of capital punishment:

https://wng.org/opinions/the-justice-of-the-death-penalty-1666093460?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGQ4BDWAnWBCdpl4qHf40M7YDaFPS6GdKR5w7ThCX0c4vtCRxaA7gU_yf3-RhmaxzZca9YL2oBgbuHpRVGZY2v61Q-tnoZXqlvxW-HXalR9-7lB

How your religious affiliation affects your view:

https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/does-religion-impact-support-for

Why Are Young Men Returning to Church?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 17:07:40 GMT

What's causing an unprecedented demographic shift?

The New York Times created a stir last month with an article on the increasing number of young men going to church. The Times article said, “For the first time in modern American history, young men are now more religious than their female peers. They attend services more often and are more likely to identify as religious.” For decades the religious surveys have always showed that women are more religious than men and that would still be true in older groups of Americans. But not for those under 30.

The statistical guru Ryan Burge weighed in on this and made a couple of trenchant observations. The current crop of young men is clearly more religious than the men in the generation preceding them. And regarding youth in their teens and twenties, the gender gap is gone.

If Burge is right then this would be the first time in American history—or at least since religious surveys have been collected—that men are as religious or more religious than women.

Why has this happened? I don’t think the answer is that complicated.

Our cultural elite and the Progressive Left are waging all-out war against men. And it’s not a recent development:

More than two decades ago Christina Hoff Summers wrote, “The War Against Boys: How Misguided Policies Are Hurting Our Young Men.” I had a chance to speak with her personally about this. She said the turning point in her life as a gender feminist came when she got married and had two boys. The reality of that experience caused her to challenge Progressive orthodoxy.

But forty years ago in graduate school I read a book by a Harvard professor, Anne Douglas, called “The Feminization of American Culture.” It spoke of the conspiracy even then to turn little boys into little girls. And she observed nothing has been more feminized than the clergy.

Young men have lived their entire lives listening to a negative, destructive narrative about who they are as human beings.

Liberal men have gone along with this in order to establish their left-wing bona fides. They don’t want to appear sexist after all. And the Democratic Party has found this to be an excellent electoral strategy. 75% of single women will pull the lever for their candidates in this year’s election.

Theologian Andrew Walker observes: “Aside from all the ways that men play the role of American culture’s scapegoat (“toxic masculinity”), mainstream American life is deeply feminine (as is much of modern American evangelicalism). The feminine gaze is the operating assumption of modern life. To partake in polite society requires adopting a feminine instinct to operate in today’s mainstream.”

Walker adds, “Elite American culture simultaneously mocks men who are unapologetic in their masculinity as simpletons and cavemen while upholding the gender-sensitive metrosexual or finely draped homosexual as the epitome of masculinity.”

Young men hate this and are sick of it. Even the Times observed that young men place a higher value on traditional family life than young women. Childless young men are likelier than childless young women to say they want to become parents someday, by a margin of 12 percentage points, according to a survey last year by Pew Research. Feminized Christianity is DOA. The mainline denominations have cultivated female clergy for sixty years and they are on their way to extinction.

My favorite liberal writer is Matt Taibbi. Recently he reviewed a book by Ruth Whippman entitled, ‘BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity.’”

Taibbi draws out several choice quotes from the book that characterize so much of the modern narrative about men.

Whippman was going to have a baby and she said: “We had known this baby was male even before I got pregnant. “Known” not in some mystical feminine-intuition sense, but in the more concrete way that he had been a leftover frozen embryo from the IVF cycle that conceived his older brother, and we had done genetic tests.

Friends had told me I was crazy. “I could understand it for a girl,” said one, when I told her we were going to defrost the embryo. “But why go through all that just for another boy?”

I was frightened both for and of the tiny piece of patriarchy growing inside me, worried sick over what he and his brothers might become. The potential for darkness that I might be powerless to stop.”

So Whippman tells us that men only have “potential for darkness.” No wonder men hate the modern Left.

The Christian church and Christian doctrine is the antithesis to all this madness. The Bible is very clear—men and women are different. They play different roles in society, in church, and in the home. The Bible, as you would predict, reflects reality. And the reality is that God has built patriarchy into our institutions and young men know this. They know they were born to lead, born to protect, born to provide.

Again, Andrew Walker: “The Democrats’ assault on Biblical creation order is the most significant explanation for their male voter problem. It’s the logical outcome of an entire worldview that is denatured and even anti-nature.” Modern left-wing politics and feminism are decoupled from reality and men know this. As a result the Christian church is the only major institution in our society that treats men the way they ought to be treated. We have reality on our side which is always the case when you have God and God’s Word on your side.

Christians offer a better alternative. We are champions of common and saving grace. We encourage men toward self-control, vocational excellence, and family formation. That will not save them apart from Christ, but Christians can be an aroma of Christ in the message of common grace that may be a bridge to saving grace.

We offer young men the opportunity to do what they are hungry to do. To lead, to have worth and value, to become the patriarchs of families. So it’s no surprise that since the church is the only one doing this, young men are returning to church.

More: What is the Role of Women in the Church? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyhSitSo_nM

Are Young Men Returning to Religion?

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/us/young-men-religion-gen-z.html

Ryan Burge:

https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-religion-of-americas-young-adults

Andrew Walker:

https://wng.org/opinions/why-do-the-democrats-have-a-masculinity-problem-1728382964

Matt Taibi reviewing a book on toxic masculinity: https://www.racket.news/p/the-robin-diangelo-of-gender?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ljoms&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Three Doctrines I Will Fight About

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 18:25:10 GMT

The List is Short But Important

As I have gotten older the list of things I will fight about has gotten shorter. I remember a visitor after church saying to me, “Pastor, we are worshipping on the wrong day. We go to church on the Catholic day. I have a book that tells us what day we should worship on. Will you read it.” I answered no. I don’t care what day we worship on and I don’t read books—or even short articles—on things I don’t care about.

Another man came to me and said, we are using the wrong kind of music in church. And then he would try to persuade me of what kind of music we should have in church—and of course what kind we shouldn’t. I loved this man and thought he had a very effective ministry but one day I said to him; “There’s no point in talking to me about church music. I am not going to change because I just don’t care.”

Let me give one last example. I am a Baptist. I think we are absolutely right about baptism. The Bible is on our side on this one. The method—immersion—is clearly the biblical method. It’s what the word means. And the subjects—believing Christians—is clearly the practice in Scripture. So I am quite confident in my position. But I won’t fight about it. I don’t believe it’s worth it. I know too many wonderful Christians with whom I will be spending eternity who do not agree with me about baptism. So I just don’t fight about it.

But I do have a list of things I will go to war on. There are only three. Here they are:

First, foremost, and of greatest importance is the doctrine of the Trinity. The Father is, of course, God. So is Jesus. So is the Holy Spirit. I had a Jehovah’s Witness tell me the word trinity is not in the Bible. So what? The word is trying to describe what the Bible clearly and unquestionably teaches about God. If you don’t like the word then find another. But that word better accurately describe what the Bible teaches. I have a video about the Trinity and I entitled it, “The Most Important Doctrine in the History of Religion.” We must battle to defend it. In order to go to heaven a man must worship Jesus Christ. The Scripture says there is only one God and we should worship Him. So logic compels us that in order to worship Christ, He has to be God. And not only logic; how about Philippians 2:9-11 where Paul says of Jesus: “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Sounds like worship to me.

Second, I will fight over the Bible’s teaching that one is saved by faith alone and not by works of any kind. This is the doctrine that separates me from Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and many Protestant Christians. They argue that one’s own righteous activities are a necessary component for our salvation and I vehemently deny that. I have linked a video below which contains my argument at length. But it’s a doctrine I will fight about.

Third, I believe in defending the inerrancy of Scripture. The above two doctrines depend on a high view of Scripture. I taught for many years at a self-proclaimed Christian university. One day one of our theology professors gave a workshop to the faculty denying the inerrancy of the Bible. He said when our students struggle with hard doctrinal questions we need to be able to tell them that the Bible contains error. I went to war defending the truth of the Bible. It turned out to be a long, hard institutional battle but eventually a new chairman of the theology department arrived, declared the inerrancy of Scripture to be the historic doctrine of Christianity, and purged the department of those who denied the truth of Scripture. That was a battle worth fighting.

So there they are. The three doctrines I will go to war over. If you don’t agree or would like to add to the list please say so in the comments below. I generally do not believe in fighting but at times it is necessary. At the end of his life the Apostle Paul said he had fought the good fight. There are times when to fight is good. May the Lord give us the wisdom to know when that is.

More: “The Most Important Doctrine in the History of Religion;” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOeE61uEU50

“Are We Saved by Faith Alone?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=813cz4xt1pI

Does Everyone Go to Heaven?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 16:50:38 GMT

Pope Francis says they do

On a recent trip to Singapore Pope Francis spoke to an interdenominational group of young people. According to news reports, he suggested that “[Religions] are like different languages in order to arrive at God, but God is God for all…. There’s only one God, and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Some are Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and they are different paths [to God].”

There was a time when Roman Catholics believed that only baptized members of their church would go to heaven. Not even other Christians. Now the Pope is saying everybody does.

Believing/conservative Roman Catholics have been in a dither over the Pope’s remarks. A practicing Catholic, Peter Franklin, writing in Unherd said, “The Pope is not a heretic but he is incompetent.” That’s not exactly a stirring defense. Franklin goes on to say, It’s obvious that Francis can’t have literally meant what he so carelessly said. So Franklin’s defense is the Pope may have said it but he didn’t mean it. Which raises the question, how often does this happen? How often does the Pope say things he doesn’t really mean?

Gavin Ashenden, a conservative Catholic in the UK, recycles the old Catholic joke, “Is the Pope Catholic?” but he answers it, “No, he’s a Buddhist.”

A number of years ago my students at Colorado Christian University came to me with the teachings of a well-known Evangelical pastor named Rob Bell. Bell had become a universalist; that is, he believed all people would eventually get to heaven. And I shared with my students the problems with Bell’s views.

First, there’s the problem with this thing known as the Word of God, the Bible. Jesus Himself said in John 14:6, “I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me.” Or 1 John 5:11,12: “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” And there are many more verses that teach exactly the same thing.

Second, in my classes we had been studying the modern missionary movement. As I told the students, when missionaries over the past two hundred years traveled all over the world preaching the gospel they suffered terribly. If universalism is true they were fools. If everyone is saved anyway why make heroic sacrifices to preach the Gospel?

Let me add two more comments. The Pope is contradicting clear Catholic teaching. I have linked below the official Catholic position but let me summarize: Outside the Catholic church there is no salvation. Now they nuance this a bit to include non-Catholic Christians but that’s the basic Catholic view. Not only do all paths fail to reach God, you have to have the right Christian connections to get to heaven.

The basic Catholic problem is their reverence for the papacy. It is somehow invested with unique supernatural capacity. From my point of view the Pope is merely a flawed human being who believes some things that are unchristian and illogical. This does not disqualify the entire Catholic church or every Catholic or even the whole of Francis’ ministry. The Catholics believe he is the Vicar of Christ on earth. He’s not. He’s a mere man who can make mistakes. This one was big.

Let’s rejoice today that he who has the Son has life whatever his denominational label. And let’s spread the Gospel so a lot more people can have the Son and have life.

More: My Mixed Feelings About the Catholic Church: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9QHx4zr9io

Transcript: https://www.the401stprophet.com/my-mixed-feelings-about-the-catholic-church

A conservative Catholic view from First Things: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/09/the-pope-and-other-religions

A more critical view from a Catholic writer in a secular publication; “The Pope is not a heretic but he is incompetent”; https://unherd.com/newsroom/the-pope-is-not-a-heretic-but-he-is-incompetent/

The Babylon Bee imagines the Pope debating Jesus Christ on how people get into heaven: https://babylonbee.com/news/pope-challenges-jesus-to-debate-on-how-to-get-to-heaven

A very critical Catholic view; the Pope is not a Catholic; he’s a Buddhist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPU2PeFIXs4

The official Catholic position on salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=1467

Has Politics Become Your Religion?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 14 Sep 2024 16:50:47 GMT

Ask Yourself These Five Questions

Many online articles these days are accusing Christians of allowing politics to interfere with their Christian faith, or worse yet, to replace their faith with politics. This is not a new problem. More than eighty years ago C.S. Lewis warned about this in Screwtape Letters. An older demon gives advice to a younger demon on how to tempt humans: “Let [your patient] begin by treating … Patriotism or Pacifism as part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part.”

So if Lewis can warn us about this at the beginning of World War II we better pay attention to the problem today.

I have been arguing for a long time that theological liberals who call themselves Christians have been replacing the faith with Left-wing, Marxist ideology and they have been doing it for at least sixty years. But has it become a problem with conservative Christians? In this video I want to address those who are, like me, political as well as theological conservatives. Have we turned in our Christian faith and exchanged it for a political program? I do not think it is a statistically large problem but sadly, in some cases, it has happened. So how do you recognize it in others or yourself? What are the signs you are replacing your faith with politics?

Ask yourself these five questions:

1. Do I spend more time trying to persuade people to vote for so and so than to receive Jesus Christ as Savior?

2. Are liberals people to be won to Christ or enemies to be vanquished?

3. Do I trust government more than the sovereignty of God?

4. Do I see myself primarily as a follower of Christ or a political conservative?

5. If conservative candidates lose the next election do I consider that an unmitigated catastrophe? The best thing about losing would be forcing of Christians to look to the Lord for their salvation and not a political regime.

I should probably add one more question. Have you forgotten that very soon—maybe before the next election—Jesus Christ will come in all His glory and establish His Kingdom on the earth?

I am a very politically engaged person. I care very much about public policy and am concerned with left-wing ideology and its destructive impact on politics and the nation. So I have to be very careful myself of getting too embroiled in political outcomes.

One of the greatest temptations Jesus faced was to politicize his ministry. It’s what his disciples expected. To the end of His time on earth His followers assumed His purpose was political and that a momentous realignment of political forces was at hand. In Acts 1:6—this is after Jesus’ death, after His resurrection, the disciples asked him, Is it now? Is it now that you are going to drive out the Romans and establish a Jewish kingdom(with them in charge, of course.)? Their expectations were completely political.

Jesus told Pilate in no uncertain terms that His Kingdom was not of this world. When we make this world and its political systems our focus it is because we are tired of waiting for God to straighten things out. We are going to fix them ourselves.

Our God is in complete charge of this earth and every political outcome. He allows things to unfold according to the counsel of His will. We can trust Him to get it right and get it right at the right time.

More: What does the future hold for Western Civilization? (Seven reasons to be hopeful.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxSvawjZmo

When politics becomes your religion:

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/when-politics-becomes-your-religion.html

Three Warning Signs Politics has become your religion: https://ericgeiger.com/2020/11/10/3-warning-signs-politics-is-becoming-your-religion/

The point of view of a couple of thoughtful Mormons:

https://publicsquaremag.org/politics-law/politics/has-politics-become-your-new-religion/

Timothy Dalrymple in CT, warning about politics corrupting religion: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/09/against-culture-demonization-timothy-dalrymple/?vgo_ee=4MLkF32yEi9I0BenZcEVDlzrWgaYHc%2BBtAGqSUwVi3db27lNiw2jiLg%3D%3Aw%2F%2BsGjd%2BZcCXluFzOp%2BEHTi2C%2F10HYpo

How Richard Dawkins Influenced His Followers to Become Christians

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 18:06:32 GMT

Twelve accounts of people who were influenced by Dawkins to come to Christ.

In Psalm 76:10 the Bible says of God: “Surely the wrath of men will praise you…”

One commentary paraphrases this verse as, “The railings against God and His people are turned into praise to God when God providentially brings the wicked down.”

This has happened over and over again in the history of atheism. People who hate God and deny His existence at the same time—a bit of a contradiction—are used by God to bring people to Himself. A new book is out on this very thing.

Richard Dawkins is surely the most famous atheist in the world. His books, The Selfish Gene (1976), The Blind Watchmaker (1986), and The God Delusion (2006), are full-throated attacks on people who believe God exists. Therefore, I read with surprise the title of a new book. Coming to Faith Through Dawkins, edited by Denis Alexander and Alister McGrath. What on earth? How could Richard Dawkins bring people to faith in Jesus Christ? The book is about twelve followers of Dawkins who came to faith because they examined Dawkins closely and decided his arguments had failed.

I recently did a video on Dawkins’ strange statement that he is a cultural Christian. There is clearly a contradiction in this and these 12 apostates from atheism noticed this contradiction. “The twelve contributors are highly educated intellectuals who at one time believed that religion was incompatible with an intellectual mind…”

In every case the twelve encountered thoughtful Christians, and they often encountered groups of Christians who were the opposite of how Dawkins describes them.

Let’s look at a few of the contributors.

Sarah was an atheist historian, with a Ph.D. from Cambridge. She found Dawkins and his atheism bereft of the necessary motivation to help the marginalized, the downtrodden and the weak. It reminds me of Dawkins’ advice to a woman who was pregnant with a Down’s Syndrome baby: “Abort it and try for a healthy child.” Sarah found this mindset appalling and rejected it. She says, “I spent a lot of time in reflection. I came to the conclusion that atheism could not provide adequate answers to the big questions…I decided that the Bible’s explanations of who God is, who we are, and what life is about were true. I wanted to follow the God who made me, loves me, and died for me.”

Louise found Dawkins’ atheism akin to a cult. There is an idealized and heroic personality aura around each of the “Four Horsemen” of New Atheism (Christopher Hitchens, Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett). Their writings and public appearances are treated like one would a cult leader. Their ideas are holy writ, completely beyond the possibility of any serious critical engagement. I had the New Atheists in mind in my video, The Ten Characteristics of a Cult. “What bothered me most about The God Delusion, and what contributed most to my eventual turn to Christianity, was that it made enormous claims upon which it then failed to deliver.” Louise points to statistics and probability claims which ultimately were more convincing in favor of a designer, a mind, behind creation.

Aniko was raised in an agnostic family: She joined online discussion groups around atheism and read the works of the Four Horsemen. But as Kristin Johnson says in her review, “the more she interacted, the more she saw hypocrisy, illogical arguments, claims that were simply wrong, and data that was cherry-picked or inaccurate.” She eventually encountered a Christian church where she could ask questions and her faith began to grow.

In another chapter Peter elaborates on the New Atheists’ inability to handle the most serious debate points from the Christian side. He gives an account of Dawkins’ being dismantled in a debate with William Lane Craig, the great Christian philosopher. Craig himself later recalled being startled by the limits of Dawkins’ knowledge. The self-assured but demonstrably vacuous egotism of the New Atheists was on full display, and it was an educational moment for Peter.

Ashley provides a moving account of her initial infatuation with Hitchens’ ideas and subsequent realization of his incapacity to answer the most serious of life’s questions. She recalls Hitchens, toward the conclusion of his best known book, God is Not Great, declaring that if God concealed Truth in one hand, and the “steady and diligent drive to the Truth” without any promise of attaining it in the other, he would choose the latter. The assertion that human life must be founded only on the impossibility of certainty and the valorization of eternal doubt rightly appeared an intolerable endpoint for Lande. If we were, as she puts it, “doomed to perpetually strive toward truth without any hope of ever obtaining it, this would be an unlivable condition. We are not made for such a world. Mere animals can live in it, but our spirits rebel against it.”

One reviewer observed that the book could have been snarky or belittling toward Dawkins and the atheists whose views these authors rejected but instead was reflective and came across as respectful and authentic.

In his review Alexander Riley observes: “Richard Dawkins and his New Atheist colleagues offer glib, intellectually careless, and ungenerous criticisms of Christianity that are superficially convincing for those educated in the general secularism of today’s Western culture. However, a close and critical consideration of New Atheist criticisms can lead one to deeper, truer insights into the spiritual element of human nature.”

And that’s exactly what happened to the contributors to this book.

I remember C.S. Lewis saying that one of God’s main tactics in dealing with atheists was to bring them to Himself. We have a kind, merciful, forgiving and patient heavenly father. I give Him the glory for saving me, lots of atheists, and anyone else who will turn to him.

More: The Ten Characteristics of a Cult; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL9RA2QgSf8

The World’s Most Famous Atheist Says He is a Christian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL9RA2QgSf8

Coming to Faith Through Dawkins: https://reformedjournal.com/coming-to-faith-through-dawkins-twelve-essays-on-the-pathway-from-new-atheism-to-christianity/

Doubting Dawkins: https://chroniclesmagazine.org/reviews/doubting-dawkins/

Kristine Johnson’s lengthy review in Medium:

https://medium.com/@pkajjohnson/book-review-coming-to-faith-through-dawkins-12-essays-on-the-pathway-from-new-atheism-to-5a99f722e687

What Charles Darwin got wrong: https://thespectator.com/topic/what-charles-darwin-got-wrong/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=21f9f23444-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_05_07_07_18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-21f9f23444-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Is Parenting Hazardous to Your Health?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 21:02:15 GMT

It is according to the Surgeon General

Is parenting hazardous to your health?

It is according to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Dr. Vivek Murthy in a press release from a few days ago said that over the last decade, parents have been consistently more likely to report high levels of stress compared to other adults.

According to Dr. Murthy having children can, “have a harmful effect on the mental health of parents and caregivers, which in turn also affects the well- being of the children they raise.”

The New York Times gave the good doctor op-ed space to amplify his warning. “Something has to change. It begins with fundamentally shifting how we value parenting, recognizing that the work of raising a child is crucial to the health and well-being of all society.” No kidding. How about the future existence of society.

I am grateful to have the government’s chief medical officer remind me that raising children is hard.

So what’s to be done about all this? Unsurprisingly Murthy recommends a gigantic dose of government. James Freeman in the Wall Street Journal tries to catalogue the solutions. The government should offer childcare subsidies and child income tax credits; universal preschool; early childhood education programs…programs that help nurture healthy family dynamics such as early childhood home visiting programs funded by the government and services and support for family caregivers like Healthy Start Programs and the Lifespan Respite Care Program. Priorities should encompass poverty reduction, prevention of adverse childhood experiences, access to affordable neighborhood safety, and improving access to healthy food and affordable housing. Offer parents crucial services and supports, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicaid, Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program, Women, Infants, and Children benefits, childcare support, home visits; the list goes on and on.

Of course Dr. Murthy does not mention that the financial burden of all this will be borne by—you guessed it—parents.

I have raised nine children so I feel somewhat qualified to weigh in on this. Parenting is hard. Everything in life that is worth doing is hard. I’m guessing that a person who works a 60-hour week feels more stress than a person who works a 30-hour week. Parents are trying to do more than the childless person. I am retired. This may shock you but I find my life less stressful than when I had nine children at home.

Dr. Murthry acknowledges the importance of parenting, so why is he making public pronouncements to discourage it? The major problem facing America and the world right now is the birth dearth: people have stopped having children. How does this help?

Where is the proof that any of these government programs help? We have been spending trillions on them since the 60s yet—according to the Surgeon General—here we are. We seem to be worse off than we’ve ever been.

In the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx declared war on the family. He saw it—correctly—as an obstacle to his revolutionary goals. Ever since Leftist regimes have done their best to disparage and harm the traditional family which God in Genesis 2:24 established as the basic institution for human society.

Since Dr. Murthy is a member of the bureaucracy of the federal government let me make a few suggestions: Not labeling parents domestic terrorists as the Attorney General did, would make life less stressful. School choice would help. It’s stressful for parents to be trapped in horrific public institutions. The federal government and some states are at war with parents, forbidding a school from notifying them if their child is contemplating a gender transition. Assuring parents that their daughters won’t have to share a bathroom with a man would help. So far as I can tell government is not the answer to parental stress; it’s part of the cause.

As with about everything else the answer is spiritual. Mary Eberstadt’s excellent research has shown that nothing drives a person to God like having children. If you are a parent or would like to be one turn to the Lord for your strength and wisdom. It won’t make parenting stress free but it will help you be successful. And don’t fear having children. With a few exceptions God wants people to have kids. As the Psalmist says obedience to God produces “pleasures for ever more.” (Psalm 16:11)

Thanks for listening. May God bless America’s families.

More: Why Have Rich People Stopped Having Children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhI4hV-nZyk

Does God Want Me to Have Children?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhI4hV-nZyk

The Blessings of Raising a Large Family: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rmq8_LEBps

Wall Street Journal article on the dangers of parenting:

https://www.wsj.com/tech/surgeon-general-warning-parenting-mental-health-53f75c63?mod=djem10point

The Dangers of Parenting:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4851621-us-surgeon-general-warns-parenting/

James Freeman in the Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/surgeon-general-prescribes-much-bigger-government-917de180?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h

Murthy’s defense in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/opinion/surgeon-general-stress-parents.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20240829&instance_id=132911&nl=opinion-today&regi_id=192098175&segment_id=176377&te=1&user_id=312428a6983db1713c2ed5abc5829f49

The Surgeon General’s press release: https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2024/08/28/us-surgeon-general-issues-advisory-mental-health-well-being-parents.html

Elon Musk--the World's Richest Man Says He is a Christian

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 17:23:12 GMT

Once Again Jesus Christ Demonstrates His Power Over Our Culture

More than 25 years ago I was arguing at a secular university that Christianity is the most powerful cultural force that has ever existed and that it created Western culture. In those days mine was a lonely voice. Not now.

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, recently said in an interview that he is a cultural Christian. He joins a long list of public intellectuals who have agreed that Christianity is a powerful, positive force and that the West is doomed without it. Richard Dawkins, Niall Ferguson, Matthew Parris, and Douglas Murray are atheists who recognize the power and importance of Christianity. Jordan Peterson and Tom Holland are agnostics who act like they would like to be Christians and may well become Christians. And Ayaan Hirsi Ali has gone full out by converting personally to Christ as has England’s most notorious pagan, Russell Brand.

In recent interviews and on his own social media platform, X, Musk has lauded Christianity’s positive impact.

Christian beliefs, Musk argued, “result in the greatest happiness for humanity, considering not just the present, but all future humans… I’m actually a big believer in the principles of Christianity.”

Musk has made numerous public statements about the greatest threat to the West, the birth dearth. People have stopped having babies. Again, Musk relates this to the loss of Christian influence. “When a culture loses its religion…it starts to become anti-natalist and decline in numbers and [it will] potentially disappear.”

Musk asserts that Paul Ehrlich, author of the highly influential 1968 book Population Bomb, which argued against having children, was a “genocidal maniac” who had done “great damage to humanity”. I couldn’t agree more and have said so in a number of videos.

Like a number of the prominent figures I mention above, Musk is worried about Christians’ lack of commitment.

“Christianity has become toothless…Unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right, Christianity will perish.”

He is like Douglas Murray, a prominent atheist, who said: “My fear is that the Church is not doing what so many of us on the outside want it to do, which is preaching its gospel, asserting its truths and its claims.” Murray believes that only the Christian church can save civilization. He calls himself a disappointed non-adherent.

This is similar to Niall Ferguson’s statement: “Liberalism won’t stop wokeism and totalitarianism. It’s not strong enough. Ultimately, we need the inherited ideas of a civilisation and defences against that particular form of disaster.” And the defence he is talking about is Christianity. Don’t you find it that we Christians are being challenged to greater commitment by non-Christians. They are depending on us to save the world they live in.

At some point these promoters of cultural Christianity will surely have to stop and ask themselves one question: Why is Christianity the most powerful cultural force that has ever existed? Could it be because it is true? And if it is true, shouldn’t they believe in it? Shouldn’t they put their faith in the author of the Christian faith, Jesus Christ?

People like Musk, Murray, and many others are counting on us Christians to step up, be real Christians, and save the world.

Once again we are reminded of the majesty of Christ. Even non-believers recognize His lordship over civilization. And they remind Christians of the greatness and immensity of our faith. How powerful it is. How important it is. How great our God is.

Thanks for listening. May the God who created Western culture bless you this day.

More: Atheists for Jesus; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX5Mi-pVgGY

The transcript of the above video: https://www.the401stprophet.com/atheists-for-jesus

The decline of intellectual atheism: https://thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/the_turning_tide_of_intellectual_atheism

The world’s most famous atheist says he is a Christian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTHp6uRkU9Y

Elon Musk: I’m a cultural Christian: https://unherd.com/newsroom/elon-musk-im-a-cultural-christian/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=3daadf7831-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_07_23_08_57&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-3daadf7831-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Elon Musk’s walk with Jesus: https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musk-religion-christianity-4545dd8b?mod=djem10point

The Curse of Works Religion

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 18:38:15 GMT

Five Reasons Works Religion Are Harmful to Your Soul

My title for this video is not original. I got it from the Apostle Paul who says in Galatians 3:10, “All who rely on the works of the law are under a curse.”

A works religion believes you achieve your ultimate spiritual goals through human merit. And almost every religion in the world is a works religion, including much of what operates under the banner of Christianity.

Hinduism and Buddhism believe in a sort of heaven and you get there exclusively through works. The same with Islam.

It is the belief of theological liberalism. I remember how surprised I was reading “Christianity and Liberalism” by J. Gresham Machen. He wrote the book in 1923 when liberalism was a fairly new religion. And he said it was a religion of works. The theological liberal saves himself through his own virtue. That had never occurred to me but he is absolutely right.

It is the belief of Marxist Progressivism. Joseph Bottum is a Roman Catholic theologian and in his book, “An Anxious Age” he says that a left-wing Marxist Progressive is saved by the way he votes and the political positions he holds. In Progressivism there is no personal virtue—only political virtue. Which is why Progs are obsessed with virtue signaling. They put BLM signs on their lawns to show how righteous they are. They hold “luxury beliefs” positions Rob Henderson has described as beliefs you hold at no personal cost. But they make you feel more righteous.

Under the label of Christianity it is the official position of the Roman Catholic church and they argue for the position continually. I have linked one of their columns below. The same with Eastern Orthodoxy. Marginal Christian groups like the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are totally works based. And lots of Christians in effect believe it is up to them whether they get to heaven or not.

This is not what the Bible teaches. Scripture clearly says one is saved by faith alone. Ephesians 2:8,9: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ; Romans 4:5: And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,; Titus 3:5: he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy; Romans 3:23,24: or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; Romans 11:5,6: So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ⁶ But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.; Gal. 2:16: yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ; Philippians 3:9: [That I may] be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ; In Luke 15 the Prodigal son is restored to complete fellowship with the Father on the basis of no works at all: In Luke18 the publican is justified and the pharisee is not. No one had more works of righteousness than a Pharisee but it is the Publican who is made right with God through no works whatsoever; And in Luke 23 the thief on the cross is made right with God through the simplest faith possible. He wasn’t exactly in a position to do any works.

The Bible position is clear on this issue. Please check out my video on this topic linked below.

Paul calls works religion a terrible curse and it is. Why? Let me give you five reasons:

First, to be saved by works you have to demonstrate your righteousness and you never know if you have done enough. One time I was listening to a lecture by a Jehovah Witness, a clearly sincere and deeply religious man. I asked him if he would go to Paradise when he died. (The Jehovah’s witnesses have two eternal destinies. Heaven for a select few and Paradise for all the other Witnesses.). I told him that at the school I attended 70% was passing. Was he righteous enough to get to the 70% mark? He said he didn’t know. Of course he didn’t. There is no way to know if you are righteous enough.

Almost everyone fails to live up to their own standards anyway; one of the Roman Catholic websites argues for salvation by works by quoting several verses; for example they argue that in Matthew 5:44 Jesus says we must love our enemies in order to go to heaven; and that in Matthew 5:48 Jesus says we have to be perfect to go to heaven. Seriously? Who does this? Works religions sets up a standard no one can live up to; in fact, no one can ever really know what the standard is.

Second, in works religion you are obligated to be better than other people. One time I was discussing this with a young Mormon whom I brought to a theology class to share the Mormon point of view. The Mormons have three levels of heaven and you rise up through the levels through various Mormon works. I asked him if he thought he would go to the top level. He said yes. I asked, will everyone? No. So, I said, you believe you are better than those people who don’t get to the top level. He was silent. There was nothing he could say. God grades on a curve. There are A people—and only members of the Mormon church in good standing can get an A from God; there are B people and C people. In Mormonism no one gets an F.

In a works religion you get to heaven by being better than other people and that’s a terrible burden to bear and harmful to your soul.

Third curse, in order to be saved by works you have to come up with a list of the works you have to perform; every works religion has a different list and the list is to a great extent arbitrary; for some it’s joining the right organization; for others it’s being baptized the right way, or by the right person; each group has a unique list of righteous deeds that make one right with God. One time when I was a professor at the University of Colorado I was walking across campus. I was stopped by a couple of members of the ICC—the International Church of Christ. This cult believed that to go to heaven you had to be baptized in their tank by one of their members. If you were baptized any other way, you went to hell even in another Church of Christ. As I chatted with them a couple of Mormon missionaries walked up and asked the ICC guys if they wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon. I couldn’t help myself; I said, “You guys are going to love each other.”

Fourth curse, the practitioners of works religion have to have unique righteous beliefs to show they are different from other people. As a result they come up with really bizarre beliefs and symbols of their own righteousness. The Jehovah’s witnesses do not celebrate birthdays and refuse blood transfusions; Mormons get married in the temple and forego caffeine; the Left passionately supports transgenderism and other crazy causes.

Fifth and final curse, the worst thing about works religions is its misunderstanding of the purposes of God. God is not concerned primarily with what you do but what is your heart like? 1 Samuel 16:7: “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart”; in Matthew 15:8 Jesus says of the people of His day: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

Works religions misunderstand our relationship with God. He is our father; almost no one relates to his own earthly father on the basis of works; if your earthly father demands works in order to have a right relationship with him we all consider this a catastrophic failure in parenting; if a human father should love us unconditionally why would we expect anything else from God the Father?

I have given five reasons why works religion is a curse. So, what is the appeal? It is a religion where you are in control; I asked one of my Muslim students once, “Hassan, if I follow the five pillars of Islam am I a Muslim in good standing?” He said, “Absolutely!” In a works religion you retain your pride. You get the credit for your salvation. You don’t have to share it with anyone else. And I think it is ingrained in us that you have to work for what you get and if you work for it you deserve it. The idea of a free gift annoys us.

I hope no one listening is depending on their works to deliver them. Cast yourself on the mercy of Jesus Christ and be saved.

Thanks for listening. May the God who offers us salvation by grace alone bless you this day.

More: Are We Saved by Faith Alone? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=813cz4xt1pI

A Catholic argument for salvation by works: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/faith-alone-is-not-enough

What Happens When You Stop Believing in God?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 18:37:25 GMT

The Manufactured Crises of the Left

Let’s return again to Chesterton. When men stop believing in the true God they do not then believe nothing. They then believe anything.

And that’s where we are. Many in western culture, especially our so-called elite, no longer believe in the God of the Bible. And that makes them vulnerable to all kinds of crazy fears—fears that have no basis in reality and which they create in their own minds. Why do they invent such fictions? Because a fearful populace can be easily ruled and manipulated. But why do people believe this nonsense? Because they do not place their trust in the true God of Scripture.

At the top of the list of invented crises is catastrophic climate change. I am not arguing here that the earth is not warming. What I am arguing against is the absurd conclusions Progressives come to as a result of different weather events. A reader of the New York Times recently recited a list of fears due to a changing climate: species extinction, more widespread disease, unlivable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas.

This is all absurd. None of these fears is grounded in reality. Last Wednesday Bjorn Lomborg, the president of an environmental think tank, wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal. It was entitled “Polar Bears, Dead Coral, and other Climate Fictions.” He opened with this comment, “Whatever happened to polar bears? They used to be all climate campaigners could talk about, but now they’re essentially absent from headlines. Over the past 20 years, climate activists have elevated various stories of climate catastrophe, then quietly dropped them without apology when the opposing evidence becomes overwhelming. The only constant is the scare tactics.” Why have climate doomsters stopped talking about polar bears? Because in the last twenty years their numbers more than doubled.

Again, “The same thing has happened with activists’ outcry about Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. For years, they shouted that the reef was being killed off by rising sea temperatures.” But recently it has been found that the reef has actually increased in size and is bigger than it has ever been.

And one more example from Lomborg: “More recently, green campaigners were warning that small Pacific islands would drown as sea levels rose…. About a month ago, the New York Times finally shared what it called “surprising” climate news: Almost all atoll islands are stable or increasing in size.”

I could go on and on cataloguing this silliness but you get the picture.

The catastrophes of catastrophic climate change are one of the Progressive Left’s manufactured crises.

Let’s consider others.

How about White Christian Nationalism?

Numerous left-wing media outlets and authors argue that America is about to be taken over by so-called White Christian Nationalists, or WCNs. A WCN allegedly believes things like the federal government should: “declare the United States a Christian nation,” “advocate Christian values,” “allow prayer in public schools,” and believe, “The success of the United States is part of God’s plan.”

A recent documentary, God and Country, argues that Christian Nationalism threatens to destroy American democracy and replace it with religious rule.

A new Republican administration would “fill government jobs with “Right-wing psychos” who want to ban birth control and abortion and usher in fascism .

This is strictly a Leftist bogeyman. It is a manufactured crisis for people who are terrified of everything because they no longer trust in God. If WNCs exist at all their numbers are tiny and they have absolutely no influence.

Ask yourself these questions: What academic department at any university in America is controlled by WCNs? What government bureaucracy exists to do their bidding? What major piece of legislation are they pushing through congress? What Hollywood studio is under their control, cranking out movies that promote WNCN values? Who is more likely to be violent? WCN’s or BLM protestors and antifa?

Let’s look at a third manufactured crisis: Systemic racism and the war against black Americans. There is an entire industry built around this hoax. DEI, or Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion are now bureaucracies designed to address this supposed crisis and the exist at most major universities and it is treated as settled law in most government bureaucracies. It has made enormous inroads into corporate America. Last spring at a graduation the president of the United States said that “white supremacy is the greatest threat facing America.” He said it is an ongoing conspiracy against black Americans denying them their rightful place in America life.

Nothing could be further from the truth. American society has made heroic efforts to elevate African Americans and has largely succeeded. Our black population is the richest in the history of the world. It is politically the freest and most powerful. African Americans are successful in every area of endeavor and are disproportionately superior in some of them. We have just finished the Olympics, a spectacle watch and celebrated by millions of white Americans. Did you notice any presence of black Americans? The argument that they are singled out for oppression by the police has been debunked over and over again. Read anything by Heather McDonald on this subject. I have linked one of her articles below. The African American United States senator from South Carolina, Tim. Scott, recently said the mantra of systemic racism “is a dangerous, offensive, disgusting message to send to our young people today.” Instead of wringing our hands we should be shouting black achievement from the housetops. Black failure is a manufactured and imaginary crisis created by the Left.

Then there is January 6, 2021. The Progressive Left called it an insurrection to take over the American government and end democracy as we know it. One current presidential candidate compared it to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. The majority leader of the United States Senate said the same thing. This is ridiculous. January 6 was not a proud moment in American history but Pearl Harbor? Please. A political protest became a riot and the halls of congress were briefly occupied. No one brought a gun. One person was killed—one of the protestors by a capitol hill policeman. If you are going to overthrow the U.S. government you should at least bring guns. The same people who condemned January 6 made little mention of the George Floyd riots the previous summer that caused 2 billion dollars in damage. But the Left has leveraged this event, manufacturing a crisis in order to gain political advantage.

One more manufactured crisis the Left has labeled Rural White Rage. This, too, has been called a threat to “the world’s oldest constitutional democracy.” Leftist academics have stated that Rural whites are “the most racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-gay demographic group in the country.” On top of that, rural whites are also “most likely to excuse or justify violence as an acceptable alternative to peaceful public discourse.”

This is ridiculous and the opposite of the truth. Rural America is the least violent place in our country. Left-wing hatred of rural America is primarily because people vote the wrong way. They aren’t racist or violent. They just don’t vote for Left-wing candidates. There is no data whatsoever to back up the above assertions about rural America. This is just another crisis invented by the Progressive Left.

Next time the Left-wing press trots out a new crisis, an “existential” threat to America remember that it is probably manufactured and has no basis in reality.

What bothers me most is the Progressives willful blindness to the blessings we enjoy in modern life. (Given us, by a benevolent, good God.). They enjoy the richest, healthiest, most secure lives of any human beings that have ever lived. Yet their ungodliness leads to fear, worry, and handwringing of the worst sort.

They don’t need to be fighting imaginary catastrophes. They need to change their religious beliefs. They need to turn to the God of Scripture and be healed.

Thanks for listening. May our gracious God continue to bless you in a mighty way.

Bjorn Lomborg:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/polar-bears-dead-coral-and-other-climate-fictions-528b18ea?mod=opinion_lead_pos6&mod=djemMER_h

The hysterical Left-wing fear of “Christian Nationalism”

https://unherd.com/newsroom/christian-nationalism-left-favourite-boogeyman/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3

Ryan Burge looks at the White Christian Nationalism statistically:

https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/has-christian-nationalism-intensified?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ljoms&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The Myth of White Christian Nationalism:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2024/05/the-myth-of-white-christian-nationalism

Heather McDonald: There is no epidemic of racist police shootings; https://manhattan.institute/article/there-is-no-epidemic-of-racist-police-shootings

Liberals cannot comprehend black advancement: https://www.wsj.com/articles/liberals-cant-comprehend-black-economic-progress-real-estate-interest-rates-893b647?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

Rural rage: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/05/white-rural-rage-myth-00150395

What Have Liberals Done to the West Coast?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 18:46:11 GMT

Nicholas Kristoff of the New York Times Tries to Understand the meltdown of West Coast Cities

Nicholas Kristoff is the unofficial dean of the New York Times opinion page. I have been reading him for many years and find him one of the good liberals. He understands points of view other than his own, and he seeks to do good on behalf of others. His columns are often well worth reading.

Recently he raised the question, What have the liberals done to the West coast? He tries to understand why American cities on the Pacific ocean are such a trainwreck. He says voters have the right to ask, “Why put liberals in charge nationally when the places where they have greatest control are plagued by homelessness, crime and dysfunction?”

He admits that “We accept a yawning gulf between our values and our outcomes.”

He begins by defending the Progressive Left. He argues that Blue states have a longer life expectancy, are much, much richer than conservative states. The education levels in blue states are much higher.

He then tries to isolate the problem to liberals on the Pacific ocean, not liberals everywhere else. The homicide rate in New York City is half that of the west coast cities. Drug overdoses are much lower in eastern liberal cities. Homelessness is a much bigger problem on the West Coast. The three states with the lowest rates of homelessness are Vermont, Maine, and New York.

His conclusion? “So my take is that the West Coast’s central problem is not so much that it’s unserious as that it’s infected with an ideological purity that is focused more on intentions than on oversight and outcomes.” In other words, west coast liberals are too idealistic.

Kristoff admits that the west coast has no Republican Party to hold the liberals accountable and this also is a problem.

How do we critique Kristoff? Ah, where to begin.

James Freeman in the Wall Street Journal observes that it isn’t just west coast cities that suffer from social meltdown. Crime, housing costs, and government disfunction affect Progressive-run cities across America. Think Chicago has a crime problem? Detroit? Baltimore? St. Louis? They are a long way from the Pacific geographically but just like west coast cities in crime and disfunction.

Another argument that it isn’t just the west coast: People are fleeing Progressive enclaves by the hundreds of thousands. They are leaving California, New York, and Illinois and moving to Florida and Texas. They are looking for sane responsible government.

Let’s return to Kristoff’s argument that west coast cities are too idealistic. Let me say again as I have said before. They are too committed to the wrong religion. The problem in Progressive cities is bad theology. They begin by not believing in the true God of the Bible and then follow this up by a false doctrine of man. Progressive liberals believe people are basically good, the homeless and criminals are victims rather than the Christian view that they are evil and have made foolish choices. The abandonment of the biblical view of the family has contributed mightily to the crime in our cities, removing the father from the home and trying to replace him with big government.

Progressives enjoy great wealth and blessing but it is not because of Progressivism. It is the gift of Christian culture, a culture they are determined to destroy.

The column Nicholas Kristoff wrote took courage. It is rare for anyone to look in the mirror and ask, “What’s wrong with me?” But he did it. Now I pray he will follow it up with more wisdom and better answers, answers that begin with the Bible and the Person of Christ.

More: Why are big cities more liberal? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0zyVUeP10g

Nicholas Kristoff in a moment of honesty (this column will be behind the Times’ paywall):

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/15/opinion/progressives-california-portland.html

From James Freeman in the Wall Street Journal; The curse of Progressivism: https://www.wsj.com/articles/progressivism-that-doesnt-result-in-progress-d68d7d70?mod=opinion_lead_pos12

Stephen Miller in The Spectator reviews Kristoff: https://thespectator.com/newsletter/nicholas-kristof-tries-to-figure-out-who-destroyed-the-west-coast-bad-press-06-18-2024/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=fec9eacb83-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_06_18_07_51&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-fec9eacb83-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Lessons Learned from the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 18:14:38 GMT

There are lessons we can learn from historical events

On Saturday night I got the shocking news that an attempt had been made on the life of Donald Trump. Amidst all the furor I would like mention a few of the lessons we need to learn from this event.

1. History can change dramatically in a single moment; there is a tendency even among Christians to think the way things are now is the way they will always be. But that simply is not true. God causes or allows interventions into the normal pattern of things all the time. The assassination attempt is an intervention that has shaken people up. Let me predict a future event that will be more earth-shattering: The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

2. God intervened to save Trump’s life. Surely Trump was right when he said, “It was God alone who kept the unthinkable from happening”. There is considerable debate online right now about divine intervention which the Left denies, of course, because it doesn’t believe in God. But even a liberal Christian headlined his column on Religious News, “God did not save Donald Trump.” His argument: why would God save Trump and not the man who was killed at the rally? This is absurd. We simply do not know why God does what He does. In Matthew 10:29 Jesus says God has charted the flight pattern of every sparrow; surely God charts the paths of bullets. Why He allows some to kill and not others we will never know. Isaiah 55 says God’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts not our thoughts.

3. Divine providence is still the most important factor in human affairs; Psalm 2 says that political leaders scheme and plot against God but that He merely laughs at them. Then He works out everything according to the council of His will.

4. A brush with death in Samuel Johnson’s words can “concentrate the mind wonderfully”; according to journalists who interviewed Trump after the assassination attempt he said he is rewriting his acceptance speech; “The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” Trump said. “Had this not happened, this would’ve been one [speech] aimed mostly at the policies of President Joe Biden. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”

5. Those who deny God’s existence have no explanation for the most important aspects of reality; comedian Bill Maher, who is an outspoken infidel, said simply that Trump is the luckiest man who ever lived; there is nothing else for him to say; life has no meaning, purpose, or governing principles.

6. Government failures are to be expected because governments are made up of human beings; there has been much criticism for those charged with protecting the candidate and they probably made serious mistakes. But that’s what governments do. Make mistakes. Many on the Left have replaced God with government. They have a pretty pathetic god.

7. The assassination attempt probably won’t affect the election very much but it could affect Donald Trump greatly; the soul of Trump is far more important than any election; to channel C.S. Lewis, Trump is more important than the election because he lasts longer; he will exist forever in the presence of God or banished from that presence; sometime in the future the United States as we know it will cease to exist; but Donald Trump, as well as you and me, will never cease to exist.

I thank God that He spared Mr. Trump’s life. For what purposes I do not know. But of this I am certain—He has a purpose. And that purpose will unfold in future days.

Thanks for listening. May God bless you in a mighty way.

More: Why I am hopeful about the future of Western Civilization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxSvawjZmo

Thomas Sowell: https://www.wsj.com/articles/lessons-of-the-trump-assassination-attempt-fe56e1a8?mod=opinion_lead_pos9

Shane Claiborne, God Did Not Save Donald Trump: https://religionnews.com/2024/07/15/god-did-not-save-donald-trump/

Trump was saved by divine providence: https://thefederalist.com/2024/07/16/miracle-monday-gop-conventiongoers-say-divine-providence-protected-trump-from-near-deadly-bullet/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=miracle-monday-gop-conventiongoers-say-divine-providence-protected-trump-from-near-deadly-bullet&utm_term=2024-07-16

Salena Zito on how the attempt changed Trump’s life: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3082180/trump-rewrites-republican-convention-speech-focus-unity-not-biden/

The Federalist: Jesus Christ is Trump’s security detail: https://thefederalist.com/2024/07/17/jesus-christ-is-donald-trumps-security-detail/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jesus-christ-is-donald-trumps-security-detail&utm_term=2024-07-17

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Affirms Her Christian Faith in a Debate with Richard Dawkins

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 21:52:28 GMT

Dawkins pulls out all the usual atheist talking points but to no avail

The British publication, Unherd, sponsored a debate between well-known atheist Richard Dawkins and recent convert to Christianity, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I was quite surprised that Ali agreed to this debate. She is a brand-new Christian. She announced her conversion last November in the pages of Unherd and I produced a video about it which I will link below. So she has little experience in a debate of this kind. Dawkins has been involved in this kind of debate for decades, has written numerous books on the topic, hundreds of articles and interviews. I thought the matchup unfair and one-sided. Like sending a middle school girl into the ring with the heavyweight champ.

But the debate went much differently from what one would expect.

Ayaan was asked to open the debate by describing how and why she had become a Christian. “I didn’t, like many people who come to faith, see big banging lights. And I didn’t have any of those spectacular experiences that some people share…. I had a personal crisis. I lived for about a decade with intense depression and anxiety and self-loathing. I hit rock bottom; I went to a place where I actually didn’t want to live anymore but wasn’t brave enough to take my own life…. I had over a long period of time seen a psychiatrist, other doctors. I was trying to understand my condition and trying to treat it with the help of pure evidence-based science. And…last year I saw one therapist who said, perhaps it’s something else that you have. And she described it as spiritual bankruptcy.”

So by her own admission she had hit the bottom. Then, “having reached a place where I had absolutely nothing to lose, I prayed and I prayed desperately. And for me, that was a turning point. And what happened after that is a miracle in its own right. I feel connected to something higher and greater than myself;… my zest for life is back. And that experience has filled me with humility...”

When it was Dawkins’ turn to speak he seemed a bit flummoxed. He admitted Ayaan’s was a moving personal story but then he said, correctly in my view, that to be a Christian you have to believe certain things—the incarnation, the resurrection, the virgin birth, etc.

At this point Ali acknowledges her close personal relationship with Dawkins and is obviously grateful for him, viewing him as a mentor. But she has departed from the Dawkins worldview. She says the starting point is to admit there is something out there, rather than nothing. She said people of faith are not stupid—they are clever and wise.

For Dawkins this is a tough moment. He has to admit, “I’ve called you a political Christian, but from what you’ve just said, it sounds like you are more than just a political Christian. It sounds as though you actually believe it.”

Dawkins then launches several more broadsides, attacking the idea of original sin, the virgin birth, and Jesus’ atoning death on the cross.

Ayaan’s response is profound: “Christianity is actually obsessed with love. That is in the figure of the teaching of Christ. As I see it, and again, I’m a brand-new Christian, but what I’m finding out is that this is the opposite of growing up as a Muslim and the message of Islam. The message of Christianity I get is that it’s a message of love. It’s a message of redemption. And it’s a story of renewal and rebirth.”

Then Dawkins launches another broadside: “You surely do not believe in the resurrection?”

Ali responds: “I choose to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. That is a matter of choice. It’s a matter going back to: Is there something or is there nothing? [Referring to Dawkins she says] I think you start with: there is nothing. And yes, for years I agreed with you that there is nothing. But if you come round to the idea that there might be something much more powerful than we are, something that caused everything else, then something like Jesus rising out of the dead and these other miracles, Jesus being born out of a virgin, for that higher power is not a big deal.”

After all this Dawkins sort of throws up his hands and says, “I came here prepared to persuade you Ayaan that you’re not a Christian. But I think you are a Christian.”

I was astonished that Ayaan Hirsi Ali withstood every shot Dawkins fired at her. But I think the Holy Spirit was with her. The answers she gave were remarkable. And it was left to Dawkins to announce that she really was a Christian.

The rest of the debate is worth watching as they talk about the cultural impact of religion. I will link the debate and a transcript below. But for me the heart of the issue is whether or not Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s faith is real. It sure seems like it to me.

Others have weighed in on the debate. Alex O’Connor is a European atheist who writes for Unherd. I thought his comment was interesting: “Ayaan does seem genuinely transformed by her new faith: she looks happy, speaks humbly, and seems genuinely uninterested in point-scoring or winning any arguments. It troubles me not at all to admit that I found myself applauding her more than Richard Dawkins.”

And this from Bethel McGrew in World Magazine: “This was the stuff of Alcoholics Anonymous, of earnest…testimonies about getting on your knees and discovering a “higher power,” or in Hirsi Ali’s own words, “the God who turned me around.” Dawkins surely must be wondering what a brilliant, poised, high-status woman like her is doing with a conversion story like that. There’s a touch of nervousness in his voice as he admits , “It sounds like you actually believe it.”

Some might hope for a more powerful knockout blow to an annoying atheist like Dawkins but again, I agree with Bethel McGrew: “There is something particularly refreshing about the hopeful joy of a new Christian that simply can’t be captured in the well-worn arguments of a seasoned apologist. A changed life is its own apologetic, its own witness to a watching world.” The changed life is still the most powerful defense of Christianity’s truth.

Christianity has been built through the ages by changed lives. You might remember Saul of Tarsus being knocked to the ground when he saw Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus. Or Augustine in the garden when he heard a young girl saying “take and read” and then how a verse in Romans changed the course of his life and the history of civilization. Or when Martin Luther read a verse in Romans 1 that opened his eyes to the great truth of salvation by faith alone. The list goes on and on. That’s how Jesus Christ transforms the world. By transforming the individual. Ayaan is just the latest of many millions.

I pray you are in that group. A person transformed by Jesus Christ. You can be by simply placing your life in his hands right now.

May the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ be yours today.

More: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, “Why I am no longer an atheist”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039-0HjWzso

Ayaan Hirsi Ali announces her conversion to Christianity: https://unherd.com/2023/11/why-i-am-now-a-christian/

Dawkins and Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

https://unherd.com/watch-listen/the-god-debate/?utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=5a1dc7392f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_06_03_08_53&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-5a1dc7392f-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

One atheist impressed with Ali’s conversion: https://unherd.com/2024/06/the-trouble-with-political-christianity/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=478e4413e6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_06_19_09_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-478e4413e6-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Bethel McGrew weighs in: https://wng.org/opinions/one-womans-simple-moving-testimony-1718479531?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGTxbP_0KOHodtTYkwusxnzgg08_lZGTEcqzL90m-aSe7MmER3ai80hoS0AZlHSVqfaVZRDfPPIZF22rjmGaBtMbZPVAHXdoPlzJ3d1EwRr-Wme#comment-2480593

The World's Most Famous Atheist Says He is a Christian

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 18:48:19 GMT

Sort of. Richard Dawkins Claims to be a "cultural Christian"

If you ever wanted proof of the cultural power of Christianity it was on display recently when Richard Dawkins, the Don Corleone of the New Atheists, said that he is a type of Christian—a cultural Christian.

Dawkins said: “I prefer to live in a Christian country even though I do not believe a single word of the Christian faith.”

Dawkins continued: “We are culturally a Christian country and I call myself a cultural Christian. I am not a believing Christian…. The number of people who believe in Christianity is going down and I am happy with that. But I would not be happy if we lost our cathedrals and our beautiful parish churches. If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam I would choose Christianity every single time. I consider it to be a fundamentally decent religion.

In Africa where you have both Muslim and Christian missionaries operating, I’m on team Christian.”

What are we to make of all this? It does seem a little crazy.

I have been saying for years that Dawkins may know a lot about dinosaur bones—his specialty—but when it comes to culture he is an idiot. He hasn’t the foggiest notion of how a culture is built and that includes the culture he lives in. He is unaware of why it is the way it is.

The culture he loves was built by sacrificial, believing Christians. He is the beneficiary of their spent lives, as am I. People with Dawkins’ worldview have not built a single culture in the history of the human race that Dawkins would want to live in. I don’t think you will see him moving to North Korea. Why are Dawkins and his ilk unable to produce a culture that is anything more than a parade of horrors? A cultural Christian never builds the culture he lives in. He is a parasite. He lives off the life of others. And Dawkins enjoys Christian culture but he seeks to destroy what it is built on—belief in Jesus Christ and the truths of the Bible. Talk about sawing off the limb you are sitting on.

Dawkins has nothing, absolutely nothing, to offer the young men and women rioting on our campuses, advocating Jewish genocide. He simply tells them to become enlightenment rationalists but gives no compelling reason to do so. Jesus Christ gives men and women a purpose for life. So does Islam. So does Karl Marx. You can judge for yourself which of these produces the happy culture Dawkins enjoys.

Ben Dunson in the American Reformer observes: Political liberalism is impotent in the face of Islam because political liberalism has no positive vision for life. It puts forth certain rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and so forth. Yet, it is unable to tell you why you should even want to live, what you should desire to be free to do, or how you can find happiness.

You would think that at some point Dawkins would ask, Why does Christianity work? Why has it built the greatest and best culture of all time, one he loves and embraces? It would lead inevitably to the conclusion, maybe it works because it’s true. As Dunson has observed: Perhaps Christianity works so well because it came from the one who personally designed and created humanity .

Rod Dreher pointed out that for Dawkins to claim he likes cathedrals and Christmas carols but is glad church attendance is declining is like saying he enjoys eating but is glad his country’s farms are closing.

Dawkins belief that you can tear down the foundations of the Christian faith while continuing to enjoy its blessings is an astonishing level of stupidity.

His comments were a tacit admission that, for decades now, he has been wrong to claim that science and secularism are the source of all that’s good in Western culture. In fact, it is the worldview centered on a God who became man and died on a cross because He “so loved the world” that is the source of hospitals, churches, esteem for women and children, human rights, and even the music, art, and culture that Dawkins cherishes. For one of the world’s most outspoken God-haters to realize this is quite remarkable.

That raises a bigger question: Can you have Christian culture without Christian faith? My answer is not for long. Dawkins one-time disciple, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, doesn’t think so. She sees the loss of Christian belief as destroying the Christian culture of the West. She has come to realize that unbelievers like Dawkins are useless in resisting Christianity’s enemies like Islam and Marxism.

So, let’s ask again, can a culturally Christian nation remain Christian without Christian doctrinal beliefs? Of course not. They may for a while maintain some Christian values and institutions due to what Russell Kirk called “cultural lag” but in the end once the parasite has devoured the host, the parasite also dies. Killing Christian truth will end up killing Christian culture. Look at the moral stupor our Ivy League universities find themselves in. They now countenance the mass murder of one specific ethnic group. Culturally Christian? I think not.

Dawkins says he does not believe one word of Christian doctrine. This is absurd. A complete lack of self-awareness. In this video Dawkins harps as he often does on the treatment of women. Genesis 1:27 says women have equal worth with men. Does Dawkins believe this bit of Christian doctrine? Of course he does. The idea of the equality of women begins with this verse and no one has ever believed it who hasn’t been exposed to it. That includes Dawkins. And I could easily list another dozen Christian doctrines Dawkins holds to with emotion.

I want to give Dawkins credit for one thing. He is honest about where his blessings come from. Most infidels in Western culture have no clue where their blessings originate. I want to give him credit for something else. He understands what Christianity is. It’s the resurrection, the virgin birth, the miracles. He just doesn’t believe any of it.

We need to embrace Jesus Christ and everything He is, not just the cultural aspects of the world He has created. May He bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Atheist Daniel Dennett calls himself a happy person; here’s why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmGHG_MLk2U

Dawkins calls himself a cultural Christian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COHgEFUFWyg

Dawkins and Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

https://unherd.com/watch-listen/the-god-debate/?utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=5a1dc7392f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_06_03_08_53&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-5a1dc7392f-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

An Editorial on Dawkins’ “Testimony”

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/opinion-columns/victor-joecks/victor-joecks-dawkins-cultural-christianity-is-a-parasitic-contradiction-3029941/

John Stonestreet:

https://www.breakpoint.org/richard-dawkins-a-cultural-christian/

The American Reformer: https://americanreformer.org/2024/04/richard-dawkins-cultural-christianity/

Who Is History"s Greatest Conqueror?

Sun, 09 Jun 2024 21:57:18 GMT

It's One of the internet's favorite questions but they rarely get it right

The internet loves lists and one of its favorites is who is history’s greatest conqueror. If you google it you get hundreds of articles from a wide array of sources weighing in on the subject. I want to weigh in on it in part because the internet answers to that question are almost all wrong.

First we have to define what a conqueror must achieve to be called great. We start with how big was his empire? Second, how long did it last? And third, probably most important, how great was its impact? So three tests: size, longevity, and influence.

Let’s start at the beginning of history. There were a number of ancient empires—the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians. None of them lasted more than a few hundred years, were not large by later standards, and had little lasting impact. All impacted the biblical children of Israel but none had even a fraction of the importance.

So we come to the first great conqueror and one who is cited by a number of internet sources as the greatest—Alexander of Macedon, known starting in the 19 ^th century as Alexander the Great. He is in my opinion the greatest military genius who has ever lived and with a small number of soldiers conquered every country and army in his path. At its greatest extent his empire covered about 2 million square miles—or a little more than half the area of the current United States. His empire was short-lived, breaking up into four different parts after he died. And these four were soon absorbed by the rising Roman Empire. So it was a large empire but by the test of longevity not important. However, it is in the area of influence that Alexander’s empire enters the conversation of greatest. His aim was to spread Greek culture and in this he succeeded admirably. He established around seventy new cities and brought the Greek language into widespread usage—the New Testament was written in Greek. I used to give a lecture in my Western Civ classes on Hellenistic culture. That’s the culture created by Alexander. It influenced science, philosophy, the arts, and literature, geography, and a host of other subjects. The eastern Mediterranean became the center of world culture after Alexander.

We move now to Rome and to the empire many scholars think the greatest in history. Notice we’ve changed the topic a bit. We are not talking about one specific individual conqueror but of the influence of an entire civilization. And Rome’s was indeed great. At its height the emperor in Rome ruled a domain of nearly 2 million square miles. The city of Rome began its expansion around 500 B.C. and did not officially end until the conquest of its eastern capital, Constantinople in 1453 A.D. That’s a time frame of 2,000 years. There is little like it in world history. In terms of influence Rome has few parallels. Roman influence is seen throughout Europe and the West today in architecture, law, administration, military organization and tactics, and literature. Many high schools in the United States teach its language, Latin. The founders of America referred repeatedly to Rome in the founding of American institutions. The largest institution on planet earth—the Roman Catholic Church—obviously takes its name from this great empire and is often considered a successor to it. Those who call Roman Empire history’s greatest conqueror have plenty of reason for doing so.

Continuing our way through history we come now to Mohammed and the empire of Islam. In this case we are combining a conqueror and a civilization. Muhammad himself controlled only a small area on the Arabia peninsula. The work of world Islamization was left to his followers. In terms of size, longevity, and influence the Muslims are, so far, the greatest by far. Islam has spread around the entire world and countries that call themselves exclusively Muslim comprise a land area of more than 10 million square miles. That’s three United States. And in terms of influence where Islam is in charge it controls life down to the smallest detail often with a secret religious police to enforce discipline. It has existed for 1400 years and as all of you well know is a major player in the affairs of the modern world. So Muhammad has to be placed on the list of great conquerors.

Proceeding through history we come to Genghis Khan. If you punch in the “greatest conqueror” question on the internet he is given first place most of the time. That is due to the size of his empire. At its greatest extent it covered about 9 million square miles. That’s just a little smaller that Russia and China combined. It extended from eastern Europe and the Middle east all the way to the Pacific Ocean and from southern Russia to southern China. And much of this expansion came in his lifetime—he conquered more territory personally than anyone who has ever lived. But the empire didn’t last very long, maybe a couple hundred years at the most. And it was limited in its influence. Most historians give it credit for facilitating networking—the interaction between east and west. Marco Polo, the Italian explorer who lived with Kublai Khan for seventeen years, is as well-known as most Mongols because he wrote about this exchange. Mongol influence tends to be mostly negative. They are history’s greatest mass murderers, exceeded only by the followers of Karl Marx in the last hundred years. One historian of the Mongols said they greatly damaged Islam by killing the Caliph—a sort of Muslim pope—in Baghdad in the 13 ^th century, and they basically annihilated Nestorian Christianity, reducing it to a tiny remnant of its original numbers.

Now we come to history’s greatest conqueror and there can be no question about who He is. He is Jesus Christ. Let’s start with the size of His empire. The entire western hemisphere, all of Western, northern and southern Europe, are classified by historians as culturally Christian countries. But Christ’s kingdom has another characteristic. It is the most able to penetrate other Kingdoms. For example, in China, considered Buddhist, Christianity has made giant inroads in the last 50 years. From nearly zero China’s Christian population has grown to more than a 100 million. But recently the biggest story is Africa. About 2% Christian in 1900 today it is 47% Christian, and as you know African Christians are probably the most aggressive in the world. Christ’s is the largest kingdom in the history of planet earth. A routine internet search gives Christianity around 2.6 billion followers. Islam is next at around 1.9.

How about longevity. Church attendance may be down some in Western societies. But around the world more people gather to pay homage to Christ than any other person. The Christian faith is larger now than it ever has been. And its cultural impact is the greatest of any religion or ideological force that has ever existed. Recently, the most famous atheist in the world, Richard Dawkins, admitted that he was culturally a Christian. That’s the subject of my next video.

What separates Christ from all other conquerors is His methodology. Every other conqueror, including religious, has spread his faith at the point of a sword. Christianity does not operate this way. Jesus conquered the world by dying on a cross and his followers have spread His faith the same way—by living sacrificial lives of service. Kenneth Scott Latourette the great church historian says Christianity is the only religion that has risen to prominence without being driven by a dominant culture. In fact, it rose and triumphed in the face of hostility from one of the empires we mentioned—the Roman Empire.

And in a real sense it has made inroads in all the other great empires. When I was teaching at Colorado Christian University we had a guest speaker. His name was Moujik. He was president of the Mongolian Evangelical pastor’s association. He said there were 120 pastors in his group. At the beginning of class he presented me with a map of Genghis Khan’s empire. He said the group’s goal was to go everywhere Genghis went. To apologize and preach the gospel. This delightful Christian man was yet another conquest of Christ.

2700 years ago Isaiah the prophet wrote about the future Christ. He said of the coming Messiah, I will make you ⁽ ^L ⁾ as a light for the nations,
that ⁽ ^M ⁾ my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

And that’s exactly what has happened. In 1719 Isaac Watts wrote his famous hymn:

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
does its successive journeys run;
his kingdom spread from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is history’s greatest conqueror. Aren’t we grateful that He is a conqueror like no other?

More: Why Christianity became the most powerful force in history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Zk1Kk7m4Y&list=PLkHlTST983SpujnPAjgOE2AsDzsEBKkxh&index=1&t=4s

For a detailed examination of how Christ triumphed and became history’s greatest conqueror see the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SpujnPAjgOE2AsDzsEBKkxh

Is There a God?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 16:33:26 GMT

Why the World's Most Famous Philosopher Changed His Mind

Is there a God? For much of his life the world’s most famous atheist didn’t think so. Then he changed his mind. Here’s why.

Hello, everyone. When I was a junior in college, way back in 1967, I was assigned an essay entitled, “The Invisible Gardener,” by philosopher Anthony Flew, a professor in England. During the second half of the twentieth century he was the best-selling philosopher in the world. The essay was a clever defense of atheism and for many decades Flew was arguably the planet’s best-known atheist.

Then in 2004 Flew wrote a book entitled, “There Is a God.” He had changed his mind. Flew had concluded that the words of Psalm 19 are correct. “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the universe shows His handiwork.”

Flew said, “It’s time for me to lay my cards on the table, to set out my own views and the reasons that support them. I now believe that the universe was brought into existence by an infinite Intelligence…the Mind of God. I believe that life and reproduction originate in a divine Source.”

Flew argued that modern science has established three fundamental truths that require the existence of God.

First, nature obeys laws. By a law of nature Flew means there is a regularity in nature, or a symmetry, or an order if you will. These regularities are mathematically precise and universal. How could a world created by accident have such perfect order? Flew cites three scientists you may have heard of: Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Werner Heisenberg. Where did the laws of nature come from? The Mind of God. Einstein said, ““I want to know how God created this world…. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.” In fact, if you do not assume a God who created the laws of nature you cannot do science. “Science can proceed only if the scientist adopts an essentially theological worldview.” The laws of nature provide compelling and irrefutable proof for the existence of God.

Second, the universe seems to have been finely tuned to achieve a specific purpose. Or, to put it differently, how can a universe of mindless matter produce beings committed to the purpose of their own reproduction? Life possesses goals, ends, purposes. The chair you are sitting on does not contemplate the production of more little chairs. But every form of life possesses the reproductive purpose. But it does. So Flew concludes the only satisfactory explanation for the origin of life as we see on earth is an infinitely intelligent Mind.

Third, why is there something instead of nothing? Why does anything exist? When I was a college student one philosopher was regularly quoted; the great philosophical question is Why is there something instead of nothing. The Big Bang theory argues that the universe had a definite beginning. And if it did then the best explanation is a God who brought it into existence. Flew concludes that the first sentence in the Bible must have happened: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The Apostle Paul argues in Romans 1:20: For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead...

Mankind knows God exists. In Psalm 53:1 David says, “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” If God calls such a man a fool, we dare call him no less.

If you have not already done so now is the time to bow your head and worship God and to receive His Son as your Savior.

I have linked Flew’s book below. Thanks for watching. Please hit the subscribe button and may the God who truly exists bless you in a mighty way.

Davy and Natalie Lloyd Are Two More Martyrs for the Cause of Christ

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 22:08:39 GMT

They were killed while serving the suffering children of Haiti

On May 23 a young missionary couple from the U.S., Davy and Natalie Lloyd, were murdered by a street gang in Haiti. They were attacked when they left a youth meeting at their church. The gang had arrived to rob the mission when shooting broke out. Davy, Natalie, and a Haitian pastor were killed. Natalie’s father, Missouri state representative Ben Baker said, ““My heart is broken in a thousand pieces…I’ve never felt this kind of pain.” Davy, the son of missionary parents had grown up in Haiti. He met Natalie at Ozark Bible Institute and after getting married they moved back to Haiti to work with the children of that beleaguered country.

Ozark released a statement: “On Thursday evening, May 23rd, we received news about the tragic martyrdom of our missionaries, Davy and Natalie Lloyd. They now join an ever-increasing number throughout Church history who have willingly laid down their lives for the sake of the gospel.”

They are now numbered in the long list of martyrs who have died for their faith and in the midst of this tragedy we learn a lot about our God and our Christian faith.

Why were they in Haiti? A statement written by Davy’s mother in the mission’s May newsletter gives you an idea: “As you may know, our Son Davy and his Wife Natalie are working full time with us now. We really appreciate all the help they have given us. Natalie has been helping with the kids at the House of Compassion and assisting in our ACE school. Davy has been working on a lot of badly needed projects around our compound. Davy built a laundry room on the back of the House of Compassion and now the ladies don't have to wash clothes outside!”

Typical of missionaries for the past 2,000 years the Lloyds were reaching out to a suffering people, trying to make life better for them and presenting the great and glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why is this so important?

The lives and martyrdom of Davy and Natalie Lloyd answers the question, why is Christianity the most powerful cultural force that has ever existed? Why is it the largest religion in world history?

Because, In the midst of the darkness of this tragedy there is a powerful ray of hope. Jesus Christ, and only Jesus Christ, produces people like the Lloyds who are willing to lay down their lives for the poor, the suffering, the orphan, the sick, and the forgotten of this world. And he has produced millions of them. One missiologist said that more people died for Christ in the twentieth century than in all the centuries before combined. And the 21 ^st century is proving to be no different. But this level of commitment answers the above questions: Why is Christianity so powerful? Why will it be triumphant in the future no matter what the opposition?

One consistent criticism I have for Christianity’s competitors is that they do not sacrifice for what they believe. I was chatting with a young environmentalist in front of my house. She was dedicated enough to go door to door trying to get people to sign a petition for some green cause. I told her, “What interests me about you people is your unwillingness to make real sacrifices for your cause. I have a student (at Colorado Christian University) who is in North Africa right now learning Arabic. She intends to devote the rest of her life to reaching people with her beliefs. I have yet to meet an environmentalist with that level of commitment.”

When you ponder the future of the Christian faith, and for that matter the future of America and Western culture, remember the Lloyds. They were 23 and 21 years old. The Holy Spirit is producing young men and women today, as He has in every age, to go forth and change the world for Christ. Our future is in the hands of people like Davy and Natalie Lloyd. In the mist of this unspeakable tragedy this gives us great hope.

If you are watching this video you have not yet been called to die for our Lord. But we are being called to live for Him. In 1 Corinthians 15:31 the Apostle Paul tells us that he “dies daily” in his walk with the Lord. He was a daily martyr for the cause of Christ. And that is what we take from this tragedy. We are prevailed upon to die daily for Christ and serve Him to the end of our days.

Be sure and check the links below for pictures of the Lloyds and their work in Haiti. We celebrate their commitment to Christ and grieve for their families.

May our Lord give you the strength this day to live and die for Him.

The AP report on the tragedy:

https://apnews.com/article/haiti-young-missionaries-killed-gang-violence-ba69910971aaa0542233d6bd2a947d78

The website for Mission In Haiti, under which to Lloyd’s served:

https://www.missionsinhaiti.com/about_us?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGTWWJYowjMyBiZe78fvwo8OVKLZf3Nneu3KcmEotHUOzXvNDEUkW8Wi79IgAMooE_IPBHd8tIqlfWtQ-5cFmedO1Sb2yaVPrIPW8sRvPmbjw7R

The Facebook post of Natalie’s father, Rep. Ben Baker:

https://www.facebook.com/ben.r.baker/posts/pfbid0uSePSFF7xqugpeMptsqveTj3W48WADSz3wnvQy6ZgjLEMteBu2rNGoXCPdRaLXJel?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGTWWJYopR4_q5fGg_1HUi9uNPCh5Qpp-bCVlE-uNyjr0fK351Tk2AhvAbimcHhG-kWpeRhg_JV94A_-g0p-l54SjGiscmPI7H8LThbgE8xD5fc

The Lloyd’s May newsletter:

https://www.missionsinhaiti.com/may-2023?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGTWWJYot-mva2mfrfltMwG2_jDiDoZ1-J2b2ALIiRq3xtl1E0PZqbbZ0s594v3KIipk3NY-V7v6-WaYQ9Wih5IttCt4Gmskjf8h-QL1zf7Blz5

An article and pictures from Christianity Today:

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2024/may/haiti-american-missionaries-killed-gang.html?utm_source=CT%20Daily%20Briefing%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=722630&utm_content=16792&utm_campaign=email

Ozark Bible Institute memorializes Davy and Natalie Lloyd: https://www.obi.college/

Harrison Butker Told the Truth About Family, Marriage, and Motherhood: And the Left Went Crazy

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 25 May 2024 20:39:04 GMT

Why Does the Left Hate People Who Are Pro-Family?

On May 11 Harrison Butker, kicker for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, gave the commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. I have never seen such an uproar over a commencement address. Every online publication I read has had multiple articles about it.

What did Butker say?

“I’m on the stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation… She became my wife and embraced one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.

As men, he continued, “we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction, and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation.

He attacked pride month asking why we should celebrate one of the seven deadly sins.

What has been the Left’s response?

One writer said, It was as if he lifted the lid off the roof of Hell.

An offended columnist at the Kansas City Star hammered Butker, saying the kicker insisted on “belittling the human value of others.”

An official for the city of Kansas City, Missouri, tweeted out a repudiation and pointed out with relief that Butker didn’t actually live in Kansas City.

USA Today columnist Mike Freeman wrote , “Butker represents a segment of the population that wants to go backwards, particularly with women’s rights…the goal is to wrench power from a society that has become more pluralistic and diverse, and put it back into the hands of a small group of men.” He declared that Butker has “extremist, Neanderthalic” views, and that he represents an “extremist” and “hateful” worldview that wants to drag women back to the bad old days.

Brook Schwartz, the wife of one ofButker’s former teammates lambasted the kicker’s comments by posting on Instagram, “What in the Handmaid’s Tale is this crap,” For those of you unaware, the Handmaid’s Tale is a novel about a dystopian future where women are forced to have babies. Ms. Schwartz added, “I value and respect whatever a woman chooses for her life. But it is NEVER, EVER a man’s place to tell women what their roles are.” A quick comment: I don’t think Ms. Schwarz really values and respects other women’s choices.

The NFL itself felt the need to issue a statement clarifying that Butker spoke only in his personal capacity and that the league is “steadfast” in its “commitment to inclusion.”

A Change.org petition the following week called on the Kansas City Chiefs to fire Butker. The petition went so far as to accuse Butker’s speech of “racism.” Whatever.

The Left wing British paper, the Guardian, said, “bigots feel emboldened to express their views from university podiums

The online publication Vox called his address “misogynistic” and “a textbook case of conservative sexism and homophobia.”

One Hollywood writer said. “His speech is vile…dangerous…100% toxic.”

Butker is a traditional Catholic giving a speech to traditional Catholic students graduating from a traditionalist Catholic school. So he sounded like a traditionalist Catholic. Duh. So why is the hatred of his speech so intense?

One writer in National Review said: “None of this should surprise us by now. The post-Christian left has erected a neopagan religion of its own, a kind of inversion of Christianity that consists of an unstable admixture of abortion, sexual liberation, gender ideology, and identity politics. If you speak against any of those things, you have committed blasphemy and must be targeted and destroyed.”

The Federalist observed: the indignation and fury sparked by Butker lay bare a phenomenon long apparent in our culture… American secularism has now attained the status of a religious cult.

It’s important to note that Butker’s speech did not just offend the personal preferences and behaviors of various individuals, groups, and corporations; rather, it was nothing short of blasphemy against our state-sanctioned religion of wokeness.

I have been saying for years that the Progressive Left is a Marxist cult. I am glad to see so many writers now calling it such. For more see my video, “The Ten Characteristics of a Cult.”

What should we make of the speech?

It comes at a time when the biggest crisis in the world is the baby bust. Across the world people are not having enough children to sustain our population. In attacking Butker the Progressive Left is attacking the only thing that will save civilization.

The response reveals how hostile the Progressive left is toward the family. In the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx repeatedly declares his hatred for the traditional family and predicted that in the Communist revolution that family would vanish. Abolishing the family has always been a Marxist goal. Everything that is pro-family is anti-Marxist and therefore hostile to the values and objectives of the secular, Progressive left.

Butker’s speech reveals how anti-choice the Left is. Progressives congratulate themselves on being pro-choice and pro-freedom but are the biggest enemies to human freedom that have ever existed. If they were pro-choice they would be happy for a woman to choose to become a mother and homemaker. But they hate the very thought of it.

It reveals that they are totalitarian bigots. They want to suppress and stamp out all views with which they disagree.

It reveals what hypocrites they are. They claim to be defending women but they hate women who run contrary to their ideology.

Butker should be congratulated for his courage. It takes guts to stand up against the woke mob.

And he’s right. He’s right about the family. He’s right about women. He’s right about the gay rights revolution and pride month. He’s right about the role of men in our society. Every piece of social science research says that the women in Butker’s vision are happier, healthier, and in the long run more productive. There is nothing that Progressives hate more than conservatives who are so clearly right.

The insanity of all this is obvious. The Babylon Bee had a headline that said, “Feminists warn young women not to marry football stars who love them, take care of them, and praise them in public speeches.” Really. What girl would want that.

The Christian faith has transformed the world in every imaginable way. It has transformed our view of women, the family, children, and the role of men. This has all been the result of God’s revelation in the Bible telling us who we are and how we should live. Every blessing of our lives is the result of this intervention. Let us thank God for His goodness to us and let us thank the millions of men like Harrison Butker who are living out the Kingdom life.

More: Why the Left Hates Children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuu7m9YRFX8

Harrison Butker’s Courageous Defense of Women

https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/harrison-butkers-courageous-defense-of-women?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=4896d6eb64-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-4896d6eb64-28475396&mc_cid=4896d6eb64&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

Let Butker be himself:

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/let-harrison-butker-be-himself/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=second

Butker is right:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/05/harrison-butker-is-right-about-men-and-women/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=first

The Baby Bust:

https://instapundit.substack.com/p/harrison-butker-harbinger

A critic of Butker:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/05/harrison-butker-misses-the-point/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=hero&utm_content=related&utm_term=second

Anti-Christian bigotry:

https://thefederalist.com/2024/05/16/the-nfls-condemnation-of-harrison-butker-exemplifies-the-lefts-anti-christian-bigotry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-nfls-condemnation-of-harrison-butker-exemplifies-the-lefts-anti-christian-bigotry&utm_term=2024-05-17

Butker hates women:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/18/harrison-butker-misogyny-speech

Butker is courageous:

https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/hells-fury-for-harrison-butker?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=bf2efbc4c2-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-bf2efbc4c2-28475396&mc_cid=bf2efbc4c2&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

Butker boots this one out of the stadium:

https://chroniclesmagazine.org/web/the-pervasiveness-of-disorder-harrison-butker-boots-this-one-out-of-the-stadium/

Harrison Butker Late For Practice Again After Spending Morning Enslaving Women And Forcing Them To Wear Handmaid's Tale Uniforms

https://babylonbee.com/news/harrison-butker-late-for-practice-again-after-spending-morning-enslaving-women-and-forcing-them-to-wear-handmaids-tale-uniforms?utm_source=The%20Babylon%20Bee%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email

Feminists Warn Young Girls Against Marrying Rich, Muscular Football Stars Who Love Them And Take Care Of All Their Needs And Praise Them In Speeches

https://babylonbee.com/news/feminists-warn-young-girls-against-marrying-a-rich-muscular-football-star-who-loves-them-and-takes-care-of-all-their-needs-and-praises-them-in-speeches?utm_source=The%20Babylon%20Bee%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email

A feminist condemns Butker:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-chiefs-harrison-butker-just-went-full-handmaid-s-tale-on-us/ar-BB1msEeX?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Are We Saved by Faith Alone?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Mon, 20 May 2024 21:41:57 GMT

Bishop Robert Barron says faith is not enough

Is the Christian saved by faith alone? Bishop Robert Barron says salvation requires more than faith.

I recently read an article in Fox News that said Bishop Robert Barron is the best-known Catholic in the world after the Pope. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers. And his Word on Fire ministry reaches a gigantic audience. I went to his website and noticed a number of interesting videos, including one that asks, “Are we saved by faith alone?” His bottom-line answer? No we are not. I think he is mistaken and in this video I want to tell why.

So What Does Bishop Barron say?

He admits that he is taking on a fractious issue, “going where angels fear to tread.” The question has been debated for 500 years and he is under no illusion that he is going to solve the problem in 12 minutes.

He builds his case around Romans 13:8: Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

According to the Bishop Paul is arguing we are not saved by keeping the ceremonial law—performing sacrifices in the temple, observing special days, etc. Barron says this is all fulfilled in Christ. So no, we do not save ourselves by annually sacrificing a lamb. However, we are still obligated to obey the moral law. For example, the Ten Commandments. The bishop is saying faith is not enough; salvation requires us to obey the moral law.

We are saved by faith in Christ plus obeying the moral law, especially the law of love. His exact words: “Keeping the moral law is relevant to our salvation.”

He cites Matthew 25 where the sheep and goats are separated, not on the basis of faith, but on the basis of love.

He says that when Protestants argue that they have been made righteous forensically, or legally, they are talking about something that is not really in us. It is external to us.

He concludes by saying the best summary of Paul’s position is that we are saved by faith expressing itself in love.

I think the bishop is mistaken—here’s why:

Bishop Barron argues that when Paul in Romans says we are not saved by keeping the law, Paul means the ceremonial law like temple sacrifices, east days, etc. No, Paul does not mean this. Paul uses the word “law” 53 times in Romans and almost every time he is referring to the moral law—things like keeping the ten commandments. And he says we cannot save ourselves by trying to keep it.

The Bishop says that it is vitally important to allow the love of God to flow out of our lives. Of course it is. No protestant argues against this; this isn’t even the question; here’s the question—is it necessary to keep the moral law to be saved? Or does obedience to it contribute to or merit our salvation?

Bishop Barron asserts that Paul never says we are justified by faith alone. Just because Paul does not use the exact phrase does not mean he doesn’t teach it. Paul never uses the word trinity but there is no doubt that he teaches it.

Romans 4:5: And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

Ephesians 2:8,9; For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourself; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, so that no one can boast.

I think Paul is saying we are justified by faith alone.

The bishop argues keeping the moral law is “relevant to our salvation.” Relevant, yes. Obedience results from our salvation. But it does not contribute to it. I wish he had defined more clearly what he means by relevant. But I think he is saying that keeping the moral law is necessary for salvation.

Then he argues that the Protestant belief in our legal righteousness is external to us; not really in us. This is a misrepresentation of our position; our legal standing before God is forensic(legal) all right but it is applied to us because we have been supernaturally born again and it has transformed our life. It is as intrinsic as anything has ever been. Millions of protestants who believe they are saved by faith alone live out this life of love that Bishop Barron is calling for. He knows this. He would agree with this statement. The Roman Catholic position of faith plus works does not produce people who are any more godly than the millions of non-Catholics who love and serve Jesus Christ. Yes, there are millions of Catholics who love and serve our Lord but their doctrine does not seem to produce more and better Christians.

Let me make a few more observations on this doctrinal controversy:

The Bishop doesn’t deal with the hardest verses; He references Luther who said that by reading Paul he learned that we are saved by faith alone and the bishop says that in reading Romans we encounter these texts—but he never cites them; he doesn’t even really interact with them; he skips them. I know you can’t deal with everything in one video but these seems like a significant oversight.

The bishop does not seem to be representing what Roman Catholicism actually does. When I talk to Catholics they never tell me that my great need is to add love to faith. They tell me I need to add church ritual to faith; baptism, participation in the sacraments, penance, indulgences, and keeping the commandments. The Catholics I read and know tell that those are the great need of my life—not love.

There are dozens of passages that teach salvation by faith alone but let me add these three to your list. There are the three great parables in Luke that can only be explained by the doctrine of salvation by faith alone: The Prodigal Son in Luke 15, the Publican and the Pharisee in Luke 18, and the Thief on the Cross in Luke 23. Read those again and see if they do not teach beyond a shadow of a doubt that a man is saved by faith plus nothing.

The doctrine of salvation by faith and works violates one of the fundamental analogies in Scripture. When a person becomes a Christian what word does God choose to describe His relationship with us? Father. He becomes our father. Now every human being knows we don’t earn our status as a son by works, nor is it maintained by works. Even loving works. We are sons of our Father unconditionally and nothing can change that fact. But the doctrine of faith plus works is foreign to that kind of relationship. I have told people who are trying to save themselves through their good works that God is not their father; he’s their boss. He’s a nice boss, but when you mess up even a good boss is obligated to fire you. And if you are going to maintain a good status with your boss you have got to perform. Not so with a father. His love is unconditional. You do not perform good works to maintain your status as a son. That status is your permanent possession.

Much of this video is irrelevant to the question. Of course living a life of love is what the Christian should be doing. Of course real Christians live this life of love. But the question is this: Does this contribute to our salvation, or is it a result of our salvation? Are our works, our religious efforts, necessary to save us? He never really answers this question. He answers a different question: What should the Christian life look like? How should a Christian live? He does not answer the question, How is one saved? Or how does one enter the Christian life?

Most people who come call themselves Christians believe they are saved by both faith and works. But the one question not a single one of them can ever answer is, “How many works do I have to perform in order to be saved? What’s the minimum grade for getting to heaven. They can never know this and thus they can never have true assurance of salvation—a certainty that they are going to be with the Father for eternity.

Why is this question so important? It seems to me like millions are laboring to save themselves. When I talk to missionaries to Catholic countries they are uniform in their contempt of Catholicism as a religion of works and even superstition. It seems like most Catholics are trying to find some combination of rituals that will get them into heaven.

Please do not misunderstand me. I believe that Robert Barron is an outstanding Christian, a brother in Christ, and an ally in the battle against the nihilism, cultic Progressivism, and paganism of our age. I think he is simply mistaken on this issue and the mistake is important.

Thank you for listening. May the Lord bless you richly.

More: My Mixed Feelings on the Catholic Church: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9QHx4zr9io

Robert Barron says faith is not enough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHGGYqXrLT8

A very positive Fox News piece on Bishop Barron: https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/bishop-barron-most-popular-catholic-vatican

Is the Tide Beginning to Turn on the Transgender Movement?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 12 May 2024 22:00:26 GMT

The Signs are There

The prophet Isaiah, in chapter 44, chides the cults of his day, the idol worshippers. They take a block of wood and cut it in half. They use one part to build a fire and warm themselves. With the other half they build a god and bow down and worship it. Isaiah makes clear this is the stupidest thing in the world. What could be more foolish? Well, today, we give ancient idolaters a lot of competition.

The transgender cult is a recent example. We now believe little girls can become little boys simply by believing it so. A nominee for the United States Supreme Court could not define what a woman was. You can now be fired from certain jobs for using the wrong pronoun. We have drag queens reading stories to little children in public libraries. Most Americans think this is nuts and in time God will bring down His wrath and judgement on such a foolish rejection of His truth. His obvious truth.

God created gender, and He only created two. This fact is abundantly clear in Genesis, where we see that God created male and female — and He did not create gender fluidity.

It was only ten years ago that nobody on earth made an issue of this but now it is front burner stuff in media, government, and academia.

Just a quick refresher: Why has the Left gone crazy about this? The most important religious belief of the Progressive Left comes straight from Karl Marx. All of life is a battle between the oppressed and their oppressors. Life is given religious meaning when you fight the oppressor. But you have to decide who the oppressed are. The Left sort of picks and chooses who the victims are and a decade ago they decided it was gender dysphoria. This was not on the Left’s radar until about 2013. But all of a sudden drag queens and their ilk became the group the Left decided to protect. And now we have the insanity of the transgender movement.

I do not deny that it is still with us.

Easter Sunday fell on March 31 this year. It is the most sacred day for the largest religion on earth and the largest in Western culture. So what did the president of the United States do? He declared it Transgender Day of Visibility. He declared, “You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back.”

Shane and Jennifer DeGross live in Washington state. By all accounts they are excellent foster parents. But the state suspended their foster license because, as Christians, they did not support the gay and transgender agenda. So rather than allow this fine couple to raise needy children, the state decided to enforce their ideology.

Andrea chu wrote a cover essay for New York magazine. In it HE makes the argument that the freedom to change one’s body is a basic human right. Children are humans so they should have the right to change their bodies.

Children’s rights? As Lionel Shriver observes in the Spectator, “Progressives never seem indignant over the gross unfairness that children can’t buy alcohol, purchase cigarettes, join the army, get a tattoo, work in factories, marry or consent to sex with an adult.

But according to the American left…twelve-year-olds are mature enough to decide to halt the progress of puberty (potentially imperiling their brain and skeletal development), commit to a costly pharmaceutical regimen replete with irksome side effects for the rest of their lives, have healthy body parts hacked off, accept a future of sexual dysfunction and forgo parenthood altogether.

Matt Taibbi is a man of the Left but even he saw the craziness of this. Taibbi said Chu is trying to legalize pedophilia. He goes on to say, “As anyone who’s raised children knows, leaving kids to “the hazards of their own free will” is a completely unworkable concept, apart from its outrageousness and moral insanity…. The New York essay perfectly captures the lunatic nihilism American academics have fanned into a mass movement by granting the most idiotic forms of teenage self-absorption the status of wisdom and insight.”

So yes, the trans movement is insane but in government and media there is still strong support for its agenda.

But there are signs the tide is beginning to turn.

The biggest blast of the warning trumpet came recently in England. Dr. Hilary Cass of that country’s national health service came out with an independent review of the treatment of gender dysphoria in hospitals. She called it blatant quackery. The main problem she said is the lack of evidence for such interventions. It hasn’t been studied, much less proven, and as a result England’s has stopped such interventions.

Many secular writers are beginning to define the transgender craze the way I have been defining the Left for years—as a religious cult.

Here’s a quote from a secular writer, Kathleen Stock: “At long last, the spectacular, slow-motion implosion of trans ideology is underway. It’s only a matter of time — though it may be a while yet — before it goes the way of all those other cults…nearly every indicator of cult membership is present among so-called affirmative clinicians and their hapless patients. “Cults are not unusual, as human phenomena go; the unusual point is that one came to control parts of the National Health Service [in England].”

One researcher noted, “There is great irony in the fact that the modern process of stamping out religion produces countless caricatures of it.”

Two dozen states have passed laws outlawing the sterilization and mutilation of children, and many more are likely to do so.

No less a leftist voice than the New York Times followed up Dr. Cass’ report with an article offering reservations about such invasive surgeries on the bodies of children. One of their columnists, David Brooks, called Dr. Cass “the kind of hero the world needs today.” According to Brooks Dr. Cass has questioned puberty blockers and hormone therapies, to say nothing of surgeries.

The New York Times is important, not for its news value, which is not to be trusted, but for its signaling to its Progressive readers. It has given them permission to question the gender transition movement. If you’ve lost the New York Times you are on the verge of losing your Progressive audience.

Karol Markowicz in the New York Post has reported on a Dutch study that shows gender dysphoria is more a fad than an actual medical condition. The researchers concluded, “ Gender non-contentedness , while being relatively common during early adolescence, in general decreases with age and appears to be associated with a poorer self-concept and mental health throughout development.”

If this is indeed the case it is insane to perform radical body altering surgeries on teenagers. A lot more people are beginning to realize this.

Other researchers have found that the desire to identify as trans is akin to eating disorders. “Entire groups of teenage girls suddenly start identifying as “boys” or as “nonbinary,” just as girls often emulate each other through starving and purging in their quest for competitive thinness.” In other words, gender dysphoria is a psychological not a medical condition.

There is no scientific definition of gender dysphoria. Its diagnosis is based completely on the subjective feelings of the individual. The only way we know a 13-year-old girl is suffering from it is if she says she is.

But there is another reason to predict the downward trend of the transgender craze: litigation. As the Roman Catholic Church becomes more outspoken against the surgical removal and refashioning of healthy breasts and genitals to treat gender dysphoria, the Oregon affiliate of a Catholic hospital network stretching from Alaska to Texas faces litigation for performing "gender affirming" surgery on a woman who regretted it.

People who underwent radical sex-altering surgery in recent years are now suing because they regret their decision and feel they were improperly advised, if they were advised at all. I predict we will see an outbreak of these kinds of suits in the future. One of the largest hospitals in Missouri recently ended transgender surgeries for the simple reason they could not afford the financial jeopardy it places them in.

We are now seeing sports organizations forbidding biological men from participating in women’s athletics. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, representing 241 schools, recently announced that only athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth is female…will be allowed to participate in women’s sports.

A number of international track and swimming organizations have also placed bans on biological males participating in women’s sports. All of us have seen pictures of giant men standing on the podium with much smaller women to receive their medals.

Parents are going to war with school districts demanding that the schools alert them if their children are desiring to change genders.

Then there are the catastrophic market failures of Bud Light and Target, who embraced the most demented aspects of trans ideology.

And finally the world's top chess federation has sparked a furious sexism row after banning trans women from competing in all-female contests while it decides whether they have an unfair advantage. Apparently men have a decided advantage over women in chess so biological males have been prevented from participating in women’s tournaments.

Our God is the God of all creation and His will reigns supreme. He will expose idolaters for what they are. Apparently He is doing that with the trans movement. May we reach out and offer His grace to everyone as He brings judgment and righteousness to the earth.

More: Why has the Left gone insane over transgenderism? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nabPZYePXI4

A Christian perspective on transgenderism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOgKpxQLe4

How a cult captured England’s health service: https://unherd.com/2024/04/the-liberal-lessons-of-the-cass-report/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=a9d7da6ff9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_04_12_08_39&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-a9d7da6ff9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

An example of a lawsuit going forward; a transitioner suing a hospital for a double mastectomy: https://justthenews.com/nation/religion/detransitioner-sues-catholic-hospital-transgender-surgery-pope-denounces-gender

Transgenderism is a fad, not a biological reality: https://nypost.com/2024/04/04/opinion/believe-data-not-activists-transgenderism-among-kids-is-mostly-a-fad/

Happy Easter: Transgender Day of Visibility: https://wng.org/opinions/visibility-exposes-reality-1711966765?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGSOTX6u-LlRppHLbaGx5GAZ_fgONtoUaRTkpJ19LIb5qrjBYqP8oAejcpE_Hvbmh2Y1WZxluEGBkREjECK0g88ZNggjkm73kzB4L2EkC0Wx6cq

California gives mastectomies to 13-year olds: https://bioedge.org/beginning-of-life-issues/13-year-olds-given-mastectomies-at-california-clinic/

Foster parents can’t oppose transgender ideology: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gender-ideology-invades-the-foster-care-system-washington-oregon-8ee883e0?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h

Transitioning is a basic human right: https://wng.org/opinions/when-evil-is-unmasked-1710463168?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGR8Lx9BaG_nhKnuTF14-MNMgW2JioopnLUcZ97KlOvKpN_LaRMO9shll9jRLqRTVFMKLI8Klszso6XacMCj1sX-Z5nCbVVlCvz4n3X1CLbR8m0

Matt Taibbi: https://www.racket.news/p/the-dumbest-cover-story-ever?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ljoms&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

God created gender as male and female: https://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2024/04/17/god_created_gender_as_male_and_female_1025690.html

Even a New York Times columnist is counseling caution:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/opinion/transgender-care-cass-report.html

https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-trans-reckoning-is-here/

The Spectator on the need to stop the madness: https://thespectator.com/topic/the-trans-kids-madness-needs-to-stop/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The pullback has begun: https://unherd.com/thepost/the-pushback-against-youth-gender-transition-has-begun/

World: Men banned from women’s chess tournaments: https://wng.org/opinions/giving-the-transgender-game-away-1692677850?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGNvHhYhiBLU8urZuXtf77rMH9lWUwhYFyoFPQ4IAoi-8BqzJ4FRSWcLJJRBUN8cJJto00A5Q0BrG6VXAjH7bNcRvxZ6cyaeszuGJrZiU4CdPYJ

Parents fight back: https://www.city-journal.org/article/california-trans-policies-are-provoking-a-parent-backlash

Matt Walsh: https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-trans-ideology-cult-is-collapsing-under-the-weight-of-its-own-absurdity

England's Most Notorious Pagan Becomes a Christian

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 04 May 2024 18:09:29 GMT

Russell Brand Announces He Has Become a Christian

Russell Brand has been celebrated by the arts community for many years. He has won numerous awards for his comedy and his acting. He has been an unabashed hedonist, even publicly recognized for his various debaucheries. I remember a number of years ago watching him interviewed by Howard Stern and boasting about immorality. He has been a stand-up comedian, podcaster, film producer, and actor in dozens of films. His ungodliness is well known.

But things began to change. It’s hard to know exactly when Brand began to doubt the path he was on but in a Tucker Carlson interview about a year ago Brand called himself a desperate person and he said, “I need God in order to cope in this world.” He saw what is missing in modern life--love and compassion. He realized he had fallen “face first” into the allurements of stardom and celebrity and that it had damaged his life. He stopped drinking and taking drugs and it allowed him to think more clearly. He found the idea that life might have a purpose to be engaging and powerful.

Then a few weeks ago he shocked us all by declaring he was going down to the River Thames in London to be baptized into the Christian faith. Afterwards he explained the experience on his Instagram channel. He said that drug use and the pursuit of pleasure had always left him disappointed. They simply had no ability to fulfill. He claimed his baptism was an overwhelming, transformative experience. He felt as though some new resource inside had been switched on. He is hoping he will now be a positive force in the lives of his wife and three children. (Just as an aside: How often do children cause a spiritual transformation in a man?) He says this is all new to him but it is now his ministry and mission to talk about what has happened in his soul. He finished by saying, “I am so grateful to be surrendered in Christ.”

How have people responded? There have been many a cynical comment and frankly my own attitude is, “We shall see.” Bethel McGrew writing in World magazine has an excellent column warning about celebrity conversions.

I do not know if Russell Brand’s conversion will stick. Jesus Himself warned us in the parable of the Sower that many would fall away after hearing the gospel. A writer in the Spectator asks, “Brand a changed man? Not likely. He has been a sexual hedonist too long and the change comes too late.” Of course, with Christ, as long as you live it is never too late. Most importantly, Brand’s testimony reminds me that God can reach anyone. In Acts 9 after Saul of Tarsus claims to have seen Jesus and been converted the Christian community was very suspicious of his testimony. And well they should have been. A mistake here could get you killed. But, as it turns out, Saul, later Paul, had a legitimate conversion, and Tom Holland claims that Paul’s message has been the most transformative in human history. I pray that Russell Brand’s conversion is real and permanent and impacts many. But even if it isn’t, millions are daily being truly transformed in Christ. You sit in church on Sunday with brothers and sisters whose circumstances were just as dire and worse that Russell Brand’s. And that’s why the Christian faith continues to be the most powerful force that has ever existed in human life.

God bless you Russell Brand. May He continue to grant you great joy.

More: “Why I Changed My Mind About Christianity”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XnXgq-Cbgs

“Why I Am Now A Christian”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039-0HjWzso

Brand shares his testimony:

https://www.instagram.com/russellbrand/p/C6WNFDGKKiK/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Bethel McGrew warns us about celebrity conversions: https://wng.org/opinions/will-the-real-kanye-west-please-stand-up-1714531685?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGS05hE7uBRPcuZploc5UT0DfuWsvyzL1wWQi_Hp3kSpOdupk5_pSP-0SpK3cuI4mwMRcGaFOdIOvOTvW0CP98Gfa6OUgOSgQ3Vc_xuLSvzvFXx

The Babylon Bee encourages Brand to grow in his knowledge of Christianity by watching Veggie Tales: https://babylonbee.com/news/church-leaders-get-russell-brand-up-to-speed-on-christian-theology-with-veggietales-marathon?utm_source=The%20Babylon%20Bee%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email

Russell Brand talks about his need for God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXY62OU8ZKg

A more cynical view:

https://thespectator.com/topic/what-expect-russell-brand-baptism/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=aa42eb3804-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_05_01_07_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-aa42eb3804-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Is Medically-Assisted Suicide Morally Wrong?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 20:25:59 GMT

Christians oppose euthanasia: Here are four reasons why

Four decades ago when I started teaching at a large, secular university, I told my students that they were pagans. I wasn’t being critical; just trying to be accurate. They wanted a definition so I provided one: A pagan is a person who lives for physical and psychological happiness and when he dies he ceases to exist. I borrowed this definition from the ancient Greeks but it fits the current mood. Because it’s what’s behind the current mania of assisted suicide, sometimes called euthanasia.

Christians oppose euthanasia on doctrinal grounds. Every human being is created in the image of God and has infinite worth and value. No one has the right to take innocent human life, not even the person themselves. In other words it’s murder. It’s abortion for the elderly.

Euthanasia is becoming legal around the Western world. Right now nine nations allow medically assisted suicide. Ten U.S. states have laws legalizing euthanasia as does the nation’s capital, Washington D.C.

The Dutch were to first to legalize it in 2002. Right now around 5% of their deaths are state administered.

Canada legalized it in 2016 and in the first year 1,000 people were terminated. By 2022 it was over 13,000.

Switzerland just legalized euthanasia for non-citizens.

Many other nations are considering legalization.

Why do Christians oppose euthanasia? Four reasons:

1. It is forbidden in the Word of God

Let me say here that it is easy for me to criticize the actions of someone who is terminally ill and in terrible suffering. I can understand why they would want to end their lives. If I were counseling a person like this—and I have sat with the terminally ill while they died—I would tell them that their life, even in the midst of suffering, still has meaning. And that God still views them as having purpose and value. But the ending of suffering has powerful appeal and I get that.

Having said this we need to make clear that the Bible opposes the taking of innocent life. No physician—or anyone else—is free to end that life. That is for God alone. The commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” applies here as much as anywhere.

2. We Reject The pagan definition of life.

The paganization of culture changes the purpose of being human. Instead of life having intrinsic meaning its only purpose is pleasure. Once you cease to experience pleasure your life ceases to have meaning. It operates under the assumption that your life belongs only to yourself. You have no responsibility to anyone else. Not to family, friends, or community. Certainly not to God. Euthanasia is just another social catastrophe when a culture stops believing in the God of Scripture.

Assisted suicide is a symptom that we have forgotten God and now live out our lives as though there is no God. It is part of the great darkness descending upon us. But in that darkness the light of Christ shines brighter than ever. One way to shine our light is by being pro-life and ministering to all no matter how great their suffering or despair.

I remember as a young man wondering why God allowed the elderly to linger, sometimes for years, living a seemingly useless life, depending completely on the care of others. Then it is as if God spoke to me. The care of younger people for their older, dying relatives is one of the most beautiful acts of love I have ever witnessed. And I have observed how it enriches the souls of the caregiver. Their acts of sacrificial love make them more like Christ than anything they will ever do. And there is nothing better than being like Christ.

As a writer in World put it: “There is nothing dignifying about giving up on life, giving up on loved ones, and giving up on God.”  Or Carl Trueman: “Assisted suicide is just one function of our world where psychological happiness is the most important moral category.”

Matthew Paris is a British atheist I have cited before in my videos. He puts the pagan position precisely: “Religious objections are irrelevant unless you believe in a divinity who has sanctified all human life.” There you have it. Paris says opposition to assisted suicide is anchored in the Christian doctrine of the sanctity of life which Paris rejects.

We are witnessing how hard it is psychologically and spiritually for the technicians who do the killing. The College of Nurses of Ontario has set up a hotline to help staff cope with their consciences after they have terminated someone’s life. One nurse said, “After a recent experience caring for a patient receiving medical assistance in dying, I felt distressed and uncomfortable. How should I manage these emotions?” How indeed. This woman still has a conscience and it is eating away at her.

Kathleen Stock in Unherd, expects pro-death activists to prevail because, “without prior commitment to some deeply felt theological or philosophical principle about the intrinsic value of human life, all that is left for most of us are vague intuitions and orphaned remnants of moral reasoning inherited from a formerly Christian outlook.”

3. The slippery slope.

I remember an elderly Jewish liberal—who was strongly pro-abortion—telling me he opposed euthanasia. Why? Because the Nazi’s used it as a pretext for killing Jews.

He feared the slippery slope. Once euthanasia is legal then in time the state will legalize the killing of anyone for any reason.

Belgium legalized euthanasia in 2002 and in 2014 was the first country to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill children of any age.

Canada legalized it in 2016. It was designed to end the suffering of the terminally ill. But the following year in 2017, the Canadian Medical Association said: “Medical assistance in dying could reduce annual health care spending across Canada by between $34.7 million and $138.8 million.” Already euthanasia was being touted as a cost saving device.

Another story from Canada: One former bank executive who became disabled said his caregiver told him to consider medically assisted suicide. “You are costing the system north of $1500 a day.” Here’s a man who wants to live being told he should die by a government official.

Matthew Parris argues that the taboo on euthanasia needs to be lifted because in a world of longer life spans and lower birthrates it won’t be long until the elderly have a duty to die. They cost too much. It reminds me of Logan’s Run, a sci-fi movie (and book) made almost 50 years ago, about a dystopian future when upon turning 25, people were liquidated in order to make room for the new generation.

The Free Press has a chilling story on Zoraya ter Beek, a Dutch national who is 28 years old. She expects to be euthanized in early May.

She recalled her psychiatrist telling her that they had tried everything, that “there’s nothing more we can do for you. Your depression is never going to get better.”

Zaroya then provides details on how the death event works: “The doctor really takes her time. It is not that they walk in and say: lay down please! Most of the time it is first a cup of coffee to settle the nerves and create a soft atmosphere. Then she asks if I am ready. I will take my place on the couch. She will once again ask if I am sure, and she will start up the procedure and wish me a good journey.”

After this the doctor administers a sedative, followed by a drug that will stop ter Beek’s heart.

Commenting on this young woman, Samuel Sey says, “She will be one of about 10,000 people in the Netherlands who will likely be killed through euthanasia this year, a number that has steadily increased since the nation broadened its euthanasia law to include cases without terminal illness. [Doctors are] legally allowed to euthanize children as young as 12 years old if they had parental consent. The Dutch government has since expanded the law to include children as young as a one-year-old.”

The language is already being changed. We are now seeing lots of euphemisms applied to euthanasia: Again, Kathleen Stock: “At times, it can sound as if one is being offered a particularly relaxing spa treatment. With a pleasing ring of supportiveness, you are now being “assisted” in achieving something, rather than killed by a doctor or killing yourself…the lethally toxic sedative given to “the patient” was merely a “drink”, and its administration a “procedure”, after which you “fall asleep”.” In Scotland euthanasia deaths will be recorded as “natural” rather than as a result of suicide, with the suggestion that this will reduce the “stigma” around assisted dying.”

And these are no match against the powerful lure of a vision of preventing personal physical suffering in future, or the suffering of loved ones, via the offering of a serene and painless death.

For, once introduced at scale and firmly embedded into existing social systems, the constant presence of the psychological possibility of assisted dying might easily wreak more quantifiable havoc than it prevents, in exactly the ways anticipated by critics: guilt-tripping those who feel like burdens into premature endings; tempting the already depressed towards easy oblivion, and so on.

4. Sends a mixed message.

The growth of suicide rates is one of the biggest crises in Western culture. Governments spend millions of dollars telling people not to kill themselves. Then some governments turn around and tell people, “Go ahead, commit suicide. We will help you do it.” Talking out of both sides of your mouth helps no one. If you want people to forego suicide you need to be speaking with one, uncertain voice.

All this is ironic because Western culture has led the way in suicide prevention. I remember once when crossing the Coronado bridge in San Diego there was a sign saying, “Suicide Prevention Hot line;” a counsellor would try to talk you down off the ledge. But since California is now a “right to die” state they probably should change the sign. Maybe it should say “Suicide Prevention Hotline, unless you really want to kill yourself, then go ahead and jump.”

We are Christians. We favor life and oppose the culture of death. May our God, the God Who values every human life, guide us and strengthen us as we seek to do His will.

More: The Astonishing Mistake of the Pro-Abortion Movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0P8eoilpfU

Samuel Sey; Giving Up On Life:

https://wng.org/opinions/giving-up-on-life-1713230119?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGShc-yPvdkXr4yQhyWumLKU8zpkgwj-VAMaQVdR8Pslsov0h6WSlEENqrmhFEbCNpKZnY8U1jbmsd2wlmgvpkZzI4UG6-c2MlYhRweOaEZnhYJ

A young Dutch woman on why she intends to have herself killed:

https://www.thefp.com/p/im-28-and-im-scheduled-to-die?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ljoms&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Kathleen Stock in Unherd on the changes in language:

https://unherd.com/2024/04/the-assisted-dying-lobby-has-already-won/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=554877c0eb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_04_03_08_53&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-554877c0eb-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Carl Trueman on the pagan definition of life:

https://wng.org/opinions/assisted-suicide-and-the-happiness-imperative-1710410310?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGR8RwlQ8eyJO6ABrVtdqaYBZ4DhDkkU-m42ai5gMcCWi8kzleRwFwYKl4cEHfXJhaPHEWhJsuTU3F89MXLslu0QCYZeJU6SNGN-X1hX5_ZYXdz

Bethel McGrew on the slippery slope:

https://wng.org/opinions/a-slow-poison-1707176013?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGRHcB2h_Vv4SbnxglGv6Q_KS5fLQ0E9n_XRQ1kYcnli0TNaODDHVp3cpqPoLVd_AxbD56kas4yz4tVgmoqRtcV8sNzL2s-nIM6QQ9VI1AuwaGZ

More on the slippery slope from The Spectator; “The Barbarism of Canada’s Euthanasia Regime”:

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/the-barbarism-of-canadas-euthanasia-regime/?utm_source=Morning+Shot&utm_campaign=18e329dfe6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_11_03_07_35&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_68055d3d21-18e329dfe6-155377529

The atheist Matthew Parris argues that Euthanasia is a positive good and we need have no qualms in saying so: https://archive.ph/Y9lXy

A Pro-life view on Assisted Suicide: https://aul.org/physician-assisted-suicide/pro-life-views-on-euthanasia/

What is the most powerful idea in history?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 20:31:50 GMT

Western culture is built on ideas taken from the Bible--Part One

What is the most important idea in the history of the human race?

What are the Christian beliefs that built Western culture? Part 1

What bothers me most about the citizens of the West is their lack of gratitude. Our culture was built on the foundation of Christian truth. Every blessing we enjoy is because Jesus Christ walked the earth, died an atoning death, rose from the dead, and launched the most powerful cultural force that has ever existed. We should be continually grateful to Christ for what He has done.

Christianity has spread and become the largest religion in the history of the world and it has spread the most powerful ideas in the history of mankind. In this and future videos I want to list and define those ideas so we can better appreciate them.

We start with the most important social, moral, and political idea in the history of mankind. Christianity introduced, spread, and promoted the doctrine of the image of God in man to the rest of the world. I repeat: it is the most important idea in the history of the human race. The idea came through direct revelation from Almighty God in the Jewish scriptures, but it was the Christian church that spread the idea throughout the world. It has only been believed by people exposed to the Bible’s teaching in Genesis 1:27. The idea has not been held in any other culture. What is it? Since every human being was formed in the image of God, all humans are of infinite worth and value in the sight of God. The implications are endless. Genesis 1:27 asserts that women were created in God’s image. This one phrase has produced the equal treatment of women in Western, Christian culture. Women in the West enjoy the best conditions of any women who have ever lived and it is because of this one idea introduced by the Bible.

John Gray is a British philosopher and an atheist. However, he recognizes that the most important values to people in the West come from this one teaching in the Bible. According to Gray, the defining ideas of modern liberal democracies are continuations of Christian doctrine. “The primacy of the individual is a secular translation of the belief that each human being is created by the Deity, which has an authority over them which transcends any worldly power. The egalitarian belief that [all] human beings have the same moral status reproduces the idea that all human beings are equal in the sight of God. Liberal universalism—the belief that generically human attributes are more important than particular cultural identities—reflects the idea that humankind is created in God's image.”

Gray, like many secular observers, knows that Christian culture has produced these ideas. They are not genetic or in any way inherent to the human value system. They have become dominant in our culture through the influence of the Christian church. They form the basis for the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.

All human rights initiatives owe their existence to this one Christian idea. All ministries of compassion—that every individual deserves love, care, respect, and medical attention is another result. So is compassion for the disabled, the ill, the aged, and the unborn.

Democratic forms of government that practice universal suffrage are also assuming the truth of Genesis 1:27.

In Dominion, Tom Holland tells the interesting story of Julian the Apostate who became the Roman emperor in 361 A.D. Julian was chagrined that worship of the pagan gods had fallen off precipitously and he wanted to restore pagan worship. But in order to do that he had to match Christianity’s compassion for all mankind. What Julian failed to realize, was that the pagan gods cared nothing for the poor. Julian proposed combatting the new faith with aid for the poor of his own. However, “the young emperor, sincere as he was in his hatred of the Galilean teachings, and regretting their impact on all he held dear, was blind to the irony of his plan for combatting them: that it was itself irredeemably Christian.” In other words, Julian somehow failed to recognize that he was trying to restore paganism using Christian values.

He learned the iron law of charity. Compassion for the poor cannot be summoned out of nothing. The logic that summoned compassion out of the committed Christians of Julian’s day “derived from the very fundamentals of their faith.” There was no human existence so wretched that it did not bear witness to the image of God. And Julian’s program for reviving paganism would require, well, the abandonment of paganism.

Thanks for listening. In future videos I want to elaborate on the Christian, biblical values that built Western culture, the most powerful culture that has ever existed.

More: See also, Seven Ideas That Changed the World; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgscHBjbKv8

See my synopsis of Holland’s book, Dominion: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

John Gray on Western Culture: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/november-web-only/john-gray-liberalism-new-leviathans.html

Why Western Christian Culture Will Triumph

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 18:59:32 GMT

Six Reasons for the Triumph of Christianity

Can Western Christian culture triumph?

The eminent historian Tom Holland was asked recently if western civilization was dying? His immediate answer was, “I don’t know.” Then he suggests three future possibilities. First, the secular, progressive society will maintain itself without Christian faith. Society will take the values it inherited from Christianity and maintain them even though they no longer believe in Christianity. Second, the values of the ancient world will be re-enshrined. Weakness will be condemned and power, and glamour, and swagger will be praised. This would be the eradication of Christian civilization, something that the Nazis, Nietzsche, and the modern Progressive Left prefer. Third, Holland suggests, people will recognize you cannot have Christian values without Christian beliefs. There will be a return to the value of Christianity. He sees it as a current trend. And then he admits that any of the three might happen. But he admitted, “I am not a prophet like Isaiah.”

My own view: You cannot have Christian culture without Christian belief in Christian doctrine. That’s how the culture was built and that is how it will be sustained. And I think that Holland’s third scenario—the resurrection of Christian belief—is the most likely to happen. I think Christianity will become more dominant in the West in future. Here’s why:

1. We currently are still dominated by Christian culture. Even the Progressive Left—as Holland suggests—retain many Christian beliefs even if they do not know they are Christian. Recently, I was with my physical therapist and she asked me what I did. I said I was a college professor who specialized in the impact of Christianity on culture. She said she really didn’t get religion. I said, “Yes, you do.” I asked her, do you oppose human trafficking? Of course. That’s the influence of Christianity on your values. I asked her if she was married. Again, yes. I asked her if she expected her husband to be faithful to her. She gave a startled look then said, absolutely. I said that’s the influence of Christian culture. Christianity has created the only culture in the history of mankind that restrains male sexual behavior. The Progressive left believes in the equality of all humans. They are committed to social justice for all people. These are exclusively Christian ideas. They come straight from the Bible; Genesis 1:27 to be specific. And I could cite many others. So even though we call our culture post-Christian, it is still very Christian in many, many ways.

2. We are back to my favorite word, demography. Christians have far more children than the secular Progressives. Ryan Burge recently had a graph showing that Atheists and Agnostics—most of whom are politically on the Left--have only half as many children as Protestant Evangelical Christians—who are mostly to the right. One generation from now there will be millions more people who grew up in Christian, not secular, homes. Just look at how that would affect elections. In the 2020 election a change of one tenth of one percent of the voters in three states would have caused the election to have a different outcome. What would three percent or five percent have done? Make no mistake, children tend to vote like their parents. This is why the Left is ferociously trying to hang on to their control of education. They have to to maintain their power.

3. Immigration. Christianity may be experiencing a decline in the West but not in the rest of the world. Africa, Latin America, and Asia are seeing huge, spectacular revivals of Christian faith. You ask, how does that affect us? Enormously. Millions of serious Christians are pouring into Europe and the rest of the West. Many are vibrant and aggressive and will be a powerful force for Christian culture. A recent article in the secular British publication, Unherd, asked, What is the most religious city in England? It is London by far. Why? Hundreds of thousands of Christian immigrants. Kingsway Christian Center in London currently runs 12,000 in worship on Sunday mornings at its main campus. I was recently preaching in Laramie, Wyoming, and we had a Nigerian couple attend our services. I had lunch with them afterwards. They said they loved our church because it was small—there were about 35 in attendance. I asked how many attended their services at home in Nigeria. The wife paused for a moment then said, “About 50,000.” She showed me a picture of her church auditorium. It looked like a giant basketball arena. They filled it four times on Sunday. It amazes me how the Progressive Left thinks the Africans don’t matter. But boy do they ever. They have more children than anyone else in the world, by far. And they are the bearers of Christian civilization and will sustain Western culture.

4. The Progressive Left will be weakened because education is undergoing a revolution in the West, especially the United States. The Left depends on controlling education and their grip is loosening. Ten states have passed voucher laws giving parents money to go to any school of their choice. Many will choose to put their children in non-public schools where they will not be indoctrinated with left-wing ideas. Colleges and universities are rebelling against the woke administrators in their schools. New colleges and universities are being started. Many will be successful. Homeschooling has doubled in the last five years. All this portends big changes for our culture.

5. Christianity’s preeminent religious competitor is weak. The Progressive Left is a weak religion and everywhere it has been the state religion it has failed. Marxist ideology does not make one a better person; it has no ability to change people’s lives. Leftists have low levels of commitment to their cult. They do not sacrifice for their ideals. I have asked them directly what they have given up to achieve their ideological goals. The answer is always essentially nothing. The Christian faith for two thousand years has produced millions of followers of Jesus Christ who are willing to give up everything to follow him. Millions sacrifice daily to serve and be witnesses for Christ. The Holy Spirit is continuing to produce people of enormous commitment. Our competitor is weak. We are strong.

6. God Himself will respond to the prayers of millions of Christians, pour out His Holy Spirit, and bring a powerful revival to the West. Christianity creates new men and women. It transforms them into extraordinarily productive human beings. Richard Wurmbrand said by their fruits ye shall know them. Christ turns men into saints. Marx turns them into murderers.

So rejoice and be hopeful. Our God is still in control and will triumph. And may He bless in a mighty way.

More: Holland’s lecture raising the three possibilities for the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDa4vpkNKeQ&t=0s

Ryan Burge: Atheists Don’t Have Many Kids; https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/atheists-just-dont-have-many-kids?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Ross Douthat, Does God control history ?

John Gray on Christianity’s contribution to Western culture: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/november-web-only/john-gray-liberalism-new-leviathans.html

What can save civilization?

Is a Christian revival underway?

The decline of Christianity is followed by terrifying new gods: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ar-BB1kZdRj

C.S. Lewis, the prophet: https://wng.org/opinions/a-prophetic-voice-rings-out-1700652470

Gerard Baker; The New World Order is Crumbling Around Us; https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-moral-order-is-already-crumbling-climate-europe-immigration-australia-25d21439

Why is Western Civilization in Crisis?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 20:17:12 GMT

Without a doubt, Western culture is in crisis. Peder Zane has compiled a list of ongoing catastrophes in American culture. There is a significant rise in reckless behavior. Americans spent $66 billion gambling last year. In the last five years alcohol related driving deaths are up 18%. Alcohol related deaths are up 30%. People report being more anxious and depressed. Young women reporting mental health issues have risen 131% in the last ten years. The marriage rate is down and the birth rate is collapsing. The Pentagon has been unable to reach its recruitment goals; so, of course, it has addressed the problem by lowering its standards. Millions of able-bodied American men have dropped out of the workforce, choosing unemployment instead. Incarceration rates are up dramatically. In the last forty years the number of women behind bars has increased by 475%.

You can add to Zane’s list a host of other social pathologies. The transgender insanity is a full attack on women and women’s sports but is supported at the highest levels of the federal government. So is gender transition surgery for children. Crime is out of control and young men in America’s cities are in greater danger than if they were soldiers in Afghanistan.

You can add your own list of evidences of cultural decline. In this video I want to answer the question, “Why is this happening?” In my next video I want to answer the question, “What does the future hold for Western civilization?”

Why is Western culture in crisis?

1. The abandonment of the God of historic Christianity. Belief in the God of the Bible has provided every blessing we enjoy. Religious, political, economic, scientific, technological. All of them. Abandoning Him leads to the destruction of everything good in our lives. Paul charted this for us in Romans 1. Beginning in verse 18 he says men have turned against God even though they know He exists. But they do not thank or honor Him. Then they imagine themselves as too good for God, and then Paul states what should be the new motto for Western universities, “Thinking themselves wise they became fools instead.” Then they spiral down into all kinds of madness which is exactly what we see in the world today. In a society controlled by Christianity people end up being blessed. In a society controlled by the Progressive/Left people end up in concentration camps.

2. Which brings us to number two. The religion of the Progressive Left is a powerful force for destruction. Among our nation’s elite the Christian faith has been replaced by a new quasi-Marxist cult. Its goal is the destruction of our culture as we have known it. It’s no secret. It’s their intention, publicly declared for all to see and hear. Mark Dooley says it well: “[The Progressives] are the enemies of civilisation, of life, and love; [they] have no culture. If anything, their aim is not only to destroy the great cultural and spiritual achievements of the West, but to lay waste to anything that transcends the diabolical and obscene.”

3. The third reason for the crisis: as well as converting to Marxism our cultural elite are repaganizing. You see this in their all-out attack on historic Christianity. You see it in the collapse of sexual ethics. They have abandoned the Christian doctrine of personal responsibility and replaced it with a cult of victimhood. Western nations are expanding access to euthanasia; state-assisted suicide. The worship of God has been replaced with the worship of nature.

4. The fourth cause of the crisis: The academic community. It is the chief arm of the Progressive Left and more and more is committed to the destruction of Western culture. It is anti-God, anti-Christian, specifically hostile to our civilization, and hostile to personal freedom.

5. The biggest sign of the decline of our culture is demography. People have stopped having children. Almost every nation in the developed world has a birth rate that would not replace its present population. In the United States women are having 20% fewer children than needed to replace our population. This is an enormous crisis yet the birth rate continues to fall.

6. We see an all-out war on the family. One of the first things pagans have always done is devalue children. People in the LBGQT movement by definition cannot reproduce. It is a sterile culture of death. And yet it has become the chief cause celebre’ for our elite. We see the war on the family worldwide with the mass slaughter of the female unborn. Upwards of 200 million of them have been aborted or killed through abortion or infanticide; simply because they were female.

7. We see the redefining of human beings as creatures with absolute autonomy and no limits, but also with no intrinsic meaning. Carl Trueman calls this the return of nihilism. A culture in which values do not exist.

Western culture has external enemies but in my view the threat is overwhelmingly from within. Admittedly, we see the rise of Islam, and a minority of Muslims seek to overthrow our culture, but only a tiny fraction of them are literally at war with us. Most Muslims would like to get on with the normal things of life, not blow themselves up trying to change our culture.

China is on the march but has enormous internal problems—economic and demographic—and I question how much damage they can do.

We see the threat of terrorism, but though it generates headlines it has little effect on civilization.

We have recently seen how a pandemic can wound our culture but it is a storm we can weather and life returns to pretty much the normal it was before. They greatest threat the pandemic posed was government intervention in the lives of its citizens.

There is the specter of nuclear war which is potentially catastrophic but has not yet materialized.

If you go online and google the question, What is causing the decline of the West, the most common answer given is income inequality. But for the life of me I don’t see this as having any importance at all. Whether or not incomes are becoming more unequal—and there is fierce debate about this—the fact is that everyone in the West is getting richer. Which is why 10 million people in the last three years have illegally entered the United States, and millions more will continue to try. If we were plagued by inequality this would not be happening.

Yes, our world has problems. But our God is sovereign over all. In my next video I will share why I am confident about the future of Western civilization.

May our God, Who rules the nations, bless you this day in a mighty way.

J. Peder Zane assembles evidence for America and the West’s collapse: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/03/25/the_canaries_in_americas_coal_mine_150695.html

The Muslim population of Europe: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/11/29/5-facts-about-the-muslim-population-in-europe/

More: Holland’s lecture raising the three possibilities for the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDa4vpkNKeQ&t=0s

Mark Dooley argues that we aren’t really in a culture war but fighting an enemy who wants to do nothing but destroy: https://europeanconservative.com/articles/essay/the-religion-of-antichrist/

Victor Davis Hanson provides another list of evidences that Western culture is collapsing: https://amgreatness.com/2024/01/08/a-culture-in-collapse/

Marco Rubio on the new religions of the West: https://www.compactmag.com/article/against-progressive-pseudo-religion/

What is the Muslim population of Europe?: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/11/29/5-facts-about-the-muslim-population-in-europe/

Madeline Kearns, The West’s Suicide Wish: https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/10/the-wests-suicide-wish/

Carl Trueman; ours is an age without values; it is nihilistic: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/03/nihilismin-nazi-germany-and-today

The Great Dechurching, Part 2: How do we get people back to church?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 20:26:15 GMT

Nine Steps to Getting People Back to Church

We now review the second half of The Great Dechurching. The authors begin on a couple of positive notes.

First, surprisingly, millions of the dechurched are still orthodox in their doctrinal beliefs. They believe the Bible is the Word of God, that Jesus is the Son of God and died an atoning death and rose from the dead, and that he will one day return. Second, a large portion of the dechurched said they plan to return some day or they would like to return given the right circumstances. The dechurched have to be persuaded that church attendance is part and parcel with doctrinal orthodoxy. The authors make a rather remarkable statement: “Many of the dechurched people in our lives don’t need to be convinced that regular church attendance has value; they need to be encouraged to do what they already know they should.”

So let’s look at nine steps that can be taken to get them back:

1. Invite people back to church: “If there is one single application from our research that you walk away with, please let it be this: invite your dechurched friends back to a healthy church with you. The majority of people who have dechurched are willing to return.” That’s right. The research shows that a great majority of the dechurched are very open to returning.

2. Give people a sense of belonging. What would be the primary factor getting them back? Friendships with people in the church. Churches need to focus on how to make their congregations relationship friendly. Check the video below on this topic.

3. Pastors should focus their pulpit ministry on things that will help the unchurched. Preach the Gospel. Many of the dechurched have never been truly born again and need to have a personal experience with Christ. Preach the importance of Christians gathering together. Take people deeper in their knowledge of the Bible. Nothing will help more.

4. Strike a healthy balance between discipleship and outreach. It is important to be missional—to reach the lost. It is also important to train and equip the people who already attend. Churches need to do both. But striking a balance can be difficult. Each set of congregational leaders need to devote a lot of time and prayer to this and decide where the balance is for their church.

5. Focus attention on retaining your children. This is a long view aspect of dealing with dechurching. Parents need to be trained in best practices for raising children to go to church. There is a lot of literature on this and I link some below. Closely related, develop a pro-family atmosphere that will encourage parents to have more children. There is a flood of online discussion about this right now, especially since the greatest threat to western civilization is the birth dirth—people are not having children. Birth rates are at their lowest point in the history of the human race. It doesn’t take any special genius to know that congregations with larger families have a healthier future.

6. The authors have a chapter called “Embracing Exile.” Don’t worry about being culturally marginalized or condemned by the wider society. Who cares what the cultural elite think. In fact, embrace our status. It certainly didn’t hurt the early church and it won’t hurt us. It’s part of being a Christian.

7. Don’t be surprised, wounded, or discouraged when people leave. Every pastor faces this crisis if he has a ministry that lasts longer than a half hour. Laymen in the church need also to develop a thick skin. People will depart from your church for a host of reasons. You cannot take it personally. You must rise above it. You have to focus on the people who are there, not those who aren’t.

8. Pray. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is still the number one factor in church growth. Be patient while you pray. Many times I have seen churches laboring away for years or decades when all of a sudden, like a mighty rushing wind, the Spirt blows in and brings real revival. Wait for it. Don’t try to manufacture it.

9. The church simply needs to do the things the church has always done. As I have told my students at both secular and Christian universities, the Christian church does the best job of creating community of any institution in the history of the world. Christianity is labor intensive. It takes a lot of man-hours to produce disciples. Anyone raising children knows it takes tens of thousands of hours to produce a functioning adult. The same is true for a functioning disciple of Jesus Christ. Be prepared to put in the long hours necessary to raising up the saints, just as a parent understands that it will require long hours to raise a child to maturity.

I hope all this encourages you. Please check out the links below. I think you will find them helpful. May the Lord bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: The Great Dechurching: Why Forty Million Americans Have Stopped Going to Church; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1vYclo5GFU

“Why I Changed My Mind About Christianity” https://studio.youtube.com/video/5XnXgq-Cbgs/edit

The Great Dechurching on Amazon

The best prevention of dechurching is the Christian home:

https://mereorthodoxy.com/how-do-our-kids-stay-christian

Following are some outstanding videos from Reach Keep that address the steps above.

Reach Keep is the best site on the web for practical ideas on building the local church: https://www.youtube.com/@user-vw3to9lx3b

How to have an excellent nursery in your church: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKu3-WJsWss&t=82s

Getting the dechurched to come back: “Invite-How to Get Normal People to Come to Church” - https:// youtu.be/0X51Xcbbrrw

Giving visitors and new members a sense of belonging-Making Your Church a Fertile Landing Ground- https://youtu.be/sWp31pt-2lI

For pastors, making their pulpit more effective: The Pastor and His Preaching- The 9 Fundamentals of Pastoral Preaching; Overview https://youtu.be/Z0aId9b2lAU

The importance of Focusing on Children- “Why Older Pastors Often Struggle to Attract and Retain Younger Families in Their Local Church”; https://youtu.be/ dMHO0GuJjzs

The Great Dechurching: Why Have Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 19:22:03 GMT

A New Book Tackles This Question and Tries to Explain Why

Why have millions of American Christians stopped going to church?

The Great Dechurching by Jim Davis, Michael Graham and Ryan Burge explores the reasons why forty million Americans have stopped attending church in the last twenty-five years.

They try to answer three questions:

Who left?

Why did they leave?

What will it take to get them back?

For the purposes of their study, they defined a dechurched person as someone who used to go to church at least once per month but now goes less than once a year.

So who has stopped going to church? The authors break down the absentees into five major categories and then break dechurched Evangelicals down into four further sub-categories. (An Evangelical is a Christian whose final authority is the Bible and who believes that to be a Christian you must be born again.) I would analyze the individual categories at greater length but they don’t seem to make much difference.

There is no one particular group of people who have stopped going to church. Dechurching has occurred across all theological traditions—mainline churches and Evangelicals, every age group—young and old; every ethnicity—white, black, latino; every political affiliation from liberal to conservative; every educational level, from high school dropouts to people with graduate degrees. The dechurching has occurred in every geographic location; no income bracket escaped dechurching in America. Men and women seem to be about equally affected. Roman Catholic and Protestant. There is some variation in these categories but the differences don’t seem to be that great.

So forty million Americans go to church a whole lot less than they did twenty-five years ago.

We need several warnings here. There are limitations in counting the dechurched. The authors are depending on large survey samples and people self-report on their church going habits. So we are depending on people telling the truth to a pollster. This is a limitation for every poll but seems especially important here. A couple of questions the authors do not deal with are really important. I was left wondering how many people now attend online church. They don’t go to a building but watch services on their computer or phone. The authors merely say there are lots of those people but I still don’t know how many are in that category. And in my several readings of the book I have a larger question. What constitutes going to church? I know a young man who might be considered dechurched. He does not go to a traditional church service very often. But he’s in three Bible studies, two online and one in his apartment. In addition, he is a volunteer in a local church youth group on weeknights. How many people are there like him? How do you count him?

Having said all this, it is still easier to count the absentees than it is to answer the next question—why did they leave? Again we are dependent on people’s self-reporting but they give a whole range of reasons. A few tend to dominate.

When the Wall Street Journal analyzed this research they said the number one reason people stop going to church is they move and do not try to find a new church. And that seems like a big, maybe the biggest reason people dechurch. Some said that life just got too busy and they no longer had time for church. Closely related, lots of people cited changes in life circumstances like divorce or remarriage. But in their polling data the authors come up with lots of other reasons, a lot of them relational. People said they had no friends at church, A lot cited personal feelings—they just did not seem to fit in with the church, or the church just didn’t seem that loving. Some give theological reasons—they are bothered by the suffering in the world or they doubt the goodness of God or even the existence of God. Quite a few cite moral reasons—the church’s teaching on sexuality is too narrow or they want to explore their sexuality. As you would guess a number cite moral scandals in the church claiming these drove them away. Some cited the Covid pandemic. It got them out of the habit of going to church and they just never got back. Some cited political reasons—the church was too conservative politically, but just as many felt the church was too liberal. As you might expect some cited a negative church experience—they got their feelings hurt and quit attending.

After looking at Americans generally the authors home in on Bible-believing Christians in particular. People who are generally referred to as Evangelicals. Most of you listening to my video would be classified as an Evangelical. That means the Bible is your final religious authority and to get right with God you need to be born again through faith in Christ.

What about this group? Again the authors break them down into sub-groups. And for Evangelicals there are four groups: These groups are cultural Christians; dechurched mainstream evangelicals; exvangelicals; and dechurched Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

Cultural Christians are by far the biggest group; 8 million; they have no real Christian faith. They don’t believe the Bible, do not have a personal relationship with Christ. The authors flat out say they are not believers. They are not born again. They went to church for social or cultural reasons but now they don’t. Why did they leave? Might better ask why they went in the first place. The reasons they give are almost all personal, even trivial. Again, the big one: they moved. They changed locations and just didn’t start back up going to church in their new location. Other reasons—they didn’t have any friends in a church; attending was inconvenient. They give a host of reasons and not one stands out.

The more serious dechurching began in the early 1990s. What happened then? The authors focus on three things: First, When the Soviet Union collapsed and that struggle ended, it became more culturally acceptable to be both American and non-Christian. Personally, I do not know how much credence to give this explanation. Second, rise of religious right and its involvement in politics alienated people. But their own research shows that left-wing politics alienated just as many. Finally, third, the internet. People could get what they wanted online without the bother of getting dressed and going to church. This last one makes the most sense. But I think most importantly of all—people who went to church but weren’t really Christians in the biblical sense felt free to stop attending.

24% of Americans attend church every week—or more. Another 20% or so go fairly regularly. That means that on a given Sunday about 100 million Americans are in church. That’s almost as many as watched the Super Bowl.

The authors give lots of reasons for hope. Almost all of the dechurched are open to coming back. How do we restore them to fellowship? That’s the subject of our next video.

Thanks for listening. May our God bless you richly.

More: To purchase “The Great Dechurching” on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Dechurching-Leaving-Going-Bring/dp/0310147433

Religious “nones” are hard to classify. https://religionunplugged.com/news/2024/2/6/religious-nones-are-a-complex-group-hard-to-pigeonhole

Christianity Today reviews certain aspects of the book: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2024/february/african-american-nones-black-church-faith-shift-pew-deconst.html?utm_source=CT%20Daily%20Briefing%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=722630&utm_content=15748&utm_campaign=email

An interview with the authors: https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2024/01/24/the-great-dechurching-why-so-many-americans-are-leaving-their-church

What Do We Make of "The Chosen"?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 19:26:48 GMT

My Review of the Popular Show Watched By Millions

What should we make of “The Chosen?”

Lots of Christians are watching the series, “The Chosen,” about Jesus’ earthly life, and the lives of His 12 disciples. It has been hugely successful at least in terms of the number of people who have watched it. It has been viewed more than 300 million times by more than 100 million people. Three seasons have been made thus far and my wife and I have watched each of them twice. I must confess, we enjoyed them thoroughly.

As you would expect with any portrayal of Jesus Christ that has become this well known, it has attracted a great deal of controversy.

The Chosen deals with one of the most difficult theological issues in all of history—the Incarnation. What did it mean for Jesus to be human? Many religious groups have stumbled here. There have been two extremes. One extreme denies Jesus’ deity; that Jesus is fully God. Two examples are the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witness’, but there have been scores of others. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He had no beginning. He has always existed as the second person of the Trinity. Many marginal Christian groups deny this.

But many groups have gone to the other extreme—they deny Jesus’ humanity. One of the earliest heresies confronting the Christian church was Docetism. It comes from a Greek word meaning to seem or to appear. The Docetist heresy argued that Jesus did not really become a man but that He just seemed to. He appeared as a man but was not really human. When you read the history of the first several centuries of the church this a constant issue. And we see it today. There is much Catholic and Protestant art that gives Jesus an “other-worldly” appearance. He just isn’t human.

So both extremes have existed in Christian history.

The creators of the Chosen emphasize Jesus’ humanity. He is a real person. He is fully human. He has all the emotions humans have, and He lives the kind of life that humans would live. The same is true of His disciples. They are ordinary men. Weak, sinful men. They are clearly portrayed as such in the Bible.

This emphasis on Jesus’ humanity has created strong criticism from both Catholic and Protestant circles. Typical are the blog posts from Leila Miller, a Roman Catholic writer. She accuses The Chosen of creating a “false Christ” a counterfeit Christ. She is bothered by the emphasis on Jesus’ humanity. He is your buddy, your best friend. She says this Jesus is acceptable, inoffensive, and nonthreatening. He sits around laughing with you. She also criticizes the portrayal of Mary, saying, “The Blessed Mother is the homeliest woman in Jesus’ circle.” That last observation is completely subjective. I don’t think the Mary of the Chosen is homely at all. Miller thinks Jesus in the Chosen is all too human. In reading several of her blogs I didn’t find her one time saying the Jesus of the Chosen violated Scripture. She claims He violates two thousand years of Catholic teaching. But I think he primarily violates her sense of what Jesus ought to be like. To be honest, she reminded me of the Pharisees who were really bothered that Jesus would go to parties and eat with tax collectors and sinners. Miller’s Jesus would not be caught dead at Matthew’s house.

Another criticism is the involvement of non-Christians in the project. Many are Mormons and simply secular non-Christians. This does not bother me. I am concerned that a production communicates biblical truth. If it is well presented so much the better. But I certainly understand believers who do not share my view and I respect them.

There are others who say the script writers take too much liberty with the text and I understand this. But I have read lots of fictional, biblical stories over the years. Ben Hur was the best-selling book of the 19 ^th century. I loved it and the movie made from it in 1959. Ben Hur did exactly the same thing as The Chosen does. It took liberties with the biblical accounts of Jesus’ life. I have no problem with this as long as they accurately communicate biblical truth.

Having said all this I want to recommend the first three seasons to Christians and everyone else. (I am reserving judgment on future seasons.). Here’s what I liked:

In my opinion it is the best portrayal of Jesus I have ever seen. If you could jump in a time capsule and journey back to the first century I think this is very much what Jesus and the disciples would look like. Jesus in the Chosen is clearly the Sovereign Lord of all. He is the supernatural Son of God. He performs miracles. He teaches eternal truth. Not one thing put in His mouth by the writers is contrary to biblical truth. One Jewish writer who began with real suspicions about The Chosen, became entranced with it. Why? Because Jesus and His disciples were so Jewish. Which, of course, they were.

More importantly, I think The Chosen succeeds in its fundamental aim—it shows what a ragtag bunch the disciples were, which is exactly what the Bible teaches in Acts 4:13; their Jewish audience saw them as uneducated, common men. As I watch The Chosen I keep thinking. This sorry collection of people is going to become the most influential of all time. How can that be? We know the answer. The Jews themselves figured out. Again from Acts 4:13: they took note that they had been with Jesus. When Jesus gets inside you, you become a person of enormous power.

One other thought. Drawing attention to Jesus is never a good strategy for Satan. If people get interested in Jesus and begin to investigate Him, they are engaging in high-risk behavior. Getting to know Jesus can radically alter the trajectory of your life.

Joseph Holmes, writing for Religion Unplugged summed it up very well: “There is a simple reason for the series’ popularity: It portrays a Jesus who feels like Jesus to people and surrounds this Jesus with people the audience can relate to. This means that, when Jesus tells the characters in the story that he loves them, forgives them of their sins and will always protect them and guide them, they feel like the real Jesus is talking to them.”

And the real Jesus does all these things. He can do it for you right now. If you haven’t already, ask Him to forgive you and save you. He will.

Thanks for listening. May you encounter the real Jesus today and find your whole life transformed.

More: A Jewish writer strongly recommends “The Chosen:”

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-this-jew-is-binge-watching-the-chosen-and-maybe-you-should-too/

A harsh attack from a conservative Roman Catholic:

https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-false-christ-of-the-chosen?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=e6c38ea75a-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-e6c38ea75a-28475396&mc_cid=e6c38ea75a&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

Joseph Holmes, review for Religion Unplugged: https://religionunplugged.com/news/2022/11/23/the-chosen-season-three-is-a-triumphant-mixed-bag?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA29auBhBxEiwAnKcSqkHyu2LuJUM9vM_4Cx5O2WSGTpaXgKqh1HIsOcuu2RQUaekVSWJ29RoCLuAQAvD_BwE

Christianity Today has a take on the series: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/july-web-only/chosen-vidangel-made-us-like-christ-mimetic-desire.html

Why Are There So Many Christian Athletes?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 19:01:30 GMT

The Answer is Really Quite Simple

In his post-game interview after the Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes, quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs and most valuable player in the game, said, “I just want to give the glory to God.” Mahomes is known for his Christian witness but that isn’t unusual in the NFL. Many of its most celebrated players have been clear in their Christian testimony. After winning the 2000 Super Bowl and the MVP award, Kurt Warner said, “First things first, I want to give praise to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

In addition to players, many coaches have a strong Christian witness. Bill McCartney is the best coach in the history of the University of Colorado, leading his team to the school’s only national championship in 1990. An ardent Christian, after the 1994 season McCartney resigned from coaching to start the well-known Christian organization, Promise Keepers.

Athletes in other sports are also outspoken Christians. Many players in the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball have a strong Christian witness. Most professional teams and most college teams in every sport have a chapel program for their players and coaches. I have spoken several times in them myself.

So, why are almost all Christian celebrities in sports? Because it is a meritocracy. By that I mean, you will not be discriminated against for being a Christian. If you are the best quarterback on the team you are going to play, no matter what your religious preference.

The same cannot be said for other arenas of celebrity. Take Hollywood. There are a few Christians in the movie industry, but very few. It’s not as much of a meritocracy. More people can act in movies then can play quarterback in the NFL. So Hollywood executives can discriminate against them or force them to hide their witness. And they do. Hollywood tilts overwhelmingly to the anti-Christian Left. Can you even imagine an actor, when receiving his academy award, saying, “I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” To the best of my knowledge nothing like that has ever happened in the history of the medium.

But the academic community is even worse. There are a number of academic superstars—celebrities if you will. Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins. Freeman Dyson. I do not know of one, single, academic celebrity who is a Christian. In fact, on most university faculties there is not a single Christian of any kind. To the best of my knowledge no one has ever given glory to God when receiving a Nobel prize. And many in the academic community are hostile toward Christianity. Not a single celebrated athlete I have ever heard of has come out against Christianity. But many celebrated academics spew hatred toward the Christian faith.

So let’s ask the question again: Why are there so many Christian athletes and coaches? There aren’t. They just reflect the general population. If you walked down the street of an average American city and asked a hundred people if they were Christians, about two-thirds of them would say, “Yes.” About a third of them would have been in church the previous Sunday. And about ten of them would be open about their faith and seek to win others to it. Sports simply reflects this reality. The more interesting question that deserves research is why are there so few Christians in Hollywood and fewer still in academia. But we don’t need research to tell us that. We know the reason. Overt, hostile, ongoing discrimination.

I remember telling my colleagues at the university: “When you looked around and saw very few black professors you said, “We are discriminating against people of color.” When you looked around and saw few women you said, “We are sexists.” When you looked around and saw no Christians, you said, “That’s because Christians are stupid.” (I have actually seen academic research papers arguing this very thing and heard it with my own ears many times.)

Hostility toward Christians is an acceptable form of bigotry in Hollywood and the academic community. But not in sports. If you can play, you play. Even if you give the glory to Jesus Christ. And so, lots of sports celebrities are believers.

Thank you for listening. May the Lord bless you mightily.

More: Is Our Godless Era Dead? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2_rr8xy58Q

Why I Converted from Atheism to Christ: https://studio.youtube.com/video/039-0HjWzso/edit

The lack of Christian journalists and the stupidity it leads to:

https://thespectator.com/newsletter/the-medias-ignorant-attempt-to-cover-christians-culture-shock-02-21-2024/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=c31595e461-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_02_22_08_39&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-c31595e461-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Should We Send Kids To College?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 19:06:52 GMT

There Are a lot of negatives about college: Do we need to consider alternatives?

Is It Time to Stop Sending Our Kids to College?

A lot of people these days are questioning the value of college and for good reason. I have spent my entire adult life in education. I have two education degrees and have taught middle school, high school, and spent forty years as a college professor. I am also a Christian parent with nine grown children. So let me lend my perspective to the question.

The first question we need to consider is why do people want to go to college in the first place? A hundred years ago you went to college to become a deeper, broader, more complete person. To become more civilized as it were. And it was strictly an upper-class venue. In the 1890s only 3% of America’s youth were college bound after high school.

Later on more and more adolescents went to college because it was a ticket to a better-paying career. In many cases it was absolutely necessary to pursue certain careers. Like medicine or college teaching. And it ceased being an upper-class phenomenon. Today, around 60% of America’s youth will eventually enroll in college.

Another reason parents wanted their kids to go to college was to transition fairly painlessly into adulthood. Rather than being thrown into the jungle of real-life work experience, a kid could take four years to move slowly into the real world, while having a really good time and, possibly, learning a few things along the way.

But the biggest reason people went to college was a college degree confers status. Parents want to be able to tell their friends that their children are college educated. For many, the more prestigious the university the more pleasure they get in telling people about their children.

But today a lot has changed. More and more parents are hesitant to see their kids off to college and a lot of kids feel the same way. A recent Gallup poll showed that slightly more than half of parents want their kids to go to college. The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article entitled, “Why Parents Have Lost Faith in the Value of College.”

Why is this? All too often college makes your life worse in every way. Let’s start with the most obvious. College makes you worse off financially. I have read all the statistics that say a college graduate makes more money over a lifetime than people who don’t go to college. But is going to college the reason? A lot of those kids who went to college are the kind of kids who would have made a lot more money anyway. Businesses see it this way. Many require a college degree even if it has absolutely nothing to do with the product they produce. They figure if a kid can work his way through the tedium of higher education he probably knows how to work and how to endure. According to the Wall Street Journal the average public university costs $36,000 a year. A degree at a private or elite university costs $300,000 to complete. In my home state of Colorado the average college loan debt is $36,000 which is pretty typical. It doesn’t take a student very long to figure out he can do a lot with $36,000.

Colleges make you worse off morally. When teaching at CU I remember students saying, “We’re the #1 party school in America!” I’ll bet I have heard kids from a hundred colleges say that. They brag at how debauched they are. I was chatting with a prof from Villanova, an ostensibly Catholic school. He said, “Our dorms are nothing more than brothels.” But I already knew that. When I taught at CU my office was in a dorm. I cannot begin to tell you the depths of depravity it had sunk to; the drunkenness, drug use, immorality. Hell has more moral restraint.

College makes you worse off religiously. For Christian parents this one is the most obvious. In most cases having a college degree means you have spent four years being indoctrinated by the enemies of Christ. If you attend a public university you have zero chance of taking a class from a Christian professor. And it isn’t as though they are neutral. Some are. But many devote themselves to the destruction of any kind of Christian faith. I was talking with a colleague who taught English. He said, and I quote: “My job is to destroy the religious values these kids got from their parents.” I asked, what do you plan to replace it with? He had a one-word answer: “Marxism.” And don’t think he’s an outlier. Thousands of American professors are just like him. Which is why I have a video on why the academic community is the greatest enemy of Western Civilization.

College makes you worse off politically. The biggest indicator of Left-wing voting tendencies is college attendance. If you went to college you are far more likely to vote for left-wing candidates. Millions of American adolescents sit for four or more years at the feet of people who hate God, hate the people of God, hate America, and hate Western Civilization. Does it surprise you that tens of thousands of these students have taken to the streets to express hatred for Israel? Or that they vote by the millions for left-wing politicians? The Left is the chief enemy of the world we live in and they are a wholly owned subsidiary of America’s colleges.

And last, college makes you worse off intellectually. Study after study has shown that college graduates have less ability to think clearly and logically than those who don’t go to college. The academic community does not want clear thinking citizens. It wants people to mindlessly follow the policies of the secular Progressive elite.

Having said all this I realize that some of you will still feel led by the Lord to go to college and I won’t argue that it isn’t His will. I have a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. from secular universities and I believe the Lord led me in both cases. You might feel called to a specific vocation, like medicine, or education, and a college degree is a necessity.

But if you are a parent or high school student you need to feel free to seriously consider alternatives to college. What are they? If you search online for “alternatives to college” you will find very long lists. I have linked below one of those articles: “Twenty-two Alternatives to College.” Let me give you three of my favorites.

First, if you really feel you need that college credential get one online. There are hundreds of choices including some very fine Christian colleges. The cost will be a fraction of attending a residential college and you will be able to continue to live at home or in your home area, attend your same church, fellowship with the same group of people who know and love you. I see no real overall advantage to uprooting your life and heading off to state U or any other U. Community college fits in here as well. I taught at one for many years and I thought, these students are getting just as good an education as they would at the large state university I taught at. And they are doing it for about one tenth the cost.

Second, enter the job market as an apprentice or just as an employee. Start gaining work experience. Develop skills people need. They will pay for them. A number of years ago the Wall Street Journal did a comparison of a person who became a plumber and a person who became a medical doctor. The doctor ended up making more—but not a lot more. And he didn’t have a higher annual salary until he was much older. If you feel God calling you to be a doctor, by all means go to college and med school. But finances are not the best guide for making that kind of decision.

Third, become an entrepreneur. Or start working at some sort of business which will give you the skills to someday start your own business. Many entrepreneurs make serious money. And college is almost always irrelevant to this career choice. Interestingly, way less than half of college graduates work in the area of their college major. So why go in the first place?

I hope this helps. May the Lord bless your richly.

More: The Moral Bankruptcy of Higher Education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KhDndjDUac

What’s Behind the Disaster at Harvard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Y3pyhTcTk

The Academic Community is the Greatest Enemy of Western Civilization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79zJJDe6LeM

The fight for civilization in higher education: https://thespectator.com/topic/fight-western-civilization-higher-education-utah/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=825f078585-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_02_14_05_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-825f078585-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Why Americans Have Lost Faith in College: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/why-americans-have-lost-faith-in-the-value-of-college-b6b635f2?mod=djemLifeStyle_h

Colleges Have Made Themselves Useless: https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/how-colleges-have-made-themselves-useless?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=a135059b0e-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-a135059b0e-28475396&mc_cid=a135059b0e&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

It was like a flock of demons had been released upon the world: https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2023/12/07/like_a_flock_of_demons_released_upon_the_world_997485.html

Americans have lost faith in the value of college: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/why-americans-have-lost-faith-in-the-value-of-college-b6b635f2?mod=djemLifeStyle_h

Universities are not on the level: https://www.joshbarro.com/p/universities-are-not-on-the-level?triedSigningIn=true

https://hechingerreport.org/poll-nearly-half-of-parents-dont-want-their-kids-to-go-to-a-four-year-college/

Higher Ed has become a threat to America: https://www.wsj.com/articles/higher-ed-has-become-a-threat-to-america-antisemitism-dei-college-f52bb0b5?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

22 Alternatives to College: https://www.globalcitizenyear.org/content/alternatives-to-college/

Why is Christianity the dominant force in the world? One more reason--The Worldwide Distribution of Scripture

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 18:40:52 GMT

Protestant Christians have delivered billions of copies of the Bible all over the world.

When I was a professor at the University of Colorado every spring the Gideons would distribute New Testaments around campus to everyone who would take one. I often had comments and discussions in my classes about the practice. Most students shrugged their shoulders and said, “Whatever.” A few, unaware of the First Amendment, would say they didn’t have the right to distribute the Bibles. But none of them paused to ask the most important question, so I asked it for them. “Why do those old men do that? Why do they go to the trouble and expense to pass out the little green Bibles?”

Students had no idea. I then asked a follow up question, “What do those old men think they are accomplishing?” Sometimes a student would figure it out. They would answer, “Maybe they think the Bibles will help somebody.” Ah. Yes, the Gideons think their Bibles will help somebody.

And boy are they right. The translation and distribution of Scripture has been one of the most powerful cultural and spiritual forces of all time.

This is almost exclusively the province of Protestant Evangelicals. If you hand a Bible to someone with no Christian background and they read it carefully and honestly, they often become Christians, and Christians very much like ourselves.

A person reading the Bible only would never become a Mormon. Mormonism’s elaborate belief system simply isn’t in the Bible. And Mormons do not distribute Bibles, nor are they involved in translation work. The same with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. And the Roman Catholics as well. The Catholics believe in the authority of the Bible but they have added so much religious scaffolding to its contents, no one reading the Bible and nothing else would become a Catholic of any kind—Roman or Eastern.

But Protestants have gigantic Bible distribution ministries. The Gideons alone have distributed more than 2 billion copies of Scripture. Not just to schools but hospitals, the military, motels, hotels, and in a host of other places you will open a drawer and see a Gideon Bible.

Not only do Evangelicals lead the world in Scripture distribution, we lead in translation ministries as well. Giant missionary groups are dedicated to one thing—the translation of the Bible into a person’s native language. Wycliffe Bible Translators alone have translated a least a portion of the Bible into 3,000 languages and dialects.

We should add here that the most watched film of all time, The Jesus Film, has been dubbed into over 2,000 languages. It is based on one portion of Scripture—the Gospel of Luke. The distributors of the film have called on the Bible translation people to help them with this giant task of making the film available to people in their own language.

As a result, hundreds of millions of people have embraced the gospel and the spread of the Bible has been one of the most powerful forces for changing history that has ever existed. The Jesus Film Project says that 633 million people have indicated they have received Christ after watching the film. That’s nearly the United States times two. For just that one film.

If you invite a Gideon to speak to your church he will tell amazing stories of people coming to Christ by reading a Bible or Testament.

I have some of my own. A number of years ago I had been invited to speak at a retreat for a church in Arizona. I gave several messages and during a break a man approached me, saying he had some questions about the Bible. I asked him how he had become a Christian. He said he had been a member of the Outlaw motorcycle gang. One night he had reached the end of his rope and decided to take his own life. He reached into his saddlebag to take out a pistol. But by mistake he reached into the wrong pocket and took out a New Testament his grandmother had given him. He read it. Instead of taking his own life he gave it to Jesus Christ and had become a delightful person and an aggressive evangelist.

And my favorite Bible translation story. I was speaking at a missions’ conference in Nepal when one of the Nepali nationals who was in translation work told me this story. They had finished a New Testament in a local tribal language and were distributing it in a marketplace at the foot of the Himalayas. A person from a distant tribe was there that day and took a copy of the Testament and returned with it to his village deep in the world’s highest mountain range. He said a few years later he and some of his coworkers managed to get to the village and they found that everyone had come to Christ through the reading of the one copy of the New Testament. That has happened many, many times in the history of translation work. But then the villagers asked him a question. “We are so thankful God sent His Son to die on the cross to save us, but why did he have to die four times?” Of course, these villagers came from a culture that believed in reincarnation. When they finished Matthew they thought Jesus was starting over in Mark. They did not understand the concept of the Gospels covering the same ground four different ways. But you have to admit, they took the Bible very seriously. Christ changed their lives and their village.

As Christians we need to rejoice in what God is doing through His Word all over the world. Read the Bible yourself and encourage others to do the same. May the God who inspired the Bible bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Your Awesome Bible: The Most Powerful Book in Human History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL8qkPk3H0k

One of the most influential people of all time: “The woman who gave the world a thousand names for God”: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/october/linguist-katharine-barnwell-bible-translation-jesus-film.html?utm_source=CT+Daily+Briefing+Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=722630&utm_content=10966&utm_campaign=email

The special role of women in Bible translation: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/april-web-only/how-single-women-became-unstoppable-force-in-bible-translat.html

The Jesus Film website: https://www.jesusfilm.org/dev/nda/grants/jesus-film-project-branded-jf/

Wycliffe’s website: https://www.wycliffe.org/wordgivers?gclid=CjwKCAiAt5euBhB9EiwAdkXWO0KzTK4UpbZvtRjuLGGueHtkMUfKPYwodAZJ15aMg39at-bTkFipgxoCld0QAvD_BwE

The Two Parent Advantage

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 19:52:57 GMT

A new book produces evidence that a child is best off with two parents.

Is there a two-parent advantage?

An economist has recently published a book that has created an online firestorm of argument back and forth. Melissa Kearney, a professor at the University of Maryland, has published, “The Two-Parent Privilege.”

This is such a no-brainer. If you have two parents they have more money, more time, double the unique gifts each parent brings to the children, and—what is often overlooked—the unique perspective of male and female brought to bear on children. Of course this is an advantage and a privilege for a child. God created the human family. Male and female created He them. It was his intention that a child have two parents, one a man and one a woman. Deviating from that is catastrophic.

I need to insert here that not all of my listeners had the privilege of growing up with their mom and dad. And some of you are single parents and you are heroically doing God’s work in raising your children. It was not your plan to be a single parent but the tragedies of life foisted it upon you. My heart and prayers go out to you. Sometimes children from single parent homes turn out better than kids from intact homes. May the Lord prosper you and bless you in whatever situation you find yourself. But I am sure all of you would agree. A child is generally better off being raised by both parents.

In the 1950s, fewer than 5 percent of babies in this country were born to unmarried mothers. Today, nearly half of all babies in America are born to unmarried mothers.

Why do we even have to raise this point? Why do we even have to have research to prove this? Because the cult of the Progressive/Left believes a host of false doctrines that are stupid beyond description and here we have one more. Left wing academics will stand in the classroom and write papers asserting kids are just as well off with one parent. Or being raised in a commune—a village if you will. Or that two male parents or two female parents are just as effective as the traditional family. This is all part of Karl Marx’ attack on the family and I have chronicled the Left’s hatred of the family and children elsewhere. This is more of the same.

I used to ask my students at Colorado Christian how many came from intact families? Usually about 70% would raise their hands. And then I said to them, “I used to take this poll when I was a prof at the University of Colorado. How many of them raised their hands?” My CCU students would guess that it is far less. But as I told them, it was not. It was about the same. CU is an expensive, competitive university. Being from an intact family gives you a significant advantage in being qualified to get in and affording it once you are.

What specifically is Kearney saying? We hear a lot these days about privilege. White privilege, male privilege, etc. She says the ultimate privilege is growing up with two parents. I asked one of my black children if he had less privilege than a white kid living in Appalachia with a single mom. He laughed. He knew the answer. He has become a fine young man if I do say so myself. And in the providence of God a large part of that was growing up with a mom and dad who brought different gifts to bear upon his life.

Kearney marshals an elaborate array of statistics to prove her point. She shows that the odds of graduating high school, getting a college degree, and having high earnings in adulthood are substantially lower for children who grow up in a single-mother home. Kids in single-mother homes are five times more likely to live in poverty than two parent.

Kay Hymowitz, reviewing Kearney’s book in City Journal says, “It’s not because it breaks new ground. Kearney’s book is a summary and synthesis—first-rate summary and synthesis, to be sure—of decades of research on the benefits of a childhood spent with both parents.”

Kearney makes another important point. Isn’t cohabitation almost as good for children as marriage. Not it’s not. “In the U.S., cohabiting relationships are fleeting and frequently sequential.” Kearney notes that American children are likely to experience two or three parental partnerships by age 15.

One time I got into hot water when I was teaching at a community college in my area. We were having a discussion about cohabitation. Out of the thirty students in the class six were women who along with their child were living with men—sometimes the father, sometimes not. I made the statement, “Isn’t the purpose of living together just to make divorce easier.” They got very angry. I was making an obvious point that is surely right but it upset a lot of my students.

Kearney makes another interesting and important point that surprised me and I still don’t understand.. The differences between single and two parent homes is almost entirely related to social class. Children whose mothers don’t have a college degree are more than twice as likely—compared to the children of college-educated mothers—to live in a single parent home. A college educated woman is far less likely to have a child out of wedlock and raise children out of wedlock than a non-college educated woman. I would love to hear your reasons for why you think this is. Please put them in the comment section below.

In his review of this book Bradford Wilcox of the Institute for Family Studies observes that there is a massive political divide on this issue. Conservatives are two to three times more likely than liberals to think children are better off if they have two married parents.

Kearney concludes with what for many is a startling conclusion: “We should be clear-eyed about the reality….Parents affect their children’s lives and shape their outcomes in ways that government cannot fully make up for.”

Imagine. Government cannot replace parents. Who’d a thunk it.

Thanks for listening. May the Lord bless you and your family.

More: Why the Left Hates Children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuu7m9YRFX8

World Magazine’s review of Melissa Kearney’s research: https://wng.org/articles/single-parent-math-1704948465?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGQ_9EP6vL9LySxjyViKgt8UGWeh18fqBLnZ4EyOh2J9lpGo_iyX-iZR3oDrMlUIvYBsxdBOfdhzTlSp94jxl508sOEfWzFQnXosp661uVQFYoI

Bari Weiss of the Free Press on the same issue: https://www.thefp.com/p/why-two-parents-are-the-ultimate-privilege?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ljoms&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Bradford Wilcox in City Journal: https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-two-parent-advantage

Kay Hymowitz in City Journal reviews Melissa Kearney: https://www.city-journal.org/article/review-of-the-two-parent-privilege-by-melissa-kearney

Mary Eberstadt needs to be read again at this point—the violence we see on our streets can be attributed to children grown up without a father: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/12/the-fury-of-the-fatherless

Why I Changed My Mind About Christianity

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 22:22:31 GMT

Tom Holland talks about why he returned to the Christian faith.

Recently the great British historian, Tom Holland, gave a lecture entitled, “Why I Changed My Mind About Christianity.” Holland is the author of Dominion, a book that lays out the Christian creation of Western culture. I have a 12-part summary of the book which I link below.

Holland begins his lecture by talking about his growing up in a country steeped in Christian culture, the United Kingdom. His dad was an atheist but his mother was a Christian and his godmother was a devout Christian and his moral exemplar.

He enjoyed reading the Bible. Loved the excitement of OT stories. But he tended to side with the villains. He liked Goliath. He liked Pharaoh. They were glamourous and powerful, not like those scruffy Israelites. He liked the OT more than the NT but when reading the NT he found himself on the side of Pontius Pilate and the Romans. “I liked the big and powerful. The glamourous. Jesus and the apostles were not. The glamour the swagger and the charisma of the ancient world seduced me….When I chose my career as a historian I chose to write about the Greeks and Romans. I didn’t believe in Christianity anymore.”

But he says that as he studied the Romans and Greeks it became increasingly unsettling. When Caesar conquered Gaul it was a horrendous narrative. He killed a million and enslaved another million. The Romans did not consider this a crime but a great achievement. The Spartans built their society on the backs of slaves. He found this disturbing. The Nazis found in the Spartans their blueprint for the enslavement of eastern Europe. Children were inspected. If found wanting they would be liquidated. He began to ask himself, “Why do I find this unsettling?” Nobody in those ancient societies were bothered in the least by mass murder and brutality.

It wasn’t only in ethics and morals that he found a growing chasm between himself and the ancient world. It was also in the realm of ideas, their understanding of religion. There was no division between religion and the rest of life. I began to ask myself where the idea of religion come from? In the ancient world religion was a bond that joined you to the gods. It was a sacrifice, a festival, a set of rituals but it doesn’t mean what it means today. What changed? Christianity came along. Christianity was the first and only religion to separate religion and the state. Religion and the rest of life.

When Rome was sacked in 411 A.D. the pagans blamed it on the Christians for abandoning the old beliefs. This is when Augustine weighed in. There is the secular—a realm where things are born and doomed to die. The secular is where nothing is forever. The counterpoint is heaven where all is eternal. Christ provides the bond to the eternal. Christians come to understand that the secular and the religious operate in two dimensions. This is exactly how people in the modern west understand things but the ancients wouldn’t have understood. Our thinking about religion and life is totally Christian, even in the minds of people who claim not to be Christian or to believe in God or Christ.

So he began to think, how profound was the Christian revolution, not just in the West but everywhere. So he decided to write Dominion to gauge how total this revolution was. How totally changed was the West? How Christian does the West remain? He used the analogy that we are goldfish swimming in Christian waters. We don’t know how Christian we are. So Holland wanted to trace how we became this way.

As with so many personal conversion stories it wasn’t just an intellectual struggle. He was also informed by a powerful personal experience.

In 2014 he had written two or three chapters of Dominion when he went to Iraq with a BBC film crew to report on ISIS. He went to Sinjar, a city in northern Iraq which had been historically Christian. ISIS had conquered the city and had crucified many of the Christian men and enslaved the women. He went to Sinjar a few weeks after it had been recaptured by Iraq and it was in an appalling state. He went into churches that had been desecrated by ISIS and it became clear that what was really offensive to them was the cross. He said, “And as I stood there I realized the terrifying thought that the cross for these people did not have the significance it did for me or the society I had grown up in. For the Islamic state the cross symbolized their right to do whatever they wanted to people and I realized that this is what it had meant to the Romans. Their right to torture to death anyone who defied them.”

Holland says the horror of this opened up a great spiritual abyss. He came back to England and rewrote the introduction to Dominion to focus on the crucifixion. “That experience had sharpened for me the utter strangeness, the weirdness that the great marker of Christian identity was an instrument of torture.” Holland notes the early Christians felt the same way as well. Paul is haunted by the strangeness of the cross. The Son of God came to earth and suffered the most monstrous punishment the Roman Empire could inflict upon a person. It wasn’t just painful; it was public and humiliating. Paul admits in his letters that crucifixion was foolish and scandalous to his readers but that’s what he said the Messiah endured for our sakes. This fact caused anxiety among not just Paul but the early Christians across the Roman world. They knew that Christ had chosen this death but they simply could not depict it in their art. It’s not until four hundred years later that we begin to get art that shows Christ on the cross.

Holland became aware that Christians in the West have become anesthetized to Christ’s suffering on the cross. We are desensitized to what crucifixion meant. That’s why going to Sinjar was such a jolt.

Holland was asked, what is the most radical thing about Christianity. He said there are two things.

First, that all human beings have equal worth and value—the sanctity of life.

And second, the message of the cross is that it is better to suffer than inflict suffering.

“Christianity is a depth charge detonating under our assumptions, arguing that suffering, humility, and sacrifice are the pre-eminent values. This is what make Christianity utterly, utterly revolutionary.”

Christianity is the seedbed of everything that makes the West what it is. Then he says without it I worry about where we may end up. That’s an excellent topic for another video.

Tom Holland realized that in the warp and woof of his existence he was Christian. That realization brought him back to the Christian faith.

Thanks for listening. May the Christ of the cross bless you mightily this day.

More: For my synopsis of Dominion go here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

The Tom Holland Lecture and Q&A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDa4vpkNKeQ

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an atheist who recently became a Christian, cites Tom Holland as an important influence in her conversion. Here is her story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039-0HjWzso

Dominion is one of the most important books of our time. It can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World-ebook/dp/B07NCY9RG9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=YKNJ1U2PZIVK&keywords=dominion+tom+holland&qid=1706381470&sprefix=dominion%2Caps%2C130&sr=8-1

This interview with N.T. Wright reveals much more about Tom Holland’s thinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlf_ULB26cU&t=143s

I have a video that goes into detail on Holland’s treatment of the cross: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYzA6Eh__xo

Why Are More and More Scientists Believing in God?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 18:49:38 GMT

Robert Spitzer gives three scientific reasons more scientists are believing in God.

Robert Spitzer is a physicist and the retired president of Gonzaga University. He has written a book, “Science at the Doorstep of God.” He argues that there is more scientific evidence for God than ever. There is also more evidence for the soul and life after death. I repeat. Scientific evidence. He says there at least three major areas in which scientific discoveries point to God.

First, physicists now believe the universe had a beginning. If it had a beginning there has to be something outside of it that caused it. This was the argument of Aristotle who believed there has to be an “uncaused cause” or a Prime mover. It’s only logical that if everything we see around us is caused by something else, it all has to go back to something that doesn’t have a cause.

Second, for life to exist in our universe, it is extremely, extremely unlikely that it formed by chance. Scientists are discovering more and more the complexity of life and that forming it by accident is impossible. Spitzer puts it this way: “Among young physicists, there is considerable awareness of the need for something like transcendent intelligence to explain the exceedingly improbable occurrence of the finely-tuned initial conditions and constants needed for the development of life.” How finely tuned is life after all. Spitzer says, The odds against the kind of world we have occurring after the Big Bang began our universe, is the same as a monkey typing the entire works of Shakespeare perfectly by random tapping of the keys of a computer in a single try. To put it differently, the odds of our universe permitting life is fine-tuned to one part in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion. That’s a lot of zeros. I lost count. In other words, the nature of our universe requires an intelligent designer. Young scientists are realizing this.

Third, scientific studies are showing that it is quite possible, even quite likely, that consciousness can exist outside our bodies and can exist after death. Spitzer gives a remarkable example. Bradley Burroughs, a sixteen-year-old boy blind from birth, reported that his soul left his physical body and went outside the hospital and up on the roof. From there, he saw for the first time snow on the ground, tram tracks grooved into that snow, and a grove of trees in the distance. As he was observing the scene, a bus, having a large sign on the back with an arrow pointing to the right, passed by the hospital, moved up the tracks, and went to the right into the grove of trees. The schedule of the bus showed that it passed by the hospital at the precise moment when Bradley was clinically dead. Aside from the virtual impossibility of explaining this by guesswork or hallucination, we are further perplexed by how someone without any visual images in his physical brain could accurately hallucinate such a scene.

Spitzer adds a couple of other factors. Many young scientists are aware that the alleged war of religion on science is bogus propaganda, invented originally by people who hated religion. If a young scientist does even a small amount of research he learns that many of the major scientists in history were devout Christians. Many were clergymen. They learn that science and the scientific method were creations of the Christian church of the Middle Ages. Rodney Stark says that of the scientists who caused the Scientific Revolution in the Middle Ages and Renaissance every single one was a Christian. As I used to tell my students: “Christianity is not the enemy of science; Christianity is the mother of science.” Also, more and more Christian students are entering the sciences and find they can take their faith with them. Spitzer says the hostility is not as great as it once was. Alas, this is not true in the social so called sciences and the humanities.

Spitzer argues that science should not lead people away from God, but rather toward him. Nothing new here. 3,000 years ago David wrote, The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. ² Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.

Christians have always understood that the natural world is one of the greatest arguments for the existence of our God. And more and more scientists are coming to see this.

Thanks for listening. May our God, the God who really exists, bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Anthony Flew gives his reasons for leaving atheism and coming to believe in God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhMrySSH34Y

Science points to God more than ever:

https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/why-science-points-to-god-more-than-ever/

Stephen Barr is a Christian physicist. In this essay he writes about the problems materialistic atheism has encountered with new discoveries in physics. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2003/03/retelling-the-story-of-science?utm_source=First+Things+Email+List&utm_campaign=2210a1a6a9-Two_Essays_Mother_Teresa_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcb60f68e-2210a1a6a9-181179938

A list of Christian clergymen who were also world-changing scientists(hint—there are hundreds): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Catholic_clergy_scientists?_ga=2.43394210.606836645.1705420634-1245352926.1705420634

Two books that argue for the Christian origins of science are James Hannam, The Genesis of Science: https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Science-Christian-Scientific-Revolution-ebook/dp/B004S6UW1E/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23GWSFT20JPH6&keywords=james+hannum%2C+the+genesis+of+science&qid=1705600253&sprefix=james+hannum%2C+the+genesis+of+science%2Caps%2C122&sr=8-1

And Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason: https://www.amazon.com/Victory-Reason-Christianity-Freedom-Capitalism-ebook/dp/B000SEV7OQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MSW4S5UPRJAV&keywords=the+victory+of+reason&qid=1705600424&sprefix=the+victory+of+reason%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1

Do Conservatives Raise Happier Children?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 19:52:51 GMT

Researchers argue that they do--and try to figure out why.

Do Conservatives Raise Happier Children?

I am a conservative parent and you may think I am simply tooting my own horn. But I didn’t raise this issue. Recently a study by Columbia University concluded that conservative teenagers are happier than liberal teenagers. The study was published in the journal Social Science and Mental Health. A conservative teenager was defined as one who supported individual liberty, and right-wing social and religious values, and unregulated free markets. A liberal teen emphasized equal opportunity and social justice. The research concluded that "conservatives reported lower average depressive affect, self-derogation, and loneliness scores and higher self-esteem scores than all other groups." Researchers found that the more educated families were, the more likely their child was to be depressed. Ah, get a college degree so you can depress your children. One of the Columbia researchers said that conservatives don't just report higher levels of happiness , they also report having higher levels of meaning in their lives. Stop for a moment; researchers have found that believing your life has meaning makes you happier.

This is similar to a report a year or so ago wondering why liberal teenage girls are the most depressed group in our society. I produced a video on that debate which I link below.

As you would expect, there has been a wide debate trying to explain this phenomenon but I was surprised that I read no objections to the findings of the study.

New York Times Opinion Columnist David Brooks argued that "many on the left…suffer from what you might call maladaptive sadness, with its three main features being a "catastrophizing mentality," "extreme sensitivity to harm" and a "culture of denunciation." The Left believes the American dream is a sham, climate change is unstoppable, systemic racism is eternal….Making catastrophic pronouncements became a way to display that you were woke to the brutalities of American life." Brooks is probably right in his analysis of left-wing parents. It seems like a good way to depress everyone around you.

A college professor writing for the Free Press said, liberal professors should change schools and go some place where they can teach Republican children.

According to Ben Kawaller, “you know what’s nice about Republicans? They raise happy , obedient kids. And as I watch what’s become of our university campuses, where student outrage can curtail curricula , debase administrators , and upend careers … why not trade the anxious rebellious spawn of Democrats for the sunny children of Republicans?”

He adds that their respect for authority alone is intoxicating. “I recently spent a few days in rural Arkansas, where I met a whole bunch of Republicans, and all their kids called me “sir.” I didn’t even have authority over these children, but by the time I left I felt like an army general.”

A recent Gallup survey said much the same thing as the Columbia study. It said that children of conservative parents had much better mental health outcomes.

Why are kids of conservatives happier? The studies make some suggestions. Conservatives are more likely to have an authoritative parenting style. Liberals are more permissive. Children need authority. They need boundaries. Conservatives provide stronger discipline. This, combined with affection, results in better mental health outcomes.

The Gallup study also found that conservative parents are more likely to value their own marriage…”this leads to a better relationship with their children – in particular when they become teenagers. Unsurprisingly, children whose parents have a strong marriage are far less likely to experience mental health issues.” Strong marriages make for happier kids. Duh.

We are at a moment in our history when everyone who observes adolescent behavior is worried. According to the American Association of Pediatrics: Between 2020 and 2023, 18 times more teenagers died deaths of despair than died from COVID-19. . Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt stated, “We are now 11 years into the largest epidemic of adolescent mental illness ever recorded…. one in ten adolescents now say they have made an attempt to kill themselves.”

So people are worried. Apparently conservative parents have less reason to be worried. Christians derive their worldview from Almighty God. He gives us instructions on how to live our lives in every venue. Including the way we raise our children. Apparently God’s ways work the best.

Thank you for listening. May the Lord bless you richly.

More: Why do liberal girls have the most mental health issues? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW-KnVQPdDs

One liberal professor says he would rather have Republican students: https://www.thefp.com/p/professors-elite-schools-teach-republicans

Conservative children are happier than the children of liberals: https://www.foxnews.com/media/conservative-teenagers-generally-happier-liberal-peers-study-finds?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Here is a Gallup survey showing much the same thing: https://ifstudies.org/ifs-admin/resources/briefs/ifs-gallup-parentingteenmentalhealthnov2023.pdf

Amber Duke in the Spectator commenting on the studies: https://thespectator.com/newsletter/kids-with-conservative-parents-are-happier-01-4-2024/

Children of conservative parents at lower risk for mental health issues: https://amac.us/newsline/society/report-children-of-conservative-parents-at-much-lower-risk-for-mental-health-issues/

Even the Washington Post admits that conservative kids are happier: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/26/how-liberals-and-conservatives-raise-their-kids-differently/

Is it possible that marijuana use is contributing to depression? The Wall Street Journal thinks so: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/marijuana-depression-psychosis-869490d1?mod=hp_lead_pos10&mod=wknd_pos1&mod=djemMER_h

What's Behind the Disaster at Harvard?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 19:32:25 GMT

They have rejected the true God and replaced Him with a different religion.

You may have heard about the disaster at Harvard. Claudine Gay, the president of the university, was forced to resign. She was asked in a congressional hearing if calling for the mass murder of Jews violated Harvard’s free speech code. She answered, “it depends on the context.” It depends on the context? Of course, outrage followed this limp wristed, politically calculated answer. Harvard immediately lost over a billion dollars in donations, enrollment applications dropped, and many called for Gay’s resignation. What followed next were credible allegations that Gay was serial plagiarizer, that she used the research of other scholars and called it her own. I can tell you as a college professor this is the worst sin in academia—the stealing of someone else’s research. At first, the Harvard board defended her and stood by her as did famous alumni like Barack Obama. But in the end the scandal was too great and she had to resign. Claudine Gay had a very mediocre academic record, and even that turned out to be fraudulent.

Headline after headline condemned the university. Can Harvard be Saved?, read one. What caused the moral rot at Harvard?, read another.

Why was she hired in the first place? For religious reasons. She is a faithful high priestess of the Progressive cult that has come to control our universities; universities now hire leadership on the basis of their commitment to left-wing religion, not any objective criteria of leadership ability. She had a frothing at the mouth commitment to what is known as DEI—Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. For those of you who don’t know, DEI is textbook Marxism. If a university does not show enough diversity then admissions and hiring have to be changed to correct this. Merit and ability are thrown out the window in favor of groups the Progressive Left has determined to be oppressed. As I have pointed out in other videos, the Left derives religious meaning from helping the oppressed. They get even more religious satisfaction out of punishing oppressors. To put it simply, Harvard has replaced the God of the Bible and the Christian worldview with a Progressive, Left-wing idolatry, and now we are seeing the consequences.

In her resignation letter did she take responsibility for her academic sins? Of course not. She blamed racism. As John Masko points out in Unherd, Gay asks us to disregard the shoddiness of her work and judge her by her conclusions. In other words, if you arrive at doctrinal conclusions accepted by the Progressive hierarchy it does not matter how you arrived at those conclusions. And it doesn’t matter if they are true. Only if they are politically correct.

Don’t weep for her. She will continue as a professor with a salary of $900,000 a year. I wonder what she will do if she finds a student guilty of plagiarism?

Harvard was founded to train men to teach others about the true God of the Bible. Its original motto was “Glory to Christ.” It shortly lost that commitment but when you reject the God of the Bible you then turn to different religions—terrible religions. And that’s what Harvard has done. Like Israel in the Old Testament they have turned to idols and the result is catastrophe. Isaiah 2:8: Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.

Make no mistake, Harvard is overtly hostile to God and His people. Ryan Burge has pointed out that about half of their incoming freshman do not believe in God. America is 50% protestant but the number is only 5% at Harvard. So protestant Christians are underrepresented by a factor of ten to one. But the DEI folks don’t seem worried about that. Protestants are almost as rare at Harvard as they are at the Vatican. Burge calls Harvard’s religious makeup “weird” but it is only weird if you are not a Leftist.

Harvard is proud that its chaplain is an atheist.

The faculty itself is overwhelmingly on the left with only about 5% claiming to be any kind of conservative. Conservatives are far more rare at Harvard than they are at the Vatican.

Is Harvard alone in this? Hardly. Virtually every other major university has bowed its knee to the new Baal.

Harvard’s current high status is undeserved. There are many talented people working there but that is not the focus of the university. Its commitment is to spreading the false religion of Progressivism and all the doctrinal errors that involves.

What does the future hold? Andrew Walker is not hopeful. “The school is still plagued by a toxic campus culture, ideological corruption, and bureaucratic bloat that stifle open inquiry and free discourse…..[Wokeism] is a form of cultural Marxism at odds with freedom of expression, moral responsibility, national unity, and cultural sanity. Christians should oppose it vehemently.”

Harvard will continue to promote its cultic doctrines. They already believe that Hamas is a righteous group. How long before human sacrifice is Ok? The extermination of the weak? Clearly the suppression of free speech which has largely already been attained. FIRE rated Harvard as the worst university in America on free speech. Harvard specializes in punishing dissent. Harvard will not change its behavior until it changes its religion. It will only be saved if it returns to the Judeo-Christian heritage that produced it—and its greatness—in the first place.

More: From World Magazine, why people like Gay are hired in the first place; https://wng.org/opinions/whats-really-going-on-at-harvard-1704285639?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGQbvp_l5FV9u9QlD4l-Wk7dq6iE_kmDBHdK1-qsdrT9H-IXuVDhGBg1F6zvV1m16dRcgWAfAmkSb8DL4oiAbvnGMsKZSaq3qo8HOMGlSLtBk5e

Ayaan Hirsi Ali; The Mafia of Mediocrity: https://unherd.com/?p=495545?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3

Harvard humiliated itself for the sake of an ideology, as opposed to plain nepotism. Until that ideology is extirpated not just from one university but from American education as a whole, the mafia of mediocrity will continue to march on — and produce many more Claudine Gays along the way.

Ryan Burge on the religious makeup of Harvard’s student body: https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/how-weird-is-the-religious-composition?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

John Masko in Unherd; https://unherd.com/thepost/why-did-claudine-gay-get-a-free-pass/

Heather McDonald on why Gay’s resignation will change nothing; https://www.city-journal.org/article/unrepentant-dei-at-mit

Ilya Shapiro argues that the rot at Harvard continues; https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-real-problem-remains

Andrew Walker hopes that the Claudine Gay scandal will erode the power of cultic wokeness that plagues Western universities: https://wng.org/opinions/the-mind-virus-is-finally-breaking-1704318478?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGQc6UpfAGHBGHHZHt8nZnWqSX02n_LoKrvnGpKZm9HaUY5w7hT5NWV-VhkRqKc4JT6y_iFCWRGmGDxOYHhtudTqegZflzB3rfml9CP12_Xb4i9

My belief, though, is that the high point of wokeness has crested, and America is finally breaking free of the virus that once captivated and captured America’s mind into adopting absurd and simplistic categories for navigating social interactions.

In that, Harvard is by no means alone.

Claudine Gay is a mediocre scholar…and was elevated for advancing progressive orthodoxy while checking the right intersectional boxes.

Heather McDonald on Gay’s resignation: https://www.city-journal.org/article/harvard-presses-on-with-inclusiveness

A university can be meritocratically excellent or it can be demographically inclusive. It cannot be both. That is why inclusiveness must be affirmed as a separate value from excellence. In a meritocratic world, the only values a university would care about including are those pertaining to academic achievement.

Are Africans Right to Criminalize Homosexuality?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 20:32:27 GMT

Some of the issues we need to think about.

In May Uganda passed a law condemning homosexual acts and calling for the death penalty in extreme cases. Predictably, there was an outcry in the West and even Christian bloggers have weighed in on the issue.

Samuel Sey is from Ghana in west Africa. He now lives in the United States and is an outspoken Christian. While not completely agreeing with the law, Sey nonetheless defended the more than 30 African countries who criminalize homosexual behavior in varying degrees.

According to Sey: “When Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act last week, some evangelicals in the West reacted with revulsion—dismissing such a law as non-Christian. What separates those evangelicals from African Christians is that African Christians are repulsed by homosexual sin, not anti-homosexual laws…in Western society—Biblical Christianity is now considered the abomination, not homosexuality.”

The American Left claims to love black people, but they now believe Africans are the most hateful and bigoted people in the world.

Another interesting observation from Sey: “[The Left’s] reactions to Uganda’s law expose their fraudulent beliefs about multiculturalism. They don’t really believe in multiculturalism. They don’t really believe all cultures are equally valid. They don’t believe all cultures can coexist.”

Finally, Sey concludes: “Uganda’s law on homosexuality is imperfect. But it’s surely better than America’s embrace of abomination. Yet some evangelicals in the West seem more willing to back the sexual revolution than to oppose it.”

What the Left practices is what one Nigerian scholar calls ideological neocolonialism. For decades, Western nations have pressured African nations to adopt leftist views on abortion and homosexuality in exchange for money.

Russell Moore is the editor of Christianity Today magazine and a well-known Evangelical leader. He used strong language in condemning Uganda’s law. “Not everything that’s a sin is a crime. To equate all sin with crime, without the authority to do so, is itself a sin against God—to take the name of the Lord our God in vain. If the historic Christian vision of marriage and family is true and good and beautiful, as I believe it is, then we demonstrate that truth, goodness, and beauty to our unbelieving neighbors through our witness—not by threatening to kill them.”

Moore argues that laws against homosexual behavior aren’t Christian and are counterproductive.

Let me share some of my own observations on this issue:

First, Western societies have made the decision to affirm homosexual behavior. It’s impossible to watch the offerings of Hollywood these days without encountering a very appealing gay character. Male homosexuals comprise about 1.5% of American men. Evangelical Christians are about 30% of our population. The former you see portrayed sympathetically in every entertainment program. Evangelicals may as well not exist. We make virtually no appearances in popular culture and when we do we are often portrayed as corrupt hypocrites. In Hollywood’s judgment Gays are good and Christians are bad.

Second, Africans are sensitive to sexual issues because of their gigantic AIDS crisis. Worst in the world. The highest HIV infection rates in the world are in southern Africa. Sexual immorality is killing millions of Africans. One can see why Uganda and other nations might want to mitigate destructive behavior.

Third, remember, it is only very recently that America decriminalized homosexual behavior. Only in 2003 did our Supreme Court declare such laws unconstitutional. We should go slow in condemning Africans for laws that were our own until a few years ago.

Fourth, this would be a good time to read again Dennis Prager’s brilliant essay, “Why Judaism Rejected Homosexuality.” Prager says that without the restraints on sexual behavior in Judaism and Christianity Western culture would not exist. He adds that a society gets more homosexuality if it encourages it.

Surely there is a middle way. Society can discourage homosexual relations without criminalizing them. An analogy I often use is smoking. Society feels free to condemn smoking without putting smokers in jail. But no one has any problem separating sinner and sin. That is, separating the smoker and his value as a human being. The gay lifestyle is far more destructive than smoking. Yet we are forbidden from discouraging it. Quite the opposite, we are persecuted if we do not affirm it.

God clearly condemns homosexual behavior in His Word. Disobeying the Word of God is always risky and ultimately destructive. We need to pay attention to what He says for our own good, the good of the Kingdom, and the good of the human race.

Thank you for listening. Have a wonderful new year!

More: See my video, The Negative Effects of Gay Marriage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M3iGiKKvs0

The Uganda law: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/22/uganda-passes-tough-antigay-law-bans-identification-as-lgbtq

Samuel Sey: https://wng.org/opinions/what-makes-for-good-law-1686222789?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGMOlBuVdMMMIIYrMVE3gi1VWpUpnehGIOgcpvpF-GW8EDCFGuLnoj5MjoKchzFBHJayJYlk34sKldnesBnzTQPlxwWKem0kmocCI9Ib4C3LsUE

Russell Moore: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/may-web-only/uganda-anti-lgbtq-ted-cruz-russell-moore-biblical-sin-crime.html

Dennis Prager’s brilliant essay condemning homosexual marriage and the gay lifestyle: https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/marriage-and-family/sexuality/judaism-s-sexual-revolution-why-judaism-rejected-homosexuality.html

Being gay is not biological: https://unherd.com/2023/05/the-aesthetics-of-being-gay/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=4a837fe16f&mc_eid=5b400e1632

No gay gene: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02585-6

“Born this way” is a lie: https://wng.org/opinions/the-lies-of-born-this-way-1691493975?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGNdM0S3ENhCN8C4ef1kkTwocvjAU2mTCvgJtvjiz4-mXb6lHxya3m-ui0im_3zNy6ElqkEeX1YIalp0QCKHGS-ld8Lpd36oqFLReJJyHcHtZ2h

Is Our Godless Era Dead?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 19:41:34 GMT

British writer Paul Kingsnorth thinks it may be after he converted from atheism to Christianity.

Paul Kingsnorth is a British writer, who up until three years ago was an atheist. But then he converted to Christianity. Like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, he looked at the offerings of modern, secular society and found them wanting. Here is Kingsnorth’s description of himself: “My most strongly held belief is this: that our modern crisis is not economic, political, scientific or technological, and that no ‘answers’ to it will be found in those spheres. I believe that we are living through a deep spiritual crisis; perhaps even a spiritual war.”

It's a war he thinks we, as Christians, are winning. In a recent essay, he raises the question, “Is our godless era dead?” Kingsnorth is wondering how many people are going through the same transformation he went through.

I grew up in a wonderful Christian home, attended a thriving healthy church, and never had any reason to consider anyone but Jesus Christ, or any faith but Christianity. But most people did not have my inheritance. Like Kingsnorth, they have spent much of their lives wandering around in a spiritual wilderness that is increasingly bereft of meaning and joy.

Kingsnorth begins his essay; “Sometimes I think I have been lied to my whole life.” Who is doing the lying? The secular society surrounding him, making all kinds of promises, and delivering on none of them. He gives a list of those promises:

· Your life will be happier if you put career before family.

· You need to accumulate wealth as a marker of status.

· Treat sex as recreation.

· Reflexively mock authority and tradition.

· Put individual desire before community responsibility.

· Treat the world as so much dead matter to be interrogated by the scientific process.

· Believe that ideology or technology can create paradise on Earth

· Assume our ancestors were thicker than us.

· Treat religion as something both primitive and obsolete.

Kingsnorth argues that history travels through eras and that the era of human arrogance and so-called enlightenment is coming to an end. It has been an era he describes as “a can-do materialism, which sought to transform reality through ideology, technology, and science. God…was dead. The modern West had killed him.”

We are seeing the death of the replacements for Christianity: Socialism, Communism, Marxism, Fascism, and secular liberalism. They intended to replace the Christian faith with Utopia. Instead they gave us a death cult leaving men and women wandering aimlessly through the cosmos without hope and without God in the world.

The big doctrinal mistake all these ideologies have made is they assume man is merely an animal, or at best an animal governed by reason. He is not. He is fundamentally a spiritual being. And he spends his life hungering to have those spiritual desires satisfied. Those desires were placed there by Almighty God when He created us in His image. That’s why everyone is religious. I remember many years ago listening to a sermon by A.W. Tozer. It was on Ecclesiastes 3:11, on the phrase, “He has put eternity in our hearts.” Tozer argued that every man and woman is looking for ultimate, spiritual meaning. He preached this sermon in the 1950s and he said a prime example of this truth was Joseph Stalin, the brutal dictator of the Soviet Union who murdered upwards of 30 million people. Tozer said Stalin proved this verse. Stalin’s spiritual hunger drove him to try to build an earthly utopia that meant killing tens of millions of human beings. God had put the desire for spiritual meaning into Stalin’s heart and he was working it out in a demonic way.

Kingsnorth argues that we are all religious and he defines religion this way: “By “religious” I mean inclined to worship; attuned to the great mystery of being; convinced that material reality is only a visible shard of the whole; able across all times and cultures and places to experience or intuit some creative, magisterial power beyond our own small selves.” That’s a pretty good definition. And it describes every human being on earth, not just Christians.

Kingsnorth speculates that the old worn out secular religions have run their course and that a new era of seeking the true and the spiritual has arrived.

One thing we know. The answer to all our questions arrived two thousand years ago as the babe of Bethlehem. Whatever your spiritual search, it ends when you find Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas everyone!

More: My video and critique of secularism is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDrh5B6lwDk

Paul Kingsnorth, on the death of godlessness: https://unherd.com/?p=494120?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3

Paul Kingsnorth, on becoming a Christian: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/06/the-cross-and-the-machine

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Why I am Now a Christian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039-0HjWzso

Do Christians Give More to Charity?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 22:21:04 GMT

A person's religious faith affects their charitable giving

When atheists respond to my videos they often say,, “We are just as moral as Christians.” The fact that they are using Christian standards of morality escapes them. Nonetheless, are they? Are they just as moral? There is at least one area where they do not appear to be. Generosity. Christians give more to charity.

Arthur Brooks was head of the American Enterprise Institute for a number of years and is now a professor at Harvard. He has done research on philanthropy for more than two decades. His research showed that church attendance had a great impact on charitable giving: people who practice their faith regularly—which is to say, they attend worship services every week—91 percent give to charity each year. Of people who don’t attend every week, 66 percent do. In his book, Who Really Cares?, Brooks argues that conservatives are far more generous than liberals. And of course the Christian component in all this is decisive.

Ryan Burge weighed in on this recently with a fascinating statistical analysis of charitable giving. Burge examined tax return data. He looked at giving all over the nation by county. And he calculated which counties, and states, gave the most to charity. Utah was number 2 because of giving to the Mormon church. I grant that Mormon giving comes with an asterisk. In the Mormon religion if you do not tithe your income then you are shut out of what the Mormons call “temple work.” This not only affects your earthly religious life but also your eternal destiny. So Mormons cannot be credited with mere generosity in their charitable giving. But Utah wasn’t the most charitable state. Arkansas was. And if you look at Burge’s map the most generous counties are dominated by the Bible belt. The upper Midwest also makes a strong showing. Who is the stingiest? The liberal states of the American northeast.

So between Arthur Brooks and Ryan Burge being a Christian goes with being much more generous in charitable giving.

Let me make a few further observations: America is by far the most generous nation in the world. British historian Paul Johnson said America’s Marshall Plan after World War II, rebuilding Germany and Japan, was the greatest single act of national generosity in the history of the world. When international disasters occur it is just assumed that the Americans will soon be on the scene to lend a helping hand.

The average American citizen gives away three-and-a-half times more money each year as the average French citizen, seven times more than the average German, and 14 times more than the average Italian. Brooks noted that American charitable giving exceeds the entire income of Sweden. The missiologists at Operation World say that America is the nation most influenced by the Bible in the history of the world.

Brooks came up with another fascinating discovery. He called it counterintuitive: He found that when people give more money away, they tend to prosper. There was a positive correlation between giving and material prosperity. And it wasn’t just the case of people with more money giving more money. No. He argues that giving itself actually increases your income. No surprise to those who read the Bible. In Luke 6:38, Jesus said: give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Let me comment on Ryan Burge’s research. He is using data from people who itemize their tax deductions. Hence, these are people who have high incomes. If you could look at lower income people I think the charitable giving would be even more pronounced. Christianity has a huge representation in the lower classes. And my guess is lower class Christians are far more generous than their lower-class counterparts. In other words, Burge’s data understates the gap between Christian and non-Christian giving.

When they were running for president and vice-president, Barack Obama and Joe Biden released their tax returns. I looked at the category for charitable giving. My mother, living mostly on social security, gave more to charity than those wealthy politicians. Not percentage wise, but in total dollars. When confronted with his giving or lack thereof, Biden explained his behavior by claiming that although he did not give a lot of his own money to charity he voted for measures that were generous with the poor and needy.

When it comes to actually giving your own money, the followers of Jesus Christ exceed everyone else.

Have a merry Christmas everyone. Let’s rejoice in the God who has given us every good gift.

More: Transcript of a speech by Arthur Brooks in which he summarizes his research on the relationship between religion and philanthropy: https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/arthur-c-brooks/giving-matters-2/

Arthur Brooks: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=56962

Ryan Burge: Are Religious Areas More Charitable? https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/are-religious-areas-more-charitable?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ljoms&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&triedSigningIn=true

What is the Astonishing Oversight of the Pro-Abortion Movement?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 15:24:32 GMT

They are ignoring something of greatest imortance

The pro-abortion movement was ecstatic on the night of November 7. Ohio voters had approved a constitutional amendment that ensures access to abortion…the latest victory for abortion rights supporters since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

Ohio became the seventh state where voters decided to protect abortion access since the Roe v. Wade decision.

“The future is bright, and tonight we can celebrate this win for bodily autonomy and reproductive rights,” said the co-chair of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights before a jubilant crowd of supporters.

Democrats have made clear they plan to make the issue central in races for the presidency and down the ballot next year. Amid a sluggish economy, they think abortion might be just the ticket to winning the election.

A majority of American voters favor abortion in some form and they have for my entire adult life. I remember in the late 80s, Colorado—which was a red state then—had a ban on partial birth abortion on the ballot. It lost. I asked one of my students—a conservative—why she voted against the ban. She said she wanted to protect the right to an abortion as a backup in case birth control failed.

America has been sufficiently paganized to where a majority favor abortion. It is an indication of the decline in Christian culture. Americans are not extreme pro-abortionists. A majority oppose late term abortions. So, we have paganism light on the abortion issue.

But there is an astonishing oversight on the part of the pro-abortion forces. Don’t they know they are exterminating their own future voters?

Nearly twenty years ago, James Taranto, himself pro-choice, wrote a fascinating analysis in the Wall Street Journal. I have linked the article below but let me summarize the argument. People who get abortions tend to be pro-choice. Duh. And children tend to vote like their parents. Parental influence is significant in adult voting patterns. So, the child being aborted, had she been allowed to live, would most likely have grown up to be a pro-abortion voter. But alas, she won’t be growing up. Thirty years from now voters will tend to have pro-life parents. Again, duh. America had approximately 900,000 abortions last year. That’s a lot of potential voters who will never see the light of day. Taranto estimated that the right to abortion cost the Democrats the 2000 election and quite possibly the 2004 election. And pro-abortion parties will have their voter totals diminished in future years. As Taranto points out, aborted babies do not grow up to have children or grandchildren.

Abortion is an unspeakable tragedy. It reveals the paganism and immorality of America. But God is at work. He will use the worst tragedies for His purposes. One research firm said recently, that since Roe v. Wade was declared unconstitutional, 27,000 babies have been born that otherwise would not have been born. For this we can be very thankful.

Christians have always been pro-life. In every culture and in every age. Let’s continue to fight the good fight and bring honor to our Lord. May He bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: See my video, Why the Bible is Right About Sex; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn4z1Y4JqFQ

July 6, 2005: James Taranto, The Roe Effect; https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122695016603334449

Columns strongly critical of abortion: “Idolizing Autonomy in Ohio”: https://wng.org/podcasts/culture-friday-idolizing-autonomy-in-ohio-1699581409

And “abortion is happiness insurance”; https://wng.org/opinions/americans-love-sex-more-than-life-1699497374

Pro-abortion forces believe, “The Future is Bright”; https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-amendment-election-2023-fe3e06747b616507d8ca21ea26485270

The Democratic party, which is pro-abortion, views the latest results at the polls as, “Springboard to 2024”: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-2024-elections-republicans-ohio-virginia-90255a62d83ad9f1d86b407c9455bb0a

Should the Greens Be Held Accountable for Their False Prophecies?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:18:40 GMT

False Environmental Prophecies Have Gotten Millions Killed

In an earlier video I have called the radical environmental movement the “Green Cult.” It has all the characteristics of a religious sect. One universal characteristic of cults is false prophecy. More than any other quasi-religious movement, the Greens abound in false prophecies. In fact, they have produced more false prophecies than any religious sect in history.

Let me cite just a few.

This past week, Andrew Follett in National Review noted, “A new article in a scientific journal claims that we have just six years left to save the planet from global warming….

Follett then adds, this is “a claim that environmentalists masquerading as scientists have been regurgitating for at least the past 50 years.”

The first Earth Day was in 1970 and that seemed like an especially rich year for environmental hysteria and false prophecies. Paul Ehrlich declared in April 1970 that “increasing population makes mass starvation imminent…the death rate will increase until at least 100–200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years…. global warming will cause with “near certainty” the collapse of civilization in the next few decades . Ehrlich—a professor at Stanford-- later called for the poisoning of water supplies with fertility-blocking drugs. Not only was he wrong, he was wrong in exactly the opposite direction. Instead of starvation civilization has experienced the greatest explosion in food security of all time.

David Brower, the first executive director of the Sierra Club, said all potential parents [should be] required to use contraceptive chemicals, and the government should choose those parents it will allow to have children.

In 1982, the executive director of the U.N. environment program, Mostafa Tolba, claimed that an environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible, as any nuclear holocaust would occur in just 18 years, in the year 2000. I was alive in 2000 but I don’t recall anything resembling a nuclear holocaust.

In 1989, a senior U.N. environmental official said entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if extreme government action was not taken by the year 2000. So far none of those nations are under water. In fact, the nation in the world most below sea level is Holland. And it is one of the richest nations in the world. Environmentalists don’t really believe their own prophecies. Barack Obama bought an island.

In 2006, former Vice President Al Gore claimed that unless world leaders took “drastic measures” to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, Earth would surpass the “point of no return” in ten years — a “true planetary emergency,” he called it. Of course, by 2016 nothing had happened.

In 2018, teen activist Greta Thunberg promoted on social media the warning that “climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.” Her tweet has since been quietly deleted.

Then this spring the New York Times said, “Breaking News…. Earth is likely to cross a critical global warming threshold within the next decade unless drastic changes are made.”

I have in my files literally a hundred more false prophecies like these. I link some of them below.

What should make of all this? These predictions are not harmless. The real catastrophe is not climate change. It’s what governments force on people to combat it. You think my rhetoric is a bit overwrought? False environmental prophecies have cost more lives than any other predictions in the history of planet earth. We are approaching the 200 million mark for forced abortions alone in order to control population. All in the name of the theology of the Green Cult.

The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), concludes that Earth is doomed unless the international community agrees immediately to a multipronged strategy to combat climate change . The strategy recommends that… developed nations self-deindustrialize. The strategy also calls for the transfer of billions upon billions of dollars from developed nations to the governments of developing states as part of a “just transition to renewable energy.”

Again, Andrew Follett: “Ridiculous environmentalist claims and concerns about overpopulation have not only spurred out-of-control government spending, they have directly… led to horrific human-rights abuses, such as the forced sterilization or abortion of roughly 700 million people during China’s decades-long one-child policy and India’s forced sterilizations. The extent of the human-rights nightmare that can result from overpopulation- and eco-hysteria is difficult to overstate .”

Human sacrifice occupied a particularly important place in Mesoamerica. Many of the region's cultures, including the Maya and the Mexica, believed that human sacrifice nourished the gods. Without it, the sun would cease to rise and the world would end.

Walter Prescott calculated that the Aztecs sacrificed two million people on their altars because of their theological commitment to making the sun rise. Modern environmentalists have killed far more because of bad theology.

Back in the year 2000, Ronald Bailey of Reason magazine asked this question: What will Earth look like when Earth Day 60 rolls around in 2030? He predicted a much cleaner, and much richer future world, with less hunger and malnutrition, less poverty, and longer life expectancy, and with lower mineral and metal prices. And he makes another prediction about Earth Day 2030: “There will be a disproportionately influential group of doomsters predicting that the future–and the present–never looked so bleak.” In other words, the hype, hysteria, and spectacularly wrong apocalyptic predictions will continue, promoted by the “environmental grievance hustlers.”

In Deuteronomy 13 the Old Testament calls for the execution of false prophets. The least we can do in the modern world is ignore them. It will save a lot of lives.

Thanks for listening. May our Lord God, who spoke our earth into existence, and continues to bless and nourish it, bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: See my video, The Green Cult: Why It’s Dangerous and What You Need to Know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuHrMp6J-Wo

And, How the Green Movement Rejects the Christian Faith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHdkYg9MeXg

Andrew Follett on the latest catastrophic prophecies:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/11/weve-had-six-years-left-to-save-the-world-for-the-past-50-years/

Becket Adams with more on Doomsday:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/03/the-medias-doomsday-predictions-have-not-aged-well/

Mark Perry of AEI: “18 Spectacularly Wrong Apocalyptic Predictions Made Around the Time of the First Earth Day in 1970”: https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/18-spectacularly-wrong-apocalyptic-predictions-made-around-the-time-of-the-first-earth-day-in-1970-expect-more-this-year-2/

The High Cost of Environmental Regulation: https://www.hoover.org/research/high-price-environmental-regulations

My Mixed Feelings About the Catholic Church

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 25 Nov 2023 18:04:15 GMT

There is much to admire, but here are four misgivings about Roman Catholicism

Some of you have had questions about the Catholic church in America and around the world. I thought I would simply share my own thoughts; they are mixed. There are things about the Catholic church I view positively and things I view negatively. I grew up in a religious background that was hostile to Catholicism but over the years I have had to adjust that view somewhat.

Let’s begin with the positives:

First and foremost: There are wonderful Catholic Christians who bring great honor to Christ and clearly love Him; there are Roman Catholics who have a deep, vital, personal relationship with Christ, and for that I am thankful.

Catholic works of mercy are renowned all over the world. Go to any third world country. Most of the hospitals—and the best—are run by the Catholic church.

I love the official church position on many social issues: They are pro-life; the six Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade are Roman Catholics, and I thank God for them. The Catholic church defends traditional Christian marriage, Christian sexual ethics; they oppose gay rights and gay marriage, and resist laws legalizing euthanasia.

They are great defenders of Christian culture; they created Christian culture; without the Catholic church Western, Christian culture would not exist. This makes them without question the most powerful and influential institution, religious or otherwise, of all time. They preserved Christianity through the long slog of the Middle Ages. Without them there would be no Protestant Christianity; my Baptist heritage, which I love, would not exist. I want to thank the Catholics for paving the way for Baptists.

Maybe most importantly, they provide excellent background for a born-again experience; they believe in God and in the atonement of Jesus Christ; they uphold the authority of the Bible. There are millions of American protestant Christians who began life as Roman Catholics.

If you are a Protestant Christian there is much to admire and appreciate in the Catholic Church.

However, there are negatives. Let me share four of my main concerns.

First, they clearly believe in salvation by works. You play a role in saving yourself. As a Reformation Christian I reject this uncategorically. I have read many articles by Catholics insisting that they do not believe this but I am unpersuaded. Roman Catholics believe you are saved in part by your own merit. Josh Buice is a pastor and blogger whom I link below: He says, “According to official Catholic doctrine, for a person to be saved, it’s quite a tedious task. It involves steps such as actual grace, faith, good works, baptism, participation in the sacraments, penance, indulgences, and keeping the commandments. In short, the doctrine of [salvation] taught by the Roman Catholic Church is a works-based system where a person must work their way to God.” Buice seems right to me. I have read Catholic doctrine extensively and despite the protests of some Catholic writers, the church teaches a salvation that is, at least in part, merited through works.

It also seems to me that in the Catholic church you are sort of saved in installments. A sacrament here, a work of mercy there. In the end you hope it adds up to a trip to heaven.

I also wonder if a Catholic can ever be sure he is saved. A person can lose his “state of grace” by committing a mortal sin. When I read the Catholic definition of a mortal sin I thought it would be very specific. But it isn’t. The list is long, and the sins can be quite vague. If you read Jesus’ definitions of sin in the Sermon on the Mount it becomes clear that all of us commit mortal sins every day. People who believe they can save themselves through works do not understand the biblical definition of sin. What about Catholics who are true Christians? How are they saved? The same way everyone else is. They are saved by faith alone even if they don’t know it.

My second misgiving: It seems to me the Catholic church stresses the importance of culture over conversion. Missionaries to third world Catholic countries (the Philippines, Mexico, Italy) say the church there is a thin veneer over paganism; but that’s the plan. The Catholic Church intentionally takes the deities of pagan countries and converts them to Catholic saints and symbols. Their intention is for Catholic Christianity to percolate down through the entire culture and Christianize the population, even if it takes centuries.

My third misgiving: The Catholic emphasis on institutional salvation; there are millions of Catholics who believe the church will save them; or that they are saved by their connection to the church; I realize there are millions of Protestants who believe the same thing; both are wrong. However, the Catholic Church seems to officially endorse the idea that their institution saves you; just like Mormons who believe you must be officially connected to their organization to fulfill your eternal destiny.

My fourth misgiving: I reject the Catholic view that they are uniquely the body of Christ on earth; or that they, and they alone, are the visible body of Christ. Catholics claim to represent Christ in a way no one else does. But do they? Is there some sort of magic that relieves Catholics of the kinds of sins and failures that other Christian groups suffer? Decidedly not. Protestants have been led astray by terrible, ungodly leaders, even now. But so have the Catholics. How many wicked popes have there been? Many. There is ferocious debate inside the Catholic church right now over the current pope. How Catholic is he? The Babylon Bee recently had a headline on Pope Francis meeting a transgendered person. The headline read: “Man pretending to be a woman has lunch with man pretending to be a Catholic.” I have devout Catholic friends who would not disagree. How many Roman Catholic priests really have a vital personal relationship with Christ? One time a fellow graduate student asked to meet me so I could hear her confession. She had come to Christ through the ministry of Cru but had remained inside the Catholic church. I asked her why she didn’t just go to her priest. She said, “Oh, he’s not a Christian.” He was pro-choice, pro-gay rights, and in favor of the entire Marxist agenda. Thousands of priests are like him. Or take Catholic higher education. We have a major Catholic university in our area. I have had students who attended that school, and they told me the president—a Catholic clergyman—was just another theological liberal who believed virtually no historic Christian doctrines. Conservative Catholics recently complained about the “drag show” at Notre Dame. Surely the proportion of protestant clergy faithful to the Bible’s teaching is as high or higher than that of the Roman Catholic church. Just like other Christian bodies the Catholic church is split between those who are following left-wing political dogma and those who are faithful to Christ. Rather than being uniquely the body of Christ, the Roman church is like everyone else.

These are four of the reasons I am uneasy with the Catholic church. You may have thought I would include the scandalous behavior of immoral priests; but every institution has these problems. The Catholics, again, are no different from anyone else. But I guess that’s the point; the Catholic church is just as vulnerable to sin, failure, and scandal as any other church; they are not uniquely the body of Christ; they are a human institution in which one finds Christians; and lots of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Some of you may feel I have been too harsh on the Catholic Church. Others of you feel I have been too easy. This is my take after years of reflection. At any rate, thanks for listening. I love and fellowship with everyone who loves and worships Jesus Christ. You find them under every imaginable label. Thank God He knows those who are His. May He bless you this day in a mighty way.

A critical view of Rome: “The False Salvation of the Roman Catholic Church”: https://g3min.org/the-false-salvation-of-the-roman-catholic-church/

Roman Catholics in their own words; The Catechism Crisis: https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-catechism-crisis

More on the catechism crisis: https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/a-catechism-to-reclaim-catechisms?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=914688599a-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-914688599a-28475396&mc_cid=914688599a&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

A Catholic bishop demoted for being “too Catholic.” https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/bishop-strickland-becomes-a-victim-for-the-church-he-loves?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=2aebb6316f-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-2aebb6316f-28475396&mc_cid=2aebb6316f&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

Drag show at Notre Dame: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/11/a-drag-show-at-notre-dame

George Weigel on Matthew 25 Catholics (Catholics committed to liberal social policies but who also favor abortion): https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2022/08/matthew-25-catholics

Here’s a quote from the above article: “I have no window into the soul of those Catholic public officials who declare themselves “Matthew 25 Catholics,” as a counter to the suggestion that their Catholicism is defective because of their support of the abortion license. They may be sincere, but ill-catechized. They may have been advised by unscrupulous progressive clergy, or by left-leaning Catholic political activists for whom the pro-life position has always been an embarrassment. But whatever their subjective moral condition, they are using biblical imagery as political cover for the indefensible. And they should stop.”

Does Francis deserve the benefit of the doubt? https://crisismagazine.com/editors-desk/does-pope-francis-deserve-the-benefit-of-the-doubt?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=19b195ca07-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-19b195ca07-28475396&mc_cid=19b195ca07&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c

The Triumph of Christ: Dominion Part 12

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:13:15 GMT

Tom Holland concludes his magisterial work on the Dominion of Christ in Western Culture

Tom Holland has argued all through Dominion that Western culture is the creation of Jesus Christ and still dominated by Him. As one of Holland’s colleagues has said, “it is the air we breathe.” In the last two chapters of the book, Holland completes his argument.

Holland entitles Chapter 20: Love; A.D. 1967; Abbey Road

Holland begins this chapter with a most interesting defense of the power of Christianity. As evidence he cites the Beatles. The Beatles are the most popular rock band of all time. In 1967 they performed before a world-wide audience of 350 million and released their latest single. It was almost an anthem. It’s chorus, repeated over and over was, “All you need is love.” It was a prescription with which “neither Aquinas, nor Augustine, nor Saint Paul would have disagreed.” The same sentiment was being expressed in America by “an orator of genius, with an unrivalled mastery of its cadences.” Martin Luther King was an apostle of love. The Beatles did not take their message of love from the Bible, as King did. “They took it for granted.” Like modern Westerners they did not realize that their understanding of love was drawn from the Christian heritage.

The “rights” movement in America came to involve not only blacks, but women and homosexuals as well. But these movements all drank from the same well. “All human beings possessed an equal dignity.” A Roman would have laughed at such nonsense. Nietzsche had nothing but contempt for it. But at least he understood its origin—the Bible. In 1971 John Lennon wrote the anthem of atheism, the song “Imagine.” But Lennon’s atheism was “unmistakably bred of Christian marrow.” So too was the greatest concert of all time in 1985—Live Aid. It was designed to raise money for suffering Africans. Why would rich Western rock stars raise money for poor black people on another continent? The answer was their Christian past.

Holland devotes a good portion of this chapter to the spectacular growth of Christianity in Africa. In 1900 about ten million Africans called themselves Christian. By 1984 the number was 250 million. (And today it approaches 700 million.) The Christian gospel was attractive to this gigantic number of Africans and was the major factor in the undoing of Apartheid. “It was Christianity that had provided the colonized and the enslaved with their surest voice. The paradox was profound. No other conquerors, carving out empires for themselves, had done so as the servants of a man tortured to death on the orders of a colonial official.”

The last section of this chapter is devoted to 9-11 and its aftermath. George Bush could not understand why people of Muslim background would carry out such an attack. Bush, like most Westerners, thought his values were the values of countless million Muslims. Bush’s policies were met by anti-war and anti-colonial protests. But the protesters overlooked an important fact: their objections to imperial policies came not from the colonized but the colonizers. Opposition to empire came out of a long tradition of the Christian understanding of politics. Bush would never understand a man like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi saw the world through a different, non-Western lens. The U.N. had declared that all human beings had natural rights. But al-Zarqawi rejected this obviously Christian formulation. Humans had no natural rights and there was no natural law. The idea that there should be equality between men and women, Muslim and non-Muslim, had no place in Islam. Bush thought his values were universal. They are not. They are Christian and Western culture has been completely infiltrated and dominated by those values. They have “dominion” over Western thought.

Holland entitles his last chapter, Chapter 21: Woke; A.D. 2015, Rostock

Facing the Syrian refugee crisis, Angela Merkel—chancellor of Germany--made the decision to “abandon any lingering sense of the [European] continent as Christendom and open it up to the wretched of the earth.” She had absorbed a morality that she thought was universal and she said, “Islam, in its essentials, was little different from Christianity.” What she did not realize was that “Germany, remained in its assumptions about how a society should best be structured, profoundly and distinctively Christian.” She was unwittingly demanding that for Muslims to enter European society they had to twist their religion into something decidedly different. They had to submit to a society of human laws rather than the laws of Allah. Secularism was not neutral. It was produced “by the sweep of Christian history.” The West had become skilled at “repackaging Christian concepts for non-Christian audiences.”

The publishers and staff of the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hedbo, learned this the hard way. After satirizing Mohammed the same way they had been satirizing Christianity for years, Muslim gunmen broke into their headquarters and killed nine of them. They could not understand it. Didn’t they buy the secular conceit that “all religions are the same?” To imagine that secular values were timeless was the “surest evidence of how Christian they were.”

Holland then turns to Hollywood and the belief that there should be no restraints on human appetites: drugs, sex, and violence were packaged as entertainment. But then Hollywood learned what the Romans and Greeks knew all along. Sexual license is only the province of powerful men. Everyone else is a victim. Enter Harvey Weinstein. The “Me-too” movement was built on a solidly Christian assumption. Even men’s appetites were to be restrained. Margaret Atwood’s novel, A Handmaid’s Tale, told of a dystopian future of women enslaved and abortion denied. Though the feminists repudiated the Christian faith, their arguments for male restraint were from the very “womb of Christianity” itself. “America’s culture wars were less a war against Christianity than a civil war among Christian factions.”

Holland writes, “Christianity, it seemed, had no need of actual Christians for its assumptions to still flourish….Like dust particles so fine as to be invisible to the naked eye [Christian morals and presumptions] were breathed in equally by everyone: believers, atheists, and those who never paused to so much as think about religion.”

Holland ends his book with a section that is poignantly personal. He speaks affectionately of his godmother, Deborah Gillingham, and her determination to raise him in all things Christian. Holland admits that his book is about the lofty peaks of history—the rise and fall of civilizations, popes and theologians, revolutions and reformations. But “the story of how Christianity had transformed the world would never have happened without people like my Aunty Deb.” She provided him with a model of what an individual Christian looked like. And Holland recognized the immense power of such people. “It was always in the home that children were likeliest to absorb that…which has come to be so taken for granted that it seems like human nature. The Christian revolution was wrought above all at the knees of women.”

Christianity, Holland says, is “the most influential framework for making sense of human existence that has ever existed.” Even the modern myth of atheistic humanism is entirely a product of the Christian past and shot through and through with Christian assumptions. “To be a Christian is to believe that God became man and suffered a death as terrible as any mortal has ever suffered. That is why the cross remains…what it has always been: the fitting symbol of the Christian revolution.”

This is a powerful book. Even as I put the finishing touches on this last video, one of the world’s best known public intellectuals, and a woman of iconic status, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, has announced she has become a Christian. And she credits Holland’s book as a factor in her conversion. Anyone who reads this book should, at the very least, acknowledge their debt to Jesus Christ and His disciples who built this fabulous culture.

Allow God to speak to you this day. Let the truth of Jesus Christ’s immense and transcendent power wash over your soul. Grant Him dominion over your life.

Why I Am Now A Christian

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 22:48:35 GMT

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, one of the world's leading atheists, announces her conversion to Christianity

Bari Weiss is a liberal Jew and a former editor of the New York Times. She left the Times to start her own online publication, The Free Press, in order to pursue independent, fact-based, non-woke journalism. She began her column this week by saying, “One of the biggest stories of the past few days didn’t happen in Washington or Gaza or Tehran, but was an invisible change that happened inside the heart and mind of one woman: Ayaan Hirsi Ali…. Ayaan is one of the great heroes of our time…. She has also been, since the early 2000s, among the most prominent atheists in the world. Or at least she was until late last week, when she announced in the pages of UnHerd that she has converted to Christianity.”

The Egyptian intellectual Hussein Mansour wrote in reaction to the news that, “Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s announcement of embracing Christianity is one of the biggest pivotal moments culturally since 9/11 and I don’t know how many people actually realize that.”

I have viewed Ayaan Hirsi Ali as one of the most important public intellectuals in the world over the past two decades. The first time I remember reading her was more than ten years ago in the Wall Street Journal. It was not long after 9-11. She said that the Islamists who bombed the towers had an extremely high evel of religious commitment. She said they intended to conquer the world. Liberals, she argued, were ineffective due to a lack of commitment and willingness to sacrifice. She felt the only force capable of defeating Islam was Christianity. Christians possessed the requisite level of commitment and sacrifice to combat the Islamists. She said this as an atheist.

Let me strongly encourage you to read her essay yourself, which I have linked below. But for now let me share some of her thoughts.

She begins by saying she felt “compelled” to write her essay. She really wants the world to know what has happened inside her soul.

In the first part of the essay she describes her life as a Muslim and why, twenty years ago, she moved from Islam to atheism; “It was a relief to adopt an attitude of skepticism towards religious doctrine, discard my faith in God and declare that no such entity existed. Best of all, I could reject the existence of hell and the danger of everlasting punishment.”

I have enjoyed reading her for the past twenty years and found myself disagreeing with her atheism but agreeing with many of her foreign policy positions.

So, it was much to my surprise last week when I opened one of my online publications—the British magazine, Unherd, and saw the headline. “Why I am now a Christian,” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

So, what changed? Why does she call herself a Christian now?

Part of the answer, she writes, is global. Western civilisation is under threat from three different but related forces: First, the dictatorships of Russia and China; second, Islam; third, the Progressive Left, or if you wish, the forces of “woke.” In the organization of my YouTube channel you see that I have an entire section on Christianity’s competitors and her chief competitor is the Progressive Left.

She says, “We can’t fight off these formidable forces unless we can answer the question: what is it that unites us? The only credible answer, I believe, lies in our desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition….As Tom Holland has shown in his marvelous book Dominion , all sorts of apparently secular freedoms — of the market, of conscience and of the press — find their roots in Christianity.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali was powerfully affected by Dominion and let me strongly encourage you to read the book. If you can’t immediately do that at least watch my synopsis which I link below. I will be publishing the 12 ^th and last in my video series on the book later this week. In an interview this week, Ayaan Hirsi Ali said, “What I want to transmit to my children is summed up in Tom Holland’s book, Dominion.”

She points out, for instance, that critics of Christianity give their lectures in the confines of Christian countries and Christian culture where they are free to do so. Could you give a lecture on Why I am an atheist, in Saudi Arabia? Decidedly not.

But the civilizational war is not her only reason for becoming a Christian.

“I have also turned to Christianity because I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace unendurable — indeed very nearly self-destructive. Atheism failed to answer a simple question: what is the meaning and purpose of life?....Bertrand Russell and other activist atheists believed that with the rejection of God we would enter an age of reason and intelligent humanism. But the “God hole” — the void left by the retreat of the church — has merely been filled by a jumble of irrational quasi-religious dogmas. The result is a world where modern cults prey on the dislocated masses, offering them spurious reasons for being and action — mostly by engaging in virtue-signaling theatre on behalf of a victimised minority or our supposedly doomed planet.”

She says, “I no longer consider myself a Muslim apostate, but a lapsed atheist.”

She is humble about her conversion. She admits,

“Of course, I still have a great deal to learn about Christianity. I discover a little more at church each Sunday. But I have recognized, in my own long journey through a wilderness of fear and self-doubt, that there is a better way to manage the challenges of existence than either Islam or unbelief had to offer.”

A major thrust of my ministry is to declare to all that Jesus Christ and His followers have built the marvelous world you live in and enjoy. We need to give Him all the glory. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has discovered this and is now giving Him the glory He richly deserves. May many more turn to Him in gratitude and worship. Not only is He the only one who can defeat the vicious enemies of civilization. He alone can fill that yawning void in your soul.

More: See my video, “Atheists for Jesus.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s husband is one of the atheists I feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX5Mi-pVgGY

Ayaan Hirsi Ali announces her turning to the Christian faith: https://unherd.com/?p=490695?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3

And “An Atheist Admits the Necessity for Christian Missions;” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQEDBrykPo

All episodes of my synopsis of Tom Holland’s Dominion are found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

From World Magazine, “Let Them Come In,” inviting the likes of Ayaan Hirsi Ali into the Christian faith even though they have a limited understanding of it: https://wng.org/opinions/let-them-come-1699911311

Recent interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali in which she explains her conversion: https://unherd.com/2023/11/ayaan-hirsi-ali-answers-her-critics/#19

The Free Press touts Ayaan Hirsi Ali: https://www.thefp.com/p/ayaan-hirsi-ali-why-i-am-now-christian-atheism?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ljoms&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The Consequences of Abandoning Christ: Dominion Part 11

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 22:34:19 GMT

When a culture forsakes the true God of the Bible and His Son the result is catastrophe.

For many years before lecturing on World War 1 I would tell my students: This is what happens when you abandon Christian culture and stop thanking and worshipping the true God of the Bible. We have arrived at one of those points in Dominion.

Holland entitles Chapter 19: Shadow; A.D. 1916, The Somme(One of the great battles of WW1.)

For many the unprecedented carnage of World War I was a vindication of Christianity. (As I just stated.) But for many others it was a vindication of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche understood where civilization was headed. “God is dead…We have killed him….When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one’s feet.” Nietzsche attacked the Enlightenment values that he saw clearly were derived from Christianity. He held Enlightenment philosophers in contempt for their unwillingness to follow where their hostility to Christianity logically led. Holland says, “Nietzsche, more radically than many a theologian, had penetrated to the heart of everything that was most shocking about the Christian faith. Nietzsche celebrated pre-Christian paganism, when men took pleasure “in inflicting pain; for knowing that punishment might be festive…in the days before mankind became ashamed of its cruelty.” Nietzsche was not a happy camper.

Holland then turns his attention to the Bolsheviks and fascists, circa 1930. Instead of a tiny little group of radicals the Communists now ruled the largest nation on earth. Regarding Christianity their policy was simple: destroy it. They established the League of Militant Atheists whose job was to rid the earth of religion once and forever. They figured it would take about five years. But Holland finds irony in the Bolshevik program. “The godlessness of the Soviet Union was less a repudiation of the church than a parody of it. ‘Bolshevik atheism was the expression of a new religious faith.’” I couldn’t agree with Holland more. When atheists comment on my videos they get angry when I call them a religion but that’s what they are.

The same was true in Italy and Germany where fascism was the new religion. It saw itself as replacing Christianity. “Fascism worked to combine the glamour and the violence of antiquity with that of the modern world. There was no place in this vision of the future for the mewling feebleness of Christianity.” Hitler’s policies, “although rooted in a sense of race…were rooted as well in the clinical formulations of evolutionary theory. The measures that would restore purity to the German people were prescribed equally by ancient chronicles and Darwinist textbooks.” By 1937 Hitler had determined—like Lenin—to rid the world of Christianity. He was angered by the church’s opposition to the liquidation of the retarded and cripples. The German people needed to come to accept the extermination of the weak.

The last third of this chapter takes a most interesting turn. It focuses on the life and writing of J.R.R. Tolkien. “Every story, he believed, was ultimately about the fall. No less than Augustine had done, he interpreted all of history as the record of human iniquity….He aimed to write a fantasy that would also—in a sense acceptable to God—be true…Tolkien believed that the whole of history bore witness to Christ.” Tolkien was a relative rarity in the 1930s—an intellectual with great affection for the Jews. Scientists had decided that the Jews were not really a race at all. They were a “virus, a bacillus.” “Only people affected by the baneful humanism of Christianity…could think otherwise.” Tolkien was one of those Christians—and there were many across Europe—who identified with the Jews during the greatest crisis in Jewish history. The biggest objection of the Nazis was to the book of Genesis. Universal morality was a fraud perpetrated by the Jews. The Nazis argued, “Can we still tolerate our children being obliged to learn that Jews and Negroes, just like Germans or Romans, are descended from Adam and Eve, just because a Jewish myth says so?” Holland acknowledges that a number of Christians had been seduced by the social Darwinism of the Nazis. They came to be servants of Hitler’s racial ideology, claiming that in aiding the destruction of the Jews they were servants of Christ. Let me add that there are Christians in every age who abandon their faith and capitulate to the dominate spirit of the age. It’s no different today.

Shortly after the war ended Tolkien published the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The major themes were right out of Christian culture. “True strength manifested itself, not in the exercise of power, but in the willingness to give it up.” The fall of Mordor came on March 25—the very day that according to tradition Christ entered the womb of the Virgin Mary. The book was not well received. “Most reviews, when not bewildered, were contemptuous. The books roots in the distant past, its insistence that good and evil actually existed, its relish for the supernatural: all were liable to strike sophisticated intellectuals as infantile.” Tolkien’s purpose had been to communicate the “beauties of the Christian religion; its truth.” It would end up as the most widely read book of the twentieth century. And Tolkien had invented an entirely new genre of literature.

In our next video we complete this magisterial survey of Western culture, also known as, the Dominion of Jesus Christ.

All the episodes of Dominion are found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

The Moral Rot of Higher Education

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 19:37:15 GMT

The Response to Hamas' Attack on Israel Tells us What We Already Knew

The genocidal attack of Hamas on Israel on October 7 revealed what a lot of us already knew. America’s campuses are a moral disaster and the preeminent threat to Western, Christian civilization.

Ostensibly, the Left’s anger was aimed at Israel and the Jews, but it was oh so much more than that. Yes, the Progressive, Marxist Left hates Israel and by extension is anti-Semitic. Do they hate Israel just because they are Jewish? That is part of the reason. But a bigger reason for Israel hatred is that the Jewish state represents the blessings of Western civilization. And there is nothing the Left hates more than Western, Christian civilization.

The Moral Rot

On October 7 the Palestinian terrorist organization, Hamas, invaded Israel and murdered 1400 innocent civilians. Hamas terrorists burned people alive, raped victims, shot babies in the head. One baby was put in an oven and baked alive. The final death toll was over 1,400 dead Israelis—many of them women and children. It was the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust.

And how did many in the academic community and America’s college students respond? With rejoicing. A professor at Cornell told students at a rally for Hamas that they should be exhilarated by the terrorist attack. Students rallied at universities around the United States to denounce Zionist “genocide,” they held vigils for the Palestinian “martyrs,” and applauded Hamas’s efforts at “decolonization.”

Some Jewish students put up posters of Israeli kidnap victims being held hostage. They were torn down by Left-wing college students.

31 student organizations at Harvard issued a joint statement saying that they held the Israeli government completely responsible for all the violence.

The Ethnic Studies Department at CU, Boulder, where I taught for nearly 25 years, issued a statement: “[We stand] in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination….We loudly condemn the horrific on-going settler violence of the Israeli state occupation and the brutal bombing of innocent Palestinian people in the Gaza strip by its military.” That’s right. CU’s Ethnic Studies Department blames the Jews for their own destruction.

Julia Steinberg is a junior at Stanford. Her essay in the Free Press is a must read. It begins: “I am 21 years old and Jewish. Apparently, 48 percent of my peers want people like me dead.

As of October 23, 64 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds think what happened on October 7 was a terrorist attack. Seventy-seven percent of us think “it’s true that Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 Israeli civilians by shooting them, raping and beheading people including whole families, kids and babies.” But when asked, “in this conflict do you side more with Israel or Hamas?”

Forty-eight percent said Hamas.”

A college student can be arrested for praying near an abortion clinic, expelled or at least condemned for misgendering a fellow student. A politician can be hauled into court for arguing that gay marriage is not biblical and quoting Bible verses to that effect. But it is perfectly alright to call for the mass murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel.

If you do not unequivocally condemn Hamas, you are morally degenerate.

The cause of the moral rot

How have today’s universities and her students arrived at a position of complete moral bankruptcy? The Left’s anti-Israel hate I described in a recent video linked below. For them it is part of their religious catechism. The Left divides the world up into oppressor/oppressed or evil/good. Two generations ago they decided Israel is evil. Because Israel, ironically, represents Western Christian culture. So, for more than 50 years Leftist college professors have been teaching students to hate Israel. It is how they derive religious meaning for their lives.

Rich Lowry: “The cataract of anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses has been shocking, but it shouldn’t be surprising. It is the poisoned fruit of teaching a generation of college students to despise their own civilization.”

Madeline Kearns: “Western elites promote the hatred of our cultural inheritance as a mark of moral and intellectual sophistication.”

Surely Jacob Howland is right: “The events of recent weeks have brought home an ugly truth: far from equipping students to preserve and extend civilization, American universities—especially elite ones—have been teaching them how to destroy it….I can only hope that many Harvard faculty are appalled at the little monsters they’ve helped to create.”

But they won’t be. They agree with the little monsters they have created. They are doing what they created them for.

Craig Carter in World: “Marxists have colonized (I use that word deliberately) our universities. They flourish in the grievance studies pseudo-disciplines and the departments of what used to be English literature. Their malign influence has now spread into the professional schools and has created a gigantic, expensive, wasteful bureaucracy called “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” the goal of which is to stamp out diversity of thought, prevent open debate, and impose a stifling Marxist ideology on the institution by going so far as to control thought by controlling language itself.”

So clearly, Higher Education is a moral trainwreck. Why? For the simple reason given in Romans 1:21: They abandoned belief in the true God of the Bible, they did not thank Him or honor Him. They have tried to replace Him with a cultic alternative religion of their own making. As a result, their foolish hearts are darkened. They think they are wise but they are really, really stupid.

The solution to the moral rot

So what is to be done about all this? The writers I quoted above have a number of suggestions. They call for defunding higher education. But this will be hard. Universities are entrenched and many of them are very, very rich. Harvard’s endowment is 51 billion dollars. They could offer every undergraduate free tuition for 140 years and not run out of money. Instead they charge them 55,000 a year.

Madeline Kearns in NR: “The only political solution is to elect representatives who take preserving Western civilization seriously.” Then she adds, “Good luck with that.” No, our elected politicians are not going to solve this problem.

A few are starting new universities that they hope will someday compete with the enemies of our civilization. But they are small and tiny in number. Still, it’s worth a try and I wish them well.

My own view is that the restoration of Western civilization will only be accomplished through the force that created it in the first place: the triumph of Christianity and the recrudescence of Jesus Christ and His followers. Will that happen? No one can know with certainty, but I am very hopeful for the revival and triumph of our faith and, hence, Christian culture. See my video below on the reasons for my optimism.

I can remember for much of my life thinking that Soviet communism would never die. Then one day, in William Buckley’s phrase, God cleared His throat and it was dead. God will do the same with all His enemies. He will give them time to repent, then He will clear His throat and destroy them.

We need to be diligent about doing His will in our daily lives, trusting Him with the big picture. He seems to have handled it well in the past. I think we can trust Him for the future.

Thanks for listening. May the Lord bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: See my video: The Greatest Enemy of Mankind is the Academic Community

And: Why Does the Left Hate Israel?

And: Why I Love the Jewish People

And: Why I am Hopeful About the Future of Western Civilization

The Enemies of Christ Rear Their Heads: Dominion Part 10

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 04 Nov 2023 18:14:54 GMT

Darwinists and Marxists Seek to Destroy Christian Culture

The Scientific and Technological Revolutions happened in Christian culture, and only in Christian culture. Why? Because both depend on Christian theological assumptions.

Holland entitles Chapter 18: Science, A.D. 1876, The Judith River

The latter half of the nineteenth century saw dramatic changes in how Western culture viewed science. Science and history had always been of interest to Christians. One of the most powerful Christian ideas that touches on both, was creation. The world had a beginning. It did not rotate through endless cycles. (This introduced to the world the idea of Progress, one of the most powerful ideas of all time.) Geology seemed to buttress Christian faith. Creation bore witness to design. But along came Charles Darwin, and others, who saw the opposite. The natural world contained “too many examples of cruelty to believe that they may ever have been the result of conscious design.”

For centuries Western intellectuals sought to identify the laws of God’s creation. Now Darwin’s theory of natural selection had no need of God at all. Christianity taught that God Himself became a man, lived as a slave, and suffered a cruel death. Yet in weakness He was triumphant. Weakness had proven to be the greatest strength ever known. Darwin’s theory challenged all that. Weakness was nothing to be valued. There was even more. Holland writes, “For eighteen long centuries the Christian conviction that all human life was sacred had been underpinned by one doctrine more than any other: that man and woman were created in God’s image.” Darwin’s theory eviscerated that doctrine. He asserted, “No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man.” Why were some races more advanced than others? There could only be one answer. Evolution had produced a “natural hierarchy of races. [Whites] had elevated themselves to a new degree of consciousness. Others had not.” And so racism is born.

The full assault on the Christian view of civilization began. According to Darwin’s “bulldog”, Thomas Huxley, “It was only by stepping over the corpses of extinguished theologians that humanity would be able to leave delusion behind.” Huxley called it a “New Reformation.” Science had always existed—the Greeks were off to a good start—but according to Huxley Christianity got in the way and scuttled progress. Holland observes, “That nothing in this narrative was true did not prevent it from becoming a wildly popular myth.” (Nothing in the Darwinist attack on Christianity was true. But the lies persisted because the educated elite wanted to be rid of Christianity. They were unaware that every blessing in their lives had come from Jesus Christ and His followers.) Then Holland argues interestingly, that the Darwinists, were not leaving Christianity behind at all. Huxley had all the marks of the “Puritan character.” “Moral earnestness, the volitional energy, the absolute confidence in his own convictions, the desire to impress them upon all mankind….The war between religion and science reflected…the claims of both to a common inheritance.”

Some studied man’s place in the universe; others began to study his sexual nature. The word “homosexual” was invented. Despite the reductionism in viewing man’s sexuality much of the Christian heritage was retained. For example, fidelity in marriage remained deeply valued. I have another video on how the Left has retained much of Christian teaching on sex, and I have linked it below.

Holland devotes a lengthy section to Andrew Carnegie and the social implications of Darwin. Carnegie’s view was right out of the social Darwinist catechism: He said “The only alternative to the survival of the fittest was the survival of the unfittest. Indiscriminate charity served no purpose save to subsidize the lazy and the drunk.” But Carnegie retained much of his Christian heritage. He felt responsible to use his wealth for the betterment of mankind and so bestowed it on an endless number of social programs.

The most far-reaching consequence of Darwin’s thinking was its impact on a young Russian—Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov—better known by his penname, Lenin. Darwin’s impact on Lenin was great but even more that of another of Darwin’s successors—Karl Marx. According to Lenin, “Just as Darwin discovered the law of evolution as it applies to organic matter so Marx discovered the law of evolution as it applies to human history.” Marx had established the destiny of mankind scientifically. It was the evolution toward a classless society. Of course, there was no need for God. According to Marx, anyone who thought Christianity was of long-term importance was “slumbering in an opium den.” But Marx was also a product of his Christian heritage. Holland says, “For a self-professed materialist he was oddly prone to seeing the world as the Church fathers had once done; as a battleground between the cosmic forces of good and evil…If, as he insisted, he offered his followers a liberation from Christianity, then it was one that seemed eerily a recalibration of it.”

Marx’ was a powerful, prophetic vision. Capitalism was doomed to collapse. The hour of salvation was at hand. Of course, what was really at hand was the single most destructive set of ideas in human history.

In the last chapters of Holland’s book we see the beginning of the great war we are in at this very moment. The war between Christ and His enemies.

More: Where Non-Christians Agree with Christians About Sex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRo6hFk7WXU

My video on Marxist deceptions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FqzZJie6pg

All the episodes of Dominion are found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

Three Authors Who Have Shaped My Life

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 21:51:40 GMT

Authors and Their Books That Have Influenced Me

All of us have certain authors who have had a powerful influence on our lives. After the Bible, the writings of these three men have had more impact on me than any others. I want to tell you a little bit about each of them, what books I recommend, and how they have shaped my life.

First, is the least well known of the group, Vance Havner. Havner was a Southern Baptist pastor, author, and conference speaker who died in 1986 at the age of 85. Havner’s books are a collection of his sermons. There are probably about 30 and I have read most of them. I was introduced to him as a college sophomore in 1966. The first book I read was, “Why Not Just Be Christians?” Havner was a modern prophet who condemned the lukewarmness of American Christianity. He said, “Most of our church services begin at 11 o’clock sharp and end at 12 o’clock dull.” He demanded a submission to the Lordship of Christ and called for us to forsake the world and all its allure. I was 19 years old when I first read him and concluded he was right. Most of the Christianity I saw was watered down and ineffectual. I have read him now for 60 years and he has continually inspired me to give all to Christ and leave the world behind. It is great counsel for a young college student as well as a retired pastor.

Second, is the best known, C.S. Lewis. Lewis was a college professor in England who died on November 22, 1963—the day JFK was assassinated. He is one of the most famous Christians of the last century. I have read most of his books from Screwtape letters, a book about an old demon giving advice to a young demon; to the Problem of Pain, dealing with evil. He is famous for his Narnia series which has been made into a number of movies. But his book, Mere Christianity, has helped me the most. I have often called it the best book of the last 100 years. In it Lewis brilliantly argues for the existence of the God of the Bible, and as such is probably the best known apologetic work in our lifetime. But it is more than apologetics. The second half of the book is about what God expects of Christians; or, how to live the Christian life. It is a work of genius. Every Christian should read Mere Christianity, one of the greatest books ever written.

Third, is David Martin Lloyd-Jones. MLJ was a British preacher who died in 1981. He was the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London from 1939 to 1968. His books are usually a collection of his sermons. His book, The Sermon on the Mount, I consider to be the best book along with Mere Christianity, of the past 100 years. Lloyd-Jones brilliantly exposits Jesus’ sermon, arguing that it is for all Christians everywhere, but only for Christians.

There are several other authors who have helped me greatly—Francis Schaeffer, Charles Spurgeon, to name two—but these three I put at the head of the list.

Use the links below to get hold of books by these great men. I am convinced they will bless you as they have me.

More: You can access Vance Havner sermons and books at his website: http://vancehavner.com/

You can order Mere Christianity here: https://www.amazon.com/Mere-Christianity-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652926/ref=sr_1_1?crid=7IDM8LSEAWQX&keywords=mere+christianity+by+c.s.+lewis&qid=1698251492&sprefix=mere+chr%2Caps%2C370&sr=8-1

You can find Lloyd-Jones, “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount,” here: https://www.amazon.com/Studies-Sermon-Mount-Two-Set/dp/161427116X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UVWUWFLB412J&keywords=studies+in+the+sermon+on+the+mount+lloyd-jones&qid=1698251958&sprefix=the+sermon+on+the+mount+llo%2Caps%2C231&sr=8-1

An excellent article in the British publication, The Spectator, on the greatness of C.S. Lewis: https://thespectator.com/book-and-art/americas-professor-the-afterlife-of-c-s-lewis/?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGPEW3pfO8jMjAZrnkkA7zgV0hFF6N6vTuWX4Fn2fBTLPp3QjApPNr34TQXPaOtjNpZ3CjXbblGkMlqkkvGi2tV45HSamQRu51LyRKK7p_2lRIR

Hundreds of Martin Lloyd-Jones sermons can be found in written or podcast form on his web page: https://www.mljtrust.org/

One of the Bible's Hardest Verses: Matthew 7:14

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 18:29:51 GMT

There is some Bible truth that is hard to accept.

I used to ask my students at Colorado Christian University, “What is your favorite Bible verse?” I would get lots of different answers. Then I asked, “What’s your most unfavorite verse?” What verse of the Bible do you like the least? Not that it isn’t true. It’s just that you don’t like the truth it expresses. That question was usually followed by silence.

I would like to share one of my unfavorite verses with you today. It’s Matthew 7;14: Straight and narrow is the way and few there be that find it. It’s not that I doubt the truth of this verse. I believe it is absolutely true. I think you can prove it’s true. It’s just that I’m uncomfortable with the truth it states.

So what does it say? Jesus tells us that there are two groups of people. Those who go through a wide gate and those who enter the narrow gate. He tells us where each are they headed. The first group is headed for destruction the second group is headed for life. The first group is lost and going to hell, the second group is going to heaven. There are only two gates. Jesus does not offer gate number three, gate number four, and so on. Just two gates.

But what’s even worse is His statistical analysis. Jesus in a sense plays the sociologist here. He gives quantities for each gate. The wide gate is taken by the great bulk of humanity, the narrow gate by the few. Only a small percentage of the human race goes through the narrow gate and on to eternity with the Father.

When I survey the world and history I can see that Jesus is absolutely right. There is no question that the number of His true followers is very, very small relative to the number of people who go the way of the world. I wish it were not so, but it is.

I remember many years ago sitting in meetings preparing for the coming of an evangelist to the city of Denver. The group leader said, “let’s win Denver to Christ.” I thought about this verse. We are not going to take Denver for Christ. The vast majority of the population of Denver has no interest in the narrow gate. They have heard the gospel but they love the world too much. Those who love the world do not love God. We might be able to reach a small number of the people of Denver but that’s all.

This verse means that the great majority of people will not respond to the gospel no matter how it is presented. All the evangelistic techniques and programs aren’t going to change this.

This verse means that a country with a large, allegedly “Christian” population has very few real Christians. That includes America. Only a few Americans are traveling through the narrow gate.

This verse means that Christians are a small, secret, nearly invisible, society operating in a large hostile environment. We are always going to be a tiny minority.

This verse means the path Jesus has set out for you is challenging. The way of discipleship is at times, very hard. If you find yourself discouraged, dry, experiencing the dark night of the soul, persecuted, do not be surprised. That’s how the narrow way is.

MLJ notes that since the gate is narrow you can’t take anything through it but yourself. You have to leave everything else behind.

However, however. Do not be discouraged. Let me offer encouragement.

Despite our tiny numbers we are still the most powerful influence on the planet. Christian culture is the most powerful that has ever existed, and Christian culture was built by the few, traveling through the narrow gate. You can see this by the influence we have on people who hate us. People who deny any validity to our message still have their brains full of our truth and doctrinal assumptions as I said in a recent video.

It means a very few people have wielded a ridiculous amount of power. I read history and think about the tiny number of people who have made the world a dramatically better place for everyone.

Furthermore, even though the number of people who enter the narrow gate is few there are still millions who will respond to the gospel. One percent of the world’s population is 80 million people. We need to keep proclaiming the Gospel everywhere and to everyone.

Finally, the few will surprise you. They are from every tongue and tribe and nation. They come from every background. Some have lived terrible, sinful lives, but there still comes a time when they enter the narrow gate.

So be encouraged. Make the decision today to go through the narrow gate and rejoice that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ has made that possible.

More: “The Christian Beliefs of People Who Hate us;” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4XNyZRx9xU

Though small in number followers of Jesus Christ will still triumph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxSvawjZmo

The Christian Beliefs of People Who Hate Christianity: Dominion Part 9

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 14 Oct 2023 18:28:48 GMT

When a person says they reject Christianity the first thing to say is: No you don.t..

Christian doctrine dominates the minds of the people who hate it. If you grew up in Christian culture, that culture is so powerful, it controls your mind even if you are not aware of it.

Holland entitles Chapter 16: Enlightenment; A.D. 1762, Toulouse

As the title suggests, in this chapter Holland deals with several major figures of the so-called Enlightenment. First Voltaire, who hated Christianity with a passion. According to Voltaire, “The fanaticism of Christians had only served to cover the earth with corpses.” Holland does not deny the power of these eighteenth-century intellectuals. “For the first time since the reign of Constantine, the commanding heights of European culture had been wrested from Christian intellectuals.” But Holland denies that the Enlightenment operated outside Christian culture. “In truth, there was nothing quite so Christian as a summons to bring the world from darkness to light.” Voltaire admitted, “Some sense of the divine was needed, or else society would fall apart. ‘If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him.’”

Holland repeatedly shows how “Christian” the anti-Christian intellectuals were. Their criticisms of Christianity were rooted in the assumptions of Christian culture. Voltaire shared in the depiction of history as divided into three phases—Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. What he fails to note is that he did not create these distinctions. They were created by the Protestant reformers. In fact, Holland argues, all these revolutions go back to the One who said, “Woe to you who are rich.” In the early days of the French Revolution the occupation most disproportionately represented among the rebels was that of the priest. Still, the French Revolution eventually became viciously anti-Christian. But the English Revolution never did. Especially on the American continent it was infused and motivated by Christian ideas. “The truest and ultimate seedbed of the American Republic…was the book of Genesis.”

The Enlightenment thinkers were enamored of human rights, or as they called them, “the rights of man.” They assumed they were natural to human reason, but they were not. They originated—of all places—in the Catholic canon lawyers of the High Middle Ages. The Enlightenment philosophers sought the origin of rights in Greece and Rome. But they discovered something that did not exist. Neither of those ancient civilizations knew anything about such rights. Holland devotes quite a few words to one writer who understood this—the Marquis de Sade, the wicked man from whom we get the word sadism. According to de Sade the true divisions in society, “were those who were naturally masters and those who were naturally slaves.” Man simply stands “next to the Chimpanzee” on the ladder of power. De Sade recognized that “the rights of man were no more provable than the existence of God.”

Holland ends the chapter by observing that, although ideas like the Marquis’ were logical and held by some, by the end of the eighteenth century the Christian view had triumphed. All the nations of Europe abolished the slave trade. “Amazing Grace indeed.”

Holland entitles Chapter 17: Religion; A.D. 1825, Baroda

Holland begins this chapter with a blood-curdling account of sati—a Hindu woman casting herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. This act of self-immolation was an ancient part of Hinduism and the word itself means, “good wife.” Christians were appalled and saw this as a vindication of their superiority over paganism. Christianity was a superior religion to paganism. Holland then goes on to argue that Christianity, and especially Protestant Christianity, invented the very idea of a “religion.”

It was clear that the Hindus could not be dismissed as mere pagans. They had sacred scriptures—as old as the Bible. They had temples, and rituals, a priesthood—all the things possessed by Christianity. The Hindus, however, would not have understood the Christian classification of them as a “religion.” “No word remotely approximate to it existed in any Indian language.” Hindus themselves—as well as the British—began to use the term “secularization.” There was the religious and the secular. This opened a door for Indians to shape what the religion looked like. For example, there were Indians who opposed suttee. Thus, in 1829 suttee was declared illegal. An Indian historian wrote, “Christianity spreads two ways: “Through conversion and through secularisation.” The idea that a religion could function in a completely secular way—in two spheres of existence, religious and secular—was a “distinctively” Protestant idea. “A country did not need to see itself Christian…to start seeing itself through Christian eyes.” This gives you an idea of how powerful Christianity is. It extends its truth into areas where it is despised.

Holland then examines how this process worked itself out in two other “religions”—Judaism and Islam. The Jews had, to say the least, an uneven history in Europe. By 1848 they were technically illegal in the kingdom of Prussia. But the Emperor, Friedrich Wilhelm, wanted to integrate them into his domain. Friedrich was himself deeply Christian on a cultural level. He asked himself, “How do you have a Christian kingdom that admits the killers of Christ?” The solution was similar to that in India. Jews were allowed to retain their religion as long as they functioned as “secular” in the public sphere. The French had already done the same in their Declaration of Rights. However, “secularism” was not a neutral concept. Again, Holland argues that it was an invention of Christianity. “That there existed two dimensions, the secular and the religious, was an assumption that reached back centuries beyond the Reformation: to Gregory VII, to Columbanus, and to Augustine.”

Tension with the Muslims was seen in the controversy over slavery. The Muslims had no problem with it, and even argued that it was the natural way of things—as had Aristotle. Muslims had historically believed that the law was in written documents handed down from the prophet. But they capitulated to the Pauline idea that it was written on the heart. In time Muslims came to argue that slavery ‘s evil had been written on the hearts of men. From there it was an easy jump to the idea of international law and human rights. Holland describes the abolitionist movement as something that just exploded, “like the rushing wildfire of the Spirit.” The British pursued abolitionism even though it went counter to their economic interests. And slavery continued to exist in many regions of Africa. The British knew that slavery could never be eradicated until the entire continent had “been won for civilisation.” “Civilisation” won out. “It was not the slavers who ended up settling Africa…but the emancipators.” The emancipators were, as you might guess, an army of missionaries sent out from Europe and America. They were an irresistible army of conquest—conquest for the Kingdom of God.

And so we witness the ongoing spread and triumph of history’s greatest culture—Christian culture. Holland’s last chapters witness the conquest of the Dominion of Jesus Christ.

More: All the episodes of Dominion are found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

Why Does the Left Hate Israel?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 16:30:14 GMT

I Share Three Reasons for the Irrational Hatred

On Saturday morning, October 7, the Muslim terrorist organization, Hamas, launched a full scale invasion of Israel. Hamas—which resides in the Gaza strip adjacent to Israel—began the assault by firing thousands of rockets into Israeli neighborhoods. Then they blew up portions of the border fence between the two countries, entered Israel, and began going house to house murdering men, women, and children, taking many hostages back to Gaza. As of now, over a thousand Israelis are dead and the number is likely to increase. As Ben Shapiro said, this is the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust.

I won’t go into detail about the horrific attack. I have links below that do that and many of you have probably already read a great deal about this. The purpose of this video is to explore and explain the reaction of Progressive Left in the West. Why does the Left hate Israel?

Make no mistake, they do not attempt to mask their hatred. In America forty rallies unfolded from Anchorage to Atlanta and Washington, D.C., praising Hamas, and cheering on the attack. One rally was put on by the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization that includes six members of Congress. A Leftist group outside the opera house in Sidney, Australia chanted, “Gas the Jews, gas the Jews.”

The most disgusting response came from students at Harvard University. A consortium of 31 groups put out a statement holding Israel “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”.

Jacob Howland, writing in Unherd, says, “Progressive liberals have now given birth to a generation of demonic ideologues who excuse sheer evil….I can only hope that many Harvard faculty are appalled at the little monsters they’ve helped to create.” Howland rightly calls Harvard a national disgrace.

There seem to be no limits on the Left’s hatred of Israel.

But why? Why do they hate Israel, and by proxy, the Jews?

When I started teaching at a secular university in 1984 I immediately started noticing the anti-Semitic hostility. Forty years ago many in the academic community had turned against Israel. Through reading and personal conversations I have come up with three reasons for the irrational, satanic hatred of Israel and the Jews.

First, we have to mention the historic hatred that goes back to the beginning of Israel and the Jews as a nation and people. The hatred has been around four thousand years and western intellectuals have simply joined the chorus. But there is more to this than routine anti-semitism.

Second, the Left hates the Jews because it meets a religious need. The Progressive Left long ago abandoned belief in the God of the Bible, and the Christian culture built by followers of Christ. But everyone is religious. Everyone has a religion. The prophetic voice for the Left is Karl Marx. Marx divided all of history into the oppressed classes, the oppressor classes, and intellectuals like himself fighting for the oppressed. The Left created a modern melodrama of from Marx’s categories. A melodrama contains three characters. There is Dudley Do-right, the hero. There is Little Nel, the victim tied to the railroad tracks. And there is Snidely Whiplash, the villain who opresses the victim; the one who tied Little Nel to the tracks. In this morality play the Leftists themselves play the hero. Being a hero gives religious meaning to life. The villain can be anyone with influence and power—Christians, capitalists, the military, democratic governments, successful nation states like Israel. The Left is always in search of a victim to save.

This runs opposite to the truth God gives us in the Bible. God labels all men as sinners in need of a Savior. You are not defined by the group you are in. There are no hero groups or victim groups. We are all villains. You stand as an individual before the judgment of Almighty God. Remember the Jewish leaders bragging to John the Baptist that they were sons of Abraham? They said, “We are in the right group!” And John the Baptist said, “God can turn rocks into sons of Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9)

During the last generation the Left has been in constant search for victims—it could be certain ethnic groups; it could be the homeless; it could be street criminals in America’s big cities. A couple of generations ago they decided the Palestinians were innocent victims, and the Left committed itself to saving them. Israel became the villain.

Hating and attacking Israel gives the Left religious meaning and purpose.

A third reason for the hatred of Israel is Satan’s presence in the world. I remember reading the Nuremburg transcripts of the treatment of Ukrainian Jews at Baby Yar, where the Nazis murdered several hundred thousand of them. I remember as I read this saying, “Satan is real. This can only be explained by the literal existence of a demonic being.” How do a group of rich Westerners march around chanting, “Gas the Jews”? Satan is alive and powerful in our midst.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for Israel. May our Lord Jesus Christ take this unspeakable tragedy and somehow use it for His glory.

More: See my video, Why I Love the Jewish People; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkWLeNc5Nww

“The Religious Origin of the Rights Movements”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ggE_qI85WA

My transcript, Why I Love the Jewish People: https://www.the401stprophet.com/why-do-people-hate-the-jews-why-i-love-the-jewish-people

Hamas atrocities: https://www.dailywire.com/news/shapiro-the-worst-day-for-jews-since-the-holocaust?utm_campaign=dw_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=housefile&utm_content=member

Harvard is a national disgrace: https://unherd.com/2023/10/harvard-is-a-national-disgrace/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3

A Leftist, “I support the task 100%”: https://unherd.com/thepost/celebration-and-dancing-outside-the-israeli-embassy/

Did God Choose Me for Salvation? Am I One of the Elect?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 18:18:42 GMT

Six issues to consider

I taught at a Christian university for thirteen years and almost every semester a student would ask me, “Does God choose who goes to heaven and who goes to hell?” And then they asked the logical follow up question, “How do I know if I am one of the chosen ones?”

In the history of Christian theology this has come to be known as the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism. John Calvin lived in the 1500s and Jacobus Arminius lived a generation later. Calvin emphasized the sovereignty of God, Arminius the free will of man. Today you have large blocks of Christians who tend to be followers of one or the other. In the Arminian camp are Methodists, Wesleyans, Nazarenes, most Pentecostals, and some Baptists. Presbyterians and many Baptists call themselves Calvinists. Roman Catholics would have to be considered Arminians though their view of salvation is a bit different from Protestants.

The differences can be illustrated in interpreting a single verse, Ephesians 1:4. The text says, “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.” A Calvinist would say this verse means that God looked forward in history and selected those He was going to save. He then arranged their lives and gave them His Spirit in order for them to be born again and delivered from their sins. An Arminian would interpret this verse as saying God looked forward in history and foresaw who would freely choose Him. He then chose them for salvation on the basis of His foreknowledge.

I have to confess that I have been on both sides of this issue. When I was a sophomore in high school I went through a faith crisis and wondered, really wondered, whether or not God had chosen me; whether or not I was really saved. I came down on the Arminian side of the question and concluded it was up to me. When I was a junior in college I was talking to the new pastor of our Baptist church one night after the evening service and found out he was a Calvinist. I became very upset with him, as he articulately defended his position. I continued to attend the church but strongly disagreed with him. Then when I was a seminary student I spent many hours studying both sides of the issue and came down on the Calvinist side, but without a great deal of emotion. I just felt the Calvinists had better verses. But I could certainly see the Arminian view, especially since I had held it for so long.

So in answering this question for my students I gave them several general observations for their consideration. Here are six.

First, devout followers of Jesus Christ come down on both sides. This is not a salvation issue. The great evangelist George Whitefield was a Calvinist and his friend and fellow evangelist, John Wesley, was an Arminian. Someone asked him if he would see Wesley in heaven. Whitefield said, ”No.” Why not? “Because Mr. Wesley will be so much closer to the throne of grace than I am that I will not be able to lay my eyes upon him.”

There are wonderful Calvinist believers and wonderful Arminian believers.

Second, both sides have verses that are hard for the other side to interpret. One time I asked an Arminian friend of mine to give me what he thought was the best Calvinist verse in the Bible. He cited Acts 16:14. Paul was preaching and a woman named Lydia was in his audience. The text says, “The Lord opened her heart” to receive his message. He thought that was a strong Calvinist verse. What did I think was the best Arminian verse? I cited Titus 1:6. Paul is listing requirements for elders. One of them is he must have children who are believers. It seems logical to me that if Paul requires an elder’s children to be saved then he assumes parents play a decisive role in their children’s salvation. You wouldn’t choose elders who were just lucky enough to have elect kids. A person with good knowledge of the Bible can cite 50 verse for either side.

Third, there is no argument in the Bible over this issue. Scripture simply gives the verses and leaves it to us to decide what to believe. The Bible never takes the trouble to defend the doctrine of election or free will for that matter.

Fourth, the doctrine of election is not one that a human would invent. To the best of my knowledge no religion in the world holds that God chooses certain individuals for salvation. All of the modern, man-made religions exclusively emphasize the human role in salvation. You save yourself through works of righteousness. It is not up to God at all. In my opinion the majority of people who call themselves Christians believe they are saved by their own righteous works. This is the official view of groups like the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The modern Progressive Left believes you become right with the universe by performing certain self-righteous works. The Roman Catholic church’s official doctrine holds that man’s works play a role in his salvation and almost every Catholic I have ever talked to believed it was up to him whether or not he went to heaven. So the doctrine of election is not a natural, man-made doctrine.

Fifth, in the history of Christianity this issue has never been settled and you aren’t going to settle it either. Great theologians, Bible scholars, pastors, missionaries, and many great saints have disagreed over this. I tell my students, you may spend an hour arguing with someone about this and that’s it. No longer. Never, ever break fellowship with a brother over this. Leave room for disagreement. There are doctrinal issues worth breaking fellowship over. This is not one of them.

Sixth, both Calvinists and Arminians agree, when you are confronted with the Gospel you must choose to believe it. No one argues that you should sit around wringing your hands wondering if you are elect. If you are like I was in high school—worrying about election—you deal with that one way, the Romans 10:9 way, where Paul says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” That settles it. No questions. Do not worry about the doctrine of election. Cast yourself on the mercy of Christ and salvation is yours.

I pray God’s mercy and wisdom upon you as you wrestle with this and other doctrinal questions. May He bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: How can I be sure I am going to heaven? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IRZJjwlLdQ

An Age of Revolutionary Discoveries: Dominion Part 8

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 21:05:44 GMT

The Protestant Revolution Was the Beginning of a New Era in World History

The Protestant Reformation was followed by a transformation of the world. It was soon followed by a revolution in scientific thinking. It was also accompanied by the discovery of a brand new world—the western hemisphere.

Holland entitles Chapter 14: Cosmos; A.D. 1620, Leiden

“One day after the battle of White Mountain [the first of many terrible battles of the Thirty Year’s War] a ship name the Mayflower arrived…in the northern reaches of the New World.” The American revolution had begun. And make no mistake about it, that’s how the Pilgrims and Puritans saw it. “Their gaze, for all they had settled on the margins of what seemed an immense and unexplored wilderness, was fixed on the entire expanse of the globe.” They sought to reach all mankind even preaching to the native populations and translating the Bible into their languages.

This was the era of Bartolomeo de las Casas, the great defender of the native. Preaching the Christian doctrine of the sanctity of all life, las Casas declared that all human beings, pagan or not, had been endowed by God with the spark of reason. “Every mortal—Christian or not—had rights that derived from God…las Casas called them ‘human rights.’”

On the other side of the globe another revolution was unfolding. Jesuit missionaries had arrived in Beijing. The Chinese considered the study of the heavens of great importance for the necessary ordering of things but the Jesuits brought with them a superior understanding of the stars and how their path could be predicted. The Jesuits were better at predicting things like eclipses and it became clear to the Chinese it was because of the Jesuit’s religious assumptions—and their view of the universe: “That it had a beginning and would have an end. That it’s workings were ordered by divinely authored laws; that the God who had fashioned it was a geometer.” To be a Jesuit was to “know that God’s purposes were revealed through the free and untrammeled study of natural philosophy…to take that path was the very essence of being a Christian.”

Holland devotes several pages to the controversy over Galileo. The battle is complicated and a true understanding of it does not serve Andrew White’s propaganda piece on the war of Christianity on science. The battle was really over Aristotle and to what extent Christian theologians should defend his cosmology. In the end, the heliocentric universe, won out through the efforts of many Christian scholars not just Galileo. And Galileo foresaw a future of increased scientific understanding. But make no mistake, all those going forward into solving the great scientific mysteries had one constant: “They all had their origins in Christendom.”

Holland entitles Chapter 15: Spirit; A.D. 1649: St. George’s Hill

This begins the third section of Holland’s book, entitled, “Modernitas.” The beginning of the Modern world. What Christianity had unleashed was a never-ending spirit of reformation, even revolution. Society could always be improved, if not perfected. And the reforming instinct has been carried into the modern world and inspired a host of reform movements. Many of them would call themselves “secular” but they are heirs of the Christian spirit of reform which can be traced at least to the eleventh century.

Christian society now had two very distinct meanings of the word “religion.” On the one hand true religion governed society, informed culture, and was to be required of all men. On the other hand, religion was deeply personal, buried deeply within the human heart. The need for an outward display of fealty to the religion of the state was a necessity. But the society also had to allow for the liberty of the individual spirit. “Religion was also something intimate, personal.” The tension was to be permanent in western society. “Between the demands of those who believed there was only the one true religion, and those who believed that God wished all to practice their religion freely, there could be no easy reconciliation.” In short, secularism is a creation of Christianity.

The conclusion of the Thirty Years War had sought a peace that would establish a “proper Christian order” but also an end to the bloodshed. The English Revolution, led by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, had sought the same. Cromwell had sought a “tradeoff…between the yearning of the Presbyterians for a purified commonwealth, and the demands of radicals for an absolute liberty of religion.”

One of the difficult decisions was what to do with the Jews. They had been officially banned as early as 1290 but still settled in England. Cromwell gave them the de facto right to be a part of British society. The Quakers were another group that had to be accounted for. They were radical in those days; “Women were particularly active.” One of the greatest advocates for freedom of conscience was Baruch Spinoza. A Dutch Jew he invoked John Calvin, arguing that true obedience to God “should be grounded in liberty…Spinoza, when he pushed the case for toleration, was participating in a debate that had always been fundamental to Protestantism.” Spinoza’s theology was heterodox—he did not believe in God in the traditional way—his views were nonetheless “utterly saturated in Protestant assumptions.”

Holland devotes the last section of this chapter to the remarkable story of Benjamin Lay who epitomizes the spirit of reform and revolution brought by Christianity. Lay was a Quaker. He and his wife were hunchbacks; “both were barely four feet tall.” First in the Caribbean and then in Philadelphia they waged a tireless war against slavery. “As in the time of Gregory of Nyssa, so in the time of the Lays: slavery was regarded by the overwhelming majority of Christians as being—much like poverty or war or sickness—as a brutal fact of life.” However, the Lays were of a different mind. Even William Penn, the greatest Quaker of them all, had argued while writing in prison that “that all of humanity had been created equally in God’s image.” Penn’s theological argument notwithstanding, Quakers in Pennsylvania had owned slaves and Lay preached against the practice incessantly. He became such a bother he was banned from their congregational meetings. But in the end Lay was victorious. On his deathbed he learned that the Quakers had banned the practice of slavery.

We now see the spread of Christian culture around the world. It is becoming the dominating force in the history of mankind. That’s what it is today.

In future videos we watch the increasing power of this greatest of cultural forces.

Is a Person Born Gay?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 24 Sep 2023 22:24:28 GMT

The Central Assumption of the Gay Rights Movement is Wrong

The central doctrine of the gay rights assumes homosexuality is genetic. “I am gay because I was born that way. It’s like being black. It’s built into your DNA and there is nothing you can do about it. To criticize homosexuality is the same as racism.” Without this doctrinal assumption the whole edifice of gay rights collapses.

But it’s simply wrong. Let me give you four reasons why the gay rights movement is built on false doctrine.

First, the scientific proof is not there. Forty years ago I knew there would be a ferocious attempt to prove homosexuality was genetic and I felt that in the end some sort of junk science would be put forth as evidence for it. There was a ferocious effort. But it ended in failure. According to Nathanael Blake in World, “Though it was not widely publicized, the search for a “gay gene” ended in failure a few years ago…the development of our sexual desires is complex and often fluid, with environmental and social factors playing crucial roles.” So much for scientific proof. It has never been produced.

But the second reason is even more powerful: people change their sexual orientation. A black person cannot decide to be white. A man cannot simply decide to be a woman. A short man cannot decide to become a tall man. An old man cannot decide to become a young man. There are certain biological realities that cannot be changed. Sexual orientation is not one of them. Go on YouTube and do a search for people who claim they were once gay but are now straight. There are hundreds of testimonies claiming to change sexual orientation. Read The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield, a lesbian professor of Women’s Studies who is now a pastor’s wife with several children. Not only did she change, she became the opposite of what she was. Hers is a wonderful testimony to the grace of God. I personally met a church elder with a large family who had lived a gay lifestyle for many years before converting and transitioning. When I was a professor at the University of Colorado I had a boss who came out to me—he said he was gay and felt I was one person who would not condemn him. I did not. But I spent most of one semester trying to persuade him not to take his own life, which, thank God, he did not. But he once told me that after he was dead he wanted his tombstone to read, “Here lies the father of….” And then he named his two children. As I sat there I thought, how can his condition be genetic? He claims to be gay but at one time he fathered children and claims this as his greatest accomplishment. Dennis Prager cites a UCLA study that found that two thirds of the gay men they surveyed had had sexual relations with women. Please explain the genetics to me.

It is clear that homosexuality is a chosen or learned behavior that people can choose to enter or leave at their discretion.

Third, the number of people who claim to be gay skyrockets under certain social conditions. Again, Nathanael Blake points out, “the sudden exponential increase in self-proclaimed rainbow identities shows that the mantra of “born this way” is a lie. It is now obvious that LGBTQ identities are being spread by social contagion, which means they are not all innate, immutable, and essential aspects of a person’s authentic self.”

As Dennis Prager argues, “By and large, it is society, not the individual, that chooses whether homosexuality will be widely practiced. A society's values, much more than individual tendencies, determine the extent of homosexuality in that society. “

And Jarryd Bartle in the British publication Unherd, writes a very helpful article simply entitled, Being Gay is not Biological. He gives a history of the modern development of gay ideology.

Ryan Burge uses survey literature that show nothing predicts homosexuality more than religious affiliation. Atheists and agnostics are far more likely to be practicing homosexuals than people who are religious. Religion is not genetic. It is a choice.

No, homosexuality is learned behavior and the fundamental underpinning of the gay rights movement is dead.

Fourth, most importantly, homosexual behavior is condemned by the Bible. God’s Word says homosexuality is a sin, not a genetic condition. If a man has a strong desire to cheat on his wife the Bible says don’t do it no matter how strong the desire. I have heard men say that monogamy is just not natural and it is in their biological nature to cheat on your wife. The Bible does not cut you slack for strong sinful desires. It simply says not to give in to them. There are a number of men who have a very powerful same sex attraction but as Christians they do not give in to it.

Leviticus 18:22 calls homosexual behavior an abomination; and Paul condemns it very specifically in Romans 1:26,27.

Dennis Prager concludes, the gay rights movement “Denies life, it denies God’s expressed desire that men and women cohabit, and it denies the root structure that Judaism[and Christianity] wishes for all mankind, the family.”

The Gospel is open to everyone, including those trapped in the gay lifestyle. We invite all men and women, including gay men and women to come to Christ and find forgiveness and healing.

Thanks for listening.

More: See my video, The Religious Origins of the Rights Movements”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ggE_qI85WA

“Born this way is a lie.”

https://wng.org/opinions/the-lies-of-born-this-way-1691493975

There is no “gay gene.” There is no scientific basis for “born this way.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02585-6

Don’t miss Dennis Prager’s brilliant essay; “Why Judaism Rejected Homosexuality”:

https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/marriage-and-family/sexuality/judaism-s-sexual-revolution-why-judaism-rejected-homosexuality.html

Being gay is not biological:

https://unherd.com/2023/05/the-aesthetics-of-being-gay/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=4a837fe16f&mc_eid=5b400e1632

Ryan Burge on the relationship between religion and sexual orientation: https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/gender-sexual-orientation-and-religion?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ljoms&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

A fascinating essay on homosexuality as learned behavior from a far-left magazine: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/gay-choice-science-sexual-identity/

Banning conversion therapy: https://wng.org/opinions/an-act-of-political-evasion-1694663516?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGOMrOq_4Ax2mvYx1Tqgcaxv-RtRq3kOrbrUGt_2kppn8c-8idW-5zV-GLcaKG0N3VXiXO118dYjKiywg4-AdC9ELvNDufN5Ov0kzUe3l7WCgwE

The Great Reformation: Dominion Part 7

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 19:59:32 GMT

The Greatest Reformation of them all was begun by Martin Luther in 1517

We come now to what I believe is the most important world development since the founding of Christianity.

Holland devoted the last few pages of chapter 12 to the emergence of an obscure college professor named Martin Luther. Luther had originally been bothered by the sale of indulgences and had posted ninety-five points to debate them and other doctrinal issues. Over time Luther had concluded that “the true Antichrist mentioned by Paul reigns in the court of Rome.”

Holland entitles Chapter 13: Reformation; A.D. 1520, Wittenberg

Luther continued to preach, write, and publish challenges to prevailing Roman Catholic dogma. Finally, he was summoned to appear before the emperor in the German city of Worms. Holland makes much of the role of reformation in Christian history. Gregory VII had shaken the world to its foundations in the eleventh century and Luther was just one more in a long line of reformers. He was merely doing what many Christians before him had done. Holland recounts a number of major Protestant distinctives; laity and clergy should not be viewed as separate spiritual entities, the folly of celibacy, and the necessity of salvation by grace alone. Finally, he appeals to conscience above all, and refuses to recant when ordered to by the emperor. The individual Christian’s conscience took precedence over pope and council, as did the Bible.

Holland then recounts some of the well-known adventures of Luther in the year following his meeting with the emperor: his kidnapping by Frederick, protective custody in Wartburg castle, the translation of the New Testament into German. Luther’s theological revolution “had freed Christians everywhere to experience it as he had experienced it: as the means to hear God’s living voice.”

Luther’s Reformation had far ranging consequence beyond what he could have ever imagined. There was the Peasant’s Rebellion of 1525 led by apocalypticists like Thomas Muntzer that killed 100,000. European states had to learn how to balance newfound spiritual freedoms with social control. The “Lutheran” states “set about designing a model of the state that no longer ceded any sovereignty to Rome. Meanwhile, in the privacy of their souls, Christians had lost nothing. In place of church lawyers they now had God.

Meanwhile, in England Henry VIII seized upon the Reformation to remove his country from the shackles of Rome and pursue his own marital agenda. On the continent the Mennonites and the Amish arose and this “Radical Reformation” created more consternation for the heads of state. Over the centuries many groups had never viewed the papacy as a legitimate authority. This supplied gunpowder to which Luther lit a fuse. In 1529 the Lutheran princes met at Augsburg in Germany to hammer out a way of governing in the midst of the new Reformation. They called themselves “Protestants” and laid the groundwork for a whole new way of operating nation states in a post-papal age.

The Protestant thinker who did more than anyone to resolve the tension between freedom and authority was John Calvin. Setting up shop in Geneva, Switzerland, Calvin “wrestled with the practicalities of setting up a godly order.” His only weapon was the pulpit. Refugees from all over Europe fled to Geneva to learn in Calvin’s “perfect school of Christ.”

Religious conflict broke out all over Europe. In England the reign of Bloody Mary (1553-1558) was followed by the peace of Elizabeth I. The Dutch suffered terribly for their Calvinism at the hands of the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor, the French destroyed their Protestant minority on St. Bartholomew’s day in 1572, and Scotland came over to the Reformation totally through the influence of John Knox. Finally, there arose a group called “Puritans” by their Catholic enemies. They sought to purify the church from its Catholic influences. Once again Holland points out the revolutionary nature of Christianity. “The rejection of tradition was itself a Christian tradition.”

“A century on from Luther, Protestants could cast themselves as the heirs of a revolution that had transformed Christendom utterly. No longer merely a staging post in a lengthy process of reformation, it was commemorated instead as an episode as unique as it had been convulsive: as the Reformation.” Now there was a whole new world opened up. “If God was to be found in the interior experience of individual believers, so also could He be apprehended in the immensity and complexity of the cosmos.” And man’s understanding of the cosmos was about to be revolutionized.

The Protestant Reformation was a major dividing line in history. We now enter what historians have called the age of modernity. The Middle Ages had ended and a whole new world begun.

More: See the video, “Luther’s Revolution;” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lidFwBV2tgw

All the episodes of Dominion are found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

Can an Atheist be a Happy Person?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 16 Sep 2023 17:59:44 GMT

Daniel Dennet is a happy atheist: Thanks to Jesus Christ

In a recent New York Times interview, Daniel Dennet, philosophy professor and one of the “four horsemen” of the New Atheists, talks about the secrets to his happy life. “There are no metaphysical mysteries at the heart of human existence, no magic nor God that makes us who we are. Instead, it’s science and Darwinian evolution all the way down.”

Dennet wants people to know what a meaningful happy life he has lived due to his embrace of atheism and evolution. Dennet says his has been a life of rational enquiry. “You don’t get to play the faith card.” Religious people live their entire lives devoted to an illusion.

In explaining his happy life Dennet left out a few things so I will help him add to his list of reasons for his happy life.

Daniel Dennet was born smack dab in the middle of Christian culture, the greatest culture that has ever existed on earth. It was built by believers in God and followers of Jesus Christ, many of whom suffered and died for their faith.

He enjoys the richest material lifestyle of any human who has ever lived—thanks to the free market capitalism created by Christian culture.

He has the benefit of the enormous scientific and technological revolutions—created by the theological assumptions of Christianity.

He enjoys world class medical care because he lives in a culture that created hospitals, ministries of compassion, and the commitment to care for the needs of the body.

His has been an outstanding education—created by the commitment to learning in Christian culture—a commitment that has existed nowhere else in the history of the world.

He apparently has enjoyed his family life—a family structure decreed by Christian culture.

And, for goodness sakes, he has lived the cushy life of a university professor—an institution invented by Christianity a thousand years ago.

The biggest mistake of Dennet’s life is his unwillingness to thank God for the innumerable blessings he enjoys. He fits perfectly Paul’s description in Romans 1:21 of the man who, although he knew God, did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but became futile in his thinking, and his foolish heart was darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, he became a fool instead.

I have noticed that the New Atheists have different academic specialties—Dennet’s is epistemology, for Richard Dawkins it’s paleontology. But these men know nothing about culture. They show not the slightest appreciation for the culture that has given them everything, or for the people who made that culture possible.

If I could speak directly to Professor Dennet, I would tell him it is not too late. Jesus Christ will still receive you. Bow before Him and ask forgiveness for your sins and ask Him to be Lord of what little is left of your life. And He will welcome you into His presence for eternity.

Thanks for listening. May the true God of the Bible bless you mightily.

More: The interview with Dennet in the Times(probably behind their paywall): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/27/magazine/daniel-dennett-interview.html

Here is a playlist of videos on Knowing the Existence of God that you might find helpful: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SoyO674yIugUXV1lLjm-oeM

God Prepares the World for the Great Reformation-Dominion Pt. 6

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 17:41:31 GMT

There were smaller reformations before the Great Reformation

During the fifteenth century there was a keen expectation of the Second Coming, or the end of the world, or some kind of dramatic, world-changing event. The massive edifice of the Roman Catholic church had atrophied; “its lava had set….the papal order had become the status quo.” Christians hungry for ongoing reformation found the papacy an impediment to needed change. An Oxford theologian name John Wycliffe went so far to say the papacy was without biblical foundation.

Holland entitles Chapter 12: Apocalypse, A.D. 1420, Tabor

One of the leading exponents of reform was the Bohemian, Jan Hus, who openly denied that the papacy was sanctioned by God. He was invited to Prague to defend his ideas before the emperor but he was arrested and burned in 1415. But his reforming zeal did not die out.

Many in Europe were hoping for a savior, and some thought it might be Ferdinand of Aragon. Ferdinand did succeed in defeating the Spanish Muslims in their last stronghold, Granada, which fell on January 2, 1492. One person watching Ferdinand march into Granada was an Italian mariner named Christopher Columbus. Columbus saw himself as part of the apocalyptic milieu. He believed he was God’s messenger and spoke of himself in apocalyptic terms. He was destined to find a New Heaven and a New Earth and God told him exactly where to find it.

Another Spanish explorer, Hernan Cortes, heard of a spectacular kingdom lying in interior Mexico. He made the “staggeringly bold decision to head for it.” The Mexica, as Holland calls them, had built a fabulous civilization of their own and had their own eschatology. Only the blood of human sacrifice could keep the universe from winding down. The Mexica were outclassed in military technology, but the real conflict was over rival visions of the end of the world. They dedicated the temple of one god by sacrificing 80,000 victims. For another they flayed their victims and wore their skins. Yet another required the sacrifice of children who were first made to weep. The Spanish had no problem or doubts in bringing the Mexica to their knees.

In human history conquering armies always felt they had a license to slaughter those they conquered. But not the Spanish. Their Christian heritage left them with a troubled conscience over the price paid for colonizing the New World. The leading advocate for this hand wringing was Bartolomeo de las Casas, the great defender of native populations. He attacked Spanish atrocities and even began a program in international law. The dominion of Jesus Christ even reached into the minds of Spanish conquerors.

And now these smaller reformations will be followed by the greatest of them all.

All of the Dominion videos can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

Will Climate Change Destroy the World?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 09 Sep 2023 20:53:10 GMT

The Greens Live in a Nightmare of Their Own Creation

As I was growing up in my little Baptist church certain souls would become agitated at current events and insist that these were signs of the end of history and the second coming. Usually the panic was related to events in the Middle East. The six-day war in 1967 was proof we were on the doorstep of Armageddon. In 1970 Hal Lindsey wrote a book entitled the Late, Great Planet Earth. It was a collection of evidences that the return of Christ was imminent. It sold 15 million copies. We Christians were a bit embarrassed when these terrifying prophesies did not materialize.

I thought I had left that world as I moved out into the wider society both religiously and educationally but low and behold it returned. Not from Baptists but from the environmental movement. Green prophets of doom warned daily that the sky was falling, that the end was imminent, and that climate change would destroy life as we know it.

Don’t think this is religious? A group of 50 religious leaders gathered together for a ceremony of “climate repentance.”

An organization called C40 Cities has connected the mayors of a hundred cities worldwide to seek what they call climate justice. And just exactly what does climate justice call for? Within the next seven years people are to completely eliminate meat from their diet, completely eliminate dairy, completely eliminate private automobiles, and allow people one short airplane flight every three years.

You will be glad to know that in order to save the planet the government of Ireland has just announced their intention to kill 200,000 of their cattle.

And as always numerous groups have formed to pursue the goal of reducing or completely eliminating the human population of planet earth.

Hal Lindsey never got close to being this crazy.

Never mind that far more people are killed by cold temperatures than warm.

Never mind that the earth has had many warm periods, some much warmer than today.

Never mind that fossil fuels and the technological revolution have done more to pull people out of poverty than anything else in history.

Never mind that fossil fuels and the technological revolution have saved more lives than anything in history.

Never mind that fossil fuels and the technological revolution have given us the best and most enjoyable lifestyles of anyone in history.

Never mind that there is no scientific proof whatsoever that we have more extreme weather events now than we have ever had.

Never mind that even if we did nothing about climate change we would have ample technological and economic solutions to any problems it may present. Bjorn Lomborg has reasonably calculated that we would need only 2% of future GNP to correct climate change problems.

When I was a college student we were warned that overpopulation would end the world as we know it. Then it was a hole in the ozone layer. Then acid rain. Then global cooling. And on and on. The Chicken Littles were never right. And they are wrong again now.

One thing my Baptist brethren were right about. Jesus will return. People should stop wringing their hands over climate change and get ready for His appearing. That’s an event worth concentrating one’s mind upon.

Thanks for listening. God bless you.

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/08/24/supernatural_warnings_come_to_california_975123.html

https://nypost.com/2023/08/22/climate-alarmism-over-heat-waves-fires-drives-false-solutions/

The 50 religious leaders who took part in a climate repentance ceremony: https://climaterepentance.com/participants/

C40 Cities Website: https://www.c40.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwl8anBhCFARIsAKbbpyQzpdre-DEFpiinqZAQpBTbV3iYtVJGbPLYrslGTSV_zmOyspQPF1caAq9lEALw_wcB

Dominion Part 5: The Christian Sexual Revolution

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 20:05:37 GMT

Christianity changed the way we view sexual ethics

The medieval church in the thirteenth century had reached the greatest cultural power Christendom would ever know. The cause of reformatio would never be more intense. Neither would the Roman Catholic hierarchy ever have more ability to impose its will on the subjects of its kingdom.

Holland entitles Chapter 10: Persecution, A.D. 1229, Marburg

Holland begins the chapter with a vignette on St. Elizabeth, a woman of astonishing dedication who died at the age of twenty-four. A royal princess, she gave away all her wealth and devoted her short life to unstinting service of the poor. This is done repeatedly by Christians all through history. That level of dedication separates Christianity from all the other religious impulses of the modern world. Holland presents St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the greatest of the mendicants or begging orders, whose reputation and the order he established are with us to this day. Both are examples of the best medieval Roman Catholicism had to offer.

The cause of reformatio, however, had produced a powerful elite and this elite had bred demands for revolution. St. Francis and Elizabeth lived at the time of the Fourth Lateran Council, 1215, which declared there was no salvation outside the Roman church. This, of course, meant snuffing out heresies and Holland devotes the bulk of this chapter to their persecution. The Council provided that the offer of salvation was universal—anyone could be saved, but only through the church. It also established the office of the Inquisitor. The “yearning to cleanse the world of sin” had turned murderous.

The pope sanctioned a crusade against the Albigensians, home to the “Cathari,” or people in southern France who considered themselves the “pure ones.” For the first time the church turned its hostility to fellow Christians. The slaughter was dreadful, lasting for twenty years. This is when one first heard the old maxim, “Kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out.” The killing was finally ended but not without permanent blemish on the Church’s reputation.

Not all was mayhem and destruction in this era. When Christian warriors captured the Spanish city of Toledo in 1095 they discovered a treasure trove of Greek scrolls, not least of which were the works of Aristotle. Christian and Jew went to the work of translation and most of Aristotle’s writings became available in Latin. The impact was immense. Roman Catholic scholars began the task of squaring the Greek’s teaching with Christian theology. The greatest of the reconcilers was Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest intellectuals and philosophers the world has ever known. The result of Aquinas’ work, Holland says, “Was to enshrine as a bedrock of Catholic theology the conviction that faith may indeed co-exist with reason.”

Chapter 11: Flesh, A.D. 1300, Milan

Christianity continues in this chapter as a revolutionary cultural force and nowhere more than in the arena of sexual ethics. The medieval church struggled with its evaluation of women. On the one hand they were temptresses who brought sin into the world. On the other hand, they were created in the image of God and the Bible is full of references to their humanity and worth before God. For example, no human being had ever been raised higher than the blessed virgin.

The reformatio brought about a revolution in the social dimensions of sexuality that was unlike anything ever seen in history. The sexual order before the coming of Christianity had assumed that “any man in a position of power had the right to exploit his inferiors.” Then the Bible had recast this whole view. “Never before had any attempt to recalibrate sexual morality been attempted on such a scale. Never before had one enjoyed such total success.” The church taught that a man could control his sexual impulses because he had been given the power of free will (yet another revolutionary idea). A wife had always been expected to be faithful to her husband. Now Christians were arguing that God expected the same from men—that a husband must be faithful to his wife. The Romans and Greeks would have argued that such a command would require a “heroic degree of self-denial.” Christianity becomes the only cultural force in the history of the world to restrain male sexual behavior.

Along with the requirements of sexual restraint on the part of husband and wife was another revolutionary concept. The individual, not the patriarch, determined whether or not to enter into marriage. “Opening up before the Christian people was the path to a radical new conception of marriage: one founded on mutual attraction, on love.”

Holland devotes the last section of this chapter to the medieval attitude toward sexual deviancy. Prostitution was decried, but it was also clear in the New Testament that they were to be treated with compassion and could attain forgiveness no matter how far they had fallen. And then there was homosexuality. This the church continued to condemn. For the Romans deviancy had been a “man allowing himself to be used as though he were a woman.” But Christian teaching went far beyond this, condemning all sex between men. Then it took an even more radical step—it condemned sex between women.

The teaching of the church in this era was a watershed in how one viewed sexuality.

So Christianity continues to transform the world. We see in our next video the beginning of an even greater revolution.

More: All the Dominion videos are found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

China's Demographic Disaster

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 19:54:34 GMT

People Who Fear China Are Forgetting this

I am often asked if I think China is in the process of taking over the world. No I don’t. There are a number of reasons why not but the biggest is my favorite big word: demographics.

China’s birthrate is collapsing and soon it’s population will follow. First, you will have the rapid aging of the Chinese population and the decline of working age youth. Soon after, you will see China’s population decline in raw numbers. It will join nations whose population is already imploding: Japan, Germany, and Russia to name the biggest. Absent immigration the United States would be on the list.

How bad is it? China’s own National Health Commission found that in 2022 China’s fertility rate had fallen to 1.09 per woman. Remember it takes slightly more than two children per woman for a country to maintain its population. One for the woman, one for her partner, and a very small allowance for young girls who do not live to child-bearing age. 1.09 is a disaster. In a couple of generations you lose half your population. In the next two generations China’s population will shrink by 600 million people. Anti-population advocates think that’s a good thing but they are foolish. 100% of human wealth is produced by human beings. It doesn’t fall out of the sky. You lose half your population you lose at least half your productivity. In this case it’s more than half because you are losing productive young people while the unproductive elderly carry on.

The future for China is bleak. China also had a record low in marriage registrations last year. People in the West don’t seem to care. Our own fertility rates are rapidly falling. We are ignoring the most important numbers in the world.

More: In Unherd: Peter Franklin, China’s Shocking Demographic Decline; https://unherd.com/thepost/chinas-shocking-demographic-decline-just-got-worse/

Spain in decline: https://unherd.com/thepost/can-spain-defuse-its-depopulation-bomb/?mc_cid=9bf60ea198&mc_eid=5b400e1632

America at risk: https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-choice-immigration-or-bust-aging-population-work-unemployment-border-738a56bb?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h

Are Mormons Christians?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 18:23:38 GMT

What does the Bible Have to Say?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, popularly known as the Mormon church, has been on a campaign for many years to be recognized as legitimately Christian by Christian denominations. Some Mormons get quite angry if you tell them you do not believe they are Christians. Robert Millet, a professor at the flagship Mormon university—Brigham Young—is adamant that Mormons should be considered Christians and part of the worldwide body of Christ. Millet says “while Jesus was fully human, He was also fully God. That means–and this is vital–that we Mormons worship the Son of God as God the Son, as do all other Christians…” Then Millet adds this interesting phrase: “How He became the infinite and eternal God is, from my perspective, immaterial….”

The official church website states: “Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unequivocally affirm themselves to be Christians.”

Mormons state bluntly, we believe in Jesus Christ and that makes us Christians. They sing songs about Jesus. In many communities Mormon leaders have petitioned to be part of the local ministerial alliance, composed of pastors of Christian churches.

Who can doubt that Mormons have some outstanding characteristics, characteristics that I applaud. They are pro-life, pro-traditional marriage. They are loyal Americans who have fought bravely in our nation’s wars. They often make wonderful neighbors. Many outstanding Americans are Mormons. They are socially conservative and defend the values that have made this country great.

But I do not consider Mormons, Christians. Why not? Of course, it all comes down to the definition of what is a Christian? Historically, a Christian is not defined as one who is a good person, or one who performs good works; even Christian-like good works. There have been people of good will from practically every religion. And most people in the world over the last two thousand years have, in some sense, believed in Jesus Christ. Jesus is mentioned often in the Koran and Muslims believe in the Second Coming of Christ. Does that make them Christians? Christianity is unique in that it defines someone as Christian because of correct belief. This is rare in the religious world. In Dominion, Tom Holland writes about Constantine, the Roman Emperor who made Christianity a legal religion. Then the emperor began to learn what Christianity was. And he made this startling discovery: Christianity was not a religion of proper rituals and ceremonies. It was a religion of correct belief. Correct belief about who God is, and about who Jesus Christ is.

Mormons are not Christians because they do not believe biblical truth about Jesus Christ. Let’s go back to Robert Millet for a moment. After saying he believes that Jesus is God the Son, he say he doesn’t care how Jesus became the infinite, eternal God. Christians believe that Jesus Christ has always existed as the eternal second person of the trinity. How does an eternal being become anything? Jesus Christ has always been what He is. He has not become the Son of God; He has always been the Son of God. The Jesus of Mormon imagination is not the Jesus of the Bible.

I have linked two excellent articles by Roger Olson below. Olson, a Protestant theologian who knows Mormons well, makes the following observation: “I have come to the conclusion that many LDSers are, from my perspective, anyway, very confused about theology.” He thinks that “Mormons are beginning to shift away from many of their traditional doctrines. Mormon beliefs considered radically contrary to orthodox Christianity are gradually being pushed into the background and a “more Christian” face; that is, they are trying to package themselves as traditional Christians. LDS leaders are letting some of their stranger beliefs go dormant.

Olson admits that a number of Mormons may be born again Christians. I agree. However, they became born again in spite of, not because of LDS theology.

Olson has a great analysis of the issue: “For me to consider a church Christian it must preach and teach…that Jesus Christ is God and Savior, that God is one transcendent, eternal, omnipotent being always existing as three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that all humans…are sinners needing salvation…[they must believe] salvation is through the atoning death of Jesus Christ alone and by God’s grace alone through faith, that Jesus Christ was God the Son incarnate who died and rose bodily…and is the one mediator between God and people, that he will return to establish his forever Kingdom in a new heaven and new earth, and that the Bible is the sole supreme authority for Christian faith and practice…To the extent that Mormons teach and believe the above, they are Christians.”

Then Olson offers the contrary to this:

“To the extent that Mormons teach and believe that there is more than one God, that Jesus Christ was not always God…that human beings can be “exalted” to deity (equal in divinity with God the Father and ruling over their own planet in exactly the same manner [God] rules over earth), that adult humans are not all sinners in need of salvation (forgiveness, reconciliation, new abundant life as a gift of God), that some part of salvation can be earned by good works, that all churches except the LDS Church are “apostate,” [to the extent they believe this] they are not Christians.”

Mormons can be admirable people and enormously useful to a good society, but if we allow the Bible to define the word, Mormons are not Christians. I am not criticizing them personally. I am criticizing their theology.

Thanks for listening. May the true God of the Bible bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: A related video—“Islam and Mormonism: Similar in Many Ways”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBQM0w-4tZs

And, “Why the Trinity Matters;” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOeE61uEU50

For an interesting and entertaining take on Mormonism, watch the “Mormon Cartoon” on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgw-C_DTVo8&t=6s

Roger Olson dialoguing with a Mormon: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2011/05/are-mormons-christians/

Roger Olson on the responses to his blog post on Mormonism: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2015/06/what-i-learned-from-the-responses-to-my-post-about-mormonism/

I have written a 40-page pamphlet on what Mormons believe and how to reach out to them. There is a copy on my website; it is not a really clean copy; for the document in a Word file email me at the401stprophet@gmail.com and I will send you one. Here’s the copy on my website: https://www.the401stprophet.com/our-mormon-friends

Why Are America's Cities Disintegrating?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 20:45:23 GMT

It's the usual culprit: bad theology

Make no mistake. America’s large cities are in crisis.

On July 2, a huge crowd gathered at Baltimore’s Brooklyn Homes public housing project for a block party. The “Brooklyn Day” celebration culminated in the worst mass shooting in Baltimore’s history, with 30 victims, including two fatalities; police recovered shell casings from as many as 16 guns . Let me quote from an article in City Journal: “State’s attorney Marilyn Mosby is a committed Progressive. When she assumed her role she helped unleash an unprecedented crime wave by dropping cases, refusing to prosecute serious crimes, that keep violent criminals out of prison. During Mosby’s first year in office alone, Baltimore homicides soared 62 percent ; they totaled 2,653 during her tenure. Mosby was guided by an ideology that sees criminals as victims, police as criminals, and victims as collateral damage, even when most of this last group are black (as are 95 percent of all Baltimore homicide victims).”

Between 2020 and 2022 two million people left America’s largest cities. Between 2019 and 2022 homicides increased by 40%. A reporter from CNN in San Francisco, in town to investigate a surge in crime, has been robbed three times in the last few weeks. My own son was robbed the first month he moved to the city. Rental car companies advise you not to put luggage in the trunk of your car when you rent at San Francisco International Airport, because it may well be stolen. Elon Musk says downtown San Francisco looks like a Zombie apocalypse.

In 2020 America saw the largest single year increase in homicides in our history, almost all of them in urban areas. America’s most violent cities have a higher homicide rate than the worst countries in the world.

The giant retailer Target is closing a number of its big cities stores due to theft. Last year it lost $500 million dollars because of shoplifting. Walmart, Walgreens, even Whole Foods, have made the same decision.

The Wall Street Journal wrote: “Readers of a certain age probably think of retail theft as individual acts of shoplifting. But today a growing threat is from organized retail crime. Gangs plan their raids on retail stores, warehouses and trucks or rail hubs. The goal isn’t personal consumption. It’s to resell the stolen goods at a profit, often over the internet.”

In the past two years cities like Portland and San Francisco have seen a dramatic increase in deaths due to drug overdoses, with 3,000 deaths in those two cities alone.

What has caused the Crisis? There are a number of factors but the biggest is the political power of the Progressive Left. The voters and the district attorneys they elect hold a non-Christian view of man. They deny original sin and believe people are basically good. If people are basically good how can they do evil things? When they commit crimes it cannot be their fault. They are victims of an oppressive capitalist society and if they were treated more justly they would stop their criminal activity. Along with man’s sinfulness the Progressive Left denies the Christian doctrine of personal responsibility. God’s word says, that no matter your personal circumstances, you are individually responsible for making the right decisions. If you don’t you will face the judgment of God. Progressives deny this.

Because of bad theology Progressives in big cities have gone to war against their own police departments, arguing that policemen are worse criminals than the people they arrest. Incidentally, if everyone is basically good how can policemen be bad? The answer is textbook Karl Marx—their goodness is erased when they become part of the oppressor class. Progressives have argued that reducing the arrest and incarceration rates of criminals would be beneficial generally and especially for minority populations. Of course, the opposite has happened and the people who suffer most from Progressive policies are black and brown minorities.

The British publication, Unherd got it right. It said, Progressives aren’t just choosing the wrong candidates. They are voting for the wrong ideas. Or, to use my terminology. They are casting their votes based on wrong doctrines.

The problems in America’s cities are theological. Your basic view of man—affects everything you do: not just how you deal with crime but how you educate children; how you parent children; how you deal with homelessness. The religion of the Progressive Left calls for saving yourself by doing good works. These good works are the implementation of Left-wing policies. The result is an unmitigated disaster.

Let me quote again from City Journal: “It’s an article of faith among New York City’s progressive leadership that punishment does not deter crime and that putting criminals in jail is at least as evil as whatever they did to get there. From this perspective, sending someone to jail is the worst thing that society can do: it not only destroys the life of the perpetrator but also creates a false sense of accomplishment, while ignoring the socioeconomic “root causes” of crime.” This is bad doctrine in action.

As a consequence hardened criminals are not being locked away. On the basis of these false doctrines they are being released to wreak havoc on society. New York City’s incarceration rate is the lowest it has been since 1946.

Progressives view violent crime as akin to a public health issue. We don’t accuse smokers of being evil. We help them quit. Criminals aren’t evil. They are victims. Increased law enforcement only make them suffer more.

What can be done for cities in the grip of the false doctrines of Progressivism? The collapse of cities will force people to the truth. Just like the Supreme Court reinstalled Christian truth in their recent decision on affirmative action, as I discussed in an earlier video. America’s cities can return to a biblical view of man.

Ungodly doctrine produces ungodly government. God uses the results of sin to punish sin and to put people on a path of righteousness. I pray that will happen in America’s cities. And the preaching of the gospel, as always will do more good than anything else.

Walter Russell Meade was right: The only hope for America’s inner cities is religion. And by religion he means overwhelmingly Christianity.

As always, our great hope is our God and His truth. Thanks for listening. May the God of truth bless you this day in a mighty way.

Urban flight: https://thehill.com/homenews/3944865-two-million-people-fled-americas-big-cities-from-2020-to-2022/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

San Francisco: What it is like to live in a city that believes its problems cannot be solved:

https://www.curbed.com/2023/05/san-francisco-doom-loop.html?utm_source=pocket_reader&utm_medium=email

San Francisco is suffering because it is a city of bad ideas:

https://unherd.com/thepost/why-wont-san-francisco-save-itself/?mc_cid=fd5d71c105&mc_eid=5b400e1632

Why is Target closing its big city stores?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-target-of-runaway-theft-shoplifting-crime-stolen-goods-inventory-profits-violence-stores-dfcc7ced?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h

The story of one Progressive prosecutors destruction of a city:

https://www.city-journal.org/article/kimberly-gardners-irredeemable-legacy

The curse of George Soros: https://www.city-journal.org/article/george-soross-bad-bet

The religious basis of Progressive law enforcement: https://www.city-journal.org/for-nyc-progressives-not-even-violent-crime-warrants-police-intervention

Building the Greatest Culture in History: Holland Part 4

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 23:17:13 GMT

Holland Takes Us Into the High Middle Ages

Holland takes us now into the heart of the Middle Ages. There is a lot of misunderstanding about this period. When I was a student it was called the Dark Ages, and considered one of the dreariest periods in history. I have since learned that this is simply anti-Catholic and anti-Christian propaganda. The High Middle Ages, from about 1000-1300 A.D., was the most advanced period in the history of the world up to that point. It was economically the richest. It was politically the freest. It was scientifically and technologically the most sophisticated that had ever existed. It was when the greatest architectural masterpieces of all time were built—the great cathedrals of Europe.

Holland chronicles the emergence of the greatest and most powerful culture in history.

Chapter 9 is entitled: Revolution, A.D. 1076, Cambrai

At the beginning of the eleventh century heresy once again raised its ugly head and the church reacted against it. In fact, when a heretic was burned in Orleans it was the first time in history it had happened. The “heretics” were reacting to obvious corruption in the church. Bishop Hildebrand, later Pope Gregory VII, attacked heresy but also fought for the purity and power of the church. He demanded celibacy, not just of monks, but of the “secular” clergy as well. (A secular clergyman was simply one who wasn’t a monk. He was not at all secular in the way we use the word today.) Ordinary parish priests were required to practice celibacy. What Gregory sought was, in Holland’s words, a “Reformation.”

The biggest issue, the greatest of the age and one of the greatest in Western history, was the tensions between church and state. Who “invested” the clergy with their power and position? Was it king or church? Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, called for Gregory to abdicate St. Peter’s throne so that he, Henry, could replace him with someone more to his liking. Gregory responded with a world-shaking decision. He “declared that Henry was bound with the ‘chain of anathema’ and excommunicated from the church. His subjects were absolved of all their oaths of loyalty to him. Henry himself, as a tyrant and enemy of God, was deposed. The impact of the pronouncement proved devastating. Henry’s authority went into meltdown.”

What arose out of this controversy was something brand new in Western culture. The distinction between the “secular” and the “religious,” which is why Holland calls it a turning point in world history—not just for Western culture but the whole world. It became a permanent part of the West’s understanding of itself. It is why Holland calls secularism a product of Christian culture. But another even more powerful idea had been introduced. Gregory had sought to bring all of society under the aegis of the church. He sought Reformation, not just for the church, but for all society. It was an idea that would reverberate down through the centuries. “The Latin West had been given its primal taste for revolution.” Many revolutions were to follow, not just in religion.

In the second half of this chapter Holland goes back to one of the prime causes of Gregory’s revolution—the Cluniac revival. “The most intoxicating of all the reformer’s slogans was libertas—freedom. One place more than any other served as its emblem: a monastery charged with a sense of holiness so strong that Gregory had taken it as his model for the entire Church.” That place was Cluny. In my Western Civ lectures over the years I have used Cluny as an example of how God can take a small number of people and use them to change the world. Cluny was a monastic order begun in A.D. 910 in southeast France by three college age men. What made it unique was its demand for independence from its local lord—Duke William. Cluny’s freedom from interference, the level of its commitment to high monastic standards, and the brilliance of its abbots, made it great. It led to the emergence of the High Middle Ages.

This reformation led to another world-altering event—the Crusades. Begun in 1095 the Crusaders accomplished a feat that sent a thrill through all Christendom—the recapture of Jerusalem. Holland devotes several paragraphs to the crusading spirit.

The Roman Catholic Church and the papacy found itself at the Zenith of its power and influence. It was “an institution of the kind never before witnessed: one that had not only come to think itself sovereign, but had willed itself into becoming so.” It was the glue that held medieval society together.

The High Middle Ages produced several of the most powerful ideas of all time. It created something else the world had never seen—the university. Yes, universities themselves were the creation of the High Middle Ages. Another world changing idea arose--all souls are equal in the sight of God and only from this theological assumption could true justice arise. The concept of “human rights” began to take shape.

And one more idea: This era produced giants like Peter Abelard who devoted his life to promoting the concept that “God’s order was rational and governed by rules.” This led naturally to the search for order in every discipline, including nature. What moderns call “science” was being created. To look for laws in nature was to “honor the Lord God who formulated them.” One of the greatest theologians of the age was Anselm who wrestled with theories of the atonement. “A distinctive order had arisen in the Latin West. Modernitas its enthusiasts called it. The final age of time.” The great thinkers of the High Middle Ages considered themselves the pinnacle of human civilization and accomplishment. And they were right, at least up to that time. Think about it. The university, universal human rights, and science were all creations of the so-called dark ages.

Does Racism Define America?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 22:16:50 GMT

Not by a long shot. Then why does the Left perpetuate this lie?

Why I am Hopeful About Race in America

Pundits on the Progressive Left routinely charge America with being a racist country, or guilty of what they call “systemic racism.” An entire industry has been built up on this premise with advocates like Ibrim Kendi and Robin DeAngelo getting rich in the fight against this alleged enemy. Recently at the commencement ceremonies for a black college the president of the United States said that racism was an enemy that would never go away and that it was the supreme threat to the security of our nation.

This is all nonsense. The charge that America is a racist nation is easily disproven. I agree with Gerard Baker of the Wall Street Journal who argued that America is the least racist nation in the history of the world.

Racism is a terrible sin, a violation of biblical theology, and America has been egregiously guilty of it in the past. It still exists but is a tiny fraction of what it was. Do you want to be judged on the basis of your worst moment as a person? On a mistake you made in the distant past? Or should you be judged on current weaknesses? America has 30 million alcoholics. Does that define America? Is America a nation of drunks? 43,000 Americans were killed in auto fatalities last year. Does that define America? What about homicides? The Left would not argue that Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, or many others are defined by their murder rate yet it’s a terrible scourge on those cities. Racism of the past and current incidences of racism do not define America.

As with so many Progressive/Leftist lies the opposite is the truth. America is the best country in world history for black people to live in. We have the richest black community on earth and the richest in the history of world. If for statistical purposes you considered our black community a nation it would be as rich as countries like France and England. Richer than countries like South Korea, Saudi Arabia, or Italy. It would be twice as rich as any country in Latin America and richer than all of them. It would be dramatically richer than any country in Africa, often 50 times richer. I realize there is more to life than money but ask someone in the black community if they would like to become like many African citizens and lose 98% of their wealth.

Black unemployment is less that 5%, the best it has been in history. The Wall Street Journal reported that in the last decade tens of millions of black Africans applied for visas to emigrate to the United States. I guess someone neglected to tell them how racist we are.

Black Americans are politically the freest in the history of the world. In the 1857 Dred Scott decision upholding slavery the Supreme Court said that the black man has no rights the white man is obligated to respect. Currently, two of the nine members of the court are African-Americans. 50 members of congress are African-Americans. Some of the most famous people in history are black Americans. One could argue that for many years Barack Obama has been the best known person in the world. Appearing on the left-wing program, The View, Tim Scott, an African-American running for president said: “One of the reasons why I’m on this show is [your comment] that the only way for a young African American kid to be successful in this country is to be the exception and not the rule. That is a dangerous, offensive, disgusting message to send to our young people today, that the only way to succeed is by being the exception. The fact of the matter is we’ve had an African American president, African American vice president, we’ve had two African Americans to be secretaries of the state. In my home city, the police chief is an African American who’s now running for mayor. The head of the highway patrol for South Carolina is an African American.”

So, Why do Progressives insist on perpetuating this lie? First, it gives them political power. If you tell the black community it is under the thumb of the white man it is easier to control. Another reason is that fighting racism is a good way to make easy money. A writer in National Review observed: “Many major universities have created graduate programs in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)….Degrees are being given to people who plan to make a career out of DEI initiatives….But if one’s livelihood consists of fighting racism, wouldn’t the end of racism spell trouble?

…That sounds like a large number of people with jobs that literally depend on racism, the very thing the jobs are meant to eliminate.”

But we have now come to the big reason: Progressives insist America is racist because fighting that racism gives religious meaning to their lives. Without this struggle for justice life would lose its purpose for many on the Left. So the fiction of racism must be kept alive. Tim Scott said the reason he is hated by the Left is because, “I disrupt their narrative. I threaten their control. The truth of my life disproves their lies.”

Once again I hate to be the bearer of good news. But racism is on the wane in America. If you are a person of color this best the best nation to live in in the history of the world and this is the best moment to be living in it.

Thanks for listening. Our God is the God who saves men and women regardless of the color of their skin. May He bless you this day in a might way.

More: See my videos; What’s Wrong with Critical Race Theory? Bad Theology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojr8pXaIKXE

What does the Bible Say About White Privilege? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l8kOFbUtNU

Gerard Baker’s commentary in the Wall Street Journal:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-bleak-story-about-race-in-america-is-false-howard-commencement-white-supremacy-779d4bb6?mod=hp_opin_pos_3&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#cxrecs_s

Tim Scott on The View: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/tim-scott-takes-the-view-hosts-to-task-for-spreading-disgusting-message-that-america-is-systemically-racist/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=first

The Five Lies of Critical Race Theory: https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-five-lies-of-crt?utm_campaign=dw_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=housefile&utm_content=non_member

From National Review, for many perpetuating the lie of racism is good business: https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/06/for-dei-supporters-perpetuation-of-racism-is-good-business/

Jason Riley—an African American--asks the question, “Why Can’t Liberals Understand Black Progress?” https://www.wsj.com/articles/liberals-cant-comprehend-black-economic-progress-real-estate-interest-rates-893b647?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

What is the future of Western Civilization? Why I am Hopeful

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 22:02:38 GMT

Seven Reasons I am Optimistic

Recently in the Spectator Patrick Deneen wrote: “No sensible reader of the news could look at America and think it is flourishing…the breakdown of family formation has eroded the very foundations of society….Once-beautiful cities and towns around the nation have succumbed to an ugly blight. Cratering rates of childbirth, rising numbers of deaths of despair, widespread addictions to pharmaceuticals and electronic distractions testify to the prevalence of a…psychic despair.”

This writer is wringing his hands about what is wrong about America and Western culture in general and he has a point. The Marxist cult known as the Progressive Left is ideologically committed to destroying Christian culture. It wants to replace it with a not yet decided upon utopia, a utopia that is never achieved. All the Left has ever accomplished is the decline and destruction of civilization. Is that where we are headed?

I do not share Patrick Deneen’s despair. I am hopeful and positive about America and the future of the West. Let me give you seven reasons for my optimism:

1. What the Bible teaches about the world and its future. Scripture predicts and describes all that Deneen writes about. Yes, mankind is a train wreck but God is still on his throne. Three thousand years ago David wrote Psalm 2. He begins with the question, “Why are the enemies of God so angry and why do they believe so many stupid things?” He then says that they convene gatherings to plot the overthrow of God and His people. What is God’s response to all this? He laughs in derision at man’s foolishness. Then comes a solemn warning: Kiss the Son lest He be angry. Jesus Christ is going to break you with a rod of iron. He will shatter you like a clay pot. And then the Psalmist says that the Son has been given the nations. Jesus Christ is in charge of the future. I am hopeful because of what the Bible says.

2. I am hopeful because of the history of Christianity. We have faced many dark moments. But we emerge victorious more powerful than ever. Just one example: The 1730s was probably the darkest spiritual time in American history, much darker than today. Harvard College, founded to train pastors, had long since become an enemy of the Gospel. Then God sent the First Great Awakening. As one historian put it, it swept away the old world and replaced it with a vibrant, powerful Christianity which went on to form the United States of America. Historians are agreed, without this Awakening there would be no United States as we know it. God does this over and over. Check out my video on the Jesus Revolution. It is God doing the same kind of work in the 1960s, bringing hundreds of thousands of flower children to Christ. The Holy Spirit continues to be by far history’s most powerful force.

3. I am hopeful because of the tremendous explosion of Christianity in the Third World. For example, in 1900 Africa had 7 million Christians; today it’s over 700 million. I had a Nigerian couple visit my church. They talked about how much they loved attending a small church. I asked, how many attend your church in Lagos? They thought for a moment then said, “about 50,000.” Then they showed me a picture of their church. It met in what looked like a giant basketball arena. It had four services on Sunday morning. They boasted about the superior Christianity of Africans. We have a much greater commitment to evangelism, they said. We are much more aggressive than Christians in the West. One out of three Evangelical Christians in the world today lives in Africa. You ask, what does that have to do with us? Everything. Here’s a question for you: What is the most religious city in the United Kingdom? London. Why? Because tens of thousands of these Nigerian and other African Christians are flooding the city, taking with them that aggressive Christianity. And Africa has by far the fastest growing population in the world. Raising up millions of young Christians who go throughout the world preaching the gospel.

4. I am hopeful because America still has tens of millions of serious Christians. Gerard Baker in the Wall Street Journal noted the enormous setback for the Progressive left in the recent Supreme Court cases. My last video argued that the court decisions were a victory for Christian doctrine and culture. The six members of the court who decided the cases are all conservative Christians. They form the heart of what Baker calls a counter-revolution against the Progressive Left. Sociologist Ryan Burge has observed that there has been a rise of people who claim to have no religion, and the old mainline liberal denominations are in free fall, but Evangelical, bible-believing Christians have suffered very little attrition. We are just as strong today as we were 50 years ago. In my ministry to pastors I go from church to church and I can assure you that millions of Christian parents are taking their responsibilities very seriously and raising up a generation of Christians who will shock the world.

5. I am hopeful because of demographic trends. There’s that word again. Demography is the study of population trends, looking especially at birth rates. In America conservatives have far more children than liberals, conservative Christians more than anyone else. That’s one reason the Left has to control education. They aren’t having their own children so they need to indoctrinate ours. Internationally the outlook for the Progressives is worse. The fastest growing continent in the world, by far, is Africa. And guess who is having children? Christians. In a generation you are going to see these demographic trends make a huge difference in electoral politics for one thing, to say nothing of the rest of the culture.

6. I am hopeful for America because of the education revolution. Public schools are one of the most important strongholds for the enemies of the Christian faith and their grip is weakening. Homeschooling, charter schools, and private schools are all growing rapidly. Already eight states have passed voucher laws that allow parents to take money designated for education and use it any way they like. This is the most important development in the history of American education and it bodes well for the followers of Christ. In many states the poorest citizen is able to send his children to an excellent Christian school that shares his values and will train his children in godliness. Nothing is a greater threat to the left than this.

7. I am hopeful because as Christians we continue to have the only answers that work; answers that meet the deepest needs of the human heart. If someone is on a pilgrimage looking for truth that journey ends when they find Jesus Christ. If you know a struggling teen which would you rather tell them—that they need to change their gender or that they need to know Jesus Christ? Aren’t you glad you have the most powerful and positive message in history? Recently a Substack column noted an important trend: polling data tell us young men are becoming more conservative. The Progressive Left does not have the answers for life’s deepest questions and youth are looking for someone who does. We do. We offer more hope than any faith that has ever existed.

Ultimately, all that I have said above matters a whole lot less than God’s eternal plan. Christianity has been the most powerful force for cultural good that has ever existed. But it is not even God’s primary aim. Scripture is clear that God’s purpose on earth is to carve out for Himself a people who will worship Him for eternity. The cultural blessing is a secondary consequence.

So be of good cheer. Our God is on the throne working out everything after the counsel of His own will. And may He bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: The Jesus Revolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9WSJJvAks

Are young men becoming more conservative? https://storylines.substack.com/p/are-young-men-becoming-conservative

A negative view from a British publication: https://thespectator.com/topic/america-needs-regime-change-liberalism-progressivism/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=b94addc1f9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_03_03_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-b94addc1f9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

The conservative advantage in fertility: https://www.aei.org/articles/the-conservative-fertility-advantage/

Gerard Baker in the Wall Street Journal, on the rollback of the power of the Progressive Left: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-supreme-court-declares-independence-303-student-loan-racial-preferences-roberts-71859d37?mod=opinion_lead_pos9

The Triumph of Christian Doctrine: The Supreme Court's Affirmative Action Decision

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 17:44:06 GMT

A Uniquely and Historically Christian View

This week the Supreme Court of the United States announced an end to race-based college admissions. Harvard and the University of North Carolina had been using race as a standard for admission, attempting to achieve certain numbers of minority students while denying admission to students whose skin color in their opinion was over-represented.

The decision was 6-3 and returned to the standard of equality of all persons. This is a uniquely and historically Christian theological position based on the biblical doctrine of man taught in Genesis 1:27. It is the foundation of all human rights and commitments to equality. The Court’s decision is a triumph of Christian doctrine.

This is a return to the biblical teaching that God judges men and women as individuals not on the basis of their group. In Matthew 3 the Jewish religious leaders were claiming a special relationship with God based on their religion. John the Baptist denounced them and said, “God can turn rocks into sons of Abraham.” In Acts 10 Peter argues the same thing saying, God is no respecter of persons. God looks at each heart individually and not through any other category—race, nation, class, gender, denomination, what have you.

MLK held the Christian position. In 1963 in one of the most famous speeches in American history he said he dreamed of the day when people would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. God has been doing this all along and from the beginning the Bible has taught it.

Universities are under the grip of the Progressive Left which, as I have argued elsewhere, is a Marxist cult. They do not hold the biblical view of man. Marx held that the individual was irrelevant. It’s the group you are in that defines your existence. Universities have been practical Marxists choosing to favor certain groups at the expense of other groups. The group that brought the suit before the court was Asian. Harvard had been discriminating against them in its admission policies. And Evangelical Christian received no favored treatment either, along with a host of other groups.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that, “Individuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments. What matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them. And their race is not to blame for everything—good or bad—that happens in their lives. A contrary, myopic world view based on individuals’ skin color to the total exclusion of their personal choices is nothing short of racial determinism.” Clarence Thomas is black and a Christian. His is the view informed by Christian doctrine

Universities will try to find a way around the decision. Unless you have lived and worked in today’s academic community you do not realize the religious devotion to racial issues on the part of the modern left. Racial conflict is central to their existence. Fighting racism gives more meaning to their lives than anything else. They will continue to fight—fighting an enemy that does not exist. Racist America. In a future video I will argue why America is not a racist nation.

Peter Wood of the National Association of Scholars notes that: “The higher education establishment long anticipated that this [court case] might go this way — and it has been working tirelessly to undermine the spirit of it by putting in place workarounds that will allow it to continue to practice racial preferences in admissions.”

Nellie Bowles in the Free Press also notes how universities will violate the law: She says that Harvard claims they will “certainly comply with the court’s decision.” So Nellie says, “ there can’t literally be a big minus-10 for children of Indian descent. But all the Korean kids will just get very bad marks for their essays, you see. Harvard will find a way (to keep out Asians).”

The Babylon Bee says Harvard will get around the law by asking prospective students if they prefer barbecue, ranch, or soy sauce.

Universities and other venues in our society will continue to promote Marxist rather than Christian theology. This is a ferocious battle and will continue to loom large in the culture wars. But, I predict the Christians will ultimately win this battle because we represent the truth and we are backed by the power of the Holy Spirit of the living God.

Thanks for listening, and may God bless you and may God bless America.

More: Peter Wood in The Spectator: https://thespectator.com/topic/supreme-court-affirmative-action-decisions-harvard/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=42cd3dbfde-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_06_30_02_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-42cd3dbfde-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Babylon Bee—How Harvard will work around the ruling: https://babylonbee.com/news/harvard-to-get-around-affirmative-action-ban-by-asking-you-whether-you-prefer-bbq-ranch-or-soy-sauce?utm_source=The%20Babylon%20Bee%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email

World Magazine opinion: https://wng.org/opinions/a-declarative-decision-on-affirmative-action-1688056843?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGMq5gp3YjkfA4GOO272V8W6tzK16s6fBhTemrL6d5AqgbukVivLB4yzxMc4U3OHognf3k8-Dkl9J1ox2pFuR4vu4I4L0plNaKEfj7oUIVsP8I_

Dominion, Part 3: The Death of Paganism and the Rise of Christian Culture

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 15:32:17 GMT

The Victory of Christian Culture

I have said previously argued that Dominion, by Tom Holland, is one of the most important books of our time. Today we pick up in chapter six,, entitled, Heaven, A.D. 492.

Holland takes us into the expansion of the dominion of Jesus Christ in the early Middle Ages. He describes the decline and death of paganism, a left over from the Roman past. The Christians saw it as a victory over Satan. Holland turns his pen to Gregory the Great, the seventh-century pope. In this context he chronicles a radical new conception of time, one of the most important developments in human history. The ancients had believed history moved in cycles but Christians had a linear view. History was a steady march onward and upward to the final judgment and the coming of Christ and His millennial reign. This introduces into culture for the first time the powerful idea of progress. Even though Gregory looked out over the wreckage of what had once been the mighty Roman Empire he still had hope as he looked to the future. Augustine wrote that those who lacked the Christian understanding of history, “were doomed to wander in a circuitous maze, finding neither entrance nor exit.”

Holland moves from Rome out to the very edge of the old Roman Empire to a savage, brutal barbarian people--the Irish. Unlike any religion in history, Christianity has no permanent geographical center. What you might call the center of the Christian faith moves around. For a very short time it was Jerusalem, then the eastern Mediterranean, then Rome, then northern Europe, then North America, and now you could argue it is Africa or any number of places. The early medieval period is an example of this. Ireland was as far from the center of ancient culture as Jupiter. Holland introduces us to one of the greatest missionaries and influential people the world has ever known—Patrick. The Irish monasteries he established raised up some of the most rigorous Christians that have ever existed and they gave their attention to the lands east and south—what is modern day England, France, Germany, and even Italy. Here we find a product of Patrick’s legacy, a missionary named Columbanus, who also was enormously influential. Holland says of Columbanus, “Schooled in the ferociously exacting monasticism of his native land, Columbanus appeared to the Franks a figure of awesome and even terrifying holiness.” The impact of Irish Monks is incalculable. Thomas Cahill is a respected historian. His famous book, “How the Irish Saved Western Civilization” should really have been titled “How Irish Monks Saved Western Civilization.” Or better yet, how St. Patrick saved Western Civilization. Without men like Patrick and Columbanus the modern world as we know it would not exist.

Jesus Christ enters the hearts of men and women in every generation and uses them in the ongoing transformation of life on earth. In future chapters of Dominion we see this power continue to unfold.

Chapter 7: Exodus; A.D. 632, Carthage

We move now into the world of late antiquity—a phrase coined by historian Peter Brown. There arose the greatest threat Christian kingdoms would ever face—Islam. “Provinces of the battle-wearied Roman and Persian empires, like over-cooked meat slipping off the bone, melted into the grasp of Arab warbands.” When captured by the Muslim horde Christians and Jews were to pay a tax and submit to their Arab conquerors. The tax was a sign of their inferiority.

The Muslims repudiated much of Christian teaching including and especially the idea that Jesus had been crucified. The Muslims said—and say to this day—the suffering ascribed to Jesus was an error made by the biblical writers. Jesus had not so died. The Muslims also reputed the Pauline teaching that God had written His commandments on the heart. This idea made Christianity irrevocably different from Islam as well as Judaism.

While Christianity was being driven from the Middle East and north Africa forever, it was expanding in northern Europe and Holland devotes a section to the growth of Christianity in England and the remarkable career of a man known to history as the Venerable Bede. Bede made many contributions to Christianity, none greater than his redefinition of time. “There was only one fixed point amid the great sweep of the eons,” so he fixed the hinge of history on the Incarnation. It was a “rendering of time itself as properly Christian.”

Then comes a turning point in history, the Battle of Tours, or Poitiers, in 732 in what is modern France. The Muslims had been advancing all across southern Europe but that advance ended at the hands of the king of the Franks, Charles “the Hammer.” “More had hung in the balance at Poitiers than the Franks could possibly have realised.” The Muslims had decisively repudiated the conviction that God’s true law was written on the hearts of men. Holland says that at stake at Poitiers was nothing less than the legacy of St. Paul. The Franks won the battle and ended the Muslim advance. But this was the end of the ancient world.

Chapter 8: Conversion, A.D. 754, Frisia

This chapter begins a new section in Dominion. The first seven chapters Holland labeled “Antiquity.” This section he labels, “Christendom.”

One of the more astonishing developments—to me anyway--was the contempt Roman Christians in the fourth century had to missions. Augustine took the Great Commission seriously but hardly any of his contemporaries did. They “regarded Christianity as far too precious to be shared with the savages who lurked beyond the limits of Roman power.” Many in the modern American church oppose missions but they were not the first do so. The Christians in the Roman Empire in 400 A.D. had no interest in reaching the lost beyond their borders.

What has come to be known as the “barbarian conversion” did not originate with civilized Roman Christians of the Mediterranean. It came roaring out of the far reaches of the former empire, from Ireland and England. Their inhabitants did not see their fellow barbarians as repulsive creatures to be avoided but as creations of God living in darkness and in desperate need of light. And light they provided.

Holland gives the example of Boniface, a West Saxon, a British tribe only recently brought to Christ. “He suffered no anxiety in contemplating the world turned upside down.”

We turn next to Charlemagne and the program of empire building Christian style. “As a program for bringing and entire pagan people to Christ, it was as savage as none had ever been before.” Charlemagne believed in forcing Christian culture on to conquered peoples. His strongest criticism came from his own court. Alcuin, a disciple of Boniface, condemned the emperor’s policy. He said, “Faith arises from the will, not from compulsion…pagans should be persuaded, not forced to convert.”

In response Charlemagne embarked on a serious program of education. Holland says, “How could God’s law be written on the hearts of Christian people if they were not properly Christian? Without education they were doomed.” At this time you see Christianity beginning to dominate the educational world as we do to this day.

Holland describes the devastation of the pagan invasions—Huns and Vikings. But a remarkable thing happened. For the most part they converted to Christianity. This laid the ground for even greater Christian revolutions occurring after the celebration of the first millennium of Christ’s reign on earth.

In our next video we look at the expansion of Christian culture as it becomes the most powerful in world history.

More: The first part of my synopsis of Dominion is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbTxixj_nqk

The second is here: https://youtu.be/8NpRe9719uM

To purchase the book go here: https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World-ebook/dp/B07NCY9RG9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2SWAHK5KP6LWF&keywords=tom+holland+dominion&qid=1686417833&sprefix=tom+holland+dominion%2Caps%2C1155&sr=8-1

If you are interested in another large but brilliant book on this topic, read “The Barbarian Conversion” by Richard Fletcher: https://www.amazon.com/Barbarian-Conversion-Paganism-Christianity/dp/0520218590

Why Do People Hate the Jews? Why I Love the Jewish People

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 19:28:17 GMT

Six Reasons Why I Love the Jews

Anti-Semitism is still a massive problem. The Jews have been the most hated and persecuted people in history and nothing has changed today. In October of 2018 a man shouting hatred for Jews entered a Jewish temple in Pittsburgh and killed eleven worshippers. College campuses have been hotbeds of Jewish hatred for more than a generation and the American Left has decided that Israel is the bad guy in the Middle East. Is this anti-Semitism? Abraham Foxman says it is. Foxman was the head of the Anti-Defamation League, the largest organization in America committed to the defense of Jews. A number of years ago I heard him speak at a synagogue in Boulder, Colorado. His argument was simple: If you hold Israel to a different standard than the other nations in the Middle East, you are guilty of anti-Semitism. I agree with him. And Israel is judged differently from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Palestinians, and all the rest. That’s singling out the Jews for special hostility.

Mainline liberal, protestant churches have made strong attacks on Israel, comparing their treatment of the Palestinians as a form of the old South African apartheid; one of their leaders said Jewish treatment of Palestinians is just like slavery. The Israelis are just like the slave owners in the old South? That seems like anti-Semitism to me.

If you look at FBI statistics on hate crimes more are committed against Jews than anyone else. So the Jews continue to experience extraordinary hostility and discrimination.

But I love the Jewish people; I am a member of the largest constituency on earth that loves the Jews. I am a protestant Evangelical Christian; my religious group is more positive toward Jews and Israel than anyone else. And not just in America. David Aikman said that although the Chinese government is pro-Palestinian, the Chinese church is pro-Israel. In the Q and A session after Foxman spoke someone asked how Jews can tolerate the support of Evangelical Christians with whom Jews disagree on almost every political issue. Foxman acknowledged the differences but then said something I will never forget. “We appreciate their support since all other voices are silent.”

Let me give you six reasons why I love the Jews.

First, they are the chosen people of God. I love the Jews because my God loves the Jews. He chose them specially to serve His unique purposes in saving the world from sin. They have paid a terrible price for their unique status and most of them have abandoned the God of the Bible, the God of Israel. But He loves them still and so do I.

Second, they prove the existence of God. One of the greatest theologians of the 20 ^th century was Karl Barth. One day after class a student asked him if he could prove God exists. He said, easily. “I can prove the existence of God in a single word—Israel.” The ongoing existence of the Jews and their massive contributions to the human race are proof that their prophets are right. They are God’s special people and prove His existence by their survival and character.

Third, I love the Jews because they are God’s chosen instrument in providing my Savior. What an elaborate plan our heavenly Father had for saving us from hell and the just desserts of our sin. The plan was put in motion 2,000 years before Jesus. At the beginning of Genesis 12 we read, “God spoke to Abraham.” He called out one man and then through the centuries, through the Jews, God preserved the Messianic line. The end result was the salvation and eternal hope of everyone who believes in Jesus, the fulfillment of God’s purposes for the Jews. I am grateful to them for all their suffering and sacrifice, as I am the beneficiary.

Fourth, they are the most uniquely gifted minority in history and have been a great blessing to the world in more ways than I can count. A number of years ago the great Gentile sociologist, Charles Murray, wrote an essay entitled “Jewish Genius.” Murray wondered why such a tiny minority had had such astonishing success. He asked what accounts for the extravagant overrepresentation of Jews, relative to their numbers, in the top ranks of the arts, sciences, law, medicine, finance, entrepreneurship, and the media.

In the 20 ^th century the Jews won 150 times more Nobel prizes than their numbers would predict. He then tried to account for Jewish I.Q’s. Why is theirs so much higher than the general population? He was never able to answer his own question. Finally, at the end of his essay, the agnostic Murray stated the only conclusion that worked. The reason for Jewish Genius? They are God’s chosen people.

Fifth, I love the Jews because they wrote the Bible, the most powerful and wonderful book ever written; the book that has provided more blessings for the human race than all other books combined. This is the argument of my book, Seven Ideas that Changed the World.

Sixth, and finally, I love the Jews because I am one. Not by blood. I am Scotch-Irish from the hills of Appalachia. But according to the Apostle Paul I’m a Jew. In Romans 2 he says at the end of the chapter: “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” Romans 1:28,29

So, inwardly, I am a Jew because of my relationship with the greatest of Jews, Jesus of Nazareth.

At the beginning of Romans 10 the Apostle Paul says, my heart’s desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. Let’s join Paul in that prayer and pray for the salvation of the Jewish people. And let’s continue to love them the way God loves them.

Thanks for listening. May the great God of Israel bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: The Seven Ideas that changed the world are Jewish ideas; to be more precise, they are seven ideas that Almighty God revealed to His chosen people, the Jews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgscHBjbKv8

Jewish Genius, by Charles Murray; https://www.commentary.org/articles/charles-murray/jewish-genius/

A very entertaining article by a Jewish writer, encouraging her audience to watch the Chosen, the remarkable saga of Jesus and His disciples:

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-this-jew-is-binge-watching-the-chosen-and-maybe-you-should-too/

Mark Tooley is an Evangelical Protestant; he asks the questions, “Why is the Left taking side against Israel?” https://wng.org/opinions/why-is-the-religious-left-taking-sides-against-israel-1668775191?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGIKiEuZeqalnqvdryEgHC7nj1eCFVy0y_KtEG9Ga7TOphn17aLkBTrRSsAU_x84yBLduDostgCIXlhUeFWT7oGaoTvR2eQUcIIGFwgRbZa2xk

My book, Seven Ideas that Changed the World, is about Jewish ideas, spread by Christian culture. They are history’s most powerful; https://www.amazon.com/Ideas-That-Changed-World-civilizations-ebook/dp/B085MM79ZB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=COE2SKDPUEBS&keywords=seven+ideas+that+changed+the+world&qid=1685978128&sprefix=seven+ideas+that+changed+the+world%2Caps%2C322&sr=8-1

How Does the New Green Religion Reject the Christian Faith?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 20:09:11 GMT

The Five Major Environmental Doctrines that Reject the Christian Faith

Christians need to understand their religious enemies. I recently spoke of the rise of paganism, a clear competitor to the Christian faith. Shortly before that we examined the Progressive Left, Christianity’s largest competitor in the modern West. Today we look at another big competitor—the Environmental movement. In a future video we will consider the massive destruction of the Green movement. Bad doctrine leads to bad consequences. Today let’s consider their false doctrines.

The new Environmentalism attacks five basic Christian beliefs:

Green doctrine #1, rejects Genesis 1:26. In that passage God gave man dominion over the earth. The Greens fiercely attack this saying man has no special place in nature. Fifty years ago Lynn White, a Professor of Medieval History at UC Berkeley, wrote a famous essay entitled, “The historic roots of our ecological crisis.” White assumes the natural world is in some sort of crisis state with impending doom hovering over us. And he blames it on Christianity. White argues, correctly I believe, that the modern technological world was birthed in the High Middle Ages beginning around 1000 A.D. based on the dominion theology of Genesis 1:26. It was here that the scientific and industrial revolutions got their start. He repudiates Christian theology and argues that it has put us on the brink of environmental Armageddon. He leaves out the part that Christian theology gave us every material blessing we enjoy in the modern world, blessings he enjoys to the fullest.

Green doctrine #2, the biblical doctrine of Genesis 1:27. Man was specially created in God’s image, a doctrine rejected by the Greens. They hold there is nothing special about man and that it is a crime to separate him from nature. As I have pointed out in other videos and my writing, the doctrine of the image of God in man is socially the most powerful in history and one that has brought more blessing than any other. All modern doctrines of human rights, social justice, equal treatment under the law, compassion for the poor and needy, and a host of others flow from this doctrine. Yet the Greens view it as a pernicious evil. They couldn’t be further from biblical truth than they are here.

Green doctrine, #3, the Bible teaches that nature has been corrupted by sin, is fallen, and groans. Tennyson was right, nature is red in tooth and claw. The Greens believe that nature is pure and holy—Mother Gaia--and the less humans interfere with it the better. They want us to be as close to a state of nature as we can possibly be.

Green doctrine #4: God does not exist. The earth was not created by God nor is it controlled by Him. There is no God to protect us. We are alone in a hostile universe. The Christian response is found in Psalm 53:1, the fool has said in his heart there is no God. I love Spurgeon’s comment; if the Bible calls such a man a fool we dare call him no less.

Green doctrine #5: Nature is to be worshipped. Recently an article in Time magazine by two college professors said, and I am not making this up, Earth Day should be made a religious Holiday. They suggest we celebrate the blessings the earth gives us and that we have a covenant with nature. We could have special religious celebrations. For instance, birth is, “the ecstatic co-joining of atoms and molecules resulting in a breathing, thinking human life.” Instead of Bible verses we could memorize the names of plants and animals. Young couples could vow to have fewer or no children. And we could view death as a return of our molecules to the never ending cycle of nature. We would need a holy book, one with hymns to nature, and one that celebrates the great prophets like Charles Darwin and Rachel Carson. “We must make nature central to our belief system with Earth Day or any number of earth-focused ceremonial days serving as regular reminders of what we owe our…planet.” Nothing here about what we owe our God.

The Greens shout curses at the world instead of being thankful for their blessings. The deepest sin of environmentalism is ingratitude. In Romans 1:20 the Apostle Paul says the downward spiral of the human race begins when men fail to thank God; we are awash in blessings in the modern world and the greens hold them in contempt—while enjoying every one of them I might add. The most controversial statement I ever made at the University of Colorado was about the environment. I told my students, “You live in the safest and best environment in the history of mankind.” Students recoiled at this statement. What did I mean? Just this: The physical environment you live in has less ability to kill you than at any time in the history of the human race. And we derive more blessing from it than ever before in history. The Greens show no gratitude for the blessings of Christian civilization. It is the mindset of the adolescent who eats Dad’s food, drives Dad’s car, lives in Dad’s house and then goes to school and trashes the old man.

May God deliver us from this. The only hope is Jesus Christ. Receiving Him, worshipping Him, loving Him, and looking forward to His return.

May the God who created this marvelous world bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: A related video, “The Green Cult: Why It’s Dangerous and What You Need to Know”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuHrMp6J-Wo

The Case for Making Earth Day a Religious Holiday: https://time.com/6273684/earth-day-religious-holiday/

To purchase Lynn White’s essay online is expensive. It is cheaper to buy Francis Schaeffer’s book, Pollution and the death of man. This essay is in the appendix. https://www.amazon.com/Pollution-Death-Man-Francis-Schaeffer-ebook/dp/B004QGYTZQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=8B5TDCNGLBWV&keywords=pollution+and+the+death+of+man+by+francis+schaeffer&qid=1685475494&sprefix=pollution+and+the+death%2Caps%2C782&sr=8-1

A brief summary of White’s essay is here: https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/historical-roots-our-ecological-crisis

A Christian criticism of Lynn White’s Thesis: https://creation.com/the-root-of-our-ecological-crisis

How Christ Changed the World: A Synopsis of Dominion, by Tom Holland-Part 2

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Fri, 26 May 2023 17:19:40 GMT

Christianity has grown spectacularly because Christians are willing to suffer for their faith.

As I said in my last blog, I believe Dominion, by the British historian Tom Holland, is the most important books written this century. It is a book about the domain of Jesus Christ; His majesty and power as it has grown over the centuries, to become the most powerful cultural force ever known to mankind.

One reason Christianity has become the world’s most powerful religious and cultural force is the willingness of Christians to suffer and die for their faith.

Chapter 4: Belief: A.D. 177, Lyon

In this chapter Holland introduces us to Blandina, a 15-year old slave girl who died for her faith. “All Christians, no matter where they were, had to live with the knowledge that they might be lynched….[Blandina] was a slave, ‘a slight, frail, despised woman’; that she might be set among the elite of heaven, seated directly within the splendour of God’s radiant palace, ahead of those who in the fallen world had been her immeasurable superiors, was a potent illustration of the mystery that lay at the heart of the Christian faith….The willingness of Christians to embrace excruciating tortures…was founded on an awesome conviction: that their Saviour was by their side.”

Christianity has always been beset by various heresies. But in this era they all seemed to have one thing in common: the denial that Jesus Christ might literally have suffered death.

One of the leading lights of this era was Irenaeus. He never doubted for a moment that he was engaged in a battle of ideas. Holland says the Christian church created something never before seen in the world. A citizenship not based on birth, descent, or legal status, but on belief alone.

Holland then moves his narrative to what was probably the greatest city in the Roman world—Alexandria on the north coast of Egypt. There, emperor worship was demanded, and enforced with violence. Out of this cauldron came one of the great figures of Christian history—Origen. “To live in Alexandria—even for the most devout follower of Christ—was to experience the full dazzling potency of Greek culture.” The Greeks and Romans built towering monuments to their religion and culture but Origen knew Christianity had something better. A monument made of “living stones.” It was Origen who first said, “Whatever men have rightly said, no matter who or where, is the property of us Christians.” In other words, all truth is God’s truth.

The third century A.D. saw the Roman Empire begin to unravel. There had to be a reason. The pagans decided it was because their gods were offended. So everyone was ordered to pay homage to them. Some refused such worship, among whom was Origen. He was tortured terribly and died within a year of his wounds. But within two generations the persevering Christian church finally was declared a legal religion by the Emperor Constantine. He discovered something new and interesting about the faith. For Christians true religion did not consist of proper rituals or sacrifices. It consisted of correct belief. Thus, the emperor summoned Christian leaders to a council in the city of Nicaea and there the bishops did something that had never been done before. They made a “declaration of belief that claimed itself universal.” And although he did not know it, Constantine, by accepting Christ as his Lord, had imported directly into the heart of his empire a new and unpredictable source of power.

Chapter 5: Charity; A.D.362, Pessinus

Julian the Apostate became the Roman Emperor around A.D. 360. He was chagrined that worship of the pagan gods had fallen off precipitously. What Julian failed to realize was that “the gods cared nothing for the poor. To think otherwise was ‘airhead talk.’’ Julian proposed combatting the new faith with a pagan religion of his own. However, “the young emperor, sincere as he was in his hatred of the Galilean teachings, and regretting their impact on all he held dear, was blind to the irony of his plan for combatting them…” What was this plan? It was irredeemably Christian. He wanted to out-Christian the Christians. We see the same thing today. The atheists and self-described pagans who comment on my channel claim to be better people than Christians. How do they judge themselves better? By Christian standards of course!

Julian learned an iron law of charity. Compassion for the poor cannot be summoned out of nothing. In other words, atheism and paganism and all the other modern religions have no power to change the human heart. Holland uses as his example two of the most powerful Christians of the era—the brothers Basil and Gregory. The logic that summoned compassion out of these two wealthy brothers, “derived from the very fundamentals of their faith.” There was no human existence so wretched that it did not bear witness to the image of God. It was at this time—the fourth century A.D.—that Gregory, took that logic of the image of God to its logical conclusion. He called for the abolition of slavery. So far as we know, he is the first to do so and he did it on the basis of the Christian worldview.

“Lepers and children were not the most defenceless of God’s children.” Across the Roman world, “babies abandoned by their parents was a common sight.” Up to this time virtually everyone was accepting of parents exposing their unwanted children, thus killing them. That is, until Christians arrived on the scene. Many were like Macrina—Gregory and Basil’s sister. She rescued abandoned girls and took them home to raise as her own.

Meanwhile, in Gaul—in what would be modern day France, a new kind of hero was emerging—a Christian one. He is seen as heroic not because he wields political or military power but because he eschews both. Martin of Tours becomes a bishop precisely because he does not want to be one. Martin wields power because he rejects it, laying down his life for the weakest of his subjects.

On the north coast of Africa—obscure by any account—there arises at this time one of the brightest lights in the history of the human race. Augustine. Augustine is famous for a host of reasons. I remember in graduate school at a secular university reading about his towering influence on the study of history. In this chapter Holland focuses on Augustine’s rejection the teachings of Pelagius who was sort of a modern liberal, arguing that people are basically good and can live righteous lives under their own power. According to Holland Augustine held, “That Christians might live without sin was not merely fantasy; it was a pernicious heresy.” It was a fallen world we live in but one that could be delivered by light from heaven. Man’s basic nature is today one of the most important doctrines being debated and the rejection of the Augustinian view is extremely destructive. We will see how this begins to play out in future blogs.

The New Religion of America's Elite

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 21 May 2023 22:48:55 GMT

Only They Don't Know It's a Religion

When I started teaching at a large secular university in 1984 I quickly learned that my Christian faith was not welcome. In fact, I was informed, it’s illegal to proclaim it in a public educational venue. To proclaim Christianity in a secular setting was to breech the wall separating church and state. I discovered something else. Professors on the Left felt no such restraint. They were perfectly free to preach their ideology in the classroom. In fact, they felt obligated to do so. One day one of my colleagues was walking out the door of our department building to a class. He said, “I need to obliterate the religious beliefs of some of my students.” I asked him, “George, what do you intend to replace them with?” His answer, “Why Marxism, of course.” George felt it was perfectly fine to preach his views in the classroom, a freedom he would not grant to me.

I very quickly saw religion needs to be defined differently. I would ask my students this question: Is “I believe in God” a religious statement? Of course it is. OK. How about this statement: “I don’t believe in God.” Is that a religious statement? If not why not? It’s a statement of the same kind. A religion does not require a belief in God to be a religion. Let’s define religion:

· It has a worldview. Or, a comprehensive view of reality.

· It has a list of doctrines to which it adheres,

· It has a framework for making moral decisions.

· It has some source of authority

· It has a type of salvation or righteousness and a way of achieving it.

· It has an eschatology—a belief in where the world is headed and how it will end.

· It defines what gives life meaning.

· Courts have concluded that a religion has some sort of community expression. It is a group of people not just individual conscience.

What I was confronted with in my university was a religion. It had many of the same characteristics as Christianity but was virulently anti-Christian.

At one time in American culture it was to your advantage to call yourself religious. No longer. Today to be religious is to be a moron. Denouncing religious faith is a mark of intelligent decision making. To admit to being any kind of Christian is to invite ridicule, rejection and persecution, especially as one moves up the ladder to greater and greater social status.

However, rejecting traditional religion does not mean you cease to be religious. We return again to Chesterton: When a man stops believing the God of the Bible he does not then believe nothing. He then believes anything. Or as Jacob Hess puts it, “ceasing to trust or love the Divine is not to cease to trust or love anything at all. Instead of a dissolution of trust and love, these internal devotions almost always end up getting transferred to something else.”

As I observed in a recent video many westerners are returning to paganism as though it’s some new thing. It is not and no one doubts it’s a religion. But a lot more people have joined the faith of the Progressive Leftists. It’s the new Marxist religion and you have to adhere to it if you are going to accepted in polite company.

Recently the British journalist Helen Lewis, herself an atheist, wrote a fascinating article on how social justice has become a new religion. She rightly observes that, “For some activists, politics has usurped the role that religion used to play as a source of meaning and purpose in our lives, and a way to find a community.”

People like to brag that they have left religion behind. When a pollster asks them for their religious affiliation they answer, “none.” But they are deceiving themselves. Man is incurably religious. Men and women are replacing traditional religions with what I call “God substitutes.” The list is long. For some the new gods are political leaders, fictional superheroes, even entertainers or sports figures. Others try to replace god with assorted addictions--drugs, alcohol, work, romance, sex.

But the biggest new religious substitute is politics. Many years ago the chairman of the political science department at a major university told me bluntly, “Politics is my religion.”

This worship of politics is a lot more likely to be found on the left. The political right has serious competition from Christianity. Christians with any level of commitment do not allow politics to become their religion. Even right-wingers with very little Christian faith still have divided loyalties. Not on the Left. There is no competition. A person committed to Left-wing Progressivism can go all in. There is no competition for his loyalty.

So, to understand the Progressive Left we must understand it as a religious competitor to Christianity. In future videos I will describe this relatively new religion in greater detail.

May the God of the true faith that comes through Jesus Christ, bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Ten Characteristics of a Cult: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL9RA2QgSf8

What is religion? https://www.firstthings.com/article/2023/06/defining-religion-in-the-court

Tom Stringham: https://publicsquaremag.org/dialogue/persuasion/the-other-religion/

The Most Popular Religion in America:

https://publicsquaremag.org/dialogue/social-justice/invisible-religion-popular-religion-america/

How Christ Changed the World: A Synopsis of Tom Holland’s Dominion (Part 1)

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 14 May 2023 16:32:01 GMT

The message of the cross has proven to be the most powerful in history

In my opinion, Dominion, by the British historian Tom Holland, is the most important book written this century. It is a book about the domain of Jesus Christ; His majesty and power as it has grown over the centuries, to become the most powerful cultural force ever known to mankind. Western culture is a product of His walking the earth and Holland does a marvelous job of demonstrating this chapter after chapter.

No society is contemplating how much Islamic culture to incorporate. Or how much Buddhism or Hinduism to adopt. Or how much Shintoism or Animism. But every nation is wrestling with what to incorporate of the culture created by Jesus Christ—Western culture.

In his Preface Holland begins with a lengthy discussion of crucifixion:

Romans viewed crucifixion as the worst possible death anyone could endure. Not only was it physically excruciating, (where do we get that word?) it was scandalous. A person felt tainted by even viewing it. For the Jews the crucifixion of Jesus created even greater problems than the horrible nature of His death. That the eternal God would have a Son who became flesh, and then be tortured to death on a cross was both stupefying and repellent; not “merely blasphemy but madness.” It took centuries but eventually “a corpse served as an icon of majesty.”

Eventually Christians, because of Jesus, came to believe that God was closer to the weak than the mighty. Christianity began in paradox—in the midst of cultures that stressed power, pride, honor, and strength—it stressed the weak and the suffering. But it produced what one Jewish scholar called, “the most powerful of hegemonic cultural systems in the history of the world.”

Holland states his purpose as examining those Christian currents that are the most widely held and enduring in the present day. “To live in a Western country is to live in a society saturated by Christian concepts and assumptions. (I recommend this book be read in conjunction with my book, Seven Ideas That Changed the World, which is much shorter but has the same thesis.) The emergence of Christianity is “the single most transformative development in Western history.”

The ambition of Dominion is to trace what one third-century writer termed, “the flood-tide of Christ.” “It is—to coin a phrase—the greatest story ever told.”

In Chapter 1, titled Athens 479 B.C., Holland looks at the ancient world, particularly Greece and Persia.

Holland examines the Persian Empire and finds an interesting conceit: Cyrus and Darius—two of the greatest Persian kings--believed they were ruling by the will of some sort of divine being and this gave them the right to impose their will on others. The universe had a purpose. There was a “pattern to things.”

Over in Greece, Aristotle taught that in the heavens there was a circular orbit, eternal and obedient, yet it depended on “a mover which itself never moved.”

So Aristotle looked out on the world and concluded that there was an earthly order, a hierarchy, with certain men at the top. He made this famous statement: He was thankful that he was not an animal, a barbarian, or a woman. The ancients all shared in this hierarchical view. It was commonly accepted that the way a man really became a man was by putting other men “in the shade.”

Chapter 2, is titled Jerusalem 63 B.C., and in it Holland moves from the Persians and Greeks to the Jews.

The Jews came to the conclusion early that not only did they worship the supreme God, no other gods existed. Furthermore, mankind was unique. Only man had been fashioned in the image of the one God. And mankind alone possessed dominion over all other created things. God was separate from His creation. He did not fight with sea monsters—He created them. All of creation serves the one God. He is a God of order. God granted the Jews something He granted no other peoples—a covenant, and with that covenant He gave legislation authored by Himself. Every Jew, from the king to the simplest peasant, was subject to that law. This introduces one of the most important ideas in the history of the world—the rule of law.

In Chapter 3, Mission A.D. 19: Galatia, Holland begins to look at how the new religion of Christianity began to impact the world. He focuses on a rather amazing missionary: one Paul of Tarsus.

The citizens of Galatia were profoundly committed to the worship of the Emperor. Then along came Paul with his intolerant message. “The Son of God proclaimed by Paul did not share his sovereignty with other deities. There were no other deities.” The idea that a man crucified as a common criminal could be the supreme deity was scandalous to both Galatians and Jews. “Command and swagger were the very essence of the cult of the Caesars.” And Holland talks about how powerful and influential that cult was.

Paul’s message was revolutionary. Everyone who opened themselves to the Gospel of Jesus Christ “were henceforward God’s holy people.” Holland considers this a turning point in world history. “That the law of the God of Israel might be read inscribed on the human heart, written there by his Spirit, was a notion that drew alike on the teachings of Pharisees and Stoics—and yet equally was foreign to them both. Its impact was destined to render Paul’s letters—the correspondence of a bum, without position or reputation in the affairs of the world—the most influential, the most transformative, the most revolutionary ever written. Across the millennia, and in societies and continents unimagined by Paul himself, their impact would reverberate. His was a conception of law that would come to suffuse an entire civilisation.”

In this chapter Holland also points out that Paul’s teaching on sexual ethics was revolutionary. Actually, it is his theology of the body that is unique. But in teaching that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Paul was not “merely casting as sacrilege attitudes toward sex that most men in Corinth or Rome took for granted. He was also giving to those who serviced them, the bar girls and the painted boys in brothels, the slaves used without compunction by their masters, a glimpse of salvation.”

Into the darkness of the first-century pagan world something startling happened. Not as a leader of armies but as a victim the Messiah had appeared. “No one quite like him had ever been portrayed in literature.” There was no comparison in Persian kings, or Greek philosophers, or Jewish prophets. “The logos—the word—had become flesh.”

This person and message will unleash the greatest cultural force of all time.

More: My video, The Shocking Transformation: How the Most Repulsive Symbol Became the Dearest, is an elaboration on Holland’s preface: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYzA6Eh__xo

My video, “The Moment Christianity Changed the World” is an elaboration of chapter three: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4y7DgATyq8

Hollands book is lengthy but wonderfully written and a delight to read. The Amazon link is here: https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World-ebook/dp/B07NCY9RG9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=PBSCWW6QV5B&keywords=dominion+tom+holland+kindle&qid=1683396576&sprefix=dominion%2C+tom+holland%2Caps%2C2752&sr=8-1

If you want to read my entire synopsis it is here: https://www.the401stprophet.com/a-synopsis-of-dominion-by-tom-holland

Four Questions I Ask My Students About Climate Change

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 10 May 2023 18:01:03 GMT

Question #4 is by far the most important

The abandonment of the Christian worldview and a rejection of biblical truth has caused an outbreak of insanity in the Western world. From the radical pursuit of abortion on demand to the regendering of children without their parents’ knowledge, to the meltdown in our cities due to the collapse of the family and the defund the police movement, we see chaos all around us. But the greatest fears by far are caused by hysteria over global warming, or what has been rebranded as climate change.

A number of years ago I developed an analysis for my students: I instructed them to ask these four questions about climate change. Your answers will tell you how to handle this issue going forward. I ask these questions in ascending order of importance with number four being by far the most crucial.

Question #1: Is the earth really warming? It might be but it is also possible that it is warming very slowly or not at all. Even the apocalyptic warmers agree that during the last twenty years there has been a hiatus of a dozen years when the earth didn’t get hotter. When the New York Times had a screaming headline (around 2015) that the past year was the warmest on record they neglected to tell their readers that the average temperature had only gone up one quarter of one degree, within the margin of error. Robert Tracinski said it was the only scientific article he had ever read that did not contain a single number. But I will let this question slide, and for the sake of argument say, yes, the earth is warming. The next question is more important:

Question #2: Are human beings causing the warming? Again, possibly, some of it. But if they are it is probably only a miniscule influence. In a recent column Michael Landsbaum pointed out that “all greenhouse gases worldwide make up 2 percent of the atmosphere. Only 3.6 percent of that 2 percent is carbon dioxide. Only 3.4 percent of that 3.6 percent is man-made.” Landsbaum lives in southern California. He concluded that if California shut down every man-made CO2-emitting source the result would be atmospherically unnoticeable. But again, let’s concede that mankind is at least a partial cause of the warming, and move on to…

Question #3: Is warming a bad thing? Emphatically it is not. As a historian I can tell you that warm is good and cold is bad. At the end of the High Middle Ages Western Europe went into a downward spiral economically. The crash was brought on in part by the end of the Medieval Warm Period, a time when temperatures in the northern hemisphere were warmer than they are now. Cold weather is hard on crops—ask the peach growers in my home state of Colorado. Cold weather is much deadlier than warm weather and kills far more people every year than warm weather. Some will say that climate change is causing more extreme weather events. That has not been scientifically established but let me give you one example. Recently the Manhattan Institute noted that in the last 20 years cold has killed 80 times more people than heat in the United Kingdom. Every year cooling is far more dangerous than warming.

In recent article, which I cite below, Roger Pielke, probably the chief authority on hurricanes in the entire world, asks three questions. Do we have more storms than we used to? No, we do not. Do we have fewer storms but of greater intensity and destructive power? No, we do not. Are storms more likely than they used to be to make landfall on America’s southeast coasts? No they are not. The hysteria you hear about extreme weather is just that—hysteria. It has no basis in fact.

I grew up in Laramie, Wyoming. In Wyoming Global Warming is not a threat, it is an answer to prayer.

But even if you were to concede that warming is bad we come to the most important question of all….

Question #4: What will be done about climate change? And the answer clearly is….nothing. We see this in all the various earth summits. Billionaire environmentalists fly in their private jets and gather to tell us lesser people that we need to sacrifice in order to save the earth. Sacrifices, by the way, they have no intention of making. Practically speaking, little or nothing is being done to save the planet.

Let me give just one example: China—the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases—emits more than twice the greenhouse gases as the U.S. and a hundred times more than California whose government tells us they plan to stop climate change. The Chinese plan to do nothing about global warming. Last year they added 27 billion kilowatts of coal-powered electricity to their grid. India—which will pass China this summer as the world’s largest nation--added 3.5 billion. Both intend to continue building coal facilities as far into the future as far as we can see. Many other countries also added coal facilities. So all the recycling, and electric cars, and windmills, and solar panels, and everything else in western world will do absolutely nothing to reduce what the Greens say causes climate catastrophe.

And for good reason. In his brilliant essay, Bound to Burn, the late economist Peter Huber asks a simple question. If the world’s poor had 40 trillion dollars’ worth of gold buried on their property would the rich nations be able to talk them out of digging it up? No. They will dig it up. I used to regularly lecture in an environmental studies class at the University of Colorado. I was brought in to provide an alternative viewpoint, something rarely done anymore in universities. I would tell the classes, if global warming really is going to cause climate catastrophe then prepare to die. Nothing is going to be done to meet your environmental goals. The simple reason is, you enjoy being rich. And the rest of the world wants to be rich, too. And they are going to get rich the same way we have—through the cheapest energy they can produce.

Let me say once more that the fundamental problem is religious. Environmentalists are plagued by bad theology. The Greens do not believe in the existence of God. In their view there is no divine power regulating the affairs of men and the motions of the universe. We are all alone. A cosmic accident in the process of incinerating ourselves. That there could be a God who would prevent all this does not enter their thinking.

Let us resolve today to trust the God of Scripture who laughs in derision at the councils of men. And let’s trust Him, not only for our well-being on earth, but in eternity is well. God bless you all.

More: Warming is much better for humans than cold weather: https://web.stanford.edu/~moore/HealthBenefitsofWarmer.html#:~:text=Advocates%20of%20reducing%20greenhouse%20gases,and%20more%20researchers%20are%20finding .

Earth day is out of ideas:

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/04/20/earth_day_2023_utterly_bereft_of_ideas_894774.html

https://apnews.com/article/coal-retirement-climate-change-china-india-5ac4a2eeaf71b5e839b2a0e09ae8bd38

Warming better than colding: https://www.city-journal.org/article/chilled

Roger Pielke: Climate change is not causing extreme weather events: https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/just-the-facts-on-global-hurricanes

The following is a humorous debate at Oxford, in England, and shows why climate change will never be seriously addressed: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/british-comedian-lays-waste-to-climate-activists-in-raucous-oxford-union-debate/

Is the West Returning to Paganism?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 03 May 2023 22:15:00 GMT

What are the characteristics of the new pagan religion and how do Christians respond?

My friends have often chided me for using the word pagan in describing modern Americans but it’s an old and well-defined word. And it is on the rise. Theology is everything. What you believe about God determines everything of importance in your life. We see this as clearly as possible in the rise of paganism.

A little more than a month ago a person claiming to be transgendered shot up a school in Tennessee killing three children and three of the school’s staff. In the aftermath what was the press wringing it’s hands over? Whether or not they had misgendered the shooter in their reporting.

What kind of madness is this? Liel Leibovitz, writing in Commentary, says the only answer is “the barbarians are at out gates….I mean this almost literally. Everywhere you turn these days, pagans are afoot, busily hacking away at the Christian and Jewish foundations of American life and replacing them with a cosmology that would have been absolutely coherent to followers of, say, Voltumna, the Etruscan earth god, or to those who worshipped the Celt tribal protector Toutatis.”

The number of people in the U.S. who claim to follow some sort of pagan religion has risen from 8,000 in 1990 to 1.5 million today. And there are millions more who are de facto pagans. In Leibovitz’ words these people have a worldview that is: “consistently, coherently, and crushingly pagan.”

What do pagans believe?

The first principle of paganism is that “nothing is true.” An article in the left-wing publication, The Guardian, describes paganism as “a religion in which deities don’t make rules for humans or monitor their behaviour – humans are encouraged to develop their full potential.” So there are no theological restraints. There is no God, or at least not one who is much different from us. In Leibovitz’ words there is no fixed system of belief or set of solid convictions to constrain us as we stumble our way through life. Atheism, even agnosticism, quickly and easily morphs its way into paganism.

The second principle is, “everything is permitted.”

In the days of old a pagan deity was known for doing whatever he or she wanted. They were not constrained by any sort of religious doctrine or belief system. They could, without restraint, be themselves. So the modern pagan can live any way he wants. In my classrooms I have often defined paganism as making yourself feel good physically and emotionally, then ceasing to exist when you die. The ancient Greeks and Romans had entire cults built around the pursuit of pleasure. It’s the same today.

A third characteristic is tribalism. You have to figure out what tribe you are in and once you do you then hate the other tribes and war against them. How perfectly this fits with modern Marxist theory, wherein all of life is constant warfare between classes and groups. In Marxism your identity is determined by your economic class or your social group or your gender, etc. As Leibovitz observes, “For a pagan, tribal identity isn’t the beginning of the conversation; it’s the end, an affiliation beyond which lies nothing but battle for dominance.”

The fourth characteristic is the worship of nature. This is an easy move to understand. If one denies the existence of God and man’s spiritual nature it is logical to connect yourself downward—to the material world. For some time America’s school children have been taught that they are nothing but a bag of molecules assembled by mere chance. This is a basic tenet of pagan religion and it’s not hard to understand why people would drift toward it. Look at any of the radical environmental groups and what you see is a modern expression of paganism. Again Leibovitz: “Many of today’s green activists seem much more intent on appeasing an angry god than solving a scientific conundrum.”

Fifth characteristic: you appease the gods by sacrificing your children. Abortion on demand is the clearest example; an unborn child should never be allowed to interfere with an adult’s pursuit of pleasure. But there are many others. Currently the insane policies dealing with gender dysphoria is an example of adults sacrificing their children to the gods of virtue. It is not children who are passing laws allowing and even promoting the mutilation and chemical destruction of children; it is adults who believe it is religiously virtuous to harm one’s offspring. Good grief, it’s the federal government that seeks to come down with a large hammer on parents who resist this destruction of children. The state of Minnesota recently passed a law allowing the state’s social services to remove a child from a home that resists sexual transitioning. It was adults who have diagnosed gender dysphoria in 50,000 children. In the last four years the number of hormone blockers and puberty blockers prescribed to teens and sold by adults has doubled. The rise of depression rates in children has skyrocketed in the last decade thanks to the ideological insanity of adult pagans who are foisting on our children one destructive idea after another.

How does the Christian respond to all this?

First, recognize paganism as clear and present danger, a coherent modern belief system that is being promoted by our modern culture.

I need to mention here that pagans, while claiming to reject traditional Christianity, retain much from the Christian heritage: Christianity’s commitment to the infinite and intrinsic value of women looms large in all pagan gatherings. I doubt we are going to reinstitute the pagan practice of female human sacrifice which Christianity abolished. Modern paganism is female dominated which seems strange considering historic paganism’s brutal treatment of women.

Second, we need to remember that the Christian faith has faced this enemy before. And we defeated and destroyed it. Jesus Christ was born into a pagan world; the apostles traveled, wrote, and organized congregations in a pagan world. Endless pagan practices—like gladiatorial contests and the exposure of infants, were routine pagan practices. And our Christian forefathers drove them from society. Let me offer a prophetic utterance: We will do it again.

The third step is the most obvious: “Save your children by shielding them from an ideology that perpetually seeks ways to harm them; root them instead in traditions that nurture them and give them dignity, hope, and a future.”

Christians, protect your kids. Monitor your local schools, demand accountability. Better yet, send them to alternatives—charter schools, religious schools, and homeschool coops.

Children must come to know the great God of Scripture and Creation; they must be offered the vastly superior truths of the Bible over and against pagan nonsense.

And we will be victorious. Why? Because we have the power of the Holy Spirit and vastly superior ideas. Paganism comes and goes, rises and falls. The Christian faith remains and grows stronger and stronger spreading throughout the earth continuing God’s march in building His Kingdom. Isaac Watts got it right 300 years ago: “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun, doth its successive journeys run; His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.”

Thank you for listening. May the true God, who revealed Himself in the Bible, bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: What’s Behind the Mental Health Crisis of Young Liberal Women? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW-KnVQPdDs

Be sure and see my video: Why the Left Hates Children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuu7m9YRFX8

Liel Leibovitz asks if Western culture is “repaganizing.”

https://www.commentary.org/articles/liel-leibovitz/paganism-afflicts-america/

Emma Beddington, in the Left-wing publication, The Guardian, writes sympathetically about the growth of paganism in the West: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/27/dawn-of-the-new-pagans-everybodys-welcome-as-long-as-you-keep-your-clothes-on

Defending the Doctrine of Hell

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 21:42:45 GMT

Five Reasons the Christian Believes in the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment

Doctrinus Horribilus: Defending the Biblical Doctrine of Hell

One of Christianity’s most criticized beliefs is the doctrine of hell. I read that the great quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who grew up in a Christian home, walked away from the faith because of the doctrine of hell. He’s not the first. The most famous preacher in America in the 1930s was Harry Emerson Fosdick, pulpiteer of Riverside Church in New York City. He, too, had abandoned biblical Christianity and became a champion of theological liberalism because of the doctrine of hell. Many religious leaders in that day told the same story.

Twenty years ago Rob Bell, pastor of a large evangelical church in Michigan, wrote Love Wins, a book that suggests we should be open to universalism—the doctrine that no one goes to hell but that everyone is eventually saved and goes to heaven.

Entire denominations have rejected the doctrine. I remember sitting with a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, with whom I had excellent fellowship, who told me a turning point in his life came when he rejected the doctrine of hell and embraced the Adventist doctrine of soul sleep. That upon death the individual ceases to be conscious. Then at the last judgment the wicked dead are raised, judged, and annihilated—they cease to exist. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons hold similar views.

More than a hundred years ago Protestant liberal theology rejected the doctrine of eternal punishment so most people in mainline denominations do not believe in it. But I want to give you five reasons why as a Christian we believe that those who do not trust Christ as Savior, spend eternity in hell.

Reason number one, the Bible clearly teaches it. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus tells us not to fear the one who can only kill our body, but to fear the one who can cast both body and soul into hell. Jesus uses the word approximately a dozen times in the Gospels. And it is clear that He is teaching us that hell is a real place, that it is eternal, and that it ‘s bad.

The great Baptist preacher Vance Havner tells this story: “An infidel in my church came up to me after a service and said, ‘I don’t like all this preaching about hell. I want to hear more of the meek and lowly Jesus.’” Havner said to the man, “Why my friend, most of what I know about hell I learned from the meek and lowly Jesus.” We believe in hell because Jesus did.

Other New Testament writers make reference to hell and the doctrine of eternal punishment. 2 Peter 2:4 speaks of rebellious angels being cast into hell, and Revelation 20 says that’s where Satan, his angels, and the wicked dead will end up.

If one denies the existence of hell he is also denying the authority of Scripture.

Second, we believe in hell because if there is no hell and eternal punishment there is no justice. When I was studying World War 2 I read about the mass murder of Jews in Ukraine at Babi Yar and I remember saying to myself, “There’s a devil.” That’s the only explanation for such an atrocity. Then as I further studied the war I read about Adolph Hitler putting a gun in his mouth and committing suicide in the spring of 1945. And I remember saying myself, “If Hitler didn’t go to hell there is no justice.” How is it fair for him to simply cease to exist after all the suffering and death he had caused? The Bible makes clear that men will face the wrath and judgement of God for their sins because it’s fair. It’s just. There has to be a hell for God to be just.

Third, what is God to do with the people who refuse to go to heaven? There are millions of people who hate God and don’t want to be anywhere near Him, now or in eternity. If the Bible is right and we continue to exist after death, where do you put these people?

Fourth, the doctrine of hell motivates people to get right with God. Christianity has often been criticized for this—even by Christians. Somehow it is an impure motive to receive Christ as Savior in order to avoid the wrath of God and eternal damnation. When I was a youth this was called using Christianity as fire insurance. But’s wrong with it? We are all motivated continually by the threat of punishment. Children obey their dad because they know if they don’t they face his wrath. Do you know children that aren’t punished and hence unleash a reign of terror on every one they are around? They need that threat. The threat of punishment keeps me from speeding. It makes our highways safer and heaven knows that’s something we need. If a person trusts Christ to avoid hell that means they have admitted they are a sinner in need of the grace of God. And that’s the absolute first step in the Christian walk. So, no, there is nothing wrong with the doctrine of hell in motivating people to avoid it.

Fifth, denying the existence of something does not make it go away. There is a whole school of thought that denies the Holocaust because it is so unpleasant. But that does not change the fact that the social Darwinists murdered 6 million Jews during World War 2 in order to purify the race. Denial is an understandable but idiotic response to unpleasant events. How many times I have seen students deny a Christian doctrine because they didn’t like it. As though their opinion matters. Doctrines do not rise or fall because of one’s sentiments. They rest on hard truth. Hell is hard truth. But it is truth nonetheless.

I hope this short analysis has been helpful. I pray we will be faithful to the Bible and the truth it teaches.

More: Have I committed the unpardonable sin? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knNHaJ_OHh4

How the most repulsive symbol became the dearest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYzA6Eh__xo

What Happens When I Die? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eWIAsHXQbI

Six Reasons Christianity in America is Doing Better Than You Think

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 17:33:01 GMT

Critics predicting the end of Christianity are dead wrong.

Experts have been predicting the decline and even the end of Christianity for 200 years. In the 1820s Thomas Jefferson said that Christianity would, in the future be replaced by an enlightened religion that rejected the miracles of Christ. He wrote a volume that has come to be known as the Jefferson Bible that eliminated the supernatural elements of Jesus’ life; things like the resurrection and miracles. In 1935 the famous preacher of Riverside Baptist Church in New York City, Harry Emerson Fosdick, predicted the demise of biblical Christianity.

The number of people who call themselves Christians has dropped from 90% to 64% in the last 50 years.

Observers especially call attention to the rise of the nones. This is not a Catholic religious order but the people who tell pollsters when asked about their religion, answer “none.” When asked one’s religious affiliation in 1972 only 5% said “none.” In the most recent surveys in 2018, 24% gave that answer.

Our cultural elite predict the end of Christianity because that’s what they want to happen. However, they are going to be disappointed.

First, counting the number of Christians is hard. When I taught a class on American Christianity at the University of Colorado, I told my students, no one knows how many churches there are in Boulder County, where the university is located. Churches met in every imaginable location besides the usual church building. They met in restaurants, rec centers, dozens met in schools, and dozens more meet in homes just like the first Christians. So counting them is virtually impossible.

A second reason Christianity is a lot more powerful than you think: How many of the “nones” are people who have never been particularly committed to any faith, but they were baptized as infants in a Christian church and in the past would tell a pollster they were Christian, but now they just say “none”? How many people say they have no religious affiliation but attend a non-denominational church? Or a mid-week Bible study? According to writers in the Wall Street Journal, many people who report no religious affiliation—and even many self-identified atheists and agnostics—exhibit substantial levels of religious practice and belief. Ryan Burge, whom I cite below, has probably studied this issue more than anyone: He says a large number of the nones have left mainline liberal churches, churches that have ceased to be Christian anyway. Leaving them is a good idea.

Third, the data the pollsters have only goes back 50 years. It would be good to know how many Americans went to church in 1730 before the first Great Awakening. Or in 1800 before the Second Great Awakening. But, so far as I know, that data does not exist. All we have at most is data going back to the 1950s, probably the time of highest church attendance in American history. In 1950 mainline churches were well attended as opposed to the 70-80% decline they have experienced since. So yes, mainline Protestantism has cratered since then, but what about using 1930 as your benchmark. Or 1730? The trends will be quite different.

Fourth, in my observations Evangelical Christians are doing a better job of raising their children in the faith. When I grew up in the 1950s parents saw public school and popular media as a help in raising their kids. No more. Christian parents correctly see school and Hollywood as the enemy. Millions now homeschool and millions more send their kids to private religious schools that offer a very different message from the secular Progressives who dominate the public square. I am going to hazard a guess that although a lower percentage of Americans call themselves Christians the ones who do self-identify are on average much more devout than 50 or 75 years ago.

Fifth, pollsters primarily see the decline among the young, people between 20 and 30 years of age. That group has always had the lowest level of commitment. But most in the next few years will experience the most dramatic change that ever occurs in a person’s life—they will have children. Nothing changes your life more than kids. Social science research is solid on this—nothing makes you more religious than having children. Nothing shows your need for divine help more than having kids. And millions of the nones will turn to the Lord and to the church for help when this transition occurs. A “none” is more likely than anyone else to change his view and become affiliated with a religious group. For example, Ryan Burge reports that half of the people who said they were agnostics in 2010 had changed their views by 2014.

Sixth, there is the browning of America. Even a CNN writer saw this a reason for Christian optimism. Legal immigrants account for more than a million new people a year in the United States and they are overwhelmingly Christian They are already impacting places like England. What is the most religious city in the U.K.? If you guessed London you’d be right. Why? All those African immigrants bringing their faith to the shores of jolly old England. The same thing is happening in America. I had lunch with a Nigerian couple who were visiting America. They declared, “African Christians are a lot more devout and aggressive than white European Christians.” I believe them.

Whatever sociologists discover their declarations on the Christian faith is irrelevant. God’s plans march ahead no matter what men think or how they scheme. An analysis of Christianity in the Roman Empire in 60 A.D. would have given the new faith zero chance of success. It was a tiny, persecuted religion of the lower classes. It put forth a Savior killed by crucifixion. The attractions of the new faith seemed very small. But, Christianity went on to conquer the Roman Empire and replace the Roman Empire and become the largest and most influential faith in the history of mankind.

So when you hear people predicting the demise and end of the Christian faith ask them questions based on what I have said above. As the saying goes, They have buried the old faith many times before but it always rises up to life in the midst of its burial, and outlives all the pall bearers.

Thanks for listening. May the Lord of the church bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: What is the Real Reason for the Decline of Religion in America? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulBBruLtmUI

What is behind the said decline of our Mainline Denominations? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_M4R-88JOw

The impact of Africans on Europe: https://unherd.com/2022/04/the-future-of-anglicanism-is-african/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=fdac4c8802&mc_eid=5b400e1632

Decline of Christianity in America? Not so fast. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/08/us/christianity-decline-easter-blake-cec/index.html

A positive view on the growth of the church: https://thefederalist.com/2018/01/22/new-harvard-research-says-u-s-christianity-not-shrinking-growing-stronger/

A pessimistic view: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/september/christian-decline-inexorable-nones-rise-pew-study.html

Where have the “nones” gone? https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/february/nones-religious-unaffiliated-faith-research-church-belief.html

“Nones” are more likely than any other group to change their minds and become involved in a religious group. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/february/nones-agnostics-religious-identity-switching-cces-christian.html

This analysis from the Wall Street Journal says the pessimists are dead wrong; religion is alive, vibrant, and thriving in America: https://www.wsj.com/articles/religion-is-dying-dont-believe-it-nones-others-surveys-faith-institutions-atheists-agnostics-practice-minority-11659017037?mod=opinion_lead_pos9

Glenn Stanton; the Evangelical church in America is thriving: https://thefederalist.com/2018/01/22/new-harvard-research-says-u-s-christianity-not-shrinking-growing-stronger/

The Jesus Revolution: What It Teaches Us

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 22:55:08 GMT

Do Not Miss This Film: Here's Why It's Important

The Jesus Revolution is a film about the Jesus People movement in the late 60s and early 70s, a movement I personally lived through. It is centered around three people: Chuck Smith, is a middle-aged pastor in a typical middle class church and stable denomination. His sermons are scripted, uninspiring, and boring. But into his life comes Lonnie Frisbee, a hippie, flower-child, and as counter-cultural as you can get. Frisbee sits in Smith’s church. A couple of things happen. Smith begins to be burdened for the flower children and Frisbee annoys the staid traditional church members.

Smith decides to move his ministry outdoors into a tent. Within days it is filled to overflowing with more than a thousand worshippers. Thousands are coming to Christ but where to baptize them? The Pacific Ocean seems large enough so they go to the beach and baptize converts in the ocean.

Into their orbit comes a young teenager, named Greg Laurie. Brought into Smith and Frisbee’s ministry by his girlfriend, Cathe, Laurie is converted and becomes a major player in the Jesus Revolution. In fact, five years ago he wrote a book with that title on which the film is based. Laurie goes on to become a key figure in the Calvary Chapel movement, founds a mega-church, and develops a world-wide ministry.

You can google reviews for the film. Most of them are skeptical, as you would expect from the non-Christian community, but all marvel at the film’s commercial success.

My purpose here is to encourage you to see the film. I know it will inspire you. But, as always, I want to talk about its historical and cultural implications. What do we learn from the Jesus Revolution?

First, Christians have learned to make great movies. A few years ago the same producers gave us “I Can Only Imagine” about the creation of the best-selling contemporary Christian song of all time, and currently you can watch The Chosen, streaming online through Angel Studios. It is about Jesus’ calling and ministry to His twelve disciples. It is wonderful. It has the best portrayal of Jesus Christ I have ever seen. Jesus Revolution takes its place among those fine productions.

Second, our God is the God of surprises. The drug-addled flower children of the 60s would seem poor soil in which to produce a revival but that’s exactly what happens. I think the Holy Spirit goes from place to place producing revivals and miracles and saving the unsavable simply to show us He can do it.

Third, we are reminded that God saves anyone. You do not have to be what society judges as a good person for God to make you righteous through Christ. Tens of thousands of these hippies discover what it is like to get high on Jesus. Their lives were transformed and they continue to transform the world.

Fourth, God can use anyone in His service and often does. The online series, The Chosen, shows the disciples as the ordinary people they were. The big shots of their day called them stupid, uneducated men, but the disciples have become the most important group of people in the history of the human race. That’s simply God’s way. If you don’t think you have much to offer, perfect. You are the right candidate for furthering the Kingdom of God.

Fifth, revival explodes in the strangest places at the strangest times. In 1953 the Korean peninsula was populated by a tiny number of Christians on an obscure corner of the planet. Then revival struck. In the next generation millions came to Christ and now the Koreans are among the most aggressive missionaries in the world. They are everywhere, they are powerful, they are effective, and it never should have happened. But it did. Remember, Judea was an obscure corner of the Roman Empire when it became the first center of the Jesus Revolution that has gone on to transform life on earth.

Sixth, revival always divides the church. There are traditional church members who love it and embrace it and there are cultural Christians who hate it, fight it, and walk away from it. If you had a true revival in your church a large portion of your membership would view it with contempt.

Seventh, revival continues to be the dominant factor in the shaping of America and Western culture generally. From time to time I do videos on the different revivals and every time they turn out to be the most important events of their time. Not just religiously, but in every way. From the Cluniac revival in the 900s that gave us Western culture, to the First Great Awakening in colonial America that gave us the United States, to the Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s that gave us the Civil War, the end of slavery, and the birth of modern America, revivals are always the big story.

Eighth, revival gives us hope. America is staggering around right now in the midst of a sinful malaise, ruled by a culture of death and darkness, but our God can change that overnight with the fresh winds of His Spirit blowing through our nation and transforming our people. Again. Just like He has before. So be of good cheer. Our God has yet to reveal His mighty plans for the future but reveal them He will and they will be surprising,and spectacular.

Be sure and see the Jesus Revolution and the other productions I mentioned. I have linked them below. May the God of revival bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: From a secular but sympathetic source: Hollywood’s Great Awakening; https://www.thefp.com/p/hollywoods-great-awakening?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Greg Laurie’s book on which the movie is based: https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Revolution-Transformed-Unlikely-Generation-ebook/dp/B07D6XTMS2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=333ZO3QR5C2IG&keywords=the+jesus+revolution+greg+laurie&qid=1680106297&sprefix=the+jesus+revolution+greg%2Caps%2C216&sr=8-1

Interview with Jonathan Roumie, the actor who played Lonnie Frisbee(and who plays Jesus in The Chosen: https://www.familytheater.org/blog/jesus-revolution-jonathan-roumie-lonnie-frisbee?hs_preview=fcfbaEgy-103256388361&gclid=Cj0KCQjww4-hBhCtARIsAC9gR3a_8p_TtHagcXPURnIjbekar8iWohmO956r3BfLlLtV6vxkRsV4fEsaAtBcEALw_wcB

Watch “The Chosen” on the Angel Studios website or app: https://www.angel.com/watch/the-chosen/episode/8dfb714d-bca5-4812-8125-24fb9514cd10/season-1/episode-1/i-have-called-you-by-name

Saddleback is Wrong: It's a Mistake to Appoint a Woman Teaching Pastor

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 22:48:09 GMT

My Reasons for Concluding that Saddleback is Making a Mistake

Recently one of America’s largest churches, Saddleback in southern California, was disfellowshipped by the Southern Baptist Convention for adding a woman teaching pastor to their staff in violation of the denomination’s doctrinal statement. Saddleback was founded decades ago by Rick Warren, author of many books, including The Purpose-Driven Life. The church has many thousands in attendance at its main campus in Lake Forest, California, as well as its 18 satellite campuses.

In a recent interview with Christianity Today, Warren defended his decision to appoint a female pastor. In this video I want to examine his reasons and tell you why I think he is wrong. Warren’s chosen successor—Andy Wood—also put out a video on the church website defending the decision to appoint a woman teaching pastor—who happens to be his wife. I link the interview and the video below. You can read and watch them and come to your own conclusions.

Before anything else let me say I praise God for the ministry of Rick Warren and Saddleback Church. They have done an amazing job of furthering the kingdom and I pray God will continue to use them in a powerful way. I am just a midget compared to this mighty man of God. Having said this, I think Rick Warren is wrong on this issue and is making a mistake.

Warren and Andy Wood make four main points in defending their decision to appoint a woman teaching pastor:

First, they say this is not an important issue. Evangelical Christians disagree on things like how the atonement works or when Jesus is coming back. Why can’t we disagree on women pastors? The passages used to deny women the pastorate have hundreds of interpretations so we should just throw up our hands and say no one interpretation should be considered orthodox.

Second, Warren says there are several passages of Scripture that caused him to change his mind;

He first cites the Great Commission in Matthew 28 where Jesus tells his disciples to make disciples, baptize and teach. Warren says that this command is for everyone; both men and women are to fulfill the Great Commission, therefore this justifies women teaching men in the church.

Another passage that changed his mind was the Day of Pentecost. He refers to Acts 2:17: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy…

Warren believes that in these last days a woman shall prophesy and that means she can be the teaching pastor of a church.

…the last passage that changed his mind was the very first Christian sermon, the message of the gospel of Good News of the Resurrection, Jesus chose a woman to deliver it to men. It was Mary Magdalene who reported to the disciples that Jesus had risen.

Warren says these three passages changed his mind on women in the pastorate.

Thirdly, they argue that they are merely trying to follow God’s design; they insist they are not caving in to the culture; Warren says, “I understand why people get upset about this because I believed the way they did until three years ago. And I actually had to change because of Scripture.” So it is their interaction with the Bible that has prompted the appointment of women as teaching pastors.

Fourth, Warren and Wood argue that appointing a woman teaching pastor isn’t harming the testimony of anybody. And it’s a disputable issue, as Paul says in Romans 14. It’s no different than eating vegetables or observing the Sabbath.

I would like to respond to these arguments and then make a few observations of my own.

First, they argue the issue isn’t important. Maybe not to them. But it was important enough that their own denomination disfellowshipped them. It’s important enough that hundreds of books and thousands of sermons have been preached on this issue. We are disagreeing over a lot more than women pastors; we are disagreeing over the authority of Scripture; over how much to capitulate to the spirit of the age. There can be no question that this is giving in to that spirit. It goes to the heart of what the church is and what are the unique created differences between men and women, a difference being denied in the modern world. So Rick Warren and Andy Wood may think it’s not important but many of their brothers in Christ think it is.

Warren argues that hundreds of different interpretations of passages that call for a male pastorate. No there aren’t. With regard to the main passage, 1 Timothy 2:12, there are only two interpretations—either we obey it or we don’t.

With regard to the second argument, Warren cites three passages that changed his mind. None of these passages address the issue. It is a mistake we all make from time to time. We arrive at a conclusion and then shoehorn verses into our position to justify it. I think that’s what Rick is doing here. There are several passages in Scripture that directly address this issue and they do not say what Rick Warren is saying. 1 Timothy 2:12 is as clear as it can possibly be: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” This verse, and others I cite in my most recent video, do directly address this issue.

When I was in seminary a classmate, an evangelical feminist, wrote a 90 page paper on just the word authority in the text. His conclusion: You know that part where Paul says a woman is not to exercise authority over a man. He didn’t really mean that. She can. In his video Andy Wood uses the same tortured logic to arrive at the same conclusion.

The Acts 2:17 passage—a quote from the Old Testament prophet Joel—has been used for a hundred years by Pentecostals to defend women pastors, but the text is not addressing the life of the church or its offices.

And Mary Magdalene’s so-called sermon on Jesus’ resurrection? Mary was giving an eyewitness report on what she had seen. To call this preaching a sermon to men is ridiculous. Was she functioning as an elder in a teaching ministry to the church? In what way was she exercising authority over men?

With regard to Warren and Wood’s third argument, that they are not caving into culture but just following God’s design; does it strike you as unusual that until a few years ago everyone agreed on what the Bible said about this subject. This new insight into Scripture has only recently been discovered. Warren says that is true of himself. He read the Bible his whole life and never noticed this until three years ago. In the nearly 2,000 years of church history no one has ever seen this before. Not Catholics or Protestants, not liberals or conservatives, not Christians of any denomination. If God is speaking to Rick Warren and Andy Wood about this it is worth asking why He hasn’t spoken to any of the millions of church leaders in the past. And why are the vast majority of church leaders today not hearing this message.

And their fourth argument, that this is really just a harmless disagreement among friends; millions of Christians don’t agree. We believe this is a serious doctrinal error and will cause great harm to the church. At the end of his video Wood says, “If you don’t agree with us we will bless you as you seek another church.” That doesn’t sound harmless to me. That sounds quite threatening.

A few observations:

Rick and Andy say God is leading them to appoint a woman teaching pastor? There are a number of denominations in America that are ordaining women pastors in large numbers but I do not hear them claiming that God is speaking to them. They are theological liberals who do not even really believe in a speaking God, at least not in the biblical sense.

Andy Wood says he church worldwide is looking for good examples of churches empowering women for ministry. No it’s not. The SBC has about 50,000 churches. Five of them are doing this including Saddleback. That’s one out of 10,000. That’s not a lot of churches looking for guidance on this issue. Is there a clamor for this in the churches of Africa? Asia? Latin America? No.

This decision is a mistake; it will affect Saddleback negatively in the long run. I am glad Rick Warren’s revelation on women teachers came late in his ministry. If it had come early it would have diminished his effectiveness. Saddleback will continue to be rich and influential but in time this decision will hurt their ministry.

I would love to hear what you think. Please comment below. And may the great God of the church bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: See my recent video, “What is the Role of Women in the church?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyhSitSo_nM

Saddleback disfellowshipped: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/february/saddleback-church-southern-baptist-sbc-disfellowship-female.html

Rick Warren defends his decision to appoint women teaching pastors: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/march-web-only/rick-warren-russell-moore-saddleback-church-women-preaching.html?utm_source=CT+Daily+Briefing+Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=722630&utm_content=12578&utm_campaign=email

A good treatment of the historic orthodox position: https://founders.org/articles/only-men-may-be-pastors/

How many female clergy are there? In What denominations do they serve? https://www.wataugademocrat.com/community/amid-growth-in-leadership-one-fifth-of-u-s-clergy-are-female/article_739b14a1-212a-5d06-b429-4d888a369255.html#:~:text=They%20were%20followed%20by%20the,percent%20and%2025%20percent%2C%20respectively .

What is the Role of Women in the Church?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 17:18:56 GMT

What Does the Bible Say? A Four Point Analysis

When I was a professor at Colorado Christian University in almost every semester and in almost every class I was asked, “What do you think is the role of women in the church?” I was asked the question so often that I developed a short, four point analysis which I repeated over and over. I said there is enough in my four points to make everybody mad, no matter what your position on the issue. I looked at the question theologically, historically, sociologically, and personally.

First, theologically. The Bible speaks clearly on this topic. Leaders in the church should be men. Elders or pastors, whatever you want to call them, they are to be men. I Timothy 2:11 says women are not to teach or exercise authority over men. Then in the next verse Paul grounds this teaching in creation. In 1 Cor. 11:3 Paul, speaking of the family, says the man is to be the head of the home. 1 Cor. 13:34,35 are harsh verses to modern ears but they clearly call for men to be the pastors and leaders of a church. Then there are the arguments from inference. Jesus called only male disciples who were then to lead the church. This is the Roman Catholic argument for an all-male priesthood. I don’t agree with the Roman Catholics on lots of doctrinal issues but I think they have a point here. And then there is the most powerful argument of all. God became flesh as a man.

One time I attended a theology luncheon at the University of Colorado. I found myself sitting across from a world-renowned theologian by the name of Wolfhart Pannenberg. I had resolved to say nothing at the luncheon but I overcame my natural shyness and asked him, “Why was Jesus incarnate in a male body?” His response was, “It was a mere contingency.” By that Pannenberg meant that Jesus was making a concession to the patriarchal culture of His day. If it was, it was the only concession He made. Jesus did not come as well-educated, rich, a member of the ruling nation, a member of the ruling class of Jews. He gave up every one of the trappings of human power and importance. Except one, according to Pannenberg. He came as a man. I think Pannenberg is wrong. Jesus came as a man because the Godhead is masculine.

The theological argument of the Bible is clear—men should be pastors of churches.

Second, let’s look at history. In the two thousand years of the church women have done everything and have done it remarkably well. They have ministered heroically to the sick and needy, they have preached great sermons, they have written great books, they have founded great denominations. And yes, they have pastored churches and won millions to Christ. They have been among the most effective missionaries who have ever existed. And today hundreds of mission organizations are run by women and run very well. So, Mitchell, what do you have to say to this? Praise God. Praise God for millions of godly women.

Third, let’s look at sociology. In every era of history and in every culture when the church settles into its long term ministry it is always, always led by men. In Africa where women missionaries preached the gospel and established churches, those churches are inevitably led by men. In America, virtually every evangelical church is led by a man even though there are millions of women who old offices in our churches. Even in denominations that cultivate and encourage female pastors the churches are still led by men. Pentecostals use the prophecy at the end of Joel chapter two to justify female pastors and a number of women have served as pastors of Pentecostal churches. But even their churches are overwhelmingly male led.

David Morrow has written an excellent book, “Why Men Hate Going to Church.” He argues that the great crisis of American Christianity is not that women haven’t been give leadership opportunities. It’s that we can’t get men to attend and be involved. He says that that the adult attendees in the typical Evangelical church skew 60-40 in favor of women. In the mainline denominations it is 70-30. The great need of the American church is male involvement.

I was in seminary 50 years ago when Evangelical feminism was at its zenith. I was certain that in the coming years more and more women would be installed as pastors of our churches since seminaries were already half or more female. But it never happened. It was a non-event. Today our churches are led by men. The pattern mandated by the Bible has been copied for sociological reasons in the modern church.

Fourth, let me make a personal comment. I have always said this to the young women in my classes: No man can keep you from doing the full and express will of God for your life. If I am just an old curmudgeon and am wrong in my opinions it doesn’t matter. I cannot keep you from doing what the Lord would have you do. Daily give your life to Him and you will live the fullest life possible then take your seat in glory with Him. You will be far closer to the throne of grace then I am.

So there’s my four points. I hope they are helpful but if nothing else they will give you some things to ponder.

May the God of both men and women bless you this day in a mighty way!

More: Be sure and see my video, “How Jesus Changed the World for Women.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyVbIHjOwPs

Morrow’s excellent book, Why Men Hate Going to Church;” https://www.amazon.com/Why-Men-Hate-Going-Church-ebook/dp/B005VHBQSM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=BYFJMBDWZDER&keywords=why+men+hate+going+to+church+by+david+murrow&qid=1679503006&sprefix=why+men+hate+going+to+chu%2Caps%2C886&sr=8-1

Why Are Young Liberal Girls So Depressed?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 19:39:46 GMT

The Real Reasons for This Mental Health Crisis

Why are young liberals so depressed? How do we help them?

I did not create my own title for this video. I got it from a number of liberal writers who are genuinely concerned about recent data showing a high level of depression among youth generally but especially among liberal teenage girls.

The Center for Disease Control released data showing that 60% of young girls felt persistent sadness, double the rate for boys. 25% had formulated a suicide plan. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt stated, “We are now 11 years into the largest epidemic of adolescent mental illness ever recorded…. one in ten adolescents now say they have made an attempt to kill themselves.”

Girls who lean liberal are the most depressed. Conservative boys the least. In fact, liberal boys are more depressed than conservative girls. The problem affects all adolescents but those who lean liberal are suffering the most.

So, according to these liberal observers what’s the cause of all this?

First, one thing it’s not: According to Haidt, Covid barely moved the needle. No, this depression is not caused by the pandemic. They give three major reasons.

1. Haidt blames social media. “Social media didn’t just cut into offline socializing. It precipitated a revolution in consciousness, in which people are constantly packaging themselves for public consumption and seeing their popularity and the popularity of others quantified. It’s not shocking that this new mode of existence would be particularly fraught for those in a stage of life where both fashioning the self and finding a place to belong are paramount.” So you can blame Facebook and TikTok for teen depression and congress is discussing right now what to do about social media apps.

2. Another reason continually put forth is misogyny; girls are being mistreated by men. Of course this does not explain why liberal girls would be far more depressed than conservative girls.

3. Haidt suggests that the biggest reason is that in the last decade all of America’s youth, but especially liberal girls, have embraced what he calls cognitive distortions or the great untruths. What are these great untruths? That the world is full of evil people who say evil things and have evil ideas. Worse yet, these young girls have no control over any of this. They cannot change reality and so feel helpless, hopeless, and depressed. Our educational institutions reaffirm these untruths on an hourly basis and have become one of the great sources depressing our youth.

At the end of the day a young liberal girl has saturated her brain in social media more than anyone else. She is told that the world is out of control and there is nothing she can do about it. Another way to put this is young liberals are constantly, incessantly taught that they are victims.

This is such a tragedy. Young women in 21 ^st century America are the most liberated in human history; they are the richest; they have the most educational opportunities; the best medical care. What would a young woman from a village in India give for their lives. What would a young woman from 18 ^th century America give for their lives. But they do prove one thing. Human beings are not fundamentally material. Just because someone is well fed, well clothed, well housed, and generally well cared for does not mean they will have joy. Just because they have every political and social advantage does not mean they will be fulfilled. No, mankind is basically a spiritual being. And when his or her spiritual needs are not being met then life is indeed depressing.

The biggest reasons have been completely left out:

I have summarized the reasons given by secular observers but I think they have overlooked other reasons that I would argue are more important.

1. The constant drumbeat of climate catastrophe; youth today are told that soon the planet will burn to a crisp and theirs could be the last generation to ever exist on earth. They get this message from everywhere and it is nonsense. There is no reason to believe the earth is about to be destroyed by global warming any more than any of the other catastrophes put forth in my lifetime, all of which were supposed to destroy us. See my videos below of the Great Deceptions of the last two generations.

2. Our students today get a steady diet of Marxist ideology and Marxist utopian visions are impossible to achieve; a society that is socially just; crime-free; egalitarian. It will never happen and it leaves people depressed. The Left stays in power by promoting one crisis after another. But the result is depression.

3. The role of religion. The above writers all agree that conservative kids are less depressed; and they all agree--conservative kids are more religious; think about that for a minute. Let me put it a bit differently. Bad theology depresses people. World magazine quotes Dr. Karl Benzio, of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He sees these trends as the result of our society’s moral relativism, when people stop believing in absolute truth, they are left with a host of contradictions. All this leads to greater depression.

What’s the solution?

· The secular world needs to shut up about climate Armageddon; adults are spewing nonsense that they do not believe themselves. Their appalling hypocrisy is a dead giveaway, as they fly to climate conferences in private jets and stay in five star hotels, while telling the rest of us to live simply so the planet can be saved.

· Stop teaching Marxism. How does it help a teenage girl if she goes into a classroom and taught she is a racist; that she should resent white people, and that if she is white she should resent herself. Wouldn’t that depress you? The liberal writer Matt Yglesias has such an interesting comment: “Life is complicated, and this is difficult. But for a very wide range of problems, part of helping people get out of their trap is teaching them not to catastrophize.” Well Matt, guess what? It is your Progressive Left Wing brethren who are teaching kids to catastrophize—on race, gender, climate, and everything else. Preaching catastrophe is the Left’s constant modus operandi. Forty years ago I began giving a lecture at the University of Colorado called “Understanding the Left.” I made this statement: “The Left is inevitably angry. Since Leftist ideals cannot be achieved in the real world its aims will always be frustrated.” We are seeing my prophecy come true. We have a generation of youth who are depressed and frustrated because they are trying to achieve goals that cannot be achieved.

· And finally, the most obvious thing we should do: Proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ; Jesus is the Great Healer of depression. He replaces it with joy. Do not grow weary in proclaiming biblical truth. It is ultimately the only hope.

Thanks for listening. May our God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: If you would like my PowerPoint presentation, “Understanding the Left”, email me and I will send it to you.

See my video: The Green Cult(which received a “misinformation” warning from YouTube); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuHrMp6J-Wo

See my series on, “The Great Deceptions.” They are similar to Jonathan’s Haidt’s “Great Distortions.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJgr4wQBss&list=PLkHlTST983SpNT5Z37B6qlPsTjYMAm_qP

Matt Yglesias, Why young liberals are Depressed: https://www.slowboring.com/p/why-are-young-liberals-so-depressed

World Magazine: American Teenagers are Desperately Unhappy; https://wng.org/roundups/american-teenagers-are-desperaStely-unhappy-1677791630?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGKVf-VeeoIiDnt2Bs9hPhqdTFOW0SQse0En5ulu_DxD-XslWf73Q_PZ6mLhqOXpeU68bF8y56MyvXsjyNqNnp8hU-IsZinRK43eI_X9z6n9o0

Jonathan Haidt: The mental health of liberal girls; https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/mental-health-liberal-girls?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=email

A key driver of teen anxiety: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-american-schools-manufacture-anxious-teens/ar-AA18mqKv

Separating Fact from Fiction: What is White Christian Nationalism? Is it a Threat to America?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 15:47:10 GMT

I delve into the topic of White Christian Nationalism and whether it poses a threat to America. With the mainstream media and universities warning about this "latest threat," I take a closer look at the facts and explore what is really going on.

The mainstream media has been going on a lot lately about White Christian Nationalism. I first heard the term a couple of years ago and paid no attention. I just assumed it was a new label for people like me and that it was bad. Nothing new. But every major network and newspaper and many universities are putting out dire warnings about this latest threat to America and their voice has been joined by a number of writers who call themselves Evangelical Christians. So I thought I would look into it.

Here is what is being said:

“Poll after poll and webinar after webinar lays out the data on white Christian nationalism. The facts of this threat to both democracy and faith are well-documented.” “American evangelicals are socialized via homeschooling, Christian schools, churches and the subculture in general to apply the Bible and Christian teachings to every aspect of their lives. That includes attempting to implement a theocratic policy agenda.”

This religious subculture apparently has a number of sinister goals:

· We want to declare America a Christian nation.

· We are out to suppress minority voting rights.

· We are, of course, racists—the all-purpose word the media uses to describe people they don’t like, including black and brown people they don’t like. Go figure.

· We are a threat to democracy. How we intend to carry out this threat is not particularly clear.

· We want to Christianize public schools.

· And we are out to deny LBGQT rights.

So far as I can tell here’s what’s really going on. Let me make eight observations.

1. Saying are a threat to democracy is absurd. Please name a single election that has been cancelled or even threatened by so-called White Christian Nationalists. Nearly 160 million Americans voted in our 2020 presidential election. I have not heard of a single person denied a ballot.

2. Please name one American institution that is threatened with takeover from the WCN? Academic community, federal bureaucracy, Hollywood, social media, America’s major religious denominations and their seminaries? How large is the WNC faction in congress? What WCN legislation is about to be passed by congress and signed into law by Joe Biden?

3. The real definition of a WCN is someone who does not agree with Left-wing politics. Someone who isn’t woke enough.

4. The alleged dangers of WCN is an excuse for the Left to wield more power.

5. Two weeks ago I attended a Southern Baptist church service attended by 2,000 people in which the pastor condemned the politicization of Christianity. In my current professional position I interact with pastors a lot. Some have complained about a few members of their congregation wanting it to get more involved in conservative politics but they have all refused. Many of them believe in promoting a more Christian America but I have yet to meet one who believes that’s there chief function.

6. You are far more likely to hear about wielding political power in a liberal church than a conservative one—I have linked below my video on that topic.

7. Virtually every European nation identifies itself as a Christian country, has state funding of churches, and Christian rituals for its major political events. Has this been a threat to democracy? Has it made them racist? Hostile to minorities of any kind?

8. I have spent much of my academic life studying religious fundamentalism and I guarantee one thing: Most of them do not want to take over America. They just want the cultural powers of America to leave them alone.

So, to those Evangelical spokesmen who are wringing their hands over the White Christian Nationalism. You have far more important things to do—like proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, building Christian families, ministering to your brethren. Don’t be distracted by a false crisis. There are enough real crises to keep you busy.

Thanks for listening. May our God bless you this day in a mighty way.

See my video, “The Myth of the Republican Church;” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX92rIqizIg

A critical view of White Christian Nationalism: https://www.au.org/how-we-protect-religious-freedom/issues/religious-racial-equality/white-christian-nationalism/#

Another critical view: https://www.au.org/the-latest/church-and-state/articles/white-christian-nationalists-who-are-they/

And a third: https://rickpidcock.com/2023/03/02/why-arent-we-talking-about-the-theology-that-drives-white-christian-nationalism/

An excellent biblical sermon on this issue from J.T. English, of Storyline Church in Arvada, Colorado: https://www.storylinechurch.net/sermons?sapurl=Lyt5Y2ZyL2xiL21pLytwczVzdnM0P2VtYmVkPXRydWUmcmVjZW50Um91dGU9YXBwLndlYi1hcHAubGlicmFyeS5saXN0JnJlY2VudFJvdXRlU2x1Zz0lMkJoNzZ2Ym5j

How Can I Be Sure I Will Go to Heaven?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 19:39:13 GMT

Ask yourself these three questions

Most people in the Western world believe in heaven. But almost none of them are sure they will go there when they die. This is true of people in other cultures. They believe in an afterlife but are unsure of their status in it. I had a Muslim student that I got to know very well. He was a deep believer in the teachings of his religion but he had no certainty at all about what would happen to him when he died. He said it was up to Allah and he had no idea what Allah would decide. When you read the New Testament you realize that Jesus’ own followers were uncertain about their relationship with Him. In John 13:25, after Jesus has announced that He would be betrayed, that sat around wondering who it was. They said, “Maybe it’s me.”

I think the Bible gives clear teaching on this and I want us to consider it. Ask yourself these three questions:

First, what does the Bible say? One time I was sitting in a seminary class and we had invited a Jehovah’s Witness in to tell us about his religious views. He talked about all the different things one would have to do to get into heaven and so I asked him, “Do you think you will get in?” he said he wasn’t sure. So I asked him, how good do you have to be to get in? here in our school passing is 70%. If you get a 70% in your religion do you get in, albeit barely? I’ll never forget what he said. “I don’t know if I will get in or not. But after all, no one can know.” But that’s not what the Bible teaches.

Take your Bible and read 1 John 5:11-13. John starts out by saying, this is our declaration: God has given us eternal life and that life is in His Son. He who has the Son has that life, he who does not have the Son does not have that life. It’s as simple as that. But then John says one more thing. He says he has written these things so you may know you have eternal life. So that you may know.

God wants you to know; to have assurance. He wants you to have that deep down certainty that you are His child and you will live forever with Him.

So you first ask yourself, What does the Bible say? A second question comes from Martin Lloyd-Jones. Do you love being with the people of God? If you are truly a Christian you want to fellowship with other Christians. The great old southern preacher, Vance Havner, once said: If you see a creature that looks like a duck, has feathers like a duck, and enjoys the company of other ducks, you figure it’s a duck. Christians love the company of other Christians. Do you love being around the people of God? It’s quite likely it’s because you are one of them.

Ask yourself a third question: What or who are you trusting for your salvation? Are you trusting Christ or yourself? If you are depending on yourself to any degree to get into heaven you are in a real fix. The Scripture says over and over again that it is God who does the saving. It is God who delivers you safely into His Kingdom. Nothing or no one else.

When I was a freshman in college I remember telling some of my fellow students that I knew I was going to heaven. I was certain. They got upset with me and even angry. They asked me, “Mitchell how can you be so arrogant?” it took me a while to figure it out but they were mad because they misunderstood what I was saying. In their view, you got to heaven by being a good person. Frankly, better than other people. So they thought I was bragging about being better than them. But that’s not at all what I was saying. In my view, you do nothing to get yourself into heaven. As it says in Ephesians 2:9 it is a free gift of God. They thought I was bragging about how good I was. But I wasn’t. I was bragging about how gracious and good God is.

So the Bible says God wants you to know you are going to heaven. He wants you to have assurance of your salvation. And if you have Christ, you have it.

Praise God for His word. May the God who guarantees our salvation bless you this day in a mighty way.

More Resources: See my video, “Secure in God’s Hands Forever” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuAl8HVIbNg

What happens when I die? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eWIAsHXQbI

What's Behind the Decline of America's Major Churches?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 19:54:53 GMT

I Explain the Reasons and the Solution

The Sad Decline of America’s Traditional Denominations

My debate with a liberal professor at a “Christian” College: His Solution was no solution at all and would result in catastrophe.

A number of years ago I got into an online debate with a professor from a so-called Christian university back east. His thesis was simple. To stem the tide of young evangelical students leaving the church we have to tell them that the Bible has errors, then we can salvage their faith. His goal was to help kids stop trusting the Bible as “a sure anchor for their faith.” They needed to stop viewing the Bible as “a collection of go-to verses that tell them definitively and absolutely all they need to know.” He said that as they grow older our youth find that the traditional view of the Bible “is not adequate for providing a compelling explanation for the complex world around them….”

I commented online that his view was absolutely, tragically wrong, and that his counsel came from the evil one. After several exchanges he told me to stop commenting. Apparently he didn’t want his followers to hear my ideas. Here is a summary of my argument:

Adolescents struggle with faith. Some return to the faith, some change to another form of Christian faith, and some turn to the various secular religions. We grieve when they leave.

But abandoning the traditional approach to the Bible is not going to help youth or anyone else. Because, you see, we have tried this before.

In the fall of 1965 I was a freshman at the University of Wyoming. I was invited to a reading group by students in a Baptist college fellowship. We read selections from the latest liberal theologians who were doing what the professor suggested: We were being honest about the challenges of modernity and willing to “acknowledge our experience of disconnection.” The readings were helping us to engage the “difficult theological challenges” brought on by modern thought, and we welcomed discussions of Bible doctrine “where the outcomes of those conversations are not predetermined.”

One of the trendy thinkers, Rudolf Bultmann, called for us to abandon belief in miracles and the resurrection since these concepts trouble contemporary men. I soon left the group realizing that in their attempt to update the Christian faith and make it relevant they had abandoned it.

I abandoned the group and the other young men abandoned the Christian faith. The very thing the professor wanted to prevent happened. That’s what will inevitably happen with his approach. In trying to save the faith of students he will kill their faith. Or water it down so much that it’s not worth having.

Since 1965 the denominations who most practice a softening on Christian doctrine have hemorrhaged the most members. I cite an article below that reviews the major numbers fifty years later.

In 1965 the mainline Christian Church(Disciples of Christ) had 1.92 million members. In 2012 it had 625,000 for a loss of 67%. But the picture is much bleaker than these numbers present. If the DOC had merely maintained its numbers relative to the growing U.S. population it would have about 3.2 million members. So it lost 80% of its membership relative to America’s population.

Or take the Episcopalians. In 1966 their membership stood at 3.6 million. By 2013 it was a little less that 1.9 million, a loss of nearly 50%. But relative to U.S. population the loss was close to 70%.

Or take one more, the mainline Presbyterians(PCUSA). In 1967 they were 3.3 million but by 2013 they were 1.86 million, a decline of more than 45%. Relative to U.S. population they were down by about two thirds.

Other denominations who watered down the demands of Scripture to accommodate to modern sensibilities had the same experience. I saw all this as a college freshman and in the past sixty years the catastrophe has accelerated.

So to professors at Christian colleges and all those who want to “save” the faith of young Christians by vitiating core Christian doctrines I have a prediction. You will fail and the damage you do will be incalculable. The decline of the mainline churches is perfectly clear. They have abandoned the truth of the Bible, they have denied the historic doctrines of Christianity, they have lost the power of the Holy Spirt, and they have become irrelevant. Their churches do not matter and are on their way to extinction. These days several of the mainline denominations are splitting over the issue of gay marriage. But that’s not the real issue. They are splitting over whether or not the Bible is the Word of God.

Yes, the intellectual community will always be critical of biblical Christianity. It was true in the day of the Apostle Paul, who said that he had become a fool for Christ’s sake. In 1 Cor. 1 Paul says that God did not call many intellectuals to the Christian faith but that God took the foolishness of Christian truth and turned into a colossus of power. The most powerful collection of ideas in the history of the human race.

More: One of the greatest books of all time, and the best book dealing with the attack on Christianity by liberal theology. You can download it for a dollar: https://www.amazon.com/Christianity-Liberalism-J-Gresham-Machen-ebook/dp/B09TBJTHHS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZJVVFO4ZPDGP&keywords=machen+christianity+and+liberalism&qid=1677264039&sprefix=%2Caps%2C1939&sr=8-1

Another excellent book on this topic is by Thomas Reeves; The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Christianity. https://www.amazon.com/Empty-Church-Suicide-Liberal-Christianity/dp/0684828111/ref=sr_1_1?crid=11FIS6JYIZYHK&keywords=thomas+reeves+the+empty&qid=1677265609&sprefix=thomas+reeves+the+empty%2Caps%2C1657&sr=8-1

The Wall Street Journal on the split in the Anglican church: https://www.wsj.com/articles/conservative-anglican-leaders-call-for-break-with-church-of-england-over-same-sex-blessings-7215b707

Statistics on mainline decline: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-are-all-christian-denominations-in-decline/

What do we learn from the Asbury Revival

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 19:53:34 GMT

Six lessons to be learned from this latest outpouring of God's Spirit

Have you Heard About The Asbury Revival? What does it mean?

On February 8 Zach Meerkreebs, an assistant soccer coach at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, spoke at a Wednesday morning chapel service at the school. At the end of his message a handful of students stayed around to pray and sing. And they just never left. They texted their classmates, “You have to come back to chapel. Something is happening here.” It became a continuous chapel service. Soon they were joined by other students, then other students. By the next day 500 people were waiting outside to get into the chapel and join in the praying and singing. The word got out and within days thousands were coming from surrounding communities and all around the world to sing, pray, testify, and experience this moving of the Holy Spirit, taking place inside the chapel.

A young woman, a student at Asbury who by her own admission had lost her faith,

said, “last Sunday, something changed.” She says she woke up and spontaneously blurted an idea to her roommate: “What if, instead of doing homework, we went to chapel today?”

They went to the chapel building. The same chapel that had never spoken to her before suddenly seemed alive. The pews were packed with more than a thousand people—including many of her classmates—weeping and swaying with their eyes closed to nothing but an acoustic guitar and each other’s voices.

According to this young woman, “I just slumped down….It was the first time in a long time where I could finally just rest because I felt like I was at peace, and I was protected. I felt like it was God telling me, this is what you’ve been missing.”

Her life was changed. Her faith was restored.

The revival has continued for the past two weeks and now the administration is trying to figure out how to wind it down. Life will eventually return to some sense of normalcy. But as a historian who has studied these kinds of events let me say this. The results will be enormous, permanent, powerful, and eternal.

What is the meaning of the remarkable Asbury revival? What should we learn from it? Let me offer six lessons not to be missed in this latest outbreak of the Holy Spirit.

1. First, this happens a lot. While researching for this video I noticed that there are already revivals breaking out in other locations. There was a large response at Cedarville University in Ohio. This happens routinely in local churches and communities. Early in my teaching career I experienced a revival in the secular, public school I taught in. In the space of about a year more than half the student body received Christ as Savior. Then there are the great revivals of history. The most important event in colonial history was the First Great Awakening. The most important event in our young nation’s history was the Second Great Awakening. Some of you have heard of the Fulton Street revival in New York City in 1857. Martin Lloyd-Jones speaks often of the Welsh revival of 1905. In the past two generations there have been spectacular revivals in China, Korea, and Africa; I could go on and on.

2. Revival almost always starts with believers. Christianity is the one religion that sees spectacular, large conversions of faith among people who previously were not Christian in any way. But usually an awakening of this kind begins with nominal or even born-again Christians ratcheting up their faith and commitment several notches. Vance Havner used to advise that If you want to see a revival in your church begin with the most serious Christians in the congregation. Want to see revival in your family? Start with yourself.

3. The Asbury revival shows God can change the course of history any time He wants. Just when all seems lost He swoops down and history goes a different direction. And do not be deceived; the results of revival are permanent. I know there will be some souls that will fall away but what I am interested in are those that are permanently changed. Fifty years from now there will be thousands who point to this revival as the moment their lives took a new direction. And millions will be impacted by those thousands. For example, most historians agree that the First Great Awakening was the most important event in colonial America. It produced the United States of America. Wouldn’t you agree that the formation of the United States was a significant long term event?

4. Revival is hard to explain. The Babylon Bee had a headline saying tongue-in-cheek that the revival began the night before a huge group project was due. Sociologists will trot out their theories on why this happens. I have read scores of them. But they are never adequate. You may nibble around the edges of an event like this giving human explanations for the phenomenon but they are hopelessly inadequate. If this was a human project then you could produce one any time you wanted. Just put together the right ingredients and voila! You have a revival. But everyone knows it doesn’t work like that. Revivals are spontaneous and humanly inexplicable. As Donald Sweeting correctly observes, “Christianity is a religion of surprising reversals.”

5. Revival could happen at any time and to any one of us; I know what critics say; every revival in history has been accompanied by excess, emotion, counterfeits, false teaching. That’s not what is most important. What matters is what is legitimate. My relationship with Jesus Christ was caused by one of the great revivals in American history. I shared this story with a church in Cambodia. In the early 1800s the Appalachian mountains of eastern America were inhabited by some of the most vile and savage people who ever lived. Those mountain people were violent, debauched, and just plain evil. And those were my ancestors. Then a group of heroic men rode their horses across those mountains and into the valleys and communities of Appalachia. The Holy Spirit used them to produce the Second Great Awakening. My great, great, great grandfather James Mitchell came to Christ during that awakening and the subsequent history of his family was radically altered. I am personally thankful for revival, particularly that revival.

6. Revival is what happens routinely thousands of times a day in individual hearts; MLJ—revival is something that happens at times to a whole group collectively that happens in individual hearts all the time.

Many of you are fearful for the future of our nation and our civilization. Be of good cheer. Our God is in the habit of swooping in and changing everything in the twinkle of an eye.

May the God who brings revival bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: The chapel that launched the Asbury revival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGvvGbgUmMU

Excellent column by Donald Sweeting on the widespread nature of revivals, “Do It Again, Lord.” https://wng.org/opinions/do-it-again-lord-1677242861?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGKJNnD2E1HP2mUDSR84FgoN1cH-TcFIunKFwWQVZRdF6L3boHb-_gFxmtU4J6fIEsdCRhbUcHa0ulbsWX53TFjuJ9k04zl4lDVxB9Sq1zBo6U

A secular column that is surprisingly positive: https://www.thefp.com/p/why-students-in-kentucky-have-been

Vance Havner’s classic sermon on how revivals begin: https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=56282&forum=34

News from World magazine on the revival: https://wng.org/roundups/asbury-university-outpouring-stretches-to-second-week-1676554260?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGKD97JVq6-v7bets8Llbxdi54VFxu6pLRvUDkWzjRtjipEfmjBIT5eo6J0vyK-cEQ2UxC_r4iEbJ7xQyzNRBd8IxvS556j-RXjmJhR7IgkcQc

https://wng.org/sift/new-schedule-announced-for-outpouring-at-asbury-university-chapel-1676742546?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGKD97JVihraGE-KkI5Fp5VqUFeLYCmtxeODdD3LjAMf5tfSFr4zWyWtLYf_FRi0Hk88MLfWLuiZc2-dSQ0yzRHF4t9vgggnEQuO_rz3vOmdwM

What Happens When I Die?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 20:41:56 GMT

Theologians call it the "Intermediate State." Where am I right after I die?

Recently there has been a spate of deaths in the circles I inhabit and more than one person has asked me, “What happens when I die?”

The Bible is not silent on this topic. Let me state what it says and what it does not say.

According to the Bible, at the end of history there will be a final judgment. In Revelation 20:11-15 it says that the dead are raised, judged, and cast into the lake of fire. This is the final destiny of those who are not trusting in Christ for salvation.

In I Thess. 4:16-17 the Apostle Paul refers to those who are dead in Christ. Their bodies will be raised when Christ returns and they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. They will then live forever with the Lord. In 1 Cor. 15:51-58 Paul says that the believers will be given a new, resurrection body. Paul says it will be an immortal, imperishable body. Then he chides death, “Where is your victory?” He asks. No, Christ has defeated the greatest enemy, death.

In 2 Cor. 5:1-10 Paul says that believers will face a judgment of sorts but it will be a different kind of judgment faced by unbelievers. It will be a judgment seat of reward.

This is the Bible’s description of the end of time. But what happens between now and then? When I die where do I go? Over the years theologians have called this the intermediate state, the disposition of the souls of men between their death and final judgment.

The most important passage on the intermediate state is found in Luke 16:19-31. There Jesus gives the story of the rich man and Lazarus. In this account both die. Lazarus, the poor beggar, is carried by the angels into a heaven-like place called the bosom of Abraham. The rich man goes to a place of conscious torment called Hades. The rich man calls out to Abraham and asks him to dip his finger in cool water and give him just a taste. But Abraham says that cannot be done. There is a gulf fixed between us and it cannot be bridged.

There are several conclusions we can come to when we read this account. For one, when people die they go to a heaven-like place or a hell-like place. Also, they go there immediately. There is no time lapse between death and when you find yourself in one place of the other. And finally, once you are there, your situation cannot be changed. It is permanent. All decisions about the hereafter are made here--in this life.

To summarize, when an unbeliever dies his soul goes into a place of suffering. When a believer dies his soul goes into a place of joy. Then at the end of time body and soul are reunited and go to their eternal destiny.

There are a couple of questions we should consider here. A small number of people who consider themselves Christians, have, over the years, taught a doctrine called soul-sleep. They say there is no separation of body and soul but at death a person merely goes into an unconscious state and awaits final judgment. There are a number of verses that say the dead sleep but there are many passages that suggest a separation of soul and body upon death. Jesus, quoting Psalm 31, said on the cross, “Into your hands I commit my spirit,” strongly suggesting that his spirit and body would be separated when he died. He told the thief on the cross in Luke 23 that that very day he would be with Jesus in paradise. The Apostle Paul said in Phil. 1 that if he were to die he would immediately be with Christ. Then there is the interesting case of the transfiguration in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on a mountain to pray and there he was spectacularly transformed into a heavenly being. During this glorious episode Jesus is seen talking with Moses and Elijah. We can understand how Elijah could be there since he never died but was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire. But what was Moses doing there? In Deut. 34 Moses dies and is buried. Yet here he is on the mount of transfiguration. The only way he could be there is if in some sense his spirit continued to live on after his death.

And one other question we should consider. The Roman Catholic church teaches that when you die even if you are a justified Christian you are still not worthy to enter heaven. So you need to purged of your remaining sins in a place called Purgatory. Many Catholic teachers whom I respect have believed this but I find no biblical warrant for it. You can go online and read the verse the Catholics use to defend this doctrine but they seem mighty weak to me. 1 John 1:9 says Jesus cleanses us from all sin. When we die he has paid it all. There is nothing for us to atone for.

Hopefully this will be helpful to you. I pray that the God who has conquered death and given us the hope of eternal life will this day bless you in a mighty way.

More: How do I become a Christian? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Bn0trA1mI

Secure in God’s Hands Forever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuAl8HVIbNg

Paul Johnson: The Prayer Life of a Great Intellectual

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 18:17:28 GMT

Paul Johnson on the why, how, and power of prayer

Paul Johnson: The prayer life of a great intellectual

I recently posted a video on Paul Johnson’s reasons for believing in God. Today I want to give one more reason that Johnson gives. Johnson is one of the greatest intellectuals who has ever lived and preeminent over the past 50 years. He says the strongest assurance he gets for God’s existence is through prayer. In this video I want to talk about the remarkable prayer life of this great thinker.

In an essay a few years ago Johnson detailed his prayer life. He says he prays every day. According to Johnson, “Prayer is the most remarkable — I am tempted to say sensational and spectacular — activity in which a human being can engage.”

He is even trying to develop the discipline to do what the Apostle Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 5:17—to pray without ceasing. In addition to his daily practice of prayer before bedtime he also tries to pray when nothing else was occupying his mind. To basically be praying all the time.

He says, “We address privately but directly and intimately the most powerful creature in existence, the architect of the entire universe….[prayer] is a direct contact with God, which makes all the spine-tingling immensities of space completely irrelevant.”

According to Johnson, when we pray it defines us as human beings. “This ability to communicate with God is a reflection of the fact, and to me it is a fact, that in some indefinable but definite way we are created in his image, and thus can share our concerns with him.”

And do not be deceived. Johnson insists that prayer matters. “We know that he hears, registers and records, and that what we say in prayer has consequences.”

Johnson then describes some of the specific things he does in his prayer life.

“At night, when I kneel by my bed, I pray for between 40 and 60 individuals,

This is a nightly ritual which I find satisfying, a relief and, in a curious way, enjoyable.”

He also expands his prayers from beyond just this life or this moment in history.

“Since I wrote a book on Socrates and came to admire him, he is a recipient of my prayers, and so are certain authors whom I have learned to love as my friends, especially Jane Austen.”

So Johnson prays for people like Socrates and Jane Austen. I do not know what to make of that, but is it possible that our prayer list is too limited?

Johnson says prayer is something beyond ordinary communication. It is “more powerful and versatile than speech. It is a form of contact more ubiquitous and subtle than anything imaginable on the internet or any conceivable miracle of electronics….It is unlimited by space or time or mood, disability or illness. One may be totally paralyzed, with only the mind and its animating spirit still working, however feebly, but prayer is still possible, radiating to infinity.”

What a wonderful insight. Prayer gives hope and purpose to people in the worst possible physical condition.

Finally, Johnson concludes that for him, prayer is powerful evidence for the existence of God. In my last video I gave two of Johnson’s reasons for believing in God—the sense of community Christians have drawing strength from each other, and the powerful impulse to do good in the midst of life’s many evils. But then he says, “even stronger is the assurance I get from prayer.”

In prayer God assures Johnson of His love, His power, and His presence. Don’t let anyone tell you that prayer is only for the weak and mentally bereft. Here is one of the greatest intellectuals of all time talking about his robust prayer life. We would do well to imitate him.

Thanks for listening. May the God of Paul Johnson bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Johnson’s original essay: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/reason-to-believe/

Johnson wrote more than 50 books. If I had to choose one as the best it would be “Modern Times.” https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Times-Revised-Twenties-Nineties-ebook/dp/B003JBI3AG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1675526854&sr=8-1

My previous video on Johnson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG0Tbo_B34I&t=151s

Paul Johnson: Why I Believe in God

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 21:08:18 GMT

One of the greatest intellectuals of our time tells why he believes in the God of the Bible

Last week Paul Johnson passed away. In my opinion he was the greatest intellectual of the past 50 years. He wrote more than 50 books and countless magazine columns. I assigned his book Modern Times in my Western Civ classes. It was a brilliant assessment of the 20 ^th century and I recommend it to everyone. He also wrote a history of Christianity, a history of the Jews, a history of art, a history of the American people, and countless other subjects. I am astonished at the breadth of his learning; the insights his study of history gave him.

Johnson was an outspoken Christian with deep insights into the faith. But in an essay he wrote a number of years ago he explained why he believed in God. He admits that his reasons are not philosophical or intellectual. But his answer was unique and different from almost any reason I have ever heard.

He gives, basically, two reasons.

The first reason for faith is communal. The tremendous strength he draws from other Christians. He attends a church with many working class people and immigrants. Here is one of the greatest intellectuals who has ever lived being encouraged by simple, humble, ordinary people. His habit was to go to church each Sunday and then afterwards sit and have coffee with these folks. He reminds us that the early Christians drew strength from each other. And they needed it. At any time they could experience a horrific and public death.

Johnson reminds us that we live in the midst of a pagan and materialistic world. And that world is constantly trumpeting its pursuit of pleasure in every form of media. This world does not comprehend our faith and subjects it to ridicule and hostility. So Christians need each other. We draw strength from each other. This communal spirit demonstrates the reality of God.

Johnson then turns to his other reason for believing in God.

“I have known some giants of certitude, rajahs of reason, leviathans of logic. Three in particular pop up to remind me of the fallibility of the human intellect — Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre and A.J. Ayer. Wonderful entertainment value, brilliant, sparkling…but one would not turn to any of them, let alone all three together, for practical advice on a serious problem. And the existence of God is a serious problem, in the end the only one that matters.”

Johnson admits, what deters most sensitive and intelligent people from believing in God, or undermines the faith of those who once did, is their inability to vindicate the notion of divine providence in a world full of evil….

He admits that an innocent child dying in agony is a potent argument for atheism. The world is replete with horrible monsters and evil, unpunished crimes, cynical success stories.

So what is Johnson’s answer to this objection from the problem of evil? It is remarkably similar to Job’s. “None of us, with our enormous, rapidly expanding but still minute knowledge measured against the mysteries of the universe, can have the temerity to question God’s wisdom. Divine providence is a colossal fact which is indefinable, immeasurable, and beyond our powers even to conceive in its potency.”

Then Johnson poses an objection of his own and with it his main proof for the existence of God. “The world we inhabit is an enormous and complex combination of good and evil, and all of us are under a moral compulsion to strive so that the balance rests, however precariously, on the side of good. All of us feel this compulsion: why? If there is no God, who or what is compelling us?” Johnson argues that this compulsion is a powerful proof for the existence of God, and one that is very difficult to explain apart from God’s existence.

Johnson does not argue that this is a logical proof of God’s existence. The answers to most of life’s important questions are not subject to logical proof. But the presence of our desire to do good has to be explained, and the presence and existence of God is the best way to explain it.

“I am content to go to my grave with many mysteries unsolved. Indeed I am not unhappy with mysteries, confident we now see through a glass darkly but ultimately will be face to face with the truth of all things. The most valuable of virtues, I increasingly feel, is patience.”

Isaiah said much the same thing 2700 years ago. “Wait on the Lord, and He will renew your strength.”

I pray that Almighty God, will this day, increase your strength.

More: Johnson’s original essay(may require a subscription, but try it): https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/reason-to-believe/

Another great intellectual addresses this question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhMrySSH34Y

You will find a number of videos here that will be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvWozzFznzs&list=PLkHlTST983SoyO674yIugUXV1lLjm-oeM

Josh Allen Learns Why God Allows Tragedy

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 22:18:29 GMT

God uses tragedy to get our attention and it works like nothing else.

Even if you are not a football fan you probably heard about Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who collapsed on the field during a game with the Cincinnati Bengals during Monday night football on January 2. When the medical staff rushed to Hamlin’s side they discovered he had gone into cardiac arrest. The Bills’ trainer was able to get his heart beating again—saving his life. An ambulance was driven onto the field, Hamlin was taken to the intensive care unit, and then the NFL did something I have never seen in a lifetime of watching football. They cancelled the game. They never made it up. I guess life and death are more important than football.

What followed is also without precedent. Even the announcers on ESPN—a network known for being Left-wing and woke, called for prayer on behalf of Hamlin. Normally we hear all of this talk about “sending him good thoughts.” But not this time. Apparently, when death is at the door good thoughts are not enough. This situation called for real prayer. And then, on the air, that is exactly what happened. One of the regular ESPN commentators is Dan Orlovsky, a former NFL quarterback. He and his on-air colleagues were so shaken that Orlovsky bowed his head while on air and prayed a beautiful prayer, interceding for Hamlin. The man and woman on the set with him bowed their heads and when he finished they all said a hearty “Amen!” You have to watch the prayer—I have linked it below.

The Federalist had a follow-up this week entitled, “Josh Allen Finds God.” Allen is the superstar quarterback of Hamlin’s team, the Bills. The article said, “Despite Hamlin’s dire scenario — which included falling into unconsciousness and requiring a breathing tube to stay alive — what transpired over the next several days after his collapse can only be described as a miracle orchestrated by God.”

Since Hamlin’s collapse and subsequent recovery Allen has been vocal about the “spiritual awakening” he experienced throughout his teammate’s ordeal.

He admitted that he had not been the strongest follower of Jesus Christ but that this was something he had never felt before. His complete helplessness in the face of tragedy.

So Allen quite literally had a “come to Jesus moment.” The Federalist goes on to say, “In a culture rife with hate…open professions of faith in Christ like Allen’s are refreshing and much needed. His “come to Jesus” moment isn’t just an admission of God’s palpable existence, but a realization that we can’t live fulfilled lives without Him….Allen’s apparent realization of this should serve as a lesson that no matter where you find yourself in life, it’s never too late to embrace Christ. As much of the country prayed for Hamlin, let’s pray for Allen too — and that his case isn’t an anomaly, but a sign that our culture is reorienting itself toward God and his Word.”

Looking out on our wider culture can be discouraging but this is reminder that our God has the final say on everything that happens. He can change everything in an instant. He will do that with the return of Jesus Christ. In the meantime our Lord interjects Himself into our lives in ways and in places we would never expect. He is Lord, He is sovereign, He is in charge. As Paul challenged us, “My brethren be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

More: Orlovsky’s prayer: https://www.foxnews.com/media/social-media-praises-espns-dan-orlovskys-prayer-damar-hamlin-powerful-brave-genuine

The Federalist on Josh Allen’s awakening: https://thefederalist.com/2023/01/17/josh-allen-reminds-us-its-never-too-late-to-embrace-christ/

I have a video on a similar theme, “Where was God when my house burned down?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adl6XqVZKck

Why Biblical Christians Will Never Give in on Gay Marriage

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 20:34:13 GMT

Seven Reasons We Will Always Reject Gay Marriage

Why Biblical Christians Will Never Give in on Gay Marriage

Recently in the Washington Post an editorial asked Christians like myself, Why can’t you just accept gay marriage and move on? The writer claims to be a Christian. He says we accept adultery and divorce, why get bent out of shape over gay marriage? For his information, we do not accept adultery and divorce. We condemn sex outside marriage and we get our view of divorce from Jesus. It is the result of tragic failures in marriage and should never be a matter of routine practice.

But gay marriage asks us to go further. We are being asked to change an ancient institution, one ordained by God, and enlist it in the cause of gay rights. We are being asked to make marriage another way of validating the gay lifestyle. This I will never do and neither will anyone else who takes the Bible and the Christian faith seriously. Let me give seven reasons why.

1. We believe the Bible is Word of God. God clearly condemns homosexual behavior. In Romans 1:26,27 Paul says: For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” There are other passages as well. God condemns the practice of homosexuality.

2. We define marriage the way the Bible does. In Matthew 19:3-9 Jesus states unequivocally that marriage is between a man and a woman and is ordained by God. Over the years students have asked me a hundred times what I think about gay marriage. And every time I asked the students, “What is marriage?” And never once have any of them given the slightest indication they ever thought about my question. Historically, marriage is the union of a man and woman for the purpose of raising the next generation. That’s why governments codify and protect it. The ancient Romans and Greeks had no problem with homosexual behavior but would have thought gay marriage madness. Which leads me to my next point.

3. Gay marriage is not about marriage. The advocates of gay marriage see it as an affirmation of equal worth. Or, even as a means of building self-esteem. I agree with Brendan O’Neills’ observation, linked below, that gay marriage is about a whole lot of things but marriage isn’t one of them. It’s basically about the state playing the role of therapist. I recently googled this question, How many men get married? The answers were pretty consistent. Of men over 75, 95% of them are or have been married. I asked the same question about gay men. According to Gallup, 10% of male homosexuals are or have been married. Obviously marriage is not nearly as important to gay men. I won’t even go into the question of the differences between gay and heterosexual marriage. Suffice it to say, marriage is not an option very many homosexuals choose. Let me say this again: the purpose of gay marriage is to validate an alternative lifestyle, not raise the next generation.

4. The legalization of gay marriage harms traditional marriage. The Progressive elite in America’s upper classes can’t imagine that gay marriage harms anyone, but out where our working classes live it’s a different story. Gay marriage trivializes the institution. And the great marriage problem in America is not homosexual unions, but the increasing absence of marriage among heterosexual men and women, especially in the working classes. Illegitimacy is our chief domestic crisis and the primary cause of every other social pathology. It increases, crime, violence, drug use, poverty, and further illegitimacy. The Left will generally acknowledge that this is a problem but they refuse to admit or even consider that gay marriage harms society.

5. Consider the divine design. God made men and women to complement each other. Two men or two women do not do this in the way a man and woman do. Men and women need each other. In Ephesians 5 and in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul draws a clear distinction between men and women as do the first three chapters of Genesis. Christians are committed to validating and building upon those distinctions.

6. The writer of the Washington Post suggests we cave in on this issue. He intimates that we cave on everything else. No we don’t. Have we caved on abortion? Did we just give in and go along to get along? Or Cohabitation—living together outside marriage? We haven’t caved on that although it is widely accepted in Western culture. How about euthanasia? Are Christians going to capitulate on that? I am sure Christians in the Roman Empire were pressured to approve or at least tolerate gladiatorial contests. Did we? It took four hundred years but we got them abolished and they have never reappeared. What about the ancient practice of exposing unwanted infants to the elements and to death? Did we cave in on that? Oh no. We walked through the hills and garbage dumps looking for them, then we took them home and raised them as our own. Christians do not give in on social evil. We fully take it on.

7. Christians in Western culture cannot give in on gay marriage if for no other reason than this: Our brothers and sisters in the worldwide Christian church would be appalled. Do you think the 80 million Christians in Nigeria approve of gay marriage? How about the 100 million in China?

Do not be discouraged. We have faced this sort of thing before. Did Roman and Greek culture enthusiastically embrace Christian morality? No they did not. But we triumphed anyway.

What about churches that have approved of gay marriage? Many of our old, mainline denominations now approve of it. What does that say? That they are ceasing to be Christian and are nothing more than museums of past Christian glory.

And don’t forget: There is a Holy Spirit. He is at work powerfully in the world, changing hearts, lives, families, churches, communities, and ultimately civilizations. God is not holding committee meetings trying to decide how to handle the latest outrage from Western elitist culture. He will bide his time then destroy it from the face of the earth. We have one task: Be faithful to him no matter what the cost.

Thanks for listening. May our God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Why has gay marriage become such a big issue? I explain why in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ggE_qI85WA&list=PLkHlTST983Sr5XkW6ii7IXMIpkkKbEMz6&index=8

My video on the negative effects of gay marriage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M3iGiKKvs0&t=7s

Dennis Prager’s brilliant critique of homosexuality and gay marriage: https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/marriage-and-family/sexuality/judaism-s-sexual-revolution-why-judaism-rejected-homosexuality.html

Al Mohler responds to Dionne’s column: https://wng.org/opinions/why-draw-the-line-here-1670938019?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGIq2223amJmLT1GQlTCGnKZlBRqve2ll-_CfgJ2uvTAAYJMMJuKtr1jzYsaC9cRA4xcR5G32Gku5qly_AM8rFbW4NvaaYjhUbkZkOP4DFci9A

Russell Moore’s essay, Why Evangelicals Won’t Cave: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/10/evangelicals-wont-cave

Brendan O’Neill, on why gay marriage is not really about marriage: https://www.spiked-online.com/2015/05/27/the-trouble-with-gay-marriage/#.Viei_WSrQdX

Guest Post: Needed--Faith Based Entrepreneurs

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 02:35:50 GMT

The Need for Faith-Based Entrepreneurs, by Colleen Stewart

Maybe you woke up from a dream or had a conversation with someone you didn’t know. Whatever the reason, you’ve been left with the feeling that God is calling you to get involved in your community by sharing your talents with others. Now, you are ready to start your own business so that you can answer His call and also support your family.

Here’s a bit of insight on things you have to keep in mind if you plan to start a faith-based business in your community.

Define Your Vision

First, you have to know what you want to do. This means you have to reflect upon yourself, your strengths, and your purpose. For example, if you want to open a childcare facility so that you can provide a nurturing, Christian environment for vulnerable members of your community, you must first know that you have the patience to be with children for up to 10 hours each day. The Start Anew blog also suggests putting together a team whose morals and values align with your own.

Choose a Business Structure

There are a number of options available when structuring your business, including sole proprietorship, partnership, and LLC. Each type comes with its own set of pros and cons, depending on factors like financing, personal liability, and tax liability. When it comes to forming an LLC, this structure is often seen as one of the best choices for businesses that need legal protection but do not require additional financing. An LLC offers all of the same advantages as a traditional corporation – things like limited legal liability for owners and the ability to issue stock – without many of the associated drawbacks. And by registering your company properly with the proper authorities, you can gain access to important benefits like lower tax rates and faster accrual accounting methods.

If you’re wondering about LLC registration, the registration process typically takes five steps , including naming your LLC, creating an operating agreement, and applying for an EIN.

Share Your Faith

When you’re running a business, your marketing efforts are really an opportunity to share your faith with your customers and community. There are many ways to do this, including through social media and by sponsoring local events, like car seat safety checks or toy drives. You should also make sure to have some physical products that you can pass out at these events or to people that you meet throughout your day.

Business cards are one great example, and there are plenty of templates online that allow you to align your design with your message. You can even add a prayer or passage to your cards to serve as a reminder of God’s love. Outerwear is another promotional material that your customers will love and that will help spread your word by being seen an average of 6,100 times, according to Delta Marketing.

Tackle Other Business Tasks

There are many different tasks that you’ll have to handle as a new business owner. One of these not to let slip sit on the back burner is deciding whether you’re going to work from your home office or if it makes more sense to rent an office space. If you choose to work from home, make sure your office is located in a quiet area of your home that’s away from distractions. If you need to make any modifications to set up your office, document any work you have done as certain updates can increase the value of your home.

While the choice might seem clear-cut, especially if you’re on a budget and you are already paying for your home, there are some benefits of a rented space, including fewer distractions and being in closer proximity to foot traffic.

Another task to check off is to find the right accounting software. A robust software package for running accounting makes it easy to organize and store documents so you can get the most deductions come tax time, while remaining compliant with the IRS. It'll also give you insights on cash flow so you can run your business more smartly and efficiently.

What is the Real Reason for the Decline of Christianity in America?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 18:13:09 GMT

Worship attendance is declining in America but the reason is not what you think.

The number of people who call themselves Christians is in decline in North America and Europe.

Secular intellectuals look on this with delight and then give a number of reasons for the decline, none of which are the most important reason. Secularists argue that when people get richer they no longer need God and religion declines. But social science and history disagree. In America poor people are less likely to be Christian than wealthier people. And places like China and South Korea had a massive turning to Christ while experiencing massive economic growth. Secularists argue that as people get better educated they become less religious. This is part of their general trope that only stupid people are Christians. But highest levels of church attendance are found in middle and upper middle levels of education. Someone with a Batchelor’s degree is more like to be in church on Sunday than a high school dropout. Some say clergy scandals have harmed religion and they surely have. But the decline in worship attendance began sixty years ago, long before the recent spate of clergy failure. And some argue that two world wars in the last century contributed to religious decline but after World War 2 there was a boom in religious observance almost everywhere. The greatest expansion of Christianity in all of history occurred from the end of WW2 to the present.

But as one insightful observer said, “none of these hypotheses explains a dramatic fact agreed to by almost all analysts of Western religious decline: Something happened in the early to mid 1960s that accelerated secularization as had no other force in time….Belief and practice across the West went over a cliff between 1963 and 1966. Why?”

That observer is Mary Eberstadt who I have cited many times in my videos. She has a contrarian view that is powerful and persuasive. She says religion declines when people stop having children. Public intellectuals often argue that religious belief begins to decline and this is followed by less emphasis on family and people having fewer children. Mrs. Eberstadt says it’s the other way around. People have fewer children and this contributes to a lessening of religious faith.

Mary Eberstadt has written for many years on the importance of family life and the consequences of its decline. She is well known for her views on secularization and I think she is spot on. Secular commentators do not understand the decline of religious faith in the West. She is right. The decline of the family—produced by the sexual revolution—is the primary culprit.

She states, “the scholarly literature on secularization has missed something crucial. That is the symbiotic, irreducible relationship between the vibrancy of the churches, on the one hand, and the vibrancy of the family on the other.”

There is something about having children that drives people toward God. I think I understand that. When you have children you realize quickly that you need help. There is no institution in our society that helps more than churches. Do you trust public schools with your kids? How about their peers? What about Hollywood and social media? The church stands as a friend of the family. All these others are the enemies of parents.

Many factors have caused the decline in family formation.

1. In the West for several centuries we have been conducting an experiment: Mrs. Eberstadt states, “At its most sweeping, this experiment amounts to doing what most human beings before us have not done, which is to live as purely material entities, without reference to a transcendent realm.” God, faith, the spiritual dimension has been removed from our culture.

2. People are rich. When people get rich they stop having children.

3. Intimidation in higher education, multiplied over many years and campuses, has become another unseen catalyst of secularization and is an attack on the family.

4. People are not educated in their cultural heritage. Again, according to Eberstadt, “America’s young live in societies whose first principles are unintelligible apart from the Testaments both Old and New. We downplay the role of community….How can today’s postrevolutionary young be expected to take up Christianity when many, on account of shrinking and absent families, will reach middle age without ever having held a baby, cared for an elderly relative, sacrificed sleepless nights for others, or attended a funeral?”

5. Mrs. Eberstadt says that sexually we are re-paganizing. We are returning to the morals of ancient Rome, the morality Christianity challenged in the first place. If people want to live sexually dissolute lives Christianity gets in the way. Hence, the appeal of secular paganism. “The promise of sex without consequences may be the strongest collective temptation humanity has ever faced.”

6. People are marrying later. “This delay of entry into adulthood, too, interferes with the possibility of apprehending the sacred. From time immemorial, mothers and fathers have regarded the creation of new life as the zenith of their own lives as human beings.” I used to tell my male students. TV commercials tell you that your life is a never ending beer commercial. Almighty God commands you to use your youth for good on behalf of others.

What are the consequences of this family catastrophe:

Again, let me allow Mary Eberstadt to address this issue: “Today’s ongoing experiment in fractured nonfamilial living has given rise to the crisis of loneliness that is omnipresent in the materially rich nations of the West. It is surely behind the record-breaking use of psychotropic drugs, licit and illicit, especially among the young. It is demonstrably responsible for increases in other substance abuse, crime, truancy, and related malign consequences.”

Our fellow citizens are living decidedly inferior lives. Christianity and neo-paganism have two very different views of the purpose of mankind upon the earth. Christianity teaches that we are “co-participants in the sacred act of creation. Today’s neo-paganism says that men and women should put career first, and marriage and the joys of children second, if at all. Christianity says that men and women are brothers and sisters on earth, cooperators in a divine plan, with unique eternal destinies in the cosmos. The secularist creed says that they are random collections of molecules, tolerated or disposed of however the strongest in Western societies see fit. Christianity says that the family is sacred, period — beyond the state and earthly power of any kind, designed by nothing [less than God Himself]. Neo-paganism shrugs and moves on — exactly as if the minimizing and fraying of primordial human bonds, earthly and otherwise, were not the chief source of social disintegration.”

The dissipation of our youth, the violence, the rioting, the cancelling out of views you don’t agree with: All this is a cry for help. A cry for meaning. A cry for hope. I love the old story about a man walking along a cliff’s edge by the ocean on a stormy night. He lost his footing and went over the edge but managed to grab a branch that was sticking out of the cliff. The man began to yell, “I there anyone up there?” Then he heard a voice, “I am here.” The man yelled, Who is it.?” The voice said, “This is the Lord.” The man cried out, “Lord what should I do?” The voice said, “Let go of the branch.” The man paused for a moment and then said, “Is there anyone else up there?” The people of our world are crying out for help but they hesitate to seek it in the one place it can be found.

One thing that should comfort Christians: “Western Christianity is in decline for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with the truth value of religious belief. It is not prosperity or sophistication or science that makes God harder for today’s people to see. It is the increasing absence of family members who, by their actions in the family community, sharpen human apprehension of the divine.”

I was in one of those long security lines at the airport. I was behind a woman who was wrestling two young children. I asked her if I could hold some of her carry-ons. She thanked me profusely. I said, “No problem young lady. You are doing the Lord’s work.” And I meant it. Young mothers and fathers raising children are doing the Lord’s work. It's hard, tedious, often thankless. But your heavenly father will honor it. As it says in Gal. 6:9: Be not weary in well-doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not. Don’t be discouraged. You are part of the answer.

Thank you for listening….

More: See my video, Why Rich People Have Stopped Having Children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhI4hV-nZyk

Mary Eberstadt: https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2022/12/30/secularization-revisited-theres-hope-for-faith/

Can Christian Culture Survive Without Christianity?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 15:13:25 GMT

Will the decline of Christian belief and worship attendance doom Christian culture?

Can you have Christian civilization without Christianity? We are testing that proposition right now in Europe and North America where we see a steep decline in Christian belief and worship attendance. Will this put an end to Christian culture?

It is not as easy a question to answer as you might think.

One person who thought it would was Friedrich Nietzsche. He said, “When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one’s feet.” Nietzsche was actually hoping that would happen, but is he right? Are we witnessing the end of Christian culture? Can it survive without a belief in Christian doctrine?

One person who says it will is Tom Holland: [one] of the great paradoxes of our age: that Christianity has no need of actual Christians for its assumptions still to flourish. (From Humanism is a Heresy)

Let’s consider both viewpoints, Nietzsche’s and Holland’s.

In a number of ways we are clearly seeing the decline of Christian culture.

The most obvious is the erosion of Christian sexual ethics. People in Western culture have stopped believing that there is any restraint on sexual behavior between consenting adults. Co habitation, hook up culture, pre-marital fornication, homosexuality, and all manner of sexual evil is now tolerated by the great mass of people in our culture. Paul predicted all this in Romans 1.

This has led to the outrage of abortion. One consequence of the sexual revolution has been out of wedlock pregnancies. Almost half of America’s babies are born to unwed mothers. The decision to get rid of the problem through killing the unborn is considered a sacred right by today’s women’s movement. The Christian church has opposed abortion from day one and its rise is a sign of the weakening of Christian cultural commitments.

On the heels of abortion on demand is the termination of children because they have downs syndrome or other defects. Iceland has been in the news for encouraging this atrocity. Before the coming of Christianity Icelanders practiced human sacrifice. It appears the practice is returning. Other western nations also terminate the vast majority of unborn children detected with the syndrome.

Killing human beings before they are born is now accompanied by killing them when they are old or suffering. Canada has been in the news recently for its euthanasia practices. Last year that nation assisted over 10,000 people in killing themselves. The reasons vary but a person in Canada can have their life ended not just because they are suffering or terminally ill, but because they are mentally ill, suffering with depression, or feel they are too poor to go on living. The practice of euthanasia runs full up against the values of Christian culture.

Eugenics continues to lurk in the background. That’s the practice of terminating human lives because they are considered inferior. The ancients had no problem with killing a baby with birth defects, disabilities, or because it was female. Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in part with eugenics in mind. I used a text at the University of Colorado saying Adolph Hitler was the purist Social Darwinist of the 20 ^th century. Of course, Social Darwinism was full speed ahead on eugenics, the rise of which is a clear sign of decline in Christian cultural influence.

There are other indications of the decline in Christian culture. The erosion of the value of the individual, and ideologies that deny the importance of individual responsibility could all be named.

But Holland has a point and Christian culture is still very powerful. We see its influence in many ways. I have recently posted a couple of videos on Western atheists and their commitment to the sanctity of life, Human rights, and Social justice. These all result from atheists living in Christian culture even if you read the comments on those videos and see that atheists angrily deny the Christian influence.

In a recent video I pointed out the ways Christianity influences our thinking about sexual ethics. In spite of all the crazy ways of viewing sex these days almost everyone in the West believes in the age of consent—sex with children is illegal everywhere; the commercialization of sex, that is, prostitution, is illegal almost everywhere, and I think most importantly of all, Westerners believe in fidelity in relationships. When you have a significant other it is wrong to cheat on them. These are the results of Christian influence.

There are other ways Western culture remains Christian.

Intellectuals believe in the protection of the weak. Nietzsche thought this was a way that Christianity weakened Western civilization. Hitler felt the same way. He was angered by the German clergy opposing his extermination of the mentally retarded and the disabled.

Westerners view universal healthcare as a human right. We are responsible for caring for the suffering of every member of society. This is, of course, an exclusively Christian value. Close to it is compassion for the poor. Society has a responsibility to supply the basic needs of its citizens. Again, a powerful residue of Christian culture.

We see other Christian values held passionately by Westerners who have no Christian commitment. When we look at Transparency Internationals corruption index the least corrupt countries in the world are all products of the Christian heritage. Interestingly, the bottom countries are almost all Muslim.

There are other values that are not exclusively Christian but have been promoted by Christian culture for two thousand years. The value of hard work, personal honesty and the importance of discipline and self-restraint.

One of the most important may be the Rule of law. Western Christianity ascribes a sacred character to the written law, the importance of obeying it, and its application to all citizens, no matter how rich and powerful they may be.

Then there is the value of the individual, individual freedom, and the importance of personal responsibility of one’s actions. How many times have you heard someone say, “Your life is the result of the choices you make.” That’s a very Christian way of looking at a person.

Which way will the West ultimately go? Only God knows. But it is clear the verdict is not yet in and that’s a subject for more videos.

Thanks for listening. May the God of the Bible bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Atheism’s Biggest Problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa8JM8OQ_OQ

Where Non-Christians Agree with Christians About Sex:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRo6hFk7WXU&t=197s

Holland’s essay is found here: https://unherd.com/?p=452353?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=ea664946a5&mc_eid=5b400e1632

Example of a nation that has lost its Christian culture: Albania as a dystopian, post-Christian state: https://unherd.com/?p=454785?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=8f3a9c659d&mc_eid=5b400e1632

Down’s numbers: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/down-syndrome-iceland/

Canada’s Euthanasia policy: https://unherd.com/thepost/leaked-slides-reveal-dark-side-of-canadas-euthanasia-policy/?mc_cid=514c4ce399&mc_eid=5b400e1632

Over 10,000 deaths: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/10000-canadian-euthanasia-killings-in-2021/

Atheism is a Christian Heresy

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 19:50:30 GMT

The great British historian, Tom Holland points out the contradictions in humanism

Atheism is a Christian Heresy: Tom Holland Weighs In

Some time ago I published a video, “Atheism’s Biggest Problem.” It got more comments than any video I have ever posted. Recently in a British journal, the eminent historian Tom Holland wrote an essay entitled, “Humanism as a Christian Heresy.” Since humanism is officially atheistic I changed the title a bit and now I want to give some of Holland’s arguments that atheism is a Christian heresy.

According to Holland, for the past several centuries western intellectuals have argued that there is nothing special about human beings. We are simply one more creature evolved from primitive life. Add astronomy to evolutionary theory and man is diminished even more. Holland says, “Set against the icy immensities of space, what is humanity, then, but the merest speck of a speck of dust? What scope is left us as a species to claim any dignity at all?”

Virtually every intellectual in the western world believes in naturalistic evolution and man’s tiny place in the universe, and yet, and yet, contradicting all this, “in an age that has seen the theory of evolution almost universally accepted…and the limits of our knowledge of the universe pushed to ever more incredible extremes, there seems to have been no diminution in the value that we, as a culture, ascribe to human life.”

On the contrary, that human rights are universal, that all men and women have value and dignity, that the poor, the disabled, the elderly, and everyone else are deserving of human compassion is something believed in passionately and with emotion by virtually every intellectual in the western world. Holland goes on to say, “That we are all of us possessed of certain fundamental rights, simply by virtue of being human, and of a dignity that embraces our entire species, are doctrines so widely accepted … that many of us barely recognise them as doctrines at all.”

In 2002, the World Humanist Association issued the defining statement of world humanism. It proclaimed, “the worth, dignity and autonomy of the individual and the right of every human being to the greatest possible freedom compatible with the rights of others”.

The humanists argued that they had arrived at this statement by a process of reason and observation but that’s ridiculous. It is a religious dogma that requires faith. Virtually all humanists live in Western culture and are products of that very Christian culture. So even though they claim to believe in naturalistic evolution they hold passionately to a value that is clearly contradictory. How can they ascribe so much worth to people when philosophically they believe there is nothing special about human beings. People accidentally arose from the primordial soup. From soup they arose and to soup they shall return. And why should they be more valuable than soup?

Still, humanists and atheists believe in the uniqueness of human beings. Why? Because their values are produced whole cloth from their Christian heritage. Today’s atheists try to argue that their view of the worth of humanity can be found in ancient cultures, particularly Greece and Rome. But it can’t. It is exclusively the result of Christianity. Today’s atheists speak with utmost contempt of the book of Genesis, particularly the creation account. But that’s where their view of humanity originates. Gen. 1:27 says that man was made in God’s image, and therefore has infinite worth and value. And that’s what today’s atheists believe. And that’s why they believe it. And no one has ever believed it unless they were at some point exposed to this doctrine.

Holland finishes by saying, “To live in a Western country is to live in a society that for centuries — and in many cases millennia — has been utterly transformed by Christian concepts and assumptions. So profound has been the impact of Christianity on the development of Western civilisation that it has come to be hidden from view.”

Modern atheists do not derive their views from careful reasoning and the application of science. They derive them from medieval theology based on the Bible. The founding document of the United Nations has the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But they are not universal at all. They are Western and they are specifically Christian. And every member of the Western elite believes they should be applied to every culture on earth. In other words, our atheistic elite believe in spreading a specifically Christian doctrine to every member of the human race. My what aggressive missionaries they are.

Holland concludes by asking where all this is heading. “It is hardly surprising, of course, in a society that has increasingly abandoned the institutional practice of Christianity, yet still clings to its assumptions, its values, its myths, that we should shrink from staring the implications of our current predicament fully in the face.”

Then Holland speculates, was Nietzsche right when he said: “When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one’s feet.” I hope Nietszche was wrong but I fear he may be right. In my next video I want to take up that question: Will the decline in Christian belief lead to the end of Christian morality?

Holland’s essay is found here: https://unherd.com/?p=452353?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=ea664946a5&mc_eid=5b400e1632

My video, Atheism’s Biggest Problem, is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa8JM8OQ_OQ&t=123s

The United Nations declaration of Universal Human Rights: https://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/preamble.html

What's Wrong with Critical Race Theory? Bad Theology

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 17:17:24 GMT

Critical Race Theory is a new religion that runs counter to the Christian Faith

Critical race theory(CRT) has been in the news a lot the last few years, especially now that many school districts are mandating its teaching. It could be that in your area young children are being taught the tenets of CRT even over the objections of parents and many other concerned people. No matter. The educational establishment has decided to make this a required part of their curriculum. So, what is it?

Critical race theory has been around in academic circles for a couple of generations but has only recently been foisted on school children nationwide. Let me list five of its core doctrinal beliefs:

1. Racism permeates every nook and cranny of America. In fact, racism defines America. Every non-minority person is a racist even if they don’t know it. One time when I was in an exit interview for a program at the University of Colorado, the new director said I was being let go because as a white male I was a racist. I was a racist even if I didn’t know it. I thought, this is going to be a real disappointment to my black children. I pointed out to her I had recently won an award given by minority students to a professor who has made major contributions to the well-being of black and brown students. I attended a banquet in which I received this award. The director said it didn’t matter. I was still a racist. No amount of real world accomplishments would ever atone for my being a white male.

2. If you are not directly confronting racism and it’s evils you are a racist. You must be actively anti-racist or you are a racist. If you take no position one way or another on this issue it proves you are a racist.

3. Different outcomes and behaviors are proof of racism. If white people in Denver make more money than black people then that is proof of racism. If different ethnic and racial groups make different scores on college entrance exams, this is proof of racism. As an aside, statistical disparity is never applied to athletics. I had a young female student approach me after class and bitterly say, “Does it bother you that 95% of America’s corporate heads are white males?” I responded, “Before I answer your question may I ask you this: Does it bother you that 100% of the cornerbacks in the National Football League are African-American males?” My question terminated our discussion. Apparently statistical disparities in sport are not due to racism.

4. People derive their basic identity from the group they are in. This is classic Marxism. In Marx’s philosophy a person was completely defined by their class. So if you were working class it defined your whole being. If you were middle class it defined everything about who you are. CRT is at its core Marxist. It has taken class identification and replaced it with race. Your race, ethnicity, or group completely defines who you are.

5. White people are uniquely evil and non-white people are innocent. In the religion of CRT only white people are sinners. Minority people are righteous.

What does the Bible have to say about all this? It demolishes it.

· The biblical destruction of CRT originates with Genesis 1:27. And so God created man in His image. This is the most important statement about the nature of man in the history of the human race. It grants equality to every human being. Any place on earth you find someone arguing for the worth of all human beings that idea originated with this verse. Even CRT and Marxism begin here. This truth taught in this verse is why Christian culture has always taught the equal value of everyone. That’s where the Left gets the idea. Then they terribly distort it, turning it on its head to be used as a weapon by one group against other groups.

· The Bible teaches when we come to Jesus Christ all our sins are forgiven; if you are white, Christ will forgive your sin. If you are black or brown it is the great need of your life—the forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ. In CRT certain people can never be forgiven. In Jesus Christ, everyone can be forgiven.

· The Bible condemns judging on the basis of the group you are in; that’s the real meaning of the parable of the Good Samaritan. For an upper class Jew in New Testament times, the Samaritan’s were beyond redemption, worthy of condemnation. Jesus Christ says, no they’re not. I welcome Samaritans and—gasp!—Gentiles into my Kingdom. Gal. 3:28

· Romans 3:23 and a hundred verses like it condemn CRT. For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I have had this conversation with my black sons. You cannot stand before God and play the race card. You cannot ask for special consideration because of your skin color. You will be saved on one basis—your relationship with Jesus Christ.

· The Bible from beginning to end demands that people be judged individually. You are personally responsible for your soul. Marx is wrong. You are not defined by your group. Your group cannot save you, nor can it condemn you. If you are white that does not condemn you nor does it give you special status before God. I am a Baptist. Surely that gives me special status. I have told my students that Baptists have replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people. They just laugh. As they should. Your personal relationship with Christ is what defines you.

· Bad theology is bad for everyone; CRT is destructive to the very people it claims to help; young students of color are not helped by any of this. They are severely harmed. Claiming to be a victim is never a positive influence in life. It is a terrible burden to bear. And it is unnecessary. I plead with all men and women today to be freed in Christ.

· Racism does not permeate all of American society. But Jesus Christ does. People who hate Christianity are nonetheless dominated by its teachings and this includes every social justice movement that has ever existed.

· Teaching CRT in our schools is an example of the state imposing a religion on students. It’s not Christianity, it’s anti-Christianity.

Thank you for listening. May the God who has created us equal bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: I have three other videos that apply to this topic: “What Does the Bible Say About White Privilege?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l8kOFbUtNU&t=39s

“A Christian Looks at Black Lives Matter -1” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB8F0dVbRbY&t=214s

“A Christian Looks at Black Lives Matter-2” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRYadgCkUY

There are dozens of good articles on CRT. Here are a few: “Exposing the Logical Fallacies of CRT” https://spectatorworld.com/book-and-art/pocket-size-book-refutes-critical-race-theory-fallacies/?utm_source=Spectator+World+Signup&utm_campaign=cdaa72fe65-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_10_14_04_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_edf2ae2373-cdaa72fe65-154787678

“The Five Lies of CRT” https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-five-lies-of-crt?utm_campaign=dw_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=housefile&utm_content=non_member

The Ibram Kendi videotape: https://fairfaxschoolsmonitor.com/the-ibram-kendi-videotape-viewed-today/?utm_source=pocket_mylist

The Hardest Place in the World to be a Christian

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 18:53:16 GMT

When it comes to suffering for your faith what is the worst country in the world?

We had an election in the United States this week and Christian believers here bemoan the decline of Christian culture and values in our country. There are reasons for concern but is life difficult for Christians in America? Not compared to many countries in the rest of the world. What are the toughest places to be a Christian?

Open Doors is a Christian organization founded by Brother Andrew. They monitor persecution throughout the world and have what they call a persecution index ranking the worst countries in the world for their hostility to Christianity. The very worst? Afghanistan. No surprise there. It has been a horrible place to be a Christian and for everyone else as well. Number two is North Korea. Again, no surprise. Of the top 25, 20 are predominately Muslim countries. Nigeria has become the world’s sixth largest nation by population and is 7 ^th on Open Doors’ list because of its radical Muslim population in the north of the country. That’s the home of Boko Haram, the radical Islamic group that routinely kidnaps Christian children and sells them into slavery, and burns down churches and murders Christian leaders. So it deserves its place high on the list.

China is 17 ^th and that is of particular concern to me since my daughter and her family live there. In fact, of the top 25 countries on Open Doors’ list the ones that aren’t Islamic are Marxist. So the communists continue to oppress Christians wherever they have enough power. That would include college campuses in the West. So the two biggest persecutors of Christians in the world are Muslims, many of whom have a very strong belief in the existence of God; and Marxists, who deny the existence of God. Strange irony.

Jesus made it very clear that His followers would experience persecution. He said, “The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he’s doing God a service.” The Apostle John said, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you.” Paul said, “All those who are godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” And Peter said, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you as though some strange things is happening to you.”

So every Christian is going to suffer for his faith. It may be social ostracism, rejection by loved ones and friends, hostility at work, or imprisonment and death. It varies from time to time and place to place. Some of our brothers and sisters have it much worse than others. But in every era of history our fellow believers have risen up and glorified Jesus Christ wherever they found themselves. I read this week the reports of several Christians in countries that are high on Open Doors’ list.

A brother in Pakistan, 8 ^th on the list, praised God for the successful ministries of their churches and seminaries in expanding Christ’s Kingdom, and for the appearance of new young pastors and evangelists.

From India, 10 ^th on the list, and who recently passed a law forbidding religious conversion, comes praise for the hundreds of new believers in Christ in recent days, for 350 new workers trained to plant churches.

From Iraq, 14 ^th on the list, comes praise to Christ Jesus for the ability to feed many of the poor of that nation. Feeding the poor. Just Christians being Christians.

From Mali, 24 ^th on the list, comes praise for the church’s powerful witness in the midst of political chaos and breakdown.

And so it goes. I am not denying that there is persecution in America and that many of you are suffering for your faith, often in subtle ways. But in general, our conditions are pretty good. I remember when I was being fired by my university for the offense of being a Christian, I was walking across the quad. I stopped and looked up toward heaven and told the Lord, “I’ll bet my brothers and sisters in North Korean concentration camps are impressed with my level of suffering.” Don’t get me wrong, I was being made miserable, but all that happened after my dismissal was I got a better job. Many of our brothers and sisters who suffer in this world find their next stop is not a better job but heaven. When we ponder the last election and the state of American Christianity let’s give glory to God for our situation and the opportunities that abound to us. And let’s pray every day for the persecuted church.

Thanks for listening. May our God protect you this day with His mighty hand.

More: Open Doors persecution index: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/

A report from the persecuted church: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/november-web-only/pray-praise-persecution-church-india-egypt-iraq-mali-china.html?utm_source=CT+Daily+Briefing+Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=722630&utm_content=11305&utm_campaign=email

Many of you have asked me about my termination at the University of Colorado. Here is the transcript of my interview with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/story/will-the-univ-of-colo-fire-an-evangelical-christian-professor

Luther's Revolution

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 20:48:27 GMT

How one man's search for God changed the world

Martin Luther Revolutionized the World

This past week we endured another Halloween. There were quite a few articles on its negative effects including several on how Halloween costumes are becoming more and more obscene. But all the noise obscured why the date really matters. On Halloween, 1517, an event occurred that has transformed the world in ways we cannot even imagine. It was the day Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation, the most important development in religion and history since the birth of Christianity.

The Reformation is an example of how one man’s pursuit of God transformed world civilization, and why your personal relationship with Christ, really, really matters.

Luther was a monk but had no peace with God. He was a brilliant scholar and he began to study the New Testament. He arrived at Romans 1:17: “The righteous shall live by faith.” The scales fell off his eyes and he realized he was saved by grace alone through faith alone plus nothing. He devoted the rest of his life to spreading this message and its implications.

Let me share with you seven ways the Protestant Reformation transformed the world.

1. Individualism. Luther argued that the Bible taught salvation was between you and God. It was your decision to become a Christian and seek the will of God. He argued that every believer was his own priest. You did not need to go through the church or clergy to get to God. You went directly yourself because Christ was your mediator. All this reduced the power of the religious hierarchy of the late middle ages which put the church in charge of your salvation and the rest of your life. The church remained crucially important, but it didn’t save you. If the church doesn’t save you it radically changes the role it exercises in your life. I was talking with a Jewish scholar on campus one day and our discussion eventually led to Luther. He said he did not like Luther’s views on many things but would be eternally grateful to him. Why? I asked. “Because he gave us our freedom.” The Reformation bestowed great freedom—and responsibility—on the individual.

2. Democratic institutions. This is the logical next step with an emphasis on the individual. Writing about Christianity in China David Aikman talks about the political implications of the growth of Protestant Christianity. The Christians in China are not interested in politics. They do not seek to overthrow the government. But when a person individually pursues a relationship with God it puts great emphasis on the individual in other walks of life. Like politics. So Aikman argues that the growth of Christianity in China is an unintentional political force for democracy by its very nature. Most Protestants run their churches by a democratic process. It is only natural for this to seep into their political views.

3. Education. One time I was invited to address the Residential Hall Association banquet at the University of Colorado. My topic was how the Reformation had transformed education. By holding that God communicated with us in written form through the Bible it put great emphasis on literacy. And the Protestants led the world in installing universal and compulsory education as a routine part of modern life. The British journalist, Edward Luce, has written an excellent book on India, “In Spite of the Gods.” Luce loves India but he bemoans the fact that there is widespread illiteracy in the country. He made an interesting observation: “Hindu philosophy has produced some of the most sophisticated abstractions the world has known. But it has never produced a Martin Luther.” Luce attributed the high levels of literacy in the West—of both men and women—to the influence of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Reformation countries quickly grew into the most literate nations in the history of the world. This led, of course, to scientific and technological growth, as well as advances in every area of human endeavor.

4. Rule of law. Men are to be governed, not by capricious tyrants or hierarchies, but by fixed laws, written down for everyone to read and know. Stressing God’s Word as written, the rule of law was elevated. The idea that our religious lives are led by a written document led to written documents governing other areas of our lives. Like constitutions. Americans have always revered their written constitution and want to preserve its wisdom and influence. The attack of the Progressive Left on the constitution goes hand in hand with their attack on Christianity and the role the written Word of God plays in our lives. The great economist, Thomas Sowell, says the rule of law is the most important contribution the West has made to world civilization. That concept is almost wholly a result of Luther’s revolution in how we view the Bible.

5. All Callings are God’s callings. The medieval church had split Christians into two categories—the truly religious like the monks. And everyone else. Luther and the Reformers changed all that. They argued that not only was every believer his own priest, but every calling was equally divine. Calvin said the merchant is just as called by God as the minister. In his book, How the West Grew Rich, Nathan Rosenberg, a Stanford economic historian lists this as the number one reason for the economic growth of the West.

6. Free market economics. Protestant nations were the first in history to operate with free market economic conditions. Why is this important? Because every growth economy in world history is a free market economy. Essentially all economic growth has been produced by capitalist principles. When you think of the word capitalism you think of money. You shouldn’t. Capitalism is synonymous with freedom. That’s the word that should come to your mind. We owe our wealth to the economic freedom generated by the Reformation. The Reformers dignified labor and money making. Creating wealth was not a sin but a gift from God to be used for the betterment of mankind. In addition the reformers stressed sound money principles. The number one way governments have stolen from their people is by inflating their currency. We see inflation out of control right now and it is a creation of government policy. The reformers demanded that government produce sound currency, an essential building block for economic growth.

7. Family life and sexual ethics. Luther elevated the family to the top of the Protestant hierarchy and was critical of the medieval monastic system, one he had been a part of for many years. He married Katarina von Bora, a former nun, and they raised a wonderful family of six children. This also transformed life for women. In the late middle ages most priests had concubines who were viewed with contempt by their communities. When they married they became the pastor’s wife. Their status went from contempt to the highest echelons of society. Secular feminist historians love Luther and Calvin for their elevation of women. The Reformation also changed attitudes toward sexual behavior. The middle ages had taken its cue from Augustine and viewed sex as something necessary but on the edge of sinfulness. Luther elevated it as a sacred part of family life. Historians have written endless books about Luther’s family revolution and the positive role it has played in modern life.

These are seven changes brought about by the Reformation that have radically transformed modern life. One historian said that the Protestant Reformation invented the modern world. Interestingly, Luther was not out to change the world. He simply wanted to find peace with God. But in the process of finding that peace he inaugurated one of the greatest revolutions of all time. Your life follows the same trajectory. You seek the will of God and in the process everything changes. You can’t calculate your impact. It lasts forever.

Thanks for listening. May the God who brought about the Protestant Reformation through his work in the heart of one man, bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Mark Tooley, “Our Great Debt to the Reformation;” https://wng.org/opinions/our-great-debt-to-the-reformation-1667215890?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGHzWEirDYcM5YPf_jLunN8tbEfP4n056yxTbEzANITC5Bb89FU34KkJPFHpTQr9sfY9yXkQHJkbOXjcMdWoRs5aIxSADHfyyntGX3UMF0QD9s

Jerry Bowyer, “What Does the Reformation Have to Do with Economics? More Than You Might Think;” https://wng.org/opinions/what-does-the-reformation-have-to-do-with-economics-1667217667?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGHzWEirVmLSYsu36_HeBQRZrvkfblUUqU_ZT1s5vb-S-ae6axqmVzuPDU7LuZDwuJ4urn6Rs3vVMcfH6fO1NqTWnaynGMNrIj5gg4Dr0ZlQ0c

Adam Carrington: “On October 31, Remember the Political Contributions of the Reformation” https://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2022/10/31/on_october_31_remember_the_political_contributions_of_the_reformation_861968.html

The Negative Effects of Gay Marriage

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 18:39:43 GMT

A Promised Social Good Has Not Worked Out That Way

Writing in the journal, First Things, this month, regular contributor R.R. Reno cites the destructive effects gay marriage has had on our society. We acknowledge the infinite worth and value of gay men and women and the transgendered. They are created in the image of God and are welcome at the foot of the cross. They are welcome in our churches. Nonetheless, our society’s attempts to validate the gay lifestyle through gay marriage has had harmful consequences.

Gay marriage was sold as an unalloyed good. Here was something that would affirm an oppressed minority without any tradeoffs. No harm of any kind would be done. But our cultural elite was wrong and Reno tells why. In his words, “Our elites have destroyed structures that foster healthy lives.”

Among lower class Americans marriage is collapsing and this is a catastrophe. 40% of American babies are born out of wedlock and this is the strongest predictor of every social pathology. Poverty, poor performance in school, drug abuse, crime, and the perpetuation of more illegitimacy are the results. And Reno ties the collapse of marriage to the rise of gay marriage. Our cultural elite have depreciated marriage as an institution in order to achieve one of their social ideals and it is doing enormous harm to millions of people, especially children.

The collapse of marriage means more people living alone. Among Americans ages 20-50 that number is approaching 40%. If there is one thing the Bible is right about it’s this. It’s not good for a man to live alone. All kinds of destructive behaviors arise from loneliness.

Reno observes: “It does not take a graduate degree in psychology to recognize that children need clear pathways toward adult life as men and women. Nor does it take a degree in sociology to see that those pathways are precisely what we have systematically denied to children, often in the interest of making our society more “inclusive.””

We are undermining the examples of male-female relationships that children desperately need if they are to be successful adults. This full scale assault on traditional partnerships by what Reno calls the Rainbow Reich has now produced the logical result of gender dysphoria. Gay liberation was never really about legal rights. It was always about changing social attitudes.

The assault on traditional morality is a constant obsessive theme in Hollywood. About 25% of Americans are Protestant Evangelical Christians with millions more Roman Catholics and other traditional groups. Gay men and women make up about 1-2% of our population. Which are you more likely to see on Netflix? A gay character or a born-again Christian? So far as Hollywood is concerned, we don’t exist.

Reno concludes: “No doubt the severe decline of norms that privilege marriage, family, and heterosexual coupling has been beneficial for a small class of people whose desires are abnormal. But for the majority of Americans these changes have come at a great cost…. it has meant transferring resources, social prestige, political power, and legal privileges to those whose desires are disordered.”

The greatest key to happiness in life is successful family life. The most effective way of turning children into functioning adults is family life. The greatest antidote to crime, poverty, poor health, suicide and every other human misery is stable family life.

Reno discusses a Bible passage that I have cited many times on this channel—Romans 1. Beginning with verse 18 Paul asserts that the rejection of God has resulted in the destructive downward spiral of society. By rejecting God we think we are wise, but we are fools, our hearts are darkened, we worship idols, and we live destructive lives.

Again, Reno says, “St. Paul’s testimony helps us see that gay liberation epitomizes these unhappy developments. Unlike contraception, which operates in the private realm, gay liberation demands that we celebrate that which cannot produce new life. Pride parades are like processions to temples filled with idols….We cannot celebrate what is objectively disordered—ordered away from the natural acts that give life—without contributing to a social consensus darkened to the promptings of a living God.”

But in the midst of this gloom there is great hope. The Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation. Many, from every imaginable orientation, are finding new life in Christ. They find forgiveness, hope, happiness, a host of wonderful new relationships. And at the end of it all, eternal life.

One of my children once asked me, “Dad, what can I personally do to address the great evils of our age.” I told her, keep doing what you are doing. Raise godly children, love your husband, serve your church and community. As millions of people like you do this then the fresh winds of revival will blow across America and a new day will dawn.

Thank you for listening. May our wonderful and glorious God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: R.R. Reno: The Harms of Gay Marriage; https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/11/harms-done-by-gay-marriage

Even though it is legal, gay men and women do not tend toward the kind of committed relationships that marriage calls for. Look at these Gallup numbers and ponder what they mean: https://news.gallup.com/poll/329975/one-lgbt-americans-married-sex-spouse.aspx

The Myth of the Republican Church

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 20:37:40 GMT

Christians are accused of being political; they probably aren't political enough

For this blog I am borrowing the title of a column by Daniel Darling in World magazine. He cites the latest research and his own observations on the topic. How political are our conservative churches?

Darling begins his column: “If you have been reading most political and religious coverage over the last several years, you’ll come away thinking that the biggest threat to American democracy are evangelical Christians, and especially those who attend church every week. A virtual cottage industry supports an endless stream of articles, books, sermons, and podcasts that give the impression that Sunday morning in conservative churches is like a Republican pep rally with prayer.”

When I was writing my doctoral dissertation in the 80s it was common for my secular university colleagues to accuse Christians of crossing the line between church and state. They said that Christians were trying to take over the government and impose a Christian theocracy on the rest of America.

I read online constantly about Christian nationalism and the threat conservative Christians are to the American way of life.

I spend a lot of time with pastors, and, granted, they often complain that they are being pressured by a small minority of their members to be more political. “Why don’t you do more to defend Trump?” So I know it happens. A number of our congregants are strongly political and want their churches and pastors to do more to support conservative political causes.

But overall, the accusation is nonsense. Darling cites recent research that says “only a very small fraction of American pastors invoke politics from the pulpit.” “To listen to many analysts, you’d think that in evangelical contexts, members are catechized every week in Republican talking points, given the latest tracking polls in their bulletins, and offer prayers to a statue of Ronald Reagan. And yet the opposite is true.” Most conservative church goers will go a lifetime without ever hearing a politician’s name mentioned in the pulpit.

During my 50 years of pastoral ministry I have never once supported a political position from the pulpit and to the best of my knowledge have never once made a political reference or mentioned any politician, liberal of conservative.

My grandfather was a pastor in West Virginia. I have most of his sermon outlines which are often quite detailed. He had very strong political opinions which I often heard in private conversations when I was a kid. In perusing his sermon outlines never once does he mention politics. Most of the outlines are from sermons he preached in the 1930s. Never once does he mention the great depression. I could take any one of his outlines, walk into any church in America, and preach from it without changing a single word.

I have a son who is a pastor and he is the same way. Like almost every evangelical pastor in America he never once mentions anything political in any sermon.

If you want to hear politics from the pulpit you need to go to Progressive/Left wing churches where it is a constant theme. Research shows that people attending mainline churches are far more likely to hear a political reference.

When Barack Obama was first elected he was viewed by the Left as a messianic figure. Benjamin Plotinsky chronicles this in City Journal. “the American Left, for all its claims to being “reality-based” and secular, is often animated by the passions, motivations, and imagery that one normally associates with religion. The better we understand this religious impulse, the better we will understand liberal America’s likely trajectory in the years to come.”

The reason for this is quite simple. I am a political conservative, but it is not my religion. Christianity is my religion. It’s what I care about. I have very little interest in your politics and a great deal of interest in your soul. But if you are a member of the Progressive/Left politics is your religion. In the words of Joseph Bottom, “You save your soul by the way you vote.” So people on the Left care far more about politics and churches on the Left are far more political.

Thanks for listening. May our glorious God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Daniel Darling’s column in World magazine:

https://wng.org/opinions/the-myth-of-the-republican-church-1664539355?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGHLqUEo2QgPbiUNWXjH8x7ALoHY38ObOC_FnBm-5sLlGwaPQpUNJVjrsD4J7hOX3iEwWs4OaLbg9EPFpMmBMayB9p-WGWMyLBSA19-ZRsdHhY

Benjamin Plotinsky: Political Liberalism as a religion: https://www.city-journal.org/html/varieties-liberal-enthusiasm-13283.html

Two excellent books on this topic: Joseph Bottum, An Anxious Age: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=joseph+bottom+an+anxious+age&crid=3IW2BZANY8JB2&sprefix=joseph+bottom+an+anxious+age%2Caps%2C169&ref=nb_sb_noss

Thomas Reeves, The Empty Church—The Suicide of Liberal Christianity: https://www.amazon.com/Empty-Church-Suicide-Liberal-Christianity/dp/0684828111/ref=sr_1_1?crid=31XNUA0SEECRL&keywords=the+empty+church+thomas&qid=1665512778&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjU1IiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=the+empty+church+thomas%2Caps%2C140&sr=8-1

Why Has the Left Gone Crazy Over Transgenderism?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 19:07:34 GMT

Three Reasons the Left Embraces and Promotes Transgenderism

Why has the Left gone insane over Transgenderism?

The Christian faith has faced many competitors and hostile forces over the centuries. In the Western world at the current time our chief enemy is what is known as the Progressive Left.

Make no mistake, they have gone crazy when it comes to the issue of transgenderism.

Charles Cooke, writing in NR says this: “For reasons that remain alien to me, almost the entirety of the American press — as well as much of academia and the entertainment industry — has spent the last five years assiduously adopting an exceptionally weird race- and gender ideology that pretty much everyone outside of those institutions absolutely loathes.” Cooke calls this the creation of a “suicide machine” for a culture.

Instead of “mother” we get “birthing people.” And “chest-feeding” instead of “breast-feeding.” A nominee for the United States Supreme Court was asked what a woman is and couldn’t answer. Or didn’t dare.

Schools now instruct little children on gender dysphoria and promote the transgendered life as a legitimate alternative lifestyle. When Florida forbade this teaching for kids 8 and under it was attacked ferociously by the Left-wing establishment.

We now have biological males competing in women’s sports and the Left condones this as perfectly acceptable. If very many men decided to transition and compete with women many feminists have correctly concluded that this will be the death of women’s sports. This has caused the rise of women who call themselves TERFs: Trans-exclusive Radical Feminists. They are fighting the destruction of womanhood in the name of transgender rights.

Several states have passed laws forbidding children from deciding on radical gender changing medications and surgeries but they are viciously attacked by the Left. Canada has criminalized discouraging a teenager’s gender transition.

So called “gender affirming hysterectomies” are being performed on minors. California just passed a law declaring itself a sanctuary for children who want to come and receive gender-transition drugs or surgery without parental consent.

The Department of Education of the federal government has included transgendered people under Title IX. Opposition to transgenderism has been criminalized by our highest governing body.

The number of people who even identify as transgendered is small. So the Left is not seeking political advantage like they are with other minority groups.

So why on earth have they made this a hill to die on?

Let me ask you this. Why did the ancient Canaanites cast their children into a burning furnace? Why did the Aztecs believe that cutting the hearts out of captured victims would cause the sun to rise? Why did Hinduism require a widow to cast herself on her late husband’s burning funeral pyre? When I make a video criticizing atheism I get lots of comments from atheists condemning various religious practices through the centuries. And it is one place where I agree with the atheists. Crazy things are done in the name of religion and it is the best explanation for why the Progressive/Left has lost its mind over transgenderism. The reason is religions. The Progressive/Left is best understood as a religion. Transgenderism is the latest religious cause of the left. They pursue it for three reasons:

First, It is a cause that gives meaning to life. Leftists derive the purpose for their existence from fighting for those they see as oppressed. They have to have an oppressed group. Only recently transgenderism has arisen to serve that purpose.

Second, It allows one to show his moral superiority. In a works religion it is essential to show that your good works exceed those of others. Put simply, you have to show you are better than other people. And that is exactly what the Left feels this issue does. It give them a sense of superiority over all those anti-trans bigots out there. They alone are defending the oppressed.

Third, it is the latest cause emerging from their Marxist worldview. Marx held that all of history is conflict. For him it was between classes. History was the story of one class oppressing another. So the neo-Marxists first took up the legitimate cause of Civil rights, then women’s rights. It was not at all unusual for an academic to call herself a Marxist feminist. When these causes were settled we then had gay rights. Another allegedly oppressed group that needed their help. But the gay rights cause has been won. What is still needed is a cause to give life meaning and to prove Marx’s view of history. So now it is on to trans rights. But trans rights have proved problematic in that they tend to contradict women’s rights and conflict with gay rights. No matter. So what if your various strongly held religious beliefs contradict each other. They can still accomplish their religious purpose by giving meaning to life and showing that someone is a superior person.

All this flies in the face of Christian theology. In a marvelous essay Michael Brendan Dougherty says: “If God made these children in His image, if our procreative power is a share in God’s great gift of creation, then T as it would be practiced in “gender-affirmative hysterectomies” is a form of sacrilege. It’s a Vandal’s barbaric attempt to destroy an icon bearing God’s image. It is not motivated by anything “affirming” at all, but hateful.”

The solution to all this is straightforward. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of the Bible. When people turn to the Lord they find the true meaning of their lives and the reason God created them in the first place. We invite the Left and the transgendered to the cross of Jesus Christ. Christians need to be aggressive in proclaiming the Gospel and Christian truth. It is the one religious system that gives life purpose and meaning without denying reality.

More: A Christian response to transgenderism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOgKpxQLe4&list=PLkHlTST983SpwzrrxdGD5aWY6rmTHLpFE&index=10

Michael Brendan Dougherty on the theological implications of transgender mania: https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/09/who-made-us-this-way/

What if you regret transitioning? https://unherd.com/2019/12/the-nhs-is-failing-trans-kids/

Charlie Cooke on the craziness of it all: https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/03/the-democrats-are-building-themselves-a-suicide-machine/

Canadian laws forbid “conversion therapy”: https://unherd.com/2020/11/ideology-should-not-trump-childrens-health/

California’s new law: https://www.breitbart.com/health/2022/09/30/gavin-newsom-signs-law-making-california-a-sanctuary-for-child-transgender-surgery/

The position of the federal government: https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-confirms-title-ix-protects-students-discrimination-based-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity

Joseph, Part 4: How Can I Sin Against God?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 19:44:38 GMT

Joseph refuses to violate the law of God and suffers for it.

Joseph, Part 4: How Can I Sin Against God?

[Genesis 39:6a-9]

In Genesis 39 we find that Potiphar, an officer in Egypt’s military, had a lavish household, with great wealth and privileges. And now he has Joseph, a brilliant, talented young man to manage it for him; Joseph managed it so well that Potiphar did not have to spend one minute worrying about how his estate was being run.

But inside that happy set of circumstances loomed a malignancy—a cancer that had the power to kill everything. That malignancy was Potiphar’s wife. She was a wicked, calculating, immoral woman, and she set out to get what she wanted even if it meant destroying the very roof over her head.

She set her eyes on Joseph and decided to seduce him. She invited him to her bed but then got the shock of her life: He said to her, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God.” I first heard this story when I was very young and it had a powerful impact on my subsequent behavior. I learned early on that sin, ultimately, is against God. Yes, Joseph would have sinned against Potiphar, and against himself, and against his heritage, but ultimately sin is against God, because it is God who determines right and wrong. He is the moral arbiter of the universe. David understood this. After his sin with Bathsheba he confessed to the Lord, “Against thee and thee only have I sinned.” When I was very young I learned that we obey the Bible’s moral teaching because we obey God. We do not have to have any other reason. Now there are always lots of practical reasons for obeying God but the Christian does not need other reasons. He only needs to do what God wants him to do.

[39:10-18]

Mrs. Potiphar does not give up. She continues to tempt Joseph. Satan does not give up. I remember those chilling words in Luke 4. After tempting Jesus and failing the text says, “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.” An opportune time. You may have successfully warded off the devil this time. But remember. He will come around again.

Finally, she grabs Joseph’s tunic but he pulls away from her leaving the coat in her hand.

Joseph has hurt Mrs. Potiphar’s feelings. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And she becomes a malicious, vindictive beast. Her feelings are so hurt she decides to tell a destructive lie. She says to everyone within earshot; “Look what this Hebrew slave has done! He tried to take advantage of me, but, I, being the virtuous woman I am, fought him off.”

When Potiphar comes home his wife shows him Joseph’s tunic, and repeats the lie. “This Hebrew slave of yours tried to take advantage of me but I heroically resisted.”

Joseph had already been the victim of a terrible crime—the treachery and duplicity of his brothers. That resulted in his becoming a slave. You would think that would be enough. That God would ease up on him now and deliver him from evil. But God did not. Joseph is now the victim of another terrible crime—the lie of an evil woman. Is this ever going to end? Yes it is. But God has planned some very important steps first.

In our next video we will look at what they are.

The Early Christians Introduced the Most Revolutionary Idea in History

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 20:02:45 GMT

The Sanctity of Life is the most powerful social idea in history

The early Christian Church introduced the most revolutionary idea in the history of the world—the sanctity of life. The doctrine that all human life has infinite worth and value to Almighty God. It does not matter if you are poor, disabled, female, a slave, unborn, sickly—God considers all human beings to be of equal worth and value. This is the most powerful social idea in the history of the human race.

Christianity came into a world that was anything but pro-life. Slaves, children, women were all considered dispensable pieces of property to the men who were the citizens and leaders of the Roman Empire. Greek culture had been the same. Then along came the Christians asserting that every human being was created in the image of God. The idea came from the Old Testament, the first chapter of the Bible. Gen. 1:27 says, And so God created man in His image; male and female created he them.

It was a revolutionary idea, completely rejected by the culture of the day. But Christians went about spreading the idea everywhere, ultimately making it the foundation stone for Western culture. And what fascinates me is that modern men and women who live in the West accept this biblical doctrine without a second thought about its origin. I have told college professors and students—most of whom claim to reject Christianity and the Bible—that every important idea in their head comes from Christianity. And the idea of the sanctity of life is at the top of the list.

Now take a moment and consider the influence of this idea. It has changed everything.

Start with the elevation of women. The Bible acknowledges differences between men and women but insists that women have equal worth with men. No one ever believed that before God said it and even today people do not believe it unless they have come under the influence of the biblical teaching.

Next comes the value of children, all the way from the womb to adulthood. Before Christianity children were property, disposable, could be left out in the elements to die or aborted at will. Then Christianity invented childhood. Jesus said, do not hinder the little children but let them come to me. And children were elevated to full participants in human life—since they, too, were created in God’s image.

Later from the sanctity of life ethic comes human rights doctrines. The Preamble to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights begins with this statement: “[We recognize] the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family…[this] is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…

This is a patently biblical statement taken straight out of Christian theology. The U.N. writers of this declaration are demanding the spread of Christian doctrine around the world. They are saying it is incumbent upon all people to accept this biblical doctrine. I doubt they were even aware of its origin, since it is so much a part of modern thought.

Along with this comes every social justice movement. The Marxist commitment to equality, the Black Lives Matter movement, and all Left-wing social justice commitments find their origin in the Bible. It is a commitment begun by the first Christians and now is spreading to the far corners of the world. As you can see the early church is in the process of transforming humanity. What could be more revolutionary?

As early as the 400s the great Christian theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, was arguing that sanctity of life doctrine forbade one human being from owning another. The abolition movement was born. And although it would take many years to bear fruit this great step forward in human rights was born in the early Christian church.

In the 300s, Gregory and his brother Basil, along with their sister Macrina, founded the first hospital, because, since all human beings are created in the image of God, all are worthy of compassion and the best medical care they can receive. Today Christians establish hospitals all over the world to care for the sick and suffering no matter what their religious affiliation. This was all part of the revolution brought about by the early Christians.

The poor as well—since they too are created in the image of God—were given help and treated with compassion by the early Christians. This begins what today we take for granted—aid to the poor and needy. We care for the poor because God does. And we know that God does because He says so in His word.

The early Christians as we saw in a recent video, are simply trying to live out their Christian lives as best they could. They didn’t know it but they were revolutionizing the world.

Thank you for listening. May our God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More resources: I deal with this issue at greater length in Seven ideas That Changed the World: https://www.amazon.com/Ideas-That-Changed-World-civilizations-ebook/dp/B085MM79ZB/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=seven+ideas+that+changed+the+world&qid=1584653313&sr=8-1

The recent video on the lives of the early Christians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76RuaphETzY&list=PLkHlTST983SqhB2QbkAGQ3MGnR8T3Llpa&index=2&t=16s

The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

I strongly recommend Tom Holland’s brilliant book, Dominion, on the revolution brought about by Christianity. It can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World/dp/1541675592/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MSX1N43ZE9FT&keywords=dominion+tom+holland&qid=1657380452&sprefix=dominion%2C+by+tom+Holland%2Caps%2C351&sr=8-1

Joseph, Part 3: The Lord Was With Joseph

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 18:10:42 GMT

Joseph had been sold into slavery but the Lord was with him.

Joseph, Part 3: The Lord Was With Joseph

[39:1-6a]

The Bible has 1100 chapters and every one is important. But some seem to really stand out. For me, this is one of those outstanding chapters.

At the beginning of Genesis 39 Joseph has been hauled down to Egypt in the Ishmaelite caravan, taken to the slave market, and sold to an officer in the Egyptian military named Potiphar. I’m sure Potiphar himself did not bid on Joseph but one of his household stewards. Maybe another slave. Joseph is taken to Potiphar’s estate and put into the slave quarters.

I would like to try to enter Joseph’s mind on the evening of his first day as a slave: He has been the victim of a terrible crime. His own brothers have sold him into slavery. How could he have felt? Did he think that his father would come and rescue him after discovering the brother’s treachery? If so, it never happened. Did he remember his dreams? If so, what was to become of them? They didn’t include this. He is seventeen years old and now a slave in the household of an officer in Pharaoh’s army. Did he ask, “How can I trust God after He lets something like this happen to me?” My brothers and sisters. Especially my young brothers and sisters. God allows life to deal out terrible disappointments. Failure. Sin. Betrayal. Treachery. Each of you will have a unique cross to bear. When you find yourself victimized you have a choice to make. You can trust God to carry you through or you can turn back in bitterness and unfaithfulness. Subsequent events show us the choice Joseph made. But it had to be a really, really hard choice.

Verse 2 starts out with an astonishing statement: The Lord was with Joseph. Then in v 3: the Lord was with Joseph and caused all he did to succeed.

If you are Joseph, in this moment do you feel the Lord is with you? He is whether you feel like it or not.

No matter what kind of catastrophe befalls you the Lord is with you. It will be 13 years before God’s plan for Joseph unfolds. For you it may be longer. But He is with you. Do not let catastrophe defeat you.

Let’s try to enter Joseph’s mind at the end of his second day of slavery. On the morning of day two he begins his life as a slave. In the early days at Potiphar’s house you have to wonder what his life was like. You know he had to start at the bottom and work his way up. Something remarkable has to be taking place in Joseph’s life. In the midst of this nightmare he steps up and provides outstanding service for his master. He has to have retained his faith in God. If anyone in the history of mankind had a right to abandon his faith it was Joseph.

God was with him. Maybe the dreams of his youth stayed with him; maybe he was confident of their fulfillment.

He had to be a hard worker. He had to have gotten along well with the other slaves. He must have treated them with graciousness and kindness. He must have done his work with excellence. Joseph’s brothers had been able to strip him of his coat but they couldn’t strip him of his immense capability and trust in God. You can always be confident that God will give you the exact, necessary capability to do His will at the time He wants you to do it.

When I read this passage for the umpteenth time I decided to go back and review my own life and think about the times the Lord was with Phil Mitchell. I said it out loud: “In this moment of my life, the Lord was with Phil.” And at another moment, “The Lord was with Phil.” You need to do the same. Go back through your life and ask God to help you identify those moments when He was with you.

Potiphar is watching all this. I’m sure he gets regular reports from his overseers, detailing the activity of his slaves. He probably had a lot of them. Managing them was a big task. But it is clear that in short order Joseph stands out. And when Joseph is probably still a teen Potiphar puts him in charge of the whole shebang. This massive, elaborate household of an Egyptian military leader now comes under the supervision of a young Hebrew slave. Joseph relieved his master of any need to think or worry about how his house was being run. Potiphar could devote himself completely to his military duties.

You would think that Joseph’s hardships had finally ended. But he has an even bigger catastrophe ahead of him. We pick that up in our next video.

An Early Christian on Why Christianity Will Win

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 18:53:29 GMT

Why an obscure, persecuted religion becomes the world's largest.

A Second-century Christian tells why Christianity will be victorious

Back in the 13 ^th century a manuscript was discovered of a letter written by an anonymous Christian in the second century after Christ. It was written by someone who called himself simply “a disciple.” His purpose in writing was to tell someone named Diognetus what Christians are like and what Christianity is. You read this short epistle and you understand why Christianity has triumphed and built the largest and most powerful faith in the history of mankind, why it defeated the Roman Empire, and why it changes millions of lives today.

The writer begins, “For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life.”

The writer tell us that Christians are everywhere and at first they don’t seem all that different. But if you observe them for very long you see how radically different they really are. These are people who have been transformed by something different from ordinary human doctrines.

The Writer continues, “They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.” The early Christians were pro-life unlike everyone else around them; they practiced biblical sexual morality, and although they lived out their days on this earth their lives were anchored in another world. They truly were citizens of heaven.

Then the writer says, “They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers.” The Christians were suffering terribly and yet they were the best citizens the empire had. They were victims of unrelenting hostility even though they lived exemplary lives. Remember this the next time you see Christians persecuted in the modern world.

Finally, “When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life…those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. To sum up all in one word--what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world.”

Christians were the most important and powerful people in the Roman Empire even if no one knew it yet. And nothing has changed. Today believers in America, and the West, and the rest of the world continue to live transformed lives that have more power than any other lives in the world. The Holy Spirit, who transformed lives 1800 years ago, continues to do the same thing today, all over the world.

Thanks for listening. Be encouraged. May our God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More Resources: The whole epistle: https://files.romanroadsstatic.com/materials/romans/early-christianity/DiognetusV1-0.pdf

Why Christianity triumphed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3tMY0ybm0s&list=PLkHlTST983SpujnPAjgOE2AsDzsEBKkxh&index=6

The Story of Joseph, Part 2: Sold Into Slavery

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 18:29:31 GMT

Joseph is carried to Egypt and sold in the slave market.

Joseph Part 2; Genesis 37:25-36

[Vv25-28]

In our last episode Joseph had remarkable dreams of his future rule over his brothers and father. But then disaster strikes. His brothers turn on him. After deciding not to kill him they put him in a pit. We pick up the story in Genesis 37:25.

The hardness of the heart never ceases to amaze me. The brothers have just put Joseph in a pit. They could probably hear his calling to them. And what did they do? They sat down to eat. They sat down to eat. There is nothing like plotting your brother’s murder to give you an appetite. They are without conscience. Their hatred has to be pretty intense at this point.

We need to be reminded here as we do every day of our lives: human beings are evil and have an infinite capacity for sin. For many of the sins committed by mankind hell does not seem like sufficient punishment. People are always asking me if the world is getting worse. No. It became dreadfully evil in the garden and has stayed that way ever since. The brothers have hard hearts and are capable of the greatest evil.

Sometime during lunch the brothers spot a caravan approaching. It’s a group of Ishmaelites, also called Midianites in the text. They are on their way to Egypt with an assortment of trade goods. On a whim, Judah comes up with a bright idea. Instead of murdering their brother or letting him starve to death, let’s sell him into slavery. That way we accomplish all our goals: We get Joseph permanently out of our lives , we have no blood on our hands, and we make a few shekels in the bargain. Until very recently slave trading has been universal and that’s what they do. They sell their brother. For twenty, not thirty, pieces of silver.

[Vv29-36]

We don’t know where the oldest brother Reuben was during all this but he has been away. Now he returns to complete his plan to rescue Joseph. But there is no Joseph to rescue. The boy is gone. And Reuben says, “What am I going to do? What am I going to do?”

They have to do something. For one thing, what are they going to tell their father? The truth? Are you kidding? They have to concoct a lie. The one they come up with works since this is before the DNA testing. They kill a goat and spread its blood all over the multi-colored coat. Apparently they had not let Joseph keep his coat when he headed for Egypt. In the days that followed they returned home with a very sad tale indeed. They ask Jacob to identify the coat. Sure enough, it’s Joseph’s. There is only one like it in the world. They let Jacob make the assumption that Joseph has met disaster. He’s been killed and dragged off by a wild animal.

Jacob is destroyed. He mourned and mourned and mourned. His family tried to comfort him but to no avail. He said that he would grieve until he died.

Jacob was simply responding to the evidence in front of him but actually he is grieved by something that hadn’t happened. Joseph is very much alive. He is in the slave market down in Egypt.

Jacob must have spent many an hour pondering how his dear son died. Torn apart by a wild animal. The brothers could easily have gone to Egypt and ransomed him but they did not. They were committed to covering their treachery—at great cost to their father. As a result he endured over twenty years of anguish. Matthew Henry observes here that the devil teaches us to cover one sin with another; the brothers’ treachery was covered with deceit. Jacob had to bitterly regret sending Joseph out into the wilderness in the first place. We can be assured that all those years he blamed himself for Joseph’s death, when the real cause of this catastrophe was the wickedness of his other sons.

Jacob loved Joseph too much; or in the wrong way; as a result he paid the terrible price of debilitating grief.

As I mentioned, Jacob is grieving over something that had not actually happened. How often we worry about things that do not occur. I wonder if Jacob went back in his mind and remembered Joseph’s dreams. He had pondered them at the time. Those dreams should have given him hope. But he grieved over the situation as it had been appeared to him. My brothers and sisters, do not allow yourself to be discouraged by lies. We live in a world filled with lying prophets. Do not believe them. We have a God Who will keep His promises, no matter how long it takes. Do not lose heart.

This tragic situation is followed by one of the most astonishing and glorious developments in all history. It will change the trajectory of the human race. We look now at what God does in chapter 39.

Lessons from the Overturn of Roe v. Wade

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 17:26:03 GMT

We Rejoice in the Court's decision but we must learn the right lessons.

Five lessons from the Roe-Wade decision:

Yesterday the United States Supreme Court overturned the Roe-Wade abortion decision of 49 years ago. I never thought I would live to see it. I think there is a lot for us to learn from this decision. Here are five lessons:

1. God is still in control of the affairs of men. In Psalm 2 we read that God looks down at all our deliberations and laughs at them. Then He speaks in His wrath. The Psalmist warns all mankind to make their peace with God while there is still time. He advises, Kiss the Son lest He be angry. The influence of our Lord Jesus Christ on our culture is still mighty and powerful. All six members of the Supreme Court who voted to strike down Roe were primarily motivated by their Christian faith. All of them.

2. Things change. When we look at the decline of Christian culture in America we tend to despair and feel that the decline is permanent. Irreversible. But it is not. America was probably at its lowest ebb spiritually in the 1790s. Then the Holy Spirit breathed a powerful revival that changed everything. That can happen again and I am confident it will. Remember that a generation from now the number of children born to Christian and conservative families will vastly outnumber those born to unbelievers.

3. Do not give up. Remember Gal. 6:9: “Do not be weary in well-doing knowing that in due season you will reap if you do not faint.” William Wilberforce labored more than 30 years as a member of parliament to get the slave trade abolished. But at the end of his life, in 1808, he was successful. When parliament handed down its final vote abolishing the trade its members stood and applauded the aging Wilberforce. Christians must practice perseverance and patience in all things and always take the long view.

4. Practically there will still be a large number of abortions in America. Nineteen states currently have very liberal abortion laws on their books that will now go into effect. That brings us to…

5. The battle is still ultimately for the human heart. The problem with abortion is the ungodly belief that liquidating your child solves your problems. We need to persuade them that it does not. Alexandra Desanctis recently wrote in National Review: “The pro-life movement must work to make abortion not only illegal but also unthinkable.” We must continue our pro-life work. Caring Pregnancy centers and their like are more important than ever. The preaching from our pulpits, the lobbying by individual Christians, the willingness to take in the pregnant woman who has few options; all these are crucial steps that we must continue to take on behalf of the unborn. That Christians don’t care about babies after they are born has always been a lie and a smear tactic of the Left. We must continue to prove them wrong in our everyday actions. In the end, it is important for a pregnant mother to give life to her unborn child. But there is a more important step: she needs to come to know Christ, the Creator and sustainer of all life, and the Giver of eternal life. We must persuade our society that God is pro-life, that He wants us to have children, and that children are one of the greatest blessings and gifts one can ever experience.

Thanks for listening. May the God who is the Creator and sustainer of all life, bless you this day in a mighty way.

The Story of Joseph, Part 1

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 18:24:45 GMT

Genesis 37:1-24; The Dreamer

The Story of Joseph Part 1

The story of Joseph is my favorite story from the Old Testament and one of the greatest stories in all of literature. It has been one of the most influential biblical accounts in my personal life and in recent years I have revisited it and learned even more from Joseph’s life; how he trusted God, served God, and changed the course of history. In this series of videos I want to go back and look at Joseph’s life once again.

[Genesis 37:1-11]

Joseph’s name first appears in the Bible in Genesis 30. He is the first son born to Rachel, but he is Jacob’s 11 ^th son. His older brothers were born to Jacob’s other wives.

We pick up the story again at the beginning of Genesis 37 when Joseph is 17 years old. One of 12 sons in a polygamous family. I don’t think we have to strain ourselves to see the enormous problems inherent in polygamy. It is not God’s design for the family. It is a disaster.

Joseph has been put to work with his half-brothers and he observes them doing things they shouldn’t do and that Jacob would disapprove of. This is not hard to believe considering the other things we read about the brothers in Genesis. At any rate, they predictably hate Joseph for telling on them and they hate him anyway because his father clearly favors Joseph. Jacob gives him a special, multi-colored coat. Many of you have seen the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It’s what Jacob gives to Joseph. All the more reason for the brothers to hate him.

Parents this goes without saying but bears repeating. Do not favor one child over another. Parents should never play favorites with their children. It helps no one. It’s based on bad theology. You do not know how God is going to uniquely use each one of your children.

If Joseph’s brothers hated him for being a snitch and his father’s favorite, he is going to give them a whole lot more reason to hate him. Joseph has a dream and then he has another dream. In both dreams his brothers and even his father are bowing down to him.

Joseph, in future days, is going to need to remember the promises God gave him in his dreams. God’s promises will always be fulfilled but we must remember that He fulfills them in ways that surprise us and in His own time. Lots of catastrophes can occur before they are fulfilled. As you travel your earthly journey do not doubt in the dark what God has revealed in the light.

Joseph’s dreams will have a very literal fulfillment. The brothers bow before Joseph because their empty sheaves are seeking his full sheaves. They will bow before Joseph because they are seeking his corn. But a lot has to happen first.

Joseph dreams of success; but he does not dream of being sold into slavery and imprisoned. We place great hope in the promises of God. But we need to be aware of the troubles God allows us to experience in that process.

The most galling part of Joseph’s dream is that his brothers would bow down to him. Why did he tell them about this dream? God ends up using this in a powerful way. It is a crucial part of the story. And it results in one of the most astonishing providences in history. I think this is another instance of God using sin to produce a righteous outcome. I can’t be persuaded that God led Joseph to brag about his dreams to his brothers. It almost got him killed. But God uses all this anyway. Our mistakes and sins do not prevent God’s will from becoming reality in our lives.

The text says even Jacob rebuked Joseph and his dream but it says Joseph’s words stuck in Jacob’s mind. I wonder if Joseph’s dreams gave Jacob any comfort in the years ahead when he was told that Joseph was dead?

[Vv12-17]

At some point Joseph’s brothers head out to tend sheep. As you probably know, raising sheep is a nomadic prospect and sheepherders have to move from place to place to find grass. The brothers had been gone for some time—probably a week or two—so Jacob tells Joseph to go check on his brothers. We don’t know if it is suspicion or just curiosity but he sends Joseph out to find them. Jacob had not sent Joseph with them to actually tend the sheep. But now he sends him out—apparently alone. It seems like a foolish thing for Jacob to do. But he does it. He sends his child into a dangerous situation. Parents we need to be really careful about this. Do not send your child into a situation where they might be harmed. It could be school, or a neighbor’s house, or a relative’s. Protect your kids. Unlike Jacob.

So off goes Joseph.

[Vv18-24]

The brothers are able to see him from a long way off. And they decide to commit a terrible crime, one that would haunt them to the end, and cause enormous pain and suffering in their family, especially their father. At first they plan to simply murder him, but Reuben, the oldest brother, talks them out of homicide and works out a scheme to save Joseph’s life. But he does not stand up to the brothers and rebuke them for their evil. Reuben has forfeited his leadership credibility because of certain outrageous sins he has committed. His sins had rendered him powerless.

The brothers had allowed anger, resentment, jealousy, and bitterness to fester in their hearts. This inevitably led to terrible sins and tragedy.

Are We Under the Rule of Antichrist?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 16:58:01 GMT

Satan is powerful; Jesus Christ is infinitely more powerful

Are we under the rule of Anti-Christ? A number of European writers, secular writers, are arguing that we are. According to them, as Western culture has spiraled down into materialism and the pursuit of pleasure we have left ourselves open to the reign of Satan. Satan presents disorder as order and truth as lies. (I am reminded that in John 8 Jesus said Satan was the father of lies.) Modern men are doing the exact thing Isaiah warned about 2700 years ago: “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!

The modern beat poet Allen Ginsburg compared contemporary American society with the pagan god, Moloch, who demanded human sacrifice from his worshipers.

One common theme in all these writers is that the world is not under our control and is generally out of control. They speak of modern technology having a mind and purpose of its own, not that of the people who created it. A Google engineer was recently fired for arguing that computers can develop the ability to think and feel and have self-awareness. The fabulously rich titans of Tech don’t like the idea of something possessing more power than they do themselves. They don’t realize it’s too late. There are already powers that lie beyond their reach. They just can’t make themselves admit it.

Something outside ourselves is ruling our world and that something they have decided to call the AntiChrist.

The British writer, Paul Kingsnorth has said: The West was once Christendom. But Christendom died. If you live in the West now, you are living among its ruins.

Augusto del Noce is a recent European philosopher: In his book, The Crisis of Modernity he augues that it is not what our contemporary elite are saying that’s the problem; it is what they are not saying: He says, “what is excluded is the ‘supernatural’, religious transcendence …

There is no ultimate truth. There is no higher story to guide mankind. All ultimate meaning we create for ourselves.”

What modern men want is the death of history. We are no longer rooted in our Christian past. We have to find a new rootedness.

What modern men want is the death of God.

What modern man want is the death of the sacred.

Western elites have replaced God with human visions of utopia. And these visions have produced the greatest nightmares in the history of civilization. Mass murder on an industrial scale.

Christ and His teachings have been supplanted and what has replaced them? Antichrist.

As followers of Jesus Christ how do we respond to all this:

1. The Bible speaks of Satan’s power; Eph. 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against ⁽ ^S ⁾ the rulers, against the authorities, against ⁽ ^T ⁾ the cosmic powers over ⁽ ^U ⁾ this present darkness, against ⁽ ^V ⁾ the spiritual forces of evil ⁽ ^W ⁾ in the heavenly places.” Satan’s power is not a recent development; you may recall he wielded influence in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of time. Whether or not the Antichrist of the Bible has arrived we do not know. The word antichrist is only used four times in the Bible, all by the Apostle John. He says the antichrists—yes, he says there is more than one—have one chief characteristic. They deny who Jesus Christ is. There are lots of candidates for antichrist in our world today.

2. These authors understate the ongoing power of Christ in our culture: I have written an entire book about the influence of Christ on the modern man and that influence is enormous. And I have several videos on the same topic which I will link below. Western culture is the result of a binding of people together with a particular religious story. The greatest of the cultural historians, Christopher Dawson, observed: “There has never been any unitary organisation of Western culture apart from that of the Christian Church….” That is still true. Christianity is the most powerful voice in the West and there do not seem to be any candidates to take its place.

3. Jesus Christ is still on the throne. Some Christian churches have abandoned the purpose God created them for and capitulated to the secular gods, but most have not. Millions of local congregations around the world still represent the Kingdom of God and His rule over all. Just this week I met a middle aged woman who recently experienced a radical conversion to faith in Christ. That happens millions and millions of times every year.

4. The people of God still wield the dominant influence in the modern world. I have been reading recently of the re-Christianization of Europe. By whom? By immigrants from former European colonies. What is the most religious city in England? London. Why? Tens of thousands of Africans have invaded with a vibrant Christian faith. If we are so weak why are the Western elite so afraid of us?

We are no more controlled today by antichrist than we have ever been. There has always been spiritual warfare and always will be; that is until Christ Himself returns and sweeps away all the little antichrists who pretend to have spiritual power.

Thank you for listening. May our God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More Resources: Paul Kingsnorth in Unherd, summarizes several arguments that in modern western culture we are ruled by Satan himself: https://unherd.com/?p=432032?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=a5ff977696&mc_eid=5b400e1632

Google engineer fired for claiming a robot/computer had “sentient” qualities: https://adage.com/article/digital-marketing-ad-tech-news/google-suspends-blake-lemoine-who-claimed-ai-bot-had-become-sentient/2420056

Atheists for Jesus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX5Mi-pVgGY&list=PLkHlTST983SoyO674yIugUXV1lLjm-oeM&index=3

How Many Children Should I Have?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 20:26:31 GMT

Five Reasons to Have a Larger Family

How Many Children Should I Have? Of course I am not going to tell you the exact number. But in this video I will argue for you to have a bigger family than you maybe had planned. If you are no longer in a position to have children I want you to try to persuade the people in your circle to have bigger families.

You may think I am a little out of line suggesting the number of children you should have but during my lifetime there have been a lot of voices telling you exactly how many kids to have.

For years I was told that two was the absolute maximum. I often heard “One and done.” For more than thirty years that was the official government position of the largest nation on earth. And many voices have argued for none and done. 15% of American women have chosen that option—they have no children.

So when I am arguing about family size I am only taking on a million voices that are already telling you what to do.

First, I need to dispel a few myths:

Children are not more expensive now than they used to be. We are richer than we have ever been and children are more affordable than they have ever been. Over the years I have read analysis by of all people, the Agriculture Dept., warning me that each child would cost between 200 and 300 thousand dollars to raise. That included things like private college and tennis lessons. I have raised nine children. I did not spend close to three million dollars doing it. Government bureaucracies often feel it is necessary to lie to get their point across.

The argument that the world has too many people is absurd. It is arguably the most destructive lie in human history. Practically all the literature on this topic now is the declining birthrate and how that will damage the human race.

Another myth. People are not having more children than they want. They are having fewer. On average a family of two would really like to have a third. But certain forces in society discourage that third child.

So get these myths out of your brain and please listen to my argument for larger families and for large families.

Let me start by stating this is fundamentally an issue between you and God. Shouldn’t we start by asking our heavenly Father, How many children do you want me to have? My students were always going to the Lord and asking who they should marry, what career they should pursue, what college they should attend. Shouldn’t you go to our Lord and at least ask Him how many children we should have?

There are so many blessings in larger families. First, and one that is most often overlooked, is the blessing children are to each other. A colleague of mine once argued that he could devote more time to his two children then I could to my nine. And he was right. But I pointed out to him that my nine children could minister to each other more than he could to his two kids and that they would be doing it for more than fifty years after I die.

Secondly, you produce a much larger extended family. A number of years ago an article in the Federalist analyzed this statistically. If you have two children and each of them have two kids then each of them will have two cousins. But if you just one more—three kids—and each of them have three then your grandchildren will have six cousins. Four kids? Your grandchildren will have 12 cousins. This is very important for your grandchildren in the living out of their lives. Cousins, aunts, and uncles can be very important.

Third, in large families children are far more likely to turn to each other than the government in times of need. And as you well know family is a much better source of help than the state. Your siblings respond to your needs a lot quicker and more effectively than a bureaucrat in some distant office.

Fourth, more children add more creativity, energy, and enthusiasm to the human race. A generation ago the economist Julian Simon wrote a book entitled “The Ultimate Resource.” When lots of policy makers were wringing their hands about the world having too many people and thus running out of resources Simon said they had it all wrong. The ultimate resource was not oil or gold or corn but the human mind. He said we needed more human minds attacking the problems we were facing. He was right. I would like to see parents produce many more minds for the benefit of the human race. Here's an argument from the online publication Quillette: “Whether you end up accepting or rejecting our argument, any attempt to show that we should have fewer kids should include the social benefits of children as well as any social costs they create. Reasonably intelligent people born in developed countries have access to education and opportunities that can transform them into idea machines.” Those children you are having are idea machines. But you already know this if you spend any time around children.

Fifth, because we are having far fewer children we are threatening the very existence of our society. Populations are imploding all over. There simply are not enough people to take care of us as we age. In Italy 22% of the population lives on a pension. A pension supplied by a shrinking number of Italians who are of working age. Japan is already losing population. Japan sells more diapers to the elderly than for infants. Germany is losing population. So is Russia. And dozens of more countries will join that list in the near future. In America social security is in jeopardy for the simple reason we are running out of workers. Bottom line: We need more kids.

Please pray about what I have said in this video. And may our God, the one who said to populate and replenish the earth, bless you this day in a mighty way.

More resources: Ross Douthat urges you to have just one more child: https://www.plough.com/en/topics/life/parenting/the-case-for-one-more-child

People would like to have more children than they are: https://unherd.com/thepost/the-progressive-way-to-boost-birth-rates/?mc_cid=ebd25c5c8d&mc_eid=5b400e1632

Quillette article arguing you should have more children: https://quillette.com/2017/02/02/if-youre-reading-this-essay-you-should-probably-have-more-children/

The liberal writer, Matt Yglesias, argues for having more children: https://bookshop.org/books/one-billion-americans-the-case-for-thinking-bigger/9780593190210

How Does God Speak?

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 21 May 2022 20:25:59 GMT

The Bible gives at least nine ways God speaks to mankind.

How does God speak to us? How do I know when I am receiving a message from God?

Sometime ago I did a video on one of the most important moments in history. It’s found in Genesis 12:1 when it says, God spoke to Abraham. We have a speaking God. And what He has to say is the most important message we will ever hear. But when I pondered that passage I wondered, exactly how did God speak? How did Abraham know it was God? In Genesis 41 Joseph stands before Pharaoh, one of the greatest sovereigns in the world of that day. He accurately interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and it changed the world. But how did Joseph know the correct interpretation? The information had to come from God—Joseph said it did—but how? The text doesn’t say.

In scripture we learn that God speaks in a number of different ways. Let’s examine them.

One way God speaks is through dreams. When Joseph was a teenager God spoke to him in a dream and even though it didn’t seem like it was going to happen it came true. God still speaks through dreams today. I had a woman in my church who grew up in a missionary home in a Muslim area of Africa. She said it was not unusual for a Muslim to show up at their door, saying he had dreamed of a man in white and was told to come to this house. The man in white is Jesus and many Muslims have come to Christ because of a dream of the man in white.

Fifth, God speak to us through miracles, signs, and wonders. Jesus convinced many of the truth of His message this way. In fact, in John 14 he told his disciples to believe His words, but if that wasn’t enough they were to trust Him because of the works He had done. Countless times in the Bible we see God speaking this way and today, all over the world, God continues to declare Himself through miracles.

Sixth, God speaks to us through other people; namely, His prophets. How many times have you listened to a message and sensed God speaking to you? Often God gives pastors a prophetic voice to speak His truth into your life. I know there can be false teaching from the pulpit but right now I am thinking about those millions of times God has spoken his truth through pastor’s sermon, or a helpful book, or video, or podcast.

Seventh, God speaks through circumstances. In 1813 the British missionary Adoniram Judson was forced to leave India. He went to Burma where he became a legend. To this day he is revered by the tribal people of that country. God used circumstances to place Judson in the center of His will.

Eighth, the preeminent way God has always spoken is through His word, the Bible. In Psalm 119 we read, Your Word O Lord is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my way. 99% of the guidance you need you will get from the Bible. It is God’s loudest speaking voice.

Ninth, God speaks to us within our hearts. I now there are dangers here. Many, many times people have claimed God was speaking to them when clearly He was not. Even today, when someone says God is leading them to do such and such I view that statement with suspicion. Nonetheless, God does speak into our hearts and gives us a sanctified intuition regarding His will. How do I protect myself from going astray? Check to see if your intuition, your internal guidance, lines up with the other ways God speaks. What kind of council have you received from godly people? What does the Bible have to say about your decision? Trust me, there is not an issue you are dealing with the Bible does not address. What kind of circumstances has God placed before you? If these line up then I think we are free to go forward with the way we feel God is leading us.

Remember, the most important factor: God speaks. He will speak to you. He is speaking to you right now.

Thank you for listening. May our great God, the God who speaks, bless you this day in a mighty way.

More Resources: Our God is a Speaking God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-riZy9k7CRE&t=224s

The Moment Christianity Changed the World

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Sat, 07 May 2022 17:32:33 GMT

Historian Tom Holland Cites One Moment in which Christianity Changed Everything

The Moment Christianity Changed the World

The eminent British historian, Tom Holland—not to be confused with Spiderman—argues in his wonderful book, Dominion, that a real turning point in history was reached in 50 A.D. when the Apostle Paul arrived in Galatia in what is modern day Turkey. He brought with him a message that would revolutionize the world.

According to Holland, Galatians had immigrated in about 300 B.C. from Gaul—hence the name. They were a people largely defined by their aptitude for violence. “Tall, red-haired, and prone to fighting in the nude, they had made their living out of their talent for inspiring terror.” Then the Romans arrived and put an end to it all. The Galatians entered a new era of peace and prosperity, accompanied by a unifying factor—the worship of Caesar, the divine Augustus. The major highway through the region was named for the Emperor. His image was everywhere and inscriptions celebrating his greatness were on every public building.

The cult of emperor worship held society together and gave the Galatians a satisfying religion to replace the old gods. Emperor worship held that strength and dominance were the preeminent human qualities and that the goal of life was to triumph over other men and put them in the shade.

Into this world came a strange little man. Saul, now called Paul, had grown up in Tarsus just south of Galatia. He had been a ferocious Jew, going so far as to persecute the religious group known as “The Way,” whose members were called Christians—little Christs. But in the midst of his campaign against the new faith he had had a dramatic experience. He was knocked off his donkey and heard the voice of Jesus Christ. “Why are you persecuting me?” the Lord asked. Saul, himself, became a follower of Jesus and became one of the greatest of the missionaries spreading the news about the risen Messiah.

Now he had come to Galatia. Into a world with a violent history, adherents to the most powerful cult of the ancient world, the worship of Caesar. A cult that stressed power, and dominance over one’s enemies and everyone else. “Command and swagger were the very essence of the cult of the Caesars.”

Paul was the bringer of a radical new religion. First of all, he scorned the worship of the emperor. The Jesus Christ that Paul preached did not share His sovereignty with other deities. There were no other deities. The emperors were not gods—they were mere men and were now dead and facing the judgment of the true God. But so far as the Galatians were concerned it got worse. Paul preached that the Son of God, this Jesus, had suffered and died on a Roman cross. He had bled for the salvation of all men and women. This was unthinkable to the Galatians, and to the Romans, and also to the Jews. It is unthinkable to many today.

Holland raises the question; why would anybody in Galatia believe this message? To embrace it was to court danger—people were being killed for it. It also meant to deny the very glue that was holding society together—the glue of emperor worship. Yet, as Holland observes, many did believe Paul’s message. He summarizes it all with a remarkable paragraph. Paul’s message was universal. It was not tribal nor ethnic nor sectarian in any way. It applied to every single person who heard it. It went far beyond anything anyone had proclaimed before. It was more than Jewish morality, Greek philosophy, or emperor worship. Paul was a person without position, or status, or reputation in the affairs of the world. Yet his message that the law of God could be inscribed on the human heart, written there by His Spirit, became the most influential, the most transformative, the most revolutionary ever written. “Across the millennia and in societies and continents unimagined by Paul himself, their impact would reverberate…[It] would come to suffuse and entire civilization.” Holland considers this a moment when the Christian Gospel changed the world. The Christian faith is a religion of the heart. It aims to change hearts. And that’s what makes it unique and powerful.

Sometime ago I was watching on British television an interview with Holland. The interviewer asked him, “What do you think Paul saw on the road to Damascus.” Holland answered, “I think he saw Jesus Christ.” I think he’s right. Paul saw Jesus Christ. And I think Holland is beginning to see Him, too. I pray you see Him as well.

Thanks for listening. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Apostle Paul bless you this day in a mighty way.

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More resources: The interview with Tom Holland and N.T. Wright: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlf_ULB26cU&t=85s

Playlist on the Triumph of Christianity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Zk1Kk7m4Y&list=PLkHlTST983SpujnPAjgOE2AsDzsEBKkxh

Tom Holland’s great book, Dominion, can be found here https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World-ebook/dp/B07NCY9RG9/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1651854667&sr=1-1

Holland’s book is over 600 pages long. If that’s a bit daunting I have a 22-page synopsis on my website in the blog section: https://www.the401stprophet.com/blog-search?searchTerm=dominion

The Consequences of Denying the Existence of God

the401stprophet@gmail.com (Phil Mitchell) — Tue, 03 May 2022 21:45:20 GMT

Ten Consequences of Denying the Existence of God

The catastrophe of denying God’s existence.

When you look at our modern culture it seems like it has lost its mind. Our cultural elite argue that boys can declare themselves girls and compete in women’s sports, that marriage is not necessarily between a man and woman but between anyone and anyone, that math is racist, and that punctuality as a virtue is a holdover from our oppressive Puritan past. What causes this insanity? I don’t think the answer is all that complicated and we find it in the New Testament book of Romans.

In Romans 1 start reading in verse 20. The Apostle Paul says that men possess the knowledge of God because God’s invisible attributes, eternal power, and divine nature are clearly perceived. You see evidence for God everywhere. Look at the ancient Greeks. Aristotle, simply by observing the natural world, logically concluded there had to be a god. Plato, the same thing. And the vast majority of earth’s population has believed in a god of some sort.

But, according to Paul, men suppressed the knowledge of the true God and chose to reject Him. They failed to do two things: show gratitude to God, or honor Him for who He is and what He has done.

The results of denying the existence of God are catastrophic. Without God, men have become monsters and plunged the world into a dystopia of horrendous prospects. Let me give 10 consequences of unbelief found in Romans 1 although I am sure you kind find more.

1. When men deny the existence of God they become fools. They think they are wise. They think they are smarter than everyone else. But the opposite is the truth. One ironic observer said, “Some things are so appallingly stupid only intellectuals believe them.” A perfect description of the modern intelligentsia. Today many intellectuals believe some form of Marxism even though it has produced the most catastrophic results in the history of the human race. But you can go on any campus and find professors with Ph.D.s from Ivy League universities who say that Marx’s vision is still the best for mankind.

2. After getting rid of God and becoming wise in their own eyes, instead of worshiping the true God men begin to worship almost anything else. G.K. Chesterton said that when men stop worshipping the true God of the Bible they do not then worship nothing; they then worship anything. Paul says they worship nature. Do we see any of this today? How many people worship the natural world? They present nature as some kind of deity.

3. Paul says that instead of worshipping the true God men worship idols. The idols may be images of creatures found in nature or they may be idols of men like worshipping Caesar; or it could be the idol of worshiping men’s ideas. How much damage has been caused in the last 100 years because people worshipped a false messiah instead of the true God? Because people were committed to a false ideology instead of God’s Word?

4. Paul says rejecting the true God causes a downward spiral into every imaginable kind of sexual immorality. Every sexual act and lifestyle has become acceptable no matter how destructive they are or how many people they kill or how bizarre and perverse they are. A perfect description of the present.

5. Paul observes that when the true God is denied it gives rise to violence. Without the restraining hand of God’s truth the world cartwheels into a destructive cycle of murder and mayhem. Rejecting God gives rise to a culture of death.

6. If you deny God’s existence you have no basis for right and wrong. There is no such thing as moral responsibility—no one is responsible for anything they do. We see this in District Attorneys who refuse to prosecute crime. So many of our large cities have become unlivable and are seeing a mass exodus. People flee the consequences of godlessness.

7. The worst consequence of godlessness is the rise of replacement gods trying to replace the true God. They bring about more evil than anything else in history. See below links to my videos on the Leftist cult and the Green cult and the great deceptions and start totaling up the number of lives that have been lost to false gods.

8. Denial of God’s existence and the unique value of human beings has resulted in the colossal lie that the earth has too many people. The mischief this nonsense has caused is endless, not the least of which is the death of 200 million baby girls.

9. Denying the existence of God causes the destruction of the fundamental unit of mankind—the family. Today’s wise men say that families do not need a mother and father. They deny there is even such a thing as a mother or father. They deny that there is even such a thing as a man or a woman. They argue that the makeup of the family doesn’t matter and that God’s design in the Bible can be abandoned. And they wonder why children are on the greatest path of destruction in the history of our culture.

10. Without God, men develop hearts of darkness. The unthinkable and unspeakable become the norm. In Is. 5 the prophet described this perfectly: 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! ²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight! Isn’t that a perfect description of mankind today?

These are ten examples drawn from the Bible. There are, of course, many more. You know in your heart that worshiping God really matters. This video is designed to help you understand just a little bit more of why it matters. Thanks for listening. May our God—the true God whose existence we deny at our peril—bless you this day in a mighty way.

More Resources: The Green Cult: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuHrMp6J-Wo&t=237s

The Great Deceptions: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SpNT5Z37B6qlPsTjYMAm_qP

The 401st Prophet Blog

Al Gore Turns Science Into Religion

The Green cult is a destructive religion and has nothing to do with science.

That thud you just heard is Earth Day doing a face plant. Earth Day is to the Greens what Christmas is to Christians. It’s their central religious holiday. And while Christianity continues to thrive around the world—2.6 billion and growing, environmentalism is a religion in decline.

For years I have referred to the environmental movement as the Green cult. It is a substitute religion for the true Christian faith. And it is a false religion as Pielke shows.

Bjorn Lomborg said the developed world has spent 20 trillion dollars on renewable energy and achieved absolutely nothing. 20 trillion that could have been spent alleviating poverty in the developing world where 700 million people still live on less than two dollars a day.

If the Green cultists are destructive and appallingly stupid why do they hold on to it?

What’s their motivation?

The Green cult is a terrifying religion. I am sure the average member of a tribe in Mexico was terrified of the Aztecs. They intended to cut your heart out for theological reasons. Green cultists are not only anti-Christian, they are anti-human.

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That’s the kind of religion we are dealing with. That’s what happens when people depart from the true God to worship idols.

The death of the Green cult is great news for humanity. May God hasten the day.

More: Christianity vs. the Green Religion; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHdkYg9MeXg

Roger Pielke, Jr., on the religious nature of the environmental movement; https://www.thefp.com/p/how-al-gore-politicized-climate-science?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Earth Day goes splat; https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2026/04/21/earth_day_2026_our_power_our_planettm_our_propaganda_redux_1177849.html

The Passover-Easter Connection

The important connection between the two.

Baptist Do Best as the Persecuted Church

They are not hung up by the need for a hierarchy

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The communist government of China can control a lot of things—the economy, the internet, banking and finance, and a host of other activities. But it cannot control the individual conscience. That stands alone before God and is out of the reach of Beijing.

The Baptistification of World Christianity

Baptist Distinctives are spreading everywhere

The Power of the Baptists

And that’s the kind of Christianity you see growing around the world. If Martin Marty were alive today he would be even more unhappy.

Why the Left Hates Israel

The Jews are "too Christian."

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The Real Reason the Left Hates Israel

https://spectator.com/article/the-real-reason-the-left-hates-israel/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Editorial&utm_campaign=WEEK++20260326++AL++EXPRESS+VPN+CID_2fc6186b73335eb122cd8c4c27c265d6&edition=us#comments-container

The Significance of the Lamb

An Easter Meditation from Matt Sieger

Giants of the Faith

If you are a baseball fan you will love this column.

Paul Ehrlich False Prophet of Doom

One of history's great monsters just died.

The Monstrous evil of Paul Ehrlich

He had no regrets about having played a part in fueling concerns around population growth that were used to justify human rights abuses around the world.

He found human life itself repulsive, and the lives of the poor, especially, as unworthy to live.

He was an atheist. He rejected the existence of God and it led him down a dark, demonic path.

What did Paul Ehrlich propose we do about so-called over-population?

In 1970 he said, “We must have population control…by compulsion if voluntary methods fail.”

He suggested that the Federal Communications Commission “see to it that large families are always treated in a negative light on television.”

He proposed offering “responsibility prizes” to men who had vasectomies.

He approved of of involuntary sterilization—and pondered the possiblity of adding “sterilants” to basic foods and drinking water—as well as cultural and even financial pressure on parents and would-be parents not to reproduce.

Paul Ehrlich managed to be wrong about everything.

In the Wall Street Journal Jason Riley said, “Ehrlich was always wrong but never in doubt…Making spectacularly wrong predictions of imminent catastrophe became something of a habit for Ehrlich over the decades.”

The opening lines of “The Population Bomb” start with a spectacularly wrong prophesy: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death.”

He predicted that 65 million Americans would die from famine and that “England will not exist in the year 2000.”

In that 2023 interview on 60 Minutes he said that the civilization we are used to is about to disappear.

Michael Fumento wryly said: “The butterfly specialist became both rich and famous by scaring the pants and skirts off the public despite being correct less often than the proverbial stopped clock.”

What are the consequences of Paul Ehrlich’s ideas?

Some of them became brutal government edicts. China instituted a one-child policy, restricting families to one child or facing forced abortion. It may the worst human rights violation of all time. India launched a campaign of compulsory sterilization.

If a false prophet had, in Aztec fashion, called for a human sacrifice every morning he could not have done more harm.

Paul Ehrlich should have stayed away from gambling.

Simon challenged Ehrlich to bet again on commodity prices over the next ten years. Ehrlich wisely declined that bet.

Why did people believe Ehrlich even after he was catastrophically wrong?

Paul Ehrlich’s ideas were popular. He was a media darling. He was on Johny Carson more than twenty times. One time Carson gave him a whole hour to spew his nonsense. The prestige press loved his narrative. The New York Times called him a scientist “who deeply loves our planet.”

It’s the characteristic of all cults. You trust the cult leader against all facts. People create a narrative that they cling to no matter what.

Catastrophism gives politicians power. So many politicians loved Ehrlich and the kind of leverage he gave him over people.

Facts did not matter to Ehrlich and neither do they matter to the Greens.

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In Deuteronomy God says false prophecy is punishable by death. Paul Ehrlich is a demonstration of the wisdom of that warning. False prophecy, as well as false doctrine, gets people killed. By the millions. That’s why God hates it and we should hate it too.

More: The Great Deceptions: #1, The Overpopulation Hysteria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJgr4wQBss

WSJ, Jack Butler: Ehrlich was destructive: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/free-expression/paul-ehrlichs-population-bomb-was-worse-than-a-dud-a2eb4f05?mod=FreeExpressionNewsletter

The media was behind Ehrlich: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/how-the-media-pushed-the-population-bomb-sham-for-decades-and-misled-generations/

The Professor who hated babies: https://unherd.com/2026/03/the-paul-ehrlich-bomb/?set_edition=us&tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=8796a3db2b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_03_18_12_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-8796a3db2b-35277013

Jason Riley, WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/paul-ehrlich-was-always-wrong-never-in-doubt-e2c27933?mod=itp_wsj,djemITP_h

Someone who almost wasn’t born because of Ehrlich: https://www.thefp.com/p/i-almost-didnt-survive-the-population?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The bet: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/paul-ehrlich-julian-simon-bet-population-930f3560?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=djemMER_h

Michael Fumento--Paul Ehrlich Was Wicked: https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2026/03/18/paul_ehrlich_wasnt_premature_he_was_wicked_1171033.html

The Bet: https://fee.org/articles/how-julian-simon-won-1-000-bet-with-population-bomb-author-paul-ehrlich/

The human rights abuses set off by Ehrlich: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/book-incited-worldwide-fear-overpopulation-180967499/

Paul Ehrlich, false prophet: https://firstthings.com/paul-ehrlich-false-prophet/

Marxism's Deadly Legacy: Why People Still Believe

What the Marxist Progressive Left has such Wide Appeal

The Horrific Cost of Green Religion

16 trillion dollars have been wasted.

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Believing that there is no God and His providential intervention leads people to make terrible public policy decisions. It gets millions of people killed whose lives would have been saved by wise doctrine.