Saturday, August 19, 2023

Be Prepared for Backlash if You Dare Claim, “Jesus is the Only Way”

 The Bible tells us many times that Jesus is the only path to eternal life with the Father.  “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”  It simply can’t be any clearer!  Jesus is the only way!  But be ready to lose your job, lose your friends, lose your family relationships if you dare to repeat this truth!  According to this article your job isn’t even safe at a Pro Life organization!

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An Ohio pro-life group has dismissed its communications director after a Jewish Republican Congressman whose wife sits on the organization's board criticized her for tweeting that "there is no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone."

Elizabeth Marbach, the now former communications director of Ohio Right to Life, became the center of national media attentionthis week after Rep. Max Miller criticized her Tuesday post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. 

Miller, who is Jewish, called the tweet "one of the most bigoted" tweets he had ever seen even though Miller's sentiment is a mainstream belief of Christianity. Miller's wife, Emily Moreno Miller, serves as a board member of Ohio Right to Life, a state-level group that educates the public about abortion and advocates for pro-life legislation.

Marbach told The Sentinel in a Thursday statement that she was let go from her position with Ohio Right to Life. Internal communications reviewed by the newspaper suggest that Marbach was given the opportunity to resign or enter a transitional period before dismissal but she declined. 

https://www.christianpost.com/news/pro-life-group-fires-employee-after-faith-in-christ-alone-post.html

Thursday, August 17, 2023

Minneapolis Art Center Holds a “Playful Demon Summoning Session”

Honestly, these liberal-type folks who embrace abortion, gender confusion, atheism and have signs in their yards proclaiming “All are Welcome here!”, are falling ever deeper into delusion.  We already know that many women at pro-abortion rallies are demon possessed because you can see it in their eyes as they scream and rant in support of dismembering and murdering babies.  And today we have liberals in Minneapolis actually encouraging families and kids to summon some demons, maybe some that are familiar with their family or life.  They think using the term “playful” will somehow make it fun and acceptable...and it probably will to those folks who would be foolish enough to attend.

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The Walker Art Centera taxpayer funded museum in Minneapolis, held a “playful demon summoning session” for families and children, with a performance called “Lilit the Empathic Demon.”

“Demons have a bad reputation, but maybe we’re just not very good at getting to know them,” an event description reads.

The event, which took place at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, was part of the Walker’s Free First Saturdays program and featured artist Tamar Ettun who creates “demon traps.”


“Families are invited to create a vessel to trap the demon that knows them best — perhaps the ‘demon of overthinking’ — and then participate in a playful ceremony to summon and befriend their demon,” the website explains.

The event was designed for families, with children encouraged to participate, and finished with a “playful demon summoning session.”

This is a free country. If adults want to dabble in the black arts in their free time, that is up to them. But family friendly? For children? Taxpayer funded? Really?

 https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/taxpayer-funded-museum-in-minneapolis-holds-demon-summoning-event-for-children/

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Hezbollah Says “Israel Will Cease to Exist”

Wars and rumors of war continue to surround Israel.  God said that once Israel has been restored it will never cease to exist. The leader of Hezbollah has other ideas as the Jews and Persians exchange fiery language.  Bible readers will understand that Hezbollah will not be successful in their wishes.

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 The secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, the Iranian terror-proxy organization in Lebanon, threatened Israel with extinction on Monday. 

Nasrallah stated that in the case of conflict, Hezbollah will ensure that Israel “will cease to exist.”

He made this threat during a televised speech that marked 17 years since the end of the Second Lebanon War.

In the speech, Nasrallah said Israel’s military had been “weakened” and that it was unable to restore its former image. 

“After 17 years of attempts, preparation, and development, the Israelis have been unable to restore the image of the Israeli army,” Nasrallah said.

“The Israeli army today is in its worst shape in history,” he claimed and referred to warnings by IDF officers that the Israel’s military readiness has suffered because of reservist protests against the government's judicial overhaul plan.

Last week, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Israel would send Lebanon back to the Stone Age if the terror organization made a wrong move.

Nasrallah responded to Gallant in his speech saying: “You too will be returned back to the Stone Age," and said it would take “a few high-precision missiles” for Hezbollah to destroy targets, including “civilian and military airports, airbases, power stations… and the Dimona [nuclear] reactor.”

On Saturday, a senior commander of Hezbollah warned that the next Hezbollah-Israel war would be fought in the northern Israeli Galilee region rather than Lebanon.

“Our battle will be in the Galilee, and if the enemy and its tanks enter Lebanon, they will not be able to leave,” claimed Hajj Jihad, during an interview with Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar TV.

https://allisrael.com/war-of-words-intensifies-as-hezbollah-chief-nasrallah-threatens-to-wipe-out-israel

“Not a Surprise Because Arab Societies are Inherently Violent”

Remember the statement God made about Ishmael, first son of Abraham born to him from Hagar, Sarah’s maid-servant?  Ishmael is the father of the Arab people, and sadly, most Arabs succumbed to the delusion of Islam.

Genesis 16   11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:

“You are now pregnant
    and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,[a]
    for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
    his hand will be against everyone
    and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
    toward[b] all his brothers.”

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In the Palestinian “refugee” camps of Lebanon, the inhabitants are ill-treated by the Lebanese government. They are kept confined to the camps, unable to obtain Lebanese citizenship, and banned from working at most professions. But inside the camps, they are given free rein to do what they do best: that is, they’ve just now been trying to kill one another. It’s not surprising: Arab society is inherently violent; the Qur’an itself is full of violent passages; so are the hadith. Muhammad, the Perfect Man and Model of Conduct, fought in 28 military campaigns. He also took part in decapitating between 600 and 900 members of the Banu Qurayza, a Jewish tribe in Medina. The hadith are full of records of battles lost and won, incessant violence, treacheries, murders most foul of every variety, including the deaths meted out to those who dared to mock Muhammad, including Asma bint Marwan, Ka’b bin al-Ashraf, and Abu ‘Afak, by Muhammad’s loyal followers.

“I have been made victorious through terror,” Muhammad proclaimed in a famous hadith. More on the violence, that has been going on — so far — for three days in Ain al-Hilweh, the largest of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon, can be found here: “Clashes continue for a third day in Ain al-Hilweh as ceasefire efforts fail,” by Tzvi Joffre, Jerusalem Post, August 1, 2023:

Already there have been almost as many deaths from these internecine clashes as resulted from the IDF’s 44-hour raid into the Jenin camp, when 12 fighters from the terror groups PIJ and Hamas were killed.

 https://worldisraelnews.com/warring-palestinians-begin-killing-each-other-in-refugee-camps/

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Mystery Blasts in Damascus

We watch Damascus because Isaiah 17 says that one day it will be so utterly destroyed that no one will inhabit it again.  Strange blasts were no doubt done by Israel as they try and keep Iranian war assets from burgeoning in that country.  But notice the last paragraphs I posted below where Israel warns Lebanon to don’t make a mistake or they will be returned to the Stone Age by military forces.

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Unexplained “violent explosions” that rocked Damascus in the early hours of Sunday destroyed an arms depot belonging to Iranian-backed groups, according to UK-based group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Unconfirmed reports said the warehouse contained missiles intended for transfer to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

In the past, such incidents have been attributed to Israeli air strikes.

Last Monday, four soldiers were reported killed and four others wounded in an alleged Israeli missile strike near the Syrian capital.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency cited a military official as saying that the attack, which occurred at 2:20 a.m. and came from the direction of the Golan Heights, also caused some material damage.

On July 19, SANA reported that two soldiers had been wounded in Israeli strikes in the Damascus area.

In a rare interview which aired on Wednesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Sky News Arabia that Iran was only a pretext for Israel’s strikes in Syria.

“The truth is that the Syrian army is mainly targeted under the title of the Iranian presence,” he said, adding that the strikes “will continue as long as Israel is an enemy” according to a translation of the interview provided by SANA.

The Syrian dictator went on to state that the Israeli attacks were designed to support terror groups fighting against the regime.

The strikes “will continue as long as we are able to thwart the terrorists’ plans, even partially, because these strikes began when the Syrian army began to achieve victories in the battles it is engaged in, and we take into account that we have not finished from the war yet,” he said.

Israel has reportedly struck hundreds of targets in Syria in recent years as part of an effort to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in the country. However, it rarely acknowledges these incidents.

On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah “not to make a mistake.”

Gallant toured the Mount Dov region with Israel Defense Forces Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin and other senior officers, where he was updated on “defensive efforts being made along the border and the progress of the construction of the barrier,” his office said.

“If … an escalation or conflict develops here, we will return Lebanon to the Stone Age. We will not hesitate to use all our power, and erode every inch of Hezbollah and Lebanon if we have to,” Gallant said.

“Don’t mistake us: We don’t want war but we are ready to protect our citizens, our soldiers, and our sovereignty,” he added.

 https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/mystery-blasts-in-damascus-destroyed-iranian-weapons-depot/

Trump and Advisors Charged in Georgia

A short video of Georgia’s attorney general explaining why they are charging, what they are charging and explaining that Trump and company have until Friday to turn themselves in.  Some folks say this is all a political witch hunt.  Others say that Trump’s ego couldn’t handle that he actually lost so looked for illegal ways to make it look like he won.

 https://youtu.be/oAMZje2-2og

Monday, August 14, 2023

Central Bank Digital Currency Would Strive to Have Inclusion of All

 It turns out that about 5.2% of US households have no relationships with banks.  They don't trust them or their fees.  We aren't sure how you could run a household without a credit card or a checking account but I guess some millions of folks are doing just that.

If the government is hoping to one day have information of every single transaction, they will need to get rid of cash and have everyone sign up for some type of electronic account. 

A central bank account may very well accomplish this desire and put us one step closer to what Revelation has said is coming all along.

"Experts" at the Federal Reserve and other central banks proudly broadcast the potential "financial inclusion" that could be achieved with a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In the Fed's main CBDC paper, "Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation," they make it clear: "Promoting financial inclusion--particularly for economically vulnerable households and communities--is a high priority for the Federal Reserve . . . a CBDC could reduce common barriers to financial inclusion."

The term has a ring to it that signals support for progressive goals. "Inclusion" is part of the Orwellian trio of terms "diversity, inclusion, and equity," which, as Dr. Michael Rectenwald writes, means "surveillance, punishment of the 'privileged,' sacrifice of national citizens to global interests, and the labeling as 'dangerous' and marking for (virtual) elimination those supposed members or leaders of 'hate groups' who oppose such measures." The central banks' use of "financial inclusion" involves the same reversal of meanings.

Consider that a retail CBDC would be like having a bank account with the Federal Reserve, even if it is intermediated by another bank. There is a lot of guesswork about how a CBDC will be implemented, but some say that it will not just be like having a bank account with the Fed, but that it could be exactly that.

Either way, if a CBDC were genuinely aimed at financial inclusion, it would offer something to those who have chosen to forgo a bank account entirely. This "unbanked" population constitutes about 5.4 percent of US households according to a 2021 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) survey. The survey asked each household why they do not have a bank account, and the responses indicate that minimum balance requirements, privacy, trust, and fees are the most significant factors.

A CBDC undermines privacy. Whatever a central bank might say about privacy protection with a CBDC can be safely dismissed. The Fed paper, for example, says, "Protecting consumer privacy is critical. Any CBDC would need to strike an appropriate balance, however, between safeguarding the privacy rights of consumers and affording the transparency necessary to deter criminal activity." We should not conflate the characteristics of a CBDC with those of cryptocurrencies in general, which offer anonymity and pseudonymity to their users.

Consider how the IRS recently pried open PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts with transactions over $600. Consider also that the Supreme Court just ruled that the IRS can investigate your bank accounts without notification in some circumstances, including if you are a friend, family member, or associate of someone who owes the IRS.

Beyond taxes, banks also willingly hand over personal information (even without a warrant or formal request) to the FBI. This data, which includes previous firearm purchases, belongs to people who show up at the wrong protest or who were merely in the vicinity as the data is collected based on transactions within a specific geographic area.

The lack of privacy with bank accounts certainly contributes to the distrust people have for banks, as noted in the survey. This shows that "financial inclusion" is a mere buzzword as there is nothing about a CBDC that would gain the trust of unbanked households, who are not excluded from the banking system but actively avoid it.

According to the survey, fees are another commonly cited reason for being unbanked. People avoid banks because the fees are steep and unpredictable.

Although there is no certainty regarding how a CBDC would operate, many see that it could finally offer the holy grail of monetary policy: the ability to impose negative interest rates. In effect, this would be a fee for holding a CBDC.

After the 2008 crash, the Fed reached the "zero lower bound" for nominal interest rates. They were unable to stimulate more spending through their interest rate targeting approach. While there were a few outlandish ideas about imposing a negative interest rate on cash, like the idea of Greg Mankiw's student to remove the legal tender status of all currency with a serial number ending in a randomly selected digit, it is just too difficult to impose a fee on the cash in your wallet or safe.

With a digital currency, it becomes effortless, especially if the use of physical cash is significantly diminished or even eliminated altogether. The monetary policy authorities would simply press a button and deduct a certain amount of CBDC from everyone's accounts. Think of the spending they would encourage if everybody knew their unspent money would be subject to such a penalty!

Here;  Digital Currency: The Ultimate Tool Of Financial Intrusion & Control (prophecynewswatch.com)

Let me re-explain that last part.  If the government wants to stimulate the economy they will encourage spending money.  When folks spend money to buy things then it forces factories to make more things and trucks to deliver more things and the whole economy goes around a little faster.  But they can't force us to spend the cash we have sitting in our gun safes or savings accounts.  They can lower interest rates to 0% so that people realize they are making NOTHING on savings and entice them to go spend it instead but they can't really force them to take it from savings.

With a CBDC, they could click a mouse and effectively say, "You have $10,000 worth of CBDC's in this account and this value will be good for the next 30 days.  After this time, your account value will be $9500.  Thanks for doing business with the FED."

So with a click they can impose NEGATIVE INTEREST RATES on everyone and almost force us to go buy something rather than save that money.  

This could also lead people to try and save their money into hard assets like real estate which would most likely seriously increase the price of real estate...as if it isn't ridiculously high already.  Or stocks could also benefit by imposing negative interest rates.

There is NO DOUBT that the world is getting very close to doing away with cash and imposing some type of electronic system.  And one day every person on earth will be required to have a mark on his right hand or forehead in order to buy or sell anything.

WE ARE THE FIRST GENERATION TO HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE!  For the past 2000 years, folks read Revelation and had no clue how that could ever become a reality....but now we do.

"Seal this up Daniel.  It's not for you to understand.  But the people of that day will understand!"

That's US!

Pope Continues Falling Further Into the Religion of Climate Change

 I think we all are in favor of caring for the earth.  When we find an old creamery that is dumping all its spoiled milk into a nearby lake and killing all the fish, we say, "Don't do that!  It's not right that you are ruining our lake with your concerns from profits!"  When we see that DDT chemicals sprayed on farm fields are killing all the eagles we say, "Don't do that!  You are driving a species to extinction while trying to kill weeds!  Find a better way!"

But we cross the line when we start worshipping the CREATED THINGS rather than the CREATOR.

Today we find the Pope sounding an awful lot like he's gone fully into the camp of climate change alarmists.  

The challenge of tackling our planet’s overheating has received its fair share of attention from celebrities, business owners, and activists. But one figure has had some particularly strong words to share. 

In a message to visitors at St. Peter’s Square this summer, Pope Francis said, according to Reuters, “I renew my appeal to world leaders to do something more concrete to limit polluting emissions.” 

He also noted, “[The emissions are] an urgent challenge, it cannot be postponed, it concerns everyone. Let us protect our common home.”

His statement came in the wake of heat waves across the planet, as well as flooding in countries such as South Korea. Soon afterward, scientists determined that July 2023 would be the hottest month in recorded history. The global mean temperature for the month of July has hovered around 61 degrees Fahrenheit in the past. This year, the average mean temperature has soared by 2 degrees.

This isn’t the first time Pope Francis has been critical of dirty energy sources like oil and gas. He has made environmental protection a key component of his tenure as pope, claiming in a 2015 “Laudato Si” (Praised Be) letter that the planet was “beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth,” per Reuters. 

“I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet,” the Pope wrote at the time. “We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.”

Pope Francis has nested his climate-forward perspectives in the idea that individuals should protect “God’s creation” from environmental degradation, pollution, and climate change.

The Pope has been highly critical of world governments’ efforts to achieve this mission. In a message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation prepared in May 2023, the Pope called for an end to “the senseless war against creation.” 

He also drew a direct link between dirty energy and global climate change. 

“According to the commitments undertaken in the Paris Agreement to restrain global warming, it is absurd to permit the continued exploration and expansion of fossil fuel infrastructures,” the Pope shared in his message, Reuters reported.

Here;  Pope Francis warns that humankind is facing an ‘urgent’ crisis that must be dealt with immediately: ‘[This] concerns everyone’ (msn.com)

Check out this paragraph again;  

The Pope has been highly critical of world governments’ efforts to achieve this mission. In a message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation prepared in May 2023, the Pope called for an end to “the senseless war against creation.” 

You see, the world's governments, on their own, are incapable of coming to any sort of binding agreements.  The Brazilians might keep building huge dams to hold all their mining poisons knowing that those dams will someday break and wash all that crap into the rivers, wells and oceans.  The Chinese might keep building coal plants faster than USA is building Solar Farms.  The Russians might keep making gasoline cars faster than America can build electric cars.  WE NEED A ONE-WORLD-GOVERNMENT TO SOLVE ALL THESE PROBLEMS by forcing these governments to do as they are told...to save the world!

And the Pope, whether this one or the next one, is continuing to set himself up as the False Prophet of Revelation.  Who better than the Pope to gather the "religious" and the irreligious?  He's invited Muslim Imams to pray at the Vatican, he has no problem with folks praying to dead people and he has no problem with a works-based faith that says "People can earn their way into heaven".  

He also has no problem accepting that "aliens" are other "brothers of creation" and that, should they come soon, he would be willing to baptize them.  Into what would he baptize them?  We don't know but if the aliens do come and proclaim another god, we see no reason why the Pope would cry, "Jesus is the ONLY way!  There is no name given under all of heaven by which men can be saved!"  He probably would argue that while men might need need Jesus and works to attain salvation, the aliens aren't covered by Jesus so would be willing to baptize them into any god that they would propose.

Gen Z Swapping Traditional Faiths for Magic Spells

 I think we all know that God does NOT look kindly on those who use black magic, summon the dead, speak to the dead, summon familiar spirits, tell fortunes, practice Tarot Cards or use witchcraft.  In fact God told His people to purge those from among you who do such things...take them out of the camp and kill them.

But here in America, as we continue to turn from God, we are more and more willing to consult mediums and fortune tellers and even pull up old spells and incantations in order to try and see the future or change the course of our lives.

Netty has been practising magic for 16 years. She cast a spell to get her current job in banking. She credits other spells with securing subsequent salary raises. She once used a spell to make her boss like her more. Another bagged her the love of her life, seven years ago. She still has the honey jar she used for it – into which she put herbs, a petition and a Corona bottle cap he’d discarded. (She assures me he knows about it.) Raised a Catholic, Netty has not completely reneged on the faith, nor does she see any conflict in casting spells and praying to saints. You might call her a Christian witch. You might be surprised to know there are thousands of them.

Organised religion is in decline. In Western countries, growing numbers are turning their backs on the Church. Thousands of churches shutter each year, faced with dwindling congregations and funds. The 2021 census on religion in England and Wales alarmed many: for the first time since its advent in 1801, less than half the population described themselves as Christian, down from 72 per cent two decades ago. Those ticking “no religion”, the second-most common response, soared to 37.2 per cent. The UK is now, statistically speaking, one of the least religious countries in the world. 

Across the Atlantic, the story is similar. In 2020 less than half of Americans belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, the first time congregants slid below the majority in Gallup’s eight-decade study. The holy current in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe is flowing in the same direction.

Cue howls of a “godless generation”. “The loss of faith”. Or, as this magazine put it, “Britain’s crisis of unbelief”. But such laments fail to observe that the decline of organised religion does not necessarily mean the demise of faith. In its absence, alternative forms of spirituality are flourishing. Statistics bear out the theory. According to a 2017 Pew survey, a quarter of Americans think of themselves as “spiritual but not religious”. A survey of the UK’s “nones” by the Theos think tank found 17 per cent believed in the power of prayer, 16 per cent in reincarnation, 14 per cent in the healing power of crystals and 42 per cent in the supernatural. Young people are more likely to believe in life after death than older generations despite being less religious in general, this year’s World Values Study revealed. 

Even those of us who don’t deem ourselves spiritual or shudder at anything too “woo-woo” likely dabble in some form of spirituality. Do you practise yoga? Meditate? Get daily nudges from the astrology Co-Star app? Looks like you belong to the “DIY spirituality” generation too. 

Witchcraft is one form of alternative spirituality in the ascendant: #witchtok has more than 45 billion views on TikTok. Witch influencers proliferate on social media. Eight million #witchcraft Instagram posts detail the how, what and when of magic: moon rituals, hexes, tarot cards, herbal potions, spells. Reddit pages such as r/witch (101,000 members) and r/witchcraft (383,000) garner hundreds of sincere comments each day. Advice is sought and given: how-tos on friendship spells, drying herbs, charging crystals, candle divination. What was for centuries fringe and at times heretical is becoming accepted, even revered, particularly among the young. 

Within the phenomenon, something interesting is happening: increasing numbers are swapping organised religion for witchcraft, or attempting to marry the two. The reasons are myriad, complex and often deeply personal. Why are believers ditching the church for magic? And what can this tell us about the decline of traditional religion? 

Here;  The witchcraft generation - New Statesman

As you read this article it's obvious that "the cup of sin" on planet earth must be nearing its full mark.  When we throw this together with all the other crazy news events happening, one should not be surprised if God very soon says, "Enough!".  God's patience and mercy is HUGE but the Bible is clear that He does have a limit.

Out blessed hope is that just like Noah was protected from God's wrath and just like Lot was removed before God's wrath, that we, the Bride of Christ, will also be removed from this earth before God pours out his wrath on planet earth again.  All the signs of the Great Tribulation are upon us so pray that Jesus is "right at the door".

Sunday, August 13, 2023

Losing Our Religion

I ran across this article and I agree with some of it and I disagree with some.  I do believe Donald Trump has been elevated, by some Christians, to almost a messiah figure.  Of course this is very wrong, “have no other gods before me”.  I loved that Trump beat Hilary to become POTUS.  I love that he appointed conservative judges.  I love that he is pro-life. I love that our enemies were afraid of him.  I love that he understands the importance of secure borders.  But his cruel, cutting mouth, his ego, his lies and his coverups should remind us that he is not acting very Christ-like.  He’s not going to save America or sink America.  Only God sets up and tears down nations.  If Trump runs against Biden next year I would for sure vote for him as the lesser of two evils, but please don’t make Trump into anything more than he is;  a failed and sinful man in need of a savior, just like all of us.  Read the entire article and let me know what you think.

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“That the two messages, a gallows and ‘Jesus Saves’ could coexist is a sign of crisis for American Christianity,” Moore writes.

Heading toward the Iowa caucus, Trump runs six points better among white evangelicals than overall. As for the devout Pence, a plurality of white evangelicals view him unfavorably.

Moore is mindful of history, and the roles Christianity has played: “Parts of the church were wrong – satanically wrong – on issues of righteousness and justice, such as the Spanish Inquisition and the scourge of human slavery.” He is editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, a publication founded by Billy Graham. Losing Our Religion offers a mixture of lament and hope. In places, its sadness is tinged with anger. In the south, the expression “losing my religion”, popularized by REM in a 1991 song, “conveys the moment when ‘politeness gives way to anger’,” Moore explains.

Moore’s public and persistent opposition to the election of Trump set him apart from most white evangelicals and would lead to his departure from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

“The man on the throne in heaven is a dark-skinned, Aramaic-speaking ‘foreigner’, who is probably not all that impressed by chants of “Make America great again,” Moore wrote in spring 2016. “Regardless of the outcome in November, [Trump’s] campaign is forcing American Christians to grapple with some scary realities that will have implications for years to come.”

He was prescient. Graham’s son, Franklin, threatened Americans with God’s wrath if they had the temerity to criticize Trump. At the time, Moore was president of the SBC ethics and religious liberty commission. His politics forced him to choose. He opted for Christ and his convictions. He joined a nondenominational church.

His new book is subtitled “An Altar Call for Evangelical America” but it aims for a broader audience. It contains ample references to Scripture, but also to the journalist Tim Alberta, Jonathan Haidt of New York University, Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, and Robert Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, a liberal group.

Of white evangelicals, Moore quotes Jones: “Their greatest temptation will be to wield what remaining political power they have as desperate corrective for their waning cultural influence.” Welcome to the culture wars, and to what Ron Brownstein of the Atlantic has called the coalition of restoration.

Against the backdrop of rising Christian nationalism and January 6, Moore reads the writing on the wall. He is troubled by the shrinking gap between Christian nationalism and neo-paganism. “The step before replacing Jesus with Thor is to turn Jesus into Thor,” he observes. Moore found the presence of prayers in “‘Jesus’s name’ right next to a horn-wearing pagan shaman in the well of the evacuated United States Senate” disturbing, but not coincidental.


 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/13/losing-our-religion-review-trump-crisis-christianity