Men need a mission. Men’s ministries that involve only sharing feelings and didactic teaching, will not hold men’s interest for long. Men are wired to DO. They need objectives and goals - a MISSION. How about a call for them to be disciple makers and leaders in their families, in their church bodies, and in their communities and government?

Two Different Worldviews: I will start by asserting that the Marxist worldview is incompatible with a Biblical worldview. . . Western civilization is based on the Biblical worldview, that is why cultural Marxists must destroy it. “Western civilization is under fire. That’s the ultimate enemy of the wokeness, of post-modernity, of cultural Marxism, of leftism, of all that stuff. The ultimate enemy is western civilization. They’re trying to deconstruct it.

This year we started the Christmas season by watching the Frank Capra classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life, which stars Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. We have seen this movie many times, but this year we were struck by the contrast between Bedford Falls and Pottersville, and we saw in it a message for times such as ours. Sadly, it seemed to us that our world today looks much like Pottersville.

No doubt you have noticed that these are difficult times. Lawlessness and outright foolishness seem to be in abundance. Although living in the “land of the free”, more and more citizens feel the clammy grip of tyranny from all levels of government. In this article I am not going to get into the tantalizing nuances of prophecy, nor take a stand on the timing of the Rapture. I am going to look at what Jesus told His Church and make some suggestions about how the faithful can live in difficult and perilous times, glorifying God, while awaiting His return. 

The disciples did not understand the scriptures and did not expect the resurrection, and yet we have the hope of the resurrection.

If God has not given us a spirit of fear, why are so many in Church leadership in the United States fearful? Fearful of government, fearful of the media, fearful of the culture, fearful of public opinion, fearful of losing members – and with them donations.

“Christian Nationalism” is a pejorative that secularists (those that do not hold to a Biblical worldview) use to impugn the motives and actions of Christians who engage the culture and the government. Look no further than Wikipedia to find the lengths to which they will go to malign sincere Christians.

Psalm 75 is a song of thanksgiving. The Psalmist gives thanks for deliverance from the troubles of Psalm 74. This is a Psalm of faith because it anticipates a miraculous deliverance in the future. As one reads this Psalm, it seems to anticipate the events of the end times. In this Psalm we see parallels to the prophecies of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation.

Have you ever been surprised by someone who talks about you behind your back, or who plots against you, perhaps while feigning friendship? This type of experience inspired David to write Psalm 64.

The sons of Issachar were wise men who understood the times in which they lived. Even though their fellow Israelites may have been distracted by idols and foreign powers, they knew what the nation should do. Unfortunately, in our nation today there seem to be very few who understand the times in which we live. As a result, we are seeing a steady decay of our nation and its culture of Liberty.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed and not know where to start when praying for government. 

There is so much going on and so many needs that you could find yourself praying 24/7 and still not include everything burdening your heart.

In his book, Rules of Engagement, Chad Hennings relates a story about how he and his fellow A-10 pilots coped with an inflight emergency.

During the Gulf War, Hennings and his wingmen were a flight of four A-10’s traveling from Bentwater/Woodbridge in the U.K. to Incirlik, Turkey. Over the Mediterranean Sea, Hennings’ A-10 began to lose oil pressure, forcing him to shut down one engine…

Increasingly, Christianity is being oppressed by government entities at all levels. The Church in Magdeburg faced tyranny and persecution and their application of Biblical truth to their situation is instructive for the believer in the United States in the 21st century. It offers both a theological and a practical approach to civil and political engagement in the face of persecution.

Why do Constitutional Amendments appear on a ballot? In Texas, citizens vote periodically on proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. How does that happen?

Article 17 of the Texas Constitution governs amendments to the Constitution.

The state legislature may propose amendments to the Texas Constitution by two thirds vote of each House.

To become law a proposed amendment must be approved by a majority of the citizens of the State of Texas who are qualified to vote.

Therefore, in the years when the legislature convenes, Texans get the opportunity to vote for or against changes to the state Constitution.

***Our Texas Constitutional Amendment Election is November 2, 2021. Early voting opens on October 18 and ends on October 29. Make sure to look up the locations to vote and the hours on the website of your local county elections department. Don’t forget to vote in this important election.

Judge Gus Jones was the circuit judge in Eldorado, AR, for many years. He was also my grandfather and my father frequently reminded me of this aphorism of his. Now by equity, he did not mean the contemporary idea that if you have something I don’t, then you are oppressing me and equity demands I get it. Equity in the traditional sense means: Justice, what is right. As Noah Webster reminds us:

In practice, equity is the impartial distribution of justice, or the doing that to another which the laws of God and man, and of reason, give him right to claim. It is the treating of a person according to justice and reason. (Webster 1828)

Justice and equity are attributes of God. In His Word, He repeatedly demonstrates that justice and equity are important to righteousness.

Thinking of politics and civics, I would argue that the dire situation in which we find ourselves today in the United States, stems largely from the passivity of the Church.

For almost 100 years, the Church has withdrawn passively from confronting the encroaching tyranny of the state. Church leaders invoke Romans 13 out of context and instruct their flock to “stay in their own lane”. When the Church passively fails to speak truth to power, the powerful will inevitably seize more and more power for themselves.

God has instituted government among men to praise good and to punish evil. When government functions properly, then the disgrace of sin is minimized and the nation which seeks to practice righteousness is exalted. While, each citizen is subject to the governing authorities, those authorities have been established by God, and exist to govern the affairs of man in submission to their delegated authority.

The vanity of men - there is nothing like the pull of power, influence, and the love of money. The Bible is full of admonishments to be aware and to be watchful as it relates to our own hearts.

Although we may be confident that the word of God is absolute truth, it can still be a lonely task to speak the truth to a society that has embraced postmodernism and has thus abandoned any notion of truth.