GOD IS LOOSENING SATAN’S HOLD ON THE U.S.A.

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In November, Trump was elected President of the USA largely on the basis of putting God back in His rightful place (In God We Trust). In December, The Wall Street Journal reported that Bible sales were up 22% while sales of other books were essentially flat. In fact, in 2019, 9.7 million copies of the Bible were sold in America. Last year, that number approached 14 million, with most sales driven by “first-time buyers.”

Then there is football, with Ohio State players preaching to students last summer and on national television after winning the national championship, Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson praising Jesus at the Fiesta Bowl, and Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh leading his team in the Lord’s Prayer, God-talk on and off the field has been conspicuous this season. 

Or consider the “moment” God is having among secular thought leaders. Richard Dawkins and Elon Musk, recognizing the importance of Christianity to the West, have labeled themselves “cultural Christians.” Former New Atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali experienced and defended a conversion to the Christian faith, as did her husband, well-known historian and Hoover Institute fellow Niall Ferguson. Former atheist and popular historian Tom Holland’s bestselling book has changed the narrative about the positive role Christianity has played in making the Western world. Psychologist and author Jordan Peterson often references Scripture and just released a 500-page book attempting to draw lessons and meaning from the Old Testament. And, of course, podcaster Joe Rogan recently interviewed Christian apologist Wesley Huff for his 14 million subscribers. 

Justin Brierley, co-host of the “Unbelievable” podcast and author of The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God, thinks we are seeing something significant: 

[T]hey say 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. 

Brierley thinks this “wider turning of the secular tide in the West,” is a result of secularism’s failed predictions. A couple of decades ago, the New Atheists promised a rational utopia in the wake of religious decline. Instead, we got a crisis of meaning, widespread “confusion, a mental health crisis in the young, and the culture wars.” Now, a “New Theist” movement has sprung up, and even those not converting to Christ have toned down the anti-Christian rhetoric. Some are even suggesting that faith is good for the world.  

Still, Brierley cautions that what we’re seeing is far from a revival. Many of the “cultural Christians” of our moment are not believers, nor are they claiming to be. There’s a big difference between regarding Christianity as a “useful fiction,” able to restore vigor and cohesion to the West, and submitting to it as the ultimate truth that demands our allegiance and devotion. For the millions of new Bible owners, the difference is between looking for sage advice and looking for God. Neither a better world nor a better you is what Christianity fundamentally offers.  

Though a “vibe shift” in favor of religion is welcome, and cultural Christianity is genuinely a good thing, Christ does not claim to be “useful.” He claims to be the risen Son of God and King of kings, before whom every knee must bow. Those hoping to make Him “useful” overlook that the West did not become a great civilization because people believed Christianity offered good advice, but because they believed it was true. Anyone who tries to use the God of the Bible to some earthly end will only be repeating the blunder of Mainline Protestantism, not doing something genuinely new or important. 

At the same time, the truth about Christ is compelling. Thus, the renewed interest in this cultural moment can be welcomed and celebrated. Secularism has failed to satisfy the human soul or build the utopia that was promised. But Christ will not fail, not in this world nor in the age to come. Our task is to point insistently to the full and glorious truth of His rule and reign.  

We can direct the curious to resources like The Bible Project, or Graeme Goldsworthy’s classic book, According to Plan, both of which explain what the Bible is and what it teaches. Proven apologetic classics like C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity are incredibly helpful resources for those willing to give God a new look. Most importantly, the Church must be the Church, with the Word faithfully taught and lived. After all, we know that God’s Word will not return void, and He is at work through His people in this and every cultural moment.

REMEMBER GOD APPOINTS LEADERS OF NATIONS

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With the American presidential election imminent Christians must remember that God appoints leaders for His purposes. The bible records for us how God used the leaders of the most powerful nations: Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the Babylonian Empire 600 years before Christ. He received a vision from God. Why?

“in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men. gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men” Daniel 4:17

The Bib;le clearly shows that God will place terrible leaders in positions of great power for the explicit purpose of fulfilling His plans. This was certainly true of the pharoah of the Exodus, whose heart God hardened time, after time. God had Moses tell Pharoah:

“Indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Exodus 9:16

One of the most convincing proofs that the Bible is the inspired word of God is fulfilled prophecy. God inspired the prophet Isaiah to announce 150 years in advance the rise to power of Cyrus the Great to fulfill His purpose to bring God’s people back to their land after 70 years in exile for their rebellion and not keeping 70 Shemitah’s. 2 Chronicles 36:21 says, “The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.”

“Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.” Isaiah 45:1-7

Know that whoever is elected, it is God’s choice for this season: if Trump, maybe a short repreive from escalating judgement; if Harris it will be escalating judgement.

CHRISTIANS GATHER IN WASHINGTON TO PRAY FOR THE NATION

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Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to pray for America’s atonement and most also prayed for Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Organizers of the event billed the gathering and next month’s presidential election as “a last stand moment” to save the nation from the forces of darkness. For hours, the gathered masses sang worship songs, waved flags symbolizing their belief that America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation, and prayed aloud for Jesus to intercede on behalf of Trump in November.

“If we don’t stand now,” said Grace Lin, who traveled from Los Angeles for the rally and came wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, “then the enemy will take over our country. If that happens, that’s the end.”

Lou Engle, the self-described prophet who organized the event, said God told him in a dream to call on a million women to march on Washington in order to restore God’s dominion over the nation. Engle is a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of charismatic Christians who for years have portrayed U.S. politics as a spiritual clash between good and evil and Trump as a flawed leader anointed by God to redeem the nation.

“Listen to the cries of your people,” Engle shouted Saturday as thousands of followers lifted their hands to the sky. “Save us God!”

From a stage overlooking the Washington Monument, Engle and other speakers warned of a multitude of threats they say are facing America: crime, religious persecution, abortion, and the growing acceptance of LGBTQ people. 

Thousands of women came wearing pink shirts emblazoned with the words “Don’t Mess With Our Kids” — the name and slogan of an anti-LGBTQ activist group that claims library books, public school teachers and pop culture are tricking children into changing genders.

Susan Marsh, who drove from Maryland, said she attended because she fears if Democrats maintain power, her 10-month old grandson will grow up in a nation where he’s pressured to identify as a girl. As she sang and prayed, Marsh waved a large Appeal to Heaven flag — a prominent symbol of the Christian movement to end the separation of church and state in America.

“So many people are hopeless right now,” Marsh said, choking up as she spoke to a reporter. “Our children are going through surgeries that are unnecessary because their hearts are broken and they think they’re not who they’re supposed to be.”

Maryn Freitag was part of a group of about 50 people who traveled from Minnesota. She said she came “to stand with the man who God has selected as the president.” She then gestured to her hat, which spelled out “Trump 2024” in shimmering rhinestones.

Freitag refused to contemplate what would happen if Trump loses to Vice President Kamala Harris: “I don’t even want to go there,” she said.

Sandi Woskie, another member of the Minnesota contingent, overheard the comment. She leaned in and said: “Think armageddon.”

“That’s right,” Freitag said. “If we don’t turn this nation back to the Lord, we’re on a fast slide into the abyss with no return.”

Matthew Taylor, a senior scholar at the nonprofit Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Maryland, said those comments are representative of a dangerous and increasingly widespread embrace of apocalyptic political messaging on the Christian right.

Taylor, who attended the march Saturday as part of his research, has spent years studying the New Apostolic Reformation and its unwavering support for Trump. He documented in his book, “The Violent Take it by Force,” how false claims about widespread election fraud by Engle and other Christian nationalist leaders helped fuel the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Taylor said he worries that the dire messaging — and the portrayal of Trump as God’s chosen candidate to defeat evil Democrats — could set the stage for more violence.

“This is about activating the most ardent Christian supporters of Donald Trump, putting them into an apocalyptic mindset that says this election is do or die for America,” Taylor said. “The danger is that these folks can easily be converted over into Capitol rioters if the right circumstances come about and if their leaders give them that guidance.”

Taylor — and many others in attendance — noted that the crowd was more racially and ethnically diverse than most conservative political rallies. Churches from across the country, including some majority Black denominations, chartered buses for the event. Organizers chose to hold the event on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, because it is a day to atone for sin.

LaTrece Curry, a Black mother who said she voted for former President Barack Obama in 2008, drove from Ohio with her husband and four children. She said her support for Trump — a twice-divorced billionaire who’s facing a range of criminal charges related to his business practices and alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election — has led to divisions and arguments with her Black friends and family members. But she believes he’s the only candidate who will set America back on a moral course.

“I do think it is a last stand,” Curry said. “But God has given us so much time. Now judgment will come.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

THE CASE FOR TRUMP

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Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a professor of Classics Emeritus at California State University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services.

He is also the Wayne & Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History, Hillsdale College, where he teaches each fall semester courses in military history and classical culture.

Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007, and the Bradley Prize in 2008, as well as the Edmund Burke Award (2018), William F. Buckley Prize (2015), the Claremont Institute’s Statesmanship Award (2006), and the Eric Breindel Award for opinion journalism (2002).

Hopefully, the above profile on Hanson will at least get you to take a look at this video where he makes the case for Trump getting another term.

The Catholic Case for Trump 

With less than two months to go until the 2020 election, a new book aims to convince Catholics across the United States to support the reelection of President Donald Trump.

Austin Ruse, president of the Center for Family and Human Rights, explained his motivations for writing The Catholic Case for Trump in an interview with The Christian Post. 

“I was motivated to write the book to give the faithful Catholics some ammunition” as they debate “their more liberal friends and family,” he said.

Even though the president isn’t Catholic himself, Ruse maintains that he’s “the most pro-Catholic president in history.”

INSPIRING SPEECH – PRO ETERNAL LIFE

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One of the most moving moments in the Republican Convention was the speech by Sister Dede Byrne, a surgeon and army veteran of the War in Afghanistan, who joined the order of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Sister Dede Byrne speaks at the 2020 Republican National Convention

Here is an excerpt:

“Humility is at the foundation of our order, which makes it very difficult to talk about myself. But I can speak about my experience working for those fleeing war-torn and impoverished countries all around the world. Those refugees all share a common experience. They have all been marginalized, viewed as insignificant, powerless and voiceless. And while we tend to think of the marginalized as living beyond our borders, the truth is the largest marginalized group in the world can be found here in the United States. They are the unborn.

As Christians, we first met Jesus as a stirring embryo in the womb of an unwed mother and saw him born nine months later in the poverty of the cave. It is no coincidence that Jesus stood up for what was just and was ultimately crucified because what he said was not politically correct or fashionable. As followers of Christ, we are called to stand up for life against the politically correct or fashionable of today. We must fight against a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb. Keep in mind, the laws we create define how we see our humanity. We must ask ourselves: What we are saying when we go into a womb and snuff out an innocent, powerless, voiceless life? As a physician, I can say without hesitation: Life begins at conception. While what I have to say may be difficult for some to hear, I am saying it because I am not just pro-life, I am pro-eternal life. I want all of us to end up in heaven together someday. Which brings me to why I am here today.

Donald Trump is the most pro-life president this nation has ever had, defending life at all stages. His belief in the sanctity of life transcends politics. President Trump will stand up against Biden-Harris, who are the most anti-life presidential ticket ever, even supporting the horrors of late-term abortion and infanticide. Because of his courage and conviction, President Trump has earned the support of America’s pro-life community. Moreover, he has a nationwide of religious standing behind him. You’ll find us here with our weapon of choice, the rosary. Thank you, Mr. President, we are all praying for you.”