The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

My recent op-eds here received many positive responses — as well as a few negative ones. The charge of being a hypocrite if you support the president is often at the top of the list. But hypocrisy means to intentionally deceive someone (e.g., who I am on Sunday is not who I am on Monday). We are not dealing with hypocrisy here. So what are we dealing with? 

We have two primary issues playing out. Number one, many are simply not going to embrace the president’s agenda. I truly believe that this is a spiritual battle. There’s a big push toward globalism, abortion on demand, sexual perversion, socialism, open borders, and so on. And it’s often Christians who serve as our moral compass to get us back on track.

Calling us hypocrites is really just a defense mechanism for those who don’t want to see the truth. For example, when I talk about ungodly entertainment, I’m labeled a fundamentalist. When I talk about purity and abstinence, I’m labeled legalistic. When I talk about defending babies, I’m labeled as being against women. When I talk about marriage being between a man and a woman, I’m labeled a homophobe. When I support the current president, I’m labeled a hypocrite. And on and on it goes. (Subscribe here on YouTube to hear sermons.)

Anytime you stand for truth, you will be labeled. Granted, the truth must come from a loving, gentle heart. The truth will offend, but our attitude should not. Many people on the conservative side also need to pray before posting something derogatory on social media. We are dropping the ball on both sides. For example, when I released an op-ed about distorted facts, a lot of people thought that I was writing something against the president (click here to read it). The mean emails I received from “conservatives” were just as nasty as ones from liberals. Folks, we can all use a lot more grace and humility, including me.

The Real Problem: The Battle over Truth

The more concerning issue is that many claiming to be Christians embrace liberal theology, and most of them are against President Trump. This group typically has a problem with the inerrancy of Scripture as well as difficult truths, such as repentance, judgment, and sin. So it’s no surprise why they don’t like op-eds, social media posts, or anything grounded in truth. They also welcome anti-scriptural agendas (the LGBTQ onslaught comes to mind), and they mock those who aren’t willing to throw their Bibles away and follow the crowd. Need more proof? It was liberals calling themselves “Christians” who primarily came against my article regarding what the Bible says about homosexuality.

So, one must ask the question regarding political hot buttons: When Hollywood and most of the media is on your side, are you sure you’re on the right side? The Bible encourages us to be peacemakers but not religious negotiators. In our zeal to reach others, we cannot compromise the message just because we want to be liked. We must speak the truth.

Do Ungodly Means Justify a Godly End?

Another question goes something like this: Do ungodly means justify a godly end? To me, this is a no-brainer. The Bible says don’t murder innocent children (abortion). It also says that we should work hard if we can (no socialism). It also says that the government is to guard the nation, securing borders and fighting terrorism (see Romans 13). The Bible adds that we should have judges who are honest and that we should bring God’s Word into all areas of life. And on and on it goes. Many of President Trump’s staff are doing all this and more. How a person, let alone a Christian, can overlook these things is a mystery to me.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Shane Idleman

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

When I was a youngster, an issue of Popular Mechanics came out, and on the cover was a man pushing a small, yellow helicopter into the garage of his modest home. The magazine was sure that within a few years, whirlybirds would replace cars. That prospect was exciting, but predictions are often perilous.

Thomas Edison was one of the greatest inventors in history, but when it came to the future, he got a few things wrong. In a 1911 interview, he predicted, “The day is near when bars of [gold] will be as common and as cheap as bars of iron or blocks of steel. We are already on the verge of discovering the secret of transmuting metals, which are all substantially the same in matter, though combined in different proportions.” Great ocean liners, he said, would be made of solid gold and we would be riding in golden taxicabs.

Well, maybe in heaven, the Golden City. But Edison’s mistake left his reputation, well, tarnished a bit.

Get ready for more predictions! We just began a new year, a new decade, and in America it’s an election year to boot. I predict you’ll hear a lot of predictions, a lot of gloom and doom, a lot of disturbing speculation, and a lot of clamoring about the dangers ahead. Some people view the future through the lens of headline news. Their ideas are shaped by the commentators they hear every night, mostly from one political slant or another. Others shape their ideas for the future with extreme voices, warning of disasters around every corner. And a lot of us view tomorrow through the lens of worry and fear. We’re anxious about the coming year. We have worries that nag at us.

So let’s remember something important: We don’t know what tomorrow holds for our world, but we know Who holds tomorrow.

The Great Optometrist

Have you ever considered how poorly people saw things in biblical times? There were no optometrists, and corrective lenses hadn’t been invented yet. So, as people aged and their vision deteriorated, they had to live with blurry images — all except one man who had perfect 20/20 vision, thanks to Jesus. It was the blind man of Bethsaida whom the crowd brought to the Lord, asking Him for healing. Jesus led the man away from the crowd, touched his eyes, and asked if he saw anything. He said he saw people in the distance, like trees walking. Jesus put His hands over the man’s eyes again and this time his vision was as sharp as an eagle’s (Mark 8:22-29).

There was a purpose to this two-stage miracle. In the next paragraph, Peter recognized Jesus was the Messiah, but he couldn’t yet see how Jesus would die for the sins of the world. His insights into our Lord’s work came in stages.

Jesus is not only the Great Physician, He is the Great Optometrist. We need to look at life through His lens — the lens of biblical prophecy, scriptural promises, and divine reassurance. As He touches our eyes, we see things with more clarity.

The Heavenly Eye Chart

If the Lord is the Great Optometrist, the Bible is His heavenly eye chart. He tells us to look at the letters in His Book and read them clearly, noticing even the smallest of truths. If you need a few lines of Scripture to help you face the future, let me suggest some 20:20 verses for 2020.

And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”
Exodus 20:20

SOURCE: Christian Post, David Jeremiah

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

Writing for the Friendly Atheist blog, Beth Stoneburner took issue with my contention that a President Pete Buttigieg would “do his best to marginalize those who are convinced that [homosexual] relationships are contrary to the will of God.” She also claimed that “no one is trying to silence” me when it comes to speaking out on behalf of Christian conservative values. Are my fellow-believers simply paranoid? Are we manufacturing a crisis when none exists?

According to Stoneburner, “No one is trying to silence Brown. He regularly publishes his bile on larger platforms, for goodness’ sake. He’s doing just fine. Somehow, right-wing believers survived eight years of President Obama but they can’t handle the possibility of a gay president.”

She added, “The fact that Brown is still spewing this nonsense without being arrested or thrown in jail or fined shows you just how little he has to be worried about. If only the people he condemned had the same luxury.”

It would have been better, of course, if Stoneburner had responded with accuracy rather than rhetoric.

For example, I never said a word about believers not surviving an out and proud gay presidency.

I simply stated that such a presidency would contribute to the further moral decline of our society.

As for our survival, Jesus guaranteed that 2,000 years ago, saying that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the church (see Matthew 16:18). He also said He was with us always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

So, if the church can survive all kinds of murderous persecution worldwide, right until this minute, ranging from radical Islamic terrorists to oppressive atheistic regimes, it can certainly survive a gay president. Obviously.

I also have no desire to see my political or ideological opponents arrested or thrown in jail or fined. When did I ever utter such sentiments?

But again, why deal with specifics and facts when it’s so much easier to demonize your Bible-believing opponents? Unfortunately, this only adds to the polarization rather than opening the door for a meaningful, candid discussion of our differences.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Brown

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

God’s perfect picture of a home is a godly man married to a godly woman, both of whom seek the Lord with their whole heart and love each other with His love. Proverbs 31:10 states “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” (KJV) One of my favorite sayings states, “Unity does not come from everyone agreeing with one another all the time; unity comes from everyone agreeing with God.”

Any couple who sincerely both independently and together spend time in prayer seeking God’s will in almost everything are going to be lovingly in agreement on almost everything! Another saying I have is “People who pray a lot agree a lot!” Both of these sayings are true for the same reason. There is only one true God. He knows everything including what is best for the future. This means that He is the ultimate ender of all arguments. He is the glue that holds together the most beautiful and long lasting of all marriages and the healer of all misunderstandings! However, this article is not about marriage. Instead its about something God showed me recently in prayer.

What happens when Satan gets his hooks in us? What happens when the man steps out of his godly role or the woman goes outside of what her responsibilities should be? Indeed what happens when a demonic force so infiltrates the media around us all, that it has an influence, which could eventually destroy our whole Christian culture?

A few nights ago I was in prayer. I had been deeply troubled for some time about the bombardment of more and more flesh, more and more sex, more and more porn which seems to be everywhere in our culture. This years Superbowl halftime show brought a plethora of articles and Facebook posts from irate Christian viewers calling the presentation “soft porn” and worse than ever!

I was also deeply troubled in my local community by another report of a marriage in trouble. I was profoundly saddened by the obvious unwillingness of one of them to submit to the other’s desire for where they attend church. Nothing was being discussed about the quality of the Bible teaching and preaching which was being done so faithfully at the church they were now attending. Nothing was being said about the powerful worship services that were going up to Heaven each week. Everything being argued about had to do with nonspiritual issues. Personally, I wanted to interrupt the conversation and say, “Excuse me but have you two prayed about this? As you both draw close to God you will automatically draw closer to each other.” But I didn’t, knowing that often once a discussion gets to that level, the last thing that is needed is some minister interjecting his ideas about what they should do. So I decided to commit it to prayer, which I did. As often happens the Holy Spirit’s answer came through later that night at my church while I prayed quietly by myself at the altar.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Nolan Harkness

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My husband and I have a private joke. When we find ourselves in conversation about shifting social norms or the tribalism of contemporary politics, invariably his eyes begin to twinkle. I know that he’s silently counting the minutes until I utter the words: “Well, you know, it all comes back to the sexual revolution.” Upon reading Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics, I imagine author Mary Eberstadt having similar moments with her husband, Nick (to whom the book is dedicated), and I feel entirely justified.

Eberstadt is a writer and senior research fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute whose previous books trace themes of western secularization, religious freedom, and sexual ethics. In Primal Screams, she follows a similar path, making the case that the liquidation of family in the wake of the sexual revolution is a primary driver of today’s identity politics.

While Eberstadt’s conservative bent reveals itself in her framing and word choice, she does attempt conversation across the political spectrum and maintains that regardless of affiliation, we can all agree on two things: first, that the American polis is deeply divided and second, that identity politics is among the most powerful forces of our time. But unlike some of her fellow conservatives, who might simply blame progressives as fomenters of identity politics, Eberstadt seeks to understand what drives victim-based identity in the first place.

Identity politics, she argues, answers the question “Who am I?” for a society that lacks traditional sources of identity and purpose. The “Great Scattering”—her term for the social and familial fallout of the sexual revolution—magnified our need for connection while simultaneously stripping us of a natural mechanism for belonging and protection. The loss of family also means fewer opportunities to learn how to build common trust in the pursuit of the common good.

Still, Eberstadt acknowledges that the “Great Scattering” is not the only driver of identity politics. “Real crimes and injustices,” she writes, “have been committed against real sexual and racial and other minorities—wrongs that have naturally driven many people to group identities in hopes of preventing more wounds.” We cluster in special interest groups because we find ourselves alone in the world and believe that the only ones we can count on to meet our needs and protect us are those who have similarly suffered. In this sense, Eberstadt understands family fragmentation not simply as the loss of traditional values but as the loss of society itself.

The most compelling part of Eberstadt’s argument is her explanation of identity politics as a survival mechanism. She frames feminism, for example, as a necessary social adaptation in a sexual ethos that privileges male promiscuity. Contra fellow conservatives who might posit feminism or queer theory as the cause of familial breakdown, Eberstadt sees them as the result of a world that is increasingly dangerous for women and children because of the loss of marital norms. She calls readers to distinguish between the presenting symptoms and the deeper systemic ailment: “However unconsciously,” she writes, “feminism is in fact expressing an overlooked truth here: today’s women have reason to feel concerned.”

In parsing the #MeToo Movement, she continues

The sexual revolution reduced the number of men who could be counted on … the ethos of recreational sex blurred the lines between protector and predator, making it harder for women to tell the difference. Simultaneously, the decline of family has reduced the number of men offering affection and companionship of a non-sexual nature—fewer brothers, cousins, uncles, and others who could once have been counted on to push back against men treating [women] badly.

Source: Christianity Today

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I want you to invite you to use your imagination and come with me to the edge of the Jordan River, in the territory of Moab in the area where the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea (Deuteronomy 1:5). The book of Deuteronomy records Moses’ final speech/sermon to the people of Israel before he turns over leadership to Joshua and right before Joshua leads the people into the Promise Land. The people of God stand right on the edge of what they have always hoped for. This is it, they are thinking. This is the moment we have all been waiting for. This is the moment that our parents told us about, this is what God has always promised: a land of our own, safety and protection from enemies, the chance to purify and secure the future of our ethnic identity. And finally, it was time.

In Deuteronomy, we get to listen in on the conversation between God and God’s people via Moses as they stand right on the verge of this cataclysmic and life-altering event. The theme of the entire 34 chapters is a call to remember.

Remember

Moses spends the entire sermon remembering (aloud) the story of Israel. If you remember the story over the previous forty plus years, there are some good moments but there are also, and perhaps mostly, moments of colossal failure. All of Chapter 9 and 10 record the specific atrocities of the golden calf worship and the stone tablets, as if they had just happened. God reminds them that Moses was so angry that he wanted to destroy the people. (9:13-15) The nation of Israel was commanded by God to tell these failure stories and not to allow a glossy finish to begin to settle over their history. God wants the history of their disobedience told over and over again. I can’t help but wonder why.

The key to changing the future is remembering the past.

Moses’ call to remember in Deuteronomy provides a helpful commentary on dealing with our own past (and present) failures. One such area is racism in America today.

When it comes to racism in America, I want to invite us to remember the distant and recent realities such as:

We add these distant and present realities to two current events.

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Wednesday marked two years since the kidnapping of Nigerian Christian teenager Leah Sharibu by one of the most violent terrorist groups in the world.

The Boko Haram faction of the Islamic State West African province abducted Sharibu along with 109 of her female classmates. In the days that followed, five of the girls died in captivity and 104 were released about a month later.

Sharibu, however, remains a captive because she refused to renounce her faith in Jesus Christ and convert to Islam, so Boko Haram announced that she would be a slave for life. She was only 14 years old at the time of her capture. 

Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), an organization that advocates on behalf of hundreds of millions of Christians facing heavy persecution worldwide, continues to work for Sharibu to be freed.

“Over many agonizing months for her family, it has been reported that Leah was alive, then killed in captivity, thought again to be alive and, most recently, that she is the mother of a newborn son,” said STPC Executive Director Dede Laugesen. “Just last week, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari claimed the Nigerian government is committed to ensuring that every child taken by insurgents will be released. Two years after Leah was taken, the world wants to see action rather than talk.”

During a speech last week at the 33rd African Union (AU) Summit in Ethiopia, Buhari declared his government “will not relent until every child, boy or girl, every Nigerian adult in custody of Boko Haram, is freed.”

“Let me categorically reassure you of the steadfast commitment of the Government of Nigeria to ensure the freedom of all kidnapped children from the shackles of Boko Haram,” he said. 

The STPC has urged the US to send a special envoy to Nigeria and the Lake Chad region due to the extreme violence against Christians there. The organization delivered an open letter to President Trump about this urgent need last month. At least 1,000 Christians were killed in the region in 2019 with more than 5,000 killed since 2015, according to a UK report.

As CBN News reported last month, Sharibu’s family spoke out after media reports broke claiming she had a baby boy while in captivity. Her family described the reports as just a rumor.

Dr. Gloria Puldu, a spokesperson for the family and the head of the Leah Foundation told Sunday Punch that all they want is to have their daughter home alive, with or without a baby. 

Puldu said, “What we even desire is to see a proof-of-life so that we see Leah by ourselves.”

“The most important thing is that we want her to be alive. And if she is alive, we will praise God for that,” she continued. “They should release her, despite whatever condition she is in. That is all; it doesn’t matter whether she is pregnant or with a baby. Is it not better to have your child alive? So, it doesn’t matter, all we are interested in is her life and safety.”

Sharibu’s father, Nathan told the Hausa service of Voice of America that he has not been contacted by Nigerian authorities about his daughter and also was unsure about the credibility of the recent reports. 

As CBN News reported last June, Sharibu’s mother Rebecca traveled to Washington, DC to advocate for her daughter’s release. Save the Persecuted Christians and the International Committee on Nigeria organized a delegation of Nigerians to travel to Washington, DC to share their stories with leaders at the White House and Capitol Hill.

Nigeria ranks as the 12th worst country in the world for Christian persecution on Open Doors USA’s 2020 World Watch List.

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