Unbelievable, but then again, maybe not!
I finished reading a recent WND article, "Township issues death sentence for Christian school," describing how a Christian school, Livingston Christian School, was denied the right to relocate by the city council in Genoa Township, Michigan. According to WND, the local planning commission as well as experts consulted on the project all endorsed the proposed move to relocate the school to a larger facility to accommodate its growth. The community also reportedly was in support of this project as well.
So why did the council vote it down? Could it be the growing influence of Islam in Michigan? I do not know for certain. I am not on the council nor do I live in Genoa Township, Michigan. The favor afforded to Islam in the state of Michigan is not a secret and could represent a contributing factor to the decision. Muslims support the expansion of Islam, not Christianity. Is it possible that the council members were fearful of offending Muslims and those sympathetic to them? Political progressives – pandering for votes and deferring to the followers of a religious movement whose views on women, war and social justice are stuck in 7th-century jurisprudence – typically justify their views as promoting equality and tolerance.
The stated goal of Islam has and continues to be the subjugation of the entire world, through conversion to Islam, tax payments to stay alive and live in servitude, or death for those refusing to convert or pay the ransom. Muslims are supposed to embrace Shariah law, which they consider the highest law of any land, allowing them to severely discipline or murder non-Muslims with impunity from other Muslims. This is not a hypothetical or theoretical pipe dream; it is already openly practiced in parts of Middle East and Europe. Through media favor, money and massive immigration, this "religion of peace" has now made expanding inroads into the United States of America, most notably in the states of Michigan and Minnesota.
According to polling data, the majority of practicing Muslims, even in the United States of America, supports the establishment of Shariah – even if Muslims do not all publicly practice it. This is one of those inconvenient facts most media outlets fail to report for fear it might foster a backlash at Islamic brutalities accepted as normal by tens of millions of Muslims around the world. With our open-border policies, or more accurate border policies that are not enforced, Muslims do not have to enter this country by way of a Trojan horse. They are free to march through the front doors by way of corrupt politicians, a fearful populous and an activist court system that is systematically taking down the constitutional and Judeo/Christian foundations of this country, brick by brick.
Another contributor could be the growing anti-religious, Christophobic bigotry that runs amok throughout the public-school system in a seamless monolithic crescendo from kindergarten through college across our once Judeo/Christian-based country. The secularization of the United States of America is no secret, either. Isn't it an irony that while our country has grown progressively intolerant of the followers of Jesus Christ, it has grown increasingly tolerant of the followers of Muhammad and Karl Marx?
In the classroom and public square, the words "Christian" and "conservative" are used synonymously with words like "racist," "sexist" and "bigot" by the progressive leftist, socialist and Marxist movements. It seems strikingly odd that so many in the political and religious progressive leftist movement who purportedly champion open-mindedness, free speech, free thought, fairness, tolerance, justice and pluralism are so perniciously persistent and consistent  labeling anyone who disagrees with their views in such egregiously pejorative terms.
Try saying "God bless you" or "Jesus loves you" or "Merry Christmas" or "I am a Christian" or "I am pro-life" or "My choice is to oppose abortion on demand" or "I support the death penalty for convicted premeditated murderers" or "I support Second Amendment gun rights" or "I oppose open borders and illegal immigration" or "People who promote Islam as a religion of peace are ignorant of actual historicity" or "I voted for Trump" – and see how quickly most of the media talking heads and leftist political ideologues actively revert to name calling, labeling and profiling, often resulting in a loss of reputation, favor, income, employment and good will.
How did this happen and through what means? My response to the "how" question would be slowly, methodically and strategically – like the proverbial frog in the boiling water. Regarding the "through what means" question, I believe there are many contributing factors and factions to this question, too many to adequately cover in one short article.
Both of my parents were teachers. I have served as a teacher at many different levels from homeschooling to graduate school. The National Education Association once represented a wonderful profession and ambition. Today, it represents little more than a political machine and an indoctrination mill, schemed to finance and fund the progressive leftist and socialist agendas. It has evolved into a vehicle capturing the minds of our children and the future of this country by producing an ever-growing number of students indoctrinated into naturalistic, pluralistic, agnostic or atheistic religious beliefs and progressive leftist, socialist or Marxist political views. This systematic mind manipulation of students often comes at the expense of their taxpaying parents, who fund teachers' salaries while disagreeing with the religious and political points of view being actively promulgated in many classrooms. If they agree with this process, they are open minded. If they disagree, they are bigots.
Once these children become the parents, that conflict will become a moot point. How effective has this ideologically driven mouthpiece of the political left in this country become in delivering an assembly line of politically indoctrinated students who dutifully champion groupthink, march in protest for leftist agenda items that most do not understand beyond bumper-sticker slogans, and enter the voting booths to do the bidding of their trainers? The rise of a 74-year-old political socialist who has accomplished absolutely nothing of note over his 40-year political career other than demagoguery, making promises, acquiring multiple properties (isn't that an ironic farce?), and spending other people's money ought to be an indicator.
Look at the voting block of millennials who have marched, campaigned and enthusiastically supported Barack Hussein Obama and Bernie Sanders. Many of these young people march in goose step with the radical leftist, socialist and/or Marxist political agendas of both men without having an iota of factual understanding concerning what these policies actually represent beyond what school teachers and media talking heads repeat unfiltered and unfettered. Neither do they understand how secularist, socialist and Marxist policies and their ensuing social experimentation suppress freedoms and destroy lives around the globe where these policies have been actually implemented. Saul Alinsky would be proud of the "progress."
From the students' perspective, they now have a cause to march for and slogans to parrot on que, more resembling mindless, foot-dragging zombies than informed, courageous champions of the social justice they romanticize themselves to represent. What are they promised in return for helping reform or overturn capitalism and a democratic republic? Free school, free medicine, free food, free housing and guaranteed living wages for entry-level jobs – everything they have been told they are obliged to have if they can breathe and are willing to vote for those supporting more government oversight and regulations. They envision utopias that they believe exist outside the United States as expounded and promoted by their leftist-leaning public school indoctrinators. But those indoctrinators more accurately function as political activists and social reformers than classroom teachers. Ironically and predictably, most of these students and their teachers have never traveled outside the United States.
What an embarrassment it should have been for the DNC and its politically leftist cronies when recent emails were released detailing how some of the marchers and protesters were actually being paid $1,500 a week for their spontaneous and patriotic services to the cause. Who says these young protesters and marchers all reject making money at the expense of others through their organized and subsidized lawlessness and vandalism?
Yes, I believe there are still good and qualified teachers in this profession. But many of these true professionals and their views are being systematically marginalized, censored, silenced and isolated as irrelevant relics from the past who need to go the way of the T-Rex for their refusal to go with the flow.
Children's stories tell us the grass is always greener on the other side, usually ending in some type of dilemma and subsequent lesson to be learned. In this case, the childish drones actually believe the fable is true, and they protest against those who disagree with them. If I were $60,000 to $150,000 in debt with a worthless college degree and no job prospects other than at entry-level fast-food chains and retailers, I would be unhappy, too. I would be unhappy with myself that I failed to do my homework and find out what kind of jobs were actually available upon completion of my major and graduation. Degrees in communication studies, women's studies, men's studies, transgendered studies, ethnic studies, personal enrichment studies, humanities studies, counseling studies, history studies and environmental studies typically produce more debt than job opportunity. Since I have been taught I am owed a job that supports my expectations whether my degree is in engineering or environmental studies, I will move back home, march in protest for the results of my own naivety, and wait to find work until I can land a job that moves me from cashier to vice president of a company within six months. After all, I deserve it because I actually showed up for most work shifts on time. Sounds reasonable to me, right? Until then, I will fill my time having sex, drinking micro brews, smoking pot, supporting protests, posting my heroic adventures on Facebook and playing video games.
Political leftists deserve the blue ribbon for long-term planning to ensure that the once greatest country in the history of the world is crumbling to its knees, decaying from the inside out. Apparently, the political system that has represented the envy of the world must be undermined so that the United States of America can be transformed into one more banana republic where everyone is equally poor, except for the elitist few who oversee the revolution.
How have they achieved this in a country where some people still view themselves as informed and educated, even as the foundations of freedom are falling around them? Beyond co-opting the public school system, I have several other considerations to answer this question. My basic premise is that the left fights strategically, leaving little to chance, while centrists and the right leave things to luck and are only motivated to move when they are forced to react and respond.
First, the left has strategically infiltrated the media to promote mantras and mandates, bumper-sticker thinking and sloganeering. Nazi Germany and the former U.S.S.R. would be amazed how our media talking heads willfully promote and propagate uniformity for fear of social or collegial rebuff and public or professional ridicule, where these former murderous regimes only accomplished the same results by threats, beatings, torture, gulags and guns. Wasn't it Che Guevara who once quipped that it was more important to recruit North American reporters to promote communist propaganda than to recruit soldiers? He was right, even if his ambition was wrong.
Second, the left has successfully destroyed the building block of society, the nuclear family. Marriage is a meaningless piece of paper; commitment to a spouse until death do us part is naïve and old fashioned. Through our current social-welfare system, many men and women can receive more money and benefits by not getting a job than by doing an honest day's work for a paycheck. Teenagers are paid to make babies. And what a gravy train it is; the more babies they have, the more money and services they receive, all coming at the expense of hard-working taxpayers. Parents are ignorant and uninformed, incapable of raising their own children without a village or government nannies to oversee their ineptitude. Men are necessary sperm donors. Women are competitors and combatants who can do anything better than men. Children are an inconvenience. Freedom is the ability to do anything I want to do. Responsibility is the obligation to do whatever I don't want to do. And life is to be lived like animals: Dogs run free, so can we.
Third, the Judeo/Christian foundations and moorings this country was built upon have been systematically ridiculed and rejected. The Ten Commandments are nothing more than 10 suggestions, possibly relevant for their culture and time, but irrelevant for today.
Faith is a synonym for fables. Right and wrong are antiquated constructs invented and promoted to exploit others, not produce a basis for the common rule of law and promoting civility. Moral absolutes and ethics do not exist; everything is relative except the belief that there are no absolutes. The majority in popular power makes all the new rules, and reformers are rebels who should be ignored or punished for failing to march with the masses. God is dead. Narcissism is celebrated. Global warming is a fact. Humans are nothing more than highly evolved animals, and it would be helpful to environmental activists and causes if a few billion of them would just die.
From the religious pluralist, secularist, socialist, naturalist and atheist perspective, there is no judge to whom we will all give an ultimate account because no one has a right to presume they know what is right, wrong, good or bad for anyone other than themselves. Sin is just an archaic term used to inhibit creativity, discovery, self-fulfillment and self-actualization. Salvation is a dream, and heaven and hell are what you choose to make them during your time on earth. Jesus is just a dead carpenter who inspired many to treat others the way you would like to be treated. But He is in the grave, and his time has passed. All religious views are equally valid; the only thing that matters is what works for you, as long as you keep your beliefs to yourself out of respect for the feelings of others who may disagree with you.
And finally, progressive leftists have replaced common sense with politically correct drivel. Facts are subjective and open to interpretation, but you can always trust your heart. All we need is love.
In short, religion is responsible for all wars and inequities. White, heterosexual males and capitalism are responsible for all social injustice. A Muslim who murders men, women and children is a freedom fighter. A religious leader who commanded His followers to love their enemies and pray for those who spitefully use them is no different than a religious leader who told his followers that they are obliged to convert, conquer or kill anyone who does not agree with his teachings. A leader who told His followers to turn the other cheek to their enemies is no different than a leader who commanded his followers to cut off the hands and feet of those choosing to pursue a different way. Capital punishment is always wrong, but abortion is always right. People born in the United States of America are racist and bigoted by definition, the one-percenters of the world. People who immigrate to the U.S. legally or illegally can never be accused of having racist or bigoted views, again by definition. People who believe in global warming are smart; people who question the validity of global warming are ignorant. People who support government giving away the money earned by others are compassionate. People who work to make the money government is giving away are cold-hearted materialists. People who vote for Democrats care about others. People who vote for Republicans only care about themselves. Liberals are tolerant and open-minded people who care about others. Conservatives are intolerant and close-minded people who profile others.
Who says our schools are ineffective teaching students how and what to think? The secularization of the U.S. is indeed complete. The water is boiling, and the overflow is already destroying personal rights and freedoms, while simultaneously creating uniformity rather than unity!
I am a Christian pastor writing primarily to Christians and those who value protecting life over destroying life, and those who believe in moral and ethical absolutes rather than morals and ethics being relative and determined by poll or politically expediency. I want to sound another wake-up call addressed to those who value freedom over forced servitude and believe there is ultimately only one race, the human race, regardless of cultural heritage, loyalties or ethnicity.
Maybe President-elect Donald Trump has been given to this country as a Cyrus or King Hezekiah, to rebuild the foundation walls or just buy some more time. I do not know for certain. What I do know is that I have been praying for the last three elections that God would raise up a pit bull rather than a poodle, someone who would fight for political freedom, personal freedom, religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom to peacefully agree or decent without public retribution or private recrimination from governmental agencies like the IRS, and where common sense takes priority over political ideology. What are we getting? Time will tell; the media are not reliable predictors.
This country has provided civil, political and religious freedoms like none other the world has known. Too many Christians and conservatives have hunkered down in fear or apology, reaping the fruits of these freedoms, but wanting to stay out of the fray. The last eight years in particular should demonstrate that we do not have the luxury of sitting things out and assuming life and policy will continue as they have. President Obama said he was going to transform the United States of America, and in many ways he has. I believe God in His providence has extended a platform or period of time for Christians to serve as ambassadors who diligently work at populating heaven and depopulating hell in the midst of a crooked and perverse culture, among whom we are supposed to shine out as stars in the night while there is still the opportunity to do so. Blending into this eternally empty morass may represent an enlightened art form to some, but from God's revealed perspective through His inspired word, the Bible, it is disobedience, regardless of how it is dressed up to the contrary.
If the church must function in a banana republic under the thumb of political ideologues or go underground, it will still survive until Jesus Christ returns for His bride. But for the moment, it looks like we have been given a reprieve – long or short, I do not know. But we must focus on using the time while we can to tell others about the only true Savior of the world who is still in the business of changing people from the inside out, one person at a time. The challenge of Matthew 28:18-20 and 2 Timothy 2:2 are still before us, and we must use the time while we can training informed disciples of Jesus Christ who know what they believe, why they believe and how to communicate these beliefs with others in an effective and efficient manner. There is only one whose opinion will count for eternity.
We must wake up, stand up and be heard without fear or apology while we can. The First Amendment is supposed to guarantee the freedom of speech and religious choice for all, not just those opposing monotheism in general or Christianity and Judaism specifically.
Jude 3 says, "Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints."
1 Corinthians 16:13 says, "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."
It is time to actively live these commands whenever and where ever possible, rather than just memorize them or sing about them.
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