Near Death Experiences

"The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing."--2 Thessalonians 2:9-10

With the advancements made in modern medical technology, more people are being saved today from maladies that used to bring certain death.

For example, thanks to defibrillators, many people are being resuscitated from heart attacks that were nearly always fatal in the past. And thanks to the discovery of new medicines and advancements in surgical procedures, more people are recovering from serious diseases and injuries than in the past.

However, along with these advancements, a new phenomena has appeared that was practically unknown in the past. It's called the Near Death Experience, and it involves alleged encounters with life beyond the physical realm.

Not everyone who recovers from a serious illness or is resuscitated from a medical emergency claims a Near Death Experience. But some do. And what they often describe during these events is either hovering over their physical bodies or traveling down a long tunnel toward a brilliant light at a high rate of speed.

Some even describe encounters with deceased parents, relatives and friends who speak to them during these experiences.

These experiences used to be dismissed as hallucinations or delusions caused by chemical reactions in the brain due to drugs, diseases or trauma. While some of that is undoubtedly true, there have been instances where victims who recovered were able to accurately describe their physical surroundings despite being unconscious. Some have even been able to describe the conversations that went on between people who were around them.

I've been asked my opinion on these experiences. Are they real? Certainly, they're real. How could someone who's unconscious and near clinical death be able to describe their surroundings, often with accurate detail?

A person who's heavily sedated by drugs or has lost consciousness can't describe their surroundings or much less understand the conversations that are going around them to be able to repeat them verbatim after they've recovered.

Another common aspect that people recall during these experiences are feelings of peace, love and blissfulness when they come into the brilliant light at the end of these tunnels. Many people describe these experiences as wonderful and express disappointment that they returned to their mortal bodies. Many wanted to die and continue on forever in the light.

It's important to understand that these experiences aren't hallucinations or delusions. They're real. But what do they tell us? And what is the spiritual condition of these people who encounter near death experiences?

That's an extremely important question. Why? Because tragically, most people are alienated from God and dead in their sins. Some may claim to be Christians, but they don't have a relationship with God because they've never committed their lives to Jesus Christ and been born again by faith. (John 3:16, Romans 10:9-11)

The Bible reveals that at death, these people will be consigned to hell to await God's final judgment at the end of time. (John 8:23-24, 1 John 5:11-12) Hell isn't a place where the spirits of the dead dwell peacefully in a beautiful light; it's a horrible place of torment and suffering. (Mark 9:42-48, Luke 16:19-31) That's the destiny of all unrepentant sinners.

And so, I believe that near death experiences are a clever spiritual charade promoted by Satan and his demons to give people a false sense of security. If they're legitimate, then no judgment awaits anyone at death. Why then, would anyone want to repent of their sinful behavior and commit their lives to Jesus Christ? That's what these experiences are truly all about. They're deceptive. And they're extremely dangerous to anyone who embraces them.

And this is why God expressively forbids us from making contact with the spiritual realm through occult techniques such as shamanism, witchcraft, necromancy, spiritism, sorcery, transcendental meditation etc. (Leviticus 20:6, Deuteronomy 18:9-13)

Because those who make contact with the spiritual realm encounter demonic spirits that will deceive them and lead them to their eternal doom. As the apostle Paul warned: "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness." (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)

Cause and Effect

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul revealed the defining prophecy for the last days directly preceding the return of Jesus Christ: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days." (2 Timothy 3:1)

Paul went on to describe an end time world of morally bankrupt people who would be "lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." (2 Timothy 3:2-4)

When we look back over the past century in the western world, we can see that Paul's prophecy is being fulfilled. Crime, violence and moral depravity have exploded. Families are imploding; divorce rates are skyrocketing and immorality has metastasized like a deadly cancer.

But what's the cause of all this moral and spiritual destitution? The cause is very simple; the influence of Judeo-Christianity has declined throughout the western world. And that decline has resulted in the inevitable increase in lawlessness and depravity.

The reason for Judeo-Christianity's declining influence is very simple and easy to understand. During the 19th century, many Christian seminaries and theology schools began to doubt the Bible as the inerrant and inspired word of God. Instead, they began to embrace the godless ideas of humanists such as Marx, Engels, Voltaire, Robespierre and Locke.

With the Bible downgraded to the status of a philosophy book written by men, many seminaries and theology schools sought new explanations for the origin of the physical universe, life and human behavior.

Darwin was brought in to explain the origin of life; Marx was invited to introduce a new socioeconomic order and Freud, Jung, Rogers and Maslow were brought in to define human behavior.

Absent the Bible, the reality of sin and man's moral accountability to God were replaced by social justice, self esteem and universalism.

The results of Christendom's abdication of God's commandments and laws recorded in the Bible became obvious. By the 1920s, moral depravity had established a foothold in the western world. The 1920s became known as the "Roaring 20s" where partying, pleasure and materialism were considered the gateway to happiness and self-fulfillment.

The generation that reached adulthood in the 1920s became the first fruit of the western world's post-Christian era. The children born in the 1920s produced the children of the 1950s and 60s that produced the counter-culture and sexual revolutions. And the children of the 1950s and 60s produced the children of the 1980s and 90s who embraced Marxism, statism and multiculturalism.

The children of the 1950s and 60s grew up without a moral compass. As a result, crime, violence and moral depravity exploded throughout the western world. For example, in 1965 approximately 75 percent of African American households contained married parents. As of this year, only 28 percent of African-American households contain married parents. That's a catastrophe.
http://www.urbancure.org/subs.asp?PagePosition=2&idsub=0&b=0&c=0&tag=Values Agenda&y=0&m=0

The chart provided above also tells a grim story. Without the influence of biblical values, western society has plummeted into the moral and spiritual abyss. Even though this was foretold in ancient prophecy (Daniel 8:23, Matthew 24:12, 2 Timothy 3:1-5) it's still a tragedy.

Even worse, wicked people produce wicked political leaders that reflect their morally bankrupt hearts. Today's corrupt political leaders are the fruit of a morally depraved generation that no longer fears God nor obeys his laws.

And the root of all this traces back to the 19th century when Christendom began to ignore God and turn away from His inspired word contained in the Bible. And that was because Christendom lost its faith despite the ironclad historical, prophetic evidence that proved God's existence and validated the writings of His ancient prophets.

And so, before the western world can be resurrected from the ashes of the moral destitution that it wallows in, the Christian Church must get out of the religiosity business and make itself relevant once again to the world.

Is it too late? It may be. But it's never too late to try. As Paul exhorted the early churches: "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." (2 Timothy 4:2)

The Wages of Sin

Anthony Weiner

Rep. Jerold Nadler (D-NY) believes that New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner "should pull out of the race. I think he needs serious psychiatric help." 

Weiner is a former congressman who served seven terms in the House of Representatives until he was forced to resign in 2011 after several lewd pictures he took of himself surfaced on the internet.

Since his fall from grace, Weiner claims that he cleaned up his act and is now a rehabilitated man. And he wants to show New York City and America the new rehabilitated man who's capable of governing America's largest city. 

So the new and rehabilitated man, who's toned down the fiery, confrontational personality that was once his trademark, is now in the midst of another scandal. It seems that during his "rehabilitation", Weiner fell back into his old habits and circulated more lewd photos of himself on the internet, ostensibly to a young woman who lives in Indiana.

Unlike Nadler, I don't believe that Weiner needs psychiatric help. Psychiatric help is for folks who desire to blame their moral and spiritual predicaments on neuroses, psychoses, mental illness and other assorted emotional maladies that attempt to deflect personal responsibility.

Rather, Weiner needs to repent of his sins and become born again through faith in the crucified and resurrected savior Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ has the power to truly change human hearts and deliver men such as Weiner from their sexual addictions.

Once Christ indwells us through our faith in Him, His Holy Spirit begins regenerating our hearts and minds to deliver us from the sort of spiritual depravity that has ruined Weiner. The apostle Paul wrote: "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." (Romans 8:5-8)

Like millions of other people throughout the world, Anthony Weiner is a slave to a sinful mind. Since the Sexual Revolution began in the early 1960s, sexual immorality in its many forms has been glorified and promoted as good, pleasurable and socially acceptable.

In reality, it has led to the holocaust of abortion, the explosion of STD's, (sexually transmitted diseases) the rise in divorce rates and the disintegration of the traditional family.

And it has ruined the careers of many politicians, of whom Anthony Weiner is its latest victim. And tragically, he won't be the last.

Certainly, Anthony Weiner is a sex addict. His political career is toast and he's likely to become a pariah much like former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Unlike Blagojevich, Weiner won't go to prison for his indiscretions. But he'll be tarnished forever as a fool who threw away his career and ruined his life because he possessed the filthy mind of a fallen, sinful man.

As Paul aptly wrote: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

The Bankrupt Social Gospel

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!"--Galatians 1:8

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was surely a brilliant man. And he was also a true Christian minister who strongly preached a biblical gospel that stressed biblical values.

The values he stressed included hard work, honesty, integrity, education, self-reliance, respect for authority, the sanctity of marriage and strong families. For those who believe I'm making that up--I'm not. As someone who is old enough to remember Dr. King and his sermons, I can tell you that Dr. King had a biblical worldview that was reflected in his speeches.

Unfortunately, those who have succeeded Dr. King after he was tragically assassinated in 1968 don't share his biblical worldview. They claim to be "Christian" ministers who embrace his legacy, but they don't. And they never did.

And I think you know who I'm referring to. Among these frauds are the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the loudmouth, incendiary Rev. Michael Pfleger. Unlike Dr. King, Jackson is an astroturf minister who possesses a mail order ordination certificate. He's a classic race hustler who became famous and wealthy by using the race card to pummel his opponents into submission.

Sharpton has used the race card to promote racial hoaxes (Tawana Brawley) and foment race riots (Crown Heights, Brooklyn NY 1991) that resulted in the death of an Orthodox Jew named Yankel Rosenbaum. And Pfleger is a showboating Roman Catholic priest who loves to perform in front of the cameras.

These three men preach the Social Gospel that promotes Big Government over Jesus Christ as a messianic figure. The Social Gospel feeds on perceived and embellished grievances to fester class warfare.

It makes its constituents angry, resentful, bitter and unforgiving toward targeted enemies such as big corporations, banks, the NRA, the Tea Party, Fox News, the Republican Party etc. And it demands that Big Government step in and right every perceived wrong through draconian laws, special rights, entitlements, redistribution of wealth and brute force.

The Social Gospel is nothing more than Marxism dressed up in Christian garb. Dr. King certainly wasn't a Marxist. And if he came back today, he'd be appalled at how his legacy has been ruined by those who claim to be his successors.

In fact, if Dr. King came back today, he'd see that his dream has been perverted into a nightmare by political puppets who masquerade as Christian ministers.

There's no substitute for the genuine biblical gospel. It transforms hearts and lives through the miracle-working power of Jesus Christ. Of this gospel, the apostle Paul wrote: "For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith." (Romans 1:17)

As opposed to the counterfeit social gospel that enslaves its adherents in the chains of bitterness, racial strife and class envy.  

An Important History Lesson

James Byrd

Racism is one of the many components that comprise our fallen earthly nature. Although it's inherent in all of us, not everyone succumbs to its evil influence.

Racism is also found in the Bible. During the time the ancient Jews were wandering in the Sinai for 40 years after they left Egypt, Aaron and his sister Miriam, who were the brother and sister of Moses, found fault with their brother because he had married a Cushite woman. (Numbers 12)

Who were the Cushites? They were a dark-skinned people from a region located in Northeast Africa that is now known as the Sudan.

When the Lord discovered that Aaron and Miriam had criticized Moses for choosing a Cushite woman as his wife, he pronounced judgment against them. The Lord also struck Miriam with leprosy as punishment for her bigotry.

It goes without saying that the Lord despises racism in all of its shapes and forms. And opposing racism and bigotry is the responsibility of every Christian, from lay persons to church leaders.

Unfortunately, racism is a lucrative business for some people who promote themselves as Christian ministers. They exploit liberal white guilt and ignorance to attract attention to themselves and rake in the big coin.

Such as the Rev. Michael Pfleger, the fire-breathing Roman Catholic priest from Chicago's South Side. Pfleger, who pastors St. Sabina, a church that has a predominantly African-American constituency, recently suggested that blacks are treated unfairly by America's justice system.

He made that claim after George Zimmerman was exonerated of murder charges by a Florida jury. Prosecutors had charged Zimmerman with profiling, stalking and subsequently murdering Trayvon Martin because Martin was black.

Pfleger, like many other blowhard pseudo-Christian ministers, claims that the Zimmerman verdict provided further proof of an unfair justice system that favors whites while persecuting blacks.

Do you really believe that Rev. Pfleger? Then I'll give you a history lesson. Remember a man named Lawrence Russell Brewer? He was a white supremacist who, along with two accomplices, kidnapped an African-American man named James Byrd on June 7, 1998.

Brewer and his friends chained Byrd to the rear bumper of Brewer's pickup truck and dragged Byrd around the town of Jaspar, Texas until Byrd was dead. It was a hideous crime. Byrd's head was ultimately severed while he was dragged behind the truck.

The crime was so hideous that Jaspar County District Attorney Guy James Gray, who opposed capital punishment, sought the death penalty for Brewer. And when Brewer was finally convicted of Byrd's murder in 1999, Gray got his wish and Brewer was sentenced to death.

Although it took nearly 13 years, Brewer was finally executed by the state of Texas on Sept. 21, 2011. And when Brewer's death was announced, few people shed any tears.

Although Byrd was murdered by three white supremacists in a state where white supremacists are known to exist, his death didn't go unpunished. Besides Brewer, accomplice John William King was also sentenced to death (currently on appeal) and fellow accomplice Shawn Berry was sentenced to life in prison.

And so, Rev. Pfleger, the justice system certainly didn't favor Brewer, King and Berry. Brewer got what he deserved; King will get what he deserves and Berry will rot in prison until he dies.

Rev. Pfleger, you might want to think about that before you make the dubious claim that America's justice system ignores white on black crime.

Once upon a time it did. But now it doesn't when the evidence is clear. Even in a state such as Texas.

America's Garbage Priesthood

Rev. Michael Pfleger

What are some of the greatest responsibilities entrusted to church leaders and ministers? To promote peace, love, unity, forgiveness for our enemies and the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here's what the apostle Paul wrote in his epistle to Titus nearly 2,000 years ago: "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men." (Titus 3:1-2)

Apparently, that doesn't apply to the Rev. Michael Pfleger, the showboating, buffoonish Roman Catholic priest who's never met a camera he didn't like.

Instead of calling for calm, Pfleger decided to pour gas on the fire after George Zimmerman was recently acquitted by a Florida jury of murder charges. Here's what Pfleger said:

“We can’t tell people be still, rise up, be aggressive, say what you are saying and then something like this (verdict) happens and (say) be quiet, be still, do nothing. We have got to give them a way to express themselves peacefully and nonviolently. Tomorrow, we are going to be announcing at church a way we can have people do a civil disobedience.”

Better yet, Rev. Pfleger, why don't you preach the Gospel? Why don't you begin stressing biblical values in your church such as honesty, integrity, the fear of God and respect for authority, the sanctity of marriage and holiness? Why don't you inform people that forgiveness in the biblical lexicon is a far greater virtue than screaming for social justice?

But instead, you incite people to "civil disobedience" which Christ never taught and can't be found anywhere in the Bible. Here's what Christ taught: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:43-45)

That's part of the biblical gospel. However, Rev. Pfleger and his ilk preach something called the Social Gospel that looks to big government rather than to Jesus Christ for solutions to problems. Unlike the biblical gospel that implores us to love and forgive our enemies, the social gospel feeds on grievances and festers class warfare.

And the unlike the biblical gospel, the social gospel makes people angry. It demands that government step in and right wrongs that are centuries old. It makes people victims of every perceived social injustice rather than victors in Jesus Christ. And rather than liberate people, it binds them in the chains of bitterness and envy.

The foundation for this false gospel is Marxism. And that foundation is built upon James Cone's Black Liberation Theology and Critical Race Theory that claims that practically every institution in the western world is racist and oppressive to blacks and minorities. This is a gospel that has no place in the Christian Church.

And sadly, that's the gospel preached by America's growing garbage priesthood, of which the Rev. Michael Pfleger is a high-profile member.

If you want to know what's wrong with the Christian Church in America, then read the Bible--specifically the four gospels and the New Testament epistles--and then compare them to what people such as the Rev. Pfleger preach. They're totally different.

In fact, after listening to Pfleger, you'd probably be convinced that the Bible and Christianity were two separate entities.

The Politics of Deceit and Destruction

After the inevitable civil unrest began spreading across America following the trial of George Zimmerman, President Barack Obama came out with yet another one if his patented sanctimonious sermons.

Here's what he said: "We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin."
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/07/15/obama-finally-comments-to-honor-trayvon-martin-fight-
for-gun-control-79712

To Obama and his acolytes, Trayvon Martin was never anything more than a political prop whose tragic death was exploited to promote gun control legislation. Besides the convenient distraction that the Zimmerman-Martin incident provided the Obama administration last year to deflect attention away from Obama's terrible first term in the White House, the event also provided the administration with a golden opportunity to promote Obama's radical anti-gun agenda.

In order to accomplish that, Obama's media sycophants needed to portray Zimmerman--who's half Hispanic--as a gun-loving southern conservative racist-redneck who murdered Martin in cold blood because he hated blacks. And so, just as Emmett Till's brutal murder (1955) became synonymous with white racism in the 1950s, leftists sought to portray Trayvon Martin as another Emmett Till.

However, the only commonality between Till and Martin was their race. Till was murdered in cold blood; Martin was shot to death by Zimmerman during an altercation. Prosecutors charged Zimmerman with murder, the case eventually went to trial and Zimmerman was acquitted after the prosecution failed to convince the jury that Zimmerman deliberately shot Martin to death out of racial animus.

That's the way the American justice system works. It's not perfect but it's still the best system in the world. But apparently, that system isn't good enough for Obama and his utterly contemptible Attorney General Eric Holder who want to file new charges against Zimmerman now that he's been exonerated by a jury.

The reality is that if Zimmerman had an Hispanic last name, or had killed Martin with a knife instead of a gun, we probably never would have heard about this case.

And so, Obama and Holder want Zimmerman's scalp. And they'll probably get it, even if that means inventing and embellishing evidence. This is all about Obama's contempt for white conservatives who support the Second Amendment. Remember a speech Obama gave in 2007 during a campaign stop where he maligned conservative Christians as morons who hate immigrants and cling to their guns and religion during difficult times?

That's what this is about--Obama's gun control agenda. And his malice toward white conservative Christians who he obviously hates. Isn't that racism? It surely is.

The Fruit of Perdition

Trouble erupts in Oakland, California after the Zimmerman verdict

Predictably, after a jury acquitted George Zimmerman of all the charges related to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, trouble broke out across America.

Angry mobs took to the streets in various cities waving placards, shouting slogans, damaging property and vowing to avenge the death of Martin, a 17-year-old teenager who was shot to death by Zimmerman last year (February 26) during an altercation.

That event went largely unnoticed by the national media until the Justice Department, at the behest of Attorney General Eric Holder, decided to investigate it. 

Once the Justice Department got its hands on the case, the event was transformed from a deadly altercation between a confrontational hothead (Zimmerman) and an equally confrontational teenager (Martin) into a civil rights issue.

Zimmerman, the son of a white father and an Hispanic mother was reinvented by the national media into a "White Hispanic" super-racist who was accused of hunting down Martin and murdering him because he was black. 

Prosecutors leveled their charges against Zimmerman. The case eventually went to trial and Zimmerman was acquitted of all the charges after a jury wasn't convinced that the evidence presented by prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman killed Martin out of racial malice. 

I truly believe that if Zimmerman had an Hispanic surname, this case probably never would have become known outside the state of Florida. This case had little to do with race and a lot to do with politics. 

I believe that this case was used by the Obama Administration for political purposes to deflect from Barack Obama's abysmal first term in the White House. Someone in the White House got the idea to exploit the Zimmerman-Martin affair by ginning it up as a racial confrontation. 

By doing so, the administration made Martin's death a campaign issue by claiming that those who sought to defeat Obama in last November's presidential election were racists just like George Zimmerman. 

The message was clear and designed to hang a guilt trip on anyone who didn't plan on voting for Obama. America was a nation of violent rednecks such as Zimmerman who hated minorities and didn't want a black man in the White House. If you didn't vote for Obama, you were a George Zimmerman.

That's bull. Anyone with a functional brain realizes how ridiculous that is. And anyone who willingly allowed themselves to be exploited by this wretched administration by embracing its detestable propaganda should move to a different country.

The fallout from the Zimmerman trial proves to be deadly. The jurors who acquitted Zimmerman will be threatened if their identities become known. Zimmerman may have been acquitted, but he'll be a marked man for the rest of his life. He'll need protection. And riots, violence, injury and death are now likely to occur throughout the nation. 

And there's already talk that the Justice Department, under the uber-corrupt Holder, may ignore the jury's decision and file new charges against Zimmerman. If that happens, that's frightening. That means that our system of justice--the greatest system in the world--could become like the justice systems in third world countries.

America, you are reaping what you have sown. Your leaders reflect your depravity; they are dishonest, immoral, murderous, power-hungry, greedy and consorts of demons. 

As for America's leaders, Jesus Christ said it best: "Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep." (Luke 6:24-25)

Woe to them indeed.

What It's Really About

George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin

As we wait for the jury to deliver its verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman, I think that I speak for a number of folks when I say that I've grown weary of the endless publicity surrounding this case. I just simply don't want to hear about it anymore.

And I suspect that if it hadn't been for the White House, we probably never would've heard about George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.

That's because I strongly believe that someone in the White House needed a campaign issue last year to deflect from Barack Obama's dismal first term in the White House. It was terrible. No previous president in American history had ever been reelected after such a woeful performance. 

That's why the Obama Administration desperately needed something to distract voters from the reality of Obama's disastrous first term and redirect their attention toward a ginned-up incident.

And--shazam!--along came the Zimmerman-Martin affair. Actually, I believe the White House went looking for such an affair and found it down in Sanford, Florida last year when Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, shot Martin to death during an altercation that took place on Feb. 26.

The incident didn't become national news until about a month after it occurred when the Justice Department, at the behest of Attorney General Eric Holder, decided to investigate the shooting. 

Once the incident became known outside of Florida, it exploded like a nuclear bomb. Zimmerman, the son of a white father and Hispanic mother, was redefined as a "White Hispanic" racist who was accused of hunting down Martin and murdering him in cold blood. Despite murky evidence and few eye-witnesses, Zimmerman was essentially convicted by the media, Hollywood elites and leftist groups that masquerade as civil rights organizations.

How did this incident play into Obama's campaign strategy? Because it attempted to portray America as a racist nation dominated by bigots such as Zimmerman who want to return the nation to the Jim Crow era. 

According to this narrative, the people who wanted to defeat Obama at the ballot box last November were racists. And in order to support that thesis, the White House desperately needed something to back that up.

Keep in mind that Barack Obama received 43 percent of the white vote in the 2008 presidential election. So the narrative that America was a racist nation that didn't want a black man in the White House was a false narrative manufactured by the Obama Administration and spiced up with the Zimmerman-Martin affair.

Who in the White House made the decision to exploit the Zimmerman-Martin altercation for political purposes? We don't know and probably never will. It certainly couldn't have been Obama because he's not smart enough to think of something like that. It may have been Holder. Or it could have been Obama's former senior adviser David Axelrod, a sleazebag who's made a career out of destroying the reputations of political opponents.

Whoever made that decision will have blood on his or her hands should Zimmerman be acquitted. Because if that happens, riots might break out across the nation that could result in property damage, personal injuries and even the loss of life. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail no matter what the outcome of the trial is.

And instead of heeding the incendiary rhetoric of phony Christian ministers--such as the Rev. Al Sharpton--who love to provoke trouble, we should heed the words of the apostle Paul who said this: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." (Colossians 3:12-14)

Religious Follies

The Scapular

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works so that no one can boast."--Ephesians 2:8

When he was asked one day to explain the type of works God requires to open heaven's gates to eternal life, Jesus Christ gave this answer: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:29)

With that statement, Christ eliminated every religious system that mandates works as essential for eternal life. Christ made that statement 2,000 years ago, and yet his words today are largely ignored and forgotten.

For example, the Roman Catholic Church, which is considered by many to be the only legitimate voice of Christianity on earth, denies what Christ said. The Catholic Church mandates baptism, church membership and adherence to its sacramental system of works as necessary for salvation.

In defiance of what Christ taught concerning the free gift of eternal life through faith alone, the Catholic Church proclaims this: "If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema." COUNCIL OF TRENT: SIXTH SESSION, CANONS CONCERNING JUSTIFICATION CANON XXIV
http://blog.guidedbytruth.com/anathema.php

And so, the Roman Catholic Church pronounces a curse upon everyone who believes what Christ taught. In doing so, the Catholic Church has called Christ a liar.

Concerning salvation, Christ said this: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) And he said this: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." (John 10:27-28)

Certainly, Roman Catholicism isn't the only religious system that promotes works as the path to eternal life. Islam and Rabbinic Judaism also promote works as do the Jehovah's Witnesses and The Mormon Church.

In addition to works, many of these religious systems also mandate sacred clothing as essential for obtaining righteousness and God's blessings. The Catholic Church mandates such items as scapulars and medals; Mormonism mandates special undergarments while Rabbinic Judaism mandates yarmulkes, tassels (tzitzit) and tallits.

However, no works, religious medals, pendants or clothing have any power to protect us or bring about righteousness. That comes strictly by being born again by faith in Jesus Christ. When we are born again through Christ, His Holy Spirit indwells us to regenerate our souls and mold us into the righteous human beings that God originally created us to be.

Thus, salvation is a free gift from God that cannot be earned, bought, inherited or acquired through exhaustive learning. Any religious system that claims otherwise doesn't speak the truth.

And you can be sure that any religious system that promotes works and adherence to traditions, customs and rituals as the path to heaven will send its adherents to hell. Every time.

Two Worldviews: The Denial of Sin

Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung

"To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn."--Isaiah 8:20

During the 19th century, the Christian church began to lose its influence in the western world. Part of that was due to the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church that offered heaven for a fee (indulgences) and promoted loyalty to its religious traditions--without guarantee--as the sole path to eternal life.

The other part of that equation was Christianity's increasing irrelevance in a changing world that began to look to science for answers to the mysteries of life and its complex problems. With the advent of Darwinism, that offered a completely natural explanation for the existence of life, Christianity was viewed as an outdated belief system conjured in the minds of primitive men.

Though the Bible offered the answers to rebut Charles Darwin's dubious theories, the Christian church failed to respond and Darwin's theory of evolution grew and metastasized like a deadly cancer throughout the world. In less than a century after Darwin published On the Origin of the Species in 1859, his theory of evolution was being taught as factual science in public, high school, college and university classrooms.

Millions of people were conditioned to believe that they were nothing more than the end product of random evolutionary forces. Life was now meaningless and a human life was considered no more significant than an ant or a worm. 

Darwin's theory had a logical, albeit unintended impact. It indirectly denied accountability to a Holy God and his transcendent moral laws. If life occurred naturally according to random, unintelligent forces, then there was no life beyond the physical realm and no judgment after death for one's behavior during his or her lifetime on earth. Under this worldview, crime, violence and moral decadence began to explode across the world.

Since the biblical worldview of man's fallen nature that predisposed him to sin was increasingly considered outdated, new theories were sought to explain man's behavior. And so, the Bible was replaced by the godless theories offered by humanistic psychology. 

Human behavior, that the Bible described as deceitful and beyond mortal understanding (Jeremiah 17:9) was now considered explainable by science. Men such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers arose to offer various theories that they believed could explain human behavior scientifically.

Jung offered his theory of archetypes and the collective unconscious. Freud offered psychoanalysis and dream interpretation. Maslow offered his hierarchy of needs and Rogers offered his theory of human personality. 

All these theories and the myriad of theories that came after had a common denominator; they denied man's inherent sinful nature and its powerful influence upon human behavior. Jung's theory claimed that man was a prisoner of the so-called collective unconscious; that his behavior was motivated by repressed memories stored deep in the unconscious. Jung's theory led to hypnosis, an occult technique that was designed to retrieve repressed memories in order to uncover the roots of the emotional maladies that allegedly plagued people.

With the advent of humanistic psychology, people became victims instead of perpetrators. Behaviors such as alcoholism, gambling, greed, drug and sex addictions that were once considered willful, sinful acts were now considered "diseases." Therapy rather than repentance was now prescribed as the antidote for the results of bad moral choices. And the term "mental illness" was coined to explain aberrant behavior once attributed to sin.

Even the Christian church fell victim to this new form of intellectual witchcraft. Many Christian colleges and seminaries began to offer degree programs in "Christian Psychology" that attempted to combine the godless theories of Freud, Jung, Maslow, Rogers etc. with Jesus Christ. And ministries began to appear sporting a Christian facade that ignored sin while promoting positive-confession-possibility thinking as the new path to happiness and eternal life.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul warned that in the end times directly preceding the return of Jesus Christ, "men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

We have seen Paul's prophecy fulfilled with the advent of humanistic psychology. The Bible clearly says that the one and only path to happiness and eternal life is through Jesus Christ. Only when we are reunited with God by being born-again through faith in Jesus Christ can we truly be delivered of our sins as well as our emotional problems.

That can't happen any other way, and certainly not through psychology which is a flimsy foundation built upon sinking sand.

The Secular Worldview: Part Two

"The fool says in his heart: There is no God."--Psalm 14:1

Since humanists are convinced that man is born with an inherently good nature, then they must find reasons to explain away the evil that exists in the world.

The Bible, which is backed by irrefutable historic and prophetic evidence, reveals that all human beings are born with a fallen sinful nature, (Romans 3:23) inherited from the dawn of history when the first couple--Adam and Eve--brought sin into the world by rebelling against God. (Genesis 3)

Since that time, evil has been an inseparable companion of mankind. Unfortunately, one of evil's many manifestations is pride. Pride begets spiritual blindness which in turn begets moral ignorance. And moral ignorance, combined with pride and spiritual blindness, encourages people to reject evidential truth for utopian ideologies.

Such as the science fiction of eugenics. Eugenics promotes the fantasy that the human race can be perfected through selective breeding. Since humanists reject the reality of sin and evil, they must find a reason for the trouble that permeates the world.

And many humanists believe that human beings who possess inferior genes are to blame for all the crime and violence in the world. It was Adolf Hitler, who was inspired by the teachings of Margaret Sanger--the founder of abortion provider Planned Parenthood--who believed that he could create a master human race by allowing only the finest human beings to procreate. And he believed that he had to eliminate those races from the earth that he deemed inferior and unfit.

Sanger wanted to eliminate those she deemed unfit via mass sterilization. Hitler decided that mass murder was quicker, so he embarked upon his Holocaust that murdered 10 million people, including six million Jews.

Sanger wanted to rid the world of blacks who she saw as morally and intellectually inferior. Not ironically, blacks continue to have the highest abortion rate of any race in America.

Hitler saw the Jews as the worst people on earth. He believed that they were morally debased and predisposed toward political corruption and financial chicanery. He believed that unless the Jews were removed from the earth, the world would always have trouble.

Eugenics is the logical product of godless Darwinian evolution. If Darwin's incredible theory is true, then human beings--who are the end product of random evolutionary forces--should be behaving better. Because, according to Darwin's theory of Natural Selection, those who are unfit to survive--the morally and intellectually inferior as well as those with genetic defects that cause deadly diseases and physical deformities should never have appeared. But they did, which debunks the theory of Natural Selection.

And a corollary to the naturalist worldview is that if all behavior can be explained away as being predetermined genetically, then all behavior must be considered as natural. There can be no right or wrong, good or evil under this worldview. Thus, if homosexuality must now be considered as natural and unchangeable, then so must everything else such as pedophilia, bestiality, incest, murder, greed, kleptomania etc.

Obviously, not everything can be considered normal behavior, or chaos would prevail. But since humanists will never consider the biblical parameters of moral behavior and the reality of sin, they must continue to search for reasons why human beings turn to evil.

In Part III, the rise of humanistic psychology.

Two Competing Worldviews: Part One

Despite the myriad of religions and political ideologies that permeate the world, there are only two worldviews that actually exist.

There's the biblical Judeo-Christian worldview and the secular-progressive worldview.

The biblical Judeo-Christian worldview teaches that all human beings are born with an inherent sinful nature (Romans 3:23) that predisposes them to selfishness, nihilism, narcissism, debauchery, dishonesty, violence, sexual immorality etc. Thus, all the evil that has plagued the world since the dawn of history has resulted from man's corrupt nature.

It was Jesus Christ Himself who explained that one day to a group of arrogant, self-righteous Pharisees after they declared His disciples morally unclean for eating with unwashed hands.

Christ stated: "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man unclean; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean." (Matthew 15:17-20)

The secular-progressive worldview teaches the exact opposite. This worldview teaches that human beings are born inherently good and righteous. According to this worldview, human beings are corrupted not by some inherent sinful nature, but rather by their surrounding environment.

Therefore, according to this worldview, man must correct and perfect his environment rather than change his heart in order for peace to be realized on earth. This is why secular-progressives are so vested in big government; because they believe that they can create a social utopia on earth by greatly expanding government and its powers.

This is the prevailing philosophy behind gun control, politically-correct speech codes, the redistribution of wealth, the war on poverty, entitlement programs etc. Under this worldview, there are many victims and few villains.

But stop and think for a moment. If man is born with an inherently good nature as secular-progressives claim, then how and why does evil exist? And where does it come from?

If human beings are indeed born good rather than evil, then such evils as poverty, racism, violence, murder, theft etc. shouldn't exist.

But they do. And that proves the biblical worldview correct and the secular-progressive worldview wrong. As in dead wrong.

Nevertheless, secular-progressives refuse to admit that their worldview contradicts itself despite the evidence. And their refusal to admit that their ideology is wrong proves that pride--another sin that's a staple of fallen human nature--lives in their hearts.

The Bible reveals that the only solution to eradicate sin and evil is through the Cross. Christ emphatically stated that we must be born again. (John 3:3) He didn't mean that we must be born again physically--that is impossible.

We must be born again spiritually by faith. We must recognize that Jesus Christ died in our place on the Cross for our sins. When we truly believe that in our hearts and confess that with our mouths, we are born again unto God and receive eternal life. (Romans 10:9-11) And God's Holy Spirit then indwells us to regenerate us and mold us into righteous human beings that abhor sin and reject evil.

That's the only antidote for sin and evil. Jesus Christ is the only solution for true peace on earth. Nothing else has ever worked. And nothing else will ever work.

Freedom or Death

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."--John 8:31-32

It's quite evident that a growing number of people in America these days abhor Christianity and everything associated with it.

And many of these people possess great influence and authority. They inhabit government, education, the media and the entertainment industry. They have the power to impose their secular worldview upon the gullible masses. And they are doing just that.

Why do these people hate Christianity? Because they believe that Christianity is responsible for a host of evils that plague the world today from imperialism to capitalism to poverty, war and racism. And why do they believe that? Because they've been taught that since childhood. They grew up in a godless environment where Marxism was glorified and promoted as the panacea for peace on earth while Christianity was demonized.

They believe that Christianity must be eliminated in order for peace to be achieved in America and across the world. They truly believe that the Christian worldview, that teaches that all evil emanates in the sinful human heart before it manifests in the world, is wrong and dangerous to the psyche and self esteem of human beings.

Rather, they believe--contrary to what the Bible teaches--that all human beings are basically good. Instead, they believe that human beings commit evil acts because they become corrupted by their surrounding environment. And they're convinced that the Christian worldview promotes that corruption by teaching that all human beings are sinners who are eternally damned without the Savior Jesus Christ. They believe that biblical Christianity ruins self esteem which in turn encourages people to hate themselves and commit evil.

Certainly, the humanistic worldview has always failed wherever it's been implemented. Men are not born with a righteous nature. Some of the worst mass murderers throughout history such as Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Pol Pot were atheists. Their lives are a testimony to the Bible's declaration that all human beings are predisposed to sin from the time they are born. (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:23)

America's founding fathers understood that all human beings are born with a fallen, sinful nature. While they weren't all Christians, the founding fathers embraced a Judeo-Christian worldview. That's why they created a form of government that held our leaders accountable for their actions and limited their power.

How important was the Judeo-Christian worldview to our founding fathers? Here are some of their quotes. John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence: "Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. ... Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."

Benjamin Franklin, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution: "Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them. As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see." 

And John Adams, the Second President of the United States and a signer of the Declaration of Independence: "The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty, in which all those young Men United, and which had United all Parties in America, in Majorities sufficient to assert and maintain her Independence."

And finally, George Washington, the First President of the United States: "While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."
http://christianity.about.com/od/independenceday/a/foundingfathers.htm

The founding fathers created a government that offered the type of freedom that no human designed government had ever offered before in history. That's because their government recognized that there could be no freedom without the recognition, honor and worship of a Holy God who sent His One and only Son Jesus Christ into the world to die for all sinners who put their faith and trust in Him. (John 3:16, Romans 10:9-11) The founding fathers also recognized that all human beings are created equal and in the image of a Holy God.

Our form of government is simply the best form of government on earth. And it's built on a Judeo-Christian foundation.

Unfortunately, there are those today who want to destroy our government and replace it with the type of massive, centralized government that persecuted multitudes in the 20th century and littered the eastern world with millions of corpses. That's what governments invariably do when they deny the existence of God.

And if we don't wake up, that can happen here as well. In fact, that's already beginning to happen here.

Please don't let that happen. Don't take your freedom for granted. Happy Birthday America.

The Yellow Brick Road to Gehenna

Is America a dying nation?

Why has the Christian church in America been on a long losing streak for the past 50 years? Because it has failed to "contend for the faith" (Jude 1:3) by keeping itself pure and separate from the world.

Beginning in 1962 when the U.S. Supreme Court (Engel v. Vitale) ruled that prayer in public schools violated the so-called establishment clause of the First Amendment, Christianity in America has been on a steady, downward spiral.

Just one year later in 1963, America's highest court declared that school-sanctioned bible-readings were also unconstitutional. (Abington School District v. Schempp)

And in 1973, the Supreme Court legalized infanticide with its landmark Roe v. Wade decision. The Court ruled that a woman had a right to an abortion until fetal viability, or until a "fetus" was capable of surviving on its own outside the uterus.

Just recently, the Court ruled DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) unconstitutional which means that gay couples married in states where gay marriage is legal must receive the same federal health, tax, Social Security and other benefits that heterosexual couples receive. It also opens the door for same-sex marriage to eventually become legal in all 50 states.

America's Christians have been trying to fight these battles in the courts when they should have been fighting them in their communities. When you try to legislate biblical morality through the judicial system rather than impress it upon the world by keeping the faith relevant, you lose--every time.

The very fact that American conservatives and Christians are trying to stave off the moral collapse of their nation via litigation means that they have already lost the battle.

When the battle for the moral soul of America is being fought in courtrooms instead of in the streets, then even the victories--as few as they have been lately--are hollow and temporary. Remember California Proposition 8? That was passed by the California state legislature in 2008 to protect traditional marriage. It was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court in 2010 and by the Supreme Court on June 26, 2013.

Had America's churches not grown lazy and comfortable with the world over 50 years ago, they would've realized that the devil never takes a vacation. He's busy at work planting the seeds of corruption in the hearts of young, impressionable people.

We have had three generations of Americans grow up on godless humanism, believing that they're nothing more than the end products of random evolutionary forces. And though the bible contains more than enough evidence to refute the lies of Darwinian evolution, many churches have been asleep at the proverbial switch. It's no wonder why many young people in America now view Christianity with contempt and disdain. Because the Christian church in America has made itself irrelevant.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul gave the early churches he visited this command: "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." (2 Timothy 3:2-5)

Had Christian churches in America paid attention to Paul and put his words into practice, we wouldn't be witnessing the complete moral collapse of America. Sadly, we are.