#DearMeryl

Dear Meryl,

A "Lifetime Achievement Award" means you don't matter any more.

Goodbye, and thanks for all the Heartburn,

The Deplorables

"Old Christmas": Merry Christmas to Our Christian Brother Vladmir Putin and All Orthodox Believers Worldwide

Today, January 7th, 2017, is the day known to many of our ancestors as "Old Christmas" from the date used under the Julian Calendar. Calendars need tweeking every so often to stay accurate, and Pope Gregory authorized a new calendar for use in the West in 1582. Thus, "Old Christmas". The Orthodox Churches, and various Protestants in Europe, including the Amish, retained use of the old calendar, esp for calculating Holy Days,

Russia's President Vladmir Putin is a devout Christian, and attended services:





May 2017 bring a new era of peace for all followers of Jesus Christ, and the spread of genuine faith in Our Lord to the ends of the earth.

FBI Hate Crime Data Excludes Victims Targeted Because Of Their Religion In Terror Attacks

The FBI recently released its annual report on Hate Crime Statistics for 2015.  It appears fairly straightforward, and clarifies certain changes in definition. But some high-profile events are missing: mass attacks, including those designated as "Terror Attacks" seem to be omitted from the FBI's  Hate Crime database.

More on that in a minute. First, let's look at the misleading use of percentages to inflate some very tiny numbers. And at the mixing of data with opinion with rumor to create something that does not exist... I think the word for it this week is Fake News.

Fake News or "a filtered product to readers"

Pew Research Center has put out a small analysis that, in keeping with the globalists' anti-Trump narrative, purports to show a huge increase in "anti-Muslim assaults" under the headline:
"FBI Data shows Anti-Muslim assaults reach 9/11-era levels",  quotes a few stats of year-old data, shows a graph, cherry picks mentions of other religions, then throws in a bunch of  opinion polls - all of which is slanted to create the impression that anti-Muslim discrimination is far worse than that against any other religion. The article wraps up with a dire-sounding number of reports, admits those reports can't be confirmed (indeed, most have been proven hoaxes), and gets to the whole reason for the article with this phrase: "in the five days following the presidential election alone."

Here's some reality to keep in mind: that's only 91 cases over the entire USA covering an entire year, from a year or more ago - all occurred before the presidential election campaign got off the ground, and particularly,  occurred before the elite media's obsession with Muslim immigration began after the San Bernadino Massacre in December 2015.

There is no evidence at all, no statistics, no data, nothing but rumor to indicate any increase in crime against people for their Muslim faith in the year 2016.  But Pew put out this article in a way that creates the appearance that there are both an increase in criminal targeting, and evidence for it.

Why is Pew Research suddenly trafficking in rumor and nuanced innuendo?

325 Million people live in the US,  three million of them are Muslim,  and  of those, 257 Muslims reported being mistreated because of their religion last year. This includes what the FBI labels "intimidation", vandalism, theft: only 91 were physical assaults.

According to the FBI's database, almost as many Christians, 244, were criminally victimized for their faith, and Jews were targets a whopping 237% more often than Muslims: 731 Jewish people in the US were victims of hate crimes last year, with a population of approximately 6 million.

Meanwhile, the Southern Poverty Law Center is still reporting dozens of false reports (and Pew Research is still happily citing their unverifiable "anecdotes" in which people pretended they were targeted "by Trump voters" or by so-called "white" people, and later admitted they made it all up.
In at least one case, a Muslim woman was charged for the false police report she made - shouldn't this be listed as a "hate crime" as well?

Pew did not bother to report that the DOCUMENTED assaults on Trump supporters before and  after the election have included brutal beatings of people - including children, one only 11 years old in his elementary classroom - targeted by multiple assailants. Many of the hate crimes against Trump supporters have been actively reported as harmless fun  or even with deliberate blamed placed on the victim by pro-Democrat elite media.

According to the FBI: " 88.4 percent of agencies participating in the Hate Crime Statistics Program reported that no hate crimes occurred in their jurisdictions."

As some of the above articles show about bias against President Trump's supporters, "hate crimes" against people hated by the elite media and Globalists are likely to be under-reported. It is very difficult for Christian victims to get a "hate crime" designation for their suffering.  Often, where Christians are criminally targeted there is a tendency within law enforcement as well as elite media to ignore the perpetrator and blame the victim for holding or declaring unpopular beliefs or practices.

Confusion in recording anti-Christian "hate crimes" is also caused in part because the FBI statistics break anti-Christian bias down into denomination, so if the assailant didn't specifically "hate Catholics" or "Mormons", the crime is more likely to go unreported in anti-Christian "hate crime" statistics. The FBI does not itemize various Islamic sects or Jewish ones, despite the existence of multiple branches of these religions.

Generally, there's also a great disparity in calling a crime "hate related" that depends on who the perpetrator is. Many violent assaults committed by avowed Muslim perpetrators are never classified as "hate crimes" against Christians, Jews, White Americans, Gays, Women, Children, or other groups that radical Muslims  (& often the perpetrators themselves) specifically say should be targeted: ie, the Fort Hood Massacre was labeled "workplace violence" despite the murderer's multiple and continual statements that he wanted to kill non-muslims because of their religion which was not Islam.

The Final Straw: Hate Crimes that are designated "Terror" Events aren't included in Hate Crime stats.

Even worse, and most significantly, when a massacre is  classified as an Islamic "terror attack" it is apparently excluded from law enforcement Hate Crime databases, as reported to the FBI.

In example, four non-muslims were stabbed in a terror attack at UC Merced, California, in November 2015, when Muslim student Faisal Mohammad, carrying a photocopied ISIS flag in his pocket and smiling the whole time, slashed four people with a hunting knife in a classroom & hallways. CNN reported the FBI said Mohammad had visited ISIS & terrorist websites, and that his attack was "terror-inspired".

But still, both Merced and the University of California reported zero religion-motivated hate crimes for 2015, despite the FBI's confirmation.

The Garland, Texas terror attack at an art show in May 2015, which resulted in a heroic school security guard being shot in the ankle, and the deaths of the two  Islamic jihadists, is not listed in the FBI's "hate crime" database. It should be in there, and the guard should be numbered among the victims. There is a category for "Religious bias: anti-other (unspecified) religion that should be used for these crimes.

The December 2015 San Bernadino Massacre is not listed in FBI data as a "hate crime".  Despite the deaths of 14 people and the serious injury of 22 others at a Christian religion-connected event, and despite the clear targeting of the group because of their not-muslim religious status as "infidels", all 36 people, mostly Christian but also of other faiths, are missing from the totals of religious hate crime victims, and 6 people are missing from the totals of religious hate crime perpetrators.

However, so-called "anti-Muslim" "hate crimes" arising from the jihadist massacre of innocents are included:
"In the aftermath of the shooting, CAIR reported an escalation in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the U.S., including the throwing of a pig's head at a mosque in Philadelphia, the beating of a Queens shop owner, and incidents of death threats and vandalism.[287] A number of attacks and incidents of vandalism in southern California in the weeks following the attack were investigated as anti-Muslim hate crimes"

"On December 15, 2015, three senior White House officials‍—‌Valerie Jarrett, Cecilia Munoz, and Ben Rhodes‍—‌met with American Muslim and Sikh leaders to discuss the increase in violent attacks upon members of the American Muslim and Sikh community following the attack (Sikhs are not Muslims but have been occasionally targeted in anti-Islamic bias-motivated crimes)"

The White House officials did not meet with American non-Muslim leaders to discuss the increase in violent anti-Infidel attacks upon members of their communities following this or any other attack.

Edited to add: The nine innocent people shot to death by Dylann Roof in Charleston because of their race were also not reported as victims of a racial "hate crime" in the database.

These few events alone add another 41 victims that were targeted because of bias against their religion, and 11 who were killed, injured or terrorized because of their  race, but whose deaths and suffering are not counted worthy of being considered "hate crimes".

While the FBI explicitly cautions on every page against using this data for "Ranking", and notes that the information is provided by each of thousands of jurisdictions, it is up to each user to familiarize themselves with what is and is not contained in the database.  And by "user", I think we have to include readers of articles such as this one, and the ones written by Pew Research.

Bottom line?

Bias.

Bias.

Bias.

BIAS.

BIAS:  Dec 6 2016 UPDATE:  New  York Post reports the Southern Poverty Law Center falsified the results of a survey it used to push a FAKE NEWS "narrative" against President Trump and his supporters. In particular, the SPLC omitted 2,000 reports in which students were attacked or bullied at school for being "white", and the SPLC also claimed that saying "Build the Wall" was a "racist hate crime",when in fact it is neither "anti-immigrant" nor "racist", and in fact does not indicate any bias for or against anyone, but asimple willingness to abide by the rule of law.

BIAS: Dec 11 2016 UPDATE to add the Hoax Map image, and link to the source, Sondrakisten.com and article "Hate Mischief"

BIAS: Dec 15 2016 UPDATE:  Yasmin Seweid charged with filing a false police report and with obstructing governmental administration for her hoax in which she falsely told "the police that three white men screaming “Donald Trump!” attacked her on Dec. 1 on an uptown No. 6 train at East 23rd Street, DNAinfo.com reported. She told the police that the men had called her a terrorist and that when she tried to move to the other end of the subway car, one of them followed and tried to pull off her traditional head scarf. " She made up the whole thing. Nothing happened. 

The Alt-Righteous and the Waiting Time: A Christian Advent in the Year of Elections

This year in particular, we are in a curious holding pattern while we wait for President Trump's Inauguration. The Globalist Left is telling us daily about their plans to undo the legal election, trying to undermine our confidence, reacting like the abusers they are.   It is ESSENTIAL that we stand firm and be unyielding in our FAITH that God's purpose is unfolding toward His ends, whatever we may think we see or hear. In other words, don't let doubt enter in.  President Trump WON.  And as this great meme from The Last Refuge reminds us, Donald Trump stood up when the Lord God called. Can we do less than to stand firm?

 The entire force of all the media, Dems, & GOP that hated Trump before the election, now hate him and us even more, and are pulling out all stops to try to cause doubt and fear and to undermine our confidence in everyone on our side. They attempt to isolate each of us.

Remember: everything they say is a LIE. In their minds the election is not over - just like Gore's election was never over. Remember that and laugh at them every time they pedal their duplicitous mantra of fear and loathing.

President Trump WON. YOU won. God told us "Fear Not! The Lord Himself will fight for you. All you have to do is stand!" God did not raise up a new Cyrus to free his people to rebuild our land, in order to abandon us now.   Now, our work begins to accomplish the tasks God gives us.

Those tasks involve physical work, political work, social work, and spiritual work. During the "waiting time" that is Advent, we've  spiritual work to do to continue restoring our faith and the Christian faith in America.

Many of us fasted before and up to the election. Fasting, usually understood as going without food for a period of time or of forgoing particular foods for a period of time, is an old discipline that has been neglected in the modern Christian world. Not everyone is called to it, and a wise Christian woman once told me that we need God's help to fast, so not to worry if I weren't able to.  Here's a good article with the basics of fasting to get started (not endorsing the website, just this article). And here is an outline of guidelines for an Orthodox Advent fast.  From the latter, the Antiochan Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, comes also this advice:

• *Fasting in itself is not a means of pleasing God. Fasting is not a punishment for our sins. Nor is fasting a means of suffering and pain to be undertaken as some kind of atonement. Christ already redeemed us on His Cross. Salvation is a gift from God that is not bought by our hunger or thirst.

• *We fast to be delivered from carnal passions so that God’s gift of Salvation may bear fruit in us.

• *We fast and turn our eyes toward God in His Holy Church. Fasting and prayer go together.

• *Fasting is not irrelevant. Fasting is not obsolete, and it is not something for someone else. Fasting is from God, for us, right here and right now.

For me, at 21 days it was the longest fast I have ever undertaken, and I was able to do it without telling anyone but Paul.  I allowed myself to drink anything I wanted, including milk and broth, and I had one small meal every second or third day (that is what enabled me to avoid telling others about my fast. I scheduled meals within gatherings) .  While not as rigid as some may have done. it helped me remain focused on the value of my quiet relationship with God in effecting His work.  For the three days leading up to the election, I did not eat, finally enjoying a meal only after the polls had closed on the West Coast. I have not yet come to see whether or how I should fast for Advent - and for the preservation of President Donald Trump's election and full inauguration.

The themes of King Cyrus continue to crop up. Today, a passage on the particular kind of fasting that our Father God approves of, starts by reminding us we as individuals must look after our own, and ends with a strong statement about rebuilding the ruins and restoring the walls. It also adds a pointed reminded about keeping the Sabbath - the day of rest every week:

6 “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. 7 Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.

8 “Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side. 9 When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond.

“If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; 10 if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon. 11 And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry.

12 Your people will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses.”

The Reward for Keeping the Sabbath:

13 The Lord says, “If you treat the Sabbath as sacred and do not pursue your own interests on that day; if you value my holy day and honor it by not traveling, working, or talking idly on that day, 14 then you will find the joy that comes from serving me. I will make you honored all over the world, and you will enjoy the land I gave to your ancestor, Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

                                                                                         Isaiah 58: 6-14 (Good News Version)

This does NOT mean we are supposed to "be nice". Nice does not equal Good.  We remove oppression when we speak the truth, even when it is not politically correct. We free the oppressed when we stand up against persecuting people for speaking out against Progressive and Globalist distortion. The forced "migration" is unjust to all concerned, criminal governments pushing people out of their homes and sending them into indentured servitude. We help the homeless, needy, and poor in our own communities, not by allowing Open Borders to push people from other lands out of their original homes to fulfill evil Elitist agendas of increasing "migrants" and "remittances" and "majority minority voters". We remove oppression when we build and maintain good boundaries and strong borders. When we allow people to earn a living in their own land, trading with their own neighbors.

Our pastor suggested before the election: What if the prayer and supplication of our little cowboy church really could affect the outcome of the election and could make a difference for all eternity?  What if my private actions and worship really do make a singular difference?

Whether or not we fast for Advent, or perhaps give something up, it can only help our cause to refocus our minds on taking a good look at ourselves and listen for the words God is speaking to us as direction for the coming months.  A new course of study, a simple daily meditation, some new discipline to focus our minds and our will toward whatever unknown we will be called to very soon.

As expectant families do, we pray for the safety and easy birth of our new government led by President Trump. We pray for the washing of that government, scrubbing it clean of corruption and guile, restoring to all positions mighty men and women of honor who will conduct their affairs in Godly ways.

We also pray for guidance and focus for our own roles in rebuilding our ruined cities, in reconstructing our walls, in looking after our own families and the *individuals* we see right in front of us, in our own towns in our own states, instead of continuing to follow the globalists orders to ignore our American family's pleas and look over their familiar heads toward more exotic or interesting strangers over the far horizon.  There are many who are called to serve those in foreign lands, and we pray for bold new proclamation of the Living Gospel to be the central purpose of their work, not some watered down globalist project that forbids the mention of Jesus' Name in the doing.

The work of Christians in this time is to be done, as it was of old, with Jesus Christ paramount. For as CS Lewis noted, " Jesus Christ did not say, ‘Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.’ The Gospel is something completely different. In fact, it is directly opposed to the world."

Instead, the only true Commandment and single imperative that Jesus Christ gave us after his resurrection is to preach the Gospel to every creature :

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  Matthew 28:19

Our Stand Against The Dark: "That Hideous Strength"

Kristor Lawson writes, at The Orthosphere:

"Who has read and remembers That Hideous Strength –  ...[ novel by CS Lewis],.... – and who has lately followed the news in the alternative media must have noticed a horrible semblance of these last weeks to the gathering storm that novel so masterfully presents, of good and evil human, natural, and supernatural rising to a tremendous pitch of intensity and power as they drive each inexorably to a titanic, shattering battle. I do not mean here to specify all the parallels, but they are almost all there: corrupt government agencies with noble sounding names and ends that work in fact deep evil;  ......

....."....  hubris on a vast scale, pretensions to a Babelonian New World Order and a New Man; nominalist obfuscation, nihilism and relativism; sophistical academics and rotten priests; contempt for all that is good, true and holy, old and homely, right, simple, and sweet, or even simply and honestly rational (all in the name of rationality) – the whole nine yards. And arrayed against these Powers, a pitiful few doughty hapless writers and scholars, talking mostly to each other in a remote corner of the world of what is good and right, true and holy, strait and wise, solid and reliable.  ......

..... "Read the book, by the Lord Jesus, if you have not, and that soon. It is short, almost a novella really; and you shall never forget it, for it shall forever shape your perspective on current events.

"One of our Wanderers, I say, must now be actively at work. How, else, to explain the recent relentless incredulous worry of the alternative media – writers and scholars, autodidacts, enthusiasts, eccentrics, conspiracy theorists, hackers, and all their ilks – over the sickening depredations they suddenly apprehend, of the Predators of Man, against the Common Good? Some One must be stirring us up. Perhaps even it is our mascot and Patron, here at the Orthosphere – may God bless his handiwork.
"Saint Michael and all angels, pray for us.

"On then into the crisis. There is after all no alternative, for any of us. God be with us, all."

Click through to read the rest of the short article.

Father Rutler: "One Candidate Is Evil" For Promoting Abortion and Foreign Policy That Encourages Genocide Against Christians

Father Rutler never names the candidate or the party but he makes it very clear he is talking about Hillary Clinton and the Democrat Party:

"At one party’s convention, the name of God was excluded from its platform and a woman who boasted of having aborted her child was applauded. It is a grave sin, requiring sacramental confession and penance, to become an accomplice in objective evil by voting for anyone who encourages it, for that imperils the nation and destroys the soul."

He also issues a rebuke to Pope Francis's seeming approval of evil through failing to criticize Hillary Clinton at all, while posturing against Donald John Trump and his call to build a wall with controllable gates, much like the one that surrounds the Pope's own nation, Vatican City:

" It is also the duty of the clergy to make this clear and not to shrink, under the pretense of charity, from explaining the Church’s censures. Wolves in sheep’s clothing are dangerous, but worse are wolves in shepherd’s clothing. While the evils foreseen eight years ago were realized, worse would come if those affronts to human dignity were endorsed again."


 Here's the full article, via Rorate Caeli Blog:

 FROM THE PASTOR October 30, 2016 by Fr. George W. Rutler 

 On the Election 

 "Exactly eight years ago I wrote a column titled “The One We Were Waiting For” in which I referred to a book by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, The Lord of the World. That dystopian novel has been cited by Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis said he has read it several times. The protagonist, if one can apply that term to an Anti-Christ, imposed a new world religion with Man himself as god. His one foe was Christianity, which he thwarted in part by using “compromised Catholics and compliant priests to persuade timid Catholics. 

 "Since then, that program has been realized in our time, to an extent beyond the warnings of the most dire pessimists. Our federal government has intimidated religious orders and churches, challenging religious freedom. The institution of the family has been re-defined, and sexual identity has been Gnosticized to the point of mocking biology. Assisted suicide is spreading, abortions since 1973 have reached a total equal to the population of Italy, and sexually transmitted diseases are at a record high. Objective journalism has died, justice has been corrupted, racial bitterness ruins cities, entertainment is degraded, knowledge of the liberal arts spirals downwards, and authentically Catholic universities have all but vanished. A weak and confused foreign policy has encouraged aggressor nations and terrorism, while metastasized immigration is destroying remnant western cultures, and genocide is slaughtering Christian populations. The cynical promise of economic prosperity is mocked by the lowest rate of labor participation in forty years, an unprecedented number of people on food stamps and welfare assistance, and the largest disparity in wealth in over a century. 

" In his own grim days, Saint Augustine warned against nostalgia: “The past times that you think were good, are good because they are not yours here and now.” The present time, however, might try even his confidence. Sands blow over the ruins of churches he knew in North Africa where the Cross is virtually forbidden. By a blessed irony, a new church is opened every day in formerly Communist Russia, while churches in our own formerly Christian nation are being closed daily. For those who bought into the seductions of politicians’ false hopes, there is the counsel of Walt Kelly’s character Pogo: “It’s always darkest before it goes pitch black.”

"It is incorrect to say that the coming election poses a choice between two evils. For ethical and aesthetic reasons, there may be some bad in certain candidates, but badness consists in doing bad things. Evil is different: it is the deliberate destruction of truth, virtue and holiness. 

 "While one may pragmatically vote for a flawed candidate, one may not vote for anyone who advocates and enables unmitigatedly evil acts, and that includes abortion. “In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to ‘take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for it'” (Evangelium Vitae, 73).

"At one party’s convention, the name of God was excluded from its platform and a woman who boasted of having aborted her child was applauded. It is a grave sin, requiring sacramental confession and penance, to become an accomplice in objective evil by voting for anyone who encourages it, for that imperils the nation and destroys the soul. 

" It is also the duty of the clergy to make this clear and not to shrink, under the pretense of charity, from explaining the Church’s censures. Wolves in sheep’s clothing are dangerous, but worse are wolves in shepherd’s clothing. While the evils foreseen eight years ago were realized, worse would come if those affronts to human dignity were endorsed again. In the most adverse prospect, God forbid, there might not be another free election, and soon Catholics would arrive at shuttered churches and vacant altars. The illusion of indifference cannot long be perpetuated by lame jokes and synthetic laughter at banquets, for there is handwriting on the wall. "

 Once again, the connection between Donald John Trump and King Cyrus is made. Father Rutler cautions that "the handwriting is on the wall." The references the night that wicked Babylon fell to King Cyrus in a single night while the population and king were feasting and celebrating. Daniel interpreted the warning for the king.

Both Biblical and historical records concur that following a brief seige, Cyrus's army found a way into the city and captured it in a single day with little bloodshed and without destruction, in 539 BC.

Naming The Enemy, Naming The Crimes

I've written before about the Left's corruption of our language. As Hillary Clinton takes her lies about the Alt-Right public in her never-ending deception road trip,  The Orthosphere takes this analysis a step further:

"Everyone knows the story of Babel. It’s right up there with the Flood. It doesn’t need explanation.

"Babel connotes a profane and impudent and mighty *tower,* a huge evil edifice, the central project of the civil authorities, engaging the efforts of the whole people, willy nilly, first enslaving and then confusing them. It connotes the catastrophe of unbridled hubris.

And, of course, the Babylonians too, like the Canaanites, practiced human sacrifice (almost everyone did, back then).

The discourse of our adversaries is famously incoherent. It is babble. And it is introducing a babble of diverse languages into our cities, as Babel seeks to reconstitute herself."

Who does the author say we are?

Daniel, who was possibly an intercedent to King Cyrus.



*Art: Daniel in the Lion's Den, painted by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), American painter

C.S. Lewis on Choosing Sides, and Deadlines

From "Mere Christianity":

"On freedom (and predestination)"

"It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.

"Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. 

"To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other. " 

Via Bible Gateway's "C.S.Lewis Daily" email.newsletter

Why I Am a Christian (David Wood, Former Atheist)

A chilling, terrifying story. But like all Christian lives, this one "begins again" with redemption.

70 Years of Gallup Polls: Americans Still Christian, Still Attend Church As Much As They Did In The 40s and 50s

Here is a good example of how the media is influencing what we think, without us even realizing it. All over the net, ministry-consultant websites quote the common belief that "church attendance is down" and "America is post-Christian".  Yet, study after study shows that Americans overall are still faithful to Jesus Christ, and still believe their religion is most important to their lives.

Gallup results in 2013:

"Americans are no less likely to report having attended church in the past seven days today than they were in 1940 and 1950 -- albeit with many fluctuations since that time, including higher reports in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s. Americans' self-reports of the importance of religion are also no lower than at points in previous decades. "

The Pew Research Center has not been tracking this long enough to be able to make wise comparisons with our fathers' and grandfathers' generations, but the Pew survey in 2014 mirrors Gallup's 2013 & 2014 findings.

Despite this, Pew points at their 2007 results to claim that Americans are "becoming less religious". I think the Gallup research shows that statement to be somewhat an example of interpretive bias: looking at the same numbers and finding a different result. While Pew did have some differences between 2007 and 2014, the Gallup data points over the years show the futility of using two recent years to predict trends reliably.

70% of Pew's 2014 respondents continue to confess Christ as their Savior, while  Gallup found 75% of Americans are Christians in 2014, with 50% being Protestant. Gallup noted here, too,  that this is mostly unchanged over the past 70 years:

"In the 1950s, Gallup surveys showed that up to 71% of Americans identified as Protestant, and small percentages had no religious identity. Then, as now, however, well more than 90% of Americans who express a religious preference identify themselves as Christians."

Pew has an interesting survey that also shows the vast majority of Christians of all denominations are involved with their congregation. While the title proclaims, accurately, that "Church Involvement Varies Widely Among US Christians", the most pronounced variation is between high involvement and medium involvement. Only 12% overall "seldom" attend or are not currently members. Dark blue is "high involvement", light blue is "medium involvement":

 "Those who are members of a congregation, attend religious services at least weekly and attend a prayer or scripture group weekly or monthly are categorized as having a “high” level of congregational involvement, while those who are not members of a congregation and who seldom or never attend religious services and small group prayer or scripture-reading groups are in the “low” category. All other respondents are categorized as having a “medium” level of congregational involvement.
Among U.S. adults who are Christian, three-in-ten have a high level of congregational involvement, while 58% have a medium level and 12% fall into the low category. "

Please always dig into the actual results on any studies like these. Look past the headlines and past the data-point blurbs to see the facts for yourself. You will usually find that the real American world is still alive and well, despite the sensation and insanity reported by the news or pushed by politicians and activists.

Christians are standing firm against the forces that want to deceive us and destroy our faith. Remember this in your own personal battles: you are not alone when you stand up for Jesus. You are surrounded not only by the "great cloud of witnesses" Peter told us about, but also by the faithful men and women and children of America today.

Be of good cheer! When it comes to the Church in America, be heartened: souls are still being won to Christ Jesus, and most of us are still worshiping together on Sundays in the church building. Let us pray for each other and run with patience this marathon that God has set before us!

Palm Sunday: The Kingship of the Lord of All Creation

The Catholic version of the Holy Bible contains books and sections that were contained in the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament used during Jesus's time, but that are not a part of Protestant versions.  

This passage, following Verse 23 of the Catholic version of Daniel Chapter 3, was posted by a commenter  over at The Last Refuge (aka Conservative Treehouse). Thank you Mary Ann for opening my eyes to this perfect prayer on the day we celebrate Jesus's Kingship over all Creation!  

28 Then the three, as with one mouth, praised and glorified and blessed God in the furnace, saying:

29 “Blessed art thou, O Lord, God of our fathers,
    and to be praised and highly exalted for ever;
30 And blessed is thy glorious, holy name
    and to be highly praised and highly exalted for ever;
31 Blessed art thou in the temple of thy holy glory
    and to be extolled and highly glorified for ever.
32 Blessed art thou, who sittest upon cherubim and lookest upon the deeps,
    and to be praised and highly exalted for ever.
33 Blessed art thou upon the throne of thy kingdom
    and to be extolled and highly exalted for ever.
34 Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven
    and to be sung and glorified for ever.

35 “Bless the Lord, all works of the Lord,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
36 Bless the Lord, you heavens,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
37 Bless the Lord, you angels of the Lord,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
38 Bless the Lord, all waters above the heaven,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
39 Bless the Lord, all powers,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
40 Bless the Lord, sun and moon,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
41 Bless the Lord, stars of heaven,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
42 Bless the Lord, all rain and dew,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
43 Bless the Lord, all winds,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
44 Bless the Lord, fire and heat,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
45 Bless the Lord, winter cold and summer heat,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
46 Bless the Lord, dews and snows,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
47 Bless the Lord, nights and days,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
48 Bless the Lord, light and darkness,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
49 Bless the Lord, ice and cold,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
50 Bless the Lord, frosts and snows,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
51 Bless the Lord, lightnings and clouds,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
52 Let the earth bless the Lord;
    let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
53 Bless the Lord, mountains and hills,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
54 Bless the Lord, all things that grow on the earth,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
55 Bless the Lord, you springs,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
56 Bless the Lord, seas and rivers,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
57 Bless the Lord, you whales and all creatures that move in the waters,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
58 Bless the Lord, all birds of the air,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
59 Bless the Lord, all beasts and cattle,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
60 Bless the Lord, you sons of men,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
61 Bless the Lord, O Israel,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
62 Bless the Lord, you priests of the Lord,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
63 Bless the Lord, you servants of the Lord,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
64 Bless the Lord, spirits and souls of the righteous,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
65 Bless the Lord, you who are holy and humble in heart,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.
66 Bless the Lord, Hanani′ah, Azari′ah, and Mish′ael,
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever;
for he has rescued us from Hades and saved us from the hand of death,
    and delivered us from the midst of the burning fiery furnace;
    from the midst of the fire he has delivered us.
67 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his mercy endures for ever.
68 Bless him, all who worship the Lord, the God of gods,
    sing praise to him and give thanks to him,
    for his mercy endures for ever.”

May you and yours join with all the Universe in praising our Creator, the Author of our Salvation, Jesus Christ, in this Holy Week, and ever after.

Renowned Christian Leader Dr Ben Carson Endorses Mr Donald Trump

Thank you, Dr Carson, for running for President, and for endorsing Mr Trump now that your own candidacy has ended. We are more grateful than you can know for your dedication to America and for your powerful leadership, especially in these recent years. Your courage at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013 set a flag in the ground for Christian America's future as a Godly nation.

Dr Carson, you have been standing stalwart with that flag all this time. I look forward eagerly to your future work and endeavors. May our Lord Jesus Christ bless you and yours always.

Donald Trump and Christians and Religion

Mr Trump is Presbyterian, and the pastor he sat under  for much of his life was the inspirational Guideposts magazine founder, Normal Vincent Peale.  Dr Peale was a good friend of his father, and one of the most important influences in young Donald's life. You can still hear Dr Peale's philosophy in Mr Trump's approach to business and to his own life and his thoughts about America's future.  Dr Peale presided over the marriage of Mr Trump and Melania.  In September 2015, Mr Trump met privately with a large group of religious leaders to seek their perspective on the spiritual issues facing our nation. During the meeting, many of the pastors laid hands on Mr Trump and prayed over him. Several of those have since endorsed Mr Trump.

Mr Trump has never in his whole life drank alcohol or smoked a cigarette or used drugs and he raised his children to live clean as well. He is a passionate advocate for clean living. Mr Trump is pro-life, and opposes funding Planned Parenthood's abortion business.

He went on record multiple times opposing same-sex marriage and same-sex partner benefits. He stood up for Miss California Carrie Prejean when she was under attack for her belief in traditional marriage.  For all his seeming extravagance, he is sensible in spending and generous in his giving and in how he pays his staff.

His adult children are emotionally healthy, mature, and have powerful leadership roles in the company. An involved father, he took them to work with him, and required them to work for minimum wage to earn spending money as youngsters and in college. His son Eric's charity foundation exists exclusively to raise money for St Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

He has spoken four times at CPAC between 2011 and 2015, twice at Liberty University, and recently promised - as no other candidate has done - to protect Christians here and around the world.

Jerry Falwell Jr had this to say: "Trump is not a Sunday school candidate, admitted Falwell. Then again, he said, "for decades, conservatives and evangelicals have chosen the political candidates who have told us what we wanted to hear on social, religious and political issues only to be betrayed by those same candidates after they were elected." If you want the truth, here is a good place to start fact-checking the claims or attacks made against him.

Mr Trump not only supports the Second Amendment, he has unveiled a plan for nationwide concealed carry.   Mr Trump is a lifelong supporter of our men and women in law enforcement,  of State's Rights, and donated a million dollars toward NYC's Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

When you do your Christian Due  Dilligence, look at the fruit. Jimmy Carter is a born again Southern Baptist who taught Sunday School. But did he have the Lord's blessing to lead our nation? I was a young adult during that time, and I voted for him. Instead of Christian renewal, we got Billy Beer, the Arab Oil Embargo, the abandonment of our allies, the Iran Hostage crisis - which was solved by paying off Iran with money and weapons.

Reagan is touted by many Christians for his staunch support of traditional Christian values. But he & Nancy (his second wife, he divorced his first wife) regularly consulted astrologers while in the White House, and used astrology to plan everything from his schedule to having him sworn in as Governor of California in the middle of the night on the advice of an Astologer because of  good 'omens'. Reagan signed the Abortion on Demand bill that made California the first state in the nation to offer legal widespread abortion.

As governor of California, Reagan supported and signed several gun control laws, including the 1967 the Mulford Act, banning Californians from the right to carry a loaded firearm. Reagan also implemented the 14 day "waiting period" (which Donald Trump OPPOSED at the time), and the first "automatic firearms ban" in 1986. Further, Reagan actively campaigned for the "assault weapons ban" in 1994.

ALL of our Republican candidates are Christians, every one of them. Ask yourself -and God in prayer - who is the most likely to be the most effective leader of a Christian nation at this time in history? Remember Cyrus.

We have candidates who have served and are currently serving in elected office. Two have been busy praying in public, out in front of the cameras for everyone to see.

Here is a quote from Mr Trump that, in the 25 years since he said it, he has consistently lived up to:
"I have a reputation for being tough, and I’d like to think it’s justified. Toughness, as I see it, is a quality made up of equal parts of strength, intelligence, and self-respect.
The opposite of toughness-weakness-makes me mad and sometimes turns my stomach. I’m not referring here to the kind of weakness that comes from being poor, sick, or disadvantaged. I’m talking about those people who can take a strong stand but just don’t.
Toughness is pride, drive, commitment, and the courage to follow through on things you believe in, even when they are under attack. It is solving problems instead of letting them fester. It is being who you really are, even when society wants you to be somebody else."